A meta-semantic language for smart component-adapters

The issues confronting the software development community today are significantly different from the problems it faced only a decade ago. Advances in software development tools and technologies during the last two decades have greatly enhanced the ability to leverage large amounts of software for creating new applications through the reuse of software libraries and application frameworks. The problems facing organizations today are increasingly focused around systems integration and the creation of information flows. Software modeling based on the assembly of reusable components to support software development has not been successfully implemented on a wide scale. Several models for reusable software components have been suggested which primarily address the wiring-level connectivity problem. While this is considered necessary, it is not sufficient to support an automated process of component assembly. Two critical issues that remain unresolved are: (1) semantic modeling of components, and (2) deployment process that supports automated assembly. The first issue can be addressed through domain-based standardization that would make it possible for independent developers to produce interoperable components based on a common set of vocabulary and understanding of the problem domain. This is important not only for providing a semantic basis for developing components but also for the interoperability between systems. The second issue is important for two reasons: (a) eliminate the need for developers to be involved in the final assembly of software components, and (b) provide a basis for the development process to be potentially driven by the user. To resolve the above remaining issues (1) and (2) a late binding mechanism between components based on meta-protocols is required. In this dissertation we address the above issues by proposing a generic framework for the development of software components and an interconnection language, COMPILE, for the specification of software systems from components. The computational model of the COMPILE language is based on late and dynamic binding of the components\u27 control, data, and function properties. The use of asynchronous callbacks for method invocation allows control binding among components to be late and dynamic. Data exchanged between components is defined through the use of a meta- language that can describe the semantics of the information but without being bound to any specific programming language type representation. Late binding to functions is accomplished by maintaining domain-based semantics as component metainformation. This information allows clients of components to map generic requested service to specific functions

Effective alignment of disciplinary and institutional accreditation and assessment: A UAE computing case study

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. Within higher education, quality assurance is often realized through accreditation and the accompanying focus on the assessment of learning outcomes. Both of these processes require institutional resources which, if not well managed, can lead to duplicity, overlap, and burden rather than being aligned, sustainable, and effective as they should. This chapter outlines the quality assurance structures and processes established at Zayed University for the purposes of accreditation and assessment of learning outcomes. These mechanisms have provided an effective system that has enabled the institution to achieve Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) accreditation and Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation for the College of Technological Innovation. With an ethos towards continuous improvement, it further proposes an improved model designed to accommodate assessment and accreditation needs simultaneously. The two main aspects of the model are (1) the establishment of an Office of Institutional and Educational Effectiveness to institute, organize, and coordinate all activities within the university that provides support for best practices for administration and teaching and learning and (2) the creation of a regularly updated database containing all of the relevant information that is required for various accreditation bodies

Secure software engineering: A new teaching perspective based on the SWEBOK

Lack of a suitable set of controls during the development life cycle of software will lead to mistakes in the requirements, design, or code of software and, therefore, result in significant security vulnerabilities. This paper proposes a software engineering course from the security perspective, which can be taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. It will prepare students to successfully cope with the technical challenges as well as the non technical issues associated with the software development process, while integrating security into each phase of the process. The course materials are derived from the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) published by the IEEE Computer Society with the support of a consortium of industrial sponsors

Database and database application security

This paper focuses on the emerging importance of database and application security, textbooks and other supplementary materials to teach these topics and where to place these topics in a curriculum. The paper emphasizes 1) the growing concerns of database technologies and database applications, 2) existing books and supporting materials, and 3) and Zayed University\u27s approach to teaching these topics. At Zayed, we incorporate database and database application security in two different courses. © 2009 ACM

Revitalizing the introductory programming course

In this paper we present our approach to revitalizing the introductory level programming course at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This course has been re-designed to make computer programming fun and accessible to female students who sign up for the IT program with no background in computing and in particular analytical and problem solving skills. The approach has been used at other universities and represents a marked departure from the use of a single programming language to employ multiple programming tools. The results we have obtained confirm the viability of the approach and is inspiring students to spend more time learning how to design and develop interesting applications that appeal to female students. In addition, ZU students have expressed a great deal of satisfaction and responded positively towards the new approach of learning how to program. © 2011 IEEE

A Component-Based Approach for Scientific Services for Education and Research (Scientific SEARCH)

Today’s challenge for retrieving digital information by users such as “students,” educators,” or “researchers” is coping, more than ever before, with the excessive data and information available. The problem is further compounded because of the way scientific knowledge is structured, in terms of expert interviews, articles, conference coverage, journal scans etc. Great progress has been made in digital library research. The NSF/NSDL through their initiatives has assembled a great set of tools and techniques that hold significant potential. Many projects are now underway applying these tools and techniques to meet the information needs of different user communities. The primary focus of Scientific SEARCH project is enhancing access to high quality learning materials and resources, modules, and other digital objects targeted towards scientific consumer and scientific producer. The project will use a multi-phased approach to achieve the objective. The paper describes the first-phase work submitted to NSF 04-542 solicitation