Earticle

It has been revealed by many research studies that metaheuristics methods are useful to solve problems in many different domains. However, the implementation involves some technical hurdles such as the steep learning curve, the abundance and complexity of the algorithms, skill in programming and the lack of user friendly platform to be used for algorithm development. As new algorithms are being developed, there are also those that come in the form of hybridization of multiple existing algorithms. We reckon that there is also a need for an easy, flexible and effective development platform for user defined metaheuristic hybridization. In this article, a comparative study has been performed on several metaheuristics software frameworks. Results show that the available software frameworks are not adequately designed for users to easily develop hybridization algorithms. After the literature reviews, we propose a framework design that will help bridging the gap. We foresee the potential of scripting language as an important element that will help improve existing software framework with regards to the ease of use, rapid algorithm design and development.

This study is designed with an eye toward possible solutions for potential threats from Rootkits and more traditional malware. The survey data were collected from 371 students of five korea and three Kazakhstan universities to compare their knowledge and experience with various forms of malware. They provide an empirical assessment of the cross-cultural similarities and differences between students in the two countries. The variables examined include knowledge of computer viruses, spyware, and rootkits as well as perceptions of the damage that can result from various computer malware. While the two groups are similar with respect to their relative familiarity of rootkits compared with that of spyware and viruses, and in terms of how they perceive the malware knowledge of their peers, they exhibit significant differences in self-reported perceptions of rootkit familiarity. Korean. students report higher levels for all tested malware types, including the fictional “Trilobyte” virus. These comparisons reveal that little is known about rootkits today. However, this study can bring awareness of Rootkits and promote to seek for possible solutions for Rootkits and other malwares attacks.

In this paper, we present a decision making MAS based on competitive agents equipped with advanced and mutant interaction methods. We describe the dynamic environment of the MAS, and the interaction between the system and the agent’s characteristics changes. The described methods relate to the interaction and desire functions structuring (dedicated to the society and individuals visions) between agents and system. We present also the environment representative structure and it’s relational dynamics with the agents. The presented MAS called CONRAD was dedicated in a first step to the decision-making in computer assisted maintenance (intervention strategies options).

There has been a tremendous importance in the field of agile software development approaches in the recent past. This is because of the fastness that agile approaches bring in the life cycle of software development. This interest in the field shows that there are benefits to reap through successful implementation of agile methods. The field is relatively nascent and research is in its initial stages. The paper has been carried with the distinct objectives of examine and gain insights into the current agile methods and practices, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of agile methods and various issues of their applicability. To meet the set goals and objectives, we used both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Apart from a systematized literature survey and review, we performed a case study of four software companies in India. The data collection methods included questionnaires, interviews and analysis of the companies’ web-sites.

Design Pattern Detection is a part of many solutions to Software Engineering difficulties. The usage of design patterns leads to benefits for new and young developers by enabling them to reuse the knowledge of their experienced colleagues. Mining of design pattern instances is important for program understanding and software maintenance. Hence a reliable design pattern mining is required. Here we are using the relational view of subgraph isomorphism to detect design patterns in the source code.

One approach to developing service-oriented Web applications is to transform high-level business models to a composition language that implements business processes with Web services. Object-oriented analysis and design and UML-based diagrams are typically used in the software development process. In this paper, we propose using flow as a fundamental notion underlying understanding of activities in Web Services. We discuss the development of business processes through introduction of a conceptual model as a framework for design. We scrutinize current modeling used in transformation methodologies, and then introduce a flow-based conceptualization of services through case studies with a high-level business description.

The aim of this work is to explore empirically the relationship between lack of cohesion metrics and testability of classes in object-oriented systems. We addressed testability from the perspective of unit testing. We performed an empirical analysis using data collected from two Java software systems for which JUnit test cases exist. To capture testability of classes, we used different metrics to measure some characteristics of the corresponding JUnit test cases. In order to evaluate the capability of lack of cohesion metrics to predict testability, we used statistical analysis techniques using correlation and logistic regression. The performance of the predicted model was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis. The achieved results provide evidence that there exist a relationship between lack of cohesion and testability.

As UML 2.x is now widely used by practitioners to document software architectures of concurrent real-time systems we propose an approach to make use of the UML protocol and behavior artifacts of components in order to achieve a verification activity at design time. We first discuss the issue of using protocol state machines to depict interactions of any active component with its environment through ports that specify provided and/or required interfaces. We propose to extend the use of such models to depict the flow of both asynchronous and synchronous events send not only from outside into the component but also in the other direction provided that the outgoing events affect the component state which is exposed to its environment via its ports. We then propose a formal method for conformance checking between component behavior and protocol state machines. These models are first mapped into abstract and flattened automata which are then combined and verified using model-checkers to uncover design flaws leading to deadlocks and race conditions in the implemented system. We explore also to what extent sequence diagrams could be suited over protocol state machines to annotate time constraints and how to use them for time consistency checking between implementation and specification models.:

The accurate maintainability prediction of relational database-driven software applications can improve the management of projects relating to these applications, thus benefitting software organisations. This paper gives an up-to-date account of the state of practice in maintainability prediction for relational database-driven software applications and provides a baseline for conducting further research in this area. The research involved conducting twelve semi-structured interviews with software professionals, which were then analysed using content analysis with the help of NVivo. The results provide both an account of the current state of practice in that area and also a list of potential maintainability predictors for relational database-driven software applications. These predictors relate to database schema, front-end application, and the interaction of database schema with the front-end application. These results provide the basis for further work involving the proposal and empirical validation of maintainability prediction models for relational database-driven software applications.

As software changes is essential activity of software life cycle and hence to manage it is a vital and ambiguous task. In this paper we want to suggest a model of software change management which can focuses that change management was relevant not only in the maintenance phase, but also in the development phase of the software life cycle. The defined model does not treat software change as a post-delivery activity. With the aid of the proposed model it will be possible, in a structured way, to analyze an organization to see how well it performs on each of the specific functions of Change Management. The model can also be used to design tools or plan methods for Change Management to even to teach its concepts in a gradual and structured way. We discuss general principles for structuring the model into key areas and features and apply them to Change Management Functions. Furthermore, we discuss about the other various models available for the change management process. The ultimate goal of this work is to promote a better understanding of the process of Change Management.

Software Visualization encompasses the development and evaluation of methods for graphical representation of different aspects of software system, including its structure, execution and evolution. Creation of visualization helps the user to have better understanding of the complex phenomena of the software system. It is also found that visualization is vital and important for the software engineering community. In order to visualize the evolution of the models in Model-Driven Software Evolution, a framework has been proposed. This framework is derived by the application of the Goal Question Metric Paradigm. An evaluation of the framework is the major contribution of this paper. Framework is applied to assess and to find the appropriateness of the CASE tools. Six tools are considered for the comparison under this uniform platform. Stakeholder’s perspectives are also considered to evaluate the framework. Framework can also be considered as a design template for the development of the visualization tools for Model-Driven Software Evolution.