Visualization and Evolution of Software Architectures

Software systems are an integral component of our everyday life as we find them in tools and embedded in equipment all around us. In order to ensure smooth, predictable, and accurate operation of these systems, it is crucial to produce and maintain systems that are highly reliable. A well-designed and well-maintained architecture goes a long way in achieving this goal. However, due to the intangible and often complex nature of software architecture, this task can be quite complicated. The field of software architecture visualization aims to ease this task by providing tools and techniques to examine the hierarchy, relationship, evolution, and quality of architecture components. In this paper, we present a discourse on the state of the art of software architecture visualization techniques. Further, we highlight the importance of developing solutions tailored to meet the needs and requirements of the stakeholders involved in the analysis process

A Deployment Process for Strategic Measurement Systems

Explicitly linking software-related activities to an organisation's higher-level goals has been shown to be critical for organizational success. GQM+Strategies provides mechanisms for explicitly linking goals and strategies, based on goal-oriented strategic measurement systems. Deploying such strategic measurement systems in an organization is highly challenging. Experience has shown that a clear deployment strategy is needed for achieving sustainable success. In particular, an adequate deployment process as well as corresponding tool support can facilitate the deployment. This paper introduces the systematical GQM+Strategies deployment process and gives an overview of GQM+Strategies modelling and associated tool support. Additionally, it provides an overview of industrial applications and describes success factors and benefits for the usage of GQM+Strategies.Comment: 12 pages. Proceedings of the 8th Software Measurement European Forum (SMEF 2011

Nerve growth factor and receptor expression in rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis

Introduction We previously described the presence of nerve growth factor receptors in the inflamed synovial compartment. Here we investigated the presence of the corresponding nerve growth factors, with special focus on nerve growth factor (NGF). Methods mRNA expression levels of four ligands (NGF, brain derived growth factor (BDNF), neurotrophin (NT)-3, NT-4) and their four corresponding receptors (tyrosine kinase (trk) A, trkB, trkC, NGFRp75) were determined in the synovial fluid (SF) cells of 9 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 16 with spondyloarthritis (SpA) and compared with 7 osteoarthritis (OA) patients. NGF was also determined in synovial tissue (ST) biopsies of 10 RA and 10 SpA patients. The production of NGF by monocytes and lymphocytes was assessed by flow cytometry of SF cells, synovial tissue derived fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) were assessed by ELISA on culture supernatant. Results SF cell analysis revealed a clear BDNF and NGF mRNA expression, with significantly higher NGF expression in RA and SpA patients than in the OA group. NGF expression was higher in ST samples of RA as compared to SpA. Using intracellular FACS analysis, we could demonstrate the presence of the NGF protein in the two inflammatory arthritis groups on both CD3+ T lymphocytes and CD14+ cells, i.e. monocytes/macrophages, whereas cultured FLS did not produce NGF in vitro. Conclusions Neurotrophins and especially NGF are expressed in the synovial fluid and tissue of patients with peripheral synovitis. The presence of neurotrophins as well as their receptors, in particular the NGF/trkA-p75 axis in peripheral synovitis warrants further functional investigation of their active involvement in chronic inflammatory arthriti

Konversionskosten ausgewaehlter Produktlinien im Bereich nachwachsender Rohstoffe

Available from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel C 142970 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Visual analytics of software structure and metrics

In terms of software maintenance and comprehension, the fields of software engineering and software visualization have produced several methods and tools. However, they are typically separate tools in practice. In this paper, we present a novel methodology of combining software analysis and software visualization tools via an interactive visual workflow modeling approach. Standard software analysis tools are also limited in that they support only well-known metrics or are too complicated to use for generating custom software metrics. To address these shortcomings, our approach focuses on visual elements, their configurations, and interconnectivity rather than a data ontology and querying language. In order to test and validate our methodology, we developed a prototype tool called VIMETRIK (Visual Specification of Metrics). Our preliminary evaluation study illustrates the intuitiveness and ease-of-use of our approach with regard to understanding software measurement and analysis data

eCITY: A tool to track software structural changes using an evolving city

One of the main challenges in the maintenance of large-scale software systems is to ascertain the underlying software structure and to analyze its evolution. In this paper we present a tool to assist software architects and developers in not only understanding the software structure of their system but more importantly to track the insertion, removal, or modification of components over time. The tool is based on the idea that the above-mentioned stakeholders should have an intuitive, efficient, and effective means to detect when, where, and what structural changes took place. The main components include an interactive visualization that provides an overview of these changes. The usefulness of this approach is highlighted through a summary of a user study we conducted