Product information management for complex modular security systems

Um sistema PIM gere toda a informação que possibilita a comercialização dos produtos através de diferentes canais. A sua importância durante o ciclo de vida de um produto aumentou devido à sofisticação técnica dos produtos, a gerir internamente e a publicar externamente. Sistemas, tais como o ERP e o CCMS, deverão integrar-se com um sistema PIM, o qual deve funcionar como a “espinha dorsal” da informação de produto. O presente projeto tem como objetivo principal a criação de uma solução para gerir a informação de produto para sistemas modulares complexos. A proposta de solução inclui a criação de uma ontologia para parte dos inúmeros sistemas disponíveis no catálogo de produtos de uma das maiores organizações multinacionais do setor de engenharia e tecnologia a nível mundial. O processo de criação da solução proposta baseou-se na metodologia de investigação pesquisa-ação e foi dividido em cinco fases. Na fase de diagnóstico descreveu-se e analisou-se a atual situação dos sistemas ERP e CCMS que gerem o catálogo online dos sistemas de produtos comercializados. Levantaram-se ainda as taxonomias de produto atuais e elaborou-se a proposta. Na fase de planeamento da ação descreveram-se a equipa de trabalho, a abordagem inspirada na metodologia Agile usada para desenvolver a solução, as reuniões de planeamento, os parceiros de trabalho, as ferramentas a usar e a sua justificação. Na fase de tomada de ação foi descrito o processo de criação da solução ontológica e o resultado final, incluindo a construção das novas taxonomias e a sua validação pelos especialistas. Propuseram-se exemplos e representações gráficas usando a ferramenta Protégé. Na fase de avaliação, a solução ontológica foi testada, tendo-se validado que os requisitos necessários foram satisfeitos pela estrutura. Na fase de especificação de aprendizagem propuseram-se os próximos passos para a implementação e gestão futura do modelo ontológico. Com esta solução, a organização poderá gerir mais eficientemente a informação de produto e a estrutura de dados. Ela possui versatilidade para gerir produtos individuais ou sistemas modulares complexos e melhorar a sua comunicação com o cliente. Além disso, a ontologia tem ainda um enorme potencial se combinada com técnicas de IA. Algumas limitações do projeto e propostas de trabalhos futuros foram ainda apresentadas

Early aspects: aspect-oriented requirements engineering and architecture design

This paper reports on the third Early Aspects: Aspect-Oriented Requirements Engineering and Architecture Design Workshop, which has been held in Lancaster, UK, on March 21, 2004. The workshop included a presentation session and working sessions in which the particular topics on early aspects were discussed. The primary goal of the workshop was to focus on challenges to defining methodical software development processes for aspects from early on in the software life cycle and explore the potential of proposed methods and techniques to scale up to industrial applications

Coding as literacy in preschool: a case study

Coding is increasingly recognized as a new literacy that should be encouraged at a young age. This understanding has recontextualized computer science as a compulsory school subject and has informed several developmentally appropriate approaches to computation, including for preschool children. This study focuses on the introduction of three approaches to computation in preschool (3–6 years), specifically computational thinking, programming, and robotics, from a cross-curricular perspective. This paper presents preliminary findings from one of the case studies currently being developed as part of project KML II—Laboratory of Technologies and Learning of Programming and Robotics for Preschool and Elementary School. The purpose of the KML II project is to characterize how approaches to computation can be integrated into preschool and elementary education, across different knowledge domains. The conclusions point to “expression and communication” as an initial framework for computational approaches in preschool, but also to multidisciplinary and more creative methodological activities that offer greater scope for the development of digital and computational competences, as well as for personal and social development.This research was funded under the project KML II—Laboratory of technologies and learning of programming and robotics for preschool and elementary school, which is co-funded by FEDER through the COMPETE 2020- Operational Thematic Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI) and national funds through FCT- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under project reference number PTDC/CED-EDG/28710/2017

Kaleidoscope JEIRP on Learning Patterns for the Design and Deployment of Mathematical Games: Final Report

Project deliverable (D40.05.01-F)Over the last few years have witnessed a growing recognition of the educational potential of computer games. However, it is generally agreed that the process of designing and deploying TEL resources generally and games for mathematical learning specifically is a difficult task. The Kaleidoscope project, "Learning patterns for the design and deployment of mathematical games", aims to investigate this problem. We work from the premise that designing and deploying games for mathematical learning requires the assimilation and integration of deep knowledge from diverse domains of expertise including mathematics, games development, software engineering, learning and teaching. We promote the use of a design patterns approach to address this problem. This deliverable reports on the project by presenting both a connected account of the prior deliverables and also a detailed description of the methodology involved in producing those deliverables. In terms of conducting the future work which this report envisages, the setting out of our methodology is seen by us as very significant. The central deliverable includes reference to a large set of learning patterns for use by educators, researchers, practitioners, designers and software developers when designing and deploying TEL-based mathematical games. Our pattern language is suggested as an enabling tool for good practice, by facilitating pattern-specific communication and knowledge sharing between participants. We provide a set of trails as a "way-in" to using the learning pattern language. We report in this methodology how the project has enabled the synergistic collaboration of what started out as two distinct strands: design and deployment, even to the extent that it is now difficult to identify those strands within the processes and deliverables of the project. The tools and outcomes from the project can be found at: http://lp.noe-kaleidoscope.org

The distributed developmental network - d2n: a social configuration to support design pattern generation

DiSessa et al. (2004) conducted a comparative study of how research teams design, develop and evaluate TEL software, in the context of component-based educational programming. They identified the issue of the social configuration of the production team as a critical family of issues that are easily marginalized (p.117). These social configurations are loosely equivalent to what Activity Theorists refer to as the rules and division of labour (Engeström, 1987) in the activity system of TEL production. DiSessa et al. (2004) studied four such configurations in detail and noted their relationship with the evolution of the technology and its use. These models suggest different ways of bringing the various participants involved in TEL development together. Based on the definition of interdisciplinarity (van den Besselaar and Heimeriks, 2001; Gibbons, 1994), in this chapter we detail how to support participants from different disciplines to work together in small, product-oriented groups, using design patterns. Our patterns were developed in the context of the Learning patterns for the design and deployment of mathematical games project, funded under the Kaleidoscope Network of Excellence of the European Union. Our primary aim was to develop patterns that worked at the interface between disciplines. They were focused on pragmatic ways to have teachers and technologists productively engage with each other. Furthermore, many patterns were developed from the use of particular tools in educational contexts, where the tools were developed from scratch as outputs of research projects. There was a reflection in the patterns of the need for participants to understand each others practices in order to achieve integrated development. DiSessa et al. (ibid) reflect on the fact that teachers can find it difficult and sometimes intimidating to participate as equal contributors in a technology-based development process and suggest that effective management of collaboration can address this problem. As distinct from DiSessas four models, we identified a somewhat more complex emerging structure, that of a development network, where distributed groups with local expertise use a pattern language to share their expertise, sometimes in collaborative long-term projects, sometimes in ad-hoc exchanges. A detailed analysis of this model is presented in this chapter. What is clear at this stage is that a successful model needs to empower all partners in the design process, avoiding producer-consumer and sage-laymen relationships

COST Action IC 1402 ArVI: Runtime Verification Beyond Monitoring -- Activity Report of Working Group 1

This report presents the activities of the first working group of the COST Action ArVI, Runtime Verification beyond Monitoring. The report aims to provide an overview of some of the major core aspects involved in Runtime Verification. Runtime Verification is the field of research dedicated to the analysis of system executions. It is often seen as a discipline that studies how a system run satisfies or violates correctness properties. The report exposes a taxonomy of Runtime Verification (RV) presenting the terminology involved with the main concepts of the field. The report also develops the concept of instrumentation, the various ways to instrument systems, and the fundamental role of instrumentation in designing an RV framework. We also discuss how RV interplays with other verification techniques such as model-checking, deductive verification, model learning, testing, and runtime assertion checking. Finally, we propose challenges in monitoring quantitative and statistical data beyond detecting property violation

Stories of teacher leadership: lived experiences of English subject coordinators in public schools in Abu Dhabi.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.As the notion of teacher leadership becomes embedded in the educational arena, it begins to manifest in schools as a form of distributed or shared leadership. The practice of teacher leadership in Abu Dhabi, one of the fastest growing cities in the United Arab Emirates, has begun to blossom. This qualitative study focusses on the storied narratives of three English subject coordinators in three Abu Dhabi public schools. It examines three key questions surrounding the role of English subject coordinators namely, How do the English subject coordinators enact leadership on a day-to-day basis? Why do the English subject coordinators enact leadership the way they do? and What challenges do the English subject coordinators encounter in enacting leadership? The study is framed using distributed leadership theory and Crowther’s Model of teacher leadership. Narrative inquiry is employed as methodology and data was generated using narrative interviews, collage inquiry and artefact inquiry. Data analysis occurred at two levels. The first level was the narrative analysis that involved the construction of the stories. The second level entailed analysis of narratives which entailed the deconstruction of the stories in order to answer the three critical questions. The findings of the study reveal that when teachers are given the chance to lead, they are committed to the process and inspire both their colleagues and their students. Their role however is not without challenges. They face the challenge of leading the English department which has both English 2nd language speakers as well as English native speakers. The English subject coordinator does not hold a formal portfolio and as a result, their role fluctuates from teacher to teacher leader. One of the important recommendations that stem from this study is that the principals of Abu Dhabi public schools need to create the necessary professional milieu in order to allow teacher leadership to flourish