Institut Für Informatik Der Technischen Universität München
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
INSTITUT FÜR INFORMATIK DER TECHNISCHEN UNIVERSITÄT MÜNCHEN EOS: An Epistemological Ontology-driven System for Knowledge Processing Dipl.-Inform. Univ. Wolfgang Wohner Institut für Informatik der Technischen Universität München EOS: An Epistemological Ontology-driven System for Knowledge Processing Dipl.-Inform. Univ. Wolfgang Wohner Vollständiger Abdruck der von der Fakultät für Informatik der Technischen Universität Mün- chen zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Doktors der Naturwissenschaften genehmigten Dissertation. Vorsitzender: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Helmut Krcmar Prüfer der Dissertation: 1. Univ.-Prof. Rudolf Bayer, Ph.D. 2. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Manfred Paul, em. Die Dissertation wurde am 27. Februar 2003 bei der Technischen Universität München einge- reicht und durch die Fakultät für Informatik am 22. Oktober 2003 angenommen. Title of the Thesis: EOS: An Epistemological Ontology-driven System for Knowledge Processing Author: Dipl.-Inform. Univ. Wolfgang Wohner Keywords: Knowledge Representation and Processing, Ontologies, Epistemology, Concept Theory Abstract: This thesis introduces EOS, a new approach to knowledge representation and processing that is based on Concept Theory, a unicategorical formalism we developed for defining semanti- cally enriched formal ontologies. Generally, ontologies are a means for knowledge represen- tation and reuse. They provide a shared understanding about a knowledge domain. EOS ex- tends the scope of ontologies by offering means to also formalize epistemological processes, i.e. guidelines for knowledge processing that may be employed in knowledge acquisition, generation and retrieval tasks. This general idea is molded into an EOS framework for epis- temological ontology-driven systems for knowledge processing. On this formal basis we will show how an actual EOS system can be designed, implemented and successfully put to work. Table of Contents Chapter 1 A Reader’s Guide............................................................................ 1 1.1 Motivation and Objectives ......................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Digital Libraries .........................................................................................................3 1.1.2 The Digital Library Project VD17 ............................................................................. 4 1.1.3 Cataloging Standards and Metadata........................................................................... 6 1.1.4 Digital Libraries and Semantic Modeling................................................................ 16 1.2 Orientation................................................................................................................ 18 1.2.1 What is Knowledge? ................................................................................................ 19 1.2.2 Knowledge Management.......................................................................................... 21 1.2.3 Knowledge Representation and Processing ............................................................. 22 1.3 EOS Ontologies in a Nutshell .................................................................................. 23 1.4 The Enterprise of EOS Epistemology ...................................................................... 24 1.5 Employment of EOS Ontologies.............................................................................. 24 Chapter 2 EOS Ontologies .............................................................................27 2.1 Knowledge Representation...................................................................................... 27 2.1.1 Philosophical Foundations....................................................................................... 28 2.1.2 Formal Ontologies in Information Science .............................................................. 31 2.2 Concept Theory........................................................................................................ 32 2.2.1 Syntax....................................................................................................................... 34 2.2.2 Sets of Concepts....................................................................................................... 38 2.2.3 Kinds of Concepts .................................................................................................... 41 2.2.4 Semantics of Concepts ............................................................................................. 44 2.3 Graphical Notation for Concept Theory .................................................................. 54 2.4 Extended Example.................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 3 EOS Epistemology ........................................................................63 3.1 Knowledge Processing............................................................................................. 63 3.1.1 Philosophical Perspective......................................................................................... 64 3.1.2 Knowledge Processing in Information Science ....................................................... 68 3.1.3 EOS Framework....................................................................................................... 72 3.2 Epistemology in Concept Theory............................................................................. 82 3.2.1 On Modeling Epistemological Rules ....................................................................... 83 TABLE OF CONTENT 3.2.2 Conditions and Rules ............................................................................................... 86 3.2.3 Laws ......................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 4 EOS Systems................................................................................133 4.1 Application Scenario.............................................................................................. 133 4.1.1 Data on the Web..................................................................................................... 134 4.1.2 Semi-structured Data and Document Markup........................................................ 136 4.1.3 Coupling of Formal Ontologies and Document Markup ....................................... 136 4.2 Classifying Web Pages Using an Exemplary EOS System.................................... 141 4.2.1 An EOS Ontology for Document Classification.................................................... 142 4.2.2 Knowledge Acquisition: Classification of Web Documents.................................. 144 4.2.3 Knowledge Retrieval: Querying Information on Web Documents........................ 148 4.2.4 Knowledge Generation: Semantic Query Rewriting for Querying Documents..... 152 4.3 Representing EOS Ontologies in XML.................................................................. 156 4.3.1 RDF and RDFS ...................................................................................................... 156 4.3.2 DAML+OIL ........................................................................................................... 157 4.3.3 An XML DTD for EOS Ontologies ....................................................................... 158 4.4 Representing EOS Ontologies in a RDBS ............................................................. 164 4.4.1 Graph Representation............................................................................................. 165 4.4.2 The Indexing Algorithm......................................................................................... 168 4.4.3 The Transformation Algorithm .............................................................................. 170 4.4.4 Relational Schema for Ontology Graphs ............................................................... 172 4.5 Prototype Implementation...................................................................................... 175 4.5.1 Java Classes in Package eos.graph........................................................................ 176 4.5.2 Java Classes in Package eos.wrapper .................................................................... 178 Chapter 5 Conclusion....................................................................................179 5.1 Current Scope of EOS............................................................................................ 179 5.2 The Road Ahead..................................................................................................... 180 5.2.1 Integration of Particulars under the Open World Paradigm................................... 180 5.2.2 Modeling Sophisticated Knowledge Processing Tasks.......................................... 181 Bibliographic References................................................................................183 Appendix: Indexes and Tables.......................................................................189 Table of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 189 Table of Definitions ............................................................................................................... 191 Table of Proofs....................................................................................................................... 191 viii Chapter 1 A Reader’s Guide This thesis introduces the EOS approach to knowledge representation