Software Engineering Laboratory

/ C. L. Nehaniv / Professor
/ Minetada Osano / Associate Professor
/ M. A. M. Capretz / Assistant Professor

The Software Engineering Laboratory aims to integrate new algebraic and formal techniques with emerging software engineering design methodology in order to solve practical problems of software development and maintenance while making effective use of software tools and engineering practice. The development of software systems is now regarded as among the most complex tasks performed by humankind. The problems due to the scale of this complexity affect the costs and time expended on the construction of software systems. After being built, software systems may be unreliable, difficult to use and, even most seriously, their maintenance and evolution are generally frought with unforeseen costs and peril. These problems, together with ever-increasing demand for software systems, comprise the software crisis. Our work spans the frame from requirements capture, design and specification to software maintenance, re-use and evolution.

Lab members lead the Framework for Advanced Software Techniques Research Group, a cooperative project with the Information Systems Laboratory and others. Part of the research aims to develop maintenance process models in order to create a software maintenance environment to recover higher level documentation of existing software systems to bring them into a CASE database. With this mechanism, existing software systems will benefit from forward engineering tools provided by the CASE environment as they are maintained. Sophisticated mathematical methods in our Algebraic Engineering approach to software systems provide a foundation for the object-oriented paradigm and are now being applied in a variety of settings. Dr. Capretz's COMFORM software maintenance environment has been implemented in prototype form on PC, and we are now applying the algebraic engineering formalism to automatic form manipulation in maintenance system management for further software leverage.

The laboratory conducts the Software Engineering Seminar providing the university community with information on current software engineering research, practice and tools.

In addition to lab members and other University of Aizu faculty speakers in the 1995--96 seminars included distinguished guests: R. Matsuda (Ibaraki National University), K. Hashiguchi (Okayama University), Boris Khesin (Yale University), Bruce Rosen (University of Texas, San Antonio), Thomas S. Ray (ATR Laboratories, Japan), Hugo de Garis (ATR Laboratories, Japan), Zhi-Qiang Liu, (The University of Melbourne, Australia), Masami Ito (Kyoto Sangyo University), and others. We also organized the Artificial Life Group in Aizu (ALGA), the Algebraic and Computation Seminar (together with Prof. J. Rhodes of UC Berkeley), and co-organize the University of AIzu Mathematical Sciences Seminar.

Student research in the lab focused on Computational Morphogenesis, Advanced System Administration, Energy and the Environment, and Genetic Algorithms and Adaptive Systems. Lab members promoted the general university computing environment as experts on various help lists, and through the installation and maintenance of various common-use software. This year the SE lab obtained additionally nine powerful Sparc workstations, five personal computers, various printers and CASE tools.

Refereed Journal Papers

1. C. Nehaniv, From Relation to Emulation: The Covering Lemma for Transformation Semigroups. Journal of Pure & Applied Algebra, Vol. 107, No. 1, pp. 75-87, 1996.

2. C. Nehaniv, Algebra & Formal Models of Understanding. RIMS Kokyuroku, Vol. 960, pp. 145-154, August, 1996.

3. Osano M., Nakajima K. and Tanimoto M., A new Efficent Solution Method for a System of Linear Equations: Partially Solving Method (PSM). Japan Journal of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 244--256, 1996.

   A new method of solving a sytem of linear equations, called Partiall Solving Method (PSM) is presented. The PSM can essentially deal with only a subsystem at each processing stage without complete knowlege of the entire system. For dense system, it reduces the necessary memory space effective by a factor of four as compared with the conventional LU-decomposition method. For sparse system, the method operates up to twuce as fast as Gaussian elimination method, and the efficency in both space and time is further enhanced by a proper ordering of selections of the equations. It may be feasible to apply the PSM in a parallel processing environment, when the entire system is divided into subsystems.

1. P. Domosi, M. Ito, M. Katsura and C. Nehaniv, New Pumping Lemma for Context-Free Languages. Combinatorics, Complexity & Logic, Editor: D. S. Bridges, C. S. Calude, J. Gibbons, S. Reeves, I. Witten, pp. 187--193, Series on Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, Springer Verlag, 1996.

2. C. Nehaniv, A Simple, Direct Proof of the Krohn-Rhodes Theorem. Proceedings of the 20th Symposium on Semigroups, Languages and Their Related Areas, 1996.

3. C. Nehaniv, Left Simple Semigroups from a Global Viewpoint. Proc. International Conference on Semigroups and Their Related Topics, Springer Verlag, 1996.

4. C. Nehaniv, Complexity of Finite Aperiodic Semigroups and Star-Free Languages. Semigroups, Automata, Languages, Editor: J. Almeida, G. Gomes and P. Silva, pp. 195--209, World Scientific Press, 1996.

5. C. Nehaniv and J. Rhodes, Kernels for Direct Products of Semigroups and Transformation Semigroups. Proceedings of the 19th Symposium on Semigroups, Languages and Their Related Areas, Editor: K. Shoji, pp. 40--48, 1996.

6. C. Nehaniv, Functorial Wreath Product Decompositions. 8th International Conference on Automata and Formal Language (AFL'96), 1996.

7. P. Domosi, M. Ito, M. Katsura and C. Nehaniv, On Context-Free Derivation. 8th International Conference on Automata and Formal Language (AFL'96), 1996.

8. C. Nehaniv and J. Rhodes, Krohn-Rhodes Theory, Hierarchies, and Evolution. Mathematical Hierarchies and Biology, DIMACS, Editor: B. Mirkin, American Mathematical Society, November 1996.

9. Osano M. and M. Tanimoto. Parallel Accelerative Power (PAP) Method. Proceedings of National Conference of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, pp. 28--29, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Sept. 1996.

10. Capretz, M. A. M., Conceptual Model for a Software Maintenance Environment. Proc. of the Thirtieth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - HICSS-30, Editor: Sprague Jr., R. H., pp. 64-70, Vol. V, IEEE Computer Society Press, Maui, Hawaii, Jan. 1997.

    A conceptual model for a software maintenance method named COMFORM (Configuration Management Formalization for Maintenance) is presented. COMFORM provides guidelines and procedures for carrying out the maintenance process, while establishing a systematic approach for the support of existing software systems. Incremental documentation, the process of building up the software documentation while the system is maintained, has a key role in this maintenance method. The documentation required by the method consists of keeping the maintenance history and information related to the software modules being maintained. Forms have been created in order to guide the maintainers during the maintenance process. Thus, their task will be of filling in forms for generating the required documentation instead of defining their own document structures. The system information obtained by filling in forms has been formalized according to a data model which provides a common basis for the representation of the method. This paper presents the conceptual model for COMFORM which was obtained using the data model termed Object Representation Model (ORM). ORM has been used because of its enhanced semantic capabilities and it provides the necessary generality and standardization for software representation.

11. Capretz, M. A. M. and Nehaniv, C. L., Software Maintenance via the Algebra of Forms. Proc. of the XVI International Conference of the Chilean Computer Science Society, Editor: Zelkowitz, M. V. and Straub, P. A., pp. 234-244, Sociedad Chilena de Ciencia de la Computacion, Valdivia, Chile, Nov. 1996.

    Maintenance of legacy systems has received increasing attentionas software organizations struggle with the huge, often unforeseen expenses of coping with this under-emphasized part of the software life cycle. In this paper we present an algebraic support formalization in a software maintenance environment which through the use of pre-defined form templates aims to redocument legacy systems as they are maintained. The algebraic model formalizes the manipulation of hierarchically structured form templates of the method. This results in enhanced functionality, including automatic propagation of changes during the manipulation of its form templates as well as dynamic creation of useful views of forms in the maintenance history of a system. Thus the method is able to support a wide range of legacy systems with various profiles, and its customization can be carried out dynamically and automatically.

12. Osano, M. and Capretz, M. A. M., A Distributed Method for Solving Nonlinear Equations Applying the Power Load Flow Calculation. Proc. of the Thirtieth Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - HICSS-30, Editor: Sprague Jr., R. H., pp. 676-680, IEEE Computer Society Press, Maui, Hawaii, Jan. 1997.

    A new approach for distributed power load flow calculation using nonlinear equations is presented. This new approach, which is similar to the Newton Raphson's simple method, uses an inverse Jacobian matrix of initial states for the iteration process. Moreover, nonlinear quadratic equations have been used as they are more appropriate for the distributed power load flow calculation. This paper describes and compares the new approach with the Newton Raphson method.It shows that such an approach is more suitable for distributed power load flow calculation as well as it discusses some of its applications.

13. Capretz, L. F. and Capretz, M. A. M., Reusing Software to Produce Broadband Services. Proc. of IEEE Africon'96, pp. 771-775, Stellenbosch, South Africa, Sep., 1996.

    Software reusability is a technique for improving productivity and quality, which is finally finding general acceptance. A model for software reuse is described as part of a software development life cycle. The approach takes into account software development with reuse of existing components as well as production of assets for future reuse. A successful experience using this framework to produce broadband services is also presented.

14. Capretz, L. F. and Capretz, M. A. M., Soft Software Engineering. International Discourse on Fuzzy Logic and Management of Complexity, pp. 256--259, Sydney, Australia, Jan. 1996.

    This paper has aimed at enlarging the horizons of research on soft computing beyond its traditional areas. This work has been prompted by the lack of entries in the literature concerning fuzzy systems and software production, and the perceived importance that both areas can play during software development. The purpose of this research is to discuss how different levels of knowledge that a software designer has about the application domain can affect the software development process in terms of a top-down, bottom-up or middle out software life cycle model.

1. Capretz L. F. and Capretz M. A. M, Object-Oriented Software: Design and Maintenance. World Scientific, Singapore, Series on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, Vol. 6, Oct. 1996.

   This is a textbook for a course in object-oriented software engineering at advanced undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as for software engineers. It contains more than 120 exercises of diverse complexity. The book discusses fundamental concepts and terminology on object-oriented software development, assuming little background on software engineering, and emphasizes design and maintenance rather than programming. It also presents up-to-date and easily understood methodologies and puts forward a software life cycle model which explicitly encourages reusability during software development and maintenance.

1. Zixue Cheng, Miriam A. M. Capretz and Minetada Osano, A dynamic model for cooperative agents with different goals. Technical Report, 96-1-010, July 29, 10pgs, The University of Aizu, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, 1996.

2. Chrystopher Nehaniv et. al. Semigroups and algebraic engineering. Technical Report, 97-1-001, February 21, 99pgs, The University of Aizu, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, 1997.

1. Minetada Osano, 1996 Research/Education Project Supported bu Fukusima Prefectural Foundation for the Advancement of Seience and Education.

1. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.

2. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member IEEE Man, Systems and Cybernetics Society.

3. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member Society for Mathematical Biology.

4. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member Society for Developmental Biology.

5. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member New York Academy of Sciences.

6. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member American Association for the Advancement of Science.

7. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member IEEE Computer Society.

8. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member American Mathematical Society.

9. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member Association for Computing Machinery.

10. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member Japan Society for Industry and Applied Mathematics.

11. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Program Committee Member of the First International Conference on Semigroups and Algebraic Engineering - AE'97, Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan. March, 24-28, 1997.

12. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Referee for the Twentieth Annual International Computer Software and Applications Conference - COMPSAC'96, Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society, Seoul, Korea, August 21-23, 1996.

13. Miriam A. M. Capretz, IEEE Senior Member.

14. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Member of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery).

15. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Member of the Software Engineers Association of Japan.

16. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

17. Miriam A. M. Capretz, Member of the Brazilian Computing Society.

18. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Organizer of First Symposium on Algebra, Languages and Compuation.

19. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Organizer of International Workshop on Computational and Mathematical Biology.

20. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Invited Lecture and Session Chairmanship at the 20th Annual Symposium on Semigroups and Their Related Areas, November 1996, Ibaraki National University, Mito, Japan.

21. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Invited Lecture at the Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science, August, 1996 on ``A Simple Direct Proof of the Krohn-Rhodes Decomposition Theorem for Finite Semigroups and Automata".

22. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Session Chair at AFL'96, International Automata and Formal Languages Conference, in Salgotarjan, Hungary, August, 1996.

23. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Co-organized the University of Aizu Mathematical Sciences Seminar with Prof. H. Morikawa.

24. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Organized the Artificial Life Group in Aizu (ALGA) and ALGA Seminar.

25. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Organized the University of Aizu Software Engineering Seminar.

26. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Member of International Committee for the International Congress in Algebras and Combinatorics.

27. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Workshop and Tutorial Organizer, and Program Committee Member for ISAS97, Intelligent Systems and Semiotics '97: A Learning Perspective.

28. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Referee for journal Semigroup Forum.

29. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Referee for journal Theoretical Computer Science

30. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Referee for journal Information Sciences.

31. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Referee for conference COMPSAC'96: IEEE Computer Software and Applications Conference.

32. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Program Committee Member for COMPSAC'96 IEEE Computer Software and Applications Conference.

33. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Referee for IEEE International Conference on Evolutionary Computation (IEEE ICEC'97).

34. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Program Chair for AE97 : First International Conference on Semigroups and Algebraic Engineering, March 24-28, 1997.

35. Chrystopher Nehaniv, Program Committee Member and Local Organizing Chair for CT'97: 2nd International Conference on Cognitive Technology.

1. M. Yasuda. Bachelor Thesis: Documentation for Software Maintenance. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, University of Aizu, 1996.

2. A. Wada. Bachelor Thesis: Automation of the Software Configuration Management Discipline. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, University of Aizu, 1996.

3. Masahiro Manabe. Bachelor Thesis: Units of Selection and Cooperation in Simulated Hierarchical Evolution: A Case Study on Prisoner's Dilema. Thesis Advisor: C. Nehaniv, University of Aizu, 1997.

4. Kazuko Haneda. Bachelor Thesis: Constructing Distributed Minimum-Weight Spanning Trees in Multi-Threaded Environments: Implementation and Trace Analysis. Thesis Advisor: C. Nehaniv, University of Aizu, 1997.

5. Takeshi Murokawa. Bachelor Thesis: A GUI, Implementation and Trace Analysis for a Distributed Minimum-Weight Spanning Tree Algorithm. Thesis Advisor: C. Nehaniv, University of Aizu, 1997.

6. Sayo Muraoka. Bachelor Thesis: An Implementation and Trace Analysis for a Distributed Minimum-Weight Spanning Treee Algorithm in Multiprocessor Environments. Thesis Advisor: C. Nehaniv, University of Aizu, 1997.

7. Tachibana S. Bachelor Thesis: New Solving Method of Linear Programing. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, The University of Aizu, 1996.

8. Hayasi H. Bachelor Thesis: Multh-Agent System using Gene Structure. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, The University of Aizu, 1996.

9. Hisada M. Bachelor Thesis: Growth Algorithm for Tree using Gene Structure. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, The University of Aizu, 1996.

10. Watanabe N. Bachelor Thesis: New Eigenvalue solving method with Parallel Process. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, The University of Aizu, 1996.

11. Ehara T. Bachelor Thesis: Sliding Mode Control. Thesis Advisor: M. Osano, The University of Aizu, 1996.