Comparative Analysis of Test Case Prioritization Using Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm and Genetic Algorithm

After it is published, every software system will get an upgrade, requiring it to adapt to meet the ever-changing client needs thus regression testing becomes one of the most important operations in any software system. As it is too expensive to repeat the execution of all the test cases available from a previous version of the software system, numerous ways to optimize the regression test suite have evolved, one of which is test case prioritizing. This study was carried out to test and compare the effectiveness of evolutionary algorithms and swarm intelligence algorithms, represented by the Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithms. They will be implemented to find the Average Percentage Fault Detected (APFD), execution time, and Big O notation, as these are critical aspects in software testing to ensure high-quality products are produced on time. This study employs data from two separate investigations on comparable issues, denoted as Case Study One and Case Study Two. TCP has been extensively used in recent years, but not much research has been conducted to analyze and evaluate the performance of genetic algorithms (GA) and ant colony optimization (ACO) in a test case prioritization context. The algorithms were compared using APFD, execution time. The APFD and execution time values of 50, 100, 150, and 200 iterations for ACO and GA for both datasets are conducted. Both algorithms were determined to work on O() notation, which indicates they should scale up their execution process similarly on different input scales. Both algorithms performed well in their respective roles. ACO has shown to be more valuable than GA in terms of APFD and GA has shown to be more valuable than ACO in terms of execution time

Analytics of Condition-Effect Rules

This thesis studies properties such as confluence and termination for a rule model with condition-effect rules. A rule model is first defined and the complexity of solving these problems is analysed. Analysis of both confluence and termination shows that they are PSPACE-complete for our rule model. We give algorithms for testing these properties. We also study certain syntactic and structural restrictions under which these problems become easier and can be solved in polynomial time for practical purposes

Somatic Mutational Landscape of Splicing Factor Genes and Their Functional Consequences across 33 Cancer Types

Hotspot mutations in splicing factor genes have been recently reported at high frequency in hematological malignancies, suggesting the importance of RNA splicing in cancer. We analyzed whole-exome sequencing data across 33 tumor types in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and we identified 119 splicing factor genes with significant non-silent mutation patterns, including mutation over-representation, recurrent loss of function (tumor suppressor-like), or hotspot mutation profile (oncogene-like). Furthermore, RNA sequencing analysis revealed altered splicing events associated with selected splicing factor mutations. In addition, we were able to identify common gene pathway profiles associated with the presence of these mutations. Our analysis suggests that somatic alteration of genes involved in the RNA-splicing process is common in cancer and may represent an underappreciated hallmark of tumorigenesis

BALANCING ALIGNMENT, ADAPTIVITY, AND EFFECTIVENESS: DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR SUSTAINABLE IT PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Environmental turbulence puts significant pressure on today’s IT organizations, forcing them to pro-actively respond to changing strategic trajectories and thus to conduct a multiplicity of projects in order to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Although many organizations employ institutionalized IT project portfolio management (IT PPM), they often fail to achieve the desired throughput, struggle with projects that run late, and miss short-term alignment to strategic changes. Further, traditional IT PPM establishes a long-term horizon, which contradicts the organizational necessity to react at short notice. This calls for the refinement of traditional IT PPM towards an aligned yet more flexible dimensioning that is able to adapt to its environment’s dynamism. We apply a design approach guided by activity theory (AT) to investigate a revelatory case, to explore an important phenomenon from a novel perspective. We then conduct a focus group, and perform an applicability check to evaluate and refine our suggestions. Finally, we propose three design goals and 12 design principles to address the issues that so often arise. Our research contributes to the nascent body of knowledge by providing a new analytical view on IT PPM and by suggesting recommendations for a significant problem in practice

Formal development of control software in the medical systems domain

In this thesis we describe the effectiveness of applying a number of formal techniques to the development of industrial control software at Philips Healthcare. We demonstrate how these techniques were tightly incorporated to the industrial workflow and the issues encountered during the application. The work was established in an industrial context, dealing with real industrial projects and a real product concerning the development of interventional X-ray systems. The results are very conclusive in the sense that the used formal techniques could deliver substantially better quality code compared to the code developed in conventional development methods. Also, the results show that the productivity of the formally developed code is better than the productivity of code developed by projects at Philips Healthcare or projects reported worldwide. The thesis also includes a number of design and specification guidelines that assist constructing verifiable components using model checking. The guidelines were successful in designing and verifying a controller component developed at Philips Healthcare. Hence, the guidelines can provide an effective framework to design verifiable control components in industrial settings

Time’s Up: Against Shortening Statutes of Limitation by Employment Contract

Employers are increasingly adding clauses to contracts with employees that purport to shorten the statutes of limitation for employees to pursue claims against their employers (“SOL Clauses”). SOL Clauses are being imposed on employees in various stages of the contracting process. They have turned up in job applications, offer letters, arbitration clauses, employment agreements and employee handbooks. Where they have been enforced by the courts, the justification has been a prioritization of “freedom of contract” over any other policy concerns. This Article argues that, in the employment context, “freedom of contract” should not be prioritized over other competing concerns, which include the potential for overreaching given the inherent imbalance of bargaining power between employer and employee. A very small minority of states have statutes that either prohibit or limit the extent of the enforceability of SOL Clauses. In states without relevant statutory authority, the courts have reached differing conclusions concerning whether to enforce SOL Clauses – sometimes with courts reaching different conclusion on the same exact clause from the same employer’s standard contract. This Article begins with an exhaustive review of how SOL Clauses have been treated by courts. At least two state Supreme Courts have held that a SOL Clause undermines the policy supporting the employee’s underlying claim and, as such, is against public policy. In larger number, other courts have refused to enforce SOL Clauses as “unreasonable,” often under the guise of a substantive unconscionability analysis. At the same time, other courts have held that the clauses are inherently reasonable and enforceable. The result is a current patchwork of often irreconcilable outcomes. In light of the current landscape, the Article discusses the benefits and drawbacks of each of the current approaches, and relates those approaches to well-worn discussions of rules and standards in law design. Ultimately, the Article argues that public policy is a profitable avenue to void SOL Clauses. It does so by referencing recent scholarship that looks to the third-party harm that a contract or clause may cause. The Article argues that this lens justifies invalidating SOL Clauses, which may have the effect of erecting procedural barriers that prevent employees from holding employers accountable on the merits, and might allow employers to continue repeated bad behavior without deterrence or redress. This is especially problematic given that SOL Clauses are presented to employees in standard form contracts. Employers are using these agreements to re-write the rules of the workplace and potentially override legislative judgments about the appropriate limitations period for an employee to pursue a claim

Untrustworthy: ERISA’s Eroded Fiduciary Law

The trust law analogy has come to dominate judicial thinking about employee benefit plans. Yet despite its rise to rhetorical prominence, ERISA fiduciary law has been dramatically transformed by a series of uncoordinated, low-visibility judicial decisions on multiple fronts. These apparently unconnected case law developments reveal a startling pattern of mutually reinforcing restrictions on ERISA’s protection of pension and welfare benefits. This study chronicles ERISA’s trust law turn to expose how untrustworthy workers’ benefit safeguards have become. Both the scope and the intensity of fiduciary oversight have been radically pruned back in the courts. Notwithstanding the congressional declaration that attempts to relax workers’ federal fiduciary protections “shall be void as against public policy,” the Supreme Court has shown the way to curtail fiduciary obligations. That de facto or implicit exculpation, combined with unilateral employer control over both plan terms and plan interpretation, indicate that the federal courts have defanged—or deranged—ERISA’s fiduciary regime. Despite their importance to personal financial security and overall economic welfare, workers repeatedly discover the fragility of the interests they earn under employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement savings programs. The new property in employee benefits is, along multiple dimensions, remarkably weak property

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThere is a need to improve the methods involved with targeted implementation and design of distributed, watershed-scale low impact development (LID) practices. The goal of this dissertation was to improve the targeted implementation and design of distrib