Modelling ontologies

Hi all,

I have a specific question (included in the email below, please note that
these are meant as examples and do not form real class hierarchies) and Grit
mentioned that it might be worth posting it on this mailing list.

I would appreciate very much any advice.

Thanks a lot in advance

Best wishes,

George


-----Original Message-----
From: Grit Denker [mailto:denker@csl.sri.com]
Sent: 19 May 2003 18:08
To: Georgios V. Gkoutos
Subject: Re: DAML+OIL plugin


Georgios,

I have looked into your example and did not come up with a quick solution.
Nevertheless, it seems that this is a very interesting modelling challenge.
I am
not sure whether and how it can be solved in DAML+OIL. But I am sure it is
worth
posting it on the mailing list for DAML+OIL / OWL (successor of DAML+OIL,
somewhat more expressive)
related questions, which is www-rdf-logic@w3.org.
So I would suggest that you repost the description of your problem on this
mailing list and get
advise whether this is solvable in DAML+OIL or in OWL. This way other people
can
also benefit from the discussion about it.

Best,
Grit


"Georgios V. Gkoutos" wrote:

> Dear Grit,
>
> Following your suggestion, I am using your excellent plugin and have
created
> most of my ontologies. I have a very specific question and I was wondering
> whether you could provide an answer for me.
>
> I have 3 ontologies which I want to link to one another because they can
> provide values to specific relations to each other. I am not interested in
> creating instances and a knowledge base rather to be able to describe a
> complex domain through combinations of my ontologies. I will try to be
more
> specific. I have 3 class hierarchies namely Concept, Attribute and Assay.
>
> For example (not real hierarchies just for demonstration):
>
> Concept
>  -Anatomy
>    -Head
>      -Eye
>     etc...
>    -Body
>      -Skin
>
> Attribute
>   -Qualitive attribute
>    -Color
>    -Weight
>
> etc....
>
> Assay
>    -Assay1
>     -Eye color assay
>     -Skin color assay
>
> etc...
>
> I give the slot has_attribute to all the Concept class with values allowed
> from the Attribute class. As it happens both Eye and Skin have the slot
> has_attribute with values allowed Color (from the Attribute Class). The
> Attribute class had one slot called determined_by with allows values from
> the Assay Class. So in this example the slot determined_by of Color is
> allowed to take values Eye color assay and Skin color assay. These classes
> with provide the values blue, red, etc depending on the test.
>
> Now, I can, of course, constrain the attribute of Eye to have allowed
> attributes such as Color, Shape etc. But what I do not know how to do is,
> whilst the Color is allowed to have multiple assays (Eye color assay, Skin
> color assay), to create a relationship so that it knows that when it is a
> value to the slot has_attribute belonging to the Eye (and not to the Skin)
> then it should allow only the Eye color assay to be its value.
>
> Now I understand that if I create several instances of Color having
several
> values of different assays that determine the color of the eye, I can then
> allow these to be values of the Eye has_attribute but I do not want to
hold
> instances (in that sense ???? I am correct to ask this ??) in my ontology.
> What I would like to is a user or an application to be able see what
> attributes an Eye has and what Assay or assays can provide the values of
> these attributes
>
> I realise that this is a very complicated question and possibly I have not
> explained what I am after in a sensible manner and maybe even it is not
> possible. I would like to apologise for my ignorance and for taking your
> time in advance. I would really appreciate should you are able to give an
> answer to this.
>
> I would like to thank you very much.
>
> With kindest regards
>
> George
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dr. Georgios V. Gkoutos                 Medical Reasearch Council
>                                             Mammalian Genetics Unit
>                                     Bioinformatics
>                                     Harwell
>         Tel: (44) 1235 841249           Oxford
>         Fax: (44) 1235 841210           OX11 0RD,
>                                     UK
>
> email: g.gkoutos@har.mrc.ac.uk
> website: http://www.mrc.ac.uk/
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Received on Tuesday, 20 May 2003 10:33:45 UTC