系统互通性的模型与测量研究

软件系统的数量日益庞大,人们渐渐开始关注如何让多种软件系统协同工作来完成特定的任务,这也正是系统互通性研究的问题。本文从研究系统互通性的必要性入手,给出了系统互通性的概念,描述了提高系统互通性的困难所在,以及目前提高系统互通性的模型方法,最后对评价系统互通性质量的相关测量问题进行了分析探讨,提出了改进意见。     

Model-driven eGovernment interoperability: A review of the state of the art

This paper reviews the state of the art in the area of enhancing eGovernment interoperability by using common models and/or ontologies. This area has currently become a very active research field. We identify and present a significant number (> 40) of relevant efforts. These initiatives are grouped into categories based on the owner, scope and modelling perspective of each project. We then focus on the cases that build generic and universal eGovernment representations and models. We analyse, evaluate and rate them using an additional set of criteria. We end up with conclusions and possible directions for the exploitation and usage of these models.     

Business to business interoperability: A current review of XML data integration standards

Despite the dawn of the XML era, semantic interoperability issues still remain unsolved. As various initiatives trying to address how the underlying business information should be modelled, named and structured are being realised throughout the world, the importance of moving towards a holistic approach in eBusiness magnifies. In this paper, an attempt to clarify between the standards prevailing in the area is performed and the XML Data Standards providing generic XML Schemas are presented. Based on this “XML Data Standards Map”, a multi-faceted classification mechanism is proposed, leading to an extensible taxonomy of standards. A set of facets is analyzed for each standard, allowing for their classification based on their scope, completeness, compatibility with other standards, openness, ability to modify the schemas and maturity, to name a few. Through populating and querying this multi-faceted classification, a common understanding of Data Integration Standards can be ensured and the choice of a standard according to the requirements of each business can be systematically addressed.     

Towards interoperability of i* models using iStarML

Goal-oriented and agent-oriented modelling provides an effective approach to the understanding of distributed information systems that need to operate in open, heterogeneous and evolving environments. Frameworks, firstly introduced more than ten years ago, have been extended along language variants, analysis methods and CASE tools, posing language semantics and tool interoperability issues. Among them, the i* framework is one the most widespread. We focus on i*-based modelling languages and tools and on the problem of supporting model exchange between them. In this paper, we introduce the i* interoperability problem and derive an XML interchange format, called iStarML, as a practical solution to this problem. We first discuss the main requirements for its definition, then we characterise the core concepts of i* and we detail the tags and options of the interchange format. We complete the presentation of iStarML showing some possible applications. Finally, a survey on the i* community perception about iStarML is included for assessment purposes.     

Empirical assessment of the accuracy of an interoperability prediction language

Interoperability, defined as the satisfaction of a communication need between two or more actors, is an important aspect in many phases of an enterprise’s development. Mastering the field of interoperability is a daunting task so aid in predicting interoperability can be of great benefit. Formalisms capable of such predictions of future information system architectures are however sparse, and when employed, it is essential that the prediction is accurate. In this paper, a previously proposed interoperability modelling and prediction language is subjected to case testing and evaluated toward interoperability predictions made by practitioners and experts in the field. The results show that although there are some areas not currently covered by the framework, in general, it performs better than the intended users, and would thereby provide additional support in various development and design contexts.     

Semantics enactment for interoperability assessment in enterprise information systems

The grown complexity of the modern enterprise poses a series of challenges, among them keeping competitiveness in the fast changing environment in which the enterprise evolves. Addressing enterprise integration is considered as a key to achieve the goal of any enterprise either it is a single or a networked enterprise. Enterprise modelling is a prerequisite to enable the common understanding of the enterprises and its various interactions in order to “provide the right information, at the right time, at the right place”. However, problems often emerge from a lack of understanding of the semantics of the elaborated models resulting from various modelling experience based on different methods and tools. This paper describes the challenges associated to semantics enactment in information systems models. To facilitate this enactment, it proposes an approach based on a fact-oriented modelling perspective. Then, it also provides an algorithm to automatically build semantic aggregates that help in highlighting enterprise models core embedded semantics. A case study on the field of B2M interoperability is performed in order to illustrate the application of the presented approach.     

Supporting the evolution and interoperability of organisational models with e-learning technologies

Models are instruments that allow agents to gain understanding and plan future steps required for being sustainable. Unfortunately, social, economical and ecological systems are in constant flux. The modelling process in a dynamic environment is a never ending, ongoing concern. As a theoretical lens for the analysis of enterprise sustainability the theory of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) is used. This theory allows to capture dynamic aspects in models. Theoretical aspects of CASs are briefly introduced and used to analyse learning support for the active agents in the enterprise. A learning system is conceptualised. Support for enterprise models in general and the enterprises’ active agents in particular is discussed to show how to support getting along with the dynamics of the overall system. Interoperability is derived as a key property of the overall system. Interoperability requires system-parts to be independent, while supporting the overall system’s functionality. On the one hand multi-faced problems are independently analysed by active agents. On the other hand partial solutions realised by active agents need to be interoperable on the enterprise level. Taking a CAS point of view interoperability between system parts becomes a necessity, which, if not met, might bring the overall system to a halt. Requirements and properties for a support environment for organisations’ agents to keep pace with permanent changes in their environments are described. Technologies are presented that fit to the used theoretical point of view and support both: the individual evolution and learning of agents who update local models and the interoperability between models.     

Rainfall-runoff models: A review

Rainfall-runoff research continues to focus upon the inclusion of additional modelling complexity such as hydraulics, or the subtler components of the hydrologic cycle. Recently, attention is being paid towards uncertainty and risk. This paper provides an update as to the state-of-health in the overall rainfall-runoff modelling effort. The paper indicates that as of publication date, no one rainfall-runoff model has been widely accepted as “best”.     

A COS study of OSI interoperability

The goal of OSI is the interoperation of computer systems from multiple vendors. The possibility of interoperation is further enhanced through the use of standardized profiles and conformance testing of implementations. While conformance testing is the primary vehicle it employs, in pursuing its primary goal of accelerating the introduction of interoperable OSI and ISDN products, the Corporation for Open Systems has examined how interoperability testing may supplement conformance testing. In the course of COS' interoperability study, formal definitions of interoperability were made, important metrics were identified, and various interoperability test methods were examined. COS believes that there may be a role for explicit interoperability testing to improve the “quality of the breed” and will endeavour to facilitate testing through its I-Lab project and other cooperative testing efforts.     

Experiments on semantic interoperability of agent reputation models using the SOARI architecture

In the last decades, we have experienced a rapid increase in the number of available online e-services. Agent-based computing has been advocated as a natural computational model to automate the interaction with those services, thus enabling the formation of multiagent systems. In these latter, agents may use trust and reputation as the main control mechanism and they usually exchange such information in order to accelerate reputation evaluation. However, due to the semantic heterogeneity of the different reputation models, agents interaction about reputation has to deal with interoperability issues. Therefore, this paper presents some experiments using SOARI, an architecture that enables the semantic interoperability among agents that have heterogeneous reputation models. Such experiments were conducted using two reputation testbeds and three agent reputation models in order to analyze the accuracy of the agents reputation evaluation in the presence of a more expressive communication apparatus, as well as the effect of the heterogeneity among reputation models on this accuracy.     

A generic interoperability testing framework and a systematic development process for automated interoperability testing

Interoperability is a prerequisite to allow users to access systems implemented by different vendors seamlessly. A good baseline to achieve interoperability is the implementation of a common set of standards. However, this is often not sufficient as different implementations of a standard are not necessarily interoperable. Therefore, different implementations of systems need to be assessed for interoperability by applying interoperability testing. In this article, we present a generic framework that enables automated interoperability testing with message checks, which assess the compliance of messages exchanged between systems. The goal of this framework is the provision of a basic functionality of interoperability test entities, the definition of a generic interoperability test environment, and guidelines for the specification of automated interoperability tests. The framework also considers aspects related to interoperability testing including verdicts, automation, and limitations of the system under test. Through the application of the framework, interoperability of systems can be assessed, systems can be validated, and standards can be improved. In addition, we present a systematic development process for automated interoperability tests to formalize the development and specification of an interoperability test system. We also consider aspects and critical issues, which are important for the development of a complete interoperability test system. The framework and the process are language and system technology independent. We present their application in a case study that includes interoperability tests for the Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) using the Testing and Test Control Notation Version 3 (TTCN-3).     

Exploring the interoperability of remote GPGPU virtualization using rCUDA and directive-based programming models

Directive-based programming models, such as OpenMP, OpenACC, and OmpSs, enable users to accelerate applications by using coprocessors with little effort. These devices offer significant computing power, but their use can introduce two problems: an increase in the total cost of ownership and their underutilization because not all codes match their architecture. Remote accelerator virtualization frameworks address those problems. In particular, rCUDA provides transparent access to any graphic processor unit installed in a cluster, reducing the number of accelerators and increasing their utilization ratio. Joining these two technologies, directive-based programming models and rCUDA, is thus highly appealing. In this work, we study the integration of OmpSs and OpenACC with rCUDA, describing and analyzing several applications over three different hardware configurations that include two InfiniBand interconnections and three NVIDIA accelerators. Our evaluation reveals favorable performance results, showing low overhead and similar scaling factors when using remote accelerators instead of local devices.     

A review of hierarchical facility location models

In this study, we review the hierarchical facility location models. Although there have been a number of review papers on hierarchical facility problems, a comprehensive treatment of models has not been provided since the mid-80s. This review fills the gap in the literature. We first classify the hierarchical facility problems according to the features of systems studied, which are based on flow pattern, service availability at each level of the hierarchy, and spatial configuration of services in addition to the objectives to locate facilities. We then investigate the applications, mixed integer programming models, and solution methods presented for the problem. With an overview of the selected works, we consolidate the main results in the literature.     

Focusing on content reusability and interoperability in a personalized hypermedia assessment tool

This paper presents the development of a modularized hypermedia testing tool, called iAdaptTest, based entirely on e-learning specifications and discusses how this architecture improves the reusability and the interoperability of the learning data. All the categories of data,—that is—topics, user profiles, testing data, adaptive rules, and testing results are coded in XML format complying with Topic Maps, IMS LIP and IMS QTI. The data are stored in distinct files and can be independently shared across different educational applications. The paper concludes with an evaluation study concerning the creation of formative and summative assessments for adult seminars. Through focused interviews, the participants of the study identified the ability to share information and the multi-criteria adaptation options as the most important features of the system. Further, in the second phase of the evaluation the files produced were shared with other educational applications and thus it was verified that the learning data could be imported and rendered correctly.     

Manufacturing interoperability

As manufacturing and commerce become ever more global, companies are dependent increasingly upon the efficient and effective sharing of information with their partners, wherever they may be. Leading manufacturers perform this sharing with computers, which must therefore have the required software to encode and decode the associated electronic transmissions. Because no single company can dictate that all its partners use the same software, standards for how the information is represented become critical for error-free transmission and translation. The terms interoperability and integration are frequently used to refer to this error-free transmission and translation. This paper summarizes two projects underway at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the areas of interoperability testing and integration automation. These projects lay the foundation for at tomorrow’s standards, which we believe will rely heavily upon the use of formal logic representations, commonly called ontologies. Received February 2005: /Accepted: January 2006     

A federated approach to develop enterprise interoperability

Interoperability is one of the requisite features for existing enterprises in the increasing competitive and complex global market. In the last decade, enterprise interoperability has been developed and prescribed by various kinds of frameworks, methods, and techniques. However interoperability development is still not mature enough to become a science. Meanwhile, it keeps evolving according to different business requirement and market environment. Nowadays, networked environment causes unpredictable dynamical situations, thus sustainable interoperability becomes a new research dimension in the interoperability of enterprise systems and applications domain. In the sustainable interoperability, enterprise interoperability dynamics is one of the focal topics. This dynamic approach also called federated is originated from Enterprise Interoperability Framework of INTEROP NoE, which aims to establish interoperability on the fly. This paper presents current state on federated approaches to develop enterprise interoperability dynamics. Based on this study, a novel Federated interoperability approach is proposed. It aims at bridging the gap from interoperability concepts to the implementation of interoperable enterprise information systems development. This approach reuses distributed simulation interoperability concepts to facilitate and coordinate the communication between heterogeneous distributed information systems of the enterprises. This simulation part has been implemented into a software platform. This platform is complaint with the latest version of the high level architecture that is a distributed communication standard. This approach also proposes a development lifecycle that intends to reuse existing information systems without recoding them but by adapting them to the new requirements of interoperability dynamics.     

A Formal Approach to Protocol Interoperability Testing

Porotocol Interoperability testing is an important means to ensure the interconnection and interoperation between protocol products.In this paper,we proposed a formal approach to protocol interoperability testing based on the operational semantics of Concurrent TTCN.We define Concurrent TTCN‘s operational semantics by using Labeled Transition System,and describe the interoperability test execution and test verdict based on Concurrent TTCN.This approach is very helpful for the formation of formal interoperability testing theory and construction of general interoperability testing system.     

Interoperability evaluation models: A systematic review

Interoperability is defined as the ability for two (or more) systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. There is increasing demand for interoperability between individual software systems. Developing an interoperability evaluation model between software and information systems is difficult, and becoming an important challenge. An interoperability evaluation model allows knowing the degree of interoperability, and lead to the improvement of interoperability. This paper describes the existing interoperability evaluation models, and performs a comparative analysis among their findings to determine the similarities and differences in their philosophy and implementation. This analysis yields a set of recommendations for any party that is open to the idea of creating or improving an interoperability evaluation model.     

A business object-oriented environment for CCISs interoperability

A Command and Control Information System (CCIS) is a software application that provides information to be used by military users. The use of a single CCIS is rather easy. However, the operation becomes much complex when several CCISs, generally distributed across networks and heterogeneous at different levels, for instance vocabulary, are required to answer users' requests. As a solution, we intend to set up Business Objects (BOs) that support the interoperability of these CCISs. The development and management of these BOs are based on a number of concepts related to the following technologies: distributed-object computing, code mobility and workflow modeling.     

Integrating web service and semantic dialogue model for user models interoperability on the web

Nowadays there is a great number of Web information systems that build a model of the user and adapt their services according to the needs and preferences maintained by the user model (UM). One of the most challenging issues of this scenario is the possibility to enable different systems to cooperate in order to exchange the available information about a user. Our aim is to create rich (and scalable) communication protocols and infrastructures to enable consumers and providers of UM data to interact. Our solution for dealing with such an issue is to exploit Web standards for interoperability (i.e. Semantic Web and Web Services) for implementing simple atomic communication, and a dialogue model for implementing enhanced communication capabilities. In particular, two systems can start a semantics-enhanced Dialogue Game as a form of negotiation to clarify the meaning of the requested concepts when a shared knowledge model does not exist, and to approximate the response when the exact one is not available. We propose a distributed semantic conversation framework based on the Sesame semantic environment for the exchange of user model knowledge on the Web. Systems have to expose their user model data as a Web Service, and to exploit a public dialogue knowledge base to start the dialogue. The main advantage of the approach is to allow systems to deal with difficult situations by starting an appropriate dialogue game instead of stopping the communication as in the traditional “all-or-nothing” Web Service approach. On the basis of a preliminary evaluation, the approach has shown an improvement of the adaptation results provided by the systems we tested.