Automated Reasoning (Computer Science)

Introduction: Human daily activities and businesses generate a significant volume of data, which is expected to be transformed for the benefit of both businesses and humanity. Organisations utilise machine learning platforms to make informed decisions based on well-gleaned insights from their real-time data. The process of learning machine learning is challenging, making it difficult for employees to learn quickly and efficiently. Meanwhile, the introduction of automated machine learning (AutoML) has simplified this process. However, it is essential to understand how users adopt and implement the AutoML platform to address their real-world problems. Methods: To achieve this, we conducted a quantitative study with 38 users focusing on four key areas: (1) the learning curve in ML and AutoML environments, (2) the design and usability strengths and weaknesses of AutoML platforms, (3) disparities in user experience between novices and professionals, and (4) design factors to enhance usability. Result: Our findings revealed that users, particularly those with limited programming experience, have high expectations for the usability of AutoML; however, they also exhibit low awareness and adoption rates in the African context. Discussion: The study illuminates gender disparities in technology adoption and identifies critical usability concerns, including the need for improved interpretability, feature engineering modules, and code integration for learning purposes. Additionally, we provide empirical evidence demonstrating AutoML's advantages regarding training time and reproducibility compared to traditional machine learning tools. Conclusion: This work offers novel insights into human-centered AutoML design, emphasizing inclusivity, explainability, and user-friendly interfaces. By addressing regional and gender-specific challenges, we propose actionable recommendations to democratize ML and enhance AutoML platforms. Future research should expand upon these findings by engaging frequent AutoML users to further refine usability and satisfaction metrics.

Il presente lavoro esamina la correlazione tra la spiegabilità algoritmica (explainability) e la responsabilità civile, con particolare riferimento al principio di accountability delineato nell’AI Act europeo. Lo studio argomenta come la trasparenza, seppur necessaria, non sia sufficiente a garantire un’efficace tutela dei diritti e una prevenzione adeguata del danno in un contesto di crescente complessità tecnologica. Integrando prospettive normative e dottrinali, emerge la centralità di un approccio multilayered, che superi la semplice distinzione tra responsabilità soggettiva e oggettiva, per abbracciare un modello in cui i soggetti coinvolti (sviluppatori, fornitori, utilizzatori e autorità) cooperino in base a doveri di rendicontazione e tracciabilità. In tale quadro, la funzione preventiva della responsabilità civile acquisisce ulteriore rilevanza: l’adozione di audit costanti, la predisposizione di schemi assicurativi mirati e la possibilità di effettuare valutazioni d’impatto consentono, infatti, di ridurre i rischi ex ante, valorizzando il ruolo pedagogico della responsabilità. L’analisi evidenzia altresì come gli obblighi di spiegabilità possano favorire una più equa ripartizione delle responsabilità tra i vari attori, mitigando le criticità connesse all’opacità dei processi decisionali automatizzati. In conclusione, l’unione di spiegabilità e accountability costituisce un elemento fondamentale per la costruzione di sistemi di IA affidabili, etici e rispettosi del quadro giuridico europeo.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Automated Reasoning Workshop 2011 which was held at the University of Glasgow on 11th-12th April 2011. Guest Speakers were Colin Stirling (University of Edinburgh) and Patricia Johann (University of Strathclyde) who gave fascinating talks on Using Game Theory for Higher Order Matching and Principled Ways of Deriving Induction Rules for Data Types. This workshop series provides an informal forum for the automated reasoning community to discuss recent work, new ideas and current trends. It aims to bring together researchers from all areas of automated reasoning in order to foster links and facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas among researchers from various disciplines; among researchers from academia, industry and government; and between theoreticians and practitioners. The series covers the full breadth and diversity of automated reasoning, including topics such as logic and functional programming; equational reasoning; deductive databases; unification and constraint solving; the application of formal methods to specifying, deriving, transforming and verifying computer systems and requirements; deductive and non-deductive reasoning, including abduction, induction, non-monotonic reasoning, and analogical reasoning; commonsense reasoning; and the wide range of topics that fall under the heading of knowledge representation and reasoning. The workshops in this series are highly interactive, giving all attendees the opportunity to participate. The workshops contain many open discussion sessions organised around specific topics, and often contain sessions for displaying posters and presenting system demonstrations. This is intended to be an inclusive workshop, with participants encouraged from the broad spectrum covered by the field of automated reasoning. We encourage the participation of experienced researchers as well as those new to the field, especially students.

Bulletin de l'Association française pour l'Intelligence Artificielle vise à fournir un cadre de discussions et d'échanges au sein de la communauté universitaire et industrielle. Ainsi, toutes les contributions, pour peu qu'elles aient un intérêt général pour l'ensemble des lecteurs, sont les bienvenues. En particulier, les annonces, les comptes rendus de conférences, les notes de lecture et les articles de débat sont très recherchés. Le Bulletin de l'Af IA publie également des dossiers plus substantiels sur différents thèmes liés à l'IA. Le comité de rédaction se réserve le droit de ne pas publier des contributions qu'il jugerait contraire à l'esprit du bulletin ou à sa politique éditoriale. En outre, les articles signés, de même que les contributions aux débats, reflètent le point de vue de leurs auteurs et n'engagent qu'eux-mêmes. Ce numéro, le premier que je dirige en tant que rédacteur en chef du Bulletin, est aussi l'occasion de présenter la nouvelle équipe de rédaction : Emmanuel ADAM a désormais rejoint l'équipe, qui comprend toujours Claire LEFÈVRE, Philippe MORIGNOT et moi-même. Nous sommes donc toujours quatre et fiers de vous présenter ce premier numéro de l'année. Il contient un dossier industriel sur la thématique « État des lieux de la Gestion des Connaissance en France » réalisé par Juliette MATTIOLI (THALES), Alain BERGER (ARDANS) et Bruno PATIN (DASSAULT AVIATION). Ce dossier est issu de réflexions menées lors du deuxième Forum Industriel de l'IA (FIIA) qui s'est déroulé en avril 2017. Il s'inspire largement des diverses contributions réalisées lors de la journée, son objet est d'ouvrir les perspectives et de synthétiser une partie des questionnements qui sont associés à la problématique de la « Gestion des connaissances ».

Network infrastructures are becoming increasingly complex in the modern world, so advanced strategies for managing them is very important. However, this is just one of the possible scenarios; there are many more scenarios with various implementations, and this paper will discuss the key functions and implications of increased network visibility for infrastructure performance and reliability. Through exploration of efficient monitoring systems, automated alert mechanisms, and user-centric tools, we demonstrate how these components seamlessly work together to create a well-oiled machine for network operations. Explore the architectural details of modern monitoring tools, compare the incorporation of new technologies, and discuss key performance metrics like Mean Time to Detect (MTTD) and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). Moreover, we consider the impact of machine learning for predictive alerting and discuss security challenges of monitoring systems. Together these lessons offer useful advice to any professional looking to improve network visibility and responsiveness, and ultimately better enable more resilient and efficient infrastructures.

This paper presents a new concept of synthesis logic that combines the intensional-extensional distinction with the principle of complexity minimization (Occam's razor). The proposed approach formalizes the process of generating, testing, and optimizing hypotheses, which has potential applications in theoretical mathematics, physics, artificial intelligence, and philosophy of science. We analyze the formal model, its algorithmic implementation, and compare it with existing methodologies.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

This work represents a general view on 'psychological computing which is a system of techniques deduced from computing in the philosophical domain containing concepts, methods, computing tools of psychology or neuroscience. . This aims to solve problems, from human behavior and adapted to the digital world while using applications in the field of digital technologies, design and evaluation techniques for human-computer interactions.

Mechanization of inductive reasoning is an exciting research area in artificial intelligence and automated reasoning with many challenges. An overview of our work on mechanizing inductive reasoning based on the cover set method for generating induction schemes from terminating recursive function definitions and using decision procedures is presented. This paper particularly focuses on the recent work on integrating induction into decision procedures without compromising their automation. Resumen. Dentro del campo de la inteligencia artificial y del razonamiento automático, la mecanización del razonamiento inductivo es un área de investigación apasionante que se enfrenta a muchos retos. Se presenta una visión global del trabajo de los autores sobre la mecanización del razonamiento inductivo basado en el método de recubrimiento de conjuntos para la generación de esquemas de inducción a partir de definiciones de funciones recursivas con terminación que usa procedimientos de decisión. Este artículo se centra sobre todo en el trabajo reciente que se ha realizado con respecto a la integración de la inducción en los procedimientos de decisión sin comprometer su automatización.

Future Internet (FI) applications are the result of composing services and data from different parties. The development of such kind of applications often involves multiple stakeholders, whose requirements might partially conflict with others'. This raises the need of new techniques to identify all stakeholders and their high-level requirements, as well as potential conflicts. Moreover, since these parties do not necessarily fully trust each other, it is also important to identify potential threats within FI applications. In this deliverable we present a framework including the modelling and analyses which support the requirements engineers: (1) in the elicitation of stakeholders and their requirements, (2) in the identification of potential conflicts among their requirements, and (3) in the identification of potential risks associated with stakeholders' assets. The framework employs and extends the Si* modelling language and UML profile with trust and reputation constructs. These modelling languages are used as basis to produce a catalogue of patterns that provides support to the security requirements engineers in identifying possible conflicts and threats. We also present a systematic methodology to apply these patterns to elicit and analyse security requirements for FI applications. We further address the system sustainability by taking into account the evolutionary aspect of the development process. We use change scenarios to express the co-evolution of requirements and architectures. We model these scenarios by using the extended version of the Si* modelling language. By prioritizing change scenario instances, software architects can be able to select a suitable solution (i.e., an implementation choice) that will enable the co-evolution happens while limiting the impact on the system.

We envisage theoretical structures (especially in pure mathematics and theoretical physics) as networks made of elementary propositions (representing nodes) interconnected through deductive relationships (representing throats). This vision can be exploited as a basis for employing traditional network modeling techniques in the automated search for new theorems as well as for automated proving of proposed theorems and conjectures. This deductive, deterministic and intuitive approach can replace some of the conventional approaches (which are generally more sophisticated and elaborate and hence they are more expensive) in certain areas of automated and assisted theorem proving in addition to its benefit in the automated search for novel theorems. However, we admit that it has a number of limitations and shortcomings although this similarly applies to other methods in this field; moreover some of these limitations and shortcomings can be overcome by the reformulation of certain theoretical structures where we rely for the viability of this reformulation on our perception of theoretical structures as elaborate high-level linguistic systems.

This paper presents a study in the field of automated compliance checking, concentrating on building code representations. A new model for representing building codes in computable form is developed for use in building automated compliance checking systems. The model adopts Nyman and Fenves’s four-level representation paradigm as a theoretical base and uses the semantic modeling approach of the SMARTcodes project for developing the building code representation. This hybrid model breaks down the representation into four levels which allows separate modeling of domain concepts, individual rule statements, relationships between rules, and the overall organization of the building code. The applicability of the model has been evaluated with a case study. The İzmir Municipality Housing and Zoning Code has been chosen as a document that represents a complex code document that is in effect throughout Turkey. The formalizable rules in this code have been modeled based on the new representati...

HAL is a multidisciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

This paper presents a formal method for the development of the domain ontology for different user profiles in the context of conformity checking in construction, which is developed to enrich our conformitychecking model. We start by describing our research domain: the conformity-checking in construction. Then we discuss some ontology-based approaches for formalising domain knowledge and particularly focus on methods for the ontology development for different user profiles. In order to efficiently adapt our conformity-checking ontology for different user profiles, we suggest a semantic approach for the improved development of the domain ontology that takes into account the domain knowledge. This semantic approach is based on three main ideas. First, we adapt the knowledge acquisition method developed for our conformity-checking model. Second, we integrate a method of the context modelling of the domain ontology applied by end users by integrating the results of the semantic search. Third, we develop an approach for the adaptation of the domain ontology for different user profiles. Finally, we describe a webbased prototype, the C3R (Conformity Checking in Construction: Reasoning) prototype that integrates our semantic method of the improved development of the domain ontology for different user profiles.

This work represents a general view on 'psychological computing which is a system of techniques deduced from computing in the philosophical domain containing concepts, methods, computing tools of psychology or neuroscience.. This aims to solve problems, from human behavior and adapted to the digital world while using applications in the field of digital technologies, design and evaluation techniques for human-computer interactions.

The measurement of the functional size of applications generated in MDA environments is a challenge for the software development industry. This paper presents the OO-Method COSMIC Function Points (OOmCFP), a measurement procedure that has been designed to measure the functional size of object-oriented applications generated from their conceptual models by means of model transformations.

La médecine, contrairement à d'autres disciplines scientifiques ne possède pas de vocabulaire unique standardisé. Il est opportun de mettre l'accent sur la diversité des termes médicaux dont la définition est rarement rigoureuse parfois même ambiguë. Une telle imprécision est pénalisante dès lors que l'on veut agréger les données médicales provenant de nombreux praticiens. Plus précisément, si on veut réunir des comptes rendus sur des images médicales. Dans cet article, nous dessinons les premiers traits d'un système d'annotation collaborative d'images médicales. Un projet, en cours d'élaboration, s'articulant autour de la représentation des connaissances en vue d'assister les praticiens à interpréter les images médicales.

The intention with this paper is to explore methods for increasing the number of regulatory statements that can be implemented into BIM-based model checking software in a valid and reliable way. The case is based on ISO 21542:2011 Building construction-Accessibility and usability of the built environment. The methodology is based on classification of the structure of regulatory statements into three main categories: Transcribe, Transform and Transfer. The criteria for each category are founded on the capacity to respectively establish a direct, indirect or non-existing link between the qualitative goal/intention in the regulatory statement and the discrete quantitative metric required in computable rules. The challenge is to the increase implementation of statements classified as transformed. These types of statements are frequently used in performance based regulations. An ontology based method called "Test Indicator Objectives" is developed for bridging the gap between qualitative and quantitative expressions. Used methods identify a significant increase in number implementable rules. The results also indicate that interpretative statements, e.g. in performance based regulations, can be implemented in automatic or semi-automatic BIM-based model checking software. Used methods support large scale converting of regulations into computable rules.

The mereotopology RT − has in Stonian p-ortholattices its algebraic counterpart. We study representability of these lattices and show that not all Stonian p-ortholattices can be represented by the set of regular sets of a topological space. We identify five conditions that hold in algebras of regular sets and which can be used to eliminate non-representable Stonian p-ortholattices. This shows not only that the original completeness theorem for RT − is incorrect, but is also an important step towards an algebraic representation (up to isomorphism) of the regular sets of topological spaces.

Small and medium-sized enterpises need support by processaware information systems (PAIS) that offer a high degree of flexiblity in workflow execution. Current agile workflow approaches lack acceptance as they introduce a significant overhead for workflow control. Therefore, we propose a new approach for flexible PAIS, based on workflow enactment flexibility by deviation. We enable the potential deviation of the factual workflow from the ideal workflow, while keeping track of the workflow execution. In this paper we describe the proposed SEMAFLEX architecture, which semantically integrates flexible workflow and knowledge-based document management, as well as selected use cases for illustrating the interrelationships among the architectural components.

Les outils d'aide à la décision se répandent dans des domaines de plus en plus nombreux. Dans quelle mesure pourrait-on substituer les décisions calculées par les algorithmes au jugement humain ? Selon l'auteur, les décisions humaines sont caractérisées par la prise en compte du contexte ; or, un algorithme doit par définition faire abstraction du contexte. Loin d'opposer décision calculée et jugement humain pour que la première dépasse et remplace avantageusement la seconde, l'auteur s'appuie sur la notion de « situation existentiale » et développe l'argument de la nécessaire contextualisation de la décision en jugement. Cette contextualisation ne peut être le fait que d'instances sensibles au contexte, à savoir les êtres humains. Un des enjeux primordiaux est de comprendre les simulations qui sous-tendent les décisions calculées.

L'IA est souvent présentée comme un modèle devenu un concurrent de l'intelligence humaine. Mais si on la caractérise qu'elle est une manière artificielle de résoudre des problèmes qui requièrent de la part des humains de l'intelligence, rien n'implique qu'il lui soit nécessaire de faire preuve d'intelligence. Dans cet article, nous abordons cette question à deux niveaux : à un niveau ontologique, la machine est-elle aussi intelligente que l'humain, ou l'humain aussi stupide qu'une machine ? à un niveau sociologique, la machine n'est-elle pas appelée à remplacer l'humain du fait de nos sociétés modernes dont la rationalité calculante confine les personnes à des tâches machinales et répétitives ? Nous argumentons que la machine reste ontologiquement stupide à la différence des êtres humains, les trois énigmes du brin d'herbe, de la caresse et du regard marquant un écart irréductible, mais que la véritable question est de savoir penser une société moderne misant sur l'intelligence humaine où la machine est son complément et non son concurrent.

L’IA est souvent présentée comme un modèle devenu un concurrent de l’intelligence humaine. Mais si on la caractérise qu’elle est une manière artificielle de résoudre des problèmes qui requièrent de la part des humains de l’intelligence, rien n’implique qu’il lui soit nécessaire de faire preuve d’intelligence. Dans cet article, nous abordons cette question à deux niveaux : à un niveau ontologique, la machine est-elle aussi intelligente que l’humain, ou l’humain aussi stupide qu’une machine ? à un niveau sociologique, la machine n’est-elle pas appelée à remplacer l’humain du fait de nos sociétés modernes dont la rationalité calculante confine les personnes à des tâches machinales et répétitives ? Nous argumentons que la machine reste ontologiquement stupide à la différence des êtres humains, les trois énigmes du brin d’herbe, de la caresse et du regard marquant un écart irréductible, mais que la véritable question est de savoir penser une société moderne misant sur l’intelligence huma...

This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R aimed to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project represented by RDF graph against a set of construction norms formalized as SPARQL queries. Our conformity-checking model has a two-level structure: the reasoning relies on matching of these queries and graphs and on expert rules guiding the checking process itself by optimal scheduling of matching procedures, according to semantic annotations of conformity queries, which integrate the meta-knowledge on the checking process (formalized with the help of CSTB experts). The reasoning results with a detailed (non)conformity report in terms of the Construction domain.

Computational creativity seeks to understand computational mechanisms that can be characterized as creative. The creation of new concepts is a central challenge for any creative system. In this article, we outline different approaches to computational concept creation and then review conceptual representations relevant to concept creation, and therefore to computational creativity. The conceptual representations are organized in accordance with two important perspectives on the distinctions between them. One distinction is between symbolic, spatial and connectionist representations. The other is between descriptive and procedural representations. Additionally, conceptual representations used in particular creative domains, such as language, music, image and emotion, are reviewed separately. For every representation reviewed, we cover the inference it affords, the computational means of building it, and its application in concept creation.

Computational creativity seeks to understand computational mechanisms that can be characterized as creative. The creation of new concepts is a central challenge for any creative system. In this article, we outline different approaches to computational concept creation and then review conceptual representations relevant to concept creation, and therefore to computational creativity. The conceptual representations are organized in accordance with two important perspectives on the distinctions between them. One distinction is between symbolic, spatial and connectionist representations. The other is between descriptive and procedural representations. Additionally, conceptual representations used in particular creative domains, such as language, music, image and emotion, are reviewed separately. For every representation reviewed, we cover the inference it affords, the computational means of building it, and its application in concept creation.

Small and medium-sized enterpises need support by processaware information systems (PAIS) that offer a high degree of flexiblity in workflow execution. Current agile workflow approaches lack acceptance as they introduce a significant overhead for workflow control. Therefore, we propose a new approach for flexible PAIS, based on workflow enactment flexibility by deviation. We enable the potential deviation of the factual workflow from the ideal workflow, while keeping track of the workflow execution. In this paper we describe the proposed SEMAFLEX architecture, which semantically integrates flexible workflow and knowledge-based document management, as well as selected use cases for illustrating the interrelationships among the architectural components.

This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R aimed to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project represented by RDF graph against a set of construction norms formalized as SPARQL queries. Our conformity-checking model has a two-level structure: the reasoning relies on matching of these queries and graphs and on expert rules guiding the checking process itself by optimal scheduling of matching procedures, according to semantic annotations of conformity queries, which integrate the meta-knowledge on the checking process (formalized with the help of CSTB experts). The reasoning results with a detailed (non)conformity report in terms of the Construction domain.

Two common challenges in the computer-aided compliance audit of building engineering designs are being addressed in the current research. The first is to ensure that any form of computable representation is practical and relatively easy to use and maintain. The second is to ensure that performance-based regulatory compliance criteria, which are often qualitative in nature, are adequately addressed and correctly represented. This research proposes a method of automating manual compliant design procedures using an open standard executable workflow representation that can be specified and maintained relatively easily by a design engineer. This executable workflow is referred to as the Compliant Design Procedure (CDP) and can be described graphically using a subset of the open standard Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN). When executed in a computing environment, a CDP can guide the compliance audit process by checking a given design represented in a model view or subset of the BIM model, referred to as the Building Compliance Model (BCM), against the criteria in a digital building code, referred to as the Regulatory Knowledge Model (RKM), which is developed specifically for this purpose. This paper describes the process of modelling and encoding BCM, CDP and RKM, which are independent input components of the proposed compliance audit system framework. Supplementary human input and the ability to exchange input and output data with external simulation tools to solve some of the more complex qualitative criteria are important features of the framework.

Since the early nineties, there have been major studies carried out to learn the behaviour and performance of composite structures exposed to fire. It is essential that structural members maintain their integrity and load bearing capacity under elevated temperature for an adequate duration to allow building occupants to escape and for any firefighting and rescue operation to take place safely. The recently published joint Australia/New Zealand Standard 2327:2017 incorporates a major section on the design and analysis of two-way composite steel-concrete floor systems for fire resistance. The input parameters required for the calculations include the building geometry and fenestration, design loading, and details of structural members. Conventionally, collating the data is a laborious, inefficient, and error-prone data gathering process that is undertaken manually from drawings and other paperbased documentation prior to the actual analysis. The uptake of ISO standard BIM (Building Information Modelling) has gained a rapid momentum in the industry in recent years. This means more and more architectural and engineering design information will become accessible for sharing with downstream design and analysis applications. This paper investigates what type of information is available from BIM that can be transferred to dedicated software tools for the analysis of composite structures. Additionally, the paper describes the potential application of an open standard legal knowledge model for sharing design parameters prescribed by normative standards. A worked example has been selected to illustrate the data exchange requirements and highlight challenges.

There has been an extensive amount of research conducted internationally over the last four decades in the area of automated and semi-automated regulatory compliance checking for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This paper summarises the earlier research initiatives, explores common themes and different approaches used, as well as comparing the strengths and limitations of a number of major code compliance checking tools. Some of these tools have been implemented commercially and others are beginning to be adopted or are in their final stages of development. The paper also examines how readily these tools can be applied in the context of a performance-based code as found in New Zealand. Due to a recent push for innovation and productivity improvement in the AEC industry, there is an increased uptake of building information modelling (BIM) and the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) open standard data model for interoperability. The availability of high performance personal computers, efficient web-based technology, and new initiatives in legal knowledge representation modelling should make the development of commercial compliance checking systems more viable than ever. However, the quest for an industry agreed unified approach seems to be far from over. Research is being conducted to develop a computer interpretable representation of New Zealand's performance-based codes using an open standard legal data exchange protocol. This is to be integrated into a web-based BIM compliance checking framework. The fire safety clauses of the New Zealand Building Code (NZBC) are used in the case study.

There has been significant research in the area of automated and semi-automated regulatory compliance checking in the AEC domain over the past four decades. In order to computerise the regulatory compliance checking process, we first need to have computer representations of both the building model and the regulations. We now have Building Information Modelling (BIM) as the industry standard representation for buildings, but the challenge remains to find an efficient and practical digital representation of the regulatory knowledge. One common approach to represent regulatory knowledge for architectural and building engineering designs is to extract rules from the regulatory texts, which has proven to be quite challenging to automate. However, a popular technique used in Business Process Management (BPM) could be adapted to facilitate the representation of regulatory knowledge in the AEC domain. Additionally, the legal domain has come up with some initiatives to provide a means to share digital legislative documents and regulatory structure, e.g. Cen MetaLex, LKIF, LegalRuleML, etc., which could be useful for exchanging compliance checking data in the AEC domain. This paper outlines a practical approach to represent regulatory knowledge in terms of industry's accepted compliant design procedures using a business process modelling technique with visual editing capabilities. The corresponding regulatory constraints, thresholds and conditional logic are treated as lookup data and rules, which could also be represented graphically. Each design procedure and its associated regulatory data would constitute the regulatory knowledge required for a particular type of design or compliance check. This paper also briefly outlines a compliance checking framework that could bring in any library of regulatory knowledge representations that are defined and maintained externally. Both the prescriptive and performance-based criteria of the New Zealand Building Code are being investigated.

There are two main purposes with the thesis; to develop a view of design in a concept formation framework and to develop a language that can be used to describe both the object of the design and the process of designing. The main benefit in using a language along the lines proposed in this thesis is that it would enable a far better use of automated tools in the design process. The unknown object at the outset of the design work may be seen as an unknown concept that the designer is to define. Throughout the process, she gradually develops a description of this object by relating it to known concepts, or things and characteristics. The search towards a complete definition stops when the designer is satisfied that the design specification is complete enough to satisfy the requirements from it once built. The complete design specification is then a collection of propositions that all contribute towards defining the design object - a collection of sentences describing relationships between the object and known concepts. Also, the design process itself may be described by relating known concepts - by organizing known abilities into particular patterns of activation, or mobilization. In view of the demands posed to a language to use in this concept formation process, the framework of a Design Process Language (DPL) is developed. The basis for the language are linguistic categories that act as classes of relations used to combine concepts. One of the main contributions from the DPL is that it contains relations used for describing process and object within the same general system, with some relations being process specific, others being object specific, and with the bulk being used both for process and object description. Another important outcome is the distinction of modal relations, or relations describing futurity, possibility, willingness, hypothetical events, and the like. The design process almost always includes aspects such as these, and it is thus necessary for a language facilitating design process description to support such relationships to be constructed. The DPL is argued to be a foundation whereupon to build a language that can be used for enabling computers to be more useful - act more intelligently - in the design process.

We discuss the stabilization properties of networks that are composed of "displacement elements". Each displacement element is defined by an integer K, called the displacement of the element, an input variable x, and an output variable y, where the values of x and y are non-negative integers. An execution step of this element assigns to y the maximum of 0 and K + x. The objective of our discussion is to demonstrate that two principles play an important role in ensuring that a network N is stabilizing, i.e. starting from any global state, network N is guaranteed to reach a global fixed point. The first principle, named consistent fixed points, states that if a variable is written by two subnetworks of N , then the values of this variable, when these two subnetworks reach fixed points, are equal. The second principle, named negative gain, states that the sum of displacements along every directed loop in network N is negative.

This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R aimed to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project represented by RDF graph against a set of construction norms formalized as SPARQL queries. Our conformity-checking model has a two-level structure: the reasoning relies on matching of these queries and graphs and on expert rules guiding the checking process itself by optimal scheduling of matching procedures, according to semantic annotations of conformity queries, which integrate the meta-knowledge on the checking process (formalized with the help of CSTB experts). The reasoning results with a detailed (non)conformity report in terms of the Construction domain.

This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R aimed to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project represented by RDF graph against a set of construction norms formalized as SPARQL queries. Our conformity-checking model has a two-level structure: the reasoning relies on matching of these queries and graphs and on expert rules guiding the checking process itself by optimal scheduling of matching procedures, according to semantic annotations of conformity queries, which integrate the meta-knowledge on the checking process (formalized with the help of CSTB experts). The reasoning results with a detailed (non)conformity report in terms of the Construction domain.

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This paper presents an ontological method and a corresponding system C3R aimed to semi-automatically check the conformity of a construction project represented by RDF graph against a set of construction norms formalized as SPARQL queries. Our conformity-checking model has a two-level structure: the reasoning relies on matching of these queries and graphs and on expert rules guiding the checking process itself by optimal scheduling of matching procedures, according to semantic annotations of conformity queries, which integrate the meta-knowledge on the checking process (formalized with the help of CSTB experts). The reasoning results with a detailed (non)conformity report in terms of the Construction domain.

Towards an Ontology-enabled Approach for Modeling the Process of Conformity Checking in Construction Anastasiya Yurchyshyna1, 2 Catherine Faron-Zucker1, Nhan Le Thanh1, Alain Zarli2 1 I3S, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, 930 route des Colles, BP 145, ...

Business process models have been used in a lot of enterprise applications. Along with their popularity, the problem of how to create them correctly in terms of semantics and syntax while effectively promoting the reuse of suitable parts of existing models is increasingly interest. This paper describes how to organize a knowledge base to facilitate the shareability and reusability of business workflow templates. We first introduce a repository consisting of business workflow templates which are well-checked at the syntactic and semantic level. An organizational mechanism for control flow-based business workflow templates is therefore provided to ensure an effective search of templates. We then propose a process for developing workflow templates. Thereby for each use case, users can select and modify suitable workflow templates from the knowledge base.

This paper presents a formal method for the development of the domain ontology for different user profiles in the context of conformity checking in construction, which is developed to enrich our conformitychecking model. We start by describing our research domain: the conformity-checking in construction. Then we discuss some ontology-based approaches for formalising domain knowledge and particularly focus on methods for the ontology development for different user profiles. In order to efficiently adapt our conformity-checking ontology for different user profiles, we suggest a semantic approach for the improved development of the domain ontology that takes into account the domain knowledge. This semantic approach is based on three main ideas. First, we adapt the knowledge acquisition method developed for our conformity-checking model. Second, we integrate a method of the context modelling of the domain ontology applied by end users by integrating the results of the semantic search. Third, we develop an approach for the adaptation of the domain ontology for different user profiles. Finally, we describe a webbased prototype, the C3R (Conformity Checking in Construction: Reasoning) prototype that integrates our semantic method of the improved development of the domain ontology for different user profiles.

Inductive reasoning is critical for ensuring reliability of computational descriptions, especially of algorithms defined on recursive data structures. Despite advances made in automating inductive reasoning, proof attempts by theorem provers frequently fail while performing inductive reasoning. A user of such a system must scrutinize a failed proof attempt and do intensive debugging to understand the cause of failure, and then provide additional information to make a failed proof attempt succeed. A method for predicting a priori failure of proof attempts by induction is proposed. It is based on analyzing the definitions of function symbols appearing in a conjecture. Further, failure analysis is shown to provide information that can be used to make those proof attempts succeed for valid conjectures. The failure of proof attempts could be because of a number of reasons even when a conjecture is believed to be valid. It might be that an induction scheme used in a proof attempt is not powerful enough to yield useful induction hypotheses which can be applied effectively. Or, even when induction hypotheses are applicable, the proof attempt might not succeed because of missing lemmas. A method for speculating intermediate lemmas which can make induction hypotheses applicable and/or lead to simplification obtaining validity is proposed. The analysis can be automated and is illustrated on several examples. A preliminary implementation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

La medecine, contrairement a d’autres disciplines scientifiques ne possede pas de vocabulaire unique standardise. Il est opportun de mettre l’accent sur la diversite des termes medicaux dont la definition est rarement rigoureuse parfois meme ambigue. Une telle imprecision est penalisante des lors que l’on veut agreger les donnees medicales provenant de nombreux praticiens. Plus precisement, si on veut reunir des comptes rendus sur des images medicales. Dans cet article, nous dessinons les premiers traits d’un systeme d’annotation collaborative d’images medicales. Un projet, en cours d’elaboration, s’articulant autour de la representation des connaissances en vue d’assister les praticiens a interpreter les images medicales.

La médecine, contrairement à d'autres disciplines scientifiques ne possède pas de vocabulaire unique standardisé. Il est opportun de mettre l'accent sur la diversité des termes médicaux dont la définition est rarement rigoureuse parfois même ambiguë. Une telle imprécision est pénalisante dès lors que l'on veut agréger les données médicales provenant de nombreux praticiens. Plus précisément, si on veut réunir des comptes rendus sur des images médicales. Dans cet article, nous dessinons les premiers traits d'un système d'annotation collaborative d'images médicales. Un projet, en cours d'élaboration, s'articulant autour de la représentation des connaissances en vue d'assister les praticiens à interpréter les images médicales.

This paper presents a method for the adaptation of domain ontologies to different contexts and user profiles. It is applied to the modeling of conformity checking in construction. Considering a method we have developed to acquire and represent the expert knowledge involved in the conformity checking process, we highlight the need to reduce the gap between the expert knowledge primary captured in the domain ontology and the end user knowledge. We propose a method to contextualize the ontological knowledge initially acquired and to adapt it to different user profiles.

Towards an Ontology-enabled Approach for Modeling the Process of Conformity Checking in Construction Anastasiya Yurchyshyna1, 2 Catherine Faron-Zucker1, Nhan Le Thanh1, Alain Zarli2 1 I3S, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis, CNRS, 930 route des Colles, BP 145, ...