Search based software engineering: Trends, techniques and applications

© ACM, 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version is available from the link below.In the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in work on Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE), an approach to Software Engineering (SE) in which Search-Based Optimization (SBO) algorithms are used to address problems in SE. SBSE has been applied to problems throughout the SE lifecycle, from requirements and project planning to maintenance and reengineering. The approach is attractive because it offers a suite of adaptive automated and semiautomated solutions in situations typified by large complex problem spaces with multiple competing and conflicting objectives. This article provides a review and classification of literature on SBSE. The work identifies research trends and relationships between the techniques applied and the applications to which they have been applied and highlights gaps in the literature and avenues for further research.EPSRC and E

Neoproterozoic Deformation in the Northeastern Part of the Saharan Metacraton, Northern Sudan

The northeastern part of the Saharan Metacraton is dominated by medium to high-grade gneisses and migmatites, disrupted by belts of low-grade volcano-sedimentary sequences representing arc assemblages and highly dismembered ophiolites, and intruded by A-type granitoids. This part of the Saharan Metacraton is affected by three Neoproterozoic deformation events: (1) Emplacement of S- to SE-verging nappes of ophiolites and passive margin sediments. The most prominent of these nappes is the Atmur-Delgo fold and thrust belt which extends westward from the eastern margin of the Saharan Metacraton to just east of the Third Cataract Nile. This belt is interpreted as manifesting the closure of a restricted oceanic basin between the Bayuda and Halfa Terranes at ~700-650 Ma. (2) Development of N- to NE-trending folds as a result of E-W shortening that accompanied NW-SE oblique collision between the Saharan Metacraton and the Arabian-Nubian Shield at ~650-590 Ma. This event, although dominantly localized along the Keraf Suture at the boundary between the Saharan Metacraton and the Arabian-Nubian Shield, also resulted in deformation within the northeastern part of the Saharan Metacraton. N- to NE-trending folds occur either as broad belts (Wadi Halfa Fold Belt) or narrow and discrete zones (Third Cataract Shear Zone). Thrust stacking and folding thickened the Saharan Metacraton lithosphere as shown by numerous gneissic domes, such as the Delgo Dome, in the northern part of the Bayuda Terrane. Crustal thickening also generated A-type granitoids that intrude the northeastern part of the Saharan Metacraton. E-W shortening culminated in the development of ~590-550 Ma, N- to NNW-trending sinistral strike-slip shear zones, sometimes coinciding with the N-trending fold belts as in the case of the Third Cataract Shear Zone. (3) Thickening of the Saharan Metacraton lithosphere triggered orogenic collapse with N-trending moderate-angle normal-slip faults developed after 550 Ma. Neoproterozoic deformation and igneous activity in the northeastern part of the Saharan Metacraton are interpreted as due to processes that involve collision, lithospheric mantle delamination, and regional extension