Conceptual Modeling and Foundational Ontologies

1
Conceptual Modeling and Foundational Ontologies

• Giancarlo Guizzardi
• (guizzardi_at_acm.org )
• http//nemo.inf.ufes.br
• Computer Science Department
• Federal University of
• Espírito Santo (UFES),
• Brazil

2
(No Transcript)
3
Permanent Researchers

• Giancarlo Guizzardi (Foundational Ontologies,
  Conceptual Modeling)
• João Paulo Andrade Almeida (Enterprise
  Architecture, Enterprise Modeling, Foundations
  for Enterprise Models)
• Renata S.S. Guizzardi (Multi-Agent Modeling,
  Intentional Analysis, Knowledge Management)
• Ricardo Falbo (Ontological Engineering,
  Ontologies in Software Engineering)

4
Main International Collaborations

• LOA (Laboratory of Applied Ontology)/ISTC/CNR
  (head Nicola Guarino)
• http//www.loa-cnr.it/
• OntoMed (Ontologies in Medicine)/IMISE (head
  Heinrich Herre)
• http//www.onto-med.de/

5
A Software Engineering view
Conceptual Modeling
Implementation2
Implementation3
Implementation1
6
A Software Engineering view
Conceptual Modeling
DESIGN
Implementation2
Implementation3
Implementation1
7
transported to Ontological Engineering
Ontology as a Conceptual Model
Ontology as Implementation2 (CASL)
Ontology as Implementation3 (Alloy, F-Logic)
Ontology as Implementation1 (SHOIN/OWL-DL,
DLRUS)
8
transported to Ontological Engineering
Ontology as a Conceptual Model
DESIGN
Ontology as Implementation2 (CASL)
Ontology as Implementation3 (Alloy, F-Logic)
Ontology as Implementation1 (SHOIN/OWL-DL,
DLRUS)
9
(No Transcript)
10
Formal Ontology and Foundational Ontology

• Formal Ontology (Husserl) a discipline that
  deals with formal ontological structures (e.g.
  theory of parts, theory of wholes, types and
  instantiation, identity, dependence, unity) which
  apply to all material domains in reality.
• We name a foundational ontology the product of
  the discipline of formal ontology in philosophy
• We need a Foundational Ontology that takes Human
  Cognition and Linguistic Competence seriously
  (i.e., a Cognitive Descriptive Ontology)

11
Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO)
UFO-C (SOCIAL ASPECTS) (Agents, Intentional
States, Goals, Actions, Norms, Social
Commitments/Claims, Social Dependency Relations)
UFO-A (STRUCTURAL ASPECTS) (Objects, their types,
their parts/wholes, the roles they play, their
intrinsic and relational properties Property
value spaces)
UFO-B (DYNAMIC ASPECTS) (Events and their parts,
Relations between events, Object participation
in events, Temporal properties of entities, Time)
12
OntoUML An Ontologically-Well Founded version
of UML
OntoUML
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
ATL Transformation
Simulation and Visualization
Alloy Analyzer OntoUML visual Plugin
16
(No Transcript)
17
OntoUML

• Asides from the Language and the automated tools,
  the approach provides a number of Methodological
  Guidelines and Design Patterns for ontologically
  well-founded conceptual modeling

18
Growing number of adopters of UFO and OntoUML in
the International Community

• Semantic Interoperability of Domain Specific
  Languages (SAP Research, Germany)
• Metamodeling Foundations (University of Twente,
  The Netherlands)
• ORM (Object-Role Modeling) 2.0 (International
  Community)
• Rule Verbalization (REWERSE, Europe)
• Automatic Generation of Semantically Consistent
  Schemata (U.S. Department of Defense)
• Agent-Based Simulation (BUT at Cottbus, Germany)
• Ontological Foundation s for the REA
  (Resource-Event-Actor) Framework (University of
  Ghent, Belgium)
• Alternative tools for OntoUML (UTwente, U.Ghent)

19
Ontology-Based Analysis and (Re) Engineering

• We have analyzed, (re) engineered, integrated
  other reference models and tools. Examples
  include
• ITIL, RM-ODP
• ARIS EPC and Organizational Models
• TROPOS/i, AORML
• A particularly interesting effort has been the
  extension of OntoUML to incorporate dynamic
  notions for the construction of Task Ontologies
  (E-OntoUML)

20
E-OntoUML
21
(No Transcript)
22
Exploring alternative mappings
Ontology as a Conceptual Model
DESIGN
Ontology as Implementation2 (CASL)
Ontology as Implementation3 (Alloy, F-Logic)
Ontology as Implementation1 (SHOIN/OWL-DL,
DLRUS)
23
Research Summary

• Foundational Ontologies (UFO)
• Ontology-Based Analysis, (Re) Engineering and
  Integration of Modeling Languages and Reference
  Models
• Methodological Aspects of Ontology Engineering
  (SABiO)
• Process Models
• Quality Assurance
• Ontology Evaluation
• Ontology Configuration Management
• Ontology Codification
• Ontoogy Excavation

24
Research Summary

• Computational Tools for Ontologically-Well
  Founded Conceptual Models
• Ontology-Based Applications
• Bioinformatics (Electrocardiogram)
• Oil and Gas (cooperation with NP2TEC/UNIRIO)
• Software Engineering
• Software Process
• Software Quality
• Software Risks
• Software Configuration Management
• ...
• Organizational Modeling
• ITIL, RM-ODP, ARIS, TROPOS/i
• ...

25
Education

• Introduction to Ontologies Introduction to the
  field, possible applications, categories of
  ontologies, existing languages and metodologies,
  well-known ontologies, Existing Tools
• Ontology Engineering Metodological Aspects,
  Hands on experience with building ontologies
  (from Conceptual Model to Codification)
• Advanced Topics on Conceptual Modeling and
  Ontology Representation Foundational Ontologies,
  Ontology Design Patterns, Non-Classical Languages
  for Ontology Codification
• Software Engineering
• Ontologies in Software Engineering
• Knowledge Management
• Ontologies for Knowledge Management
• Model-Based Development

26
Cooperation Opportunities

• Ontology Visualization (UFRGS, UFV) OntoUML
  models tend to get very complex. What kind of
  visualization techniches can be used to deal with
  issues such as perspective, granularity,
  interactive manipulation in large conceptual
  models?
• Automatic Support for Ontology Engineering taking
  advantage of specific characteristics of OntoUML
• NLP for basic structure extraction (PUC-RS)
• Collaborative Construction of OntoUML models
  (PONTOPESC/UFRJ, GRECO/UFRJ, LEC/UFSC)
• Domain-Specific Ontologies Eletrocardiology
  (UFJF), Software Engineering (UFV)
• Methodological Aspects for Ontology Engineering
  (LEC/UFSC)
• ...

27
http//nemo.inf.ufes.br/gguizzardi_at_inf.ufes.br