A web-based teaching/learning environment to support collaborative knowledge construction in design

A web-based application has been developed as part of a recently completed research which proposed a conceptual framework to collect, analyze and compare different design experiences and to construct structured representations of the emerging knowledge in digital architectural design. The paper introduces the theoretical and practical development of this application as a teaching/learning environment which has significantly contributed to the development and testing of the ideas developed throughout the research. Later in the paper, the application of BLIP in two experimental (design) workshops is reported and evaluated according to the extent to which the application facilitates generation, modification and utilization of design knowledge

Model driven validation approach for enterprise architecture and motivation extensions

As the endorsement of Enterprise Architecture (EA) modelling continues to grow in diversity and complexity, management of its schema, artefacts, semantics and relationships has become an important business concern. To maintain agility and flexibility within competitive markets, organizations have also been compelled to explore ways of adjusting proactively to innovations, changes and complex events also by use of EA concepts to model business processes and strategies. Thus the need to ensure appropriate validation of EA taxonomies has been considered severally as an essential requirement for these processes in order to exert business motivation; relate information systems to technological infrastructure. However, since many taxonomies deployed today use widespread and disparate modelling methodologies, the possibility to adopt a generic validation approach remains a challenge. The proliferation of EA methodologies and perspectives has also led to intricacies in the formalization and validation of EA constructs as models often times have variant schematic interpretations. Thus, disparate implementations and inconsistent simulation of alignment between business architectures and heterogeneous application systems is common within the EA domain (Jonkers et al., 2003). In this research, the Model Driven Validation Approach (MDVA) is introduced. MDVA allows modelling of EA with validation attributes, formalization of the validation concepts and transformation of model artefacts to ontologies. The transformation simplifies querying based on motivation and constraints. As the extended methodology is grounded on the semiotics of existing tools, validation is executed using ubiquitous query language. The major contributions of this work are the extension of a metamodel of Business Layer of an EAF with Validation Element and the development of EAF model to ontology transformation Approach. With this innovation, domain-driven design and object-oriented analysis concepts are applied to achieve EAF model’s validation using ontology querying methodology. Additionally, the MDVA facilitates the traceability of EA artefacts using ontology graph patterns

A Model-based Approach for Designing Cyber-Physical Production Systems

The most recent development trend related to manufacturing is called "Industry 4.0". It proposes to transition from "blind" mechatronics systems to Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPSs). Such systems are capable of communicating with each other, acquiring and transmitting real-time production data. Their management and control require a structured software architecture, which is tipically referred to as the "Automation Pyramid". The design of both the software architecture and the components (i.e., the CPPSs) is a complex task, where the complexity is induced by the heterogeneity of the required functionalities. In such a context, the target of this thesis is to propose a model-based framework for the analysis and the design of production lines, compliant with the Industry 4.0 paradigm. In particular, this framework exploits the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) as a unified representation for the different viewpoints of a manufacturing system. At the components level, the structural and behavioral diagrams provided by SysML are used to produce a set of logical propositions about the system and components under design. Such an approach is specifically tailored towards constructing Assume-Guarantee contracts. By exploiting reactive synthesis techniques, contracts are used to prototype portions of components' behaviors and to verify whether implementations are consistent with the requirements. At the software level, the framework proposes a particular architecture based on the concept of "service". Such an architecture facilitates the reconfiguration of components and integrates an advanced scheduling technique, taking advantage of the production recipe SysML model. The proposed framework has been built coupled with the construction of the ICE Laboratory, a research facility consisting of a full-fledged production line. Such an approach has been adopted to construct models of the laboratory, to virtual prototype parts of the system and to manage the physical system through the proposed software architecture

A model for analyzing changes in systems development practices

This paper introduces an empirically grounded model for analyzing intended and unintended changes in the prevalence of information systems development practices. In the model, any development practice observable in a development organization can be analyzed according to two dimensions: the intended scope of defined practices versus the actual scope of enacted practices. Furthermore, the model identifies eight types of change paths in systems development practices based on the two dimensions: emergence, entropy, initiation, abandonment, formalization, informalization, implementation, and recalcitrance. The eight types of change paths provide an integrated theoretical model for understanding how systems development practices can change in organizations and projects and among individual developers in a given context. The paper concludes by discussing how the model complements and integrates concepts of the contemporary research on systems development practices and outlines its potential uses for future research