The Landscape of Ontology Reuse Approaches

Ontology reuse aims to foster interoperability and facilitate knowledge reuse. Several approaches are typically evaluated by ontology engineers when bootstrapping a new project. However, current practices are often motivated by subjective, case-by-case decisions, which hamper the definition of a recommended behaviour. In this chapter we argue that to date there are no effective solutions for supporting developers' decision-making process when deciding on an ontology reuse strategy. The objective is twofold: (i) to survey current approaches to ontology reuse, presenting motivations, strategies, benefits and limits, and (ii) to analyse two representative approaches and discuss their merits

ODYSSEY: Software development life cycle ontology

With the omnipresence of softwares in our Society from Information Technology (IT) services to autonomous agents, their systematic and efficient development is crucial for software developers. Hence, in this paper, we present an approach to assist intelligent agents (IA), whatever human beings or artificial systems, in theirs task to develop and configure softwares. The proposed method is an ontological, developer-centred approach aiding a software developer in decision making and interoperable information sharing through the use of the ODYSSEY ontology we developed for the software development life cycle (SDLC) domain. This ODYSSEY ontology has been designed following the Enterprise Ontology (EO) methodology and coded in Descriptive Logic (DL). Its implementation in OWL has been evaluated for case studies, showing promising results

Ontology–based Representation of Simulation Models

Ontologies have been used in a variety of domains for multiple purposes such as establishing common terminology, organizing domain knowledge and describing domain in a machine-readable form. Moreover, ontologies are the foundation of the Semantic Web and often semantic integration is achieved using ontology. Even though simulation demonstrates a number of similar characteristics to Semantic Web or semantic integration, including heterogeneity in the simulation domain, representation and semantics, the application of ontology in the simulation domain is still in its infancy. This paper proposes an ontology-based representation of simulation models. The goal of this research is to facilitate comparison among simulation models, querying, making inferences and reuse of existing simulation models. Specifically, such models represented in the domain simulation engine environment serve as an information source for their representation as instances of an ontology. Therefore, the ontology-based representation is created from existing simulation models in their proprietary file formats, consequently eliminating the need to perform the simulation modeling directly in the ontology. The proposed approach is evaluated on a case study involving the I2Sim interdependency simulator

Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide

'Ontology and Metaontology: A Contemporary Guide' is a clear and accessible survey of ontology, focussing on the most recent trends in the discipline. Divided into parts, the first half characterizes metaontology: the discourse on the methodology of ontological inquiry, covering the main concepts, tools, and methods of the discipline, exploring the notions of being and existence, ontological commitment, paraphrase strategies, fictionalist strategies, and other metaontological questions. The second half considers a series of case studies, introducing and familiarizing the reader with concrete examples of the latest research in the field. The basic sub-fields of ontology are covered here via an accessible and captivating exposition: events, properties, universals, abstract objects, possible worlds, material beings, mereology, fictional objects. The guide's modular structure allows for a flexible approach to the subject, making it suitable for both undergraduates and postgraduates looking to better understand and apply the exciting developments and debates taking place in ontology today

Telemedicine framework using case-based reasoning with evidences

Telemedicine is the medical practice of information exchanged from one location to another through electronic communications to improve the delivery of health care services. This research article describes a telemedicine framework with knowledge engineering using taxonomic reasoning of ontology modeling and semantic similarity. In addition to being a precious support in the procedure of medical decision-making, this framework can be used to strengthen significant collaborations and traceability that are important for the development of official deployment of telemedicine applications. Adequate mechanisms for information management with traceability of the reasoning process are also essential in the fields of epidemiology and public health. In this paper we enrich the case-based reasoning process by taking into account former evidence-based knowledge. We use the regular four steps approach and implement an additional (iii) step: (i) establish diagnosis, (ii) retrieve treatment, (iii) apply evidence, (iv) adaptation, (v) retain. Each step is performed using tools from knowledge engineering and information processing (natural language processing, ontology, indexation, algorithm, etc.). The case representation is done by the taxonomy component of a medical ontology model. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example from the oncology domain. Medical ontology allows a good and efficient modeling of the patient and his treatment. We are pointing up the role of evidences and specialist's opinions in effectiveness and safety of care

Risk Response for Municipal Solid Waste Crisis Using Ontology-Based Reasoning

Many cities in the world are besieged by municipal solid waste (MSW). MSW not only pollutes the ecological environment but can even induce a series of public safety crises. Risk response for MSW needs novel changes. This paper innovatively adopts the ideas and methods of semantic web ontology to build an ontology-based reasoning system for MSW risk response. Through the integration of crisis information and case resources in the field of MSW, combined with the reasoning ability of Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL), a system of rule reasoning for risk transformation is constructed. Knowledge extraction and integration of MSW risk response can effectively excavate semantic correlation of crisis information along with key transformation points in the process of crisis evolution through rule reasoning. The results show that rule reasoning of transformation can effectively improve intelligent decision-making regarding MSW risk response

Using OWL-VisMod through a decision-making process for reusing OWL ontologies

[EN] Knowledge representation (KR) can be defined as a set of ontological commitments, provided with the capabilities of performing inference. The knowledge can be represented using an ontology, which provides a shared insight into a certain domain. The use of ontologies to represent knowledge also allows interoperation among knowledge-based systems. The process of building ontologies can be tedious and sometimes exhaustive. A possible solution in order to avoid this problem would be to reuse the ontologies previously created by others. This paper describes a case study of reusability using OWL-VisMod, a tool designed for developing ontological engineering based on visual conceptual modelling for OWL ontologies. A workflow performed with OWL-VisMod is described; including a decision-making process in order to decide whether or not it could be desirable to reuse an ontology, according to the requirements of a certain project