Comparing Concepts in Differentiated Ontologies
Peter C. Weinstein, William P. Birmingham · 1999
Concepts in differentiated ontologies inherit definitional structure from concepts in shared ontologies. Shared, inherited structure provides a common ground that supports measures of “description compatibility. ” These algorithms are the primary contribution of this paper. The description-compatibility measures compare concepts to predict semantic compatibility, the probability that an instance of a recommendation will satisfy a request. The description-compatibility measures cross a spectrum regarding their knowledge of the semantics of roles in concept definitions. Some of the measures identify and analyze correspondences among elements of the definitions, and are thus a form of analogical reasoning. We use simulations to evaluate the description-compatibility measures in detail. Description compatibility can be used to rank alternative query translations, and to guide search for capabilities across communities that subscribe to differentiated ontologies. 1.