Information systems models

Space data systems are inherently complex. They are systems-of-systems, typically composed of spacecraft and mission operations systems (MOS) belonging to one (or more) organizations, and multi-mission communication assets belonging to other organizations. In many cases, the spacecraft contain subsystems and instruments provided by different organizations, and MOS systems that may be developed and operated by other organizations. The point of greatest leverage in system architecting is at the interfaces. We have developed a set of methods for using SysML to model systems-of-systems and their interfaces. This paper describes how to apply this method to space data systems at a variety of levels of detail, from abstract systems and subsystems down to hardware and software components, including the details of their interfaces and protocol designs.

En la práctica los esquemas Entidad Interrelación (ER) generados durante la modelación conceptual no son capaces de especificar reglas necesarias para garantizar la integridad de un sistema de información (SI). Aunque han existido intentos, la comunidad de diseñadores de BDs no ha adoptado una práctica para el diseño de la integridad de un SI dado un esquema ER del universo de discurso (UoD). Por tanto es necesario seleccionar un lenguaje con gran nivel de captación semántica para especificar restricciones. Para ello se eligió el lenguaje natural controlado RuleSpeak, unido al Semantic of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR). Finalmente, se muestra la especificación de aquellas restricciones de integridad (RI) definidas por el modelador e impuestas por un agente autorizado del UoD.

Product lifecycle management (PLM) systems formally represent product information across the different functional departments of an organization throughout an entire product lifecycle. Integrating the PLM systems with the emerging semantic web will improve the knowledge management capabilities of these systems. In recent works, the authors have developed the e-Design framework, a collaborative web-based semantic environment for improving communication by formally defining an information model for documentation and sharing of engineering design knowledge throughout the entire design process. This paper addresses the integration of the e-Design semantic framework with a commercial PLM system. A key feature of this integration approach is a semantic extraction process that executes the interface from commercial PLM software to a framework compatible with the semantic web, while maintaining the PLM's multilevel bill of materials (BOM) structure. This extraction process includes application of semantic queries to categorize information imported from a PLM system. The development and implementation of this semantic extraction process for integrating product information from PLM systems into the e-Design framework is demonstrated with the aid of an illustrative case study using PTC's Windchill PLM system. Our findings show that the resulting design execution within the e-Design framework facilitates dynamic linking of product information throughout the design process. It also preserves and propagates the BOM related information from PLM in all design phases.

This paper addresses the complexity of conceptual modeling in a sce-nario in which semantic interoperability requirements are increasingly present. It elaborates on the need for developing sound ontological foundations for conceptual modeling but also for developing complexity management tools derived from these foundations. In particular, the paper discusses three of these tools, namely, ontological patterns, ontological anti-patterns and pattern languages

Robotics systems designed for surgical applications such as Neurosurgery, likely may need to implement synchronous communication in real time and asynchronous learning. It will likely primarily be oriented towards spatial imaging and 3D virtualization, various communication protocols, and calibration settings in order to perform optimal results. In regards to computation, it needs to be heavily fault tolerant in operation. It also needs to be aware of false positives. Likely a complex deep brain surgical robotics system would implement variations of brain mapping technology and may utilize topological neuroanatomy. Various technologies in regards to the mapping of the brain, visualization, robotics and mechatronics systems would need to be in place. This paper is to look at the sciences through a theoretical and conceptual process. This isn't FDA reviewed for medical accuracy and is meant to warrant a theoretical paper where information is "as-is". This will hopefully provide a blueprint for continuing research later on.

This paper presents a diagnosis of mainstream service modeling languages (SoaML, USDL, and ArchiMate) in light of UFO-S, a reference ontology for services. UFO-S is intended as a broad ontology for service phenomena, harmonizing different perspectives on services (e.g., "service as commitment", and "service as capability"), and addressing several phases of the service lifecycle (service offering, service agreement, and service delivery). As result, UFO-S is used as an "analysis theory" to identify choices in these languages concerning their focus and coverage of service phenomena. We identify a number of possible improvements concerning the representation of service participant (roles), the description of service offerings, service agreements and service delivery.

In recent years, there has been a growth in the use of reference conceptual models to capture information about complex and critical domains. However, as the complexity of domain increases, so does the size and complexity of the models that represent them. Over the years, different techniques for complexity management in large conceptual models have been developed. In particular, several authors have proposed different techniques for model abstraction. In this paper, we leverage on the ontologically well-founded semantics of the modeling language OntoUML to propose a novel approach for model abstraction in conceptual models. We provide a precise definition for a set of Graph-Rewriting rules that can automatically produce much-reduced versions of OntoUML models that concentrate the models' information content around the ontologically essential types in that domain, i.e., the so-called Kinds. The approach has been implemented using a model-based editor and tested over a repository of OntoUML models.

A Spatial Query Language for Building Information Models enables the spatial analysis of buildings and the extraction of partial models that fulfill certain spatial constraints. Among other features, the developed spatial query language includes metric operators, i.e. operators that reflect distance relationships between spatial objects, such as mindist, maxdist, isCloser and isFarther. The paper presents formal definitions of the semantics of these operators by using point set theory notation. It further describes two possible implementation methods: the first one is based on a discrete representation of the operands' geometry by means of the hierarchical, space-partitioning data structure octree. The octree allows for the application of recursive algorithms that successively increase the discrete resolution of the spatial objects employed and thereby enables the user to trade-off between computational effort and the required accuracy. By contrast, the second approach uses the exact boundary representation (B-Rep) of both spatial objects resulting in precise distance measurements. Here the bounding facets of each operand are indexed by a so-called axis-aligned bounding boxes tree (AABB tree). The algorithm uses the AABB-tree structure to identify candidate pairs of facets, for which an exact but expensive distance algorithm is employed. The article compares both 2 approaches by means of detailed investigations on the runtime performance of the developed algorithms.

Tujuan Instruksional Khusus (TIK) Mengenali teknik pemodelan, model user dan kognitif Menjelaskan model-model interaksi Menyebutkan bagaimana teknik semi formal yaitu analisa status/ kejadian. Pokok Bahasan : Formalisasi Standard, Model-Model Interaksi, Analisa Status/ Kejadian. Deskripsi Singkat : bahasan ini tentang cara memodelkan semantik dari sebuah sistem yang interaktif. Dialog adalah tentang bagaimana aksi user yang sesuai berhubungan dengan sistem.

Distribution Automation (DA) is viewed as an integral component of the Smart Grid paradigm. It facilitates the employment of computer technology and communication infrastructure to advance management and operation of the distribution network from a semi-automated approach towards a fully automated one. SCADA systems, advanced sensors, and electronic controllers are integrated into the DA system in order to achieve the desired performance and reliability at the distribution network. Interoperability of all the components participating in the DA system requires communication standards covering not only the devices in the substation, but all the components from the substation to the point of interface with the end consumers. While the IEC 61850 standard was originally addressing applications and communications within the substation, recent work is undergone for extending it beyond the substation fence. With its object oriented structure, IEC 61850 can provide comprehensive and accurate information models for various components of distribution automation systems, while providing an efficient solution for this naturally multi-vendor environment. This paper provides some concrete examples on how IEC 61850 can be employed in the context of distribution automation applications, and what measures need to be taken to enable it to efficiently respond to some of the emerging technologies in DA systems.

Postgraduate research students often feel isolated studying in their own topic and the long-term effect of isolation and lack of social connectedness brings negative impacts e.g. dropping out from the research program. Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in non-gaming environments. It is envisaged that the two main classes of game elements to guide postgraduate research students along the journey are progression and social. We propose a system model using these two main classes of game elements to progress and connect postgraduate research students in increasing their learning efficacy and socializing among other postgraduate research students. Our proposed system model is grounded in the recent research presenting that one can be inspired extrinsically through fulfilment of the three basic psychological needs known as autonomy, competence and relatedness and these are influenced by autonomy support. Our future effort is to utilize this proposed system model t...

Postgraduate research students often feel isolated studying in their own topic and the long-term effect of isolation and lack of social connectedness brings negative impacts e.g. dropping out from the research program. Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in non-gaming environments. It is envisaged that the two main classes of game elements to guide postgraduate research students along the journey are progression and social. We propose a system model using these two main classes of game elements to progress and connect postgraduate research students in increasing their learning efficacy and socializing among other postgraduate research students. Our proposed system model is grounded in the recent research presenting that one can be inspired extrinsically through fulfilment of the three basic psychological needs known as autonomy, competence and relatedness and these are influenced by autonomy support. Our future effort is to utilize this proposed system model t...

Conceptual modeling plays a fundamental role to capture information about complex business domains (e.g., finance, healthcare) and enables semantic interoperability. To fulfill their role, conceptual models must contain the exact set of constraints that represent the worldview of the relevant domain stakeholders. However, as empirical results show, modelers are subject to cognitive limitations and biases and, hence, in practice, they produce models that fall short in that respect. Moreover, the process of formally designing conceptual models is notoriously hard and requires expertise that modelers do not always have. This paper falls in the general area concerned with the development of artificial intelligence techniques for the enterprise. In particular, we propose an approach that leverages model finding and inductive logic programming (ILP) techniques. We aim to move towards supporting modelers in identifying domain constraints that are missing from their models, and thus improving their precision w.r.t. their intended worldviews. Firstly, we describe how to use the results produced by the application of model finding as input to an inductive learning process. Secondly, we test the approach with the goal of demonstrating its feasibility and illustrating some key design issues to be considered while using these techniques.

An information system is an integrated system of components that cooperatively aim to collect, store, manipulate, process, and disseminate data, information, and knowledge, often offered as digital products. A model of an existing or envisioned information system is its simplified representation developed to serve a purpose for a target audience. A model may represent various aspects of the system, including the structure of information, data constraints, processes that govern information, and organizational rules. Traditionally, the teaching of information system modeling is carried out in a fragmented way, i.e., modeling of different aspects of information systems is taught separately, often across different subjects. The authors' teaching experience in this area suggests the shortcomings of such fragmented approach, evidenced by the lack of students' ability to exploit the synergy between data and process constraints in the produced models of information systems. This paper proposes an assignment for undergraduate students which requests to model an information system of an envisioned private teaching institute. The assignment comprises a plethora of requirements grounded in the interplay of data and process constraints, and is accompanied by a tool that supports their explicit representation.

Conceptual models are often built with techniques that propose a strict stratification of entities into two classification levels: a level of types (or classes) and a level of instances. Multi-level conceptual modeling extends the conventional two-level scheme by admitting that types can be instances of other types, giving rise to multiple levels of classification. Nevertheless, the vast majority of tools and techniques are still confined to the two-level scheme, and hence cannot be used for multi-level models directly. We show here how a multi-level model in ML2 can be transformed into a two-level specification in the formal modeling technique Alloy, thereby leveraging the Alloy analyzer to multi-level models.

Over the years, there is a growing interest in employing theories from philosophical ontology, cognitive science, and linguistics to devise theoretical, methodological and computational tools for conceptual modeling, knowledge representation, and ontology engineering. In this paper, we discuss one particular kind of such tools, namely, ontological anti-patterns. Ontological antipatterns are error-problem modeling structures that can create a deviation between the possible and the intended interpretations of an ontology. The contributions of this paper are three-fold. Firstly, we propose three empirically elicited ontological anti-patterns related to the modeling of taxonomic structures. Secondly, we advance a series of rectification plans that can be used to eliminate the occurrence of these anti-patterns in domain ontologies. Finally, we present a software tool that supports the automated detection, analysis, and elimination of these anti-patterns.

In recent years, there has been a growth in the use of reference conceptual models to capture information about complex and critical domains. However, as the complexity of domain increases, so does the size and complexity of the models that represent them. Over the years, different techniques for complexity management in large conceptual models have been developed. In particular, several authors have proposed different techniques for model abstraction. In this paper, we leverage on the ontologically well-founded semantics of the modeling language OntoUML to propose a novel approach for model abstraction in conceptual models. We provide a precise definition for a set of Graph-Rewriting rules that can automatically produce much-reduced versions of OntoUML models that concentrate the models’ information content around the ontologically essential types in that domain, i.e., the so-called Kinds. The approach has been implemented using a model-based editor and tested over a repository of ...

In this article, key points are discussed concerning knowledge representation for clinical decision support systems in the domain of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Information models, classifications and terminologies, such as the "virtual medical record" (vMR), the "international classification of functioning, disability and health" (ICF), the "international classification of diseases" (ICD) and the "systematized nomenclature of medicine-clinical terms" (SNOMED CT), are used for knowledge integration and reasoning. A system is described that supports the measuring of functioning status, diversity, prognosis and similarity between patients in the post-acute stage, thus helping health professionals' prescription of recommendations.

A semantic information model to improve reuse and communication of engineering design knowledge is presented in this paper. We consider design to be a process involving a sequence of decisions informed by the current state of information. As such, the information model developed is structured to reflect the conceptualizations of engineering design decisions with a particular emphasis on semantically capturing design rationale. Through the approach presented, knowledge reuse is achieved by communicating design rationale. A case study is presented to illustrate two key features of the approach: (1) seamless integration of separate modular domain ontologies and instance knowledge related to engineering design that are needed to support decision making and (2) the explicit documentation of design rationale through design decisions.

Materials, and therefore material selections, influence the sustainable impact of a product from beginning to end-of-life. With improved access to material information, product designers can attain newfound insight into the sustainability implications of their design decisions. Insight to lifecycle tradeoffs requires access to both upstream and downstream information at design time. This access can be facilitated by information transparency between the different information representations assumed by a product throughout its lifecycle. A well-constructed Material Information Model (MIM) can provide the necessary access, and therefore the desired insight. In this paper we present an initial set of requirements that a MIM for sustainability must support to provide the desired design-time information access. Using these requirements as guidelines, we then analyze several information representations currently available for information management at various stages of the lifecycle. We compare and contrast the extent to which these representations meet the information needs of the MIM, using example implementations as guidelines. We discuss the level to which information synthesis may be achieved given the varying degrees to which the MIM requirements are met. Finally, we introduce where synthesis challenges lie and the steps required to overcome them.

Business Process Modelling (BPM) plays a major role in the early stages of software development-too large, in the author's opinion. Almost all procedural methods recommend starting with BPM modelling. Almost all business analysts use BPM as a starting point, and as the simplest route to knowledge and understanding of a business world. Without a common understanding of the terms used and their relevance to an environment, neither future users nor computer scientists can model effective business processes. BPM is not the best way to arrive at this common understanding. BPM has other serious disadvantages that make it unsuitable as a starting point for an IT project. This paper reveals the disadvantages of using BPM too early. Furthermore, it also demonstrates how a better understanding of the world to be modelled can be obtained before process modelling.

As the computer literacy spreads among public servants, the focus of communication between system
analysts and users is moved on specification forms that appears formal and semi-formal documents, and
spreadsheet like descriptions. The documents are going to be planned to serve both clients and officers of
government, both external and internal processing. For system and business analyst, there is a new
situation that requires the polishing and improving the readily available methods and methodologies. For
accurate interpretations of valid requirements, the system analyst needs approaches that are grounded in
formal methods. In e-government environment, the specification of requirements happens through
calculation spreadsheet and/or office document. So that there is a need for a systematic and at least semi-
formal approach that focuses on the ubiquitous documents. The models deduced from the document-centric
point of view should be placed into an overall Information Systems Architecture. The linkage between the
models provides the opportunity for cross validation and verification to keep up the integrity and
consistency. The convoluted relationships among the models can be adequately represented by generalized
hypergraphs that offer the chances a disciplined and correct systems analysis and design procedure.

Conceptual models are often built with techniques that propose a strict stratification of entities into two classification levels: a level of types (or classes) and a level of instances. Multi-level conceptual modeling extends the conventional two-level scheme by admitting that types can be instances of other types, giving rise to multiple levels of classification (individuals, classes, metaclasses, metametaclasses, and so on). As a result, multi-level models capture not only invariants about individuals, but also invariants about types themselves, which become regular elements of the domain of inquiry (first-class citizens). Despite the benefits of the multi-level approach, the vast majority of tools for conceptual modeling are still confined to the two-level scheme, and hence cannot accommodate multi-level entities. This paper proposes a transformation of multi-level to two-level models that preserves the semantics of the original multi-level model. We employ the systematic reific...

One of the most significant advantages of model-based testing is that it optimizes the software testing time and cost. To further make test execution more efficient, the automated validation tools access the shortest possible path from the start point to the endpoint. Learn more in a Model Based Testing course by Tonex

The philosophy of information systems must explain what the field is about, what constituents make up the field, how we advance knowledge about those constituents, and what traditional philosophical issues may arise through the study, use and advance of information systems. This paper attempts to lay out the unique elements of the field, identify some key questions, and attempt a few very preliminary answers.

Many products developed today are becoming increasingly reliant on embedded software to facilitate customisation. Such products are becoming extraordinarily complex systems to design, update and maintain throughout the entire product life cycle. To support the design of complex systems there is a need for a complete re-conceptualisation of the traditional approaches to the management of information throughout the design and development process. This research is being undertaken within an action research framework and involves professionals from across the automotive sector, including participants from major OEMs; suppliers and support organisations and small start-ups. This paper sets out a new conceptual view for managing the information needed to support the design and development processes for complex systems. The framework has been evaluated through a number of workshops and is now informing work on a business transformation project in a large OEM for luxury cars.

The purpose of this research is studying the key dimensions that explain the use of social network systems. In order to achieve this purpose, it was identified a model that explains the use of social systems. The model is an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, considering enjoyment as construct and the impact of effective use in the intention to use. It was performed an empirical research to identify that ease of use has generically a minimal impact. Results also showed that intention to use is largely influenced by perceived usefulness, and effective use is influenced mainly by enjoyment.

Minimizing implementation time and manual configuration, as well as straightforward upgradability are the key requirements of efficient substation automation systems. For larger utilities this often necessitates achieving interoperability between different devices from multiple vendors. Since the early 1990's it was noticed that the speed of advances in communication technology seemed to overpass its power system counterpart, which called for more adaptability by substation automation systems and higher independence from the underlying communication technology. The natural shift in the industry from proprietary communication protocols to open access standards was therefore further accelerated and was directed towards more advanced solutions that provide an interoperable and future proof environment. In order to be able to respond to these concerns, IEC 61850 was proposed as a future proof, adaptable communication protocol, capable of providing interoperability in a multi-vendor environment and with a highly advanced object oriented modeling structure. The migration from legacy protocols and de facto standards such as Modbus, DNP3, and IEC 60870-5 has already started and it seems likely that it will continue at a steady pace in the future. In addition to the efforts to provide an advanced solution for substation automation systems, there is also a need for extending the "automation" benefits to beyond the substations either downstream, at the feeder level or upstream, at a higher level of network management. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the current status of communication networks for substations using IEC 61850, and also discuss the possible future trends for extending the scope of the standard and using its capabilities for other applications within the distribution system.

of the potential for ne5ly created or modified policies to conflict 5ith already deployed policies8 9e propose an approach for policy conflict analysis in 5hich candidate policies (either ne5ly created or modified) are analy<ed on a pair=5ise >asis 5ith already deployed policies? 5ith potential conflicts >et5een the policies >eing notified to the policy author8 Central to the approach is a t5o=phase algorithm 5hich? Auerying an information model? firstly determines the relationships >et5een the pair of policies and? secondly? applies an application=specific conflict pattern to determine if the policies should >e flagged as potentially conflicting8 Bhe algorithm is generic in the sense that all application specific information is encoded in the information modelC as long as a minimal set of assumptions regarding the policy model are adhered to it can >e applied in ar>itrary application domains8 In the paper 5e present the t5o phase algorithm and descri>e an implementation in 5hich it is used to detect potential conflicts for >oth access control and filtering (fire5all) policies8 ()*

The purpose of this research is studying the key dimensions that explain the use of social network systems. In order to achieve this purpose, it was identified a model that explains the use of social systems. The model is an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model, considering enjoyment as construct and the impact of effective use in the intention to use. It was performed an empirical research to identify that ease of use has generically a minimal impact. Results also showed that intention to use is largely influenced by perceived usefulness, and effective use is influenced mainly by enjoyment.

The traditional view of data, information, and knowledge as a hierarchy fosters an understanding of information as an independent entity with objective meaning-that while information is tied to data and knowledge, its existence is not dependent upon them. While traditional conceptions assume a static nature of information, expressed by the equation information = data + meaning, we have argued that this understanding is based on an ontologization of an entwined process of sense making and meaning making. This process starts from the recognition of a pattern that is interpreted in a way that influences our behavior. At the same time, the process character of meaning making makes us aware of the fact that this ontologized hierarchy is in fact an interwoven process. We conclude that the phenomenological analysis of this ontologization that makes into being data, information, and knowledge has to go back to this process to reveal the essential underlying dependencies.

This is the presentation from the SpaceOps 2016 conference in Deajeon, Korea, May 2016. It is for the companion paper of the same title that describes the use of a SysML method for accurately modeling complex systems-of-system interfaces. The focus in this presentation is on the use of the method for modeling space systems interfaces, including system composition, services, data exchanges, protocol stacks, and protocol behaviors.

The lack of electronic decision support is an emerging issue for pharmacists in Australia involved in medication reviews. A digital document approach allows a flexible means of communicating and sharing medication-related information through a simple, easy-to-use artefact. This document-centric approach is also a comfortable fit with health professionals' existing practice, and suggests practice improvements in safety, quality and efficiency of the medication management process. Our research has also identified factors which influence how decision support tools should be modelled and implemented-missing information, using conversation for information exchange, the effect of information granularity on model development, the 'perspective' of practice tools; and the level of technology use. Our research approach advocates that an essential information model provides a complement to specialist knowledge and contextual decision-making by pharmacists and doctorsproviding 'systems for experts', rather than expert systems-and may offer an effective way forward using 'lightweight' technology.

In the past decades, the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) has played an important role in supporting the development of ontologies in academic and business settings, being employed to represent widely diverse domains. In this period, a dedicated community of researchers has worked to support UFO and its representation language, OntoUML, by creating the OntoUML Lightweight Editor (OLED). Now that a new version of OntoUML is available, the need for up-to-date tool support has exposed the limitations of OLED, its development context, and the difficulties of bringing research contributions to the hands of modelers. To tackle these issues, this paper reflects upon the experiences of this community taking into consideration the goals of researchers (as developers) and modelers to devise a new microserviceoriented modeling infrastructure for OntoUML, called OntoUML as a Service (OaaS). This infrastructure supports future practical contributions to the language with a focus on lowering the entry barrier for the development new contributions and enabling an easier deployment to modelers. The paper also discusses the details of implementing OaaS through a number of projects that currently implement this infrastructure.

Postgraduate research students often feel isolated studying in their own topic and the long-term effect of isolation and lack of social connectedness brings negative impacts e.g. dropping out from the research program. Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in non-gaming environments. It is envisaged that the two main classes of game elements to guide postgraduate research students along the journey are progression and social. We propose a system model using these two main classes of game elements to progress and connect postgraduate research students in increasing their learning efficacy and socializing among other postgraduate research students. Our proposed system model is grounded in the recent research presenting that one can be inspired extrinsically through fulfilment of the three basic psychological needs known as autonomy, competence and relatedness and these are influenced by autonomy support. Our future effort is to utilize this proposed system model to deploy and implement the system model to a prototype of an app and demonstrate empirically that it delivers a positive impact on postgraduate research students' satisfaction and completion of their program.

Cooperative Management has appeared as a promising paradigm on which Network and System Management (NSM) solutions should be partially or entirely based This paper proposes a conceptual framework to obtain, from any CIM schemas, NSM frame-based ontologies which can then be used in cooperative management solutions.

The network management area has some proposals to use XML to encode information models and managed object instances. In this paper we present a solution to dynamically create SNMP to XML proxies using a SAX parser and the translation facilities from the libsmi tools. We also present an analysis system that uses the management information provided by the proxies in XML.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the factors that influence acceptance it in the context of cloud computing systems adoption. This study presents the theoretical factors, which influence the acceptance of new information systems. The first part contains a literature review on Cloud Computing. We describe the Technology Acceptance Model, applied with research hypothesis for an empirical study. The paper presents an empirical study conducted in a user dimension. Many users, professional and personal answered to a questionnaire from various fields. In this study, we concluded that perceived usefulness has a positive impact in the intention of using cloud computer systems, among other conclusions.