Computers and the software they run are pervasive, yet released software is often unreliable, which has many consequences. Loss of time and earnings can be caused by application software (such as word processors) behaving incorrectly or crashing. Serious disruption can occur as in the l4th August 2003 blackouts in North East USA and Canadal, or serious injury or death can be caused as in the Therac-25 overdose incidents. One way to improve the quality of software is to test it thoroughly. However, software testing is time consuming, the resources, capabilities and skills needed to carry it out are often not available and the time required is often curtailed because of pressures to meet delivery deadlines3. Automation should allow more thorough testing in the time available and improve the quality of delivered software, but there are some problems with automation that this research addresses. Firstly, it is difficult to determine ifthe system under test (SUT) has passed or failed a test. This is known as the oracle problem4 and is often ignored in software testing research. Secondly, many software development organisations use an iterative and incremental process, known as evolutionary development, to write software. Following release, software continues evolving as customers demand new features and improvements to existing ones5. This evolution means that automated test suites must be maintained throughout the life ofthe software. A contribution of this research is a methodology that addresses automatic generation of the test cases, execution of the test cases and evaluation of the outcomes from running each test. "Predecessor" software is used to solve the oracle problem. This is software that already exists, such as a previous version of evolving software, or software from a different vendor that solves the same, or similar, problems. However, the resulting oracle is assumed not be perfect, so rules are defined in an interface, which are used by the evaluator in the test evaluation stage to handle the expected differences. The interface also specifies functional inputs and outputs to the SUT. An algorithm has been developed that creates a Markov Chain Transition Matrix (MCTM) model of the SUT from the interface. Tests are then generated automatically by making a random walk of the MCTM. This means that instead of maintaining a large suite of tests, or a large model of the SUT, only the interface needs to be maintained.

The process of classification of the raw material, is one of the most important procedures in any tea dryer, being responsible for ensuring a good quality of the final product. Currently, this process in most tea processing companies is usually handled by an expert, who performs the work manually and at his own discretion, which has a number of associated drawbacks. In this work, a solution is proposed that includes the planting, design, development and testing of a prototype that is able to correctly classify photographs corresponding to samples of raw material arrived at a dryer, using intelligence techniques (IA) type supervised for Classification by Artificial Neural Networks and not supervised with K-means Grouping for class preparation. The prototype performed well and is a reliable tool for classifying the raw material slammed into tea dryers.

Recent years have witnessed that standard telecommunication services evolved more and more to next generation value-added services. This fact is accompanied by a change of service characteristics as new services are designed to fulfil the customer’s demands instead of just focussing on technologies and protocols. These demands can be very specific and, therefore, diverse potential service functionalities have to be considered by the service providers. To make matters worse for service providers, a fast transition from concept to market product and low price of a new service is required due to the increasing competition in the telecommunication industry. Therefore, effective test solutions need to be developed that can be integrated in current value-added service development life-cycles. Besides, these solutions should support the involvement of all participating stakeholders such as the service provider, the test developers as well as the service developers, and, in order to consider an agile approach, also the service customer. This thesis proposes a novel framework for functional testing that is based on a new sort of description language for value-added services (Service Test Description). Based on instances of the Service Test Description, sets of reusable test components described by means of an applied Statecharts notation are automatically selected and composed to so-called behaviour models. From the behaviour models, abstract test cases can be automatically generated which are then transformed to TTCN-3 test cases and then assembled to an Executable Test Suite. Within a TTCN-3 test system, the Executable Test Suite can be executed against the corresponding value-added service referred to as System Under Test. One benefit of the proposed framework is its application within standard development life-cycles. Therefore, the thesis presents a methodology that considers both service development and test development as parallel tasks and foresees procedures to synchronise the tasks and to allow an agile approach with customer involvement. The novel framework is validated through a proof-of-concept working prototype. Example value-added services have been chosen to illustrate the whole process from compiling instances of the Service Test Description until the execution of automated tests. Overall, this thesis presents a novel solution for service providers to improve the quality of their provided value-added services through automated functional testing procedures. It enables the early involvement of the customers into the service development life-cycle and also helps test developers and service developers to collaborate.

This article details the process used to develop the revision of the original Guidelines that resulted in the development of the 2014 Health Care Quality and Outcomes Guidelines for Nursing of Children, Adolescents, and Families . Members of the 2014 Guidelines Revision Task Force conducted an extensive process of revision, which included the input and approval of 16 pediatric and child health nursing and affiliated organizational endorsements. The revised Guidelines were presented to and endorsed by the American Academy of Nursing Board. These Guidelines are designed for use by pediatric and child health nurses who work in a range of health care and community-based settings. The Guidelines are proposed to be used as a framework for nurse-directed services and intervention development and testing, as a model for undergraduate and graduate pediatric and child health nursing program curriculum development, and as the theoretical basis for nursing investigations on the care of children, adolescents, and families.

A major focus in nursing education is on the judgement of clinical performance, and it is a complex process due to the diverse nature of nursing practice. Difficulties in the development of valid and reliable assessment measures in nursing competency continue to pose a challenge in nursing education. A holistic approach in the assessment of competency comprises knowledge, skills and professional attitudes, wherein the notion of competency incorporates professional judgement and management skills in the clinical situation. Therefore, the thesis aims to develop a holistic clinical assessment tool with a reasonable level of validity and reliability to meet the needs of clinical education. The conceptual framework underlying this research is formed by establishing a theoretical connection between the practice of learning, and of pedagogy and assessment. This research consists of five studies. In Study I, a systematic review was conducted to explore the current assessment practices and tools for nursing undergraduates. In Studies II, III and IV, a qualitative approach with focus group discussions was adopted to explore the views of final-year undergraduate nursing students, preceptors, clinical nurse leaders and academics on the clinical assessment. Based on the multiple perspectives, it therefore addresses concerns in clinical assessment. In Study V, a holistic clinical assessment tool was developed, for which a psychometric testing was conducted. The systematic review indicated that limited studies adequately evaluate the psychometric properties of the assessment instrument. The qualitative studies have raised an awareness of professional and educational issues in relation to clinical assessment. Workload, time, availability of resources, adequate preparation of preceptors, and availability of valid and reliable clinical assessment tools were deemed to influence the quality of students’ clinical learning and assessment. In addition, the presence of support systems and formal educational programs for preceptors influenced their preparation and self-confidence. Nursing leaderships in hospitals and educational institutions have a joint responsibility in shaping the holistic clinical learning environment and making holistic clinical assessment for students. The involvement of all stakeholders in the development of a valid and reliable assessment tool for clinical competency is also essential to the process. The Holistic Clinical Assessment Tool (HCAT) was developed by the author based on the systematic review, qualitative findings and the core competencies of registered nurse from the professional nursing boards. The HCAT consists of 4 domains and 36 assessment items. Furthermore, testing of the psychometric properties indicated that the HCAT has satisfactory content validity, construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In conclusion, the HCAT is meritorious in that it carries the potential to be used as a valid measure to evaluate clinical competency in nursing students, and provide specific and ongoing feedback to enhance the students’ holistic clinical learning experience. The HCAT not only functions as a tool for self-reflection for the students, but also guides the preceptors in clinical teaching and assessment. In addition, the HCAT can be used for peer-assessment and feedback. It is imperative that the clinical and academic institutions establish various levels of ongoing support for both students and preceptors in the process of clinical assessment.

With increasing costs of fossil fuels and intensified environmental awareness, low carbon vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), are becoming more popular for car buyers due to their lower running costs. HEVs are sensitive to the driving conditions under which they are used however, and real-world driving can be very different to the legislative test cycles. On the road there are higher speeds, faster accelerations and more changes in speed, plus additional factors that are not taken into account in laboratory tests, all leading to poorer fuel economy. Future trends in the automotive industry are predicted to include a large focus on increased hybridisation of passenger cars in the coming years, so this is an important current research area. The aims of this project were to determine the energy consumption of a HEV in real-world driving, and investigate the differences in this compared to other standard drive cycles, and also compared to testing in laboratory conditions. A second generation Toyota Prius equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) data logging system collected driving data while in use by Loughborough University Security over a period of 9 months. The journey data was used for the development of a drive cycle, the Loughborough University Urban Drive Cycle 2 (LUUDC2), representing urban driving around the university campus and local town roads. It will also have a likeness to other similar driving routines. Vehicle testing was carried out on a chassis dynamometer on the real-world LUUDC2 and other existing drive cycles for comparison, including ECE-15, UDDS (Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule) and Artemis Urban. Comparisons were made between real-world driving test results and chassis dynamometer real-world cycle test results. Comparison was also made with a pure electric vehicle (EV) that was tested in a similar way. To verify the test results and investigate the energy consumption inside the system, a Prius model in Autonomie vehicle simulation software was used. There were two main areas of results outcomes; the first of which was higher fuel consumption on the LUUDC2 compared to other cycles due to cycle effects, with the former having greater accelerations and a more transient speed profile. In a drive cycle acceleration effect study, for the cycle with 80% higher average acceleration than the other the difference in fuel consumption was about 32%, of which around half of this was discovered to be as a result of an increased average acceleration and deceleration rate. Compared to the standard ECE-15 urban drive cycle, fuel consumption was 20% higher on the LUUDC2. The second main area of outcomes is the factors that give greater energy consumption in real-world driving compared to in a laboratory and in simulations being determined and quantified. There was found to be a significant difference in fuel consumption for the HEV of over a third between on-road real-world driving and chassis dynamometer testing on the developed real-world cycle. Contributors to the difference were identified and explored further to quantify their impact. Firstly, validation of the drive cycle accuracy by statistical comparison to the original dataset using acceleration magnitude distributions highlighted that the cycle could be better matched. Chassis dynamometer testing of a new refined cycle showed that this had a significant impact, contributing approximately 16% of the difference to the real-world driving, bringing this gap down to 21%. This showed how important accurate cycle production from the data set is to give a representative and meaningful output. Road gradient was investigated as a possible contributor to the difference. The Prius was driven on repeated circuits of the campus to produce a simplified real-world driving cycle that could be directly linked with the corresponding gradients, which were obtained by surveying the land. This cycle was run on the chassis dynamometer and Autonomie was also used to simulate driving this cycle with and without its gradients. This study showed that gradient had a negligible contribution to fuel consumption of the HEV in the case of a circular route where returning to the start point. A main factor in the difference to real-world driving was found to be the use of climate control auxiliaries with associated ambient temperature. Investigation found this element is estimated to contribute over 15% to the difference in real-world fuel consumption, by running the heater in low temperatures and the air conditioning in high temperatures. This leaves a 6% remainder made up of a collection of other small real-world factors. Equivalent tests carried out in simulations to those carried out on the chassis dynamometer gave 20% lower fuel consumption. This is accounted for by degradation of the test vehicle at approximately 7%, and the other part by inaccuracy of the simulation model. Laboratory testing of the high voltage battery pack found it constituted around 2% of the vehicle degradation factor, plus an additional 5% due to imbalance of the battery cell voltages, on top of the 7% stated above. From this investigation it can be concluded that the driving cycle and environment have a substantial impact of the energy use of a HEV. Therefore they could be better designed by incorporating real-world driving into the development process, for example by basing control strategies on real-world drive cycles. Vehicles would also benefit from being developed for use in a particular application to improve their fuel consumption. Alternatively, factors for each of the contributing elements of real-world driving could be included in published fuel economy figures to give prospective users more representative values.

The master's thesis describes the designing and developing mobile application for remote management of Kentico CMS/EMS system via REST interface. The thesis emphasized agile approaches to development, especially Test-Driven Development and automated testing.

The diploma thesis focuses on project management – managing of software development activities. It explains a basic terms of given issue and it also deals with advantages and disadvantages of some known practices and methods which are often followed when developing software. The practical part includes an analysis and evaluation of concrete project. This project is then the base for designing an optimization of software development methodology. Designed optimization will be able to help manage similar projects in future.

This graduate research thesis describes how to use interactive whiteboards during physics classes in primary school. The thesis focuses on the method and way how to integrate this equipment into classes. Furthermore, there are evaluations of educational applications for this equipment on the Internet and examples of how teachers have incorporated this application into their classes. In addition, this work is supported by research undertaken at selected middle schools in the South Bohemia. The whole work includes videos of this technology being used during physic lectures and own digital learning materials.

The rapid growth of plastic waste from food packaging around the world demands renewable substitutes, such as natural fibers and biocomposites. Wood fibers are natural fibers extracted from trees and are commonly used in packaging. In order for renewable alternatives to compete against plastics and other non-renewable materials, a better understanding of the mechanical properties of single fibers at the micro-scale are necessary. A great deal of previous research into the mechanical properties of single wood fibers has focused on their tensile behavior, however, little work has been published about their compressive behavior. It is difficult to measure the compressive strength of single fibers directly due to fiber buckling. The purpose of this study is to investigate how post-buckling of single wood pulp fibers affects the mechanical properties of fibers in tension. Two alternative hypotheses were tested through experiments in The Odqvist Laboratory for Experimental Mechanics at KTH. The major part of the thesis process has been invested in developing components called grippers, and testing methods for the Single Fiber Testing System, in order to be able to perform the experiments. The existing grippers were tested and alternative grippers were developed, as well as an alternative testing method without grippers, called the Paper frame method (PFM). PFM was used in the final experimental work to test the hypotheses. The main finding from this study is that there is not enough evidence to suggest that the tensile strength or tensile stiffness of single wood fibers are significantly reduced by post-buckling damage. This finding is mostly relevant in the research and development of fibrous material with larger distances between individual fibers, such as low-density fiber network materials. The main findings from the single fiber testing methods development were that the existing grippers cannot prevent fiber slippage. Furthermore, the alternative gripper 22A with its arc design generates higher grip force than previous grippers but lacks surface friction in the contact region in order to prevent fiber slippage. PFM has an experimental success rate of over 80 % for trained users and easy usage for the operator. The testing equipment Single Fiber Testing System displays several systematic errors occurring in the post-processing process of tests with cyclic loads. / Den snabba tillväxten av plastavfall från livsmedelsförpackningar runt om i världen kräver förnybara alternativ, såsom förpackningar gjorda av naturfibrer och biokompositer. Träfibrer är naturliga fibrer som utvinns från trä och används ofta i förpackningar. För att dessa förnybara alternativ ska kunna konkurrera mot plast och andra icke-förnybara material krävs en bättre förståelse av de mekaniska egenskaperna hos enskilda fibrer på mikronivå. Det finns en omfattande forskning om de mekaniska egenskaperna i drag hos enskilda träfibrer. Däremot existerar det lite publicerad forskning om träfibrers kompressionsegenskaper. Kompressionsegenskaperna är svåra att mäta direkt på grund av fiberknäckning. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur skadan som uppstår efter knäckning av enskilda träfibrer påverkar de mekaniska egenskaperna hos fibrer i drag. Två alternativa hypoteser testades genom experiment i Odqvistlaboratoriet för experimentell mekanik vid KTH. Huvuddelen av examensarbetet har investerats i att utveckla grepparmar och testmetoder för testmaskinen Single Fiber Testing System, för att kunna utföra experiment. De befintliga grepparmarna testades och nya grepparmar utvecklades, och även en alternativ testmetod utan grepparmar som kallas Paper frame method (PFM) utvecklades. PFM användes i det sista experimentella arbetet för att pröva hypoteserna. Huvudslutsatsen från denna studie är att det inte finns tillräckligt med bevis för att stödja hypotesen att enskilda träfibrers draghållfasthet eller dragstyvhet reduceras av skada som uppstår efter knäckning. Detta resultat är mest relevant för forskning och utveckling av fibernätverks material med större avstånd mellan fibrerna, såsom fibermaterial med låg densitet. Huvudslutsatserna från utvecklingen av testmetoder var att de befintliga grepparmarna inte kunde förhindra fiberglidning. Den alternativa grepparmen 22A med sin bågkonstruktion genererade högre greppkraft än tidigare grepparmar men saknar rätt beläggning i kontaktområdet för att förhindra glidning av fiber. PFM har en hög test framgångsgrad med över 80 % för erfarna användare och den är enkel att arbeta med. Testmaskinen Single Fiber Testing System visar flera systematiska fel som blir märkbar under dataanalys av tester med cykliska belastningar.