Towards knowledge sharing in disaster management: An agent oriented knowledge analysis framework

Disaster Management (DM) is a complex set of interrelated activities. The activities are often knowledge intensive and time sensitive. Sharing the required knowledge timely is critical for DM. In developed countries, for recurring disasters (e.g. floods), there are dedicated document repositories of Disaster Management Plans (DMP) that can be accessed as needs arise. However, accessing the appropriate plan in a timely manner and sharing activities between plans often requires domain knowledge and intimate knowledge of the plans in the first place. In this paper, we introduce an agent-based knowledge analysis method to convert DMPs into a collection of knowledge units that can be stored into a unified repository. The repository of DM actions then enables the mixing and matching knowledge between different plans. The repository is structured as a layered abstraction according to Meta Object Facility (MOF). We use the flood management plans used by SES (State Emergency Service), an authoritative DM agency in NSW (New State Wales) State of Australia to illustrate and give a preliminary validation of the approach. It is illustrated using DMPs along the flood prone Murrumbidgee River in central NSW

Automating the reuse of domain knowledge to improve the modelling outcome from interactions between developers and clients

Informal interactions with clients are prone to errors in interpretation and communication which can later result in errors in the ensuing requirements models. Resolving such errors early can prevent rework or the building of a system that is non-compliant with the client\u27s intention. In developing complex systems and highly interactive systems, such as agent oriented systems, those errors in requirement analysis are even more likely. By focussing on the quality of interactions between the future users of the system and the human modellers, this article presents an innovative validation and verification process to support analysis of requirement analysis. We use domain knowledge to validate compliance with the client\u27s intention. Using layered abstractions, we formulate the validation process which is methodology independent. An interactive support tool is implemented to support the developers using the requirement analysis process. The process is conducted iteratively to accommodate the lifecycle defined by most methodologies. The process and the tool are validated and illustrated using two different development exemplars illustrating different domains and different development methodologies