ICSOFT-EA 2014 Abstracts

Area 1 - Enterprise Software Technologies
Full Papers Short Papers
Area 2 - Software Project Management
Full Papers Short Papers
Area 3 - Distributed and Mobile Software Systems
Full Papers Short Papers
Area 4 - Software Engineering Methods and Techniques
Full Papers Short Papers

Area 1 - Enterprise Software Technologies

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 37
Title:

A Service Framework for Multi-tenant Enterprise Application in SaaS Environments
Authors:

Chun-Feng Liao, Kung Chen and Jiu-Jye Chen
Abstract: In recent years, Software as a service (SaaS), a service model for cloud computing, has received a lot of attention. As designing a multi-tenant enterprise application in SaaS environments is a non-trival task, we propose a service framework to deal with three common issues for designing multi-tenant enterprise SaaS applications: tenant context storage and propagation, schema-mapping, and the integration of ORM framework. A prototype and a sample SaaS application have been implemented to verify the feasibility of our framework. In addition, two tenant-specific virtual applications are constructed to demonstrate multi-tenancy. Finally, we conduct a set of experiments to assess the overheads of making an enterprise application multi-tenant enabled.
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Paper Nr: 56
Title:

An Automated Approach for Creating Workload Models from Server Log Data
Authors:

Fredrik Abbors, Dragos Truscan and Tanwir Ahmad
Abstract: We present a tool-supported approach for creating workload models from historical web access log data. The resulting workload models are stochastic, represented as Probabilistic Timed Automata (PTA), and describe how users interact with the system. Such models allow one to analyze different user profiles and to mimic real user behavior as closely as possible when generating workload. We provide an experiment to validate the approach.
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Paper Nr: 59
Title:

Estimators Characteristics and Effort Estimation of Software Projects
Authors:

Hrvoje Karna and Sven Gotovac
Abstract: Effort estimation is an important part of software project management. Accurate estimates ensure planned project execution and compliance with the set time and budget constraints. Despite attempts to produce accurate estimates by using formal models there is no substantial evidence that these methods guarantee better estimates than those experts make. In order to improve the effort estimation process it is crucial to enhance understanding of the human estimator. When producing estimates each expert exhibits mental effort. In such situation estimator relies on his personal characteristics, some of which are, in context of effort estimation, more important than others. This research tries to identify these characteristics and their relative influences. Data for the research have been collected from projects executed in large company specialized for development of IT solutions in telecom domain. For identification of expert characteristics data mining approach is used (the multilayer perceptron neural network). We considered the use of this method as it is similar to the way human brain operates. Data sets used in modelling contain more than 2000 samples collected from analysed projects. The obtained results are highly intuitive and later could be used in the assessment of reliability of each estimator and estimates he produces.
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Paper Nr: 61
Title:

Reuse of Semantic Business Process Patterns
Authors:

Lobna Makni, Nahla Zaaboub and Hanene Ben-Abdallah
Abstract: Reusing business process artefacts, in business process modelling, can accelerate the design activity and improve the quality of the resulting products. Among the variety of reusable artefact types proposed during the last decade, Semantic Business Process Pattern (SB2P) offers business patterns that encapsulate knowledge and expertise in a particular domain. The reuse of a SB2P provides for the adoption of commonly used practices while offering guidance on possible variations. This paper proposes a reuse method that assists a business process designer, first, in retrieving an appropriate SB2P from a repository, and then adapting it through a set of instantiation operators to meet its specific requirements. The retrieval method relies on both semantic and behavioural information encapsulated in the SB2P. In addition, the instantiation operators ensure the derivation of a business process design that respects a set of quality metrics. The reuse method is illustrated through an example.
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Paper Nr: 79
Title:

Modularization Compass - Navigating the White Waters of Feature-Oriented Modularity
Authors:

Andrzej Olszak and Bo Nørregaard Jørgensen
Abstract: Successful software systems have to adapt to the evolving needs of their users. However, adding and extending functional features often becomes more difficult over time due to aggregated complexity and eroded modularity. This erosion can be quantified by measuring scattering and tangling of feature implementations in the source code, to track long-term regressions and to plan refactorings. This paper argues that the traditional usage of only the absolute values of modularity metrics is, however, insufficient and proposes to use their relative values instead. These relative values are referred to as the drift of feature-oriented modularity, and are defined as the distance between the actual metric values for a given source code and their values achievable for the source code’s ideally modularized counterpart. The proposed approach, called modularization compass, computes the modularity drift by optimizing the feature-oriented modularization of source code based on traceability links between features and source code. The optimized modularizations are created automatically by transforming the groupings of classes into packages, which is guided by a multi-objective grouping genetic algorithm. The proposed approach was evaluated by application to long-term release histories of three open-source Java applications.
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Paper Nr: 80
Title:

Two Swarm Intelligence Algorithms for the Set Covering Problem
Authors:

Broderick Crawford, Ricardo Soto, Rodrigo Cuesta, Miguel Olivares-Suárez, Franklin Johnson and Eduardo Olguín
Abstract: The Weighted Set Covering problem is a formal model for many industrial optimization problems. In the Weighted Set Covering Problem the goal is to choose a subset of columns of minimal cost in order to cover every row. Here, we present its resolution with two novel metaheuristics: Firefly Algorithm and Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm. The Firefly Algorithm is inspired by the flashing behaviour of fireflies. The main purpose of flashing is to act as a signal to attract other fireflies. The flashing light can be formulated in such a way that it is associated with the objective function to be optimized. The Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm mimics the food foraging behaviour of honey bee colonies. In its basic version the algorithm performs a kind of neighbourhood search combined with random search. Experimental results show that both are competitive in terms of solution quality with other recent metaheuristic approaches.
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Paper Nr: 82
Title:

Solving Open-Pit Long-Term Production Planning Problems with Constraint Programming - A Performance Evaluation
Authors:

Ricardo Soto, Broderick Crawford, Boris Almonacid, Franklin Johnson and Eduardo Olguín
Abstract: Open pit mining problems aims at correctly identifying the set of blocks to be mined in order to maximize the net present value of the extracted ore. Different constraints can be involved and may vary the difficulty of the problem. In particular, the Open-Pit Long-Term Production Planning Problem is one of the variants that better models the real mining operation. It considers, among others, limited processing plant and mining capacity as well as slope and grade blending constraints. During the last thirty years, different techniques have been proposed to solve the multiple variants of the open pit mining problem; however, the resolution via constraint programming has not been reported yet. In this paper, we present a performance evaluation of seven constraint programming solvers for the open pit mining long-term scheduling problem. We illustrate interesting and comparative results on a set of varied open pit mining instances.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 28
Title:

A Framework for Process-based Collaborative Systems Design
Authors:

Khoutir Bouchbout, Nassim Iklef and Sara Khaldoun
Abstract: In today’s business world, collaborative systems can be realized by implementing Business-to-Business (B2B) collaborations that entail a process-oriented integration among heterogeneous and autonomous organizations. In this paper, we define a model-driven framework to design such collaborative systems. The framework comprises three layers: an organizational layer, that focuses on business collaboration requirements, a conceptual layer, to define the business process, and a technology layer, aimed at business process execution. Hence, the framework combines business process management (BPM) concepts and Web services technology. To build B2B collaborations both organizations have to provide public parts of their process models as basis for discussion for collaborative process modelling. The internal private processes are generated from collaborative process, based on model-driven approach (MDA). At the execution level, B2B interactions are modeled based on Web services. Finally, we validate our proposition with the implementation of an e-ordering system.
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Paper Nr: 30
Title:

Analysis of Material Shape for Recycling Through Digital Image Processing (ANFOR)
Authors:

Luis Salvador Sánchez Montalvo, Leticia Flores-Pulido, Perfecto Malaquías Quintero Flores and Patrick Hernndez Cuamatzi
Abstract: Process automation in recycling or identifying ways that can classity these objects such as plastic bottles, are necessary and valuable for better efficiency in the quality of the selection process. The purpose of this research is to propose a system that is able to perform digital image processing and use in extracting edge in plastic bottles, subsequently calculating characteristics and assigning them to different types of plastic.
Paper Nr: 40
Title:

Toward Easy Migration of Client-Server Applications to the Cloud
Authors:

Jianbo Zheng and Weichang Du
Abstract: As an emerging model for the delivery of software services, Software as a Service (SaaS) has come to be a trend in the software industry due to its low investment, flexibility, and accessibility. However, migration of conventional client-server systems and applications to SaaS may involve complicated processes. This paper proposes a framework for helping software developers to migrate conventional client-server applications to SaaS based applications in cloud environments, with multi-tenancy support and without redeveloping or modifying original application software. The migration framework consists of four components: service proxy, data proxy, tenant management, and cloud resources management. The four framework components, together with an original client-server application, can be seamlessly deployed on the cloud as SaaS. The proposed migration framework has been implemented on the Amazon AWS cloud engine.
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Paper Nr: 45
Title:

Semantic Web Technology for Building Information Model
Authors:

Muhammad Asfand-e-yar, Adam Kučera and Tomáš Pitner
Abstract: Smart building is a trend towards the Buildings Automation paradigm. Smart building aims to autonomously control devices and systems in given environment. These devices and systems are nevertheless supervised by facility management. The facility management normally is aided by heterogeneous systems and applications. Due to multifarious data of the systems, applications, and missing semantics in building automation, the data is manually handed by facility management, for analysis and decision making. Therefore, such a system is required to integrate such multi-form data of various systems and applications. Hence, Semantic Web technology is proposed in this paper for the data integration. The paper explains development of Semantic Web Model for BIM systems, used at Masaryk University. The model links various systems, which are used for facility management, and is applicable in different environments. The model not only provide base for analysis and decision making for facility management, but also facilitate developers to focus on front-end of application. Hence, the aim is to structure the data for simplifying the queering mechanism used for analysis.
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Paper Nr: 72
Title:

HiPro-CodeGen - Automatic Programming for Parallel Numerical Simulations
Authors:

Liao Li, Jing Cuiping, Wang Wei, Zhang Aiqing and Yang Zhang
Abstract: HiPro-CodeGen is a code generation engine designed for numerical simulation development. Its central objective is to produce a parallel software framework with standard structure for an application developed on JASMIN, a domain-specific computational framework. The unique parallel part and all interfaces of the application are generated and implementation of sequential subroutines is the only part of the code left to be written manually for a programmer. The design and implementation of the code generation engine is introduced which combines numerical mathematics with component-based programming to create ontological models for parallel simulations. A hybrid programming method is proposed on the work mechanism of the engine which combines graphical and textual approaches to hide parallel programming and object-oriented programming from developers. A real application is presented to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the engine.
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Paper Nr: 75
Title:

A Measurement-oriented Modelling Approach - A Step Forward
Authors:

Giulio D'Emilia, Gaetanino Paolone, Emanuela Natale, Antonella Gaspari and Denis Del Villano
Abstract: Measurements represent a fundamental component of Enterprise Information Systems and they play a key role in organizations. Their own languages, concepts and techniques, concerning how to approach and solve problems in modern industrial scenarios, inevitably characterize these two disciplines. This is why the question we posed is to get a methodology that allows us to analyse, model and implement software subsystems able to render really usable information concerning measurements, keeping their informative peculiarities unchanged. The final goal of our research is to define a Use Case-based methodological proposal for modeling the informative content of measurements and their usage that starts from the business model of an enterprise subsystem and achieves a software model able to satisfy the users' needs.
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Paper Nr: 78
Title:

A Genetic Algorithm and Tabu Search for Discovering Regular Plans in Mobile Clients
Authors:

John Tsiligaridis
Abstract: In a mobile computing system, broadcasting has become one of the most interesting and challenging research issue. The server continuously broadcasts data to mobile users. The data can be inserted into customized size relations and broadcasted as Regular Broadcast Plan (RBP) with multiple channels. Two algorithms, the Basic Regular (BRA) and the Partition Value Algorithm (PVA), can provide a static and dynamic RBP construction with multiple constraints solutions respectively. Servers have to work with many broadcasting plan operations. The operations become more complicated when there are many kinds of services. A Hybrid Genetic Algorithm using Tabu Search (GTS) for the local minimum is developed. The GTS can discover RBPs with the minimum number of channels. In addition, with the move operations it can also discover more than one RBPs with minimum number of channels including different composition RBPs. A set of criteria are introduced that enhance the Tabu search part of GTS for discovering RBPs. Theorems can provide direct conditions that can state the existence of the necessary criteria of having RBP and RBPs with different composition without considering those criteria. From all the above modern servers can be upgraded in regards to RBPs discovery with fewer channels.
Paper Nr: 93
Title:

Applying Design Principles for Enhancing Enterprise System Usability
Authors:

Tamara Babaian, Jennifer Xu and Wendy Lucas
Abstract: Experienced users learn the “tricks of the trade” that allow them to make effective and efficient use of enterprise systems. New users and even experienced ones accessing unfamiliar parts of the system, however, are stymied by the lack of navigational cues, the ubiquity of tabbed pages, and the sheer number of fields that may be required. In earlier work, we documented the usability issues users are facing in the field, derived four design principles for guiding the design of systems that collaborate with their users, and implemented a database framework for supporting those principles. In this paper, we present two interventions targeted at the design principle that calls for providing navigational and progress guidance, while supporting the principle requiring that the system make use of contextual information in presenting data and choices to the user. Using visualizations in conjunction with a playback mechanism, users can learn about system-supported processes, find detailed information on the particular process instances on which they are working, and view automated playbacks of users completing the same and other types of tasks. This paper is the next step in designing enterprise systems that help, rather than hinder, their human partners by sharing their knowledge.
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Paper Nr: 105
Title:

COnCEPT - Developing Intelligent Information Systems to Support Colloborative Working Across Design Teams
Authors:

Aggelos Liapis, Julia Kantorovitch, Julian Malins, Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Mieke Haesen, Marisela Gutierrez Lopez, Mathias Funk, Jesus Alcantara, John-Paul Moore and Fiona Maciver
Abstract: Rapid developments in hardware and software are creating opportunities to enhance the user experience. For example, advances in social analytics can provide near instant feedback. State of the art information extraction tools, filtering, categorization and presentation mechanisms all greatly facilitate knowledge exploitation activities. However, these technologies are not yet fully integrated into modern business systems. This paper describes research being undertaken in order to develop a new collaborative creative design platform (COnCEPT) aimed at investigating of new data-mining and collaboration technologies in order to enhance the information systems of future businesses. This paper describes the software architecture and the components, together with the design principles which underpin the design of the new COnCEPT platform, which is being developed to address the needs of professional design teams working collaboratively in a professional context.
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Paper Nr: 107
Title:

BP4ED: Best Practices Online for eLearning Content Development - Development Based on Learning Objects
Authors:

Nivardo Ibarra-Florencio, Jorge Buenabad-Chavez and José Rangel-Garcia
Abstract: The development of {\em effective} eLearning content is complex. In addition to subject matter experts (SMEs), it involves instructional design (ID) experts, technical design (TD) experts, and production personnel (PP). In small projects, a single person with experience may take all of those roles on. Large projects usually involve different people in each role, and a few eLearning officers to help other participants' interaction. \newline This paper presents the design of a web system that will facilitate the role and interaction of SMEs, ID experts, TD experts and PPs through the use of best practices online. Our system is organised around a set of templates of learning objects, designed after best practices regarding ID and TD in the literature, that will guide both {\em development} and {\em presentation} of eLearning content. For some eLearning our system {\em may} prove less flexible than the software tools currently used for developing eLearning content. However, we argue that our system will significanly increase the chances of developing effective eLearning content in less time. Our system is being developed as a cloud-based web system. The paper presents some implementation results on the functioning of our system.
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Paper Nr: 109
Title:

On Datastore Support for Agile Software Development
Authors:

Jie Liu
Abstract: Most database-base applications support two main sets of features: customer facing transactional capabilities such as purchasing books at an online bookstore and functionality required by managers and business analysts such as identifying trends in sales data by combing through aggregated sales data. The conventional approach of having just one main database to support both features greatly restrict developers freedom in applying the best approach to quickly implement new features, to enhance existing features, or to mend defects because any attempt in changing database schema means code and test cases modifications in many places and may even require a large amount of effort in testing. Such an inherited resistance in changing introduced by data store does not fit the evolutionary development nature of Agile software development methodology. We argue that we should consider having at least two databases: one support transactional capabilities and the other support reporting and possible data warehouse needs, and will show how such an approach supports the Agile software development methodology.
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Paper Nr: 119
Title:

Analyzing Risks in Business Process Models using a Deviational Technique
Authors:

Hanane Lhannaoui, Mohammed Issam Kabbaj and Zohra Bakkoury
Abstract: In a business environment, many processes are performing ineffectively due to different risks. Several methods and techniques for the identification and management of risks in business processes have been proposed. Some of them originate from other domains and have been adapted to the business environment such as deviational approaches. Nevertheless, there are few examples for potential applications of those methods in business process redesign. This paper addresses this gap through proposing an approach that adapts HAZOP (HA-Zard OP-erability), a systematic deviational technique, to business process environment. We discuss how this method can contribute to the improvement of business process models.
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Paper Nr: 7
Title:

A Lightweight Framework for Graphical Editors on Android Devices
Authors:

Thomas Buchmann and Patrick Pezoldt
Abstract: During the last few years, mobile devices and corresponding applications gain more and more attention. The number of users of mobile devices like phones or tablets has been increasing dramatically. Thus, software engineering for mobile applications becomes more and more important. While development frameworks for such devices provide rich support for sophisticated input mechanisms like gestures, etc., they lack support for graphical editors. In this paper, we present a lightweight framework which fills this gap. As a running example, we present editors for UML class diagrams and activity diagrams which have been built using our framework.
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Paper Nr: 53
Title:

Multi-Agent Control System
Authors:

Atef Gharbi, Hamza Gharsellaoui and Samir Ben Ahmed
Abstract: The paper deals with distributed planning in a Multi-Agent System (MAS) constituted by several intelligent agents each one has to interact with the other autonomous agents. The problem faced is how to ensure a distributed planning through the cooperation in our multi-agent system. Finally, we use JADE platform to create agents and ensure the communication between them. A Benchmark Production System is used as a running example to explain our contribution.
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Paper Nr: 74
Title:

On the Importance of Flow Direction in Business Process Models
Authors:

Kathrin Figl and Mark Strembeck
Abstract: In today’s modeling practice we can observe a convention to model business processes from left-to-right or from top-to-bottom. Even though the choice of flow direction changes the visual appearance of a process model significantly, this convention is barely discussed by standard documents and modeling guidelines. In addition, most recommendations related to the flow direction are neither based on scientific claims nor on empirical evidence regarding their effectiveness in terms of readability. In this position paper, we discuss the importance of process model flow direction from a scientific viewpoint. In particular, we give a comprehensive overview of theoretical perspectives which offer explanations why a left-to-right flow direction for process models should be superior to other directions.
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Paper Nr: 88
Title:

A Multicore-aware Von Neumann Programming Model
Authors:

János Végh, Zsolt Bagoly, Ádám Kicsák and Péter Molnár
Abstract: An extension to the classic von Neumann paradigms is suggested, which –from the point of view of chip designers– considers modern many-core processors, and –from the point of view of programmers– still remains the classic von Neumann programming model. The work is based on the ideas that 1) the order in which the instructions (and/or code blocks) are executed does not matter, if some constraints do not force a special order of execution 2) a High Level Parallelism for code blocks (similar to Instruction Level Parallelism for instructions) can be introduced, allowing high-level out of order execution 3) discovering the possibilities for out of order execution can be done during compile time rather than runtime 4) the optimization possibilities discovered by the compile toolchain can be communicated to the processor in form of meta-information 5) the many computing resources (cores) can be assigned dynamically to machine instructions. It is shown that the multicore architectures could be transformed to a strongly enhanced single core processor. The key blocks of the proposal are a toolchain preparing the program code to run on many cores, a dispatch unit within the processor making effective use of the parallelized code, and also a much smarter communication method between the two key blocks is needed.
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Paper Nr: 92
Title:

Parametrical and Procedural Approach in the LIDAR Data Visualisation - Complex Creation of the Photorealistic and Accurate 3D Model of the Surface
Authors:

Jan Hovad and Jitka Komarkova
Abstract: Author presents a new hybrid method for LIDAR processing in the form of complex, real-world attribute-based 3D digital model of the terrain. This model can be widely used for 3D GIS analyses, visualization for public contracts, construction of new communications (roads), GPS navigation and generating individual views from any location. Model is based on the LIDAR scanned values that are transferred into the quadrilateral polygonal form. The main goal is to reconstruct large scale areas in 3D by slope based quadrilateral grids that are interpolated from irregular raw structure. Laser scan is checked and corrected. It is simplified by chosen interpolation technique into the quadrilateral set of grids (C++). Each grid has different resolution to lower hardware requirements. Raw scan is analysed by slope factor and is used further to classify grids into a groups. Classified grids are processed by 3D scripting language to form polygonal terrain model. Vector and polygonal data are converted into 3D and utilized to reconstruct surface features and terrain classes. Set operations are used to divide digital terrain model into the segments. Set of high polygonal models is created for each class. These models are scattered on the top of the classified polygonal surface.
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Area 2 - Software Project Management

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 39
Title:

Dilemma Structures between Contracting Parties in Software Development Projects
Authors:

Cornelia Gaebert
Abstract: The risk of failure of software development projects has been high for decades. One main reason identified by empirical studies is that the requirement specifications have gaps at the start of the project. Research on requirement analysis and project management primarily focuses on the improvement of methods and the behavior of the project participants. In our study, we suggest switching to the contracting level, describing the interaction of the involved organizations in terms of game theory. Organizations pursue economic targets. As we will show, the customer and the supplier are in a dilemma situation regarding the effort for closing the gaps in the requirement specifications. This results in a high risk for the quality of the software system. In support of our theoretical argument, we carried out an empirical investigation that shows that gaps in requirements and conflicts in the project exist of nearly every project. The most commonly used contract model is a fixed-price contract. From our model, we can derive suggestions for the contract design of software development projects as well as for the cooperation behavior during the project.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 27
Title:

Software Project Management - Towards Failure Avoidance
Authors:

Thang Nguyen
Abstract: Development tasks, in the thousands or more, are involved in a complex system/software project. These tasks aim at three objectives in the project, namely on budget, on time and on performance. Behind these tasks are decisions made on them to move the project forward. Project failure is an aggregated and cumulative failure of these tasks due to errors in tasks and/or decisions made. The project errors from faulty strategies to wrong builds, collectively called exceptions are much harder to detect than cost overrun (amounts spent) or time delay. The paper suggests a biologically-inspired approach to project failure avoidance which is different than most. It focuses on exposing exceptions as they occur and understanding the decisions made on them. Thus, there are two pieces needed for the proposed approach. The base piece is a management by exception (MBE) framework to monitor development exceptions occurred for management attention. The second piece is an adapted measurement method which will elicit, analyse and evaluate the decisions made on the reported exceptions. We argue that using the proposed approach, failure avoidance is possible and software project performance (in scope, intended features and desired quality) would be under control, and so are expected cost and time.
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Paper Nr: 13
Title:

A Methodology for Porting Sequential Software to the Multicore Platform - Considering Technical and Economical Aspects of Software Parallelization
Authors:

Constantin Christmann, Jürgen Falkner and Anette Weisbecker
Abstract: Today multicore processors are ubiquitous in desktop computers, servers and various other devices. In order to take advantage of such multicore processors many of today’s existing applications, which typically are sequential applications, need to be ported to the multicore platform. However, the adoption of multicore technology in software applications is still restrained by technical and economical obstacles. The contribution of this paper is a methodology for porting sequential software to the multicore platform. It takes into account the technical specifics of parallel programming and multicore technology offering developers orientation during the porting process. In addition to that (and in contrast to existing methodologies) it also addresses the economical obstacles of multicore adoption in software development by (1) supporting planning and cost control to counteract high development costs and by (2) utilizing auto tuning in order to cope with uncertainty due to varying processor architectures.
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Paper Nr: 54
Title:

Ontology based Bayesian Software Process Improvenent
Authors:

Stamatia Bibi, Vassilis Gerogiannis, George Kakarontzas and Ioannis Stamelos
Abstract: This paper presents an ontology based approach that can support small and medium-sized software enterprises (SMEs) to achieve their software process improvement goals. The approach consists of four steps: i) assessment of the software process and identification of areas under improvement, ii) development of a process knowledge base, iii) conceptualization and analysis of an ontology that represents the process domain, iv) Bayesian analysis on the ontology, experimentation and suggestions for process improvement. The main concept of the approach is presented through a generic software process ontology model. To validate the approach parts of this model was instantiated using company specific process data from a telecommunication SME. The resulted process models are further analysed through applying Bayesian analysis.
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Paper Nr: 116
Title:

Data Re-archival in IT Application Retirement Scenario - A Case Study
Authors:

Vidyasagar Uddagiri, Amarendra Mohanty and Biswaranjan Jena
Abstract: The prolific expansion of business operations globally, multi-channel operations and many such newer paradigms are driving voluminous growth for many businesses. This is resulting in tremendous data volume growth within supporting IT systems. Increased need for fact driven decision making and regulatory compliance requirements needs is driving the need for retention and storage of historical data for longer duration. Historical data being referred occasionally does not warrant storage using expensive database systems unlike transactional data. Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is an emerging discipline within Information Technology that addresses this problem. Data Archival is a concept within ILM used to retain necessary data for reference by live applications, while preserving historical data. The challenges faced during the execution of a Data Archival project by a Fortune 500 organization, the methodology formulated and implemented to work-around the challenges are described in this case.
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Area 3 - Distributed and Mobile Software Systems

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 96
Title:

An Architecture for the Design of Platforms Supporting Responsive Environments
Authors:

Marco Covelli, Daniela Micucci and Marco Mobilio
Abstract: Responsive environments are able to sense the environment and to respond to it and to the users that inhabit it. Those systems require both the integration of heterogeneous devices and an abstract representation of the environment to reason about interesting changes. The paper presents DEA (Domain Entities Access), an architecture that enables the realization of platforms supporting responsive environments in the interaction with instrumented physical environments through the observation and the control of meaningful domain entities, thus abstracting from any technological details. Platforms can be easily realized by plugging specific domain-dependant components in a framework that manages all the domain-independent aspects. Thus, the architecture results to be open with respect to both new devices and new typologies of domain entities. A prototypical implementation of the framework has been provided. Moreover, a specific platform has been realized to support an end-user application dealing with instrumented environments.
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Paper Nr: 111
Title:

Chive: A Simulation Tool for Epidemic Data Replication Protocols Benchmarking
Authors:

A. Jiménez-Yáñez, J. Navarro, F. D. Muñoz-Escoí, I. Arrieta-Salinas and J. E. Armendáriz-Iñigo
Abstract: Epidemic data replication protocols are an interesting approach to address the scalability limitations of classic distributed databases. However, devising a system layout that takes full advantage of epidemic replication is a challenging task due to the high number of associated configuration parameters (e.g., replication layers, number of replicas per layer, etc.). The purpose of this paper is to present a Java-based simulation tool that simulates the execution of epidemic data replication protocols on user-defined configurations under different workloads. Conducted experiments show that by using the proposed approach (1) the internal dynamics of epidemic data replication protocols under a specific scenario are better understood, (2) the distributed database system design process is considerably speeded up, and (3) different system configurations can be rapidly prototyped.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 38
Title:

On the Design of the EFCOSS Software Architecture When Using Parallel and Distributed Computing
Authors:

Ralf Seidler, H. Martin Bücker, M. Ali Rostami and David Neuhäuser
Abstract: Mathematical optimization algorithms are ubiquitous in computational science and engineering where the objective function of the optimization problem involves a complicated computer model predicting relevant phenomena of a scientific or engineering system of interest. Therefore, in this area of mathematical software, it is indispensable to combine software for optimization with software for simulation, typically developed independently of each other by members of separate scientific communities. From a software engineering point of view, the situation becomes even more challenging when the simulation software is developed using a parallel programming paradigm without taking into consideration that it will be executed within an optimization context. The EFCOSS environment alleviates some of the problems by serving as an interfacing layer between optimization software and simulation software. In this paper, we show the software design of those parts of EFCOSS that are relevant to the integration of a simulation software involving different parallel programming paradigms. The parallel programming paradigms supported by EFCOSS include MPI for distributed memory and OpenMP for shared memory. In addition, the simulation software can be executed on a remote parallel computer.
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Paper Nr: 46
Title:

A Component-based User Interface Approach for Smart TV
Authors:

Jesús Vallecillos, Javier Criado, Nicolás Padilla and Luis Iribarne
Abstract: The fast growth and diversity of technological devices currently being produced is benefiting areas such as “ambient intelligence”. This area attempts to integrate information technology in any personal environment. However, to construct service/application software that adapts to different environments, there must be techniques available that favor this type of development. Component-based software Engineering (CBSE) is a discipline of the software engineering that integrates (previously constructed) components to build new software systems. This paper presents a CBSE approach to build Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) at run-time. Both a component-based perspective of the user interface and a set of component relationships are presented in the paper. As a case study, this paper also describes an application built for an emerging computation environment, Smart TV. A running example is also presented through the paper putting some Web-based solutions to build User Interfaces together (e.g., Wookie, W3C Widgets, Node.js).
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Paper Nr: 69
Title:

New Multi-Token based Protocol for Flexible Networked Microcontrollers
Authors:

Imen Khemaissia, Olfa Mosbahi and Mohamed Khalgui
Abstract: This research paper deals with reconfigurable networked microcontrollers following the STM32F4 technology. These controllers based on the token ring architecture, are planned to be reconfigurable according to user requirements, and should be automatically adapted at run-time to their environment. A reconfiguration scenario is assumed to be any run-time automatic addition/removal/update of OS periodic tasks to/from different STM32F4 microcontrollers. Nevertheless, if simultaneous and concurrent scenarios appear in different controllers, then we can get unpredictable critical behaviors of the whole distributed system. A multi-agent architecture is defined where Request and Coordination Agents are assigned to each microcontroller to handle local reconfiguration scenarios after coordination with remote controllers. A tool is developed to simulate a real-case study. We discuss the paper’s contribution by analyzing the experimental results that we did on Networked STM32F4 microcontrollers.
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Paper Nr: 84
Title:

Continuous Queries over Distributed Streams of Heterogeneous Monitoring Data in Cloud Datacenters
Authors:

Daniel Tovarňák and Tomáš Pitner
Abstract: The use of stream processing for state monitoring of distributed infrastructures has been advocated by some in order to overcome the issues of traditional monitoring solutions when tasked with complex continuous queries. However, in the domain of behavior monitoring the situation gets more complicated. It is mainly because of the low-quality source of behavior-related monitoring information (natural language computer logs). Existing approaches prevalently rely on indexing and real-time data-mining of the behavior-related data rather than on using event/stream processing techniques and the many corresponding benefits. The goal of this paper is to present a general notion of Distributed Event-Driven Monitoring Architecture that will enable an easy definition of expressive continuous queries over many distributed and heterogeneous streams of behavior-related (and state-related) monitoring data.
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Paper Nr: 90
Title:

Next Generation Enterprise Modelling - The Role of Organizational Theory and Multi-Agent Systems
Authors:

Balbir Barn, Tony Clark and Vinay Kulkarni
Abstract: This position paper proposes that the current enterprise modeling approaches are overly reliant on the know how or tacit knowledge of enterprise architects for addressing organizational challenges such as business-IT alignment. Furthermore, current modeling languages only encourage linear thinking. By drawing upon existing research on (computational) organization theory and multi-agent systems, we propose implementation requirements for a next generation enterprise modeling language that supports agent based simulation.
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Paper Nr: 102
Title:

An Alternative Implementation for Accelerating Some Functions of Operating System
Authors:

János Végh, Ádám Kicsák, Zsolt Bagoly and Péter Molnár
Abstract: Processes running under an operating system are independent and autonomous entities. However, they need to share resources, communicate, use OS services, etc. The operating system’s services can be reached through system calls, which contribute – sometimes excessive – overhead activity. In some cases the payload activity, used in the system call, is much shorter than that needed for implementing the Exceptional Control Flow, implementing the system call frame. In certain cases, the OS service in question can be implemented in an alternative way, practically without overhead. The paper presents such a case, using an easy to understand simple example, an alternative implementation of a simple binary semaphore. The semaphore has been implemented and tested in a prototyping environment, using an operating system running on a soft processor equipped with custom instruction. For implementing the semaphores, a reconfigurable device was used.
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Paper Nr: 103
Title:

Preliminary Description of NACK-based Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector Routing Protocol for MANETs
Authors:

Alessandro Bianchi, Sebastiano Pizzutilo and Gennaro Vessio
Abstract: The present paper proposes a variant of the Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol for Mobile Ad-hoc NETworks (MANETs) by means of an Abstract State Machine (ASM)-based model. The variant introduces a new unicast message, which makes each host aware about the network topology more quickly than in the original AODV.
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Paper Nr: 104
Title:

Programming Support for the Flexible Coupling of Distributed Software Components for Scientific Simulations
Authors:

Michael Hofmann, Felix Ospald, Hansjörg Schmidt and Rolf Springer
Abstract: In this article, we investigate the flexible coupling of distributed software components that are required for an optimization process of lightweight structures built from hybrid materials. The software components include computationally intensive applications for the simulation of hybrid structures, control applications for implementing the optimization process as well as data-oriented applications for the generation, management, and visualization of simulation data. The participating software components and application programs are described to demonstrate their strongly varying functionalities as well as the diversity of data exchange methods that need to be considered for the data coupling. Furthermore, we present the design and usage of a software library with transparent data coupling mechanisms for software components that are flexibly distributed among different computing resources.
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Paper Nr: 115
Title:

Increasing the Efficiency of Minimal Key Enumeration Methods by Means of Parallelism
Authors:

Fernando Benito Picazo, Pablo Cordero, Manuel Enciso and Ángel Mora
Abstract: Finding all minimal keys in a table is a hard problem but also provides a lot of benefits in database design and optimization. Some of the methods proposed in the literature are based on logic and, more specifically on tableaux paradigm. The size of the problems such methods deal with is strongly limited, which implies that they cannot be applied to big database schemas. We have carried out an experimental analysis to compare the results obtained by these methods in order to estimate their limits. Although tableaux paradigm may be viewed as a search space guiding the key finding task, none of the previous algorithms have incorporated parallelism. In this work, we have developed two different versions of the algorithms, a sequential and a parallel one, stating clearly how parallelism could naturally be integrated and the benefits we get over efficiency. This work has also guided future work guidelines to improve future designs of these methods.
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Paper Nr: 120
Title:

Distributed Parallel Algorithm for Numerical Solving of 3D Problem of Fluid Dynamics in Anisotropic Elastic Porous Medium Using MapReduce and MPI Technologies
Authors:

Madina Mansurova, Darkhan Akhmed-Zaki, Matkerim Bazargul and Bolatzhan Kumalakov
Abstract: Paper presents an advanced iterative MapReduce solution that employs Hadoop and MPI technologies. First, we present an overview of working implementations that make use of the same technologies. Then we define an academic example of numeric problem with an emphasis on its computational features. The named definition is used to justify the proposed solution design.
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Paper Nr: 21
Title:

Software Quality Assurance for the Development of JASMIN Infrastructure
Authors:

Cao Xiaolin, Zhang Aiqing and Liu Qingkai
Abstract: JASMIN is a parallel software infrastructure oriented to accelerate the development of parallel programs for large scale simulations of complex applications on supercomputer. Tens of application programs have been reconstructed or developed on JASMIN. With the rising effort needed to develop and maintain JASMIN, it is very crucial to fulfil software quality assurance. Compared with open source or commercial software development, there are four challenges including parallel computing, higher technical risks etc in the development of JASMIN. A Four-phases-twelve-nodes process are presented and widely used for a seriers new software modules development. These modules meet the requirements arising from application programs and improve performance for adapting new supercomputer.
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Paper Nr: 101
Title:

Indoor Pedestrian Localization for Mobile Devices - The Model
Authors:

Jonáš Ševčík
Abstract: Indoor localization using mobile devices is one of the emerging areas of today’s interest. This paper presents a model for indoor localization based on 802.11 Wi-Fi fingerprinting in combination of inertial navigation running in parallel. We introduce a novel model scheme, where we use a state-of-the-art Compass system. The system is enhanced by clustering and the position calculation is influenced by the distance travelled between each fingerprinting, allowing us to eliminate improbable location estimations. Proposed system is supposed to be resilient to received signal strength blocking caused by a human body, and also to be more accurate than other up-to-date solutions.
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Paper Nr: 118
Title:

On Using Mobile Crowdsourcing for Timely Information Solicitation and Sharing of Prices
Authors:

Hazleen Aris and Marina Md Din
Abstract: The increase in goods prices year after year has directly affected consumer expenditures. Survey from a number of countries showed that the average household expenditures had also increased, notably in the past two years. One way to alleviate the impact of the rise in goods prices is by being more selective in buying the items. Being selective means buying the items at the stores that offer the lowest prices. To do that, a mechanism to compare the prices of items between stores is needed, in which, the local pricewatch information solicitation and sharing (LoPrice) model was proposed. The challenge to the design of such model is in the choice of suitable approach for collecting the information on prices from different stores in a timely manner. In this paper, mobile crowdsourcing is proposed to be the approach that is able to address the challenge. Review on existing price comparison applications, including their advantages and disadvantages is also included. An exploratory survey was also performed, which revealed that the use of mobile crowdsourcing is able to provide timely information solicitation and sharing of prices.
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Paper Nr: 122
Title:

SQLReports - Yet Another Relational Database Reporting System
Authors:

Sergey Afonin, Alexander Kozitsyn and Ivan Astapov
Abstract: Popular web application frameworks, such as Django, do not provide efficient tools for rapid report development. Specialized reporting software are targeted at visual representation and can generate perfect printed versions of the report. In this paper we describe a minimalistic but quite powerful reporting system developed for a web-based university information system. This reporting system supports zero-programing report development, parametrization of SQL queries, interactive results processing by means of client-side JavaScript libraries, and cross-report references. Main features are similar to well-known reporting systems, such as JasperReports, with more attention to reuse of developed reports, simplicity and interactivity.
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Area 4 - Software Engineering Methods and Techniques

Full Papers
Paper Nr: 16
Title:

Enhancing BPMN 2.0 Support for Service Interaction Patterns
Authors:

Dario Campagna, Carlos Kavka and Luka Onesti
Abstract: Choreography modeling languages have emerged in the past years as a mean for capturing and managing collaborative processes. The advancement of such languages let to the definition of the service interaction patterns, a pattern-based framework for the benchmarking of choreography languages against abstracted forms of representative scenarios. Service interaction patterns have been used to analyze the capabilities of different languages. Since its introduction, no benchmark based on this framework has been performed on the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) version 2.0. In this paper, we present an assessment of BPMN 2.0 support for service interaction patterns. We evidence the issues that limit the set of supported patterns, and propose enhancements to overcome them.
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Paper Nr: 32
Title:

QuESo - A Quality Model for Open Source Software Ecosystems
Authors:

Oscar Franco-Bedoya, David Ameller, Dolors Costal and Xavier Franch
Abstract: Open source software has witnessed an exponential growth in the last two decades and it is playing an increasingly important role in many companies and organizations leading to the formation of open source software ecosystems. In this paper we present a quality model that will allow the evaluation of those ecosystems in terms of their relevant quality characteristics such as health or activeness. To design this quality model we started by analysing the quality measures found during the execution of a systematic literature review on open source software ecosystems and, then, we classified and reorganized the set of measures in order to build a solid quality model.
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Paper Nr: 35
Title:

A Case of Adoption of 25000 Standards Family - Establishing Evaluation Requirements in the Audio-Visual Preservation Context
Authors:

Isabella Biscoglio and Eda Marchetti
Abstract: The digital preservation want to guarantee accessible and usable over time digital audio-visual media content, regardless of the challenges of media failure and technological change. For this aim, the current technologies for digital audio-visual media preservation deal with complex technological, organizational, economic and rights-related issues. Ensuring the development and use of high-quality software could be a key factor for their success. The paper reports an experience matured inside the Presto4U project, with the contribution of the TATE Gallery. Aim of the experiment was the identification of preservation needs and corresponding preservation requirements in order to set up a quality evaluation process for used software tools making easy the technology transfer of research results into digital preservation environment. Using the framework of the international standards on software products quality, the evaluation requirements were mapped on the characteristics and sub-characteristics of a quality model and a specification of high-level software product quality evaluation plan has been obtained and presented.
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Paper Nr: 49
Title:

Transevol - A Tool to Evolve Legacy Model Transformations by Example
Authors:

Joseba A. Agirre, Goiuria Sagardui and Leire Etxeberria
Abstract: The use of Model Driven Development (MDD) approach is increasing in industry. MDD approach raises the level of abstraction using models as main artefacts of software engineering processes. The development of model transformations is a critical step in MDD. Tasks for defining, specifying and maintaining model transformation rules can be complex in MDD. Model Transformation By Example (MTBE) approaches have been proposed to ease the development process of transformation rules. MTBE uses pair of input/output models to define the model transformation. Starting from pairs of example models the transformation rules are derived semi-automatically. The aim of our approach is to derive the adaptation operations that must be implemented in a legacy model transformation to fulfil a new transformation requirement. An MTBE approach and a tool to develop and evolve ATL transformation rules have been developed. Our approach derives the transformations operations automatically using execution traceability data and models differences. The developed MTBE approach can be applied to evolve legacy model transformations. A real case study is introduced to demonstrate the usefulness of the tool.
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Paper Nr: 52
Title:

Should We Beware the Inheritance? - An Empirical Study on the Evolution of Seven Open Source Systems
Authors:

Cristina Marinescu and Mihai Codoban
Abstract: One of the key mechanisms of object-oriented programming is inheritance. Some empirical studies show that classes inheriting behavior from more classes (i.e., ancestors) are more defect prone than the other classes. Since various collaborations are found among the instances of classes, classes are not isolated within the source code of object-oriented systems. In this paper, we investigate if classes using classes inheriting behaviour from other classes are more change and defect prone than the other classes. We analyze at least three releases of every system belonging to a suite of seven open source systems and investigate the relations between classes that use/do not use class hierarchies and study the change and defect proneness of those classes. The results frequently show that the clients of classes which inherit behaviour are more change and defect prone. These findings show a new type of correlation between the clients of class hierarchies and changes/defects, bringing evidence related to an increased likelihood of exhibiting changes and defects for the clients of class hierarchies. We believe that the inferred correlations are due to an improper usage of class hierarchies but further studies are needed for confirmation.
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Paper Nr: 63
Title:

Reconfigurable Wireless Sensor Networks - New Adaptive Dynamic Solutions for Flexible Architectures
Authors:

Hanen Grichi, Olfa Mosbahi and Mohamed Khalgui
Abstract: This paper deals with reconfigurable wireless sensor networks RWSN that should be adapted to their environment under user and energy constraints. A RWSN is assumed to be composed of a set of communicating nodes such that each one executes reconfigurable software tasks to control local sensors. We propose three reconfiguration forms to adapt a RWSN: (a) software reconfiguration allowing the addition/ removal/ update of tasks, (b) hardware reconfiguration allowing the activation/deactivation of nodes, (c) protocol reconfiguration allowing the modification of routing protocols between nodes. We propose a zone-based multi-agent architecture for RWSN where a communication protocol is well-defined to optimize distributed reconfigurations. Each agent of this architecture is modeled by nested state machines in order to control the problem complexity. The paper’s contribution is applied to a case study that we simulate to show the originality of this new architecture.
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Short Papers
Paper Nr: 17
Title:

Design Pattern Support for Model-Driven Development
Authors:

Timo Vepsäläinen and Seppo Kuikka
Abstract: Design patterns document solutions to recurring design and development challenges. UML, as the de-facto modeling language in software development, aims to support defining and using patterns in models. However, as is demonstrated in the paper, the support is not sufficient for all kinds of patterns and all meaningful ways to use patterns. In this paper, the use of design patterns is suggested for documentation purposes in Model-Driven Development. The pattern support of UML is complemented with an approach that does not constrain the structures that can be used in patterns. The approach, which is tool supported in a model-driven development environment for control applications, also enables specification of part of the information content of patterns that UML leaves intact. The developed tool support includes instantiating and highlighting patterns in models and gathering of traceability information on use of patterns.
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Paper Nr: 19
Title:

Testing the Cooperation of Autonomous Robotic Agents
Authors:

Raimar Lill and Francesca Saglietti
Abstract: This article proposes an approach to testing the cooperative behaviour of autonomous software-based agents with safety-relevant tasks. It includes the definition of different model-based testing criteria based on the coverage of Coloured Petri Net entities as well as the automatic generation of appropriate test cases. The multi-objective optimization problem considered addresses both the maximization of interaction coverage and the minimization of the amount of test cases required. The approach developed for its solution makes use of genetic algorithms. The resulting automatic test case generation process is presented in this article together with the experiences gained by applying it to cooperating autonomous forklifts.
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Paper Nr: 26
Title:

Understanding Software Testers in the Automotive Industry - A Mixed-method Case Study
Authors:

Tabata Pérez Rentería y Hernández and Nicola Marsden
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a mixed-method study performed in the software department of a large automotive supplier operating in a global software engineering setting. The aim was to understand the social dimension and human aspects involved in software testing in an intercultural setting. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of testers' perception regarding their day-to-day activities and collaboration with other teams was conducted. The findings suggest the testing team is motivated but recurrently affected by external factors such as late input for testers, improperly or missing requirements, and unrealistic project planning. Testers identified human factors, such as openness and attitude of people, as relevant for effective collaboration. Combining the findings of the quantitative and the qualitative studies, our research suggests that the approach that testers take to their work can be characterized by a silo focus, i.e. rather than focusing on the overall goals their perception revolves around their subunit of the organization.
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Paper Nr: 57
Title:

A Model to Measure Organizational Readiness for Software Process Improvement
Authors:

Aldo Dagnino and Andrew Cordes
Abstract: This paper presents a model that can be used to measure the readiness of an organization to engage in a software process improvement (SPI) program. This model focuses on the main stakeholders of an SPI program, which include the “Sponsor”, the “Change Agent”, and the “Organization” directly affected by the improvements. The model identifies the drivers that motivate the SPI main stakeholders and assigns metrics to these drivers so that it is possible to evaluate the readiness of the whole organization to start and maintain an SPI program. The model presented augments the concepts of “Change Management” from the Software Engineering Institute by incorporating the experiences of ABB in implementing SPI programs in its business units during the past decade. The paper presents as well an example on how this model has been used to track the evolution of SPI in an ABB organization.
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Paper Nr: 70
Title:

Towards the Quality Improvement of Web Applications by Neuroscience Techniques
Authors:

F.J. Domínguez-Mayo, G. Kubryk, M.J. Escalona, G. Denhière, M. Mejías and C. Tijus
Abstract: User-centered design not only requires designers to analyse and anticipate how users are likely to use a Web application, but also to validate their assumptions with regard to user behaviour in real environments. Cognitive neuroscience, for its part, addresses the questions of how psychological functions are produced by neural circuitry. The emergence of powerful new measurement techniques allows neuroscientists and psychologists to address abstract questions such as how human cognition and emotion are mapped to specific neural substrates. This paper focus on the validation of user-centered designs and requirements of Web applications by neuroscience techniques and suggest the use of these techniques to achieve efficient and effectiveness validated designs by real behavior of potential users.
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Paper Nr: 87
Title:

A Method for Analyzing the Context of Stakeholders and their Requirements
Authors:

Takako Nakatani and Yuko Koiso
Abstract: Requirements of software are sometimes added and changed throughout the development phases. In this paper, we introduce a method to analyze environmental factors that sometimes cause changes in requirements. The scope of the i* framework, for example, does not focus on environmental factors, but on the intentional actors and their dependencies. To date, the various environmental factors are not analyzed well. Furthermore, some of the environmental factors have relationships with stakeholders and thus change the intentions of stakeholders through these social relations. We consider these relationships as one of the providers of and a mechanism that forces changes in requirements. Before we proceed to prove the role of this mechanism through an application to a real project, we first define four social relations that connect an environmental factor and a stakeholder, and introduce an analysis method of the context. The effectiveness of the method is shown through several examples and discussed from the view of the possibility of the prediction of requirements changes.
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Paper Nr: 94
Title:

Defect Prediction over Software Life Cycle in Automotive Domain - State of the Art and Road Map for Future
Authors:

Rakesh Rana, Miroslaw Staron, Jörgen Hansson and Martin Nilsson
Abstract: Software today provides an important and vital role in providing the functionality and user experience in automotive domain. With ever increasing size and complexity of software together with high demands on quality and dependability, managing software development process effectively is an important challenge. Methods of software defect predictions provide useful information for optimal resource allocation and release planning; they also help track and model software and system reliability. In this paper we present an overview of defect prediction methods and their applicability in different software lifecycle phases in the automotive domain. Based on the overview and current trends we identify that close monitoring of in service performance of software based systems will provide useful feedback to software development teams and allow them to develop more robust and user friendly systems.
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Paper Nr: 95
Title:

A Framework for Adoption of Machine Learning in Industry for Software Defect Prediction
Authors:

Rakesh Rana, Miroslaw Staron, Jörgen Hansson, Martin Nilsson and Wilhelm Meding
Abstract: Machine learning algorithms are increasingly being used in a variety of application domains including software engineering. While their practical value have been outlined, demonstrated and highlighted in number of existing studies, their adoption in industry is still not widespread. The evaluations of machine learning algorithms in literature seem to focus on few attributes and mainly on predictive accuracy. On the other hand the decision space for adoption or acceptance of machine learning algorithms in industry encompasses much more factors. Companies looking to adopt such techniques want to know where such algorithms are most useful, if the new methods are reliable and cost effective. Further questions such as how much would it cost to setup, run and maintain systems based on such techniques are currently not fully investigated in the industry or in academia leading to difficulties in assessing the business case for adoption of these techniques in industry. In this paper we argue for the need of framework for adoption of machine learning in industry. We develop a framework for factors and attributes that contribute towards the decision of adoption of machine learning techniques in industry for the purpose of software defect predictions. The framework is developed in close collaboration within industry and thus provides useful insight for industry itself, academia and suppliers of tools and services.
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Paper Nr: 106
Title:

CPN Based GAE Performance Prediction Framework
Authors:

Sachi Nishida and Yoshiyuki Shinkawa
Abstract: Google App Engine (GAE) is one of the most popular PAAS type cloud platform for database transaction systems. When we plan to run those systems on GAE, performance prediction is one of the obstacles, since only a little performance information on GAE is available. In addition, the structure of GAE is not opened to general public. This paper proposes a Colored Petri Net (CPN) based simulation framework, based on the performance parameters obtained through the measurement by user written programs. The framework is build focusing on the application structure, which consists of a series of GAE APIs, and GAE works as a mechanism to produce the probabilistic process delay. The framework has high modularity to plug-in any kinds of applications easily.
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Paper Nr: 14
Title:

Integration of Autonomic Mechanisms to a Test Management Solution
Authors:

Clauirton A. Siebra and Natasha Q. C. Lino
Abstract: Testing is one of the most time-consuming phases of the software development cycle and this is not different in the mobile software domain. In fact, small input mechanisms, dependence to wireless network configurations and complex navigations create a very stressful and prone to errors test environment. This paper presents additional modules that were specified to a test management tool, which extend its abilities in terms of automation, intelligent control and statistical metrics manipulation. We compare this approach to other efforts from the software engineering community and stress the gains in our test process. A list of learned lessons was also consolidated to share important points of this experience.
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Paper Nr: 24
Title:

Reduction in Mutation Testing of Java Classes
Authors:

Ilona Bluemke and Karol Kulesza
Abstract: In mutation analysis many simple modification of the original program called “mutants” are created. Test cases which are supposed to identify the introduced program changes are designed. Each mutant must be “killed” by a test case, i.e. the test case should detect the purposely introduced modification. Mutation testing is known to be effective but computationally demanding and time consuming because a large number of mutants has to be tested. Mutation score, which is the fraction of mutants that are killed by a test set, is often used to evaluate the effectiveness of mutation testing. An interesting research question is if the number of mutants can be reduced without significantly decreasing the effectiveness of the test. We were exploring selective reductions of mutants generated for Java programs. The results of several experiments conducted in the Eclipse environment are presented in this paper. These results show that selective reduction in mutants can significantly reduce the cost of testing with acceptable mutation score and code coverage.
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Paper Nr: 33
Title:

Pex Extension for Generating User Input Validation Code for Web Applications
Authors:

Karel Frajták, Miroslav Bureš and Ivan Jelínek
Abstract: The code written by a software developer is not always flawless. The more code is created the more errors are introduced into the system. In web development different programming languages can be used to implement back–end and front–end sides of the application. For example, it is possible to implement user input validation multiple times — it validates the input values on client–side using JavaScript before the data is sent to server and then the received data is validated again on the server–side. The logic is duplicated, changes made to the validation code must be synchronised on both sides. All implementations must be also unit tested, which increases the time required to create and maintain multiple sets of unit tests. In this paper, we will describe how white–box testing tool Pex can be extended to generate user input validation code for ASP.NET MVC web applications. The validation code won’t be duplicated in JavaScript on the client–side and the application will be protected from sending invalid input values from the client–side. The testers can focus on testing using meaningful data input values. Testing of corner cases can be automated thus saving the available resources—testers involved in testing and time spent on testing.
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Paper Nr: 41
Title:

Transforming Viewpoints of Distributed Designs to Support Simulation Scenarios
Authors:

Iyas Alloush, Yvon Kermarrec and Siegfried Rouvrais
Abstract: In order to reduce the time to market and improve the qualities during the service construction activities, we provide the designers with integrated tools that help them to construct services. They are able to evaluate their designs earlier according to functional, performance non-functional, and QoS requirements. The contribution of this paper is concerned with representing the different viewpoints of a design model in the simulation scenario through code generation. The main benefits of our approach based on separation of concerns are to better manage the complexity of the design and to improve the fine-tuning level of simulation scenarios. We illustrate our approach with a video conference service relying on the IP Multimedia Subsystem platform.
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Paper Nr: 73
Title:

A Rational Perspective on Software Modeling
Authors:

Tony Spiteri Staines
Abstract: This work introduces the concept of rational software modeling from a practical perspective. Valid arguments about the importance of modeling in modern software engineering and requirements engineering are presented. The different stakeholder’s perspectives or views on modeling are analysed and a soft uniform approach is presented. The uniform approach or rational perspective to modeling is based on the main fundamental concepts of requirements engineering. This approach presents the basic ground for more elaborate work in the future. The universal approach is based on i) usability, ii) universality, iii) uniqueness and iv) uniformity. The concepts presented can be combined with any particular approach or method. The ideas could prove to be useful for quality assurance and best practice approaches in the real world.
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Paper Nr: 83
Title:

Software Reengineering Toolkit with Tangible Interface by Haptics
Authors:

Makoto Yoshida, Shinnta Okumura and Noriyuki Iwane
Abstract: Software reengineering is an important task for software maintenance and improvement. Several metrics are proposed for evaluating software programs, and the toolkits which evaluate the software using the metrics are developed. The tool should be easy to understand, easy to modify the programs, enjoyable to use, and must be effective. We developed the 3D visualized toolkit for software reengineering providing various tangible user interfaces with haptics. The toolkit decomposes the java source program into small classes, and integrates them into the harmonized program using haptic device. The decomposed classes can be given the sound, colour and vibration attributes that can be touched and perceived, and can be merged into another classes by moving the arm of the haptic device. This paper describes the toolkit which uses the haptic device for program reorganization providing various tangible user interfaces. Software reengineering methodology is proposed, and some experiments are performed and the results are presented.
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Paper Nr: 89
Title:

Do We Need Specific Quality Models for Multi-Agent Systems? - Toward Using the ISO/IEC 25010 Quality Model for MAS
Authors:

Toufik Marir, Farid Mokhati and Hassina Bouchlaghem-Seridi
Abstract: The quality assurance of software is one of the most important purposes of software engineering. However, the quality concept is undergone to subjective interpretations. Consequently, several models are proposed to understand and evaluate the software quality. The ISO/IEC 25010 is the new international standard quality model. Being standard increases the applicability of such model for all software products. Knowing that the multi-agent systems are one of the most applied software paradigms; we target in this paper the applicability of the ISO/IEC 25010 to agent-based software.
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Paper Nr: 91
Title:

Toward Preventing Stack Overflow Using Kernel Properties
Authors:

Benjamin Teissier and Stefan D. Bruda
Abstract: We contribute to the investigation of buffer overflows by finding a more accurate way of preventing their exploitation. We work at the highest privilege levels and in the safest part of a GNU/Linux system, namely the kernel. We provide a system that allows the kernel to detect overflows and prevent their exploitation. The kernel injects at launch time some (minimal) code into the binary being run, and subsequently uses this code to monitor the execution of that program with respect to its stack use, thus detecting stack overflows. The system stands alone in the sense that it does not need any hardware support; it also works on any program, no matter how that program was conceived or compiled. Beside the theoretical concepts we also present a proof-of-concept patch to the kernel supporting our idea. Overall we effectively show that guarding against buffer overflows at run time is not only possible but also feasible. In addition we take the first steps toward implementing such a defense.
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Paper Nr: 97
Title:

A Comprehensive Evaluation Model for BASE Transaction Processing
Authors:

Sachi Nishida and Yoshiyuki Shinkawa
Abstract: Transaction processing has been thought to be not suitable for cloud computing. The primary reason is that the data integrity principle is much relaxed from the traditional ACID. This new principle is known as BASE. In order to deploy transaction processing systems over cloud environments, we need to reveal the characteristics of transaction behavior under the BASE principle. The paper proposes a CPN (Colored Petri Net) based comprehensive integrity evaluation model with high modularity, which can easily be customized, or enhanced for diverse application domains and cloud environments.
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Paper Nr: 110
Title:

Scenario Generation Based on Existing Software Operation History
Authors:

Junko Shirogane
Abstract: Scenarios, which represent operation flows of a software package, are often described in requirements elicitation phase by a natural language. Stakeholders that do not have knowledge of software development are said that they can easily understand and describe scenarios. However, defining appropriate granularities of input and output items and individual operations and describing scenarios without mistakes and missing are difficult. Actual task flows are not always appropriate for computer operation flows. In addition, even if the actual task flows in business are strictly represented in scenarios, software may not be usable. it is difficult to describe appropriate operation flows considering usability in scenarios. When a new software package is developed, stakeholders may survey existing software packages similar to the software package that they require. In this method, to support for describing appropriate scenarios, stakeholders try to use the existing software packages, and scenarios are generated using the operation histories. Scenarios are customized considering the actual task flows in business, limitations of input and output orders, and usability, and stakeholders can obtain the required scenarios.
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