An Ontological Approach to Chemical Engineering Curriculum Development

Continuous reflection and evolution of curricula in chemical engineering is beneficial for adaptation to evolving industries and technologies and for improving student experience. To this end it was necessary to develop a method to enable a holistic reflection on the curriculum and to examine potential areas of improvement and change. The curriculum was modelled using knowledge modelling through the development of an ontology, Chemical Engineering Education Ontology (ChEEdO) in the Protégé 3.5 environment. ChEEdO models topics, taught modules and the learning outcomes of the modules within the domain of chemical engineering. The learning outcomes were related to the topics using verb properties from Bloom’s taxonomy and the context of each learning outcome. The functionality of semantic reasoning via the ontology was demonstrated with a case study. The modelling results showed that the ontology could be successfully utilised for curriculum development, horizontal and vertical integration and to identify appropriate pre-requisite learning

A semantic framework for enabling model integration for biorefining

This paper introduces a new paradigm for establishing a framework that enables interoperability between process models and datasets using ontology engineering. Semantics are used to model the knowledge in the domain of biorefining including both tacit and explicit knowledge, which supports registration and instantiation of the models and datasets. Semantic algorithms allow the formation of model integration through input/output matching based on semantic relevance between the models and datasets. In addition, partial matching is employed to facilitate flexibility to broaden the horizon to find opportunities in identifying an appropriate model and/or dataset. The proposed algorithm is implemented as a web service and demonstrated using a case study.The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support by the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks Program, under the RENESENG project (FP7-607415)

An ontological approach to chemical engineering curriculum development

Continuous reflection and evolution of curricula in chemical engineering is beneficial for adaptation to evolving industries and technologies and for improving student experience. To this end it was necessary to develop a method to enable a holistic reflection on the curriculum and to examine potential areas of improvement and change. The curriculum was modelled using knowledge modelling through the development of an ontology, Chemical Engineering Education Ontology (ChEEdO) in the Protégé 3.5 environment. ChEEdO models topics, taught modules and the learning outcomes of the modules within the domain of chemical engineering. The learning outcomes were related to the topics using verb properties from Bloom’s taxonomy and the context of each learning outcome. The functionality of semantic reasoning via the ontology was demonstrated with a case study. The modelling results showed that the ontology could be successfully utilised for curriculum development, horizontal and vertical integration and to identify appropriate pre-requisite learning

MAESTRI Toolkit for Industrial Symbiosis: overview, lessons learnt and implications

This paper presents a structured approach to support the development of self-organized industrial symbiosis, the Toolkit for Industrial Symbiosis. Developed within MAESTRI project, it provides a set of tools and methods to help companies gain value from wasted resources and contributes to MAESTRI goal of advancing the sustainability of European manufacturing and process industry. A participatory approach was taken for its development. The ultimate objective of this work is to encourage companies to change their attitude and consider waste as a resource and potential source for value creation

A novel knowledge repository to support industrial symbiosis

The development of tools and methods supporting the identification of Industrial Symbiosis opportunities is of utmost importance to unlock its full potential. Knowledge repositories have proven to be powerful tools in this sense, but often fail mainly due to poor contextualization of information and lack of general applicability (out of the boundaries of specific areas or projects). In this work, a novel approach to the design of knowledge repositories for Industrial Symbiosis is presented, based on the inclusion and categorization of tacit knowledge as well as on the combination of mimicking and input-output matching approaches. The results of a first usability test of the proposed tool are also illustrated

Ontology evaluation for reuse in the domain of Process Systems Engineering

Ontologies are a useful tool for knowledge representation, sharing and reuse. Although the number of available ontologies is increasing, the concomitant reuse activities are not following respectively. This is particularly true in the domain of Process Systems Engineering where the ontology development has been proven to be a challenging task and respective reusability is at its infancy. This paper presents a framework for evaluation of ontology for reuse. The proposed framework benefits from information about ontologies, such as terminology and ontology structure, to calculate a compatibility metric of ontology suitability for reuse and hence integration. The framework was demonstrated using a Chemical and Process Engineering case

Towards an Ontological Backbone for Pharmaceutical Digital Supply Chains

Abstract Pharmaceutical supply chains are becoming increasingly intricate and more and more vital for all actors of the supply chain. From suppliers and pharmaceutical companies to healthcare providers and patients, the benefits stemming from an integrated supply chain are numerous. This paper presents an ontological infrastructure aiming to facilitate end to end supply chain integration