An analysis on the applicability of meta-heuristic searching techniques for automated test data generation in automatic programming assessment

Automatic Programming Assessment (APA) has been gaining lots of attention among researchers mainly to support automated grading and marking of students’ programming assignments or exercises systematically. APA is commonly identified as a method that can enhance accuracy, efficiency and consistency as well as providing instant feedback on students’ programming solutions. In achieving APA, test data generation process is very important so as to perform a dynamic testing on students’ assignment. In software testing field, many researches that focus on test data generation have demonstrated the successful of adoption of Meta-Heuristic Search Techniques (MHST) so as to enhance the procedure of deriving adequate test data for efficient testing. Nonetheless, thus far the researches on APA have not yet usefully exploited the techniques accordingly to include a better quality program testing coverage. Therefore, this study has conducted a comparative evaluation to identify any applicable MHST to support efficient Automated Test Data Generation (ATDG) in executing a dynamic-functional testing in APA. Several recent MHST are included in the comparative evaluation combining both the local and global search algorithms ranging from the year of 2000 until 2018. Result of this study suggests that the hybridization of Cuckoo Search with Tabu Search and lévy flight as one of promising MHST to be applied, as it’s outperforms other MHST with regards to number of iterations and range of inputs

DETERMINATION OF PREVALENCE RATE OF ENTAMOEBA HISTOLYTICA AMONG CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH ACUTE DIARRHEA IN KANO, NIGERIA

Background: Diarrhea is a major contributor to childhood mortality and morbidity in the developing world. Objective: The study was aimed to determine the prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica among children diagnosed with acute diarrhea in Kura General Hospital Kano, from February to August 2017. Methodology: A total of 236 stools samples were collected from children within the age group of 0 – 5 years diagnosed with acute diarrhea attending the Hospital. The stool samples were examined for Entamoeba Histolytica cysts and trophozoites using direct wet preparation and Formol Ether concentration techniques. Results: The result showed that 23 samples which accounted for 9.75% of the samples were found to be positive for the parasite. Highest incidence of the parasite was found among children within the age category of 4 - 5 years. The results also indicated that males (56.5%) were more infected than females (43.5%). However, there is no statistical difference in the rate of infection among the sex and age group of the patients at p< 0.05. Conclusion: In conclusion, maintenance of personal hygiene and improved sanitation of the environment will indeed prevent contamination of food and water sources

Develop interlocking concrete block pavement from portland cement, polystyrene and bottom ash on pedestrian road

This study presents to utilize agriculture waste (palm oil bottom ash) and polymer material (polystyrene) as a replacement of sand and aggregate a new sustainable interlocking concrete block pavement (ICBP). The bottom ash takes from palm oil mill incinerator at palm factory Belitong, Kluang, Johor. The expanded polystyrene is collected from electric shop and garbage collection center nearest Simpang Renggam, Johor. The bottom ash through the screening process in 4.75 mm sieve complying the BS 410. Only particle passing though the 4.75 mm sieve was be used in interlocking concrete block pavement production. Expanded polystyrene size from 2.5 to 4.0 mm. Concrete mix design for this interlocking concrete block sample with size 220 mm × 110 mm × 60 mm and divided by five (5) ratios where Portland cement is a consistent ratio with (40%) and different percentage ratio for bottom ash and polystyrene. Bottom ash percentage ratio is 0%, 20%. 20%, 40%, 60%, and polystyrene percentage ratio is 60%, 40%, 30%, 20%, 0%. According to the results, the optimum ratio of interlocking concrete block pavement is 30% bottom ash and 30% expanded polystyrene with average compressive strength 4.77 N/mm2 at days 28. The compressive strength is not archived the standard strength based on MS 1380:1995. From the result, percentages of bottom ash are significant value with compressive strength. However, water absorption and density are not significant with percentages of expanded polystyrene. The use of bottom ash in interlocking concrete block pavement in an alternative to encourage environmental protection in order to minimize waste material