R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Discovery Seminar 035158/UE 141 MMM – Spring 2008
Solving Crimes using Referent Tracking
Building a Realism-based Crime Ontology
- Realism-based Relationships March 5 through 31, 2008
Werner CEUSTERS
Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences
Ontology Research Group
University at Buffalo, NY, USA
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Three levels of reality
1. The world exists ‘as it is’ prior to a cognitive
agent’s perception thereof;
2. Cognitive agents build up ‘in their minds’
cognitive representations of the world;
3. To make these representations publicly
accessible in some enduring fashion, they create
representational artifacts that are fixed in some
medium.
Smith B, Kusnierczyk W, Schober D, Ceusters W. Towards a Reference Terminology for Ontology Research and
Development in the Biomedical Domain. Proceedings of KR-MED 2006, November 8, 2006, Baltimore MD, USA
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Three levels of reality
RU1
B
B1
RU1O1
O
#1
R
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
A realist view of the world
• The world consists of
– entities that are
• Either particulars or universals;
• Either occurrents or continuants;
• Either dependent or independent;
and,
– relationships between these entities of the form
• <particular , universal>
• <particular , particular>
• <universal , universal>
e.g. is-instance-of,
e.g. is-member-of
e.g. isa (is-subtype-of)
Smith B, Kusnierczyk W, Schober D, Ceusters W. Towards a Reference Terminology for Ontology Research and
Development in the Biomedical Domain. Proceedings of KR-MED 2006, November 8, 2006, Baltimore MD, USA
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Top-Level Ontology (1)
Continuant
Independent
Continuant
Role
Function
Dependent
Continuant
Propensity
Occurrent
(always dependent
on one or more
independent
continuants)
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Top-Level Ontology (2)
Continuant
Spatial
Region
Role
Independent
Continuant
Function
Dependent
Continuant
Propensity
Occurrent
(always dependent
on one or more
independent
continuants)
Process
Temporal
Region
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Relationships
• The way in which continuants and occurrants
stand to each other.
• Example:
– Prisoner:
a person who is confined in prison
• The naïve solution:
– Prisoner is-confined-in prison
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Problems with ‘Prisoner is-confined-in prison’
• Structure of language does most often not reflect
the structure of reality
– ‘is-confined-in’ is not an ontological relation
• What does it actually mean ?
– Some/All prisoners are-confined-in some/all prisons ?
• Is a prisoner, while transferred from one prison to another
one not anymore a prisoner ?
• Is the van or bus in which a prisoner is transported a prison ?
• …
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Three basic sorts of relationships
humans are mammals
universal
universal
Werner Ceusters
instance-of
human
particular
particular
Werner Ceusters’ nose part-of Werner Ceusters
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Universals and classes
e.g. human
extension-of
universal
instance-of
e.g. all humans
member-of
class
P P P P
P P P P
P P P P
e.g. all humans in this room
Defined
class
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
General principle about relationships
All
universal level relationships
are defined on the basis of
particular level relationships
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Primitive instance-level relationships
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
c instance_of C at t - a primitive relation between a continuant instance and a class which
it instantiates at a specific time
p instance_of P - a primitive relation between a process instance and a class which it
instantiates holding independently of time
c part_of c1 at t - a primitive relation between two continuant instances and a time at
which the one is part of the other
p part_of p1, r part_of r1 - a primitive relation of parthood, holding independently of
time, either between process instances (one a subprocess of the other), or between spatial
regions (one a subregion of the other)
c located_in r at t - a primitive relation between a continuant instance, a spatial region
which it occupies, and a time
r adjacent_to r1 - a primitive relation of proximity between two disjoint continuants
t earlier t1 - a primitive relation between two times
c derives_from c1 - a primitive relation involving two distinct material continuants c and
c1
p has_participant c at t - a primitive relation between a process, a continuant, and a time
p has_agent c at t - a primitive relation between a process, a continuant and a time at
which the continuant is causally active in the process
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Is_a is defined over instance-of (1)
For continuants
• C is_a C1 = [definition] for all c, t, if c
instance_of C at t then c instance_of C1 at t.
For occurrents
• P is_a P1 = [definition] for all p, if p instance_of
P then p instance_of P1.
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Is_a is defined over instance-of (2)
is_a
living creature
universals
human being
instance-of at t
me
particulars
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Is_a is defined over instance-of (3)
More than
subset or
inclusion !
living creature
is_a
human being
animal
child
is_a
adult
Instance-of
t1
t2
me
is_a
caterpillar
butterfly
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Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Transformation
Derivation
continuation
fusion
fission
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Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Part-of different for continuants and occurrents
process
living creature
Is_a
leg
human being
Instance-of
at t
part-of
at t
me
Is_a
Is_a
leg moving
Instance-of
at t
walking
Instance-of
this leg moving
part-of
Instance-of
my left leg
this walking
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Part-of can be generalized, … with care !
living creature
Is_a
leg
human being
Instance-of
at t
part-of
at t
me
Instance-of
at t
C part_of C1 = [def]
for all c, t,
if Cct
then there is some c1
such that C1c1t and
c part_of c1 at t.
my left leg
Cct = c instance-of C at t
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Part-of can be generalized, … with care !
living creature
Is_a
human being
Instance-of
at t
part-of
at t
me
?
leg
Part-of
Instance-of
at t
C part_of C1 = [def]
for all c, t,
if Cct
then there is some c1
such that C1c1t and
c part_of c1 at t.
my left leg
Cct = c instance-of C at t
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Part-of can be generalized, … with care !
living creature
Is_a
human being
Instance-of
at t
part-of
at t
me
?
leg
Part-of
Instance-of
at t
my left leg
• Horse legs are not parts of
human beings
• Amputated legs are not
parts of human beings
• ‘Canonical leg is part of
canonical human being’,
but…, there are (very
likely) no such particulars
•…
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Generalization of temporal parthood
• P part_of P1 = [definition]
– for all p,
– if Pp
– then there is some p1 such
that: P1p1 and p part_of p1
process
Is_a
Is_a
leg moving
walking
Instance-of
this leg moving
part-of
Instance-of
this walking
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Two sorts of temporal parthood (1)
• ‘longitudinal’: one
process evolves as part of
another one.
• May involve stronger
relationships of other
types, e.g. causal
part-of
at t
me
my left leg
HasParticipant
at t
Has-participant at t2
process
Is_a
Is_a
leg moving
walking
Instance-of
this leg moving
part-of
Instance-of
this walking
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Two sorts of temporal parthood (2)
this foot moving
this foot moving
this foot moving
this leg moving
this walking
• Cuts cross temporal entities
t
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Assignment (1)
• Analyze ontologically the following:
– A prisoner is a person held in confinement against his will.
– Prisoners are of two kinds, those lawfully confined, and those
unlawfully imprisoned.
– Lawful prisoners are either prisoners charged with crimes, or
for a civil liability.
– Those charged with crimes are either persons accused and not
tried, or those who have been convicted of crimes.
– Prisoners in civil cases, are persons arrested on original or
mesne process, and prisoners in execution.
R T U New York State
Center of Excellence in
Bioinformatics & Life Sciences
Assignment (2)
• Identify:
– the minimal numbers of particulars involved for each
type of prisoner;
– the universals, classes and defined classes involved;
– The relationships, drawn from the ones discussed in
this presentation.
• Execution:
– Draw schemas as the ones in this presentation.
– In group, starting during class of March 19, continued
March 26, to be delivered March 31 at the latest.