Memoirs of the Queensland Museum.

v.35:pt.2 (1994

An empirical comparison of fixed-strength and mixed-strength for interaction coverage based prioritization

Test case prioritization (TCP) plays an important role in identifying, characterizing, diagnosing and correcting faults quickly. TCP has been widely used to order test cases of different types, including model inputs (also called abstract test cases). Model inputs are constructed by modeling the program according to its input parameters, values, and constraints, and has been used in different testing methods, such as combinatorial interaction testing, and software product line testing. Interaction coveragebased test case prioritization (ICTCP) uses interaction coverage information derived from the model input to order inputs. Previous studies have focused generally on the fixed-strength ICTCP, which adopts a fixed strength(i.e.,thelevelofparameterinteractions)tosupporttheICTCPprocess.Itisgenerallyacceptedthat using more strengths for ICTCP, i.e., mixed-strength ICTCP, may give better ordering than fixed-strength. To confirm whether mixed-strength is better than fixed-strength, in this paper we report on an extensive empirical study using five real-world programs (written in C), each of which has six versions. The results oftheempiricalstudiesshowthatmixed-strengthhasbetterratesofinteractioncoverageoverallthanfixedstrength, but they have very similar rates of fault detection. Our results also show that fixed-strength should be used instead of the mixed-strength at the later stage of software testing. Finally, we offer some practical guidelinesfortesterswhenusinginteractioncoverageinformationtoprioritizemodelinputs,underdifferent testing scenarios and resources

A method for mapping the turbulence intensity and excess energy available to building mounted wind turbines over a UK City

Assessing the potential of proposed urban wind installations is further hindered by insufficient assessments of both urban wind resource, and the effectiveness of commercial gust control solutions within built up areas. Evaluating the potential performance of wind turbines within the urban environment requires an estimation of the total energy that would be available to them were effective control systems to be used. This paper presents a methodology for estimating the excess energy content (EEC) present in the gusty urban wind, which is usually under represented when using assessments based only on mean wind speeds. The method is developed using high temporal resolution wind measurements from eight potential turbine sites within the urban and suburban environment. By assessing the relationship between turbulence intensities and the EEC, an analytical methodology for predicting the total wind energy available at a potential turbine site is proposed. Sensitivity analysis with respect to temporal data resolution on the predicted EEC is also demonstrated. The methodology is then integrated with an analytical methodology that was initially developed to predict mean wind speeds at different heights within a UK city based on detailed mapping of its aerodynamic characteristics. Additional estimates of turbulence intensities and EEC based on the current methodology allow a more complete assessment of the wind resource available. The methodology is applied to the UK city of Leeds as a case study and the potential to map turbulence intensities and the total kinetic energy available at different heights within a typical urban city is demonstrated

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Historical volcanism and the state of stress in the East African Rift System

Crustal extension at the East African Rift System (EARS) should, as a tectonic ideal, involve a stress field in which the direction of minimum horizontal stress is perpendicular to the rift. A volcano in such a setting should produce dykes and fissures parallel to the rift. How closely do the volcanoes of the EARS follow this? We answer this question by studying the 21 volcanoes that have erupted historically (since about 1800) and find that 7 match the (approximate) geometrical ideal. At the other 14 volcanoes the orientation of the eruptive fissures/dykes and/or the axes of the host rift segments are oblique to the ideal values. To explain the eruptions at these volcanoes we invoke local (non-plate tectonic) variations of the stress field caused by: crustal heterogeneities and anisotropies (dominated by NW structures in the Protoerozoic basement), transfer zone tectonics at the ends of offset rift segments, gravitational loading by the volcanic edifice (typically those with 1-2 km relief) and magmatic pressure in central reservoirs. We find that the more oblique volcanoes tend to have large edifices, large eruptive volumes and evolved and mixed magmas capable of explosive behaviour. Nine of the volcanoes have calderas of varying ellipticity, 6 of which are large, reservoir-collapse types mainly elongated across rift (e.g. Kone) and 3 are smaller, elongated parallel to the rift and contain active lava lakes (e.g. Erta Ale), suggesting different mechanisms of formation and stress fields. Nyamuragira is the only EARS volcano with enough sufficiently well-documented eruptions to infer its long-term dynamic behaviour. Eruptions within 7 km of the volcano are of relatively short duration (<100 days), but eruptions with more distal fissures tend to have lesser obliquity and longer durations, indicating a changing stress field away from the volcano. There were major changes in long-term magma extrusion rates in 1977 (and perhaps in 2002) due to major along-rift dyking events that effectively changed the Nyamuragira stress field and the intrusion/extrusion ratios of eruptions

The influence of visual feedback and gender dynamics on performance, perception and communication strategies in CSCW

The effects of gender in human communication and human-computer interaction are well-known, yet little is understood about how it influences performance in the complex, collaborative tasks in computer-mediated settings – referred to as Computer-Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) – that are increasingly fundamental to the way in which people work. In such tasks, visual feedback about objects and events is particularly valuable because it facilitates joint reference and attention, and enables the monitoring of people’s actions and task progress. As such, software to support CSCW frequently provides shared visual workspace. While numerous studies describe and explain the impact of visual feedback in CSCW, research has not considered whether there are differences in how females and males use it, are aided by it, or are affected by its absence. To address these knowledge gaps, this study explores the effect of gender – and its interactions within pairs – in CSCW, with and without visual feedback. An experimental study is reported in which mixed-gender and same-gender pairs communicate to complete a collaborative navigation task, with one of the participants being under the impression that s/he is interacting with a robot (to avoid gender-related social preconceptions). The study analyses performance, perceptions and communication strategies. As predicted, there was a significant benefit associated with visual feedback in terms of language economy and efficiency. However, it was also found that visual feedback may be disruptive to task performance, because it relaxes the users’ precision criteria and inflates their assumptions of shared perspective. While no actual performance difference was found between males and females in the navigation task, females rated their own performance less positively than did males. In terms of communication strategies, males had a strong tendency to introduce novel vocabulary when communication problems occurred, while females exhibited more conservative behaviour. When visual feedback was removed, females adapted their strategies drastically and effectively, increasing the quality and specificity of the verbal interaction, repeating and re-using vocabulary, while the behaviour of males remained consistent. These results are used to produce design recommendations for CSCW systems that will suit users of both genders and enable effective collaboration

Modelling of the effect of ELMs on fuel retention at the bulk W divertor of JET

Effect of ELMs on fuel retention at the bulk W target of JET ITER-Like Wall was studied with multi-scale calculations. Plasma input parameters were taken from ELMy H-mode plasma experiment. The energetic intra-ELM fuel particles get implanted and create near-surface defects up to depths of few tens of nm, which act as the main fuel trapping sites during ELMs. Clustering of implantation-induced vacancies were found to take place. The incoming flux of inter-ELM plasma particles increases the different filling levels of trapped fuel in defects. The temperature increase of the W target during the pulse increases the fuel detrapping rate. The inter-ELM fuel particle flux refills the partially emptied trapping sites and fills new sites. This leads to a competing effect on the retention and release rates of the implanted particles. At high temperatures the main retention appeared in larger vacancy clusters due to increased clustering rate

Philosophy of action

The philosophical study of human action begins with Plato and Aristotle. Their influence in late antiquity and the Middle Ages yielded sophisticated theories of action and motivation, notably in the works of Augustine and Aquinas.1 But the ideas that were dominant in 1945 have their roots in the early modern period, when advances in physics and mathematics reshaped philosophy

Current Research into Applications of Tomography for Fusion Diagnostics

Retrieving spatial distribution of plasma emissivity from line integrated measurements on tokamaks presents a challenging task due to ill-posedness of the tomography problem and limited number of the lines of sight. Modern methods of plasma tomography therefore implement a-priori information as well as constraints, in particular some form of penalisation of complexity. In this contribution, the current tomography methods under development (Tikhonov regularisation, Bayesian methods and neural networks) are briefly explained taking into account their potential for integration into the fusion reactor diagnostics. In particular, current development of the Minimum Fisher Regularisation method is exemplified with respect to real-time reconstruction capability, combination with spectral unfolding and other prospective tasks