Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The multi-level modelling community’s raison d'être is its vision of the ubiquity and importance of multi-level-types: the ascending levelled hierarchy of types in conceptual models; starting with types of things, then types of these... more
The multi-level modelling community’s raison d'être is its vision of the ubiquity and importance of multi-level-types: the ascending levelled hierarchy of types in conceptual models; starting with types of things, then types of these types, then types of these types of types, and so on. The community both promotes this vision and investigates this hierarchy, looking at how it can be accommodated into existing frameworks. In this paper, we consider a specific domain, coordinate systems’ characterising options. While we recognise that, unsurprisingly, this domain contains a ubiquity of multi-level-types, our interest is in investigating a new and different approach to understanding them. For this we needed to develop a new framework. We devise one focussing on this case, based upon scaling down to simple compositional algorithms (called constructors) to form a new, radically simpler foundation. From the simple operations of these constructors emerges the scaled up multi-level structures of the domain. We show how the simple operations of simple constructors give rise to compositional connections that shape – and so explain – different complex hierarchies and levels, including the familiar multi-level-types and relatively unknown multi-level-tuples. The framework crystallises these connections as metaphysical grounding relations. We look at how simple differences in the shape and operation of constructors give rise to different varieties of these hierarchies and levels – and the impact this has. We also look at how the constructional approach reveals the differences between foundational constructors and derived constructors built from the foundational constructors – and show that conceptual modeling’s generalisation relations are secondary and dependent upon the more foundational instantiation relations. Based upon this, we assemble a constructional foundational ontology using the BORO Foundational Ontology as our starting point. We then use this to reveal and explain the formal levels and hierarchies that underlie the options for characterising coordinate systems.
Research Interests:
... Mapping UML and Business Process Simulation Models for BP and IT Integration. S. de Cesare, M. Themistocleous, and A. Serrano (UK). Keywords. ... First, sharing the information between BP and IS models contributes to foster... more
... Mapping UML and Business Process Simulation Models for BP and IT Integration. S. de Cesare, M. Themistocleous, and A. Serrano (UK). Keywords. ... First, sharing the information between BP and IS models contributes to foster collaboration between analysts in both domains. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The theme of the 4th International Workshop on Ontologies and Conceptual Modeling is foundational ontologies and their meta-ontological choices. Expert representatives of major foundational ontologies have been invited to discuss and... more
The theme of the 4th International Workshop on Ontologies and Conceptual Modeling is foundational ontologies and their meta-ontological choices. Expert representatives of major foundational ontologies have been invited to discuss and compare their meta-ontological choices within the context of a common case study. The workshop is aimed at exploring the ways in which different meta- ontological choices impact conceptual modelling in information systems.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... Aseem Daga, Sergio de Cesare, Mark Lycett, and Chris Partridge Brunel University Department of Information Systems and Computing {firstname ... business knowledge of the existing system, rather than developing them from scratch... more
... Aseem Daga, Sergio de Cesare, Mark Lycett, and Chris Partridge Brunel University Department of Information Systems and Computing {firstname ... business knowledge of the existing system, rather than developing them from scratch (Brodie and Stonebraker 1993, Bisbal et al. ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract: Information systems (IS) development is a complex endeavor. Notwithstanding significant advances achieved in a number of areas, including methodologies, techniques, architectures, and project management, the rate of unsuccessful... more
Abstract: Information systems (IS) development is a complex endeavor. Notwithstanding significant advances achieved in a number of areas, including methodologies, techniques, architectures, and project management, the rate of unsuccessful or failed projects ...
Research Interests:
With re-engineering of software systems becoming quite pronounced amongst organisations, a software stability approach is required to balance the seemingly contradictory goals of stability over the software lifecycle with the need for... more
With re-engineering of software systems becoming quite pronounced amongst organisations, a software stability approach is required to balance the seemingly contradictory goals of stability over the software lifecycle with the need for adaptability, extensibility and interoperability. This paper addresses the issue of how software stability can be achieved over time by outlining an approach to evolving General Business Patterns (GBPs) from the empirical content contained within legacy systems. GBPs are patterns of business objects that are (directionally) stable across contexts of use. The approach is rooted in developing patterns by extracting the business knowledge embedded in existing software systems. The process of developing
In the multi-level type modeling community, claims that most enterprise application systems use ontologically multi-level types are ubiquitous. To be able to empirically verify this claim one needs to be able to expose the (often... more
In the multi-level type modeling community, claims that most enterprise application systems use ontologically multi-level types are ubiquitous. To be able to empirically verify this claim one needs to be able to expose the (often underlying) ontological structure and show that it does, indeed, make a commitment to multi-level types. We have not been able to find any published data showing this being done. From a top-level ontology requirements perspective, checking this multi-level type claim is worthwhile. If the datasets for which the top-level ontology is required are ontologically committed to multi-level types, then this is a requirement for the top-level ontology. In this paper, we both present some empirical evidence that this ubiquitous claim is correct as well as describing the process we used to expose the underlying ontological commitments and examine them. We describe how we use the bCLEARer process to analyse the UNICLASS classifications making their implicit ontological commitments explicit. We show how this reveals the requirements for two general ontological commitments; higher-order types and first-class relations. This establishes a requirement for a top-level ontology that includes the UNICLASS classification to be able to accommodate these requirements. From a multi-level type perspective, we have established that the bCLEARer entification process can identify underlying ontological commitments to multi-level type that do not exist in the surface linguistic structure. So, we have a process that we can reuse on other datasets and application systems to help empirically verify the claim that ontological multi-level types are ubiquitous.
Research Interests:
A major challenge faced in the deployment of collaborating unmanned vehicles is enabling the semantic interoperability of sensor data. One aspect of this, where there is significant opportunity for improvement, is characterizing the... more
A major challenge faced in the deployment of collaborating unmanned vehicles is enabling the semantic interoperability of sensor data. One aspect of this, where there is significant opportunity for improvement, is characterizing the coordinate systems for sensed position data. We are involved in a proof of concept project that addresses this challenge through a foundational conceptual model using a constructional approach based upon the BORO Foundational Ontology. The model reveals the characteristics as sets of options for configuring the coordinate systems. This paper examines how these options involve, ontologically, ascending levels. It identifies two types of levels, the well-known type levels and the less well-known tuple/relation levels.
Research Interests:
We aim to lay the basis for a unified architecture for enterprise computer nomenclatures by providing the grounding ontology based upon the BORO Foundational Ontology. We start to lower two significant barriers within the computing... more
We aim to lay the basis for a unified architecture for enterprise computer nomenclatures by providing the grounding ontology based upon the BORO Foundational Ontology. We start to lower two significant barriers within the computing community to making progress in this area; a lack of a broad appreciation of the nature and practice of nomenclature and a lack of recognition of some specific technical, philosophical issues that nomenclatures raise. We provide an overview of the grounding ontology and how it can be implemented in a system. We focus on the issue that arises when tokens lead to the overlap of the represented domain and its system representation – system-domain-overlap – and how this can be resolved.
Research Interests: Computer Science, Nomenclature, Paper Tools, Foundational Ontology, Type-Token Distinction, and 9 moreIdentifiers, IDENTIFIER, BORO Foundational Ontology, Boro, Enterprise Computing Nomenclature Ontology, Identifier Inscription, Identifying Space, System-Domain-Overlap, and Token Demonstrative Theory
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The 2nd International Workshop on Ontology-Driven Software Engineering, held at the ACM SPLASH 2010 conference, was organized with the aim of bringing together researchers and practitioners with an interest in discussing and analyzing the... more
The 2nd International Workshop on Ontology-Driven Software Engineering, held at the ACM SPLASH 2010 conference, was organized with the aim of bringing together researchers and practitioners with an interest in discussing and analyzing the different ways in which ontologies can help to improve the many aspects and areas of software engineering. This short paper summarizes the theme and the discussions
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been accepted for inclusion in AMCIS 2004 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic... more
This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been accepted for inclusion in AMCIS 2004 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, ...
Research Interests:
Double entry bookkeeping lies at the core of modern accounting. It is shaped by a fundamental conceptual pattern; a design decision that was popularised by Pacioli some 500 years ago and subsequently institutionalised into accounting... more
Double entry bookkeeping lies at the core of modern accounting. It is shaped by a fundamental conceptual pattern; a design decision that was popularised by Pacioli some 500 years ago and subsequently institutionalised into accounting practice and systems. Debits and credits are core components of this conceptual pattern. This paper suggests that a different conceptual pattern, one that does not have debits and credits as its components, may be more suited to some modern accounting information systems. It makes the case by looking at two conceptual design choices that permeate the Pacioli pattern; de se and directional terms - leading to a de se direction-al conceptual pattern. It suggests alternative design choices - de re and non-directional terms, leading to a de re non-directional conceptual pattern - have some advantages in modern complex, computer-based, business environments.
Research Interests:
Abstract. Web services have become the predominant paradigm for the development of distributed software systems. Web services provide the means to modularize software in a way that functionality can be described, discovered and deployed... more
Abstract. Web services have become the predominant paradigm for the development of distributed software systems. Web services provide the means to modularize software in a way that functionality can be described, discovered and deployed in a platform independent manner over a network (e.g., intranets, extranets and the Internet). The representation of web services by current industrial practice is predominantly syntactic in nature lacking the fundamental semantic underpinnings required to fulfill the goals of the emerging Semantic Web. This paper proposes a framework aimed at (1) modeling the semantics of syntactically defined web services through a process of interpretation, (2) scoping the derived concepts within domain ontologies, and (3) harmonizing the semantic web services with the domain ontologies. The framework was validated through its application to web services developed for a large financial system. The worked example presented in this paper is extracted from the semant...
Research Interests:
Purpose: This paper focusses on developing further the recent conceptual frameworks of competitive dynamics and business-to-business value ecosystems considering the changing environment of Industry 4.0 and the particular perspective of... more
Purpose: This paper focusses on developing further the recent conceptual frameworks of competitive dynamics and business-to-business value ecosystems considering the changing environment of Industry 4.0 and the particular perspective of servitization. Design/Methodology/Approach: This a conceptual paper that reviews and syntheses business model concepts in relation to competitive dynamics, collaborative business ecosystems and supply chain as evolving and reshaping manufacturing and services within Industry 4.0. Findings: The transformation of organizations in light of Industry 4.0 has led to a reframing of business models and practices, such as stakeholder value and supply chain relationships cooperating within a highly dynamic environment. In an attempt to consider the implications that Industry 4.0 has, particularly from the service perspective, this work attempts to distil directions for future research. Originality/Value: Previous studies on Industry 4.0 have articulated the re...
One of the central concerns of the multi-level modelling (MLM) community is the hierarchy of classifications that appear in conceptual models; what these are, how they are linked and how they should be organised into levels and modelled.... more
One of the central concerns of the multi-level modelling (MLM) community is the hierarchy of classifications that appear in conceptual models; what these are, how they are linked and how they should be organised into levels and modelled. Though there has been significant work done in this area, we believe that it could be enhanced by introducing a systematic way to investigate the ontological nature and requirements that underlie the frameworks and tools proposed by the community to support MLM (such as Orthogonal Classification Architecture and Melanee). In this paper, we introduce a key component for the investigation and understanding of the ontological requirements, an ontological sandbox. This is a conceptual framework for investigating and comparing multiple variations of possible ontologies – without having to commit to any of them – isolated from a full commitment to any foundational ontology. We discuss the sandbox framework as well as walking through an example of how it c...
Research Interests:
The Unified Modelling Language (UML) was originally conceived as a general-purpose language capable of modelling any type of system and has been used in a wide range of domains. However, when modelling systems, the adoption of... more
The Unified Modelling Language (UML) was originally conceived as a general-purpose language capable of modelling any type of system and has been used in a wide range of domains. However, when modelling systems, the adoption of domain-specific languages can enable and enhance the clarity, readability and communicability amongst modellers of the same domain. The UML provides support for extending the language for defining domain-specific meta-elements. This paper approaches the UML from a business perspective and analyses its potential as a business modelling language. The analysis proceeds along two complementary paths: a critical study of UML diagrams and a description of UML extensibility mechanisms for the definition of a business profile.
Research Interests:
It is very important to understand system behaviors in collective pattern for each knowledge domain. However, there are structural limitations to represent collective behaviors due to the size of system components and the complexity of... more
It is very important to understand system behaviors in collective pattern for each knowledge domain. However, there are structural limitations to represent collective behaviors due to the size of system components and the complexity of their interactions, causing the state explosion problem. Further composition with other systems is mostly impractical due to exponential growth of their size and complexity. This paper presents a practical method to model the collective behaviors, based on a new concept of domain engineering: behavior ontology. Two domains are selected to demonstrate the method: Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and Health Care Service (HCS) systems. The examples show that the method is very effective and efficient to construct a hierarchy of collective behaviors in a lattice and that the composition of two collective behaviors is systematically performed by the composition operation of two lattices. The method can be one of the most innovative approaches in representin...
Research Interests:
A major challenge faced in the deployment of collaborating unmanned vehicles is enabling the semantic interoperability of sensor data. One aspect of this, where there is significant opportunity for improvement, is characterizing the... more
A major challenge faced in the deployment of collaborating unmanned vehicles is enabling the semantic interoperability of sensor data. One aspect of this, where there is significant opportunity for improvement, is characterizing the coordinate systems for sensed position data. We are involved in a proof of concept project that addresses this challenge through a foundational conceptual model using a constructional approach based upon the BORO Foundational Ontology. The model reveals the characteristics as sets of options for configuring the coordinate systems. This paper examines how these options involve, ontologically, ascending levels. It identifies two types of levels, the well-known type levels and the less wellknown tuple/relation levels.
Research Interests:
Ontologies are key enablers for sharing precise and machine-understandable semantics among different applications and parties. Yet, for ontologies to meet these expectations, their quality must be of a good standard. The quality of an... more
Ontologies are key enablers for sharing precise and machine-understandable semantics among different applications and parties. Yet, for ontologies to meet these expectations, their quality must be of a good standard. The quality of an ontology is strongly based on the design method employed. This paper addresses the design problems related to the modelling of ontologies, with specific concentration on the issues related to the quality of the conceptualisations produced. The paper aims to demonstrate the impact of the modelling paradigm adopted on the quality of ontological models and, consequently, the potential impact that such a decision can have in relation to the development of software applications. To this aim, an ontology that is conceptualised based on the Object Role Modelling (ORM) approach is re-engineered into a one modelled on the basis of the Object Paradigm (OP). Next, the two ontologies are analytically compared using the specified criteria. The conducted comparison ...
Research Interests:
In the multi-level type modeling community, claims that most enterprise application systems use ontologically multi-level types are ubiquitous. To be able to empirically verify this claim one needs to be able to expose the (often... more
In the multi-level type modeling community, claims that most enterprise application systems use ontologically multi-level types are ubiquitous. To be able to empirically verify this claim one needs to be able to expose the (often underlying) ontological structure and show that it does, indeed, make a commitment to multi-level types. We have not been able to find any published data showing this being done. From a top-level ontology requirements perspective, checking this multi-level type claim is worthwhile. If the datasets for which the top-level ontology is required are ontologically committed to multi-level types, then this is a requirement for the top-level ontology. In this paper, we both present some empirical evidence that this ubiquitous claim is correct as well as describing the process we used to expose the underlying ontological commitments and examine them. We describe how we use the bCLEARer process to analyse the UNICLASS classifications making their implicit ontologica...
Research Interests:
... Abdulaziz Al-kandari and Ray Dawson (Loughborough University, UK) 299 Reconfigurability in Object Database Management Systems: An Aspect-Oriented Approach Awais Rashid (Lancaster University, UK) and Ruzanna Chitchyan (The Open... more
... Abdulaziz Al-kandari and Ray Dawson (Loughborough University, UK) 299 Reconfigurability in Object Database Management Systems: An Aspect-Oriented Approach Awais Rashid (Lancaster University, UK) and Ruzanna Chitchyan (The Open University and Open College ...
Modern business organizations experience increasing challenges in the development and evolution of their enterprise systems. Typical problems include legacy re-engineering, systems integration/interoperability, and the architecting of the... more
Modern business organizations experience increasing challenges in the development and evolution of their enterprise systems. Typical problems include legacy re-engineering, systems integration/interoperability, and the architecting of the enterprise. At the heart of all these problems is enterprise modeling. Many enterprise modeling approaches have been proposed in the literature with some based on ontology. Few however adopt a foundational ontology to underpin a range of enterprise models in a consistent and coherent manner. Fewer still take data-driven re-engineering as their natural starting point for modeling. This is the approach taken by Business Object Reference Ontology (BORO). It has two closely intertwined components: a foundational ontology and a re-engineering methodology. These were originally developed for the re-engineering of enterprise systems and subsequently evolved into approaches to enterprise architecture and systems integration. Together these components are u...