How good are your testers? An assessment of testing ability

During our previous research conducted in the Sheffield Software Engineering Observatory [11], we found that test first programmers spent a higher percentage of their time testing than those testing after coding. However as the team allocation was based on subjects' academic records and their preference, it was unclear if they were simply better testers. Thus this paper proposes two questionnaires to assess the testing ability of subjects, in order to reveal the factors that contribute to the previous findings. Preliminary results show that the testing ability of subjects, as measured by the survey, varies based on their professional skill level

Analysis of systems hardware flown on LDEF. Results of the systems special investigation group

The Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was retrieved after spending 69 months in low Earth orbit (LEO). LDEF carried a remarkable variety of mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical systems, subsystems, and components. The Systems Special Investigation Group (Systems SIG) was formed to investigate the effects of the long duration exposure to LEO on systems related hardware and to coordinate and collate all systems analysis of LDEF hardware. Discussed here is the status of the LDEF Systems SIG investigation through the end of 1991

Chemical Enhancement of Bloody Footwear Impressions from Buried Substrates

Footwear impressions are regarded as one of the most common forensic evidence types left at crime scenes. A review of research to date describes previous tests on the survival of footwear impressions in a range of contaminants on a myriad of surfaces. None, however, examined the effects of the burial environment on such impressions. Using human blood as a contaminant, footwear impressions were made on samples of white cotton, newspaper, and black plastic trash bags and were buried for specific time frames, from one to four weeks. The study examines the subsequent development of the surviving impressions postexcavation, using chemical enhancement techniques of ninhydrin, acid black 1, leucocrystal violet (LCV), and Bluestar. The majority of impressions recovered were from the substrates that were in the soil for the shortest period. Poor recovery rates and loss of impressions were observed on substrates buried for more than two weeks. LCV and Bluestar proved most effective for enhancing and retrieving impressions. Impressions were able to be examined by a trained forensic footwear investigator to identify class, individual, and wear characteristics of the impression itself. Potential survival of such identifying features is of paramount importance to an investigation

Holistic debugging - enabling instruction set simulation for software quality assurance

We present holistic debugging, a novel method for observing execution of complex and distributed software. It builds on an instruction set simulator, which provides reproducible experiments and non-intrusive probing of state in a distributed system. Instruction set simulators, however, only provide low-level information, so a holistic debugger contains a translation framework that maps this information to higher abstraction level observation tools, such as source code debuggers. We have created Nornir, a proof-of-concept holistic debugger, built on the simulator Simics. For each observed process in the simulated system, Nornir creates an abstraction translation stack, with virtual machine translators that map machine-level storage contents (e.g. physical memory, registers) provided by Simics, to application-level data (e.g. virtual memory contents) by parsing the data structures of operating systems and virtual machines. Nornir includes a modified version of the GNU debugger (GDB), which supports non-intrusive symbolic debugging of distributed applications. Nornir's main interface is a debugger shepherd, a programmable interface that controls multiple debuggers, and allows users to coherently inspect the entire state of heterogeneous, distributed applications. It provides a robust observation platform for construction of new observation tools

Annual Report: 2010-11

I submit herewith the annual reports from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, for the period ending December 31, 2011. This is done in accordance with an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887, entitled, “An act to establish agricultural experiment stations, in connection with the agricultural college established in the several states under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862, and under the acts supplementary thereto,” and also of the act of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, approved March 12, 1935, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress. The research reports are organized according to our strategic plan, which focuses on high-latitude soils, high-latitude agriculture, natural resources use and allocation, ecosystems management, and geographic information. These areas cross department and unit lines, linking them and unifying the research. We have also included in our financial statement information on the special grants we receive. These special grants allow us to provide research and outreach that is targeted toward economic development in Alaska. Research conducted by our graduate and undergraduate students plays an important role in these grants and the impact they make on Alaska.Financial statements -- Grants -- Students -- Research at SNRAS & AFES: Partners & Collaborators; Programs; Research Sites & Facilities; Research Highlights 2010; Research Highlights 2011 -- Publications -- Facult

Annual Report: 2008

I submit herewith the annual report from the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, for the period ending December 31, 2008. This is done in accordance with an act of Congress, approved March 2, 1887, entitled, “An act to establish agricultural experiment stations, in connection with the agricultural college established in the several states under the provisions of an act approved July 2, 1862, and under the acts supplementary thereto,” and also of the act of the Alaska Territorial Legislature, approved March 12, 1935, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress. The research reports are organized according to our strategic plan, which focuses on high-latitude soils, high-latitude agriculture, natural resources use and allocation, ecosystems management, and geographic information. These areas cross department and unit lines, linking them and unifying the research. We have also included in our financial statement information on the special grants we receive. These special grants allow us to provide research and outreach that is targeted toward economic development in Alaska. Research conducted by our graduate and undergraduate students plays an important role in these grants and the impact they make on Alaska.Financial statement -- Grants -- Students -- Research reports: Partners, Facilities, and Programs; Geographic Information; High-Latitude Agriculture; High-Latitude Soils, Management of Ecosystems; Natural Resources Use and Allocation; Index to Reports -- Publications -- Facult

LDEF Materials Workshop 1991, part 2

The LDEF Materials Workshop 1991 was a follow-on to the Materials Sessions at the First LDEF Post-Retrieval Symposium held in Kissimmee, Florida, June 1991. The workshop comprised a series of technical sessions on materials themes, followed by theme panel meetings. Themes included materials, environmental parameters, and data bases; contamination; thermal control and protective coating and surface treatments; polymers and films; polymer matrix composites; metals, ceramics, and optical materials; lubricants adhesives, seals, fasteners, solar cells, and batteries. This document continues the LDEF Space Environmental Effects on Materials Special Investigation Group (MSIG) pursuit to investigate the effects of LEO exposure on materials which were not originally planned to be test specimens. Papers from the technical sessions are presented