We elaborate on the mathematical foundations of the meaning coordination problem that agents face in open environments. We investigate to which extend the Barwise-Seligman theory of information flow provides a faithful theoretical description of the partial semantic integration that two agents achieve as they progressively align their underlying ontologies through the sharing of tokens, such as instances. We also discuss the insights and practical implications of the Barwise-Seligman theory with respect to the general meaning coordination problem.

Abstract: Nowadays, enterprises are confronted to growing needs for traceability, product genealogy and product life cycle management. To meet those needs, the enterprise and applications in the enterprise environment have to manage flows of information that relate to flows of material and that are managed in shop floor level. Nevertheless, throughout product lifecycle coordination needs to be established between reality in the physical world (physical view) and the virtual world handled by manufacturing information systems (informational view). This paper presents the “Holon ” modelling concept as a means for the synchronisation of both physical view and informational views. Afterwards, we show how the concept of holon can play a major role in ensuring interoperability in the enterprise context. 1.

Abstract. We address the mathematical foundations of the ontology coordination problem and investigate to which extend the Barwise-Seligman theory of information flow may provide a faithful theoretical description of the problem. We give a formalisation of the coordination of populated ontologies based on instance exchange that captures progressive partial semantic integration. We also discuss the insights that the Barwise-Seligman theory provides to the general ontology coordination problem. 1

Abstract. Ontology alignment foundations are hard to find in the literature. The abstract nature of the topic and the diverse means of practice make it difficult to capture it in a universal formal foundation. We argue that such a lack of formality hinders further development and convergence of practices, and in particular, prevents us from achieving greater levels of automation. In this article we present a formal foundation for ontology alignment that is based on interaction models between heterogeneous agents on the Semantic Web. We use the mathematical notion of information flow in a distributed system to ground our three hypotheses of enabling semantic interoperability and we use a motivating example throughout the article: how to progressively align two ontologies of research quality assessment through meaning coordination. We conclude the article with the presentation—in an executable specification language—of such an ontology-alignment interaction model. 1.

Information integration is not a new problem.

Abstract. Developing decision support systems is a complex process. It involves stakeholders with diverging interpretations of the task and domain. In this paper, we propose to use ontology mapping to make a detailed analysis of the overlaps and differences between mental models of stakeholders. The technique is applied to an extensive case study about EU customs regulations. Companies which can demonstrate to be in ‘control ’ of the safety and security in the supply chain, may become ‘Authorized Economic Operator ’ (AEO), and avoid inspections by customs. We focus on a decision support tool, AEO Digiscan, developed to assist companies with an AEO self-assessment. We compared the mental models of customs officials, with mental models of the developers of the tool. The results highlight important differences in the interpretation of the new regulations, which will lead to adaptations of the tool.