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RE: [uos-convene]: Relating ontologies

To: "Upper Ontology Summit convention" <uos-convene@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "West, Matthew R SIPC-DFD/321" <matthew.west@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2006 09:33:01 -0000
Message-id: <A94B3B171A49A4448F0CEEB458AA661F02B99857@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Dear Pat,    (01)

ISO 15926 has composition_of_individual which is very general and
is essentially a spatio-temporal part of relation which also allows
scattered parts. We also have a temporal_whole_part relation 
(spatial whole, temporal part).    (02)

These of course apply to physical objects as well as processes.    (03)

Regards    (04)

Matthew    (05)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: uos-convene-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:uos-convene-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Cassidy,
> Patrick J.
> Sent: 09 March 2006 08:19
> To: Upper Ontology Summit convention
> Subject: RE: [uos-convene]: Relating ontologies
> 
> 
> UOS-conveners:
> 
> I think that the case presented by Adam Pease and the response of
> Nicola Guarino are a very good example of the kind of examination of
> the relations among the upper ontologies that could, when resolved,
> provide either translation axioms or a common subset ontology.  This
> case is a good example in part because it treats an important and
> common relation, which should be in any upper ontology, and it also
> elucidates some of the nuances that should be made clear in any upper
> ontology that we would recommend to the public for general use.
> 
> If it were possible to get funding for a project to create a common
> subset ontology, this kind of analysis will be needed, and will, I
> think lead at the very minimum to a clear and comprehensive
> documentation describing the meanings of the ontology elements (Types,
> Relations, Axioms) in sufficient detail to eliminate all significant
> ambiguity and permit those elements to be used in the same sense by
> everyone.   I think that it also shows that, a useful common 
> subset may
> be practical to build, provided that making some minor additions or
> changes to the existing upper ontologies were acceptable to the
> custodians.
> 
> In the specific case of  SUMO "subProcess" and DOLCE 
> "Temporal Part", I
> think Adam is correct that considering only the single axiom he
> presented for SUMO subProcess with the DOLCE axiom that axiomatized
> Temporal Part does not provide enough of a view of the relations
> between these two semantic relations, **but** other axioms in SUMO do
> indicate a very close relation between the two semantic relations in
> the two ontologies.  It appears to me that  SUMO "subProcess" 
> and DOLCE
> "temporal part" are closely related (the latter may be a 
> subrelation of
> the former), and that clarifying the relation between them could show
> where useful additions or additional constraining axioms could be
> helpful, in the common subset and possibly also in the parent upper
> ontologies.  I think that Adam is also correct in believing that
> finding the precise relations will be a non-trivial exercise for many
> such cases.   But I think that the exercise will be worthwhile.
> 
> I will present some analysis on this specific issue in an 
> attached file
> to illustrate the point, and will also refer to the related OpenCyc
> relation in that analysis.
> 
> I would conclude from examining this case that the SUMO "subProcess"
> and DOLCE "Temporal Part" (PT or P.T)  are different mostly in that a
> "subProcess" could include a spatial part, which is a 
> separate relation
> in DOLCE.  So the DOLCE "Temporal Part" appears to be a specialization
> of the "subProcess" relation.  These relations differ in the  way the
> additional implications they entail are expressed, but are closely
> enough related that they both could be represented by relations in a
> common subset ontology that could be translated into relations in each
> of the upper ontologies, provided that (1) a more general
> "subPerdurant" relation were added to DOLCE which subsumed both
> "Temporal Part" and "Spatial Part" relations on perdurants, and which
> would be more closely equivalent to "subProcess"; and (2) every
> Perdurant in DOLCE were equivalent to a Process in SUMO.  
> Likewise, the
> OpenCyc "subSituations" appears to be identical to "subProcess", but
> that is not specified in axioms, rather it is implied in the OpenCyc
> documentation.  Again, to be identical, a Situation in OpenCyc would
> have to be equivalent to a Process in SUMO and a Perdurant in DOLCE.
> 
> For that reason, I believe that "subProcess", "subSituation" and
> "Temporal Part" could all be accommodated in a common subset ontology,
> depending on how closely identified SUMO "Process", OpenCyc 
> "Situation"
> and DOLCE "Perdurant" are.
> 
> It is unclear whether DOLCE accommodates a specialized relation
> specifying spatiotemporal parts of Perdurants.  If not, this should be
> added to make a closer match with SUMO, OpenCyc,  BFO, and ISO 15926.
>  
> I do hope it is possible to get funding for this kind of study.
> 
> Pat
> 
> Patrick Cassidy
> MITRE Corporation
> 260 Industrial Way
> Eatontown, NJ 07724
> Mail Stop: MNJE
> Phone: 732-578-6340
> Cell: 908-565-4053
> Fax: 732-578-6012
> Email: pcassidy@xxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: uos-convene-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:uos-convene-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Adam Pease
> Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 6:00 PM
> To: Upper Ontology Summit convention
> Subject: Re: [uos-convene]: Relating ontologies
> 
> Nicola,
>    I'm not sure how the DOLCE axiom could be inaccurate.  I just 
> copied it from a DOLCE paper.  Maybe it's just from an older 
> version.  But of course, that's not really the point.  The point is 
> that it's hard to merge formal ontologies.  That you can't understand 
> one SUMO relation from one example axiom (among many) that uses it is 
> part of the point.  You would have to look at all the axioms that 
> involve the term to appreciate its meaning, and then try to align 
> that with all of DOLCE's relevant axioms.  That's hard, to say the
> least.
>    Whether we call them axioms or definitions doesn't matter.  If 
> there are rules or other statements that use the terms, and they 
> aren't shared by both models, they would need to be reconciled.
>    SUMO's subProcess is not a primitive.  It is defined as is every 
> other term in SUMO.  See 
> <http://sigma.ontologyportal.org:4010/sigma/Browse.jsp?kb=SUMO
> &lang=en&
> term=subProcess>
> 
> Adam
> 
> At 02:49 PM 3/8/2006, Nicola Guarino wrote:
> >Dear Adam,
> >
> >         I am very confused by your example.
> >
> >1. First of all, your transcription of the DOLCE axiom is inaccurate,
> >since the "subset" relation you mention in the DOLCE example is
> >indeed the temporal inclusion relation, defined in terms of temporal
> >locations of perdurants. We have no subset relation in the DOLCE
> >vocabulary.
> >
> >2. You are comparing a SUMO *axiom* concerning processes with a DOLCE
> >*definition* concerning the notion of temporal part. I guess that a
> >more interesting comparison could be between the SUMO relation
> >"subProcess" (which I understand is taken as primitive, i.e. not
> >defined) and the DOLCE relation "TemporalPart" (defined in terms of
> >perdurant, part, and the above mentioned temporal inclusion).
> >
> >3. I don't know whether "SubProcess" is suitably constrained in SUMO.
> >Intuitively, from the name, I understand a subprocess should be some
> >how a "part" of a process. Now two questions arise: a) is there a
> >formal relationship between SubProcess and Part in SUMO? b) if yes,
> >does any part of a process count as a subprocess? The DOLCE
> >definition clarifies these two questions, saying that a temporal part
> >X of a process Y is a part which is "temporally maximal", in the
> >sense that all parts of Y which are temporally included in X are also
> >parts of X. So a non-temporally maximal part of a process is not a
> >temporal part.
> >
> >4. We may conclude that, *IF* SUMO has equivalents of the DOLCE
> >notions of parthood and temporal inclusion, then the DOLCE definition
> >of temporal part could be used to better clarify the SUMO notion of
> >subprocess. In practice, limiting ourselves to this very simple
> >example, a suitable alignment with DOLCE may result in a more precise
> >ontology, in the sense that some non-intended SUMO models may be
> >excluded thanks to the DOLCE axiomatization. [NOTE: I am using the
> >term "precise" in a very technical sense - see my work on precision,
> >coverage and accuracy as dimensions for comparing and evaluating
> >ontologies: "Toward a Formal Evaluation of Ontology Quality." IEEE
> >Intelligent Systems 19, no. 4 (2004): 78-79.]
> >
> >5. However, I only focused on the SUMO subProcess relation in this
> >discussion. Considering the full axiom you reported results in more
> >puzzlement, since I cannot grasp its meaning: apparently, it just
> >says that every subprocess has a time. Not very informative...
> >
> >My conclusion is that a careful comparison between SUMO and DOLCE
> >concerning the relationship between the mereological structure of
> >processes and their temporal location could actually result in a
> >better understanding of these notions. I am sure that such improved
> >understanding could be of benefit for SUMO users, as well as for
> >DOLCE users willing to to comunicate with SUMO users.
> >
> >Best,
> >
> >Nicola
> >
> >
> >On Mar 8, 2006, at 10:10 PM, Adam Pease wrote:
> >
> >>Hi John,
> >>   The example I used was of SUMO's Process vs. DOLCE's Perdurant.
> >>They cover a similar semantic need, but the details of the formal
> >>definitions, and then all the connections to other definitions are
> >>so complex and intertwined it seems clear to me that the return on
> >>investment for merging isn't there.  It's much easier to pick one.
> >>Trying to merge formal ontologies seems to me to be harder even
> >>than creating a new ontology from scratch.
> >>
> >>------------------------------------
> >>
> >>                         Mapping (hard)
> >>
> >>- SUMO:Process
> >>
> >>(=>
> >>     (and
> >>         (instance ?PROC Process)
> >>         (subProcess ?SUBPROC ?PROC))
> >>     (exists (?TIME)
> >>         (time ?SUBPROC ?TIME)))
> >>
> >>- DOLCE:Perdurant
> >>
> >>TemporalPart(x, y) =df perdurant(x) ^ Part(x, y) ^ forall z((Part 
> >>(z, y) ^ z subset x) -> Part(z, x)
> >>
> >>-These are just some of many axioms in each ontology
> >>
> >>--------------------------------------
> >>
> >>
> >>Adam
> >>
> >>At 10:01 AM 3/8/2006, bateman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> >>
> >>>Adam,
> >>>
> >>>you mentioned just now in the telecon some overheads that
> >>>you used yesterday (?) to illustrate irreparable
> >>>incompatibility between SUMO and DOLCE. Since you were
> >>>last in Bremen 2-3 years ago we have been working more or less
> >>>continuously on issues of relating deeply axiomatised
> >>>ontologies. I would be interested in seeing the
> >>>examples that you used so that we could consider
> >>>how we would be going about relating these incompatibilities
> >>>with our kinds of tools. This might make some of the
> >>>discussion more concrete when it comes to what may or
> >>>may not come out of the exercise of relating ontologies
> >>>and also help relate to the other initiatives and
> >>>actions in this direction.
> >>>
> >>>Could you send a pointer to the overheads?
> >>>Best,
> >>>John B.
> >>>
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> >>
> >>----------------------------
> >>Adam Pease
> >>http://www.ontologyportal.org - Free ontologies and tools
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> >-------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> -- -----
> >Nicola Guarino
> >Co-Editor in Chief, Applied Ontology (IOS Press)
> >Head, Laboratory for Applied Ontology (LOA), ISTC-CNR
> >Institute for Cognitive Sciences and Technologies
> >National Research Council
> >Via Solteri, 38
> >I-38100 Trento
> >
> >phone:     +39 0461 828486
> >secretary: +39 0461 436641
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> >
> >
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> 
> ----------------------------
> Adam Pease
> http://www.ontologyportal.org - Free ontologies and tools
> 
> 
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>     (06)

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