How to design extended finite state machine test models in Java

This chapter is a tutorial that teaches you how to design extended finite state machine (EFSM) test models for a system that you want to test. EFSM models are more powerful and expressive than simple finite state machine (FSM) models, and are one of the most commonly used styles of models for model-based testing, especially for embedded systems. There are many languages and notations in use for writing EFSM models, but in this tutorial we write our EFSM models in the familiar Java programming language. To generate tests from these EFSM models we use ModelJUnit, which is an open-source tool that supports several stochastic test generation algorithms, and we also show how to write your own model-based testing tool. We show how EFSM models can be used for unit testing and system testing of embedded systems, and for offline testing as well as online testing.

A known-groups evaluation of the Response Bias Scale in a neuropsychological setting

We evaluated the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Second Edition (MMPI-2) Response Bias Scale (RBS). Archival data from 83 individuals who were referred for neuropsychological assessment with no formal diagnosis (n = 10), following a known or suspected traumatic brain injury (n = 36), with a psychiatric diagnosis (n = 20), or with a history of both trauma and a psychiatric condition (n = 17) were retrieved. The criteria for malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MNCD) were applied, and two groups of participants were formed: poor effort (n = 15) and genuine responders (n = 68). Consistent with previous studies, the difference in scores between groups was greatest for the RBS (d = 2.44), followed by two established MMPI-2 validity scales, F (d = 0.25) and K (d = 0.23), and strong significant correlations were found between RBS and F (rs = .48) and RBS and K (r = −.41). When MNCD group membership was predicted using logistic regression, the RBS failed to add incrementally to F. In a separate regression to predict group membership, K added significantly to the RBS. Receiver-operating curve analysis revealed a nonsignificant area under the curve statistic, and at the ideal cutoff in this sample of >12, specificity was moderate (.79), sensitivity was low (.47), and positive and negative predictive power values at a 13% base rate were .25 and .91, respectively. Although the results of this study require replication because of a number of limitations, this study has made an important first attempt to report RBS classification accuracy statistics for predicting poor effort at a range of base rates.

Stability and convergence of a finite volume method for the space fractional advection-dispersion equation

We consider the space fractional advection–dispersion equation, which is obtained from the classical advection–diffusion equation by replacing the spatial derivatives with a generalised derivative of fractional order. We derive a finite volume method that utilises fractionally-shifted Grünwald formulae for the discretisation of the fractional derivative, to numerically solve the equation on a finite domain with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We prove that the method is stable and convergent when coupled with an implicit timestepping strategy. Results of numerical experiments are presented that support the theoretical analysis.

Finite volume approach of natural convection in a triangular enclosure with localized heating from below

In this study, natural convection heat transfer and buoyancy driven flows have been investigated in a right angled triangular enclosure. The heater located on the bottom wall while the inclined wall is colder and the remaining walls are maintained as adiabatic. Governing equations of natural convection are solved through the finite volume approach, in which buoyancy is modeled via the Boussinesq approximation. Effects of different parameters such as Rayleigh number, aspect ratio, prantdl number and heater location are considered. Results show that heat transfer increases when the heater is moved toward the right corner of the enclosure. It is also revealed that increasing the Rayleigh number, increases the strength of free convection regime and consequently increases the value of heat transfer rate. Moreover, larger aspect ratio enclosure has larger Nusselt number value. In order to have better insight, streamline and isotherms are shown.

Bilingual asynchronous online discussion groups : design and delivery of an e-Learning distance study module for nurse academics in a developing country

The advent of eLearning has seen online discussion forums widely used in both undergraduate and postgraduate nursing education. This paper reports an Australian university experience of design, delivery and redevelopment of a distance education module developed for Vietnamese nurse academics. The teaching experience of Vietnamese nurse academics is mixed and frequently limited. It was decided that the distance module should attempt to utilise the experience of senior Vietnamese nurse academics - asynchronous online discussion groups were used to facilitate this. Online discussion occurred in both Vietnamese and English and was moderated by an Australian academic working alongside a Vietnamese translator. This paper will discuss the design of an online learning environment for foreign correspondents, the resources and translation required to maximise the success of asynchronous online discussion groups, as well as the rationale of delivering complex content in a foreign language. While specifically addressing the first iteration of the first distance module designed, this paper will also address subsequent changes made for the second iteration of the module and comment on their success. While a translator is clearly a key component of success, the elements of simplicity and clarity combined with supportive online moderation must not be overlooked.

Detecting conversing groups of chatters : a model, algorithms, and tests

Chatrooms, for example Internet Relay Chat, are generally multi-user, multi-channel and multiserver chat-systems which run over the Internet and provide a protocol for real-time text-based conferencing between users all over the world. While a well-trained human observer is able to understand who is chatting with whom, there are no efficient and accurate automated tools to determine the groups of users conversing with each other. A precursor to analysing evolving cyber-social phenomena is to first determine what the conversations are and which groups of chatters are involved in each conversation. We consider this problem in this paper. We propose an algorithm to discover all groups of users that are engaged in conversation. Our algorithms are based on a statistical model of a chatroom that is founded on our experience with real chatrooms. Our approach does not require any semantic analysis of the conversations, rather it is based purely on the statistical information contained in the sequence of posts. We improve the accuracy by applying some graph algorithms to clean the statistical information. We present some experimental results which indicate that one can automatically determine the conversing groups in a chatroom, purely on the basis of statistical analysis.

The process of remembering with The Forgotten Australians : digital storytelling and marginalized groups

Digital storytelling projects have proliferated in Australia since the early 2000s, and have been theorized as a means to disseminate the stories and voices of “ordinary” people. In this paper I examine through the case study of a 2009 digital storytelling project between the Australasian Centre for Interactive Design and a group identifying as Forgotten Australian whether digital storytelling in its predominant workshop-based format is able to meet the needs of profoundly marginalized and traumatized individuals and groups. For digital storytelling to be of use to marginalized groups as a means of communication or reflection a significant re-examination of the current approaches to its format, and its function needs to undertaken. This paper posits new ways of utilizing digital storytelling when dealing with trauma narratives.

Towards configuring the Internet for social development in the Philippines

The Internet is one of the most significant information and communication technologies to emerge during the end of the last century. It created new and effective means by which individuals and groups communicate. These advances led to marked institutional changes most notably in the realm of commercial exchange: it did not only provide the high-speed communication infrastructure to business enterprises; it also opened them to the global consumer base where they could market their products and services. Commercial interests gradually dominated Internet technology over the past several years and have been a factor in the increase of its user population and enhancement of infrastructure. Such commercial interests fitted comfortably within the structures of the Philippine government. As revealed in the study, state policies and programs make use of Internet technology as an enabler of commercial institutional reforms using traditional economic measures. Yet, despite efforts to maximize the Internet as an enabler for market-driven economic growth, the accrued benefits are yet to come about; it is largely present only in major urban areas and accessible to a small number of social groups. The failure of the Internet’s developmental capability can be traced back to the government’s wholesale adoption of commercial-centered discourse. The Internet’s developmental gains (i.e. instrumental, communicative and emancipatory) and features, which were always there since its inception, have been visibly left out in favor of its commercial value. By employing synchronic and diachronic analysis, it can be shown that the Internet can be a vital technology in promoting genuine social development in the Philippines. In general, the object is to realize a social environment of towards a more inclusive and participatory application of Internet technology, equally aware of the caveats or risks the technology may pose. It is argued further that there is a need for continued social scientific research regarding the social as and developmental implications of Internet technology at local level structures, such social sectors, specific communities and organizations. On the meta-level, such approach employed in this research can be a modest attempt in increasing the calculus of hope especially among the marginalized Filipino sectors, with the use of information and communications technologies. This emerging field of study—tentatively called Progressive Informatics—must emanate from the more enlightened social sectors, namely: the non-government, academic and locally-based organizations.

Locally weighted learning model predictivek control for elastic joint robots

This paper proposes an efficient and online learning control system that uses the successful Model Predictive Control (MPC) method in a model based locally weighted learning framework. The new approach named Locally Weighted Learning Model Predictive Control (LWL-MPC) has been proposed as a solution to learn to control complex and nonlinear Elastic Joint Robots (EJR). Elastic Joint Robots are generally difficult to learn to control due to their elastic properties preventing standard model learning techniques from being used, such as learning computed torque control. This paper demonstrates the capability of LWL-MPC to perform online and incremental learning while controlling the joint positions of a real three Degree of Freedom (DoF) EJR. An experiment on a real EJR is presented and LWL-MPC is shown to successfully learn to control the system to follow two different figure of eight trajectories.

Finite element shoulder models

Shoulder joint is a complex integration of soft and hard tissues. It plays an important role in performing daily activities and can be considered as a perfect compromise between mobility and stability. However, shoulder is vulnerable to complications such as dislocations and osteoarthritis. Finite element (FE) models have been developed to understand shoulder injury mechanisms, implications of disease on shoulder complex and in assessing the quality of shoulder implants. Further, although few, Finite element shoulder models have also been utilized to answer important clinical questions such as the difference between a normal and osteoarthritic shoulder joint. However, due to the absence of experimental validation, it is questionable whether the constitutive models applied in these FE models are adequate to represent mechanical behaviors of shoulder elements (Cartilages, Ligaments, Muscles etc), therefore the confidence of using current models in answering clinically relevant question. The main objective of this review is to critically evaluate the existing FE shoulder models that have been used to investigate clinical problems. Due concern is given to check the adequacy of representative constitutive models of shoulder elements in drawing clinically relevant conclusion. Suggestions have been given to improve the existing shoulder models by inclusion of adequate constitutive models for shoulder elements to confidently answer clinically relevant questions.

A hybrid smoothed finite element method (H-SFEM) to solid mechanics problems

In this paper, a hybrid smoothed finite element method (H-SFEM) is developed for solid mechanics problems by combining techniques of finite element method (FEM) and Node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) using a triangular mesh. A parameter is equipped into H-SFEM, and the strain field is further assumed to be the weighted average between compatible stains from FEM and smoothed strains from NS-FEM. We prove theoretically that the strain energy obtained from the H-SFEM solution lies in between those from the compatible FEM solution and the NS-FEM solution, which guarantees the convergence of H-SFEM. Intensive numerical studies are conducted to verify these theoretical results and show that (1) the upper and lower bound solutions can always be obtained by adjusting ; (2) there exists a preferable at which the H-SFEM can produce the ultrasonic accurate solution.

Porohyperelastic analysis to explore mechanical properties of chondrocytes using numerical modeling and experiments : a finite element study

There are many continuum mechanical models have been developed such as liquid drop models, solid models, and so on for single living cell biomechanics studies. However, these models do not give a fully approach to exhibit a clear understanding of the behaviour of single living cells such as swelling behaviour, drag effect, etc. Hence, the porohyperelastic (PHE) model which can capture those aspects would be a good candidature to study cells behaviour (e.g. chondrocytes in this study). In this research, an FEM model of single chondrocyte cell will be developed by using this PHE model to simulate Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) experimental results with the variation of strain rate. This material model will be compared with viscoelastic model to demonstrate the advantages of PHE model. The results have shown that the maximum value of force applied of PHE model is lower at lower strain rates. This is because the mobile fluid does not have enough time to exude in case of very high strain rate and also due to the lower permeability of the membrane than that of the protoplasm of chondrocyte. This behavior is barely observed in viscoelastic model. Thus, PHE model is the better model for cell biomechanics studies.

Efficient solution of multiple cracks in great number using eigen COD boundary integral equations with iteration procedure

A newly developed computational approach is proposed in the paper for the analysis of multiple crack problems based on the eigen crack opening displacement (COD) boundary integral equations. The eigen COD particularly refers to a crack in an infinite domain under fictitious traction acting on the crack surface. With the concept of eigen COD, the multiple cracks in great number can be solved by using the conventional displacement discontinuity boundary integral equations in an iterative fashion with a small size of system matrix to determine all the unknown CODs step by step. To deal with the interactions among cracks for multiple crack problems, all cracks in the problem are divided into two groups, namely the adjacent group and the far-field group, according to the distance to the current crack in consideration. The adjacent group contains cracks with relatively small distances but strong effects to the current crack, while the others, the cracks of far-field group are composed of those with relatively large distances. Correspondingly, the eigen COD of the current crack is computed in two parts. The first part is computed by using the fictitious tractions of adjacent cracks via the local Eshelby matrix derived from the traction boundary integral equations in discretized form, while the second part is computed by using those of far-field cracks so that the high computational efficiency can be achieved in the proposed approach. The numerical results of the proposed approach are compared not only with those using the dual boundary integral equations (D-BIE) and the BIE with numerical Green's functions (NGF) but also with those of the analytical solutions in literature. The effectiveness and the efficiency of the proposed approach is verified. Numerical examples are provided for the stress intensity factors of cracks, up to several thousands in number, in both the finite and infinite plates.

Investing and reinvesting in social capital : the spill-over effects of social capital in self help groups

Part studies on the impact of microfinance through self help groups (HGs) and other collective poverty alleviation initiatives have predominantly focused on the financial benefits to the individual or the group (Hermes and Lensink 2011; Hulme and Mosley 1996). Such benefits are typically attributed to the financial capital made available to SHGs (Swain and Varghese 2009) and the social capital which accrues through networking mechanisms within SHG processes (Tesoriero 2005). Few studies however, have examined the benefits of SHGs beyond group members. Accordingly, research was conducted to look beyond the immediate group processes and outcomes, and examine the impact of SHGs in the wider (local) community.

A comparison of finite difference and finite volume methods for solving the space fractional advection-dispersion equation with variable coefficients

Transport processes within heterogeneous media may exhibit non-classical diffusion or dispersion; that is, not adequately described by the classical theory of Brownian motion and Fick's law. We consider a space fractional advection-dispersion equation based on a fractional Fick's law. The equation involves the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivative which arises from assuming that particles may make large jumps. Finite difference methods for solving this equation have been proposed by Meerschaert and Tadjeran. In the variable coefficient case, the product rule is first applied, and then the Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives are discretised using standard and shifted Grunwald formulas, depending on the fractional order. In this work, we consider a finite volume method that deals directly with the equation in conservative form. Fractionally-shifted Grunwald formulas are used to discretise the fractional derivatives at control volume faces. We compare the two methods for several case studies from the literature, highlighting the convenience of the finite volume approach.