Regina M. M. Braga

The use of mediation and ontology technologies for software component information retrieval

Component Based Developed aims at constructing software through the inter-relationship between pre-existing components. However, these components should be bound to a specific application domain in order to be effectively reused. Reusable domain components and Their related documentation are usually stored in a great variety of data sources. Thus, a possible solution for accessing this information is to use a software layer that integrates different component information sources. We present a component information integration data layer, based on mediators. Through mediators, domain ontology acts as a technique/formalism for specifying ontological commitments or agreements between component users and providers, enabling more accurate software component information search.

Using ontologies for domain information retrieval

The main objective of domain engineering is to provide domain information that helps the specification of domain applications. Some applications need to reuse information from multiple domains. Currently, there are several Domain Engineering methods that provide domain information using different representations that are stored in various formats. Due to the costs involved in a domain engineering initiative, it is important to be able to access all available domain information. This paper describes a retrieval agent system that provides access to information from multiple domains, regardless of its heterogeneity or distribution. Domain ontologies and an evolutionary model of the users interests are some of the basic concepts used by the system to help users identify and retrieve relevant domain information.

Odyssey: a reuse environment based on domain models

This paper presents a reuse based software development environment that provides support to component-based software development (CBD) within certain domains, named Odyssey. Object-oriented frameworks, software architectures, artificial intelligence techniques, domain engineering, and mediators are some of the technologies used by Odyssey.

CelOWS: An ontology based framework for the provision of semantic web services related to biological models

The amount of information generated by biological research has lead to an intensive use of models. Mathematical and computational modeling needs accurate description to share, reuse and simulate models as formulated by original authors. In this paper, we introduce the Cell Component Ontology (CelO), expressed in OWL-DL. This ontology captures both the structure of a cell model and the properties of functional components. We use this ontology in a Web project (CelOWS) to describe, query and compose CellML models, using semantic web services. It aims to improve reuse and composition of existent components and allow semantic validation of new models.

Odyssey-Search: A multi-agent system for component information search and retrieval

Component Based Development aims at constructing software through the integration of components by using interfaces and contracts among them. However, these components should be bound to a specific application domain in order to be effectively reused. Domain Engineering and Component Based Engineering are adequate techniques to develop components related to specific domains. A solution for accessing domain information, including components, is to use a software layer that integrates different component information sources. This paper presents OSE, a search and retrieval system that provides heterogeneous/distributed access and storage to domain component information. Ideas drawn from the field of agents, user modeling, hypermedia, and mediation were combined to develop the OSE system. An evolutionary model of the user interests, ontologies and a base of rules are some of the underlying concepts of the system that help users to identify relevant domain information. Hence, the main contribution of OSE is to provide a new approach for accessing software components. Our innovative aspect is to provide flexibility, transparency and accuracy in software component retrieval, by using a multi-agent system approach. A case study conducted in the legislative domain has evidenced the advantages of our system.

OdysseyShare: an environment for collaborative component-based development

Automated support such as the one provided by software development environments (SDEs) is a key requirement for the systematization of large-scale component-based software development. However, to provide a component-based SDE, adequate software development process, methods and tools that consider component-based development (CBD) activities must be previously defined. Moreover, CBD can be a highly distributed and collaborative activity that needs group interaction support. In this paper, we describe OdysseyShare environment, a collaborative component-based SDE under development at the Computer Science Department of COPPE/UFRJ. It supports activities involved in modeling, construction, reuse and group interaction by providing an integrated set of tools and a repository of reusable components.

Composer-Science: A semantic service based framework for workflow composition in e-Science projects

An important element in e-Science research is scientific workflow which is, in general, very long and composed of many computations, and represents a scientific process. Generally, a scientific workflow is difficult to define. One way to define it is using tools that aggregate semantics to assist in composition. In this context, this paper presents a proposal that aims to make composition of scientific workflows possible, considering semantic search of Web services and incorporating them into workflow definition.

Towards pragmatic interoperability to support collaboration

Context: Many researchers have argued that providing interoperability support only considering the format and meaning (i.e. syntax and semantic) of data exchange is not enough to achieve complete, effective and meaningful collaboration. Pragmatic interoperability has been highlighted as a key requirement to enhance collaboration. However, fulfilling this requirement is not a trivial task and there is a lack of works discussing solutions to achieve this level of interoperability.Objectives: The aim of this study is to present a systematic review and mapping of the literature in order to identify, analyse and classify the published solutions to achieve pragmatic interoperability.Method: To conduct a systematic review and mapping in accordance with the guidelines proposed in the evidence-based software engineering literature.Results: Our study identified 13 papers reporting pragmatic interoperability computational solutions. The first paper in our set of selected papers was published in 2004; the main strategies used to address pragmatic interoperability issues were service discovery, composition and/or selection and ontologies. The application domain of the identified solutions was mainly e-business. In addition, most of the identified solutions were software architectures.Conclusion: Mature proposals addressing pragmatic interoperability are still rare in the literature. Although many works have discussed the importance of pragmatic interoperability, it is necessary that researchers report solutions that implement and evaluate pragmatic interoperability in order to make progress in this area.

A Scientific Software Product Line for the Bioinformatics domain

CONTEXT Most specialized users (scientists) that use bioinformatics applications do not have suitable training on software development. Software Product Line (SPL) employs the concept of reuse considering that it is defined as a set of systems that are developed from a common set of base artifacts. In some contexts, such as in bioinformatics applications, it is advantageous to develop a collection of related software products, using SPL approach. If software products are similar enough, there is the possibility of predicting their commonalities, differences and then reuse these common features to support the development of new applications in the bioinformatics area. OBJECTIVES This paper presents the PL-Science approach which considers the context of SPL and ontology in order to assist scientists to define a scientific experiment, and to specify a workflow that encompasses bioinformatics applications of a given experiment. This paper also focuses on the use of ontologies to enable the use of Software Product Line in biological domains. METHOD In the context of this paper, Scientific Software Product Line (SSPL) differs from the Software Product Line due to the fact that SSPL uses an abstract scientific workflow model. This workflow is defined according to a scientific domain and using this abstract workflow model the products (scientific applications/algorithms) are instantiated. RESULTS Through the use of ontology as a knowledge representation model, we can provide domain restrictions as well as add semantic aspects in order to facilitate the selection and organization of bioinformatics workflows in a Scientific Software Product Line. The use of ontologies enables not only the expression of formal restrictions but also the inferences on these restrictions, considering that a scientific domain needs a formal specification. CONCLUSIONS This paper presents the development of the PL-Science approach, encompassing a methodology and an infrastructure, and also presents an approach evaluation. This evaluation presents case studies in bioinformatics, which were conducted in two renowned research institutions in Brazil.

PL-Science: A Scientific Software Product Line☆

Abstract A way to improve reusability and maintainability of a family of software products is through the use of Software Product Line (SPL) approach. Software families, also named SPLs, are a set of software intensive systems sharing a common set of features which are managed to satisfy specific needs of a particular market segment or mission and that are developed from a common set of core assets in a prescribed way. This paper presents the PL-Science approach that considers the context of SPL and aims to assist scientists to define a scientific experiment, specifying a workflow that encompasses scientific applications of a given experiment. Using SPL concepts, scientists can reuse models that specify the scientific product line, and carefully can make decisions according to their needs. In the context of this paper, Scientific Software Product Lines (SSPL) differs from the Software Product Lines (SPL) due to the fact that SSPL uses an abstract scientific workflow model. This workflow is defined according to a scientific domain and, using this abstract workflow model, the products (scientific applications/algorithms) will be instantiated. This paper also focuses on the use of ontologies to facilitate the process of applying Software Product Line (SPL) to scientific domains. Through the use of ontology as a domain model, we can provide additional information as well as add more semantics in the context of Scientific Software Product Lines (SSPL).