Uma abordagem dirigida por modelos para desenvolvimento de middlewares auto-adaptativos para transmissão de fluxo de dados baseado em restrições de QoS

The use of middleware technology in various types of systems, in order to abstract low-level details related to the distribution of application logic, is increasingly common. Among several systems that can be benefited from using these components, we highlight the distributed systems, where it is necessary to allow communications between software components located on different physical machines. An important issue related to the communication between distributed components is the provision of mechanisms for managing the quality of service. This work presents a metamodel for modeling middlewares based on components in order to provide to an application the abstraction of a communication between components involved in a data stream, regardless their location. Another feature of the metamodel is the possibility of self-adaptation related to the communication mechanism, either by updating the values of its configuration parameters, or by its replacement by another mechanism, in case of the restrictions of quality of service specified are not being guaranteed. In this respect, it is planned the monitoring of the communication state (application of techniques like feedback control loop), analyzing performance metrics related. The paradigm of Model Driven Development was used to generate the implementation of a middleware that will serve as proof of concept of the metamodel, and the configuration and reconfiguration policies related to the dynamic adaptation processes. In this sense was defined the metamodel associated to the process of a communication configuration. The MDD application also corresponds to the definition of the following transformations: the architectural model of the middleware in Java code, and the configuration model to XML

Midgard: um middleware baseado em componentes e orientado a recursos para redes de sensores sem fio

On the last years, several middleware platforms for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) were proposed. Most of these platforms does not consider issues of how integrate components from generic middleware architectures. Many requirements need to be considered in a middleware design for WSN and the design, in this case, it is possibility to modify the source code of the middleware without changing the external behavior of the middleware. Thus, it is desired that there is a middleware generic architecture that is able to offer an optimal configuration according to the requirements of the application. The adoption of middleware based in component model consists of a promising approach because it allows a better abstraction, low coupling, modularization and management features built-in middleware. Another problem present in current middleware consists of treatment of interoperability with external networks to sensor networks, such as Web. Most current middleware lacks the functionality to access the data provided by the WSN via the World Wide Web in order to treat these data as Web resources, and they can be accessed through protocols already adopted the World Wide Web. Thus, this work presents the Midgard, a component-based middleware specifically designed for WSNs, which adopts the architectural patterns microkernel and REST. The microkernel architectural complements the component model, since microkernel can be understood as a component that encapsulates the core system and it is responsible for initializing the core services only when needed, as well as remove them when are no more needed. Already REST defines a standardized way of communication between different applications based on standards adopted by the Web and enables him to treat WSN data as web resources, allowing them to be accessed through protocol already adopted in the World Wide Web. The main goals of Midgard are: (i) to provide easy Web access to data generated by WSN, exposing such data as Web resources, following the principles of Web of Things paradigm and (ii) to provide WSN application developer with capabilities to instantiate only specific services required by the application, thus generating a customized middleware and saving node resources. The Midgard allows use the WSN as Web resources and still provide a cohesive and weakly coupled software architecture, addressing interoperability and customization. In addition, Midgard provides two services needed for most WSN applications: (i) configuration and (ii) inspection and adaptation services. New services can be implemented by others and easily incorporated into the middleware, because of its flexible and extensible architecture. According to the assessment, the Midgard provides interoperability between the WSN and external networks, such as web, as well as between different applications within a single WSN. In addition, we assessed the memory consumption, the application image size, the size of messages exchanged in the network, and response time, overhead and scalability on Midgard. During the evaluation, the Midgard proved satisfies their goals and shown to be scalable without consuming resources prohibitively

Aspectos clínicos e laboratoriais em ovinos submetidos a dietas com níveis elevados de enxofre com objetivo de indução de polioencefalomalácia

A polioencefalomalacia (PEM) é uma doença neurológica que acomete ruminantes e pode ser desencadeada por diversos fatores, dentre eles o consumo excessivo de enxofre. Este trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a relação entre dietas ricas em enxofre, altos níveis de gás sulfídrico ruminal e a ocorrência de polioencefalomalácia em ovinos. Foram utilizados 18 ovinos, divididos em três grupos (G1, G2 e G3) que receberam diferentes níveis de enxofre na dieta; 0,2%, 0,9% e 1,2%, respectivamente. Exames físicos (frequência cardíaca, frequência respiratória, temperatura retal e motricidade ruminal) e complementares (concentração de sulfeto de hidrogênio ruminal, hemogasometria venosa, pH do fluído ruminal, concentração de cobre sérico e hepático, tomografia computadorizada, necropsia e histopatologia) foram realizados. A temperatura retal, a hemogasometria venosa e o pH do fluido ruminal permaneceram dentro dos valores de referência para a espécie. A motricidade ruminal estava diminuída nos grupos G2 e G3 em comparação com o G1 (controle). Quanto maior a ingestão de enxofre, menores foram os níveis de cobre sérico e hepático. Valores elevados de sulfeto de hidrogênio ruminal foram detectados nos grupos G2 e G3. Nenhum animal apresentou sinais clínicos de PEM. Nos exames de tomografia computadorizada, necropsia e exame histopatológico do sistema nervoso central (SNC), não foram observadas alterações compatíveis com PEM. É provável que algum outro fator esteja associado ao excesso de enxofre na dieta para o desenvolvimento de PEM em ovinos.

Uma abordagem dirigida por modelos para gerência de variabilidade e execução de processos de software

This dissertation presents a model-driven and integrated approach to variability management, customization and execution of software processes. Our approach is founded on the principles and techniques of software product lines and model-driven engineering. Model-driven engineering provides support to the specification of software processes and their transformation to workflow specifications. Software product lines techniques allows the automatic variability management of process elements and fragments. Additionally, in our approach, workflow technologies enable the process execution in workflow engines. In order to evaluate the approach feasibility, we have implemented it using existing model-driven engineering technologies. The software processes are specified using Eclipse Process Framework (EPF). The automatic variability management of software processes has been implemented as an extension of an existing product derivation tool. Finally, ATL and Acceleo transformation languages are adopted to transform EPF process to jPDL workflow language specifications in order to enable the deployment and execution of software processes in the JBoss BPM workflow engine. The approach is evaluated through the modeling and modularization of the project management discipline of the Open Unified Process (OpenUP)

Uma abordagem sistemática para implementação, gerenciamento e customização de testes de linhas de produto de software

Through the adoption of the software product line (SPL) approach, several benefits are achieved when compared to the conventional development processes that are based on creating a single software system at a time. The process of developing a SPL differs from traditional software construction, since it has two essential phases: the domain engineering - when common and variables elements of the SPL are defined and implemented; and the application engineering - when one or more applications (specific products) are derived from the reuse of artifacts created in the domain engineering. The test activity is also fundamental and aims to detect defects in the artifacts produced in SPL development. However, the characteristics of an SPL bring new challenges to this activity that must be considered. Several approaches have been recently proposed for the testing process of product lines, but they have been shown limited and have only provided general guidelines. In addition, there is also a lack of tools to support the variability management and customization of automated case tests for SPLs. In this context, this dissertation has the goal of proposing a systematic approach to software product line testing. The approach offers: (i) automated SPL test strategies to be applied in the domain and application engineering, (ii) explicit guidelines to support the implementation and reuse of automated test cases at the unit, integration and system levels in domain and application engineering; and (iii) tooling support for automating the variability management and customization of test cases. The approach is evaluated through its application in a software product line for web systems. The results of this work have shown that the proposed approach can help the developers to deal with the challenges imposed by the characteristics of SPLs during the testing process

Desenvolvimento de chatterbots educacionais: um estudo de caso voltado ao ensino de algoritmos

In development of Synthetic Agents for Education, the doubt still resides about what would be a behavior that could be considered, in fact, plausible for this agent's type, which can be considered as effective on the transmission of the knowledge by the agent and the function of emotions this process. The purpose of this labor has an investigative nature in an attempt to discover what aspects are important for this behavior consistent and practical development of a chatterbot with the function of virtual tutor, within the context of learning algorithms. In this study, we explained the agents' basics, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, bots, chatterbots and how these systems need to provide credibility to report on their behavior. Models of emotions, personality and humor to computational agents are also covered, as well as previous studies by other researchers at the area. After that, the prototype is detailed, the research conducted, a summary of results achieved, the architectural model of the system, vision of computing and macro view of the features implemented.

KitSmart: Uma biblioteca de componentes para o desenvolvimento rigoroso de aplicações Java Card com o método B

The development of smart card applications requires a high level of reliability. Formal methods provide means for this reliability to be achieved. The BSmart method and tool contribute to the development of smart card applications with the support of the B method, generating Java Card code from B specifications. For the development with BSmart to be effectively rigorous without overloading the user it is important to have a library of reusable components built in B. The goal of KitSmart is to provide this support. A first research about the composition of this library was a graduation work from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, made by Thiago Dutra in 2006. This first version of the kit resulted in a specification of Java Card primitive types byte, short and boolean in B and the creation of reusable components for application development. This work provides an improvement of KitSmart with the addition of API Java Card specification made in B and a guide for the creation of new components. The API Java Card in B, besides being available to be used for development of applications, is also useful as a documentation of each API class. The reusable components correspond to modules to manipulate specific structures, such as date and time. These structures are not available for B or Java Card. These components for Java Card are generated from specifications formally verified in B. The guide contains quick reference on how to specify some structures and how some situations were adapted from object-orientation to the B Method. This work was evaluated through a case study made through the BSmart tool, that makes use of the KitSmart library. In this case study, it is possible to see the contribution of the components in a B specification. This kit should be useful for B method users and Java Card application developers

X-ARM: um modelo de representação de artefatos de software

A great challenge of the Component Based Development is the creation of mechanisms to facilitate the finding of reusable assets that fulfill the requirements of a particular system under development. In this sense, some component repositories have been proposed in order to answer such a need. However, repositories need to represent the asset characteristics that can be taken into account by the consumers when choosing the more adequate assets for their needs. In such a context, the literature presents some models proposed to describe the asset characteristics, such as identification, classification, non-functional requirements, usage and deployment information and component interfaces. Nevertheless, the set of characteristics represented by those models is insufficient to describe information used before, during and after the asset acquisition. This information refers to negotiation, certification, change history, adopted development process, events, exceptions and so on. In order to overcome this gap, this work proposes an XML-based model to represent several characteristics, of different asset types, that may be employed in the component-based development. Besides representing metadata used by consumers, useful for asset discovering, acquisition and usage, this model, called X-ARM, also focus on helping asset developers activities. Since the proposed model represents an expressive amount of information, this work also presents a tool called X-Packager, developed with the goal of helping asset description with X-ARM

Sistema de apoio à interatividade em revisões sistemáticas em engenharia de software

A colaboração na pesquisa é uma das tarefas centrais da área acadêmica. Atualmente, muitos pesquisadores estão utilizando meios modernos de troca de arquivos digitais através de ferramentas assíncronas e também com o uso de ferramentas mais sofisticadas, do tipo síncronas. Juntamente com o fato da crescente quantidade de artigos sendo gerados, mais complexos, diversificados e aumentando de forma desorganizada, o que trás ao pesquisador uma tarefa difícil para organizá-los de forma a se extrair o melhor conteúdo destes, isto ocorre porque uma subárea da Engenharia de Software (ES) ainda é bastante mal aproveitada, a Engenharia de Software Experimental (ESE). Utilizando-se de um dos tipos de experimentos que a ESE oferece, as revisões sistemáticas entram como uma solução bastante robusta, na qual o pesquisador pode identificar o conhecimento existente em uma área e planejar devidamente sua pesquisa, evitando a repetição de erros em pesquisas já efetivadas por outros pesquisadores no passado. Contudo, estas duas abordagens, a colaboração virtual de pesquisadores e a utilização de revisões sistemáticas, contem problemas: na primeira, sistemas colaborativos são geralmente difíceis de configurar e usar; na segunda, apesar da robustez da metodologia de revisões sistemáticas, ainda se torna necessário uma rigorosa revisão na literatura para se conseguir um resultado satisfatório. Assim, com o foco de unir estas duas abordagens, este trabalho propõe uma maneira de produzir revisões sistemáticas de forma organizada e com a possibilidade de interação entre usuários, com o desenvolvimento de um sistema interativo, no qual as revisões sistemáticas possam ser geradas por usuários em colaboração com outros e também ser avaliadas seguindo a orientação de um profissional da área, tornando o seu conteúdo mais consistente e de melhor qualidade. O sistema não possui níveis de acesso, ou seja, qualquer pessoa pode se cadastrar e usufruir de seus recursos, seja na área acadêmica ou mesmo na área profissional

Um método para desenvolvimento de abordagens generativas com composição de linguagens específicas de domínio

The software systems development with domain-specific languages has become increasingly common. Domain-specific languages (DSLs) provide increased of the domain expressiveness, raising the abstraction level by facilitating the generation of models or low-level source code, thus increasing the productivity of systems development. Consequently, methods for the development of software product lines and software system families have also proposed the adoption of domain-specific languages. Recent studies have investigated the limitations of feature model expressiveness and proposing the use of DSLs as a complement or substitute for feature model. However, in complex projects, a single DSL is often insufficient to represent the different views and perspectives of development, being necessary to work with multiple DSLs. In order to address new challenges in this context, such as the management of consistency between DSLs, and the need to methods and tools that support the development with multiple DSLs, over the past years, several approaches have been proposed for the development of generative approaches. However, none of them considers matters relating to the composition of DSLs. Thus, with the aim to address this problem, the main objectives of this dissertation are: (i) to investigate the adoption of the integrated use of feature models and DSLs during the domain and application engineering of the development of generative approaches; (ii) to propose a method for the development of generative approaches with composition DSLs; and (iii) to investigate and evaluate the usage of modern technology based on models driven engineering to implement strategies of integration between feature models and composition of DSLs

STREAM-AP: um processo para sistematizar a escolha de padrões arquiteturais baseado em requisitos não-funcionais

The importance of non-functional requirements for computer systems is increasing. Satisfying these requirements requires special attention to the software architecture, since an unsuitable architecture introduces greater complexity in addition to the intrinsic complexity of the system. Some studies have shown that, despite requirements engineering and software architecture activities act on different aspects of development, they must be performed iteratively and intertwined to produce satisfactory software systems. The STREAM process presents a systematic approach to reduce the gap between requirements and architecture development, emphasizing the functional requirements, but using the non-functional requirements in an ad hoc way. However, non-functional requirements typically influence the system as a whole. Thus, the STREAM uses Architectural Patterns to refine the software architecture. These patterns are chosen by using non-functional requirements in an ad hoc way. This master thesis presents a process to improve STREAM in making the choice of architectural patterns systematic by using non-functional requirements, in order to guide the refinement of a software architecture

Ambientes residenciais controlados por dispositivos móveis: estudo, concepção e desenvolvimento de um aplicativo considerando a diversidade

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

Aprendizagem da língua japonesa apoiada por ferramentas computacionais: estudo e desenvolvimento do jogo Karuchā Ships Invaders

The use of technology tools for teaching and learning has grown increasingly in our daily life. In this context, a branch that has had tremendous growth is the area of teaching and learning language through computational tools. The study of CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning), accomplished in this research, aims to evaluate existing tools in this context, focused specifically on the Japanese language; and from this study, accomplish the development of a new computational tool that can assist teaching/learning of the Japanese language. As results, we present a wide survey on the subject in various technologies/devices, as well as the complete development process of a new tool, the Karuchā Ships Invaders game, that proposes to teach basic concepts of the language, blended with entertainment, and still, focusing on the Brazilian students of Japanese language audience. We will present all the concept phases of the game and its evolution through the research, as well as an interface evaluation. Still, we present proposal and validation of a method to evaluate motivational aspects of computational tools with educational focus, and results extracted from an experiment accomplished with prospective users

Interação gestual em ambiente residencial: estudo, concepção e desenvolvimento

Control and automation of residential environments domotics is emerging area of computing application. The development of computational systems for domotics is complex, due to the diversity of potential users, and because it is immerse in a context of emotional relationships and familiar construction. Currently, the focus of the development of this kind of system is directed, mainly, to physical and technological aspects. Due to the fact, gestural interaction in the present research is investigated under the view of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). First, we approach the subject through the construction of a conceptual framework for discussion of challenges from the area, integrated to the dimensions: people, interaction mode and domotics. A further analysis of the domain is accomplished using the theoretical-methodological referential of Organizational Semiotics. After, we define recommendations to the diversity that base/inspire the inclusive design, guided by physical, perceptual and cognitive abilities, which aim to better represent the concerned diversity. Although developers have the support of gestural recognition technologies that help a faster development, these professionals face another difficulty by not restricting the gestural commands of the application to the standard gestures provided by development frameworks. Therefore, an abstraction of the gestural interaction was idealized through a formalization, described syntactically by construction blocks that originates a grammar of the gestural interaction and, semantically, approached under the view of the residential system. So, we define a set of metrics grounded in the recommendations that are described with information from the preestablished grammar, and still, we conceive and implement in Java, under the foundation of this grammar, a residential system based on gestural interaction for usage with Microsoft Kinect. Lastly, we accomplish an experiment with potential end users of the system, aiming to better analyze the research results

O turismo de base local como um possível indutor de desenvolvimento rural: uma análise da realidade e das potencialidades no distrito de dondo-moçambique

The current debate on rural development focuses on the territorial approach, recognizing the multifunctional character of rural areas. Emphasize the use of endogenous forces, the need of implement policies which valorize local specificities, the participation of social actors in revitalization of rural areas. In this context tourism enters as a means to induce a new dynamic to rural areas, since the activity is regarded as a channel for the upgrading of the natural and cultural resources and the rural way of life. This study focuses on local-based tourism as a promoter of rural development, giving an analysis of the social reality and potential for this tourism in the district of Dondo. In it, is proposed to analyze the potential for development of local-based tourism in the district of Dondo, assessing the extent to which local reality enables the inclusion of the community in the management of local tourism resources. For this, was showed the inclusion of local-based tourism in the current context of rural development, was identified and organized systematically the factors that influence the implementation of local-based tourism in the study area and was verified as far as possible the study area corresponds to the constraints identified, showing how local-based tourism can best been encouraged. Was adopted a qualitative methodological approach to both the procedures and data processing, but also by critical approach, using bibliographical research, semi-structured interviews that fell on the group of public administrators who work in tourism and community leaders. The critical analysis was based on the principles of sustainability o Sachs particular ecological, social, cultural, economic, space, beyond the analysis of political and institutional aspects. The survey results show that the district of Dondo has a potential for implementing a model of tourism development on a local basis, since it is rich in natural and cultural research, benefits from good network accessibility in the context of the market in the region, the population live according to their habits and customs and value their identity. There is also a good cooperation between community members, although not in tourism, a fact which is observed through the lever of community participation in associations, cooperatives, working in areas such as agriculture, fishing, environment, civic education etc. It also has public funding sources to augment or stimulate local investment. Despite obstacles such as inexistence of policies and local plans for tourism development, lack of awareness of tourism, lack of basic infrastructure, as well as equipment and facilities to support tourism, the results shows that these problems can be solved through a public commitment from both government, and community through a joint planning and participation