226,589 research outputs found
Towards a general theory for modelling qualitative space
Qualitative spatial representation and reasoning are techniques for modeling and manipulating objects and relationships in space. Finding ways for defining the complete and sound (physically plausible) set of relationships between spatial objects is a prerequisite for the development and realization of qualitative representation and reasoning formalisms. Establishing the set of sound relationships is a complicated task especially when complex objects are considered. Hence, current approaches to qualitative representation and reasoning are limited to handling simple spatial objects. In this paper, we introduce a constraint-based approach to qualitative representation of topological relationships by defining a set of general soundness rules. The rules reduce the combinatorial set of relations produced by the method to the complete and physically possible ones. The rules are general and apply to objects of arbitrary complexity and together with the representation and reasoning formalism form a theory for qualitative space
A unified framework for building ontological theories with application and testing in the field of clinical trials
The objective of this research programme is to contribute to the establishment of the emerging science of Formal Ontology in Information Systems via a collaborative project involving researchers from a range of disciplines including philosophy, logic, computer science, linguistics, and the medical sciences. The reÂsearchers will work together on the construction of a unified formal ontology, which means: a general framework for the construction of ontological theories in specific domains. The framework will be constructed using the axiomatic-deductive method of modern formal ontology. It will be tested via a series of applications relating to on-going work in Leipzig on medical taxonomies and data dictionaries in the context of clinical trials. This will lead to the production of a domain-specific ontology which is designed to serve as a basis for applications in the medical field
Developing Ontological Theories for Conceptual Models using Qualitative Research
Conceptual modelling is believed to be at the core of the IS discipline. There have been attempts to develop theoretical foundations for conceptual models, in particular ontological models as axiomatic reference systems. Although the notion of ontology has become popular in modelling theories, criticism has risen as to its philosophical presuppositions. Taking on this criticism, we discuss the task of developing socially constructed ontologies for modelling domains and outline how to enhance the expressiveness of ontological modelling theories by developing them via qualitative research methods such as Grounded Theory
Petri nets for systems and synthetic biology
We give a description of a Petri net-based framework for
modelling and analysing biochemical pathways, which uni¯es the qualita-
tive, stochastic and continuous paradigms. Each perspective adds its con-
tribution to the understanding of the system, thus the three approaches
do not compete, but complement each other. We illustrate our approach
by applying it to an extended model of the three stage cascade, which
forms the core of the ERK signal transduction pathway. Consequently
our focus is on transient behaviour analysis. We demonstrate how quali-
tative descriptions are abstractions over stochastic or continuous descrip-
tions, and show that the stochastic and continuous models approximate
each other. Although our framework is based on Petri nets, it can be
applied more widely to other formalisms which are used to model and
analyse biochemical networks
Geospatial Narratives and their Spatio-Temporal Dynamics: Commonsense Reasoning for High-level Analyses in Geographic Information Systems
The modelling, analysis, and visualisation of dynamic geospatial phenomena
has been identified as a key developmental challenge for next-generation
Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this context, the envisaged
paradigmatic extensions to contemporary foundational GIS technology raises
fundamental questions concerning the ontological, formal representational, and
(analytical) computational methods that would underlie their spatial
information theoretic underpinnings.
We present the conceptual overview and architecture for the development of
high-level semantic and qualitative analytical capabilities for dynamic
geospatial domains. Building on formal methods in the areas of commonsense
reasoning, qualitative reasoning, spatial and temporal representation and
reasoning, reasoning about actions and change, and computational models of
narrative, we identify concrete theoretical and practical challenges that
accrue in the context of formal reasoning about `space, events, actions, and
change'. With this as a basis, and within the backdrop of an illustrated
scenario involving the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban narratives, we address
specific problems and solutions techniques chiefly involving `qualitative
abstraction', `data integration and spatial consistency', and `practical
geospatial abduction'. From a broad topical viewpoint, we propose that
next-generation dynamic GIS technology demands a transdisciplinary scientific
perspective that brings together Geography, Artificial Intelligence, and
Cognitive Science.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; cognitive systems; human-computer
interaction; geographic information systems; spatio-temporal dynamics;
computational models of narrative; geospatial analysis; geospatial modelling;
ontology; qualitative spatial modelling and reasoning; spatial assistance
systemsComment: ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information (ISSN 2220-9964);
Special Issue on: Geospatial Monitoring and Modelling of Environmental
Change}. IJGI. Editor: Duccio Rocchini. (pre-print of article in press
Topic Modelling of Everyday Sexism Project Entries
The Everyday Sexism Project documents everyday examples of sexism reported by
volunteer contributors from all around the world. It collected 100,000 entries
in 13+ languages within the first 3 years of its existence. The content of
reports in various languages submitted to Everyday Sexism is a valuable source
of crowdsourced information with great potential for feminist and gender
studies. In this paper, we take a computational approach to analyze the content
of reports. We use topic-modelling techniques to extract emerging topics and
concepts from the reports, and to map the semantic relations between those
topics. The resulting picture closely resembles and adds to that arrived at
through qualitative analysis, showing that this form of topic modeling could be
useful for sifting through datasets that had not previously been subject to any
analysis. More precisely, we come up with a map of topics for two different
resolutions of our topic model and discuss the connection between the
identified topics. In the low resolution picture, for instance, we found Public
space/Street, Online, Work related/Office, Transport, School, Media harassment,
and Domestic abuse. Among these, the strongest connection is between Public
space/Street harassment and Domestic abuse and sexism in personal
relationships.The strength of the relationships between topics illustrates the
fluid and ubiquitous nature of sexism, with no single experience being
unrelated to another.Comment: preprint, under revie
Answer Set Programming Modulo `Space-Time'
We present ASP Modulo `Space-Time', a declarative representational and
computational framework to perform commonsense reasoning about regions with
both spatial and temporal components. Supported are capabilities for mixed
qualitative-quantitative reasoning, consistency checking, and inferring
compositions of space-time relations; these capabilities combine and synergise
for applications in a range of AI application areas where the processing and
interpretation of spatio-temporal data is crucial. The framework and resulting
system is the only general KR-based method for declaratively reasoning about
the dynamics of `space-time' regions as first-class objects. We present an
empirical evaluation (with scalability and robustness results), and include
diverse application examples involving interpretation and control tasks
Scientific Research about Climate Change Mitigation in Transport : A critical review
Peer reviewedPostprin
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