ICSOFT-PT 2013 Abstracts

Area 1 - Models

Full Papers

Paper Nr:	4
Title:	ACME+ for Software Architecture Analysis
Authors:	Imen Derbel, Lamia Labed Jilani and Ali Mili
Abstract:	During recent years, Software Architecture has attracted tremendous attention; since researchers and practitioners have recognized that analyzing system’s architecture is an important part of the software development process. However, we find it paradoxical that no Architectural Description Language (ADL) in use nowadays has no means to automatically analyze quality attributes of software architectures such as response time, throughput, failure probability, security, availability, etc. In this paper, we propose Acme+ as an extension of Acme ADL, and discuss the development and operation of a compiler that compiles architectures written in this language and translate it to mathematical formulas which permit to analyze and reason about non functional attributes of software systems. Our work considers the architecture artifact written in an ADL and perform mathematical static analysis on it according to several non functional attributes. We have implemented the corresponding tool by using our compiler and Mathematica for both symbolic computing and numerical calculi.

Paper Nr:	12
Title:	Controllability for Nondeterministic Finite Automata with Variables
Authors:	Jasen Markovski
Abstract:	Supervisory control theory deals with automated synthesis of models of supervisory controllers that ensure safe coordinated discrete-event behavior of a given system. To increase the expressivity of the framework and provide for a greater modeling convenience, several extensions with variables have been proposed. One of the most prominent such extensions is implemented by means of extended finite automata with variables. We revisit the notion of controllability for nondeterministic finite automata with variables, which defines conditions under which a model of a supervisory controller can be synthesized. We will show that the existing notion of controllability for extended finite automata does not have desirable algebraic properties, i.e., it is not a preorder. We propose to employ an extension of controllability for nondeterministic discrete-event system based on a behavioral relation termed partial bisimulation, which we show that subsumes the existing notion of controllability for extended finite automata.
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Paper Nr:	20
Title:	From Problems to Laws in Requirements Engineering - Using Model-Transformation
Authors:	Stephan Faßbender and Maritta Heisel
Abstract:	Nowadays, many legislators decided to enact different laws, which all enforce legal and natural persons to deal more carefully with IT systems. Hence, there is a need for techniques to identify and analyze laws, which are relevant for an IT system. But identifying relevant compliance regulations for an IT system and aligning it to be compliant to these regulations is a challenging task. In earlier works of ours we proposed patterns and a structured method to tackle these problems. One of the central crucial steps, while using the patterns and the method, is the transformation of requirements into a structure, allowing the identification of laws. The step is not trivial, as requirements, in most cases, focus on the technical parts of the problem, putting the knowledge about the environment of the system aside. In this work, we propose a method to structure the requirements, elicit the needed domain knowledge and transform requirements into law identification pattern instances. For this purpose, we make use of problem diagrams, problem frames, domain knowledge, and questionnaire. We present our method using a voting system as an example, which was obtained from the ModIWa DFG project and the common criteria profile for voting systems.
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Paper Nr:	21
Title:	An Ambient ASM Model for Client-to-Client Interaction via Cloud Computing
Authors:	Karoly Bosa
Abstract:	In our former work we have given a high-level formal model of a cloud service architecture in terms of a novel formal method approach which combines the advantages of the mathematically well-founded software engineering method called abstract state machines and of the calculus of mobile agents called ambient calculus. This paper presents an extension for this cloud model which enables client-to-client interaction in an almost direct way, so that the involvement of cloud services is transparent to the users. The discussed solution for transparent use of services is a kind of switching service, where registered cloud users communicate with each other, and the only role the cloud plays is to switch resources from one client to another.
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Short Papers

Paper Nr:	13
Title:	Creating Domain-Specific Modeling Languages with OPM/D - A Meta-modeling Approach
Authors:	Arieh Bibliowicz and Dov Dori
Abstract:	Domain-specific languages and model-driven development are two promising approaches for tackling the complexity of software systems development. However, creating domain-specific modeling languages is a complex and lengthy task which makes the creation of DSMLs only feasible in large and complex projects. To alleviate this difficulty, we developed OPM/D, a visual meta-modeling language for the definition of domainspecific modeling languages. Languages in OPM/D are defined via a static structural meta-model of the language and a set of validation rules that define the non-structural constraints of the language. The language editor is created on-the-fly through interpretation of the static structure and validation rules, minimizing the time between language definition and its use. Our approach has been applied to define a subset of the OPM modeling language, and a prototype tools is being developed using the Eclipse platform and technologies.
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Paper Nr:	14
Title:	Graph Partitioning Algorithm for Social Network Model Transformation Frameworks
Authors:	Gergely Mezei, László Deák, Krisztián Fekete and Tamás Vajk
Abstract:	Dealing with extra-large models in software modeling is getting more and more common. In these cases, both memory and computational capacity of a single computer might be insufficient. A solution to overcome this barrier is to use cloud computing. However, existing algorithms have to be extended/modified to support cloud computing and use the advantages of its architecture efficiently. We focus on creating an algorithm to partition graphs representing models. Based on the algorithm, models should be able to be mapped onto several computational instances and processed in a distributed fashion efficiently. Previously, we have presented an algorithm that was based on the heuristic Kernighan-Lin partitioning method with two extensions: no limit on the number of partitions and not building on the knowledge of the whole model at beginning (nodes are received and processed one by one). However, when applying social network-based case studies, we have identified weaknesses of the algorithm. This paper elaborates an enhanced algorithm that produces better results for extra-large models. Detailed measurements are also presented in order to show the improvement.
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Paper Nr:	19
Title:	Model-driven Transformation for Optimizing PSMs - A Case Study of Rule Design for Multi-device GUI Generation
Authors:	David Raneburger, Roman Popp and Hermann Kaindl
Abstract:	Software design and implementation, in general, have to take many alternatives into account for decision making. Still, current approaches to Model-driven Architecture (MDA) typically transform in one and only one thread from Platform-independent Models (PIMs) to Platform-specific Models (PSMs). Also in the special case of automatically generating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) according to MDA, in most approaches one thread derives a Final User Interface Model from some higher-level model(s). We think that this is one reason for less than optimal usability of automatically generated GUIs. Our transformation approach (as implemented for GUI generation) allows exploring different design alternatives and evaluating the resulting PSMs according to given optimization objectives. Such a search approach leads to optimal PSMs according to these objectives. In this way, resulting GUIs can be tailored for different devices such as tablet PCs and smartphones. In this context, we design transformation rules for optimizing PSMs independently from concrete device properties, which are given in separate device specifications (Platform Models). We present a related case study for multi-device GUI generation and show that this approach facilitates the automated optimization of PSMs for several devices.
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Paper Nr:	22
Title:	Specification of Learning Management System-centered Graphical Instructional Design Languages - A DSM Experimentation about the Moodle Platform
Authors:	Esteban Loiseau and Pierre Laforcade
Abstract:	This paper presents a 6-month explorative research work about the specification of specific instructional design languages. These languages have to tackle a double objective: capturing teachers-designers’ needs and practices and guarantee a model in conformance with an existent Learning Management System. Domain Specific Modeling techniques are used to both specify these languages and to provide practitioners with some graphical authoring-tools. This explorative research work has been conducted in relation with a pedagogical engineering team, specialized in Moodle, from Le Mans University. Three different DSM approaches have been experimented and analyzed. This research is part of the French ANR GraphiT Project.
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Paper Nr:	36
Title:	Towards a Design-by-contract based Approach for Realizable Connector-centric Software Architectures
Authors:	Mert Ozkaya and Christos Kloukinas
Abstract:	Despite being a widely-used language for specifying software systems, UML remains less than ideal for software architectures. Architecture description languages (ADLs) were developed to provide more comprehensive support. However, so far the application of ADLs in practice has been impeded by at least one of the following problems: (i) advanced formal notations, (ii) lack of support for complex connectors, and (iii) potentially unrealizable designs. In this paper we propose a new ADL that is based on Design-by-Contract (DbC) for specifying software architectures. While DbC promotes a formal and precise way of specifying system behaviours, it is more familiar to practising developers, thus allowing for a more comfortable way of specifying architectures than using process algebras. Furthermore, by granting connectors a first-class status, our ADL allows designers to specify not only simple interaction mechanisms as connectors but also complex interaction protocols. Finally, in order to ensure that architectural designs are always realizable we eliminate potentially unrealizable constructs in connector specifications (the connector “glue”).
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Paper Nr:	37
Title:	Quality Improvement in Data Models with SLFD-based OCL Constraints
Authors:	Rosario Baena, Roberto Aragón, Manuel Enciso, Carlos Rossi, Pablo Cordero and Ángel Mora
Abstract:	Software verification and modeling quality are permanent challenges in software development. So, smarter and more cohesive methods for the creation and maintenance of data models without loss of quality are required as model complexity increases in current academic and industrial MDE-based system designs. In-place endogenous model transformations (refactorings) are an efficient and straightforward approach to deal with data model complexity, but ad-hoc and frequent transformations must be performed to maintain model quality. In this paper we explore an alternative method to ensure the quality of data models: correction by contract. We propose a new method for the creation and maintenance of static data models (relational, entity-relationship or class models) with enhanced quality. We will use an executable logic for functional dependencies to characterize data model redundancy and we define a set of OCL constraints to guide the construction and maintenance of the models. We also illustrate this approach with a simplified intermediate metamodel (FDMM) for functional dependencies over a data model to show the potential benefits of the method.
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Paper Nr:	39
Title:	Context Based Content Aggregation for Social Life Networks
Authors:	Maneesh Mathai and Athula Ginige
Abstract:	It is extremely useful to have right information at the right time. Social Life Networks (SLN) extend the capabilities of current social networks by combining them with the technological advances now found in Smartphones that include myriad of sensors and multimedia input and output capabilities to provide essential information to support livelihood activities. The challenge is to provide this information within the required context. For this we need to model the context by acquiring the physical data to provide meaningful abstractions with respect to the application domain and the needs of the users. We have developed a physical context model based on user profile, location, time and activity and a mapping to match the logical context of various data sources from which we can get the required information. Based on this model we have developed a SLN for farmers in Sri Lanka to provide agricultural information in the context of farming life cycle stages, location of their farm land, cultivation season and other economic parameters. In the field trails there was unanimous agreement among farmers that this application is very useful for them because they were able to get the required information in context.
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Paper Nr:	17
Title:	Design and Operationalization of Patterns - Case of a Training Situation of Personal Assistance for Public in Professional Integration
Authors:	Lahcen Oubahssi, Claudine Piau-Toffolon, Jean-Pierre Clayer and Fatma Kammoun
Abstract:	The research presented in this paper aims to offer support to the activity of designing to teacher or a community of teachers by a context-sensitive tool exploiting a library of patterns. This paper presents work carried out in the context of a partnership with an association (PARTAGE) promoting the professional integration of the jobseekers. This work aims to make a contribution to assist the association pedagogical team (trainers and designers) to formalize the pedagogical scenarios describing their learning situations. We analyzed their process guiding the jobseeker course and formalized some of their training practices in the form of patterns. We have studied the feasibility of operationalizing techniques in a learning management system platform like Ganesha.
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Paper Nr:	24
Title:	Model Checking of Distributed Component-based Control Systems
Authors:	Atef Gharbi, Hamza Gharsellaoui, Mohamed Khalgui and Samir Ben Ahemd
Abstract:	The paper deals with the functional safety of distributed control systems following the component-based approach. A control component is classically defined as a software unit allowing the control of a physical process. When a fault occurs in the plant, the system should be reconfigured dynamically to be adapted by adding-removing or updating software components for the safety of the controlled physical processes. An agent-based architecture is proposed therefore to control the plant’s evolution before applying any possible reconfiguration scenario of the system. When the system is distributed on networked controllers, we propose a control agent for each device but we need also a coordination agent to allow safety distributed reconfigurations. The unique coordinator uses well-defined matrices and a protocol for this coordination. We model the whole architecture by using ordinary Petri nets and apply SESA for the verification of CTL properties of the system. The paper’s contribution is applied to two benchmark production systems at Martin Luther University in Germany.
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Paper Nr:	29
Title:	Linear Software Models - Vector Spaces for Design Pattern Modules
Authors:	Iaakov Exman
Abstract:	Software Design Patterns have an important role for software development and reuse within the object oriented design paradigm. But the commonly used set of design patterns has remained arbitrary and lacking a well-founded theoretical basis. This work offers algebraic Vector Spaces for software design patterns as a theoretical framework based on Linear Software Models. It starts with modularity matrices of design patterns made of software modules additively composed. The elements of the Vector Space are exactly the pattern modules, upon which operates a direct sum operator. Design pattern modularity matrices are used to extract typical modules, frequently used and often found in more than a single pattern. This leads to the ultimate goal of sets of generic pattern modules serving as bases for the vector space. Design patterns and larger sub-systems are additively built from the bases modules. Software design patterns’ case studies are carefully analysed to demonstrate the approach.
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Paper Nr:	30
Title:	An Aspect Oriented Framework for Flexible Design Pattern-based Development
Authors:	Mario L. Bernardi, Marta Cimitile and Giuseppe A. Di Lucca
Abstract:	The implementation of a Design Pattern (DP) may be affected by some problems due to typical deficiencies of Object Oriented languages that may worsen the modularity of a software system, and thus its comprehensibility, maintainability, and testability. Aspect Oriented Programming allows to implement DPs by its powerful quantification constructs that can handle better modularity and composition, helping to overcome some of the OO design trade-offs in current DP implementations. In Model Driven Development system models, defined by a Design Specification Language (DSL), are transformed between different levels of abstraction to get system implementation. In this paper we propose an Aspect Oriented DSL-based framework to specify and to apply, declaratively, Design Patterns to the system classes. The main aim driving the definition of the proposed framework is to improve the modularity, the internal code quality, and the flexibility, by allowing software designers to specify DP models with an extensive modifiability thus reducing the impact of changes related to DP adoption.
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Paper Nr:	31
Title:	Using Meta-code Generation to Realize Higher-order Model Transformations
Authors:	Thomas Buchmann and Felix Schwägerl
Abstract:	Model-driven engineering is a wide-spread paradigm in modern software engineering. During the last couple of years, many tools and languages have been developed, which are especially designed for model transformations — a discipline which is needed in many model-driven engineering approaches. While most of the existing model-to-model tools and languages are tailored towards batch transformations for specific model instances, they lack support for generic transformation problems, where the metamodel is unknown beforehand. In this paper we present a two-step meta-code generation approach that derives a metamodel-specific modelto- model transformation from a model-to-text transformation. The approach has been successfully applied to the problem of product derivation in model-driven software product lines.
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Paper Nr:	32
Title:	Uncertainty Measure of Process Models using Entropy and Petri Nets
Authors:	Martin Ibl
Abstract:	In recent years, many measures of process models have been proposed to predict or quantify the number of specific properties. These properties may include readability, complexity, cohesion or uncertainty of process models. The content of this work is to propose a method that allows the measurement of uncertainty in the process models, which can be expressed in the form of a Petri net. The actual method works by mapping the set of all reachable marking of Petri net to Markov chain and subsequent quantification of steady-state probabilities of its states. Uncertainty is then quantified as the entropy of states in the Markov chain. Uncertainty can also be expressed as a percentage of the calculated entropy to the maximum entropy of a Petri net.
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Paper Nr:	33
Title:	Towards Easy Robot Programming - Using DSLs, Code Generators and Software Product Lines
Authors:	Johannes Baumgartl, Thomas Buchmann, Dominik Henrich and Bernhard Westfechtel
Abstract:	Programming robots is a complicated and time-consuming task. A robot is essentially a real-time, distributed embedded system. Often, control and communication paths within the system are tightly coupled to the actual physical configuration of the robot. Thus, programming a robot can hardly be achieved by experts of the domain in which the robot is used. In this paper we present an approach towards a domain specific language, which is intended to empower domain experts or even end users to specify robot programs with a dedicated background in programming techniques, but not with special knowledge in the robotics domain. Furthermore we introduce an idea to integrate a software product-line for a hardware and software transparent plug and play mechanism.
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Paper Nr:	40
Title:	Towards Devising an Architectural Framework for Enterprise Operating Systems
Authors:	Sérgio Guerreiro, Steven van Kervel and Eduard Babkin
Abstract:	One often observes that despite the efforts involved on information systems development, many times the achieved solutions do not comply well with the needs of the organization and lack in change agility to face new emerging requirements. This paper conceptualizes about an architectural framework specifically designed for explaining and representing the working environment of enterprise operating systems (EOS) and non-EOS information systems (IS) that depend on it. With these concerns in mind, the goal of EOS is to capture and control all phenomena that occur in an organization and then to provide all the required data for all IS for that organization. Using a computer engineering metaphor, this paper defines the theoretical foundations, and the methodology to design and implement an operating system for organizations. To achieve this, EOS is a model-driven dynamically. The models are based on domain ontology with C4-ness qualities and expressed in ontological language. It will be shown that the theory of enterprise ontology and the DEMO methodology provide a high degree of ontological appropriateness for this domain. This paper, outline a framework with its foundations, concepts, principles and stratification of IS, which is a radical new approach, useful to discussion this solution among the practitioners. A methodology to apply this architectural framework is discussed using a professional production case management.
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Area 2 - Services

Short Papers

Paper Nr:	23
Title:	An Adaptive and Flexible Replication Mechanism for Space-based Computing
Authors:	Stefan Craß, Jürgen Hirsch, eva Kühn and Vesna Sesum-Cavic
Abstract:	The highly dynamic nature of the Internet implies necessity for advanced communication paradigms. Large modern networks exchange data without a required central authority that previously assured easy replication to avoid a loss of data. Without central authority, it is not always obvious on which client which portion of data is persisted. This is especially the case for distributed, peer-to-peer systems like ones that are based on tuple space-based coordination middleware. In recent years, many space-based solutions have been introduced but only few of them provide a built-in replication mechanism. Also, possible replication mechanisms of these systems do not provide flexibility concerning the offering of different, configurable replication schemes, replication strategies or communication protocols. Thus, such replication mechanisms can neither be adapted nor optimized for a given use case scenario. This paper introduces an asynchronous replication mechanism for space-based computing which provides a high level of flexibility by offering multiple replication approaches and can be configured and adapted for individual scenarios. This is reached by a replication manager component which uses two plugins to control replication of space content: a native space-based and a DHT-based one, both performing asynchronous multi-master replication.
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Paper Nr:	5
Title:	Smart Space-based Ridesharing Service in e-Tourism Application for Karelia Region Accessibility - Ontology-based Approach and Implementation
Authors:	Alexander Smirnov, Nikolay Shilov, Alexey Kashevnik, Nikolay Teslya and Santa Laizane
Abstract:	The paper describes a ridesharing service proposed for improving tourism accessibility in Russian Karelia region. The ridesharing service has been developed using Smart-M3 information sharing platform as a smart space infrastructure, which increases the service scalability, stability and speed, as well as reduces the network load. The presented service is the first implementation of ridesharing concept based on the Smart-M3 platform. The paper describes technical studies carried out to develop the prototype of ridesharing service as well as empirical studies. An effective matching algorithm, which finds correspondences between driver paths and tourist start and end points, and two heuristics significantly reducing path matching time, have been presented. Besides, data analysis of online questionnaire developed to better cognize whether prospective customers will accept ridesharing services as an alternate mode of transportation is discussed.
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Area 3 - Context

Short Papers

Paper Nr:	38
Title:	Context-aware Recommendation using Fuzzy Formal Concept Analysis
Authors:	Jose Luis Leiva, Manuel Enciso, Carlos Rossi, Pablo Cordero, Ángel Mora and Antonio Guevara
Abstract:	Most of the recommender systems are content-based: they provide the user a subset of items close to his interest by using the item features. In real recommender systems, the main problem is the big amount of items to be treated. In this work we propose to incorporate context information in a uniform way. We use fuzzy logic and formal concept analysis as a framework to combine context information and content-based recommender systems. Concretely, we specify the content by using fuzzy relations, the context by using fuzzy implications and Simplification Logic to develop an intelligent and linear pre-filtering process. We illustrate this method with an application to the tourism sector.
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Paper Nr:	34
Title:	Semantic Indexing of Twitter Resources
Authors:	Cristian Lai, Claude Moulin and Marie-Hélène Abel
Abstract:	Individual needs for sharing information take more and more importance. The easy access to social media services encourages people to produce informal communication. Many research efforts are devoted to the analyze of such kinds of data, potentialy imprecise or ambiguous. In this paper we propose a way to help people to write applications for gathering and indexing information produced on Twitter, mainly into tweets. This approach involves two elements. The first one is the description of a system able to semantically index tweets in a distributed structure. The second element is the definition of the category of semantic tweets which contain semantic references. The last section of this paper describes an application able to insert semantic hash tags into tweets in a manner completely transparent to users.