Meta-model

Agent technology is a software paradigm that permits to implement large and complex distributed applications [1]. In order to assist analyzing, conception and development or implementation phases of multi-agent systems, we've tried to present a practical application of a generic and scalable method of a MAS with a component-oriented architecture and agentbased approach that allows MDA to generate source code from a given model. We've designed on AUML the class diagrams as a class meta-model of different agents of a MAS. Then we generated the source code of the models developed using an open source tool called AndroMDA. This agent-based and evolutive approach enhances the modularity and genericity developments and promotes their reusability in future developments. This property distinguishes our design methodology of existing methodologies in that it is constrained by any particular agentbased model while providing a library of generic models [2].

Model-driven development of user interfaces has become increasingly powerful in recent years. Unfortunately, model-driven approaches have the inherent limitation that they cannot handle the informal nature of some of the artifacts used in truly multidisciplinary user interface development such as storyboards, sketches, scenarios and personas. In this chapter, we present an approach and tool support for multidisciplinary user interface development bridging informal and formal artifacts in the design and development process. Key features of the approach are the usage of annotated storyboards, which can be connected to other models through an underlying meta-model, and cross-toolkit design support based on an abstract user interface model. The last few years, model-driven design of User Interfaces (UIs) is receiving an increasing amount of attention in the computer science and software engineering community. Model driven UI design can offer benefits in terms of quality, traceability, efficiency and consistency. However, this discipline has not been widely adopted

In a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) software development process, models are repeatedly transformed to other models in order to finally achieve a set of models with enough details to implement a system. Generally, there are multiple ways to transform one model into another model. Alternative target models differ in their quality properties and the selection of a particular model is determined on the basis of specific requirements. Software engineers must be able to identify, compare and select the appropriate transformations within the given set of requirements. The current transformation languages used for describing and executing model transformations only provide means to specify the transformations but do not help to identify and select from the alternative transformations. In this paper we propose a process and a set of techniques for constructing a transformation space for a given transformation problem. The process uses a source model, its meta-model and the meta-model of the target as input and generates a transformation space. Every element in that space represents a transformation that produces a result that is an instance of the target meta-model. The requirements that must be fulfilled by the result are captured and represented in a quality model. We explain our approach using an illustrative example for transforming a platform independent model expressed in UML into platform specific models that represent XML schemas. A particular quality model of extensibility is presented in the paper.

Recent attention to Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) is driven by the need for deeper integration of design disciplines that dominate physical and computational domains. Consequently, heterogeneity is the norm as well as the main challenge in CPS design: components and systems are modeled using multiple physical, logical, functional and non-functional modeling aspects. The scope of relevant design domains includes (1) physical domains, such as structure, mechanical dynamics, thermal, propulsion, fluid, electrical, acoustics/vibration and (2) computational/networking domains, such as system control, sensors, health management, mission management, communication. However, the practice of multi-modeling-using established domain-specific modeling languages and tools independently in the design process-is insufficient. Modeling and analyzing cross-domain interactions among physical and computational/networking domains and understanding the effects of heterogeneous abstraction layers in the design flow are fundamental part of CPS design theories. I will cast this challenge as a model integration problem and discuss solutions for capturing interdependencies across the modeling domains using constructs for meta-model composition and integration.

R2R (Roll to roll) printed electronics has been an attractive technology for the mass production. Therefore, many research works have been focused on an optimal flexible substrate, ink formulation, printing process, curing method for a conductive ink in printed electronics applications. However, they did not relate their analysis with the system parameters of R2R continuous printing systems. In this paper, it is found that a printed pattern geometric quality which affects functional quality of printed electronic device could be changed with respect to operating tension of bare substrate even if local optimized ink, substrate, and printing process were applied. Additionally, ink transfer mechanism for R2R printed electronics is analyzed regarding a dynamic surface energy of a bare substrate under a tension in R2R printing systems. With the aim of an efficient prediction of the thickness of R2R printed patterns for given operating conditions, a simple meta-model is developed by using the design of experiment (DOE) method. Also, the proposed meta-model has been verified by several experiments. Through the results, it is presented that how to find an optimal operating tension in R2R printed electronics for guaranteeing a required thickness of R2R printed patterns.

Holonic multiagent systems offers a promising software engineering approach for developping applications in complex domains. However the process of building MASs and HMASs is radically different from the process of building more traditional software systems and so introduces new design and development issues. Against this background, this paper introduces organization-oriented abstractions for agent-oriented software engineering. We propose a complete organizational meta-model as the basis of a future complete methodological process from requirements to code. Besides to deal with this last aspect, we introduce our platform, called Janus, that was specifically designed to implement and deploy holonic multi-agent systems.

The complex requirements of software systems justify the use of the best existing techniques to guar- antee the quality of speciflcations and to preserve this quality during the programming,phase of a software life-cycle. On the one hand, visual speciflcation lan- guages (such as UML) have been widely used for spec- ifying, visualizing, understanding and documenting software systems, but they

In this paper, we present our methodology proposal for cooperative remote systems modeling. Its aim is to develop models of existing or planned cooperative systems. These models are used to specify systems or to create dynamic working simulations. Comparative performances are deduced from the latter. The associated meta-model proposal is based, among other things, on the use of multi-agent systems, Petri nets and stochastics Petri nets. After having described the whole methodology concepts, we show a set of general results extracted from simulations.

Despite the abundance of empirical data on household energy consumption, it is hard to predict future developments because of the complexity of the household system. Multi-agent simulation offers a tool to get a better understanding of the relevant behavioural dynamics of the household system. This would allow for an early diagnosis and response to unwanted developments. A computer simulation of consumer behaviour has been developed on the basis of a meta-model of behaviour, which integrates various relevant behavioural theories. This so-called consumat approach has been applied to issues such as the lock-in of consumption patterns and the management of a common resource, and has been applied in an integrated ecological-economic model. This paper discusses the basic principles of the consumat approach, summarizes some results, and draws conclusions with respect to the application of this approach in the domain of household consumption.

This paper describes the work on the Collaborative Planning Model in Project 12. An hypothesis is presented to attempt to unify the different planning doctrines under a common model. This has guided the development of a generic planning OWL ontology containing aspects of constraint-based reasoning and teamwork. The ontology also models "reasoning steps" and the dependencies between expertise, issues and decisions. The relations between reasoning steps begin to provide a vocabulary for the exploration of different doctrines. An example of collaborative planning, execution and replanning has been used to exercise the ontology, and some initial tools have been generated as a plugin to Protégé to assist the input, analysis and diagramming of plans.

Most database researchers have studied data warehouses (DW) in their role as buffers of materialized views, mediating between update-intensive OLTP systems and query-intensive decision support. This neglects the organizational role of data warehousing ins a means of centralized information flow control. As a consequence, a large number of quality aspects relevant for data warehousing cannot be expressed with the current DW meta models. This paper makes two contributions towards solving these problems. Firstly, we enrich the meta data about DW architectures by explicit enterprise models. Secondly, many very different mathematical techniques for measuring or optimizing certain aspects of DW quality m being developed. We adapt the Goal-Question-Metric approach from software quality management to a meta data management environment in order to link these special techniques to a generic conceptual framework of DW quality. The approach has been implemented in full on top of the ConceptBase repository system and has undergone some validation by applying it to the support of specific quality-oriented methods, tools, and application projects in data warehousing.

Number of active researchers and experts, are engaged to develop and implement new mechanism and features in time varying database management system (TVDBMS), to respond to the recommendation of modern business environment.Time-varying data management has been much taken into consideration with either the attribute or tuple time stamping schema. Our main approach here is to try to offer a better solution to all mentioned limitations of existing works, in order to provide the non-procedural data definitions, queries of temporal data as complete as possible technical conversion ,that allow to easily realize and share all conceptual details of the UML class specifications, from conception and design point of view. This paper contributes to represent a logical design schema by UML class diagrams, which are handled by stereotypes to express a temporal object relational database with attribute timestamping.

Safety engineering analysis is a mandatory stage in the design of critical embedded automotive systems. The derivation of safety requirements and their verification require establishing traceability links between requirements and the different artifacts involved in the design flow. This paper presents the different steps of a method for expressing non functional requirements (safety, timing, hardware, performance) and ensuring their validation and their traceability over a design flow for automotive system design based on the conjoint use of EAST-ADL2 and MARTE languages and supported in an Eclipse platform. A specific meta-model for requirements modeling and traceability is used. The methodology is illustrated on an industrial knock-control system characterized by strict safety and temporal constraints

The security features of current middleware platforms, like Enterprise Java Beans and CORBA, are either simple and limited or complex and difficult to use. In both cases are the provided features static and do not support the flexibility needed in a wide range of applications. This paper introduces an approach to flexible security mechanisms in the context of a reflective middleware architecture. The reflective middleware OOPP is a component and capsule (container) based platform providing its reflective features through a set of distinct meta-models. Flexible security mechanisms are provided using a specialized programming language called Obol. In OOPP the flexible security mechanisms based on Obol is a subset of reflective features of the middleware platform. Obol and its machinery is a subset of one distinct aspect or meta-model of the middleware platform.

Purpose-In this paper we develop a meta model of organizational change that allows to look at change from different angles. This meta model starts from the idea that there are different discourses about organizational change, each having their own merits but also their own limitations. Bringing these discourses together into an integrated systems model allows us to capture the essence of organizational change a lot better. Design/methodology/approach-This model is designed based on a literature review of organizational theories, systems theories related to theories of organizational change and specific theories about organizational change. Findings-The literature review resulted in a systems model of organizational change that is better able to grasp the complexity of change than linear models. Originality/value-This model goes beyond the usual change models from the normative discourse and provides a multidimensional view on organizational change.

Enterprise applications range from simple Web shops to complex enterprise resource planning systems. In the area of enterprise applications, interesting research questions arise with regard to software development, system performance, stability, scalability, security, usability, and maintainability.

Ubiquitous computing has amplified the need for interactive systems to be able to adapt to their context of use (<User, Platform, Environment>) while preserving usability. This property is called plasticity. Until now, efforts have been put on the functional aspect of adaptation, neglecting the usability part of the definition. This paper investigates MDE mappings for embedding both the description and control of usability. A User Interface (UI) is a graph of models describing the UI from different perspectives ranging from user's tasks to the UI deployment on the context of use. Mappings link together these perspectives making explicit both the UI design rationale and the extent to which properties are preserved at runtime when the UI is transformed to target a new context of use. This paper provides a general definition and meta-model of mapping that are not devoted to Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). A mapping describes a transformation that preserves properties. A transformation is performed by a set of transformation functions that can be described either by a function and/or an execution trace. Mappings properties provide the designer with a means for both selecting the most appropriate transformation functions and previewing the resulting design. When applied to HCI, mappings are appropriate for both describing and controlling ergonomic criteria either at design time and/or at runtime. Abstract UI Context of use 1 : Vertical transformation : Horizontal transformation : Human Intervention Context of use 2 Concepts-Tasks Final UI Concrete UI Abstract UI VAQUITA WebRevEnge

Computer games is a form of real-time interactive software wrapped in creatively crafted media that offers game-players engaging, goal-directed play. Designing computer games requires adequate experience and great attention to detail to describe the rules, play and aesthetics that compose the interactive experience. For inexperienced game designers, formalised methods such as game design languages and game meta-models can provide a guide and language to produce a game design specification correct by design. This paper introduces a new game content model that can aid game designers document specification of game design.

Currently, Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) is considered one of the most promising approaches for software development. In this paper, a simple but complete example based on state-machines will be used to demonstrate the benefits of this approach. After defining a modelling language (meta-model) for statemachines, a graphical tool will be presented which is aimed at easing the description and validation of state-machine models. These models will then be used as inputs for another tool which will automatically generate the corresponding Ada code, including a simulation program to test the correctness and performance of the implemented application. This work has been partially funded by the Spanish CICYT project MEDWSA (TIN2006-15175-C05-02) and the PMPDI-UPCT-2006 program (Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena).

Process pattern is an emerging approach for process reuse. Representing process models based on process patterns to explicit process solutions and factor recurrent process constituents is useful for process understanding as well as process modeling. This subject, however, is still a challenge for the software process technology community. In this paper, we present a UML-based process meta-model that allows explicit representation of process patterns in process models. The novel of our proposition is to enable the application of different process knowledge kinds not only for building but also for improving process models.

The paper extends the AUTOSAR meta-model to enable feasibility predictions on the provision of faulttolerant support for application components. We focus on a fault-tolerant support based on software replication techniques. The meta-model is extended in order to evaluate different replication strategies, in terms of replication styles, types of faults to be tolerated, replicas placement. This extension is realized by a UML profile. A model-based approach is presented aiming at the definition of a so-called Application Replication View, in which a replication strategy is specified for safety critical application components. A separate model, called Application Timing View, defines timing constraints for system responses. The combination of the two views will enable schedulability analysis of the fault-tolerant application. Schedulability analysis considers the task set composed of application tasks and the additional tasks injected by replication. An automotive case study is presented showing the applicability of the approach.

A deluge of data is to be expected in the years to come. Nowadays, huge masses of data is produced every day. For example, if we take only social network users and the Internet of Things, we shall find that they generate large volumes of varied data that have to be transmitted , recorded and processed at high speed. These data are an important source of information that can improve the performance of predictions. Hence, the data are no longer in net structures, easy to consume, but they are represented in different types of structures, namely structured, semi-structured and unstructured data. At the Big Data architecture level, these different data sources are located in the Data Sources layer, which is the starting point for any further processing of Big Data. Indeed, this layer has a direct relationship with the Ingestion layer, which is in charge of validating, transforming, cleaning, reducing and integrating data that can be used later on by the Hadoop ecosystem. In this paper, we applied techniques related to Model Driven Engineering "MDE" to propose a universal Meta-modeling for both Data Sources and Ingestion Big Data layers. These meta-models are platform independent according to Model Driven Architecture pattern, which describes the structures of Data Sources and Ingestion independently from any specific platform.

This paper focuses on Web Services development presenting an approach that investigates the model-based software development towards Service-Oriented Architecture. This work explores software development based on Domain-Specific Modeling for building WSDL 2.0 meta-model. The Multiple Views CASE tool supports the development process of Web Services according to top-down approach through the creation of models at a high level of abstraction and the partial code generation. A case study in the Electronic Health domain illustrates the proposed in this work. The main contribution of the work is leverage agility and ease Web Services development process through highlevel specification based on the meta-model.

Preface VII conference. Dominik Madon did a superb job in organizing an attractive tutorial program. Luigi Zaffalon took on the difficult task of preparing the industrial track. We would also like to thank Dirk Craeynest and Ahlan Marriott, who worked very hard to make the conference prominently visible, and to all the members of the Ada-Europe board for helping with the intricate details of the organization. Special thanks go to Régis Boesch and Albena Basset, who took care of all details of the local organization.

In this era of digital revolution models are considered an important organizational resource. This demands a new approach in managing the repository of models for decision makers. This study presents a framework for meta-modeling of knowledge. The study proposes a generalized method for meta-modelbase management to use, store, and manage modeling knowledge. Further, to illustrate the application of the meta-modeling framework, we present the design and development of MetaSimModel -a knowledge-based decision support environment to organize, manage, use, and reuse modeling knowledge of simulation models in a flexible manufacturing environment. This study illustrates the use of meta-models (models that store knowledge about other models) to represent models. The ability to construct larger, composite models from reusable, pre-fabricated components plays an important role in improving productivity in a modeling environment.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) showed their insufficiencies in front of complex requests for decision-makers. Resulting of the association of the databases and the decision-making systems the decisional data processing was developed since the beginning of the 90th as a new way. The decisional databases thus emerged in order to answer the specific needs for On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) and data mining. Extensions were made to make appropriate the analysis and the algorithms to specificities of the handled spatial data. This paper describes the modeling and implementation of Spatial Data Mart (SDM). We define a formal framework for the progressive construction of spatial data warehouses by assembling these SDM. Our approach includes a meta model for SDM construction. The construction is done in accordance with the UML meta model. After the validation step, construction is followed by an automatic generation of the spatial data mart in Spatial Oracle. A CASE tool, called CASME (Computer Aided Spatial Mart Engineering), constitutes the interface through which the user will have to carry out the process.

Today's workflow systems assume that each work item is executed by a single worker. From the viewpoint of the system, a worker with the proper qualifications selects a work item, executes the associated work, and reports the result. There is usually no support for teams, i.e., groups of people collaborating by jointly executing work items (e.g., the program committee of a conference, the management team of a company, a working group, and the board of directors). In this paper, we propose the addition of a team concept to today's workflow management systems. Clearly, this involves a marriage of workflow and groupware technology. To shed light on the introduction of teams, we extend the traditional organizational meta model with teams and propose a Team-enabled Workflow Reference Model. For this reference model and to express constraints with respect to the distribution of work to teams, we use OCL (Object Constraint Language). . In the past, he has served on the faculty at Cornell University and also worked in industry. He has published nearly fifty scholarly papers in top journals and leading international conferences in the database, and distributed and intelligent information systems areas. His current research efforts are focused in workflow systems and electronic commerce.

Component-Based Software Development (CBSD) has proven to obtain highly reusable, extensible and evolvable designs. This paper presents a Model-Driven Engineering approach to CBSD which revolves around the definition of the V 3 Studio component-based meta-model and a set of graphical modeling tools implemented to support it. V 3 Studio has been designed to model the structure and behavior of a wide variety of reactive systems by means of three complementary views, namely: one for describing the components of the architecture (structural view), and two for describing their behavior (coordination and algorithmic views). Dividing the V 3 Studio meta-model into these three loosely coupled views considerably simplifies the overall design process, allowing designers to reuse previously defined models. In order to show the feasibility and the benefits of the proposal, a simple but complete case study regarding the design of a vision guided robotic system will be presented.

The selection of an appropriate inducer is crucial for performing effective classification. In previous work we presented a system called NOEMON which relied on a mapping between dataset characteristics and inducer performance to propose inducers for specific datasets. Instancebased learning was used to create that mapping. Here we extend and refine the set of data characteristics; we also use a wider range of base-level inducers and a much larger collection of datasets to create the meta-models. We compare the performance of meta-models produced by instancebased learners, decision trees and boosted decision trees. The results show that decision trees and boosted decision trees models enhance the performance of the system.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to analyse existing clinical supervision frameworks to develop a supervision meta-model. Design/methodology/approach -This research involved a thematic analysis of existing supervision frameworks used to support allied health practitioners working in rural or remote settings in Australia to identify key domains of supervision which could form the basis of supervision framework in this context. A three-tiered sampling approach of the selection of supervision frameworks ensured the direct relevance of the final domains identified to Australian rural allied health practitioners, allied health practitioners generally and to the wider area of health supervision. Thematic analysis was undertaken by Framework analysis methodology using Mindmapping software. The results were organised into a new conceptual model which places the practitioner at the centre of supervision. Findings -The review included 17 supervision frameworks, encompassing 13 domains of supervision: definitions; purpose and function; supervision models; contexts; content; Modes of engagement; Supervisor attributes; supervisory relationships; supervisor responsibilities; supervisee responsibilities; structures/process for supervision and support; facilitators and barriers; outcomes. The authors developed a reflective, supervision and support framework "Connecting Practice" that is practitioner centred, recognises the tacit and explicit knowledge that staff bring to the relationship, and enables them to identify their own goals and support networks within the context in which they work. Research limitations/implications -This is a thematic analysis of the literature which was argely based on an analysis of grey literature. Practical implications -The resulting core domains of supervision provide an evidence-based foundation for the development of clinical supervision models which can be adapted to a range of contexts. Social implications -An outcome of this paper is a framework called Connecting Practice which organises the domains of supervision in a temporal way, separating those domains that can be modified to improve the supervision framework, from those which are less easily modifiable. This approach is important to help embed the implementation of supervision and support into organisational practice. This paper adds to the existing growing body of work around supervision by helping understand the domains or components that make up the supervisory experience. Originality/value -Connecting Practice replaces traditional, more hierarchical models of supervision to put the practitioner at the centre of a personalised supervision and support network.

Business strategy is aimed to support the vision of an enterprise, by paving the way to achieve it through goals that direct the strategy's execution. However, there is a lack of means to establish and assess the alignment of business strategy and goal oriented requirements engineering. The objective of our ongoing research is to model business strategy in order to establish well-defined and traceable links with system requirements. In this paper, we propose a business strategy metamodel for Strategy maps and Balanced Scorecards. The validity of the meta-model is tested through a case scenario using OWL and Telos.