A Process Algebra Software Engineering Environment

In previous work we described how the process algebra based language PSF can be used in software engineering, using the ToolBus, a coordination architecture also based on process algebra, as implementation model. In this article we summarize that work and describe the software development process more formally by presenting the tools we use in this process in a CASE setting, leading to the PSF-ToolBus software engineering environment. We generalize the refine step in this environment towards a process algebra based software engineering workbench of which several instances can be combined to form an environment

Designing contested heritage within the sacred context. The AΧΕΙΡΟΠΟΙΗΤΟΣ monastery, Cyprus

The analysis of the Aχειροποίητος monastery shows the superimposition of different buildings: a domed church with a central plan, built in late Byzantine times over the ruins of an early Christian basilica, enlarged by the addition of three successive narthexes, and therefore transformed into a longitudinal basilica. The name Aχειροποίητος, literally “made without hands”, referred to a sacred icon hosted therein. A walled enclosure surrounds the church and contains the monastery, which developed in subsequent phases, with different additions, demolitions and restorations. We outlined the formation process of the complex, from the V cent. Basilica, to the transformation of the monastery into military barracks in the 1970s, as a premise for the restoration project. Recently the Department of Antiquities assigned the monastery to the Girne American University for its restoration and it is urgent to accomplish some statical interventions. The management of this site, hence the political situation of northern Cyprus, represents an interesting case study on the contested heritage issue. Nevertheless, the heritage management in Cyprus, for the complex political situation of the island, bears more difficulties than in other UE countries, but we should consider that every heritage site has someway a contested character. An architectural project was experimented, according to the typo-morphological approach of the Muratorian Italian School, based on the principle that new buildings should be the continuation of the old ones, without imitating them, but following their formation process, as the last step of an ongoing process. We did not conceive the new architecture as an object contrasting with the context, but following the full understanding of the processual transformations of the site, it was possible to design the new addition to the monastic building as a living organism, in conformity with the sacred context

Software (Re-)Engineering with PSF II: from architecture to implementation

This paper presents ongoing research on the application of PSF in the field of software engineering and reengineering. We build a new implementation for the simulator of the PSF Toolkit starting from the specification in PSF of the architecture of a simple simulator and extend it with features to obtain the architecture of a full simulator. We apply refining and constraining techniques on the specification of the architecture to obtain a specification low enough to build an implementation from

Using deconstruction to advance traditional compositional and pictorial spaces in contemporary Iranian art

This thesis considers the possible association of Deconstructive thinking with the pictorial practices of traditional Iranian painting. The author‘s intention has been to improve the understanding of the type of compositional device here termed 'broken space‘ for artists who are interested in the traditional Iranian concept of space, by using deconstruction philosophy and its application in architecture. This research compares and contrasts the ideas that inspired Iranian painters and deconstructionist architects in order to explore ways in which they can be integrated. The author realized that the Iranian-Sufi view of the 'world of the imagination‘ and the deconstructive architect‘s concept of 'chora‘ would be the key ideas for producing the 'broken spaces‘ that are so characteristic of both art forms. Interestingly, these two ideas have comparable features that seem to have generated spaces with similar attributes. Nevertheless, the two forms are derived from completely different ambitions: the Iranian concept is metaphysical and the deconstructive chora is post-metaphysical. The practical part of the research established methods for employing deconstructive thinking whilst advancing the Iranian tradition of representing space. The author‘s practices, which were embedded in the techniques of printmaking, reflected the theoretical and philosophical ambition of building links between medieval thinking and a contemporary movement which is still felt to be radically positioned. Finally the thesis compares the author‘s pictorial approach to 'broken forms‘ of architectural spaces developed in this research with those of other contemporary Iranian artists. The advantages of the deconstructive method are outlined and theoretical and practical similarities such as the desire to create dreamlike spaces are evaluated. All things considered, the two forms can be integrated with greater ease than the alternative interactions with Western ideas currently used by the contemporary artists included in this study. The thesis concludes with some suggestions for further research that could help realize this goal