A structured model metametadata technique to enhance semantic searching in metadata repository

This paper discusses on a novel technique for semantic searching and retrieval of information about learning materials. A novel structured metametadata model has been created to provide the foundation for a semantic search engine to extract, match and map queries to retrieve relevant results. Metametadata encapsulate metadata instances by using the properties and attributes provided by ontologies rather than describing learning objects. The use of ontological views assists the pedagogical content of metadata extracted from learning objects by using the control vocabularies as identified from the metametadata taxonomy. The use of metametadata (based on the metametadata taxonomy) supported by the ontologies have contributed towards a novel semantic searching mechanism. This research has presented a metametadata model for identifying semantics and describing learning objects in finer-grain detail that allows for intelligent and smart retrieval by automated search and retrieval software

Performance Portability Through Semi-explicit Placement in Distributed Erlang

We consider the problem of adapting distributed Erlang applications to large or heterogeneous architectures to achieve good performance in a portable way. In many architectures, and especially large architectures, the communication latency between pairs of virtual machines (nodes) is no longer uniform. We propose two language-level methods that enable programs to automatically adapt to heterogeneity and non-uniform communication latencies, and both provide information enabling a program to identify an appropriate node when spawning a process. We provide a means of recording node attributes describing the hardware and software capabilities of nodes, and mechanisms that allow an application to examine the attributes of remote nodes. We provide an abstraction of communication distances that enables an application to select nodes to facilitate efficient communication. We have developed open source libraries that implement these ideas. We show that the use of attributes for node selection can lead to significant performance improvements if different components of the application have different processing requirements. We report a detailed empirical investigation of non-uniform communication times in several representative architectures, and show that our abstract model provides a good description of the hierarchy of communication times

A quality-model-based approach for describing and evaluating software packages

Selection of software packages from user requirements is a central task in software engineering. Selection of inappropriate packages may compromise business processes and may interfere negatively in the functioning of the involved organization. Success of package selection is endangered because of many factors, one of the most important being the absence of structured descriptions of both package features and user quality requirements. In this paper, we propose a methodology for describing quality factors of software packages using the ISO/IEC quality standard as a framework. Following this standard, relevant attributes for a specific software domain are identified and structured as a hierarchy, and metrics for them are chosen. Software packages in this domain can then be described in a uniform and comprehensive way. Therefore, selection of packages can be ameliorated by transforming user quality requirements into requirements expressed in terms of quality model attributes. We illustrate the approach by presenting, in some depth, a quality model for the mail server domain.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Integration of Quality Attributes in Software Product Line Development

Different approaches for building modern software systems in complex and open environments have been proposed in the last few years. Some efforts try to apply Software Product Line (SPL) approach to take advantage of the massive reuse for producing software systems that share a common set of features. In general quality assurance is a crucial activity for success in software industry, but it is even more important when talking about Software Product Lines since the intensive reuse of assets makes the quality attributes (a measurable physical or abstract property of an entity) of the assets to be transmitted to the whole SPL scope. However, despite the importance that quality has in software product line development, most of the methodologies being applied in Software Product Line Development focus only on managing the commonalities and variability within the product line and not giving support to the non--¿ functional requirements that the products must fit. The main goal of this master final work is to introduce quality attributes in early stages of software product line development processes by means of the definition of a production plan that, on one hand, integrates quality as an additional view for describing the extension of the software product line and, on the other hand introduces the quality attributes as a decision factor during product configuration and when selecting among design alternatives. Our approach has been defined following the Model--¿ Driven Software Development paradigm. Therefore all the software artifacts defined had its correspondent metamodels and the processes defined rely on automated model transformations. Finally in order to illustrate the feasibility of the approach we have integrated the quality view in an SPL example in the context of safety critical embedded systems on the automotive domain.González Huerta, J. (2011). Integration of Quality Attributes in Software Product Line Development. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/15835Archivo delegad

SOAQE - Service Oriented Architecture Quality Evaluation

International audienceThis paper presents a semi-automated method for evaluating SOAs called SOAQE, correcting defects observed so far with existing methods such as lacks of pertinence and accuracy for evaluation results. SOAQE takes as a starting point the McCall model, describing software quality, which led to an international standard for the evaluation of software quality (ISO/IEC 9126-1, 2001). This model is organized around three types of quality attributes (factors, criteria and metrics). The SOAQE method consists in decomposing the whole architecture and evaluating it according to the McCall model, i.e.a list of quality factors arising from business needs grouping criteria composed by metrics. Our experimentations led us to quantify numerically a first determining factor for SOAs, the 'dynamism' and some attributes of its structure: namely the 'loose coupling' criterion and its constituent metrics ('physical, semantic and syntactic')

Measuring the Reusable Quality for XML Schema Documents

eXtensible Markup Language (XML) based web applications are widely used for data describing and providing internet services. The design of XML schema document (XSD) needs to be quantified with software with the reusable nature of XSD. This nature of documents helps software developers to produce software at a lower software development cost. This paper proposes a metric Entropy Measure of Complexity (EMC), which is intended to measure the reusable quality of XML schema documents. A higher EMC value tends to more reusable quality, and as well, a higher EMC value implies that this schema document contains inheritance feature, elements and attributes. For empirical validation, the metric is applied on 70 WSDL schema files. A comparison with similar measures is also performed. The proposed EMC metric is also validated practically and theoretically. Empirical, theoretical and practical validation and a comparative study proves that the EMC metric is a valid metric and capable of measuring the reusable quality of XSD

Knowledge modelling with the open source tool myCBR

Building knowledge intensive Case-Based Reasoning applications requires tools that support this on-going process between domain experts and knowledge engineers. In this paper we will introduce how the open source tool myCBR 3 allows for flexible knowledge elicitation and formalisation form CBR and non CBR experts. We detail on myCBR 3 's versatile approach to similarity modelling and will give an overview of the Knowledge Engineering workbench, providing the tools for the modelling process. We underline our presentation with three case studies of knowledge modelling for technical diagnosis and recommendation systems using myCBR 3