Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Formal Agent-Oriented Modeling with Graph Transformation. In Science of Computer Programming, vol. 44, pp. 229--252 (2002)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@article{dhk02scp, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Formal Agent-Oriented Modeling with Graph Transformation}, journal = {Science of Computer Programming}, year = {2002}, volume = {44}, pages = {229--252} }

For the generic specification of protocols, goals, or workflows, many approaches to agentoriented modeling provide a concept of role. Roles abstract from the concrete agents involved in an interaction. They provide means for the evolution of agents and serve as components of agent design. Despite the wide-spread usage of roles in agent-oriented modeling, a systematic analysis of the different aspects and properties of this concept is still missing. In this paper, we perform such an analysis and identify requirements for a general role concept. We develop such a role concept for a modeling approach based on the UML and graph transformation systems and exemplify its use for the specification (and application) of protocols. Finally, we provide a run-time semantics for roles based on concepts from the theory of graph transformation.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Roles in Agent-Oriented Modeling. In International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 281--302 (2001)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | DOI

@article{DHK01ijseke, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Roles in Agent-Oriented Modeling}, journal = {International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering}, year = {2001}, volume = {11}, number = {3}, pages = {281--302} }

In this paper, we perform such an analysis and identify requirements for a general role concept. We develop such a role concept for a modeling approach based on the UML and graph transformation systems and exemplify its use for the specification (and application) of protocols. Finally, we provide a run-time semantics for roles based on concepts from the theory of graph transformation.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster and Matthew Langham: Agenten im Auftrag des Bankkunden. In Geldinstitute, vol. 31, no. 1-2, pp. 32--33 (2000)
Show Bibtex

@article{DHKL00, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster and Matthew Langham}, title = {Agenten im Auftrag des Bankkunden}, journal = {Geldinstitute}, year = {2000}, volume = {31}, number = {1-2}, pages = {32--33}, month = {Februar } }

Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Katharina Mehner and Stefan Sauer and Annika Wagner: Ein Vorgehensmodell für die Multimedia-Entwicklung mit Autorensystemen. In Informatik Forschung und Entwicklung, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 83--94 (1999)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | DOI

@article{Depke1999, author = {Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Katharina Mehner and Stefan Sauer and Annika Wagner}, title = {Ein Vorgehensmodell für die Multimedia-Entwicklung mit Autorensystemen}, journal = {Informatik Forschung und Entwicklung}, year = {1999}, volume = {14}, number = {2}, pages = {83--94}, month = {June} }

Multimedia-Anwendungen sind interaktive Softwaresysteme und verlangen als solche, mit softwaretechnischen Methoden erstellt zu werden. Sie werden heutzutage in der Regel mit Hilfe von Autorensystemen entwickelt, die eine Ad-hoc-Entwicklung auf Implementierungsniveau unterstützen. Hierdurch und wegen des Fehlens etablierter Vorgehensmodelle für die Multimedia-Softwareentwicklung reduziert sich der Multimedia-Entwicklungsprozeß auf die Implementierungsphase. Dies führt zu den in der Softwaretechnik bekannten Problemen wie mangelnder Konzeption und fehlender Dokumentation. Wir stellen in diesem Beitrag ein Vorgehensmodell für die Entwicklung von Multimedia-Anwendungen vor, in dessen Mittelpunkt eine Analyse- und Entwurfsphase im Hinblick auf eine Implementierung der Multimedia-Anwendung mit einem Autorensystem stehen. Ausgehend von einem frameworkbasierten Analysemodell der Anwendung und einem Modell der Realisierungsmöglichkeiten mit einem konkreten Autorensystem wird systematisch ein Implementierungsmodell auf Instanzebene abgeleitet, das als Eingabe für das Autorensystem verwendet wird. Das postulierte Vorgehensmodell wird exemplarisch für das Autorensystem Director am Beispiel der Domäne multimedialer Lehr-/Lernanwendungen erläutert.

Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Matthew Langham and Björn Lütkemeier and Sebastian Thöne: Process-Oriented, Consistent Integration of Software Components. In Proceedings of the conference on Prolonging Software Life: Development and Redevelopment (COMPSAC 2002), Oxford (England). IEEE Computer Society (Washington, DC, USA), pp. 13--18 (2002) COMPSAC '02: Proceedings of the 26th International Computer Software and Applications Conference on Prolonging Software Life: Development and Redevelopment
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | DOI

@inproceedings{Depke2002, author = {Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Matthew Langham and Björn Lütkemeier and Sebastian Thöne}, title = {Process-Oriented, Consistent Integration of Software Components}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the conference on Prolonging Software Life: Development and Redevelopment (COMPSAC 2002), Oxford (England)}, year = {2002}, pages = {13--18}, address = {Washington, DC, USA}, month = {August}, publisher = {IEEE Computer Society}, note = {COMPSAC '02: Proceedings of the 26th International Computer Software and Applications Conference on Prolonging Software Life: Development and Redevelopment} }

The integration of software components becomes a more and more important issue in software engineering. Process-oriented approaches should provide automated information processes. Therefore, the software components have to be integrated in a consistent way, i.e., their export interfaces have to be respected by the importing components. Furthermore, the type system of component interfaces has to support a tunable degree of freedom. This allows the insertion of components with interfaces of restricted but sufficient degree of compatibility. In this paper, we develop a concept for consistent and flexible integration of components. We present a process modeling language that combines UML and XML in order to support consistent, flexible, and executable processes. Finally, we provide a formalization of the proposed component type system.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel: Modellierung von Prozessen mit UML und Realisierung durch eine Internet-Agentenplattform. In Proceedings of the 9. Kolloquium Software-Entwicklung für Internet und Intranet, Ostfildern (Germany). Technische Akademie Esslingen (2001)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Depke01, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel}, title = {Modellierung von Prozessen mit UML und Realisierung durch eine Internet-Agentenplattform}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 9. Kolloquium Software-Entwicklung für Internet und Intranet, Ostfildern (Germany)}, year = {2001}, month = {September}, publisher = {Technische Akademie Esslingen} }

Workflow management systems provide a facility to execute processes, i.e., workflows by interpretation of process descriptions. The use of process descriptions allows the flexible specification of behavior in a problem oriented way. A system can evolve by just changing the process descriptions. These characteristics are useful not only for workflow management systems but also for general information systems. It has been shown that the activity diagrams of the Unified Modeling Language (UML) can be used for process or workflow descriptions. In a recent project, activity diagrams have been used for specifying complete workflow models that are executed within an agent based workflow management system. Software agents provide advantages that make them useful for the realization of workflow management systems. Such an agent based workflow execution platform has been developed by use of present technology for web information systems. Especially, the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) has been used extensively because it is flexible and it is inherently able to homogenize different kinds of data processing activities within a system.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Improving the Agent-Oriented Modeling Process with Roles. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (AGENTS 2001), Montreal (Canada). ACM Press (New York, NY, USA), pp. 640-647 (2001)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | URL

@inproceedings{Depke2001, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Improving the Agent-Oriented Modeling Process with Roles}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Autonomous Agents (AGENTS 2001), Montreal (Canada)}, year = {2001}, pages = {640-647}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, month = {Juni}, publisher = {ACM Press} }

The agent-oriented modeling process is divided in a typical sequence of activities, i.e., requirements specification, analysis, and design. The requirements are specified by descriptions of the system’s functionality and by exemplary scenarios of essential interactions. In analysis the system’s structure is captured and mandatory behavior of agents is prescribed. The design model describes system behavior by means of local operations. The problem arises how the transition between these different stages of the modeling process can be performed. In this paper, we introduce a concept of roles in order to support the transition in a systematic way and thereby improving the agent-oriented modeling process.

Ralph Depke and Matthew Langham and Björn Lütkemeier and Sebastian Thöne: Ein Konzept zur Generierung von XSL-Transformationen und dessen Anwendung bei Bankselbstbedienungssystemen. In Proceedings of the Net.ObjectDays (2000), Erfurt (Germany). (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Depke02, author = {Ralph Depke and Matthew Langham and Björn Lütkemeier and Sebastian Thöne}, title = {Ein Konzept zur Generierung von XSL-Transformationen und dessen Anwendung bei Bankselbstbedienungssystemen}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Net.ObjectDays (2000), Erfurt (Germany)}, year = {2000}, month = {October } }

Die Transformation von XML-Dokumenten mit XSLTRegeln ist von großer praktischer Relevanz. Der Aufwand für die Erstellung der Regeln wächst allerdings mit der Größe der ineinander zu überführenden Dokumentformate und der Komplexität der Transformation. Mit der wachsenden Menge von Regeln wird die Übersetzung auch immer weniger nachvollziehbar. Die in diesem Artikel vorgeschlagene Spezifikation von XSLTransformationen und die nachfolgende Generierung von XSLT-Regeln vereinfacht die Erstellung von Übersetzern und bildet gleichfalls eine besser verständliche Dokumentation der Übersetzungsvorschrift. Die praktische Relevanz des Verfahrens zeigt sich zum Beispiel bei der Konvertierung von Austauschformaten in Bankselbstbedienungssystemen.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Integrating visual modeling of agent-based and object-oriented systems. In Proceedings of the conference on Autonomous agents (AGENTS 2000), Barcelona (Spain). ACM Press (New York, NY, USA), pp. 82--83 (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | DOI

@inproceedings{Depke2000a, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Integrating visual modeling of agent-based and object-oriented systems}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the conference on Autonomous agents (AGENTS 2000), Barcelona (Spain)}, year = {2000}, pages = {82--83}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, month = {June}, publisher = {ACM Press} }

A concept of roles is introduced for a more fine-grained modeling of objects’ and agents’ structure and behavior. As requirement specification, global graph transformation rules determine the overall effect of the interaction among agents and objects while abstracting form the communication involved. On the design level they describe local autonomous operations by which agents may react to changes in their environment.

Gregor Engels and Ralph Depke and Christoph Borowski: Konzeption und objektorientierte Realisierung einer internet-basierten Datenbankanwendung. In Kolloquium Software-Entwicklung - Methoden, Werkzeuge, Erfahrungen. Technische Akademie Esslingen (Ostfildern), vol. 8, pp. 531--540 (1999)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | URL

@inproceedings{Engels1999c, author = {Gregor Engels and Ralph Depke and Christoph Borowski}, title = {Konzeption und objektorientierte Realisierung einer internet-basierten Datenbankanwendung}, booktitle = {Kolloquium Software-Entwicklung - Methoden, Werkzeuge, Erfahrungen}, year = {1999}, volume = {8}, pages = {531--540}, address = {Ostfildern}, month = {September}, publisher = {Technische Akademie Esslingen} }

Today e-commerce applications use web browsers as an uniform user interface and they rely on databases as data sources. Different technologies exist for database access: common gateway interface (CGI), Java and its database interface java database connectivity (JDBC), proprietary approaches of database vendors, etc. We present criteria for the selection of an appropriate solution and we successivly apply them in our application development process. Throughout the development process of internet based database applications object oriented techniques can be used. The unified modeling language (UML) is used for requirement analysis and design of the application and the implementation proceeds with the programming language Java. The transition from the object oriented modeling language UML to the object oriented programming language Java succeeds smoothly. We report on our experience with the modeling tool Rational Rose 98 of Rational, Inc. We use Java and JDBC to implement a seminar reservation system that can be regarded as a small e-commerce application.

Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Katharina Mehner and Stefan Sauer and Annika Wagner: Ein Ansatz zur Verbesserung des Entwicklungsprozesses von Multimedia-Anwendungen. In Proceedings of the GI-Fachtagung on Softwaretechnik (1998), Paderborn (Germany). GI, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 12--19 (1998)
Show Bibtex

@inproceedings{Depke1998, author = {Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Katharina Mehner and Stefan Sauer and Annika Wagner}, title = {Ein Ansatz zur Verbesserung des Entwicklungsprozesses von Multimedia-Anwendungen}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the GI-Fachtagung on Softwaretechnik (1998), Paderborn (Germany)}, year = {1998}, volume = {18}, number = {3}, pages = {12--19}, month = {September }, publisher = {GI} }

Stefan Knoke and Ralph Depke and Wolfram Schöne and O.S. Brozek and Andreas Tünnermann and H. Welling: Einfrequenzbetrieb von Nd:YAG-Stablasersystemen hoher Ausgangsleistung. In Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Weinheim (Germany). Physik-Verlag, vol. 32, no. 3 (1997)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Knoke97, author = {Stefan Knoke and Ralph Depke and Wolfram Schöne and O.S. Brozek and Andreas Tünnermann and H. Welling}, title = {Einfrequenzbetrieb von Nd:YAG-Stablasersystemen hoher Ausgangsleistung}, booktitle = {Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft, Weinheim (Germany)}, year = {1997}, volume = {32}, number = {3}, month = {October}, publisher = {Physik-Verlag} }

Festkörperlasersysteme mit Ausgangsleistungen von mehr als 10W im Einfrequenzbetrieb sind attraktive Strahlquellen für Anwendungen in der Grundlagenforschung und in Bereichen der nichtlinearen Optik. Es werden mit fasergekoppelten Diodenlasern gepumpte Nd:YAG-Stablaser vorgestellt, die das Potential hoher Ausgangsleistungen in der transversalen Grundmode bieten. Durch die Ankopplung der Hochleistungslaser an einen monolithischen Miniatur-Ringlaser mit der Technik des Injection Lockings wird ein sehr stabiler und effizienter Einfrequenzbetrieb mit Laserausgangsleistungen von mehr als 40W erreicht. Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen zur Übertragung des Polarisationszustandes, der Amplituden- und Frequenzstabilität der Strahlung des monolitischen Ringlasers als Masteroszillator auf den angekoppelten Hochleistungs-Slavelaser werden dargestellt und diskutiert.

Ralph Depke and Stefan Knoke and Wolfram Schöne and Andreas Tünnermann and H. Welling: Thermooptische Effekte in Nd:YAG-Slablasern. In Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft. Physik-Verlag (Weinheim, Germany), vol. 32, no. 3 (1997)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Depke97-1, author = {Ralph Depke and Stefan Knoke and Wolfram Schöne and Andreas Tünnermann and H. Welling}, title = {Thermooptische Effekte in Nd:YAG-Slablasern}, booktitle = {Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft}, year = {1997}, volume = {32}, number = {3}, address = {Weinheim, Germany}, publisher = {Physik-Verlag} }

Vorteile von Laserkristallen in Slab-Geometrie gegenüber Stäben liegen in einer Reduktion der thermisch induzierten Linsenwirkung und der spannungsinduzierten Depolarisation durch einen zick-zack-förmigen Strahlverlauf innerhalb des Kristalls. Durch die Analyse der durch die Anordnung der Pumpquellen und die Dotierungskonzentration bestimmten Temperatur- und Spannungsverteilungen mit Hilfe eines Finite-Element-Modells und die Berechnung der resultierenden optischen Eigenschaften lassen sich die genannten Zielgrößen optimieren. Die Verfahren wurden auf am Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. entwickelte Nd:YAG-Stab- und Slablaser angewandt und ermöglichten die Entwicklung diodengepumpter Festkörperlaser-Systeme mit Ausgangsleistungen von mehr als 750W bei guter Strahlqualität. Modellerweiterungen unter Berücksichtigung der Wechselwirkung zwischen Lasermoden und aktivem Material werden diskutiert. Diese Arbeit wird gefördert durch das BMBF, FKZ: 13 N 6361

Ralph Depke and Jan Hendrik Hausmann and Reiko Heckel: Design of an Agent-Oriented Modeling Language Based on Graph Transformation. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Applications of Graph Transformations with Industrial Relevance (AGTIVE 2003), Charlottesville, VA (USA). Springer (Berlin/Heidelberg), LNCS, vol. 3062, pp. 106--119 (2003)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | URL | DOI

@inproceedings{Depke2003a, author = {Ralph Depke and Jan Hendrik Hausmann and Reiko Heckel}, title = {Design of an Agent-Oriented Modeling Language Based on Graph Transformation}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Workshop on Applications of Graph Transformations with Industrial Relevance (AGTIVE 2003), Charlottesville, VA (USA)}, year = {2003}, volume = {3062}, series = {LNCS}, pages = {106--119}, address = {Berlin/Heidelberg}, month = {September}, publisher = {Springer} }

The use of UML extension mechanisms for the definition of an Agent-Oriented Modeling Language only fixes its syntax. But agent concepts demand an appropriate semantics for a visual modeling language. Graphs have been shown to constitute a precise and general semantic domain for visual modeling languages. The question is how agent concepts can be systematically represented in the semantic domain and further on be expressed by appropriate UML diagrams. We propose a language architecture based on the semantic domain of graphs and elements of the concrete syntax of UML. We use the proposed language architecture to define parts of an agent-oriented modeling language.

Sebastian Thöne and Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels: Process-Oriented, Flexible Composition of Web Services with UML. In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Conceptual Modeling Approaches for e-Business: A Web Service Perspective (eCOMO 2002), Tampere (Finland). Springer (Berlin/Heidelberg), LNCS, vol. 2784, pp. 390--401 (2002)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Thone2002, author = {Sebastian Thöne and Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels}, title = {Process-Oriented, Flexible Composition of Web Services with UML}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Workshop on Conceptual Modeling Approaches for e-Business: A Web Service Perspective (eCOMO 2002), Tampere (Finland)}, year = {2002}, volume = {2784}, series = {LNCS}, pages = {390--401}, address = {Berlin/Heidelberg}, month = {October}, publisher = {Springer} }

The composition of elementary web services to larger-scale services has become an important means to enhance e-business collaborations. If such composite web services can also integrate legacy components that are not yet provided as web services, the number of possible compositions is increased. Following a process-oriented approach, the compositions can be described as control- and data-flow between available web services and components. This paper discusses the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS), an existing service composition language, and proposes UML-WSC as an alternative, visual language. For the advanced description of service interfaces, UML-WSC extends the type system of the established Web Service Definition Language (WSDL).

Tim Schattkowsky and Katharina Mehner and Ralph Depke: Using UML models for the Description of Concurrent Behavior in Component Interfaces. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Concurrency Issues of the UML (satellite event of the International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language - UML 2001), Toronto (Canada). (2001)
Show Bibtex

@inproceedings{Schattkowsky2001, author = {Tim Schattkowsky and Katharina Mehner and Ralph Depke}, title = {Using UML models for the Description of Concurrent Behavior in Component Interfaces}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Concurrency Issues of the UML (satellite event of the International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language - UML 2001), Toronto (Canada)}, year = {2001}, month = {October} }

Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner: "Separation of Concern" mit Rollen, Subjekten und Aspekten. In Proceedings of the workshop on Aspektorientierung - Workshop der GI-Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung (2001), Paderborn (Germany). Universität Paderborn, Technical Report, no. tr-ri-01-223, pp. 1--7 (2001)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Depke2001b, author = {Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner}, title = {"Separation of Concern" mit Rollen, Subjekten und Aspekten}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the workshop on Aspektorientierung - Workshop der GI-Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung (2001), Paderborn (Germany)}, year = {2001}, number = {tr-ri-01-223}, series = {Technical Report}, pages = {1--7}, month = {3./4. Mai}, publisher = {Universität Paderborn} }

Die Aufteilung von Modellen hinsichtlich Anforderungen (separation of concern) ist ein wichtiger aktueller Trend in der Softwaretechnik. Modelle sollen modular strukturiert und entsprechend erweiterbar sein. So werden Probleme, die aus scattering und tangling entstehen, vermieden. Die Integration von Teilmodellen ist einerseits additiv, so daß Elemente auf Ebene von Attributen und Methoden von Teilmodellen unverändert übernommen werden können. Andererseits ist invasive Integration nötig, um Methodenrümpfe zu verändern. Rollen, Subjekte und Aspekte sind Konzepte zur getrennten Beschreibung und Integration von Teilen von Struktur- und Verhaltensmodellen. In diesem Papier untersuchen wir, inwieweit additive und invasive Integration von Teilmodellen in diesen Ansätzen unterstützt werden. Wir stellen selbst ein Konzept zur aspektorientierten Modellierung vor, das beide Integrationsweisen erlaubt.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Agent-oriented Modeling with Graph Transformation. In Proceedings of the First international workshop on Agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE 2000), Limerick (Ireland). Springer (Berlin/Heidelberg), LNCS, vol. 1957, pp. 105--120 (2001)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | DOI

@inproceedings{Depke2001a, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Agent-oriented Modeling with Graph Transformation}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the First international workshop on Agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE 2000), Limerick (Ireland)}, year = {2001}, volume = {1957}, series = {LNCS}, pages = {105--120}, address = {Berlin/Heidelberg}, publisher = {Springer} }

The agent paradigm can be seen as an extension of the notion of (active) objects by concepts like autonomy, cooperation, and goal-oriented behavior. Mainstream object-oriented modeling techniques do not account for these agentspecific aspects. Therefore, dedicated techniques for agent-oriented modeling are required which are based on the concepts and notations of object-oriented modeling and extend these in order to support agent-specific concepts. In this paper, an agent-oriented modeling technique is introduced which is based on UML notation. Graph transformation is used both on the level of modeling in order to capture agent-specific aspects and as the underlying formal semantics of the approach.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel: Formalizing the Development of Agent-Based Systems Using Graph Processes. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Graph Transformation and Visual Modelling Techniques (satellite event of the ICALP 2000), Geneva (Switzerland). Carleton Scientific, pp. 419-426 (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | URL

@inproceedings{Depke2000c, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel}, title = {Formalizing the Development of Agent-Based Systems Using Graph Processes}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Graph Transformation and Visual Modelling Techniques (satellite event of the ICALP 2000), Geneva (Switzerland)}, year = {2000}, pages = {419-426}, publisher = {Carleton Scientific} }

Graph processes are used in order to formalize the relation between global requirement specifications of multi-agent systems by means of message sequence charts, and implementation oriented design models where graph transformation rules specify the agent’s operations.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Rollenbasierte Modellierung autonomer Agenten. In Proceedings of the Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung on Visuelle Verhaltensmodellierung verteilter und nebenläufiger Software-Systeme, Münster (Germany). Universität Münster (Münster) (2000) Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objekt-orientierte Software-Entwicklung
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{Depke2000b, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Rollenbasierte Modellierung autonomer Agenten}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung on Visuelle Verhaltensmodellierung verteilter und nebenläufiger Software-Systeme, Münster (Germany)}, year = {2000}, address = {Münster}, month = {November}, publisher = {Universität Münster}, note = {Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objekt-orientierte Software-Entwicklung} }

Ein agentenorientierter Modellierungsprozeß läßt sich in drei typische Aktivitäten aufteilen: Anforderungsbeschreibung, Analyse und Entwurf. Die Anforderungen sind durch Beschreibungen der Systemfunktionen und durch beispielhafte Szenarien wichtiger Interaktionen gegeben. In der Analyse wird die Struktur von Agenten und Objekten bestimmt und den Agenten durch Protokolle Verhalten vorgegeben. Im Entwurf wird (globales) Verhalten auf lokale Operationen der Agenten und Objekte abgebildet. Problematisch ist der Übergang zwischen verschiedenen Aktivit äten des Prozesses. Wir führen ein Rollenkonzept ein, das diesen Übergang erleichtert und so den agentenorientierten Modellierungsprozeß verbessert.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Deploying Agents in an Electronic Banking Environment. In Proceedings of the Workshop on Agents in Industry (Agents 2000; satellite event of the 4th International Conference on Autonomous Agents), Barcelona (Spain). (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{DHK00AgentsWS, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Deploying Agents in an Electronic Banking Environment}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop on Agents in Industry (Agents 2000; satellite event of the 4th International Conference on Autonomous Agents), Barcelona (Spain)}, year = {2000}, month = {Juni } }

In this paper, we report on the deployment of an agentbased extension to an electronic banking environment which has been developed in cooperation with a software company specializing in electronic banking solutions. During development of a prototype we made valuable experiences concerning the understanding and application of agent technology and its transition to industry. Several lessons that can be learnt from our experiences are discussed and issues of future research that enable the industrial application of agent.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Requirement Specification and Design of Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation, Roles and UML. In Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (satellite event of the ICSE 2000), Limerick (Ireland). University of Limerick (Limerick, Ireland) (2000)
Show Bibtex

@inproceedings{DHK00AOSEws, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Requirement Specification and Design of Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation, Roles and UML}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 1st International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (satellite event of the ICSE 2000), Limerick (Ireland)}, year = {2000}, address = {Limerick, Ireland}, month = {Juni }, publisher = {University of Limerick} }

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel: Towards Role-based Modeling of Autonomous Agents. In Proceedings of the Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung on Visuelle Verhaltensmodellierung verteilter und nebenläufiger Software-Systeme, Münster (Germany). (2000) Publication not findable any more!
Show Bibtex

@inproceedings{DH00b, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel}, title = {Towards Role-based Modeling of Autonomous Agents}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Workshop des Arbeitskreises GROOM der GI Fachgruppe 2.1.9 Objektorientierte Software-Entwicklung on Visuelle Verhaltensmodellierung verteilter und nebenläufiger Software-Systeme, Münster (Germany)}, year = {2000}, month = {November}, organization = {Universität Münster}, note = {Publication not findable any more!} }

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Modeling Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation and UML: From Requirement Specifcation to Object-Oriented Design. In Proceedings of the workshop on Graph Transformation Systems (GraTra 2000), Berlin (Germany). (Berlin, Germany) (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@inproceedings{DHK00GraTra, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Modeling Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation and UML: From Requirement Specifcation to Object-Oriented Design}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the workshop on Graph Transformation Systems (GraTra 2000), Berlin (Germany)}, year = {2000}, address = {Berlin, Germany}, month = {March} }

Typed graph transformation systems are used to support an intregrated modeling of object- and agent-based systems. As requirement specification, global graph transformation rules determine the overall effect of the interaction among agents and objects while abstracting from the communication involved. On the design level they describe local autonomous operations by which agents may react to changes in their environment. Graph transformation rules are combined to story diagrams in order to describe the temporal ordering of an agent's local operations.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel: Modeling and Analysis of Agents' Goal-Driven Behavior Using Graph Transformation. In H.D. Ehrich, J.J. Meyer, M.D. Ryan (eds.): Objects, Agents and Features - Structuring Mechanisms for Contemporary Software. LNCS, , vol. 2975, pp. 81--97 Springer (Berlin/Heidelberg) (2003)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@incollection{Depke2003, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel}, title = {Modeling and Analysis of Agents' Goal-Driven Behavior Using Graph Transformation}, booktitle = {Objects, Agents and Features - Structuring Mechanisms for Contemporary Software}, publisher = {Springer}, year = {2003}, volume = {2975}, series = {LNCS}, pages = {81--97}, address = {Berlin/Heidelberg}, month = {February} }

Extending mainstream object-oriented concepts, the agent paradigm promotes the concept of goals realized by means of strategies. To account for such specific aspects, dedicated techniques for agent-oriented modelling are required which go beyond standard techniques of object-oriented modelling. In this paper, an agent-oriented modelling notation for goals and strategies is proposed. Based on graph transformation as semantic domain we show how the behavior of agents can be described in terms of goals and the strategies or communication protocols for achieving them. Model checking is used to verify, in a given situation, that a chosen strategy actually achieves its goal.

Gregor Engels and Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner: Ergebnisse - vergleichende Darstellung. In E.-E. Doberkat, G. Engels, M. Grauer, H.L. Grob, U. Kelter, W. Leidhold, V. Nienhaus (eds.): Multimedia in der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Lehre, Erfahrungsbericht. pp. 277--294 LIT (Münster) (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@incollection{Engels2000b, author = {Gregor Engels and Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner}, title = {Ergebnisse - vergleichende Darstellung}, booktitle = {Multimedia in der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Lehre, Erfahrungsbericht}, publisher = {LIT}, year = {2000}, pages = {277--294}, address = {Münster}, month = {April} }

Auf der Grundlage der im vorherigen Kapitel zusammengefaßten Beschreibungen der Aktivitäten an den einzelnen Standorten Bochum, Köln, Münster und Siegen soll in diesem Kapitel versucht werden, die beschriebenen Erfahrungen zu strukturieren und zu vergleichen. Hierbei geht es in erster Linie um eine qualitative Analyse. Es wird also nicht gefragt und bewertet, welche konkret quantitativ meßbaren Ergebnisse erzielt wurden, sondern welcher Standort welche Aktivitäten durchgeführt hat, um das gesteckte Ziel zu erreichen. Das Ziel dieser vergleichenden Analyse liegt vor allem in dem Erkenntnisgewinn, welche Aktivitäten von welchen Personenkreisen in einer Fakultät durchgeführt werden können bzw. sollten, um eine adäquate Unterstützung der Lehre durch Multimedia-Techniken zu erzielen.

Gregor Engels and Udo Kelter and Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner: Unterstützende Angebote der Softwarebegleitgruppe. In E.-E. Doberkat, G. Engels, M. Grauer, H.L. Grob, U. Kelter, W. Leidhold, V. Nienhaus (eds.): Multimedia in der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Lehre, Erfahrungsbericht. pp. 27--56 LIT (Münster) (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@incollection{Engels2000a, author = {Gregor Engels and Udo Kelter and Ralph Depke and Katharina Mehner}, title = {Unterstützende Angebote der Softwarebegleitgruppe}, booktitle = {Multimedia in der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Lehre, Erfahrungsbericht}, publisher = {LIT}, year = {2000}, pages = {27--56}, address = {Münster}, month = {April} }

In diesem Kapitel sollen das Vorgehensmodell zur Entwicklung von multimedialen Lehreinheiten und der Fragebogen zur Erstellung eines deskriptiven Vorgehensmodells vorgestellt werden. Diese Dokumente sind von der Softwarebegleitgruppe im Projektverlauf für die Projektteilnehmer aus den wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultäten erstellt worden.

Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster: Modeling Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation. techreport, no. tr-ri-00-213. University of Paderborn, Department of Computer Science (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@techreport{Depke2000d, author = {Ralph Depke and Reiko Heckel and Jochen Küster}, title = {Modeling Agent-Based Systems with Graph Transformation}, institution = {University of Paderborn, Department of Computer Science}, year = {2000}, type = {techreport}, number = {tr-ri-00-213}, month = {August} }

The agent paradigm can be seen as an extension of the notion of (active) objects by concepts like autonomy, cooperation, and goal-oriented behavior. Mainstream object-oriented modeling techniques do not account for the agent-specific aspects. Therefore, dedicated techniques for agent-oriented modeling are required which are based on the concepts and notations of object-oriented modeling and extend these in order to support agent-specific concepts. [...]

Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Jochen Küster: On the Integration of Roles in the UML. techreport, no. 214. University of Paderborn, Department of Computer Science (2000)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract

@techreport{Depke2000, author = {Ralph Depke and Gregor Engels and Jochen Küster}, title = {On the Integration of Roles in the UML}, institution = {University of Paderborn, Department of Computer Science}, year = {2000}, type = {techreport}, number = {214}, month = {August } }

Conventionally, the state space and behavior of an object is determined when the object is created. Attributes and methods are not allowed to be attached to or retracted from an object during its lifetime. In other words, it is not feasible for an object to change its type dynamically. Furthermore, it is not possible to define several different views on an object allowing to exhibit a specific view to another object and hiding part of its features to a particular object. As a consequence, the concept of an object does not reflect appropriately real-world entities which may change their behavior and exhibit only part of their behavior towards another real-world entity. The concept of a role has been considered as an appropriate step forward to solving these kinds of problems. In this paper, we examine the concept of roles and elaborate a proposal for the integration of a clear concept of roles in the UML.

Ralph Depke: Visuelle Modellierung agentenbasierter Systeme. Type: Phd Thesis (2004)
Show Bibtex | Show Abstract | URL

@phdthesis{Depke2004, author = {Ralph Depke}, title = {Visuelle Modellierung agentenbasierter Systeme}, year = {2004}, month = {January} }

This dissertation describes an approach to the visual modeling of software systems which are composed of autonomous and proactive software entities interacting with their environment. These entities are named software agents. More and more software systems are distributed, dynamic and open with respect to their environment. Software agents shall ease the development of such systems. Agent based systems provide a modular structure. They are robust and can be adapted dynamically to changing requirements. The notion of software agent relies on the fundamental properties of autonomy, proactivity and structured interaction. According to these properties agents are distinguished from objects and components. For the development of agent based systems an appropriate modeling language and a process model describing the correct usage of the language are demanded. For both aspects only unsufficient or incomplete approaches exist. This thesis contributes to the solution in the following way: A new abstract and formal model of agent based systems shows, that the fundamental properties can be expressed precisely. Differently from existing models not only a single agent but a multi agent system can be modeled. The most important architectural models of agent-based systems are compatible with the abstract model. The rather restricted structure of the abstract model motivates the refinement by a model of coupled I/Oautomata. The Unified Modeling Language is widely used in industrial software development. Therefore, the new language AML (Agent Modeling Language) for the development of agent-based systems is defined as a UML profile. The semantics of AML models is defined in the semantic domain of graph transformation. The semantic domain is restricted to an adequate agent-oriented domain. There the constituents of the fundamental agent properties are defined. Agent based systems which are described using AML are shown to be compatible with I/O-automata model of multi agent systems. Constituents for proactivity are goals and strategies. In this thesis, it is shown that the reachability of goals through the application of strategies can be checked by applying a model checking method. The new process model APM describes, how the language AML can be applied to the modeling of agent-based systems.