Showing papers on "Ontology (information science) published in 1992"

The TOVE Project Towards a Common-Sense Model of the Enterprise

Abstract: The goal of the TOVE project is fourfold: 1) to create a shared representation (aka ontology) of the enterprise that each agent in the distributed enterprise can jointly understand and use, 2) define the meaning of each description (aka semantics), 3) implement the semantics in a set of axioms that will enable TOVE to automatically deduce the answer to many “common sense” questions about the enterprise, and 4) define a symbology for depicting a concept in a graphical context. The model is multi-level spanning conceptual, generic and application layers. The generic and application layers all also stratified and composed of micro theories spanning, for example, activities, time, resources, constraints, etc. at the generic level. Critical to the TOVE effort is enabling the easy instantiation of the model for a particular enterprise TOVE models will be automatically created as a by product of the enterprise design function. TOVE is currently being built to model a computer manufacturer and an aerospace engineering firm.

An epistemological framework for medical knowledge-based systems

Abstract: An abstraction paradigm for unifying different perspectives concerning the analysis and design of knowledge-based systems (KBSs) is presented. The model accounts for all of the conceptual features of knowledge-based systems, thus making clear which features are intrinsic to the problem and which are artifacts of the implementation. The proposal is based on a two-level analysis of knowledge-based systems: an epistemological and a computational level. At the first level, ontology and inference models of a knowledge-based system are defined. At the computational level, methods and formalisms are adopted after the epistemological analysis has been carried out. The study is confined to medicine with three generic tasks identified: diagnosis, therapy planning, and monitoring. The results of this analysis indicate that the generic tasks manage different ontologies, but can be executed exploiting a unique inference model. Computational issues are discussed to argue that the model provides a conceptual view on existing systems and some design insights for future ones. >

A Conceptual Framework for System Fault Tolerance

Abstract: : A major problem in transitioning fault tolerance practices to the practitioner community is a lack of a common view of what fault tolerance is, and how it can help in the design of reliable computer systems This document takes a step towards making fault tolerance more understandable by proposing a conceptual framework The framework provides a consistent vocabulary for fault tolerance concepts, discusses how systems fail, describes commonly used mechanisms for making systems fault tolerant, and provides some rules for developing fault tolerant systems

Cooperative problem-solving guided by intentions and perception (abstract)

Abstract: The formalization of multi-agent autonomous systems requires a rich ontology for capturing a variety of collective behaviours and a powerful semantics for distinguishing between collective agents having, executing, and jointly intending a plan. In this paper, we introduce the notion of social agents and social plans. A definition of joint intentions is provided that avoids some of the problems encountered by previous formalizations. In particular, it models cooperation by requiring that agents adopt a joint goal and a joint plan of action before forming a joint intention. The paper also stresses the planning capability of agents and outlines a process for means-end reasoning by multiple agents.

Enterprise Information Modeling and Model Integration in Carnot

Abstract: This paper describes a method for integrating separately developed information models The models may be the schemas of databases, frame systems of knowledge bases, domain models of business environments, or process models of business operations The method achieves integration at a semantic level by using an existing global ontology to develop semantic mappings among resources and resolve inconsistencies Our method is incorporated in a graphical integration tool The integrated models provide a coherent picture of an enterprise and enable its resources to be accessed and modified coherently

The TOVE Project: Towards a Common-Sense Model of the Enterprise

Abstract: The goal of the TOVE project is fourfold: 1) to create a shared representation (aka ontology) of the enterprise that each agent in the distributed enterprise can jointly understand and use, 2) define the meaning of each description (aka semantics), 3) implement the semantics in a set of axioms that will enable TOVE to automatically deduce the answer to many “common sense” questions about the enterprise, and 4) define a symbology for depicting a concept in a graphical context The model is multi-level spanning conceptual, generic and application layers The generic and application layers all also stratified and composed of micro theories spanning, for example, activities, time, resources, constraints, etc at the generic level Critical to the TOVE effort is enabling the easy instantiation of the model for a particular enterprise TOVE models will be automatically created as a by product of the enterprise design function TOVE is currently being built to model a computer manufacturer and an aerospace engineering firm

Approximating an interlingua in a principled way

Abstract: We address the problem of constructing in a principled way an ontology of terms to be used in an interlingua for machine translation. Given our belief that the a true language-neutral ontology of terms can only be approached asymptotically, the construction method outlined involves a stepwise folding in of one language at a time. This is effected in three steps: first building for each language a taxonomy of the linguistic generalizations required to analyze and generate that language, then organizing the domain entities in terms of that taxonomy, and finally merging the result with the existing interlingua ontology in a well-defined way. This methodology is based not on intuitive grounds about what is and is not 'true' about the world, which is a question of language-independence, but instead on practical concerns, namely what information the analysis and generation programs require in order to perform their tasks, a question of language-neutrality. After each merging is complete, the resulting taxonomy contains, declaratively and explicitly represented, those distinctions required to control the analysis and generation of the linguistic phenomena. The paper is based on current work of the PANGLOSS MT project.

Ontologies, Problem Representation, and the Cuban Missile Crisis:

Abstract: “Problem representation” and “ontology” are introduced as concepts critical to understanding foreign policy decision making. The article explicates these concepts and their relationship and focuses...

Towards a New Understanding of Data Modelling

Abstract: This paper reviews the fundamental assumptions of current data modelling approaches in the light of the recent debate on conflicting research paradigms. The following four questions are used to identify paradigmatic assumptions about the ontology, language, epistemology and social context of data modelling: (1) What is being modelled? (2) How well is the result represented? (3) Why is it valid? (4) How are data models used in practice? It is concluded that the pursuit of these four questions amounts to a new research programme in data management and that the appropriate metaphors for data modelling are not fact gathering and modelling, but negotiation and law-making.

The Qualitative Representation of Physical Systems

Abstract: The representation of physical systems using qualitative formalisms is examined in this review, with an emphasis on recent developments in the area. The push to develop reasoning systems incorporating deep knowledge originally focused on naive physical representations, but has now shifted to more formal ones based on qualitative mathematics. The qualitative differential constraint formalism used in systems like QSIM is examined, and current efforts to link this to competing representations like Qualitative Process Theory are noted. Inference and representation are intertwined, and the decision to represent notions like causality explicitly, or infer it from other properties, has shifted as the field has developed. The evolution of causal and functional representations is thus examined. Finally, a growing body of work that allows reasoning systems to utilize multiple representations of a system is identified. Dimensions along which multiple model hierarchies could be constructed are examined, including mode of behaviour, granularity, ontology, and representational depth.

The findings--diagnosis continuum: implications for image descriptions and clinical databases.

Abstract: As part of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) project, we have been exploring the use of semantic net representation to build a medical ontology that can adapt to the needs and perspective of differing kinds of users with varying purposes A principal objective is to facilitate indexing and retrieval of objects in a variety of target databases, using their own source vocabularies, while maintaining the representation of concepts to which these source vocabularies refer in a single consistent form, so that retrievals that span resource types can be accommodated In addition, a particular area of deficiency of the existing UMLS Metathesaurus is that of clinical findings, a part of the problem being the multiple alternative views and granularity levels at which clinical findings are described in different target databases The problem is particularly obvious when one examines the way in which image findings are described, which may be at a purely perceptual level, or at varying levels of aggregation into higher level observations or interpretations We have developed a recursive model for representing observations and interpretations in a semantic net along a continuum of degree of aggregation, that appears to lend itself well to adaptation to varying perspectives

Toward a discursive ontology of media

Abstract: Critical studies of communication have tended to assume a discursive ontology for all elements of the communication process except media, which are assumed to have a positivist ontology. Following McLuhan, this study argues that mediation is extension of the self along paths of social practice, discourse, and technology. The study argues that communication should be studied from that perspective, which is more consistent with the everyday experience of communication. This theory is illustrated with an analysis of the empowerment and disempowerment of men and women through watching televised football.

Generalized probability kinematics

Abstract: Jeffrey conditionalization is generalized to the case in which new evidence bounds the possible revisions of a prior below by a Dempsterian lower probability. Classical probability kinematics arises within this generalization as the special case in which the evidentiary focal elements of the bounding lower probability are pairwise

A Brentanian Basis for Leśniewskian Logic

Abstract: This chapter shows how ingredients of Brentano’s reformed logic (Chapter 3) can be used to provide the basis for a system of logic equivalent in strength to Lesniewski’s Ontology.

Questions concerning the ontology of autopoiesis and the limits of its utility

Abstract: (1992). QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE ONTOLOGY OF AUTOPOIESIS AND THE LIMITS OF ITS UTILITY. International Journal of General Systems: Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 131-141.

Enterprise integration using the semantic unification meta-model

Abstract: The most difficult problem involved in establishing the kind of communication needed to support enterprise integration is the semantic problem: how to determine when the communicating parties are talking about the same thing, when they are not, and when they are talking about something just enough different to be dangerous The Semantic Unification Meta-Model (SUMM), which is based on the classical predicate calculus, attempts to provide a foundation for specifying the semantics of a language in a way that assures the ability to translate information from one language to another The SUMM is not intended as a primary language for modeling domain knowledge Rather it is intended to provide a technique for rigorously defining the truth conditions of any model stated in any language that meets certain non-exclusive conditions: that the information content of the modeling language is based on the meaning of a set of “predicates” that classify objects and relationships, and on the identification of individuals through the use of “terms” The SUMM provides a meta-model for such languages that allows the expressions of each language to be mapped to a common ontology Such a meta-model can be developed at the instance level to support multilingual communication about particular individuals, at the model level to support multilingual communication about types of individuals, or, at the meta-model level to support multilingual communication about types of models

IDEF5 Ontology Description Capture Method: Concepts and Formal Foundations

Abstract: : An ontology can be though of as a structure for representing knowledge about the world as perceived from different perspectives such that those perspectives can be related to one another. Viewed simply as the study of what there is, ontology as an activity is at work across the full range of human inquiry prompted by humanity's persistent effort to understand the world in which it has found itself - and which it has helped to shape. In the context of human-designed-and-engineered systems, ontologic inquiry is motivated not by the search for knowledge for its own sake, but by the need to understand, design, engineer, and manage such systems effectively. IDEF5 development has been targeted at filling a methodological gap for reliably extracting ontologies in a manner that closely reflects human conceptualization of the domains in question. The IDEF5 method does so by enabling practitioners to recognize and validate the nature and structure of a given engineering, manufacturing, business, or logistical domain and then store that knowledge in a usable representational medium.... Integration, Ontology, IDEF, Knowledge acquisition, Requirements definition, Information engineering, Method, Systems engineering, Information systems, Methodology.