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Dominik Bork

Publications and source records attributed to Dominik Bork.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

LLM-based Generation of Semantically Diverse and Realistic Domain Model Instances

Large Language Models (LLMs) have been recently proposed for supporting domain modeling tasks mostly related to the completion of partial models by recommending additional model elements. However, there are many more modeling tasks, one of them being the instantiation of domain models to represent concrete domain objects. While there is considerable work supporting the generation of structurally valid instantiations, there are still open challenges to incorporating real-world semantics by having realistic values contained in instances and ensuring the generation of semantically diverse models. Only then will such generated models become human-understandable and helpful in educational or data-driven research contexts. To tackle these challenges, this paper presents an approach that employs LLMs and two prompting strategies in combination with existing model validation tools for instantiating semantically realistic and diverse domain models expressed as UML class diagrams. We have applied our approach to models used in education and available in the literature from different domains and evaluated the generated instances in terms of syntactic correctness, model conformance, semantic correctness, and diversity of the generated values. The results show that the generated instances are mostly syntactically correct, that they conform to the domain model, and that there are only a few semantic errors. Moreover, the generated instance values are semantically diverse, i.e., concrete realistic examples in line with the domain and the combination of the values within one model are semantically coherent.

cs.SE

A Benchmarking Framework for Model Datasets

Empirical and LLM-based research in model-driven engineering increasingly relies on datasets of software models, for instance, to train or evaluate machine learning techniques for modeling support. These datasets have a significant impact on solution performance; hence, they should be treated and assessed as first-class artifacts. However, such datasets are typically collected or created ad hoc and without guarantees of their quality for the specific task for which they are used. This limits the comparability of results between studies, obscures dataset quality and representativeness, and leads to weak reproducibility and potential bias. In this work, we propose a benchmarking framework for model datasets (i.e., benchmarking the dataset itself). Benchmarking datasets involves systematically measuring their quality, representativeness, and suitability for specific tasks. To this end, we propose a Benchmark Platform for MDE that provides a unified infrastructure for systematically assessing and comparing datasets of software models across languages and formats, using defined criteria and metrics.

cs.SE

Lost in Code Generation: Reimagining the Role of Software Models in AI-driven Software Engineering

Generative AI enables rapid "vibe coding" and agentic software engineering, where natural-language prompts yield working software systems. This lowers barriers to software creation, but it also collapses the boundary between prototypes and engineered software. Systems that appear complete may lack robustness, security, and maintainability. We argue that this shift motivates a renewed role for software models. Rather than serving only as upfront blueprints, models can be recovered from AI-generated systems, used to restore comprehension, and refined to guide subsequent evolution. We distinguish an agentic loop, in which recovered models support automated checking and repair, from a human reflective loop, in which models expose assumptions for inspection and revision. We identify candidate model types and illustrate how recovered models can expose implicit assumptions as possible constraints for review and validation. This paper positions software models as a bridge between current software engineering practice and model-based reasoning in AI-driven development.

cs.SE

Vanilla-Converter: A Tool for Converting Camunda 7 BPMN Models into Camunda 8 Models

As organizations prepare for the end-of-life of Camunda 7, manual migration remains complex due to fundamental differences between the two platforms. We present Vanilla-Converter, a command-line tool that facilitates the migration of BPMN models from Camunda 7 to Camunda 8. Vanilla-Converter automates the transformation process, supports a wide range of BPMN elements, and produces a transformed model and a detailed transformation log indicating automatic changes and remaining manual conversion tasks. The tool's effectiveness is demonstrated through three case studies with real industrially used Camunda 7 models, confirming its ability to convert these models into valid and executable Camunda 8 models.

cs.SE

Mining Frequent Structures in Conceptual Models

The problem of using structured methods to represent knowledge is well-known in conceptual modeling and has been studied for many years. It has been proven that adopting modeling patterns represents an effective structural method. Patterns are, indeed, generalizable recurrent structures that can be exploited as solutions to design problems. They aid in understanding and improving the process of creating models. The undeniable value of using patterns in conceptual modeling was demonstrated in several experimental studies. However, discovering patterns in conceptual models is widely recognized as a highly complex task and a systematic solution to pattern identification is currently lacking. In this paper, we propose a general approach to the problem of discovering frequent structures, as they occur in conceptual modeling languages. As proof of concept, we implement our approach by focusing on two widely-used conceptual modeling languages. This implementation includes an exploratory tool that integrates a frequent subgraph mining algorithm with graph manipulation techniques. The tool processes multiple conceptual models and identifies recurrent structures based on various criteria. We validate the tool using two state-of-the-art curated datasets: one consisting of models encoded in OntoUML and the other in ArchiMate. The primary objective of our approach is to provide a support tool for language engineers. This tool can be used to identify both effective and ineffective modeling practices, enabling the refinement and evolution of conceptual modeling languages. Furthermore, it facilitates the reuse of accumulated expertise, ultimately supporting the creation of higher-quality models in a given language.

cs.AI

Digital Twin Evolution for Sustainable Smart Ecosystems

Smart ecosystems are the drivers of modern society. They control infrastructures of socio-techno-economic importance, ensuring their stable and sustainable operation. Smart ecosystems are governed by digital twins -- real-time virtual representations of physical infrastructure. To support the open-ended and reactive traits of smart ecosystems, digital twins need to be able to evolve in reaction to changing conditions. However, digital twin evolution is challenged by the intertwined nature of physical and software components, and their individual evolution. As a consequence, software practitioners find a substantial body of knowledge on software evolution hard to apply in digital twin evolution scenarios and a lack of knowledge on the digital twin evolution itself. The aim of this paper, consequently, is to provide software practitioners with tangible leads toward understanding and managing the evolutionary concerns of digital twins. We use four distinct digital twin evolution scenarios, contextualized in a citizen energy community case to illustrate the usage of the 7R taxonomy of digital twin evolution. By that, we aim to bridge a significant gap in leveraging software engineering practices to develop robust smart ecosystems.

cs.SE

A Vision for Flexibile GLSP-based Web Modeling Tools

In the past decade, the modeling community has produced many feature-rich modeling editors and tool prototypes not only for modeling standards but particularly also for many domain-specific languages. More recently, however, web-based modeling tools have started to become increasingly popular for visualizing and editing models adhering to such languages in the industry. This new generation of modeling tools is built with web technologies and offers much more flexibility when it comes to their user experience, accessibility, reuse, and deployment options. One of the technologies behind this new generation of tools is the Graphical Language Server Platform (GLSP), an open-source client-server framework hosted under the Eclipse foundation, which allows tool providers to build modern diagram editors for modeling tools that run in the browser or can be easily integrated into IDEs such as Eclipse, VS Code, or Eclipse Theia. In this paper, we describe our vision of more flexible modeling tools which is based on our experiences from developing several GLSP-based modeling tools. With that, we aim at sparking a new line of research and innovation in the modeling community for modeling tool development practices and to explore opportunities, advantages, or limitations of web-based modeling tools, as well as bridge the gap between scientific tool prototypes and industrial tools being used in practice.

cs.SE

Circular Systems Engineering

The perception of the value and propriety of modern engineered systems is changing. In addition to their functional and extra-functional properties, nowadays' systems are also evaluated by their sustainability properties. The next generation of systems will be characterized by an overall elevated sustainability -- including their post-life, driven by efficient value retention mechanisms. Current systems engineering practices fall short of supporting these ambitions and need to be revised appropriately. In this paper, we introduce the concept of circular systems engineering, a novel paradigm for systems sustainability, and define two principles to successfully implement it: end-to-end sustainability and bipartite sustainability. We outline typical organizational evolution patterns that lead to the implementation and adoption of circularity principles, and outline key challenges and research opportunities.

cs.CY

Conceptual Modeling and Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Mapping Study

In conceptual modeling (CM), humans apply abstraction to represent excerpts of reality for means of understanding and communication, and processing by machines. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is applied to vast amounts of data to automatically identify patterns or classify entities. While CM produces comprehensible and explicit knowledge representations, the outcome of AI algorithms often lacks these qualities while being able to extract knowledge from large and unstructured representations. Recently, a trend toward intertwining CM and AI emerged. This systematic mapping study shows how this interdisciplinary research field is structured, which mutual benefits are gained by the intertwining, and future research directions.

cs.SE

Conceptual Modeling and Artificial Intelligence: Mutual Benefits from Complementary Worlds

Conceptual modeling (CM) applies abstraction to reduce the complexity of a system under study (e.g., an excerpt of reality). As a result of the conceptual modeling process a human interpretable, formalized representation (i.e., a conceptual model) is derived which enables understanding and communication among humans, and processing by machines. Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms are also applied to complex realities (regularly represented by vast amounts of data) to identify patterns or to classify entities in the data. Aside from the commonalities of both approaches, a significant difference can be observed by looking at the results. While conceptual models are comprehensible, reproducible, and explicit knowledge representations, AI techniques are capable of efficiently deriving an output from a given input while acting as a black box. AI solutions often lack comprehensiveness and reproducibility. Even the developers of AI systems can't explain why a certain output is derived. In the Conceptual Modeling meets Artificial Intelligence (CMAI) workshop, we are interested in tackling the intersection of the two, thus far, mostly isolated approached disciplines of CM and AI. The workshop embraces the assumption, that manifold mutual benefits can be realized by i) investigating what Conceptual Modeling (CM) can contribute to AI, and ii) the other way around, what Artificial Intelligence (AI) can contribute to CM.

cs.AI