Using explicit ontologies in KBS development

This article presents a number of ways in which ontologies-schematic descriptions of the contents of domain knowledge-can be constructed and can be used to improve the knowledge engineering process. The main message is that early in the knowledge engineering process an application-specific ontology should be constructed. To facilitate this, the article presents some principles for organizing a library of reusable ontological theories which can be configured into an application ontology. This application ontology is then exploited to organize the knowledge acquisition process and to support computational design. The process is illustrated with a knowledge engineering scenario in the domain of treating acute radiation syndrome.