A Formal and Tool-Equipped Approach for the Integration of State Diagrams and Formal Datatypes

International audienceSeparation of concerns or aspects is a way to deal with the increasing complexity of systems. The separate design of models for different aspects also promotes a better reusability level. However, an important issue is then to define means to integrate them into a global model. We present a formal and tool-equipped approach for the integration of dynamic models (behaviors expressed using state diagrams) and static models (formal data types) with the benefit to share advantages of both: graphical user-friendly models for behaviors, formal and abstract models for data types. Integration is achieved in a generic way so that it can deal with both different static specification languages (algebraic specifications, Z, B) and different dynamic specification semantic

A Formal Architectural Description Language based on Symbolic Transition Systems and Modal Logic

International audienceComponent Based Software Engineering has now emerged as a discipline for system development. After years of battle between component platforms, the need for means to abstract away from specific implementation details is now recognized. This paves the way for model driven approaches (such as MDE) but also for the more older Architectural Description Language (ADL) paradigm. In this paper we present KADL, an ADL based on the Korrigan formal language which supports the following features: integration of fully formal behaviours and data types, expressive component composition mechanisms through the use of modal logic, specification readability through graphical notations, and dedicated architectural analysis techniques. Key Words: Architectural Description Language, Component Based Software Engineering, Mixed Formal Specifications, Symbolic Transition Systems, Abstract Data Types, Modal Logic Glue, Graphical Notations, Verification

Design of a Railway Domain Profile and its OCL-based Validation

Domain-specific languages become more and more important these days as they facilitate the close collaboration of domain experts and software developers. One effect of this general tendency is the increasing number of UML profiles. UML itself as the most popular modeling language is capable of modeling all kinds of systems but it is often inefficient due to its wide-spectrum approach. Profiles tailor the UML to a specific domain and can hence be seen as domain-specific dialects of UML. At the moment, profiles mainly introduce new terminology, often in combination with OCL constraints which describe the new constructs more precisely. As most tools do not support validation of OCL expressions let alone supplementing profiles with OCL constraints, it is difficult to check if models based on a profile comply to this profile. A related problem is checking whether constraints in the profile contradict constraints in the UML specification. In this paper, it is shown how to complete these tasks with the tool USE. As an example, a profile from the railway control systems domain is taken which describes the use of its modeling elements quite strictly. Models based on this profile serve as a foundation for automated code generation. Therefore, they require a rigorous and unambiguous meaning. OCL is heavily used to reach this goal

Description Logics as Ontology Languages for the Semantic Web

The vision of a Semantic Web has recently drawn considerable attention, both from academia and industry. Description logics are often named as one of the tools that can support the Semantic Web and thus help to make this vision reality. In this paper, we describe what description logics are and what they can do for the Semantic Web. Descriptions logics are very useful for defining, integrating, and maintaining ontologies, which provide the Semantic Web with a common understanding of the basic semantic concepts used to annotate Web pages. We also argue that, without the last decade of basic research in this area, description logics could not play such an important rˆole in this domain

A seamless framework for formal reasoning on specifications : model derivation, verification and comparison

While formal methods have been demonstrated to be favourable to the construction of reliable systems, they also present us with several limitations. Most of the efforts regarding formal reasoning are concerned with model correctness for critical systems, while other properties, including model validity, have seen little development, especially in the context of non-critical systems. We set to advance model validation by relating a software model with the corresponding requirements it is intended to capture. This requires us to express both requirements and models in a common formal language, which in turn will enable not only model validation, but also model generation and comparison. We present a novel framework (TOMM) that integrates the formalization of class diagrams and requirements, along with a set of formal theories to validate, infer, and compare class models. We introduce SpeCNL, a controlled domain independent subset of English sentences, and a document structure named ConSpec. The combination of both allows us to express and formalize functional requirements related to class models. Our formal framework is accompanied by a proof-of-concept tool that integrates language and image processing libraries, as well as formal methods, to aid the usage and evaluation of our theories. In addition, we provide an implementation that performs partial extraction of relevant information from the graphical representations of class diagrams. Though different approaches to model validation exist, they assume the existence of formal specifications for the model to be checked. In contrast, our approach has been shown to deal with informal specifications and seamlessly validate, generate and compare class models

A Semantic Framework for Declarative and Procedural Knowledge

In any scientic domain, the full set of data and programs has reached an-ome status, i.e. it has grown massively. The original article on the Semantic Web describes the evolution of a Web of actionable information, i.e.\ud information derived from data through a semantic theory for interpreting the symbols. In a Semantic Web, methodologies are studied for describing, managing and analyzing both resources (domain knowledge) and applications (operational knowledge) - without any restriction on what and where they\ud are respectively suitable and available in the Web - as well as for realizing automatic and semantic-driven work\ud ows of Web applications elaborating Web resources.\ud This thesis attempts to provide a synthesis among Semantic Web technologies, Ontology Research, Knowledge and Work\ud ow Management. Such a synthesis is represented by Resourceome, a Web-based framework consisting of two components which strictly interact with each other: an ontology-based and domain-independent knowledge manager system (Resourceome KMS) - relying on a knowledge model where resource and operational knowledge are contextualized in any domain - and a semantic-driven work ow editor, manager and agent-based execution system (Resourceome WMS).\ud The Resourceome KMS and the Resourceome WMS are exploited in order to realize semantic-driven formulations of work\ud ows, where activities are semantically linked to any involved resource. In the whole, combining the use of domain ontologies and work ow techniques, Resourceome provides a exible domain and operational knowledge organization, a powerful engine for semantic-driven work\ud ow composition, and a distributed, automatic and\ud transparent environment for work ow execution

Ontologies for context-aware applications

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

A Detailed Comparison of UML and OWL

As models and ontologies assume an increasingly central role in software and information systems engineering, the question of how exactly they compare and how they can sensibly be used together assumes growing importance. However, no study to date has systematically and comprehensively compared the two technology spaces, and a large variety of different bridging and integration ideas have been proposed in recent years without any detailed analysis of whether they are sound or useful. In this paper, we address this problem by providing a detailed and comprehensive comparison of the two technology spaces in terms of their flagship languages – UML and OWL – each a de facto and de jure standard in its respective space. To fully analyze the end user experience, we perform the comparison at two levels – one considering the underlying boundary assumptions and philosophy adopted by each language and the other considering their detailed features. We also consider all relevant auxiliary languages such as OCL. The resulting comparison clarifies the relationship between the two technologies and provides a solid foundation for deciding how to use them together or integrate them

A REVIEW OF PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES OF USING MULTIPLE CONCEPTUAL MODELS

Conceptual models are used to visualise, envisage, and communicate the requirements, structure, and behaviour of a system. Particularly, during design and analysis phases, a model can serve as a tool to recognise different components, elements, actors, and relationships involved in a system. However, as a domain becomes complex, multiple models are needed to capture different aspects of a system. Further, each conceptual model develops using different grammars, methods, and tools. Therefore, using multiple models to represent a complex system may result in several problems, and challenges. This research aims to identify, analyse, and classify the different problems and issues encountered when using multiple models during information systems analysis and design through a structured literature review. Several problems are identified and are classified into seven main categories based on their common characteristics. The results of this study may serve as a baseline information for researchers in further understand-ing different modelling approaches and how multiple models can be used in harmony and reduce risks and issues. Also, the list of problems gathered will give insights to professionals on which issues they may possibly encounter when inter-relating various models