S Ajit, D Sleeman, DW Fowler, & D Knott (2004)  ConEditor: Tool to Input & Maintain Constraints. In Proceedings of EKAW-2004 Conference, Whittlebury Hall, UK, October 2004. Published by Springer, pp 466-468

 

Abstract. We present a tool which helps domain experts capture and maintain

constraints. The tool displays parts of an ontology (as classes, sub-classes and

properties) in the form of a tree. A number of keywords and operators from a

constraint language are also listed. The tool helps a user to create a constraint

expression. Additionally, the tool has a facility which allows the user to input

tabular data. The expressed constraints can be converted into a standard format,

making them portable. It is planned to integrate this tool, ConEditor, with

Designers’ Workbench, a system that supports human designers.

 

 

 

Y Zhang, W Vasconcelos, D Sleeman (2004). OntoSearch: An Ontology Search Engine. In Proceedings of AI-2004 Conference, Cambridge, UK, December 2004. Publisher: Springer, p 58-69.

 

Abstract.  Reuse of knowledge bases and the semantic web are two promising areas in knowledge technologies. Given some user requirements, finding the suitable ontologies is an important task in both these areas. This paper discusses our work on OntoSearch, a kind of "ontology Google", which can help users find ontologies on the Internet. OntoSearch combines Google Web APIs with a hierarchy visualization technique. It allows the user to perform keyword searches on certain types of  “ontology” files, and to visually inspect the files to check their relevance. OntoSearch system is based on Java, JSP, Jena and JBoss technologies.

 

 

 

SC Joey Lam, D Sleeman, W Vasconcelos, (2004).  ReTAX+: A Cooperative Taxonomy Revision Tool. In Proceedings of AI-2004 Conference, Cambridge, UK, December 2004. Publisher: Springer, p 64-77.

 

Abstract.  ReTAX is a system that assists domain experts to accommodate a new item in an established taxonomy; it suggests a number of ways in which that can be achieved namely; modifying the new entity, the taxonomy, or both.  Further, a set of refinement operators are used to guarantee the consistency of the resulting taxonomy. ReTAX+ is a system which provides the user with additional functionalities as they build a new taxonomy or reuse an existing taxonomy.  Specifically, it provides functions to enable a user to add, edit or delete the values associated with class attributes; additionally, it provides functions to add a class, delete a class, merge two classes, and split a class.  Again consistent with the philosophy of ReTAX, ReTAX+ offers the user, when relevant, a number of options to achieve his objectives.  For example, deleting a class is a fairly radical step and various decisions need to be made about the resulting “orphaned” instances and sub-classes.

 

 

 

 

DW Fowler, D Sleeman, G Wills, T Lyon, & D Knott (2004).

The Designers’ Workbench: Using Ontologies & Constraints for Configuration. In Proceedings of AI-2004 Conference, Cambridge, UK, December 2004. Publisher: Springer, p 209-221.

 

Abstract: Typically, complex engineering artifacts are designed by teams who may not all be located in the same building or even city. Additionally, besides having to design a part of an artifact to be consistent with the specification, it must also be consistent with the company’s design standards. The Designers’ Workbench supports designers by checking that their configurations satisfy both physical and organisational constraints. The system uses an ontology to describe the available elements in a configuration task. Configurations are composed of features, which can be geometric or nongeometric, physical or abstract. Designers can select a class of feature (e.g. Bolt) from the ontology, and add an instance of that class (e.g. a particular bolt) to their configuration. Properties of the instance can express the parameters of the feature (e.g. the size of the bolt), and also describe connections to other features (e.g. what parts the bolt is used to hold together).

 

 

 

 

G Wills, D Fowler, D Sleeman, R Crowder, S Kampa, L Carr, & D Knott (2004) Issues in moving to a Semantic Web for a large Corporation. Proceedings of PAKM-2004, Vienna (2004). Publisher: Springer, p 378-388

 

Abstract. In many large engineering design organizations the information systems

have developed over time into a set of heterogeneous resources. This

makes it difficult for engineers to follow a trail through the resources. This

situation becomes particular difficult when the Engineer is new to a company;

unfamiliar with the systems and unaware of the history of the designs. This paper

presents a demonstrator system developed with a major aerospace company

to aid engineers, through the use of knowledge technologies, to locate the

documentation they require. The paper presents the systems and lessons learnt

to enable the organisation to move towards a more semantically enriched

document repository.