Multi-Ontologies meet UML: Improving the Software Engineering of Multi-Agent Systems. Multi-agent systems are a new style of software well suited for open, dynamic, distributed, global, heterogeneous environments such as the Internet. Systematic methods are needed to allow multi-agent systems to reason effectively with high level knowledge. This research draws on software engineering practice to develop a theory and methodology for multi-ontologies for expressing knowledge within multi-agent sys ....Multi-Ontologies meet UML: Improving the Software Engineering of Multi-Agent Systems. Multi-agent systems are a new style of software well suited for open, dynamic, distributed, global, heterogeneous environments such as the Internet. Systematic methods are needed to allow multi-agent systems to reason effectively with high level knowledge. This research draws on software engineering practice to develop a theory and methodology for multi-ontologies for expressing knowledge within multi-agent systems that facilitate adaptation and change.
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Optimizing steel industry supply chains through constraint and market-oriented programming. Supply chain optimization is a difficult problem, but of considerable significance to business enterprises. Constraint programming technology is a promising approach to solving such problems, but is inadequate in the context of dynamic supply chains. Market-oriented programming solves resource allocation problems by setting up artificial computational economies of trading software agents and holds promise ....Optimizing steel industry supply chains through constraint and market-oriented programming. Supply chain optimization is a difficult problem, but of considerable significance to business enterprises. Constraint programming technology is a promising approach to solving such problems, but is inadequate in the context of dynamic supply chains. Market-oriented programming solves resource allocation problems by setting up artificial computational economies of trading software agents and holds promise both as an optimization tool and as a tool that supports explicit market negotiation. This project seeks to address several open questions relating to the integrated deployment of these two classes of techniques, in the context of building a practical supply chain optimization system for BHP Steel.Read moreRead less
Intelligent Structured Knowledge Source Integration via Software Agents. This project aims to use flexible information agents to integrate the World Wide Web with a machine readable ontology, namely a large, consistent collection of common sense knowledge. The best developed ontology in the world is Cyc. Cyc's repository of general purpose knowledge is rich and stable, but has a major limitation in requiring its knowledge to be hand-entered by experts. The outcomes of the project will be increas ....Intelligent Structured Knowledge Source Integration via Software Agents. This project aims to use flexible information agents to integrate the World Wide Web with a machine readable ontology, namely a large, consistent collection of common sense knowledge. The best developed ontology in the world is Cyc. Cyc's repository of general purpose knowledge is rich and stable, but has a major limitation in requiring its knowledge to be hand-entered by experts. The outcomes of the project will be increased functionality for ontologies, to enable expert reasoning programs wishing to use a formal ontology such as Cyc to have access to the wealth of knowledge on the World Wide Web.Read moreRead less
Integrated constraint-based planning and scheduling. Constraint programming is a relatively new technology based on artificial intellgence techniques that is becoming a popular tool for developing industrial optimisation solutions. While constraint programming has been used extensively for solving industrial scheduling problems, very little has been done in developing constraint-based integrated producting planning and scheduling systems. The size and complexity of typical production planning a ....Integrated constraint-based planning and scheduling. Constraint programming is a relatively new technology based on artificial intellgence techniques that is becoming a popular tool for developing industrial optimisation solutions. While constraint programming has been used extensively for solving industrial scheduling problems, very little has been done in developing constraint-based integrated producting planning and scheduling systems. The size and complexity of typical production planning and scheduling problems requires the innovative use of the latest developments in constraint programming technology, together with a variety of other artificial intelligence techniques. This project seeks to develop and implement a new conceptual framework for integrated constraint-based planning and scheduling, using BHP Steel as a test - bed.Read moreRead less
Learning Medical Image Knowledge. We aim to develop Machine Learning and Knowledge Acquisition techniques for automated recognition of features in medical images, and to provide decision support for diagnosis from medical images. The project is innovative in its use of layered learning, where the computer first learns to recognise low-level image features that are then used to learn more complex features. The project is also innovative in combining a variety of automatic learning methods, includ ....Learning Medical Image Knowledge. We aim to develop Machine Learning and Knowledge Acquisition techniques for automated recognition of features in medical images, and to provide decision support for diagnosis from medical images. The project is innovative in its use of layered learning, where the computer first learns to recognise low-level image features that are then used to learn more complex features. The project is also innovative in combining a variety of automatic learning methods, including relational learning, with human-assisted knowledge acquisition methods. The expected outcomes will be new techniques for image understanding, particularly for our test domain, namely, High Resolution Computed Tomography scans of the lung.Read moreRead less
A more intelligent knowledge-based system apprentice. Our previous techniques already had an impact on Australian industry, with five Australian companies marketing such technology, and for three of these it is a central technology. We expect an early uptake of the enhancements we propose by these companies, greatly increasing their international competitiveness against other rule technologies. Three of these companies are very recent, so we would expect other company uptake of the new enhance ....A more intelligent knowledge-based system apprentice. Our previous techniques already had an impact on Australian industry, with five Australian companies marketing such technology, and for three of these it is a central technology. We expect an early uptake of the enhancements we propose by these companies, greatly increasing their international competitiveness against other rule technologies. Three of these companies are very recent, so we would expect other company uptake of the new enhanced technology. In turn Australian companies using the technology will improve their competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-based economy by being able to more rapidly and easily deploy knowledge-based systems. Our previous techniques have already had a significant impact in medical practice.Read moreRead less
Advanced Bayesian Networks for Epidemiology. We will demonstrate the potential of advanced Artificial Intelligence for medical informatics by extending the capabilities of Bayesian Networks. Bayesian Networks excel when researchers need to combine causal and diagnostic reasoning in areas characterised by uncertainty. But they have one flaw which hinders their use: they do not yet easily mix continuous and discrete variables. We will extend them to handle such mixes, then demonstrate how much the ....Advanced Bayesian Networks for Epidemiology. We will demonstrate the potential of advanced Artificial Intelligence for medical informatics by extending the capabilities of Bayesian Networks. Bayesian Networks excel when researchers need to combine causal and diagnostic reasoning in areas characterised by uncertainty. But they have one flaw which hinders their use: they do not yet easily mix continuous and discrete variables. We will extend them to handle such mixes, then demonstrate how much they can improve on current methods for predicting, among other things, coronary heart disease (CHD).Read moreRead less
Feature Detection and Computer-aided Diagnosis with Longitudinal Tracking of Benign Asbestos-Related Pleural Disease in CT images. This project seeks to develop smart and novel feature extraction and knowledge acquisition techniques to assist radiologists in automated diagnosis and assessment of lung diseases. These outcomes will lead to improved delivery of health services in Australia, including in rural regions. They will lead to more accurate assessment of asbestos related pleural diseases f ....Feature Detection and Computer-aided Diagnosis with Longitudinal Tracking of Benign Asbestos-Related Pleural Disease in CT images. This project seeks to develop smart and novel feature extraction and knowledge acquisition techniques to assist radiologists in automated diagnosis and assessment of lung diseases. These outcomes will lead to improved delivery of health services in Australia, including in rural regions. They will lead to more accurate assessment of asbestos related pleural diseases for compensation and treatment and better followup, leading to earlier treatment and better quality of life for patients suffering from lung diseases. The project will also save costs due to automated assessment as well as the potential for fewer patient scans.Read moreRead less
A generic decision-making design environment to enable end users in rural industries to develop expert systems. Successful decision support systems developed by end-users has been limited: our proposed approach advances this capability. Using natural representations of industry knowledge, this project will specify a generic design environment in which industry end-users can develop relevant decision support systems. It extends expert systems technologies to overcome known limitations, increasin ....A generic decision-making design environment to enable end users in rural industries to develop expert systems. Successful decision support systems developed by end-users has been limited: our proposed approach advances this capability. Using natural representations of industry knowledge, this project will specify a generic design environment in which industry end-users can develop relevant decision support systems. It extends expert systems technologies to overcome known limitations, increasing context and relevance and encouraging user uptake. Key industry stakeholders will select relevant problems to identify decision categories, leading to specification of the generic design environment. This promises improved decision quality for dairy farmers in the recently deregulated dairy industry; the design environment will be transferable to other rural industries.Read moreRead less
Model checking Multi-Agent System and its applications. This research project directly addresses two of the Australian Government's four National Research Priorities: National Research Priorities 3 and 4. It will develop an enabling technology that is applicable to the development of safety-intensive and highly dependable software systems like medical equipment and airport controlling systems. The security protocol analysis technologies developed by this project can be useful for providing impro ....Model checking Multi-Agent System and its applications. This research project directly addresses two of the Australian Government's four National Research Priorities: National Research Priorities 3 and 4. It will develop an enabling technology that is applicable to the development of safety-intensive and highly dependable software systems like medical equipment and airport controlling systems. The security protocol analysis technologies developed by this project can be useful for providing improved ways of military operation flows, and for making Australian security communication systems more dependable.Read moreRead less