International Journal of Software Engineering, Technology and Applications (4 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• An Efficient Rejuvenation Policy to Cope with Software Aging Phenomenon  
  by Amir Akhavan Bitaraf, Moona Yakhchi, Hakem Beitollahi, Mahdi Fazeli 
  Abstract: Software aging is a well-known challenge in most software systems that lead to serious performance degradation or frequent failures in these systems. Several proactive rejuvenation techniques have been proposed to tackle software aging and prevent failures. Rejuvenation techniques are mostly categorized into two main classes: Time-based techniques and failure prediction based techniques. This article proposes a new method for software rejuvenation that follows a new policy for determining the time of rejuvenation. Our new policy includes two parts: 1) Considering a set of rejuvenation time points based on a static analysis of system behavior in the presence of software aging effect; 2) Dynamically changing the scheduling points based on a dynamic analysis of system workload. In fact, our policy employs a straightforward time-based technique as a base-line and then dynamically changes the selected points based on predicting the lowest workload time. In comparison to the second category of rejuvenation techniques, our policy predicts the occurrence time of the lowest workload instead of occurrence of failure time. Our new strategy effectively and dynamically changes the static points of a time-based policy. Simulation results in comparison to other well-known time-based rejuvenation techniques indicate the system availability improves between 0.3% to 7.3%. Moreover, our technique significantly reduces the overall rejuvenation cost (up to 71%).
  Keywords: Software Aging; Software Rejuvenation.
  
  
• A robust software reliability growth model for accurate detection of software failures  
  by Jagadeesh Medapati, Anand Chandulal Jasti, T.V. Rajinikanth 
  Abstract: This paper pinpoints to detect and eliminate the actual software failures efficiently. The approach fits in a particular case of generalised gamma mixture model (GGMM), namely exponential distribution. The approach estimates two parameters using maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). Standard evaluation metrics like mean square error (MSE), coefficient of determination (R2), sum of squares (SSE), and root means square error (RMSE) were calculated. For the justification of the model selection and goodness of fit various model selection frameworks like chi-square goodness of fit, Walds test, Akaike information criteria (AIC), AICc and Schwarz criterion (SBC) were also estimated. The experimentation was carried out on five benchmark datasets which interpret the considered novel technique identifies the actual failures on par with the existing models. This paper presents a robust software reliability growth model which is more effectual in the identification of the failures. This helps the present software organisations in the release of bug-free software just in time.
  Keywords: software reliability; error; reviews; generalised gamma mixture model; GGMM; benchmark datasets.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJSETA.2022.10044820
   
  
• A literature review on fault tolerance in SOA-based systems  
  by Swati Goel, Ratneshwar Gupta 
  Abstract: The basic concept of service oriented architecture (SOA) is used in cloud computing, internet of things, etc. in which services may be obtained from remote places. The desired goal is that a system should continuously provide services even in the presence of faults. This makes fault tolerance an essential quality of a SOA-based system. SOA have some special characteristics like loose coupling, service level agreements, platform independence, etc. These features provide easy access of software services but on the other side may produce newer possibilities of faults. In this work, a systematic literature review is done to investigate that how fault tolerance issue is handled in a SOA-based system. Several relevant approaches are identified and categorised in a meaningful manner. Parameters that affect the fault tolerance especially for SOA-based systems, directly or indirectly, are summarised for better understanding. Various issues and challenges to achieve fault tolerance are identified and discussed purposefully. While working with multi version fault tolerance method, acceptance test is an important criterion. Commonalities and differences of various acceptance test methods are highlighted. The obtained results will enable academicians and novice researchers to make effective decision on fault tolerance of SOA-based systems.
  Keywords: service oriented architecture; SOA; fault tolerance; software faults; redundancy; replication.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJSETA.2022.10049782
   
  
• A comparative study of software development practices in Bangladesh, an emerging country  
  by Partha Chakraborty, Khalid Hasan, Anindya Iqbal, Gias Uddin, Rifat Shahriyar 
  Abstract: Software development is complicated with rapidly changing requirements, techniques, processes, and the involvement of diverse stakeholders. A study on the software development practice in a country can reveal the challenges and scopes of improvement for countries of similar types. There are several studies on the software industry in developed countries. No recent study has explored the software development practices and challenges in an emerging country like Bangladesh. We aim to understand the methods and practices adopted and the challenges the software companies face in an emerging country like Bangladesh. We also aim to understand whether and how Bangladeshs development practices and methods differ from other countries. We used insights from semi-structured interviews to design a survey where 137 software practitioners from diverse companies responded. Our findings can guide software practitioners to improve development practices in emerging countries and software providers with new tool support to assist in the process.
  Keywords: software development practices and challenges; survey; emerging countries; Bangladesh.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJSETA.2024.10063106