Graph-based discovery of ontology change patterns

Ontologies can support a variety of purposes, ranging from capturing conceptual knowledge to the organisation of digital content and information. However, information systems are always subject to change and ontology change management can pose challenges. We investigate ontology change representation and discovery of change patterns. Ontology changes are formalised as graph-based change logs. We use attributed graphs, which are typed over a generic graph with node and edge attribution.We analyse ontology change logs, represented as graphs, and identify frequent change sequences. Such sequences are applied as a reference in order to discover reusable, often domain-specific and usagedriven change patterns. We describe the pattern discovery algorithms and measure their performance using experimental result

A layered framework for pattern-based ontology evolution

The challenge of ontology-driven modelling of information components is well known in both academia and industry. In this paper, we present a novel approach to deal with customisation and abstraction of ontology-based model evolution. As a result of an empirical study, we identify a layered change operator framework based on the granularity, domain-specificity and abstraction of changes. The implementation of the operator framework is supported through layered change logs. Layered change logs capture the objective of ontology changes at a higher level of granularity and support a comprehensive understanding of ontology evolution. The layered change logs are formalised using a graph-based approach. We identify the recurrent ontology change patterns from an ontology change log for their reuse. The identified patterns facilitate optimizing and improving the definition of domain-specific change patterns

Using background knowledge for ontology evolution

One of the current bottlenecks for automating ontology evolution is resolving the right links between newly arising information and the existing knowledge in the ontology. Most of existing approaches mainly rely on the user when it comes to capturing and representing new knowledge. Our ontology evolution framework intends to reduce or even eliminate user input through the use of background knowledge. In this paper, we show how various sources of background knowledge could be exploited for relation discovery. We perform a relation discovery experiment focusing on the use of WordNet and Semantic Web ontologies as sources of background knowledge. We back our experiment with a thorough analysis that highlights various issues on how to improve and validate relation discovery in the future, which will directly improve the task of automatically performing ontology changes during evolution

A conceptual model for semantically-based e-government portals

Issues of semantic interoperability and service integration for e-government portals are the domain of interest of the present paper. We propose a Conceptual Model for One-Stop e-Government Portals based on the Semantic Web Service technology. We describe our research into building the three basic ontologies and their integration with standard ontologies. The result is a project-independent reusable model. At the same time, we outline a simple methodology for applying the proposed conceptual model into a specific scenario

The Requirements for Ontologies in Medical Data Integration: A Case Study

Evidence-based medicine is critically dependent on three sources of information: a medical knowledge base, the patients medical record and knowledge of available resources, including where appropriate, clinical protocols. Patient data is often scattered in a variety of databases and may, in a distributed model, be held across several disparate repositories. Consequently addressing the needs of an evidence-based medicine community presents issues of biomedical data integration, clinical interpretation and knowledge management. This paper outlines how the Health-e-Child project has approached the challenge of requirements specification for (bio-) medical data integration, from the level of cellular data, through disease to that of patient and population. The approach is illuminated through the requirements elicitation and analysis of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), one of three diseases being studied in the EC-funded Health-e-Child project.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Presented at the 11th International Database Engineering & Applications Symposium (Ideas2007). Banff, Canada September 200

Organising the knowledge space for software components

Software development has become a distributed, collaborative process based on the assembly of off-the-shelf and purpose-built components. The selection of software components from component repositories and the development of components for these repositories requires an accessible information infrastructure that allows the description and comparison of these components. General knowledge relating to software development is equally important in this context as knowledge concerning the application domain of the software. Both form two pillars on which the structural and behavioural properties of software components can be addressed. Form, effect, and intention are the essential aspects of process-based knowledge representation with behaviour as a primary property. We investigate how this information space for software components can be organised in order to facilitate the required taxonomy, thesaurus, conceptual model, and logical framework functions. Focal point is an axiomatised ontology that, in addition to the usual static view on knowledge, also intrinsically addresses the dynamics, i.e. the behaviour of software. Modal logics are central here – providing a bridge between classical (static) knowledge representation approaches and behaviour and process description and classification. We relate our discussion to the Web context, looking at Web services as components and the Semantic Web as the knowledge representation framewor

Knowledge infrastructures for software service architectures

Software development has become a distributed, collaborative process based on the assembly of off-the-shelf and purpose-built components or services. The selection of software services from service repositories and their integration into software system architectures, but also the development of services for these repositories requires an accessible information infrastructure that allows the description and comparison of these services. General knowledge relating to software development is equally important in this context as knowledge concerning the application domain of the software. Both form two pillars on which the structural and behavioural properties of software services can be addressed. We investigate how this information space for software services can be organized. Focal point are ontologies that, in addition to the usual static view on knowledge, also intrinsically addresses the dynamics, i.e. the behaviour of software. We relate our discussion to the Web context, looking at the Web Services Framework and the Semantic Web as the knowledge representation framework

A Web Services Component Discovery and Deployment Architecture for Simulation Model Reuse

CSPs are widely used in industry, although have yet to operate across organizational boundaries. Reuse across organizations is restricted by the same semantic issues that restrict the inter-organization use of web services. The current representations of web components are predominantly syntactic in nature lacking the fundamental semantic underpinning required to support discovery on the emerging semantic web. Semantic models, in the form of ontology, utilized by web service discovery and deployment architecture provide one approach to support simulation model reuse. Semantic interoperation is achieved through the use of simulation component ontology to identify required components at varying levels of granularity (including both abstract and specialized components). Selected simulation components are loaded into a CSP, modified according to the requirements of the new model and executed. The paper presents the development carried out within CSPI-PDG and Fluidity Group at Brunel University, of an ontology, connector software and web service discovery architecture. The ontology is extracted from simulation scenarios involving airport, restaurant and kitchen service suppliers. The ontology engineering framework and discovery architecture provide a novel approach to inter-organization simulation, adopting a less intrusive interface between participants. Although specific to CSPs the work has wider implications for the simulation community