Massey Documents by Type

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/294

Browse

Has files: YesSubject: search.filters.subject.Application software

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Generating mock skeletons for lightweight Web service testing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at Massey University, Manawatū New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Randunu Pathirannehelage, Thilini Bhagya
    Modern application development allows applications to be composed using lightweight HTTP services. Testing such an application requires the availability of services that the application makes requests to. However, continued access to dependent services during testing may be restrained, making adequate testing a significant and non-trivial engineering challenge. The concept of Service Virtualisation is gaining popularity for testing such applications in isolation. It is a practise to simulate the behaviour of dependent services by synthesising responses using semantic models inferred from recorded traffic. Replacing services with their respective mocks is, therefore, useful to address their absence and move on application testing. In reality, however, it is unlikely that fully automated service virtualisation solutions can produce highly accurate proxies. Therefore, we recommend using service virtualisation to infer some attributes of HTTP service responses. We further acknowledge that engineers often want to fine-tune this. This requires algorithms to produce readily interpretable and customisable results. We assume that if service virtualisation is based on simple logical rules, engineers would have the potential to understand and customise rules. In this regard, Symbolic Machine Learning approaches can be investigated because of the high provenance of their results. Accordingly, this thesis examines the appropriateness of symbolic machine learning algorithms to automatically synthesise HTTP services' mock skeletons from network traffic recordings. We consider four commonly used symbolic techniques: the C4.5 decision tree algorithm, the RIPPER and PART rule learners, and the OCEL description logic learning algorithm. The experiments are performed employing network traffic datasets extracted from a few different successful, large-scale HTTP services. The experimental design further focuses on the generation of reproducible results. The chosen algorithms demonstrate the suitability of training highly accurate and human-readable semantic models for predicting the key aspects of HTTP service responses, such as the status and response headers. Having human-readable logics would make interpretation of the response properties simpler. These mock skeletons can then be easily customised to create mocks that can generate service responses suitable for testing.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Eat like a local : a culture cuisine guide for the English-speaking visitor in a non-major city in China : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master in Design at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Lin, Danjing
    Cuisine and dining traditions are emblematic of local culture (Sutton, 2010), and tourism food consumption is an important way for travellers to experience the local culture (Chang, Kivela, & Mak, 2010; Germann Molz, 2007). As we know, China is not an English-speaking country, which has become a barrier for non-Chinese speaking travellers to travel independently. However, China is gradually perfecting multilingual translations of urban road signs and attractions, but there are still large gaps when it comes to food translations. In China, authentic food is usually hidden in the lives of local people. Due to many of these restaurants are family-owned inheritance of old stores with no commercial propaganda and gimmicks, and all rely on the reputation of customers. This project aims to design interactive media to help the English-speaking traveller to break the language barrier and experience Chinese food like a local. By focusing on authentic Chinese local food located in non-major cities that receive less attention from travellers. Most of the non-major cities are not well-known because there is not much tourist information available. Using the city of Changsha as a model, the function of interactive media will cover the basic functions of existing food apps, such as restaurant introductions, locations, recommendations, and menus and prices. Includes new features that differ from the general food app, such as food stories and dining traditions; food ingredients, with possible allergens; and diet habits. The goal is to design a digital guide for the English-speaking travellers in China.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Civic circle : empowering young New Zealanders to volunteer with local non-profit organisations : a thesis submitted by Ross Patel in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Patel, Ross
    The most common comment made by volunteer-involving organisations in both 2015 and 2016 State of Volunteering in New Zealand reports was that “the majority of volunteers are older (aging) and there aren’t enough young people stepping up” (Volunteering New Zealand, 2017, p. 26). Another common observation was that volunteers are less committed and are ‘time poor’. This is in contrast to the research that shows millennials (people born between the 1980s and 1990s) are upbeat about their ability to have a positive impact on the world (Green, 2003). Millennials can offer many skills and qualities to help non-profit organisations, although such organisations are currently inadequately prepared to welcome them (Fine, 2008). This design-led research sets out to explore how to empower young New Zealanders to volunteer with local non-profit organisations. Participatory design methods were employed to engage 27 representatives from 21 organisations and 19 young New Zealanders in the design process. Keywords: Volunteering, non-profit organisations, volunteering-involving organisations, young New Zealanders, millennial engagement, generation-y, civic engagement, design thinking, co-design.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A scalable application server on Beowulf clusters : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Information Science at Albany, Auckland, Massey University, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2005) Zhou, Michael Zhiyong
    Application performance and scalability of a large distributed multi-tiered application is a core requirement for most of today's critical business applications. I have investigated the scalability of a J2EE application server using the standard ECperf benchmark application in the Massey Beowulf Clusters namely the Sisters and the Helix. My testing environment consists of Open Source software: The integrated JBoss-Tomcat as the application server and the web server, along with PostgreSQL as the database. My testing programs were run on the clustered application server, which provide replication of the Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) objects. I have completed various centralized and distributed tests using the JBoss Cluster. I concluded that clustering of the application server and web server will effectively increase the performance of the application running on them given sufficient system resources. The application performance will scale to a point where a bottleneck has occurred in the testing system, the bottleneck could be any resources included in the testing environment: the hardware, software, network and the application that is running. Performance tuning for a large-scale J2EE application is a complicated issue, which is related to the resources available. However, by carefully identifying the performance bottleneck in the system with hardware, software, network, operating system and application configuration. I can improve the performance of the J2EE applications running in a Beowulf Cluster. The software bottleneck can be solved by changing the default settings, on the other hand, hardware bottlenecks are harder unless more investment are made to purchase higher speed and capacity hardware.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    [Viewfinders] : exploring travel film beyond the screen : Master of Design
    (Massey University, 2017) Rubery, Phillip
    Viewfinders is a design-led research project exploring emerging opportunities for i-docs (interactive documentary) and smartphone filmmaking. The i-doc serving as the practical component is part of a larger collaborative research project between Dr. Gerda Cammaer and Dr. Max Schleser, and focuses on defining new Creative Mobile Media Practices. Responding to recent developments in collaborative media, augmented reality, and computer vision technologies, a mobile web app is designed that proposes new active modes of viewing for the travel film genre. The Viewfinders app asks the question; what happens when a travel documentary can itself travel? Turning conventional AR on its head, Viewfinders does not seek to augment the live environment but rather positions the real world as the augmentation, harnessing ambient phenomena to augment the i-doc. To progress the narrative viewer-users are asked to explore their physical surroundings, with geolocation and computer vision algorithms interpreting evolving environmental factors to evoke corresponding sequences of travel footage. The non-linear narrative comprises a series of 60 second clips of peer-generated video that are re-ordered dynamically, with an aim of aligning experiential factors across both the viewer’s world and that of the documentary. Viewfinders has no play button. Taking its cues from the viewer’s own journey, the world is its play button.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Market in their palms? : exploring smallholder farmers' use of mobile phone farming applications and their effect on the farmers' farming, marketing and well-being : a case study of selected counties in Kenya : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Ajwang, Fredrick Odhiambo
    The role of technology in development has been discussed in wide and varied literature. Over the course of history, technology has facilitated the process of development by helping individuals transcend some of the problems they face in their daily life. In recent times, the revolution in information and communication technology has come to play a crucial role in development and poverty reduction. This study explored the use of such technology, in this case the mobile phone farming applications, by smallholder farmers in Kenya to facilitate their agricultural production and marketing. The aim of the study was to explore the use of the mobile phone farming applications by the smallholder farmers to access markets and information and to assess the effects of their use on the farmers’ farming and marketing experience as well as their well-being outcomes. The results from the study indicate that the mobile phone faming applications have facilitated the smallholder farmers to access markets and marketing information. These applications have been effective in reducing the information search costs and marketing transaction costs for the smallholder farmers leading to enhanced access to information and markets. The reduced marketing transaction costs have, in turn, led to increased market participation by the smallholder farmers. Evidence from the literature indicates that when smallholder farmers have increased access to market information, their power in the market, in terms of their ability to bargain with traders, increases. In this study, it was also found that the rural farmers had been empowered by their increased access to information and they could, therefore, engage in price negotiation with potential buyers. This, together with access to higher paying markets, led to an increase in the farmers’ income. Furthermore, the use of these applications facilitated the farmers to form networks with other farmers and traders. These networks, eventually became, an important source of marketing and production information to the farmers. In contrast, it was found that the mobile phone farming applications were not effective in providing agricultural production information to the smallholder farmers. As a result, the farmers were using other means to access agricultural production information. These included the use of the internet and the networks and linkages with other farmers to access agricultural production information. However, evidence from the study indicates that, these mobile phone farming applications have a potential of facilitating smallholder farmers’ access to information and markets in Kenya.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Making waves : a design concept for reactive tsunami education : an exegesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the Master of Design at the Institute of Communication Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2013) Kremer, Klaus
    In New Zealand the public has access to a range of educational material to assist with understanding tsunamis and their inundation zones. However much of this material is hard to find, is of limited availability, and is also likely to be limited in its effectiveness because of its non-interactive design. This applied design research project explores the capacity of communication design to deliver clearer information about tsunamis to the general public. It uses animated information graphics and mobile media in the design of an educational tool for disaster awareness. The new tool developed during the project offers the current generation of technologically-enabled users more ways to learn, and access to more information, about tsunamis. The tool also combines an educational function and a warning function. Design aspects are based on an evaluation of how warning messages are received and understood by intended audiences. The project has focused on the use of existing warning material for visual communication. The project is based on research into information design theory: how a rich texture of data in a comparative context can be implemented in a complex arena such as disaster education, and how good design can cater for diverse cognitive reception or learning styles. The project incorporates this theory into the design of an interface with the objectives of (I) offering an alternative and attractive way of visualising inundation zones and other information to an audience that may be indifferent to existing information and advice about tsunamis, and (II) utilising mobile devices and its distinct technological advantages of location and communication access to enable the dissemination of warning messages. These objectives combine to offer future potential as an additional communication channel for a directed and immediate warning through use of GPS data and geo location, plus reactive user interface design adapting to an emergency situation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A modelling language for rich internet applications : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at Massey University, Turitea, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Wright, Jevon Michael
    This thesis presents the Internet Application Modelling Language (IAML), a modelling language to support the model-driven development of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). This definition includes a visual syntax to support the graphical development of IAML model instances, and the underlying metamodel satisfies the metamodelling and viewpoint architectures of the Model Driven Architecture. While there are many existing modelling languages for web applications, none of these languages were found to be expressive enough to describe fundamental RIA concepts such as client-side events and user interaction. This thesis therefore presents IAML as a new language that reuses existing standards where appropriate. IAML is supported by a proof-of-concept CASE tool within the Eclipse framework, and released under an open source license to encourage industry use. This reference implementation successfully integrates a number of different model-driven technologies to demonstrate the expressiveness of the modelling language. The IAML metamodel supports many features not found in other web application modelling languages, such as Event-Condition-Action rules; the expression of reusable patterns through Wires; and a metamodel core based on first-order logic. Through the implementation of the RIA benchmarking application Ticket 2.0, the concepts behind the design of IAML have been shown to simplify the development of real-world RIAs when compared to conventional web application frameworks.