Methodology for Constructing Form Ontology

Form ontology was built to complement the knowledge   base   of   XReformer   system,   a   system   to generate web forms design automatically with case-based reasoning  (CBR)  approach.  Case  base  is  used  to  store cases of form design while the ontology is used to define forms and its elements and the relationship between them as well as between the elements itself. The ontology acts as a small-scale knowledge base that can grow to become a big one. The existing ontology development methodologies were too complicated and mature and they were feasible to apply on a large scale ontology. Certainly, it was not efficient to build a small-scale ontology with these highly- discipline  methodologies.  In  this  paper,  we  propose  a simple ontology development methodology but covers all important aspects of the development of ontologies, as an alternative to the existing methodologies

A framework for developing engineering design ontologies within the aerospace industry

This paper presents a framework for developing engineering design ontologies within the aerospace industry. The aim of this approach is to strengthen the modularity and reuse of engineering design ontologies to support knowledge management initiatives within the aerospace industry. Successful development and effective utilisation of engineering ontologies strongly depends on the method/framework used to develop them. Ensuring modularity in ontology design is essential for engineering design activities due to the complexity of knowledge that is required to be brought together to support the product design decision-making process. The proposed approach adopts best practices from previous ontology development methods, but focuses on encouraging modular architectural ontology design. The framework is comprised of three phases namely: (1) Ontology design and development; (2) Ontology validation and (3) Implementation of ontology structure. A qualitative research methodology is employed which is composed of four phases. The first phase defines the capture of knowledge required for the framework development, followed by the ontology framework development, iterative refinement of engineering ontologies and ontology validation through case studies and experts’ opinion. The ontology-based framework is applied in the combustor and casing aerospace engineering domain. The modular ontologies developed as a result of applying the framework and are used in a case study to restructure and improve the accessibility of information on a product design information-sharing platform. Additionally, domain experts within the aerospace industry validated the strengths, benefits and limitations of the framework. Due to the modular nature of the developed ontologies, they were also employed to support other project initiatives within the case study company such as role-based computing (RBC), IT modernisation activity and knowledge management implementation across the sponsoring organisation. The major benefit of this approach is in the reduction of man-hours required for maintaining engineering design ontologies. Furthermore, this approach strengthens reuse of ontology knowledge and encourages modularity in the design and development of engineering ontologies

A Life Cycle Approach to the Development and Validation of an Ontology of the U.S. Common Rule (45 C.F.R. § 46)

Requirements for the protection of human research subjects stem from directly from federal regulation by the Department of Health and Human Services in Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) part 46. 15 other federal agencies include subpart A of part 46 verbatim in their own body of regulation. Hence 45 C.F.R. part 46 subpart A has come to be called colloquially the ‘Common Rule.’ Overall motivation for this study began as a desire to facilitate the ethical sharing of biospecimen samples from large biospecimen collections by using ontologies. Previous work demonstrated that in general the informed consent process and subsequent decision making about data and specimen release still relies heavily on paper-based informed consent forms and processes. Consequently, well-validated computable models are needed to provide an enhanced foundation for data sharing. This dissertation describes the development and validation of a Common Rule Ontology (CRO), expressed in the OWL-2 Web Ontology Language, and is intended to provide a computable semantic knowledge model for assessing and representing components of the information artifacts of required as part of regulated research under 45 C.F.R. § 46. I examine if the alignment of this ontology with the Basic Formal Ontology and other ontologies from the Open Biomedical Ontology (OBO) Foundry provide a good fit for the regulatory aspects of the Common Rule Ontology. The dissertation also examines and proposes a new method for ongoing evaluation of ontology such as CRO across the ontology development lifecycle and suggest methods to achieve high quality, validated ontologies. While the CRO is not in itself intended to be a complete solution to the data and specimen sharing problems outlined above, it is intended to produce a well-validated computationally grounded framework upon which others can build. This model can be used in future work to build decision support systems to assist Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), regulatory personnel, honest brokers, tissue bank managers, and other individuals in the decision-making process involving biorepository specimen and data sharing

Development of the ontological based information system of the state credit-guarantee funds

Tri osnovna cilja su predmet istraživanja u doktorskoj disertaciji. Prvi cilj je da se prouče mogućnosti modelovanja poslovnih informacionih sistema korišćenjem ontološkog pristupa modelovanju informacionih sistema. Drugi cilj je da se razvije model informacionog sistema državnih garancijskih fondova baziran na primeni objektnog i ontološkog pristupa modelovanju. Treći cilj je da se implementira prototip informacionog sistema državnih kreditno-garancijskih fondova i da se verifikuje na slučaju Grancijskog fonda APV. Metodologija: Za modelovanje sistema je korišćen ontološki pristup primenom metodologije METHONTOLOGY, kao i alati za modeliranje i analizu ontologija (Protege). Za implementaciju prototipa je korišćena Microsoft .NET platforma. Rezultati istraživanja su verifikovani i testirani sa podacima iz poslovnih aktivnosti Garancijskog fonda APV. Rezultati. U ovoj disertaciji su ostvareni sledeći rezultati: Na osnovu istraţivanja iz oblasti modelovanja informacionih sistema primenom ontološkog pristupa i identifikovanih modela funkcionisanja državnih garancijskih fondova, kreiran je konceptualni model drţavnih garancijskih fondova koji je poslužio kao osnova za razvoj ontološkog modela Garancijskog fonda APV. Ontološki model OMGFAPV je kreiran upotrebom Methontology metodologije. OMGFAPV semantički opisuje poziciju i hijerarhiju Garancijskog fonda APV u okvirupokrajinske administracije kao i sadržaje koji su iskorišćeni dalji za razvoj dela informacionog sistema Garancijskog fonda APV. U okviru ovih istraţivanja ostvarena su dva naučna doprinosa. Prvi doprinos je predlog metodologije transformacije semantičkih sadrţaja koji su opisani u ontološkom modelu u korisnički interfejs (KI) koji je standardna komponenta informacionog sistema. Drugi doprinos odnosi se na upotrebu ontoloških modela za modelovanje i implementaciju poslovne logike. Ova istraţivanja su obuhvatila specifičnosti podrške odlučivanju u procesu izdavanja garancija u državnim garancijskim fondovima. Rezultat istraţivanja je SCORE ontologija koja predstavlja zasebnu komponentu informacionog sistema Garancijskog fonda APV. Ograničenja istraživanja / implikacije: Ograničenjapredloţenog modela OMGFAPV odnose se na potrebu njegovog proširivanja usled specifičnih potreba, odnosno kompleksnijih operativnih procedura u procesu izdavanja garancija.Predložena metodologija transformacije semantičkih sadržaja u ontološkom modelu u korisnički interfejs ograničena je na kreiranje komponenti korisničkog interfejsa za unos ulaznih podataka poslovnih procedura. Osnovno ograničenjepredložene SCORE ontologije je njena stroga specijalizovanost. Predložena ontologija implementira socijalne i ekonomske karakteristike koje su od značaja za razvoj konkretnog regiona i jedan konkretan model evaluacije izdavanja garancija baziran na indeksima prioriteta. Ontologija ne sadrži generalizacije koje bi omogućile njeno direktno korišćenje za druge regione ili druge modele evaluacije predloga odluke i izdavanju garancija. Praktične implikacije: Kreirani model informacionog sistema obezbeđuje kreiranje i praćenje podataka i dokumenata u svim fazama procesa izdavanja garancije. Pri tome je poseban naglasak na proceni kreditne sposobnosti aplikanata i distribuciji i razmeni podataka sasvimučesnicima učesnici u procesu izdavanja garancija. Sistem obezbeđuje minimalno sintaktička i koliko je moguće semantičku interoperabilnost sa eksternim učesnicima u procesu (druge finansijske institucije, organi uprave) kao i jednostavno korišćenje onim korisnicima (pre svega aplikanti, ali i administrativni sluţbenici) koji ne poseduju specifična stručna znanja iz oblasti rada garancijskog fonda. Originalnost/vrednost: Ontološkim pristupom modeliranju sistema a posebno kreiranjem ontologija kojima je predstavljeno znanje o administrativnim procesima stvaraju se pretpostavke za tehničku i organizacionu interoperabilnost različitih drţavnih organa. Pri tome, izuzetno vaţan aspekt je fleksibilan i ekonomičan mehanizam za kreiranje korisničkog interfejsa koji obezbeđuje interakciju različitih tipova korisnika (zaposleni u administraciji, zaposleni u privrednim subjektima i građanstvo) sa sistemom eUprave. Predlog modela ontološki baziranog generisanja korisničkog interfejsa koji je opisan u disertaciji predstavlja ideju da se standardizuje reprezentacija korisničkog interfejsa. Generisanje i dizajn korisničkog interfejsa su svedeni na razvoj formalizovane ontologije administrativnog procesa koja uključuje opis interakcije korisnika sa sistemom putem anotacija operativnih procedura. Ontologija u kojoj su semantički predstavljene socijalne i ekonomske karakteristike koje obuhvata oblast delovanja državnih razvojnih fondova i koje su od značaja za razvoj analiziranog regiona obezbeđuje proces odlučivanja koji omogućuje donošenje odluka o plasmanu državnih sredstava u skladu sa državnim strategijama razvoja.The research in this doctoral dissertation has three main objectives. The first objective is to study the possibilities of modelling information systems by using an ontological approach. The second objective is to develop a model of information system of state guarantee funds based on the object oriented and the ontological approach to the modelling. The third goal is to implement a prototype of an information system of the state credit-guarantee funds and to verify the case of the Guarantee fund of APV. Methodology: Ontological approach is used for building a model. Methodology METHONTOLOGY was used to build the ontology, as well as tools for modelling and analysis of ontology (Protege). Microsoft .NET platform was used for the implementation of the prototype. The research results are verified and tested with data from operating activities of the Guarantee Fund APV. Results. In this dissertation, the following results were achieved: Based on the research in the field of modelling of information systems using the ontological approach and identified models of the state guarantee funds, the author created a conceptual model of state guarantee funds, which served as the basis for the development of the ontological model of the Guarantee Fund APV. The ontological model OMGFAPV was created using Methontology methodology. OMGFAPV semantically describes the position and hierarchy of the Guarantee Fund of APV within the provincial administration and the contents of which are used for the further development of part of an information system for the Guarantee Fund of APV. Two scientific contributions were realized within these studies. The first contribution is the proposed methodology of transformation of the semantic contents that are described in the ontological model in the user interface component of the information system. The second contribution is the use of ontological models for modelling and implementing business logic. These studies included the specifics of the decision support in the process KEYWORD DOCUMENTATION 252 of issuing guarantees in the state guaranty funds. The result of this research is a SCORE ontology that represents a separate component of the information system of the Guarantee Fund APV. Research Limitations / Implications: The limitations of the proposed model OMGFAPV refer to the need of expanding due to its specific needs, or more complex operating procedures in the process of issuing the guarantees. The proposed methodology for transformation of semantic content of the ontological model in the user interface is limited to the creation of components of the user interface for entering input data of the business procedures. The key limitation of the proposed SCORE ontology is its strict specialization. The proposed ontology implements social and economic characteristics that are important for the development of a region. The ontology does not contain generalizations that would allow its direct use in other regions or other models of decision proposal in the process of issuing guarantees. Practical implications: The created model of information systems provides the design and monitoring of data and documents in all stages of the process of issuing the guarantee. It is a special emphasis on assessing creditworthiness of applicants and the distribution and exchange of information with all stakeholders, participants in the process of issuing the guarantee. The system provides minimal syntactic and semantic interoperability with external stakeholders (other financial institutions, administrative authorities) as well as ease of use to the users (primarily applicants, and administrative officials) who do not possess specific expertise in the field of labor guarantee fund . Originality / value: The ontological approach to modelling systems, particularly by creating an ontology which is represented by knowledge of administrative processes creates the prerequisites for technical and organizational interoperability of the various government bodies. In addition, an extremely important aspect is a flexible and cost-effective mechanism for creating a user interface that provides interaction of different types of users (employees of the administration, employees of companies and citizens) with a system of eGovernment. The proposal of the ontological model-based generation of user interface that is described in this dissertation presents the idea to standardize the representation of the user interface. Generating and designing of the user interface is reduced to the development of formalized ontology of the administrative process, which includes a description of user interaction with the system via operating procedures annotations. The ontology in which social and economic characteristics are semantically represented, which covers the area of operation of state development funds and which is of importance for the development of the analyzed region provides the decision-making process for making decisions about the placement of state funds in accordance with national development strategies

Memoria organizacional basada en ontologías y casos para un sistema de recomendación en aseguramiento de calidad

Administrar el conocimiento organizacional representa una ventaja clave en las empresas de software. Para que dicha administración sea eficiente es importante contar con una Memoria Organizacional que de soporte a la captura, estructuración, reuso y diseminación del conocimiento creado por sus empleados. La utilidad de una Memoria Organizacional radica en que el conocimiento que almacena pueda ser fácilmente compartido entre sistemas dentro de la organización o entre organizaciones colaborativas. En esta tesis mostramos cómo se puede implementar una Memoria Organizacional Basada en Ontologías y Casos que administre en forma consistente, automática y distribuída el conocimiento presente en una empresa. A medida que el área de Gestión del Conocimiento va progresando hacia una disciplina más madura, se van obteniendo importantes resultados de investigación relacionados a Memoria Organizacional, Gestión del Conocimiento y Razonamiento Basado en Casos. Sin embargo, se observa que el desarrollo rápido y caótico de tanta información relacionada a estas áreas, proveniente de fuentes heterogéneas, y la falta de consenso en la terminología utilizada, dificulta su aplicación y reuso de forma eficiente en los procesos de Gestión del Conocimiento. Con el propósito de dar solución a esta problemática, uno de los aportes de esta tesis es proveer una conceptualización del dominio de Memoria Organizacional Basada en Casos (MOBC) que se formaliza en una Ontología para dicho ámbito. La Ontología de MOBC, combina aspectos de Memoria Organizacional con Razonamiento Basado en Casos para representar cada ítem de conocimiento informal. La estructuración del conocimiento informal en casos, facilita la captura, transferencia, y reuso a través de un procesamiento automático. La ontología propuesta, es usada como base para el diseño y construcción de un sistema de Memoria Organizacional Basada en Casos y un sistema de recomendación para proyectos de medición y evaluación en aseguramiento de calidad, que usa la MOBC como su componente central. En Ingeniería de Software/Web, el aseguramiento de la calidad y como consecuencia la medición y evaluación, son procesos de soporte claves para el desarrollo y mantenimiento de aplicaciones de software. Por lo tanto la administración en forma consistente y eficiente del conocimiento relacionado a dichos proyectos es muy importante para la toma de decisiones, el reuso y la recomendación en nuevos proyectos, tomando ventaja de las experiencias anteriores, lecciones aprendidas y las buenas prácticas.Facultad de Informátic