Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Software, Maintenance and Evolution

Software maintenance and evolution continues to play a vital role in the development of software systems. It is widely acknowledged that the majority of development effort, and thereby expenditure, is allocated to postinitial release activity. This activity, which takes place after the software has seen its first release, is known as software maintenance (or software evolution)

Enhancing Simulation Composability and Interoperability Using Conceptual/Semantic/Ontological Models

(First paragraph) Two emerging trends in Modeling and Simulation (M&S) are beginning to dovetail in a potentially highly productive manner, namely conceptual modeling and semantic modeling. Conceptual modeling has existed for several decades, but its importance has risen to the forefront in the last decade (Taylor and Robinson, 2006; Robinson, 2007). Also, during the last decade, progress on the Semantic Web has begun to influence M&S, with the development of general modeling ontologies (Miller et al, 2004), as well as ontologies for modeling particular domains (Durak, 2006). An ontology, which is a formal specification of a conceptualization (Gruber et al, 1993), can be used to rigorously define a domain of discourse in terms of classes/concepts, properties/relationships and instances/individuals. For the Semantic Web, ontologies are typically specified using the Web Ontology Language (OWL). Although, conceptual modeling is broader than just semantics (it includes additional issues such as pragmatics (Tolk et al, 2008)), progress in the Semantic Web and ontologies is certainly beneficial to conceptual modeling. Benefits are accrued in many ways including the large knowledge bases being placed on the Web in numerous fields in which simulation studies are conducted and the powerful reasoning algorithms based on description logic being developed that allow the consistency of large specifications to be checked

Information Technology and Systems - I Systems Analysis and Design: Should We Be Researching What We Teach?

A guiding premise of academic scholarship is that knowledge gained from first-hand research experience is disseminated to students via the classroom. However, that valuable connection is lost when professors are not researching what they teach. In this paper, we explore issues of mismatch between teaching and research in the Information Systems (IS) discipline. Specifically, while systems analysis and design (SA&D) is an integral topic in IS curricula, this topic is the research specialty of few IS professors. This situation is reflected by the low number of research publications in this area; particularly in the leading mainstream IS journals. We characterize the gap between teaching and research in SA&D, offer possible explanations for this gap, suggest avenues to better understand and enhance SA&D research via the design science paradigm, list a number of areas in SA&D in which there is ample need and opportunity for high quality research, and show through an example how a research mindset can be incorporated in a graduate level SA&D course

Incorporating Global Information Security and Assurance in I.S. Education

Over the years, the news media has reported numerous information security incidents. Because of identity theft, terrorism, and other criminal activities, President Obama has made information security a national priority. Not only is information security and assurance an American priority, it is also a global issue. This paper discusses the importance of Global Information Security and Assurance in information systems (IS) education. Current university graduates will become tomorrow’s users and protectors of data and systems. It is important for universities to provide training in security and assurance of information systems. Are students getting adequate education in this area? If not, this leaves them ill-prepared for the needs of the workplace. The security of our information systems needs to be a major concern for educators and corporate leaders. We recommend that instruction in security and assurance be a core component of the curriculum for all IS and business students. The purpose of this special issue is to provide insights, ideas, and practical tips from IS educators and professionals. Along with the academic papers in this issue, a new section was added, advisory from professionals. Just as a university information systems department has an advisory board of professionals, this new section provides an advisory to academics; professionals provide insights into the corporate world and they need

Special Theme of Research in Information Systems Analysis and Design -II. Data Modeling or Functional Modeling - Which Comes First? An Experimental Comparison

The software analysis process consists of two main activities: data modeling and functional modeling. While traditional development methodologies usually emphasize functional modeling via dataflow diagrams (DFDs), object-oriented (OO) methodologies emphasize data modeling via class diagrams. UML includes techniques for both data and functional modeling which are used in different methodologies in different ways and orders. This article is concerned with the ordering of modeling activities in the analysis stage. The main issue we address is whether it is better to create a functional model first and then a data model, or vice versa. We conduct a comparative experiment in which the two opposing orders are examined. We use the FOOM methodology as a platform for the experiment as it enables the creation of both a data model (a class diagram) and a functional model (hierarchical OO-DFDs), which are synchronized. The results of the experiment show that an analysis process that begins with data modeling provides better specifications than one that begins with functional modeling

QoS-Aware Middleware for Web Services Composition

The paradigmatic shift from a Web of manual interactions to a Web of programmatic interactions driven by Web services is creating unprecedented opportunities for the formation of online Business-to-Business (B2B) collaborations. In particular, the creation of value-added services by composition of existing ones is gaining a significant momentum. Since many available Web services provide overlapping or identical functionality, albeit with different Quality of Service (QoS), a choice needs to be made to determine which services are to participate in a given composite service. This paper presents a middleware platform which addresses the issue of selecting Web services for the purpose of their composition in a way that maximizes user satisfaction expressed as utility functions over QoS attributes, while satisfying the constraints set by the user and by the structure of the composite service. Two selection approaches are described and compared: one based on local (task-level) selection of services and the other based on global allocation of tasks to services using integer programming

Reverse Engineering: Methodologies for Web Applications

The Reverse Engineering of Web Applications is a complex problem, due to the variety of languages and technologies that are contemporary used to realize them. Indeed, the benefits that can be obtained are remarkable: the presence of documentation at different abstraction levels will help the execution of maintenance interventions, migration and reengineering processes, reducing their costs and risks and improving their effectiveness. Moreover, the assessment of the maintainability factor of a Web Application is an important support to decision making processes. Business processes are often implemented by mean of software systems which expose them to the user as an externally accessible Web application. This paper describes a methodologies for recovering business processes by dynamic analysis of the Web applications which ex-pose them

Computational Ontologies and Information Systems I: Foundations

This paper provides a state-of-the-art review about computational ontologies to raise awareness about this research area in the IS discipline and to explore areas where IS researchers can engage in fruitful research. This paper discusses the basic foundations and definitions pertaining to the field of computational ontologies. It reviews the intersection of computational ontologies with the IS discipline. It also discusses methods and guidelines for developing computational ontologies. The paper concludes with recommendations for important and emerging directions for research. The technical aspects of ontologies are presented in a companion paper (Volume 14, article 9). The companion paper provides a comprehensive review of the formalisms, languages, and tools used for specifying and implementing computational ontologies