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         +===================================================+
         +=======    Quality Techniques Newsletter    =======+
         +=======            November 2002            =======+
         +===================================================+

QUALITY TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (QTN) is E-mailed monthly to
Subscribers worldwide to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR),
TestWorks, QualityLabs, and eValid user communities and other
interested parties to provide information of general use to the
worldwide internet and software quality and testing community.

Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of QTN provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright
notice appears with it in all copies.  Information on how to
subscribe or unsubscribe is at the end of this issue.  (c) Copyright
2002 by Software Research, Inc.

========================================================================

                       Contents of This Issue

   o  The Top Ten Trends -- 2003

   o  Even More Difficult Questions in a Difficult Time:  Some
      Responses

   o  eValid Ver. 4.0 Announced

   o  Journal on Software and Systems Modeling -- Issue Contents

   o  NJCSE Luncheon Talk Features John Musa

   o  Managing Corporate Information Systems Evolution and
      Mainteance: Call for Chapters

   o  IEEE Computer Special Issue on Agile Software Development
      (June 2003)

   o  International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology:
      Special Issue on Web and Database Technologies in Business
      Solutions

   o  QTN Article Submittal, Subscription Information

========================================================================

                     The Top Ten Trends -- 2003

The December issue of Red Herring (see <www.redherring.com>) is
usually given over to industry pundits' projecting the top ten
trends for the coming year.  Most of the time this yearly ritual is
something of a bore, but, in the IT industry's current state, it
seems that future-oriented and optimistic predictions may be more
important than ever before.

Even if three quarters of the predictions are wrong, some may be
right on.  OK, it is a reach, but why not take a look and see what
you think.  Here are the ten, with some excerpts from their author's
much longer arguments.

 #1 Carried Away: Wi-fi steals the wireless spotlight from third
    generation technology.  Dan Briody suggests that Wireless LAN's
    (WLANs), aka wi-fi or 802.11, will take off, to the demise of
    the competing 3G type of phones.  The implications for the
    quality community are the need for more testing because of the
    vastly increased bandwidth.

 #2 The Virtualizer: Technologies that transform a corporations IT
    infrastructure into one seamless unit become all the rage.  Om
    Malik opines that "virtualization" -- process of making big
    user's infrastructure seamless -- will dominate IT spending.
    QA'ers, get your integration testing tools honed!

 #3 Back to 1990: Believe it or not, there won't be a shake out in
    the venture capital industry.  Julie Landry argues that even
    though IPO's are nearly gone, and the Dot-COM bust is nearly
    complete, the VCers are alive and well.  No shake-out among the
    VCs, but continuing "make money or else" on the part of 2nd
    stage and later firms.  No mercy!  Testers, get ready for a push
    to market of stuff that maybe shouldn't make it to market!

 #4 Protector Chip: Semiconductors become the first line of defense
    in the battle to increase security for cell phones, firewalls,
    and other technology products.  Eric Pfeiffer claims chips will
    be the first line of defense to increase security for every
    device.  The nay-sayers say no, do it in software.  Our bet is
    on the software solution as cheaper, more reliable, and
    potentially as un-tamperable.

 #5 No Small Matter:  A backlash against nanotechnology will gather
    steam and spawn a new discipline -- nanoethics.  Stephan Herrera
    suggests there will be a backlash against nanotechnology and its
    unintended consequences in biotech and elsewhere will give rise
    to a new concern for ethics -- nanoethics.  Based perhaps on
    nano-truth?

 #6 The Worst Option: Stock options impact the bottom line.  Tech
    firms are finally forced to include options as expenses in
    financial reports.  Geoffrey James argues this point as
    inevitable.  Faked financials have made millions for the wrong
    people, and left lossy companies holding the bag.  Back to
    basics: cash in has to exceed cash out.  Makes sense, doesn't
    it?

 #7 The Bankrupt go Bankrupt:  The worst is yet to come in telecom
    -- companies that have clawed their way out of bankruptcy will
    seek its protection again.  Om Malik points out that the
    incredible drop in the price of bandwidth (from $10K for an 2.05
    MBps line in 1999 to around $450 for the same bandwidth, a
    decrease of ~20:1) has bankrupted a number of firms, e.g.
    Pacific Crossing and WorldCom.  The glut is good news for the
    consumer, but the price will continue to drop, he argues, and
    there will be some re-filings!  Question is, what do you do with
    all that bandwidth?  Testing across the web may be a real growth
    industry!

 #8 A Hot Zone:  The fight against bioterrorism will help pull the
    biotech industry out of its funk.  Stephan Herrera points out
    that the bioterrorism effort will affect the biotech industry by
    reducing competition.  What do you think?

 #9 Soundbytes:  Radio stations kick off the transition to 24/7 all
    digital radio.  Justing Hibbard argues that radio will convert.
    Is there any QA/Testing upside here?

#10 Home Alone:  Cable companies will control how consumers access
    the Internet, watch television, and even use their phones.  Mark
    Mowrey has the numbers to indicate that cable will win over DSL.
    You'll have to agree, coax will win over twisted pair, if the
    cable folks can get their act together.  For testers and QA
    people this may be a second vote for increased remote, at home,
    testing projects.

Overall, it would seem that several of these projects can have some
pretty good impact on quality testing/QA issues.  That's good news;
we need all the help we can get!

========================================================================

 Even More Difficult Questions in a Difficult Time:  Some Responses

Last year I asked QTN readers, and especially QW/QWE speakers and
the QW/QWE Advisory Board Members, to suggest what they thought were
the main concerns for the times regarding the general area of
software quality, in these categories.

* TECHNICAL ISSUES.  It's hard to believe "everything has been
  invented", but could it be true?  What are the real technical
  issues facing the software quality community?  Are there really
  any problems remaining that need to be solved that are not
  addressed by current methods?

* MANAGERIAL ISSUES.  Test/QA people are, in many instances, "second
  class citizens" -- is this news to any of our readers?  What keeps
  there from being more emphasis on systematic QA & Test?  How do we
  "get respect?"

* ECONOMIC ISSUES.  Everyone in the QA/Test community is suffering
  -- is this news to any of our readers?  What are the factors
  holding back QA & Test business.

Below are three of the responses received.
                  * * Response 1: Allen Olson * *
                      (Allen.Olson@stpaul.com)

I would like to respond to your issues listed in QTN for October.
I have nearly 20 years of experience working in the IS industry the
last seven have been as an IS Development Manager and the last three
have been as the Manager responsible for software testing and
quality.

Technical Issues:

There are so many technical issues I don't know where to begin.
First off nearly all of the testing tools and products that are
presented to test managers fail for some reason or other.  They fail
because they don't live up to their promises or they just
technically break down.  In my case the tools have not lived up to
expectations as hard as I try, as hard as my staff may try we can
not implement the tools in the fashion that they were designed.
This causes my business partners to ask why, why can't we test
cheaper, why can't we cut our testing time, why can't we do with
less.

Finding the right tools and technology is truly a science an art,
one that is hard to master.  Its like walking in a mine field if you
take the wrong step you get blown up.  Tools need to be more
flexible, more able to fit different environments.   Lets face it
each and every IS shop is different and each and every IS department
has different needs and requirements.  No one tool, no one
technology works in all of these conditions yet vendors pan off
their products as silver bullets, the next golden goose.

Managerial Issues:

The issues here are very disheartening.  As a testing manager I have
had to fight for every inch I've been given.  I have to justify
every expense, every addition to staff, every late project, and
every problem found.  I have proven time and time again that
problems we uncover in testing have saved the organization untold
millions of dollars yet I am still questioned on the value of
testing.  It is easy to see why people in this area become burned
out.

On the up side of things I have found that the best testers are some
of the newest people in the industry.  These are individuals that
have not been brain washed by their peers about how bad testing is.
These individuals are hard working, highly motivated individuals
that have a high degree of concern about their jobs.

Economic Issues:

Here's the road block, with the cut backs in IS nearly everywhere
its impossible to allocate more budget to the testing development
efforts of various organizations.  There have been staff reductions
that have put untold burdens on teams, not only in the development
areas, but also the technical areas that are needed for support of
testing efforts.  Areas like DBA, Production Control, and File
Management.  There is a huge push to "do more with less".

With fewer resources being available test teams are working longer
hours, not getting as much done, and are making mistakes that cause
our business partners to look for other solutions.

                 * * Response 2: Praveen Kumar * *
                      (kpraveenk_99@yahoo.com)


The following is my opinion on Managerial Issues: Test / QA People.
There are certain aspects that the Test and QA poeple need to be
careful about with respect to their identity and profession.

At the outset the job of Test/QA people as most of us are aware of,
is to provide support for a well designed and developed Product.  It
is to ensure that the effort to design and develop a software
product doesn't get rejected due to small errors.

This responsibility however is not as simple as it appears.  It is
mistook by most developers, Project Managers and surprisingly by
most testers.  This results in instances of "second class
citizenship".

Let us not however blame the Project Managers or Developers for our
(mis)fortune.  Instead firstly the following care needs to be taken
by every testing person so that an identity is established.

Involvement in the Project at the initial stages of the project:
understand the requirements clearly before taking up the testing
part.

Testing starts at the stage of Designing.One should get involved at
various stages of Design.

If a tester has coding skills and asked to take up Unit testing of
work done by others,one should know that Unit testing is the job of
the owner.  It would be ideal to take up the coding itself in such
case.

Try and involve in the project as a Tester at various stages of the
Project proactively.  Do not wait for the application/modules to
come for testing.

Do not take up the testing activity as a stop gap option.  The
professional approach to the testing activities is lost in such
cases.  Plan a career in testing software with full involvement.  It
is an ever evolving discipline with a lot of challenges ahead.

After all this care, one needs to understand that there is a lot of
mis-interpretation of SQA as a an ad hoc activity.

If your Company is part of this misguided group,a review of the
management policy has to happen.

If they care for positive client feedback on the software product
the first thing that should happen is to respect the Client's
technical representatives within the company, the SQA team.  It is
this team that gets thru there screening efforts, appreciation for
the design and development effort, from the client.

                      * * Response 3: M.K. * *

I think you are right on track with those questions. The situation is
generally insane! The vast majority of the IT industry is suffering
from bad quality, and the quality professionals are suffering from
lack of respect! We have a situation here!

Let's try to stress the situation to the edge.  Not that I think
that the following model is true, but it may bring some insight to
the key problem.

                    Management Does Not Respect
               Quality Professionals and Vice Versa.

So let's say that there are two approaches to SW development. The
management way and the quality way. And they can't co-exist.

In that case, the management way has proven to be wrong for a few
decades by now. And the few examples where the management has been
truly committed to quality has shown impressive results. (Have you
by any chance seen Sanjiv Ahuja, President of Bellcore, give his
presentation on "Process Improvement in a rapidly changing technical
environment!"  e.g. SEPG 98 Chicago. He stood there as a top manager
really leading the way to quality. There where a quite a few in that
room who said: "Gee - if only my boss would say things like that, I
would be a happy man.)

The quick and dirty conclusion is that the traditional management
style of SW development is the last generation of dinosaurs. It is
bound to change! But what will make the change happen as long as the
dinosaurs sticks to their positions?

I have just quantified the cost of bad quality to be 25% of the
turnover in a small company, and the ROI on would be 5 times on
improvement investments. And the manager think his problem will be
solved by setting up the PVCS environment with some different
promotion groups!  (Right now I feel like crying :-( )

Please keep this note between you and me. If it goes out somewhere,
I would appreciate a chance to put it in more political correct
terms.

(Editor's Note: Author's identity withheld in response to this
request.)

========================================================================

                     eValid Ver. 4.0 Announced
                      <http://www.e-valid.com>

Software Research, Inc. has announced general availability of a
major new release of its eValid(tm) Website Test Suite. It provides
a cost effective, standard way to rapidly access and expose any
number of defects or bottlenecks on your website.  The new release
expands eValid's capabilities to provide complete XML and multi-
window support, introduces new thin and limited-fidelity test
playback options and delivers website testing without the need for
plug-ins, Java Scripts or VBScripts, proxies, or wrappers. It
supports cookies, Flash objects and Java Applets in an intuitive
way. The new version also introduces new dashboard controls,
simplifies user preferences, and automates testing even further
through seven major improvement areas.

eValid Version 4.0 noticeably simplifies the complexity of the basic
four pillars of web testing:  testing and validation, site analysis,
loading, and performance analysis. The new release provides instant
access to QA results in enhanced reports and screenshots, thus
creating an overall smoother experience for the technical and non-
technical user.  Keeping your websites error-free just became
easier, faster, and hassle-free, yet remains 100% realistic.

   "eValid Version 4.0 adds powerful new features to the widely
   accepted eValid Website Test Suite. We're tracking with XML and
   complex sites that use loads of Java.  With the fast pace of
   changing information on dynamic websites, it is important to have
   rapid access to any defects.  The expanded capabilities make it
   very easy to test even the most-advanced website
   implementations," said Edward Miller, Chairman of Software
   Research. "Contrary to traditional client-side test software,
   this solution is entirely implemented in the browser, and assures
   100% realistic, repeatable and context-preserving tests and
   analyses. It shows exactly what your website users experience."

The eValid Version 4.0 Test Suite includes the following new
features in a seven functional areas:

                      Testing and Validation

Multiple-Window Support. The latest websites tend to use JavaScript
to communicate between windows. eValid now reproduces parent/child
window interactions in full-browser mode. This new functionality,
based on customer requests, supports XML-based websites that use
multiple windows, which now are recorded with all of the context
capabilities available in the parent windows.

   "The fact that eValid is a browser and will always behave like a
   browser is very important. When we're testing, we don't want to
   be spending energy understanding how our test tool is not like a
   browser.  It's surprising how often differences arise with
   mainstream tools, particularly in the handling of cookies and
   JavaScript," said Peter Rowley, Director of Quality Assurance,
   Bell Globemedia Interactive, Canada

Save & Validate Screens. This new capability allows saving screens
(either the face of a window or the full window) to local files
during playback. This feature expands the already powerful
validation capabilities of the eValid product. An image difference
utility that permits masking of images is also included. This
feature adds the capability to save screenshots when a failure is
detected while monitoring the site.

   "When you're using eValid to monitor a site, how do you explain
   to the customer what went wrong when an Alarm was issued? Now the
   answer is simple: just look at a screenshot and the answer's
   right there! " Miller added.

New Dashboard Control Displays. There is a new floating control
dashboard that provides basic activity information.  The controls
act in parallel to the eValid browser and give users special status
and instant activity information that otherwise would only be seen
from the event logs that eValid generates.

Simplified Preferences Menu, GUI Face. The new release consolidates
all preference settings into a single interface, and simplifies
access to major eValid functions, including Record/Play, Load, and
Site Analysis.

   "Our original goal was to keep eValid as simple as possible, but
   now that we have so many different operating modes, it makes
   sense to unify the preferences and split out some of the basic
   functionality," Miller continued.

                           Site Analysis

Interactive Viewing Mode. The powerful "spider in a browser"
capability to review an entire website, a page at a time, is now
under immediate user control.  This feature feeds complete website
page sets to the user at a constant rate,  making it easy to survey
the site (and check all the links).  The user controls the rhythm of
the pause between each page: for one or ten seconds, or till you
click a key to continue this segmented survey.

   "We found ourselves using the Site Analysis feature to review
   customers' websites, and it helps a lot to pause after every page
   is complete.  You'd be amazed how much you can learn about their
   products -- and how quickly you can learn it -- using the site
   analyzer in escapement mode," Miller said. "You browse the entire
   website at your own pace."

Enhanced 3D-SiteMaps. SiteMaps in 3D are generated as part of the
Site Analysis process to show how individual pages and images
interconnect. This color-coded, conical graph received a number of
enhancements. It now permits trimming the display by selecting types
of content, annotating diagram elements with URL information, and
choosing element size, based on page download speed or total size.

   "The biggest problem in maintaining a website is:  finding the
   things wrong that your users find -- effortlessly, if possible!
   This is really hard if the website is generated dynamically --
   the way most of the big websites now are implemented. But now you
   can look for strings and relationships between strings --
   automatically. This will save webmasters and website maintainers
   a lot of time and effort, " Miller said.

                          Server Loading

New Playback Only Clients. To generate totally realistic loads,
server loading experiments use eValid's unique ability to run
multiple browsers on one client machine.  Each eValid copy executes
a complete user test, and the test scenario can use many copies of
eValid -- the number is limited only by hardware resources. The new
thin playback-only clients enhance the ability of a single machine
to generate more real loading work; but by minimizing playback
footprints, it takes very little RAM.

   "I can definitely say that eValid is the ONLY automated software
   test tool that lets us easily and effectively simulate a load
   based on 'real-world' users, which is critical based on our
   technology model.  That, coupled with the easy-to-learn and
   understanding scripting, makes eValid the perfect choice for
   Finali's load and regression testing," reported Mike Kosel,
   Director of Quality Assurance at Finali, Colorado.

eValid Version 4.0 licenses start at $495 for a basic
record/playback capability suitable for most testing and monitoring
applications. Separate licenses in various combinations are
available. The eValid Web Analysis Suite (Site Mapping, Functional
Testing, Data Generation, Loading, Timing/Tuning, Performance
Testing, and Test Suite Management) is available in various
combinations at special bundle discount prices.  Evaluation versions
are available for download at <www.e-valid.com>.

========================================================================

     Journal on Software and Systems Modeling -- Issue Contents
                  Robert France and Bernhard Rumpe
                          Editors-In-Chief

recently, the SoSyM journal (Springer International Journal on
Software and Systems Modeling) has released its first issue at the
UML conference.  The papers in the issue are listed below:

M. Jackson: Some Basic Tenets of Description

L. Briand, Y. Labische: A UML-based Approach to System Testing

A.L. Opdahl, B. Henderson-Sellers: Ontological Evaluation of the UML
Using the Bunge-Wand-Weber Model

P. Stevens: On the interpretation of binary associations in the
Unified Modeling Language

Early feedback indicates that the paper were of high quality -- a
good start for a new journal.

For further information please have a look at the website:
<http://www.sosym.org/>


========================================================================

              NJCSE Luncheon Talk Features John Musa
          by Larry Bernstein (lbernstein@worldnet.att.net)

The latest NJCSE luncheon talk features John Musa at Monmouth
University.  There is no charge. He is the world class expert on
Software Reliability.  My projects have used his technology and
improved the reliability of our software systems by one-to-two
orders of magnitude.

It would be wonderful to network together and discuss software
reliability.  I want to see you.  Please RSVP by December 5, 2002.
Please call Mrs. Karen Wyant at 732-571-7501 to confirm your
attendance.

Please join us at Monmouth University on Friday December 13, 2002 to
hear John Musa discuss his work on a reliability model and the use
of Operational Profiles. John has published many articles and the
seminal book on this subject.  In the past, I worked with John at
Bell Labs and he is now an independent consultant.



========================================================================

 Managing Corporate Information Systems Evolution and  Maintenance:
                         Call for Chapters

            Edited by Khaled Khan and Yan Zhang Ph.D.,
                          Idea Group, Inc.

                            Introduction

Information systems (IS) always change and evolve, some changes are
more frequent, some are less. Evolution of information systems is
unavoidable, and organizations need to support systems evolution to
take advantage of the new technology and to address the changing
business rules. The book will address the managerial and technical
aspects that are often required for a corporate system evolution
process. In the era of web based systems and e-business,
organizations need appropriate maintenance processes and resources
that are required to migrate their aging legacy information systems
to web enabled contemporary systems.  Managing system evolution and
maintenance involves a great deal of technical, financial and
management issues. One of the major concerns of organizations is to
manage the evolution process with minimum cost for maximum benefits.
Current practices of system maintenance activities revolve around ad
hoc patching which do not follow any defined methodology. A more
defined formalism describing various tasks, tools and methods is
required to enable a clear understanding of the IS evolution and
maintenance activities. The goal of this book is to examine key IS
evolution and maintenance issues facing the IS community.

                   Overall Objective Of The Book

The book will also address how the system evolution has considerable
impact on the corporate business process, personnel management, and
the technological advantages. The book will document the technical
and managerial aspects of systems evolution, providing insights into
how a modification to a system could be initiated and justified. It
will also include the cost-benefit analysis of the maintenance
process, managing and tracking the impact of the changes. The
purpose of this book is to disassemble the complex process of
information system evolution and maintenance into related managerial
and technical tasks so as to aid in the allocation of resources,
acquisition of appropriate toolset, distributing responsibilities
and managing the entire complex process. The book is intended to
convey a high level understanding of managing IS maintenance process
and its dimensions.

Chapters proposals due: 31 January 2003 Please forward all inquiries
and submissions to:  Khaled Khan <k.khan@uws.edu.au>
     <http://www.cit.uws.edu.au/research/isl/bookchapters.pdf>

========================================================================

IEEE Computer Special Issue on Agile Software Development (June 2003)

IEEE Computer seeks articles for a special issue on agile software
development to appear in June 2003.  Guest editors are Laurie
Williams, North Carolina State University, and Alistair Cockburn,
Humans and Technology.

Agile development, a development model that has been gaining
popularity and use rapidly in recent years, aims to deliver business
value early.  Agile methods enable the incorporation of late-
changing product requirements, by accentuating, as core properties
of the development process, the frequent delivery of running, tested
systems, and the use of rich, informal communication channels.
Proponents of the agile approach say that these practices lead to
more satisfied customers and a superior success rate of delivering
high quality software on-time. Agile approaches are gaining
popularity in industry despite - or perhaps because of - their
mixing accepted and controversial software engineering practices.
It may happen that eventually, individual project characteristics
will determine the prudence of using an agile, plan-driven, or
hybrid approach.

For this special issue, we invite wide-ranging articles on agile
software development appropriate to Computer's readers. Desired
topics include, but are not limited to:  empirical examinations of
agile software development practices and methodologies; experience
reports; comparisons between emerging agile practices and
established best practices; examinations of agile methodologies
relative to established standards such as the CMM, CMMI, and ISO;
issues of scalability; issues around teamwork and collaboration.

Submission deadline is January 6, 2003.  Papers, submitted in
electronic (PDF) form, should conform to the IEEE Computer paper
submission standards at <http://computer.org/computer/author.htm>
and be sent to williams@csc.ncsu.edu.

Please contact Laurie Williams <williams@csc.ncsu.edu> with
questions.

========================================================================

      International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology:
           Special Issue on Web and Database Technologies
                       in Business Solutions

                 <http://tdg.lsi.us.es/cfp/ijwet03>

The International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology (IJWET)
is a refereed international journal providing a forum and an
authoritative source of information in the fields of web engineering
and web technology. It is devoted to innovative research in the
analysis, design, development, use, evaluation and teaching of web-
based systems, applications, sites and technologies. It provides an
interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of ideas concerning
theoretical, technical, practical, social and pedagogical issues.

Interscience is pleased to announce a new special issue on web and
database technologies in business solutions.

                           Aims and Scope

The aim of this special issue of IJWET is to present the research
that is being carried out at universities and in industry to solve
problems related to the construction of innovative business
applications. The stress is put on real-world industrial experiences
and projects, as well as innovative technologies and infrastructures
for building e-commerce and e-business solutions. This issue of
IJWET aims also at developing a framework for better understanding
the application of research achievements in modern information
systems comprising web technologies, database and data warehouse
technologies, data and applications integration, and decision
support.

                         Topics Of Interest

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:

- Web technologies and services: web services, orchestration
  mechanisms, advanced multiparty interaction models, standards.

- Electronic contracts: service level agreements, requirements
  elicitation, automated and semi-automated negotiation, monitoring.

- Data and application integration: federated systems, mediated
  systems, data warehouses, accessing legacy systems via web.

- Management of evolution in information systems: temporal and
  multiversion databases, temporal and multiversion data warehouses,
  adaptive user interfaces.

- New platforms for developing web, distributed and wireless
  systems: Microsoft .NET, Sun One, IBM Web Sphere, Oracle Internet
  Application Server.

- Industrial and research IT projects: reports from finished and
  ongoing projects in the field of web and database technologies.


                           Guest Editors

* Rafael Corchuelo, who is a reader in Computer Engineering, and he
  has been with the University of Seville since 1994. He is the head
  of the Research Group on Distributed Systems of this University,
  and he has set up several cooperation and exchange programs with
  several European universities and research centers. His research
  activities focus on distributed systems: quality, fairness,
  coordination, information extraction, and so forth.  Currently, he
  is a member of the editorial board of Springer-Verlag's Journal of
  Universal Computer Science, and serves as a reviewer for ACM's
  Computing Reviews and Wiley's Concurrency and Computation.

* Antonio Ruiz-Cortes, who is a Doctor of Computer Science, and he
  is with the Department of Computer Languages and Systems of the
  University of Seville.  Before joining the University, he worked
  for companies such as Informatica el Corte Ingles, which is a
  leading Spanish corporation with branches all over the world, and
  DEINSA, which is a local corporation that has specialized in
  building environmental information systems.  His current research
  interests include non-functional requirements, software
  architecture, component-oriented software engineering, and multi-
  organizational web-based systems.

* Robert Wrembel, who works as an assistant professor at Poznan
  University of Technology.  In 2001 he received his PhD in computer
  science (databases).  In 1996-2002 he took part in 3 research
  projects on databases and 4 industrial projects in the field of
  information technology.  He paid a number of research visits
  including INRIA Paris-Rocquencourt (France), University Paris
  Dauphine (France), University of Klagenfurt (Austria), and
  recently as a visiting professor at the Loyola University (USA).
  His research interests encompass object-oriented databases, views,
  multiversion databases, object-relational data warehouses, and
  multiversion data warehouses.  Robert Wrembel works also as a
  lecturer at Oracle Poland.  He is an executive board member of the
  Polish Oracle Users Group and in 2000-2001 he was elected to the
  board of directors of "Europe, Millde-East and Africa Oracle Users
  Group".

Papers and proposals should be e-mailed to <tdg@tdg.lsi.us.es>.

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