Ioannis Athanasiadis | Γιάννης Αθανασιάδης
Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering
Filed Under (Journal articles) by I N Athanasiadis on 22-04-2008
In International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 3(3):210-225, 2008.
Abstract We describe collaborative efforts among a group of knowledge representation experts, domain scientists, and scientific information managers in developing knowledge models for ecological and environmental concepts. The development of formal, structured approaches to knowledge representation used by the group (i.e., ontologies) can be informed by evidence marshalled from unstructured approaches to knowledge representation and semantic tagging already in use by the community.
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Filed Under (Journal articles) by I N Athanasiadis on 31-01-2008
In Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, 78(2-3):412-423, 2008.
Abstract It is commonly accepted that modelling frameworks offer a powerful tool for modellers, researchers and decision makers, since they allow the management, re-use and integration of mathematical models from various disciplines and at different spatial and temporal scales. However, the actual re-usability of models depends on a number of factors such as the accessibility of the source code, the compatibility of different binary platforms, and often it is left to the modellers own discipline and responsibility to structure a complex model in such a way that it is decomposed in smaller re-usable sub-components. What reusable and interchangeable means is also somewhat vague; although several approaches to build modelling frameworks have been developed, little attention has been dedicated to the intrinsic re-usability of components, in particular between different modelling frameworks. In this paper we focus on how models can be linked together to build complex integrated models. We stress that even if a model component interface is clear and reusable from a software standpoint, this is not a sufficient condition for reusing a component across different Integrated Modelling Frameworks. This reveals the need for adding rich semantics in model interfaces.
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Filed Under (Journal articles) by I N Athanasiadis on 22-01-2008
In Information Technologies in Environmental Engineering, 1:3-11, 2008.
Abstract Within Seamless project, a set of constituent agricultural simulation and optimization models is required to be integrated for facilitating assessment studies. Each one of the models has been developed by a different research group, according to dissimilar modeling approaches, implementation designs, and programming tools. As a mediator among these heterogeneous constituent peers, we introduce the Seamless Knowledge Manager component for incubating the data exchanged by the models. The Seamless Knowledge Manager has been developed following a novel approach that exploits ontologies and semantic modeling. Specifically, a declarative approach has been utilized for specifying the data exchanged by the models and has been used as the basis for software development and integration. This paper presents in detail the methodology used for developing the Knowledge Manager and two alternative implementations. The architecture is demonstrated for integrating modules generating agricultural management alternatives.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 03-01-2008
In MODSIM 2007 Int’l Congress on Modelling and Simulation, (L. Oxley and D. Kulasiri, ed.), pp. 2055-2061, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2007.
Abstract This paper explains our experiences with a challenging and time-consuming task, e.g. arriving at a shared understanding on the definition of projects, experiments and scenarios among researchers coming from different disciplines, who have been exposed to dissimilar education and research experience. We demonstrate the use of ontologies in building this shared set of definitions and the relationship between the ontology and the human computer interaction through a case study. With a common ontology that represents the joint conceptualization of the projects, experiments and scenarios each researcher can refer at any later stage to the semantics of the concepts used. A collaborative approach was used to build such a common ontology in the SEAMLESS-Integrated Project, funded through the EU sixth Framework Programme, which aims at developing an integrated modelling framework (SEAMLESS-IF) to assess, ex-ante, agricultural and environmentalpolicy options, allowing cross-scale analysis of a broad range of sustainability issues. As a first validation of the project ontology, a set of four fictitious sample projects were made. One of these sample projects is an integrated assessment for one region Midi-Pyrénées in the South of France concerning the impacts of the CAP2003 reform, which is described in this paper.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 03-01-2008
In MODSIM 2007 Int’l Congress on Modelling and Simulation, (L. Oxley and D. Kulasiri, ed.), pp. 1959-1965, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2007.
Abstract The challenge in integrated modeling is the conceptual integration. To achieve this, we need explicit semantics and a shared conceptualization. A participatory and collaborative approach is a key success factor for the creation of a common ontology for models, indicators and raw data. The development of the SEAMLESS common ontology was and still is a big challenge that is performed by a dedicated taskforce. By putting the ontology in a central position in the project and the systems architecture, this shared conceptualization is the basis for generating (Java) source code for the object classes representing all the concepts and representing the objects in relational database tables. The use of ontology has proved to be very useful if not essential both for the technical integration of knowledge in the SEAMLESS Integrated Framework and in understanding the meaning of communicated words of the diversity of people within the project.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 13-08-2007
In Proc. of the 2007 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conferences on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology – Workshops, Silicon Valey, California, USA, 2007.
Abstract Agent training techniques study methods to embed empirical, inductive knowledge representations into intelligent agents, in dynamic, recursive or semi-automated ways, expressed in forms that can be used for agent reasoning. This paper investigates how data-driven rule-sets can be transcribed into ontologies, and how semantic web technologies as OWL can be used for representing inductive systems for agent decision-making. The method presented avoids the transliteration of data-driven knowledge into conventional if-then-else systems, rather demonstrates how inferencing through description logics and Semantic Web inference engines can be incorporated into the training process of agents that manipulate categorical and/or numerical data.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 13-08-2007
In PLoS Track at 15th Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology and & 6th European Conference on Computational Biology, pp. 4, Vienna, Austria, 2007.
Abstract This paper presents a new theoretical synthesis that stems from the realization that all system models, whether static (datasets) or dynamic, incarnate the result of an observation process that can be described logically through a single, appropriately expressive ontology. Such a conceptualization, which we have distilled into a publicly available OWL ontology and supported with open source software infrastructure, not only provides a more natural semantics for data annotation, but is also key to enabling a novel integration of data, models, and applications.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 10-07-2007
In Proc. 21st International Conference on Informatics for Environmental Protection: EnviroInfo 2007, (O. Hryniewicz, J. Studziński and M. Romaniuk, ed.), pp. 43-50, Warsaw, Poland, 2007.
Abstract Environmental informatics delivers techniques and tools for archiving and processing environmental data. The advent of the Internet had positively affected the availability and ease of access to large and diverse environmental databases, distributed all over the world. On the other hand, similar progress has not been matched by the availability of models and algorithms able to process these data, mostly because of the lack of standards in the annotation of the characteristics of environmental models. In this paper we advocate the need for the semantic annotation of environmental “knowledge”, encompassing models and data. The slow, but steady, introduction of the Semantic Web and the widespread use of ontologies for semantic annotation will allow environmental informatics to cover the gap in the access and usability of models and algorithms for environmental data processing.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 13-06-2007
In Farming Systems Design 2007: Methodologies for Integrated Analysis of Farm Production Systems, (M. Donatelli, J. Hatfield and A. Rizzoli, ed.), pp. 225-226, Catania, Italy, 2007.
Abstract Farm production planning involves the simulation and evaluation of crop succession alternatives, known also as crop rotations. A crop rotation is a succession of crops in time and space, that are applied cyclically on the same piece of land. Artificial crop rotations schemes are typically generated as all possible rearrangements of the available crops that are agronomically feasible with respect to crop frequency and succession (suitability filters). Given a set of c crops and a desired length of rotations r, the traditional approach requires the evaluation of all possible combinations of crops in a solution space, sized c to the power of r. This practice limits the length of rotations to be evaluated as the size of crop rearrangements expands exponentially. In this paper we present a more efficient and faster alternative generation algorithm that excludes cyclically equivalent rotations from the solution space. The algorithm represents each crop rotation cycle as a number in the c-based numeral system, and is capable of excluding the generation of cyclic equivalent rotations, through a single modulo operation. After the generation of all non-cyclically equivalent crop rotations, the suitability filters are applied for obtaining agronomically feasible rotations, which form the basis of followup assessments.
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Filed Under (Conference papers) by I N Athanasiadis on 13-06-2007
In Farming Systems Design 2007: Methodologies for Integrated Analysis of Farm Production Systems, (M. Donatelli, J. Hatfield and A. Rizzoli, ed.), pp. 247-248, Catania, Italy, 2007.
Abstract This paper provides an example how researchers that are distant to software engineering and modelling can contribute to the development of a system for indicator implementation and management within a larger context of a complex computerized tool. The system is designed in such a way that it can be customized to various methodologies of indicator calculation (directly from data, linked to model outputs, transformed model outputs) to fit the scientific reality of economic, environmental and social indicators.
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Internet for peace
Environmental Modelling & Software
