Chaining Test Cases for Reactive System Testing (extended version)

Testing of synchronous reactive systems is challenging because long input sequences are often needed to drive them into a state at which a desired feature can be tested. This is particularly problematic in on-target testing, where a system is tested in its real-life application environment and the time required for resetting is high. This paper presents an approach to discovering a test case chain---a single software execution that covers a group of test goals and minimises overall test execution time. Our technique targets the scenario in which test goals for the requirements are given as safety properties. We give conditions for the existence and minimality of a single test case chain and minimise the number of test chains if a single test chain is infeasible. We report experimental results with a prototype tool for C code generated from Simulink models and compare it to state-of-the-art test suite generators.Comment: extended version of paper published at ICTSS'1

BEYOND #FREEBRITNEY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF AB 1194 ON PROFESSIONAL FIDUCIARIES, THE ROLE OF COURT-APPOINTED COUNSEL, AND COURT OVERSIGHT REQUIREMENTS

This article analyzes the impact of California Assembly Bill No. 1194 (AB 1194) on professional fiduciaries and court-appointed counsel and posits funding issues as a barrier to achieving the goals set out by AB 1194 and prior conservatorship law reforms. This article proposes numerous changes to AB 1194, including incentivizing rather than solely penalizing professional fiduciaries, adopting a midway standard between zealous advocacy and the best interests standard for court-appointed counsel, and development of a coherent funding plan. AB 1194 was adopted largely in response to media movements such as #FreeBritney, the movement which called for an end to the conservatorship of Britney Spears. #FreeBritney, however, resulted in no studies to quantify abuse in the context of conservatorships, and the legislative history of the resulting bill cites small-sample, niche, or fictional accounts of abuse in support. Articles analyzing AB 1194 specifically are similarly few and far between. In practice, AB 1194 poses significant problems that undermine its goal of protecting the elderly and incapacitated. As currently written, AB 1194 risks triggering a mass exodus of professional fiduciaries from conservatorship work. Scarcity of professional fiduciaries will disadvantage conservatees because professional fiduciaries offer neutrality and experience in handling complex conservatorships. AB 1194 additionally requires zealous advocacy of court- appointed counsel, codifying one side of a longstanding debate between the zealous advocacy and the best interests of the conservatee standard for court-appointed counsel. However, zealous advocacy is impractical in certain situations, and in others, places the conservatee in danger. Further, the Legislature has not made clear how much funding is necessary to accomplish the mandates of AB 1194, nor is it clear where the funding will come from. Without a coherent fiscal plan, AB 1194 will not achieve its goal of protecting the elderly. With the population of elderly individuals in California estimated to expand rapidly in the coming years, it is necessary that California adopt data-driven conservatorship legislation that creates, supports, and funds a protective conservatorship system

Sound Static Deadlock Analysis for C/Pthreads (Extended Version)

We present a static deadlock analysis approach for C/pthreads. The design of our method has been guided by the requirement to analyse real-world code. Our approach is sound (i.e., misses no deadlocks) for programs that have defined behaviour according to the C standard, and precise enough to prove deadlock-freedom for a large number of programs. The method consists of a pipeline of several analyses that build on a new context- and thread-sensitive abstract interpretation framework. We further present a lightweight dependency analysis to identify statements relevant to deadlock analysis and thus speed up the overall analysis. In our experimental evaluation, we succeeded to prove deadlock-freedom for 262 programs from the Debian GNU/Linux distribution with in total 2.6 MLOC in less than 11 hours

Wien Bleibt Wien! : Marsch

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/3447/thumbnail.jp

Computerspielen als medial-kulturelle Praktik - Ein medienpädagogisch-kulturtheoretischer Zugang zum Phänomen Computerspielen

Gegenwärtig werden im medienpädagogischen Diskurs Computerspiele primär als Medienangebote thematisiert, wobei oftmals ausser Acht gelassen wird, dass Spielen eine kulturell geprägte, aktive und soziale Auseinandersetzung mit dem Spiel als Artefakt, Regelwerk und Geschichte impliziert. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird vor dem Hintergrund bildungstheoretischer und lerntheoretischer Überlegungen ein methodisch-theoretischer Zugang entfaltet und präzisiert, der es erlaubt, Computerspiele als spezifisch situierte medial-kulturelle Praktik pädagogisch zu erfassen, zu beschreiben und zu analysieren. Werden Computerspiele und ihr Spielen als Transformation und Produktion von kulturellen Erfahrungen thematisiert, dann stellt sich die Frage nach der pädagogischen Dimension des Computerspiel(en)s neu. Es eröffnet sich dabei ein Forschungsfeld, das nach differenzierter medienpädagogischer Herangehensweise verlangt. Der vorliegende medienpädagogisch-kulturtheoretische Zugang zum Phänomen Computerspielen baut auf den theoretischen Wurzeln der Spieleforschung auf und fasst das Spielen als medial-kulturelle Handlung

Assessing the Idle Downtown Elements: Case of Trg Nezavisnosti Square

The main city square, Trg Nezavisnosti, in Podgorica is a relatively young square formed as a part of the new city "Nova Varoš". Its turbulent history of existence is anticipated from the initial placement of a central square distanced from public social events. With several changes in design and outlook over a short period, the square still fails to fit within the general urban image. Besides not being recognized as the central point, citizens do not identify with it in the current state. This paper offers an overview of the square development through an analysis of the social background of each affected period. Through the analysis of unsuccessful attempts at construction and reconstruction, we can sense a much deeper problem that transcends just the physical forms and boundaries. Chains of events and urbanistic decisions that lacked more profound research provided temporary solutions that could not grow old within the city and community. In the transitional period, this place shares the destiny with many others, as decentralization and the fast pace of new urban dwellings make it hard to find a single central point. This research explores more layers of societal problems that physically and visually manifested in the example of the main square in this capital city

Abstract Acceleration in Linear relation analysis (extended version)

Linear relation analysis is a classical abstract interpretation based on an over-approximation of reachable numerical states of a program by convex polyhedra. Since it works with a lattice of infinite height, it makes use of a widening operator to enforce the convergence of fixed point computations. Abstract acceleration is a method that computes the precise abstract effect of loops wherever possible and uses widening in the general case. Thus, it improves both the precision and the efficiency of the analysis. This research report gives a comprehensive tutorial on abstract acceleration: its origins in Presburger-based acceleration including new insights w.r.t. the linear accelerability of linear transformations, methods for simple and nested loops, recent extensions, tools and applications, and a detailed discussion of related methods and future perspectives. This is the long version of a paper under submission