ORDINARY USER NEEDS ON THE SEMANTIC WEB

ONTOLOGYAWARESOFTWARESERVICEAGENTS:MEETINGORDINARYUSERNEEDSONTHESEMANTICWEBbyMuhammedJ.Al-MuhammedAdissertationsubmittedtothefacultyofBrighamYoungUniversityinpartialful¯llmentoftherequirementsforthedegreeofDoctorofPhilosophyDepartmentofComputerScienceBrighamYoungUniversityDecember2007Copyrightc°2007MuhammedJ.Al-MuhammedAllRightsReservedBRIGHAMYOUNGUNIVERSITYGRADUATECOMMITTEEAPPROVALofadissertationsubmittedbyMuhammedJ.Al-MuhammedThisdissertationhasbeenreadbyeachmemberofthefollowinggraduatecommitteeandbymajorityvotehasbeenfoundtobesatisfactory.DateDavidW.Embley,ChairDateCharlesD.KnutsonDateMichaelA.GoodrichDateMarkJ.ClementDateBryanS.MorseBRIGHAMYOUNGUNIVERSITYAschairofthecandidate'sgraduatecommittee,IhavereadthedissertationofMuhammedJ.Al-Muhammedinits¯nalformandhavefoundthat(1)itsformat,citations,andbib-liographicalstyleareconsistentandacceptableandful¯lluniversityanddepartmentstylerequirements;(2)itsillustrativematerialsincluding¯gures,tables,andchartsareinplace;and(3)the¯nalmanuscriptissatisfactorytothegraduatecommitteeandisreadyforsubmissiontotheuniversitylibrary.DateDavidW.EmbleyChair,GraduateCommitteeAcceptedfortheDepartmentParrisK.EgbertGraduateCoordinatorAcceptedfortheCollegeThomasW.SederbergAssociateDean,CollegeofPhysicalandMathematicalSciencesABSTRACTONTOLOGYAWARESOFTWARESERVICEAGENTS:MEETINGORDINARYUSERNEEDSONTHESEMANTICWEBMuhammedJ.Al-MuhammedDepartmentofComputerScienceDoctorofPhilosophyToachievethedreamofthesemanticweb,itmustbepossibleforordinaryuserstoinvokeservices.Itisclearthatusersneedsimple-to-invoke-and-useservices.Thisdisser-tationo®ersanontologicalapproachtodeclarativelycreateservicesthatuserscaninvokeusingfree-form,natural-language-likespeci¯cations.Ourapproachusestaskontologiesasfoundationalknowledge.Ataskontologyconsistsofadomainontologyandaprocesson-tology.Thedomainontologyencodesdomaininformationsuchaspossibleconstraintsandinstancesintermsofobjectsets,relationshipsetsamongtheseobjectsets,andoperationsovervaluesinobjectsetsandrelationshipsets.Theprocessontologyconsistsofgenericprocessesthataredomainindependent|codedonceandworkforall.Oursystemrecog-nizestheconstraintsinaservicerequest,discoversanymissinginformationandobtainsitfromusers,andformalizestheconstraintsinthecontextofthedomainontology.Thesystemsatis¯estheconstraintsbyobtaininginformationfromdatabasesassociatedwiththedomainontologyandprovidinguserswithsolutionsornearsolutionswhenthereisnowaytosatisfyalltheconstraints.Ourexperimentswithourprototypeimplementationshowthatourapproachcancreateservicesthatsatisfyend-userneeds.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSManythankstomyGod;byhiswillingIachievedthisdissertation.IamverygratefultomyadvisorDr.DavidW.Embleyforhispatience,under-standing,andaboveallhistolerance.Iowehimalotandwillneverforgethispassionandguidance.IamverygratefultoDr.CharlesD.KnutsonandDr.MichaelA.Goodrichwhohelpedandencouragedmealotinmyresearch.IamalsoverygratefultoDr.MarkJ.ClementandDr.BryanS.Morsefortheirtimeandvaluablecomments.Godblessyouall.IamverygratefulforallthepeopleattheDepartmentofComputerSciencewhotaughtmeevenawordorhelpedmeinanyway.IamverygratefulforallthepeopleatBYUespeciallyDr.SandraRogerswhoissupportingmetosucceedandKateAndreasonforherhelp.IamalsogratefulforthegreatBYUenvironmentinwhichIhaveneverfeltthatIamawayfromhome.FinallyIamgratefulforNSFforpartiallysupportingthisresearchunderGrants0083127and0414644.MuhammedJ.Al-MuhammedBrighamYoungUniversityProvo,Utah84602USAContents1Introduction11.1RelatedWork...................................31.1.1Service-OrientedArchitecture......................31.1.2TaskOntologiesandWebServiceDerivation.............51.1.3PersonalSoftwareAgents........................61.2ThesisStatement.................................81.3DissertationContributions............................81.4DissertationOverview..............................92ConceptualModelBasedSemanticWebServices132.1Introduction....................................142.2RelatedWork...................................152.3TaskSpeci¯cation................................172.4TaskRecognition.................................172.4.1DomainOntology.............................172.4.2ProcessOntology.............................212.4.3TaskOntologyRecognition.......................232.5TaskExecution..................................252.5.1TaskViewCreation...........................252.5.2TaskConstraintCreation........................262.5.3ObtainingInformationfromtheSystem................292.5.4ObtainingInformationfromaUser...................302.5.5ConstraintSatisfactionandNegotiation................312.5.6ProcessFinalization...........................33vii2.6PrototypeImplementationStatusandFutureWork..............342.7ConcludingRemarks...............................353Ontology-BasedConstraintRecognitionforServiceRequests393.1Introduction....................................403.2DomainKnowledge................................423.2.1SemanticDataModel..........................433.2.2DataFrames...............................463.2.3ImpliedKnowledge............