Developing Ontological Model of Computational Linear Algebra - Preliminary Considerations

The aim of this paper is to propose a method for application of ontologically represented domain knowledge to support Grid users. The work is presented in the context provided by the Agents in Grid system, which aims at development of an agent-semantic infrastructure for efficient resource management in the Grid. Decision support within the system should provide functionality beyond the existing Grid middleware, specifically, help the user to choose optimal algorithm and/or resource to solve a problem from a given domain. The system assists the user in at least two situations. First, for users without in-depth knowledge about the domain, it should help them to select the method and the resource that (together) would best fit the problem to be solved (and match the available resources). Second, if the user explicitly indicates the method and the resource configuration, it should "verify" if her choice is consistent with the expert recommendations (encapsulated in the knowledge base). Furthermore, one of the goals is to simplify the use of the selected resource to execute the job; i.e., provide a user-friendly method of submitting jobs, without required technical knowledge about the Grid middleware. To achieve the mentioned goals, an adaptable method of expert knowledge representation for the decision support system has to be implemented. The selected approach is to utilize ontologies and semantic data processing, supported by multicriterial decision making. As a starting point, an area of computational linear algebra was selected to be modeled, however, the paper presents a general approach that shall be easily extendable to other domains.