How to perform a systematic security analysis of complex applications is a challenging and open question. Approaches based on formal verification are impeded due to the lack of application specifications. To address this challenge, we propose a framework, called ASPIRE, that enables analysts to automatically synthesize specifications from examples such as application input-output examples and s...

This chapter introduces the concepts and techniques required for developing graphical, domain-specific modeling and program synthesis environments. It argues that a fully functional modeling environment can be quickly developed for a wide variety of engineering domains using a configurable and extensible toolset with a limited set of generic concepts. The configuration is accomplished through m...

DNA damages hinder the advance of replication forks because of the inability of the replicative polymerases to synthesize across most DNA lesions. Because stalled replication forks are prone to undergo DNA breakage and recombination that can lead to chromosomal rearrangements and cell death, cells possess different mechanisms to ensure the continuity of replication on damaged templates. Special...

This paper presents a comparison of domain adaptation techniques for a unit selection based text-to-speech system. The methods under investigation consider two different prerequisites, namely the absence and the existence of additional domain specific training prompts, spoken by the original voice talent. Whereas in the first case we employ domain specific pre-selection, for the latter we compa...

In the equivalent transformation (ET) computation model, a specification provides background knowledge in a problem domain and defines a set of queries of interest; a program is a set of prioritized transformation rules; and computation consists in successive reduction of queries using meaningpreserving transformation with respect to given background knowledge. This paper presents a formalizati...

To investigate RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) further, mutational analysis of the N-terminal domain of the NS5B protein of Classical swine fever virus was performed. Results show that the N-terminal domain (positions 1-300) of the protein might be divided artificially into four different regions, N1-N4. The N1 region (positions 1-61) contained neither conserved lysine nor conserved arginin...

The integrity of the alpha-sarcin loop in 28 S ribosomal RNA is critical during protein synthesis. The toxins alpha-sarcin, ricin, Shiga toxin, and Shiga-like toxin inhibit protein synthesis in oocytes by attacking specific nucleotides within this loop (Ackerman, E.J., Saxena, S. K., and Ulbrich, N. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 17076-17083; Saxena, S.K., O'Brien, A.D., and Ackerman, E.J. (1989) J...

This paper studies the design of quadrature mirror lter (QMF) banks via frequency domain optimizations. A direct approach is adopted that gives the necessary and suucient condition for perfect reconstruction (PR). While analysis lter banks are designed to achieve frequency domain speciications required for subband coding, synthesis lter banks are designed to minimize the reconstruction error in...

Domain-specific languages (DSLs) provide developers with the ability to describe applications using language elements that directly represent concepts in the application problem domains. Unlike generalpurpose languages, domain concepts are embedded in the semantics of a DSL. In this chapter, the authors present an interpreted domain-specific modeling language (i-DSML) whose models are used to s...

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis in animal cells is generally controlled by cytidine 5'-triphosphate (CTP):phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT). This enzyme is amphitropic, that is, it can interconvert between a soluble inactive form and a membrane-bound active form. The membrane-binding domain of CCT is a long amphipathic alpha helix that responds to changes in the physical properties o...