Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
  • Publication
    Spatio-temporal multi-granularity : modelling and implementation challenges
    (University College Dublin. School of Computer Science and Informatics, 2009-08) ; ;
    Multiple spatial and temporal granularities are essential to extract significant knowledge from datasets at different levels of detail: they enable to zoom-in and zoom-out a dataset, enhancing the data modelling flexibility and being instrumental to boost the analysis of information. Implementing granularities poses several interesting problems. Specifically, in this paper we analyse the issues involved by enhancing a data model and a query language with spatio-temporal multi-granularity, and we figure out efficacious solutions to address all of them. In our exposition, we investigate proper representations for the spatial and the temporal domains; then we conceive an appropriate design for granules and granularities, and for multi-granular values. In particular, mutual relationships among granularities and how they affect granularities design is discussed according to their influence on data access and considering the application of multi-granular conversions. Afterwards, we dedicated to the design of multi-granular spatio-temporal conversions, discussing the multiple ways in which they affect data usability and envisaging how the design of a multi-granular model and query language may guarantee such an fundamental property, reducing uncertainty on the represented values, combining concepts like topologically consistent transformation, probability distributions, invertibility and quasi-invertibility properties. In our discussion, we are influenced on our previous work on multi-granularity. Especially, we expose some of the considerations that guided the design of a multi-granular spatio-temporal model we already proposed as extension of the ODMG data model. In this paper, we describe also some relevant details of a demonstrative object-oriented prototype realized on top of ObjectStore PSE Proj, and of an object-relational prototype realized on top of ORACLE. Both prototypes, even exploiting different characteristics of the underlying data models, prove the effectiveness of the proposed design solutions.
      779
  • Publication
    Attribute refinement in a multigranular temporal object data model
    (Purdue University. Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, 2009-06) ; ;
    Temporal granularities are the unit of measure for temporal data, thus a multigranular temporal object model allows to store temporal data at different levels of detail, according to the needs of the application domain. In this paper we investigate how the integration of multiple temporal granularities in an object-oriented data model impacts on the inheritance hierarchy. In the paper we specifically address issues related to attribute refinement, and the consequences on object substitutability. This entails the development of suitable instruments for converting temporal values from a granularity to another.
      155
  • Publication
    Contexts as explicit parameterization of ontology driven methods
    (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Istituto di Matematica Applicata e Tecnologie Informatiche, 2007) ; ; ; ;
    In the recent Computer Science literature, contexts have been proposed mainly to formalize context dependent background knowledge. In this paper we discuss the importance of the application of contexts as explicit parametrization of methods exploiting the knowledge encoded in ontologies. We propose a context formalization suitable to improve the flexibility of ontology driven methods like semantic similarity and granularity. Herein, we detail in particular the context parametrization for semantic granularity. The user scenario pertaining to the exploitation of a repository for industrial design product models is discussed to illustrate the proposed formalization.
      156
  • Publication
    Adaptive management of multigranular spatio-temporal object attributes
    (Purdue University. Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security, 2009-04-08) ; ; ;
    In applications involving spatio-temporal modelling, granularities of data may have to adapt according to the evolving semantics and significance of data. To address such a problem, in this paper we define ST2 ODMGe, a multigranular spatio-temporal model supporting evolutions, which encompass the dynamic adaptation of attribute granularities, and the deletion of attribute values. Evolutions are specified as Event - Condition - Action rules and are performed at run-time. The event, the condition and the action may refer to a period of time and a geographical area. Periodic evolutions may be specified, referring to both transaction and valid time dimensions. The evolution may also be constrained by the attribute values. Evolutions greatly enhance flexibility in multigranular spatio-temporal data handling but require revisiting the notion of object consistency with respect to class definitions and access to multigranular object values.
      300
  • Publication
    Multigranular spatio-temporal models : implementation challenges
    (Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2008-11-07) ; ;
    Multiple granularities provide an essential support for extracting significant knowledge from spatio-temporal datasets at different levels of details. They enable to zoom-in and zoom-out spatio-temporal datasets, thus enhancing the data modelling flexibility and improving the analysis of information. In this paper we investigate the implementation issues arising when a data model and a query language are enriched with spatio-temporal multigranularity. We introduce appropriate representations for space and time dimensions, granularities, granules, and multi-granular values. Finally, we discuss how multigranular spatio-temporal conversions affect data usability and how such important property may be guaranteed.
      314Scopus© Citations 5
  • Publication
    A product design ontology for enhancing shape processing in design workflows
    Effective and efficient information management and knowledge sharing has become an essential part of more and more professional tasks in the Product Development Process. Among the varius Knowledge Management technologies, ontologies offer new possibilities for representing, handling and retrieving product related knowledge, and for online collaboration. We conceived a Product Design Ontology (PDO) which especially addresses researchers in industrial product design and engineering analysis who need to share shape data and to develop software tools. In particular, we formalised the task-specific information associated to a shape, and the functionality and usage of shape processing methods in specific tasks of the design workflow. The PDO, thanks to the ontologydriven metadata on shapes and tools, may be also useful in industry on the one hand for training and for retrieving shape-related information, on the other hand for supporting benchmarking of processing tools and gathering the knowledge about shape processing workflows.
      3024Scopus© Citations 42
  • Publication
    Mining Spatio-temporal Data at Different Levels of Detail
    In this paper we propose a methodology for mining very large spatio-temporal datasets. We propose a two-pass strategy for mining and manipulating spatio-temporal datasets at different levels of detail (i.e., granularities). The approach takes advantage of the multi-granular capability of the underlying spatio-temporal model to reduce the amount of data that can be accessed initially. The approach is implemented and applied to real-world spatio-temporal datasets. We show that the technique can deal easily with very large datasets without losing the accuracy of the extracted patterns, as demonstrated in the experimental results.
      1036Scopus© Citations 6
  • Publication
    Context enabled semantic granularity
    In this paper we propose a powerful ontology driven method that eases the browsing of any repository of information resources described by an ontology: we provide a flexible semantic granularity method for the navigation of a repository according to different levels of abstraction, i.e. granularities. The granularity is explicitly parameterised according to the criteria induced by the context.
      334Scopus© Citations 3
  • Publication
    Ontology driven certification of pressure equipments
    Standards and engineering codes rule design, construction and operation of chemical plant equipments to ensure reliability and safety. In this paper, we exploit knowledge-based methodologies and technologies to guarantee safety rules compliance of pressure equipments. Specifically, we describe a knowledge-based tool defined on top of a knowledge-based CAD system, which can serve inspection bodies, i.e., for certification purposes, and pressure equipment designers for the verification of the appropriate safety normative (i.e., the Pressure Equipment Directive). The paper focuses on the knowledge base of the tool, which has been formalized through the PED&I (Pressure Equipment Design and Inspection) Ontology. The ontology has been enriched by logical axioms, which ensure the consistency of the knowledge base, and by reasoning rules, which enable to infer new relationships among the class instances stored in the ontology.
      879Scopus© Citations 8
  • Publication
    Multi-granular spatio-temporal object models : concepts and research directions
    The capability of representing spatio-temporal objects is fundamental when analysing and monitoring the changes in the spatial configuration of a geographical area over a period of time. An important requirement when managing spatio-temporal objects is the support for multiple granularities. In this paper we discuss how the modelling constructs of object data models can be extended for representing and querying multi-granular spatio-temporal objects. In particular, we describe object-oriented formalizations for granularities, granules, and multi-granular values, exploring the issues of value conversions. Furthermore, we formally define an object-oriented multi-granular query language, and discuss the dynamic adapting of multi-granular data. Finally, we illustrate the current open research issues of multi-granular spatio-temporal data handling.
      952Scopus© Citations 10