[ontolog-forum] Use of SUMO and "patient" of a Process

[MDaconta@xxxxxxx]

Hi All,

Using SUMO as a basis for a domain-specific ontology has forced me
to think about the domain-specific ontology in different ways than I would 
have if I were developing it from scratch (more complex ways).  
This is important as it answered a question I have had for awhile about whether the trouble of deriving a domain-specific ontology from an upper ontology was worth it.  Of course, the proof will be in the pudding ... whether the final form (and the use
thereof) is better with the added complexity.  That cannot be answered until
one or more ontologies are done (in different styles) and can be compared 
against a use case.  However, at this point, I feel the use of SUMO
is improving the domain-specific ontology I am working to create.

Now, one question/issue about a property in SUMO.  SUMO has a 
patient slot for a Process.  The patient being some generic entity (or 
entities) that is acted on by the process.  I have two problems with this
slot:
1. the term patient has a specific connotation as an organic thing.  I would 
prefer a generic word like the "target" of the process.
2. the range of the property is "Entity" which includes both Physical and 
Abstract things.  Since the Process is a subclass of Physical, the targets
of the Process should probably have a range of "Object" (subclass of Physical).

Thoughts?

I hope to have a first draft of this posted to my website sometime 
tomorrow.  I'll post the URL here when I upload the protege files.

 - Mike
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Michael C. Daconta
Chief Scientist, APG, McDonald Bradley, Inc.
www.daconta.net