Teaching Programming Students how to Model: Challenges & Opportunities

Computer Science students who have one or more years of basic programmingexperience and little or no exposure to abstractions above the code level,often struggle to grasp modeling concepts and practices in more advanced softwaredevelopment courses. In this talk I discuss some of the factors that contribute tothis situation and propose a learning process in which the abstraction gap betweenmodels and implementations is gradually widened as student modeling skills aredeveloped

The Mobile Privacy-Security Knowledge Gap Model: Understanding Behaviors

Increasing collection of individuals’ information has led to several security and privacy issues, such as identity theft and targeted marketing. These risks are further heightened in the mobile realm as data collection can occur continuously and ubiquitously. Most existing research considers threats to privacy and security as separate concerns, resulting in separate research streams. However, focusing on information privacy alone results in a lack of understanding of the security ramifications of individual information disclosure. Using the Information Motivation Behavioral (IMB) Skills Model as a theoretical foundation, we develop the Knowledge Gap Model of Security and Privacy Behavior. In the model, we propose that two knowledge gaps exist that affect how individuals enact security and privacy behaviors: the security-privacy knowledge gap, and the knowledge-belief gap. We use the model to develop a research agenda for future research

ACTRESS: Domain-Specific Modeling of Self-Adaptive Software Architectures

International audienceA common approach for engineering self-adaptive software systems is to use Feedback Control Loops (FCLs). Advances have led to more explicit and safer design of some control architectures, however, there is a need for more integrated and systematic approaches that support end-to-end integration of FCLs into software systems. In this paper, we propose a tooled approach that enables researchers and engineers to design and integrate adaptation mechanisms into software systems through FCLs. It consists of a domain-specific modeling language that raises the level of abstraction on which FCLs are defined, making them amenable to automated analysis and implementation code synthesis. The language supports composition, distribution and reflection, thereby enabling coordination and composition of multiple distributed FCLs. Its use is facilitated by a modeling environment, ACTRESS, that provides support for modeling, verification and complete code generation. We report on its application to a concrete adaptation case study and also discuss resulting properties

Manipulating Models Using Internal Domain-Specific Languages

International audienceIn Model-Driven Engineering, a number of external Domain-Specific Languages (DSL) for model manipulation have been proposed. However, they require users to learn new languages that, together with their execution performance, usability and tool support limitations, can significantly contribute to accidental complexities. In this paper, we present an alternative approach based on internal DSLs in Scala for model consistency checking and model transformations for the Eclipse Modeling Framework

Summary of the 9th Workshop on [email protected]

The [email protected] workshop (MRT) series offers a discussion forum for the rising need to leverage modeling techniques at runtime for the software of the future. MRT has become a mature research topic, which is, e.g., reflected in separate sessions at conferences covering MRT approaches only. The target venues of the workshops audience changed from workshops to conferences. Hence, new topics in the area of MRT need to be identified, which are not yet mature enough for conferences. In consequence, the main goal of this edition was to reflect on the past decade of the workshop's history and to identify new future directions for the workshop

Epsilon Indi Ba, Bb: a spectroscopic study of the nearest known brown dwarfs

The discovery of Epsilon Indi Ba and Bb, a nearby binary brown dwarf system with a main-sequence companion, allows a concerted campaign to characterise the physical parameters of two T dwarfs providing benchmarks against which atmospheric and evolutionary models can be tested. Some recent observations suggest the models at low mass and intermediate age may not reflect reality with, however, few conclusive tests. We are carrying out a comprehensive characterisation of these, the nearest known brown dwarfs, to allow constraints to be placed upon models of cool field dwarfs. We present broadband photometry from the V- to M-band and the individual spectrum of both components from 0.6-5.1 microns at a resolution of up to R=5000. A custom analytic profile fitting routine was implemented to extract the blended spectra and photometry of both components separated by 0.7 arcsec. We confirm the spectral types to be T1 and T6, and notably, we do not detect lithium at 6708A in the more massive object which may be indicative both of the age of the system and the mass of the components.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in proceedings of Cool Stars 1

First XMM-Newton observations of strongly magnetic cataclysmic variables - II. Timing studies of DP Leo and WW Hor

XMM-Newton was used to observe two eclipsing, magnetic cataclysmic variables, DP Leo and WW Hor, continuously for three orbital cycles each. Both systems were in an intermediate state of accretion. For WW Hor we also obtained optical light curves with the XMM-Newton Optical Monitor and from ground-based observations. Our analysis of the X-ray and optical light curves allows us to constrain physical and geometrical parameters of the accretion regions and derive orbital parameters and eclipse ephemerides of the systems. For WW Hor we directly measure horizontal and vertical temperature variations in the accretion column. From comparisons with previous observations we find that changes in the accretion spot longitude are correlated with the accretion rate. For DP Leo the shape of the hard X-ray light curve is not as expected for optically thin emission, showing the importance of optical depth effects in the post-shock region. We find that the spin period of the white dwarf is slightly shorter than the orbital period and that the orbital period is decreasing faster than expected for energy loss by gravitational radiation alone.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 12 pages, 6 figure

Summary of the 8th International workshop on [email protected]

The 8th edition of the workshop [email protected] was held at the 16th International Conference MODELS. The workshop took place in the city of Miami, USA, on the 29th of September 2013. The workshop was organised by Nelly Bencomo, Sebastian Götz, Robert France and Bernhard Rumpe. Here, we present a summary of the workshop and a synopsis of the papers discussed during the workshop