Monografias em Ciência da Computação

2012

ABSTRACTS

Departmento de Informática 
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro - PUC-Rio
Rio de Janeiro - Brazil


This file contains a list of the technical reports of the Departmento de Informática, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Janeiro - PUC-Rio, Brazil, which are published in our series Monografias em Ciência da Computação (ISSN 0103-9741), edited by Prof. Carlos Lucena. Please note that the reports not available for download are available in their print format and can be obtained via the e-mail below.
For any questions, requests or suggestions, please contact:
Rosane Castilho bib-di@inf.puc-rio.br

Last update: 24/11/2012

INDEX


[MCC01/12]
STAA, A. v. The Talisman C++ unit testing framework.
23 p. Eng. E-mail: arndt@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
This document describes, in a very abridged way, the organization, tools, usage and conventions of the Talisman C++ unit test framework. Further details about the framework, as well as details about each module, class and method can be found in the corresponding header files. The present framework uses a very restricted set of C++ capabilities. It uses neither templates, nor MFC – Microsoft Foundation Classes or other class libraries. It may be integrated with an executable application, allowing to test modules in a production setting. It interprets a very simpleminded script language instead of coding the test cases directly in C++. The script language is similar to assembler, in the sense that it is line oriented and each executable or declarative line contains a command followed by a list of zero or more parameters. Usually the test command corresponds to the method to be tested and the parameters correspond to the parameters to be used when calling this method as well as values that will be compared with the outcome of the method execution. 


[MCC02/12]
SKYRME, A.; ENDLER, M.
An algorithm for distributed cooperative reasoning over global context states. 28 p. Eng. E-mail: endler@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
In many occasions of our daily lives, we want to spontaneously interact with nearby strangers for sharing ideas, chatting, saving time/money, or helping each other. For that purpose, it is necessary to identify shared context situations that depend on distributed sources of users’ local context. So far, most of the work that investigates mechanisms to support spontaneous discovery and interaction among mobile users has not yet explored means of automatic detection of common Global Context States (GCS). In this paper, we propose a distributed reasoning approach and algorithm that determines a distributed Global Context State among potentially interacting nodes/peers. We also evaluate the complexity of the algorithm - through simulation - and identify that the convergence of the algorithm depends very much on the users’ mobility pattern and the requested minimum number of contributing peers, rather than on the volatility of the local contexts.


[MCC03/12]
GUIMARÃES, L.F.; VIANNA, M.L.; SANTOS NETO, B.F.; LUCENA, C.J.P.  GeoRisc - mobile. 25 p. Port. E-mail: lucena@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
This paper describes the GeoRisc – Mobile, an extension of the GeoRisc platform. This software concentrate risk areas knowledge as sliding mass, suggestions of experts to answer a specific call from these areas, suggesting hospitals for treatment of victims rescued and creating routes to emergency service centers. In addition, a role and privacy mechanism, which enable a collaboration environment for specialist and common people in a such scenario. This knowledge has been encapsulated into agents able to infer suggestions and restrictions that fits as features in a software product line.


[MCC04/12]
SILVA, L.D.N.; VASCONCELOS, R.O.;  ALVES, L.; ANDRÉ, R.; BAPTISTA, G.; ENDLER, M. A communication middleware for scalable real-time mobile collaboration. Eng. 11 p. E-mail: endler@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Applications such as transportation management and logistics, emergency response, environmental monitoring or mobile workforce management, employ mobile networks as means of enabling communication and coordination among a possibly very large set of mobile nodes. The majority of those systems thus may require real-time tracking of the nodes, interaction with all participant nodes, as well as means of adaptability in a very dynamic scenario. In this paper we present a middleware communication service that supports real-time tracking of several thousands of mobile nodes, demand adaptability, as well as three modes of communication between the nodes: unicast, groupcast and broadcast. We then show Fleet Tracking and Management system and use it to evaluate our middleware


[MCC05/12]
VASCONCELOS, R.O.; DAVID, L.D. ; ALVES, L.; ANDRÉ, R.; ENDLER, M. Real-time group management and communication for large-scale pervasive applications. 13 p. Eng. E-mail: endler@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Applications such as transportation management and logistics, emergency response, environmental monitoring or mobile workforce management employ mobile networks as means of enabling communication and coordination among a possibly very large set of mobile nodes. The majority of those systems require real-time tracking of mobile nodes - be them vehicles, people or mobile robots-, group management and communication with the nodes, as well as adaptability in very dynamic scenarios, where it is not possible to predict how many nodes will be reachable and for how long. In this paper we present the Scalable Data Distribution Layer and explain its group management and communication features. We then present a prototype Fleet Tracking and Management system and performance results of the group communication and management middleware


[MCC06/12]
ENDLER, M.; VASCONCELOS, R.O.;  DAVID, L.D.; ANDRÉ, R.; ALVES, L. A DDS-based middleware for scalable tracking and communication of wireless-connected mobile nodes in a WAN. 15 p. Eng. E-mail: endler@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Applications such as vehicle fleet monitoring and logistic systems, emergency response coordination, environmental monitoring or mobile workforce management, employ mobile networks as means of communication, information sharing and coordination among a possibly very large set of mobile nodes interconnected by a Wide Area Network (WAN). The majority of those systems thus requires real-time tracking of the mobile nodes, interaction with all participant nodes, as well as means of adaptability in a very dynamic scenario, where it is not possible to predict when, where and for how long the nodes will remain connected. Several studies and real-world applications suggest that OMG's Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard - and corresponding middleware products - enable scalable decentralized solutions for real-time communication between large sets of networked nodes. However, our experiments show that DDS only works well when deployed on a LAN or a highperformance network, drastically loosing its performance when used in a wireless network. In this paper we present a DDS-based communication middleware that supports real-time tracking and communication with several thousands of mobile nodes, wirelessly connected over the WAN, as well as three modes of communication: unicast, groupcast and broadcast. We then show some performance results of our middleware, that demonstrate the viability of extending the real-time communication capacity of DDS also to wireless-connected mobile nodes in a WAN.


[MCC07/12]
COSTA, A.D.; SILVA, V.T.; LUCENA, C.J.P. Proposing innovative modeling of testing related concepts. 9 p. Eng. E-mail: lucena@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
As the recognition of systematic software testing increases, there is a need to conceive modeling techniques to explicitly document key concerns associated with test cases. Modeling techniques are known as a good way to perform such documentation, because they provide abstractions and a visual notation to represent testing-specific concerns, therefore facilitating the communication among the members of the project team. Based on this context, this research aims to provide a test conceptual framework that represents relevant test concepts which are not considered by well known test approaches, such as TTCN-3 and UML Testing Profile. From this proposal we intend to reduce overall testing time in systems related to different domains. Industrial systems will be used to test and analyze this new approach.


[MCC08/12]
BARBOSA, S.D.J.; SILVA, F.A.G.; FURTADO, A.L. Early cases of Bertillon, the logic programming sleuth. 46 p. Eng. E-mail: furtado@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
The present text has to do with communicative events, whose presence in reasonably realistic plots is no less vital than that of action events. A compact general purpose package is introduced as part of the Logtell plot-composition project. To test the usability of the package, a first effort to specify an application domain belonging to the genre of detective stories was undertaken. Seven criminal cases are reported as examples, with a fairly successful outcome thanks to the participation of M. Maurice Bertillon, an imaginative (and imaginary) French detective and an adept of logic programming, who kindly agreed to use our SWI-Prolog plan-based implementation. In particular, the text indicates how our interactive PlotBoard tool allows to combine, in alternative stepwise fashion, plot sequences produced by plan-generation with choices, extensions and adaptations resulting from the user's intervention.


[MCC09/12]
COSTA, A.D.; SILVA, V.T.; LUCENA, C.J.P
. Modeling relevant test concepts from UTPX and secureUMLX. 19 p. Eng. E-mail: lucena@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Documenting software tests is almost as essential as documenting source code itself. As the recognition of systematic software testing increases, there is a need to conceive modeling techniques to explicitly document key concerns associated with test cases. Modeling techniques are known as a good way to perform such documentation, because they provide abstractions and a visual notation to represent testing-specific concerns facilitating the communication among the members of the project team. Based on this context, the goal of the paper is to present a test conceptual framework able to represent relevant test concepts that are not handled by famous test approaches, such as AGEDIS Modeling Language and UML Testing Profile. In order to represent the test concepts proposed by the conceptual framework, the UTP and SecureUML modeling languages were extended. Such extensions were evaluated from a controlledexperiment based on two industrial large-scale systems and that involved participants with different skills and experience on software testing and modeling.


[MCC10/12]
COSTA, M.; FEIJÓ, B..; RESENDE, A.; COUTO, M. Produção e pesquisa aliadas na reestruturação do ambiente escolar. 14 p. Port. E-mail: feijo@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
This paper proposes a new model of school where a research center and a production center live in a symbiotic manner. Teaching/learning processes take place in the larger context of production activities, while research activities, besides estab-lishing the grounds for pedagogical practices, give support to production. Firstly, some aspects of Brazilian education that reveal the need for structural changes in the tradi-tional school model are pointed out. This changes are imperative if we are to keep this subsystem of society up with the contemporary world. The proposed model is then presented, followed by some examples of its application in the multimedia path of a technical high school.

[MCC11/12]
BAPTISTA, G.L.b.; ENDLER, M.; VITERBO FILHO, J. Middleware supporting situational awareness in mission-critical scenarios with Rotorcraft. 13 p. Eng. E-mail: endler@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Situational Awareness (SA) has a central role with rotorcraft operations in mission-critical scenarios, for operational performance, mission success, safety and survivability. Applications and systems that enhance SA impose requirements of realtime communication and processing of large volumes of data, with high throughput and low latency. This work presents a middleware architecture to support those applications, with capabilities such as real-time data-centric publish-subscribe communication, Quality of Service (QoS) management, Semantic Interoperability and Distributed Complex Event Processing for the detection of Situations of Interest (SoI). A realistic scenario of helicopter rescue missions for offshore drilling is presented, with a SoI to be detected by the system. A visualization tool is used to illustrate the capabilities provided to applications, and simulation results are presented that compare different event processing distribution models and abstraction levels, regarding their impact on performance and scalability.


[MCC12/12]
SANT'ANNA, F.; RODRIGUEZ, N.L.R.; IERUSALIMSCHY, R. CÉU: embedded, safe, and reactive programming. 40 p. Eng. E-mail: noemi@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
CÉU is a programming language that unifies the features found in dataflow and imperative synchronous reactive languages, offering a high-level and safe alternative to event-driven and multithreaded systems for embedded systems. CÉU supports concurrent lines of execution that run in time steps and are allowed to share variables. However, the synchronous and static nature of CÉU enables a compile time analysis that can enforce deterministic and memory-safe programs. CÉU also introduces first-class support for “wall-clock” time (i.e. time from the real world), and offers seamless integration with C and simulation of programs in the language itself. The CÉU compiler generates single-threaded code comparable to handcrafted C programs in terms of size and portability.


[MCC13/12]
SILVA, B.S.
.; CARVALHO, G.R.; SANTOS, O.A.R. Adaptação na prática de um setor público às metodologias ágeis. 21 p. Port. E-mail: bib-di@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
This work approaches the use of agile methodologies in software development in the context of governmental companies based on traditional contracts. Software development in such companies is mostly outsourced, which makes it difficult to hire highly qualified professionals and to efficiently use software development processes. In this paper, we explore this scenario with a case study in the context of Ancine - the national film cinema from Brazil. This study investigates the applicability of agile methods, specifically the Scrum framework, in outsourcing based software development. We present the results of our case study and discuss the current hiring process in governmental companies.


[MCC14/12]
FERREIRA, J.J.
; de SOUZA, C.S. Communicating ideas in computer-supported modeling tasks: a case study with BPMN. 17 p. Eng. E-mail: clarisse@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
The communication role of models in Software Engineering is widely acknowledged. Models tell model readers what model writers propose. Computer-supported modeling (CSMod) traditionally concentrates on helping users build models with various kinds of notations (and annotations). Although such focus on 'representation' is obviously important for the overall 'communication' goal, some design features in CSMod tools may be yet unexplored. This paper presents a study with the use of ARIS EXPRESS in modeling tasks with a business process modeling notation. We report on how we combined various methods to analyze the way in which this tool supports 'communication through models'. Our findings articulate semiotic and cognitive aspects of notations with evidence provided by study participants during tasks and interviews. Our contribution lies not only in the findings, and how CSMod design can evolve in relatively unexplored ways, but also in our methodology, which we believe can be used in similar contexts.


[MCC15/12]
SOUSA, T.A.F.; BARBOSA, S.D.J. How signification and communication systems influence the interpretation of statistical data by users with specific information questions. 15 p. Eng. E-mail: simone@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Charts can represent and communicate quantitative information more efficently than tables. However, their interpretation requires knowledge of graphic systems, which nowadays can be made more efficient with the aid of interactive computer systems. Based on Semiotic Engineering, this paper reports a study on how communication and signification systems represented by Web visualization tools influence the interpretation of charts. We investigate the users’ abduction and sense-making process through the triangulation of two qualitative methods: Communicability Evaluation Method (CEM) and Think Aloud with co-participation. The first method allowed us to evaluate failures in the reception of the designer-to-user message, revealing features of the computational signs that hinder metacommunication. The second one allowed us to investigate the users' abductive processes during charts creation and to identify problems in understanding and generating chart using the investigated tools.


[MCC16/12]
SOUSA, T.A.F.; BARBOSA, S.D.J. Semantic characterization of visualization mechanisms. 13 p. Eng. E-mail: simone@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Several researchers have shown the need to create formal meanings of different types of data visualizations. This concern includes not only scientific visualization, but also more general information visualization. Lately, some projects have been conducted towards developing ontologies, creating semantic for visualization and making these representations amenable to computer processing. In this research, we investigated two recent ontologies - VisKo and UK National e-Science Centre - aiming to bring new contributions to the field of information visualization. The goal of our research is to develop an ontology to define relationships between data model, visualizations and user tasks represented by questions. Our ontology involves some usual and unusual data structures that include Cartesian graphs, maps and hierarchical relationships and we defined questions that could be answered by these visualizations.


[MCC17/12]
TARANTI, P.-G.; LUCENA, C.J.P.; CHOREN, R.; BOMMEL, P. Virtual Environment Simulations (VES) with MABS: an approach to tame tardiness in java-based simulation systems. 14 p. Eng. E-mail: lucena@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
Virtual Environment Simulations (VES) are a special type of simulation, often used to implement games and serious games with virtual space representation. An example of serious games is the simulation used to support War Games. MABS is suitable to implement these simulation due their ability to handle with complexity and individual actors modeling. However, the simulation time advance in this simulation is challenging, due to the existence of tardiness in the system. This situation is worst in Java-based MABS, because of Java technology particularities. This paper presents an approach to tame this tardiness and help the development of these cited VES using agent oriented paradigm.


[MCC18/12]
SOUSA, H.P.; LEITE, J.C.S.P. Aplicação da Engenharia Reversa e Reengenharia de Software no Desenvolvimento de plugins para a Ferramenta Oryx. 58 p. Eng. E-mail: julio@inf.puc-rio.br

Abstract:
This paper presents the application of software reengineering on the
Oryx tool with the objective of developing plugins that provide new features. First, reverse engineering was applied in order to obtain the necessary knowledge about the tool, enabling the subsequent execution of reengineering, which implements the additional new features (plugins), as well as adapts existing ones. The developed plugins aims to offer the capacity of modeling using the i* language together the BPMN notation in the same model. This document registers the reverse engineering and details the reengineering of implementation. We conclude by showing the tests results used to help validate the new plugins of Oryx tool.