A Dynamic Ontology for Shared Representation of Knowledge of Establishments

Abstract

Explicit specifications of domain conceptualizations called ontologies, are essential for the development and use of intelligent systems. Implicit and shared representations of knowledge help to adequately and consistently use the required knowledge to solve problems in an establishment. This paper builds a dynamic ontology for shared representation of an establishment and discusses the major concepts and structures that must be identified and represented in such an establishment while building the dynamic ontology. It has approached the problem of capturing the dynamic essence of an establishment by addressing the representational problems involving occurrents (states, events and processes). We recommend that states be represented using the method of temporal arguments, while events should be represented using the Davidson style reification. The language of representation is first order logic. The temporal nature of events and processes is elucidated and the causation relation between processes and events were formalized. Events in this domain are instantaneous while processes take place over intervals. Other structures that make up our ontology include temporal definitions and temporal classifications. The ontology enables us not just to answer queries with what is explicitly represented in it but also with what is implied by the shared representation of the establishment.