Les techniques dynamiques de vérification et validation (V&V) de modèles sont nécessaires pour assurer la qualité des modèles exécutables. La plupart de ces techniques reposent sur la concept de trace d'exécution, une séquence contenant un ensemble d'informations sur une exécution. Par conséquent, pour permettre la V&V dynamique de modèles exécutables conformes à n'importe quel langage de modélisation dédié exécutable (LMDx), il est crucial de fournir des outils pour construire et manipuler toutes sortes de traces d'exécution. À cet effet, nous proposons d'abord une approche de clonage efficace de modèles afin de pouvoir construire des traces d'exécution génériques à base de clones. À l'aide d'un générateur aléatoire de métamodèles, nous montrons que cette approche passe à l'échelle avec seulement un léger surcoût lors de la manipulation de clones. Nous présentons ensuite une approche générative pour définir des métamodèles dédiés et multidimensionnels pour représenter des traces d'exécution, qui consiste à créer la structure de données spécifique aux traces d'exécution d'un LMDx donné. Ainsi, les traces d'exécution de modèles conformes à ce LMDx peuvent être capturées et manipulées efficacement de manière dédiée et à l'aide de différentes dimensions. Nous appliquons cette approche à deux techniques de V&V dynamiques existantes, à savoir la différentiation sémantique et le débogage omniscient. Nous montrons qu'un tel métamodèle de traces d'exécution généré fournit une bonne facilité d'usage et un bon passage à l'échelle pour la V&V dynamique au plus tôt pour n'importe quel LMDx. Nous avons intégré notre travail au sein du GEMOC Studio, un environnement de définition de langages et de modélisation issu de l'initiative internationale du même nom. / Dynamic verification and validation (V&V) techniques are required to ensure the correctness of executable models. Most of these techniques rely on the concept of execution trace, which is a sequence containing information about an execution. Therefore, to enable dynamic V&V of executable models conforming to any executable domain-specific modeling language (xDSML), it is crucial to provide efficient facilities to construct and manipulate all kinds of execution traces. To that effect, we first propose a scalable model cloning approach to conveniently construct generic execution traces using model clones. Using a random metamodel generator, we show that this approach is scalable in memory with little manipulation overhead. We then present a generative approach to define multidimensional and domain-specific execution trace metamodels, which consists in creating the execution trace data structure specific to an xDSML. Thereby, execution traces of models conforming to this xDSML can be efficiently captured and manipulated in a domain-specific way. We apply this approach to two existing dynamic V&V techniques, namely semantic differencing and omniscient debugging. We show that such a generated execution trace metamodel provides good usability and scalability for dynamic early V&V support for any xDSML. Our work have been implemented and integrated within the GEMOC Studio, which is a language and modeling workbench resulting from the eponym international initiative.

L’informatique en nuage, au travers de son modèle en couche et de l’accès à ses services à la demande, a bouleversé la façon de gérer les infrastructures (IaaS) et la manière de produire les logiciels (SaaS). Grâce à l’élasticité de l’infrastructure, la quantité de ressource peut être ajustée automatiquement en fonction de la demande afin de satisfaire un certain niveau de qualité de service (QoS) aux clients tout en minimisant les coûts d’exploitation sous-jacents. Le modèle d’élasticité actuel qui consiste à ajuster les ressources IaaS au travers de services de dimensionnement automatique basiques montre ses limites en termes de réactivité et de granularité d’adaptation. De plus, bien qu’étant une caractéristique cruciale de l’informatique en nuage, l’élasticité est à ce jour pauvrement outillée empêchant ainsi les différents acteurs du Cloud de jouir pleinement de ses bienfaits. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous proposons d’étendre leconcept d’élasticité aux couches hautes du nuage, et plus précisément au niveau du SaaS. Nous présentons ainsi le nouveau concept d’élasticité logicielle que nous définissons comme la capacité d’un logiciel à s’adapter, idéalement de manière autonome, pour répondre aux changements de la demande et/ou aux limitations de l’élasticité des ressources de l’infrastructure. Il s’agit alors d’envisager l’élasticité de manière transverse et multi-couche en considérant l’adaptation des ressources Cloud au sens large. Pour ce faire, nous présentons un modèle pour la gestion autonome de l’élasticité multi-couche et le Framework ElaStuff associé. Dans le but d’outiller et d’industrialiser le processus de gestion de l’élasticité, nous proposons l’outil de surveillance perCEPtion basé sur le traitement des événements complexes et permettant à l’administrateur de mettre en place une observation avancée du système Cloud. De plus, un langage dédié à l’élasticité multi-couche nommé ElaScript est proposé pour exprimer simplement et efficacement des plans de reconfiguration orchestrant les actions d’élasticité de différents niveaux. Enfin, notre proposition d’étendre l’élasticité aux couches hautes du Cloud, et plus particulièrement au niveau SaaS, est validée expérimentalement selon plusieurs points devue (QoS, énergie, réactivité et précision du passage à l’échelle,etc.). / Cloud computing, through its layered model and access to its on-demand services, has changed the way of managing the infrastructures (IaaS) and how to produce software (SaaS). With the advent of IaaS elasticity, the amount of resources can be automatically adjusted according to the demand to satisfy a certain level of quality of service (QoS) to customers while minimizing underlying operating costs. The current elasticity model is based on adjusting the IaaS resources through basic autoscaling services, which reaches to its limit in terms of responsiveness and adaptation granularity. Although it is an essential feature for Cloud computing, elasticity remains poorly equipped which prevents the various actors of the Cloud to really enjoy its benefits. In this thesis, we propose to extend the concept of elasticity to higher layers of the cloud, and more precisely to the SaaS level. Then, we present the new concept of software elasticity by defining the ability of the software to adapt, ideally in an autonomous way, to cope with workload changes and/or limitations of IaaS elasticity. This predicament brings the consideration of Cloud elasticity in a multi-layer way through the adaptation of all kind of Cloud resources. To this end, we present a model for the autonomic management of multi-layer elasticity and the associated framework ElaStuff. In order to equip and industrialize the elasticity management process, we propose the perCEPtion monitoring tool, based on complex event processing, which enables the administrators to set up an advanced observation of the Cloud system. In addition, we propose a domain specific language (DSL) for the multi-layer elasticity, called ElaScript, which allows to simply and effectively express reconfiguration plans orchestrating the different levels of elasticity actions. Finally, our proposal to extend the Cloud elasticity to higher layers, particularly to SaaS,is validated experimentally from several perspectives (QoS,energy, responsiveness and accuracy of the scaling, etc.).

The main aim of this study was to determine whether the locus of control construct could be used to predict academic success. The study differentiated between short-term academic success (successful completion of the first year of study) and long-term academic success (successful completion of pre-graduate degree). Both generalised and domain specific locus of control measurements were used to determine which of these correlate with academic success. A further aim was to investigate the role of self esteem and level of defensiveness in the relationship between locus of control and academic achievement. Four measurement instruments were administered to an effective sample of 53 first year students at the University of Pretoria. The measurement instruments were the Internal, Powerful other and Chance Scales (Levenson, 1981), the Multi-dimensional, Multi-attributional Causality Scale (Lefcourt, 1981), the Social Desirability Scale (Crowne&Marlowe, 1960) and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965). The statistical analyses consisted of descriptive statistics and correlational analyses. Analysis of the data showed no significant correlation between locus of control and academic achievement for the group as a whole but did show a significant positive correlation between long-term academic success and generalised internality among black students. The data further showed a significant negative correlation between self esteem and long-term academic success. Self esteem correlated positively with an external orientation in both black and white students. The only significant predictor of academic success among white students was social desirability. / Dissertation (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Psychology / unrestricted

O uso de técnicas e métodos formais contribui para o desenvolvimento de sistemas confiáveis. No entanto, apesar do rigor obtido, em geral, é necessário que essas técnicas sejam complementadas com atividades de teste e validação. Deve-se ressaltar que o custo para eliminar erros encontrados nas etapas iniciais de desenvolvimento é menor do que quando esses erros são encontrados nas fases posteriores. Dessa forma, é essencial a condução de atividades de VV&T - Verificação, Validação e Teste - desde as primeiras fases de desenvolvimento. Critérios de teste, como uma forma sistemática de avaliar e/ou gerar casos de teste de qualidade e, dessa forma, contribuir para aumentar a qualidade da atividade de teste, têm sido investigados para o teste de especificação de Sistemas Reativos. A técnica Redes de Petri Coloridas tem sido constantemente utilizada para a especificação do aspecto comportamental de Sistemas Reativos. Apesar de existirem diversas técnicas de análise, um aspecto não considerado é a cobertura alcançada, visto que, em geral, a aplicação exaustiva não é viável devido ao alto custo. Considerando a relevância do estabelecimento de métodos sistemáticos para o teste e validação dessas especificações, este trabalho propõe a aplicação do critério de teste Análise de Mutantes para o teste de Redes de Petri Coloridas. Neste trabalho foram almejados três objetivos principais, os quais podem ser divididos em estudos teóricos, estudos empíricos e automatização. No contexto de estudos teóricos, foi realizada a definição e embasamento teórico para possibilitar a aplicação da Análise de Mutantes no contexto de Redes de Petri Coloridas. Além disso, investigaram-se mecanismos genéricos para a descrição e geração de mutantes. Definiu-se um algoritmo para a geração de casos de teste baseado na Análise de Mutantes. No contexto de estudos empíricos, foram conduzidos estudos de caso para avaliar a aplicabilidade e eficácia dos resultados teóricos obtidos. Finalmente, no contexto de automatização, foram desenvolvidas ferramentas de apoio à aplicação da Análise de Mutantes. / The usage of formal methods and techniques contributes to the development of highly reliable system, but, in spite of the achieved rigour, these techniques must be complemented with testing and validation activities. It should be highlighted that the cost to eliminate errors found in the early phases of development is smaller than when those errors are found in the later phases. Therefore, the accomplishment of VV&T activities - Verification, Validation and Test - starting at the first development phases is essential. Testing criteria, as a systematic way to evaluate and/or generate test cases, contributing, therefore, to improve the quality of the test activity, have been proposed for testing reactive systems specifications. A technique that has been steadily employed for specifying the behavioural aspect of reactive systems is the coloured Petri nets. Although there are several analysis and validation techniques, a usually neglected aspect is the achieved coverage, given that, in general, the exhaustive application is not feasible due to its high cost. Considering the relevance of establishing systematic methods for the test and validation of coloured Petri nets based specification, this work proposes the investigation of the viability of applying Mutation Testing to test coloured Petri nets. In this work three main goals were pursued, which can be grouped in: theoretical studies, empirical studies and tool development. In the context of theoretical studies, it was accomplished the definition of theoretical concepts to enable the application of Mutant Analysis in the context of coloured Petri nets. Moreover, a mutation-based algorithm was defined to generate test sequences for Petri nets. In the context of empirical studies, case studies were carried out to evaluate the applicability and effectiveness of the achieved theoretical results. Finally, in the context of tool development, tools for supporting the application of Mutation Testing were developed.

Os Sistemas de Apoio à Decisão (SAD) organizam e processam dados e informações para gerar resultados que apoiem a tomada de decisão em um domínio especifico. Eles integram conhecimento de especialistas de domínio em cada um de seus componentes: modelos, dados, operações matemáticas (que processam os dados) e resultado de análises. Nas metodologias de desenvolvimento tradicionais, esse conhecimento deve ser interpretado e usado por desenvolvedores de software para implementar os SADs. Isso porque especialistas de domínio não conseguem formalizar esse conhecimento em um modelo computável que possa ser integrado aos SADs. O processo de modelagem de conhecimento é realizado, na prática, pelos desenvolvedores, parcializando o conhecimento do domínio e dificultando o desenvolvimento ágil dos SADs (já que os especialistas não modificam o código diretamente). Para solucionar esse problema, propõe-se um método e ferramenta web que usa ontologias, na Web Ontology Language (OWL), para representar o conhecimento de especialistas, e uma Domain Specific Language (DSL), para modelar o comportamento dos SADs. Ontologias, em OWL, são uma representação de conhecimento computável, que permite definir SADs em um formato entendível e accessível a humanos e máquinas. Esse método foi usado para criar o Framework Decisioner para a instanciação de SADs. O Decisioner gera automaticamente SADs a partir de uma ontologia e uma descrição naDSL, incluindo a interface do SAD (usando uma biblioteca de Web Components). Um editor online de ontologias, que usa um formato simplificado, permite que especialistas de domínio possam modificar aspectos da ontologia e imediatamente ver as consequência de suasmudanças no SAD.Uma validação desse método foi realizada, por meio da instanciação do SAD SustenAgro no Framework Decisioner. O SAD SustenAgro avalia a sustentabilidade de sistemas produtivos de cana-de-açúcar na região centro-sul do Brasil. Avaliações, conduzidas por especialistas em sustentabilidade da Embrapa Meio ambiente (parceiros neste projeto), mostraram que especialistas são capazes de alterar a ontologia e DSL usadas, sem a ajuda de programadores, e que o sistema produz análises de sustentabilidade corretas. / Decision Support Systems (DSSs) organize and process data and information to generate results to support decision making in a specific domain. They integrate knowledge from domain experts in each of their components: models, data, mathematical operations (that process the data) and analysis results. In traditional development methodologies, this knowledge must be interpreted and used by software developers to implement DSSs. That is because domain experts cannot formalize this knowledge in a computable model that can be integrated into DSSs. The knowledge modeling process is carried out, in practice, by the developers, biasing domain knowledge and hindering the agile development of DSSs (as domain experts cannot modify code directly). To solve this problem, a method and web tool is proposed that uses ontologies, in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), to represent experts knowledge, and a Domain Specific Language (DSL), to model DSS behavior. Ontologies, in OWL, are a computable knowledge representations, which allow the definition of DSSs in a format understandable and accessible to humans and machines. This method was used to create the Decisioner Framework for the instantiation of DSSs. Decisioner automatically generates DSSs from an ontology and a description in its DSL, including the DSS interface (using a Web Components library). An online ontology editor, using a simplified format, allows that domain experts change the ontology and immediately see the consequences of their changes in the in the DSS. A validation of this method was done through the instantiation of the SustenAgro DSS, using the Decisioner Framework. The SustenAgro DSS evaluates the sustainability of sugarcane production systems in the center-south region of Brazil. Evaluations, done by by sustainability experts from Embrapa Environment (partners in this project), showed that domain experts are capable of changing the ontology and DSL program used, without the help of software developers, and that the system produced correct sustainability analysis.

Les architectures parallèles sont aujourd'hui présentes dans tous les systèmes informatiques, allant des smartphones aux supercalculateurs en passant par les ordinateurs de bureau. Programmer efficacement ces architectures en fonction des applications requiert un effort pluridisciplinaire portant sur les langages dédiés (Domain Specific Languages - DSL), les techniques de génération de code et d'optimisation, et les algorithmes numériques propres aux applications. Dans cette thèse, nous présentons une méthode de programmation haut niveau prenant en compte les caractéristiques des architectures hétérogènes et les propriétés existantes des matrices pour produire un solveur générique d'algèbre linéaire dense. Notre modèle de programmation supporte les transferts explicites et implicites entre un processeur (CPU) et un processeur graphique qui peut être généraliste (GPU) ou intégré (IGP). Dans la mesure où les GPU sont devenus un outil important pour le calcul haute performance, il est essentiel d'intégrer leur usage dans les plateformes de calcul. Une architecture récente telle que l'IGP requiert des connaissances supplémentaires pour pouvoir être programmée efficacement. Notre méthodologie a pour but de simplifier le développement sur ces architectures parallèles en utilisant des outils de programmation haut niveau. À titre d'exemple, nous avons développé un solveur de moindres carrés en précision mixte basé sur les équations semi-normales qui n'existait pas dans les bibliothèques actuelles. Nous avons par la suite étendu nos travaux à un modèle de programmation multi-étape ("multi-stage") pour résoudre les problèmes d'interopérabilité entre les modèles de programmation CPU et GPU. Nous utilisons cette technique pour générer automatiquement du code pour accélérateur à partir d'un code effectuant des opérations point par point ou utilisant des squelettes algorithmiques. L'approche multi-étape nous assure que le typage du code généré est valide. Nous avons ensuite montré que notre méthode est applicable à d'autres architectures et algorithmes. Les routines développées ont été intégrées dans une bibliothèque de calcul appelée NT2.Enfin, nous montrons comment la programmation haut niveau peut être appliquée à des calculs groupés et des contractions de tenseurs. Tout d'abord, nous expliquons comment concevoir un modèle de container en utilisant des techniques de programmation basées sur le C++ moderne (C++-14). Ensuite, nous avons implémenté un produit de matrices optimisé pour des matrices de petites tailles en utilisant des instructions SIMD. Pour ce faire, nous avons pris en compte les multiples problèmes liés au calcul groupé ainsi que les problèmes de localité mémoire et de vectorisation. En combinant la programmation haut niveau avec des techniques avancées de programmation parallèle, nous montrons qu'il est possible d'obtenir de meilleures performances que celles des bibliothèques numériques actuelles. / Parallelism in today's computer architectures is ubiquitous whether it be in supercomputers, workstations or on portable devices such as smartphones. Exploiting efficiently these systems for a specific application requires a multidisciplinary effort that concerns Domain Specific Languages (DSL), code generation and optimization techniques and application-specific numerical algorithms. In this PhD thesis, we present a method of high level programming that takes into account the features of heterogenous architectures and the properties of matrices to build a generic dense linear algebra solver. Our programming model supports both implicit or explicit data transfers to and from General-Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) and Integrated Graphic Processors (IGPs). As GPUs have become an asset in high performance computing, incorporating their use in general solvers is an important issue. Recent architectures such as IGPs also require further knowledge to program them efficiently. Our methodology aims at simplifying the development on parallel architectures through the use of high level programming techniques. As an example, we developed a least-squares solver based on semi-normal equations in mixed precision that cannot be found in current libraries. This solver achieves similar performance as other mixed-precision algorithms. We extend our approach to a new multistage programming model that alleviates the interoperability problems between the CPU and GPU programming models. Our multistage approach is used to automatically generate GPU code for CPU-based element-wise expressions and parallel skeletons while allowing for type-safe program generation. We illustrate that this work can be applied to recent architectures and algorithms. The resulting code has been incorporated into a C++ library called NT2. Finally, we investigate how to apply high level programming techniques to batched computations and tensor contractions. We start by explaining how to design a simple data container using modern C++14 programming techniques. Then, we study the issues around batched computations, memory locality and code vectorization to implement a highly optimized matrix-matrix product for small sizes using SIMD instructions. By combining a high level programming approach and advanced parallel programming techniques, we show that we can outperform state of the art numerical libraries.

Det finns flera faktorer som påverkar elevers prestation inom matematik, bland annat elevers matematiska självkänsla. Denna pilotstudie utvecklar och diskuterar ett verktyg för att undersöka hur väl matematiklärare uppfattar sina elevers matematiska självkänsla. Frågeställningen som avsågs att försöka besvaras var följande: Hur väl stämmer matematiklärares uppfattningar om sina elevers matematiska självkänsla överens med elevens matematiska självkänsla?  Genom att granska elev-lärarsvarskombinationer undersöktes hur väl individuella elevers matematiska självkänsla uppfattades av sin matematiklärare. Resultatet påvisar att lärare summativt överskattar elevers matematiska självkänsla. Nollhypotesgranskning visar ej på någon tydlig trend då hälften av de undersökta elev-lärarsvarskombinationerna styrker nollhypotesen och hälften motsäger nollhypotesen. / There are several factors which affect students' performance in mathematics, including the students’ mathematical self-esteem. This pilot study tests a tool to examine mathematics teachers' perception of their students’ mathematical self esteem. The research question that was intended to be answered was the following:  How well do mathematics teachers' perceptions of their students' mathematical self-esteem agree with the students mathematical self-esteem?  By examining student-teacher response combinations through a null hypothesis, it was investigated how well individual students' mathematical self-esteem was perceived by their mathematics teacher. The results show that teachers summatively overestimate students' mathematical self-esteem. Null hypothesis review does not show any clear trend since half of the student-teacher response combinations examined confirmed the null hypothesis and half rejects the null hypothesis.

Le génie logiciel a pour but de créer des outils logiciels qui permettent de résoudre des problèmes particuliers d’une façon facile et efficace. À cet égard, l’ingénierie dirigée par les modèles (IDM), facilite la création d’outils logiciels, en modélisant et transformant systématiquement des modèles. À cette fin, l’IDM s’appuie sur des workbenches de langage : des environnements de développement intégré (IDE) pour modéliser des langages, concevoir des modèles, les exécuter et les vérifier. Mais l’utilisation des outils est loin d’être efficace. Les activités de l’IDM typiques, telles que la création d’un langage de domaine dédié ou créer une transformation de modèles, sont des activités complexes qui exigent des opérations souvent répétitives. Par conséquent, le temps de développement augmentate inutilement. Le but de ce mémoire est de proposer une approche qui augmente la productivité des modélisateurs dans leurs activités quotidiennes en automatisant le plus possible les tâches à faire dans les outils IDM. Je propose une solution utilisant l’IDM où l’utilisateur définit un flux de travail qui peut être paramétré lors de l’exécution. Cette solution est implémentée dans un IDE pour la modélisation graphique. À l’aide de deux évaluations empiriques, je montre que la productivité des utilisateurs est augmentée et amééliorée. / Software engineering aims to create software tools that allow people to solve particular problems in an easy and efficient way. In this regard, Model-driven engineering (MDE) enables to generate software tools, by systematically modeling and transforming models. In order to do this, MDE relies on language workbenches: Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for engineering modeling languages, designing models executing them and verifying them. However, the usability of these tools is far from efficient. Common MDE activities, such as creating a domain-specific language or developing a model transformation, are nontrivial and often require repetitive tasks. This results in unnecessary risings of development time. The goal of this thesis is to increase the productivity of modelers in their daily activities by automating the tasks performed in current MDE tools. I propose an MDE-based solution where the user defines a reusable workflow that can be parameterized at run-time and executed. This solution is implemented in an IDE for graphical modeling. I also performed two empirical evaluations in which the users’ productivity is improved.

The aim of the work is analysis and implementation of a tool, which will support a job scheduling for workers on the annual voluntary service which lasts for a week. The scheduling is done semiautomatically based on various criteria. Users of the tool are able to track a current state of the algorithm execution and influence it. The analysis of the chosen scheduling algorithms and their comparison on real data is also a part of the work. The tool can also be used as a register of worker, job, area and car properties. The emphasis is on the simplicity and intuitivity of the tool controlling and the data input.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to observe the conceptual change in primary school students within the understanding of the market mechanism. On the basis of model situations, a diagnosis of children's understanding will be carried out, on which the didactic procedure will be made leading to the change of erroneous and incomplete ideas about the functioning of the market. On the basis of verifying the didactic procedure, recommendations will be presented for teaching the subject on primary school. KEY WORDS Conceptual change approach, domain-general theory, domain-specific theory, constructivism, qualitative pedagogical research