Learning, Identifying, Sharing

This article argues that a cooperatively-built, well-organized, shared knowledge base is a new – and, from certain viewpoints, optimal – kind of support (refining and integrating other kinds of supports) for three complementary tasks: learning about living entities (and how to identify them), supporting their identification, and sharing knowledge about them. This article gives the ideas behind our prototype, and argues that knowledge providers can be not solely specialists, but also amateurs. In essence, for these three tasks, it argues for the (re-)use of much more semantically organized and interconnected versions of semantic wikis or scratchpads

(Re)configuration based on model generation

Reconfiguration is an important activity for companies selling configurable products or services which have a long life time. However, identification of a set of required changes in a legacy configuration is a hard problem, since even small changes in the requirements might imply significant modifications. In this paper we show a solution based on answer set programming, which is a logic-based knowledge representation formalism well suited for a compact description of (re)configuration problems. Its applicability is demonstrated on simple abstractions of several real-world scenarios. The evaluation of our solution on a set of benchmark instances derived from commercial (re)configuration problems shows its practical applicability.Comment: In Proceedings LoCoCo 2011, arXiv:1108.609

Simple identification tools in FishBase

Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

Implementation of a product data management system

Abstract. This thesis is made for Haltian Oy with an aim to study what needs to be taken into consideration when implementing a product data management (PDM) system. The goal of the thesis is to provide Haltian the knowledge needed for implementing the system as well as to form recommendations to improve the data flows of the order-delivery process. The research is qualitative by nature, and inductive research methods are used. This is a single case study where multiple ways of data collection are used to form a comprehensive analysis on the current state of product data management and data flows in order-delivery process of Haltian. The research is mainly based on interviews of relevant stakeholders, arranged together with consultants. Currently, there is a lot to improve in terms of product data management. The data is fragmented and managed mainly manually. Also, changes are performed manually, which is time-consuming and exposes the organization to errors. Currently the precious working hours of engineers must be used for detecting the information to ensure the data are up to date, because the availability and traceability of the data are weak. This thesis recommends Haltian to implement a PDM system called Teamcenter. It can fulfil all the requirements the organization has set for a PDM system and helps to clarify the product data management process and related responsibilities. In addition to system implementation, some adjustments to order-delivery process are recommended to be made to ensure more efficient ways of working and effortless product data flows. The recommendations of this thesis can be taken into use by implementing the system and performing the proposed process changes. The generalizability is limited, as the results are accurate only for the case company. However, product data management is a general issue in companies of similar stage, and therefore the results can be generalized to some extent to learn about product data management and PDM system’s implementation project.Tiivistelmä. Tämä diplomityö on tehty Haltian Oy:n pyynnöstä ja se pyrkii selvittämään, mitä asioita on otettava huomioon tuotetiedon hallintajärjestelmän implementoimisessa. Työn tavoite on tarjota Haltianille tarvittavat tiedot implementoinnin toteuttamiseksi sekä muodostaa kehitysehdotuksia tilaus-toimitusketjun tuotetiedon luomiseen ja hallintaan. Tutkimus on laadullinen ja käyttää induktiivisia tuktimusmetodeja. Diplomityö on toteutettu yhden yrityksen tapaustutkimuksena, jossa käytetään erilaisia tiedonkeruun menetelmiä. Tällä tavoin muodostetaan laaja käsitys tuotetiedon hallinnan nykytilasta ja siitä, miten tuotetieto tilaus-toimitusketjussa liikkuu. Tärkein tutkimuksessa käytetty tiedon keräystapa on konsulttien avulla järjestetyt haastattelut, joissa tuotetiedon kannalta keskeisimpiä työntekijöitä haastateltiin. Tällä hetkellä yrityksen tuotetiedon hallinnassa löytyy paljon kehityskohteita. Tuotetieto on hajallaan ja sitä hallitaan pääasiassa manuaalisesti. Myös datan muutokset tehdään käsin, mikä on aikaavievää ja virhealtista. Tuotetiedon saatavuus ja jäljitettävyys on heikkoa, mikä haaskaa työntekijöiden työaikaa turhaan tiedonetsintään. Tiedon löydyttyä lisää aikaa menee löydetyn tiedon paikkaansapitävyyden selvittämiseen. Tämän diplomityön tuloksena ehdotetaan Teamcenter-nimisen tuotetiedon hallintajärjestelmän implementointia, sillä se pystyy täyttämään Haltianin asettamat vaatimukset tarvittavalle järjestelmälle ja auttaa selkiyttämään tuotetiedon hallintaa ja siihen liittyviä vastuualueita. Järjestelmän implementoinnin lisäksi tämä tutkimus tarjoaa tilaus-toimitusprosessin parannusehdotuksia, jotka mahdollistavat tehokkaammat toimintatavat ja vaivattoman tuotetiedon kulun läpi prosessin. Ehdotukset voidaan tuoda käytäntöön implementoimalla tuotetiedon hallintajärjestelmä ja toteuttamalla ehdotetut muutokset tilaus-toimitusprosessiin. Tutkimuksen tulosten yleistettävyys on rajallista, koska tutkimus on toteutettu vain kyseessä olevalle yritykselle ja täten ongelmat ja niiden ratkaisuehdotukset pätevät vain tälle yritykselle. Tuotetiedon hallinta on kuitenkin yleinen ongelma monessa vastaavanlaisessa yrityksessä, joten tutkimusta ja sen tuloksia voi käyttää tietyin varauksin hyväksi myös muiden organisaatioiden tuotetiedon hallinnan ongelmiin

A workflow system as an information support to companies operating in the area of sustainable construction

Doktorska disertacija obravnava področje dostopnosti informacij, pomembnih za odločanje o izbiri storitev in proizvodov pri prenovi stavbe. Te so pogosto neurejene in razpršene po celotnem spletu ter zapisane v različnih formatih. Posledično je lahko iskanje želenih informacij zelo zamudno in nepregledno. Informacije lahko zajamemo v delotoku, ki predstavlja zaporedje povezanih storitev, izvajanih v primerno orkestriranih korakih. Osnovna hipoteza trdi, da lahko model informacijskega sistema delotokov zajame visoko stopnjo ključnih informacij in znanj na področju trajnostne gradnje in načrtovanja ter kot tak predstavlja primerno informacijsko podporo gradbenim podjetjem in investitorjem. Potrebe po informacijski podpori ugotavljamo s pomočjo raziskave med ključnimi deležniki na področju gradbeništva. Rezultati izvedene raziskave razkrivajo velike potrebe po dostopu do urejenih informacij in kažejo na veliko pripravljenosti deležnikov za sodelovanje ter medsebojno deljenje informacij. Izdelan je pregled obstoječih rešitev in dognanj na omenjenem področju. Predstavljen je trajnosten pogled na stavbe s pregledom najbolj razširjenih in aktualnih pristopov trajnostnega ocenjevanja stavb, ki razkriva razlike pri pripisovanju teže posameznim trajnostnim vidikom. V nadaljevanju izdelamo pregled stanja slovenskega stavbnega fonda, ki razkriva, da je velika večina stavb potencialno potrebnih prenove. Predstavljene so tudi semantične tehnologije, ki omogočajo izdelavo naprednih informacijskih sistemov in ki jih zato uporabimo v nadaljnjem delu. V nadaljevanju dela je predstavljen razvoj prototipa informacijskega sistema, ki temelji na delotokih. Opisana je zasnova arhitekture informacijskega sistema, model sprejemanja odločitev in razvita ontologija, ki podpira zapis informacij v delotoke in hrambo informacij v pripadajoči podatkovni bazi OWL/RDF. V zaključnem delu je predstavljena validacija prototipa informacijskega sistema, ki kaže, da smo uspeli zadostiti opredeljenim zahtevam. Postavljena hipoteza je torej potrjena.The research presented in this thesis is concerned with the accessibility of information on the world web, crucial for the decision making process regarding products and services required for building refurbishment. This information is often dispersed, poorly structured and written in various formats. As a consequence, information search on the web can be extremely time-consuming and difficult to carry out. The information can be sequenced in a workflow consisting of a series of interconnected services which are executed in orchestrated steps. The research hypothesis postulates that the workflow information system model is able to encompass a large proportion of key information and knowledge from the sustainable construction field. As such, it represents efficient information support to potential clients and construction contracting companies. Information support requirements of various stakeholders from the construction sector were identified by using a survey. The obtained results exhibit a clear need for structured information, as well as a significant willingness of stakeholders to share the information. An overview of the existing solutions and accomplishments in sustainable construction is presented. The concept of sustainability assessment is presented, along with an overview of the most frequently employed approaches for the sustainability assessment of buildings, which reveals differences in assigning relative importance to individual sustainability aspects. An overview of the Slovenian residential building fund is carried out. It shows that the majority of residential building stock is in need of refurbishment. Further, semantic technologies that enable the establishment of advanced information systems are presented. The second part presents the development of a workflow-based prototype information system. The design of the information system architecture is presented, together with the decision making model and the ontology that supports information recording into workflows and data storage into the OWL/RDF database. The validation of the information system is presented in the concluding part. It is shown that the system requirements defined in the beginning of the research were achievedthe initial hypothesis is therefore confirmed