The main part in the testing of the software is in the generation of test cases suitable for software system testing. The quality of the test cases plays a major role in reducing the time of software system testing and subsequently reduces the cost. The test cases, in model de- sign stages, are used to detect the faults before implementing it. This early detection offers more flexibility to correct the faults in early stages rather than latter ones. The best of these tests, that covers both static and dynamic software system model specifications, is one of the chal- lenges in the software testing. The static and dynamic specifications could be represented efficiently by Unified Modelling Language (UML) class diagram and sequence diagram. The work in this thesis shows that High Level Petri Nets (HLPN) can represent both of them in one model. Using a proper model in the representation of the software specifications is essential to generate proper test cases. The research presented in this thesis introduces novel and automated test cases generation techniques that can be used within a software sys- tem design testing. Furthermore, this research introduces e cient au- tomated technique to generate a formal software system model (HLPN) from semi-formal models (UML diagrams). The work in this thesis con- sists of four stages: (1) generating test cases from class diagram and Object Constraint Language (OCL) that can be used for testing the software system static specifications (the structure) (2) combining class diagram, sequence diagram and OCL to generate test cases able to cover both static and dynamic specifications (3) generating HLPN automat- ically from single or multi sequence diagrams (4) generating test cases from HLPN. The test cases that are generated in this work covered the structural and behavioural of the software system model. In first two phases of this work, the class diagram and sequence diagram are decomposed to nodes (edges) which are linked by Classes Hierarchy Table (CHu) and Edges Relationships Table (ERT) as well. The linking process based on the classes and edges relationships. The relationships of the software system components have been controlled by consistency checking technique, and the detection of these relationships has been automated. The test cases were generated based on these interrelationships. These test cases have been reduced to a minimum number and the best test case has been selected in every stage. The degree of similarity between test cases is used to ignore the similar test cases in order to avoid the redundancy. The transformation from UML sequence diagram (s) to HLPN facilitates the simpli cation of software system model and introduces formal model rather than semi-formal one. After decomposing the sequence diagram to Combined Fragments, the proposed technique converts each Combined Fragment to the corresponding block in HLPN. These blocks are con- nected together in Combined Fragments Net (CFN) to construct the the HLPN model. The experimentations with the proposed techniques show the effectiveness of these techniques in covering most of the software system specifications.

This diploma thesis is focused on information systems in the field of hospital and nursing-care bed management and contactless vital signals monitoring. The aim of this thesis is to provide the basic overview of information systems used in health care facilities, to introduce both the LINis and Vitalmonitor systems, to analyse the effectiveness of their implementation as well as to prepare their financing models. The introductory section defines the area of health information systems. It covers the whole system spectrum from the strategic to the less important ones. This definition determines the environment for the new systems. The analysis of the largest suppliers within the Czech Republic is also included in this section. The second part deals with the LINis system and Vitalmonitor system, their basic functionality, structure and integration. The most important is the third section which contains the analysis of the effects resulting from the standard information system extension. The Effects of the LINis system and Vitalmonitor system are assessed according to the level of patient care, staff performance, value added for different types of medical facilities and financing models.

Abstract in English / The number of studies focused on the digital preservation of indigenous knowledge has been growing steadily over the years. Despite the growth in this area of research, there is still a lack of information technology tools that preserve and disseminate indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge has been highlighted as an area that can advance sustainable development, and its preservation is therefore of the utmost importance. Indigenous knowledge is mostly present within older generations, and if it is not preserved, this knowledge will die with its custodians. African communities rely heavily on indigenous medicine. A digital platform needs to be explored that can preserve practices relating to these medicines for future generations. Since indigenous knowledge is dynamic and is constantly evolving, there is a need to explore a digital tool that can highlight this dynamic nature. Current methods of preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants were found to be less than effective and marred by constraints such as space and time. The main objective of this study was therefore to develop a model that could be used to guide the design of a new e-learning system aimed at facilitating the preservation of indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants. In this study, e-learning technology was used to determine the requirements for presenting indigenous knowledge of Namibia’s medicinal plants in such a way as to ensure that individuals can internalise and preserve this knowledge. An interpretivist qualitative approach was followed. Data was collected by conducting a literature review and carrying out a survey. A prototype e-learning system was developed and evaluated based on the collected data. It was found that preserving indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants through e-learning would require, among other things, engagement with the relevant knowledge custodians, leveraging multimedia, and offering content in indigenous languages. / School of Computing / M.Sc. (Computing)

The main part in the testing of the software is in the generation of test cases suitable for software system testing. The quality of the test cases plays a major role in reducing the time of software system testing and subsequently reduces the cost. The test cases, in model de- sign stages, are used to detect the faults before implementing it. This early detection offers more flexibility to correct the faults in early stages rather than latter ones. The best of these tests, that covers both static and dynamic software system model specifications, is one of the chal- lenges in the software testing. The static and dynamic specifications could be represented efficiently by Unified Modelling Language (UML) class diagram and sequence diagram. The work in this thesis shows that High Level Petri Nets (HLPN) can represent both of them in one model. Using a proper model in the representation of the software specifications is essential to generate proper test cases. The research presented in this thesis introduces novel and automated test cases generation techniques that can be used within a software sys- tem design testing. Furthermore, this research introduces e cient au- tomated technique to generate a formal software system model (HLPN) from semi-formal models (UML diagrams). The work in this thesis con- sists of four stages: (1) generating test cases from class diagram and Object Constraint Language (OCL) that can be used for testing the software system static specifications (the structure) (2) combining class diagram, sequence diagram and OCL to generate test cases able to cover both static and dynamic specifications (3) generating HLPN automat- ically from single or multi sequence diagrams (4) generating test cases from HLPN. The test cases that are generated in this work covered the structural and behavioural of the software system model. In first two phases of this work, the class diagram and sequence diagram are decomposed to nodes (edges) which are linked by Classes Hierarchy Table (CHu) and Edges Relationships Table (ERT) as well. The linking process based on the classes and edges relationships. The relationships of the software system components have been controlled by consistency checking technique, and the detection of these relationships has been automated. The test cases were generated based on these interrelationships. These test cases have been reduced to a minimum number and the best test case has been selected in every stage. The degree of similarity between test cases is used to ignore the similar test cases in order to avoid the redundancy. The transformation from UML sequence diagram (s) to HLPN facilitates the simpli cation of software system model and introduces formal model rather than semi-formal one. After decomposing the sequence diagram to Combined Fragments, the proposed technique converts each Combined Fragment to the corresponding block in HLPN. These blocks are con- nected together in Combined Fragments Net (CFN) to construct the the HLPN model. The experimentations with the proposed techniques show the effectiveness of these techniques in covering most of the software system specifications.

Information flow properties are away of specifying security properties of systems ,dating back to the work of Goguen and Meseguer in the eighties. In this framework ,a system is modeled as having high-level (or confidential)events as well as low-level (or public) events, and a typical property requires that the high-level events should not “influence ”the occurrence of low-level events. In other words, the sequence of low-level events observed from a system execution should not reveal “too much” information about the high-level events that may have taken place. For example, the trace-based “non-inference” property states that for every trace produced by the system, its projection to low-level events must also be a possible trace of the system. For a system satisfying non-inference, a low-level adversary (who knows the language generated by the system) viewing only the low-level events in any execution cannot infer any in-formation about the occurrence of high-level events in that execution. Other well-known properties include separability, generalized non-interference, non-deducibility of outputs etc. These properties are trace-based. Similarly there is another class of properties based on the structure of the transition system called bisimulation-based information flow properties, defined by Focardiand Gorrieriin1995. In our thesis we study the problem of model-checking the well-known trace-based and bisimulation-based properties for some popular classes of infinite-state system models. We first consider trace-based properties. We define some language-theoretic operations that help to characterize language-inclusion in terms of satisfaction of these properties. This gives us a reduction of the language inclusion problem for a class of system models, say F, to the model-checking problem for F, whenever F, is effectively closed under these language-theoretic operations. We apply this result to show that the model-checking problem for Petri nets, push down systems and for some properties on deterministic push down systems is undecidable. We also consider the class of visibly pushdown systems and show that their model-checking problem is undecidable in general(for some properties).Then we show that for the restricted class of visibly pushdown systems in which all the high (confidential) event are internal, the model-checking problem becomes decidable. Similarly we show that the problem of model-checking bisimulation-based properties is undecidable for Petrinets, pushdown systems and process algebras. Next we consider the problem of detecting information leakage in programs. Here the programs are modeled to have low and high inputs and low outputs. The well known definition of“ non-interference” on programs says that in no execution should the low outputs depend on the high inputs. However this definition was shown to be too strong to be used in practice, with a simple(and considered to be safe)“password-checking” program failing it.“Abstract non-interference(ANI)”and its variants were proposed in the literature to generalize or weaken non-interference. We call these definitions qualitative refinements of non-interference. We study the problem of model-checking many classes of finite-data programs(variables taking values from a bounded domain)for these refinements. We give algorithms and show that this problem is in PSPACE for while, EXPTIME for recursive and EXPSPACE for asynchronous finite-data programs. We finally study different quantitative refinements of non-interference pro-posed in the literature. We first characterize these measures in terms of pre images. These characterizations potentially help designing analysis computing over and under approximations for these measures. Then we investigate the applicability of these measures on standard cryptographic functions.

Suspension systems and wheels play a critical role in vehicle dynamics performance of a car in areas such as ride comfort and handling. Lumped parameter models (LPMs) are commonly used for assessing the performance of vehicle suspension systems. However, there is a lack of clarity with regard to the relative capabilities of different LPM configurations. A comprehensive comparative study of three most commonly used LPMs of increasing complexity has been carried out in the current work. The study reported here has yielded insights into the capabilities of the considered LPMs in predicting response time histories which may be used for assessing ride comfort. A shortcoming of available suspension system models appears to be in representation of harsh situations such as jounce movement which cause full compression of springs leading to ‘jerks’ manifested as high values of rate of change of acceleration of sprung mass riding on a wheel. In the current research work, a modified nonlinear quarter-car model is proposed to account for the contact force that results in jerk-type response. The numerical solution algorithm is validated through the simulation of an impact test on a car McPherson strut in a Drop Weight Impact Testing Tower developed in CAR Laboratory, CPDM. This is followed by a detailed comparison of HCM and QCM to examine their suitability for such analysis. For decades, wheel bearings in vehicles have been designed using simplified analytical approaches based on Hertz contact theory and test data. In the present work, a hybrid approach has been developed for assessing the load bearing capacity of a wheel ball bearing set. According to this approach, the amplitude of dynamic wheel load can be obtained from a lumped parameter analysis of a suspension system, which can then be used for detailed static finite element analysis of a wheel bearing system. The finite element modelling approach has been validated by successfully predicting the load bearing capacity of an SKF ball bearing set for an acceptable fatigue life. For the first time, using a powerful commercial explicit finite element analysis tool, a detailed dynamic analysis has been carried of a deep groove ball bearing with a rotating inner race. The analysis has led to a consistent representation of complex motions consisting of rotations and revolutions of rolling elements, and generated insights into the stresses developed in the various components such as balls and races. In conclusion, a simple yet effective fuzzy logic-based yaw control algorithm has been presented in the current research. According to this algorithm, two inputs i.e. a yaw rate error and a driver steering angle are used for generating an output in the form of an additive steering angle which potentially can aid a driver in avoiding straying from an intended path.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2016-05-31T09:35:51Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Frederico Augusto Martins Valtuille Faleiro - 2016.pdf: 7096330 bytes, checksum: 04cfce04ef128c5bd6e99ce18bb7f650 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-05-31T10:52:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Frederico Augusto Martins Valtuille Faleiro - 2016.pdf: 7096330 bytes, checksum: 04cfce04ef128c5bd6e99ce18bb7f650 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-31T10:52:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Frederico Augusto Martins Valtuille Faleiro - 2016.pdf: 7096330 bytes, checksum: 04cfce04ef128c5bd6e99ce18bb7f650 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The climate changes are one of the major threats to the biodiversity and it is expected to increase its impact along the 21st century. The climate change affect all levels of the biodiversity from individuals to biomes, reducing the ecosystem services. Despite of this, the prediction of climate change impacts on biodiversity is still a challenge. Overcoming these issues depends on improvements in different aspects of science that support predictions of climate change impact on biodiversity. The common practice to predict the climate change impact consists in formulate ecological niche models based in the current climate and project the changes based in the future climate predicted by the climate models. However, there are some recognized limitations both in the formulation of the ecological niche model and in the use of predictions from the climate models that need to be analyzed. Here, in the first chapter we review the science behind the climate models in order to reduce the knowledge gap between the scientific community that formulate the climate models and the community that use the predictions of these models. We showed that there is not consensus about evaluate the climate models, obtain regional models with higher spatial resolution and define consensual models. However, we gave some guidelines for use the predictions of the climate models. In the second chapter, we tested if the predictions of correlative ecological niche models fitted with presence-absence match the predictions of models fitted with abundance data on the metrics of climate change impact on orchid bees in the Atlantic Forest. We found that the presence-absence models were a partial proxy of change in abundance when the output of the models was continuous, but the same was not true when the predictions were converted to binary. The orchid bees in general will decrease the abundance in the future, but will retain a good amount of suitable sites in the future and the distance to gained climatic suitable areas can be very close, despite of great variation. The change in the species richness and turnover will be mainly in the western and some regions of southern of the Atlantic Forest. In the third chapter, we discussed the drawbacks in using the estimations of realized niche instead the fundamental niche, such as overpredicting the effect of climate change on species’ extinction risk. We proposed a framework based on phylogenetic comparative and missing data methods to predict the dimensions of the fundamental niche of species with missing data. Moreover, we explore sources of uncertainty in predictions of fundamental niche and highlight future directions to overcome current limitations of phylogenetic comparative and missing data methods to improve predictions. We conclude that it is possible to make better use of the current knowledge about species’ fundamental niche with phylogenetic information and auxiliary traits to predict the fundamental niche of poorly-studied species. In the fourth chapter, we used the framework of the chapter three to test the performance of two recent phylogenetic modeling methods to predict the thermal niche of mammals. We showed that PhyloPars had better performance than Phylogenetic Eigenvector Maps in predict the thermal niche. Moreover, the error and bias had similar phylogenetic pattern for both margins of the thermal niche while they had differences in the geographic pattern. The variance in the performance was explained by taxonomic differences and not by methodological aspects. Finally, our models better predicted the upper margin than the lower margin of the thermal niche. This is a good news for predicting the effect of climate change on species without physiological data. We hope our finds can be used to improve the predictions of climate change effect on the biodiversity in future studies and support the political decisions on minimizing the effects of climate change on biodiversity. / As mudanças climáticas são uma das principais ameaças à biodiversidade e é esperado que aumente seu impacto ao longo do século XXI. As mudanças climáticas afetam todos os níveis de biodiversidade, de indivíduos à biomas, reduzindo os serviços ecossistêmicos. Apesar disso, as predições dos impactos das mudanças climáticas na biodiversidade é ainda um desafio. A superação dessas questões depende de melhorias em diferentes aspectos da ciência que dá suporte para predizer o impacto das mudanças climáticas na biodiversidade. A prática comum para predizer o impacto das mudanças climáticas consiste em formular modelos de nicho ecológico baseado no clima atual e projetar as mudanças baseadas no clima futuro predito pelos modelos climáticos. No entanto, existem algumas limitações reconhecidas na formulação do modelo de nicho ecológico e no uso das predições dos modelos climáticos que precisam ser analisadas. Aqui, no primeiro capítulo nós revisamos a ciência por detrás dos modelos climáticos com o intuito de reduzir a lacuna de conhecimentos entre a comunidade científica que formula os modelos climáticos e a comunidade que usa as predições dos modelos. Nós mostramos que não existe consenso sobre avaliar os modelos climáticos, obter modelos regionais com maior resolução espacial e definir modelos consensuais. No entanto, nós damos algumas orientações para usar as predições dos modelos climáticos. No segundo capítulo, nós testamos se as predições dos modelos correlativos de nicho ecológicos ajustados com presença-ausência são congruentes com aqueles ajustados com dados de abundância nas medidas de impacto das mudanças climáticas em abelhas de orquídeas da Mata Atlântica. Nós encontramos que os modelos com presença-ausência foram substitutos parciais das mudanças na abundância quando o resultado dos modelos foi contínuo (adequabilidade), mas o mesmo não ocorreu quando as predições foram convertidas para binárias. As espécies de abelhas, de modo geral, irão diminuir em abundância no futuro, mas reterão uma boa quantidade de locais adequados no futuro e a distância para áreas climáticas adequadas ganhadas podem estar bem próximo, apesar da grande variação. A mudança na riqueza e na substituição de espécies ocorrerá principalmente no Oeste e algumas regiões no sul da Mata Atlântica. No terceiro capítulo, nós discutimos as desvantagens no uso de estimativas do nicho realizado ao invés do nicho fundamental, como superestimar o efeito das mudanças climáticas no risco de extinção das espécies. Nós propomos um esquema geral baseado em métodos filogenéticos comparativos e métodos de dados faltantes para predizer as dimensões do nicho fundamental das espécies com dados faltantes. Além disso, nós exploramos as fontes de incerteza nas predições do nicho fundamental e destacamos direções futuras para superar as limitações atuais dos métodos comparativos filogenéticas e métodos de dados faltantes para melhorar as predições. Nós concluímos que é possível fazer melhor uso do conhecimento atual sobre o nicho fundamental das espécies com informação filogenética e caracteres auxiliares para predizer o nicho fundamental de espécies pouco estudadas. No quarto capítulo, nós usamos o esquema geral do capítulo três para testar a performance de dois novos métodos de modelagem filogenética para predizer o nicho térmico dos mamíferos. Nós mostramos que o “PhyloPars” teve uma melhor performance que o “Phylogenetic Eigenvector Maps” em predizer o nicho térmico. Além disso, o erro e o viés tiveram um padrão filogenético similar para ambas as margens do nicho térmico, enquanto eles apresentaram diferentes padrões espaciais. A variância na performance foi explicada pelas diferenças taxonômicas e não pelas diferenças em aspectos metodológicos. Finalmente, nossos modelos melhor predizem a margem superior do que a margem inferior do nicho térmico. Essa é uma boa notícia para predizer o efeito das mudanças climáticas em espécies sem dados fisiológicos. Nós esperamos que nossos resultados possam ser usados para melhorar as predições do efeito das mudanças climáticas na biodiversidade em estudos futuros e dar suporte para decisões políticas para minimização dos efeitos das mudanças climáticas na biodiversidade.

<div>Multi-target tracking (MTT) is the problem to simultaneously estimate the number of targets and their states or trajectories. Numerous techniques have been developed for over 50 years, with a multitude of applications in many fields of study; however, there are two most widely used approaches to MTT: i) data association-based traditional algorithms; and ii) finite set statistics (FISST)-based data association free Bayesian multi-target filtering algorithms. Most data association-based traditional filters mainly use a statistical or simple model of the feature without explicitly considering the correlation between the target behavior</div><div>and feature characteristics. The inaccurate model of the feature can lead to divergence of the estimation error or the loss of a target in heavily cluttered and/or low signal-to-noise ratio environments. Furthermore, the FISST-based data association free Bayesian multi-target filters can lose estimates of targets frequently in harsh environments mainly</div><div>attributed to insufficient consideration of uncertainties not only measurement origin but also target's maneuvers.</div><div>To address these problems, three main approaches are proposed in this research work: i) new feature models (e.g., target dimensions) dependent on the target behavior</div><div>(i.e., distance between the sensor and the target, and aspect-angle between the longitudinal axis of the target and the axis of sensor line of sight); ii) new Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density (GM-PHD) filter which explicitly considers the uncertainty in the measurement origin; and iii) new GM-PHD filter and tracker with jump Markov system models. The effectiveness of the analytical findings is demonstrated and validated with illustrative target tracking examples and real data collected from the surveillance radar.</div>

The design of any information management system (IMS) requires a clear strategy for its integration into the environment for which it is intended. Information management has been addressed in the objectives and plans of the Government of Uganda since independence in 1962, with varying degrees of success. The extensive changes that have taken place in the last few decades in Ugandan higher education have led to increased demands for managing student information. In turn a strategy for proper coordination of such data is necessary. The major aim of this study was to design such a strategy. The research therefore attempted to investigate the current state of the management and coordination of student information in Uganda. The needs and requirements of a student information management system (SIMS) and strategies for its integration in higher education programmes were established. The study carried out in the education sector was conducted using a qualitative research framework that provided a coherent set of propositions which explains the phenomenon of a SIMS. The researcher purposively selected the respondents (including key informants, administrators and student leaders) in this sector, who included people involved in the capture, storage, management and use of student information in various institutions in the given sector. Observably, the current state of the SIMS lacks a strategy to keep track of student information in Uganda. It was established that to ensure tracking of such data in the country, an identification system with standardised procedures in a coordinating structure is required together with a clear strategy for utilising the existing structures in the education sector. To design a strategy of this kind, a proposed framework for an integrated SIMS defined the principles, environment and contextual boundaries in terms of which the design is created. It defines the structure of a national student identification system and its coordination in the education sector in Uganda. Strategies for ensuring the sustainability of such a system and its implications for the socio-economic environment of higher education are considered. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil. (Information Science)

The design of any information management system (IMS) requires a clear strategy for its integration into the environment for which it is intended. Information management has been addressed in the objectives and plans of the Government of Uganda since independence in 1962, with varying degrees of success. The extensive changes that have taken place in the last few decades in Ugandan higher education have led to increased demands for managing student information. In turn a strategy for proper coordination of such data is necessary. The major aim of this study was to design such a strategy. The research therefore attempted to investigate the current state of the management and coordination of student information in Uganda. The needs and requirements of a student information management system (SIMS) and strategies for its integration in higher education programmes were established. The study carried out in the education sector was conducted using a qualitative research framework that provided a coherent set of propositions which explains the phenomenon of a SIMS. The researcher purposively selected the respondents (including key informants, administrators and student leaders) in this sector, who included people involved in the capture, storage, management and use of student information in various institutions in the given sector. Observably, the current state of the SIMS lacks a strategy to keep track of student information in Uganda. It was established that to ensure tracking of such data in the country, an identification system with standardised procedures in a coordinating structure is required together with a clear strategy for utilising the existing structures in the education sector. To design a strategy of this kind, a proposed framework for an integrated SIMS defined the principles, environment and contextual boundaries in terms of which the design is created. It defines the structure of a national student identification system and its coordination in the education sector in Uganda. Strategies for ensuring the sustainability of such a system and its implications for the socio-economic environment of higher education are considered. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil. (Information Science)