Improving automation in model-driven engineering using examples

Cette thèse a pour but d’améliorer l’automatisation dans l’ingénierie dirigée par les modèles (MDE pour Model Driven Engineering). MDE est un paradigme qui promet de réduire la complexité du logiciel par l’utilisation intensive de modèles et des transformations automatiques entre modèles (TM). D’une façon simplifiée, dans la vision du MDE, les spécialistes utilisent plusieurs modèles pour représenter un logiciel, et ils produisent le code source en transformant automatiquement ces modèles. Conséquemment, l’automatisation est un facteur clé et un principe fondateur de MDE. En plus des TM, d’autres activités ont besoin d’automatisation, e.g. la définition des langages de modélisation et la migration de logiciels. Dans ce contexte, la contribution principale de cette thèse est de proposer une approche générale pour améliorer l’automatisation du MDE. Notre approche est basée sur la recherche méta-heuristique guidée par les exemples. Nous appliquons cette approche sur deux problèmes importants de MDE, (1) la transformation des modèles et (2) la définition précise de langages de modélisation. Pour le premier problème, nous distinguons entre la transformation dans le contexte de la migration et les transformations générales entre modèles. Dans le cas de la migration, nous proposons une méthode de regroupement logiciel (Software Clustering) basée sur une méta-heuristique guidée par des exemples de regroupement. De la même façon, pour les transformations générales, nous apprenons des transformations entre modèles en utilisant un algorithme de programmation génétique qui s’inspire des exemples des transformations passées. Pour la définition précise de langages de modélisation, nous proposons une méthode basée sur une recherche méta-heuristique, qui dérive des règles de bonne formation pour les méta-modèles, avec l’objectif de bien discriminer entre modèles valides et invalides. Les études empiriques que nous avons menées, montrent que les approches proposées obtiennent des bons résultats tant quantitatifs que qualitatifs. Ceux-ci nous permettent de conclure que l’amélioration de l’automatisation du MDE en utilisant des méthodes de recherche méta-heuristique et des exemples peut contribuer à l’adoption plus large de MDE dans l’industrie à là venir.

NGOs, elite capture and community-driven development: perspectives in rural Mozambique

This article examines the problems of elite capture in community driven development (CDD). Drawing on two case studies of non-governmental organisation (NGO) intervention in rural Mozambique, the authors consider two important variables – 1) the diverse and complex contributions of local elites to CDD in different locations, and 2) the roles that non-elites play in monitoring and controlling leader activities – to argue that donors should be cautious about automatically assuming the prevalence of malevolent patrimonialism and its ill-effects in their projects. This is because the ‘checks and balances’ on elite behaviour that exist within locally-defined and historically-rooted forms of community-based governance are likely to be more effective than those introduced by the external intervener.

QoS-aware model driven architecture through the UML and CIM

The specification of Quality of Service (QoS) constraints over software design requires measures that ensure such requirements are met by the delivered product. Achieving this goal is non-trivial, as it involves, at least, identifying how QoS constraint specifications should be checked at the runtime. In this paper we present an implementation of a Model Driven Architecture (MDA) based framework for the runtime monitoring of QoS properties. We incorporate the UML2 superstructure and the UML profile for Quality of Service to provide abstract descriptions of component-and-connector systems. We then define transformations that refine the UML2 models to conform with the Distributed Management Taskforce (DMTF) Common Information Model (CIM) (Distributed Management Task Force Inc. 2006), a schema standard for management and instrumentation of hardware and software. Finally, we provide a mapping the CIM metamodel to a .NET-based metamodel for implementation of the monitoring infrastructure utilising various .NET features including the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interface.

The inhibition of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase as a model for development of novel antimicrobials

EPSP synthase (EPSPS) is an essential enzyme in the shikimate pathway, transferring the enolpyruvyl group of phosphoenolpyruvate to shikimate-3-phosphate to form 5-enolpyruvyl-3-shikimate phosphate and inorganic phosphate. This enzyme is composed of two domains, which are formed by three copies of βαβαββ-folding units; in between there are two crossover chain segments hinging the nearly topologically symmetrical domains together and allowing conformational changes necessary for substrate conversion. The reaction is ordered with shikimate-3-phosphate binding first, followed by phosphoenolpyruvate, and then by the subsequent release of phosphate and EPSP. N-[phosphomethyl]glycine (glyphosate) is the commercial inhibitor of this enzyme. Apparently, the binding of shikimate-3-phosphate is necessary for glyphosate binding, since it induces the closure of the two domains to form the active site in the interdomain cleft. However, it is somehow controversial whether binding of shikimate-3-phosphate alone is enough to induce the complete conversion to the closed state. The phosphoenolpyruvate binding site seems to be located mainly on the C-terminal domain, while the binding site of shikimate-3-phosphate is located primarily in the N-terminal domain residues. However, recent results demonstrate that the active site of the enzyme undergoes structural changes upon inhibitor binding on a scale that cannot be predicted by conventional computational methods. Studies of molecular docking based on the interaction of known EPSPS structures with (R)- phosphonate TI analogue reveal that more experimental data on the structure and dynamics of various EPSPS-ligand complexes are needed to more effectively apply structure-based drug design of this enzyme in the future. © 2007 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

Enterprise systems modeling: The ERP5 development process

The design and implementation of an ERP system involves capturing the information necessary for implementing the system's structure and behavior that support enterprise management. This process should start on the enterprise modeling level and finish at the coding level, going down through different abstraction layers. For the case of Free/Open Source ERP, the lack of proper modeling methods and tools jeopardizes the advantages of source code availability. Moreover, the distributed, decentralized decision-making, and source-code driven development culture of open source communities, generally doesn't rely on methods for modeling the higher abstraction levels necessary for an ERP solution. The aim of this paper is to present a model driven development process for the open source ERP ERP5. The proposed process covers the different abstraction levels involved, taking into account well established standards and common practices, as well as new approaches, by supplying Enterprise, Requirements, Analysis, Design, and Implementation workflows. Copyright 2008 ACM.

Public-private partnerships for innovation and export development: the Irish model of development

Includes Bibliography