Translation from Visual to Layout-based Android Test Cases: a Proof of Concept

Automated testing of web applications reduces the effort needed in manual testing. Old 1st generation tools, based on screen coordinates, produce quite fragile test suites, tightly coupled with the specific screen resolution, window position and size experienced during test case recording. These tools have been replaced by a 2nd generation of tools, which offer easy selection and interaction with the web elements, based on DOM-oriented commands. Recently, a new 3rd generation of tools came up based on visual image recognition, bringing the promise of wider applicability and simplicity. A tester might ask if the migration towards such new technology is worthwhile, since the manual effort to rewrite a test suite might be overwhelming. In this paper, we propose PESTO, a tool facing the problem of the automated migration of 2nd generation test suites to the 3rd generation. PESTO determines automatically the screen position of each web element located on the DOM by a 2nd generation test case. It then calculates a screenshot image centred around the web element so as to ensure unique visual matching. Then, the entire source code of the DOM-based test suite is transformed into a visual test suite, based on such automatically extracted images and using specific visual commands.

Adoptive transfer of anti-CD19 CAR-engineered T cells have shown impressive and often durable clinical responses in patients with refractory and relapsed pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, clinical efficacy of anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy for lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia as well as CAR-T cell therapies that target solid tumors is not yet satisfactory. Optimal T cell activation and proliferation requires multiple signals including T cell receptor engagement (signal 1), costimulation (signal 2), and cytokine engagement (signal 3). To the best of our knowledge, CAR genes currently tested in the clinic contain a CD3z domain (signal 1) and costimulatory domain(s) (signal 2), but not a domain that can transmit signal 3. Although forced expression of cytokine genes in CAR-T cells can improve their persistence and antitumor effects, constitutive cytokine expression poses a risk for autonomous T cell growth causing cancers. In this study, we have developed a novel CAR design, 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ), which can activate the JAK-STAT pathway in an antigen-dependent manner, recapitulating cytokine exposure upon TCR engagement. We incorporated a minimal cytoplasmic domain of the IL-2 receptor β (IL2RB) between CD28 and CD3z, which contains a box1 motif for the binding of JAK family protein tyrosine kinases and the tyrosine residue at position 510, an essential site for STAT5 association. To promote STAT3 recruitment, we introduced a YXXQ motif to the C-terminus end of CD3z (28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ)). T cells transduced with the novel CD19 CAR gene induced phosphorylation of both STAT3 and STAT5 proteins only upon CD19 encounter, and exhibited increased expression of JAK-STAT target genes. Moreover, upon stimulation with CD19+ target cells, these T cells, compared to 2nd and 3rd generation CAR-T cells, demonstrated superior proliferative capacity with increased cellular division and reduced activation-induced cell death. Interestingly, CD8+ T cells engineered with this novel CAR maintained a stem cell-like memory (TSCM) phenotype and polyfunctional cytokine secretion capacity even after repeated antigenic stimulation. Treatment of 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ) CAR-T cells with a STAT3 inhibitor largely abrogated their proliferative advantage and decreased the frequency of TSCM cells, suggesting that STAT3 signaling played a predominant role in the maintenance of the TSCM phenotype. All the 2nd generation, 3rd generation, and our new generation CAR-T cells similarly demonstrated potent in vitro cytotoxicity and IFN-γ secretion upon initial exposure to CD19+ cells. However, our novel CAR-T cells were superior to the other CAR-T cells in both cytolytic activity and cytokine secretion following multiple antigen exposures. NSG mice were intravenously injected with the human CD19+ leukemia cell line, NALM6, and treated with adoptive transfer of each of the 2nd, 3rd, or new generation CAR-transduced T cells. The 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ) new generation CAR-T cells demonstrated superior persistence compared to other generation CAR-T cells, which resulted in significantly better overall survival. Long-term persisting 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ) CAR-T cells from treated mice secreted more IFN-γ when restimulated ex vivo, suggesting the maintenance of a functional and less-exhausted phenotype in vivo. Furthermore, the 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ) CAR-T cells also demonstrated better in vivo persistence and therapeutic effects than the 28-z and 28-BB-z CAR-T cells in NSG mice inoculated with primary human CD19+ pre-B-ALL cells. Importantly, the 28-IL2RB-z (YXXQ) CD19 CAR-T cells did not exhibit any proliferative responses when adoptively transferred into leukemia-free mice, affirming that JAK-STAT signals are activated only when exposed to the antigen. Taken together, these results suggest that our new generation CAR has the potential to demonstrate superior antitumor effects with minimal toxicities in the clinic. Clinical translation of this novel CAR is warranted. This abstract is also being presented as Poster A73. Citation Format: Yuki Kagoya, Shinya Tanaka, Marcus O. Butler, Mark Minden, Naoto Hirano. A novel chimeric antigen receptor containing JAK-STAT signaling domains mediates superior antitumor effects. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2016 Oct 20-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2017;5(3 Suppl):Abstract nr PR09.

Functional test automation is increasingly adopted by web applications developers. In particular, 2nd generation tools overcome the limitations of 1st generation tools, based on screen coordinates, by providing APIs for easy selection and interaction with Document Object Model (DOM) elements. On the other hand, a new, 3rd generation of web testing tools, based on visual image recognition, brings the promise of wider applicability and simplicity. In this paper, we consider the problem of the automated creation of 3rd generation visual web tests from 2nd generation test suites. This transformation affects mostly the way in which test cases locate web page elements to interact with or to assert the expected test case outcome.

PurposeWe compared the radiation dose and image quality between the 2nd generation and the 3rd generation dual-source single-energy (DSSE) and dual-source dual-energy (DSDE) CT of the abdomen.Materials and MethodsWe included patients undergoing follow-up abdominal CT after partial or radical nephrectomy in the first 10 months of 2019 (2nd generation DS CT) and the first 10 months of 2020 (3rd generation DS CT). We divided the 320 patients into 4 groups (A, 2nd generation DSSE CT; B, 2nd generation DSDE CT; C, 3rd generation DSSE CT; and D, 3rd generation DSDE CT) (n = 80 each) matched by sex and body mass index. Radiation dose and image quality (objective and subjective qualities) were compared between the groups.ResultsThe mean size-specific dose estimation of 3rd generation DSDE CT group was significantly lower than that of the 2nd generation DSSE CT (42.5%, p = 0.013) and 2nd generation DSDE CT (46.9%, p = 0.015) groups. Interobserver agreement was excellent for the overall image quality (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]: 0.8867) and image artifacts (ICC: 0.9423).ConclusionOur results showed a considerable reduction in the radiation dose while maintaining high image quality with 3rd generation DSDE CT as compared to the 2nd generation DSDE CT and 2nd generation DSSE CT.

The viewing range, for a given optical system, is proposed as figure of merit for tne comparison of image intensifiers. This range may be equally computed or measured provided all parameters are perfectly kept under control. This is illustrated by a comparison between 2nd and 3rd generation wafer tubes. The new Super 2nd generation of Philips, analysed in this way, appears to compare favourably with just-at-specifications 3rd generation tube. 1. INTRODUCTION When using night vision equipments, it is relatively easy to decide for the best one but it is much more difficult to say how much better it is and why.A very good global performance indicator for such equipments is their viewing range, the maximal distance for the detection or recognition of a standard object on a standard background in standard illumination conditions.The major parameters influencing the range are reviewed and computation and measurement methods are proposed and analysed. Some theoretical and experimental results are given and discussed tnrough a comparison between wafer image intensifier tubes of the second and third generation.

The seasonal activity of fiorinia date scale, Fiorinia phoenicis Balachowsky, 1967 (Hemiptera - Diaspididae) was studied for two years (March, 2008 until mid-February, 2010) on date palm at Giza governorate. The obtained results revealed that F. phoenicis has three overlapping generations under field conditions. The 1st generation (early summer generation) peaked in early June and the 2nd generation (late summer generation) peaked around August/September whereas the 3rd generation (autumn generation) peaked in October/November. The shortest generation was the late summer generation (2.5 - 3.0 months) at 27.9 - 28.6oC and 63.5 - 64.8%R.H.whereas the longest one was autumn generation (4.5 months) at 21.6 - 22.0oC and 65.9 - 66.3 %R.H. The early summer generation had intermediate duration (4.0 - 4.5 months) at 20.9 - 21.2oC and 62.5 - 63.0%R.H in the two years, respectively. The population density was varied in the three generations, the autumn generation was the largest one with total population ranged 944.7 - 1016.0 insects/leaflet with mean of 980.4 insects/leaflet followed by late summer generation 829.0 - 1025.7 insects/leaflet with mean of 927.4 insects/leaflet whereas the smallest one was the early summer generation (422.4 - 575.7 insects/leaflet with mean of 499.1 insects/leaflet). The insect population occurred on date palm fronds all the year round and decreased to lower numbers during winter season and this referred to the cold weather. The basal stratum of date palm leaflets received the highest infestation (37.4 - 38.3%) than middle (34.4 - 35.3%) and apical ones (26.4 - 28.2%). On the other hand, the insect activity affected significantly with daily mean temperature and %R.H. in the both years. The combined effect of daily mean temperature and %R.H on nymph and adult populations showed 66.1 - 69% & 48.1 - 49.2% in the 1st generation, 65.4 - 74.0% & 63.8 - 78.4% in the 2nd generation and 60.9 - 77.4% & 48.6 - 63.5% in the 3rd generation in the both years, respectively.

Mutation-oriented test data augmentation for GUI software fault localization

This study aimed to identify the genetic variation among different generations of BLRI Cattle Breed-1 (BCB-1) and its relationship with indigenous Pabna cattle. A total of 20 ISAG-FAO recommended microsatellite DNA markers were used for this study. Blood samples were collected randomly from fifteen animals of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of BCB-1, Pabna cattle and RCC as reference cattle breed. The DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification by using microsatellite markers and finally capillary based fragment length analysis was performed by genetic analyzer. The allele number per locus ranged from 5 to 14 in the studied populations. The mean numbers of alleles ranged from 4.95 in 3rd generation of BCB-1 to 7.55 in indigenous Pabna cattle. The mean numbers of alleles per locus decreased in 3rd and 4th generation. Both observed and expected heterozygosity decreased in subsequent generations in BCB-1. The observed heterozygosity decreased in BCB-1 from 2nd to successive generations (0.7257 in 2nd generation to 0.6232 4th generation). The average observed heterozygosity was highest in indigenous Pabna cattle (0.7393). Genetic distance between 3rd and 4th generation of BCB-1 are very low they are more homogenous. Indigenous Pabna cattle and RCC showed more genetic distance from all generations of BCB-1. Dendrogram based on DA genetic distance using unweighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA) indicated segregation of the four generations of BCB-1 into cluster 1 and 2 which are grouped together and separated from the cluster 3 of indigenous Pabna cattle and cluster 4 RCC population. According to genetic structure of BCB-1, it may treat as a unique cattle population of Bangladesh.
 Bang. J. Livs. Res. Vol. 26 (1&2), 2019: P. 8-14

Visual GUI Testing (VGT) is a tool-driven technique for automated GUI-based testing that uses image recognition to interact with and assert the correctness of the behavior of a system through its GUI as it is shown to the user. The technique’s applicability, e.g. defect-finding ability, and feasibility, e.g. time to positive return on investment, have been shown through empirical studies in industrial practice. However, there is a lack of studies that evaluate the usefulness and challenges associated with VGT when used long-term (years) in industrial practice. This paper evaluates how VGT was adopted, applied and why it was abandoned at the music streaming application development company, Spotify, after several years of use. A qualitative study with two workshops and five well chosen employees is performed at the company, supported by a survey, which is analyzed with a grounded theory approach to answer the study’s three research questions. The interviews provide insights into the challenges, problems and limitations, but also benefits, that Spotify experienced during the adoption and use of VGT. However, due to the technique’s drawbacks, VGT has been abandoned for a new technique/framework, simply called the Test interface. The Test interface is considered more robust and flexible for Spotify’s needs but has several drawbacks, including that it does not test the actual GUI as shown to the user like VGT does. From the study’s results it is concluded that VGT can be used long-term in industrial practice but it requires organizational change as well as engineering best practices to be beneficial. Through synthesis of the study’s results, and results from previous work, a set of guidelines are presented that aim to aid practitioners to adopt and use VGT in industrial practice. However, due to the abandonment of the technique, future research is required to analyze in what types of projects the technique is, and is not, long-term viable. To this end, we also present Spotify’s Test interface solution for automated GUI-based testing and conclude that it has its own benefits and drawbacks.

The fully automatic Graphical User Interface tool for any application using novel model based test suite generation techniques for a GUI. They are unable to control response time and time intervals are based on relationship between GUI events handlers and test cases with their responsibilities. We present a novel prioritization algorithm that enhances event handlers for the automated GUI tool. The proposed tool generates GUI events, it Captures and Playback event responses to automatic verification point of the results for the test cases which are written to a log file and corresponding report will be generated. This novel algorithm was able to detect new test suite and ordering of test cases to reduce a GUI fault integration defects. The number of faults detected for a single event are found after generating test cases for the application. The Average Percentage of Fault Detection (APFD) and charts has been used to show the effectiveness of proposed algorithm to find fault detection rate.

Guest Editorial: Special Section from the 11th International Conference on Quality Software (QSIC 2011)

Software Testing is an important aspect of the real time software development process. Software testing always assures the quality of software product. As associated with software testing, there are few very important issues where there is a need to pay attention on it in the process of software development test. These issues are generation of effective test case and test suite as well as optimization of test case and suite while doing testing of software product. The important issue is that testing time of the test case and test suite. It is very much important that after development of software product effective testing should be performed. So to overcome these issues of optimization, we have proposed new approach for test suite optimization using genetic algorithm (GA). Genetic algorithm is evolutionary in nature so it is often used for optimization of problem by researcher. In this paper, our aim is to study various selections methods like tournament selection, rank selection and roulette wheel selection and then we apply this genetic algorithm (GA) on various programs which will generate optimized test suite with parameters like fitness value of test case, test suite and take minimum amount of time for execution after certain preset generation. In this paper our main objectives as per the experimental investigation, we show that tournament selection works very fine as compared to other methods with respect fitness selection of test case and test suites, testing time of test case and test suites as well as number of requirements.

Software testing is one of the important stages of software development. In software development, developers always depend on testing to reveal bugs. In the maintenance stage test suite size grow because of integration of new technique. Addition of new technique force to create new test case which increase the size of test suite. In regression testing new test case may be added to the test suite during the whole testing process. These additions of test cases create possibility of presence of redundant test cases. Due to limitation of time and resource, reduction techniques should be used to identify and remove them. Research shows that a subset of the test case in a suit may still satisfy all the test objectives which is called as representative set. Redundant test case increase the execution cost of the test suite, in spite of NP-completeness of the problem there are few good reduction techniques have been available. In this paper a new approach for test case reduction is proposed. This algorithm use genetic algorithm technique iteratively with varying chromosome length to reduce test case in a test suit by finding representative set of test cases that are fulfill the testing criteria.

Database Management System (DBMS) developers have implemented extensive test suites to test their DBMSs. For example, the SQLite test suites contain over 92 million lines of code. Despite these extensive efforts, test suites are not systematically reused across DBMSs, leading to wasted effort. Integration is challenging, as test suites use various test case formats and rely on unstandardized test runner features. We present a unified test suite, SQuaLity, in which we integrated test cases from three widely-used DBMSs, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and DuckDB. In addition, we present an empirical study to determine the potential of reusing these systems' test suites. Our results indicate that reusing test suites is challenging: First, test formats and test runner commands vary widely; for example, SQLite has 4 test runner commands, while MySQL has 112 commands with additional features, to, for example, execute file operations or interact with a shell. Second, while some test suites contain mostly standard-compliant statements (e.g., 99% in SQLite), other test suites mostly test non-standardized functionality (e.g., 31% of statements in the PostgreSQL test suite are nonstandardized). Third, test reuse is complicated by various explicit and implicit dependencies, such as the need to set variables and configurations, certain test cases requiring extensions not present by default, and query results depending on specific clients. Despite the above findings, we have identified 3 crashes, 3 hangs, and multiple compatibility issues across four different DBMSs by executing test suites across DBMSs, indicating the benefits of reuse. Overall, this work represents the first step towards test-case reuse in the context of DBMSs, and we hope that it will inspire follow-up work on this important topic.

Background: Breast cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) has come into the limelight to address the issue of intratumoral heterogeneity in preclinical studies; however, there are still some unsolved problems regarding its practical usage in translational research. There are no systematic studies that clarify the advantage of orthotopic implantation of the tumor as opposed to ectopic, or of the type of source tumor. Thus, we investigated the difference of tumor growth caused by these variables among breast cancer PDX model mice. Methods: We xenografted 10 patient breast cancer tumors into NSG mice. 2 tumors were derived from brain metastasis (B-met), whereas the others were from primary. 3 tumors were ER(+) HER2(-) and 7 tumors were triple negative (TN). Both of b-met tumors are ER(+) HER2(-). Using 2-3 mice per each patient sample, about 1mm3 tumor fragments were implanted surgically into four subcutaneous (SQ) sites ectopically and four sites (bilateral 2nd and 4th mammary fat pad) orthotopically (Orth). Tumors were passaged to another 2-4 mice as the next generation when the largest tumor grew to 1.5cm in diameter. Tumor “take” was defined as tumorigenesis of palpable tumor after implantation regardless of time it took. Results: PDX tumors were established in 7 out of 10 patient tumors. Histologic grade 3 tumors have significantly higher take rate than grade 2 tumors in 1st generation (3.4% [1/29 site] vs 51.9% [56/108 site], p<0.001) (excluding B-met), which is same as previous reports. The average take time for primary tumor was significantly longer in 1st generation compared to 2nd or 3rd generation (116.7 vs 61.7 days, p<0.001) (excluding B-met), but there is no significant difference between 2nd and 3rd generation. The overall take rate of primary tumor was 55.1% (190/345 site), which was significantly better in Orth compared to SQ (64.9% [120/185] vs 43.8% [70/160], p<0.001). Tumor weights were significantly heavier in Orth compared to SQ (0.65 vs 0.11g, p<0.001). Orth tumors significantly grow faster than SQ tumors (p<0.001), and have significantly more mitotic figures than SQ in H&E staining (19.2 vs 7.9, p<0.01, mean of 10 high power field). Take rates from primary TN and ER-positive tumors were 59.9% (187/312 site) and 3.4% (1/29 site), respectively, but that of ER positive B-met was 82.4% (112/136 site). In B-met, take rate was significantly better in Orth than SQ (94.1%, 64/68 vs 70.6%, 48/68, p=0.001), and tumor weights were significantly heavier in Orth compared to SQ (0.57g vs 0.25g, p<0.001). B-met tumors significantly grow faster than primary tumors (p<0.001). Conclusions: Orthotopic implantation showed better take rate and greater tumor size and weight than heterotopic implantation, regardless of the cancer subtypes and their sources. Citation Format: Maiko Okano, Tsutomu Kawaguchi, Kazuaki Takabe. Orthotopic implantation of aggressive breast cancer achieves better engraftment and larger tumor in patient-derived xenograft models [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1049.