Prior to the general availability of high speed Internet, the spread of piratedsoftware required the transfer of a physical copy like a disk, which limited therate at which illegal software could be distributed. The low transfer raterestricted software piracy to levels which producers found acceptable becausethe associated losses could be absorbed. Large scale cases of piracy were rareand when they did occur the legal system provided suitable retribution. However,recent advances in computer technology have made the need for a physical copyobsolete. Piracy is now a widespread, decentralized problem in which millions ofindividuals take part. Without technical means of identifying pirated software,the protection afforded by the legal system is no longer easy to enforce or costeffective.The research in this dissertation addresses the threat of software piracythrough the exploration of two techniques: software watermarking and softwarebirthmarking. Neither of these techniques can be used to prevent software theftentirely. Instead, they are used to detect occurrences of theft after the fact.One of the limiting factors of the protection provided by the legal system isthat it cannot be used to identify an incidence of piracy. Softwarewatermarking and birthmarking fill this gap, thus providing complimentaryprotection to the established legal protection. In this research, we analyze thestate of the art in both software watermarking and birthmarking and we propose anovel scheme in each of the areas which make significant improvements overexisting techniques.

Software systems continue to play an increasingly important role in our daily lives, making the quality of software systems an extremely important issue. Therefore, a significant amount of recent research focused on the prioritization of software quality assurance efforts. One line of work that has been receiving an increasing amount of attention is Software Defect Prediction (SDP), where predictions are made to determine where future defects might appear. Our survey showed that in the past decade, more than 100 papers were published on SDP. Nevertheless, the adoption of SDP in practice to date is limited. In this thesis, we survey the state-of-the-art in SDP in order to identify the challenges that hinder the adoption of SDP in practice. These challenges include the fact that the majority of SDP research rarely considers the impact of defects when performing their predictions, seldom provides guidance on how to use the SDP results, and is too reactive and defect-centric in nature. We propose approaches that tackle these challenges. First, we present approaches that predict high-impact defects. Our approaches illustrate how SDP research can be tailored to consider the impact of defects when making their predictions. Second, we present approaches that simplify SDP models so they can be easily understood and illustrates how these simple models can be used to assist practitioners in prioritizing the creation of unit tests in large software systems. These approaches illustrate how SDP research can provide guidance to practitioners using SDP. Then, we argue that organizations are interested in proactive risk management, which covers more than just defects. For example, risky changes may not introduce defects but they could delay the release of projects. Therefore, we present an approach that predicts risky changes, illustrating how SDP can be more encompassing (i.e., by predicting risk, not only defects) and proactive (i.e., by predicting changes before they are incorporated into the code base). The presented approaches are empirically validated using data from several large open source and commercial software systems. The presented research highlights how challenges of pragmatic SDP can be tackled, making SDP research more beneficial and applicable in practice. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-02 13:12:39.707

Diss.: Rovaniemi : Lapin yliopisto. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis(M.S.)--Auburn University, 2005. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.87-92).

Thesis (M.C.S.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-187). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-82). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 70 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-70).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xx, 343 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 324-337).

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-110). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-39).