Conceptual structures for modeling in CIM

The International Standards Organization (ISO) will release in 1993 the first version of the STEP standard, which is dedicated to the exchange of product model data, and is seen as the basis of the next generation of enterprise information modeling tools. Almost in the same time frame ANSI will release the Information Resource Dictionary System(IRDS) Conceptual Schema standard, which recommends the conceptual graphs (CGs) or other representation languages based on logic to be used for enterprise information modeling and integration. In this paper we develop the foundations for the utilization of conceptual structures (CS) in combination with EXPRESS and STEP Application Protocols in the field of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). The most important result described here is a mapping of EXPRESS into CGs. Around it we develop the architecture of a system able to analyze and translate some of the semantics of information models. Our overall strategy consists of representing the semantics of the language, including the informal meanings represented in the EXPRESS manual in plain English, in a systematic way in CS, and then use this block of knowledge, that can be processed by a machine, for the increasingly automatic analysis, translation and integration of enterprise information models. The work here described is one of the components of a prototype of a model management system under development at IBM, Kingston NY, coordinated by the CIM Architecture group

Un modèle uniforme pour la modélisation et la métamodélisation d'une mémoire d'entreprise

Thèse diffusée initialement dans le cadre d'un projet pilote des Presses de l'Université de Montréal/Centre d'édition numérique UdeM (1997-2008) avec l'autorisation de l'auteur

Automated generation of geometrically-precise and semantically-informed virtual geographic environnements populated with spatially-reasoning agents

La Géo-Simulation Multi-Agent (GSMA) est un paradigme de modélisation et de simulation de phénomènes dynamiques dans une variété de domaines d'applications tels que le domaine du transport, le domaine des télécommunications, le domaine environnemental, etc. La GSMA est utilisée pour étudier et analyser des phénomènes qui mettent en jeu un grand nombre d'acteurs simulés (implémentés par des agents) qui évoluent et interagissent avec une représentation explicite de l'espace qu'on appelle Environnement Géographique Virtuel (EGV). Afin de pouvoir interagir avec son environnement géographique qui peut être dynamique, complexe et étendu (à grande échelle), un agent doit d'abord disposer d'une représentation détaillée de ce dernier. Les EGV classiques se limitent généralement à une représentation géométrique du monde réel laissant de côté les informations topologiques et sémantiques qui le caractérisent. Ceci a pour conséquence d'une part de produire des simulations multi-agents non plausibles, et, d'autre part, de réduire les capacités de raisonnement spatial des agents situés. La planification de chemin est un exemple typique de raisonnement spatial dont un agent pourrait avoir besoin dans une GSMA. Les approches classiques de planification de chemin se limitent à calculer un chemin qui lie deux positions situées dans l'espace et qui soit sans obstacle. Ces approches ne prennent pas en compte les caractéristiques de l'environnement (topologiques et sémantiques), ni celles des agents (types et capacités). Les agents situés ne possèdent donc pas de moyens leur permettant d'acquérir les connaissances nécessaires sur l'environnement virtuel pour pouvoir prendre une décision spatiale informée. Pour répondre à ces limites, nous proposons une nouvelle approche pour générer automatiquement des Environnements Géographiques Virtuels Informés (EGVI) en utilisant les données fournies par les Systèmes d'Information Géographique (SIG) enrichies par des informations sémantiques pour produire des GSMA précises et plus réalistes. De plus, nous présentons un algorithme de planification hiérarchique de chemin qui tire avantage de la description enrichie et optimisée de l'EGVI pour fournir aux agents un chemin qui tient compte à la fois des caractéristiques de leur environnement virtuel et de leurs types et capacités. Finalement, nous proposons une approche pour la gestion des connaissances sur l'environnement virtuel qui vise à supporter la prise de décision informée et le raisonnement spatial des agents situés

Modelling of Reasoning Strategies, and Representation through Conceptual Graphs: Application to Accidentology

This document reports on a work carried out in the areas of cognitive modelling and knowledge representation. Two specific and complementary issues are addressed. The first one is concerned with modelling reasoning strategies used by experts from different specialities in the domain of accidentology. This model ling task is grounded on our previous work carried out in medical problem solving. The second issue is centred on representing those reasoning strategies with the con ceptual graph formalism. The approach to build the typologies of concept types and relation types as well as the conceptual graphs in the domain of accidentology is experimental as we use a computer-based tool dedicated to conceptual graphs, deve loped in the ACACIA project

Model of Conceptual Design of Complex Electronic Systems

Abstract Due to the ever increasing complexity of electronic system (ES

Developing a hyper media interface as a navigational tool for an object oriented database management system, 1995

A common difficulty associated with any large scale information base is traversing the repository in a coherent and purposeful manner. The scope and diversity of the media therein tends to be more of a distraction rather than a source of information. This phenomena is particularly relevant in current hypertext or hypermedia systems and is often referred to as becoming "lost in hyperspace". A solution to this hyperspace problem involves modeling the hyper system after the structured links associated with a database schema. The database schema inherently defines the formations necessary for the two basic forms of navigation in a hyper base - structural and associative. In order to depict the semantic relationships between nodes and links in a hyper system a model that is both readable and logic-oriented is necessary. Such a model can be expressed through conceptual graph notation. This paper documents the design of a hyper-media interface as a navigational tool for an object oriented database management system called 02. The navigational paths through the database are represented as a conceptual graph model

A requirements elicitation framework for agent-oriented software engineering.

The hypothesis of this research is as follows: "Conceptual modelling is a useful activity for the early part of gathering requirements for agent-based systems." This thesis examines the difficulties of gathering and expressing requirements for agent based systems, and describes the development of a requirements elicitation framework. Conceptual modelling in the form of Conceptual Graphs is offered as a means of representing the constituent parts of an agent-based system. In particular, use of a specific graph, the Transaction Model, illustrates how complex agent concepts can be modelled and tested prior to detailed design specification, by utilising a design metaphor for an organisational activity.Using an exemplar in the healthcare domain, a preliminary design framework is developed showing how the Transaction Agent Modelling (TrAM) approach assisted the design of complex community healthcare payment models. Insight gained during the design process is used to enrich and refine the framework in order that detailed ontological specifications can be constructed, before validating with a mobile learning scenario. The ensuing discussion evaluates how useful the approach is, and demonstrates the following contributions: Use of the Transaction Model to impose a rigour upon the requirements elicitation process for agent-based systems; Use of Conceptual Graph type hierarchies for ontology construction; A means to check the transaction models using graphical inferencing with Peirce Logic; Provision of a method for the elicitation and decomposition of soft goals; The TrAM process for agent system requirements elicitation

Improving Knowledge Management Programs Using Marginal Utility in a Metric Space Generated by Conceptual Graphs

Knowledge management has emerged as a field of endeavor that blends a systems approach with methods drawn from organizational management and learning. In contrast, knowledge representation, a branch of artificial intelligence, is grounded in formal methods. Research in the separate behavioral and the structural disciplines – knowledge management and knowledge engineering - has not traditionally cross-pollinated. This has prevented the development of many practical practices useful in organizations. Organization managers - line and senior - lack guidance in where to direct improvement efforts targeted at specific groups of company knowledge workers. Demonstrated here is Knowledge Improvement Measurement Space (KIMS), a model providing a solution to that improvement problem. It employs marginal utility theory in a metric space, with formal reasoning via software agents realized in Sowa\u27s conceptual graphs, operating over a knowledge management conceptual structure. These components allow repeated evaluation of knowledge improvement measurements. Knowledge representation technology was applied to organize and encourage knowledge sharing, to achieve competitive advantage, and to measure progress toward that achievement. The KlMS reentrant process, a method of using the KIMS model, was shown to consist of metrics data calculated by executing joined conceptual graphs, consolidated into a distance variable to be estimated via a Minkowski metrics space. The metric space was shown to be equivalent to a marginal utility, which may be evaluated to determine the new level of knowledge capability. The procedure may be repeated until knowledge management goals are achieved. The solution took into account the body of knowledge related human understanding and learning, and formal methods of knowledge organization. These were shown to include surface ontologies based in a knowledge management program, principles of business strategy, and organizational learning. KIMS was validated through a demonstration based on empirical data collected over a five-year program in a large aerospace company during its progress in applying the Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model

Was Stephen Harper Really Tough on Crime? A Systems and Symbolic Action Analysis

In 2006, the Hon. Stephen Harper, PC became the Prime Minister of Canada after winning an election campaign in which his Conservative Party of Canada promised to get tough on crime. Over the terms of the three Harper administrations, 81 of the 399 government bills introduced in Parliament contained measures explicitly intended to increase the severity in the punishment of criminal acts. Using both descriptive and multiple regression techniques, this dissertation analyses Statistics Canada incarceration and court sentencing data to assess the substantive effect of the Harper administrations’ legislative changes. It is concluded that there was some toughening of criminal sanctions in Canada during this period, particularly for the offences of drug trafficking, production and importation. However, the toughening of sanctions was modest and left Canada’s incarceration rates stable. Judged against both government and opposition rhetoric, the carceral experience in the United States and a constructed ideal type of a tough on crime government, the substantive toughening of Canada’s criminal justice system during the Harper administrations was muted. The systems theory developed by Niklas Luhmann informs an analysis of judicial decisions and provincial government prosecution policies that concludes a federal political regime has limitations on its ability to impose substantive changes in the outcomes of Canada’s criminal justice system. The theories of symbolic action developed by Murray Edelman informs an analysis of the legislative and fiscal record of the Harper administrations to argue that much of the criminal justice program of the Harper administrations was symbolic. It appeared to be designed to generate acquiescence to the Conservative government rather than to effect a substantive toughening in the outcomes of the criminal justice system. The muted substantive effect of the Harper administration’s tough on crime program resulted from both systemic limitations on the federal government’s powers and a lack of serious intent by government actors