Una Aproximación de Ingeniería de Requisitos para Líneas de Productos Software Basada en una Estrategia de Desarrollo Dirigido por Modelos

[EN] The Requirements Engineering (RE) activity is crucial in software engineering. A failure when defining the requirements of a system could increase the costs of the entire product development process. This problem is even more critical in the Software Product Lines (SPL) development, since the definition and specification of requirements must deal with a new dimension: requirements variability. Requirements variability is specified during the domain engineering process, in which variability points are defined so as to distinguish which requirements will be common, and which will be variable. These variability points are resolved during an application engineering activity called requirements derivation in order to obtain the requirements for a specific product. Another paradigm that is widely applied in SPL Development is Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD). MDSD can reduce production costs by increasing software reuse. Despite this fact, the RE approaches for SPL found in literature have some weaknesses. Many of the current approaches represent the variability information in the requirements models, thus reducing the requirements' readability. Moreover, the RE approaches for SPL used during application engineering are normally limited to deriving the product requirements from the SPL requirements and do not indicate how to represent non-existent requirements in the SPL: the delta requirements. This has an undesirable effect on the flexibility of the approaches. The aim of this thesis is to define and validate an RE approach in the context of SPL that will support the definition and specification of the requirements of an SPL, allowing them to be derived from the requirements of a product using the MDSD paradigm, and also supporting the definition and specification of delta requirements. In this context, we have defined a process called FEDRE. During domain engineering, strategy definition and requirements specification obtained from model features are used. During application engineering, the derivation and validation of product requirements ensure that requirements meet customer needs. The necessary delta requirements could be specified, when they will be required, with the aim to prevent that product requirements are limited to a mere combination of LPS requirements. Moreover, a technological approach based on a MDSD strategy was defined. During domain engineering, the variability of the SPL and the requirements variability are represented as multi-model views, and traceability relationships are established among them. During application engineering, the productconfiguration is defined and the requirements of the product to be built are derived using a strategy based on model transformations. The process proposed in FEDRE has been validated using two quasi-experiments. In the first quasi-experiment, the SPL requirements were specified with the aim of validating the FEDRE domain engineering guidelines. According to the results, FeDRE was perceived as easy to use and useful as regards specifying the requirements for an SPL. In the second quasi-experiment, the requirements of a product were validated with the aim of verifying whether the customer needs where covered. In the case of their not being covered, the participants specified the delta requirements. Most of the subjects were able to correctly identify what needs were covered and which requirements had to be added as delta requirements. This dissertation contributes to the field of development of SPL by providing a process and technology, along with an automated and generic approach with which to define and specify requirements in SPL environments.[ES] La actividad de Ingeniería de Requisitos (IR) resulta crucial dentro de la ingeniería del software. Un fallo durante la definición de los requisitos de un sistema puede provocar sobrecostes durante todo el proceso de desarrollo. Este problema se acentúa aún más en el desarrollo de Líneas de Producto Software (LPS) debido a que la definición y especificación de los requisitos deben de tratar con una nueva dimensión: la variabilidad de los requisitos. Esta variabilidad de los requisitos de la LPS se específica durante el proceso de ingeniería del dominio, donde se definen los puntos de variabilidad que permiten diferenciar qué requisitos serán comunes y cuáles serán variables. Estos puntos de variabilidad se resuelven durante el proceso de ingeniería de la aplicación para obtener los requisitos de un producto específico, en la actividad llamada derivación de requisitos. Otro paradigma ampliamente aplicado en las LPS es de Desarrollo de Software Dirigido por Modelos (DSDM). El DSDM puede reducir costes de producción, gracias al aumento de la reutilización de software. Sin embargo las aproximaciones actuales representan la información de la variabilidad de los requisitos exclusivamente en el mismo modelo de requisitos, perjudicando la legibilidad de los requisitos. Por otra parte durante la ingeniería de la aplicación, las aproximaciones de IR para LPS normalmente se limitan a derivar los requisitos del producto a partir de los requisitos de la LPS, pero no explicitaban cómo representar requisitos que no existían previamente en la LPS: los requisitos delta. Este hecho incide negativamente en la flexibilidad de las aproximaciones. El objetivo de esta tesis doctoral es definir y validar una aproximación de IR en el contexto de LPS que soporte la definición y especificación de los requisitos de una LPS, permitiendo derivar a partir de ellos los requisitos de un producto haciendo uso del paradigma de DSDM, y soportando además la definición y especificación los requisitos delta. En este contexto, se ha definido un proceso llamado FeDRE. Durante la ingeniería del dominio se utiliza una estrategia de definición y especificación de los requisitos a partir del modelo de características. Durante la ingeniería de la aplicación se cubre la derivación de los requisitos y la validación para comprobar que satisfacen las necesidades del cliente. En el caso de que fuera necesario se permiten modelar los requisitos delta, evitando que los requisitos del producto estén limitados a una mera combinación de requisitos de la LPS. Por otra parte se ha definido una aproximación tecnológica basada en una estrategia de DSDM. Durante la ingeniería del dominio se representan en un multimodelo las vistas de variabilidad de la LPS y la de requisitos, estableciendo relaciones de trazabilidad entre ellas. Durante la ingeniería de la aplicación se define una configuración del producto y se derivan, mediante una estrategia basada en transformaciones de modelos, los requisitos del producto a desarrollar. El proceso propuesto en FeDRE se ha validado mediante dos cuasi-experimentos. El primer cuasi-experimento modelaba los requisitos de una LPS con el objetivo de validar las guías de la ingeniería del dominio de FeDRE. Los resultados mostraron que FeDRE fue percibido como fácil de usar y útil para especificar los requisitos de una LPS. En el segundo cuasi-experimento se validaron los requisitos de un producto con el objetivo de comprobar si cubrían las necesidades del cliente. En el caso de que no lo hicieran, los participantes especificaron los requisitos delta. La mayor parte de los sujetos fueron capaces de identificar correctamente qué necesidades estaba cubiertas y qué requisitos debían de añadirse como requisitos delta. Esta tesis doctoral contribuye al campo de desarrollo de LPS proveyendo de un proceso y una aproximación tecnológica, automatizada y genérica para la definición y especificación de re[CA] L'activitat d'Enginyeria de Requeriments (ER) és crucial dins de l'enginyeria del programari. Un error durant la definició dels requeriments d'un sistema pot provocar sobrecostos durant tot el procés de desenvolupament. Aquest problema s'accentua en el desenvolupament de Línies de Producte Software (LPS) a causa de que la definició i especificació dels requeriments han de treballar amb una nova dimensió: la variabilitat dels requeriments. Aquesta variabilitat dels requeriments de l'LPS s'especifica durant el procés d'enginyeria del domini, on es defineixen els punts de variabilitat que permeten diferenciar quins requeriments seran comuns i quins seran variables. Aquests punts de variabilitat es resolen durant el procés d'enginyeria de l'aplicació per obtenir els requeriments d'un producte específic, en l'activitat anomenada derivació de requeriments. Un altre paradigma àmpliament aplicat a les LPS és el Desenvolupament de Programari Dirigit per Models (DSDM). El DSDM pot reduir costos de producció, gràcies a l'augment de la reutilització de programari. Malgrat això les aproximacions d'ER per a LPS presenten algunes debilitats. Moltes de les aproximacions actuals representen la informació de la variabilitat dels requeriments exclusivament en el mateix model de requeriments, perjudicant la llegibilitat dels requeriments. D'altra banda, durant l'enginyeria de l'aplicació, les aproximacions d'ER per a LPS normalment es limiten a derivar els requeriments del producte a partir dels de la LPS, però no expliciten com representar requeriments que no existien prèviament a l'LPS: els requeriments delta. Aquest fet incideix negativament en la flexibilitat de les aproximacions. L'objectiu d'aquesta tesi doctoral és definir i validar una aproximació d'ER en el context de LPS que done suport a la definició i especificació dels requeriments d'una LPS, permetent derivar a partir d'ells els requeriments d'un producte fent ús del paradigma de DSDM i donant suport a més a la definició i especificació dels requeriments delta. En aquest context, s'ha definit un procés anomenat FeDRE. Durant l'enginyeria del domini s'utilitza una estratègia de definició i especificació dels requeriments a partir del model de característiques. Durant l'enginyeria de l'aplicació es cobreix la derivació dels requeriments i la validació per comprovar que satisfan les necessitats del client. En el cas que fora necessari es permetrà modelar els requeriments delta, evitant que els requeriments del producte estiguen limitats a una mera combinació de requeriments de l'LPS. D'altra banda s'ha definit una aproximació tecnològica basada en una estratègia de DSDM. Durant l'enginyeria del domini es representen en un multimodel les vistes de variabilitat de l'LPS i la de requeriments, establint relacions de traçabilitat entre elles. Durant l'enginyeria de l'aplicació es defineix una configuració del producte i es deriven, mitjançant una estratègia basada en transformacions de models, els requeriments del producte a desenvolupar. El procés proposat en FeDRE s'ha validat mitjançant dos quasi-experiments. El primer quasi-experiment modelava els requeriments d'una LPS amb l'objectiu de validar les guies de l'enginyeria del domini de FeDRE. Els resultats mostren que FeDRE va ser percebut com fàcil d'utilitzar i útil per especificar els requeriments d'una LPS. En el segon quasi-experiment es van validar els requeriments d'un producte amb l'objectiu de comprovar si cobrien les necessitats del client. En el cas que no ho feren, els participants especificaren els requeriments delta. La major part dels subjectes van ser capaços d'identificar correctament quines necessitats estaven cobertes i quins requeriments havien d'afegir com a requeriments delta. Aquesta tesi doctoral contribueix al camp del desenvolupament de LPS proveint d'un procés i d'una aproximació tecnològica, automatitzada i genèrica per a la definició i especificació dBlanes Domínguez, D. (2016). Una Aproximación de Ingeniería de Requisitos para Líneas de Productos Software Basada en una Estrategia de Desarrollo Dirigido por Modelos [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/6326

A Comparative Study on Model-Driven Requirements Engineering for Software Product Lines

[EN] Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) and Software Product Lines (SPL) are two software development paradigms that emphasize reusing. The former reuse domain knowledge is represented as models and model transformations for product development, and the latter reuse domain knowledge is represented as core assets to produce a family of products in a given domain. The adequate combination of both paradigms can bring together important advantages to the software development community. However, how to manage requirements during a model-driven product line development remains an open challenge. In particular, the Requirements Engineering (RE) activity must deal with specific properties such as variability and commonality for a whole family of products. This paper presents a comparative study of eleven approaches that perform a MDE strategy in the RE activity for SPL, with the aim of identify ing current practices and research gaps. In summary, most of the approaches are focused on the Domain Engineering phase of the SPL development, giving less attention to the Application Engineering phase. Moreover there is a lack of coverage of the Scoping activity, which defines the SPL boundaries. Several approaches apply some model transformations to obtain architectural and application requirements artifacts. Regarding the tool support for requirements specification and management, we found that most of the approaches use only academic prototypes. Regarding the validation of the approaches, the use of Case Studies as a proof of concept was the most commonly used method; however, there is a lack of well-defined case studies and empirical studies to improve the proposals.This research is part of the MULTIPLE project (with ref. TIN2009-13838).Blanes Domínguez, D.; Insfrán Pelozo, CE. (2012). A Comparative Study on Model-Driven Requirements Engineering for Software Product Lines. Revista de Sistemas e Computação. 2(1):3-13. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/43841S3132

Review of Requirement Engineering Approaches for Software Product Lines

The Software Product Lines (SPL) paradigm is one of the most recent topics of interest for the software engineering community. On the one hand, the Software Product Lines is based on a reuse strategy with the aim to reduce the global time-to-market of the software product, to improve the software product quality, and to reduce the cost. On the other hand, traditional Requirement Engineering approaches could not be appropriated to deal with the new challenges that arises the SPL adoption. In the last years, several approaches have been proposed to cover this limitation. This technical report presents an analysis of specific approaches used in the development of SPL to provide solutions to model variability and to deal with the requirements engineering activities. The obtained results show that most of the research in this context is focused on the Domain Engineering, covering mainly the Feature Modeling and the Scenario Modeling. Among the studied approaches, only one of them supported the delta identification; this fact implies that new mechanisms to incorporate new deltas in the Domain specification are needed. Regarding the SPL adoption strategy, most of the approaches support a proactive strategy. However, this strategy is the most expensive and risk-prone. Finally, most of the approaches were based on modeling requirements with feature models giving less support to other important activities in the requirements engineering process such as elicitation, validation, or verification of requirements. The results of this study provide a wide view of the current state of research in requirements engineering for SPL and also highlight possible research gaps that may be of interest for researchers and practitioners.Blanes Domínguez, D.; Insfrán Pelozo, CE. (2011). Review of Requirement Engineering Approaches for Software Product Lines. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/1023

Defining and validating a feature-driven requirements engineering approach

[EN] The specification of requirements is a key activity for achieving the goals of any software project and it has long been established and recognized by researchers and practitioners. Within Software Product Lines (SPL), this activity is even more critical owing to the need to deal with common, variable, and product-specific requirements, not only for a single product but for the whole set of products. In this paper, we present a Feature-Driven Requirements Engineering approach (FeDRE) that provides support to the requirements specification of SPL. The approach realizes features into functional requirements by considering the variability captured in a feature model. It also provides detailed guidelines on how to associate chunks of features from a feature model and to consider them as the context for the Use Case specification. The evaluation of the approach is illustrated in a case study for developing an SPL of mobile applications for emergency notifications. This case study was applied within 14 subjects, 8 subjects from Universitat Politècnica de València and 6 subjects from Federal University of Bahia. Evaluations concerning the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, effectiveness and efficiency as regards requirements analysts using the approach are also presented. The results show that FeDRE was perceived as easy to learn and useful by the participants.This research work is cofounded by the Hispano-Brazilian Interuniversity Cooperation Program (HBP-2011-0015), the MULTIPLE project (TIN2009-13838) and the FPU program (AP2009-4635) from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, and the ValI+D program (ACIF/2011/235) Generalitat Valenciana. Copyright 2014 Carnegie Mellon University. This material is based upon work funded and supported by the Department of Defense under Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0003 with Carnegie Mellon University for the operation of the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center. NO WARRANTY. THIS CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY AND SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE MATERIAL IS FURNISHED ON AN “AS-IS” BASIS. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO ANY MATTER INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PURPOSE OR MERCHANTABILITY, EXCLUSIVITY, OR RESULTS OBTAINED FROM USE OF THE MATERIAL. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO FREEDOM FROM PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. This material has been approved for public release and unlimited distribution. Carnegie Mellon® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. DM-0000867. This work was partially supported by the National Institute of Science and Technology for Software Engineering (INES11), funded by CAPES, CNPq and FACEPE, grants 573964/2008-4 and APQ-1037-1.03/08 and CNPq grants 305968/2010-6, 559997/2010-8, 474766/2010-1 and FAPESB. The authors also appreciate the value-adding work of all their colleagues Loreno Alvim, Larissa Rocha, Ivonei Freitas, Tassio Vale and Iuri Santos who make great contributions to the Scoping activity of FeDRE approach.De Oliveira, RP.; Blanes Domínguez, D.; González Huerta, J.; Insfrán Pelozo, CE.; Abrahao Gonzales, SM.; Cohen, S.; De Almeida, ES. (2014). Defining and validating a feature-driven requirements engineering approach. Journal of Universal Computer Science. 20(5):666-691. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-020-05-0666S66669120

Natural History of MYH7-Related Dilated Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND Variants in myosin heavy chain 7 (MYH7) are responsible for disease in 1% to 5% of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); however, the clinical characteristics and natural history of MYH7-related DCM are poorly described. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine the phenotype and prognosis of MYH7-related DCM. We also evaluated the influence of variant location on phenotypic expression. METHODS We studied clinical data from 147 individuals with DCM-causing MYH7 variants (47.6% female; 35.6 +/- 19.2 years) recruited from 29 international centers. RESULTS At initial evaluation, 106 (72.1%) patients had DCM (left ventricular ejection fraction: 34.5% +/- 11.7%). Median follow-up was 4.5 years (IQR: 1.7-8.0 years), and 23.7% of carriers who were initially phenotype-negative developed DCM. Phenotypic expression by 40 and 60 years was 46% and 88%, respectively, with 18 patients (16%) first diagnosed at <18 years of age. Thirty-six percent of patients with DCM met imaging criteria for LV noncompaction. During follow-up, 28% showed left ventricular reverse remodeling. Incidence of adverse cardiac events among patients with DCM at 5 years was 11.6%, with 5 (4.6%) deaths caused by end-stage heart failure (ESHF) and 5 patients (4.6%) requiring heart transplantation. The major ventricular arrhythmia rate was low (1.0% and 2.1% at 5 years in patients with DCM and in those with LVEF of <= 35%, respectively). ESHF and major ventricular arrhythmia were significantly lower compared with LMNA-related DCM and similar to DCM caused by TTN truncating variants. CONCLUSIONS MYH7-related DCM is characterized by early age of onset, high phenotypic expression, low left ventricular reverse remodeling, and frequent progression to ESHF. Heart failure complications predominate over ventricular arrhythmias, which are rare. (C) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American College of Cardiology Foundation

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p &lt; 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

RE4Gaia: Una aproximación de modelado de requisitos para el desarrollo de Sistemas Multi-Agente

En esta tesis de máster se propone resolver el problema de la falta de soporte a la fase de requisitos en Gaia proporcionando una aproximación metodológica: RE4Gaia. Esta aproximación se dividirá en dos fases: una fase de Modelado de Requisitos y un Proceso de Análisis de Requisitos.Blanes Domínguez, D. (2009). RE4Gaia: Una aproximación de modelado de requisitos para el desarrollo de Sistemas Multi-Agente. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/11902Archivo delegad