Towards semantic software engineering environments

Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they are a way towards Semantic SEEs. In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE

Agenttipohjaisen arkkitehtuurin suunnittelu ja toteutus prosessitukijärjestelmälle

Tool integration is an important aspect of software development process support. In such systems it should be possible to integrate tools flexibly and incrementally. In addition, for performance and usability reasons, it should be possible to use the tools both on local and remote computers. To address this problem of flexible tool integration, an agent-based architecture style was designed. The architecture strives to attain the needed flexibility by few simple design rules. One of the rules is to divide the functionality to agents and locations. The locations work as adapters to tools and provide basic infrastructure of the system. The agents move among the locations and implement the high level business logic of the system by using the methods of the locations. A general principle is that each agent implements a single business case. This makes it easy to view, control, and adapt the high level business logic as the logic is located in one place. The architecture style is not tied to any specific programming language. However, for the purposes of this thesis an agent-based software framework was implemented using C++. A distributed process support system was then implemented by specializing the agent framework. The process support domain provides a good case study for the validity of the agent-based architecture as the process support system needs to integrate various tools supporting the process. As a result of this thesis, an agent-based architecture style was designed and prototyped. The implementation of the process support system was used to evaluate the agent-based architecture style and to find out the challenges in building systems using the principles of the agent-based architecture. The architecture could be extended in many ways, but it was shown to be usable in the domain of tool integration. In addition, the implemented process support system fulfilled the quality requirements laid out for it. /Kir1

The design and implementation of the VRPML support environment.

Proses pembangunan penslan berkait rapat dengan turutan langkah yang mesti dilakukan oleh jurutera perisian untuk memenuhi matlamat kejuruteraan perisian. Untuk menghasilkan proses yang tepat dan lengkap, proses pembangunan perisian boleh dimodel dan dilari menggunakan bahasa pennodelan (PML) dengan dibantu oleh sistem proses bantuan (PSEE). Software processes relate to the sequences of steps that must be performed by software engineers in order to pursue the goals of software engineering. In order to have an accurate representation and implementation of what the actual steps are, software processes may be modeled and enacted by a process modeling language (PML) and its process support system (called the Process Centered Environments i.e. PSEE)

ODE: ontology-based software development environment

Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they can be used to improve integration in Software Engineering Environments (SEE). In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to improve tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Bases de Datos (ISBD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Optimal agricultural policy and PSE measurement : an assessment and application to Norway

The producer support estimate (the successor to the producer support equivalent) calculated by the OECD is widely used as an indicator of distortions created by agricultural policies. In this paper we demonstrate that changes in the relative (percentage) PSE are not an accurate indicator of the implications of policy reform for domestic welfare or for trade distortions. We demonstrate that it is important to consider the implications of changes in both the level and the form of support in evaluating the impact of policy reform. Using a model of Norwegian agriculture we show that reforms indicated towards the provision of public goods, while apparently leading to an increase in relative support, are actually superior to existing agricultural policies or to a policy aimed at eliminating subsidized exports both in terms of reducing trade distortions and increasing domestic economic welfare

ODE: ontology-based software development environment

Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they can be used to improve integration in Software Engineering Environments (SEE). In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to improve tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE.Eje: Ingeniería de Software y Bases de Datos (ISBD)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Cross-layer Peer-to-Peer Computing in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The future information society is expected to rely heavily on wireless technology. Mobile access to the Internet is steadily gaining ground, and could easily end up exceeding the number of connections from the fixed infrastructure. Picking just one example, ad hoc networking is a new paradigm of wireless communication for mobile devices. Initially, ad hoc networking targeted at military applications as well as stretching the access to the Internet beyond one wireless hop. As a matter of fact, it is now expected to be employed in a variety of civilian applications. For this reason, the issue of how to make these systems working efficiently keeps the ad hoc research community active on topics ranging from wireless technologies to networking and application systems. In contrast to traditional wire-line and wireless networks, ad hoc networks are expected to operate in an environment in which some or all the nodes are mobile, and might suddenly disappear from, or show up in, the network. The lack of any centralized point, leads to the necessity of distributing application services and responsibilities to all available nodes in the network, making the task of developing and deploying application a hard task, and highlighting the necessity of suitable middleware platforms. This thesis studies the properties and performance of peer-to-peer overlay management algorithms, employing them as communication layers in data sharing oriented middleware platforms. The work primarily develops from the observation that efficient overlays have to be aware of the physical network topology, in order to reduce (or avoid) negative impacts of application layer traffic on the network functioning. We argue that cross-layer cooperation between overlay management algorithms and the underlying layer-3 status and protocols, represents a viable alternative to engineer effective decentralized communication layers, or eventually re-engineer existing ones to foster the interconnection of ad hoc networks with Internet infrastructures. The presented approach is twofold. Firstly, we present an innovative network stack component that supports, at an OS level, the realization of cross-layer protocol interactions. Secondly, we exploit cross-layering to optimize overlay management algorithms in unstructured, structured, and publish/subscribe platforms