1. |
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2. |
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3. |
- Nagaraja, Ch., et al.
(author)
-
Opening remarks
- 2016
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)
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4. |
- Bruneliere, H., et al.
(author)
-
AIDOaRt : AI-augmented Automation for DevOps, a model-based framework for continuous development in Cyber–Physical Systems
- 2022
-
In: Microprocessors and microsystems. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 0141-9331 .- 1872-9436. ; 94
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The advent of complex Cyber–Physical Systems (CPSs) creates the need for more efficient engineering processes. Recently, DevOps promoted the idea of considering a closer continuous integration between system development (including its design) and operational deployment. Despite their use being still currently limited, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are suitable candidates for improving such system engineering activities (cf. AIOps). In this context, AIDOaRT is a large European collaborative project that aims at providing AI-augmented automation capabilities to better support the modeling, coding, testing, monitoring, and continuous development of CPSs. The project proposes to combine Model Driven Engineering principles and techniques with AI-enhanced methods and tools for engineering more trustable CPSs. The resulting framework will (1) enable the dynamic observation and analysis of system data collected at both runtime and design time and (2) provide dedicated AI-augmented solutions that will then be validated in concrete industrial cases. This paper describes the main research objectives and underlying paradigms of the AIDOaRt project. It also introduces the conceptual architecture and proposed approach of the AIDOaRt overall solution. Finally, it reports on the actual project practices and discusses the current results and future plans.
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5. |
- Bonetti, F., et al.
(author)
-
Challenging Models : Formalizing Quests in Gamified Systems for Behavioral Change
- 2023
-
In: Proceedings - 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion, MODELS-C 2023. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9798350324983 ; , s. 747-756
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Tasks performed by users in exchange for some reward, also known as quests or challenges, are one of the essential elements found in gamified systems, including systems for behavioral change. These elements can be tailored to specific players, according to their profile features and past performance, in order to deliver a more personalized and motivating experience. However, in order to automatically generate challenges, a formal, generalizable model of the essential building blocks of such game elements and their internal relations is needed. Although some work has been carried out in the past to define quests and challenges, a widely agreed-upon definition is still missing. Such an abstract definition should be employable across different application domains and scenarios and be flexible with respect to implementation details and human factors. In this work, we employ a model-driven approach to (1) propose a formal definition of quests and challenges in gamified systems, focusing on systems for behavioral change in the mobility domain, (2) model quests by means of a Domain-Specific Language implementing the proposed definition, and (3) take the first steps towards automatic rule generation by demonstrating a mapping between our model and Drools syntax compatible with an existing gamification engine. In particular, we illustrate how to ease the implementation of quests and challenges by using an example from an existing gamified system in the sustainable mobility domain.
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6. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Engineering gameful applications with MPS
- 2021
-
In: Domain-Specific Languages in Practice: With JetBrains MPS. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783030737580 - 9783030737573 ; , s. 227-258
-
Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Gamification refers to approaches that apply gaming elements and mechanics into contexts where gaming is not the main business purpose. Gamification principles have proven to be very effective in motivating target users in keeping their engagement within everyday challenges, including dedication to education, use of public transportation, adoption of healthy habits, and so forth. The spread of gameful applications and the consequent growth of the user base are making their design and development complexity to increase, e.g., due to the need of more and more customized solutions. In this respect, current state-of-the-art development approaches are either too close to programming or completely prepackaged. In the former case, domain and gamification experts are confronted with the abstraction gap between the concepts they would like to use and the corresponding implementation through coding. In the latter situation, customization opportunities are remarkably limited or require again hand-tuning through coding. In both scenarios, programmer tasks are tedious and error-prone, given the intrinsic characteristics of gamified applications, which are sets of rules to be triggered as a consequence of specific events. This chapter illustrates the language engineering endeavor devoted to the creation of the Gamification Design Framework (GDF) through MPS. GDF is conceived by pursuing two main principles: correctness-by-construction and automation. The former aims at providing a language infrastructure conveying consistency between the different aspects of a gameful application in an intrinsic way. The latter aspires to maximize generative features in order to reduce coding needs. As a result, GDF is implemented by means of MPS as a set of three-layered domain-specific languages, where a lower-level language instantiates and extends the concepts defined from the language(s) above. Moreover, GDF is equipped with generators to automatically create gameful application structural components, behaviors, and deployment into a selected gamification engine.
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7. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Exploiting Multi-level Modelling for Designing and Deploying Gameful Systems
- 2019
-
In: Proceedings - 2019 ACM/IEEE 22nd International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2019. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781728125350 ; , s. 34-44
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gamification is increasingly used to build solutions for driving the behaviour of target users' populations. Gameful systems are typically exploited to keep users' involvement in certain activities and/or to modify an initial behaviour through game-like elements, such as awarding points, submitting challenges and/or fostering competition and cooperation with other players. Gamification mechanisms are well-defined and composed of different ingredients that have to be correctly amalgamated together; among these we find single/multi-player challenges targeted to reach a certain goal and providing an adequate award for compensation. Since the current approaches are largely based on hand-coding/tuning, when the game grows in its complexity, keeping track of all the mechanisms and maintaining the implementation can become error-prone and tedious activities. In this paper, we describe a multi-level modelling approach for the definition of gamification mechanisms, from their design to their deployment and runtime adaptation. The approach is implemented by means of JetBrains MPS, a text-based meta-modelling framework, and validated using two gameful systems in the Education and Mobility domains.
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8. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Gamified and Self-Adaptive Applications for the Common Good : Research Challenges Ahead
- 2021
-
In: Proceedings - 2021 International Symposium on Software Engineering for Adaptive and Self-Managing Systems, SEAMS 2021. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781665402897 ; , s. 149-155
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Motivational digital systems offer capabilities to engage and motivate end-users to foster behavioral changes towards a common goal. In general these systems use gamification principles in non-games contexts. Over the years, gamification has gained consensus among researchers and practitioners as a tool to motivate people to perform activities with the ultimate goal of promoting behavioural change, or engaging the users to perform activities that can offer relevant benefits but which can be seen as unrewarding and even tedious. There exists a plethora of heterogeneous application scenarios towards reaching the common good that can benefit from gamification. However, an open problem is how to effectively combine multiple motivational campaigns to maximise the degree of participation without exposing the system to counterproductive behaviours. We conceive motivational digital systems as multi-agent systems: self-adaptation is a feature of the overall system, while individual agents may self-adapt in order to leverage other agents' resources, functionalities and capabilities to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively. Consequently, multiple campaigns can be run and adapted to reach common good. At the same time, agents are grouped into micro-communities in which agents contribute with their own social capital and leverage others' capabilities to balance their weaknesses. In this paper we propose our vision on how the principles at the base of the autonomous and multi-agent systems can be exploited to design multi-challenge motivational systems to engage smart communities towards common goals. We present an initial version of a general framework based on the MAPE-K loop and a set of research challenges that characterise our research roadmap for the implementation of our vision.
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9. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Gamifying model-based engineering : the PapyGame experience
- 2023
-
In: Software and Systems Modeling. - : Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. - 1619-1366 .- 1619-1374.
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Modeling is an essential and challenging activity in any engineering environment. It implies some hard-to-train skills such as abstraction and communication. Teachers, project leaders, and tool vendors have a hard time teaching or training their students, co-workers, or users. Gamification refers to the exploitation of gaming mechanisms for serious purposes, like promoting behavioral changes, soliciting participation and engagement in activities, etc. We investigate the introduction of gaming mechanisms in modeling tasks with the primary goal of supporting learning/training. The result has been the realization of a gamified modeling environment named PapyGame. In this article, we present the approach adopted for PapyGame implementation, the details on the gamification elements involved, and the derived conceptual architecture required for applying gamification in any modeling environment. Moreover, to demonstrate the benefits of using PapyGame for learning/training modeling, a set of user experience evaluations have been conducted. Correspondingly, we report the obtained results together with a set of future challenges we consider as critical to make gamified modeling a more effective education/training approach.
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10. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
GDF : A gamification design framework powered by model-driven engineering
- 2019
-
In: Proceedings - 2019 ACM/IEEE 22nd International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion, MODELS-C 2019. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781728151250 ; , s. 753-758
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gamification refers to the exploitation of gaming mechanisms for serious purposes, like promoting behavioural changes, soliciting participation and engagement in activities, and so forth. In this demo paper we present the Gamification Design Framework (GDF), a tool for designing gamified applications through model-driven engineering mechanisms. In particular, the framework is based on a set of well-defined modelling layers that start from the definition of the main gamification elements, followed by the specification on how those elements are composed to design games, and then progressively refined to reach concrete game implementation and execution. The layers are interconnected through specialization/generalization relationships such that to realize a multi-level modelling approach. The approach is implemented by means of JetBrains MPS, a language workbench based on projectional editing, and has been validated through two gameful systems in the Education and Mobility domains. A prototype implementation of GDF and related artefacts are available at the demo GitHub repository: https://github.com/antbucc/GDF.git, while an illustrative demo of the framework features and their exploitation for the case studies are shown in the following video: https://youtu.be/wxCe6CTeHXk.
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11. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
How to merge gamification efforts for programming and modelling : A tool implementation perspective
- 2021
-
In: Companion Proceedings - 24th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS-C 2021. - : IEEE. - 9781665424844 ; , s. 722-727
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gamification, that is the use of gaming elements into non-game contexts, has gained a lot of interests in all those settings where the engagement of target users needs to be stimulated. Education and training have been historically struggling with keeping 'students' motivated to pursue the completion of their learning paths. Lately these issues have been exacerbated by distance education: on the one hand, virtual participation to courses makes education far more accessible than requiring students to seat in the same classroom (and at the same time); on the other hand, the missing 'community building' conveyed by physically attending the same course remarkably reduces students' engagement. In this respect, gamification has been applied as an engagement tool, e.g. in programming courses, by introducing challenges, awards, leader boards, and so forth, with the aim of motivating the students in keeping their efforts for completing their studies.In this paper we describe and compare our experiences in gamification solutions for programming and modelling. In particular, we distinguish some desirable features to have in gamification solutions for modelling courses, and illustrate our experiences in realizing them concretely. Our observations testify that while in principle many of the gamification elements coming from programming courses could be suitable also to engage students in modelling, there exist still remarkable obstacles in realizing them in practice.
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12. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
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Papyrus for gamers, let's play modeling
- 2020
-
In: Proceedings - 23rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS-C 2020 - Companion Proceedings. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. - 9781450381352 ; , s. 21-25
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gamification refers to the exploitation of gaming mechanisms for serious purposes, like learning hard-to-train skills such as modeling. We present a gamified version of Papyrus, the well-known open source modeling tool. Instructors can use it to easily create new modeling games (including the tasks, solutions, levels, rewards...) to help students learning any specific modeling aspect. The evaluation of the game components is delegated to the GDF gamification framework that bidirectionally communicates with the Papyrus core via API calls. Our gamified Papyrus includes as well a game dashboard component implemented with HTML/CSS/Javascript and displayed thanks to the integration of a web browser embedded in an Eclipse view.
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13. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
POLYGLOT for Gamified Education : Mixing Modelling and Programming Exercises
- 2021
-
In: Companion Proceedings - 24th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS-C 2021. - : IEEE. - 9781665424844 ; , s. 606-610
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Gamification refers to the employment of gaming mechanisms for non-gaming purposes. Its aim is promoting the engagement of target users in pursuing certain goals, e.g. completing education paths. In this paper we present POLYGLOT, a gamified notebook-like programming environment. The gamification extension was built to target programming languages education, and in this work we illustrate how the approach is adaptable to text-based modelling languages. In particular, we demonstrate the use of gamification tailored to SysML v2 modelling.Each exercise is defined as a sequence of steps framed into notebook cells. On each cell submission, the POLYGLOT extension for.NET interactive runs several analyzers to gain insights of the student code before invoking the gamification engine, which checks if the gathered data fits the teacher-defined expectations. Interestingly, since cell contents are language independent and exercise evaluations are delegated to the gamification engine, this solution enables the creation of heterogeneous narratives, that is gamification scenarios mixing languages in the proposed exercises.
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14. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Run-time and Collective Adaptation of Gameful Systems
- 2020
-
In: Proceedings - 2020 IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems Companion, ACSOS-C 2020. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781728184142 ; , s. 145-146
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The term gamification has been introduced in the early 2000s [13] and has as central idea the usage of game elements in non-entertainment application domains to foster motivation [8], [15], [6]. There is a considerable amount of literature concerning gamification concepts [5], [16], related taxonomies [18], [17], and literature reviews [10].
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15. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Towards a Framework to Assist Iterative and Adaptive Design in Gameful Systems
- 2021
-
In: Proceedings - 2021 36th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering Workshops, ASEW 2021. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781665435833 ; , s. 78-84
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Over the years, gamification gained consensus among researchers and practitioners as a tool to motivate people to perform activities deemed as tedious or unexciting. Hence, there exist many and heterogeneous application domains that may benefit from gamification. However, the domain expert and the designer are often separate individuals with dissimilar backgrounds, skills, and understanding. Thus, they need a shared language to communicate and to design a gamified system in line with its ultimate goal, the implementation of which can then be left to the developers. While several studies from the literature tackled the problem of formally defining a design language able to assist designers in the code production, they rarely foresee a framework capable to include all the involved stakeholders (e.g., domain experts). Moreover, it is essential to allow those stakeholders to monitor the gameplay at runtime and intervene when necessary, as the design process is intrinsically iterative. In this work, we present a design framework that models the whole life cycle of gamification solutions, from the design to the execution and monitoring of the system. Finally, we present a prototype of the framework implemented in the Education domain.
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16. |
- Cederbladh, Johan, et al.
(author)
-
Barriers for Adopting FMI-Based Co-Simulation in Industrial MBSE Processes
- 2023
-
In: Proceedings - 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems Companion, MODELS-C 2023. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9798350324983 ; , s. 510-519
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is a growing paradigm for system development where models are the primary considered artefacts. However, MBSE often relies on semi-formal modelling languages and methods, limiting analytical capabilities. Co-Simulation is argued in the literature to be a promising technology in the simulation domain for integrating heterogeneous models in unified simulations. The most commonly used standard for Co-Simulation is currently the Functional-Mockup-Interface (FMI), supported by many tools in the industry. Recently there has been increasing interest in utilizing co-simulation in MBSE processes to enable simulation capabilities earlier in development, mainly via instantiating simulations using the FMI standard from system architecture views. This paper briefly argues the case for co-simulation for industrial MBSE and presents several barriers to integration from a holistic point of view. The paper highlights the need for further research and progress to improve the maturity of the industrial adoption for MBSE workflows while discussing the current outlook for FMI-based co-simulation orchestrated from architecture models.
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17. |
- Forslund, Tommie, et al.
(author)
-
El Apego Va a Juicio: Problemas de Custodia y Protección Infantil : [Attachment goes to court: Child protection and custody issues]
- 2021
-
In: Anuario de psicología jurídica. - : Colegio Oficial de la Psicologia de Madrid. - 1133-0740 .- 2174-0542. ; 32:1, s. 115-139
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Attachment theory and research are drawn upon in many applied settings, including family courts, but misunderstandings are widespread and sometimes result in misapplications. The aim of this consensus statement is, therefore, to enhance understanding, counter misinformation, and steer family-court utilisation of attachment theory in a supportive, evidence-based direction, especially with regard to child protection and child custody decision-making. This article is divided into two parts. In the first part, we address problems related to the use of attachment theory and research in family courts, and discuss reasons for these problems. To this end, we examine family court applications of attachment theory in the current context of the best-interest-of-the-child standard, discuss misunderstandings regarding attachment theory, and identify factors that have hindered accurate implementation. In the second part, we provide recommendations for the application of attachment theory and research. To this end, we set out three attachment principles: the child's need for familiar, non-abusive caregivers; the value of continuity of good-enough care; and the benefits of networks of attachment relationships. We also discuss the suitability of assessments of attachment quality and caregiving behaviour to inform family court decision-making. We conclude that assessments of caregiver behaviour should take center stage. Although there is dissensus among us regarding the use of assessments of attachment quality to inform child custody and child-protection decisions, such assessments are currently most suitable for targeting and directing supportive interventions. Finally, we provide directions to guide future interdisciplinary research collaboration.
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18. |
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19. |
- L'Episcopo, F, et al.
(author)
-
GSK-3β-induced Tau pathology drives hippocampal neuronal cell death in Huntington's disease : involvement of astrocyte-neuron interactions
- 2016
-
In: Cell Death and Disease. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-4889. ; 7, s. 1-14
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) has emerged as a critical factor in several pathways involved in hippocampal neuronal maintenance and function. In Huntington's disease (HD), there are early hippocampal deficits both in patients and transgenic mouse models, which prompted us to investigate whether disease-specific changes in GSK-3β expression may underlie these abnormalities. Thirty-three postmortem hippocampal samples from HD patients (neuropathological grades 2-4) and age- and sex-matched normal control cases were analyzed using real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCRs (qPCRs) and immunohistochemistry. In vitro and in vivo studies looking at hippocampal pathology and GSK-3β were also undertaken in transgenic R6/2 and wild-type mice. We identified a disease and stage-dependent upregulation of GSK-3β mRNA and protein levels in the HD hippocampus, with the active isoform pGSK-3β-Tyr(216) being strongly expressed in dentate gyrus (DG) neurons and astrocytes at a time when phosphorylation of Tau at the AT8 epitope was also present in these same neurons. This upregulation of pGSK-3β-Tyr(216) was also found in the R6/2 hippocampus in vivo and linked to the increased vulnerability of primary hippocampal neurons in vitro. In addition, the increased expression of GSK-3β in the astrocytes of R6/2 mice appeared to be the main driver of Tau phosphorylation and caspase3 activation-induced neuronal death, at least in part via an exacerbated production of major proinflammatory mediators. This stage-dependent overactivation of GSK-3β in HD-affected hippocampal neurons and astrocytes therefore points to GSK-3β as being a critical factor in the pathological development of this condition. As such, therapeutic targeting of this pathway may help ameliorate neuronal dysfunction in HD.
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20. |
- Sanchez-Cano, B., et al.
(author)
-
Total electron content in the Martian atmosphere : A critical assessment of the Mars Express MARSIS data sets
- 2015
-
In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 120:3, s. 2166-2182
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The total electron content (TEC) is one of the most useful parameters to evaluate the behavior of the Martian ionosphere because it contains information on the total amount of free electrons, the main component of the Martian ionospheric plasma. The Mars Express Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) radar is able to derive TEC from both of its operation modes: (1) the active ionospheric sounding (AIS) mode and (2) the subsurface mode. TEC estimates from the subsurface sounding mode can be computed from the same raw data independently using different algorithms, which should yield similar results. Significant differences on the dayside, however, have been found from two of the algorithms. Moreover, both algorithms seem also to disagree with the TEC results from the AIS mode. This paper gives a critical, quantitative, and independent assessment of these discrepancies and indicates the possible uncertainty of these databases. In addition, a comparison between the results given by the empirical model of the Martian ionosphere developed by Sanchez-Cano et al. (2013) and the different data sets has been performed. The main result is that for solar zenith angles higher than 75 degrees, where the maximum plasma frequency is typically small compared with the radar frequencies, the two subsurface algorithms can be confidently used. For solar zenith angles less than 75 degrees, where the maximum plasma frequency is very close to the radar frequencies, both algorithms suffer limitations. Nevertheless, despite the solar zenith angle restrictions, the dayside TEC of one of the two algorithms is consistent with the modeled TEC.
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21. |
- Alkhabbas, Fahed, et al.
(author)
-
ROUTE : A Framework for Customizable Smart Mobility Planners
- 2022
-
In: Proc. - IEEE Int. Conf. Softw. Archit., ICSA. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781665417280 - 9781665417297 ; , s. 169-180
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multimodal journey planners are used worldwide to support travelers in planning and executing their journeys. Generated travel plans usually involve local mobility service providers, consider some travelers' preferences, and provide travelers information about the routes' current status and expected delays. However, those planners cannot fully consider the special situations of individual cities when providing travel planning services. Specifically, authorities of different cities might define customizable regulations or constraints of movements in the cities (e.g., due to construction works or pandemics). Moreover, with the transformation of traditional cities into smart cities, travel planners could leverage advanced monitoring features. Finally, most planners do not consider relevant information impacting travel plans, for instance, information that might be provided by travelers (e.g., a crowded square) or by mobility service providers (e.g., changing the timetable of a bus). To address the aforementioned shortcomings, in this paper, we propose ROUTE, a framework for customizable smart mobility planners that better serve the needs of travelers, local authorities, and mobility service providers in the dynamic ecosystem of smart cities. ROUTE is composed of an architecture, a process, and a prototype developed to validate the feasibility of the framework. Experiments' results show that the framework scales well in both centralized and distributed deployment settings.
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22. |
- Bagnato, A., et al.
(author)
-
AI-Augmented Model-Based Capabilities in the AIDOaRt Project : Continuous Development of Cyber-physical Systems
- 2022
-
In: Ada User Journal. - : Ada-Europe. - 1381-6551. ; 43:4, s. 230-234
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The paper presents the AIDOaRt project, a 3 years long H2020-ECSEL European project involving 32 organizations, grouped in clusters from 7 different countries, focusing on AI-augmented automation supporting modeling, coding, testing, monitoring, and continuous development in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). To this end, the project proposes to combine Model Driven Engineering principles and techniques with AI-enhanced methods and tools for engineering more trustable and reliable CPSs. This paper introduces the AIDOaRt project, its overall objectives, and used requirement engineering methodology. Based on that, it also focuses on describing the current plan regarding a set of tools intended to cover the model-based capabilities requirements from the project.
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23. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
A model-driven solution to support smart mobility planning
- 2018
-
In: Proceedings - 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2018. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. - 9781450349499 ; , s. 123-133
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multimodal journey planners have been introduced with the goal to provide travellers with itineraries involving two or more means of transportation to go from one location to another within a city. Most of them take into account user preferences, their habits and are able to notify travellers with real time traffic information, delays, schedules update, etc.. To make urban mobility more sustainable, the journey planners of the future must include: (1) techniques to generate journey alternatives that take into account not only user preferences and needs but also specific city challenges and local mobility operators resources; (2) agile development approaches to make the update of the models and information used by the journey planners a self-adaptive task; (3) techniques for the continuous journeys monitoring able to understand when a current journey is no longer valid and to propose alternatives. In this paper we present the experiences matured during the development of a complete solution for mobility planning based on model-driven engineering techniques. Mobility challenges, resources and remarks are modelled by corresponding languages, which in turn support the automated derivation of a smart journey planner. By means of the introduced automation, it has been possible to reduce the complexity of encoding journey planning policies and to make journey planners more flexible and responsive with respect to adaptation needs.
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24. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Towards a domain specific language for engineering collective adaptive systems
- 2017
-
In: Proceedings - 2017 IEEE 2nd International Workshops on Foundations and Applications of Self* Systems, FAS*W 2017. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781509065585 ; , s. 19-26
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Heterogeneous agents that cooperate to accomplish collective tasks constitute Collective Adaptive Systems (CAS). Engineering a CAS not only involves the definition of the individual agents, but also their roles in achieving a collective task and adaptation strategies to counteract to environmental changes. Current solutions for specifying CAS typically tackle the problem at a low level of abstraction (e.g., writing XML files), making this task time-consuming and error-prone. Moreover, such a low level of abstraction hinders the understandability of the specification. Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) proposes to reduce the complexity of development by adopting models as first class artifacts in the process. In this respect, this work proposes a MDE approach to enhance CAS specification. In particular, we introduce a domain-specific language (DSL) made-up of three main views: one devoted to adaptive systems design; one addressing ensembles definition; and one tackling the collective adaptation. These three separate aspects are woven seamlessly by the DSL to constitute a complete CAS design. While the different views allow us to exploit separation-of-concerns to reduce complexity and focus on a specific aspect of the system, facing CAS specification at a higher-level of abstraction permits to use concepts closer to the experts of the involved domains. Moreover, the precise definition of modeling concepts through corresponding meta-models enables correctness-by-construction of the system specification.
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25. |
- Bucchiarone, A., et al.
(author)
-
Towards an adaptive city journey planner with MDE
- 2018
-
In: 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. - 9781450359658 ; , s. 7-11
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Although there are many city journey planners already available in the market and involving various transportation services, there is none yet that allows city mobility operators and local government municipalities to be an active part of the city's mobility. In this demonstrator, we present our first attempt towards multi-view based modelling of adaptive and multimodal city journey planners. In particular, by exploiting Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) techniques, the different stakeholders involved in the city mobility are able to provide their own updated information or promote their own challenges at higher levels of abstraction. Such information is then automatically translated into code-based artefacts that implement/ensure the desired journey planning behaviour, notably to filter travel routes and to make the city mobility more sustainable. The journey planner prototype, implementing the proposed solution, is demonstrated in the context of Trento city mobility. A supporting video illustrating the main features and a demonstration of our solution can be found at: https://youtu.be/KM21WD2dQGs, while the related artefacts and the details on how to create your own prototype are available at the demo GitHub repository, reachable at https://github.com/modelsconf2018/artifact-evaluation/tree/master/bucchiarone.
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26. |
- Cederbladh, Johan, et al.
(author)
-
Towards Automating Model-Based Systems Engineering in Industry : An Experience Report
- 2024
-
In: SysCon 2024 - 18th Annual IEEE International Systems Conference, Proceedings. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 9798350358803
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Designing modern Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) is posing new challenges to both industrial practitioners and academics. In this context, adopting cutting-edge paradigms, such as Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), DevOps, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), can offer new opportunities for improving CPS design automation. While such paradigms are already jointly used in the research community to support system design activities, there is a need to fill the gap between academia and industrial practitioners. Indeed, system specification is still mainly performed manually in many industrial projects. In this paper, we present a collaboration between industrial and academic partners of the AIDOaRt European project towards a model-based approach for CPS engineering applied in one of the project use cases. We identify key challenges and corresponding solutions to enhance the automation of CPS design processes. Notably, we consider a combination of prescriptive modeling, model transformations, model views, modeling process mining, and AI-based modeling recommendations. As an initial evaluation, the proposed approach is applied to a practical industrial case study.
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27. |
- Cicchetti, Antonio, et al.
(author)
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On the concurrent versioning of metamodels and models : Challenges and possible solutions
- 2011
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In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2011. - New York, NY, USA : ACM. - 9781450306683 ; , s. 16-25
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Model-Driven Engineering aims at shifting the focus of software development from coding to modelling in order to reduce the complexity of realizing nowadays applications. In this respect, models are expected to evolve due to refinements, improvements, bug fixes, and so forth. Because of the same reasons, also modelling languages (i.e. metamodels) are expected to be changed, even though at a different speed if compared to models. The relevant corpus of research grown up in the latest years and dealing with both these problems considers them as separate events; however, in normal practice not all the models are migrated instantaneously due to a metamodel adaptation, rather the co-adaptation is required when commits are attempted from a local workspace to the model repository, which can demand for different management policies. This paper illustrates the challenges arising in coping with concurrent metamodel and model versioning. In particular, it details a set of desired behaviours among which the user would usually select the appropriate management for the scenario into consideration together with entailed problems. Moreover, the work proposes corresponding solutions and discusses open issues.
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28. |
- Cisbani, G, et al.
(author)
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Cystamine/cysteamine rescues the dopaminergic system and shows neurorestorative properties in an animal model of Parkinson's disease.
- 2015
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In: Neurobiology of Disease. - : Elsevier BV. - 0969-9961. ; 82, s. 430-444
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The neuroprotective properties of cystamine identified in pre-clinical studies have fast-tracked this compound to clinical trials in Huntington's disease, showing tolerability and benefits on motor symptoms. We tested whether cystamine could have such properties in a Parkinson's disease murine model and now provide evidence that it can not only prevent the neurodegenerative process but also can reverse motor impairments created by a 6-hydroxydopamine lesion 3weeks post-surgery. Importantly, we report that cystamine has neurorestorative properties 5weeks post-lesion as seen on the number of nigral dopaminergic neurons which is comparable with treatments of cysteamine, the reduced form of cystamine used in the clinic, as well as rasagiline, increasingly prescribed in early parkinsonism. All three compounds induced neurite arborization of the remaining dopaminergic cells which was further confirmed in ex vivo dopaminergic explants derived from Pitx3-GFP mice. The disease-modifying effects displayed by cystamine/cysteamine would encourage clinical testing.
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29. |
- Hall, B. E. S., et al.
(author)
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Annual variations in the Martian bow shock location as observed by the Mars Express mission
- 2016
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 121:11, s. 11474-11494
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Martian bow shock distance has previously been shown to be anticorrelated with solar wind dynamic pressure but correlated with solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance. Since both of these solar parameters reduce with the square of the distance from the Sun, and Mars' orbit about the Sun increases by similar to 0.3 AU from perihelion to aphelion, it is not clear how the bow shock location will respond to variations in these solar parameters, if at all, throughout its orbit. In order to characterize such a response, we use more than 5 Martian years of Mars Express Analyser of Space Plasma and EneRgetic Atoms (ASPERA-3) Electron Spectrometer measurements to automatically identify 11,861 bow shock crossings. We have discovered that the bow shock distance as a function of solar longitude has a minimum of 2.39 R-M around aphelion and proceeds to a maximum of 2.65 R-M around perihelion, presenting an overall variation of similar to 11% throughout the Martian orbit. We have verified previous findings that the bow shock in southern hemisphere is on average located farther away from Mars than in the northern hemisphere. However, this hemispherical asymmetry is small (total distance variation of similar to 2.4%), and the same annual variations occur irrespective of the hemisphere. We have identified that the bow shock location is more sensitive to variations in the solar EUV irradiance than to solar wind dynamic pressure variations. We have proposed possible interaction mechanisms between the solar EUV flux and Martian plasma environment that could explain this annual variation in bow shock location.
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30. |
- Jongeling, Robbert, et al.
(author)
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Identifying manual changes to generated code : Experiences from the industrial automation domain
- 2021
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In: Proceedings - 24th International Conference on Model-Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2021. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. - 9781665434959 ; , s. 35-45
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, we report on a case study in an industrial setting where code is generated from models, and, for various reasons, that generated code is then manually modified. To enhance the maintainability of both models and code, consistency between them is imperative. A first step towards establishing that consistency is to identify the manual changes that were made to the code after it was generated and deployed. Identifying the delta is not straightforward and requires pre-processing of the artifacts. The main mechanics driving our solution are higher-order transformations, which make the implementation scalable and robust to small changes in the modeling language. We describe the specific industrial setting of the problem, as well as the experiences and lessons learned from developing, implementing, and validating our solution together with our industrial partner.
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31. |
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32. |
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33. |
- Palmieri, M., et al.
(author)
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Cutting time-to-market by adopting automated regression testing in a simulated environment
- 2014
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In: Testing Software and Systems. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg. - 9783662448564 ; , s. 129-144
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Industrial system development is facing an ever growing complexity of the target applications together with market demands of reducing time and costs of products. This issue is even more relevant in safety critical domains, where the quality of the system has to be necessarily validated before any release can be placed on the market. Bombardier Transportation works in one of such domains, namely rail-equipment development, and has to deal with problems related to testing the developed applications in an efficient and effective way while trying to reduce costs and time-to-market. This work illustrates the concrete solutions adopted by the company in order to effectively test their systems; in particular, they adopt automated regression testing and simulated environments to speed-up the process and alleviate the problems due to hardware costs and size as well as the non-reversibility of reality.
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34. |
- Papatheocharous, Efi, et al.
(author)
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The GRADE taxonomy for supporting decision-making of asset selection in software-intensive system development
- 2018
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In: Information and Software Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0950-5849 .- 1873-6025. ; 100, s. 1-17
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context: The development of software-intensive systems includes many decisions involving various stakeholders with often conflicting interests and viewpoints. Objective: Decisions are rarely systematically documented and sporadically explored. This limits the opportunity for learning and improving on important decisions made in the development of software-intensive systems. Method: In this work, we enable support for the systematic documentation of decisions, improve their traceability and contribute to potentially improved decision-making in strategic, tactical and operational contexts. Results: We constructed a taxonomy for documentation supporting decision-making, called GRADE. GRADE was developed in a research project that required composition of a common dedicated language to make feasible the identification of new opportunities for better decision support and evaluation of multiple decision alternatives. The use of the taxonomy has been validated through thirty three decision cases from industry. Conclusion: This paper occupies this important yet greatly unexplored research gap by developing the GRADE taxonomy that serves as a common vocabulary to describe and classify decision-making with respect to architectural assets.
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35. |
- Sanchez-Cano, B., et al.
(author)
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Mars plasma system response to solar wind disturbances during solar minimum
- 2017
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics. - 2169-9380 .- 2169-9402. ; 122:6, s. 6611-6634
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper is a phenomenological description of the ionospheric plasma and induced magnetospheric boundary (IMB) response to two different types of upstream solar wind events impacting Mars in March 2008, at the solar minimum. A total of 16 Mars Express orbits corresponding to five consecutive days is evaluated. Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory-B (STEREO-B) at 1AU and Mars Express and Mars Odyssey at 1.644AU detected the arrival of a small transient interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME-like) on the 6 and 7 of March, respectively. This is the first time that this kind of small solar structure is reported at Mars's distance. In both cases, it was followed by a large increase in solar wind velocity that lasted for similar to 10days. This scenario is simulated with the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) - ENLIL + Cone solar solar wind model. At Mars, the ICME-like event caused a strong compression of the magnetosheath and ionosphere, and the recovery lasted for similar to 3 orbits (similar to 20h). After that, the fast stream affected the upper ionosphere and the IMB, which radial and tangential motions in regions close to the subsolar point are analyzed. Moreover, a compression in the Martian plasma system is also observed, although weaker than after the ICME-like impact, and several magnetosheath plasma blobs in the upper ionosphere are detected by Mars Express. We conclude that, during solar minimum and at aphelion, small solar wind structures can create larger perturbations than previously expected in the Martian system.
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36. |
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