Search

OntoUML is a promising method for ontological modelling. In this paper, we discuss its possible use for software engineering. We propose a method of transformation of an ontological model into a software-engineering object-oriented class model in UML and its instantiation. Our approach is based on the following best practices: pure object-oriented paradigm and approach of dividing state and identity as introduced in the Clojure programming language.

Slicing is a reduction technique that has been applied to class models to support model comprehension, analysis, and other modeling activities. In particular, slicing techniques can be used to produce class model fragments that include only those elements needed to analyze semantic properties of interest. In this paper we describe a class model slicing approach that takes into consideration invariants and operation contracts expressed in the Object Constraint Language OCL. The approach is used to produce model fragments, each of which consists of only the model elements needed to analyze specified properties. We use the slicing approach to support a technique for analyzing sequences of operation invocations to uncover invariant violations. The slicing technique is used to produce model fragments that can be analyzed separately. The preliminary evaluation we performed provides evidence that the proposed slicing technique can significantly reduce the time to perform the analysis.

One interesting problem in data integration is, when users submit a query in one domain, he may also want to know more information in other domains which haven't come up to his or her mind yet. It's a great idea to recommend correlated domains to users so that they could get more information. However, the existing researches in solving this problem are quite rare and limited. In this paper, we propose a method of selecting query paths, and the query paths consist of correlated domains. We propose an entity class model which is based to construct a domain correlation graph, and query paths are picked based on the graph. At last we evaluate our method by experiments and demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.

When applying model checking to the design models of the embedded systems, it is necessary to model not only the behavior of the target system but also that of the environment interacting with the system. In this paper, we present a method to model the environment and to automatically generate all possible environments from the model. In our method, we can flexibly model the structural variation of the environment and the sequences of the function calls using a class model and statechart models. We also present a tool to generate Promela scripts of SPIN from the environment model. As a practical experiment, we applied our tool to the verification of an OSEK/VDX RTOS design model.

Static analysis tools, such as OCLE and USE, can be used to analyze structural properties of class models. The USE tool also provides support for analyzing specified operations through interactive simulations in which users provide operation parameters, and manually assign values to state elements to reflect the effect of an operation. In this paper we describe an approach to statically analyzing behavior that does not require a user to manually simulate behavior. The approach involves transforming a class model into a static model of behavior, called a Snapshot Model. A Snapshot Model characterizes sequences of snapshots, where a snapshot describes an application state. A scenario describing a sequence of operation invocations can be verified against a Snapshot Model using tools such as USE and OCLE. We illustrate our approach by verifying a scenario against a Snapshot Model that describes the behavior of some operations in a role-based access control (RBAC) application.

Whilst research has indicated that the practitioner use of entity-relationship modelling is problematic, proponents of object oriented modelling suggest that their paradigm offers both a new approach and also more effective modelling. This paper examines some practitioner perceptions of one object oriented modelling technique in the context of previous work on entity-relationship modelling. The findings show that there are similar practitioner issues arising from common underlying techniques and that object oriented modelling is problematic when used with project clients. However, the suggestion is that object oriented practitioners are not gaining insight from practitioner experience from more than twenty years of entity-relationship modelling practice.