Effectiveness for Ddtecting faults within and outside the scope of testing techniques: an independent replication

The verification and validation activity plays a fundamental role in improving software quality. Determining which the most effective techniques for carrying out this activity are has been an aspiration of experimental software engineering researchers for years. This paper reports a controlled experiment evaluating the effectiveness of two unit testing techniques (the functional testing technique known as equivalence partitioning (EP) and the control-flow structural testing technique known as branch testing (BT)). This experiment is a literal replication of Juristo et al. (2013).Both experiments serve the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of BT and EP varies depending on whether or not the faults are visible for the technique (InScope or OutScope, respectively). We have used the materials, design and procedures of the original experiment, but in order to adapt the experiment to the context we have: (1) reduced the number of studied techniques from 3 to 2; (2) assigned subjects to experimental groups by means of stratified randomization to balance the influence of programming experience; (3) localized the experimental materials and (4) adapted the training duration. We ran the replication at the Escuela Politécnica del Ejército Sede Latacunga (ESPEL) as part of a software verification & validation course. The experimental subjects were 23 master?s degree students. EP is more effective than BT at detecting InScope faults. The session/program andgroup variables are found to have significant effects. BT is more effective than EP at detecting OutScope faults. The session/program and group variables have no effect in this case. The results of the replication and the original experiment are similar with respect to testing techniques. There are some inconsistencies with respect to the group factor. They can be explained by small sample effects. The results for the session/program factor are inconsistent for InScope faults.We believe that these differences are due to a combination of the fatigue effect and a technique x program interaction. Although we were able to reproduce the main effects, the changes to the design of the original experiment make it impossible to identify the causes of the discrepancies for sure. We believe that further replications closely resembling the original experiment should be conducted to improve our understanding of the phenomena under study.

Prion crystalization model and its application to recognition pattern

This paper introduces APA (?Artificial Prion Assembly?): a pattern recognition system based on artificial prion crystalization. Specifically, the system exhibits the capability to classify patterns according to the resulting prion self- assembly simulated with cellular automata. Our approach is inspired in the biological process of proteins aggregation, known as prions, which are assembled as amyloid fibers related with neurodegenerative disorders.

Effectiveness for detecting faults within and outside the scope of testing techniques: an independent replication

The verification and validation activity plays a fundamental role in improving software quality. Determining which the most effective techniques for carrying out this activity are has been an aspiration of experimental software engineering researchers for years. This paper reports a controlled experiment evaluating the effectiveness of two unit testing techniques (the functional testing technique known as equivalence partitioning (EP) and the control-flow structural testing technique known as branch testing (BT)). This experiment is a literal replication of Juristo et al. (2013). Both experiments serve the purpose of determining whether the effectiveness of BT and EP varies depending on whether or not the faults are visible for the technique (InScope or OutScope, respectively). We have used the materials, design and procedures of the original experiment, but in order to adapt the experiment to the context we have: (1) reduced the number of studied techniques from 3 to 2; (2) assigned subjects to experimental groups by means of stratified randomization to balance the influence of programming experience; (3) localized the experimental materials and (4) adapted the training duration. We ran the replication at the Escuela Polite?cnica del Eje?rcito Sede Latacunga (ESPEL) as part of a software verification & validation course. The experimental subjects were 23 master?s degree students. EP is more effective than BT at detecting InScope faults. The session/program and group variables are found to have significant effects. BT is more effective than EP at detecting OutScope faults. The session/program and group variables have no effect in this case. The results of the replication and the original experiment are similar with respect to testing techniques. There are some inconsistencies with respect to the group factor. They can be explained by small sample effects. The results for the session/program factor are inconsistent for InScope faults. We believe that these differences are due to a combination of the fatigue effect and a technique x program interaction. Although we were able to reproduce the main effects, the changes to the design of the original experiment make it impossible to identify the causes of the discrepancies for sure. We believe that further replications closely resembling the original experiment should be conducted to improve our understanding of the phenomena under study.

Caracterización Avanzada de Tanques de Fermentación de Café mediante una Red Multidistribuida de Sensores RFID

La fermentación de las bayas de café se considera una et apa crítica en el procesado del café debido a su impacto en la calidad final del producto. La temperatura es una de las principales variables de control que puede ser utilizada para predecir el final del proceso, teniendo en cuenta que varios autores indican que el control de esta etapa es fundamental para evitar la mala calidad de la be bida final. En la práctica, la fermentación es el paso menos controlado del proceso, haciendo que los beneficiaderos operen lejos de sus condiciones óptimas en términos de costes de operación (es decir, elevados consumos de energía y agua) y de calidad del producto final. El objetivo de este trabajo es caracterizar los gradientes de temperatura que se dan en los tanques de fermentación mediante una red multi-distribuida de sensores autónomos, inalámbricos y de bajo coste (registradores de temperatura del tipo RFID, identificadores de radiofrecuencia semipasivos modelo TurboTag®).Para ello se utilizan dos metodologías: la interpolación espacial en coordenadas polares y los diagramas de espacio de fase. Se supervisaron dos fermentaciones reales de café, en El Cauca (Colombia), mediante sensores sumergidos directamente en la masa en fermentación. Los fermentadores eran tanques de plástico cubiertos, uno de ellos colocado en el interior de un almacén, permaneciendo el otro a la intemperie. El rango de variación máximo de temperatura en los tanques fue de 4,5ºC. La interpolación espacial mostró, incluso en el fermentador bajo las condiciones menos desfavorables en el interior del almacén, un gradiente radial de temperatura instantáneo de 0,1 °C/cm desde el centro hasta el perímetro del tanque y un gradiente vertical de temperatura de 0,25 °C/cm para sensores con coordenadas polares iguales. La combinación de ambas metodologías permitió la identificación consistente de los puntos calientes y fríos de ambas fermentaciones.