Journal of Information Security Research Hui Liu, Bo Ding, Tianzuo Wang, Shan Yao 8 2 2017 http://www.dline.info/jisr/fulltext/v8n2/jisrv8n2_2.pdf Self-adaptation endows software with the ability to adjust its behavior according to the changes in its environment. It is an effective approach in dealing with many changing dynamics, such as ubiquitous computing spaces. However, adaptability will significantly complicate software implementation and brings great challenges to software engineering practices. This paper presents an engineering approach for self-adaptive software, which systematically enables the reuse of software adaptation on three levels: software architecture, development process and run-time middleware. A novel conceptual model is proposed as the foundation of this work at first, in which each software entity can imitate the reacting/joining behavior pattern of the individuals in natural adaptive systems. And then, mainly based on the enhancement of component technology, this conceptual model is mapped into a practicable and reusable software architecture. A software factory with a model-driven development process definition and a middleware prototype supports the proposed architecture at runtime are presented. Several applications have been developed to validate the effectiveness and generality of our approach. A novel software engineering method for self-adaptive software is proposed in this papier, which systematically enables the reuse of software adaptation on three levels: software architecture, development process and run-time middleware.