Conceptual modeling with processes

Western philosophy of science has been heavily influenced by the idea that substantials are the main carriers of knowledge. Objects and their attributes and their relations to other objects dominate the world of knowledge representation. Processes play a subordinated role as they are merely seen as the things that create, change, or destroy objects. A recent study has shown that this view is dominant in modeling and simulation as well. The paper presents the (semi-) formal method developed in the doctoral study and its application to conceptual modeling techniques as they are taught in M&S education. The result shows that objects and relations are well captured, but that processes can be used as an alternative viewpoint as well. Using a process driven viewpoint opens new conceptual insights. We show that using the formal method allows to extend legacy conceptual methods to address these new aspects as well.

[1]  I. A. Richards,et al.  The Meaning of Meaning: a Study of the Influence of Language upon Thought and of the Science of Symbolism , 1923, Nature.

[2]  C. K. Ogden,et al.  The Meaning of Meaning , 1923 .

[3]  George H. Mealy,et al.  A method for synthesizing sequential circuits , 1955 .

[4]  Edward F. Moore,et al.  Gedanken-Experiments on Sequential Machines , 1956 .

[5]  C. A. Petri.  Communication with automata , 1966 .

[6]  E. F. Codd,et al.  Recent Investigations in Relational Data Base Systems , 1974, ACM Pacific.

[7]  Laurian M. Chirica,et al.  The entity-relationship model: toward a unified view of data , 1975, SIGF.

[8]  A. Whitehead.  Process and reality : an essay in cosmology , 1978 .

[9]  Averill M. Law,et al.  Simulation Modeling and Analysis , 1982 .

[10]  Jack P. C. Kleijnen,et al.  EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL , 1992 .

[11]  Gottlob Frege,et al.  Über Begriff und Gegenstand , 1994 .

[12]  G. Shields.  Process Metaphysics: An Introduction to Process Philosophy , 1996, Process Studies.

[13]  J. Banks,et al.  Handbook of Simulation , 1998 .

[14]  Balakrishnan Chandrasekaran,et al.  What are ontologies, and why do we need them? , 1999, IEEE Intell. Syst..

[15]  Asunción Gómez-Pérez,et al.  A Roadmap to Ontology Specification Languages , 2000, EKAW.

[16]  F. E.,et al.  A Relational Model of Data Large Shared Data Banks , 2000 .

[17]  Nicola Guarino,et al.  A Formal Ontology of Properties , 2000, EKAW.

[18]  E. J. Lowe,et al.  The Possibility of Metaphysics: Substance, Identity, and Time , 2001 .

[19]  Stuart C. Reviewer-Shapiro.  Review of Knowledge representation: logical, philosophical, and computational foundations by John F. Sowa. Brooks/Cole 2000. , 2001 .

[20]  Adam Pease,et al.  Towards a standard upper ontology , 2001, FOIS.

[21]  John F. Sowa,et al.  Knowledge representation: logical, philosophical, and computational foundations , 2000 .

[22]  Dov Dori,et al.  Object-Process Methodology , 2002, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[23]  A. Styhre.  How process philosophy can contribute to strategic management , 2002 .

[24]  G. Nerlich.  Four-Dimensionalism: An Ontology of Persistence and Time , 2003 .

[25]  Barry Smith,et al.  SNAP and SPAN: Towards Dynamic Spatial Ontology , 2004, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[26]  Barry Smith,et al.  The Cornucopia of Formal-Ontological Relations , 2005 .

[27]  Dov Dori,et al.  Analyzing Object-Oriented Design Patterns from an Object-Process Viewpoint , 2006, NGITS.

[28]  Osman Balci,et al.  Verification, Validation, and Testing , 2007 .

[29]  Stewart Robinson,et al.  Conceptual modelling for simulation Part I: definition and requirements , 2008, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[30]  Andreas Tolk,et al.  A Layered Approach to Composition and Interoperation in Complex Systems , 2009, Complex Systems in Knowledge-based Environments.

[31]  Robert Dennis King,et al.  On the role of assertions for conceptual modeling as enablers of composable simulation solutions , 2009 .

[32]  Gabriel A. Wainer,et al.  Discrete-Event Modeling and Simulation: A Practitioner's Approach , 2009 .

[33]  Lakhmi C. Jain,et al.  Complex Systems in Knowledge-based Environments: Theory, Models and Applications , 2009, Complex Systems in Knowledge-based Environments.

[34]  Matthew West.  Developing High Quality Data Models , 2011 .

[35]  Andreas Tolk,et al.  Understanding the elements of executable architectures through a multi-dimensional analysis framework , 2011 .

[36]  Andreas Tolk,et al.  Exploring the components of dynamic modeling techniques , 2012 .