367 research outputs found
Agent-oriented Modeling for Collaborative Learning Environments: A Peer-to-Peer Helpdesk Case Study
In this paper, we present the analysis and modelling of Help&Learn, an agent-based peer-to-peer helpdesk system to support extra-class interactions among students and teachers. Help&Learn expands the student’s possibility of solving problems, getting involved in a cooperative learning experience that transcends the limits of classrooms. To model Help&Learn, we have used Agent-Object-Relationship Modeling Language (AORML), an UML extension for agent-oriented information systems modeling. The aim of this research is two-fold. On one hand, we aim at modeling the variety of roles and the complexity of their interactions and activities within the Help&Learn system. On the other hand, we aim at showing the expressive power and the modeling strengths of AORML
On the role of domain ontologies in the design of domain-specific visual modeling langages
Domain-Specific Visual Modeling Languages should provide notations and abstractions that suitably support problem solving in well-defined application domains. From their user’s perspective, the language’s modeling primitives must be intuitive and expressive enough in capturing all intended aspects of domain conceptualizations. Over the years formal and explicit representations of domain conceptualizations have been developed as domain ontologies. In this paper, we show how the design of these languages can benefit from conceptual tools developed by the ontology engineering community
Towards semantic software engineering environments
Software tools processing partially common set of data should share an understanding of what these data mean. Since ontologies have been used to express formally a shared understanding of information, we argue that they are a way towards Semantic SEEs. In this paper we discuss an ontology-based approach to tool integration and present ODE, an ontology-based SEE
Relationships and events: towards a general theory of reification and truthmaking.
We propose a novel ontological analysis of relations and relationships based on a re-visitation of a classic problem in the practice of knowledge repre- sentation and conceptual modeling, namely relationship reification. Our idea is that a relation holds in virtue of a relationship's existence. Relationships are therefore truthmakers of relations. In this paper we present a general theory or reification and truthmaking, and discuss the interplay between events and rela- tionships, suggesting that relationships are the focus of events, which emerge from the context (the scene) they occur in
Using ontologies for modeling context-aware services platforms
This paper discusses the suitability of using ontologies for modeling context-aware services platforms. It addresses the directions of research we are following in the WASP (Web Architectures for Services Platforms) project. For this purpose a simple scenario is considered
Endurant Types in Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling: Towards OntoUML 2.0
For over a decade now, a community of researchers has contributed
to the development of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO)
- aimed at providing foundations for all major conceptual modeling constructs.
This ontology has led to the development of an Ontology-Driven
Conceptual Modeling language dubbed OntoUML, reflecting the ontological
micro-theories comprising UFO. Over the years, UFO and OntoUML
have been successfully employed in a number of academic, industrial and
governmental settings to create conceptual models in a variety of different
domains. These experiences have pointed out to opportunities of
improvement not only to the language itself but also to its underlying
theory. In this paper, we take the first step in that direction by revising
the theory of types in UFO in response to empirical evidence. The
new version of this theory shows that many of the meta-types present
in OntoUML (differentiating Kinds, Roles, Phases, Mixins, etc.) should
be considered not as restricted to Substantial types but instead should
be applied to model Endurant Types in general, including Relator types,
Quality types and Mode types. We also contribute a formal characterization
of this fragment of the theory, which is then used to advance a
metamodel for OntoUML 2.0. Finally, we propose a computational support
tool implementing this updated metamodel
- …