Abstract
In agricultural research, to carry out experimental ex post evaluations, it is first necessary to design and evaluate a high number of Cropping Systems (CS). CRITER has recently been proposed as a tool to evaluate a priori these CS, spatially at the farm level and temporally at the crop succession level. In relation to the development of software applications in general and more particularly in the field of agronomic research, the most innovative aspect of our work is our Model-Driven Development approach. To construct CRITER we have adopted the Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) of the Object Management Group (OMG) which is based on the Meta-Object Facility (MOF) language. We have used the Enterprise Core Object (ECO) framework of the DELPHI Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The ECO framework helps the modeler at different steps of software development, from the graphical design in UML to the automatic code generation. The result is a fully navigable class diagram which allows us: (1) to build, in a simple way with few OCL expressions, the user interfaces; (2) to integrate commercial and user data bases via the automatic mapping of a class model to a relational data base schema; and (3) to easily implement the computation of the different indicators. Modelers can therefore focus on their business model rather than on the technical aspects of programming.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In fact there is a 14th diagram which is the profile diagram.
In the ECO framework, each class has a "Constraints" property for which modellers introduce their OCL constraints. Then, at the creation/validation of instances, ECO dresses a list of broken constraints. However, preconditions and postconditions are not yet implemented in ECO.
This is in fact EAL (Eco Action Language) which is a superset of OCL that allows, for example, assigning a value to an attribute, creating objects, and calling operations of a class.
EBNF (Extended Backus-Nor Form) or BNF (Backus-Nor Form) is a family of metasyntax notations used to express context-free grammars to describe computer programming languages and formal languages.
These values may be entered by the end-user or may be imported from existing databases, usually done in a text format. Depending on the choice of the modeller, these data are outputted in XML or SQL format for a particular DBMS.
References
Bézivin J, Gérard S (2002) A preliminary identification of MDA components. In: Generative techniques in the context of model driven architecture
Bockstaller C, Girardin P (2003) “Mode de calcul des indicateurs agri-environnementaux de la méthode INDIGO,” Tech. Rep, version 1.8 du logiciel, I.N.R.A. Nancy/Colmar, B.P. 507, 68021 Colmar, France
Booch G, Brown A, Iyengar S, Rumbaugh J, Selic B (2004) An MDA Manifesto. MDA J
Booch G, Rumbaugh J, Jacobson J (2005) The unified modeling language user guide, 2nd edn. Addison-Wesley Professional, Reading
Champeaux C (2001) Evolution de l’Indicateur de Fréquence de Traitements (IFT) au travers des enquêtes «pratiques culturales» du SCEES entre 1994 et 2001. Rapport de stage, I.N.R.A. Grignon, UMR Agronomie, B.P. 01, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France
Fowler M (2003) UML distilled: a brief guide to the standard object modeling language, 3rd edn. Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series, p 208
Girardin P, Bockstaller C, Van Der Werf H (2000) Assessment of potential impacts of agricultural practices on the environment the AGRO*ECO method. Environ Impact Assess Rev 20(2):227–239
Gustafson DI (1989) Groundwater ubiquity score: a simple method for assessing pesticide leachability. Environ Toxicol Chem 8:339–357
Lamine C, Bellon S (2008) Conversion to organic farming: a multidimensional research object at the crossroads of agricultural and social science. A review. Agron Sustain Dev 28:15
Lançon J, Reau R, Cariolle M, Munier-Jolain N, Bertrand O, Petit M-S, Viaux P, Wery J (2008) Elaboration à dire d’experts de systèmes de culture innovants. Actes du colloque «Des systèmes de culture innovants et durables: quelles méthodes pour les mettre au point et les évaluer?», Paris, 27 mars 2008. Educagri Editions
Mellor SJ, Scott K, Uhl A, Weise D (2004) MDA- distilled: principles of model-driven architecture. Addison-Wesley, Reading
Meta Object Facility (MOF) (2006) Core specification OMG available specification version 2.0, http://www.omg.org/spec/MOF/2.0/PDF/
Meyer B (1997) Object-oriented software construction, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Minsky M (1965) Matter, mind and models. Proc IFIP Congr 1:45–49
Müller J-P, Bommel P (2007) An introduction to UML for modeling in the human and social sciences. In: Phan D, Amblard F (eds) Agent-based modelling and simulation in the social and human sciences. Bardwell Press, Oxford, pp 273–294
OMG (2006) Object constraint language, specification version 2.0, http://www.omg.org/docs/formal/06-05-01.pdf
OMG (2009) UML 2.2, February 2009, Superstructure specification, http://www.omg.org/spec/UML/2.2/Superstructure/PDF
Papajorgji P (2007) State of the art in modeling software for agricultural systems. Encyclopedia of Optimization, 2nd edn. Springer, New York
Papajorgji P, Shatar TM (2003) Using the unified modeling language to develop soil water-balance and irrigation-scheduling models. Environ Model Softw 19:451–459
Papajorgji P, Beck WB, Braga JL (2004) An architecture for developing service-oriented and component-based environmental models. Ecol Model 179(1):61–76
Recous S, Loiseau P, Mary B (1997) Transformations et devenir de l’azote de l’engrais sous cultures annuelles et sous prairies, In: INRA, (ed) Les colloques de l’INRA, Lemaire, G
Ritchie JT (1998) Soil water balance and plant water stress. In: Tsuji GY, Hoogenboon G, Thornton PK (eds) Understanding options for agricultural production. Kluwer, Dordrecht
Sadok W, Angevin F, Bergez J-E, Bockstaller C, Collomb B, Guichard L, Reau R, Messéan A, Doré T (2009) MASC, a qualitative multi-attribute decision model for ex ante assessment of the sustainability of cropping systems. Agron Sustain Dev 1–15. doi:10.1051/agro/2009006
Van der Werf HMG, Zimmer C (1998) An indicator of pesticide environmental impact based on a fuzzy expert system. Chemosphere 36:2225–2249
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sohbi, Y., Reau, R. & Müller, JP. Using an MDA approach to model and evaluate cropping systems sustainability. Oper Res Int J 10, 301–327 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-009-0071-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12351-009-0071-5