支持异地协同产品设计的知识服务模型

提出基于XML元语言，以统一的信息化格式描述设计知识，使用Java技术构建了支持多专家协同设计的基本框架，将各类设计服务封装为Web服务的形式，实现了一种Web使能的知识服务模型(Web-KSS)，并应用该模型实现了支持成套电器产品设计的知识服务系统。     

Medical knowledge management for specific hospital departments

Medical knowledge representation and management is concerned with how to organise the often vague clinical experience of medical staff required for computable models. However, few knowledge management and acquisition tools have entered routine use, since such tools are not perceived by physicians as part of the clinical information process. An attempt to partially solve this problem, we identify two key aspects of knowledge representation and management tasks. The first is to adopt a medical knowledge standardisation to provide a consistent terminology control and to simplify the integration between knowledge management tools and the health information system. The second is to establish an effective knowledge acquisition process in specific medical fields by adapting knowledge acquisition tools. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to define computational models and to design mechanisms for the effective acquisition and management of medical knowledge in real-life hospital departments. To this end, we analyse the representation of medical knowledge (based on deep-causal models) and the development of knowledge management tools (based on ontologies), integrated within the information processing activities of the clinical user. Finally, we illustrate its applicability in the Intensive Care Unit and Pediatry scenarios.     

基于ROA的移动个人知识管理系统集成

针对目前个人知识管理工具存在的功能单一以及实时性差等缺陷,提出基于智能化移动终端的、敏捷实时的个人知识管理体系结构.通过与传统基于SOA的Web服务进行比较,阐述基于ROA的Web服务在系统可扩展性、安全性及交互性等方面的优势.在此基础上,提出移动个人知识管理平台与现有第三方知识管理系统之间的集成方案,采用J2EE、JQUERY、RESTLET和ANDROID等开发环境搭建个人知识管理系统,给出异构知识管理平台之间相互集成的关键技术.     

GDKAT: A goal-driven knowledge acquisition tool for knowledge base development

While knowledge-based systems are being used extensively to assist in making decisions, a critical factor that affects their performance and reliability is the quantity and quality of the knowledge bases. Knowledge acquisition requires the design and development of an in-depth comprehension of knowledge modeling and of applicable domain. Many knowledge acquisition tools have been developed to support knowledge base development. However, a weakness that is revealed in these tools is the domain-dependent and complex acquisition process. Domain dependence limits the applicable areas and the complex acquisition process makes the tool difficult to use. In this paper, we present a goal-driven knowledge acquisition tool (GDKAT) that helps elicit and store experts' declarative and procedural knowledge in knowledge bases for a user-defined domain. The designed tool is implemented using the object-oriented design methodology under C++ Windows environment. An example that is used to demonstrate the GDKAT is also delineated. While the application domain for the example presented is reflow soldering in surface mount printed circuit board assembly, the GDKAT can be used to develop knowledge bases for other domains also.     

一种新型智能系统开发工具DEST

介绍了一种新型智能设计专家系统开发工具DEST的功能结构、成方面的不足分析,介绍了DEST的主要设计思路与框架结构,进而介绍了系统的主要功能;然后详细介绍了知识处理方法,即基于XML的面向对象知识处理方法;最后结合铣床设计实例分析了该DEST系统在人机协作、集成化方面的特色,并提出了后续发展方向.     

一种新型智能系统开发工具DEST

介绍了一种新型智能设计专家系统开发工具DEST的功能结构、构造关键技术与特性,首先基于对现有的智能设计工具在集成方面的不足分析,介绍了DEST的主要设计思路与框架结构,进而介绍了系统的主要功能;然后详细介绍了知识处理方法,即基于XML的面向对象知识处理方法;最后结合铣床设计实例分析了该DEST系统在人机协作、集成化方面的特色,并提出了后续发展方向。     

DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT PRODUCT DESIGN SYSTEM: INTEGRATION STRATEGIES

Conventional computer-aided design (CAD) packages have drastically reduced the workload of the human designer and shortened the product design cycle. However, the degree of effort and volume of information required to use these tools limit their use to the later stages of design. Intelligent computer-aided design (ICAD) systems have sought to provide a more complete design tool to assist the designer in all phases of design. ICAD systems incorporate conventional CAD elements as well as knowledge engineering constructs. The level of integration between different components of an ICAD system determines its usefulness. Most commercial intelligent CAD packages are tied to a specific set of CAD tools, restricting their application domains. This dependence on specific software tools can be reduced by using general purpose modules to interface with available CAD packages. This paper discusses a method of introducing knowledge engineering technology to help develop an advanced intelligent product design system by integrating ICAD's Concept Modeller with SDRC's l-DEAS package for engineering product design. This integration is necessary because neither the Concept Modeller nor the I-DEAS package provides any unified design environment where users can access both symbolic and numerical design tools as needed to carry out design synthesis and analysis activities. Interfacing engineering design and knowledge processing together is not an easy task. The task is further complicated since it needs to be done only by those who have enough knowledge of both technologies, and also because it may result in reorganization of the traditional design process altogether. The proposed intelligent product design system uses artificial intelligence techniques to take care of human experts knowledge and it advocates the use of several commercial software packages that come from a variety of sources (and are proven to be robust) to perform design synthesis in a cost-efficient and timely manner. The technique described here is relatively easy to implement and is well suited to industrial needs.     

Integration and control of intelligence in distributed manufacturing

The area of intelligent systems has generated a considerable amount of interest—occasionally verging on controversy—within both the research community and the industrial sector. This paper aims to present a unified framework for integrating the methods and techniques related to intelligent systems in the context of design and control of modern manufacturing systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the methodologies relevant to distributed processing over the Internet. Following presentation of a spectrum of intelligent techniques, a framework for integrated analysis of these techniques at different levels in the context of intelligent manufacturing systems is discussed. Integration of methods of artificial intelligence is investigated primarily along two dimensions: the manufacturing product life-cycle dimension, and the organizational complexity dimension. It is shown that at different stages of the product life-cycle, different intelligent and knowledge-oriented techniques are used, mainly because of the varied levels of complexity associated with those stages. Distribution of the system architecture or system control is the most important factor in terms of demanding the use of the most up-to-date distributed intelligence technologies. A tool set for web-enabled design of distributed intelligent systems is presented. Finally, the issue of intelligence control is addressed. It is argued that the dominant criterion according to which the level of intelligence is selected in technological tasks is the required precision of the resulting operation, related to the degree of generalization required by the particular task. The control of knowledge in higher-level tasks has to be executed with a strong involvement of the human component in the feedback loop. In order to facilitate the human intervention, there is a need for readily available, user-transparent computing and telecommunications infrastructure. In its final part, the paper discusses currently emerging ubiquitous systems, which combine this type of infrastructure with new intelligent control systems based on a multi-sensory perception of the state of the controlled process and its environment to give us tools to manage information in a way that would be most natural and easy for the human operator.     

A framework of knowledge versioning management

Abstract: Knowledge is an inherently dynamic entity continuously changing and evolving. In many cases, the coexistence of different versions of the same core knowledge is a necessity. So is the availability of the proper environment and tools to deal with knowledge versioning. In this paper, a framework of knowledge versioning management is proposed and implemented dealing with hybrid knowledge representation models using frames and rules. This framework facilitates knowledge version handling and maintenance, improving, in parallel, knowledge sharing and reuse. Knowledge components are stored in a set of tables and handled as data under the auspices of a database management system. The proper structure of tables and their relationships allows the creation of independent knowledge modules. Several knowledge modules can be assembled to construct higher level modules, which finally form versions of knowledge. Corresponding knowledge base versions consist of several knowledge modules easy to handle and process in various application areas. The proposed framework has been implemented and thoroughly examined in an application area of great importance, such as pest management.     

A multi-disciplinary strategy for computer-aided clothing thermal engineering design

The designers and manufactures in apparel industry have urgent needs in designing clothing with superior thermal functions with user-friendly and cost-effective design tools. This paper presents a multi-disciplinary strategy for computer-aided clothing thermal engineering design. It provides a systematical approach to integrate multi-disciplinary knowledge and transfer it into engineering-oriented design tools, thus the designers and manufacturers can easily carry out 1D, 2D and even 3D clothing thermal engineering designs according to the practical design requirements with a short design cycle and low design cost. The research work of this strategy begins from the investigation of the role of the thermal functions of clothing in the thermal comfort of human body. Then the framework is proposed to integrate the multi-disciplinary knowledge and illustrate the process to achieve the thermal engineering design of clothing. The important issues in the realization of computational simulation are addressed, including multi-scale model integration, data availability of characteristic parameters and hierarchical computational scheme. To issue easy-to-use design tools, the thermal functional design of clothing is quantified with important influence parameters, and the user-friendly wizard is designed for the CAD system development. Finally, the design applications of this strategy are discussed in terms of 1D, 2D and 3D thermal engineering designs with versatile CAD systems.     

An agent-based framework for cooperating expert systems in concurrent engineering

This paper describes an agent-based framework with a tandem integration architecture for cooperating distributed, heterogeneous, and autonomous concurrent engineering systems. The approach has been experimented with using the prototype AGENTS system. It is demonstrated that design tools can be dynamically connected and configured to construct highly complex systems on an incremental basis, designing and proving one system at a time without bothering the rest. A major advantage of the approach is the balance between the interoperability and the autonomy of individual systems.     

Integration framework for simulations and SCADA systems

Stricter requirements on the quality of industrial plant operation together with environmental limits and decreasing energy consumption bring more complex automation systems. The intelligent control techniques, which are based on approaches from diverse disciplines including statistics, artificial intelligence or signal processing, have been widely used during the last years and their benefits have been proved. They cannot be developed and tested without simulation models and access to online and historical data. This article proposes a platform for the integration of simulations and industrial SCADA systems supporting complex data access and simulation code re-use.The idea of the presented framework is to connect simulations, data sources, optimizers, other calculations and SCADA systems into one integrated environment seamlessly. A technical level of the framework provides integration of stakeholders and a semantic level captures engineering knowledge in inter-mapped ontologies and configures the technical level, which is often called model-driven configuration. The semantic level utilizes a formal model implemented as set of ontologies. The major contribution of the article are the layered model of the integration architecture and formulation of the integration requirements in the industrial automation domain. The proposed solution has been implemented and tested on a software prototype level. It is demonstrated on two use-cases covering both design and integration of simulation models from the industrial perspective. The proposed architecture is intended to be as general as possible, however it has been tested on signal-oriented simulators only. It is the main limitation of this contribution and it should be addressed in upcoming work.     

Coordinating distributed organizational knowledge

As organizations move from hierarchical towards market-like structures, their distributed units also take a larger role in the design and evolution of organizational information systems. This requires strategies which support the cooperative creation, evaluation and evolution of global information flow structures among autonomous organizational units through local knowledge acquisition and maintenance. Three such strategies are presented: cooperative conceptual modeling, multi-simulation, and explicit process support. These strategies are formally embedded in a meta modeling framework and implemented with a repository-based architecture. They are intended for the analysis of business processes in networked organizations, and as a basis for designing and evolving their federated information systems.     

An analog circuit design environment based on cooperating blackboard systems

A novel approach to design automation for analog circuits is presented. The prototype implementation-OASE-has been realized as a set of cooperating expert systems with blackboard architecture. The circuit specific knowledge bases use hybrid representation schemes and are strictly separated from an execution engine containing the necessary control knowledge. This alleviates the knowledge acquisition process as well as the extension and maintenance of existing knowledge. OASE has been developed as a design assistant, featuring different levels of interactivity, a hierarchical design style and fully embedded algorithmic standard tools. In its current version it is able to design a broad range of different CMOS operational amplifiers.     

Integration techniques in intelligent operational management: a review

Until recently the concept of an integrated framework for coordinating operational tasks in industrial plants has not been possible due to technological limitations. Integration of functions within an intelligent system architecture would result in improved plant performance, safety and an increase in production. As a result of increased computing power and powerful memory systems, a fully computer integrated system is now possible, however, achieving an integrated framework for operational tasks is quite complex. Problems of task integration include not only the consideration of information flow and timing for a continuously changing environment, but the integration of various problem-solving methodologies. Integration frameworks proposed in the past fail to provide for a fully integrated system. A new approach to accommodate the changing dynamics of a plant's operation is now possible with the Coordinated Knowledge Management method.This paper reviews the components that need to be integrated to encompass intelligent process operation. It also reviews various integration frameworks outlining limitations and presents a proposed method of integration based on knowledge management.     

SEMANTICAL AND ONTOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN TELOS: A LANGUAGE FOR KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION DIMITRIS PLEXOUSAKIS

This paper focuses on the semantics of Telos, a language for representing knowledge about information systems. Telos is intended to support the development of information systems, especially in the requirements modeling phase. An object-oriented representational framework is supported by Telos. Its features include aggregation, generalization, and classification, the treatment of attributes as first-class objects and the explicit representation of time. Telos also provides an assertion sublanguage for expressing deductive rules and integrity constraints. A possible-worlds semantics is defined for Telos knowledge bases. This semantics is intended to capture the peculiarities involved in the interpretation of temporal expressions. The integration of time has also inspired the treatment of existence in Telos. An ontology of objects based on the property of existence is proposed. In the spirit of KRYPTON, Telos knowledge bases are specified functionally, in terms of the operations provided for querying and updating them. This knowledge-level analysis will allow us to specify exactly what a knowledge base can be ASK-ed or TELL-ed about the domain of discourse. Soundness, consistency, and completeness results have also been proven to complete the specification of Telos knowledge bases. This formal account of the language provides a logical framework that can be used to verify the correctness of any proposed implementation of the system.     

Data and knowledge modeling for design–process planning integration of sheet metal components

Realizing design–process planning integration is vital to the competitiveness of manufacturing organization and its ability to respond rapidly to market changes. Many attempts have been made in the past proposing the integration of the two activities based on product data models. However, both design and process planning activities are knowledge intensive. An effective integration is possible only if both data and knowledge models form a basis for integration. This paper presents key issues related to data and knowledge modeling for integration of design (CAD) and process planning (CAPP) activities for sheet metal components. Previous attempts to model data and knowledge have concentrated only on either design or process planning and not from an integration point of view. Moreover, in these attempts data and knowledge models have been proposed without attempting to relate the two. The same has been overcome in the present work. An integration framework based on data and knowledge is proposed at the end and discussed for domain of design–process planning integration of sheet metal components.     

Combining knowledge with many-valued logics

During the process of knowledge acquisition from different experts it is usual that contradictions occur. Therefore strategies are needed for dealing with divergent statements and conflicts. We provide a formal framework to represent, process and combine distributed knowledge. The representation formalism is many-valued logic, which is a widely accepted method for expressing uncertainty, vagueness, contradictions and lack of information. Combining knowledge as proposed here makes use of the bilattice approach, which turns out to be very flexible and suggestive in the context of combining divergent information. We give some guidelines for choosing truth value spaces, assigning truth values and defining global operators to encode integration strategies.     

Supporting learning in a shared design environment

Design is a complex problem solving and knowledge refinement process. Learning is a part of this process that can improve computer based design support systems by using the knowledge representing the experience and expertise of designers. Learning from past design examples, and acquiring new knowledge during the process of design are closely related activities that must be supported by future computer supported design systems.This paper analyses the relation between design and learning activity to propose a learning model of design first. Then it presents the software architecture of a design agent with an inductive learning mechanism. Subsequently it introduces the knowledge representation and learning algorithms in a multi-agent design system. Finally, the paper examines the possible ways in which the proposed learning model and the software architecture can be placed in an industrial and engineering design context for developing application tools for design support.