Testing conformance to a quasi-non-deterministic stream X-machine

Stream X-machines have been used in order to specify a range of systems. One of the strengths of this approach is that, under certain well-defined conditions, it is possible to produce a finite test that is guaranteed to determine the correctness of the implementation under test (IUT). Initially only deterministic stream X-machines were considered in the literature. This is largely because the standard test algorithm relies on the stream X-machine being deterministic. More recently the problem of testing to determine whether the IUT is equivalent to a non-deterministic stream X-machine specification has been tackled. Since non-determinism can be important for specifications, this is an extremely useful extension. In many cases, however, we wish to test for a weaker notion of correctness called conformance. This paper considers a particular form of non-determinism, within stream X-machines, that will be called quasi-non-determinism. It then investigates the generation of tests that are guaranteed to determine whether the IUT conforms to a quasi-non-deterministic stream X-machine specification. The test generation algorithm given is a generalisation of that used for testing from a deterministic stream X-machine

Leveraging Semantic Web Service Descriptions for Validation by Automated Functional Testing

Recent years have seen the utilisation of Semantic Web Service descriptions for automating a wide range of service-related activities, with a primary focus on service discovery, composition, execution and mediation. An important area which so far has received less attention is service validation, whereby advertised services are proven to conform to required behavioural specifications. This paper proposes a method for validation of service-oriented systems through automated functional testing. The method leverages ontology-based and rule-based descriptions of service inputs, outputs, preconditions and effects (IOPE) for constructing a stateful EFSM specification. The specification is subsequently utilised for functional testing and validation using the proven Stream X-machine (SXM) testing methodology. Complete functional test sets are generated automatically at an abstract level and are then applied to concrete Web services, using test drivers created from the Web service descriptions. The testing method comes with completeness guarantees and provides a strong method for validating the behaviour of Web services

Testing Based on Identifiable P Systems Using Cover Automata and X-Machines

YesThis paper represents a significant advance on the issue of testing for implementations specified by P systems with transformation and communicating rules. Using the X-machine framework and the concept of cover automaton, it devises a testing approach for such systems, that, under well defined conditions, it ensures that the implementation conforms to the specification. It also investigates the issue of identifiability for P systems, that is an essential prerequisite for testing implementations based on such specifications and establishes a fundamental set of properties for identifiable P systems.Marian Gheorghe and Savas Konur acknowledge the support from EPSRC (EP/I031812/1). Marian Gheorghe’s and Florentin Ipate’s work is partially supported by CNCS-UEFISCDI (PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0688)

Using JML Runtime Assertion Checking to Automate Metamorphic Testing in Applications without Test Oracles

It is challenging to test applications and functions for which the correct output for arbitrary input cannot be known in advance, e.g. some computational science or machine learning applications. In the absence of a test oracle, one approach to testing these applications is to use metamorphic testing: existing test case input is modified to produce new test cases in such a manner that, when given the new input, the application should produce an output that can be easily be computed based on the original output. That is, if input x produces output f(x), then we create input x' such that we can predict f(x') based on f(x); if the application or function does not produce the expected output, then a defect must exist, and either f(x) or f(x') (or both) is wrong. By using metamorphic testing, we are able to provide built-in 'pseudo-oracles' for these so-called 'nontestable programs' that have no test oracles. In this paper, we describe an approach in which a function's metamorphic properties are specified using an extension to the Java Modeling Language (JML), a behavioral interface specification language that is used to support the 'design by contract' paradigm in Java applications. Our implementation, called Corduroy, pre-processes these specifications and generates test code that can be executed using JML runtime assertion checking, for ensuring that the specifications hold during program execution. In addition to presenting our approach and implementation, we also describe our findings from case studies in which we apply our technique to applications without test oracles

A verified and optimized Stream X-Machine testing method, with application to cloud service certification

The Stream X-Machine (SXM) testing method provides strong and repeatable guarantees of functional correctness, up to a specification. These qualities make the method attractive for software certification, especially in the domain of brokered cloud services, where arbitrage seeks to substitute functionally equivalent services from alternative providers. However, practical obstacles include: the difficulty in providing a correct specification, the translation of abstract paths into feasible concrete tests, and the large size of generated test suites. We describe a novel SXM verification and testing method, which automatically checks specifications for completeness and determinism, prior to generating complete test suites with full grounding information. Three optimisation steps achieve up to a ten-fold reduction in the size of the test suite, removing infeasible and redundant tests. The method is backed by a set of tools to validate and verify the SXM spec-ification, generate technology-agnostic test suites and ground these in SOAP, REST or rich-client service implementations. The method was initially validated using seven specifications, three cloud platforms and five grounding strategies

TEKNOLOGI VACUM FRYING UNTUK PENGGORENGAN KERIPIK JAMUR TIRAM di DESA TALANG BUBUK PLAJU PALEMBANG

The purpose of this activity is to help partners in order to increase the productivity of the oyster mushroom business group through the application of appropriate technology and skills training for diversification of oyster mushroom products. The implementation method consists of two activities, namely (1) making a vacuum frying machine, and (2) training on mushroom chips processing skills. Making vacuum frying includes the process of planning, manufacturing, testing, and training in the use of machines for work partners. Meanwhile, training for partners includes: (1) providing theories and demonstrations on how to use vacuum frying, (2) training on mushroom chips skills and (3) product marketing training. The results of this science and technology program are the realization of a vacuum frying machine with mushroom capacity specifications of 3.5 kg / process, LPG fueled with automatic temperature control, cooling water circulation, 15 liter cooking oil volume, 900 watt power requirements, dimensions 160 x 100 x 100 cm, with an oil heating temperature of 80 oC and temperature changes between 80 - 90⁰ C, frying time ± 1.5 hours (for one frying time). Mushroom diversification resulted from the training of oyster mushroom processing skills in the form of mushroom chips

FSM quasi-equivalence testing via reduction and observing absence

There has been significant interest in automatically generating test cases from a non-deterministic finite state machine (FSM). Most approaches check that the behaviours of the system under test (SUT) are allowed by the specification FSM; they therefore test for reduction. However, sometimes one wants all of the behaviours, and so features, of the specification to be implemented and then one is testing for equivalence. In this paper we first note that in order to test for equivalence one must effectively be able to observe the SUT not being able to produce an output $y$ in response to an input $x$ after trace $\sigma$; we model this as the absence of an output. We prove that the problem of testing for equivalence to FSM $M$ can be mapped to testing for reduction to an FSM $R(M)$ that extends $M$ with absences. Thus, one can use techniques developed for testing for reduction when testing for equivalence. We then consider the case where the specification is partial, generalising the result to quasi-equivalence. These results are proved for observable specifications and so we also show how a partial FSM can be mapped to an observable partial FSM from which we can test

Discovery and Selection of Certified Web Services Through Registry-Based Testing and Verification

Reliability and trust are fundamental prerequisites for the establishment of functional relationships among peers in a Collaborative Networked Organisation (CNO), especially in the context of Virtual Enterprises where economic benefits can be directly at stake. This paper presents a novel approach towards effective service discovery and selection that is no longer based on informal, ambiguous and potentially unreliable service descriptions, but on formal specifications that can be used to verify and certify the actual Web service implementations. We propose the use of Stream X-machines (SXMs) as a powerful modelling formalism for constructing the behavioural specification of a Web service, for performing verification through the generation of exhaustive test cases, and for performing validation through animation or model checking during service selection

redicting dynamic specifications of ADCs with a low-quality digital input signal

A new method is presented to test dynamic parameters of Analogue-to-Digital Converters (ADC). A noisy and nonlinear pulse is applied as the test stimulus, which is suitable for a multi-site test environment. The dynamic parameters are predicted using a machine-learning-based approach. A training step is required in order to build the mapping function using alternate signatures and the conventional test parameters, all measured on a set of converters. As a result, for industrial testing, only a simple signature-based test is performed on the Devices-Under-Test (DUTs). The signature measurements are provided to the mapping function that is used to predict the conventional dynamic parameters. The method is validated by simulation on a 12-bit 80 Ms/s pipelined ADC with a pulse wave input signal of 3 LSB noise and 7-bit nonlinear rising and falling edges. The final results show that the estimated mean error is less than 4% of the full range of the dynamic specifications

Improved method for SNR prediction in machine-learning-based test

This paper applies an improved method for testing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of Analogue-to-Digital Converters (ADC). In previous work, a noisy and nonlinear pulse signal is exploited as the input stimulus to obtain the signature results of ADC. By applying a machine-learning-based approach, the dynamic parameters can be predicted by using the signature results. However, it can only estimate the SNR accurately within a certain range. In order to overcome this limitation, an improved method based on work is applied in this work. It is validated on the Labview model of a 12-bit 80 Ms/s pipelined ADC with a pulse- wave input signal of 3 LSB noise and 7-bit nonlinear rising and falling edges