Pattern based software development

Tese de Doutoramento em InformáticaSeveral types of approaches support the software development process. Special interest should be paid to model driven development methodologies, of which Model Driven Architecture (MDA) is a main example. The usage of software models in these methodologies improves the quality of the produced solutions. On the one hand, models are formal artifacts to represent the software to develop. On the other hand, models represented in computable formats are amenable to the application of systematic transformation techniques, in order to produce other models or source code as output. The architectural models used in the MDA are derived from requirement specifications, and are achieved through manual processes. The negative effects of manual transformation steps are well known, since they are susceptible to interpretation errors and subjectivity. Errors resulting from this process are propagated through all of the development process, and reflected in the produced solutions. Since requirement models specify the system to be developed, naturally, they should not be disconnected from the development process itself. Formalizing requirement specifications in computable formats would enable their operationalization. Such would provide the possibility to analyze and manipulate them, and also to perform a requirement patterns inference process. Requirement patterns represent well known solutions for recurring problems, and their nature provides architectural hints. If software patterns can be derived from the requirement patterns, then through the composition of the resulting software patterns, architectural models can be achieved. As a result, requirements models will be better integrated into the MDA chain, thus extending the advantages of the MDA to requirement models, providing a software development process which starts from requirements and through rigorous transformations results in software solutions. This work presents an approach that aims to provide such an integration of requirements models into theMDA. The approach starts with the formalization of software requirements in a controlled natural language. The requirements are then transformed into an intermediary representation (namely, an ontology), with support for information extraction. Such makes it possible to perform requirement pattern inference, in order to understand, at a higher level of abstraction, the features required in the software solution. Associating the requirement patterns with software patterns, makes it possible to instantiate and compose such patterns, in order to produce architectural artifacts as output. The presented approach is supported by a tool, designed to support the several steps of the approach. Furthermore, the tool provides the required automation level to produce the architectural models. Two validation studies and a case study in the eCommerce domain are also presented, in order to illustrate the viability of both the tool and the approach.Diferentes tipos de abordagens suportam o processo de desenvolvimento de software. Especial interesse deve ser dado às metodologias baseadas em modelos, das quais a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) é um exemplo relevante. O uso de modelos de software nestas metodologias melhora a qualidade das soluções obtidas. Por um lado, os modelos são artefactos formais para representar o software a ser desenvolvido. Por outro lado, os modelos representados em formatos computáveis podem ser manipulados utilizando técnicas de transformação sistemáticas, de modo a obter como resultado outros modelos, ou código fonte. Os modelos arquitecturais usados na MDA derivam das especificações de requisitos, sendo obtidos através de processos manuais. O impacto negativo da aplicação de transformações manuais é bem conhecido, uma vez que estas são suscetíveis a erros de interpretação e subjectividade. Os erros resultantes deste processo são propagados através do processo de desenvolvimento, e reflectem-se nas soluções produzidas. Uma vez que os modelos de requisitos especificam os sistemas a desenvolver, naturalmente, estes não devem estar desligados do processo de desenvolvimento. A formalização dos modelos de requisitos em formatos computáveis possibilitaria a sua operacionalização. Tal forneceria a capacidade de analisar e manipular os modelos, e também suportaria a inferência de padrões de requisitos. Padrões de requisitos representam soluções bem conhecidas, para problemas recorrentes, e a sua natureza fornece indicações arquitecturais. Se for possível obter padrões de software, através de padrões de requisitos, então através de um processo de composição de padrões de software, é possível obter modelos arquitecturais. Como resultado, os padrões de requisitos podem ser integrados na cadeia MDA, estendendo assim as vantagens desse processo aos modelos de requisitos, e obtendo um processo de desenvolvimento que inicia nos requisitos, e fornece transformações rigorosas que levam a soluções de software. Este trabalho apresenta uma abordagem que tem como objectivo fornecer tal integração de modelos de requisitos, na MDA. A abordagem inicia com a formalização de requisitos de software numa linguagem natural controlada. Os requisitos são então transformados numa representação intermedia (nomeadamente, uma ontologia), com suporte para extração de informação. Tal fornece a possibilidade de efetuar inferência de padrões de requisitos, de modo a perceber, a um alto nível de abstração, as funcionalidades necessárias nas soluções de software. Associando os padrões de requisitos com padrões de software, é possível instanciar e compor esses padrões, de modo a obter artefactos arquitecturais. A abordagem apresentada ´e suportada por uma ferramenta, desenhada para suportar os diferentes passos da abordagem. Para além disso, a ferramenta fornece a automação necessária para produzir os modelos arquiteturais. São também apresentados dois estudos de validação e um caso de estudo na área de e-Commerce, de modo a ilustrar a viabilidade da abordagem e da ferramenta

IT Supported Construction Project Management Methodology Based on Process and Product Model and Quality Management

Computer Integrated Construction Project Management (CPM) supported by product and process models can be seen as a future type of integration structure facilitating the solution of various management problems in the fragmented Construction Industry. The key to success is directly correlated with the comprehensive integration of currently isolated IT applications. However, despite that a number of initiatives have been developed, no fully generic models have yet to be formally standardized. This topic has been the subject of intensive research during the last decades. In this thesis a Computer Integrated CPM approach, which is supported by IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and ISO9001:2000 Quality Management System, is proposed. The main aim is to provide integration of product, process and organizational information to help achieve the interoperability of the involved actors and tools in a concurrent environment. According to implied requirements which are represented in the ‘state of the art’ section, the fundamental concepts are presented in two parts as: (1) realization of CPM in an IT concept and (2) formalization of IFC Views for software interoperability on the example of Bidding Preparation Phase. In order to realize a generic framework using a high-level process core model named Organizational Management Process (OMP) model, different aspects have been brought together into a consistent life cycle structure. These are: (1) a set of layered processes based on ISO procedural definitions, (2) software integration requirements based on Construction Management Phases, (3) application methods of the Procurement System and (4) Organizational data. This provides for synchronizing technical products, processes, documents, and actors in their inter-relationship. The framework is hierarchically structured in three layers Phases – Processes - Product data. The developed IT Management Processes (ITMP) which are used as a baseline for the IFC Views implementation are derived from the OMP. Moreover, in order to support completeness, a mapping structure between processes and scenarios based on the Procurement Systems was constituted. The representation of OMP and ITMP is provided by using the ARIS eEPC (extended event-driven process chain) modeling method. On the basis of a generalized representation of product data, a system-wide integration model for heterogeneous client applications which supports different CPM areas can be achieved. IFC Product Data Model integrates different domains thereby enabling coordination of bidding preparations. However, there is a need to realize individual model subsets. i.e. views of the product model. In this context, adaptable views were developed based on ITMP. The defined resources’ relevancies to IFC Objects are examined by realizing central information elements. These provide a mapping structure between process resources and IFC Classes. On that basis integration of process and product models can be accomplished. In order to realize IFC Views, IFC Concepts and IFC Instance Diagrams were developed based on IFC View Definition Format. The grouping of IFC Concepts enables the implementation of the adaptable IFC Views that are required for standardized system integration. This is achieved with the help of formal specification using the Generalized Subset Definition Schema. The validation has been made based on an alphanumerical comparison. The selected 3D full-model and the developed IFC View for Product Catalog models are compared in this context. There are two consequences observed. In the first case, which also addresses Unit Price Procurement systems, the desired results were obtained by filtering the required data. However, when the results were compared for Design & Build and Lump-sum Procurement Systems (contracts), an extension need was observed in the IFC Model. The solution is provided via formalization of cost data and material analysis information by an extension of IFC Concept namely ‘IfcConstructionResource’ with new classes and with new relations. Thereby a common information model based on the data schema of the IFC standard is constituted.Das von Produkt- und Prozessmodellen unterstützte computerintegrierte Bauprojektmanagement (CPM) kann als der zukünftige Typ der Integrationsstruktur angesehen werden, der die Lösung verschiedener Baumanagementprobleme in der fragmentierten Bauindustrie erleichtern kann. Der Schlüssel zum Erfolg steht in direkter Beziehung zu einer umfassenden Integration derzeit getrennter IT-Anwendungen. Trotz zahlreich entwickelter Ansätze, die zur Verfügung gestellt wurden, sind bisher noch keine vollständig generischen Modelle formell standardisiert worden, obwohl dies in den letzten Jahrzehnten ein Thema intensiver Forschung war. In dieser Promotionsschrift wird eine computerintegrierte CPM-Methode, die auf Basis der IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) und dem Qualitätsmanagement ISO 9001:2000 aufbaut, vorgeschlagen. Das Hauptziel besteht in der Schaffung der Integration von Produkt-, Prozess- und Organisationsinformationen, um die Interoperabilität der beteiligten Akteure und Tools in einer parallelen Umgebung erreichen zu können. Entsprechend den Anforderungen, die im Abschnitt „Stand der Technik“ aufgeführt sind, werden die vorgeschlagenen, grundlegenden Konzepte in zwei Bereiche aufgeteilt: (1) Umsetzung der CPM-Prozesse in ein IT-Konzept und (2) Formalisierung der IFC-Sichten für die Interoperabilität von Software, beispielhaft ausgeführt für die der Ausschreibungsphase. Um einen generischen Rahmen unter Verwendung eines hochrangigen Prozesskernmodells, das als organisatorischer Managementprozess (OMP) bezeichnet wird, zu realisieren, werden zuerst die verschiedenen Aspekte in einer konsistenten Lebenszyklenstruktur zusammengefügt. Diese sind: (1) eine Menge hierarchisch geschichteter Prozesse, erstellt auf der Grundlage der Verfahrensdefinitionen von ISO 9001, (2) die Softwareintegrationsanforderungen auf der Grundlage der Baumanagementphasen, (3) die Anwendungsmethoden des Beschaffungssystems und (4) die Organisationsdaten. Dadurch wird die Synchronisation der in Wechselbeziehung stehenden technischen Produkte, Prozesse, Dokumente und Akteure geschaffen. Das gesamte System ist hierarchisch in die drei Ebenen Phasen – Prozesse – Produktdaten strukturiert. Die entwickelten IT-Managementprozesse (ITMP), die als Grundlage für die IFC-Implementierungssichten dienen, werden aus dem OMP hergeleitet. Der Vollständigkeit halber, wird eine Abbildungsstruktur zwischen den Prozessen und den Szenarien, die die Beschaffungssysteme beschreiben, entwickelt. Die Darstellung der OMP und ITMP erfolgt unter Verwendung der erweiterten ereignisgesteuerten Prozessketten (eEPK) nach der ARIS-Modelliermethode. Auf der Grundlage einer verallgemeinerten Darstellung der Prozessdaten kann das systemweite Integrationsmodell für heterogene Client-Anwendungen, das verschiedene CPM-Bereiche unterstützt, erreicht werden. Das IFC-Produktdatenmodell integriert verschiedene Domänen und ermöglicht somit die Koordinierung der hier beispielhaft gewählten Ausschreibungsbearbeitungen. Hierzu ist es notwendig, Teilmodelle, d. h. Sichten des Produktmodells zu erzeugen. Entsprechend wurden anpassbare Sichten auf der Grundlage von ITMP entwickelt. Die Bedeutung der in diesem Zusammenhang identifizierten Informationsprozessressourcen in Bezug auf die IFC-Objekte wurde durch die Einführung zentraler Informationselemente, sog. IFC Concepts, untersucht. Diese stellen eine Abbildungsstruktur zwischen den Prozessressourcen und IFC-Klassen zur Verfügung. Auf dieser Grundlage konnte die Integration von Prozess- und Produktmodellen erreicht werden. Um die IFC-Sichten zu realisieren, wurden auf der Grundlage des IFC-Sichtendefinitionsformats IFC-Konzepte und IFC-Instanzendiagramme entwickelt. Die Gruppierung in IFC-Konzepten ermöglichte die Implementierung von anpassbaren IFC-Sichten, die für die standardisierte Systemintegration erforderlich sind. Diese wird mit Hilfe einer formellen Spezifikation unter Verwendung der verallgemeinerten Subset-Definitionsschema-Methode (GMSD) erreicht. Die Validierung erfolgte auf der Grundlage eines alphanumerischen Vergleichs, in dem ein ausgewähltes 3D-Produktmodell und die daraus entwickelte IFC-Sicht für das Produktkatalogmodell verglichen wurden. Es ergaben sich zwei Schlussfolgerungen. Im ersten Fall, der auch das Einheitspreisbeschaffungssystem betrifft, konnten die gewünschten Ergebnisse direkt durch Filterung der erforderlichen Daten erhalten werden. Beim Vergleich der Ergebnisse sowohl für Pauschal-, als auch für Entwurfs- und Baubeschaffungssysteme (Verträge) wurde jedoch festgestellt, dass für das IFC-Modell ein Erweiterungsbedarf besteht. Eine Lösung wurde über die Formalisierung der Kostendaten und Materialanalyseinformationen durch Erweiterung des IFC-Konzepts IfcBauRessource mit neuen Klassen und mit neuen Beziehungen erreicht. Somit erhält man ein allgemeines Informationsmodell auf der Grundlage des Datenschemas des IFC-Standards

Corporate Data Obesity: 50 Percent Redundant

In this essay, we report what we have observed with regard to status quo of corporate information systems in real world from our experiences of twenty years of data management practices. It is considered to be serious in that data are too conveniently and frequently replicated to make information systems improperly behave in terms of their quality standards including response time. Average ratio of data replication in a site is astonishingly judged to be more than 50 percent of a whole corporate database. It is in reality about 65 percent in average to our knowledge. Presenting this paper to academia has been motivated by our strong belief and evidence that most of the redundancy can effectively and systemically be removed from the very start of information system development. We also noted that field workers including database administrators in corporate environment tend to think data part of IS and program part of IS mixed together from the start of IS design and popularity of this tendency eventually caused a lot of entanglement that could hardly be dealt with later by themselves. We therefore present a couple of mandates that must be respected in order not to get involved in such a perplexity

Integration of multi lifecycle assessment and design for environment database using relational moddel concepts

Multi-lifecycle Assessment (MLCA) systematically considers and quantifies the consumption of resources and the environmental impact associated with a product or process. Design challenges posed by a multi-lifecycle strategy are significantly more complex than traditional product design. The designer must look forward in time to maximize the product\u27s end-of-life yield of assemblies, parts and materials while looking backward to the world of existing products for feedstock sources for the current design. As MLCA and DEE share some common data items, such as, part geometry, material and manufacturing process, it is advantageous to integrate the database for MLCA and DEE. The integration of CAD/DEE and MLCA database will provide not only to designers but also for dernanufacturer and MLCA analyst to play an active role in achieving the vision of sustainability. The user of MLCA software has to provide a significant amount of information manually about a product for which the environmental burdens are being analyzed, which is an error prone activity. To avoid the manual work and associative problems, a MLCA-CAD interface has been developed to progranmtatically populate the MLCA database by using the Bill of Material (BOM) information in the CAD software. This MLCA-CAD interface provides a flow of information from design software (DEE/CAD) to MLCA software

A Catalog of Reusable Design Decisions for Developing UML/MOF-based Domain-specific Modeling Languages

In model-driven development (MDD), domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) act as a communication vehicle for aligning the requirements of domain experts with the needs of software engineers. With the rise of the UML as a de facto standard, UML/MOF-based DSMLs are now widely used for MDD. This paper documents design decisions collected from 90 UML/MOF-based DSML projects. These recurring design decisions were gained, on the one hand, by performing a systematic literature review (SLR) on the development of UML/MOF-based DSMLs. Via the SLR, we retrieved 80 related DSML projects for review. On the other hand, we collected decisions from developing ten DSML projects by ourselves. The design decisions are presented in the form of reusable decision records, with each decision record corresponding to a decision point in DSML development processes. Furthermore, we also report on frequently observed (combinations of) decision options as well as on associations between options which may occur within a single decision point or between two decision points. This collection of decision-record documents targets decision makers in DSML development (e.g., DSML engineers, software architects, domain experts).Series: Technical Reports / Institute for Information Systems and New Medi

Sustainability of e-waste Management: Egypt case study

The amount of electronic waste generated globally is alarming especially that it is on the rise. The impact of the generated amounts is not only Environmental. The electronic waste sector is unregulated in most developing countries; this results in the informal sector being heavily involved in managing and handling it. Due to the lack of regulations, informal handlers are exposed to hazardous materials that affect both their health and health of the communities living in their proximity. Moreover, the informal sector involves illegal child and women labour under harsh conditions. In addition to the social impact, the lack of regulations leads to missing major economic opportunities associated with developing a recycling industry for the safe handling and material recovery from the generated e-waste volumes. Electronic waste may contain up to 60 different materials including precious and rare-earth metals with an estimated equivalent economic value of 48 billion Euros (Baldé, Wang, Kuehr, & Huisman, 2015; Tansel, 2017). Egypt is one the countries which lack policies and regulations dedicated to e-waste, hence the Egyptian economy is missing the economic potential and job creation opportunities associated with developing the e-waste sector as well as facing major Environmental and health challenges due to the improper handling of the generated amounts. This thesis investigates the current situation of e-waste in Egypt through interviews with major stakeholders in the sector as well as a questionnaire. The thesis then proposes an adapted guideline for the sustainable management of e-waste in Egypt. The guideline is based on the international regulations and guidelines especially those of countries similar to the Egyptian socioeconomic context. Finally, the possibility of upcycling the rejects produced from the e-waste recycling processes is tested. Nonmetals represent around 70% of the total weight of the generated e-waste; these nonmetals include fiberglass and resins which are used in the manufacturing of PCBs (Kaya, 2016). In the Greater Cairo Area only, it is estimated that around 150 ton/year of PCBs are generated (Fathya Soliman & Mounir Boushra, 2017). Thus, the achieved results from upcycling the PCB powder into a composite material, which can replace marble to be used for tabletops or tiles, were a step ahead to realizing sustainable e-waste rejects handling. The produced material has an average flexural strength of about 1773 MPa compared to 1431 MPa for marble and the weight loss during abrasion test of the produced materials was between 0.13%-1.5% compared to about 8.8% for marble

A Place At The Table: A Feminist Analysis Of A University’s Curriculum Development In Partnership With A “Local Food” Non-Profit Organization

In this feminist ethnography, I returned to a small rural public Hispanic-serving university in the southwestern U.S. in order to critique how practices of inclusion and exclusion of stakeholders during the curriculum development process reproduce inherited privilege. I examined texts such as reports, emails, meeting notes, and student surveys, and I interviewed university personnel and community members active with the Local Foods Coalition who had been invited to advise on the new Food Studies major. These data revealed paternalistic neoliberal efficiency mindsets which perpetuated exclusion of minoritized peoples’ perspectives. I used feminist theory to describe and critique the power structures and their functions. This theoretical grounding enabled me to dive more deeply into neoliberalism as a framework for analysis of curriculum development in higher education.I focused on three elements of feminist theory (challenging authority, analyzing power structures and their reproduction, and naming paternalism) in order to develop a critique of neoliberalism in higher education curriculum development. I named neoliberal phenomena present in this curriculum development process, including deregulation of environmental and labor protections which benefit corporations, externalization of costs, efficiency mindsets, designing for standardization, privatization of what used to be public services, framing people as consumers, and commodification

The Nonprofit Ethics Survey: A Contextual Approach

Organizational ethics require the attention of nonprofit leaders as regulatory trends and accountability measures increase. In spite of this interest, little empirical research has been conducted on ethics assessment within the nonprofit sector and more importantly, no survey instrument currently exists exclusively designed for nonprofit organizations to assess the perceptions of ethics within their organization. This lack of tools and information prohibits comprehensive self-assessment, and forces a reactive, single-loop approach to ethical issues, rather than a feedback system based on actual data. To address this need, the Nonprofit Ethics Survey provides a practioner-friendly survey designed to assess the perceptions of ethics held by the affiliates of nonprofit organizations. Development of the instrument occurred through the use of factor analysis, specifically, two principal components analyses, conducted on a sample of 530 nonprofit affiliates; which included 78 board members. The results of the first factor analysis identified the following six underlying constructs: Transparency; Daily-Ethics Behaviors of Board Members; Open Communication; Daily-Ethics Behaviors of Senior Staff; Decision Making; and Accountability. The second principal components analysis, conducted on a question set only responded to by voting board members, yielded a promising preliminary seventh construct to measure Governance. Taken together, the two principal components analyses facilitated the revision of the survey to achieve a parsimonious means of measuring the perceptions of ethics within nonprofit organizations. Additionally, a measure of Cronbach\u27s Alpha was calculated for each scale in the survey to determine the level of internal consistency; these coefficients ranged from 0.86–0.94, indicating the survey provides a reliable means of measuring the constructs related to organizational ethics in nonprofit agencies. Each scale in the Nonprofit Ethics Survey uses Likert-style questions in addition to a small number of dichotomous variables and overall rating questions. The creation of a statistically sound instrument designed to assess nonprofit ethics ensures that organizations have the ability to accurately self-assess from an ethical perspective. As such, the development of this practitioner-friendly, statistically supported instrument that is well-grounded in theory represents a significant contribution to both the theoretical and empirical literature on nonprofit organizational ethics and third sector studies