AUTOMATED MODELING OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES DURING POSTHARVEST DISTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

In this paper, we present an approach to automated modelling of physio logical processes occurring during postharvest distribution of agricul tural products. The approach involves reasoning about the reuse of bot h qualitative and mathematical models for physiological processes, and constructs quantitative simulation models for the postharvest behavio ur of agricultural products. The qualitative models are used to bridge the gap between the modeller's knowledge about the physiological phen omenon and the mathematical models. The qualitative models are represe nted by knowledge graphs, that are conceptual graphs containing only c ausal relations, aggregation relations, and generalisation relations b etween domain quantities. The relationships between the mathematical m odels and the qualitative models are explicitly represented in applica tion frames. The automated modelling task consists of two subtasks. In the first subtask, Qualitative Process Analysis, a process structure graph is constructed using the qualitative models as building blocks. The process structure graph is a qualitative description of the phenom enon under study, that contains the processes that are responsible for the behaviour of the phenomenon. The process structure graph serves a s a focus for the second subtask, Simulation Model Construction. This subtask uses a library of mathematical models to compose a quantitativ e simulation model that corresponds to the process structure graph con structed in the first subtask. The approach is illustrated with the co nstruction of a model for the occurrence of chilling injury in bell pe ppers.