• Volume 2,Issue 1,2008 Table of Contents
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    • Applying Value-Based Software Process:An ERP Example

      2008, 2(1):1-15.

      Abstract (9494) HTML (0) PDF 2.42 M (5639) Comment (0) Favorites

      Abstract:Commercial organizations increasingly need software processes sensitive to business value, quick to apply, supportive of multi-stakeholder collaboration, and capable of early analysis for the cost- e ectiveness of process instances This paper presents experience in applying a lightweight synthesis of a Value-Based Software Quality Achievement process and an Object-Petri-Net-based process model to achieve a stakeholder win-win outcome for software quality achievement in an on-going ERP software project in China The application results con rmed that 1) the Object-Petri-Net-based process model provided project managers with a synchronization and stabilization framework for process activities, successcritical stakeholders and their value propositions; 2) process visualization and simulation tools signi cantly increased management visibility and controllability for the success of the software project

    • Achieving Flexibility in Off-the-Shelf Middleware Services Integration

      2008, 2(1):17-31.

      Abstract (2661) HTML (0) PDF 3.29 M (3191) Comment (0) Favorites

      Abstract:The development of component-based software engineering enables the construction of application servers by integrating reliable OTS middleware services. However it is di cult to achieve exibility in conventional hard coding way. In this paper, we propose a exible OTS middleware services integration framework to address this problem. In this framework, we de ne two kinds of modules: the middleware service contract module to represent the stable contract which speci es the abstract interaction logic between the application server and a kind of middleware services, and the middleware service implementation module to encapsulate the mutable implementation details of di erent OTS middleware services in a uni ed way. Additionally, we propose a module management mechanism to enable the application server to replace the OTS products at runtime via con guration. We implement the framework in a J2EE application server, and the evaluations show that our framework effectively reduces the cost and the time of maintaining and customizing the OTS middleware services-based application server.

    • Modelling Route Instructions for Robust Human-Robot Interaction on Navigation Tasks

      2008, 2(1):33-60.

      Abstract (6780) HTML (0) PDF 1.63 M (4135) Comment (0) Favorites

      Abstract:In this paper, we demonstrate the use of qualitative spatial modelling as the foundation for the conceptual representation of route instructions, to enable robust humanrobot interaction on navigation tasks. Our conceptual model is motivated by empirical studies on route navigation, and combines Qualitative Orientation Calculi for spatial reasoning using directional orientation information and topological maps for structuring route segments and routes. Moreover, we present a formal de nition of the conceptual model using the algebraic speci cation language CASL for syntactic and semantic checking, consistency checking and veri cation. Finally, we introduce a generic route graph concept and its formalization. The instantiation of the generic route graph at di erent abstraction levels provides a formal foundation for linking the conceptual model to a global environment map used by an intelligent robot, e.g., a semi-autonomous wheelchair, to carry out human navigation tasks.

    • Modular Church-Rosser Modulo:The Complete Picture

      2008, 2(1):61-75.

      Abstract (3287) HTML (0) PDF 811.82 K (3089) Comment (0) Favorites

      Abstract:In Ref.[19], Toyama proved that the union of two confluent term-rewriting systems that share absolutely no function symbols or constants is likewise confluent, a property called modularity. The proof of this beautiful modularity result, technically based on slicing terms into an homogeneous cap and a so called alien, possibly heterogeneous substitution,was later substantially simplified in Refs.[8,12]. In this paper, we present a further simplification of the proof of Toyama's result for confluence, which shows that the crux of the problem lies on two di?erent properties: a cleaning lemma, whose goal is to anticipate the application of collapsing reductions and a modularity property of ordered completion that allows to pairwise match the caps and alien substitutions of two equivalent terms obtained from the cleaning lemma. The approach allows for arbitrary kinds of rules, and scales up to rewriting modulo arbitrary sets of equations.

    • Random Event Structures

      2008, 2(1):77-88.

      Abstract (3125) HTML (0) PDF 700.73 K (3205) Comment (0) Favorites

      Abstract:In a line of recent development, probabilistic constructions of universal, homogeneous objects have been provided in various categories of ordered structures, such as causal sets[12], bifinite domains[13], and countable partial orders[10]. These constructions have been shown to produce objects with the desired properties with probability 1 in an appropriately defined measure space. A common strategy for these constructions is successive point-wise extension of an existing finite structure, with decisions on the relationships between the newly added point and the existing structure made according to well-specified probabilistic choices. This strategy is a departure from (and understandably so due to the increased complexity) the original one for random graphs[16] where a universal homogeneous countable graph is constructed with probability 1 in a single step (i.e., a single round of countably many probabilistic choices made independently). It would be interesting to see which of the categories studied more recently may admit such "one-step" constructions. The main focus of this paper is a new strategy, consisting of a single round of countably many probabilistic choices made independently, for the construction of a universal, homogeneous prime event structure. The intuition that the one-round construction is desirable has a similar flavor to a more general setting in e.g. Calculus/Real Analysis. When taking limits, iterative step by-step processes are usually given, but a set of machineries was invented to determine the limit, i.e., achieving a "one-round" direct and explicit description of the limit.