Date: Mon, 31 Jan 94 17:30:24 GMT To: re-world@doc.ic.ac.uk From: acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk (Anthony Finkelstein) X-Sender: acwf@gummo.doc.ic.ac.uk Subject: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER (19) ****************REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER******************** No. 19. Contents 1. CFP - ER94 (Manfred A. Jeusfeld) 2. Tool Insertion and Requirements Planning (Tilmann BRUCKHAUS) 3. CFP - ICSP3 (Dewayne Perry) 4. CFPP - ISPW9 (Carlo Ghezzi) 5. Workshop on logic programming in software engineering (Paolo Ciancarini) 6. Special Issue on "Software Specification Methods" IJSEKE (A. van Lamsweerde) 7. Railways, Safety & Formal methods (taken from Forum for Academic Software Engineering) ---ANNOUNCEMENTS & ABSTRACTS OF TECHNICAL REPORTS ARE PARTICULARLY WELCOME!--- If you have questions about particular items appearing in the newsletter - send them to the originators. If you wish to contribute send your material to: re-list@doc.ic.ac.uk (will be moderated). Subscription or Removal requests should be sent to: re-request@doc.ic.ac.uk Back issues can be obtained via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20). Directory: requirements. Files are called renl1, renl2, etc. If you cannot use ftp then you can get any back issues using email. Send email containing the following to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk open dse.doc.ic.ac.uk cd requirements get quit The Requirements Engineering Newsletter and its archive is also accessible through WWW. The URL is: http://web.doc.ic.ac.uk/req-eng/index.html You may wish to link any Internet software engineering information resource you maintain to this and/or notify the manager of your local Web server by passing this message on to them. If you wish your requirements or software engineering ftp archive to be linked to the RE Newsletter archive please inform me. If you are unfamiliar with WWW you may wish to obtain a copy of the Mosaic public domain internet browser which is available for X-Windows, Macintosh or Microsoft Windows. The RE Newsletter can be conveniently accessed through the Imperial College, Department of Computing, United Kingdom, WWW Home Page (http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/). ********************************************************************** From: "Manfred A. Jeusfeld" Subject: CFP for ER94 CALL FOR PAPERS The Thirteenth International Conference on THE ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP APPROACH "Business Modelling and Re-engineering" December 13-16 1994 Manchester, UK Sponsored by: British Computer Society SERC UMIST ER Institute The Conference The ER conference is the primary forum for researchers and practitioners in the field of conceptual data modelling. Since its inception, the ER conference has proved to be one of the major vehicles for exchange of research results and practical experiences using many different modelling approaches including variants of the ER model, Object-Oriented models, Object-Role models, Rule-based models, Temporal models etc. as well as related technology aspects such as databases and knowledge bases. The ER '94 conference will offer a programme of state of the art papers, combined with panel sessions, invited talks and tutorials. The theme of the conference in 1994 will be Business Modelling and Re-engineering. This is a key challenging area as increasingly organisations strive to improve the co-ordination between systems and ultimately individuals. Improving the performance of large business processes, some of which may take place across different organisations, requires appropriate modelling techniques and infrastructure technology to assist in the management of the interaction between different agents participating in these processes. The ER '94 conference will represent a balance between the interrelated areas of modelling and infrastructure. Topics of Interest Papers are sought in, but not limited to, the topics below. Authors should state clearly whether their contribution is in the area of modelling or infrastructure technology. Enterprise integration, Enterprise Modelling, Process Modelling, Enterprise Engineering and Re-engineering, Software Re- engineering, CASE Environments, Repository Technology, Federated Systems, Prototyping, Verification and Validation, Temporal Information Systems, Multimedia Modelling, Quality Aspects of Conceptual Modelling, Virtual Reality and Systems Development, Distributed Knowledgebases, Hypermedia Cooperation in Heterogeneous systems, Strategic Information Systems. Information for Authors Authors must clearly state the contribution of their work to the theme of the conference. The edited proceedings of ER '94 will appear as a book from a major international publisher. Five copies of original unpublished papers up to 5000 words should be sent to: P Loucopoulos Department of Computation UMIST P.O. Box 88, Sackville Street Manchester M60 1QD UK Important Dates 30 April 1994 - Papers submission due 30 June 1994 - Notification of acceptance 31 August 1994 - Camera-ready copy due 31 October 1994 - Early registration deadline Further Information For details of the conference and the exhibition, please contact: Mrs. Janet Houshmand ER94 Conference Department of Computation UMIST P.O. Box 88 Sackville Street Manchester M60 1QD U.K. Tel: +44-61-200-3302 Fax: +44-61-200-3324 e-mail: er94@sna.co.umist.ac.uk To ensure that you receive the Advance Programme and that you are able to take advantage of early registration, please send your name and address to the secretariat. You may alternatively contact the Organising Committee by e-mail if you wish. Organisations interested in taking part in the exhibition or an industrial session, or in possible sponsorship of the conference or social events are also invited to contact the organisers. ********************************************************************** From: Tilmann BRUCKHAUS Subject: Tool Insertion and Requirements Planning Requirements Planning: Beyond the Scope of the Life Cycle? ---------------------------------------------------------- Author: Tilmann Bruckhaus (till@cs.mcgill.ca) I am pursuing a Ph.D. program at McGill University, Montreal. My interest in in the process of inserting a new tool into a software process. To this end, I am developing a Method for Tool Insertion and carry out a case study at IBM Software Solutions Toronto Laboratory. The case study is concerned with the insertion of a tool into the requirements planning process. This process serves to determine which requirements to include in a first or next release of a software product. A preliminary discussion of my research can be found in a paper I have published recently: @Inproceedings{Bru93, Title = "The Impact of Inserting a Tool into a Software Process", Author = "Tilmann Bruckhaus", Publisher = "IBM Canada Laboratory", Address = {Toronto, Ontario, Canada}, Booktitle = "Proceedings of the 1993 CAS Conference", Year = {October 1993}, Pages = {250-264} } [Moderator: The paper and 4 figures are available from ftp server ftp.cs.mcgill.ca] So far I have not encountered software engineering literature that focuses on the requirements planning process. In Software engineering research, the life cycle seems to begin with formalizing a known set of requirements. This is an unfortunate situation since mistakes in the requirements planning process cannot be undone during subsequent development phases. It is the requirements planning process that greatly determines the business success of a software product. I would be interested in literature and research on the process of tool insertion and/or the requirements planning process. ********************************************************************** From: dep@research.att.com (Dewayne Perry) Subject: ICSP3 Call for Papers Call for Papers 3rd International Conference on the Software Process (ICSP3) Applying Software Process 10-11 October 1994, Hyatt Regency, Reston, Virginia, USA Sponsored by the International Software Process Association (Cooperation being requested from other professional societies) Program Chair: Dewayne E. Perry, AT&T Bell Laboratories Software Process Models and definitions provide a basis for both guiding the production and evolution of large, complex software artifacts (ICSP1) and for continuously improving those processes (ICSP2). Technology to support the effective application of process models and definitions requires foundational contributions in the following areas: basic paradigms of process experimentation; creation of novel fundamental process of development and evolution; understanding of the interplay between technical and organizational issues in software processes; and understanding of the similarities and differences between software and non-software manufacturing processes (such as other creative, engineering processes as well as high- quality manufacturing processes). ICSP3 will bring together researchers and practitioners who are interested in applying software processes to the creation and evolution of software artifacts. The conference will address the description, enaction, measurement, evolution, improvement and automation of software process activities. Topics specifically addressing the software process should include: + process description formalisms + process models and programs + design of process experiments + empirical studies for measurement and assessment + process support mechanisms + relationships between software and non-software processes This conference will continue the tradition of a single track of sessions addressing software process related topics. These session will included refereed papers, invited presentations and panel discussions. + Full papers include original research, description, evaluation and survey papers. Research and process description papers should indicate clearly what is novel (and why) and discuss related work. Evaluation and Survey papers should provide fundamental insights in the areas addressed. These papers should be limited to 6000 words. + Short papers include experience reports on the effectiveness of existing and novel processes, the results of process improvements, and the use of process descriptions. These papers should be limited to 2000 words. + Panel proposals should describe the topic to be addressed and identify prospective panelists. In all cases, empirical data in support of a paper's theses will be considered a significant asset. Papers should not have been published or concurrently submitted for publication. 8 copies of all papers and proposals should be submitted by 1 March 1994 together with the full postal address, telephone and email address (if available) to Dewayne E. Perry Plain text or postscript versions AT&T Bell Laboratories may be submitted by email to 600 Mountain Avenue Murray Hill NJ 07974 USA dep@research.att.com ********************************************************************** From: ghezzi@ipmel2.elet.polimi.it (Carlo Ghezzi) Subject: ISPW9 call for position papers CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS -------------------- 9TH INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE PROCESS WORKSHOP ------------------------------------------- 5-7 October 1994, Airlie, Virginia, USA Sponsored by the International Software Process Association (Cooperation being requested from other professional societies) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Anthony Finkelstein, Kokichi Futatsugi, Carlo Ghezzi (Chair) Gail Kaiser, K. Narayanaswamy, Dewayne Perry One of the goals of software process research has been to provide increasing levels of automated support for software development and evolution. Process automation, however, cannot eliminate human participation. Rather, by raising the abstraction level at which software designers work, it will provide enhanced support to human ingenuity; it will improve productivity; it will support development of higher-quality products; it will support large projects by keeping the process and its artifacts under control. In this framework, a process centered software development environment provides an infrastructure supporting cooperative work. How do humans cooperate with each other within this framework? How do humans cooperate with the automated support? How do automated elements in the framework cooperate with each other and with humans? Relevant issues include: Humans and process frameworks: ------------------------------ - What is the relationship between humans and the framework? - What are the differences between humans and tools as process enactors? - How are humans and tools modeled in the software process? What does the formalism allow one to specify (roles, goals, other)? - How should humans be handled or supported in the process? Interactions within the process framework: ------------------------------------------ - What kinds of human/tool and human/human interaction do existing process-based tools support? - How are interactions modeled in software processes? - What kinds of interaction abstractions are provided or should be provided? - What kinds of abstraction definition facilities are provided? Experimentation in the process framework: ----------------------------------------- - How do we identify human-intensive (manual) process fragments that may be automated? - How do we identify communication intensive aspects of the process and make them more effective within the process framework? - What kinds of experimental results do we have from existing systems regarding humans in the process? - What kinds of experimental data do we wish to collect? - What kinds of experiments do we need to design? Software process research and other fields: ------------------------------------------- - What are the relevant relationships between software process research and human factors research? - What are the relevant relationships between software process research and computer supported cooperative work research? - How can we establish the necessary multi-disciplinary links? The workshop will consist of intensive discussions of these issues by at most 35 participants selected on the basis of submitted position papers. Prospective participants should submit a maximum three page position paper in English by 1 March 1994, explicitly addressing one of the workshop issues, and suitable for publication in the proceedings. Space limitations mean that attendance may be limited to a single author in the case of a multiply-authored position paper. A small number of participants will be requested to prepare short presentations to initiate discussions. Papers (6 copies or e-mail in ascii or Postscript format only) should be sent to: Carlo Ghezzi Dipartimento di Elettronica e Informazione Politecnico di Milano 20133 Milano, Italy E-mail: ghezzi@ipmel2.elet.polimi.it The workshop will be immediately preceded (4 October) by a demonstration day open to workshop participants. The day will be devoted to enactments of solutions to an extended version of the ISPW6/7 Example Problem on various process centered environments/process support systems. For further information, including information on submitting demonstration proposals and on the extended problem, contact: Maria H. Penedo TRW, R2/2062 One Space Park Redondo Beach, CA 90278 USA. E-mail: penedo@trwarcadia.sdd.trw.com ********************************************************************** From: cianca@cs.unibo.it (Paolo Ciancarini) Subject: workshop on logic programming in software engineering Preliminary Call For Papers ICLP'94 Post-conference Workshop on Applications of Logic Programming to Software Engineering June 17-18 , 1994 Santa Margherita (Genova), Italy An under-appreciated application area for logic programming, in our opinion, is software engineering. Despite the apparent potential of logic programming to improve the process of developing software, there have been only sporadic research efforts. It is time, we believe, to seriously address how logic programming can be applied to software engineering. In this workshop we would like to discuss which features of logic programming are most useful for a software engineer, and which software engineering applications have been already developed based on a logic programming approach. The workshop is intended to bring together researchers, educators and pratictioners interested in all aspects of logic programming-based methods, techniques and tools for software engineering, including but not limited to the following topics: - Requirement analysis and specification based on logic programming - Specification and design languages based on logic programming - Design techniques based on logic programming - Software engineering environments including rule-based components - Prolog-based tools for programming in-the-small - Prolog-based tools for programming in-the-large - Software process modeling based on logic languages - Logic and Object-oriented programming methods - Software engineering courses based partially or totally on logic programming Authors interested in presenting their work are invited to send, by e-mail or by regular mail, a 5-7 pages extended abstract or, preferably, a full paper before April 2. The submissions will be reviewed by the workshop organizers and based on this review, they will be included in informal proceedings to be distributed to the attendees. A selection of these papers will be presented at the workshop. Acceptance/rejection will be notified by May 1. People interested in attending the workshop without submitting a paper are also welcome. They are kindly requested to send their postal and (if available) electronic addresses as soon as possible. All submissions and information requests should be sent to: Paolo Ciancarini Dipartimento di Matematica Univ. di Bologna Piazza di Porta S. Donato, 5 40127 Bologna, Italy e-mail: cianca@cs.unibo.it tel: +39 51 354422 fax; +39 51 354490 Workshop organizers: Paolo Ciancarini, Univ. di Bologna, cianca@cs.unibo.it Leon Sterling, Case Western Reserve University, leon@ces.cwru.edu Important dates: Deadline for submission of papers: April 2 Notification for acceptance/rejection: May 1 The 1994 International Conference on Logic Programming will be held on June 13-16, 1994, in Santa Margherita Ligure, near Genoa, Italy. Post-conference workshops are planned to be held in the same venue, on June 17-18. According to the standard policy of LP post-conference workshops, the workshops themselves are a part of the Conference. This means that participants are expected to register to the conference as well. -- Paolo Ciancarini, Assoc. Prof. of Computer Science Dept. of Mathematics Univ. of Bologna - Pza di Porta S.Donato 5, 40126 Bologna Italy tel +39 51 354422 fax +39 51 354490 ********************************************************************** Subject: Special Issue on "Software Specification Methods" IJSEKE From: avl@info.ucl.ac.be (A. van Lamsweerde) Special Issue on "Software Specification Methods" International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering Due date for prospective papers: June 1,1994 Tentative publication date: December 1994 Several current research efforts in software engineering are investigating executable formal specification languages and their use for rapid prototyping, inspection of the specified systems and program generation. The goal of the special issue is to gather significant research results in this area. Papers describing novel contributions on: - software specification languages - executable specifications - specification environments - verification of specification properties - logic specifications - program generation are invited. Paper preparation guidelines can be found in any issue of the journal. Papers should be submitted by June 1 1994 to one of the guest editors: Prof. G. Pacini Prof. G. Tortora Dipartimento di Matematica Dipartimento di Informatica Applicata e Informatica ed Applicazioni Universita' di Venezia Universita' di Salerno Ca' Foscari - Dorso Duro 3825/I I-84081 BARONISSI (SA) I- 30123 VENEZIA, Italy Italy e-mail : pacini@di.unipi.it e-mail:jentor@udsab.dia.unisa.it ********************************************************************** [Moderator] The following information was collected by Bas van Vlijmen, and appeared in an 18 January 1994 Concurrency list report and was copied in FASE. While not strictly RE I think it is of interest... A summary is given of what we received in response to our request for information on RAILWAYS, SAFETY and FORMAL METHODS, sent to the CONCURRENCY list on December 20, 1993. Our own research in the near future will concentrate on: 1. study of the material we gathered: categorize what is going on, what techniques are used, what is solved and what is not; 2. formulate in cooperation with the Dutch National Railways (NS) what they consider safe and proper behaviour of their interlocking equipment; 3. prove the properties formulated with NS under point 2 for the interlocking at Hoorn-Kersenboogerd, a small Dutch station. Last but not least we wish to thank everybody who responded for the information, remarks, comments, and papers. These were all very helpful. Regards, Jan Friso Groote, S.F.M. van Vlijmen Utrecht University Department of Philosophy Heidelberglaan 8 P.O.Box 80126 3508 TC Utrecht e-mail: JanFriso.Groote@phil.ruu.nl, Bas.vanVlijmen@phil.ruu.nl. ****************************** SUMMARY *************************** This summary is based on the material we received by email and other means. It does not pretend to be complete nor to be accurate. 1. People and groups working on RAILWAYS, SAFETY and FORMAL METHODS Great Britain Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- Warwick Cullyer ? Warwick W. Wong ww@cl.cam.ac.uk University of Newcastle upon Tyne M. Koutny ? " R. de Lemos ? " A. Saeed ? " T. Anderson ? LFCS Edinburgh G. Bruns ? " S. Anderson ? " G. Cleland glc@dcs.ed.ac.uk Manchester Metropolian University M. Fisher michael@sun.com.mmu.ac.uk UMIST C. Pulley cjp@sna.co.umist.ac.uk UMR Su-mei Tsai sumeit@mcs213k.cs.umr.edu Germany Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- TU Muenchen D. Taubner taubner@informatik.tu-muenchen.de Siemens A. Scholz Andreas.Scholz@zfe.siemens.de ? S. Fischer ? GMD M. Morley morley@gmd.de The Netherlands Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- Eindhoven Technical University K. van Hee ? " W. van der Aalst wsinwa@win.tue.nl " R. Bol bol@info.win.tue.nl CVI P. van Eijk cvitoa!pve@relay.nluug.nl University of Amsterdam W. Koorn koorn@fwi.uva.nl Utrecht University S.F.M. van Vlijmen Bas.vanVlijmen@phil.ruu.nl " J.F. Groote JanFriso.Groote@phil.ruu.nl France Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- GEC Alsthom Sweden Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- Swedisch State Railway J.F. Lindeberg ? U.S.A. Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- Carnegie Mellon E. Clarke Edmund_Clarke@G.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Cornell T. Henzinger tah@cs.cornell.edu Australia Institute Name email --------- ---- ----- CSIRO & ANU H. Schmidt Heinz.Schmidt@csis.dit.csiro.au 2. Techniques used Various techniques are used. The most commenly encountered were Temporal Logics, Process algebras (ACP, CCS, CSP) and Petri nets. 3. Bibliografy (in BibTex format) @article{Kou86, author = {M. Koutny}, title = {The {M}erlin-{R}andell Problem of Train Journeys}, journal = {Acta Informatica}, volume = {23}, year = {1986}, pages = {429-463} } @inproceedings{Br92, author = {G. Bruns}, booktitle = {Computer Aided Verification}, editor = {G. von Bochmann and D.K. Probst}, institution= {Universi\'e de Montreal}, pages = {220-233}, title = {A Case Study in Safety-Critical Design}, series = {LNCS}, volume = {663}, year = {1992} } @article{LSA92a, author = {Lemos, R. de and A. Saeed and T. Anderson}, title = {A Train Set as a Case Study for the requirements Analysis of Safety-Critical Systems}, journal = {The Computer Journal}, volume = {35}, number = {1}, year = {1992}, pages = {30-40} } @inproceedings{FTS92, author = {S. Fischer and D. Taubner and A. Scholz}, booktitle = {Computer Aided Verification}, editor = {G. von Bochmann and D.K. Probst}, institution= {Universit\'e de Montreal}, pages = {192-205}, title = {Verification in process algebra of the distributed control of track vehicles -- A case study}, series = {LNCS}, volume = {663}, year = {1992} } @inproceedings{FFO93, author = {M. Finger and M. Fisher and R. Owens}, booktitle = {Sixth International Conference on Industrial and Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems (IEA/AIE-93)}, title = {{\sc MetateM} at Work: Modelling Reactive Systems Using Executable Temporal Logic}, year = {1993}, publisher = {Gordon and Breach Publishers}, address = {Edinburgh, U.K.}, month = jun } @inproceedings{AHH93, author = {Alur and Henzinger and Ho}, booktitle = {IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium}, title = {Automatic Symbolic Verification of Embedded Systems}, year = {1993} } @article{BS89, author = {J. Burghardt and H. Schmidt}, title = {Das \"{U}bel bei der {W}urzel packen}, journal = {GMD-Spiegel}, volume = {2}, number = {3}, year = {1989} } @book{CGR93a, author = {D. Craigen and S. Gerhart and T. Ralston}, title = {An International Survey of Industrial Applications of Formal Methods--Purpose, Approach, Analysis and Conclusions}, volume = {1}, publisher = {NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)}, year = {1993} } @book{CGR93b, author = {D. Craigen and S. Gerhart and T. Ralston}, title = {An International Survey of Industrial Applications of Formal Methods--Case Studies}, volume = {2}, publisher = {NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)}, year = {1993} } @article{Bou86, author = {J. Bourachot}, title = {Computer-aided planning of traffic in large stations by means of the {AFAIG} model}, journal = {Rail International}, volume = {2}, month = may, year = {1986} } @techreport{Br87, author = {M. Broy}, title = {Specification of a railway system}, institution= {Universit\"at Passau}, year = {1987}, number = {MIP-8715} } @techreport{IMT93a, author = {M. Insall and B. McMillin and S. Tsai}, title = {Providing Run-Time Assurance for Responsive Computing Systems}, institution= {UMR Department of Computer Science}, number = {CSC 93-29a}, year = {1993}, note = {in preparation} } @techreport{IMT93b, author = {M. Insall and B. McMillin and S. Tsai}, title = {A Run-Time Decision Procedure for Responsive Computing Systems}, institution= {UMR Department of Computer Science}, number = {CSC 93-29b}, year = {1993}, note = {to be submitted to Conference on Computer Aided Verification} } @techreport{IMT93c, author = {M. Insall and B. McMillin and S. Tsai}, title = {Constructing an Interval Temporal Logic for Real-Time Systems}, institution= {UMR Department of Computer Science}, number = {CSC 93-25}, year = {1993}, note = {submitted to Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logic} } @inproceedings{Li93, author = {J.F. Lindeberg}, booktitle = {Directions in Safety-critical Systems, Proceedings of the Safety-critical Systems Symposium, Bristol 1993}, editor = {F. Redmill and T. Anderson}, title = {The Swedish State Railway's Experience with n-Version Programmed Systems}, year = {1993}, publisher = {Springer-Verlag Safety-critical Systems Club}, } @techreport{AC93, author = {S. Anderson and G. Cleland}, title = {Formal Approaches to Safety in Programmable Electronic Systems}, institution= {University of Edinburgh, LFCS}, year = {1993} } @article{Cr87, author = {A.H. Cribbens}, title = {Solid-state interlocking ({SSI}): an integrated electronic signalling system for mainline railways}, journal = {IEE Proceedings}, volume = {134}, number = {3}, month = may, year = {1987} } @techreport{CP93, author = {G.V. Conroy and C. Pulley}, title = {Logical Methods in the Formal Verification of Safety-Critical Software}, institution= {UMIST}, year = {1993} } @techreport{M93a, author = {M.J. Morley}, title = {Safety in Railway Signalling Data: A Behavioural Analysis}, institution= {University of Edinburgh, LFCS}, year = {1993} } @techreport{M93b, author = {M.J. Morley}, title = {Modelling {B}ritish {R}ail's Interlocking Logic: Geographic Data Correctness}, institution= {University of Edinburgh, LFCS}, year = {1993} } @article{CV91, author = {V. Chandra and M.R. Verma}, title = {A fail safe interlocking system for railways}, journal = {IEEE Design \& Test of Computers}, volume = {8}, number = {1}, pages = {58-66}, year = {1991} } **********************************************************************