Process design artifacts have been increasingly used to guide the modeling of business processes. To support users in designing and understanding process models, different process artifacts have been combined in several ways leading to the emergence of the so-called “hybrid process artifacts”. While many hybrid artifacts have been proposed in the literature, little is known about how they can actually

The existing tools that aim to derive data models from business process models are typically able to process the source models represented by one single notation and also serialized in one specific way. However, the standards (e.g., BPMN) enable different serialization formats and also provide serialization flexibility, which leads to various implementations of the standard in different modeling tools

The increasing complexity of reactive systems can be mitigated with the use of components and composition languages in model-driven engineering. Designing composition languages is a challenge itself as both practical applicability (support for different composition approaches in various application domains), and precise formal semantics (support for verification and code generation) have to be taken

High-tech companies are struggling today with the maintenance of legacy software. Legacy software is vital to many organizations as it contains the important business logic. To facilitate maintenance of legacy software, a comprehensive understanding of the software’s behavior is essential. In terms of component-based software engineering, it is necessary to completely understand the behavior of components

Engineering of modern embedded systems requires complex technical, managerial and operational processes. To cope with the complexity, modeling is a commonly used approach in the embedded software industry. The modeling approaches in embedded software vary since the characteristics of modeling such as purpose, medium type and life cycle phase differ among systems and industrial sectors. The objective

Model checking is an effective way to verify behaviours of an agent-based simulation system. Three behaviours are analysed: operational, control, and global behaviours. Global behaviours of a system emerge from operational behaviours of local components regulated by control behaviours of the system. The previous works principally focus on verifying the system from the operational point of view (operational

Product line engineering (PLE) has been employed to large-scale cyber-physical systems (CPSs) to provide customization based on users’ needs. A PLE methodology can be characterized by its support for capturing and managing the abstractions as commonalities and variabilities and the automation of the configuration process for effective selection and customization of reusable artifacts. The automation

Journalism relies more and more on information and communication technology (ICT). ICT-based journalistic knowledge platforms continuously harvest potentially news-relevant information from the Internet and make it useful for journalists. Because information about the same event is available from different sources and formats vary widely, knowledge graphs are emerging as a preferred technology for

Model-driven development (MDD) tools based on the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) typically store all elements in a model in a single file which arguably is one of the main reasons why these tools do not scale well and cannot take advantage of existing code versioning systems and other related facilities such as Git and Make. In this work, we describe an approach for storing models in multiple files

Case Management Model and Notation (CMMN) was introduced by the Object Management Group as an alternative modeling language, targeting human-centric processes characterized by lack of structure and agility. However, although it is adequately supported by well-known process management tools, CMMN applicability as a modeling language is being questioned in practice. In this work, an empirical evaluation

In rule-based approaches, a model transformation definition tells how an instance of a source metamodel should be transformed to an instance of a target metamodel. As these metamodels undergo changes, model transformations defined over these metamodels may get out of sync. Restoring conformance between model transformations and the metamodels is a complex and error-prone task. In this paper, we propose

Developing safety-critical, software-intensive embedded systems are characterized by the need to identify hazards and to define hazard-mitigating requirements at the earliest possible stage of development, i.e., during requirements engineering. These hazard-mitigating requirements must be adequate in the sense that they must specify the functionality required by the stakeholders in addition to rendering

Model-based software engineering gains further attention these days. To better support it, the use of constraint languages is important in order to bridge expressiveness gaps and eliminate ambiguity. Nevertheless, the use of model-based constraint languages, like the Object Constraint Language (OCL), is quite limited and the specification of constraints is left to the implementation stage. One option

The paper describes a multidisciplinary work that uses a model-based systems engineering method for developing real-time magnetoencephalography (MEG) signal processing. We introduce a requirement-driven, model-based development methodology (RDD and MBD) to provide a high-level environment and efficiently handle the complexity of computation and control systems. The proposed development methodology

Software in modern vehicles consists of multi-criticality functions, where a function can be safety-critical with stringent real-time requirements, less critical from the vehicle operation perspective, but still with real-time requirements, or not critical at all. Next-generation autonomous vehicles will require higher computational power to run multi-criticality functions and such a power can only

We present transitive-closure-based model checking (TCMC): a symbolic representation of the semantics of computational tree logic with fairness constraints (CTLFC) for finite models in first-order logic with transitive closure (FOLTC). TCMC is an expression of the complete model checking problem for CTLFC as a set of constraints in FOLTC without induction, iteration, or invariants. We implement TCMC

Modelling languages are frequently extended to include new constructs to be used together with the original syntax. New constructs may be proposed by adding textual information, such as UML stereotypes, or by creating new graphical representations. Thus, these new symbols need to be expressive and proposed in a careful way to increase the extension’s adoption. A method to create symbols for the original

Data visualizations are versatile tools for gaining cognitive access to large amounts of data and for making complex relationships in data understandable. This paper proposes a method for assessing data visualizations according to the purposes they fulfill in domain-specific data analysis settings. We introduce a framework that gets configured for a given analysis domain and allows to choose data visualizations

A framework for co-simulation of human–machine interfaces in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) is presented. The framework builds on formal (i.e. mathematical) methods. It aims to support the work of formal methods experts in charge of modelling and analysing safety-critical aspects of user interfaces in CPS. To carry out these modelling and analysis activities, formal methods experts usually need to engage

Bidirectional transformations (bx) are relevant for a wide range of application domains. While bx problems may be solved with unidirectional languages and tools, maintaining separate implementations of forward and backward synchronizers with mutually consistent behavior can be difficult, laborious, and error-prone. To address the challenges involved in handling bx problems, dedicated languages and

As smart systems leverage capabilities of heterogeneous systems for accomplishing complex combined behaviors, they pose new challenges to traditional software engineering practices that considered software architectures to be mostly static and stable. The software architecture of a smart system is inherently dynamic due to uncertainty surrounding its operational environment. While the abstract architecture

Business process definition and analysis are an important activity for any organisation. As research has demonstrated, well-defined business processes can reduce cost, improve productivity and provide organisations with competitive advantages. In the last few years, the need to ensure the security of business processes has been identified as a major research challenge. Limited security expertise of

The control logic underlying building automation systems has consisted, traditionally, of embedded discrete programs created using either low-level or proprietary scripting languages, or using general purpose fourth-generation visual languages like Simulink. It is also well known that programs developed in this way are hard to evolve, test, and maintain. These difficulties are intensified when continuous

This paper demonstrates the flexible methodology of modelling cyber-physical systems (CPSs) using the INTO-CPS technology through co-simulation based on Functional Mock-up Units (FMUs). It explores a novel method with two main co-simulation phases: homogeneous and heterogeneous. In the first phase, high-level, abstract FMUs are produced for all subsystems using a single discrete-event formalism (the

In model-driven methodologies, model matching is the process of finding a matching pair for every model element between two or more software models. Model matching is an important task as it is often used while differencing and merging models, which are key processes in version control systems. There are a number of different approaches to model matching, with most of them focusing on different goals

Executable domain-specific languages (DSLs) enable the execution of behavioral models. While an execution is mostly driven by the model content (e.g., control structures), many use cases require interacting with the running model, such as simulating scenarios in an automated or interactive way, or coupling the model with other models of the system or environment. The management of these interactions

When engineering complex systems, models are typically used to represent various systems aspects. These models are often heterogeneous in terms of modeling languages, provenance, number or scale. As a result, the information actually relevant to engineers is usually split into different kinds of interrelated models. To be useful in practice, these models need to be properly integrated to provide global

Data of sequential nature arise in many application domains in the form of, e.g., textual data, DNA sequences, and software execution traces. Different research disciplines have developed methods to learn sequence models from such datasets: (i) In the machine learning field methods such as (hidden) Markov models and recurrent neural networks have been developed and successfully applied to a wide range

Model-driven engineering involves the construction of models on different levels of abstraction. Software engineers are supported by model transformations, which automate the transition from high- to low-level models. Product line engineering denotes a systematic process that aims at developing different product variants from a set of reusable assets. When model-driven engineering is combined with

Traditionally, the preferred means of documentation used by safety engineers have been sheets- and text-based solutions. However, in the last decades, the introduction of model-driven engineering in conjunction with Component-Based Design has been influencing the way safety engineers perform their tasks; especially in the area of fault analysis, model-driven approaches have been developed aimed at

Business processes are frequently executed within application systems that involve humans, computer systems as well as objects of the Internet of Things (IoT). Nevertheless, the usage of IoT technology for system supported process execution is still constrained by the absence of a common system architecture that manages the communication between both worlds. In this paper, we introduce an integrated

Software build systems tackle the problem of building software from sources in a way which is sound (when a build completes successfully, the relations between the generated and source files are as specified) and optimal (only genuinely required rebuilding steps are done). In this paper, we explain and exploit the connection between software build and the megamodel consistency problem. The model-driven

With the extensive development of big data and social networks, the user profile field has received much attention. User profiling is essential for understanding the characteristics of various users, contributing to better understanding of their requirements in specific scenarios. User-generated contents which directly reflect people’s thoughts and intention are a valuable source for profiling users

Service composition aims at achieving a business goal by composing existing service-based applications or components. The response time of a service is crucial, especially in time-critical business environments, which is often stated as a clause in service-level agreements between service providers and service users. To meet the guaranteed response time requirement of a composite service, it is important

As the engineering of distributed embedded systems is getting more and more complex, due to increasingly sophisticated functionalities demanding more and more powerful hardware, model-based development of software-intensive embedded systems has become a de facto standard in recent years. Among other advantages, it enables design space exploration methods allowing for frontloading techniques which support

The problem of software language extension and composition drives much of the research in Software Language Engineering (SLE). Although various solutions have already been proposed, there is still little understanding of the specific ins and outs of this problem, which hinders the comparison and evaluation of existing solutionsIn this SoSyM Expert Voice, we introduce the Language Extension Problem

Personal data have become a central asset for multiple enterprise applications and online services offered by private companies, public organisations or a combination of both. The sensitivity of such data and the continuously growing legislation that accompanies their management dictate the development of methods that allow the development of more secure, trustworthy software systems with focus on

Conducting technology-oriented experiments (i.e., experiments in which treatments are applied to objects by a computer-based tool) without proper tool support is often a time-consuming and highly error-prone task. Although many techniques have been proposed to help conducting controlled experiments, none of them simultaneously addresses (1) the executable specification of experiments at a high level

Open Data (OD) is data available in a machine-readable format and without restrictions on the permissions for using or distributing it. OD may include textual artifacts, images, maps, video content, and other. The data can be published and maintained by different entities, both public and private. Despite its power to distribute knowledge freely and availability of a large number of datasets, OD initiatives

Understanding how developers interact with different software artifacts when performing comprehension tasks has a potential to improve developers’ productivity. In this paper, we propose a method to analyze eye-tracking data using process mining to find distinct reading patterns of how developers interacted with the different artifacts. To validate our approach, we conducted an exploratory study using

This paper presents a novel security modelling language and a set of original analysis techniques, for capturing and analysing security requirements for cloud computing environments. The novelty of the language lies in the integration of concepts from cloud computing, with concepts from security and goal-oriented requirements engineering to elicit, model and analyse security requirements for cloud

Conventional wisdom on Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) suggests that this software discipline is the key to achieve superior automation, whether it be refactoring, simulation, or code generation. However, the diversity of employed languages and technologies blurs the picture making it difficult to analyze existing MDE-based projects in order to retrieve architectural information to foster a better understanding

Abstract Over the last decade, a range of new database solutions and technologies have emerged, in line with the new types of applications and requirements that they facilitate. Consequently, various new methods for designing these new databases have evolved, in order to keep pace with progress in the field. In this paper, we systematically review these methods, with a view to better understanding

Abstract In model-driven engineering, model transformation (MT) verification is essential for reliably producing software artifacts. While recent advancements have enabled automatic Hoare-style verification for non-trivial MTs, there are certain verification tasks (e.g. induction) that are intrinsically difficult to automate. Existing tools that aim at simplifying the interactive verification of MTs

Abstract Conceptual modeling promises to support various analysis questions on organizational structures, such as allocation of tasks, responsibilities, and authority in an organization. In this paper, we first synthesize requirements on an organizational structure analysis from the business scholar literature and assess to what extent and how current modeling languages fulfill these. In particular

Abstract Model transformations are essential elements of model-driven engineering (MDE) solutions, as they enable the automatic manipulation of models. MDE promotes the creation of domain-specific metamodels, but without proper reuse mechanisms, model transformations need to be developed from scratch for each new metamodel. In this paper, our goal is to understand whether transformation reuse across

Abstract The network functions virtualization (NFV) advent is making way for the rapid deployment of network services (NS) for telecoms. Automation of network service management is one of the main challenges currently faced by the NFV community. Explicitly defining a process for the design, deployment, and management of network services and automating it is therefore highly desirable and beneficial

Abstract Mastering the complexity of safety assurance for modern, software-intensive systems is challenging in several domains, such as automotive, robotics, and avionics. Model-based safety analysis techniques show promising results to handle this challenge by automating the generation of required artifacts for an assurance case. In this work, we adapt prominent approaches and propose to augment of

Abstract Web augmentation is a set of techniques allowing users to define and execute software which is dependent on the presentation layer of a concrete Web page. Through the use of specialized Web augmentation artifacts, the end users may satisfy several kinds of requirements that were not considered by the analysts, developers and stakeholders that built the application. Although some augmentation

Abstract Requirements are inherently prone to conflicts. Security, data-minimization, and fairness requirements are no exception. Importantly, undetected conflicts between such requirements can lead to severe effects, including privacy infringement and legal sanctions. Detecting conflicts between security, data-minimization, and fairness requirements is a challenging task, as such conflicts are context-specific

Abstract Modern user interfaces (UIs) are increasingly expected to be plastic, in the sense that they retain a constant level of usability, even when subjected to context changes at runtime. Self-adaptive user interfaces (SAUIs) have been promoted as a solution for context variability due to their ability to automatically adapt to the context-of-use at runtime. The development of SAUIs is a challenging

Abstract We present a model-based architecture for monitoring executions of models of real-time and embedded systems. This architecture is highly configurable and allows for the combination of various run-time monitoring tools, not only for observing the system execution, but also for interacting with it. Using a variety of case studies, we illustrate the use of the architecture for connecting the

Abstract Scalability in modeling has many facets, including the ability to build larger models and domain-specific languages (DSLs) efficiently. With the aim of tackling some of the most prominent scalability challenges in model-based engineering (MBE), the MONDO EU project developed the theoretical foundations and open-source implementation of a platform for scalable modeling and model management

Abstract Dynamic verification and validation (V&V) techniques are used to verify and validate the behavior of software systems early in the development process. In the context of model-driven engineering, such behaviors are usually defined using executable domain-specific modeling languages (xDSML). Many V&V techniques rely on execution traces to represent and analyze the behavior of executable models

Abstract The OMG standard Systems Modeling Language (SysML) has been on the market for about thirteen years. This standard is an extended subset of UML providing a graphical modeling language for designing complex systems by considering software as well as hardware parts. Over the period of thirteen years, many publications have covered various aspects of SysML in different research fields. The aim

Abstract In 2017 and 2018, two events were held—in Marburg, Germany, and San Vigilio di Marebbe, Italy, respectively—focusing on an analysis of the state of research, state of practice, and state of the art in model-driven engineering (MDE). The events brought together experts from industry, academia, and the open-source community to assess what has changed in research in MDE over the last 10 years

Abstract Model management techniques help tame the complexity caused by the many models used in large-scale software development; however, these techniques have focused on operators to manipulate individual models rather than entire collections of them. In this work, we begin to address this gap by adapting the widely used map, reduce and filter collection operators for collections of models represented

Abstract Industry 4.0 integrates cyber-physical systems with the Internet of Things to optimize the complete value-added chain. Successfully applying Industry 4.0 requires the cooperation of various stakeholders from different domains. Domain-specific modeling languages promise to facilitate their involvement through leveraging (domain-specific) models to primary development artifacts. We aim to assess

Abstract The use of code quality control platforms for analysing source code is increasingly gaining attention in the developer community. These platforms are prepared to parse and check source code written in a variety of general-purpose programming languages. The emergence of domain-specific languages enables professionals from different areas to develop and describe problem solutions in their disciplines

Abstract Context. Many organizations are adopting the COSMIC method to size software products for estimating and controlling their development costs and performances. Using a functional size measurement method requires specialized expertise and can be time-consuming. Objectives. Since UML is the de facto industrial modeling language standard for object-oriented systems, it is very useful to understand