action 和Activity modeling

An action is the fundamental unit of behavior specification. An action takes a set of inputs and converts them into a set of outputs, though either or both sets may be empty. This clause defines semantics for a number of specialized actions, as described below. Some of the actions modify the state of the system in which the action executes. The values that are the inputs to an action may be described by value specifications, obtained from the output of actions that have one output (in StructuredActions), or in ways specific to the behaviors that use them. For example, the activity flow model supports providing inputs to actions from the outputs of other actions.
Actions are contained in behaviors, which provide their context. Behaviors provide constraints among actions to determine when they execute and what inputs they have. The Actions clause is concerned with the semantics of individual, primitive actions.
Basic actions include those that perform operation calls, signal sends, and direct behavior invocations. Operations are specified in the model and can be dynamically selected only through polymorphism. Signals are specified by a signal object, whose type represents the kind of message transmitted between objects, and can be dynamically created. Note that operations may be bound to activities, state machine transitions, or other behaviors. The receipt of signals may be bound to activities, state machine transitions, or other behaviors. 

Activity modeling emphasizes the sequence and conditions for coordinating lower-level behaviors, rather than which classifiers own those behaviors. These are commonly called control flow and object flow models. The actions coordinated by activity models can be initiated because other actions finish executing, because objects and data become available, or because events occur external to the flow.