Doctoral Dissertation
Ontology-based Semantic Interpretation Framework for
Legal Analysis in Construction Claims
Background
Currently the two main obstacles limiting the performance of legal analysis in construction claims are: the scarcity of knowledge of contractual and claim knowledge on construction project job-site, and the inefficiency of manual processing vast amount of raw records about the history of a claim case. A lot of research has been done in this area, however, the methodologies used for knowledge representation and sharing suffered from inherent drawbacks, and almost none of them took into consideration the automatic semantic interpretation of the text for claim case history.
Methodology
To address these two problems, an ontology-based semantic interpretation framework is proposed in this study. In this framework, ontology is used to represent the domain knowledge for claim analysis and a synthesized methodology is conceived for ontology development. Furthermore, the framework prototype for utilizing ontology in legal analysis in construction claims and a rule-based Natural Language Processing (NLP) methodology for capturing the mapping between ontology and language elements are proposed also. The framework is able to provide the functionality for the semantic interpretation of impact factors in a claim history text.
Case Study
In order to validate the proposed methodologies and framework, two cases studies were conducted. The first one was using the synthesized ontology development methodology to developing an ontology taxonomy on the contractual semantics of AIA A201 General Conditions of the Contract for Construction (2007). Based on the proposed framework, the second case study implemented an application for the functionality of semantic interpretation of impact factors in DSC claim cases. This application used a rule-based system which mainly adopts information extraction in NLP and ontology together to determine the existence of an impact factor in the text.
Significance
Overall, in the domain of legal analysis of construction claims, this study explores a novel way of dealing with the two above-mentioned obstacles limiting the performance, and the effectiveness and efficiency could be improved by the adoption of ontology-based knowledge representation and NLP for text processing automation. Also, more practical applications can be further developed under the proposed framework.
Demo video of the semantic interpretation on textual files for DSC (Differing Site Conditions) Type I Claim
Publication
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. (Under Review) Developing Taxonomy for the Domain Ontology of Construction Contractual Semantics: A Case Study on the AIA A201 Document. Advanced Engineering Informatics.
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. A Rule-based NLP Methodology for Semantic Interpretation of Impacting Factors in Construction Claim Cases. International Conference for Computing in Civil Engineering and Building Engineering, 2014. Orlando, Florida.
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. Conceptualizing Methodology for Building an Ontology for Construction Claim Knowledge. International Workshop for Computing in Civil Engineering, 2013. Los Angeles, California.
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. Taxonomy for the Domain Knowledge of Construction Contractual Relationships between Owners and Contractors. 20th International Workshop: Intelligent Computing in Engineering 2013. Vienna, Austria.
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. Concept Classification for Construction Contractual Semantics: A case study on the AIA A201 Document. 30th CIB W78 International Conference, 2013. Beijing, China.
Jia Niu, Raja R.A. Issa. Framework for Production of Ontology-Based Construction Claim Documents. International Workshop for Computing in Civil Engineering, 2012. Clearwater Beach, Florida.
Wenzhou Yan, Shan Hua, Jia Niu. A Study on the Eco-compensation for the Sustainable Development of the Energy and Chemical Industry Base in Northern Shaanxi. Advanced Materials Research, 374-377, 133-6, 2012.
Wenzhou Yan, Jia Niu, Huiyong Su. The Fuzzy-Entropy Approach for Techno-economic Analysis of The Green Construction Energy-saving Structure System. International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 2007. Singapore.
Wenzhou Yan, Jia Niu, Huiyong Su. A Study on Program Evaluation and Review Technology Based on Cloud Model. International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, 2007. Singapore.
Wenzhou Yan, Jia Niu. A Study on the Performance Evaluation of Construction Project Integrated Management. International Conference on Management Science & Engineering, 2007. Harbin, China.
Wenzhou Yan, Jia Niu. Matter-element Analysis for the Risk-Appraisal of the Ecological Building Project Developing. Xi’an International Conference of Architecture and Technology, 2006. Xi'an, China.