Final Technical Report
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- 4. Ontology
- 5. I-X Process Panels and Related Tools
3. I-X ApproachThe I-X approach involves the use of shared models for task-directed cooperation between human and computer agents who are jointly exploring (via some predefined or dynamically created processes) a range of alternative options for the synthesis of one or more artifacts such as a design or a plan (termed a product). 
Figure 1: 2 Cycles of I-X Processing An I-X system or agent has two cycles (as shown in the figure above which shows an abstract or algorithmic view):
An I-X system or agent carries out a (perhaps dynamically determined) process that leads to the production of (one or more alternative options for) a synthesised artifact. An I-X system or agent views the synthesised artifact as being represented by a set of constraints on the space of all possible artifacts in the domain. 
Figure 2: I-X System Architecture I-X also involves a modular systems integration architecture (as shown in the figure above) that strongly parallels and supports the abstract view described. This is basically a Model – Viewer – Controller style of architecture. Plug-in components for Issue handlers, Constraint manager, I/O Handlers and Viewers allow for specific I-X systems to be created using this abstract architecture.
The I-X Intelligent Systems Technology approach uses the core notion of the representation of a process or product as a set of nodes making up the components of the process or product model, along with constraints on the relationship between those nodes, a set of outstanding issues and related annotations- The work involves the investigation of the use of shared models for task-directed communication between human and computer agents who are jointly exploring a range of alternative options for activity. Six concepts are being used as the basis for exploring task-orientated multi-agent and mixed-initiative work involving users and systems. Together these provide for a shared model of what each agent can and is authorised to do and what those agents can act upon. The concepts are:
In particular, this work carries forward the development of a strong systematic ontology to underpin the models of processes and activity - including continuing to engage in and promote its use as a basis for standards. The work draws on the initial efforts to create an ontology suitable for the conceptual description of all aspects of an organisation - the Enterprise Ontology and on the development of the The issues in the specifications state the outstanding items to be handled and can represent unsatisfied objectives, problems which analysis has shown need to be addressed, etc. The I constraints can be thought of as implying further constraints which may have to be added into the design in future in order to address the outstanding issues. The nodes in the specifications describe components that are to be included in the design. Nodes can themselves be artifacts that can have their own structure with sub-nodes and other The constraints restrict the relationships between the nodes to describe only those artifacts within the design space that meet the requirements. The constraints are split into "critical constraints" and "auxiliary constraints" depending on whether some constraint managers (solvers) can return them as "maybe" answers to indicate that the constraint being added to the model is okay so long as other critical constraints are imposed by other constraint managers. The maybe answer is returned as a disjunction of conjunctions of such critical or shared constraints. The annotations add additional human-centric information or design and decision rationale to the information describing the artifact. The choice of which constraints are considered critical and which are considered as auxiliary is itself a decision for an application of I-X and specific decisions on how to split the management of constraints within such and application. It is not pre-determined for all applications. A temporal activity-based planner would normally have objects/variable constraints (equality and inequality of objects) and some temporal constraints (maybe just the simple before{time-point1, time-point-2} constraint) as the critical constraints. But, in a 3D design or a configuration application object/variable and some other critical constraints (possibly spatial constraints) might be chosen. It depends on the nature of what is communicated between constraint managers in the application of the architecture. 5. I-X Process Panels and Related ToolsThe aim of an I-X Process Panel (I-P2) is to act as an intelligent workflow support, reporting and messaging “catch all” for its user. It can act in conjunction with other panels for other users if desired.
Figure 3: Anatomy of I-X Process Panels An I-X Process Panel supports a user or collaborative users in selecting and carrying out "processes" and creating or modifying "process products". Both processes and process products are abstractly considered to be made up of a set of “Issues” which are associated with the processes or process products to represent unsatisfied requirements, problems raised as a result of analysis or critiquing, etc. They are mainly composed of “Nodes” (activities in a process, or parts of a process product) which may have parts called sub-nodes making up a hierarchical description of the process or product. The nodes are related by a set of detailed “Constraints” of various kinds. Finally there can be “Annotations” related to the processes or products which provide rationale, information and other useful descriptions. Processes and process products in
Figure 4: I-X Process Panels An I-X Process Panel contains a number of sub-panels that describe:
The panel supports it’s user in handling issues, deciding on a course of action and performing activities, and maintaining awareness of the current state, constraints, process products, etc. Entries on panels can be expanded using information provided in the domain model or process library used by a panel, or the entries can be passed between panels. Various operations can be performed on I-P2 panel entries. These include, where relevant, the ability to pop-up a window with more details and annotations for the entry (say an activity or an issue), or to expand or contract the display of some levels of hierarchically specified activities, to send information about the entry to the Messenger tool for sending on to others (perhaps in a modified form), etc. 
Figure 5: I-P2 Main Window and Tools A “tools” menu is available to make accessible the following:
The process descriptions used by I-X Process Panels are kept in a domain library. This can be loaded when a panel is started, and can be added to dynamically by a user of a panel. 
Figure 6: I-DE Domain Editor The domain and process editor allows for multiple perspectives and views to be used to create rich process models. The domain editor provides both simple “minimal” views suitable for normal users of process panels and a “comprehensive” view that allows an advanced user to specify more complex temporal and world-state (condition/effect) constraints. Other constraints, like spatial ones or constraints on resources, can also be specified using the advanced view. A graphical view provides an alternative view to the form-based views. The graphical view illustrates precedence relationships between the sub-steps of a process. This view can also be used to specify task breakdown structures via the expansion of nodes in the graph. In the advanced view, a tabbed option is available to allow access to related information about a domain model. The minimal, comprehensive and graphical views are all available via the Activities tab. Also available is a “Grammar” tab to view further details of the patterns used in describing issues, activities and constraints. 
Figure 7: I-X Intelligent Messaging Tool The I-X Messenger tool is used to compose and send structured task-related messages to other panels and agents. It also shows any “chat” or free-format messages received form other agents (in the Transcript window). You can send messages to your own panel (“me”) and there is a simple group sending facility (which will be expanded in future releases). 
Figure 8: I-Space Panel/Agent Relationship Management Tool The I-Space tool allows for the management of the organisational relationships of the current panel (referred to as “me”) to other panels, agents and external services. New agent names can be added. Existing agents or panels can have their relationship altered. Directory: project -> documents project -> Terminal Decision Support Tool Systems Engineering Graduate Capstone Course Aiman Al Gingihy Danielle Murray Sara Ataya project -> Rajinder Sachar Committee project -> Cape Lookout National Seashore Historic Resource Study By project -> Cape Lookout National Seashore Historic Resource Study By project -> Chesterfield fire department response to severe storm emergencies executive analysis of fire department operations in emergency management project -> Revolutionizing Climate Modeling – Project Athena: a multi-Institutional, International Collaboration project -> What is a Hurricane? project -> Southampton Station History and Significance History Newtown Branch documents -> Atlantic Region Climate Change Conference Sept. 14 -16, 2010 documents -> Dense Traffic these documents, drawings and specifications are the property of roadeye flr general partnership, and shall not be reproduced or used without written permission from roadeye flr general partnership. RoadEye Download 0.55 Mb. Share with your friends:
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