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Formal verification methods have been shown to be very effective in finding corner-case bugs and ensuring the safety of embedded software systems. The use of formal verification requires a specification, which is typically a high-level mathematical model that defines the correct behavior of the system to be verified. However, embedded software requirements are typically described in natural language. Transforming these requirements into formal specifications is currently a big gap. While there is some work in this area, we proposed solutions to address this gap in the context of refinement-based verification, a class of formal methods that have shown to be effective for embedded object code verification. The proposed approach also addresses both functional and timing requirements and has been demonstrated in the context of safety requirements for software control of infusion pumps. The next step in the verification process is to develop the refinement map, which is a mapping function that can relate an implementation state (in this context, the state of the object code program to be verified) with the specification state. Actually, constructing refinement maps often requires deep understanding and intuitions about the specification and implementation, it is shown very difficult to construct refinement maps manually. To go over this obstacle, the construction of refinement maps should be automated. As a first step toward the automation process, we manually developed refinement maps for various safety properties concerning the software control operation of infusion pumps. In addition, we identified possible generic templates for the construction of refinement maps. Recently, synthesizing procedures of refinement maps for functional and timing specifications are proposed. The proposed work develops a process that significantly increases the automation in the generation of these refinement maps. The refinement maps can then be used for refinement-based verification. This automation procedure has been successfully applied on the transformed safety requirements in the first part of our work. This approach is based on the identified generic refinement map templates which can be increased in the future as the application required.

The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the clogging potential of installed pervious concrete systems, to analyze rehabilitation techniques and develop construction specifications for the construction of portland cement pervious concrete specific to the state of Florida. Currently, a consistent statewide policy has not been established in reference to credit for storage volume within the voids in pervious concrete and the coarse aggregate base. For this reason a current and updated assessment of pervious pavement is needed to benefit from the advantages of pervious pavement use in low traffic volume areas. Initially by modeling a pervious concrete system in a field laboratory with test cells of typical Florida soil conditions and groundwater elevations and combining these data with field data from multiple sites of long service life, a Florida specific construction methodology has been developed. It is hoped that by developing a more standardized design criteria for pervious pavements in Florida a statewide acceptance of portland cement pervious pavement can be achieved and credit can be earned based on the volume of stored stormwater. This study of field sites was subsequently expanded to include locations in the southeastern United States. Pervious concrete has suffered historically poor support due to a number of factors, including concern about poor long term performance due to clogging of surface pores. Eight existing parking lots were evaluated to determine the infiltration rates of pervious concrete systems that have had relatively no maintenance. Infiltration rates were measured using an embedded single-ring infiltrometer developed specifically for testing pervious concrete in an in-situ state. The average infiltration rates of the pervious concrete that was properly constructed at the investigated sites ranged from 0.4 to 227.2 inches per hour. A total of 30 pervious concrete cores were extracted and evaluated for infiltration rates after various rehabilitation techniques, including pressure washing, vacuum sweeping and a combination of the two methods, have been performed to rehabilitate the infiltration capability of the concrete. By evaluating the effectiveness of these rehabilitation techniques, recommendations have been developed for a maintenance schedule for pervious concrete installations. In most cases it was found that the three methods of maintenance investigated in this study typically resulted in a 200% or greater increase over the original infiltration rates of the pervious concrete cores. It is therefore recommended that as a general rule of thumb one or a combination of these rejuvenation techniques should be performed when the system infiltration rates are below 1.5 inches per hour to maintain the infiltration capability of pervious concrete pavements.

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No description available.

Denna rapport avser att undersöka för- och nackdelar med att utveckla ett för ändamålet specialanpassat system eller utnyttja de standardsystem, som i det aktuella fallet tryckerikoncernen JMS redan äger och använder. Genom en mer noggrann definiering av ickefunktionella krav på bland annat användbarhet har en specialanpassad prototyp framställts. I projektet användes metoder för kravinsamling som ledde till en kravspecifikation och i sin tur slutade med en färdig prototyp. Prototypen jämfördes med två standardsystem genom användartester och intervjuer. Prototypen visade sig leva upp till de krav som upptäcktes. Majoriteten av testpersonerna föredrog ett enklare avskalat system, vilket prototypen upplevdes som, före system med mycket information och funktioner. Med tanke på kostnaden rekommenderas dock JMS att försöka strukturera upp ett av de i företaget befintliga systemen och använda detta istället för att utveckla och implementera ytterligare ett nytt system i företaget. / This report intends to explore the pros and cons of developing a customized system or use the standard system, which in this case printing JMS Group already owns and uses. With a more accurate definition of non-functional requirements such as usability, has a custom-made prototype been built. The project used methods of requirements gathering that led to a specification and ended with a finished prototype. The prototype was compared with two standard systems through user testing and interviews. The prototype proved to live up to the requirements discovered. The majority of test subjects preferred a simpler clean system, which the prototype was, to systems with a lot of information and functions. Given the cost JMS was recommended to structure one of the systems that they already owns and uses instead of developing and implementing a new system further in the company.

Grading is one of the key components of modern pedagogy. Grades are primarily meant to be a method of communication, which is initiated by the owners of the pedagogy (instructors, school, etc.) and are received by various parties such as students: as feedback on their learning outcomes, parents, potential employers, other institutions, etc. However, traditional grading practices in wide use across institutions globally suffer from many problems and can prove to be a hindrance to students achieving their learning outcomes. Many of these practices do not have a backing in education and social research and suffer from various problems such as inherent bias, rewarding of behavior over skill or knowledge, increasing student anxiety, etc. In contrast, EGPs have been backed in research, follow a more open assessment method and have been shown to induce increased learning. Thus, to mitigate some of these problems, we employ Equitable Grading Practices (EGPs) in an introductory CS-1 course at Virginia Tech for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters. In this thesis, we introduce these practices and evaluate student perceptions of them thereafter to answer research questions so that we may be able to refine these practices. We gather student experiences primarily through two instruments: a survey and one-on-one interviews. We describe these in detail and evaluate them through the use of statistics as well grounded theory analysis to be able to extract student perceptions of these grading practices. / Master of Science / Grading is a fundamental aspect of education, shaping not only student learning but also their future opportunities. Traditionally, grades are intended to communicate a student's performance to various stakeholders, including parents and potential employers. However, standard grading methods suffer for biases and promote anxiety among students, rather than truly reflecting their knowledge and skills. In an effort to address these issues, our research at Virginia Tech investigates the implementation of Equitable Grading Practices (EGPs) in an introductory computer science course. These practices, supported by educational research, emphasize a more transparent and inclusive approach to assessment, aiming to enhance learning rather than merely evaluate it. This thesis examines how students perceive these new grading practices through surveys and detailed interviews. Our goal is to understand their experiences and refine these methods to better support student achievement and well-being. This study not only offers insights into the impact of EGPs but also contributes to broader educational reforms aimed at fairer and more effective grading systems.

The analysis of the selected company is accomplished based on theoretical analysis in this diploma thesis. It is a medium-sized company offering services in the field of HVAC, refrigeration, air conditioning systems and extinguishing systems. The company has not accomplished analyses and strategic planning so far. Visions and targets of the company is particularized based on analysis of company. Concept of marketing strategy come from these visions and targets. This thesis should be the fundament for implementation of this strategic planning.

Indirect discrimination against contractors in public tenders ABSTRACT This thesis deals with the legal regulation of public procurement and focuses on the issues of indirect discrimination of contractors in public tenders and the fact that some economic operators cannot participate in procurement procedures due to unjust obstacles to competition laid down by the contracting authorities. One of the main principles of procurement, principle of non-discrimination is described in detail with a use of opinions of stated by the national courts, the Court of Justice of the European Union and in the decisions of the Office for the Protection of Competition in particular. The author of the thesis tries to describe the means of indirect discrimination that occurred in the past procurement procedures within the area of European Union. Discriminatory behavior of the contracting authorities is captured in a comprehensible way and the author shows practical examples to the reader. That all helps to illustrate why the contracting authority's specific behavior was not in compliance with the rules set out in public procurement. It is the analysis of the decision-making practice of the Office for the Protection of Competition, case-law of the national courts and the European Court of Justice that provides an insight into...

É cada vez mais notável o desenvolvimento da indústria micro-eletrônica. A criação de dispositivos eletrônicos menores, que apresentam maior autonomia de energia, aliados ao aumento do poder de processamento, armazenamento e comunicação sem fio de alta velocidade favoreceram o surgimento e disseminação de novas tecnologias e paradigmas, dentre elas a Internet das Coisas (IoT). Do ponto de vista tecnológico, IoT é uma rede de objetos físicos que possuem tecnologia embarcada de sensoriamento e atuação. Agências de consultoria empresarial, tais como a McKinsey & Company, afirmam que IoT apresenta valor de mercado bilionário e poderá ultrapassar a casa dos trilhões antes de 2020. Dessa forma, o mercado de IoT vem se apresentando como um dos mercados mais promissores para os próximos anos. Alguns dos problemas que podem postergar este crescimento são os problemas decorrentes da dificuldade de integração e escalabilidade das aplicações de IoT. Em IoT, problemas de interoperabilidade são corriqueiros, seja pela alta diversidade de dispositivos empregados, seja pela incompatibilidade entre fabricantes. Em relação a escalabilidade, sistemas de IoT possuem uma demanda natural por alta escala, visto que buscam atender demandas comuns a vários setores, seja na indústria, transporte, domótica, segurança pública, comércio, entre outros. Este trabalho apresenta uma solução para esses problemas através do SWoTPAD, um framework formal que auxilia o projetista no desenvolvimento de soluções para IoT. SWoTPAD oferece uma linguagem para especificar dispositivos e serviços, descrever o ambiente e realizar requisições. Adicionalmente, ele gera o módulo de descoberta, composição automática de serviços e execução. Aplicações SWoTPAD são facilmente integráveis, pois usam e estendem um mesmo conjunto de ontologias, o que garante a compatibilidade nos dados gerados e consumidos por essas aplicações. A escalabilidade advém da associação de anotações semânticas a cada um dos elementos que compõem a aplicação de IoT. Essas anotações permitem ao SWoTPAD descobrir, classificar, selecionar e compor automaticamente serviços do ambiente. Dessa forma, SWoTPAD pode procurar por soluções alternativas, quando o serviço original apto a atender uma determinada demanda se encontra sobrecarregado ou indisponível. Para validação do framework, foram adotados dois estudos de caso. O primeiro deles, o problema de implantação de serviços em um ambiente de nuvem, e o segundo, uma aplicação de segurança residencial. O estudo de caso demonstrou que é possível desenvolver aplicações completas de IoT no framework proposto. Adicionalmente, o mecanismo de composição automática gerado pelo framework para essas aplicações apresenta uma piora média de 45% de desempenho quando comparado à composição manual. / The development of the micro-electronics industry is becoming more and more remarkable. The creation of smaller electronic devices, with higher degree of autonomy, processing, storage, and wireless communication favor the emergence and dissemination of new technologies and paradigms, such as the Internet of Things (IoT ). From the technological point of view, IoT is a network of physical objects that have embedded technology of sensing and actuation. McKinsey & Company says the IoT market is already reaching billionaire numbers and may exceed the trillions by 2020. Thus, the IoT market is proving to be one of the most promising markets in the next years. Problems that can delay this growth come from the difficulty of integration and scalability of IoT applications. In IoT, interoperability problems are common, either because of the high diversity of devices used, or because of the incompatibility between manufacturers. Regarding scalability, IoT systems have a natural demand for high scale, since they seek to meet common demands in various sectors, be it in industry, transportation, home automation, public safety, commerce, among others. This work solves these problems through SWoTPAD, a formal framework that assists the designer in developing solutions for IoT. SWoTPAD provides a language for specifying devices and services, describing the environment, and performing requests. Additionally, it generates the discovery, automatic service composition, and execution module. SWoTPAD applications are easily integrable, since they use and extend the same set of ontologies, which guarantees compatibility in the data generated and consumed by these applications. Scalability comes from the association of semantic annotations to each of the elements that compose the IoT application. These annotations allow SWoTPAD to discover, rank, select, and automatically compose services. In this way, SWoTPAD can search for alternative solutions, when the original service able to meet a particular demand is overloaded or unavailable. Two case studies were developed for validation of the framework. The first one, the problem of deploying services in a cloud environment, and the second, a home security system. The case study demonstrated that it is possible to develop complete IoT applications in the proposed framework. Also, the automatic service composition module generated by SWoTPAD for these applications has a mean worsening of 45 % of performance when compared to the manual composition.