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SSBSE 2012
4th International Symposium on Search Based Software Engineering
September 28 - 30, 2012 - Riva del Garda, Trento, Italy
http://www.ssbse.org/2012
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We are pleased to announce SSBSE 2012, the fourth edition of the
annual symposium dedicated to Search Based Software Engineering
(SBSE). Search-based Software Engineering (SBSE) studies the
application of meta-heuristic optimization techniques to various
software engineering problems, ranging from requirements engineering
to software testing and maintenance. The community celebrated its 10th
year at SSBSE 2011 amid growing interests and attention from the wider
software engineering community. The symposium builds on the
flourishing interest in SBSE and provides a welcoming forum for
discussion and dissemination that will strengthen the rapidly-growing
international SBSE community.

SSBSE 2012 is co-located with
* The International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM 2012)
* The 12th IEEE International Working Conference on Source Code Analysis
and Manipulation (SCAM 2012)
* The 14th IEEE International Symposium on Web Systems Evolution (WSE
2012).

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CALL FOR PAPERS
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We invite the submission of high quality papers describing original
and significant work in all areas of Search Based Software
Engineering, including theoretical work, research on SBSE
applications, empirical studies, and reports on industrial experience.
Applications may be drawn from throughout the software engineering
lifecycle. Search methods may include, but are not limited to,
operations research techniques and optimisation methods inspired by
nature, such as evolutionary algorithms and simulated annealing. We
particularly encourage papers that describe software engineering
applications to which SBSE has not previously been applied.

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FORMAT AND SUBMISSION
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Papers must not have been previously published, or be in consideration
for, any journal, book, or other conference. Papers will be evaluated
by members of the program committee based on their originality,
technical soundness and presentation quality. Submissions must conform
to Springer's LNCS format (http://www.springer.com/lncs). We invite
submission of technical papers of up to 15 pages, including all text,
figures, references and appendices. If the paper is accepted, at least
one author is expected to attend the symposium and to present the
paper. We further invite short papers of up to 6 pages length
presenting new ideas, tools, experience reports, or novel techniques
and ideas, which will be included in the proceedings and presented at
the symposium with a poster. Further information on paper formatting
and submission is available from the symposium website,
http://www.ssbse.org/2012

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GRADUATE STUDENT TRACK
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We also invite papers for a special Graduate Student track that will
provide a venue for students to showcase their SBSE research and to
receive feedback from senior members of the SBSE community. Papers
submitted to this track should be no more than 6 pages in length using
the regular symposium format. To be eligible, a student must be
registered on a doctoral or masters programme and must not yet have
completed their studies. It is the expectation that the student will
give the presentation at the symposium, though there may be other
authors on the paper. Papers need not contain a complete work,
although initial experimental results would be very welcome. This
would be an ideal venue for PhD students to present and discuss their
research agenda in the company of leading experts in the domain.

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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
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Accepted papers will be published in a volume of the Springer Lecture
Notes in Computer Science series (LNCS).

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SPECIAL ISSUE
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The authors of selected symposium papers that include significant
experimental work will be invited to submit extended versions of their
papers for a special issue of Empirical Software Engineering,
http://www.springer.com/computer/swe/journal/10664.

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FAST ABSTRACTS
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Fast abstracts feature novel ideas that are not yet fully developed or
validated. Fast abstract have a later deadline than technical papers,
and are subject to a lighter reviewing process. Fast abstracts should
comprise no more than 6 pages using the regular symposium format.
Accepted fast abstracts will be presented at the symposium and
published on the symposium website.

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IMPORTANT DATES
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FULL PAPERS & GRADUATE STUDENT TRACK
Abstract submission 27 April 2012 *extended*
Full paper submission 7 May 2012 *extended*
Notification 15 June 2012
Camera Ready 29 June 2012

FAST ABSTRACTS
Submission 20 July 2012
Notification 27 July 2012

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ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
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GENERAL CHAIR
Angelo Susi, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy

PROGRAM CHAIRS
Gordon Fraser, Saarland University, Germany
Jerffeson Teixeira de Souza, Universidade Estadual do Ceará, Brazil

GRADUATE STUDENT TRACK CHAIR
Shin Yoo, University College London, UK

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PROGRAM COMMITTEE
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Enrique Alba, University of Málaga, Spain
Giuliano Antoniol, Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Canada
Andrea Arcuri, Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
Marcio Barros, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Leonardo Bottaci, University of Hull, UK
Lionel Briand, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Francisco Chicano, University of Málaga, Spain
John Clark, University of York, UK
Mel Ó Cinnéide, University College Dublin, Ireland
Myra Cohen, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, USA
Massimiliano Di Penta, University of Sannio, Italy
Robert Feldt, University of Blekinge, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
Mark Harman, University College London, UK
Rob Hierons, Brunel University, UK
Colin Johnson, University of Kent, UK
Gregory Kapfhammer, Allegheny College, USA
Yvan Labiche, Carleton University, Canada
Spiros Mancoridis, Drexel University, USA
Phil McMinn, University of Sheffield, UK
Pasqualina Potena, University of Bergamo, Italy
Simon Poulding, University of York, UK
Xiao Qu, ABB Corporate Research, USA
Marek Reformat, University of Alberta, USA
Marc Roper, University of Strathclyde, UK
Guenther Ruhe, University of Calgary, Canada
Paolo Tonella, Fondazione Bruno Kessler - IRST, Italy
Silvia Vergilio, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil
Tanja Vos, Instituto Tecnológico de Informática, Spain
Westley Weimer, University of Virginia, USA
Yuanyaun Zhang, University College London, UK

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