Blekinge Institute of Technology
Electronic Research Archive - Blekinge Tekniska HögskolaNot a member yet
1855 research outputs found
Sort by
In press: Visual GUI testing in practice: challenges, problemsand limitations
No full textIn today’s software development industry, high-level tests such as Graphical
User Interface (GUI) based system and acceptance tests are mostly performed
with manual practices that are often costly, tedious and error prone. Test
automation has been proposed to solve these problems but most automation
techniques approach testing from a lower level of system abstraction. Their
suitability for high-level tests has therefore been questioned. High-level test
automation techniques such as Record and Replay exist, but studies suggest that
these techniques suffer from limitations, e.g. sensitivity to GUI layout or
code changes, system implementation dependencies, etc.
Visual GUI Testing (VGT) is an emerging technique in industrial practice with
perceived higher flexi- bility and robustness to certain GUI changes than
previous high-level (GUI) test automation techniques. The core of VGT is image
recognition which is applied to analyze and interact with the bitmap layer of a
system’s front end. By coupling image recognition with test scripts, VGT tools
can emulate end user behavior on almost any GUI-based system, regardless of
implementation language, operating system or platform. However, VGT is not
without its own challenges, problems and limitations (CPLs) but, like for many
other automated test techniques, there is a lack of empirically-based knowledge
of these CPLs and how they impact industrial applicability. Crucially, there is
also a lack of information on the cost of applying this type of test automation
in industry.
This manuscript reports an empirical, multi-unit case study performed at two
Swedish companies that develop safety-critical software. It studies their
transition from manual system test cases into tests auto- mated with VGT. In
total, four different test suites that together include more than 300
high-level system test cases were automated for two multi-million lines of code
systems. The results show that the transitioned test cases could find defects
in the tested systems and that all applicable test cases could be automated.
However, during these transition projects a number of hurdles had to be
addressed; a total of 58 different CPLs were identified and then categorized
into 26 types. We present these CPL types and an analysis of the implications
for the transition to and use of VGT in industrial software development
practice. In addition, four high-level solutions are presented that were
identified during the study, which would address about half of the identified
CPLs.
Furthermore, collected metrics on cost and return on investment of the VGT
transition are reported together with information about the VGT suites’ defect
finding ability. Nine of the identified defects are reported, 5 of which were
unknown to testers with extensive experience from using the manual test suites.
The main conclusion from this study is that even though there are many
challenges related to the transition and usage of VGT, the technique is still
valuable, flexible and considered cost-effective by the industrial
practitioners. The presented CPLs also provide decision support in the use and
advancement of VGT and potentially other automated testing techniques similar
to VGT, e.g. Record and Replay
Shaping and Authorising a Public Health Profession.
No full textThe aim of this short communication is to stimulate a discussion on the state
of a public health profession in Europe and actions which need to be taken to
authorise public health professionals based on their competencies. While
regulated professions such as medical doctors, nurses, lawyers, and architects
can enjoy the benefits of the 2005/ 36/EC Directive amended by 2013/55/EU
Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications, public health
professionals are left out from these elite.
Firstly, we use the profession traits theory as a framework in arguing whether
public health can be a legitimate profession in itself, second, we explain who
public health professionals are and what usually is required for shaping the
public health profession, and thirdly, we attempt to sketch the road to the
authorisation or licencing of public health professionals. Finally, we will
propose some recommendation
How Can Libraries and Other Academic Institutions Engage in Making Data Open?
No full textIn this paper we will address the questions of what and where the value of open
access to research data might be and how libraries and related stakeholders can
contribute to achieve the benefits of freely sharing data. In particular, the
emphasis will be on how libraries need to acquire the competence for
collaboration to train and encourage researchers and library staff to work with
open data. The
paper is based on the early results of the RECODE project, an EU FP7 project
that addresses the drivers and barriers in developing open access to research
data in Europe (http://www.recodeproject.eu)
On the Simulation of Financial Transactions for Fraud Detection Research
No full textThis thesis introduces a financial simulation model covering two related
financial domains: Mobile Payments and Retail Stores systems. The problem we
address in these domains is different types of fraud. We limit ourselves to
isolated cases of relatively straightforward fraud. However, in this thesis the
ultimate aim is to cover more complex types of fraud, such as money laundering,
that comprises multiple organisations and
domains. Fraud is an important problem that impact the whole economy.
Currently, there is a general lack of public research into the detection of
fraud. One important reason is the lack of transaction data which is often
sensitive. To address this problem we present a Mobile Money Simulator (PaySim)
and Retail Store Simulator (RetSim), which allow us to generate synthetic
transactional data. These simulations are based on
real transaction data.
These simulations are multi agent based simulations. Hence, we developed agents
that represent the clients in PaySim and customers and salesmen in RetSim. The
normal behaviour was based on behaviour observed in data from the field, and is
codified in the agents as rules of transactions and interaction between
clients, or customers and salesmen.
Some of these agents were intentionally designed to act fraudulently, based on
observed patterns of real fraud. We introduced known signatures of fraud in our
model and simulations to test and evaluate our fraud detection results. The
resulting behaviour of the agents generate a synthetic log of all transactions
as a result of the simulation. This synthetic data can be used to further
advance fraud detection research, without leaking sensitive information about
the underlying data.
Using statistics and social network analysis (SNA) on real data we could
calibrate the relations between staff and customers and generate realistic
synthetic data sets that were validated statistically against the original.
We then used RetSim to model two common retail fraud scenarios to ascertain
exactly how effective the simplest form of statistical threshold detection
commonly in use could be. The preliminary results show that threshold detection
is effective enough at keeping fraud losses at a set level,
that there seems to be little economic room for improved fraud detection
techniques
On Intelligent District Heating
No full textIntelligent district heating is the combination of traditional district heating
engineering and modern information and communication technology. A district
heating systemis a highly complex environment consisting of a large number of
distributed entities, and this complexity and geographically dispersed layout
suggest that they are suitable for distributed optimization and management.
However, this would in practice imply a transition from the classical
production-centric perspective normally found within district heating
management to a more consumer-centric perspective.
This thesis describes a multiagent-based system which combines production,
consumption and distribution aspects into a single coherent operational
management framework. The flexibility and robustness of the solution in
industrial settings is thoroughly examined and its performance is shown to lead
to significant operational, financial and environmental benefits compared to
current management schemes
Towards a Hybrid Testing Process Unifying Exploratory Testing and Scripted Testing
No full textContext: Given the current state of the art in research, practitioners are
faced with the challenge of choosing scripted testing (ST) or exploratory
testing (ET). Objective: This study aims at systematically incorporating
strengths of ET and ST in a hybrid testing process to overcome the weaknesses
of each. Method: We utilized systematic review and practitioner interviews to
identify strengths and weaknesses of ET and ST. Strengths of ET were mapped to
weaknesses of ST, and vice versa. Noblit and Hare’s Lines of Argument method
was used for data analysis. The results of the mapping were used as input to
co-design a hybrid process with experienced practitioners. Results: We found a
clear need to create a hybrid process as: 1) both ST and ET provide strengths
and weaknesses and these depend on some particular conditions, which prevents
preference of one approach to another, and 2) the mapping showed that it is
possible to address the weaknesses in one process by the strengths of the other
in a hybrid form. With the input from literature and industry experts a
flexible and iterative hybrid process was designed. Conclusions: Practitioners
can clearly benefit from using a hybrid process given the mapping of advantages
and disadvantages
Resources Contributing to Gaining Competitive Advantage for Open Source Software Projects: An Application of Resource-Based Theory
No full textOpen Source Software (OSS) is an important asset in today’s software-intensive
society. The success of OSS projects is highly dependent on a number of
factors. These factors must be understood and managed as an OSS project
progresses. Thus, project management of an OSS project has a decisive role in
ensuring the success of its software. The objective of the research is to
increase the understanding of the resources affecting the competitiveness of
OSS projects. Herewith, the responsiveness of OSS projects to users’ needs is
assessed via an investigation of the defect-fixing process. A Resource-Based
View of the firm (RBV) is used to build theoretical justifications for a set
of hypotheses proposed in this study. Data gathered from 427 OSS projects
confirmed that developers’ interest in and users’ contribution to the project
as well as frequently updating and releasing the software affect the project’s
ability to gain competitive advantage through effective defect-fixing. It is
also shown that OSS projects that are more popular and have a higher level of
organizational communication than others are more likely to gain competitive
advantage through effective defect-fixing. Finally, implications of the results
for practitioners and the research community are presented
A Cloud Model for Interoperable Home-based Chronic Diseases Healthcare
No full textTraditional hospital based care cannot meet all the needs of chronic diseases
care in home, especially for elderly people. A new approach applying eHealth
that supports interoperable health care is required. To find a way to meet the
new needs, we firstly carried out a questionnaire to analyze current problems
and needs in chronic disease care. Then we compared possible technical
solutions and proposed a cloud model for the identified problems. This model
would help chronic patients self-record and control their daily care data,
communicate with other patients who have the similar situation. The proposed
solution could be also used to integrate data from different healthcare
providers for a cooperative work, namely in this paper as Home-based Chronic
Diseases Healthcare (HCDH)
A method to implement SAR slow-time stap in beamforming stage of fast backprojection algorithm
No full textThis paper presents a method to implement SAR slow-time space time adaptive
processing (STAP) in the beamforming stage of the fast backprojection
algorithm. This method is different from the recently published method where
the SAR fast-time STAP is implemented after the beamforming stage for detection
and then imaging. As a common SAR STAP method, the method proposed in this
paper can be used for ground moving target indication (GMTI) and reconstruction
of the image of the detected moving targets. The paper also presents some
simulation results in order to illustrate the proposed method
