Synergistic verification and validation of systems and software engineering models

In this paper, we present a unified approach for the verification and validation of software and systems engineering design models expressed in UML 2.0 and SysML 1.0. The approach is based on three well-established techniques, namely formal analysis, programme analysis and software engineering (SwE) techniques. More precisely, our contribution consists of the synergistic combination of model checking, static analysis and SwE metrics that enables the automatic and efficient assessment of design models from static and dynamic perspectives. Additionally, we present the design and implementation of an automated computer-aided assessing framework integrating the proposed approach. Moreover, we discuss the related technical details and the underlying synergism. Finally, we illustrate the proposed approach by assessing a design case study that is composed of state machine and sequence diagrams.     

Remedial measures to control seepage problems in the Kafrein dam, Jordan

The Kafrein dam, 480 m long and 30 m high, is located on the Wadi Kafrein, a few kilometres from the active Jordan Valley fault. The Jordan Valley Authority proposed raising the crest of the existing dam by approximately 7 m and extending the length of the embankment to 554 m, in order to increase its storage capacity by 6 million m³ to a total of 8.5 million m³. The paper discusses the likelihood that existing seepage problems will be exacerbated when the dam is raised and proposes some remedial actions to increase the safety of the dam and minimise both the amount of seepage and any adverse effects. Electronic Publication     

Damage of Reinforced Concrete Structure due to Severe Soil Expansion

In Irbid City, Jordan, foundation designs made before 1983 were based on bearing capacity criteria with a limited knowledge of high shrink/swell soil problems. The use of wide and shallow foundation systems was generally the practice rather than the exception in this area. Lack of structural rigidity and insufficient dead load pressure of the foundation systems used in the Irbid area where soils of high shrink/swell are present often cause serious problems related to the performance of constructed facilities. This paper presents a case study typical of a severely cracked one-story reinforced concrete (RC) building constructed over the expansive clay of Irbid City. The building is founded on a mat foundation (solid RC structural slab) embedded at a shallow depth and bearing directly on expansive clay. It is unfortunate that the high shrink/swell potential of the foundation soil had not been recognized properly in the design stage. Based on field and laboratory investigations, remedial construction for the damaged building was proposed. The proposed remedial construction was performed, and more than 10 months have elapsed since the remedial work was completed, with the performance of the building in perfect condition.     

The effect of a commercial probiotic product on the milk quality of dairy cows

Probiotics intended to improve plant health and productivity of pastures grazed by dairy cow are becoming commercially available in Australia. Great Land (GL; Terragen Biotech Pty Ltd., Coolum Beach, QLD, Australia) is one such biologic soil conditioner and spray-on probiotic with a label claim of “acting to improve plant health and productivity.” The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of GL on the milk quality of cows grazing pasture top-dressed with GL. Lactating dairy cows of mixed age and breed (primarily Holstein-Friesian), in their second lactation or greater, and at least 80 d in milk were enrolled and randomly allocated into 1 of 2 study groups: a treatment cow group (n = 98; cows grazed pasture that was top-dressed with GL according to the product label) and a control cow group (n = 114; cows grazed untreated pasture). As required, both groups were supplemented at the same rate with a mixed ration during the grazing period. Composite milk samples were collected weekly from each cow during the study and analyzed to determine milk components. Milk volumes were recorded at each milking using the herd management software of the study farm. Mean differences in the milk component variables were compared using mixed-effects linear regression models. After controlling for the effect of days in milk, cow lactation, and time since a cow entered the study, the treatment cows produced an average of 1.21 L/cow per day more milk (95% confidence interval: 0.34–2.08 L/cow per day) and more milk protein (0.03 kg/d; 95% confidence interval: 0.01–0.05 kg/d) than the control cows. Pasture cover and pasture consumption did not differ between the GL-treated and the untreated study paddocks grazed by the treatment or control cows. A limited amount of published data have examined the effect of probiotic pasture treatment on the milk quality of dairy cows. This study suggests that application of such products may be beneficial. The mechanisms associated with this type of outcome remain to be investigated.     

Verification of unified effective stress theory based on the effect of moisture on mechanical properties of fiber reinforced unsaturated soil

The unified effective stress theory based on suction stress (SSCC theory) enables the characterization of soils under both saturated and unsaturated conditions with one closed-form relationship. This study provides experimental verification of this theory through the unconfined compressive strength test (UCS) and indirect tensile test strength (ITS) on silty clay soil stabilized with fiber. A series of matric suction, ITS, and UCS tests were conducted to validate the SSCC theory through the representation of the results of ITS and UCS tests in terms of mean total stress (p) versus deviatoric stress (q) and mean effective stress (p`) versus deviatoric stress (q). The results of the validation procedures showed that the SSCC theory is applicable and valid at a range of 6%–16% of water content on the silty clay and the silty clay fiber-reinforced soils. There is a small fluctuation in the increase of ITS and UCS values with increasing fiber content due to randomly oriented distribution of the fiber. The addition of glass fiber does not significantly affect the capacity of water retention of the soil. It improves the condition of the mechanical soil properties at the end of construction more than of the effective stress condition.     

Improving the performance of the needleman-wunsch algorithm using parallelization and vectorization techniques

The Needleman-Wunsch (NW) is a dynamic programming algorithm used in the pairwise global alignment of two biological sequences. In this paper, three sets of parallel implementations of the NW algorithm are presented using a mixture of specialized software and hardware solutions: POSIX Threads-based, SIMD Extensions-based and a GPU-based implementations. The three implementations aim at improving the performance of the NW algorithm on large scale input without affecting its accuracy. Our experiments show that the GPU-based implementation is the best implementation as it achieves performance 72.5X faster than the sequential implementation, whereas the best performance achieved by the POSIX threads and the SIMD techniques are 2X and 18.2X faster than the sequential implementation, respectively.

     

Collaboration networks of arab biomedical researchers

Social networks (SN) consist of a set of actors and connections between them. A collaboration network (ColNet) is a special type of SN, in which the actors represent researchers and the link between them indicate that they have co-authored at least one paper. ColNet analysis reveals how researchers interact and behave. A wide range of applications can be based on such studies. The current works on ColNet usually focus on a specific domain/discipline, country/geographical region or time interval. In our study, we focus on one of the understudied regions (the Arab world), and present a novel study on the ColNet of researchers in this region. The domain of interest in our study is biomedicine. We construct, analyze, and study ColNet of biomedical researchers in the Arab world. We divide the region of interest (the Arab world) into four geographical regions and look into the evolution of ColNet of each region separately over time. Our analysis reveals that there is an increase in the number of both authors and publications over time, and that authors tend to work in increasingly larger groups rather than working individually, which is consistent with what is assumed about the nature of research in this field. Our analysis also reveals that a researcher’s productivity is correlated with the amount of change in his/her circle of collaborators over time. For example, researchers working in stable or fixed groups and researchers who have completely different research group every few years are not necessarily the most productive ones.

     

The effect of clinical lameness on liveweight in a seasonally calving, pasture-fed dairy herd

This study investigated the effect of lameness on liveweight (LW) in pasture-fed dairy cattle. The data comprised 222,446 averaged daily LW measurements from 828 lactations of 542 mixed-age cows in a seasonally calving, pasture-fed New Zealand dairy herd. The LW measurements for individual cows were aggregated into weekly averages and analyses conducted to evaluate the effect of a diagnosis of lameness on LW change after controlling for the effect of week in milk, parity, LW at calving, breed, calendar month, and season. In lame cows, LW decreased for up to 3 wk before lameness was diagnosed and for up to 4 wk after treatment. Total LW loss arising from a single lameness episode was, on average, 61 kg (95% confidence interval: 47 to 74 kg). The results from this study demonstrate how LW records for individual animals can be used to enhance a herd manager's ability to detect lame cows and present them for treatment. The methods presented here show how daily LW monitoring might be used as a tool for early detection of lameness in dairy cattle.     

Automatic recording of daily walkover liveweight of dairy cattle at pasture in the first 100 days in milk

Daily walkover liveweight (WoLW) records (n = 79,697) from 463 pasture-fed dairy cows from a single dairy herd in the lower North Island of New Zealand were recorded over the first 100 d of lactation. The aims of this study were to (1) describe LW records retrieved by a standalone automatic Wo daily weighing system; (2) describe the frequency and nature of outlier LW records measured by the system and develop an approach for excluding identified outlier LW records; (3) quantify the agreement between cow LW measured using the Wo system and those measured statically; and (4) describe the autocorrelation between daily LW measurements to provide an indication of how frequently management decisions need to be reviewed to effectively monitor cow LW change in the early-lactation period. The standard deviation of daily LW measurements across parities was 17 kg, on average. A near perfect association between LW measured statically and WoLW (concordance correlation coefficient 0.99, 95% CI 0.99-1.0) was observed. After controlling for the effect of LW at calving and long-term LW change using a mixed-effects linear regression model, the autocorrelation between WoLW recorded on successive days was 0.21, decaying to zero by 8 d. This study shows that by using a standalone automatic Wo weighing system positioned in the exit race of a rotary milking parlor, it was possible to record LW of individual cows on a daily basis and, with controlled cow flow over the weighing platform (allowing for sufficient succession distance to prevent congestion), results were similar to those recorded using conventional, static weighing techniques using the same scales. Based on the autocorrelation analyses, we recommend that LW are recorded on a daily basis to allow changes in physiological status such as the onset of acute illness or estrus to be detected. For managerial purposes, such as using LW change as a guide for adjusting the herd feeding program, we recommend a 7-d decision interval to effectively monitor significant changes in cows’ recorded daily LW measurements.