http://hdl.handle.net/2117/1096 2013-05-22T12:42:57Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19273 Title: QuPreSS: A service-oriented framework for predictive services quality assessment Authors: Martínez Fernández, Silverio Juan; Bisbal Riera, Jesús; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: Nowadays there are lots of predictive services for several domains such as stock market and bookmakers. The value delivered by these services relies on the quality of their predictions. This paper presents QuPreSS, a general framework which measures predictive service quality and guides the selection of the most accurate predictive service. To do so, services are monitored and their predictions are compared over time by means of forecast verification with observations. A systematic literature review was performed to design a service-oriented framework architecture that fits into the current body of knowledge. The service-oriented nature of the framework makes it extensible and interoperable, being able to integrate existing services regardless their heterogeneity of platforms and languages. Finally, we also present an instantiation of the generic framework architecture for the weather forecast domain, freely available at http://gessi.lsi.upc. edu/qupress/ 2013-05-16T08:35:17Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19030 Title: A catalogue of functional software requirement patterns for the domain of content management systems Authors: Palomares Bonache, Cristina; Quer Bosor, Maria Carme; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Renault, Samuel; Guerlain, Cindy Abstract: Software requirement patterns have been proposed as an artifact for fostering requirements reuse. When we define these patterns forthe functional part of a software system, we realize that most of patterns are specific of a software domain. This paper presents and analyzes a catalogue of functional software requirement patterns for the domain of content management, and gives an overview of how this catalogue has been constructed from the systematic analysis of 6 existing software specification documents with the support of expert assessment. 2013-04-29T10:30:42Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18844 Title: Interoperability in eLearning contexts: interaction between LMS and PLE Authors: Conde González, Miguel Ángel; García Peñalvo, Francisco Javier; Piguillem Poch, Jordi; Casany Guerrero, María José; Alier Forment, Marc Abstract: The emergence of the Information and Communication Technologies and its application in several areas with varying success, implies the definition of a great number of software systems. Such systems are implemented in very different programming languages, using distinct types of resources, etc. Learning and Teaching is one of those application areas, where there are different learning platforms, repositories, tools, types of content, etc. These systems should interoperate among them to provide better and more useful learning services to students and teachers, and to do so web services and interoperability specifications are needed. This paper presents a service-based framework approach to facilitate the interoperability between Learning Management Systems and Personal Learning Environments, which has been implemented as a proof of concept and evaluated through several pilot experiences. From such experiences it is possible to see that interoperability among the personal and institutional environments it is possible and, in this way, learners can learn independently without accessing to the institutional site and teachers have information about learning that happens in informal activities. 2013-04-17T08:54:39Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18797 Title: The application 2.0 tools through PLEs in Computer Science education: the twitter experience Authors: Conde García, Miguel Ángel; García Peñalvo, Francisco Javier; Alier Forment, Marc; Mayol Sarroca, Enric; Casany Guerrero, María José Abstract: Learners and teachers use different tools to carry out the learning activities. These instruments evolve and change, what means that learning activities are being influenced depending of the context that surrounds the educational processes. The Information and Communication Technologies application to teaching and learning processes implies a revolution regarding to the way learning and teaching is performed. However this model did not provide as many advantages as it were supposed to and a new change is necessary. Against this background rise web 2.0 tools and tendencies, which is another evolution on the way learners and teachers interact but those tools should be incorporated and adapted to the existing systems. This is not an easy task and means to take into account the users, the tools, the interoperability between learning tools, etc. Along this paper the problem of how to integrate 2.0 tools into institutional learning system is explored, specially focused on how through PLE and by using interoperability solutions it is possible to take advantage of 2.0 tools in learning and teaching processes. It is proposed a simply way to integrate such tools with the existing systems and an experience that demonstrate how to apply it. This experience is based on the use of twitter in a classroom. From that experience can be shown that the integration of 2.0 tools is not complex and improves students’ participation and motivation, which could have associated a learning improvement. 2013-04-15T14:29:17Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18017 Title: Accurate multi-modal image registration using compression Authors: Vázquez Alcocer, Pere Pau; Marco Gómez, Jordi Abstract: Image registration is an important task in medicine, especially when images have been acquired by different scanner/sensor types, since they provide information on different body structures (bones, muscles, vessels...). Several techniques have been proposed in the past, and among those, Normalized Mutual Information has been proven as successful in many cases. Normalized Compression Distance has been proposed as a simple yet effective technique for image registration. It is especially suitable for the case of CT-MRI registration. However, other image modalities such as PET pose some problems and do not achieve accurate registration. In this paper we analyse and propose a valid approach for image registration using compression that works properly for different combinations of CT, MRI and PET images. 2013-02-28T11:31:21Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18015 Title: Specification of failure-handling requirements as policy rules on self-adaptive systems Authors: Pimentel, João Henrique; Castro, Jaelson; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: Most adaptive systems have compensation mechanisms for recovering from or preventing failures. However, sometimes a compensation is not essential. Hence, diagnosing and compensating each and every one of their failures may be ineffective. Rather than polluting a requirements specification with fine grained definition of failure-handling conditions, this work aims to increase the flexibility of failure handling in self-adaptive systems using tolerance policies. We allow the expression of conditions in which certain failures may be ignored – i.e., conditions on which a failure will not be compensated. Such policies may lead to reduced costs and performance improvement. The FAST framework consists of the definition of a tolerance policy, the mechanisms to evaluate this policy and a tool to aid the creation of policies. 2013-02-28T10:30:20Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18014 Title: Measuring architectural adaptability in i* models Authors: Pimentel, João Henrique; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Castro, Jaelson Abstract: Developing adaptable systems is still a big challenge in software engineering. Different reference architectures and systematic approaches have been proposed to address this challenge. Several of these approaches are based on goal models, given their suitability to express and reason on alternative behaviors. In this paper we intend to provide a basis for comparing architectures described in goal-based models in regard to their adaptability. This way, different approaches to improve adaptability may be compared based on the resulting architectures. To do so we mapped two adaptability metrics onto i* models and developed guidelines to define the adaptability of individual elements, based on the extra information provided by i* models. We applied these metrics in a healthcare system to illustrate the comparison of architectures. 2013-02-28T10:13:59Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/18000 Title: i* modules: a jUCMNav implementation Authors: Colomer, Daniel; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: When building large-scale goal-oriented models using the i* framework, the problem of scalability arises. Modules have been proposed to structure i* models into reusable and combinable fragments. In this work we present an implementation of the module concept over the jUCMNav tool. 2013-02-27T10:40:44Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17999 Title: Implementing structural measures over i* diagrams Authors: Colomer, Daniel; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: Measuring is a key issue in any software-related activity. In the context of the i* framework, we are implementing Measufier, a prototype for measuring i* diagrams in terms of properties that may be derived from their structure (structural measures). The prototype works over i* diagrams represented by the iStarML interchange format, and provides some facilities for managing measures' catalogues, customizing the measures to the analyst needs, and computing the measure over particular diagrams. 2013-02-27T10:28:20Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17996 Title: Technology representation in i* modules Authors: Morales, Eliel; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Martínez, Alicia; Estrada, Hugo; Pastor, Oscar Abstract: In current business practice an integrated approach to represent at the design level the technological infrastructure that gives support to business processes is needed. We argue that it is highly complex considering technology in terms of specific functionalities from the beginning because these functionalities depend on new business requirements produced continually by internal and external changes. However, business-technology integration has been largely neglected in the modeling of business processes, including i* models, considering the technological components as highly abstract entities that do not require further description. In this paper, an overview of our approach to deal with technology representation in i* business process models is presented, which focuses on the identification of quality attributes that are offered by specific technologies and the representation of these technologies using a particular class of i* module. This approach has been explored in a previous work developing an example of a library in which an automatic identification technology is required to support some specific business processess. 2013-02-27T09:59:57Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17979 Title: SALMonADA: A platform for monitoring and explaining violations of WS-agreement-compliant documents Authors: Müller, Carmen; Oriol Hilari, Marc; Rodríguez Navarro, Marc; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Marco Gómez, Jordi; Resinas, M.; Ruiz Cortés, A. Abstract: Quality assurance techniques have been developed to supervise the service quality (QoS) agreed between service-based systems (SBSs) consumers and providers. Such QoS is usually included in service level agreements (SLAs) and thus, SLA monitoring platforms have been developed supporting violation detection. However, just a few of them provide explanation of the violations caused by observed QoS at monitoring time, but not in an user-friendly format. Therefore, we propose a general monitoring and analysis conceptual reference model and we instantiated it with SALMonADA, a SBS that notifies the clients with violations and their causes in their own easy-to-understand specification terms. In addition, our platform performs an early analysis notification that avoids delays in the client notification time when a violation takes place. Moreover, we have implemented a web application as a SALMonADA client, to prove how it monitors, analyses and reports to their clients the service level fulfillment of real services subject to a SLA specified with WS-Agreement. 2013-02-26T12:53:15Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17978 Title: iStarML: principles and implications Authors: Cares, Carlos; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: iStarML is an XML-based format for enabling i* interoperability. A relevant difference with any other interoperability proposal is that iStarML is founded under the assumption that there is not a common ontology guiding this communication proposal. The different i* variants and even particular applications proposing new language constructors forced to confront a theoretical approach for supporting an interoperability approach in an evolving and variable semantic scenario. In this paper we focused on the theories behind the iStarML proposal, which include sociological, cybernetics and linguistics approaches. Finally, we apply what these theories predict to the case of the i* framework and its research community. 2013-02-26T12:28:46Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17974 Title: Towards improving OSS products selection: matching selectors and OSS communities perspectives Authors: Ayala Martínez, Claudia Patricia; Cruzes, Daniela S.; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Conradi, Reidar Abstract: Adopting OSS products is becoming an economical and strategic need for today organizations. A fundamental part of successful adoption is the informed selection of OSS products that best fit the organization needs. One of the main current problems hampering OSS selection is the vast amount of unstructured, incomplete, evolvable and widespread information about OSS products that highly increases the risks of taking a wrong decision as well as the likelihood to deter the use of an OSS product. In this paper, based on marketing research principles, we aim to inform and provide evidence to OSS communities that help them to envisage improvements on their information rendering strategies to satisfy industrial OSS selectors’ needs. Our results are from the matching between the informational needs of 23 OSS selectors from diverse software-intensive organizations, and the in-depth study of 9 OSS communities of different sizes and domains. The results evidenced specific areas of improvement. It is a first step to raise the awareness of OSS communities and researchers on areas that are required to improve the industrial OSS selection practice. 2013-02-26T11:56:53Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17940 Title: Impact of stakeholder type and collaboration on issue resolution time in OSS Projects Authors: Anh, Nguyen Duc; Cruzes, Daniela S.; Ayala Martínez, Claudia Patricia; Conradi, Reidar Abstract: Born as a movement of collective contribution of volunteer developers, Open source software (OSS) attracts an increasing involvement of commercial firms. Many OSS projects are composed of a mix group of firm- paid and volunteer developers, with different motivation, collaboration practices and working styles. As OSS is collaborative work in nature, it is important to know whether these differences have an impact on project outcomes. In this paper, we empirically investigate the firm-paid participation in resolving OSS evolution issues, the stakeholder collaboration and its impact on OSS issue resolution time. The results suggest that though a firm-paid developer resolves much more issues than a volunteer developer does, there is no difference in issue resolution time between firm-paid and volunteer developers. Besides, the more important factor that influences the issue resolution time comes from the collaboration among stakeholders rather than from measures of individual characteristics. 2013-02-22T13:14:36Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/17917 Title: Specialization in i* strategic rationale diagrams Authors: López Cuesta, Lidia; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier; Marco Gómez, Jordi Abstract: The specialization relationship is offered by the i* modeling language through the is-a construct defined over actors (a subactor is-a superactor). Although the overall meaning of this construct is highly intuitive, its semantics when it comes to the fine-grained level of strategic rationale (SR) diagrams is not defined, hampering seriously its appropriate use. In this paper we provide a formal definition of the specialization relationship at the level of i* SR diagrams. We root our proposal over existing work in conceptual modeling in general, and object-orientation in particular. Also, we use the results of a survey conducted in the i* community that provides some hints about what i* modelers expect from specialization. As a consequence of this twofold analysis, we identify, define and specify two specialization operations, extension and refinement, that can be applied over SR diagrams. Correctness conditions for them are also clearly stated. The result of our work is a formal proposal of specialization for i* that allows its use in a well-defined manner 2013-02-21T16:11:16Z