Contract Aware Components, 10 years after

The notion of contract aware components has been published roughly ten years ago and is now becoming mainstream in several fields where the usage of software components is seen as critical. The goal of this paper is to survey domains such as Embedded Systems or Service Oriented Architecture where the notion of contract aware components has been influential. For each of these domains we briefly describe what has been done with this idea and we discuss the remaining challenges.Comment: In Proceedings WCSI 2010, arXiv:1010.233

Towards a Base UML Profile for Architecture Description

This paper discusses a base UML profile for architecture description as supported by existing Architecture Description Languages (ADLs). The profile may be extended so as to enable architecture modeling both as expressed in conventional ADLs and according to existing runtime infrastructures (e.g., system based on middleware architectures).

A survey of agent-oriented methodologies

This article introduces the current agent-oriented methodologies. It discusses what approaches have been followed (mainly extending existing object oriented and knowledge engineering methodologies), the suitability of these approaches for agent modelling, and some conclusions drawn from the survey

Requirements modelling and formal analysis using graph operations

The increasing complexity of enterprise systems requires a more advanced analysis of the representation of services expected than is currently possible. Consequently, the specification stage, which could be facilitated by formal verification, becomes very important to the system life-cycle. This paper presents a formal modelling approach, which may be used in order to better represent the reality of the system and to verify the awaited or existing system’s properties, taking into account the environmental characteristics. For that, we firstly propose a formalization process based upon properties specification, and secondly we use Conceptual Graphs operations to develop reasoning mechanisms of verifying requirements statements. The graphic visualization of these reasoning enables us to correctly capture the system specifications by making it easier to determine if desired properties hold. It is applied to the field of Enterprise modelling

Sustainable exhibit design: guidelines for designers of small scale interactive and travelling exhibits

This study was commissioned as part of Lincolnshire County Council’s FLOWS ‘2B’ Information and Symbols Project and UK match funding for this particular FLOWS Project has been provided by East Midlands Development Agency. The aim of FLOWS is to improve the sustainability of development in flood risk areas through development of ‘good practice’, by improved integration of flood risk information into decision-support systems for spatial planning and water management. FLOWS involves over 40 individual projects which are based in four Work Packages. Lincolnshire County Council is jointly leading Work Package 3 (Spatial Planning) and is also leading on Projects in Work Package 2 (Public Perception/Dissemination). This study has been produced as part of Lincolnshire County Council’s ‘FLOWS 2B Information and Symbols Project’ and in the wider context, is focussing on raising public awareness of flooding and flood risk by exploring innovative methods of disseminating information on the subject of flood risk to the public. This project involves the production of interactive exhibits aimed at raising the awareness of flood risk in Lincolnshire and is a partnership between Lincolnshire County Council and the School of Architecture at the University of Lincoln. A study focussing on creating sustainable exhibitions has been undertaken via the University of Lincoln that will directly inform the FLOWS exhibits. As detailed in the project brief, this study on Sustainable Exhibit Design will investigate best practice in sustainable exhibit design and produce a report setting out guidelines for designers of small interactive and travelling exhibits, guidelines which are directly applicable to the proposed FLOWS exhibit. The report will form a contribution to exhibition design knowledge through wider distribution via the University of Lincoln and FLOWS websites and a conference presentation

Can Component/Service-Based Systems Be Proved Correct?

Component-oriented and service-oriented approaches have gained a strong enthusiasm in industries and academia with a particular interest for service-oriented approaches. A component is a software entity with given functionalities, made available by a provider, and used to build other application within which it is integrated. The service concept and its use in web-based application development have a huge impact on reuse practices. Accordingly a considerable part of software architectures is influenced; these architectures are moving towards service-oriented architectures. Therefore applications (re)use services that are available elsewhere and many applications interact, without knowing each other, using services available via service servers and their published interfaces and functionalities. Industries propose, through various consortium, languages, technologies and standards. More academic works are also undertaken concerning semantics and formalisation of components and service-based systems. We consider here both streams of works in order to raise research concerns that will help in building quality software. Are there new challenging problems with respect to service-based software construction? Besides, what are the links and the advances compared to distributed systems?Comment: 16 page

The SEC-system : reuse support for scheduling system development

Recently, in a joint cooperation of Stichting VNA, SAL Apotheken, the Faculty of Management and Organization, and the University Centre for Pharmacy, University of Groningen in the Netherlands, a Ph.D-study started regarding Apot(he)ek, Organization and Management (APOM). The APOM-project deals with the structuring and steering of pharmacy organization. The manageability of the internal pharmacy organization, and the manageability of the direct environment of pharmacy organization is the subject matter. The theoretical background of the APOM-project is described. A literature study was made to find mixes of objectives. Three mixes of objectives in pharmacy organization are postulated; the product mix, the process mix, and the customer mix. The typology will be used as a basic starting point for the empirical study in the next phase of the APOM-project.