Style-Based Model Transformation for Early Extrafunctional Analysis of Distributed Systems

International audienceIn distributed environments, client-server, publish-subscribe, and peer-to-peer architecture styles are largely employed. However, style selection often remains implicit, relying on the designer's know-how regarding requirements. In this paper, we propose a framework to explicitly specify distributed architectural styles, as independent models of the application functionalities. To justify feasibility and further benefits of our approach, we formally define three classical distributed architectural styles in a process calculus. Our proposal then opens up the way to a systematic composition of functional models with architectural style models as an endogenous transformation. Comparative analysis of extrafunctional properties could then be proposed at the early design stages to guide the architect in stylistic choices

Inclusive Educational Review of Software Architectural Styles and Patterns for the Students of the College of Information and Computing Sciences of Cagayan State University

A good architectural design has a high contribution to the success of a system. In addition, this architectural design is useful for the Information Technology (IT) students as their basis of their software development of their capstone project. The utilization of inappropriate architecture can lead to disastrous consequences for IT student researchers. A detailed understanding of software architecture styles is very useful to analyze distributed and complex systems which is the trend of capstone projects. This paper explores the quality attributes of three architecture styles namely shared-nothing, broker, and representational state transfer, which are perceived as beneficial to distributed system architecture that serve as guide to student researchers. This is to provide a picture of the said three key software architecture styles which could be helpful not only for student researchers but also for the software developers by adding references to minimize the uncertainty while selecting the appropriate architectural style for their specific needs. An architectural style must be chosen correctly to obtain all its benefits in the system. In this paper, the three architectural styles are compared on the foundation of various quality attributes derived from ISO 9126-1 standard such as functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, and portability. The results of the study are useful to guide the student researchers in their capstone project and to reduce the number of unsuccessful attempts of software development component of their capstone project

SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF HOSPITAL DESIGN USING PARAMETRIC TOPOLOGICAL INFORMATION: MOLINETTE HEALTHCARE COMPLEX AND LALEH HOSPITAL CASE STUDIES

The importance of the architectural design of healthcare buildings can be traced back to their particular usage, which includes administrative and clinical functions in addition to those open to the public. For this reason, the most relevant feature in the conformation of sanitary buildings is the access to the areas. According to the different architectural plan design and world-wide experiences, various hospitals styles and types were defined over time. In this article, the spatial configuration has been investigated with the aim of analysing the efficiency of spaces in functional terms. Within this framework, Space Syntax, as a theoretical and practical method, has been applied using data modelling tools. The core of the analysis relies on the mapping on the architectural plan of the level of access, including the degree of taking advantage of natural light and ventilation. Two case studies with different layout systems were analyzed and the outcomes compared. The procedure implemented represents a useful tool for studying architectural qualities in existing hospitals as well as a reference guide to screening new constructions

Quality-aware model-driven service engineering

Service engineering and service-oriented architecture as an integration and platform technology is a recent approach to software systems integration. Quality aspects ranging from interoperability to maintainability to performance are of central importance for the integration of heterogeneous, distributed service-based systems. Architecture models can substantially influence quality attributes of the implemented software systems. Besides the benefits of explicit architectures on maintainability and reuse, architectural constraints such as styles, reference architectures and architectural patterns can influence observable software properties such as performance. Empirical performance evaluation is a process of measuring and evaluating the performance of implemented software. We present an approach for addressing the quality of services and service-based systems at the model-level in the context of model-driven service engineering. The focus on architecture-level models is a consequence of the black-box character of services

Newport Restoration Foundation’s Historic Houses of “The Point”

The Newport Restoration Foundation was established in 1968 to acquire and restore eighteenth century residences in order to preserve the rapidly deteriorating but nonetheless rich architectural heritage of Newport. The foundation embarked on a fifteen year restoration project that renewed historically significant neighborhoods, once the home to sea captains, cabinetmakers and merchants that had become rundown and dilapidated. Doris Duke stepped in at a time when there was much political pressure to update and modernize. The purpose of my project is to create a study guide that could be used in a middle school or high school classroom to teach students about the history of Rhode Island, or more specifically, the history of Newport. The study guide contains a photograph of each house as well as a brief history of that house. As an accompaniment to this study guide, a paper was written that delves into the various architectural styles as well as a brief history of Newport and the Newport Restoration Foundation, established by Doris Duke. I chose to complete this project for many reasons. I live in the historic area in Newport and realized that I didn’t know much about the houses in my own neighborhood. I also wanted to be able to create a record of the history that these houses contain for future generations. I hope that my hard work in creating this study guide will help others to realize the rich history that comes from Newport and has been preserved through an ongoing effort established by Doris Duke

Ontology-based patterns for the integration of business processes and enterprise application architectures

Increasingly, enterprises are using Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) as an approach to Enterprise Application Integration (EAI). SOA has the potential to bridge the gap between business and technology and to improve the reuse of existing applications and the interoperability with new ones. In addition to service architecture descriptions, architecture abstractions like patterns and styles capture design knowledge and allow the reuse of successfully applied designs, thus improving the quality of software. Knowledge gained from integration projects can be captured to build a repository of semantically enriched, experience-based solutions. Business patterns identify the interaction and structure between users, business processes, and data. Specific integration and composition patterns at a more technical level address enterprise application integration and capture reliable architecture solutions. We use an ontology-based approach to capture architecture and process patterns. Ontology techniques for pattern definition, extension and composition are developed and their applicability in business process-driven application integration is demonstrated