Etsuya Shibayama

Object-oriented concurrent programming in ABCL/1

An object-oriented computation model is presented which is designed for modelling and describing a wide variety of concurrent systems. In this model, three types of message passing are incorporated. An overview of a programming language called ABCL/1, whose semantics faithfully reflects this computation model, is also presented. Using ABCL/1, a simple scheme of distributed problem solving is illustrated. Furthermore, we discuss the reply destination mechanism and its applications. A distributed “same fringe” algorithm is presented as an illustration of both the reply destination mechanism and the future type message passing which is one of the three message passing types in our computation model.

The migratory cursor: accurate speech-based cursor movement by moving multiple ghost cursors using non-verbal vocalizations

We present the migratory cursor, which is an interactive interface that enables users to move a cursor to any desired position quickly and accurately using voice alone. The migratory cursor combines discrete specification that allows a user to specify a location quickly, but approximately, with continuous specification that allows the user to specify a location more precisely, but slowly. The migratory cursor displays multiple ghost cursors that are aligned vertically or horizontally with the actual cursor. The user quickly specifies an approximate position by referring to the ghost cursor nearest the desired position, and then uses non-verbal vocalizations to move the ghost cursors continuously until one is on the desired position. The time spent using the continuous specification which is slow to use is short, since it is used just for fine refinement. In addition, the migratory cursor employs only two directional movements: vertical and horizontal, so that the user can move it quickly to any desired position. Moreover, the user can easily and accurately stop cursor movements by becoming silent when the cursor reaches the desired position. We tested the usefulness of the migratory cursor, and showed that users could move the cursor to a desired position quickly and accurately.

Hyper Mochi Sheet: a predictive focusing interface for navigating and editing nested networks through a multi-focus distortion-oriented view

Multi-focus distortion-oriented views are useful in viewinglarge information on a small screen, but still have problems inmanaging multiple foci during editing. The user may have tonavigate information space by focusing and defocusing multipleparts to obtain multi-focus layouts that change according tovarious editing situations. As a result, it becomes haphazard tonavigate and edit large nested networks such as hypertexts. Wepropose a user interface for quickly obtaining desirable layouts.The interface uses two techniques: focus size prediction andpredictive focus selection. These techniques are based on a usertest and experiences in applications. We also describe two exampleapplications.

Supporting design patterns in a visual parallel data-flow programming environment

We propose the notion of a visual design pattern (VDP), which is a visual abstraction representing design aspects in parallel data-flow programs. VDP serves as a flexible and high-level structure of reuse for visual parallel programming. We introduced the support for this notion into the visual parallel programming environment, KLIEG, allowing definition and use of patterns with a simple and easy to use interface.

A new static depiction and input technique for 2D animation

This paper describes an extension of our previous technique for making 2D animation by drawing effect lines, which is a popular technique that represents motions and emotions in cartoons. It incorporates multi-step effect lines in one keyframe and constraints on the motions of objects. The new features improve the users expressive power for specifying 2D animation interactively.

An interactive braille-recognition system for the visually impaired based on a portable camera

We develop an interactive Braille-recognition system using a portable camera for visually impaired persons who cannot read Braille. Our system helps them to find and then push a desired button, as is necessary when using an elevator or a ticket vending machine, for example. It is natural to think that the information provided, in Braille, with specific buttons is sufficient for successful operation in using an elevator or a ticket vending machine. Most visually impaired persons, however, cannot read Braille. To push a desired button, the user needs to hear only the word or letter associated with the specific Braille character so that s/he can correctly relate the buttons to Braille characters. If the user is informed of all the Braille characters in front of her/him, s/he will be unable to relate the buttons to Braille characters. In our system, the user interactively specifies the location of a particular Braille character to be read by using hand gestures. The system recognizes the users gestures and reads the desired Braille aloud. In our preliminary experiment, six blindfolded subjects were all able to interact with our system, and recognized the meaning of the buttons that s/he identified.

AnZenMail: a secure and certified e-mail system

We are developing a secure and certified e-mail system AnZenMail that provides an experimental testbed for our cutting-edge security enhancement technologies. In addition to a provably secure message transfer protocol, we have designed and implemented a server (MTU) and a client (MUA) in order that they could survive recent malicious attacks such as server-cracking and e-mail viruses. The AnZenMail server is implemented in Java, a memory-safe language, and so it is free from stack smashing. Some of its safety properties have been formally verified in Coq mostly at the source code level by manually translating Java methods into Coq functions. The AnZenMail client is designed to provide a support for secure execution of mobile code arriving as email attachments. It has plug-in interfaces for code inspection and execution modules such as static analysis tools, runtime/inline reference monitors, and an anti-virus engine, which are currently being developed by members of our research project.

HishiMochi: a zooming browser for hierarchically clustered documents

We propose a novel browser, HishiMochi, for searching and browsing hierarchically clustered documents. HishiMochi visualizes a hierarchy of clusters and documents as nested rectangles with multi-focus distortion views and animation. It provides suitable views for various search phases, by dynamically changing the DOI (Degree of Interest) function. Using HishiMochi, the user can easily search multiple target documents scattered in the hierarchy, and seamlessly browse their contents in a few operations.

Security sensitive data flow coverage criterion for automatic security testing of web applications

Common coverage criteria for software testing, such as branch coverage and statement coverage, are often used to evaluate the adequacy of test cases created by automatic security testing methods. However, these criteria were not originally defined for security testing. In this paper, we discuss the limitation of traditional criteria and present a study on a new criterion called security sensitive data flow coverage. This criterion aims to show how well test cases cover security sensitive data flows. We conducted an experiment of automatic security testing of real-world web applications to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed coverage criterion, which is intended to guide test case generation. The experiment results show that security sensitive data flow coverage helps reduce test cost while keeping the effectiveness of vulnerability detection high.

Efficient model checking of applications with input/output

Most non-trivial applications use some form of input/output (I/O), such as network communication. When model checking such an application, a simple state space exploration scheme is not applicable, as the process being model checked would replay I/O operations when revisiting a given state. Thus software model checking needs to encapsulate such operations in a caching layer that is capable of hiding redundant executions of I/O operations from the environment.