An Introduction to Building Description Logic Ontologies using the Protg-OWL Plugin

Barry Pekilis
Generative Programming Laboratory bpekilis@swen.uwaterloo.ca

Watform Group Talk March 6, 2006

Presentation Overview
      

Introduction Background Protg OWL Restrictions Summary References

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My Research: Resource Ownership



GOAL: Verification of conformance for sessionoriented, real-time software services to their application resource management schemes Domain & concept analysis to construct resource ownership (RO) ontology in OWL Use RO ontology to construct RO metamodel in UML Instantiate sets of state-dependent object models from RO metamodel for runtime RO monitoring

 

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Today s Talk
   

Creating description logic (DL) ontologies Web Ontology Language (OWL) Protg-OWL Plugin Running example: OWL Pizza ontology

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Knowledge Representation (KR)

 

Design of formalisms for expressing knowledge Logic-based approaches

 

precise semantics (i.e., predicate calculus) no visual structure visual structure based on cognitive notion from experiments with human memory & mathematical puzzle solving no precise semantics

Non-logic-based approaches


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Description Logics (DL)

 

Emphasis on properties of underlying logical system Concepts represented by DL expression



sets of individuals

 

Terminology represented by hierarchical structure Balance

 

representation ease reasoning efficiency

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Semantic Web


Framework for data sharing & reuse across application, enterprise & community boundaries


machine-understandable resources & meta-data

 

Collaborative effort led by W3C Based on Resource Description Framework (RDF)

 

XML for syntax, Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) for naming

Official semantic web ontology language is OWL

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Semantic Web Architecture

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What is an Ontology?


Short Answer:
An explicit specification of a conceptualization of a knowledge domain.

Long Answer:
A controlled vocabulary that formally describes objects and the relations between them and has a grammar for using the vocabulary terms to express something meaningful within a domain of interest. The vocabulary is used to make queries and assertions. Ontological commitments are agreements to use the vocabulary in a consistent way for knowledge sharing.

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The Web Ontology Language (OWL)



OWL is a description logic-based semantic markup language for publishing & sharing ontologies Extension to RDF & RDFS Derived from DAML+OIL Web Ontology Language
 

 

DAML DARPA Agent Markup Language OIL Ontology Inference Layer

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Species of OWL


OWL-Lite
 

limited expressiveness for simple class hierarchies & constraints medium expressiveness supports automated reasoning most expressive does not support automated reasoning

OWL-DL
 

OWL-Full
 

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OWL Sub-Language Extensions

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Protg


Open source ontology editor & knowledge-base framework its free Suite of tools to construct ontological domain models & knowledge-based applications Two ontology modeling platforms: Protg-Frames editor Protg-OWL editor

  

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Basic Syntactic Building Blocks

Description Logic Frames-based Ontology OWL-based Ontology

Concept (unary predicates) Roles (binary predicates) Individual (constants)

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Class Slot Instance

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Class Property Individual

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OWL Individuals


Instances of classes representing objects in the domain of discourse

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OWL Properties


Act as binary relations on individuals

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OWL Classes


Sets of individuals with formal descriptions that precisely state requirements for class membership

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Class Organization
  

Classes organized into taxonomy (hierarchy) Subclasses specialize (are subsumed by) superclasses Consider example: class Pizza & class CheesePizza
     

CheesePizza is a subclass of Pizza Pizza is the superclass of CheesePizza All CheesePizza are Pizza All members of CheesePizza are also members of Pizza Being a CheesePizza implies youre an Pizza CheesePizza is subsumed by Pizza

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Disjoint Classes
   

OWL Classes assumed to overlap If required, must assert group of classes to be disjoint Separates group of classes into disjoint sets Individual of one class in group cannot be member of another class in same group

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OWL-DL Ontology


OWL : Thing
 

built-in class every empty OWL ontology contains one represents set of all individuals in ontology

  

Six types of OWL classes Named classes Anonymous (Unnamed) classes:

  

Intersection, Union & Complement Restriction Enumeration

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Creating Named Classes

 

Select classes tab Create subclass & Create sibling class buttons create:
  

Pizza PizzaBase PizzaTopping

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Creating Subclasses


Subclasses of PizzaTopping represent categorizations of pizza toppings

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Meaning of Subclasses

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OWL Properties
   

Represent relationships between two individuals Object properties relate individual to individual Datatype properties relate individual to data value Annotation property attach meta-data to classes, individuals, or properties

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Property Hierarchies
  

Properties can have one or more super-properties Object properties only have object super-properties Datatype properties only have datatype superproperties

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Creating Properties
 

Object super-property hasIngredient Object properties hasTopping & hasBase

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Property Characteristics
    

Inverse Functional InverseFunctional Symmetric Transitive

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Inverse: hasChild


If property P links individual A to individual B, then its inverse property Q links B to A

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Functional: hasBirthMother


Given an individual A, there can be at most one individual B related to A via a functional property P

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Inverse Functional: isBirthMotherOf



Given an individual A, there can be at most one individual B related to A via an inverse functional property P

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Transitive: hasAncestor


Given transitive property P that relates individual A to individual B, and B to individual C, then A is related to C via P

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Transitive Example: hasIngredient

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Symmetric Property: hasSibling



Given symmetric property P that relates individual A to individual B, then B is also related to A via P

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Property Domain & Range



Properties P links individuals from the domain of P to individuals from the range of P

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Describing & Defining Classes



OWL properties create restrictions to constrain or restrict the set of individuals belonging to an anonymous (unnamed) class Format (Restriction) (Property) (Filler) Quantifier restrictions
 

 

existential (some values from, at least one) universal (only) min (at least); equal = (exactly); max (at most)

Cardinality restrictions


hasValue restrictions ( )
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Existential Restrictions


Anonymous class of individuals having at least one relationship along the specified property to an individual that is a member of the specified class

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Creating Existential Restrictions



hasBase PizzaBase all individuals that have at least one relationship along hasBase property to an individual that is member of class PizzaBase

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Necessary Conditions


To be a Pizza, it is necessary to have some PizzaBase



Pizza is subclass of things that have at least one PizzaBase

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Necessary Conditions: Margherita

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Reasoning


OWL-DL ontologies can use a DL Reasoner to infer information is not explicitly asserted in the ontology Standard reasoning services are:
   

Subsumption checking Equivalence checking Consistency checking Instantiation checking

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RacerPro
 

Renamed ABox & Concept Expression Reasoner Some RacerPro services include:
  

consistency check implicit subclass relationships OWL-QL query processing system ABOX contains extensional knowledge (assertional knowledge) specific to individuals TBOX contains intensional knowledge (taxonomy or terminology) that declares general properties
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Aside from knowledge-bases:



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Using A Reasoner
  

Asserted hierarchy manually constructed Inferred hierarchy computed by reasoner Check consistency . . .
 

perform consistency check using class conditions determine whether or not a given class can have instances test whether or not a class is subclass of another class compute inferred ontology class hierarchy

Classify taxonomy . . .
 

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Probe Class


ProbeInconsistentTopping is subclass disjoint CheeseTopping & VegetableTopping

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Primitive Classes


Have only necessary conditions



it is necessary for the class to fulfill these conditions

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Defined Classes


Have one or more necessary & sufficient condition



it is not only necessary to fulfill these conditions, but also sufficient to determine if an individual satisfying these conditions is a member of the class

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Necessary & Sufficient Conditions

LEFT: If CheesyPizza, then necessary to be a Pizza & have at least one CheeseTopping topping RIGHT: If Pizza & have at least one CheeseTopping, then sufficient to determine individual is a CheesyPizza
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Why Use Necessary & Sufficient?



Suppose class A defined with necessary & sufficient conditions, then conditions are sufficient to determine whether something else is also a member of A Given another class B, whose individuals also satisfy the conditions that define class A, then a reasoner can automatically determine if B is subsumed by A (i.e., B subclass A)

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Automatic Classification


Better to use reasoner to compute subclass-superclass relationships in large ontologies where classes may have many superclasses (multiple inheritance) Step One: manually construct simple tree for the asserted hierarchy Step Two: compute & maintain multiple inheritance in the inferred hierarchy using reasoner Minimizes possible human error & promotes reuse

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Classification Results:

CheesyPizza

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Asserted & Inferred Hierarchies

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Universal Restrictions
 

Existential restrictions do not mandate specific classes Universal restrictions do restrict their relationships for a given property to individual of the specified class Universal restrictions do not specify the existence of the relationship, only that if the relationship exists, it must be to individuals of the specified class

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Creating Universal Restrictions



hasTopping MozzarellaTopping individuals whose hasTopping relationships are only to members of MozzarellaTopping plus individuals who do not participate in any hasTopping relationships
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Open World Reasoning

 

OWL-DL based on open world assumption (OWA) Cannot assume something doesnt exist until it is explicitly stated that it does not exist Consider NamedPizza subclass Margherita Unless stated, reasoner will assume a Margherita has more toppings than just MozzarellaTopping & TomatoTopping Must use a Closure Axiom on hasTopping
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Closure Axiom: Margherita



The union of all fillers in the existential restriction for the given property

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Value Partitions
 

Not part of OWL (or any other ontology language) Design pattern created to refine class descriptions
 

recognized solution to common modeling problem developed by experts

 

Has a restricted range (exhaustive list) of possible Covering Axiom makes list of value types exhaustive

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Covering Axioms
   

Class that is the union of classes being covered Forms a superclass of the covered classes Consider classes A, B, C where B & C subclasses A If B & C covered by A, then member of A must be a member of B and/or C If B & C are disjoint, then member of A must be a member of either B or C but not both

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Effect Of Covering Axiom

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Value Partition: Spiciness



Covering Axiom is union of Mild, Medium & Hot

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Covering Axiom: Spiciness

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Cardinality Restrictions


For property P, specifies restrictions on number of relationships between two individuals or an individual & datatype value Minimum Cardinality specifies minimum number of P relationships individual must participate in Maximum Cardinality specifies maximum number of P relationships an individual can participate in Cardinality specifies exact number of P relationships an individual must participate in
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hasValue Restriction


Set of individuals having at least one relationship along specified property to a specific individual hasCountryOfOrigin Italy Italy is an individual

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Enumerated Class


Defined by precisely listing individuals belonging to the enumerated class Anonymous class since only individuals listed in enumeration consider class DaysOfTheWeek which contains the only the individuals: { Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday} each individual must be created in the ontology

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Summary
  

Classes are building blocks of OWL ontology OWL has Named & Anonymous (unnamed) classes OWL distinguishes between necessary versus necessary & sufficient conditions Description logic reasoner can automatically check class consistency & take the asserted hierarchy to construct new information in the inferred hierarchy

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References


F. Baader et al (Eds), The description logic handbook: theory, implementation, and applications, Cambridge University Press, 2003. M. Horridge et al, A practical guide to building OWL ontologies using the Protg-OWL plugin and CO-ODE tools (Edition 1.0), University of Manchester, 2004. H. Knublauch et al, The Protg OWL Plugin: an open development environment for semantic web applications, LNCS 3298, Springer, 2004. H. Knublauch et al, Editing description logic ontologies with the Protg OWL plugin, In Proc. International Workshop on Description Logics (DL2004), CEUR-WS.org, 2004.

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