Re: complementOf -> viewOf: proposed text

Graham

sorry for letting this slip. To recall, the context is that I am tasked with fixing the alternateOf section of PROV-DM.

I have a few comments to yours and Khalid's.  Original text copied where needed.

My main comment is that I like your axiomatization of the two relations, but it seems to lead to properties that are not exactly 
what we want. But there is a simple fix.
Specifically:

> In other words, what I am suggesting is that:
> specializationOf(e1,e2) implies alternateOf(e1,e2)
that's fine, I have no problems with that.

> *BUT*, this is not what the current text allows, since specializationOf is
> defined to be anti-symmetric, which means that it is also anti-reflexive:
>
>     forall (a, b) : specializationOf(a,b) =>  not specializationOf(b,a)
>
> setting b = a we see that specializationOf(a,a) must be false, since its truth
> would give rise to a contradiction.
not really. Anti-symmetry is defined differently. I hate to quote wikipedia, as I don't have the provenance of the content handy 
:-), but it's just convenient, so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisymmetric_relation

basically, an anti-symmetric relation can be reflexive so that's not a problem.

More interestingly, about transitivity of alternateOf():  I believe we can still save your axiomatization:
>      alternativeOf(a, b) == exists (c) :
>                               specializationOf(a,c) and
>                               specializationOf(b,c)
just by insisting that the set of all entities forms a lattice. In fact, we only need an upper semi-lattice.

This does not ensure that
> specializationOf(x, y) or specializationOf(y, x)
but it does ensure that for each x,y, there is some z such that

specializationOf(x, z) and specializationOf(y, z).   alternateOf(a,c) follows.

Having a top element is quite natural in class hierarchies (see owl:Thing). But this should come as no surprise as all we are doing is re-invent class hierarchies with a a top element.

So in summary:
- I am fine with your axiomatization, plus the easy condition that entities form an upper semi-lattice.
- I think it belongs in PROV-SEM
- I am inclined to keep  the properties of the two relations as they are.

(and yes, more specific may be better than more concrete).

are we in agreement?

Cheers,
  -Paolo









On 1/6/12 4:44 PM, Graham Klyne wrote:
> Paolo,
>
> I've now looked at the text and am happy with the direction, but have some
> niggles with the details...
>
> First a nit: you say e1 and e2 provide a more *concrete* characterization than
> e1.  I would say more *specific* rather than more *concrete*.
>
> For the rest, using Using Khalid's comments as a spingboard:
>
> On 05/01/2012 18:43, Khalid Belhajjame wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> The new Alternate and Specialization records seem to make sense to me.
>>
>> - Looking at the definitions of *specializationOf* and *alternateOf*, I for few
>> seconds was wondering if it is a good idea to define a more general relationship
>> that simply says that two entity records are representations of the same entity,
>> without specifying if there is difference in abstraction or context. But, I
>> changed my mind as a result, and I now think that the general relationship that
>> I was looking for is *alternateOf* itself. Indeed, such a relationship seems to
>> be usable in both cases, i.e., different abstractions and/or different contexts.
>> In other words, what I am suggesting is that:
>> specializationOf(e1,e2) implies alternateOf(e1,e2)
>   >
>   >  Does that make sense?
>   >
>
> I think this depends on how the definitions are set up.
>
> I see specializationOf as a primnitive using which alternativeOf can be defined:
>
>      alternativeOf(a, b) == exists (c) :
>                               specializationOf(a,c) and
>                               specializationOf(b,c)
>
> My preference is for specializationOf to be reflexive; i.e.
>
>      forall (a) : specializationOf(a, a)
>
> your result follows from this:
>
> given:
>     specializationOf(e1,e2) [per premise]
>     specializationOf(e2,e2) [per reflexivity]
>
> we set a=e1, b=e2, c=e2 to satisfy the RHS of alternativeOf definition, hence
> have alternativeOf(e1, e2) as you suggest.
>
>
> *BUT*, this is not what the current text allows, since specializationOf is
> defined to be anti-symmetric, which means that it is also anti-reflexive:
>
>     forall (a, b) : specializationOf(a,b) =>  not specializationOf(b,a)
>
> setting b = a we see that specializationOf(a,a) must be false, since its truth
> would give rise to a contradiction.
>
> Which in turn means that the above proof of your suggested inference does not hold.
>
> ...
>
> So my question is this: is there any particular reason to require anti-symmetry
> of specializationOf?
>
> (An alternative would be to modify the definition of alternativeOf, thus:
>
>      alternativeOf(a, b) == exists (c) :
>                               (specializationOf(a,c) or a = c) and
>                               (specializationOf(b,c) or b = c)
>
> Absent and particular reason to do otherwise, I'd rather go with the simpler
> definitions.)
>
>
>> - *alternateOf* is transitive.
> I think it should be, but let's see how this plays:
>
>      alternativeOf(a, b) == exists (x) :
>                               specializationOf(a,x) and
>                               specializationOf(b,x)
>
>      alternativeOf(b, c) == exists (y) :
>                               specializationOf(b,y) and
>                               specializationOf(c,y)
>
> If we can show specializationOf(x, y) or specializationOf(y, x) then the result
> can be derived using transitivity of specializationOf and the definition of
> alternativeOf.
>
> We have:
>       specializationOf(b,x) and
>       specializationOf(b,y)
>
> Intuitively a specializationOf relation holds between x and y as their is a
> single non-branching path from b to the "top" of the specialization tree.  But I
> think we need more stated constraints to derive this.
>
> Right now, I'm not sure how best to capture this, and am thinking that simply
> asserting the required relation would be easiest; i.e.
>
>       specializationOf(b,x) and
>       specializationOf(b,y)
>    |=
>       specializationOf(x,y) or specializationOf(y,x)
>
> (If specialization is anti-reflexive, we need to add "or x = y" to the above
> constraint.)
>
> Or maybe:
>
>       specializationOf(b,x) and
>       specializationOf(b,y)
>    |=
>       exists (z) : specializationOf(x,z) and specializationOf(y,z)
>
> An alternative would be to not care about this, in which case alternativeOf is
> not inferrable from specializationOf.  Does this actually matter?
>
> #g
> --
>
>> On 15/12/2011 15:25, Paolo Missier wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> in response to the comments about complementarity on the wiki and on the list,
>>> we have prepared a revised version of the section,
>>> where "complementarity" disappears in favour of "viewOf", and the definition
>>> is hopefully simplified and more in line with the
>>> expectations:
>>> http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/prov/raw-file/default/model/ProvenanceModel.html#record-complement-of
>>> (the anchor name hasn't changed :-))
>>>
>>> this is for feedback as per today's agenda
>>>
>>> atb -Paolo
>>>
>>>
>>


-- 
-----------  ~oo~  --------------
Paolo Missier - Paolo.Missier@newcastle.ac.uk, pmissier@acm.org
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University,  UK
http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/Paolo.Missier

Received on Thursday, 12 January 2012 10:11:49 UTC