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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">109</journal-id>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="index">urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:3dc5f44e-8666-58db-bc76-a455210e8891</journal-id>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title xml:lang="en">JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title xml:lang="en">jucs</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">0948-695X</issn>
      <issn pub-type="epub">0948-6968</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Journal of Universal Computer Science</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3217/jucs-015-11-2254</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">29479</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="heading">
          <subject>Research Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
        <subj-group subj-group-type="scientific_subject">
          <subject>D.1.5 - Object-oriented Programming</subject>
          <subject>D.2.10 - Design</subject>
          <subject>D.2.11 - Software Architectures</subject>
          <subject>D.2.8 - Metrics</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Assessment of the Design Modularity and Stability of Multi-Agent System Product Lines</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group content-type="authors">
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="yes">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Nunes</surname>
            <given-names>Camila</given-names>
          </name>
          <email xlink:type="simple">cnunes@inf.puc-rio.br</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Kulesza</surname>
            <given-names>Uira</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A2">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Anna</surname>
            <given-names>Cláudio Sant</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A3">3</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Nunes</surname>
            <given-names>Ingrid</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Garcia</surname>
            <given-names>Alessandro</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author" corresp="no">
          <name name-style="western">
            <surname>Lucena</surname>
            <given-names>Carlos</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="A1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="A1">
        <label>1</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil</addr-line>
        <institution>Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Rio de Janeiro</addr-line>
        <country>Brazil</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A2">
        <label>2</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">UFRN - Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil</addr-line>
        <institution>UFRN - Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte</institution>
        <addr-line content-type="city">Natal</addr-line>
        <country>Brazil</country>
      </aff>
      <aff id="A3">
        <label>3</label>
        <addr-line content-type="verbatim">Federal University of Bahia, , Brazil</addr-line>
        <institution>Federal University of Bahia</institution>
        <country>Brazil</country>
      </aff>
      <author-notes>
        <fn fn-type="corresp">
          <p>Corresponding author: Camila Nunes (<email xlink:type="simple">cnunes@inf.puc-rio.br</email>).</p>
        </fn>
        <fn fn-type="edited-by">
          <p>Academic editor: </p>
        </fn>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <year>2009</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>01</day>
        <month>06</month>
        <year>2009</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>15</volume>
      <issue>11</issue>
      <fpage>2254</fpage>
      <lpage>2283</lpage>
      <uri content-type="arpha" xlink:href="http://openbiodiv.net/6CA3A194-9DA9-5FD4-B06C-444CCA35E3A2">6CA3A194-9DA9-5FD4-B06C-444CCA35E3A2</uri>
      <uri content-type="zenodo_dep_id" xlink:href="https://zenodo.org/record/7000895">7000895</uri>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>Camila Nunes, Uira Kulesza, Cláudio Sant Anna, Ingrid Nunes, Alessandro Garcia, Carlos Lucena</copyright-statement>
        <license license-type="creative-commons-attribution" xlink:href="" xlink:type="simple">
          <license-p>This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.</license-p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <label>Abstract</label>
        <p>A multi-agent system product line (MAS-PL) defines an architecture, whose design and implementation is accomplished using software agents to address its common and variable features. MAS-PL promotes the large-scale reuse of common and variable agency features across multiple MAS applications. The development of MAS-PLs can be achieved through MAS-specific platforms and implementation techniques, such as conditional compilation and aspect-oriented programming (AOP). However, there is not much evidence on how these techniques provide better modularity, allowing the conception of stable MAS-PL designs. This paper presents a quantitative study on the design modularity and stability of an evolving MAS-PL. The MAS-PL was built following the reactive product line adoption approach. The product line was developed and evolved based on several versions of a conference management web-based system, named Expert Committee (EC). Our evaluation is made through a series of change scenarios related to new agency features, which are agent characteristics that enhance the system with autonomous behavior. The quantitative study consists of a systematic comparison between two different versions of the EC MAS-PL based on a MAS-specific platform, called JADE. One version was implemented with object-oriented and conditional compilation techniques. The other one relied on AOP. Our analysis was driven by well-known modularity and change impact metrics.</p>
      </abstract>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
</article>
