Software and Systems Engineering

Research Projects

 


Claus Pahl:

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Software and System Engineering: 

The central objective is the development and application of software engineering technologies for Web-based software systems - combining classical software engineering and knowledge engineering techniques with domain-specific solutions. This ranges from foundational frameworks for Web-based software development to domains-specific software development techniques and methods. 

 

Research Group:

  • Dr. Claus Pahl (Group Leader):
    Software Technologies for Web-based Software Systems
  • Edmond Holohan (Research Fellow):
    Ontology-based Educational Software Systems
  • Mark Melia (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Ontology-based Educational Software Systems
  • Ronan Barrett (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Web Services Architectures
  • Veronica Gacitua (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Service-oriented Architecture
  • Kosala Yapa Bandara (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Service-oriented Architecture
  • Wang Ming Xue (Research Assistant):
    Educational Software Systems

Former Members:

  • Claire Kenny (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Interactive Learning Systems
  • Yulan Yan (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Web Services Ontologies
  • Yaoling Zhu (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Web Services Architectures
  • Declan McMullen (Postgraduate Research Student):
    Ontology-based Educational Software Systems

 

Current Research Projects:

CASCAR - Context-determined Autonomic Service Composition and ARchitecture

Objective: With software services becoming a strategic capability for the software sector, a service engineering discipline needs to address service integration problems based on suitably flexible composition support. The increasing need for flexibility – caused by changing user requirements, evolving services, and varying deployment contexts – shall be answered by providing techniques for context-determined autonomic service composition and an architecture for adaptable service process deployment. The solution will be based on ontology-based semantic service planning and matching and a mediated data and service integration architecture, implemented as a service procurement and execution engine.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Kosala Yapa Bandara, Atmaram Mulliah 

Funding: Science Foundation Ireland - Research Frontier Programme

Graph-based Transformation for Service-based Software Architecture Migration and Integration

Objective: The Web services platform and service-oriented architecture (SOA) as a methodological software engineering framework for service-based platforms promise interoperability benefits, which has resulted in a new impetus to the software integration and software migration problem in the enterprise application integration context. We propose graph theory as a rigorous mathematical approach to address the current software engineering problem of SOA-based architecture integration and migration. Graph transformations can be used to support architecture transformation and integration. Graph theory has been successfully used for software architecture, but the different types of dynamic dependencies in service-based system architectures and their orchestration and interaction processes go beyond the current solutions for static and structural connectivity dependencies.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Fahad Shah  

Funding: Science Foundation Ireland

Research Centre: Lero - Irish Software Engineering Research Centre - an SFI CSET Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology

Digital Content Management - Domain Modelling and Composition

Objective: The WWW provides instant access to massive amounts of information to continually growing numbers of users in ever more languages. Information needs to be managed and localised on-the-fly, preventing human intervention. This can only be achieved through digital content management technologies, adapted according to social and personal identities cutting across linguistic and geographical boundaries. Access to and personalisation of digital content are traditionally the domain of two separate research areas: information retrieval and adaptive hypermedia.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, N.N., N.N.  

Funding: Science Foundation Ireland

Research Centre: NGL - Next Generation Localisation - an SFI CSET Centre for Science, Engineering and Technology

Business Model Driven Service Architecture

Objective: This research focuses on a process to guide and support the transition from business domain to service architecture models based on quality considerations embedded in reference models and patterns. Business process automation can be supported by services offering functionality and data from applications. However, whilst new applications are often created without a central design, we integrate these in a coherent architecture and maintain correspondence with the business domain. We face this challenge through an architectural approach, which firstly enhances business process modelling with elements of the domain model and architecture constraints imposed by existing applications. Consequently, reference models and patterns are exploited for service identification and early recognition of dependencies between services.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Veronica Gacitua

Funding: National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT - Chile) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Management Infrastructure for Knowledge-based Adaptive E-Learning Content - MIKAEL

Objective: The aim of this project is to design an architecture and develop an infrastructure that supports the knowledge-based creation and management of e-learning content. This three-year project - starting in autumn 2005 - will continue the work of the OntoGoLe project, broadening the focus and addressing in particular architectural aspects.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Edmond Holohan, Mark Melia, Wang Ming Xue  

Funding: Enterprise Ireland

 

Past Research Projects:

Model-driven Design of Distribution Patterns for Web Service Compositions (2003-2007)

Objective: The investigation of development support for service-oriented architectures. Aspects of particular interest include the model-driven composition in service-oriented architectures based on distribution patterns and topologies. Computing models describing the entire component life cycle with its composition and interaction patterns are addressed. In particular the Web is considered as the central infrastructure. Architectural questions play a major role.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Ronan Barrett

Funding: Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology 

Teaching Undergraduate Programming Using Learning Objects - TUPULO (2005-2007)

Objective: The project aims to address the challenges faced by novice programmers by providing them with an innovative learning tool. The project will first establish the key problem areas facing learners of introductory level programming by carrying out a cross-institutional needs analysis. Using an appropriate instructional design methodology, a set of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs) will be created and encapsulated into a Constructivist Learning Environment and then deployed using a Learning Management System. The project also proposes to identify the requirements necessary to make the RLOs SCORM compliant.

Local Team Members: Nora Brophy, Morag Munro, Claus Pahl  

Partners: Blanchardstown IT (IRL), Tallaght IT (IRL), System Centros de Formacion (ESP), Dublin City University (IRL), Societatea Romania pentru Educatie Permanenta (ROM)  

Funding: EU SOCRATES - MINERVA

Ontology-based Generation of Learning Content - OntoGoLe (2004-2005)

Objective: Ontologies can provide a knowledge framework for courseware content. The aim of this project is the development of a software system that allows learning content to be created, organised, and accessed using domain-specific content ontologies. Central aspects are adaptivity and interoperability.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Edmond Holohan, Declan McMullen, Mark Melia 

Funding: Enterprise Ireland

Infrastructures for Virtual Teaching and Learning Environments - INVITE (2000-2005)

Objective: Web technologies ideally support online learning. The aim of the project is to develop software technologies to support in particular interactive, multimedia based educational software systems for the Web. The project explores and develops infrastructure technologies for teaching and learning environments. Key aspects are active learning and feedback support, course evaluation through data mining, and authoring and delivery systems. The project is centred around a virtual course as the key application.

Team Members: Claus Pahl, Claire Kenny

Funding: Teaching and Learning Fund, Dublin City University

Design and Specification through Interfacing and Joining Languages - DeStijl (1995-1998)

Objective: The aim of the project was to investigate engineering techniques in the development and definition of specification languages. In particular modularity was considered as a central properties that allows software specification languages to be assembled purpose-driven based on a common core.

Partners: TU Denmark (DK), Trinity College Dublin (IRL), U Groningen (NL), LMU München (D), Philips (NL) 

Funding: EU HCM project

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