The high demand for building digital libraries by non-experts requires a simplified modeling process and rapid generation of digital libraries. To enable rapid generation, digital libraries should be modeled with descriptive languages. A visual modeling tool would be helpful to non-experts so they may model a digital library without knowing the theoretical foundations and the syntactical details of the descriptive language. In this thesis, we describe the design and implementation of a domain-specific visual modeling tool, 5SGraph, aimed at modeling digital libraries. 5SGraph is based on a metamodel that describes digital libraries using the 5S theory. The output from 5SGraph is a digital library model that is an instance of the metamodel, expressed in the 5S description language (5SL). 5SGraph presents the metamodel in a structured toolbox, and provides a top-down visual building environment for designers. The visual proximity of the metamodel and instance model facilitates requirements gathering and simplifies the modeling process. Furthermore, 5SGraph maintains semantic constraints specified by the 5S metamodel and enforces these constraints over the instance model to ensure semantic consistency and correctness. 5SGraph enables component reuse to reduce the time and efforts of designers. The results from a pilot usability test confirm the usefulness of 5SGraph. / Master of Science

By increasing the level of abstraction in the representation of regulatory network models, we can hope to allow modelers to create models that are beyond the threshold of what can currently be expressed reliably. As hundreds of reactions are difficult to understand, maintain, and extend, thousands of reactions become next to impossible without any automation or aid. Using the multistate-species concept we can reduce the number of reactions needed to represent certain systems and thus, lessen the cognitive load on modelers. A multistate species is an entity with a defined range for state variables, which refers to a group of different forms for a specific species. A multistate reaction involves one or more multistate species and compactly represents a group of similar single reactions. In this work, we have extended JCMB (the JigCell Model Builder) to comply with multistate species and reactions modeling and presented a proposal for enhancing SBML (the Systems Biology Markup Language) standards to support multistate models. / Master of Science

The ever-growing size and complexity of molecular network models makes them difficult to construct and understand. Modifying a model that consists of tens of reactions is no easy task. Attempting the same on a model containing hundreds of reactions can seem nearly impossible. We present the JigCell Model Connector, a software tool that supports large-scale molecular network modeling. Our approach to developing large models is to combine together smaller models, making the result easier to comprehend. At the base, the smaller models (called modules) are defined by small collections of reactions. Modules connect together to form larger modules through clearly defined interfaces, called ports. In this work, we enhance the port concept by defining different types of ports. Not all modules connect together the same way, therefore multiple connection options need to exist. / Master of Science

The use of full wave electromagnetic modeling and simulation tools allows for accurate performance predictions of unique RF structures that exhibit multi-dimensional scales. Full wave simulation tools need to cover the broad range of frequency including RF and terahertz bands that is focused as RF technology is developed. In this dissertation, three structures with multi-dimensional scales and different operating frequency ranges are modeled and simulated. The first structure involves nanostructured solar cells. The silicon solar cell design is interesting research to cover terahertz frequency range in terms of the economic and environmental aspects. Two unique solar cell surfaces, nanowire and branched nanowire are modeled and simulated. The surface of nanowire is modeled with two full wave simulators and the results are well-matched to the reference results. This dissertation compares and contrasts the simulators and their suitability for extensive simulation studies. Nanostructured Si cells have large and small dimensional scales and the material characteristics of Si change rapidly over the solar spectrum. The second structure is a reconfigurable four element antenna array antenna operating at 60 GHz for wireless communications between computing cores in high performance computing systems. The array is reconfigurable, provides improved transmission gain between cores, and can be used to create a more failure resilient computing system. The on-chip antenna array involves modeling the design of a specially designed ground plane that acts as an artificial magnetic conductor. The work involves modeling antennas in a complex computing environment. The third structure is a unique collar integrated zig-zag antenna that operates at 154.5 MHz for use as a ground link in a GPS based location system for wildlife tracking. In this problem, an intricate antenna is modeled in the proximity of an animal. Besides placing a low frequency antenna in a constricted area (the collar), the antenna performance near the large animal body must also be considered. Each of these applications requires special modeling details to take into account the various dimensional scales of the structures and interaction with complex media. An analysis of the challenges and limits of each specific problem will be presented.

No description available.

Submitted by Haroudo Xavier Filho (haroudo.xavierfo@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-11T14:00:27Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese bdtd - jhcp.pdf: 10794622 bytes, checksum: dc412b23838ca5016586548c59128658 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-11T14:00:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) tese bdtd - jhcp.pdf: 10794622 bytes, checksum: dc412b23838ca5016586548c59128658 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / CAPES / A number of approaches have been proposed for eliciting, modeling and analyzing requirements for adaptive systems. However, there is still a large gap between such requirements specifications and the actual implementation of adaptive systems. In this thesis we investigate the interplay between requirements and architecture for the development of adaptive systems. Furthermore, we propose the Multi-Level Adaptation for Software Systems (MULAS) framework. This framework is centered on the iterative and incremental refinement of a goal model, towards the creation of a Design Goal Model. This model can then be used at runtime to drive adaptation on a system that is properly instrumented. Moreover, the framework includes a toolsupported process for generating statechart behavioral models from a Design Goal Model. The GATO tool (Goal TO Architecture) allows the creation of the different artifacts of the process, including the automatic generation of base statecharts. The suitability of this approach for developing adaptive systems is illustrated by means of case studies. Empirical results show that the techniques developed to translate enriched goal models onto statecharts are scalable, i.e. they present a good performance even with large models. Furthermore, an experiment with software engineering students indicates that the adoption of this framework by non-experts is feasible and beneficial. / Um grande número de abordagens foram propostas para elicitar, modelar e analisar requisitos para sistemas adaptativos. No entanto, ainda existe uma grande distância entre a especificação de requisitos e a implementação de um sistema adaptativo. Nesta tese foi investigada a interrelação entre requisitos e arquitetura para o desenvolvimento de sistemas adaptativos. Mais especificamente, nós propomos o framework Adaptação Multi-Nível para Sistemas de Software (MULAS, do inglês Multi-Level Adaptation for Software Systems). Este framework é focado no refinamento iterativo e incremental de um modelo de objetivos, em direção à criação de um Modelo de Objetivos de Design (DGM, do inglês Design Goal Model). Este modelo pode então ser utilizado em tempo de execução para se gerenciar a adaptação em um sistema devidamente instrumentado. Ademais, o framework inclui um processo para gerar diagramas de estados a partir do Modelo de Objetivos de Design. Uma ferramenta desenvolvida especificamente para apoiar este framework (GATO, do inglês, Goal TO Architecture) permite criar os diferentes artefatos do processo, incluindo a geração automática de diagrama de estados base. A adequação desta abordagem ao desenvolvimento de sistemas adaptativos é ilustrada através de estudos de caso. Resultados empíricos mostram que as técnicas desenvolvidas para criar diagramas de estados a partir do modelo de objetivos com elementos de design apresentam boa escalabilidade, i.e. possui bom desempenho mesmo no caso de modelos extensos. Adicionalmente, um experimento com estudantes de engenharia de software indica que a adoção do framework por não-especialistas não é apenas possível como também é benéfica.