A Survey of Languages for Specifying Dynamics: A Knowledge Engineering Perspective

A number of formal specification languages for knowledge-based systems has been developed. Characteristics for knowledge-based systems are a complex knowledge base and an inference engine which uses this knowledge to solve a given problem. Specification languages for knowledge-based systems have to cover both aspects. They have to provide the means to specify a complex and large amount of knowledge and they have to provide the means to specify the dynamic reasoning behavior of a knowledge-based system. We focus on the second aspect. For this purpose, we survey existing approaches for specifying dynamic behavior in related areas of research. In fact, we have taken approaches for the specification of information systems (Language for Conceptual Modeling and TROLL), approaches for the specification of database updates and logic programming (Transaction Logic and Dynamic Database Logic) and the generic specification framework of abstract state machine

Knowledge formalization in experience feedback processes : an ontology-based approach

Because of the current trend of integration and interoperability of industrial systems, their size and complexity continue to grow making it more difficult to analyze, to understand and to solve the problems that happen in their organizations. Continuous improvement methodologies are powerful tools in order to understand and to solve problems, to control the effects of changes and finally to capitalize knowledge about changes and improvements. These tools involve suitably represent knowledge relating to the concerned system. Consequently, knowledge management (KM) is an increasingly important source of competitive advantage for organizations. Particularly, the capitalization and sharing of knowledge resulting from experience feedback are elements which play an essential role in the continuous improvement of industrial activities. In this paper, the contribution deals with semantic interoperability and relates to the structuring and the formalization of an experience feedback (EF) process aiming at transforming information or understanding gained by experience into explicit knowledge. The reuse of such knowledge has proved to have significant impact on achieving themissions of companies. However, the means of describing the knowledge objects of an experience generally remain informal. Based on an experience feedback process model and conceptual graphs, this paper takes domain ontology as a framework for the clarification of explicit knowledge and know-how, the aim of which is to get lessons learned descriptions that are significant, correct and applicable

An Aspect–Oriented Approach based on Multiparty Interactions to Specifying the Behaviour of a System

Isolating computation and coordination concerns into separate pure computation and pure coordination enhances modularity, understandability and reusability of parallel and/or distributed software. This can be achieved by moving interaction primitives, which are now commonly scattered in programs, into separate modules written in a language aimed at coordinating objects and expressing how information flows among them. The usual model for coordination is the client/server model, but it is not adequate when several objects need to collaborate simultaneously in order to solve a problem because natural multiparty interactions need to be decomposed into a set of low–level, binary interactions. In this paper, we introduce CAL, an IP–based language for the description of the coordination aspect of a system. We show that it can be successfully described in terms of simple multiparty interactions that can be animated and are also amenable to formal reasoning.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) MENHIR TIC 97–0593–C05–0

Constructs for prototyping information systems using object petri nets

OASIS (Open and Active System Information Specification) is a language for the specification of object-oriented conceptual models. Object Petri nets (OPNs) support a full integration of object-oriented concepts into Petri nets. We propose a way to represent the object-oriented concepts used in the OASIS language with OPNs as a suitable semantic model for validating software specifications. We have developed a basic execution model for OASIS specifications, including its main features. Communication aspects between objects are taken into account in our proposal (triggering mechanism and shared events). We consider: event preconditions reducing the worlds to be reached, attribute valuations changing the states of objects, the creation and deletion of objects, and life-cycles of objects. OPNs are an appropriate semantic foundation for building a concurrent software engineering environment for distributed computation because they allow a natural representation of concurrence. We show how the object-oriented concepts of an OASIS specification are represented in OPN

Synthesis of Logic Programs from Object-Oriented Formal Specifications

Early validation of requirements is crucial for the rigorous development of software. Without it, even the most formal of the methodologies will produce the wrong outcome. One successful approach, popularised by some of the so-called lightweight formal methods, consists in generating (finite, small) models of the specifications. Another possibility is to build a running prototype from those specifications. In this paper we show how to obtain executable prototypes from formal specifications written in an object oriented notation by translating them into logic programs. This has some advantages over other lightweight methodologies. For instance, we recover the possibility of dealing with recursive data types as specifications that use them often lack finite models

Requirements analysis of the VoD application using the tools in TRADE

This report contains a specification of requirements for a video-on-demand (VoD) application developed at Belgacom, used as a trial application in the 2RARE project. The specification contains three parts: an informal specification in natural language; a semiformal specification consisting of a number of diagrams intended to illustrate the informal specification; and a formal specification that makes the requiremants on the desired software system precise. The informal specification is structured in such a way that it resembles official specification documents conforming to standards such as that of IEEE or ESA. The semiformal specification uses some of the tools in from a requirements engineering toolkit called TRADE (Toolkit for Requirements And Design Engineering). The purpose of TRADE is to combine the best ideas in current structured and object-oriented analysis and design methods within a traditional systems engineering framework. In the case of the VoD system, the systems engineering framework is useful because it provides techniques for allocation and flowdown of system functions to components. TRADE consists of semiformal techniques taken from structured and object-oriented analysis as well as a formal specification langyage, which provides constructs that correspond to the semiformal constructs. The formal specification used in TRADE is LCM (Language for Conceptual Modeling), which is a syntactically sugared version of order-sorted dynamic logic with equality. The purpose of this report is to illustrate and validate the TRADE/LCM approach in the specification of distributed, communication-intensive systems