An Introduction to Ontology Engineering


Book Description

An Introduction to Ontology Engineering introduces the student to a comprehensive overview of ontology engineering, and offers hands-on experience that illustrate the theory. The topics covered include: logic foundations for ontologies with languages and automated reasoning, developing good ontologies with methods and methodologies, the top-down approach with foundational ontologies, and the bottomup approach to extract content from legacy material, and a selection of advanced topics that includes Ontology-Based Data Access, the interaction between ontologies and natural languages, and advanced modelling with fuzzy and temporal ontologies. Each chapter contains review questions and exercises, and descriptions of two group assignments are provided as well. The textbook is aimed at advanced undergraduate/postgraduate level in computer science and could fi t a semester course in ontology engineering or a 2-week intensive course. Domain experts and philosophers may fi nd a subset of the chapters of interest, or work through the chapters in a different order. Maria Keet is an Associate Professor with the Department of Computer Science, University of Cape Town, South Africa. She received her PhD in Computer Science in 2008 at the KRDB Research Centre, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. Her research focus is on knowledge engineering with ontologies and Ontology, and their interaction with natural language and conceptual data modelling, which has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed publications. She has developed and taught multiple courses on ontology engineering and related courses at various universities since 2009.




Ontology Made Easy


Book Description

Existence questions have been topics for heated debates in metaphysics, but this book argues that they can often be answered easily, by trivial inferences from uncontroversial premises. This 'easy' approach to ontology leads to realism about disputed entities, and to the view that metaphysical disputes about existence questions are misguided.




Applied Ontology


Book Description

Ontology is the philosophical discipline which aims to understand how things in the world are divided into categories and how these categories are related together. This is exactly what information scientists aim for in creating structured, automated representations, called ‘ontologies,’ for managing information in fields such as science, government, industry, and healthcare. Currently, these systems are designed in a variety of different ways, so they cannot share data with one another. They are often idiosyncratically structured, accessible only to those who created them, and unable to serve as inputs for automated reasoning. This volume shows, in a non-technical way and using examples from medicine and biology, how the rigorous application of theories and insights from philosophical ontology can improve the ontologies upon which information management depends.




An Introduction to Ontology


Book Description

In this engaging and wide-ranging new book, Nikk Effingham provides an introduction to contemporary ontology - the study of what exists - and its importance for philosophy today. He covers the key topics in the field, from the ontology of holes, numbers and possible worlds, to space, time and the ontology of material objects - for instance, whether there are composite objects such as tables, chairs or even you and me. While starting from the basics, every chapter is up-to-date with the most recent developments in the field, introducing both longstanding theories and cutting-edge advances. As well as discussing the latest issues in ontology, Effingham also helpfully deals in-depth with different methodological principles (including theory choice, Quinean ontological commitment and Meinongianism) and introduces them alongside an example ontological theory that puts them into practice. This accessible and comprehensive introduction will be essential reading for upper-level undergraduate and post-graduate students, as well as any reader interested in the present state of the subject.




Building Ontologies with Basic Formal Ontology


Book Description

An introduction to the field of applied ontology with examples derived particularly from biomedicine, covering theoretical components, design practices, and practical applications. In the era of “big data,” science is increasingly information driven, and the potential for computers to store, manage, and integrate massive amounts of data has given rise to such new disciplinary fields as biomedical informatics. Applied ontology offers a strategy for the organization of scientific information in computer-tractable form, drawing on concepts not only from computer and information science but also from linguistics, logic, and philosophy. This book provides an introduction to the field of applied ontology that is of particular relevance to biomedicine, covering theoretical components of ontologies, best practices for ontology design, and examples of biomedical ontologies in use. After defining an ontology as a representation of the types of entities in a given domain, the book distinguishes between different kinds of ontologies and taxonomies, and shows how applied ontology draws on more traditional ideas from metaphysics. It presents the core features of the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), now used by over one hundred ontology projects around the world, and offers examples of domain ontologies that utilize BFO. The book also describes Web Ontology Language (OWL), a common framework for Semantic Web technologies. Throughout, the book provides concrete recommendations for the design and construction of domain ontologies.




Return to Life Through Contrology


Book Description

This seminal work, written by the creator of the Pilates method himself, guides you through a series of precisely designed exercises that strengthen the body, enhance flexibility, and promote overall well-being. With detailed instructions and accompanying photographs, Joseph Pilates demonstrates how his innovative approach to fitness can help you achieve a renewed sense of vitality, improve your posture, and gain mastery over your physical and mental health. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced practitioner, this timeless classic is an essential resource for anyone seeking to unlock their body's full potential and embark on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.




Ontology Engineering


Book Description

Ontologies have become increasingly important as the use of knowledge graphs, machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and the amount of data generated on a daily basis has exploded. As of 2014, 90% of the data in the digital universe was generated in the two years prior, and the volume of data was projected to grow from 3.2 zettabytes to 40 zettabytes in the next six years. The very real issues that government, research, and commercial organizations are facing in order to sift through this amount of information to support decision-making alone mandate increasing automation. Yet, the data profiling, NLP, and learning algorithms that are ground-zero for data integration, manipulation, and search provide less than satisfactory results unless they utilize terms with unambiguous semantics, such as those found in ontologies and well-formed rule sets. Ontologies can provide a rich "schema" for the knowledge graphs underlying these technologies as well as the terminological and semantic basis for dramatic improvements in results. Many ontology projects fail, however, due at least in part to a lack of discipline in the development process. This book, motivated by the Ontology 101 tutorial given for many years at what was originally the Semantic Technology Conference (SemTech) and then later from a semester-long university class, is designed to provide the foundations for ontology engineering. The book can serve as a course textbook or a primer for all those interested in ontologies.




The Existence of the World


Book Description

Originally published in 1992. The history of Western philosophy can be seen as a battle between those that insist that the "physical universe" exists and those would claim that there is a much larger "world" which contains atemporal and nonspatial things as well. The central part of this book, and the battle, concerns the existence of universals. Starting with the mediaeval definition of the issue found in Porphry and Boethius, the author then considers modern and contemporary versions of the battle. He concludes that what is at stake between naturalists and ontologists is the existence and nature of a number of important categories, like structures, relations, sets, numbers and so on.




Scientific Ontology


Book Description

Though science and philosophy take different approaches to ontology, metaphysical inferences are relevant to interpreting scientific work, and empirical investigations are relevant to philosophy. This book argues that there is no uniquely rational way to determine which domains of ontology are appropriate for belief, making room for choice in a transformative account of scientific ontology.




Introduction to Bio-Ontologies


Book Description

Introduction to Bio-Ontologies explores the computational background of ontologies. Emphasizing computational and algorithmic issues surrounding bio-ontologies, this self-contained text helps readers understand ontological algorithms and their applications.The first part of the book defines ontology and bio-ontologies. It also explains the importan