BlackHorse: creating smart test cases from brittle recorded tests

Testing software that has a GUI is difficult. Manual testing is costly and error-prone, but recorded test cases frequently “break” due to changes in the GUI. Test cases intended to test business logic must therefore be converted to a less “brittle” form to lengthen their useful lifespan. In this paper, we describe BlackHorse, an approach to doing this that converts a recorded test case to Java code that bypasses the GUI. The approach was implemented within the testing environment of Research In Motion. We describe the design of the toolset and discuss lessons learned during the course of the project.     

Selective formation of aniline over nanogold incorporated cobalt loaded SBA 15 catalysts

Nanogold was dispersed over cobalt-loaded SBA 15 to create an effective redox catalyst. The support was identified as spinel Co₃O₄ attached to mesoporous SBA 15 based on XRD, FTIR and TEM analyses. The gold crystallites were found to be in the nanosize range (8–15 nm) by the application of the Scherrer equation to the XRD data. XPS analysis provided insight into the state of the gold nanoparticles. The selective hydrogenation of nitrobenzene over nanogold doped cobalt-loaded SBA 15 catalysts was investigated in a fixed bed down flow reactor. The selectivity for the desired product, aniline, was very high with a maximum conversion of 98.9 % of nitrobenzene. The high catalytic performance is attributed to the efficient dispersion of gold nanoparticles over the support. Performing the reaction in the flow reactor maximizes the access of the reactants to the catalysts without the aid of any solvent, which further eliminates the filtration steps required to remove the catalyst after the reaction. Conducting the reaction at 200 °C facilitates the recovery of the product (aniline), from the catalyst, as soon as it is formed.