On Designing a Secure E-Commerce Transaction Management System – A UML Based Approach

E-commerce gained popularity as a sophisticated transaction system for buying and selling of products and services efficiently through Internet. Due to lack of privacy and security, customers are unwilling to participate in E-commerce transaction system. To combat such inefficiency in transaction of E-commerce and to regain the customers trust an attempt is made here to design a prototype of a secure E-commerce transaction system that brings all components of the E-commerce into a common platform to offer a model of a unified integrated E-commerce system using DRM. In the proposed system, the transaction manager generates single use token consisting information about the customer, merchant, product, and payment amount etc. and thereafter wrapped as a DRM package. The advantages of using such token are, after a single use the token will expire, which minimizes the possible loss in the transaction, also, as the token wrapped as a DRM package, therefore only the intended user and the specified application software can open the DRM package using special key. The application, thereafter, will take care of the rights imposed on the ‘token’ and expires itself after the single use. To design the model of the proposed system we have tried to use Unified Modeling Language (UML), which allows developing a very flexible model that facilitates maintainability, reusability, portability and other Object Oriented software engineering features inherent in the E-commerce transaction system. Keywords: E-commerce, Object, Object Oriented Modeling (OOM), UML, DRM

A method for mapping XML-based specifications between development methodologies

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is widely used by software engineers as the basis of analysis and design in software development. However, UML ignores human factors in the course of software development because of its strong emphasis on the internal structure and functionality of the application. This thesis presents a method of mapping human-computer interaction (HCI) requirement specifications generated by usability engineering (UE) methodologies (e.g. Putting Usability First (PUF)) into UML specifications. These two sets of requirement specification are specified, using Extensible Markup Language (XML) so that HCI requirement specifications can be integrated into UML ones. A Mapping Tool was developed to facilitate the creation of mappings between PUF XML tags and XMI tags. The Mapping Tool was used to create mappings between PUF and UML requirement specifications. This mapping process and its outputs were evaluated to demonstrate that the tool worked. The results of the evaluation show that the HCI requirement specification represented by the PUF XML tags can improve the UML specification by adding them into the XMI tags

A Software Framework for Storing User Workspaces of Desktop Applications

There are many design problems faced in user interface design of desktop applications. For most of the problems there is some suitable design pattern or existing software component to cope the problem, without having to spend too much design time on it. This research concentrates on one design problem repeatedly faced when designing desktop applications; storing and restoring user workspaces. The main goal of this thesis is to solve presented design problem by constructing a design model for a software component which can be used in the upcoming application projects. The aim is also to build this design as an external software framework and to test its applicability in practice. The solution developed during this research will be built and evaluated through a case study at an industrial software subcontractor company. Constructive research approach is used as the research method for this study, because the purpose of this thesis is to produce a practically relevant solution for an explicit problem, which is usually the baseline of a constructive study. At first, the theory related to the subject is presented and discussed. Existing project documentation in the case organization is studied to gather the requirements for the solution. How to create the solution as a reusable software framework is also discussed. Collected theoretical knowledge is then applied in practice by building the software framework. Practical relevance of the software framework is evaluated by deploying it to different types of application projects. The testing is performed by a group of software designers working in the case organization. A questionnaire then held for the software designers shows that the developed framework succeeds to fulfill its requirements.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Design of Instructional Modeling Language for Learning Objects and Learning Objects’ Repositories

The advancement of technology has provided tools to write instruction in every discipline. However, the concepts of automation in the field of instruction is still not used. Teachers around the globe spend countless hours in editing lengthy texts in creating syllabi and reusable components, which are the Learning Objects (LOs). The software developers also experience time-consuming process to decipher the concepts of instruction before it is written. LOs provide a potential mechanism for the educators and software developers to refine curriculum development that uses common components such as exams or syllabi. While the concept of LOs came from software engineering, there is no object modeling language, as it exists in the form of Unified Modeling Language (UML) in the field. UML has been widely used in the field of software engineering for decades. It uses notations to depict the complex objects thus making it easier for the developers to understand the requirements of a software. A similar instructional modeling language (IML) designed by the author is introduced in this dissertation with the purpose of establishing a proof of concept regarding the IML and web repository. IML makes use of acronyms and notations to depict tasks, such as creation of syllabi, reusable components such as exams, exercises, and homework. A software idea using IML is proposed as a tool for the future for educators across the globe in this research. The research also investigates the concept of the use of LOs’ web shared repository. These concepts were demonstrated with a prototype for a proposed software to high school teachers. Teachers shared positive feedback about the proposed software and thought it will eliminate many hurdles in the design of instruction, save time, and provide enormous opportunities to share LOs through web repositories

Applications of Virtual Reality

Information Technology is growing rapidly. With the birth of high-resolution graphics, high-speed computing and user interaction devices Virtual Reality has emerged as a major new technology in the mid 90es, last century. Virtual Reality technology is currently used in a broad range of applications. The best known are games, movies, simulations, therapy. From a manufacturing standpoint, there are some attractive applications including training, education, collaborative work and learning. This book provides an up-to-date discussion of the current research in Virtual Reality and its applications. It describes the current Virtual Reality state-of-the-art and points out many areas where there is still work to be done. We have chosen certain areas to cover in this book, which we believe will have potential significant impact on Virtual Reality and its applications. This book provides a definitive resource for wide variety of people including academicians, designers, developers, educators, engineers, practitioners, researchers, and graduate students

UML-Based co-design framework for body sensor network applications

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Constructing An Auditory Notation in Software Engineering: Understanding UML Models With Voice And Sound

Sound is crucial to how we interact with the world around us, providing feedback and contextualising information. However, when discussed in software, it is not given the same importance as vision. Neglecting this channel results in untapped possibilities that could enhance the user experience, and the exclusion of many visually impaired people from activities related to software engineering, since the visual notations and well-accepted tools in this field are not supportive of audio, such as UML. Several technologies have been developed and integrated into prototypes. Still, it became evident during our research that, among other factors, their usability is greatly impacted by unsuitable choices of sound and voice symbolism, as well as wrong interac- tion dialogues that can become too cumbersome to be used. Sound should be analysed in the context of software engineering, as it has the unexplored potential to significantly contribute to how we construct and interact with the software while allowing blind and visually impaired people to be part of these activities. For this purpose, we are interested in building a foundational framework to substanti- ate decisions when designing an auditory notation, and a tool that performs diagrammatic readings in UML, intended to validate these proposals. Supported by the semiotics of the audible field and music symbology, combined with the insights provided by Moody’s Physics of Notations, the findings of other research and developed tools concerning these topics, along with experimental studies that we carried out and are presented in this document. We believe that this work can be instrumental in creating a structured and intuitive auditory notation for software engineering, complemented by a tool built in the right direction for accessibility. Furthermore, it is an approach that aims to join both the visual and hearing senses in a manner that benefits a large and diverse population of experienced software engineers and novices alike, heightening the visual notation in the process.O som é crucial para a forma como interagimos com o mundo ao nosso redor, fornecendo feedback e contextualizando informação. No entanto, quando este é discutido em software, não lhe é dada a mesma importância que à visão. Negligenciar este canal resulta em possibilidades inexploradas que poderiam melhorar a experiência do utilizador, e na exclusão de pessoas com deficiências visuais de actividades relacionadas com engenharia de software, uma vez que as notações visuais e as ferramentas bem aceites neste domínio não suportam áudio, como é o caso do UML. Diversas tecnologias foram desenvolvidas e integradas em protótipos, mas durante a nossa pesquisa tornou-se evidente que, para além de outros factores, a sua usabilidade é bastante impactada por escolhas inadequadas de simbolismo relativamente ao som e voz, bem como diálogos de interação errados que se podem tornar demasiado incómodos para serem utilizados. O som deve ser analisado no contexto de engenharia de software, pois tem o potencial de contribuir para a forma como construímos e interagimos com software, permitindo ainda que pessoas com deficiências visuais façam parte destas atividades. Para esta finalidade, queremos construir uma framework para fundamentar decisões na construção de uma notação auditiva, em conjunto com uma ferramenta que efectua leituras diagramáticas em UML, destinada à validação destas propostas. Tendo por base a compreensão das semióticas do domínio audível e simbologia musical, combinado com os conhecimentos fornecidos pelo Physics of Notations de Moody, as descobertas de outros tra- balhos e ferramentas desenvolvidas neste âmbito, juntamente com estudos experimentais que realizámos, apresentados neste documento. Acreditamos que este trabalho possa ser fundamental na criação de uma notação auditiva estruturada e intuitiva para engenharia de software, complementada por uma ferramenta construída na direção certa para a acessibilidade. Além disso, é uma aborda- gem que visa a união dos sentidos de visão e audição, de forma a beneficiar uma ampla e diversa população de engenheiros de software experientes e novatos, elevando a notação visual no processo