The Description Logic Handbook: Theory, Implementation and Applications

Description

Description logics are embodied in several knowledge-based systems and are used to develop various real-life applications. Now in paperback, The Description Logic Handbook provides a thorough account of the subject, covering all aspects of research in this field, namely: theory, implementation, and applications. Its appeal will be broad, ranging from more theoretically oriented readers, to those with more practically oriented interests who need a sound and modern understanding of knowledge representation systems based on description logics. As well as general revision throughout the book, this new edition presents a new chapter on ontology languages for the semantic web, an area of great importance for the future development of the web. In sum, the book will serve as a unique resource for the subject, and can also be used for self-study or as a reference for knowledge representation and artificial intelligence courses. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 6 List of contributors......Page 10 Preface to the second edition......Page 14 Preface......Page 16 1.1 Introduction......Page 22 1.2 From networks to Description Logics......Page 26 1.3 Knowledge representation in Description Logics......Page 34 1.4 From theory to practice: Description Logic systems......Page 38 1.5 Applications developed with Description Logic systems......Page 43 1.6 Extensions of Description Logics......Page 53 1.7 Relationship to other fields of Computer Science......Page 60 1.8 Conclusion......Page 63 Part I - Theory......Page 66 2.1 Introduction......Page 68 2.2 Definition of the basic formalism......Page 71 2.3 Reasoning algorithms......Page 102 2.4 Language extensions......Page 119 3.1 Introduction......Page 126 3.2 OR-branching: finding a model......Page 130 3.3 AND-branching: finding a clash......Page 138 3.4 Combining sources of complexity......Page 145 3.5 Reasoning in the presence of axioms......Page 148 3.6 Undecidability......Page 154 3.7 Reasoning about individuals in ABoxes......Page 161 3.8 Discussion......Page 165 3.9 A list of complexity results for subsumption and satisfiability......Page 166 4.1 AI knowledge representation formalisms......Page 170 4.2 Logical formalisms......Page 182 4.3 Database models......Page 195 5.1 Introduction......Page 214 5.2 Correspondence between Description Logics and Propositional Dynamic Logics......Page 216 5.3 Functional restrictions......Page 223 5.4 Qualified number restrictions......Page 230 5.5 Objects......Page 234 5.6 Fixpoint constructs......Page 238 5.7 Relations of arbitrary arity......Page 242 5.8 Finite model reasoning......Page 247 5.9 Undecidability results......Page 253 6.1 Introduction......Page 258 6.2 Language extensions......Page 259 6.3 Non-standard inference problems......Page 291 Part II - Implementation......Page 304 7.1 Introduction......Page 306 7.2 Basic access......Page 308 7.3 Advanced application access......Page 311 7.4 Advanced human access......Page 316 7.6 Public relations concerns......Page 322 7.7 Summary......Page 324 8.1 New light through old windows?......Page 325 8.2 The first generation......Page 326 8.3 Second generation Description Logic systems......Page 334 8.4 The next generation: Fact, Dlp and Racer......Page 345 8.5 Lessons learned......Page 348 9.1 Introduction......Page 350 9.2 Preliminaries......Page 352 9.3 Subsumption-testing algorithms......Page 357 9.4 Theory versus practice......Page 362 9.5 Optimization techniques......Page 368 9.6 Discussion......Page 392 Part III - Applications......Page 396 10.1 Background......Page 398 10.2 Elementary Description Logic modeling......Page 400 10.3 Individuals in the world......Page 402 10.4 Concepts......Page 405 10.5 Subconcepts......Page 408 10.6 Modeling relationships......Page 411 10.7 Modeling ontological aspects of relationships......Page 413 10.9 The ABox: modeling specific states of the world......Page 420 10.10 Conclusions......Page 422 11.2 Background......Page 423 11.3 Lassie......Page 424 11.4 CodeBase......Page 429 11.5 CSIS and CBMS......Page 430 12.1 Introduction......Page 438 12.2 Configuration description and requirements......Page 440 12.3 The Prose and Questar family of configurators......Page 454 12.4 Summary......Page 455 13 - Medical Informatics......Page 457 13.1 Background and history......Page 458 13.2 Example applications......Page 462 13.3 Technical issues in medical ontologies......Page 468 13.4 Ontological issues in medical ontologies......Page 474 13.5 Architectures: terminology servers, views, and change management......Page 477 13.6 Discussion: key lessons from medical ontologies......Page 478 14.1 Background and history......Page 479 14.2 Steps towards integration with the Semantic Web: OIL and DAML+OIL......Page 482 14.3 Full integration into the Semantic Web: OWL......Page 488 14.4 Summary......Page 505 15.1 Introduction......Page 508 15.2 Semantic interpretation......Page 509 15.3 Reasoning with the logical form......Page 513 15.4 Knowledge-based natural language generation......Page 518 16.1 Introduction......Page 521 16.2 Data models and Description Logics......Page 525 16.3 Description Logics and database querying......Page 534 16.4 Data integration......Page 538 16.5 Conclusions......Page 544 A.1 Notational conventions......Page 546 A.2 Syntax and semantics of common Description Logics......Page 547 A.3 Additional constructors......Page 552 A.4 A note on the naming scheme for Description Logics......Page 555 Bibliography......Page 558 Index......Page 614