The re-usability and modularity of components reduce the cost and complexity of the software design. It is difficult to predict run-time scenarios covering all possible circumstances to ensure that the components are full compatible with the system. Monitoring run-time behaviours of components presents a close view of the component qualities. The existing monitoring approaches either implement applications with built-in monitoring features, or observe the external resource and events to predict the status of the components. In this thesis work, we propose an approach to monitor the run-time behaviours of components with aspect-oriented wrappers and contracts. We design monitoring wrappers to encapsulate the monitored components. The wrapper has the access to interfaces and properties of the wrapped component. We adopt the methodology of Design by Contract to enforce security policies on component wrappers. The contracts define the mutual obligations of two interacting components. The policies implemented in contracts are woven into component wrappers as separate aspect modules. If the component contains any flaws, the wrappers can monitor the behaviours and prevent failures propagating into the wrapped components and the rest of the system. This approach assures that the system is running in a safe environment with the erroneous behaviours or failures detected appropriately. Secure access between the wrappers guarantees a secure environment for the wrapped components. We conducted experiments on the run-time monitoring of SQL Injection and Cross Site Scripting attacks. We designed cross-cutting concerns such as logging for components to illustrate monitoring components without touching the underlying components. Monitoring on access control is also possible and feasible to add as an additional concern and is also demonstrated in the experiments. The results show that the framework is very flexible to impose separate policies as aspects on component wrappers without the modifications of the underlying components. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2011-01-02 20:43:16.884

Students in Saudi Arabia need opportunities to develop higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, but teachers typically rely upon knowledge transmission in face-to-face teaching. Flipped learning (FL), which integrates the features of online and face-to-face learning, has demonstrated potential for increasing higher-level learning. However, learners may not be able to manage FL activities on their own, such as by watching short videos outside the classroom, and thus might not be well prepared for in-class activities. Therefore, the self-regulated flipped learning (SRFL) approach seeks to address this challenge by integrating self-regulated learning (SRL) into the FL environment.

<p>Denna rapport beskriver utvecklingen av en Instant Messaging klient som implementerats som en språkwrapper. Klienten använder ett känt öppen källkods-bibliotek vid namn libGaim för att få tillgång till Instant Messaging tjänster. Klienten fungerar som en språkwrapper till detta bibliotek, och låter andra applikationer nyttja biblioteket genom ett databasgränssnitt. Arbetet har utförts åt och hos Evolve i Karlstad. Systemet som utvecklats klarar att hantera vanliga Instant Messaging-funktioner så som uppkoppling av konto, nedkoppling, ändring av status, visa kompisikoner, och hämtning av information angående kompisar.</p><p>I beskrivandet av arbetet med detta system ges bakgrundsinformation angående wrappers och Instant Messaging, och dessutom angående de verktyg och metoder som använts likt byggverktyget SCons och utvecklingsmetoden eXtreme Programming. Valet av lösning och design presenteras.</p><p>Som en del av arbetet undersöks språkwrappers med hjälp av av ett antal tester. Dessa tester visade på vilka skillnader som kan väntas beroende på valet av språkwrapper. En språkgenerisk språkwrapper (som skapar ett gränssnitt mot flera språk) behöver inte utgöra någon större prestandaoverhead jämfört med en språkstatisk språkwrapper (som skapar ett gränssnitt mot ett språk).</p><p>Resultatet av arbetet blev ett system som Evolve blev nöjda med och som uppfyllde alla krav som ställdes, antingen fullständigt eller delvis.</p> / <p>This report describes the development of an Instant Messaging client that is implemented as a language wrapper. The client uses a well known open source library, known as libGaim, to access Instant Messaging services. The client works as a language wrapper for this library, and allows other applications to use the library by means of a database interface. The work has been carried out at and for Evolve in Karlstad. The system that has been developed can handle common Instant Messaging operations such as connecting a user account, disconnecting, changing an accounts status, showing buddy icons, and</p><p>collecting information regarding buddies.</p><p>In the description of the work with this system, background information is given regarding wrappers and Instant Messaging, and also regarding the tools and methods used, such as the build tool SCons and the development method eXtreme Programming. The choice of solution and design is presented.</p><p>As a part of the work, language wrappers are evaluated using a number of tests. These tests show the differences that can be expected depending on the choice of language wrapper. A language generic language wrapper (which creates an interface for several languages) need not imply any significant performance overhead compared to a language static language wrapper (which creates an interface towards one language).</p><p>The result of the work we have done was a system that Evolve was pleased with and that satisfies all the requirements, either completely or partially.</p>

Denna rapport beskriver utvecklingen av en Instant Messaging klient som implementerats som en språkwrapper. Klienten använder ett känt öppen källkods-bibliotek vid namn libGaim för att få tillgång till Instant Messaging tjänster. Klienten fungerar som en språkwrapper till detta bibliotek, och låter andra applikationer nyttja biblioteket genom ett databasgränssnitt. Arbetet har utförts åt och hos Evolve i Karlstad. Systemet som utvecklats klarar att hantera vanliga Instant Messaging-funktioner så som uppkoppling av konto, nedkoppling, ändring av status, visa kompisikoner, och hämtning av information angående kompisar. I beskrivandet av arbetet med detta system ges bakgrundsinformation angående wrappers och Instant Messaging, och dessutom angående de verktyg och metoder som använts likt byggverktyget SCons och utvecklingsmetoden eXtreme Programming. Valet av lösning och design presenteras. Som en del av arbetet undersöks språkwrappers med hjälp av av ett antal tester. Dessa tester visade på vilka skillnader som kan väntas beroende på valet av språkwrapper. En språkgenerisk språkwrapper (som skapar ett gränssnitt mot flera språk) behöver inte utgöra någon större prestandaoverhead jämfört med en språkstatisk språkwrapper (som skapar ett gränssnitt mot ett språk). Resultatet av arbetet blev ett system som Evolve blev nöjda med och som uppfyllde alla krav som ställdes, antingen fullständigt eller delvis. / This report describes the development of an Instant Messaging client that is implemented as a language wrapper. The client uses a well known open source library, known as libGaim, to access Instant Messaging services. The client works as a language wrapper for this library, and allows other applications to use the library by means of a database interface. The work has been carried out at and for Evolve in Karlstad. The system that has been developed can handle common Instant Messaging operations such as connecting a user account, disconnecting, changing an accounts status, showing buddy icons, and collecting information regarding buddies. In the description of the work with this system, background information is given regarding wrappers and Instant Messaging, and also regarding the tools and methods used, such as the build tool SCons and the development method eXtreme Programming. The choice of solution and design is presented. As a part of the work, language wrappers are evaluated using a number of tests. These tests show the differences that can be expected depending on the choice of language wrapper. A language generic language wrapper (which creates an interface for several languages) need not imply any significant performance overhead compared to a language static language wrapper (which creates an interface towards one language). The result of the work we have done was a system that Evolve was pleased with and that satisfies all the requirements, either completely or partially.

Component based software development (CBSD) and aspectoriented software development (AOSD) are two complementary approaches. However, existing proposals for integrating aspects into component models are direct transposition of object-oriented AOSD techniques to components. In this article, we propose a new approach based on views. Our proposal introduces crosscutting components quite naturally and can be integrated into different component models.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:58:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo4727_1.pdf: 1069518 bytes, checksum: f7d66b889164069c63fdfafe11edf163 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004 / Existe atualmente uma gigantesca quantidade de informações disponibilizada em formato de texto na Internet e nas redes das grandes corporações. Essas informações encontram-se em um formato não estruturado, dificilmente manipulável por programas de computador. A Extração de Informação (EI) tem como objetivo transformar documentos textuais em um formato estruturado, mapeando a informação contida em um documento em uma estrutura tabular. Tal estrutura é mais facilmente tratável por programas de computador, possibilitando assim a sua utilização por variadas aplicações inteligentes . Dentro da Inteligência Artificial, vemos duas abordagens para tratar o problema da EI: os sistemas baseados em conhecimento e a aprendizagem automática. O trabalho apresentado tem como objetivo a construção de um sistema para extrair informações a partir de textos contendo citações científicas (ou referências bibliográficas) através de uma abordagem baseada em aprendizagem automática. Dentre as diversas técnicas existentes, escolhemos tratar o problema através de uma abordagem híbrida, que combina o uso de técnicas de classificação de textos com os Modelos de Markov Escondidos (HMM). Esta combinação mostrou resultados superiores aos obtidos usando exclusivamente as técnicas de classificação e sua idéia básica é gerar com o uso das técnicas de classificação de textos para EI uma saída inicial para o sistema e refiná-la depois por meio de um HMM. Experimentos realizados com um conjunto de teste contendo 3000 referências resultaram em uma precisão de 87,48%.

This dissertation explores the use of natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) to analyze student self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in response to exam wrappers. Exam wrappers are structured reflection activities that prompt students to practice SRL after they get their graded exams back. The dissertation consists of three manuscripts that compare traditional qualitative analysis with NLP-assisted approaches using transformer-based models including GPT-3.5, a state-of-the-art LLM. The data set comprises 3,800 student responses from an engineering physics course. The first manuscript develops two NLP-assisted codebooks for identifying learning strategies related to SRL in exam wrapper responses and evaluates the agreement between them and traditional qualitative analysis. The second manuscript applies a novel NLP technique called zero-shot learning (ZSL) to classify student responses into the codes developed in the first manuscript and assesses the accuracy of this method by evaluating a subset of the full dataset. The third manuscript identifies the distribution and differences of learning strategies and SRL constructs among students of different exam performance profiles using the results from the second manuscript. The dissertation demonstrates the potential of NLP and LLMs to enhance qualitative research by providing scalable, robust, and efficient methods for analyzing large corpora of textual data. The dissertation also contributes to the understanding of SRL in engineering education by revealing the common learning strategies, impediments, and SRL constructs that students report they use while preparing for exams in a first-year engineering physics course. The dissertation suggests implications, limitations, and directions for future research on NLP, LLMs, and SRL. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation is about using artificial intelligence (AI) to help researchers and teachers understand how students learn from their exams. Exams are not only a way to measure what students know, but also a chance for students to reflect on how they studied and what they can do better next time. One way that students can reflect is by using exam wrappers, which are short questions that students answer after they get their graded exams back. A type of AI called natural language processing (NLP) is used in this dissertation, which can analyze text and find patterns and meanings in it. This study also uses a powerful AI tool called GPT-3.5, which can generate text and answer questions. The dissertation has three manuscripts that compare the traditional way of analyzing exam wrappers, which is done by hand, with the new way of using NLP and GPT-3.5, evaluate a specific promising NLP method, and use this method to try and gain a deeper understanding in students self-regulated learning (SRL) while preparing for exams. The data comes from 3,800 exam wrappers from a physics course for engineering students. The first manuscript develops a way of using NLP and GPT-3.5 to find out what learning strategies and goals students talk about in their exam wrappers and compares it to more traditional methods of analysis. The second manuscript tests how accurate a specific NLP technique is in finding these strategies and goals. The third manuscript looks at how different students use different strategies and goals depending on how well they did on the exams using the NLP technique in the second manuscript. I found that NLP and GPT-3.5 can aid in analyzing exam wrappers faster and provide nuanced insights when compared with manual approaches. The dissertation also shows what learning strategies and goals are most discussed for engineering students as they prepare for exams. The dissertation gives some suggestions, challenges, and ideas for future research on AI and learning from exams.

Gradativamente, os materiais poliméricos passaram a ter uma importância maior para as indústrias do setor automobilístico. O aumento do uso de materiais poliméricos está em desencontro com as questões ambientais, quando leva em consideração o destino final a ser dado para as peças produzidas em materiais poliméricos. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar resultados de ensaios utilizando misturas de polipropileno reciclado com polipropileno virgem, aplicados à produção de peças de envoltórios de rodas automotivas. Foram utilizados dois fornecedores para o polipropileno virgem, quatro fornecedores para o polipropileno reciclado e dois fornecedores de masterbatch. Concluiu-se que o uso de polipropileno reciclado para a produção de envoltório de rodas é possível sem prejuízo ao desempenho do produto final. As amostras contendo o material PPR4 do (polipropileno reciclado 4) do fornecedor de polipropileno reciclado 4, com misturas até 50%, apresentaram desempenho funcional que satisfazem às exigências da indústria automotivas, montagem sem restrições no dispositivo dimensional, sem quebras no ensaio de resistência ao impacto por queda de esfera. O material PPR4 quando misturado a um masterbatch com modificador de impacto e antioxidante, MB1, do fornecedor de masterbatch 1, apresentou valores médios acima de 18kJ/m para o ensaio de resistência ao impacto Charpy, e para o ensaio de resistência a termooxidação suportou mais que 200h. Resultados que evidenciam a possibilidade do uso de polipropileno reciclado na produção de envoltórios de roda. Portanto, este estudo visa fornecer uma contribuição para o aumento do uso de material reciclado dentro da indústria automotiva. / Gradually, the polymeric materials have been given greater importance for the automotive industry. The increasing use of polymeric materials is in disagreement with environmental issues, while taking into account the final destination to be given for parts produced in polymeric materials. This paper aims to present results of tests using mixtures of recycled polypropylene with virgin polypropylene, used to produce parts of wraps of automotive wheels. We used two suppliers for the virgin polypropylene, four suppliers for recycled polypropylene and two suppliers of masterbatch. It is concluded that the use of recycled polypropylene to produce wheel wrap is possible without detriment to the final product performance. The samples containing the material PPR4 (recycled polypropylene 4), of the supplier for recycled polypropylene 4, with mixtures of up to 50% showed functional performance that meets the requirements of the automotive industry, assembly unrestricted dimensional device, without breaks in the trial of impact resistance by falling ball. The material PPR4 when mixed with a masterbatch with an impact modifier and antioxidant, MB1, supplier of masterbatch 1, showed values above 18kJ/m for the testing of Charpy impact strength, and to test for resistance to thermo-oxidation endured more than 200h. Results show that the possibility of using recycled polypropylene in the production of wheel wraps. Therefore, this study aims to provide a contribution to the increased use of recycled material in the automotive industry.

Vid utveckling av webbapplikationer är användning av ramverk och bibliotek vanligt förekommande. Ramverk och bibliotek förenklar och snabbar upp utvecklingen men påverkar bl.a. renderingshastigheten på webbapplikationerna. Studien undersöker om det existerar en skillnad i renderingstider mellan wrappers med jQuery jämfört mot en virtuell-DOM med Vue. Hypotesen är att jQuery ger kortare renderingstider än Vue. Hypotesen baseras på att en virtuell-DOM medför större extrakostnader än wrappers. Till hypotestestningen byggdes ett mätprogram, två fiktiva webbshoppar och en databyggare. De fiktiva webbshopparna skapades med jQuery och Vue och byggdes så lika varandra som möjligt med respektive tekniks möjligheter. Till mätningarna skapades tre olika stora dataset med fiktiva artiklar med databyggaren. Hypotesen i studien bekräftades, jQuery var snabbare än Vue men skillnaden är liten relativt mänsklig uppfattningsförmåga. I ett framtida arbete vore det intressant att se om skillnaden ökar om datorn utsätts för en samtidig kontrollerad belastning eftersom fynd i studien talar för det.

Globally-Asynchronous, Locally-Synchronous (GALS) design techniques employ the finer points of synchronous and asynchronous design methods to eliminate problems arising due to clock distribution, power dissipation, and large area over head. With the recent rise in the demand for System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs, global clock distribution and power dissipation due to clock distribution are inevitable. In order to reduce/eliminate the effects of the global clock in synchronous designs and large area overhead in asynchronous designs, an alternative approach would be to utilize GALS design techniques. Not only do GALS designs eliminate the issue of using a global clock, they also have smaller area overhead when compared to purely asynchronous designs. Among the various GALS design approaches proposed till date, this thesis focuses on the working and implementation of Asynchronous Wrapper designs proposed by Muttersbach et al., in [1, 2]. This thesis specifically addresses different approaches to incorporate the wrappers in VLSI circuits, rather than discussing the efficiency and viability of GALS design techniques over purely synchronous or asynchronous approaches. It has been proven by researchers [3] that GALS design approaches bring down power consumption due to the elimination of the global clock by small amounts, but there is also a drop in performance. Since the goal of this thesis is to introduce the reader to GALS design techniques and not prove their efficiency, it is out of the scope of this thesis to validate the results shown in [3]. In our aim to introduce the reader to GALS design techniques, we first provide a comparison of synchronous and asynchronous design approaches, and then discuss the need for GALS design approaches. We will then address issues affecting GALS such as metastability, latency, flow control, and local clock alteration. After familiarizing the reader with the issues affecting GALS, we will then discuss various GALS design techniques proposed till date. We show the use of asynchronous FIFOs and asynchronous wrappers to realize GALS modules. Two wrapper design approaches are discussed: one being the asynchronous wrapper design proposed by Carlsson et al., in [4], and the other being the asynchronous wrapper design proposed in [1, 2]. An in-depth discussion and analysis of the wrapper design approach proposed in [1, 2] is provided based on the state transition graphs (STGs) that characterize the port-controller AFSMs. Various data transfer channel configurations that incorporate the wrapper port-controllers are designed and realized through VHDL codes, with their functioning verified through simulation results. Design examples showing the working of asynchronous wrappers to achieve point-to-point, synchronous-synchronous and synchronous-asynchronous data communication are provided. Finally, a design example to achieve multi-point data communication is realized. This example incorporates a previously proposed idea. We provide a modification to this idea by designing an arbiter that arbitrates between two separate requests coming into a multi-input port. Through the above design examples, the functionality and working of GALS asynchronous wrappers are verified, and recommendations for modifications are made to achieve flexible multi-point data communication.