Highlights and Key Information from the 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024)

1. Summary

• The report presents a comprehensive overview of the 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024), scheduled to take place from April 8th to April 12th, 2024, in Avila, Spain. Sponsored by ACM SIGAPP, the event targets a wide array of topics within applied computing, emphasizing tracks such as Software Verification and Testing, and Databases and Big Data Management. Key information includes the purpose of fostering knowledge exchange among computing professionals, detailed submission guidelines, important dates, and notes on the organizational committees. The report also highlights awards and recognitions, like the newly introduced ACM Europe Award, and delineates strict behavioral and participation policies to ensure a productive and inclusive atmosphere for all attendees.

2. Overview of SAC 2024

• 2-1. Introduction to the 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing

• The 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024) brings together computing professionals from various fields to share their research and development work. Over the past thirty-eight years, SAC has been a premier international forum for applied computing scientists and engineers. This symposium provides a unique opportunity for participants to interact with different communities interested in applied computing.

• 2-2. Dates and Location

• SAC 2024 will be held from April 8th to April 12th, 2024, in Avila, Spain. This venue provides an excellent backdrop for the exchange of ideas and dissemination of research outcomes.

• 2-3. Sponsorship and Organizing Entities

• The symposium is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP). SIGAPP's mission is to advance the interests of computing professionals who are involved in the development of new computing techniques and applications, and facilitate the transfer of computing technology to address new problem domains.

3. Tracks and Focus Areas

• 3-1. Software Verification and Testing Track

• This track at SAC 2024 focuses on improving the usability of formal methods in software engineering. Key areas covered include formal methods for verification and testing, theorem proving, model checking, static analysis, and run-time verification. Accepted papers feature topics like 'Verification of Concurrent Machine Code Running on a Single-Core Machine' by Narges Khakpour from Newcastle University, and 'Resource Constrained Test Case Prioritization with Simulated Annealing in an Industrial Context' by researchers from Linköping University, Westermo Network Technologies AB, and Mälardalen University, all based in Sweden. Numerous topics are addressed, such as model-based testing, symbolic execution, software certification, and real-world applications. Track chairs are Georgiana Caltais (University of Twente) and Justyna Petke (University College London).

• 3-2. Special Track on Databases and Big Data Management

• This special track continues to be a significant component of the ACM SAC conference, providing a forum for database scholars and big data researchers. Topics of interest include big data management and analytics, data privacy and security, query processing and optimization, distributed databases, and mobile data management. The track aims to share theoretical results, technical ideas, and experiences related to implementation and applications in the field. Track chairs are Dr. Ramzi A. Haraty (Lebanese American University), Dr. Apostolos N. Papadopoulos (Aristotle University), and Dr. Junping Sun (Nova Southeastern University).

• 3-3. Key Topics of Interest

• The symposium covers a wide array of topics of interest, specific to their individual tracks but including overarching themes such as theorem proving, software testing, symbolic execution, data integration, metadata management, schema evolution, mobile database systems, and scientific and biological data management. The diversity and depth of these topics ensure broad coverage of current developments and challenges in applied computing.

4. Conference Submissions

• 4-1. Call for Papers and Posters

• The ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC) has been bringing together scientists from various computing disciplines for over thirty years. SAC 2024, sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP), will take place from April 8-12, 2024, in Avila, Spain. Multiple tracks will be featured, including Software Verification and Testing (SVT) and Databases and Big Data Management (DBDM). In the SVT track, the focus is on improving the usability of formal methods in software engineering, inviting papers on topics such as model checking, theorem proving, software testing, and more. Similarly, the DBDM track calls for papers on various areas including big data management and analytics, data privacy and security, mobile data management, among others. Detailed submission guidelines are provided for both papers and posters. Papers should report on original, unpublished work, and will undergo a double-blind review process. Research papers can be up to 8 pages, with the option to extend to 10 pages for an additional charge, while posters are limited to 2 pages with one extra page allowed at a charge.

• 4-2. Submission Guidelines

• Papers and posters must report on original, unpublished work and will be subjected to a double-blind review process. Authors' names and addresses must not appear in the body of the paper, and self-references should be made in the third person. Research papers should be at most 8 two-column pages in ACM format, with the possibility of extending up to 10 pages for an additional charge. Posters have a limit of 2 pages, with one extra page allowed for an additional charge. For the Student Research Competition (SRC), graduate students can submit abstracts of their ongoing research. Abstracts should be a maximum of 4 pages in ACM camera-ready format and must adhere to the specific guidelines published on the SAC 2024 website. Accepted papers and posters must be presented at the conference to be included in the ACM Digital Library.

• 4-3. Important Dates

• Key dates for SAC 2024 submissions are as follows: - Paper and SRC abstract submission: September 15, 2023, October 13, 2023 - Author notification: October 30, 2023, November 17, 2023 - Camera-ready and author registration: November 30, 2023, December 15, 2023 Additional dates related to the conference schedule, including the submission deadlines for tutorials and poster preparations, will be communicated through the SAC 2024 website.

• 4-4. Program Committees

• The program committees consist of esteemed professionals in various fields of computing: For the SVT track: - Georgiana Caltais, University of Twente, The Netherlands - Justyna Petke, University College London, United Kingdom For the DBDM track: - Ramzi A. Haraty, Lebanese American University, Lebanon - Apostolos N. Papadopoulos, Aristotle University, Greece - Junping Sun, Nova Southeastern University, USA The committees also include numerous other scholars from top institutions around the world, ensuring a rigorous and comprehensive review process for all submissions.

5. Awards and Recognitions

• 5-1. Best Papers in Various Categories

• The 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024) recognized outstanding contributions across several paper categories. The award for Best Paper in Software Design and Development was given to 'VeriFog: A Generic Model-based Approach for Verifying Fog Systems at Design Time' by Hiba Awad, Abdelghani Alidra, Hugo Bruneliere, Thomas Ledoux, Etienne Leclercq, and Jonathan Rivalan. The Best Paper in Information Systems was awarded to 'The Abstract Expressive Power of First-Order and Description Logics with Concrete Domains' by Franz Baader and Filippo De Bortoli. The Best Paper in System Software and Security was 'An Asynchronous Scheme for Rollback Recovery in Message-Passing Concurrent Programming Languages' by Germán Vidal. The award for Best Paper in AI and Agents went to 'Graph Learning-based Fleet Scheduling for Urban Air Mobility under Operational Constraints, Varying Demand & Uncertainties' by Steve Paul, Jhoel Witter, and Souma Chowdhury. Lastly, the Best Paper in Distributed Systems was 'Rescuing QUIC Flows From Countermeasures Against UDP Flooding Attacks' by Junseok Lee, Minhyeong Kim, Wonjun Song, Younghoon Kim, and Dohyung Kim.

• 5-2. Best Poster Winners

• The Best Poster award was given to 'Evolutionary Feature Selection for Time-Series Forecasting' by Maria Lourdes Linares-Barrera, Manuel J. Jimenez-Navarro, Isabel Sofia Brito, José C. Riquelme, and María Martínez-Ballesteros from the University of Seville and Polytechnic Institute of Beja.

• 5-3. SAC ’24 SRC Winners

• The SAC 2024 Student Research Competition (SRC) winners are: 1st place - Sofiia Drozd from NTUU KPI for her work on Detection of War-Caused Agricultural Field Damages Using Sentinel-2 Satellite Data with Machine Learning and Anomaly Detection; 2nd place - Gayatri Priyadarsini Kancherla from Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar for her research on Least Privilege Persistent-Storage Access in Web Browsers; 3rd place - Ignacio D. Lopez-Miguel from TU Wien for his work on Enhancing Safety in Cyber-Physical Systems Through Runtime Enforcement.

• 5-4. Introduction of ACM Europe Award

• SAC 2024 introduced the ACM Europe Award, which recognizes the most outstanding papers distinct from the best papers in other categories. The inaugural ACM Europe Award was presented to 'Binary Folding Compression for Efficient Software Distribution' by Jinheng Li, Qiao Li, Hu Wan, and Chun Jason Xue. This award, supported by ACM Europe, includes a cash prize of 1,000 Euros.

6. Key Policies and Participation Guidelines

• 6-1. Behavior and Participation Policies

• Participants in SAC 2024 are required to adhere to ACM's Policy Against Harassment at ACM Activities. Behavior that entails abusive actions directed at an individual, such as threats, intimidation, or bullying, as well as racism, homophobia, or other discriminatory behavior, will not be tolerated. Sexual harassment of any form, including unwelcome advances or words/actions of a sexual nature, is strictly prohibited. Any incidents of such behavior should be reported to the event organizers immediately.

• 6-2. Paper Registration Requirements

• All papers and posters must be registered to be included in the conference proceedings. Authors or a proxy must present their work at the symposium. This requirement applies to all accepted papers, posters, and invited SRC (Student Research Competition) submissions for inclusion in the ACM digital library. In cases where personal circumstances prevent physical attendance, online presentation is permitted while ensuring the inclusion of the work in the ACM digital library.

• 6-3. Author Presentation Obligations

• An author or a proxy must attend SAC 2024 to present the accepted papers or posters. This presentation is required for the work’s inclusion in the ACM digital library. This rule applies irrespective of the format – whether it is an in-person presentation or an online presentation (for those unable to attend physically).

• 6-4. Copyright Form Completion and Camera-ready Copies

• Authors will receive an email from ACM with information on how to complete and submit the copyright form. The email includes a link to the copyright webpage where authors can review and correct the title and author names if necessary before submitting the completed form. Authors must also upload the final camera-ready copies of their papers, posters, and SRC abstracts to the START system for verification and inclusion in the proceedings.

7. Conclusion

• The 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024) stands out as a significant platform for addressing advancements in applied computing, supported by tracks like the Software Verification and Testing Track. These tracks encourage submissions that push the boundaries of current methodologies. The introduction of the ACM Europe Award underscores the event's prestige and commitment to recognizing exceptional contributions in European computing. The symposium not only values academic excellence through awards but also fosters a safe and collaborative environment with stringent behavioral policies. While the report offers substantial coverage on the structure and purpose of SAC 2024, the detailed agendas and specific research contributions expected from this year's symposium paint a promising future for innovative discussions and applied computing advancements. Participants and stakeholders are encouraged to utilize these findings both in academic research and practical applications in their respective fields.

8. Glossary

• 8-1. SAC 2024 [Event]

• The 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, held from April 8-12, 2024, in Avila, Spain. The event is sponsored by ACM SIGAPP and focuses on applied computing topics. It includes various tracks such as Software Verification and Testing, Databases and Big Data Management, and hosts multiple awards and recognitions.

• 8-2. Software Verification and Testing Track [Track]

• A focused track at SAC 2024 that aims to improve the usability of formal methods in software engineering through verification and testing methods. This track includes a call for papers, submission guidelines, and program committee members involved in this area.

• 8-3. ACM Europe Award [Award]

• A newly established award presented at SAC 2024, recognizing significant contributions in European computing. The specifics around the criteria and winners of this award are outlined in the corresponding conference documents.

9. Source Documents

• SAC-SVT 2024https://sac-svt.github.io/sac-svt-2024/
• SAC 2024https://www.sigapp.org/sac/sac2024/
• The 39th ACM Symposium on Applied Computing (SAC 2024) | LAU Calendar of Eventshttps://eventscal.lau.edu.lb/event.php?evt=20230524_the-39th-acm-symposium-on-applie