Defining a formal domain ontology is generally considered a useful, not to say necessary step in almost every software project. This is because software deals with ideas rather than with self-evident physical artefacts. However, this development step is hardly ever done, as ontologies rely on well-defined and semantically powerful AI concepts such as description logics or rule-based systems, and most software engineers are largely unfamiliar with these.

Ga evic and his co-authors try to fill this gap by covering the subject of MDA application for ontology development on the Semantic Web. Part I of their book describes existing technologies, tools, and standards like XML, RDF, OWL, MDA, and UML. Part II presents the first detailed description of OMG s new ODM (Ontology Definition Metamodel) initiative, a specification which is expected to be in the form of an OMG language like UML. Finally, Part III is dedicated to applications and practical aspects of developing ontologies using MDA-based languages. The book is supported by a website showing many ontologies, UML and other MDA-based models, and the transformations between them.

"The book is equally suited to those who merely want to be informed of the relevant technological landscape, to practitioners dealing with concrete problems, and to researchers seeking pointers to potentially fruitful areas of research. The writing is technical yet clear and accessible, illustrated throughout with useful and easily digestible examples." from the Foreword by Bran Selic, IBM Rational Software, Canada.

"I do not know another book that offers such a high quality insight into UML and ontologies." Steffen Staab, U Koblenz, Germany"

The Unified Modeling Language is rapidly gaining acceptance as the mechanism of choice to model complex software systems at various steps of their specification and design, using a number of orthogonal views that illustrate use cases, class diagrams and even detailed state machine-based behaviors of objects.
UML for Real: Design of Embedded Real-Time Systems aims to show the reality of UML as a medium for specification and implementation of real-time systems, illustrating both the current capabilities and limits of UML for this task, and future directions that will improve its usefulness for real-time and embedded product design. It will also cover selected applications examples. The book is an edited volume of solicited chapters.
The table of contents covers:

-UML and the Real-time/Embedded Domain, with chapters on the role of UML in software development and on UML and Real-Time Systems.
-Representing Key Real-Time Concepts with UML, with chapters on logical structure, on modeling system-level behavior using MSCs and extensions, on platform modeling, on hardware and software object modeling, on fine-grain and high-level patterns for real-time systems, on modeling Quality Of Service and metric time, and finally on performance and schedulability analysis using UML.
-Specific Applications, with chapters on UML in the automotive and telecom domains.
-Process and Tools, with chapters on software performance engineering and on UML tools for real-time processes.

Defining a formal domain ontology is considered a useful, not to say necessary step in almost every software project. This is because software deals with ideas rather than with self-evident physical artefacts. However, this development step is hardly ever done, as ontologies rely on well-defined and semantically powerful AI concepts such as description logics or rule-based systems, and most software engineers are unfamiliar with these. This book fills this gap by covering the subject of MDA application for ontology development on the Semantic Web. The writing is technical yet clear, and is illustrated with examples. The book is supported by a website.

The pioneering organizers of the ?rst UML workshop in Mulhouse, France inthe summerof1998couldhardlyhaveanticipatedthat,in littleoveradecade, theirinitiativewouldblossomintotoday'shighlysuccessfulMODELSconference series, the premier annual gathering of researchersand practitioners focusing on a very important new technical discipline: model-based software and system engineering. This expansion is, of course, a direct consequence of the growing signi?cance and success of model-based methods in practice. The conferences have contributed greatly to the heightened interest in the ?eld, attracting much young talent and leading to the gradualemergence of its correspondingscienti?c and engineering foundations. The proceedings from the MODELS conferences are one of the primary references for anyone interested in a more substantive study of the domain. The 12th conference took place in Denver in the USA, October 4-9, 2009 along with numerous satellite workshops and tutorials, as well as several other related scienti?c gatherings. The conference was exceptionally fortunate to have three eminent, invited keynote speakers from industry: Stephen Mellor, Larry Constantine, and Grady Booch.

The complexity of most real-time and embedded systems often exceeds that of other types of systems since, in addition to the usual spectrum of problems inherent in software, they need to deal with the complexities of the physical world. That world-as the proverbial Mr. Murphy tells us-is an unpredictable and often unfriendly place. Consequently, there is a very strong motivation to investigate and apply advanced design methods and technologies that could simplify and improve the reliability of real-time software design and implementation. As a result, from the first versions of UML issued in the mid 1990's, designers of embedded and real-time systems have taken to UML with vigour and enthusiasm. However, the dream of a complete, model-driven design flow from specification through automated, optimised code generation, has been difficult to realise without some key improvements in UML semantics and syntax, specifically targeted to the real-time systems problem. With the enhancements in UML that have been proposed and are near standardisation with UML 2. 0, many of these improvements have been made. In the Spring of 2003, adoption of a formalised UML 2. 0 specification by the members of the Object Management Group (OMG) seems very close. It is therefore very appropriate to review the status of UML as a set of notations for embedded real-time systems - both the state of the art and best practices achieved up to this time with UML of previous generations - and where the changes embodied in the 2.