Sharif Digital Repository

In software testing, it is often desirable to find test inputs that exercise specific program features. Good testing means uncovering as many faults as possible with a potent set of tests. Thus, a test series that has the potential to uncover many faults is better than one that can only uncover a few. To find these inputs by hand is extremely time-consuming, especially when the software is complex. Therefore, many attempts have been made to automate the process. There are three major methods to generate software test data: Random test data generation, Symbolic test data generation and Dynamic test data generation. Dynamic test data generation, such as those using genetic algorithms, is... 

Machine Translation Quality Evaluation, compared to the other issues dealt with in the field of Natural Language Processing, is faced with the challenge that the repetition of the translation process from the same linguistic form in the source language will not necessarily lead to a unique linguistic form in the target language. Therefore, considering the fact that the Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) graph is the same for all the sentences of similar meaning, this thesis has been an attempt to extend the efficiency of AMR graphs to the area of Machine Translation Quality Evaluation. The main research question dealt with in the present thesis was whether the similarity of the AMR graphs... 

Recent widespread blackouts around the world have highlighted the fact that power grids must not only ensure reliability against high-probability, low-impact events (HPLI), but also against low-probability, high-impact events (HILP) such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and hurricanes and resist against unnatural events such as cyber attacks. On the other hand, transformation of traditional electricity distribution systems into smart networks that have the ability to automatically perform switching and fault locating can enable utilities to minimize operational costs in case of HILP events occurences. Although the use of distribution automation has been suggested as one of the smart grid... 

This paper presents five origin-destination (OD) flow estimation models using traffic sensors. The first model uses counting sensors data, the second model uses automated vehicle identification (AVI) sensors data and the third, fourth and fifth use combined data of counter and AVI sensors simultaneously. The first to fourth models are bi-level problems that the upper-level minimizes some objective functions where is the distance between estimated flows and observed flows. On the other hand, the lower-level problem finds user equilibrium (UE) flows pattern for estimated origin-destination matrix (ODM). The fifth model is a multi-objective problem, where a bi-level problem is solved for each... 

large ships should only make very small horizontal movements at the berth for efficient loading. This is especially a concern in ports facing the open ocean directly, where high swells at sea can cause harbor oscillations and low-frequency surge motions of the ship. A developed mooring unit, the MoorMaster, which replaces conventional mooring lines is addressed here. The hydraulics of the system have a strong reducing effect on the motions of the moored ship. Measurements have shown that the surge motion of container ships was reduced from an amplitude in the order of 1 metre to an amplitude in the order of 5 centimetres, by using MoorMaster units. In here MoorMaster action is divided to two... 

In this thesis, at first upstream transient error propagation and amplification phenomenon is introduced. Then, the previous methods to attenuate this phenomenon are presented. To overcome this drawback, a new method that is based on feed-forward and off-take disturbance estimation and lost data reconstruction in wireless communication is presented. In this thesis, an estimation of unknown off-take disturbance at the present time is approximated or in fact predicted using the last data. Also, in the presented method, the lost data is reconstructed using two different methods. At the end, the satisfactory performance of the proposed control method is illustrated by many computer simulations  

In a deregulated environment of power distribution industry, a comprehensive economic evaluation for the implementation of distribution automation systems is inevitable. It plays a key role in enabling distribution companies to achieve their business goals. In this thesis, a dynamic economic evaluation is presented to provide a comprehensive perception of automation intensity level and investment plan, for maximizing the utility profit and obtaining the desired payback period. Using the presented methodology in this thesis and system dynamics approach, it is efficiently possible to deal with variation of the economic parameters such as the interest rate, inflation rate, energy supply cost,... 

Debugging programs is a time-consuming and error-prone activity. So far, much research has tried to repair the programs automatically. Many of them try to change the location of the fault for a faulty program that fails at least one of its test cases so that all cases in the test suite pass. However, in real projects, the test suite is usually not enough, and the methods that aim to pass the test suite, often lead to the production of incorrect repairs, which is known as overfitting or weak test suite. In this regard, attention to methods based on program specification and the use of static code analysis have shown promising results. In this thesis, a method is presented that recommends... 

Considering the annual growth in the air traffic, new challenges arise; one of which is the appropriate level of automation that needs to be brought into the picture. This research focuses on the characteristics of a high level automation device, such as level 6 and upper, which could be used onboard a transport for traffic conflict prevention. The main objective behind such a device is to help ground controllers in crowded airspaces. In this work, we discuss the abilities of a new algorithm to resolve a general conflict in the absence of ground based ATC centers. The proposed algorithm considers the Earth rotation as well as general wind patterns. Mathematically, it is based on real-time... 

Testing is one of the most important and time-consuming steps in the Software Development Life Cycle. Especially, in recent methodologies like agile in which change is an important feature and they take place in iterations with each iteration taking place in a limited time. Recent studies suggest approaches to automatically generate test cases for the applications. For GUI-based applications, test cases are composed of a chain of events that are activated by the user. For these applications, we can generate test cases by simulating the chain of events that get activated by the user. Semantic-based approaches use the semantic matching of the events and their related widgets, to generate test... 

A distributed model predictive control with two-layer structure for communication is presented in the present thesis for elimination of the propagation and amplificationphenomenon of the upstream transient errors in automated irrigation networks. This phenomenon results in the saturation of actuators in long automated irrigation channels and therefore it results in significant reduction in the quality of service of the irrigation network. Hence, the elimination of this phenomenon in long irrigation channels is necessary, in which a distributed model predictive control with two-layer structure for communication is presented in the presentthesis for elimination of this phenomenon. Feasibility,... 

It's impossible to check all inputs of a software program due to infinite input domain, therefore the domain should be somehow restricted. One popular approach to do so, is input space partitioning. In this approach, the input domain has been modeled and partitioned into some equivalent classes or blocks. Using these blocks, it's possible to select one sample from each one and reduce the number of test cases to a small desirable number. To automate this approach, it's essential to firstly define the software requirements specification in a well-defined machine understandable template, then with processing this document we can detect program’s functionality and testable functions. Our goal in... 

Implementing distribution automation system (DAS) in distribution networks needs a huge investment which usually cannot be funded entirely in a short period of time. So distribution companies (DISCOs) should develop long term plans to equip their network with automation technologies as far as economically justifiable. Similarly, DISCOs have network capacity expansion (NCX) plans which specify the scheme of construction of feeders and substations. Since considering DAS may lead to more efficient NCX plans, the planner should revise the NCX plan through the DAS planning. On the other hand, for DAS planning it is necessary to consider a NCX plan as a platform to determine the time and location... 

Planning of distribution networks is usually accomplished using a cost-based conventional model that minimizes the total cost of construction and reinforcement of substations and feeders. The resulted expansion plan designed by this cost-based model is not necessarily the best choice for an electrical distribution company in the nowadays deregulated structure. This happening is mainly due to the fact that the utility seeks to maximize its profit in this competitive environment. On the other hand, this model does not consider the upcoming new challenges ahead of distribution systems, such as smart grid and automation. This thesis presents a novel profit-based model for multi-stage... 

Automated dimensional inspection is commonly expensive because of the requirement for high-precision measurement devices. To perform a precision measurement, the technician must be highly skilled and fully understands the operation of the equipment. Moreover, automation of the mentioned process to reduce dimensional measurement time is a complicated task due to restrictions of precise equipment such as CMM. With the expansion of the use of cameras in the industry, the measurement method with the help of machine vision systems is one of the cost-effective methods that can be achieved with the development of a suitable image processing algorithm to achieve acceptable accuracy compared to... 

Implement of smart grid has three mail reasons: Energy crisis caused by lake of traditional fuels, climate changes that can bring a lot of difficulties for human and great potentials of renewable energies. There are many diverse concepts in smart grid. Increase power quality, decrease power cuts, increase active consumer participations, effective way r of using distribution generation units are most important advantages of smart grid.I I;.Emerging new technologies are forced smart grid operators using this new technologies. Wireless Sensor Networks are one of these new technologies that can be used in smart gird. In this thesis we are going to study the rule of wireless sensor networks in... 

Regardless of the traffic model and its application, an essential input of transportation models is the amount of demand which is usually described using Origin-Destination (O-D) matrix. Many reaserchers have developed different O-D matrix estimation methods using traffic counts, which allow simple data collection as opposed to the costly traditional direct estimation methods based on home and roadside interview. However, Link data is not sufficient to obtain an unique answer. This reaserch tries to estimate O-D matrix by using Automated Vehicle Identification(AVI) data. The research formulates the problem of the estimating O-D matrix as a bi-level problem. The upper level consists of... 

Blockchain technology presents a decentralized management structure designed to cater to various needs, such as decentralization and the elimination of single points of failure. With the evolution of blockchain technology, smart contracts have emerged as a remarkable platform for facilitating financial activities in a decentralized manner. Among the different types of smart contracts, decentralized exchanges stand out by their absence of a central authority overseeing user transactions. This lack of a central oversight exposes users of such exchanges to potential attacks from malicious entities. A key challenge faced by these exchanges is the concept of Miner Extractable Value. Miner... 

Making distribution networks smart includes all appropriate hardware and software devices for controlling and making operation of the network optimized. (SCADA system, distribution management, communication equipments, substation automation, monitoring equipments, etc). Monitoring and management of electricity distribution networks enable us to control and record events in the operation. Equipments in the distribution substations, will be under full time monitoring and hence, we would be able to protect them against over loads, over voltages, load unbalances and inefficient usage of transformers capacity and other distribution instruments. It also enables us to manage operation switchings,... 

From the past, the damask rose has an important place in various pharmaceutical, food, health and cosmetic industries. This product has the largest cultivated area in Iran, which is about 24,000 hectares, equal to 60% of its total cultivation in the world. Considering the conditions required for the cultivation of this plant, including the low water requirement, the expansion of its cultivation has been considered. One of the important obstacles to not expanding cultivation is manual harvesting, which strongly affects the quality and mass of essential oil and rose water. The efforts that have been made so far in the field of designing and producing the rose harvesting machine have not had...