It is not the length that matters, it is how you control it

Abstract-The length of test cases is a little investigated topic in search-based test generation for object oriented software, where test cases are sequences of method calls. While intuitively longer tests can achieve higher overall code coverage, there is always the threat of bloat -a complex phenomenon in evolutionary computation, where the length abnormally grows over time. In this paper, we show that bloat indeed also occurs in the context of test generation for object oriented software. We present different techniques to overcome the problem of length bloat, and evaluate all possible combinations of these techniques using different search lengths. Experiments on a set of difficult search targets selected from several open source and industrial projects show that the important choice in search-based testing is not the length of test cases, but how to make sure that this length does not become bloated

Citizenship and belonging in a women's immigration detention centre

This chapter draws on six months of fieldwork in IRC Yarl’s Wood, Britain’s primary immigration removal centre for women, to explore the racialised logic of citizenship and nationality that underpin border control. Using women’s testimonies, it seeks to ‘give voice’ to an otherwise ilenced custodial population. In doing so, it seeks to enrich the predominantly theoretical literature on border control and challenge its pessimistic view of such places merely as ‘zones of exclusion.’ A second and related goal is to demonstrate the salience of detention centres – and migration - for criminological research on race/ethnicity. Detention centres are complex and nuanced sites where issues of race and nationality are under constant debate. While the government restricts migration, such places play an increasingly important role both in determining and managing populations who are unwelcome and in setting out a British national identity

Which Kind of Causal Specificity Matters Biologically?

Griffiths et al. (2015) have proposed a quantitative measure of causal specificity and used it to assess various attempts to single out genetic causes as being causally more specific than other cellular mechanisms, for example, alternative splicing. Focusing in particular on developmental processes, they have identified a number of important challenges for this project. In this discussion note, I would like to show how these challenges can be met

Beyond harsh trade? The relevance of ‘soft’ competitiveness factors for Ugandan enterprises to endure in Global Value Chains

This article is based on an empirical study which examined the issues of organization and coordination of global production and trade for the case of trade between Uganda and Europe.Respective experiences of 34 exporters in Uganda and 19 importers in Europe were documented through in-depth interviews and consequently analyzed. The article discusses matters of cooperation between the exporters and importers and points to its significance for upgrading and enhancing competitiveness of the exporters studied. It further identifies firm level ‘soft competitiveness factors’ (SCFs) of Ugandan exporters and discusses their relevance for the firms’ performance in Global Value Chains. The findings reveal that deficiencies in SCFs can have damaging effects, and vice-versa. Possession of the SCFs can yield significant competitive advantage for exporters and help to strengthen the relationship with the importers. Findings of ill-treatment of exporters by their importers highlight a particular kind of challenge that is often overseen in the debate about exports of African firms: the challenge regarding business behaviours, practices, and ethics including the ability to engage in relations with foreign buyers and leverage resources, knowledge and generally cooperation from them, first, and the general issue of problematic business practices in the global economy, second. The article policy recommends Policy, practice and research should focus on economic, political, social, cultural and institutional factors that impact on local levels of SCFs; to improve and help exporting enterprises in Africa to survive and succeed in GVCs, within the context of the state of the moral economy in global capitalism

Democratic cultural policy : democratic forms and policy consequences

The forms that are adopted to give practical meaning to democracy are assessed to identify what their implications are for the production of public policies in general and cultural policies in particular. A comparison of direct, representative, democratic elitist and deliberative versions of democracy identifies clear differences between them in terms of policy form and democratic practice. Further elaboration of these differences and their consequences are identified as areas for further research

Medicalisation, pharmaceuticalisation or both? Exploring the medical management of sleeplessness as insomnia

In this paper we examine the medical management of sleeplessness as ‘insomnia’, through the eyes of general practitioners (GPs) and sleep experts in Britain. Three key themes were evident in the data. These related to (i) institutional issues around advocacy and training in sleep medicine (ii) conceptual issues in the diagnosis of insomnia (iii) and how these played out in terms of treatment issues. As a result, the bulk of medical management occurred at the primary rather than secondary care level. These issues are then reflected on in terms of the light they shed on relations between the medicalisation and the pharmaceuticalisation of sleeplessness as insomnia. Sleeplessness, we suggest, is only partially and problematically medicalised as insomnia to date at the conceptual, institutional and interactional levels owing to the foregoing factors. Much of this moreover, on closer inspection, is arguably better captured through recourse to pharmaceuticalisation, including countervailing moves and downward regulatory pressures which suggest a possible degree of depharmaceuticalisation in future, at least as far prescription hypnotics are concerned. Pharmaceuticalisation therefore, we conclude, has distinct analytical value in directing our attention, in this particular case, to important dynamics occurring within if not beyond the medicalisation of sleeplessness as insomnia

Power relations between boards and senior managers in the governance of public and non-profit organisations

This paper presents the findings of an in depth study of power relations between boards and senior managers in four organisations: a school and a FE college from the public sector and a national overseas development agency and a community-based organisation from the voluntary sector. Unlike many previous studies of boards this study draws on observations of what happened inside the boardroom as well as interviews and the analysis of board documents. Pettigrew and McNulty's (1995) tripartite model of power and influence is used to analyse and compare power relations in the four organisations. The paper argues that neither agency theory nor managerial hegemony theory adequately explains board power relations. In particular it highlights how differences in expertise and skill, and board processes and procedure helped shape different patterns of power