Call for Papers

            The Journal of Methods of Logic in Computer Science
       Special Issue:  Formal Methods in Logic for Responsive Systems

A responsive computing system is one which responds to internal programs or
external inputs in a timely, dependable and predictable manner.  These
systems are a hybrid of real-time, distributed, secure, safety-critical, and
fault-tolerant systems.  In such a system, any failure can cause
catastrophes ranging from financial loss and loss of privacy to physical
damage and loss of life.  Thus, it is important to ensure that the system is
not only correct, but remains correct at run time, under abnormal
circumstances.

The major difficulty facing designers is the complexity inherent in
responsive computing systems.  In practice, informal approaches are often
used which can result in latent failures, under-specified systems, or
inconsistencies.  One way to counteract these problems is to bring the idea
of rigor and formalism from traditional systems engineering fields into the
development of software through the use of formal methods.  Formal methods
of logic, in particular, can be used to rigorously synthesize, specify,
verify, debug, and model responsive computing systems.  However, formal
methods of logic are usually dismissed as the domain of academicians and
viewed as irrelevant or not applicable to the design and implementation of
large-scale software projects due to their mathematical complexity.

To bring these two opposing camps together, work that emphasizes and
reinforces the point that formal methods can, and should, be used in the
practical construction of high quality, reliable distributed software is of
interest.  This special issue will bring together papers in the following
areas that support the use of formal methods of logic in the construction of
responsive computing systems:

o Formal Specification/Verification/Refinement Techniques  
o Requirements Specification
o Assertional Reasoning and Executable Assertions          
o Model Checking
o Testing and Debugging (Predicate Detection)              
o Tool Support
o Formal Semantics of Concurrency/Recovery                 
o Compositional Proof Systems
o Distributed Systems Security                             
o Experience Reports

Papers should, ideally, emphasize results that can be applied to the
construction of actual responsive computing systems (although, work is in no
way solely limited to experience reports).
Please submit six copies of your manuscript to the guest editor by June 1,
1995:

Bruce McMillin
Computer Science Department                   (516)-632-8334 (FAX)
State University of New York at Stony Brook   (516)-632-8218 (Office)
Room 1420 Computer Science Building           (516)-632-8471 (Secretary)
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4400 USA                e-mail(bruce@cs.sunysb.edu)

Instructions for submitting papers:  Papers should not exceed 30 double
spaced pages.  Papers should not have been previously published, nor
currently submitted elsewhere for publication.  Papers should include a
title page containing title, authors' names and affiliations, postal and
e-mail addresses, telephone numbers and Fax numbers.  Papers should include
a 300 word abstract and 5-10 keywords and be written in the IEEE
Transactions style.  Each paper will be peer-reviewed by at least three
referees.  [Note:  If you are willing to referee papers for this special
issue, please send a note with your research interest to the guest editor.]

Notification of acceptance will be sent by September 1, 1995; final versions
will be due by October 15, 1995.  The special issue will be published in the
2nd Quarter 1996.