Aurona Gerber

Prof

Associate Professor
Department of Informatics
Physical address: Information Technology Building, room 5-61,
University of Pretoria, Corner of Lynnwood Road and Roper Street,
Hatfield, Pretoria, 0083
Postal address: Private Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028
Tel: +27-(0)12-4203798

Link: Website

Publications

2016

Coetzer W, Moodley D, Gerber A. Eliciting and Representing High-Level Knowledge Requirements to Discover Ecological Knowledge in Flower-Visiting Data. PLoS ONE . 2016;11(11). http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00001127/01/journal.pone.0166559.pdf.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download PDF

journal.pone_.0166559.pdf

Observations of individual organisms (data) can be combined with expert ecological knowledge of species, especially causal knowledge, to model and extract from flower–visiting data useful information about behavioral interactions between insect and plant organisms, such as nectar foraging and pollen transfer. We describe and evaluate a method to elicit and represent such expert causal knowledge of behavioral ecology, and discuss the potential for wider application of this method to the design of knowledge-based systems for knowledge discovery in biodiversity and ecosystem informatics.

@article{159,
  author = {Willem Coetzer and Deshen Moodley and Aurona Gerber},
  title = {Eliciting and Representing High-Level Knowledge Requirements to Discover Ecological Knowledge in Flower-Visiting Data},
  abstract = {Observations of individual organisms (data) can be combined with expert ecological knowledge of species, especially causal knowledge, to model and extract from flower–visiting data useful information about behavioral interactions between insect and plant organisms, such as nectar foraging and pollen transfer. We describe and evaluate a method to elicit and represent such expert causal knowledge of behavioral ecology, and discuss the potential for wider application of this method to the design of knowledge-based systems for knowledge discovery in biodiversity and ecosystem informatics.},
  year = {2016},
  journal = {PLoS ONE},
  volume = {11},
  pages = {1-15},
  issue = {11},
  url = {http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00001127/01/journal.pone.0166559.pdf},
}

Lapalme J, Gerber A, van der Merwe A, Zachman J, de Vries M, Hinkelmann K. Exploring the future of enterprise architecture: A Zachman perspective. 2016. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01663615/79.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download

No Abstract

@misc{150,
  author = {James Lapalme and Aurona Gerber and Alta van der Merwe and John Zachman and Marne de Vries and Knut Hinkelmann},
  title = {Exploring the future of enterprise architecture: A Zachman perspective.},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2016},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01663615/79},
}

Harmse H, Britz K, Gerber A. Armstrong Relations for Ontology Design and Evaluation. 2016. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1577/.

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No Abstract

@misc{149,
  author = {Henriette Harmse and Katarina Britz and Aurona Gerber},
  title = {Armstrong Relations for Ontology Design and Evaluation},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2016},
  url = {http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1577/},
}

Hinkelmann K, Gerber A, Karagiannis D, Thoenssen B, van der Merwe A, Woitsch R. A new paradigm for the continuous alignment of business and IT: Combining enterprise architecture modelling and enterprise ontology. Computers in Industry. 2016;79. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300270.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download

No Abstract

@article{148,
  author = {Knut Hinkelmann and Aurona Gerber and Dimitris Karagiannis and Barbara Thoenssen and Alta van der Merwe and Robert Woitsch},
  title = {A new paradigm for the continuous alignment of business and IT: Combining enterprise architecture modelling and enterprise ontology},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2016},
  journal = {Computers in Industry},
  volume = {79},
  publisher = {Sciencedirect},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300270},
}

2015

de Vries M, Gerber A, van der Merwe A. The enterprise engineering domain. In: Advances in Enterprise Engineering IX. Springer; 2015. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-19297-0_4.

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No Abstract

@inbook{124,
  author = {Marne de Vries and Aurona Gerber and Alta van der Merwe},
  title = {The enterprise engineering domain},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {Advances in Enterprise Engineering IX},
  publisher = {Springer},
  isbn = {978-3-319-19296-3},
  url = {http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-319-19297-0_4},
}

van der Merwe A, Naidoo R, Gerber A. Understanding familiarization processes with Design Science Research: A social representation analysis. SACJ. 2015;65.

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No Abstract

@article{123,
  author = {Alta van der Merwe and Rennie Naidoo and Aurona Gerber},
  title = {Understanding familiarization processes with Design Science Research: A social representation analysis.},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {SACJ},
  volume = {65},
  isbn = {ISSN: 2313-7835},
}

Kotzé P, van der Merwe A, Gerber A. Design Science Research as Research Approach in Doctoral Studies. In: AMCIS 2015, the 2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems. ; 2015.

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Paper_2_0.pdf

No Abstract

@{122,
  author = {Paula Kotzé and Alta van der Merwe and Aurona Gerber},
  title = {Design Science Research as Research Approach in Doctoral Studies},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {AMCIS 2015, the 2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems},
  month = {13/08-15/08},
}

Gerber MC, Gerber A, van der Merwe A. The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting as a Domain Ontology. In: AMCIS 2015, the 2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems. ; 2015.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download PDF

Paper_1.pdf

No Abstract

@{121,
  author = {Mathinus Gerber and Aurona Gerber and Alta van der Merwe},
  title = {The Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting as a Domain Ontology},
  abstract = {No Abstract},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {AMCIS 2015, the 2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems},
  month = {13/08-15/08},
}

Lapalme J, Gerber A, van der Merwe A, Zachman J, de Vries M, Hinkelmann K. Exploring the future of enterprise architecture: A Zachman perspective. Computers in Industry. 2015. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300166.

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GrandChallenges_final.pdf

Today, and for the foreseeable future, organizations will face ever-increasing levels of complexity and uncertainty. Many believe that enterprise architecture (EA) will help organizations address such difficult terrain by guiding the design of adaptive and resilient enterprises and their information systems. This paper presents the “Grand Challenges” that we believe will challenge organizations in the future and need to be addressed by enterprise architecture. As a first step in using enterprise architecture as a solution for overcoming identified challenges, the Zachman Enterprise Architecture Framework is used to guide and structure the discussion. The paper presents the “Grand Challenges” and discusses promising theories and models for addressing them. In addition, current advances in the field of enterprise architecture that have begun to address the challenges will be presented. In conclusion, final thoughts on the future of enterprise architecture as a research field and a profession are offered.

@article{120,
  author = {James Lapalme and Aurona Gerber and Alta van der Merwe and John Zachman and Marne de Vries and Knut Hinkelmann},
  title = {Exploring the future of enterprise architecture: A Zachman perspective},
  abstract = {Today, and for the foreseeable future, organizations will face ever-increasing levels of complexity and uncertainty. Many believe that enterprise architecture (EA) will help organizations address such difficult terrain by guiding the design of adaptive and resilient enterprises and their information systems. This paper presents the “Grand Challenges” that we believe will challenge organizations in the future and need to be addressed by enterprise architecture. As a first step in using enterprise architecture as a solution for overcoming identified challenges, the Zachman Enterprise Architecture Framework is used to guide and structure the discussion. The paper presents the “Grand Challenges” and discusses promising theories and models for addressing them. In addition, current advances in the field of enterprise architecture that have begun to address the challenges will be presented. In conclusion, final thoughts on the future of enterprise architecture as a research field and a profession are offered.},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {Computers in Industry},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300166},
}

Hinkelmann K, Gerber A, Karagiannis D, Thoenssen B, van der Merwe A, Woitsch R. A new paradigm for the continuous alignment of business and IT: Combining enterprise architecture modelling and enterprise ontology. Computers in Industry. 2015. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300270.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download PDF

PaperFinal.pdf

The paper deals with Next Generation Enterprise Information Systems in the context of Enterprise Engineering. The continuous alignment of business and IT in a rapidly changing environment is a grand challenge for today's enterprises. The ability to react timeously to continuous and unexpected change is called agility and is an essential quality of the modern enterprise. Being agile has consequences for the engineering of enterprises and enterprise information systems. In this paper a new paradigm for next generation enterprise information systems is proposed, which shifts the development approach of model-driven engineering to continuous alignment of business and IT for the agile enterprise. It is based on a metamodelling approach, which supports both human-interpretable graphical enterprise architecture and machine-interpretable enterprise ontologies. Furthermore, next generation enterprise information systems are described, which embed modelling tools and algorithms for model analysis

@article{119,
  author = {Knut Hinkelmann and Aurona Gerber and Dimitris Karagiannis and Barbara Thoenssen and Alta van der Merwe and Robert Woitsch},
  title = {A new paradigm for the continuous alignment of business and IT: Combining enterprise architecture modelling and enterprise ontology.},
  abstract = {The paper deals with Next Generation Enterprise Information Systems in the context of Enterprise Engineering. The continuous alignment of business and IT in a rapidly changing environment is a grand challenge for today&#039;s enterprises. The ability to react timeously to continuous and unexpected change is called agility and is an essential quality of the modern enterprise. Being agile has consequences for the engineering of enterprises and enterprise information systems. In this paper a new paradigm for next generation enterprise information systems is proposed, which shifts the development approach of model-driven engineering to continuous alignment of business and IT for the agile enterprise. It is based on a metamodelling approach, which supports both human-interpretable graphical enterprise architecture and machine-interpretable enterprise ontologies. Furthermore, next generation enterprise information systems are described, which embed modelling tools and algorithms for model analysis},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {Computers in Industry},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166361515300270},
}

Thomas A, Gerber A, van der Merwe A. Visual Syntax of UML Class and Package Diagram Constructs as an Ontology. In: KEOD 2015 the the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management. ; 2015.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download PDF

Paper.pdf

Diagrams are often studied as visual languages with an abstract and a concrete syntax (concrete syntax is often referred to as visual syntax), where the latter contains the visual representations of the concepts in the former. A formal specification of the concrete syntax is useful in diagram processing applications as well as in achieving unambiguous understanding of diagrams. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a commonly used modeling language to represent software models using its diagrams. Class and package diagrams are two diagrams of UML. The motivation for this work is twofold; UML lacks a formal visual syntax specification and ontologies are under-explored for visual syntax specifications. The work in this paper, therefore, explores using ontologies for visual syntax specifications by specifying the visual syntax of a set of UML class and package diagram constructs as an ontology in the Web ontology language, OWL. The reasoning features of the ontology reasoners are then used to verify the visual syntax specification. Besides formally encoding the visual syntax of numerous UML constructs, the work also demonstrates the general value of using OWL for visual syntax specifications.

@{118,
  author = {Anitta Thomas and Aurona Gerber and Alta van der Merwe},
  title = {Visual Syntax of UML Class and Package Diagram Constructs as an Ontology},
  abstract = {Diagrams are often studied as visual languages with an abstract and a concrete syntax (concrete syntax is often referred to as visual syntax), where the latter contains the visual representations of the concepts in the former. A formal specification of the concrete syntax is useful in diagram processing applications as well as in achieving unambiguous understanding of diagrams. Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a commonly used modeling language to represent software models using its diagrams. Class and package diagrams are two diagrams of UML. The motivation for this work is twofold; UML lacks a formal visual syntax specification and ontologies are under-explored for visual syntax specifications. The work in this paper, therefore, explores using ontologies for visual syntax specifications by specifying the visual syntax of a set of UML class and package diagram constructs as an ontology in the Web ontology language, OWL. The reasoning features of the ontology reasoners are then used to verify the visual syntax specification. Besides formally encoding the visual syntax of numerous UML constructs, the work also demonstrates the general value of using OWL for visual syntax specifications.},
  year = {2015},
  journal = {KEOD 2015 the the 7th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management},
  month = {12/11-14/11},
  isbn = {978-989-758-158-8},
}

2014

Harmse H, Britz K, Gerber A, Moodley D. Scenario Testing using Formal Ontologies. 2014. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1301/ontocomodise2014_10.pdf.

Abstract BibTex Entry BibTeX Download PDF

ontocomodise2014_10_0.pdf

One of the challenges in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is to ensure that the requirements that drive the development of a software system are correct. However, establishing unambiguous and error-free requirements is not a trivial problem. As part of the requirements phase of the SDLC, a conceptual model can be created which describes the objects, relationships and operations that are of importance to business. Such a conceptual model is often expressed as a UML class diagram. Recent research concerned with the formal validation of such UML class diagrams has focused on transforming UML class diagrams to various formalisms such as description logics. Description logics are desirable since they have reasoning support which can be used to show that a UML class diagram is consistent/inconsistent. Yet, even when a UML class diagram is consistent, it still does not address the problem of ensuring that a UML class diagram represents business requirements accurately. To validate such diagrams business analysts use a technique called scenario testing. In this paper we present an approach for the formal validation of UML class diagrams based on scenario testing. We additionally provide preliminary feedback on the experiences gained from using our scenario testing approach on a real-world software project.

@misc{106,
  author = {Henriette Harmse and Katarina Britz and Aurona Gerber and Deshen Moodley},
  title = {Scenario Testing using Formal Ontologies},
  abstract = {One of the challenges in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is to ensure that the requirements that drive the development of a software system are correct. However, establishing unambiguous and error-free requirements is not a trivial problem. As part of the requirements phase of the SDLC, a conceptual model can be created which describes the objects, relationships and operations that are of importance to business. Such a conceptual model is often expressed as a UML class diagram. Recent research concerned with the formal validation of such UML class diagrams has focused on transforming UML class diagrams to various formalisms such as description logics. Description logics are desirable since they have reasoning support which can be used to show that a UML class diagram is consistent/inconsistent. Yet, even when a UML class diagram is consistent, it still does not address the problem of ensuring that a UML class diagram represents business requirements accurately. To validate such diagrams business analysts use a technique called scenario testing. In this paper we present an approach for the formal validation of UML class diagrams based on scenario testing. We additionally provide preliminary feedback on the experiences gained from using our scenario testing approach on a real-world software project.},
  year = {2014},
  isbn = {urn:nbn:de:0074-1301-3},
  url = {http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1301/ontocomodise2014_10.pdf},
}