PublicationsAll

Systems thinking in chemistry involves reasoning that integrates the macroscopic, microscopic, symbolic, and process-level representations of bounded systems. This article proposes a practice-oriented progression from a deliberately simplified everyday chemistry task to formal conceptual modeling for non-chemistry-major undergraduate engineering students. The coffee-machine lead-contamination task is author-constructed and is presented as a design exemplar; it was not administered to the students analyzed here. The empirical component draws on three illustrative student-generated Object-Process Methodology (OPM) models of olive mill wastewater treatment (OMWT), interpreted through a dual lens of chemical representational depth and Model of Systems Thinking (MOST). Across these illustrative models, OPM makes system boundaries, major components, and process sequences readily visible, whereas mechanistic, conditional, and monitoring-based reasoning remains only partially explicit. These findings suggest that systemic framing alone is insufficient for a molecular-level explanation and that deliberate scaffolding is needed to connect system-level behavior to chemical mechanisms. OPM serves as a diagnostic and pedagogical tool for integrating processes, components, and broader implications in chemistry contexts.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) Program’s mission is to identify, define, and catalog publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. A cybersecurity practitioner who suspects a software, hardware, or service vulnerability, can initiate a CVE-ID Requesting process, as defined by MITRE. This process is cumbersome, as it is entirely textual and evolvable, making it prone to incomplete description and misinterpretations. To automate and streamline the process, we developed a model of this process using Object-Process Methodology (OPM ISO 19450:2024). The model features computational capabilities, enabling practitioners to feed a textual description of the potential vulnerability they wish to report for CVE-ID Requesting. In response, the system provides all matching CVE Numbering Authority (CNA) instances in a descending relevance order. A survey that evaluates the effectiveness of this model-based approach has shown that it formally explicates the CVE-ID Requesting process and automates it. This greatly alleviates the task of determining what CNA is best suitable for examining the potential CVE for which a number is sought. Beyond streamlining and automating the process, this work demonstrates the benefits of adopting an approach to cybersecurity that standardizes and formulates global cybersecurity processes and systems. The approach facilitates the way professionals navigate their way in the complex, evolving web of hardware and software vulnerabilities.

Moving systems engineering’s center of gravity from text documents to digital models, model-based system engineering (MBSE) facilitates collaboration, reduces errors, and improves system understanding, but systems engineers often face challenges when they start working with MBSE, as they need to consider and model textual requirements as a basis for the system architecture. Synchronizing requirements with the system model can address critical questions, such as which requirements are assigned and covered in the system model, what effort is required to meet these requirements, how to manage changes to requirements, and how to effectively trace them in the system. Object Process Methodology (OPM, ISO 19450) is an MBSE language and methodology for modeling systems, which encapsulates function, structure, and behavior within a single model. The research goal is to expand the MBSE methodology by modeling requirements that are linked to system model artifacts.  The objective is minimizing misunderstandings between stakeholders’ text-based requirements and the engineered model while improving the ability to track changes in requirements and artifacts. An OPM-based model, OPM-R, which unifies system requirements and architecture, was developed and evaluated through (1) interviews with seven experts who compared the current text-based approach and the proposed one based on the requirements of three test system models and (2) a researcher diary. Findings indicate that OPM-R is preferred over the text-based approach, as it reduces misunderstandings and gaps in requirements, enhancing the ability to trace coverage of system artifacts and track changes in requirements.

A heuristic relates to a formulation based on experts’ experience, which draws on observed common patterns and serves as a guide in investigating or solving a problem. A transdisciplinary field, systems engineering involves many useful heuristics, as it integrates the gamut of engineering disciplines in defining a system throughout its lifecycle. To be usable, heuristics should be memorable and pithy, and the consequences of applying them should be predictable. To be predictable, a heuristic should provide insights into how and why it works in a particular context. The first step to increase the capability of systems engineering heuristics was the creation of the I-SHARE–INCOSE Systems Heuristics Application Repository, a curated knowledge base of over 600 systems engineering-related heuristics covering systems engineering competencies, lifecycle stages, expertise, operational domains, system attributes, and more. Here, we describe a process for guiding the systems engineering community on how to validate, test, and assess heuristics, and how the systems engineering community can engage with I-SHARE to benefit from the heuristics in it and collectively improve their capabilities.

The lack of a common executable modeling framework that integrates systems engineering, software design, and other engineering domains is a major impediment to seamless product development processes. Our research aims to overcome this system-software modeling gap by integrating computational, software-related, and model execution capabilities into OPM-based conceptual modeling, resulting in a holistic unified executable quantitative-qualitative modeling framework. The gap is overcome via a Methodical Approach to Executable Integrative Modeling—MAXIM, an extension of OPM ISO 19450:2015, a standardization approvement given on 2015. We present the principles of MAXIM and demonstrate its operation within OPCloud—a web-based collaborative conceptual OPM modeling framework. As a proof-of-concept, a model of an Airbus civil aircraft landing gear braking system is constructed and executed. Using MAXIM, engineers from five domains can collaborate at the very early phase of the system development and jointly construct a unified model that fuses qualitative and quantitative aspects of the various disciplines. This case study illustrates an important first step towards satisfying the critical and growing need to integrate systems engineering with software computations into a unified framework that enables a smooth transition from high-level architecting to detailed, discipline-oriented design. Such a framework is a key to agile yet robust future development of software-intensive systems.

We investigated the competence of in- and pre-service chemistry teachers and teacher mentors in designing sustainability- and systems-oriented online tasks for their students. Using a dedicated rubric, we evaluated their assessment knowledge (AK) as reflected in the tasks they had developed. The rubric is based on four attributes: integration of sustainability and chemistry, diversity of thinking skills, the variety of system aspects, and diversity of visual representations. Implementing a qualitative case study approach, we tracked the professional development of three purposefully sampled teachers in addition to using the rubric to score their tasks. Combining the rubric scorings and the qualitative investigation via feedback questionnaire revealed new insights. Besides the teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, the case studies’ context and relevance to the teachers were found central to their ability to assess learning. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of AK of teachers with different backgrounds and professional experiences. The methodological contribution stems from the analysis of self-developed tasks based on a designated rubric, which should be further validated.

As science and technology create an ecosystem that is becoming increasingly more knowledge-intensive, complex, and interconnected, the next generation science standards include systems thinking and systems modeling among 21^st skills that should be fostered. We examined the effect of an online cross-disciplinary learning process on the development of systems thinking and modeling skills among engineering students and engineering and science teachers. The study, which used quantitative and qualitative tools, included 55 participants who performed four food-related learning assignments and created conceptual models in Object-Process Methodology. Their responses to online assignments were analyzed along with their perceptions, captured via a reflection questionnaire. The online learning process in this study effectively enhanced the systems thinking and modeling skills of all learners, including those with no relevant background. One main conclusion that extends beyond online learning was that imparting the basics of systems thinking and conceptual modeling skills can be achieved even within a short period of time – less than one semester. The contribution of the study is the formation of theoretical and practical frameworks for the integration of cross-disciplinary model-based systems engineering online assignments into engineering and science curricula.

As part of the design, development, and deployment of a massive open online course (MOOC) on model-based systems engineering, we introduced MORTIF—Modeling with Real-Time Informative Feedback, a new learning-by-doing feature that enables the learner to model, receive detailed feedback, and resubmit improved solutions. We examined the pedagogical usability of MORTIF by investigating characteristics of participants working with it, and their perceived contribution, preferred question type, and learning style. The research included 295 participants and applied the mixed-methods approach, using MOOC server data and online questionnaires. Analyzing 12,095 submissions, we found increasing frequency of using the model resubmitting option. Students ranked MORTIF as the highest of six question types in terms of preference and perceived contribution level. Nine learning style categories were identified and classified based on students’ verbal explanations regarding their preference of MORTIF over the other question types. MORTIF has been effective in promoting meaningful learning, supporting our hypothesis that the combination of active learning with real-time informative feedback is a learning mode that students eagerly embrace and benefit from. The benefits we identified for using MORTIF include active learning, provision of meaningful immediate feedback to the learner, the option to use the feedback on the spot and resubmitting an improved model, and its suitability for a variety of learning styles.

The term “healthcare system” is commonly and loosely used to describe the existing disconnected, inefficient, ineffective, and expensive approach to health management, including disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. The unfortunate reality is a complex array of proprietary enterprises, from individual and group medical practices, hospitals, and medical centers to networks of affiliated centers and practices. These range from small to huge in both size and complexity, all attempting to use technology and best practices to deliver evidence-based care to a variety of patient populations with varied economic means and accessibility. Simply put, even without delving into technological, administrative, and financial realms, clearly, a healthcare enterprise exists, but it falls far short of a true healthcare system.

A recent article in the IEEE Systems Journal bluntly notes: “The definition and characteristics of systems have eluded recognition and understanding for a very long time, as different people refer to the concept of system in various ways,” adding that one survey of experts used “100 definitions of system and formed assumptions and hypotheses about the different worldviews represented by different groups of definitions.” [1]

The consequences of not understanding a true systems approach to healthcare and biomedical research plague the health endeavor today, as evidenced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. From a systems perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has fostered confusion as to what is and what is not a systemic intervention even while also offering useful insights into how the situation might be improved.

Systems thinking, grounded in systems engineering principles, has been utilized by “high hazard” enterprises to deal with the identification and prevention of catastrophic events in mission-critical situations, e.g., a nuclear reactor core meltdown or prevention of aviation accidents. Systems thinking and engineering have improved transportation and distribution systems and banking operations, benefiting many. Even today’s automobiles are themselves elaborate systems capable of transporting their occupants in comfort and safety, sometimes without a driver!

Despite decades of discussion, the application of systems thinking and design principles to health and science remains elusive at best. In some microcosms, success has been achieved by limiting the scope of the size and complexity of the endeavor. Yet, to be effective, a systems approach to health and science must encompass the entirety of healthcare and biomedical research–the people, processes, policies, and technologies, and the many stakeholders, each with their own agendas and vested interests. Ways that healthcare and biomedical research currently affect each other and how they should in the future can be improved through enhanced systems development.

OPCloud is a Web-based collaborative software environment for model-based systems engineering (MBSE) used for creating conceptual models in Object-Process Methodology, OPM, ISO 19450:2005. As we have been designing and developing OPCloud, we faced several challenges, mostly stemming from the unique development environment. OPCloud is a high-end, cloud-based tool. Software of this kind is developed by commercial companies, be they large established ones or small startups. In contrast, OP Cloud is developed in an academic environment at a technological university. As such, it involves a variety of people contributing to its development, each having a different objective, capabilities, and commitment level. In this report, we describe our experiences of a three-year project of OPCloud software design and development. To this end, we have adopted an agile development methodology, involving regular weekly meetings of all the development stakeholders and monthly product deployment to be delivered to the commercial company customer. We describe how we engaged the diverse population of developers, including faculty, post-doctoral fellows, academic researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and dedicated developers, in the software development process.

Modern complex systems include products and services that comprise many interconnected pieces of integrated hardware and software, which are expected to serve humans interacting with them. As technology advances, expectations of a smooth, flawless system operation grow. Model-based systems engineering, an approach based on conceptual models, copes with this challenge. Models help construct formal system representations, visualize them, understand the design, simulate the system, and discover design flaws early on. Modeling tools can benefit tremendously from querying capabilities that enable gaining deep insights into system aspects that direct model observations do not reveal. Querying mechanisms can unveil and explain cause-and-effect phenomena, identify central components, and estimate impacts or risks associated with changes. Being connected networks of system elements, models can be effectively represented as graphs, to which queries are applied. Capitalizing on established graph-theoretic algorithms to solve a large variety of problems can elevate the modeling experience to new levels. To utilize this rich set of capabilities, one must convert the model into a graph and store it in a graph database with no significant loss of information. Applying the appropriate algorithms and translating the query response back to the original intelligible and meaningful diagrammatic and textual model representation is most valuable. We present and demonstrate a querying approach of converting Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450 models into graphs, storing them in a Neo4J graph database, and performing queries that answer complex questions on various system aspects, providing key insights into the modeled system or phenomenon and helping to improve the system design.

Modern systems comprise hardware and software components that together provide value through enabling the functionality that the system is intended to provide. Systems engineering (SE) and software engineering (SwE) are therefore interdependent, tightly coupled, and complementary activities that must be carefully aligned and coordinated throughout the system development process. Yet, these two disciplines have historically grown quite separated from each other, with too little interaction and mutual learning. In this work, we develop and evaluate Object-Process Programming (OPP) as a proof-of-concept for a common framework that integrates SE and SwE based on ISO 19450— Object-ProcessMethodology. The ability of designers to use the same paradigm for engineering the software, the hardware, and the system as a whole, using the same concepts and principles and the same design environment, described and discussed in this work, is a major step toward the integration and streamlining of engineering new systems that feature significant hardware and software components. To evaluate OPP, we established a focus group and conducted an experiment in which participants were asked to develop systems using OPP. Overall, the results were positive in terms of usability and understandability. In particular, the language and the environment were far superior in comparison to textual languages. OPP will contribute to the continuous endeavor to bridge the gap between SE and SwE by providing a seamless, easy-to-learn environment. Non-technical stakeholders can also benefit from OPP by improving their communication with technical stakeholders. The ideas under lying OPP have already served to augment OPM with computational capabilities.

Models have traditionally been mostly either prescriptive, expressing the function, structure and behavior of a system-to-be, or descriptive, specifying a system so it can be understood and analyzed. In this work, we offer a third kind—diagnostic models. We have built a model for assessing potential pediatric failure to thrive (FTT) during the perinatal stage. Although FTT is commonly found in young children and has been studied extensively, the exact etiology is often not clear. The ideal solution is for a pediatrician to input pertinent data and information in a single tool in order to obtain some assessment on the
potential etiology. We present FTTell—an executable model-based medical knowledge aggregation and diagnosis tool, in which the qualitative considerations and quantitative parameters of the problem are modeled using a Methodical Approach to Executable Integrative Modeling (MAXIM)—an extended version of Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450, focusing on the perinatal stage. The efficacy of the tool is demonstrated on three real-life cases, and the tool’s diagnosis outcomes may be compared with and critiqued by a domain expert.

We envision that systems engineering can be transformed into a truly transdisciplinary discipline – a foundational meta-discipline that supports and enables collaboration between all the disciplines that should be involved in conceiving, building, using and evolving a system such that it will continue to be successful and fit for purpose as time passes. Systems engineering can be applied in different ways depending on the situation and how well current systems engineering process patterns are matched to the problem in hand. We identify four elements of this new transdisciplinary framework: systems engineering tenets; systems engineering approach; systems engineering process; and systems engineering toolbox. We suggest that the use of systems engineering then needs to be considered in three domains: problem space, solution space, and transformation space that helps us along the development-delivery-evolution trajectory. We propose twelve systems engineering tenets and show how they should be applied in these three domains. We perceive that even though all elements of the current systems engineering process can be justified in terms of the twelve tenets applied to these three domains, the current commonly used, standardized systems engineering process is not suitable for all situations requiring a systems engineering approach or an application of the systems engineering tenets. We claim that the framework presented in this paper can act as a unifying structure that facilitates the evolution of systems engineering from the current focus on a “standardized” process model suited to a particular class of problem, to a more agile and capable “transdiscipline” that will provide an enabling construct for more successful collaborations that can better deal with a wider range of complicated, complex and chaotic problem situations.

INCOSE’s definition of systems engineering was compared to the aspirations set out in the INCOSE Systems Engineering Vision 2025 for systems engineering as it ought to be to address modern challenges. Doing this led us to three fundamental realisations. First, while “20th century systems” were, for the most part, “deterministic” or nearly so, 21st century systems are on the other hand increasingly non-deterministic, adaptive or “evolutionary.” Second, while “20th Century systems engineering management” was implicitly based on a “command and control” paradigm, 21st Century systems engineering, to be successful, will usually need to use a more collaborative leadership paradigm. And third, that while 20th Century systems were largely “single systems”, designed to “solve” specific problems, 21st Century systems are almost invariably networked, and are parts of complex extended enterprises with multiple, often conflicting, stakeholder objectives, that are intimately related to complex societal challenges. We used elements of soft systems methodology (SSM) to understand the implication and consequences of the paradigm shift implied by these realisations. A revised strawman definition of systems engineering is offered for consideration by INCOSE, showing the changes that would be required to take these and related factors into account.

The System Definition Survey issued to INCOSE Fellows in December 2016 revealed at least five radically distinct worldviews on Systems within a relatively small, but moderately representative, part of the INCOSE community. We describe and analyse the survey results, and comment on differences between the responses from the Fellows and the responses to a similar survey issued to the System Science Working Group a month later. Then we discuss how the different worldviews on “system” revealed by the surveys map onto different areas of the set of system definitions described in a previous paper. We conclude that all the worldviews identified offer useful perspectives for systems engineering, and that Systems Engineers need the flexibility to adopt different worldviews for different situations, or at least to act “as if” different worldviews are true in different situations.

The cyber-physical gap (CPG) is the difference between the ‘real’ state of the world and the way the system perceives it. This discrepancy often stems from the limitations of sensing and data collection technologies and capabilities, and is inevitable at some degree in any cyber-physical system (CPS). Ignoring or misrepresenting such limitations during system modeling, specification, design, and analysis can potentially result in systemic misconceptions, disrupted functionality and performance, system failure, severe damage, and potential detrimental impacts on the system and its environment. We propose CPG-Aware Modeling & Engineering (CPGAME), a conceptual model-based approach to capturing, explaining, and mitigating the CPG. CPGAME enhances the systems engineer’s ability to cope with CPGs, mitigate them by design, and prevent erroneous decisions and actions. We demonstrate CPGAME by applying it for modeling and analysis of the 1979 Three Miles Island 2 nuclear accident, and show how its meltdown could be mitigated. We use ISO-19450:2015—Object Process Methodology as our conceptual modeling framework.

Over the past decades, the definition of system has eluded researchers and practitioners. We reviewed over 100 definitions of system to understand the variations and establish a framework for a widely acceptable system definition or a family of system definitions. There is much common ground in different families of definitions of system, but there are also important and significant ontological differences. Some differences stem from the variety of belief systems and worldviews, while others have risen within particular communities. Both limit the effectiveness of system communities’ efforts to communicate, collaborate, and learn from others’ experience. We consider three ontological elements:ï ź1 a worldview-based framework for typology of different system types and categories, 2 key system concepts that are fundamental to the various system types and categories, andï ź3 appropriate language for the target audience.ï źIn this work, we establish the ontological framework, list key concepts associated with different types of system, and point to a direction for agreeing on an integrated set of system definitions in a neutral language consistent with the framework. The definitions are compatible with both the realist and constructivist worldviews, covering real physical, concrete and conceptual abstract, logical, informatical systems, which are both human-made artificial and naturally occurring, using language acceptable to a wide target stakeholder audience. The contribution of this paper is setting up an ontologically founded framework of system typologies, providing definitions for system, and identifying the issues involved in achieving a widely accepted definition or family of definitions of system.

For decades, business process improvement (BPI) has been a persistent and expensive concern that spans across many industry sectors. We present OPM-BPI—a model-based method to improve business processes using ISO 19450—Object-Process Methodology (OPM). The approach compares favorably to state-of-the-art business process languages and approaches, such as Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN). An aviation manufacturing company case study of safely removing a part from an aircraft and reinstalling it demonstrates the method. We show how using OPM-BPI enables removing a large portion of the supporting objects, and how related processes can be eliminated or merged, achieving considerable model simplification that represents a significantly improved, more effective and less wasteful business process.

Joint architecting, design, and simulation of operational-functional requirements and scenarios on the one hand and system functionality and technological requirements on the other hand is a common challenge in systems engineering. We propose a model-based systems engineering approach that addresses this challenge. The confusion between operational and functional behavior stems from systems engineers’ inherent tendency to adopt a system-centric perspective and employ modeling techniques that are inadequate for the task at hand. Functional models provide a biased perspective on the overarching operational context, while business-process-oriented models provide partial coverage of the system’s architecture — its structure-behavior combination. The problem intensifies when the operational scenario is indefinite and dependent on responsive system behavior and when the operational scenario consists of the utilization of functionality in multiple systems. Operational mission management in various domains utilizes planning, execution, and control functionality in several systems, and copes with the operational-functional distinction.

We introduce ontologies (as in the Semantic Web ontology language OWL) to serve as formal description of the modeling languages of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools. In these tools, systems are designed via abstractions, each tool with its own conceptual modeling languages having different syntaxes and different semantics. This creates barriers in sharing these mathematical models among the tools. Our journey starts with the web, where large amounts of information from any sources on the Web can be linked and combined in many ways. The Semantic Web added meaning through OWL ontologies to the information in web pages so machines could better process information to enhance users’ experience. The field of MBSE offers a great many different tools to the engineer, each representing the system under design or a view of that system albeit mathematically, but differently so that sharing a model from one tool with another is impossible, or darn difficult and error prone. This problem is often classified as “tools interoperability”, but it is primarily a language interoperability problem. The Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) specifications and initiative brought the Semantic Web technologies into MBSE by introducing Resource Description Framework (RDF) for common model representation, RESTful protocols, as a common communication and data exchange method, and enabling the linking of model elements in the different tools that are used for product lifecycle management (PLM).. The semantic mediation container (SMC) is a platform developed by IBM Research as part of EU projects (SPRINT, DANSE and now PSYMBIOSYS) to support the mediation of models represented in RDF and exchanged over the Internet using RESTful API. SMC extends the benefits of the OSLC approach by adding semantics using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) specifications to define language ontologies. Each tool exchange models with the SMC platform, where models are constructed according to specific ontologies (in OWL) per each of the tools. Models can than be mediated to comply with different ontologies. The rules governing the mediation are also coded as OWL ontologies that bridge two different ontologies and are interpreted by a mediator. Bridging is a form of transformation, or an inference over the statements of the 3 involved ontologies, and those of the input RDF model, all driven by a mediation engine we term mediator. In this paper we introduce the first stages of mediation as applied to two different modeling tools; Rhapsody that implements the OMG standard SysML specification, and OPCAT – the OPM CASE tool implementing the Object-Model Methodology (OPM) which is an emerging ISO 19450 standard.

Conceptual modeling is an important initial stage in the life cycle of engineered systems. It is also highly instrumental in studying existing unfamiliar systems—the focus of scientific inquiry. Conceptual modeling methodologies convey key qualitative system aspects, often at the expense of suppressing quantitative ones. We present and assess two approaches for solving this computational simplification problem by combining Object-Process Methodology (OPM), the new ISO/PAS 19450 standard, with MATLAB or Simulink without compromising the holism and simplicity of the OPM conceptual model. The first approach, AUTOMATLAB, expands the OPM model to a full-fledged MATLAB-based simulation. In the second approach, OPM computational subcontractor, computation-enhanced functions replace low-level processes of the OPM model with MATLAB or Simulink models. We demonstrate the OPM computational subcontractor on a radar system computation. Experimenting with students on a model of an online shopping system with and without AUTOMATLAB has indicated important benefits of employing this computation layer on top of the native conceptual OPM model.

PLM tools mainly refer information systems based on a wide graph representing linked information. Such a PLM model is compatible with a meta-model often expressed in UML. UML graphics diagrams are paradigms to support sharing and understanding the concepts and relationships that must be supported by the PLM tool. Nevertheless instance diagrams contain so many objects that it is hard to present them in a holistic view that can be easily shared by collaborators. This paper presents a 3D approach to visualize an Object-Process Methodology (OPM) model, which provides a single holistic view of a complex system and supports sharing among collaborating parties. This approach has been applied to managing the complex information related to VISIONAIR – a European visualization infrastructure project, successfully enabling the management of 123 simultaneous projects.

Technical reports and papers may be represented by a fundamental model, which can take the form of a block diagram, a state-machine, a flow diagram, or alternatively some ad hoc chart. This basic scheme can convey better the true value of otherwise verbose and potentially encumbered narrative-based specifications. We present a model-based methodology for authoring technical documents. The underlying idea is to first formalize the system to be specified using a conceptual model, and then automatically generate from the tested and verified model a humanly-readable text in a subset of English we call Tesperanto. This technical documents’ authoring methodology is carried out in an integrated bimodal text-graphics document authoring environment. The methodology was evaluated with the International Organization for Standardization standards and a medical robotics case study. The evaluation resulted in tangible improvements in the quality and consistency of international standards. Further, it can serve to document complex dynamics among agents, such as interaction between an operation room technician robot and the surgeon, suggesting that it could be applied to represent and bring value to other types of technical documents.

Three persistent common problems in satellite ground control software are obsolescence, lack of desired features and flexibilities, and endless software bug fixing. The obsolescence problem occurs when computer and ground equipment hardware become obsolete, usually after only one-third into the satellite mission lifetime. The software needs to be updated to accommodate changes on the hardware side, requiring significant work of satellite operators to test, verify, and validate these software updates. Trying to help solve these problems, we have proposed an object-process methodology model and guidelines for developing satellite ground control software. The system makes use of a database-driven application and concepts of object-process orientation and modularity. In the new proposed framework, instead of coding each software function separately, the common base functions will be coded, and combining them in various ways will provide the different required functions. The formation and combination of these base functions will be governed by the main code, definitions, and database parameters. These design principles will make sure that the new software framework would provide satellite operators with the flexibility to create new features and enable software developer to find bugs quicker and fix them more effectively. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We overview and demonstrate a framework for model-based protocol engineering. Engineering standards, protocols, and standardized procedures, especially in computing and communication, must be structured, well-defined, and simple to understand, so they can gain wide acceptance and adoption. Yet, standards and protocols often lack an underlying formalism required to ensure their integrity, consistency, and traceability. Lack in these aspects can cause delay in standard publication, distribution, adoption, implementation, and utilization, and might discredit the standard and harm its sponsors’ reputation. Model-based protocols are easier to understand, implement, test, and integrate with existing products, solutions, and systems. Our approach draws on the recently adopted ISO 19450 standard of Object-Process Methodology (OPM)—a holistic systems engineering paradigm for modeling complex, dynamic systems. We demonstrate the benefits of our model-based approach by employing OPM to specify the widely-accepted Kerberos protocol for networked computer user and device authentication.

We propose a model-based systems engineering approach for representing and analyzing the perception and consideration of the presence of external entities by systems. This approach is inspired by the conceptual model-based systems biology paradigm we have previously proposed. The notion of presence and absence of surrounding objects, or occurrence of surrounding processes, is becoming ever more critical in a world of highly-aware automation agents and the increasingly complex and stochastic environmental configurations in which these agents act. This problem is well-known in the biological modeling domain. System models usually focus on nominal, mainstream aspects and scenarios. Presence-related aspects are often assumed to pose no issue, and remain unattended in both the conceptual and actual system design phases. The Pareto rule-of-thumb of system design asserts that about 20% of design and development efforts cover the nominal, “sunny day” process, while the other 80% cover exceptions, alternative scenarios, failure modes, edge conditions, special settings, and emergencies. We propose an approach to extend the naïve, nominal system model by enriching it with notions of presence-awareness and sensitivity. This approach is facilitated by Object-Process Methodology, a holistic system and process modeling framework, currently being adopted as ISO standard 19450.

Biologists are required to integrate large amounts of data to construct a working model of the system under investigation. This model is often informal and stored mentally or textually, making it prone to contain undetected inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or even contradictions, not much less than a representation in free natural language. Using Object-Process Methodology (OPM), a formal yet visual and humanly accessible conceptual modeling language, we have created an executable working model of the mRNA decay process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as well as the import of its components to the nucleus following mRNA decay. We show how our model, which incorporates knowledge from 43 articles, can reproduce outcomes that match the experimental findings, evaluate hypotheses, and predict new possible outcomes. Moreover, we were able to analyze the effects of the mRNA decay model perturbations related to gene and interaction deletions, and predict the nuclear import of certain decay factors, which we then verified experimentally. In particular, we verified experimentally the hypothesis that Rpb4p, Lsm1p, and Pan2p remain bound to the RNA 3′-untralslated region during the entire process of the 5′ to 3′ degradation of the RNA open reading frame. The model has also highlighted erroneous hypotheses that indeed were not in line with the experimental outcomes. Beyond the scientific value of these specific findings, this work demonstrates the value of the conceptual model as an in silico vehicle for hypotheses generation and testing, which can reinforce, and often even replace, risky, costlier wet lab experiments.

Teaching model-based systems engineering has become more challenging as research and development has shifted from systems to include systems-of-systems (SoSs). SoSs involve primarily combination of hardware and software, as well as humans and organizations. The need to teach model-based system-of-systems engineering has thus raised the need to determine what the most suitable language for modeling and teaching SoSs is. We developed a new course format, in which groups jointly reverse-engineer and model Web-based information systems in two different modeling languages, UML and OPM, and then individually assess their peers’ projects. The goal of this study was to compare UML with OPM as two candidates. We developed and evaluated an online peer assessment tool which students used. About 130 undergraduate students in groups of six divided into teams of three modeled 23 systems in both UML and OPM. They then evaluated, compared, and ranked the clarity & understandability and the completeness of the four models of two systems that their peers had constructed. Findings demonstrate that neither the order of the models assessment nor the assessor gender affected the grading, indicating assessment reliability. We found significant differences in model clarity and understandability in favor of OPM and no differences in completeness between OPM and UML models. These findings validate our approach of teaching both conceptual modeling languages and using peer assessment in large-scale project-based undergraduate information systems engineering courses.

Realizing that different types of projects require different styles of management is becoming part of the mainstream theory and practice in project management. This paper addresses the question of whether the same notion is also applicable to the subproject level, and how. We suggest that a project’s building blocks exhibit unique characteristics with respect to two major dimensions: Challenge (or difficulty) and vitality (or importance). Specifically, we add to the critical path and critical chain project management concepts a critical component—a unit at the sub-project level that is exceptionally risky to a project’s success. We lay out the conceptual framework in which critical component is embedded and demonstrate the theoretical and managerial aspects of contingency at the subproject level by analyzing three case studies.

Physical-informatical essence duality (PIED) is the parallel existence of an entity as both the original, usually physical source, and its informatical representation, as held by each agent interacting with the entity. Software systems interacting with physical and real-world entities have to maintain internal representations of these entities in order to handle them appropriately. The importance of modeling the dual essence of these entities in software controlled systems is critical to the execution of software-integrated processes that affect physical real-world entities. The implications of PIED must therefore be recognized and accounted for. This paper introduces a PIED-aware conceptual modeling framework for software control agents acting in cyber-physical settings. We discuss the utilization of UML and OPM for this purpose and demonstrate the applicability of our OPM-based framework through the case of airport baggage handling processes. In particular, we show that PIED-aware modeling and design of system controls can significantly improve treatment of inherent anomalies such as the common lost baggage problem.

Modern engineering education programs aims to endow students with a broad base of knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become successful engineers. Assessment is crucial in evaluating a project, product or students’ understanding levels. Formative assessment is carried out along the process being assessed for improving teaching and learning.. Effective and efficient formative assessment in large engineering courses is a challenge that requires creative approaches to respond to the course needs. The assessment should be aligned with the course objectives and account for its large-scale. Our session will focus on assessment of large-scale engineering courses from several universities. We will discuss challenges, report on field experiences, and suggest practical, field-tested, technology-utilizing approaches for coping with a variety of assessment types. Approaches include just-in-time assessment of students’ misconceptions, peer, comparison-based assessment that utilizes crowdsourcing, and meta-assessment—assessment of how students assessed their peers and the thinking level they attained as evidenced from their assessment. The session attendees will be exposed to thoughtful, effective, and meaningful integration of learning and teaching in undergraduate engineering courses, as well as their assessment. Examples of assessment tools will be presented and distributed.

Project planning practices employ various methods at various stages, with work breakdown structure (WBS) being a prominent starting point. Using WBS, the components and associated enabling products are often not explicitly expressed. We first introduce the notions of generic project construct and system build. Using a running example of a simplified unmanned aerial vehicle, we review the WBS method and discuss problems stemming from the lack of explicit and direct representation of the product facet in the project plan. A comprehensive project-product life cycle management model is the exclusive authoritative source for deriving project management tools, including WBS, augmented with product-related information.

Systems interact with real world entities, and must hold internal representations of these entities in order to handle them appropriately. Physical-informatical essence duality (PIED) is the parallel existence of the entity as both the original, usually physical source, and its informatical representation, as held by each agent interacting with the entity. The distinction between the original external entity and its representation is critical for correct modeling and realization of complex interactions of cyber-physical systems with the real world. The implications of this distinction must be recognized and accounted for. Conceptual modeling semantics for the PIED problem make this distinction possible, structured, and well-defined in the system model. We review a formalism based on Epistemic Logic semantics, and a model- based framework based on Object Process Methodology, and demonstrate the applicability of our framework for generic modeling of threat handling processes, common to various cyber-physical systems and various types of threats, such as safety hazards, terror attacks, and cyber-attacks.

Modern engineering education programs aim to endow students with knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become successful engineers. Engineering students should be able to conceive, design, implement, and operate complex value-added engineering systems—products, processes, and services. Our research goal was to develop and validate a formative assessment method and tool for a large mandatory undergraduate engineering course. The research population consisted of about 130 undergraduate students who studied a systems and information engineering course in a project-based learning (PBL) environment. The students constructed models of Web-based systems using two conceptual modeling approaches and languages: Object Process Methodology (OPM) and Unified Modeling Language (UML). Formative assessment was carried out along these PBL processes. We developed a Web-based formative assessment method for this PBL engineering course that is aligned with the course objectives and accounts for its large scale. The method consisted of peer-assessment and meta-assessment. In the peer assessment, each student ranked four peer projects according to pre-defined criteria via a specially-designed Web-based tool. Finally, we carried out meta-assessment, in which the course team assessed each student based on the quality of his/her arguments and the thinking levels demonstrated in the peer assessment. The findings validated our meta-assessment tools.

Domain-specific languages and model-driven development are two promising approaches for tackling the complexity of software systems development. However, creating domain-specific modeling languages is a complex and lengthy task which makes the creation of DSMLs only feasible in large and complex projects. To alleviate this difficulty, we developed OPM/D, a visual meta-modeling language for the definition of domainspecific modeling languages. Languages in OPM/D are defined via a static structural meta-model of the language and a set of validation rules that define the non-structural constraints of the language. The language editor is created on-the-fly through interpretation of the static structure and validation rules, minimizing the time between language definition and its use. Our approach has been applied to define a subset of the OPM modeling language, and a prototype tools is being developed using the Eclipse platform and technologies.

Technical requirements, specifications, and standards are fundamental documents that serve all the stages of the systems engineering management process. This paper presents Tesperanto – “Technical Esperanto” – a model-based methodology and language for authoring, analysis, design, and testing of system specifications, and its integrated development environment. Tesperanto is an English text that is generated automatically from the evolving graphical model of the system being specified, creating corresponding textmodel representation of technical information. Tesperanto was evaluated in a case study over a period of more than two years by a multi-national group of systems engineering and enterprise management experts as a means to enhance text in ISO international standards. The evaluation showed that Tesperanto improves the consistency and quality of standards and can potentially be of similar value for other kinds of technical documents.

Modern project managers are aware that different types of projects need different styles of project management. A construction project is very different from a high-tech research program in several ways, including how each is managed. The NTCP “Diamond” framework (Novelty-Technology-Complexity-Pace) suggests classifying complex projects according to four dimensions such that the values attributed to each of these dimensions indicate a recommended style of management for increasing the likelihood of the project’s success. It may be difficult to attribute values to these four dimensions in a large and complex project, which calls for systematic analysis of the project as part of its planning phase. The object-process methodology (OPM) caters to such systematic step-by-step analysis by decomposing a project into its fundamental building blocks – objects, possibly with states, and processes that transform the objects. This paper suggests that the confluence of OPM and NTCP can improve the project planning phase and improve the project’s overall chances of success.

We present I⁵ — Interoperability, Interconnectivity, Interfacing, Integration, and Interaction — a Model‐Based Framework for Architecting Systems‐of‐Systems. Interoperability programs deliver end‐to‐end cooperation and collaboration capabilities and services among organizations, users, systems, and infrastructures, on top of a set of existing systems. Each system has its own programmatic and technical constraints and issues. System‐level stakeholders usually prefer core functionality over integration, and expect the interconnectivity infrastructure to be transparent and simple, regardless of its actual cost, complexity, or criticality. Hence, coordinating and aligning the multiple system and team efforts in order to reach a synergetic effect is a challenge that many integration professionals in the cyber, energy, manufacturing, and traffic domains are familiar with. Traditional system‐centered design methods fail to capture interconnectivity and collaboration aspects and issues, and they are of little interest to the individual systems’ stakeholders. The framework we propose is based on Object–Process Methodology, an emerging ISO standard (ISO 19450) for modeling and design of complex, dynamic, and multidisciplinary systems. Our framework facilitates a smooth transition from a set of disparate system‐centered views to a consolidated, integrated model, which accounts for integration aspects, interface and payload structure and behavior, interconnectivity processes and services, and eventually emergent interoperability capabilities.

We present a study in which we developed and validated an online questionnaire for assessing Transactional Distance (TD) perceptions among peer students who participated and collaborated via visualization-based environment as part of the EU VISIONAIR infrastructure project. Reliability and correlation tests have indicated internal structure validity and reliability of the questionnaire. There were differences in TD perception among peers on one hand and TD resulting from interaction with distant researchers, indicating the TD measurement validity

Physical-Informatical Essence Duality (PIED) is the parallel existence of an entity as both an independent, mostly physical object, and its informatical representation. System models tend to neglect or ignore this dual representation and the two parallel manifestations of model entities. This may result in erroneous modeling and realization, as representations can be partial and mistaken. Agent perception or capturing of an entity of interest is fundamental to the way it affects or interacts with the entity. The problem intensifies in models of complex systems and systems of systems, which must account for original embodiments and their multiple representations by various agents. This paper proposes a formal model-based approach and theory for detecting, capturing, representing, and controlling this physical-informatical duality in system models. We illustrate the proposed semantics via formal object-oriented epistemic logic semantics and via Object-Process Methodology (OPM), the emerging ISO 19450 standard for Model-based Systems Engineering.

Planning the development efforts within large-scale projects is a highly complex mission due to uncertainties regarding different aspects of the product to be delivered. Current planning practices employ a host of methods for project planning, with Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) being a prominent one of them. Using WBS, the deliverable—the end product to be delivered, its components, and associated enabling products—are often induced implicitly. Using a running example of an unmanned aerial vehicle, we review the WBS method and discuss problems stemming from the lack of explicit and direct representation of the product facet in the project plan. Based on this observation, we apply the Project-Product Lifecycle Management (PPLM) approach as an exclusive source of the various enhanced project management tools, which are views of the model. WBS, the focus of this paper, is one of these views. Like the other views, our WBS version is augmented with product-related information gleaned from the common underlying model.

Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is gradually becoming an acceptable good practice, especially for large-scale complex systems. The variety of modeling languages enables detailed representation of domain-specific knowledge of different aspects of a system. Semantic Web concepts provide opportunities for easier and more efficient collaboration between design and verification teams using different modeling tools. IBM Semantic Mediation Container (SMC) is a tool interoperability platform, allowing mediation and synchronization among models in different languages based on their ontologies. We propose integrating into SMC the ability to translate Object-Process Methodology (OPM), the emerging ISO 19450 Standard, which provides a holistic view of the system’s function, structure, and behavior. In this paper we describe the first integration stages – defining the OPM ontology in a way that conforms to Semantic Web specifications and developing a module for exporting OPM models from their visual representation to and back from Resource Description Framework (RDF). We discuss the scope of the ontology and different approaches of element representation. We portray the implementation of the export module as an extension to OPM CASE tool (OPCAT). The ontology and export module are validated by round-trip transformation of OPM models from their visual representation to RDF and back by experimenting with OPM experts.

Knowledge representation and reasoning are critical challenges in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly in integrating neural and symbolic approaches to achieve explainable and transparent AI systems. Traditional knowledge representation methods often fall short of capturing complex processes and state changes. We introduce Neuro-Conceptual Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), a specialization of the neuro-symbolic AI approach that integrates conceptual modeling using Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450:2024 with deep learning to enhance question-answering (QA) quality. By converting natural language text into OPM models using in-context learning, NCAI leverages the expressive power of OPM to represent complex OPM elements-processes, objects, and states-beyond what traditional triplet-based knowledge graphs can easily capture. This rich structured knowledge representation improves reasoning transparency and answer accuracy in an OPM-QA system. We further propose transparency evaluation metrics to quantitatively measure how faithfully the predicted reasoning aligns with OPM-based conceptual logic. Our experiments demonstrate that NCAI outperforms traditional methods, highlighting its potential for advancing neuro-symbolic AI by providing rich knowledge representations, measurable transparency, and improved reasoning.

We have designed, developed and deployed a unique edX massive open online course (MOOC) environment for teaching Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450. In this environment, OPCloud, an OPM cloud-based conceptual modeling environment, has been embedded in the edX environment. This has enabled us, as the course instructors, to teach MBSE with an industrial-strength tool that students can experience first-hand. Students received real-time feedback on their performance, along with guidance on what they missed and the option to resubmit. We describe the architecture of this combined MOOC-modeling environment and report on preliminary performance results.

We have designed, developed and deployed a unique edX massive open online course (MOOC) environment for teaching Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450. In this environment, OPCloud, an OPM cloud-based conceptual modeling environment, has been embedded in the edX environment. This has enabled us, as the course instructors, to teach MBSE with an industrial-strength tool that students can experience first-hand. Students received real-time feedback on their performance, along with guidance on what they missed and the option to resubmit. We describe the architecture of this combined MOOC-modeling environment and report on preliminary performance results.

Models have traditionally been mostly either prescriptive, expressing the function, structure and behavior of a system-to-be, or descriptive, specifying a system so it can be understood and analyzed. In this work, we offer a third kind—diagnostic models. We have built a model for assessing potential pediatric failure to thrive (FTT) during the perinatal stage. Although FTT is commonly found in young children and has been studied extensively, the exact etiology is often not clear. The ideal solution is for a pediatrician to input pertinent data and information in a single tool in order to obtain some assessment on the
potential etiology. We present FTTell—an executable model-based medical knowledge aggregation and diagnosis tool, in which the qualitative considerations and quantitative parameters of the problem are modeled using a Methodical Approach to Executable Integrative Modeling (MAXIM)—an extended version of Object-Process Methodology (OPM) ISO 19450, focusing on the perinatal stage. The efficacy of the tool is demonstrated on three real-life cases, and the tool’s diagnosis outcomes may be compared with and critiqued by a domain expert.

Modeling is an important part of the lifecycle of systems, starting from the early design stages. Modeling is also very useful in the process of studying an unfamiliar, existing system. Conceptual modeling methodologies disregard certain aspects of the system, making modeling or understanding a model a simpler task as they convey the important aspects of a system in an effective way.

One of the shortcomings of conceptual modeling methodologies is the simplification of the system being modeled at the expense of suppressing computational aspects. This research presents two approaches for solving this computational simplification problem for conceptual models that use Object Process Methodology (OPM), an emerging ISO 19450 standard modeling methodology.

OPM offers a holistic approach for modeling systems that combines the structure and behavior of the system in a single diagram type. We expand the quantitative aspects of an OPM model by representing complex quantitative behavior using alternative approaches that employ MATLAB or Simulink without compromising the holism and simplicity of the OPM conceptual model. The first approach, AUTOMATLAB, expands the OPM model to a fullfledged MATLAB-based simulation. The second, OPM Computational Subcontractor approach, replaces low-level processes of the OPM model with computation-enhanced MATLAB functions or Simulink models.

We demonstrated the two approaches with MATLAB and Simulink enhanced OPM models of a biological system and a radar system, respectively. An evaluation the AUTOMATLAB approach, which compared system modeling and analysis with and without the AUTOMATLAB layer has indicated several benefits of the additional AUTOMATLAB layer compared to a non-enhanced OPM model.

Model-based engineering approaches are increasingly adopted for various systems engineering tasks. Leading characteristics of modeling languages include clarity, expressiveness and comprehension. Exact semantics of the modeling language used in a model-based framework is critical for a successful system development process. As some of the characteristics contradict each other, designing a “good” modeling language is a complex task. Still, an important precondition for acceptance of a modeling language is that its semantics must be precisely and formally defined.

Object Process Methodology (OPM) is a holistic, integrated model-based approach to systems development. The applicability of the OPM modeling language was studied through modeling of many complex systems from disparate domains, including business processing, real-time systems architecture, web applications development and mobile agents design. Experience with OPM has underlined the need to enrich the language with new constructs. An adverse side effect of the increased OPM expressiveness was that it also became more complex and in some cases ambiguous or undefined.

In this work, we define operational semantics for the core of the OPM language using a clocked transition system (CTS) formalism. The operational semantics consists of an execution framework and a set of transition rules. The principles and rules underlying this framework provide for determining the timing of transitions to be taken in a system modeled in OPM. The set of transition rules, adjusted to the OPM rules, describe all the possible changes in the system state based on the current state of the system and the set of its inputs.

Similar works defining formal operational semantics include Statecharts by David Harel, formalizing UML Statecharts with combined graph-grammar and model transition system (MTS) by Varro et al., and formalizing activ1ity diagrams for workflow models by translating the subject model into a format appropriate for a model checker.

Well-defined operational semantics enables extending OPM with a wide range of testing tools, including model-based simulation, execution and verification, which can employ the theoretical executable framework developed in this work.

As a solid proof of concept, we have developed an OPM-to-SMV (Symbolic Model Verification) translation tool for models in the domain of Molecular Biology (MB), based on the OPM-CTS framework principles and a subset of the transition rules. Using this tool, a holistic OPM model describing both research hypothesis and facts from state-of-the-art MB papers can be translated into an SMV verification tool. The generated SMV model can be verified against specifications, based on information found in MB research papers and manually inserted into the SMV tool. The verification process helps to reveal possible inconsistencies across the MB papers and hypotheses they express as they are all specified in the unifying OPM model.

Project and product are two complementary facets of the lifecycle of any complex man-made system. The project focuses on the early phases of the system to be delivered, deployed, and supported, while the product focuses on the system itself – its function, structure, and behavior. Conceptual modelling and design is a major area common to both the project and the product, since evidently, the product is the deliverable of the project. Traditionally, however, the project and the product entities have been addressed as separate domains, each with its dedicated approaches, methods, and tools. This separation has hindered the integration of the project with the product it delivers, missing potential tangible benefits for all the stakeholders involved. Systems Engineering Management (SEM) is an emerging practice that is being developed hand in hand with the maturation of systems engineering. Standards for SEM account for the intimate relationships between SEM and Project Management (PM) and highlight the criticality of these relationships in improving systems project management. While PM methods have traditionally focused on scheduling, budgeting, and scope management, SEM emphasizes the management of the project-product ensemble and issues related to the technologies of the system under development. The actual practice of systems engineering management involves continuous iterative zigzagging between the two domains – the systems engineering domain and the project management domain. This zigzagging is a cognitive process of understanding the intricate relationships between the product domain and the project domain, and planning the SEM efforts accordingly. What the product-project ensemble has been lacking is a common underlying ontology, a conceptual model, and a supporting software environment. Attaining these missing elements enables the simultaneous expression of the function, structure and behavior of the project and the product. This thesis presents a model-based approach to managing the lifecycle of the product to be developed hand-in-hand with the lifecycle of the project, within the scope of which the product is developed. The cornerstone of this Project-Product Lifecycle Management (PPLM) approach is an underlying holistic conceptual model, supported by software capabilities for an integrated project and product lifecycle environment. The concurrent project-product model, built on common ontological foundations, enables better management, making it possible to directly link entities in one subsystem to those in the other. The expected value of the holistic, integrated conceptual model is the provision of both superior product lifecycle engineering and project management capabilities, yielding significant cut in time to market, reduced risk, and higher product quality.