Exploration tools in formal concept analysis

The development of conceptual knowledge systems specifically requests knowledge acquisition tools within the framework of formal concept analysis. In this paper, the existing tools are presented, and furhter developments are discussed.

Conceptual structures represented by conceptual graphs and formal concept analysis

Conceptual Graphs and Formal Concept Analysis have in common basic concerns: the focus on conceptual structures, the use of diagrams for supporting communication, the orientation by Peirce's Pragmatism, and the aim of representing and processing knowledge. These concerns open rich possibilities of interplay and integration. We discuss the philosophical foundations of both disciplines, and analyze their specific qualities. Based on this analysis, we discuss some possible approaches of interplay and integration.

Intelligent structuring and reducing of association rules with formal concept analysis

Association rules are used to investigate large databases. The analyst is usually confronted with large lists of such rules and has to find the most relevant ones for his purpose. Based on results about knowledge representation within the theoretical framework of Formal Concept Analysis, we present relatively small bases for association rules from which all rules can be deduced. We also provide algorithms for their calculation.

Efficient data mining based on formal concept analysis

Formal Concept Analysis is an unsupervised learning technique for conceptual clustering. We introduce the notion of iceberg concept lattices and show their use in Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD). Iceberg lattices are designed for analyzing very large databases. In particular they serve as a condensed representation of frequent patterns as known from association rule mining. In order to show the interplay between Formal Concept Analysis and association rule mining, we discuss the algorithm TITANIC. We show that iceberg concept lattices are a starting point for computing condensed sets of association rules without loss of information, and are a visualization method for the resulting rules.

Conceptual knowledge processing with formal concept analysis and ontologies

Among many other knowledge representations formalisms, Ontologies and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) aim at modeling ‘concepts’. We discuss how these two formalisms may complement another from an application point of view. In particular, we will see how FCA can be used to support Ontology Engineering, and how ontologies can be exploited in FCA applications. The interplay of FCA and ontologies is studied along the life cycle of an ontology: (i) FCA can support the building of the ontology as a learning technique. (ii) The established ontology can be analyzed and navigated by using techniques of FCA. (iii) Last but not least, the ontology may be used to improve an FCA application.

Ontology merging with formal concept analysis

Ontologies have been established for knowledge sharing and are widely used as a means for conceptually structuring domains of interest. With the growing usage of ontologies, the problem of overlapping knowledge in a common domain becomes critical. In this short paper, we address two methods for merging ontologies based on Formal Concept Analysis: FCA-Merge and ONTEX. --- FCA-Merge is a method for merging ontologies following a bottom-up approach which offers a structural description of the merging process. The method is guided by application-specific instances of the given source ontologies. We apply techniques from natural language processing and formal concept analysis to derive a lattice of concepts as a structural result of FCA-Merge. The generated result is then explored and transformed into the merged ontology with human interaction. --- ONTEX is a method for systematically structuring the top-down level of ontologies. It is based on an interactive, top-down- knowledge acquisition process, which assures that the knowledge engineer considers all possible cases while avoiding redundant acquisition. The method is suited especially for creating/merging the top part(s) of the ontologies, where high accuracy is required, and for supporting the merging of two (or more) ontologies on that level.

Efficient mining of association rules based on formal concept analysis

Association rules are a popular knowledge discovery technique for warehouse basket analysis. They indicate which items of the warehouse are frequently bought together. The problem of association rule mining has first been stated in 1993. Five years later, several research groups discovered that this problem has a strong connection to Formal Concept Analysis (FCA). In this survey, we will first introduce some basic ideas of this connection along a specific algorithm, TITANIC, and show how FCA helps in reducing the number of resulting rules without loss of information, before giving a general overview over the history and state of the art of applying FCA for association rule mining.

Algorithmic Computation of Formal Fourier Series

KAAD (Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst)

Formal Multilevel Hierarchical Verification of Synchronous MOS Circuits

I have designed and implemented a system for the multilevel verification of synchronous MOS VLSI circuits. The system, called Silica Pithecus, accepts the schematic of an MOS circuit and a specification of the circuit's intended digital behavior. Silica Pithecus determines if the circuit meets its specification. If the circuit fails to meet its specification Silica Pithecus returns to the designer the reason for the failure. Unlike earlier verifiers which modelled primitives (e.g., transistors) as unidirectional digital devices, Silica Pithecus models primitives more realistically. Transistors are modelled as bidirectional devices of varying resistances, and nodes are modelled as capacitors. Silica Pithecus operates hierarchically, interactively, and incrementally. Major contributions of this research include a formal understanding of the relationship between different behavioral descriptions (e.g., signal, boolean, and arithmetic descriptions) of the same device, and a formalization of the relationship between the structure, behavior, and context of device. Given these formal structures my methods find sufficient conditions on the inputs of circuits which guarantee the correct operation of the circuit in the desired descriptive domain. These methods are algorithmic and complete. They also handle complex phenomena such as races and charge sharing. Informal notions such as races and hazards are shown to be derivable from the correctness conditions used by my methods.

Familia y educación formal : implicación de la familia en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje.

Examinar la importancia que concede la familia, padres e hijos, a la Educación Formal. Para ello analiza la implicación de los padres en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los hijos explorando su conducta en algunas variables de proceso familiar relativas al estudio y sondea, al mismo tiempo, la conducta que los hijos esperan de ellos. Pretende identificar aspectos de proceso familiar relativos al estudio donde padres e hijos muestren concordancia y discrepancia. Alumnos de séptimo de EGB y sus padres de 4 centros públicos de Oviedo, de dos zonas diferenciadas de la ciudad, elegidos dentro de cada zona según la posibilidad de acceso a los mismos, por lo que la muestra no es aleatoria. El número de alumnos fue el de dos aulas pero no siempre fueron los mismos sujetos en las tres aplicaciones del cuestionario. Variables procesuales (intereses, comportamientos) y evaluativas-perceptivas (actitudes, expectativas, percepciones) relativas al estudio, examinadas en padres y en hijos que, en conjunto, informan sobre las formas de implicación de los padres en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de los hijos y las formas de implicación de los padres esperadas por los hijos en dicho proceso. Variables de clasificación de dos tipos: estructurales como el nivel de estudios de los padres y de producto como el rendimiento escolar. Cuestionario ad hoc y entrevistas semiestructuradas a padres, con preguntas sobre intereses, actitudes, opiniones y expectativas. Los padres mantienen un nivel de implicación considerable sobre todo en las cuestiones referidas a actitudes, comportamiento que es esperado por los hijos. No todos los hijos esperan que sus padres se impliquen en aspectos de tipo afectivo y material del modo tan frencuente en que los hacen. A pesar de la coincidencia entre ellos, hay variables en las que los hijos esperan mayor implicación que el mostrado por sus padres como en aspectos relacionales, control del estudio diario, etc. La tipología de las variables relevantes en ambos colectivos, los aspectos intelectuales-culturales, cognitivo-perceptivos y de estatus son los mas asociados al rendimiento escolar. Padres e hijos conceden un gran valor a la educación formal. Ello lleva a los padres a implicarse en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje y a los hijos a demandar esa implicación. Las formas de implicación suelen ser comunes entre padres e hijos por lo que se podría hablar de pautas de conducta configuradas en un contexto social, e incluso de pautas de conducta familiar. A la vista de los resultados se ofrece una serie de orientaciones y prácticas educativas que pueden ser relevantes para profesores, padres o alumnos.

Material didáctico de educación ambiental no formal para el programa “yo, sí puedo cuidar el ambiente”, en Nicaragua

El presente trabajo ha consistido en elaborar el material didáctico para la educación ambiental no formal de los ciudadanos de Nicaragua, con nivel escolar equivalente a sexto grado. Este material en un futuro cercano será la base del programa de alfabetización ambiental “Yo, Sí Puedo Cuidar el Ambiente”,coordinado por la “Red Universitaria Yo, Sí Puedo” en distintas partes de Nicaragua. El resultado del proyecto es una cartilla destinada al alumno y una Guía Metodológica para el educador. Para la realización de este proyecto ha sido necesaria una estancia de tres meses y medio para la recopilación de información y la elaboración de material didáctico. El principal objetivo del material elaborado es contribuir en la sensibilización y la formación de valotres ambientales de los participantes, mejorando asi su calidad de vida y su entorno

How to improve the formal analytic reasoning and scientific motivation in the intellectual training of medical students

A review article of the The New England Journal of Medicine refers that almost a century ago, Abraham Flexner, a research scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, undertook an assessment of medical education in 155 medical schools in operation in the United States and Canada. Flexner’s report emphasized the nonscientific approach of American medical schools to preparation for the profession, which contrasted with the university-based system of medical education in Germany. At the core of Flexner’s view was the notion that formal analytic reasoning, the kind of thinking integral to the natural sciences, should hold pride of place in the intellectual training of physicians. This idea was pioneered at Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania in the 1880s, but was most fully expressed in the educational program at Johns Hopkins University, which Flexner regarded as the ideal for medical education. (...)

Educaci??n formal, no formal e informal en el Espacio Europeo : nuevas exigencias para los procesos de formaci??n en educaci??n

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n