23 research outputs found
Model-Driven Development of Aspect-Oriented Software Architectures
The work presented in this thesis of master is an approach that takes advantage of the Model-Driven Development approach for developing aspect-oriented software architectures. A complete MDD support for the PRISMA approach is defined by providing code generation, verification and reusability properties.Pérez Benedí, J. (2007). Model-Driven Development of Aspect-Oriented Software Architectures. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/12451Archivo delegad
AN EMERGING THEORY ON THE INTERACTION BETWEEN REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING AND SYSTEMS ARCHITECTING BASED ON A SUITE OF EXPLORATORY EMPIRICAL STUDIES
Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecting are often considered the most important phases of the software development lifecycle. Because of their close proximity in the software development lifecycle, there is a high degree of interaction between these two processes. While such interaction has been recognized and researched in terms of new technology (particularly methods and tools), there is a distinct lack of empirical understanding regarding the scientific properties of this interaction. Furthermore, in Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecting, not only technical but human aspects are considered critical for the success of these processes due to these processes lying at the front-end of the development cycle and therefore being more aligned with real-world issues. Thus, the scientific properties of the interactions between Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecting can be broken down into these two key aspects. For instance, the following example research questions relate to such scientific properties: What is the impact of an existing system’s architecture on requirements decision-making? What kinds of requirements-oriented problems are encountered during architecting? What is the impact of an existing systems architecture on new requirements being elicited? What is the impact of requirements engineering knowledge on systems architecting? There is little in the literature addressing such questions.
This thesis explores such issues through a suite of six exploratory empirical studies that were conducted over the last five years. Based on the observations from these studies, an emerging theory is proposed that describes the impact of human and process factors in the interaction between Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecting. The impact of this emerging body of knowledge is deemed to be on the following: technology development for Requirements Engineering and Software Architecting (methods, tools, processes, etc.); hiring and training personnel for Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecture processes in industry; Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecture project planning; curriculum improvement in academia; and future empirical research in Requirements Engineering and Systems Architecting
A document based traceability model for test management
Software testing has became more complicated in the emergence of distributed network, real-time environment, third party software enablers and the need to test system at multiple integration levels. These scenarios have created more concern over the quality of software testing. The quality of software has been deteriorating due to inefficient and ineffective testing activities. One of the main flaws is due to ineffective use of test management to manage software documentations. In documentations, it is difficult to detect and trace bugs in some related documents of which traceability is the major concern. Currently, various studies have been conducted on test management, however very few have focused on document traceability in particular to support the error propagation with respect to documentation. The objective of this thesis is to develop a new traceability model that integrates software engineering documents to support test management. The artefacts refer to requirements, design, source code, test description and test result. The proposed model managed to tackle software traceability in both forward and backward propagations by implementing multi-bidirectional pointer. This platform enabled the test manager to navigate and capture a set of related artefacts to support test management process. A new prototype was developed to facilitate observation of software traceability on all related artefacts across the entire documentation lifecycle. The proposed model was then applied to a case study of a finished software development project with a complete set of software documents called the On-Board Automobile (OBA). The proposed model was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively using the feature analysis, precision and recall, and expert validation. The evaluation results proved that the proposed model and its prototype were justified and significant to support test management
Interim research assessment 2003-2005 - Computer Science
This report primarily serves as a source of information for the 2007 Interim Research Assessment Committee for Computer Science at the three technical universities in the Netherlands. The report also provides information for others interested in our research activities
AMBIENT-PRISMA: Distribution and Mobility in Aspect-Oriented Software Architectures
This thesis presents a framework called Ambient-PRISMA for describing and developing distributed and mobile software systems in an abstract way. Ambient-PRISMA enriches an aspect-oriented software architecture approach called PRISMA with concepts of Ambient Calculus (AC). Ambient Calculus (AC) is a formalism that provides primitives to describe distribution and mobility characteristics in an abstract way. It introduces a concept called ambient which is a bounded place where computation happens. This enrichment is performed by extending the PRISMA metamodel, and Aspect-Oriented Architecture Description Language (AOADL). A case study of an electronic Auction System with mobile agents is used throughout the thesis in order to illustrate the work.Ali Irshaid, N. (2007). AMBIENT-PRISMA: Distribution and Mobility in Aspect-Oriented Software Architectures. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/12900Archivo delegad
Contribution to Quality-driven Evolutionary Software Development process for Service-Oriented Architectures
The quality of software is a key element for the successful of a system. Currently, with the advance of the technology, consumers demand more and better services. Models for the development process have also to be adapted to new requirements. This is particular true in the case of service oriented systems (domain of this thesis), where an unpredictable number of users can access to one or several services.
This work proposes an improvement in the models for the software development process based on the theory of the evolutionary software development. The main objective is to maintain and improve the quality of software as long as possible and with the minimum effort and cost. Usually, this process is supported on methods known in the literature as agile software development methods.
Other key element in this thesis is the service oriented software architecture. Software architecture plays an important role in the quality of any software system. The Service oriented architecture adds the service flexibility, the services are autonomous and compact assets, and they can be improved and integrated with better facility.
The proposed model in this thesis for evolutionary software development makes emphasis in the quality of services. Therefore, some principles of evolutionary development are redefined and new processes are introduced, such as: architecture assessment, architecture recovery and architecture conformance.
Every new process will be evaluated with case studies considering quality aspects. They have been selected according to the market demand, they are: the performance, security and evolutionability. Other aspects could be considered of the same way than the three previous, but we believe that these quality attributes are enough to demonstrate the viability of our proposal
Automatic generation of software interfaces for supporting decisionmaking processes. An application of domain engineering & machine learning
[EN] Data analysis is a key process to foster knowledge generation in particular domains
or fields of study. With a strong informative foundation derived from the analysis of
collected data, decision-makers can make strategic choices with the aim of obtaining
valuable benefits in their specific areas of action. However, given the steady growth
of data volumes, data analysis needs to rely on powerful tools to enable knowledge
extraction.
Information dashboards offer a software solution to analyze large volumes of
data visually to identify patterns and relations and make decisions according to the
presented information. But decision-makers may have different goals and,
consequently, different necessities regarding their dashboards. Moreover, the variety
of data sources, structures, and domains can hamper the design and implementation
of these tools.
This Ph.D. Thesis tackles the challenge of improving the development process of
information dashboards and data visualizations while enhancing their quality and
features in terms of personalization, usability, and flexibility, among others.
Several research activities have been carried out to support this thesis. First, a
systematic literature mapping and review was performed to analyze different
methodologies and solutions related to the automatic generation of tailored
information dashboards. The outcomes of the review led to the selection of a modeldriven
approach in combination with the software product line paradigm to deal with
the automatic generation of information dashboards.
In this context, a meta-model was developed following a domain engineering
approach. This meta-model represents the skeleton of information dashboards and
data visualizations through the abstraction of their components and features and has
been the backbone of the subsequent generative pipeline of these tools.
The meta-model and generative pipeline have been tested through their
integration in different scenarios, both theoretical and practical. Regarding the theoretical dimension of the research, the meta-model has been successfully
integrated with other meta-model to support knowledge generation in learning
ecosystems, and as a framework to conceptualize and instantiate information
dashboards in different domains.
In terms of the practical applications, the focus has been put on how to transform
the meta-model into an instance adapted to a specific context, and how to finally
transform this later model into code, i.e., the final, functional product. These practical
scenarios involved the automatic generation of dashboards in the context of a Ph.D.
Programme, the application of Artificial Intelligence algorithms in the process, and
the development of a graphical instantiation platform that combines the meta-model
and the generative pipeline into a visual generation system.
Finally, different case studies have been conducted in the employment and
employability, health, and education domains. The number of applications of the
meta-model in theoretical and practical dimensions and domains is also a result itself.
Every outcome associated to this thesis is driven by the dashboard meta-model, which
also proves its versatility and flexibility when it comes to conceptualize, generate, and
capture knowledge related to dashboards and data visualizations
Conceptual Models for Assessment & Assurance of Dependability, Security and Privacy in the Eternal CONNECTed World
This is the first deliverable of WP5, which covers Conceptual Models for Assessment & Assurance of Dependability, Security and Privacy in the Eternal CONNECTed World. As described in the project DOW, in this document we cover the following topics: • Metrics definition • Identification of limitations of current V&V approaches and exploration of extensions/refinements/ new developments • Identification of security, privacy and trust models WP5 focus is on dependability concerning the peculiar aspects of the project, i.e., the threats deriving from on-the-fly synthesis of CONNECTors. We explore appropriate means for assessing/guaranteeing that the CONNECTed System yields acceptable levels for non-functional properties, such as reliability (e.g., the CONNECTor will ensure continued communication without interruption), security and privacy (e.g., the transactions do not disclose confidential data), trust (e.g., Networked Systems are put in communication only with parties they trust). After defining a conceptual framework for metrics definition, we present the approaches to dependability in CONNECT, which cover: i) Model-based V&V, ii) Security enforcement and iii) Trust management. The approaches are centered around monitoring, to allow for on-line analysis. Monitoring is performed alongside the functionalities of the CONNECTed System and is used to detect conditions that are deemed relevant by its clients (i.e., the other CONNECT Enablers). A unified lifecycle encompassing dependability analysis, security enforcement and trust management is outlined, spanning over discovery time, synthesis time and execution time
Consolidation of Customized Product Copies into Software Product Lines
In software development, project constraints lead to customer-specific variants by copying and adapting the product. During this process, modifications are scattered all over the code. Although this is flexible and efficient in the short term, a Software Product Line (SPL) offers better results in the long term, regarding cost reduction, time-to-market, and quality attributes. This book presents a novel approach named SPLevo, which consolidates customized product copies into an SPL