Model-based integration testing technique using formal finite state behavioral models for component-based software

Many issues and challenges could be identified when considering integration testing of Component-Based Software Systems (CBSS). Consequently, several research have appeared in the literature, aimed at facilitating the integration testing of CBSS. Unfortunately, they suffer from a number of drawbacks and limitations such as difficulty of understanding and describing the behavior of integrated components, lack of effective formalism for test information, difficulty of analyzing and validating the integrated components, and exposing the components implementation by providing semi-formal models. Hence, these problems have made it in effective to test today’s modern complex CBSS. To address these problems, a model-based approach such as Model-Based Testing (MBT) tends to be a suitable mechanism and could be a potential solution to be applied in the context of integration testing of CBSS. Accordingly, this thesis presents a model-based integration testing technique for CBSS. Firstly, a method to extract the formal finite state behavioral models of integrated software components using Mealy machine models was developed. The extracted formal models were used to detect faulty interactions (integration bugs) or compositional problems between integrated components in the system. Based on the experimental results, the proposed method had significant impact in reducing the number of output queries required to extract the formal models of integrated software components and its performance was 50% better compared to the existing methods. Secondly, based on the extracted formal models, an effective model-based integration testing technique (MITT) for CBSS was developed. Finally, the effectiveness of the MITT was demonstrated by employing it in the air gourmet and elevator case studies, using three evaluation parameters. The experimental results showed that the MITT was effective and outperformed Shahbaz technique on the air gourmet and elevator case studies. In terms of learned components for air gourmet and elevator case studies respectively, the MITT results were better by 98.14% and 100%, output queries based on performance were 42.13% and 25.01%, and error detection capabilities were 70.62% and 75% for each of the case study

ON THE THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF RESEARCH INTO THE UNDERSTANDABILITY OF BUSINESS PROCESS MODELS

Against the background of the growing significance of Business Process Management (BPM) for Information Systems (IS) research and practice, especially the field of Business Process Modeling gains more and more importance. Business process models support communication about as well as the coordination of processes and have become a widely adopted tool in practice. As the understandability of business process models plays a crucial role in communication processes, more and more studies on process model understandability have been conducted in IS research. This article aims at investigating underlying theories of research into business process model understandability by means of an in-depth analysis of 126 systematically retrieved research articles on the topic. It shows in how far process model understandability research is multi-theoretically founded. Identified theories differ regarding addressed subject matters, their coverage, their focus as well as the underlying notion of model understanding, which is exemplarily demonstrated and discussed in this article. Moreover, implications of the findings are discussed and an outlook on future business process model understandability research and on the integration potential of theories in this field is given

RML: Runtime Monitoring Language

Runtime verification is a relatively new software verification technique that aims to prove the correctness of a specific run of a program, rather than statically verify the code. The program is instrumented in order to collect all the relevant information, and the resulting trace of events is inspected by a monitor that verifies its compliance with respect to a specification of the expected properties of the system under scrutiny. Many languages exist that can be used to formally express the expected behavior of a system, with different design choices and degrees of expressivity. This thesis presents RML, a specification language designed for runtime verification, with the goal of being completely modular and independent from the instrumentation and the kind of system being monitored. RML is highly expressive, and allows one to express complex, parametric, non-context-free properties concisely. RML is compiled down to TC, a lower level calculus, which is fully formalized with a deterministic, rewriting-based semantics. In order to evaluate the approach, an open source implementation has been developed, and several examples with Node.js programs have been tested. Benchmarks show the ability of the monitors automatically generated from RML specifications to effectively and efficiently verify complex properties

Modèles de caractéristiques augmentés de cardinalités relatives

Feature modeling is widely used to capture and manage commonalities and variabilities in software product lines.Cardinality-based feature models are used when variability applies not only to the selection or exclusion of features but also to the number of times a feature can be included in a product.Feature cardinalities are usually considered to apply in local or global scope. However, through our work in managing variability in cloud computing providers, we have identified cases where these interpretations are insufficient to capture the variability of the cloud environment.In this paper, we redefine cardinality-based feature models to allow multiple relative cardinalities between features and discuss the effects of relative cardinalities on cross-tree constraints.To evaluate our approach we conducted an analysis of relative cardinalities in four cloud computing providers.In addition, we developed tools for reasoning on feature models with relative cardinalities and performed experiments to verify the performance and scalability of the approach.The results from our study indicate that extending feature models with relative cardinalities is feasible and improves variability modeling, especially in the case of cloud environments

Scientific History of Incipit in the period 2010-2016

Historial de la actividad científica y técnica del Instituto de Ciencias del Patrimonio (Incipit) del CSIC, basado en Santiago de Compostela, desde su fecha de creación (2010) hasta el año 2016. Se presentan la misión y las líneas de investigación del Incipit, centradas principalmente en el estudio de los procesos de patrimonialización y de valorización social del patrimonio cultural realizadas con una perspectiva transdisciplinar. Se relacionan las publicaciones, proyectos de investigación, actividades de ciencia pública, eventos de comunicación y productos de divulgación que su personal investigador ha producido a lo largo de estos años.General introduction to the Incipit. Presentation of the Research Line: Cultural Heritage Studies: Sub-Theme: Landscape Archaeology and Cultural Landscapes, Sub-theme: Heritagization Processes: Memory, Power and Ethnicity, Sub-theme: Socioeconomics of Cultural Heritage, Sub-theme: Archaeology of the Contemporary Past, Sub-theme: Material culture and formalization processes of cultural heritage. Scientific Contributions. Transfer of Knowledge. International Activities. Other Activities and Results. Scientific DisseminationN

Computational Intelligence and Human- Computer Interaction: Modern Methods and Applications

The present book contains all of the articles that were accepted and published in the Special Issue of MDPI’s journal Mathematics titled "Computational Intelligence and Human–Computer Interaction: Modern Methods and Applications". This Special Issue covered a wide range of topics connected to the theory and application of different computational intelligence techniques to the domain of human–computer interaction, such as automatic speech recognition, speech processing and analysis, virtual reality, emotion-aware applications, digital storytelling, natural language processing, smart cars and devices, and online learning. We hope that this book will be interesting and useful for those working in various areas of artificial intelligence, human–computer interaction, and software engineering as well as for those who are interested in how these domains are connected in real-life situations

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2022, which was held during April 4-5, 2022, in Munich, Germany, as part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2022. The 17 regular papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 64 submissions. The proceedings also contain 3 contributions from the Test-Comp Competition. The papers deal with the foundations on which software engineering is built, including topics like software engineering as an engineering discipline, requirements engineering, software architectures, software quality, model-driven development, software processes, software evolution, AI-based software engineering, and the specification, design, and implementation of particular classes of systems, such as (self-)adaptive, collaborative, AI, embedded, distributed, mobile, pervasive, cyber-physical, or service-oriented applications

MINERVA : Model drIveN and sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous improVement of business process & relAted tools

Organizations are facing several challenges nowadays, one of the most important ones being their ability to react quickly to changes either to their business process (BP) models or to the software implementing them. These changes can come from different sources: external requirements from partners or the market, or new internal requirements for the way that things are carried out by the defined BPs; they may also arise from improvement opportunities detected for the BPs defined, based on BPs execution monitoring and execution evaluation that is done by the organization, and/or its partners and customers. The increasing complexity of both BPs models and the software implementing them, requires the changes needed or the improvements to be carefully weighed against the impact their introduction will have; they ought also to be carried out in a systematic way to assure a successful development. Two key elements are to provide these requirements: the separation of BPs definition from their implementation to minimize the impact of changes in one to the other, and a process to introduce the changes or improvements in the existing BPs and/or software implementing them. Business Process Management (BPM) provides the means for guiding and supporting the modeling, implementation, deployment, execution and evaluation of BPs in an organization, based on the BP lifecycle. The realization of BPs by means of services provides the basis for separating their definition from the technologies implementing them and helps provide a better response to changes in either of the layers defined -definition and implementation of business processes- with minimum impact on the other. Modeling of both BP and services is a key aspect to support this vision, helping provide traceability between elements from one area to the other, so easing the analysis of the impact of changes, among other things. Models have proven to play an important role in the software development process, one of its key uses in the context of BP realization by means of services is that of designing services at a more abstract level than with specific technologies, also promoting reuse by separating services logic from its implementation. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools is the framework that has been defined in this thesis work; it takes into account all the aspects mentioned, in which the SOC and MDD paradigms are applied to BPs focusing on their continuous improvement, extending an existing BP lifecycle with explicit execution measurement and improvement activities and elements. It is made up of three dimensions: i) conceptual, which defines the concepts that are managed throughout the framework. ii) methodological, which defines a methodology for service oriented development from BPs with automatic generation of SoaML service models from BPMN2 models, along with a continuous improvement process based on execution measurement of the occurrences of BPs in the organization to carry out the improvement effort. iii) tools support for the whole proposal based on several existing tools we have integrated, along with new ones we have developed. The proposals in MINERVA have been validated by means of an experiment and two case studies carried out in the context of real projects in two organizations, from which, as the main result of the applications performed, it can be concluded that MINERVA can be a useful and key guide for the continuous improvement of BPs realized by services and for the development of service oriented systems from BPs, with automatic generation of service models from BP models.Las organizaciones se enfrentan en la actualidad a varios retos, siendo uno de los más importantes su capacidad para reaccionar rápidamente a los cambios ya sea en sus modelos de procesos de negocio (PN) o en el software que los implementa. Estos cambios pueden provenir de distintas fuentes: requisitos externos de socios o del mercado, o nuevos requisitos internos para la forma en que las cosas se llevan a cabo por los PNs definidos; también pueden surgir de las oportunidades de mejora detectadas para los PNs definidos, en base al monitoreo y evaluación de la ejecución de los PNs llevada a cabo por la organización, y/o sus socios y clientes. La creciente complejidad de los modelos de PNs y del software que los implementa, requiere que los cambios o las mejoras sean sopesados cuidadosamente contra el impacto que su introducción tendrá; también deben llevarse a cabo de manera sistemática para asegurar un desarrollo exitoso. Dos elementos son clave para proveer estos requisitos: la separación de la definición de los PNs de su implementación, para minimizar el impacto de los cambios de uno en otro, y un proceso para introducir los cambios o mejoras en los PNs y/o en el software que los implementa. La Gestión de Procesos de Negocio (Business Process Management, BPM) proporciona los medios para guiar y apoyar el modelado, implementación, despliegue, ejecución y evaluación de PNs en una organización, basado en el ciclo de vida de PNs. La realización de PNs con servicios proporciona la base para la separación de su definición de las tecnologías para implementarlos, y ayuda a proporcionar una mejor respuesta a los cambios en cualquiera de las capas definidas -definición e implementación de procesos de negocio- con un impacto mínimo sobre la otra. El modelado de PNs y servicios es un aspecto clave para apoyar esta visión, ayudando a proveer trazabilidad entre los elementos de un área a la otra, por lo tanto facilitando el análisis del impacto de los cambios, entre otras cosas. Los modelos han demostrado jugar un papel importante en el proceso de desarrollo de software, uno de sus usos principales en el contexto de la realización de PNs con servicios es el de diseñar servicios a un nivel más abstracto que con tecnologías específicas, promoviendo la reutilización separando la lógica de los servicios de su implementacion. MINERVA: Model drIveN & sErvice oRiented framework for the continuous business process improVement & relAted tools es el marco que se ha definido en este trabajo de tesis, que toma en cuenta todos los aspectos mencionados, en el cual los paradigmas de Computación Orientada a Servicios (Service Oriented Computing, SOC) y Desarrollo Dirigido por Modelos (Model Driven Development, MDD) se aplican a los PNs con foco en su mejora continua, extendiendo un ciclo de vida PN existente con actividades y elementos explícitos para la medición de la ejecución y mejora de PNs. El marco se compone de tres dimensiones: i) conceptual, que define los conceptos que se manejan en todo el marco. ii) metodológica, que define una metodología para el desarrollo orientado a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio en SoaML desde modelos en BPMN2, junto con un proceso de mejora continua basado en la medición de la ejecución de las ocurrencias de los PNs en la organización para llevar a cabo el esfuerzo de mejora. iii) soporte de herramientas para la propuesta completa basado en la integracion de varias herramientas existentes, junto con otras nuevas que hemos desarrollado. Las propuestas de MINERVA han sido validadas por medio de un experimento y dos casos de estudio realizados en el marco de proyectos reales en dos organizaciones, de los cuales, como resultado principal de las aplicaciones realizadas, se puede concluir que MINERVA puede ser una guía útil y clave para la mejora continua de PNs realizados por servicios y para el desarrollo de sistemas orientados a servicios desde PNs, con generación automática de modelos de servicio a partir de modelos de PN