DAML PI Meeting Status Briefing

Outline of Talk

	Ontologies
		DAML-S
		Resources
		Security
		Geographical Space
		Time
		The Structure of Information
	DAML Tools
		DAML+OIL Plug-in for Protégé
		OAA-DAML Bridge Agent
	Synergy:  AQUAINT

DAML-S

	Ontology of Services
	Collaboration:  BBN, CMU, Nokia, SRI, Stanford, Yale
	Achievements:
		Profile, Process Modeling, Grounding
		Ontologies of Time and Resources
		A Semantics for Process Models (Narayanan & McIlraith)
	Two Releases 2001
	Liaison with W3C Web Services Architecture Working Group
	Metric:  # Users  (so far, some explorations)

Ontology of Resources

	Collaborative work:  SRI, Nokia
	Key Ideas:
		Resources have an Allocation Type:
			Consumable:  consume, replenish
			Reusable:  lock, release
			Perishable:  rapid functional consumption + slow dysfunctional consumption
		Resources have Capacity:  discrete vs. continuous
		Relations between Allocation Type and Capacity.
		Aggregate Resources:  conjunctive, disjunctive
	Metric:  # Users

Resource Specs in Query

	Query (DAML-Q expression, Resources),
	Monotonic Negation as failure:       CantFind(DAML expression, Resources)
	where Resources can be
		server(s)
		knowledge base(s)
		time
		steps in proof
		constraints on set of web resources

A Security Ontology

	Vital for the success of the Semantic Web
	Key Areas:
		Access Control
			based on authentication using credentials
			credentials are name-passphrase, public/private keys, certificates
			specialization: X509Certificate
				tapping into XML Signature specification
		Data Integrity
			Content of the web page should be what the purported author of the web page intended to state
			Two kinds of faults: (I) inadvertent (system faults) or (II) deliberate (malicious attacker) alterations
			Techniques for data integrity: (I) checksum and (II) message authentication codes or digital signatures
			specialization: XML Signature

A Security Ontology

	Use of security ontology:
		Services annotate their security policies
		Software agents match user policies against service policies.
		Policy negotiation between services and agents
	Future work:
		constructs to express basic security policies
		trust logic that will enable reasoning about trust among agents and web services
		Implement reasoning about DAML security annotations and trust logic
	Metrics:  # Collaborators;  # Users

Ontology of
Geographical Space

	Hierarchical naming structure for places
	Use of Alexandrian Digital Library Gazetteer (lat/longs, bounding boxes)
	Use of DAML-ized CIA Factbook (Mike Dean, BBN)
	RCC8 Package implemented in SNARK (topological spatial relations)
	Goal:  Use in Foreign Clearance Guide and DAML Experiment applications
	Metric:  Challenge Problems

Time Ontology

	Several time ontologies being developed
	Goal:  DAML-Time coalition similar to DAML-S coalition
	Key ideas:
		Topological temporal relations (now in DAML-S):
			Intervals, Instants
			start-of, end-of, before, at-time, during
		Measures of durations
		Clock and calendar
	Metrics: Time to Convergence,  # Users

The Structure of Information

	Often the best answer is a picture or a diagram; we are very bad at retrieving these.
	Similar to but not same as
		Syntax-semantics, semiotics
		Cyc's information-bearing things
		Tagging of multimedia
		What else?
	Key ideas:
		Reference of atomic elements in symbol systems
		Rules of combination (e.g., syntax of diagrams, documents)
		Compositional semantics for composite elements in symbol systems (e.g., answer questions about process from diagrams)
		Coreference relations among disparate parts (e.g., pictures to text)
	Goals:  Coherent picture of domain; starter ontology

Slide 11

The Structure of Information

	Often the best answer is a picture or a diagram; we are very bad at retrieving these.
	Similar to but not same as
		Syntax-semantics, semiotics
		Cyc's information-bearing things
		Tagging of multimedia
		What else?
	Key ideas:
		Reference of atomic elements in symbol systems
		Rules of combination (e.g., syntax of diagrams, documents)
		Compositional semantics for composite elements in symbol systems (e.g., answer questions about process from diagrams)
		Coreference relations among disparate parts (e.g., pictures to text)
	Goals:  Coherent picture of domain; starter ontology

Slide 13

Outline of Talk

	Ontologies
		DAML-S
		Resources
		Security
		Geographical Space
		Time
		The Structure of Information
	DAML Tools
		DAML+OIL Plug-in for Protégé
		OAA-DAML Bridge Agent
	Synergy:  AQUAINT

DAML+OIL Plug-in for Protégé

	Why Protégé?
		integrated knowledge-base editing environment
		extensible architecture for the creation of customized knowledge-based tools
		user-friendly and adaptable graphical interface
		open-source license
		good developer support
		wide acceptance among knowledge engineers in research and practice

Slide 16

DAML+OIL Plug-in GUI

State of Implementation

	Translates DAML+OIL into Protégé
		minor changes necessary
	Exporting DAML+OIL from Protégé
		missing: DAML:collection, instances, logicalDefinitions
	Metric:  Speed-Up,  # Users

DAML-OAA Bridge Agent

	Open Agent Architecture (OAA):
		Agent-based system framework developed at SRI
		Used in dozens of applications
		Facilitator agent delegates requests to most appropriate providers, based on capability declarations
	DAML->OAA Bridge Agent:
		Automatically wraps DAML document as OAA agent
		Creates capability declarations corresponding to classes and properties
		Allows access via OAA to ontologies and instances expressed in DAML
		Enables integrated use of OAA agents and DAML-enabled sites
		Provides limited Prolog-like query language for DAML
	Possible Future Work:  OAA->DAML Bridge Agent
	Demo today; release soon

Slide 20

Synergy: AQUAINT

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DAML PI Meeting Status Briefing