Knowledge source network configuration approach to knowledge logistics

TLDR

Multidisciplinary real‑world problem solving requires intensive knowledge integration and exchange among global participants, leading to the emergence of knowledge logistics to manage distributed knowledge sources. The paper proposes the KSNet approach to create an intelligent support system for knowledge logistics through knowledge fusion. The KSNet approach employs ontology management, intelligent agents, a multi‑agent system based on the FIPA Reference Model, FIPA ontology for knowledge representation, and an object‑oriented constraint network paradigm for ontology representation. The key ideas of the KSNet approach were implemented and verified through a software prototype named “KSNet”. Keywords are knowledge fusion, ontology representation, intelligent agents, and KSNet‑approach, and the study was funded by EOARD, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, with editorial support from US AFOSR.

Abstract

Abstract Today multidisciplinary real-world problem solving requires an intensive knowledge integration and exchange between participants of the global information environment. Along with a large number of available distributed knowledge sources (KSs) this has led to the appearance of a new direction in knowledge management called knowledge logistics (KL). The paper describes a KSNet-approach, being developed to build an intelligent support system addressing problems of KL through knowledge fusion (KF). The approach is mainly based on such technologies as ontology management and intelligent agents. In the KSNet-approach, a multi-agent system architecture based on FIPA Reference Model was chosen as a technological basis for definition of agent properties and functions and FIPA ontology definition was used for knowledge representation. As a general model of ontology representation the object-oriented constraint network paradigm was proposed. The most important ideas of the proposed KSNet-approach were implemented and verified via a developed software prototype of the system "KSNet". Keywords: Knowledge fusion, ontology representation, intelligent agents, KSNet-approach Acknowledgements The paper is the result of research carried out as part of the Partner Project # 1993P funded by EOARD of the USAF, the project # 2.44 of the research program "Mathematical Modeling, Intelligent Systems and Nonlinear Mechanical Systems Control" of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the project funded by the grant # 02-01-00284 of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The authors are grateful to the US AFOSR for the editorial support provided.