Ontologias O3F: conversão de UML e extracção em CO3L

Esta dissertação centra-se no modelo de representação de ontologias O3F e da correspondente linguagem CO3L, ambos desenvolvidos no grupo de Agentes e Inteligência Artificial do Departamento de Ciências e Tecnologias da Informação do ISCTE-IUL. Pretende-se alcançar dois objectivos. O primeiro consiste em melhorar e expandir o O3F e o CO3L para aumentar a sua expressividade, especialmente no sentido de permitir a representação de modelos UML e ontologias OWL. O segundo consiste na criação de ferramentas computacionais para ontologias O3F, a principal das quais é um conversor automático de UML para O3F/CO3L. Pretende-se assim que as ontologias O3F possam ser especificadas em UML, tirando partido das suas ferramentas de desenvolvimento, e aproximar o O3F da grande comunidade de especialistas de modelação UML. Adicionalmente, foram também feitas contribuições para a construção de um servidor de ontologias O3F e desenvolveu-se um mecanismo capaz de extrair, na linguagem textual CO3L, as ontologias armazenadas nesse servidor. Decidiu-se apostar no O3F porque, quando comparado com outras abordagens à representação de ontologias (OWL, Ontolingua e UML), revela várias vantagens e, além disso, tem sido desenvolvida no grupo de investigação em que esta dissertação se integra. Exemplos dessas vantagens são a capacidade de especificar acções ou de modelar segundo vários paradigmas (orientado a objectos, relacional/funcional, ou misturando ambos). A avaliação deste trabalho conclui que as melhorias feitas ao modelo e à linguagem têm utilidade e cumpriram os seus objectivos, e que as ferramentas desenvolvidas efectuam processamentos correctos, têm utilidade e são práticas de usar.This dissertation is focused on the ontology representation model O3F and the corresponding language CO3L, both developed by the Agents and Artificial Intelligence group of the Department of Sciences and Information Technologies of ISCTE-IUL. It is intended to achieve two goals. The first one consists of improving and expanding O3F and CO3L in order to increase their expressiveness, especially to allow the representation of UML models and OWL ontologies. The second one consists of developing computer tools for O3F ontologies, the most important of which is an automatic translator from UML to O3F/CO3L. This translator is meant to allow the specification of O3F ontologies in UML, taking advantage of its development tools, and to bridge the gap between O3F and the large and important UML community. In addition, contributions were made to build an ontology server for O3F, and a mechanism capable of extracting, in the CO3L text language, the ontologies stored on the developed server. It was decided to invest in O3F because, when compared to other formal representation languages (OWL, Ontolingua and UML), it shows several advantages and also because it has been developed in the research group where this dissertation was done. Some examples of O3F advantages are its capability to specify actions and is multi-paradigm modeling abilities (object oriented, relational/functional or mixing both). The evaluation of this work concludes that the improvements made to the model and language achieved their goals, and that the developed tools are correct, useful and user-friendly

Ontologias O3F: um servidor e um editor CO3L

Esta dissertação debruça-se sobre o modelo O3F e a linguagem CO3L, sobre a construção de um servidor de ontologias O3F e ainda sobre a construção de um editor especializado na linguagem CO3L. Analisaram-se criticamente várias abordagens de representação de ontologias: Ontolingua, OWL, OWL2, UML e O3F/CO3L. Foram também analisadas ferramentas que dão suporte às anteriores linguagens, dando especial ênfase ao Protégé e ao Ontolingua Server. Desta análise resultou que o modelo O3F é uma excelente opção para representar ontologias devido às várias vantagens que apresenta em relação às restantes abordagens. O modelo O3F é o único que permite modular um domínio de acordo com uma visão orientada a objectos ou com uma visão relacional do mundo, possibilitando ainda a integração de ambas. A presente dissertação contribuiu com várias propostas de melhoria para modelo O3F e para linguagem CO3L, aumentando a sua expressividade e competitividade. Para possibilitar a real utilização deste modelo e linguagem foi criado o O3 Server, um servidor de ontologias que guarda e partilha as ontologias O3F a um nível global. A presente dissertação criou ainda o CO3L Edit, o primeiro editor especializado na linguagem CO3L que interage com o O3 Server para armazenar e extrair ontologias. Os resultados produzidos na dissertação foram submetidos a avaliação que revelou evidência da correcção e abrangência das ferramentas computacionais, mostrando ainda a satisfação insofismável dos inquiridos com uma taxa de satisfação média de 92,5%. Os sistemas computacionais estão publicamente acessíveis em http://dcti.iscte.pt/O3F/.This dissertation focuses on the O3F model and the CO3L language, on building an O3F ontology server and on the construction of a specialized CO3L language editor. Some ontology representation approaches have been reviewed and analyzed: Ontolingua, OWL, OWL2, UML e O3F/CO3L. We also analyzed computational tools supporting those approaches, in particular and in more detail, Protégé and the Ontolingua Server. This analysis showed that the O3F model is an excellent option for ontology representation due to several advantages that this model offers compared to other approaches. The O3F model is the only one that allows modeling a given domain, following an object-oriented paradigm or a functional and relational paradigm, allowing the integration of both. This work has contributed with several proposals to improve the O3F model and the CO3L language, improving their expressiveness, thus making them more competitive. To enable the use of this model and language we have created O3 Server, a server that stores and shares ontologies globally. We have also developed CO3L Edit, the first CO3L language specialized editor that interacts with the O3 Server to store and extract ontologies. The results produced in this dissertation were evaluated and revealed evidence of the correctness and completeness of software tools and showed the unmistakable satisfaction of users with an average satisfaction rate of 92.5%. The computer systems are publicly accessible at http://dcti.iscte.pt/O3F/

Complex adaptive systems based data integration : theory and applications

Data Definition Languages (DDLs) have been created and used to represent data in programming languages and in database dictionaries. This representation includes descriptions in the form of data fields and relations in the form of a hierarchy, with the common exception of relational databases where relations are flat. Network computing created an environment that enables relatively easy and inexpensive exchange of data. What followed was the creation of new DDLs claiming better support for automatic data integration. It is uncertain from the literature if any real progress has been made toward achieving an ideal state or limit condition of automatic data integration. This research asserts that difficulties in accomplishing integration are indicative of socio-cultural systems in general and are caused by some measurable attributes common in DDLs. This research’s main contributions are: (1) a theory of data integration requirements to fully support automatic data integration from autonomous heterogeneous data sources; (2) the identification of measurable related abstract attributes (Variety, Tension, and Entropy); (3) the development of tools to measure them. The research uses a multi-theoretic lens to define and articulate these attributes and their measurements. The proposed theory is founded on the Law of Requisite Variety, Information Theory, Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory, Sowa’s Meaning Preservation framework and Zipf distributions of words and meanings. Using the theory, the attributes, and their measures, this research proposes a framework for objectively evaluating the suitability of any data definition language with respect to degrees of automatic data integration. This research uses thirteen data structures constructed with various DDLs from the 1960\u27s to date. No DDL examined (and therefore no DDL similar to those examined) is designed to satisfy the law of requisite variety. No DDL examined is designed to support CAS evolutionary processes that could result in fully automated integration of heterogeneous data sources. There is no significant difference in measures of Variety, Tension, and Entropy among DDLs investigated in this research. A direction to overcome the common limitations discovered in this research is suggested and tested by proposing GlossoMote, a theoretical mathematically sound description language that satisfies the data integration theory requirements. The DDL, named GlossoMote, is not merely a new syntax, it is a drastic departure from existing DDL constructs. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated with a small scale experiment and evaluated using the proposed assessment framework and other means. The promising results require additional research to evaluate GlossoMote’s approach commercial use potential

Geração de modelos de rastreabilidade de informação industrial : análise de um caso prático

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de InformaçãoAs organizações esforçam-se cada vez mais para maximizar a sua produtividade, para produzir com mais eficiência e mais qualidade, e para reduzir os seus custos. Para conseguir isso, é necessário implementar um sistema de rastreabilidade. A rastreabilidade é a capacidade de rastrear o histórico de um produto, em qualquer momento. Esta capacidade permite melhorar a qualidade dos processos de produção e dos produtos, evitando perda de confiança dos consumidores e perdas financeiras. A implementação e a manutenção de um sistema de rastreabilidade enfrentam diversos desafios, entre os quais: 1) a falta de entendimento e acordo sobre o significado do conceito de rastreabilidade, as suas exigências concretas e a natureza do processo de rastreabilidade; e 2) a distribuição da informação por diversas aplicações informáticas heterogéneas e independentes. A aquisição, a manutenção e o acesso aos dados de rastreabilidade relevantes são aspetos basilares para implementar um sistema de rastreabilidade eficaz. Esta implementação está assente na capacidade de os sistemas heterogéneos inter-operarem de modo a oferecer uma visão completa da rastreabilidade. As normas internacionais são um dos elementos cruciais para esta eficácia. Nesta dissertação, é utilizada a norma global de rastreabilidade da GS1 para identificar regras de negócio e requisitos mínimos de um sistema de rastreabilidade. Esta norma internacional, o apoio dos stakeholders e a revisão da literatura são os mecanismos adotados no exercício de levantamento de requisitos para a modelação do processo de rastreabilidade da Bosch Car Multimédia Portugal, S.A.. O método Four-Step-Rule-Set (4SRS) é aplicado para transformar os requisitos resultantes da modelação do processo de rastreabilidade numa arquitetura lógica. Esta arquitetura constitui o principal resultado desta dissertação. Um dos seus benefícios é fornecer um melhor entendimento das exigências e da natureza deste processo. Esta dissertação também contribui com propostas para melhorar a rastreabilidade num processo específico da Bosch Car Multimédia Portugal, S.A, propondo: 1) locais e momentos onde devem ser recolhidos alguns dados de rastreabilidade relevantes; e 2) dados de rastreabilidade relevantes a recolher na proposta 1.Organizations strive increasingly to maximize their productivity, in order to produce more efficiently and with higher quality, and to reduce their costs. To achieve this, it is necessary to implement a traceability system. Traceability is the ability to track the history of a product at any time. This capability improves the quality of production processes and products, avoiding losing consumer’s confidence as well as financial losses. The implementation and maintenance of a traceability system faces several challenges, including: 1) the lack of understanding and agreement on the meaning of the concept of traceability, its specific requirements and the nature of the process itself, and 2) the distribution of information by several heterogeneous and independent software applications. The acquisition, maintenance and access to relevant traceability data are fundamental to implement an effective traceability system. This implementation is based on the ability of heterogeneous systems to inter-operate in order to provide a complete overview of traceability. International standards are one of the key elements for this effectiveness. In this dissertation, the GS1 global traceability standard is used to identify business rules and minimum requirements of a traceability system. This international standard, the support of stakeholders and the literature review are the mechanisms adopted in the exercise of elicitation requirements for modeling the traceability process Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal, S.A.. The Four-Step-Rule-Set (4SRS) is used to transform the requirements resulting from the modeling of the traceability process in a logical architecture. This architecture is the main result of this dissertation. One of its benefits is to provide a better understanding of the requirements and the nature of this process. This dissertation also contributes with proposals to improve the traceability of a specific process of Bosch Car Multimedia Portugal, S.A., proposing: 1) places and moments where some relevant traceability data must be collected and 2) relevant traceability data to collect proposal 1

Algorithms, Languages, Theory

This paper presents an approach for ontology translation in the O3F ontology framework and a concrete implemented agent that translates between ontologies expressed in OWL. In the O3F framework, ontology translation is a recursive process based on a mapping from the basic concepts of the object ontology to concepts of the target ontology. Using available mappings, it is possible to recursively translate compound concepts. The paper also presents a scenario where two agents using different ontologies interact with the ontology translation agent in order to communicate

OWL Ontology Translation for the Semantic Web

This paper presents an ontology translation Web Service based on the O3F ontology representation framework that translates between ontologies expressed in OWL. In the O3F framework, ontology translation is based on a mapping from the basic concepts of the object ontology to basic or compound concepts of the target ontology. Using publicly available mappings, which originate from other research projects, it is possible to recursively translate compound concepts of the object ontology into the target ontology. We describe the algorithms used by and the interface of the Ontology Translation Web Service. The FIPA Ontology Service specification[4] was used as a starting point for the definition of relationships between ontologies. Finally, the paper presents the definition of two ontologies in OWL, and the source of mappings from the object ontology into the target ontology. In an hypothetical scenario, two programs using different ontologies interact with the ontology translation web service in order to obtain interchangeability between information that is heterogeneously organised. The translation web service was implemented using Tomcat 1, which implements the Servlet 2.3 specification[13, v2.3]

OWL Ontology Translation for the Semantic Web

This paper presents an ontology translation Web Service based on the O3F ontology representation framework that translates between ontologies expressed in OWL. In the O3F framework, ontology translation is based on a mapping from the basic concepts of the object ontology to basic or compound concepts of the target ontology. Using publicly available mappings, it is possible to recursively translate compound concepts of the object ontology into the target ontology. We describe the algorithms used by and the interface of the Ontology Translation Web Service. The FIPA Ontology Service specification[4] was used as a starting point for the definition of relationships between ontologies. Finally, the paper presents the definition of two ontologies in OWL, and the source of mappings from the object ontology into the target ontology. In an hypothetical scenario, two programs using different ontologies interact with the ontology translation web service in order to obtain interchangeability between information that is heterogeneously organised. The translation web service was implemented using Tomcat 1, which implements the Servlet 2.3 specification[13, v2.3]