Ontologies are frequently used in the context of software and technology engineering. These can be grouped into two main categories, depending on whether they are used to describe the knowledge of a domain (domain ontologies) or whether they are used as software artifacts in software development processes. This paper presents some experiences and lessons learnt from the effective use of an ontology for Software Measurement, called software measurement ontology (SMO). The SMO was developed some years ago as a result of a thorough analysis of the software measurement domain. Its use as a domain ontology is presented first, a description of how the SMO can serve as a conceptual basis for comparing international standards related to software measurement. Second, the paper describes several examples of the applications of SMO as a software artifact. In particular, we show how the SMO can be instantiated to define a data quality model for Web portals, and also how it can be used to define a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for measuring software entities. These examples show the significant role that ontologies can play as software artifacts in the realm of model-driven engineering and domain-specific modeling.
The laurel forest of Anaga is the most emblematic community of the Canarian Archipelago. Restoration programs are being developed to increase laurel forest area on the island of Tenerife. Structural and spatial characteristics determine many aspects of the community, including regeneration patterns, disturbance level, stand history. In spite of the importance of this information for restoration, few quantitative studies have been conducted on laurel forest dynamics. We analyzed two stands of the Anaga laurel forest of different aspect. The main difference between the two sites was the wind exposure, one leeward and the other windward. Regeneration, spatial distribution of regeneration, tree species composition, asexual regeneration and environmental parameters were analyzed in three 50 9 50 m plots at each site. Both sites differ in important aspects such as species richness, species composition, asexual regeneration and dead tree composition, while they are not different in basal area, density, density of regeneration and density of dead trees. Both sites have had similar management in the last century. Asexual regeneration is able to maintain the present species composition, while sexual regeneration is able to offer future changes in the canopy composition. Regeneration strategies and the effect of some environmental characteristics should be considered in restoration programs.
Model-driven Engineering (MDE) has attained great importance in both the Software Engineering industry and the research community, where it is now widely used to provide a suitable approach with which to improve productivity when developing software artefacts. In this scenario, measurement models (software artefacts) have become a fundamental point in improvement of productivity, where MDE and Software Measurement can reap mutual benefits. MDE principles and techniques can be used in software measurement to build more automatic and generic solutions, and to achieve this, it is fundamental to be able to develop software measurement models. To facilitate this task, a domain-specific language named ''Software Measurement Modelling Language'' (SMML) has been developed. This paper tackles the question of whether the use of SMML can assist in the definition of software measurement models. An empirical study was conducted, with the aim of verifying whether SMML makes it easier to construct measurement models which are more usable and maintainable as regards textual notation. The results show that models which do not use the language are more difficult-in terms of effort, correctness and efficiency-to understand and modify than those represented with SMML. Additional feedback was also obtained, to verify the suitability of the graphical representation of each symbol (element or relationship) of SMML.
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