Optimum Test Suite using Fault-Type Coverage Based Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

Software Product Lines(SPLs) covers a mixture of features for testing Software Application Program(SPA). Testing cost reduction is a major metric of software testing. In combinatorial testing(CT), maximization of fault type coverage and test suite reduction plays a key role to reduce the testing cost of SPA. Metaheuristic Genetic Algorithm(GA) do not offer best outcome for test suite optimization problem due to mutation operation and required more computational time. So, Fault-Type Coverage Based Ant Colony Optimization(FTCBACO) algorithm is offered for test suite reduction in CT. FTCBACO algorithm starts with test cases in test suite and assign separate ant to each test case. Ants elect best test cases by updating of pheromone trails and selection of higher probability trails. Best test case path of ant with least time are taken as optimal solution for performing CT. Hence, FTCBACO Technique enriches reduction rate of test suite and minimizes computational time of reducing test cases efficiently for CT.

A Model of Product Line Marketing

Firms offer a variety of products to meet different customer needs. In many horizontally differentiated markets, prices are stable, and firms make infrequent adjustments to their product lines. Although prior research focused on product line design, we investigate how firms should allocate their marketing effort when their product lines are fixed. We propose a simple model to analyze product line marketing. Our model exhibits a flagship product effect in which the firm’s optimal marketing effort is concentrated, provided that the ratio between consumer tastes dispersion and the convexity of the cost of marketing effort is below a threshold. The flagship product is selected according to a marketing effort allocation index that measures the trade-off between a product’s markup and its potential market share. This result is robust with or without competition and whether prices are exogenous or endogenous. Firms often experience shocks to their marketing cost because of technological improvement or externalities. If a monopolist’s cost of marketing effort declines, she should place more emphasis on a low-utility, high-markup product. Conversely, if the cost increases, the monopolist may find it beneficial to focus her marketing effort on a high-utility, low-markup product. When multiproduct firms compete against each other, we show that if the opponent’s cost of marketing effort decreases, there can be a spillover effect, in which the firm benefits from the opponent’s cost reduction, thereby leading to a win-win situation. This paper was accepted by Dmitri Kuksov, marketing.

Creating and Protecting Paths: Learning in an Entrepreneurial State

This paper discusses how a Norwegian entrepreneurial state has performed over more than seventy years, based on an analysis of state involvement in Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk/the Kongsberg Group from 1945 and to 2015. Mariana Mazzucato has argued that bold technological investments by the state has long-term beneficial effects. The development of the Kongsberg companies adds nuance to this picture. On the one hand, the defense company Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk failed as a company in 1987 and was unbundled into a number of new companies independent of one another. On the other hand, some of the successor companies have been very successful, both in the oil and gas sector and within defense. Taking the defense and oil and gas company the Kongsberg Group as a case, this paper argues that a new style of entrepreneurial state developed in the 1990s and that it proved very successful. The old entrepreneurial state was heavy-handed, bold, and very long-term in its aims; the new entrepreneurial state was cautious, many-headed, and worked through the management of the company. The new entrepreneurial state combined state ownership, stock listing, and procurement considerations and was supported by both the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Defense. This new governance structure facilitated a stable corporation that over time integrated other Norwegian maritime electronics companies, which themselves had a checkered history under the old entrepreneurial state. A new corporate governance regime emerged and managed both to protect old and established product lines and to facilitate innovation both in defense and maritime electronics.

Sustainable Materials from Fish Industry Waste for Electrochemical Energy Systems

Fish industry waste is attracting growing interest for the production of environmentally friendly materials for several different applications, due to the potential for reduced environmental impact and increased socioeconomic benefits. Recently, the application of fish industry waste for the synthesis of value-added materials and energy storage systems represents a feasible route to strengthen the overall sustainability of energy storage product lines. This review focused on an in-depth outlook on the advances in fish byproduct-derived materials for energy storage devices, including lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion (NIBs) batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), supercapacitors and protein batteries. For each of these, the latest applications were presented together with approaches to improve the electrochemical performance of the obtained materials. By analyzing the recent literature on this topic, this review aimed to contribute to further advances in the sustainability of energy storage devices.

Considerations for Analytical Qualification of Tubular Connections for Thermal and HPHT Wells

It is important to complete thermal and high-pressure/high-temperature (HPHT) wells with tubular connections that possess adequate structural integrity and sealing capacity under the severe load conditions typically experienced by these wells throughout their life cycle. Individual premium connection designs are required to be evaluated and qualified through physical tests to broadly adopted industry protocols, such as ISO/PAS 12835: 2013 for thermal wells that experience temperatures from 180°C to 350°C, and ISO 13679:2019 and API RP 5C5:2017 for HPHT wells which experience peak temperatures up to 180°C and pressures greater than 70 MPa. Recognizing the time and capital expenses associated with completing full-scale physical testing of product lines with multiple connection designs of different tubular diameter, weight, and grade, industry is developing a hybrid approach that supplements results from physical qualification tests with numerical/analytical simulation, such as Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The key challenges associated with analytical evaluation are the lack of evaluation criteria and suitable guidelines for analysis methodologies. This paper provides a review of recent work related to the development of sealability evaluation criteria; and presents guidelines to facilitate performance evaluation of tubular connections in thermal and HPHT wells through advanced FEA. For thermal well applications, this paper presents a methodology for quantitative evaluation of sealability of casing connections, as a supplement to the determination of a biased test population using FEA following ISO/PAS 12835:2013 requirement. For HPHT wells, this paper presents considerations for analyzing various testing loads, such as Test Series A (internal and external pressure cycles), Test Series B (internal pressure with bending), Test Series C (thermal and mechanical cycles), and Limit Load Cases. Analysis examples with generic premium connections are presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed analysis methodologies.

Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Corporate Entrepreneurship

This study aims at learning about the Human Resource Management Practices and their effects on Corporate Entrepreneurship (CE). HRM is one of the most crucial departments of all firms as it brings creativity and novelty, in products and services in order to have a competitive edge over rest concerned firms in the market. By properly managing HR an organization can bring this uniqueness. When resources are invested to bring improvement in organizational performance in terms of development in existing products and processes or expansion in product-lines or introducing new idea into practice for economic gain, the process is called corporate entrepreneurship. HRM practices play a vital role in fostering CE. Here, in this study three HRM practices; Training and development (T&D), Reward and Compensation (R&C) and Recruitment and Selection (R&S) are discussed and their impact on corporate entrepreneurship is checked out. This study is based on data that was gathered through questionnaire survey around Industrial estate Hattar (Haipur), PAKISTAN. Results show that there is significant positive relationship between the prescribed human resource management practices and corporate entrepreneurship.

Branding Kidfluencers: Regulating Content and Advertising on YouTube

This paper analyzes emerging shifts in YouTube, advertising, and children’s digital media industries through a case study of Pocket Watch, a digital-first production and distribution studio built exclusively for YouTube child stars. Our analysis reveals the company’s strategic use of legacy media industry power, networks, and expertise to transform YouTube stars into global brands through the creation of toy, clothing, and lifestyle product lines across several industries. We further argue that Pocket Watch’s newly formed advertising division, Clock Work, exploits its child partners through problematic native advertising and host selling practices. The strategies implemented by Pocket Watch and other similar emerging companies may therefore act as a litmus test for how governmental regulation and platform policy changes will impact the evolving landscape of children’s digital media as commercial forces increasingly groom a growing number of young children to shift from YouTube stars to global brands.