基于半监督集成学习的软件缺陷预测*

在软件缺陷预测中,标记样本不足与类不平衡问题会影响预测结果.为了解决这些问题,文中提出基于半监督集成学习的软件缺陷预测方法.该方法利用大量存在的未标记样本进行学习,得到较好的分类器,同时能集成一系列弱分类器,减少多数类数据对预测产生的偏倚.考虑到预测风险成本问题,文中还采用训练样本集权重向量更新策略,降低有缺陷模块预测为无缺陷模块的风险.在NASA MDP数据集上的对比实验表明,文中方法具有较好的预测效果.     

基于多核字典学习的软件缺陷预测

提出一种多核字典学习方法,用以对软件模块是否存在缺陷进行预测。用于软件缺陷预测的历史数据具有结构复杂、类不平衡的特点,用多个核函数构成的合成核将这些数据映射到一个高维特征空间,通过对多核字典基的选择,得到一个类别平衡的多核字典,用以对新的软件模块进行分类和预测,并判定其中是否存在缺陷。在NASA MDP数据集上的实验表明,与其他软件缺陷预测方法相比,多核字典学习方法能够针对软件缺陷历史数据结构复杂、类不平衡的特点,较好地解决软件缺陷预测问题。     

Non‐negative sparse‐based SemiBoost for software defect prediction

Software defect prediction is an important decision support activity in software quality assurance. The limitation of the labelled modules usually makes the prediction difficult, and the class‐imbalance characteristic of software defect data leads to negative influence on decision of classifiers. Semi‐supervised learning can build high‐performance classifiers by using large amount of unlabelled modules together with the labelled modules. Ensemble learning achieves a better prediction capability for class‐imbalance data by using a series of weak classifiers to reduce the bias generated by the majority class. In this paper, we propose a new semi‐supervised software defect prediction approach, non‐negative sparse‐based SemiBoost learning. The approach is capable of exploiting both labelled and unlabelled data and is formulated in a boosting framework. In order to enhance the prediction ability, we design a flexible non‐negative sparse similarity matrix, which can fully exploit the similarity of historical data by incorporating the non‐negativity constraint into sparse learning for better learning the latent clustering relationship among software modules. The widely used datasets from NASA projects are employed as test data to evaluate the performance of all compared methods. Experimental results show that non‐negative sparse‐based SemiBoost learning outperforms several representative state‐of‐the‐art semi‐supervised software defect prediction methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于Box-Cox转换的集成跨项目软件缺陷预测方法

软件缺陷预测通过预先识别出被测项目内的潜在缺陷程序模块,可以优化测试资源的分配并提高软件产品的质量。论文对跨项目缺陷预测问题展开了深入研究,在源项目实例选择时,考虑了三种不同的实例相似度计算方法,并发现这些方法的缺陷预测结果存在多样性,因此提出了一种基于Box-Cox转换的集成跨项目软件缺陷预测方法BCEL,具体来说,首先基于不同的实例相似度计算方法,从候选集中选出不同的训练集,随后针对这些数据集,进行针对性的Box-Cox转化,并借助特定分类方法构造出不同的基分类器,最后将这三个基分类器进行有效集成。基于实际项目的数据集,验证了BCEL方法的有效性,并深入分析了BCEL方法内的影响因素对缺陷预测性能的影响。     

Sample-based software defect prediction with active and semi-supervised learning

Software defect prediction can help us better understand and control software quality. Current defect prediction techniques are mainly based on a sufficient amount of historical project data. However, historical data is often not available for new projects and for many organizations. In this case, effective defect prediction is difficult to achieve. To address this problem, we propose sample-based methods for software defect prediction. For a large software system, we can select and test a small percentage of modules, and then build a defect prediction model to predict defect-proneness of the rest of the modules. In this paper, we describe three methods for selecting a sample: random sampling with conventional machine learners, random sampling with a semi-supervised learner and active sampling with active semi-supervised learner. To facilitate the active sampling, we propose a novel active semi-supervised learning method ACoForest which is able to sample the modules that are most helpful for learning a good prediction model. Our experiments on PROMISE datasets show that the proposed methods are effective and have potential to be applied to industrial practice.     

基于深度自编码网络的软件缺陷预测方法

软件缺陷预测是提升软件质量的有效方法,而软件缺陷预测方法的预测效果与数据集自身的特点有着密切的相关性。针对软件缺陷预测中数据集特征信息冗余、维度过大的问题,结合深度学习对数据特征强大的学习能力,提出了一种基于深度自编码网络的软件缺陷预测方法。该方法首先使用一种基于无监督学习的采样方法对6个开源项目数据集进行采样,解决了数据集中类不平衡问题;然后训练出一个深度自编码网络模型。该模型能对数据集进行特征降维,模型的最后使用了三种分类器进行连接,该模型使用降维后的训练集训练分类器,最后用测试集进行预测。实验结果表明,该方法在维数较大、特征信息冗余的数据集上的预测性能要优于基准的软件缺陷预测模型和基于现有的特征提取方法的软件缺陷预测模型,并且适用于不同分类算法。     

A transfer cost-sensitive boosting approach for cross-project defect prediction

Software defect prediction has been regarded as one of the crucial tasks to improve software quality by effectively allocating valuable resources to fault-prone modules. It is necessary to have a sufficient set of historical data for building a predictor. Without a set of sufficient historical data within a company, cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) can be employed where data from other companies are used to build predictors. In such cases, a transfer learning technique, which extracts common knowledge from source projects and transfers it to a target project, can be used to enhance the prediction performance. There exists the class imbalance problem, which causes difficulties for the learner to predict defects. The main impacts of imbalanced data under cross-project settings have not been investigated in depth. We propose a transfer cost-sensitive boosting method that considers both knowledge transfer and class imbalance for CPDP when given a small amount of labeled target data. The proposed approach performs boosting that assigns weights to the training instances with consideration of both distributional characteristics and the class imbalance. Through comparative experiments with the transfer learning and the class imbalance learning techniques, we show that the proposed model provides significantly higher defect detection accuracy while retaining better overall performance. As a result, a combination of transfer learning and class imbalance learning is highly effective for improving the prediction performance under cross-project settings. The proposed approach will help to design an effective prediction model for CPDP. The improved defect prediction performance could help to direct software quality assurance activities and reduce costs. Consequently, the quality of software can be managed effectively.     

基于集成混合采样的软件缺陷预测研究

对软件缺陷预测的不平衡问题进行了研究,提出了一种处理不平衡数据的采样方法,用来解决分类器因为样本集中的样本类别不平衡而造成分类器性能下降的问题。为了避免随机采样的盲目性,利用启发性的混合采样方法来平衡数据,针对少数类采用SMOTE过采样,对多数类采用K-Means聚类降采样,然后综合利用多个单分类器来进行投票集成预测分类。实验结果表明,混合采样与集成学习相结合的软件缺陷预测方法具有较好的分类效果,在获得较高的查全率的同时还能显著降低误报率。     

一种半监督集成跨项目软件缺陷预测方法

软件缺陷预测方法可以在项目的开发初期,通过预先识别出所有可能含有缺陷的软件模块来优化测试资源的分配。早期的缺陷预测研究大多集中于同项目缺陷预测,但同项目缺陷预测需要充足的历史数据,而在实际应用中可能需要预测的项目的历史数据较为稀缺,或这个项目是一个全新项目。因此跨项目缺陷预测问题成为当前软件缺陷预测领域内的一个研究热点,其研究挑战在于源项目与目标项目数据集间存在的分布差异性以及数据集内存在的类不平衡问题。受到基于搜索的软件工程思想的启发,论文提出了一种基于搜索的半监督集成跨项目软件缺陷预测方法S³EL。该方法首先通过调整训练集中各类数据的分布比例,构建出多个朴素贝叶斯基分类器,随后利用具有全局搜索能力的遗传算法,基于少量已标记目标实例对上述基分类器进行集成,并构建出最终的缺陷预测模型。在Promise数据集及AEEEM数据集上和多个经典的跨项目缺陷预测方法（Burak过滤法、Peters过滤法、TCA+、CODEP及HYDRA）进行了对比。以F1值作为评测指标,结果表明在大部分情况下,S³EL方法可以取得最好的预测性能。     

基于邻域三支决策粗糙集模型的软件缺陷预测方法

基于已有软件缺陷数据,建立分类模型对待测软件模块进行预测,能够提高测试效率和降低测试成本。现有基于机器学习方法对软件缺陷预测的研究大部分基于二支决策方式,存在误分率较高等问题。本文针对软件缺陷数据具有代价敏感特性且软件度量取值为连续值等特性,提出了一种基于邻域三支决策粗糙集模型的软件缺陷预测方法,该方法对易分错的待测软件模块作出延迟决策,和二支决策方法相比,降低了误分类率。在NASA软件数据集上的实验表明所提方法能够提高分类正确率并减小误分类代价。     

应用直线集合分割的软件缺陷预测模型

缺陷预测能够有效地提升软件测试的效率。基于朴素贝叶斯理论,提出了一个利用平面中点与直线几何关系进行分类的软件缺陷预测模型LGD-NB。LGD-NB有两种工作模式,当其基于最小风险进行决策时,比传统的朴素贝叶斯具有对代价更为精确的描述;在定义了几何上的高风险决策区域后,LGD-NB可作为元分类器,提供一个可集成其他分类模型进行二次分类的集成框架。实验结果显示：基于最小风险LGD-NB模型的预测性能优于传统的朴素贝叶斯;而集成了SVM算法后的LGD-NB,其预测能力也有较为明显的提升。     

基于混合采样与Random_Stacking的软件缺陷预测

现有的软件缺陷预测方法面临数据类别不平衡性、高维数据处理等问题。如何有效解决上述问题已成为目前相关领域的研究热点。针对软件缺陷预测所面临的类别不平衡、预测精度低等问题,本文提出一种基于混合采样与Random_Stacking的软件缺陷预测算法DP_HSRS。DP_HSRS算法首先采用混合采样算法对不平衡数据进行平衡化处理;然后在该平衡数据集上采用Random_Stacking算法进行软件缺陷预测。Random_Stacking算法是对传统Stacking算法的一种有效改进,它通过融合多个经典的分类算法以及Bagging机制构建多个Stacking分类器,对多个Stacking分类器进行投票,得到一个集成分类器,最后利用该集成分类器对软件缺陷进行预测。通过在NASA MDP数据集上的实验结果表明,DP_HSRS算法的性能优于现有的算法,具有更好的缺陷预测性能。     

Value-cognitive boosting with a support vector machine for cross-project defect prediction

It is well-known that software defect prediction is one of the most important tasks for software quality improvement. The use of defect predictors allows test engineers to focus on defective modules. Thereby testing resources can be allocated effectively and the quality assurance costs can be reduced. For within-project defect prediction (WPDP), there should be sufficient data within a company to train any prediction model. Without such local data, cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) is feasible since it uses data collected from similar projects in other companies. Software defect datasets have the class imbalance problem increasing the difficulty for the learner to predict defects. In addition, the impact of imbalanced data on the real performance of models can be hidden by the performance measures chosen. We investigate if the class imbalance learning can be beneficial for CPDP. In our approach, the asymmetric misclassification cost and the similarity weights obtained from distributional characteristics are closely associated to guide the appropriate resampling mechanism. We performed the effect size A-statistics test to evaluate the magnitude of the improvement. For the statistical significant test, we used Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The experimental results show that our approach can provide higher prediction performance than both the existing CPDP technique and the existing class imbalance technique.     

结合多元度量指标软件缺陷预测研究进展

软件缺陷预测可帮助开发人员提前预测缺陷程序,合理分配有限的测试资源。软件缺陷预测的准确度不仅依赖于预测方法的选择,更依赖于软件的度量指标。因此,结合多元度量指标进行软件缺陷预测已成为当前的研究热点。从度量指标出发,对传统度量指标、多元度量指标以及结合多元度量指标的缺陷预测的研究进展进行了系统介绍。主要工作包含：介绍了传统的代码和过程度量指标、基于传统度量指标的软件缺陷预测模型以及影响数据质量的因素;阐述了语义结构度量指标;分析列举了当前用于软件缺陷预测的评价指标;结合预测粒度、传统度量指标、语义结构度量指标、跨项目软件缺陷预测对多元度量指标软件缺陷预测未来的研究趋势进行了展望。     

Software Quality Analysis of Unlabeled Program Modules With Semisupervised Clustering

Software quality assurance is a vital component of software project development. A software quality estimation model is trained using software measurement and defect (software quality) data of a previously developed release or similar project. Such an approach assumes that the development organization has experience with systems similar to the current project and that defect data are available for all modules in the training data. In software engineering practice, however, various practical issues limit the availability of defect data for modules in the training data. In addition, the organization may not have experience developing a similar system. In such cases, the task of software quality estimation or labeling modules as fault prone or not fault prone falls on the expert. We propose a semisupervised clustering scheme for software quality analysis of program modules with no defect data or quality-based class labels. It is a constraint-based semisupervised clustering scheme that uses k-means as the underlying clustering algorithm. Software measurement data sets obtained from multiple National Aeronautics and Space Administration software projects are used in our empirical investigation. The proposed technique is shown to aid the expert in making better estimations as compared to predictions made when the expert labels the clusters formed by an unsupervised learning algorithm. In addition, the software quality knowledge learnt during the semisupervised process provided good generalization performance for multiple test data sets. An analysis of program modules that remain unlabeled subsequent to our semisupervised clustering scheme provided useful insight into the characteristics of their software attributes     

软件缺陷集成预测模型研究

利用单一分类器构造的缺陷预测模型已经遇到了性能瓶颈, 而集成分类器相比单一分类器往往具有显著的性能优势。以构造高效的集成缺陷预测模型为出发点, 比较了七种不同类型集成分类器的算法和特点。在14个基准数据集上的实验显示, 部分集成预测模型的性能优于基于朴素贝叶斯的单一预测模型。其中, 基于投票的集成分类框架具有最优的预测性能以及统计学意义上的性能优势显著性, 随机森林算法次之。Stacking集成框架也具有较强的泛化能力。     

Composite kernel learning

The Support Vector Machine is an acknowledged powerful tool for building classifiers, but it lacks flexibility, in the sense that the kernel is chosen prior to learning. Multiple Kernel Learning enables to learn the kernel, from an ensemble of basis kernels, whose combination is optimized in the learning process. Here, we propose Composite Kernel Learning to address the situation where distinct components give rise to a group structure among kernels. Our formulation of the learning problem encompasses several setups, putting more or less emphasis on the group structure. We characterize the convexity of the learning problem, and provide a general wrapper algorithm for computing solutions. Finally, we illustrate the behavior of our method on multi-channel data where groups correspond to channels.     

An industrial case study of classifier ensembles for locating software defects

As the application layer in embedded systems dominates over the hardware, ensuring software quality becomes a real challenge. Software testing is the most time-consuming and costly project phase, specifically in the embedded software domain. Misclassifying a safe code as defective increases the cost of projects, and hence leads to low margins. In this research, we present a defect prediction model based on an ensemble of classifiers. We have collaborated with an industrial partner from the embedded systems domain. We use our generic defect prediction models with data coming from embedded projects. The embedded systems domain is similar to mission critical software so that the goal is to catch as many defects as possible. Therefore, the expectation from a predictor is to get very high probability of detection (pd). On the other hand, most embedded systems in practice are commercial products, and companies would like to lower their costs to remain competitive in their market by keeping their false alarm (pf) rates as low as possible and improving their precision rates. In our experiments, we used data collected from our industry partners as well as publicly available data. Our results reveal that ensemble of classifiers significantly decreases pf down to 15% while increasing precision by 43% and hence, keeping balance rates at 74%. The cost-benefit analysis of the proposed model shows that it is enough to inspect 23% of the code on local datasets to detect around 70% of defects.     

基于数据过采样和集成学习的软件缺陷数目预测方法

预测软件缺陷的数目有助于软件测试人员更多地关注缺陷数量多的模块,从而合理地分配有限的测试资源。针对软件缺陷数据集不平衡的问题,提出了一种基于数据过采样和集成学习的软件缺陷数目预测方法——SMOTENDEL。首先,对原始软件缺陷数据集进行n次过采样,得到n个平衡的数据集;然后基于这n个平衡的数据集利用回归算法训练出n个个体软件缺陷数目预测模型;最后对这n个个体模型进行结合得到一个组合软件缺陷数目预测模型,利用该组合预测模型对新的软件模块的缺陷数目进行预测。实验结果表明SMOTENDEL相比原始的预测方法在性能上有较大提升,当分别利用决策树回归（DTR）、贝叶斯岭回归（BRR）和线性回归（LR）作为个体预测模型时,提升率分别为7.68%、3.31%和3.38%。     

结构化集成学习垃圾邮件过滤

为了解决垃圾邮件过滤算法低计算复杂度与高分类准确率之间的矛盾,在多域学习框架下提出一种结构化集成学习思想,它根据文档结构组合多个基分类器的结果以追求更高分类性能.采用邮件文档的字符串特征生成多个轻量基分类器,并采用字符串-频率索引存储标注数据,使得每次更新和查询的时间开销是常数量级.根据邮件文档的多域结构特性,提出历史域分类器效力线性组合权和当前域文档分类能力线性组合权.综合考虑历史域分类器效力和当前域文档分类能力,还提出一种能够提高整体分类准确率的综合线性组合权.在TREC立即全反馈垃圾邮件过滤任务上的实验结果表明:基于综合线性组合权的结构化集成学习方法能够在较短的时间(47.24 min)内完成过滤任务,整体性能1-ROCA达到参加TREC2007评测的最优过滤器性能(0.0055).