Research abstract: semantic concepts for the specification of non-functional properties of component-based software

In my research I try to define a framework which can be used to provide semantics for non-functional specifications of component-based systems. Some of the key questions driving my work are: What is the fundamental difference between functional and non-functional specifications? What formal apparatus is required to provide for this difference; What effects need to be taken into consideration when composing components with non-functional properties; What is the dependency between functional and nonfunctional specifications; What evaluation or analysis algorithms will be applied to a non-functional specification? What information must be extractable from the semantics of a nonfunctional specification?.