Showing papers by "Giancarlo Guizzardi published in 2019"

Relations in Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling

Abstract: For over a decade now, a community of researchers has contributed to the ontological foundations of Conceptual Modeling by participating to the development of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) and the UFO-based modeling language OntoUML, which have been successfully employed in a number of different sectors. The empirical feedback from these experiences led us to reconsider UFO’s theory of relations, proposing a new theory that has already been applied to model subtle notions in the business domain, such as value, risk, service, and contract. In this paper, we advance a first formal characterization of this new theory, which is then used to design a new metamodel for OntoUML.

Events as Entities in Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling

Abstract: The Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) has been used to provide foundations for the major conceptual modeling constructs. This ontology has led to the OntoUML Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling language, a UML class diagram profile reflecting the ontological micro-theories comprising UFO. So far, the focus of OntoUML has been on the representation of structural aspects of a domain (endurant types and their relations), corresponding to a fragment of UFO dubbed UFO-A. This paper extends OntoUML by addressing the representation of event types, reflecting the UFO-B foundational ontology of events. Based on the ontological distinctions and axiomatization provided by UFO-B, we define new OntoUML constructs and guidelines for the conceptual modeling of events and event relations in structural conceptual models.

Representing a reference foundational ontology of events in SROIQ

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the application of foundational ontologies, i.e., formal ontological theories in the philosophical sense, to provide a theoretically sound foundation for improving the theory and practice of conceptual modeling and knowledge representation. This paper addresses one particular foundational theory of events termed UFO-B, which has been successfully employed as a reference model for addressing problems from complex media management, enterprise architecture, software engineering, and modeling of events in petroleum exploration. Despite its success, there is still no formalization of UFO-B in a decidable knowledge representation language that could support reasoning about complex events and event relations. We address this gap by proposing a number of alternative translations from UFO-B’s original axiomatization (in first-order logic and in the Alloy formal language) to the description logic SROIQ, which is the formal underpinning of OWL 2 DL. Additionally, to support practical applications, we translated these SROIQ theories to OWL 2 DL TBoxes, which were validated by showing that all the intended models of UFO-B (the logical models of the UFO-B specification in Alloy) that we generated are consistent with these UFO-B TBoxes. In a sense, the specification in Alloy implements the specification in first-order logic, while the OWL 2 TBoxes implement the SROIQ specifications. Incidentally, the methodology that we designed for the translation from UFO-B’s original axiomatization in FOL and Alloy to SROIQ came to be a key contribution of this work by providing us evidence of the inadequacy of DLs for the specification of comprehensive foundational ontologies.

Towards a Reference Ontology of Trust

Abstract: Trust is a key component of relationships in social life. It is commonly argued that trust is the “glue” that holds families, societies, organizations and companies together. In the literature trust is frequently considered as a strategic asset for organizations. Having a clear understanding of the notion of trust and its components is paramount to both trust assessment and trust management. Although much progress has been made to clarify the ontological nature of trust, the term remains overloaded and there is not yet a shared or prevailing, and conceptually clear notion of trust. In this paper we address this issue by means of an in-depth ontological analysis of the notion of trust, grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology. As a result, we propose a concrete artifact, namely, the Reference Ontology for Trust, in which we characterize the general concept of trust and distinguish between two types of trust, namely, social trust and institution-based trust. We also represent the emergence of risk from trust relations. In addition, we make a comparative analysis of our Reference Ontology to other trust ontologies. To validate and demonstrate the contribution of our approach, we apply it to model two application examples.

Image Schema Combinations and Complex Events

Abstract: Formal knowledge representation struggles to represent the dynamic changes within complex events in a cognitively plausible way. Image schemas, on the other hand, are spatiotemporal relationships used in cognitive science as building blocks to conceptualise objects and events on a high level of abstraction. In this paper, we explore this modelling gap by looking at how image schemas can capture the skeletal information of events and describe segmentation cuts essential for conceptualising dynamic changes. The main contribution of the paper is the introduction of a more systematic approach for the combination of image schemas with one another in order to capture the conceptual representation of complex concepts and events. To reach this goal we use the image schema logic ISL, and, based on foundational research in cognitive linguistics and developmental psychology, we motivate three different methods for the formal combination of image schemas: merge, collection, and structured combination. These methods are then used for formal event segmentation where the changes in image-schematic state generate the points of separation into individual scenes. The paper concludes with a demonstration of our methodology and an ontological analysis of the classic commonsense reasoning problem of ‘cracking an egg.’

A Pattern Language for Value Modeling in ArchiMate

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in modeling value in the context of Enterprise Architecture, which has been driven by a need to align the vision and strategic goals of an enterprise with its business architecture. Nevertheless, the current literature shows that the concept of value is conceptually complex and still causes a lot of confusion. For example, we can find in the literature the concept of value being taken as equivalent to notions as disparate as goals, events, objects and capabilities. As a result, there is still a lack of proper support for modeling all aspects of value as well as its relations to these aforementioned notions. To address this issue, we propose in this paper a pattern language for value modeling in ArchiMate, which is based on the Common Ontology of Value and Risk, a well-founded reference ontology developed following the principles of the Unified Foundation Ontology. This enables us to delineate a clear ontological foundation, which addresses the ambiguous use of the value concept. The design of the Value Pattern Language will be guided by the Design Science Research Methodology. More specifically, a first iteration of the build-and-evaluate loop is presented, which includes the development of the pattern language and its demonstration by means of a case study of a low-cost airline.

Ontology-Based Model Abstraction

Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growth in the use of reference conceptual models to capture information about complex and critical domains. However, as the complexity of domain increases, so does the size and complexity of the models that represent them. Over the years, different techniques for complexity management in large conceptual models have been developed. In particular, several authors have proposed different techniques for model abstraction. In this paper, we leverage on the ontologically well-founded semantics of the modeling language OntoUML to propose a novel approach for model abstraction in conceptual models. We provide a precise definition for a set of Graph-Rewriting rules that can automatically produce much-reduced versions of OntoUML models that concentrate the models’ information content around the ontologically essential types in that domain, i.e., the so-called Kinds. The approach has been implemented using a model-based editor and tested over a repository of OntoUML models.

An Ontology-Based Diagnosis of Mainstream Service Modeling Languages

Abstract: This paper presents a diagnosis of mainstream service modeling languages (SoaML, USDL, and ArchiMate) in light of UFO-S, a reference ontology for services. UFO-S is intended as a broad ontology for service phenomena, harmonizing different perspectives on services (e.g., "service as commitment", and "service as capability"), and addressing several phases of the service lifecycle (service offering, service agreement, and service delivery). As result, UFO-S is used as an "analysis theory" to identify choices in these languages concerning their focus and coverage of service phenomena. We identify a number of possible improvements concerning the representation of service participant (roles), the description of service offerings, service agreements and service delivery.

Fifty Shades of Green: How Informative is a Compliant Process Trace?

Abstract: The problem of understanding whether a process trace satisfies a prescriptive model is a fundamental conceptual modeling problem in the context of process-based information systems. In business process management, and in process mining in particular, this amounts to check whether an event log conforms to a prescriptive process model, i.e., whether the actual traces present in the log are allowed by all behaviors implicitly expressed by the model. The research community has developed a plethora of very sophisticated conformance checking techniques that are particularly effective in the detection of non-conforming traces, and in elaborating on where and how they deviate from the prescribed behaviors. However, they do not provide any insight to distinguish between conforming traces, and understand their differences. In this paper, we delve into this rather unexplored area, and present a new process mining quality measure, called informativeness, which can be used to compare conforming traces to understand which are more relevant (or informative) than others. We introduce a technique to compute such measure in a very general way, as it can be applied on process models expressed in any language (e.g., Petri nets, Declare, process trees, BPMN) as long as a conformance checking tool is available. We then show the versatility of our approach, showing how it can be meaningfully applied when the activities contained in the process are associated to costs/rewards, or linked to strategic goals.

Taking It to the Next Level: Nicola Guarino, Formal Ontology and Conceptual Modeling.

Abstract: This paper is dedicated to Nicola Guarino, on the occasion of his 65th birthday. Nicola has made seminal contributions to Conceptual Modeling that include some of the greatest advances in this field of research over the past thirty years. Nicola’s contributions include OntoClean [26, 27], proposed jointly with Chris Welty, the first proposal of formal ontological analysis. This work has been widely cited, but is also used in academic and industrial settings around the world, thus having had tremendous impact. One of the OntoClean papers has had more than 1,000 citations (Google Scholar, October 2018) and won an “Thomson-ISI recognition of an "Emerging Research Front" award in 2004. Another seminal contribution of Guarino’s research is his work on the DOLCE foundational ontology, which has also had broad and deep impact in the field [59, 60, 42, 51, 43]. But by far his most significant contribution lies in his critique of conceptual modelling and knowledge representation languages for being ontologically neutral. Instead, he has argued convincingly that such languages should make commitments for the primitive concepts they offer on their ontological properties concerning existence, dependence, identity and rigidity. Such commitments reduce the space of possible interpretations for conceptual models and align them more closely to modeller intentions. This view that Conceptual Modeling Languages should break with ontological neutrality by committing to a suitable ontological theory strongly influenced the design of a next-generation of conceptual modeling approaches such as, for example, OntoUML [29, 38, 31]. The main objective of this paper is to present some of Nicola’s contributions and highlight their importance to Conceptual Modeling. To do so, we begin with an account of what is Conceptual Modelling (section 2), followed by the essential elements of the ontological framework proposed by Nicola (section 3). In section 4, we present the no-

Towards a Unified Theory of Endurants and Perdurants: UFO-AB.

Abstract: The Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO-A) is a foundational ontology about endurants that has been built as a foundation for conceptual modeling, and which focuses on static aspects of endurants. In addition to UFO-A, we have the Unified Foundational Ontology–Part B (UFO-B), a formal theory dealing with the interplay between endurants and the dynamic aspects of reality (e.g., events, processes, causation, dispositions, situations). Given the objective of characterizing this interplay between endurants and perdurants, these two ontologies are meant to form an integral whole. However, currently, they diverge in the way they approach modality. While UFO-A uses a general notion of alethic modality without committing to any notion of time, UFO-B is centered around temporal aspects. As an attempt to address this issue, we here define a translation of the axioms of UFO-A to FOL, and revisit an excerpt of UFO-B in order to accommodate a partial order of time points. With the goal of producing a unified theory, we interpret the alethic modalities of necessity and contingency of UFO-A in terms of this temporal structure, paying a special attention to the interplay between the determinism of a causal nexus and the existence of counterfactual situations. The revisited UFO-B is called UFO-B? and the unified theory is called UFO-AB.

On the Application of Ontological Patterns for Conceptual Modeling in Multidimensional Models

Abstract: Data warehouses (DW) play a decisive role in providing analytical information for decision making. Multidimensional modeling is a special approach to modeling data, considered the foundation for building data warehouses. With the explosive growth in the amount of heterogeneous data (most of which external to the organization) in the latest years, the DW has been impacted by the need to interoperate and deal with the complexity of this new type of information, such as big data, data lakes and cognitive computing platforms, becoming evident the need to improve the semantic expressiveness of the DW. Research has shown that ontological theories can play a fundamental role in improving the quality of conceptual models, reinforcing their potential to support semantic interoperability in its various manifestations. In this paper we propose the application of ontological patterns, grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO), for conceptual modeling in multidimensional models, in order to improve the semantic expressiveness of the models used to represent analytical data in a DW.

On weak truthmaking

Abstract: Informally speaking, a truthmaker is something in the world in virtue of which the sentences of a language can be made true. This fundamental philosophical notion plays a central role in applied ontology. In particular, a recent nonorthodox formulation of this notion proposed by the philosopher Josh Parsons, which we labelled weak truthamking, has been shown to be extremely useful in addressing a number of classical problems in the area of Conceptual Modeling. In this paper, after revisiting the classical notion of truthmaking, we conduct an in depth analysis of Parsons’ account of weak truthmaking. By doing that, we expose some difficulties in his original formulation. As the main contribution of this paper, we propose solutions to address these issues which are then integrated in a new precise interpretation of truthmaking that is harmonizable with commonsense as well as with existing four-category foundational ontologies.

Capturing Multi-level Models in a Two-Level Formal Modeling Technique

Abstract: Conceptual models are often built with techniques that propose a strict stratification of entities into two classification levels: a level of types (or classes) and a level of instances. Multi-level conceptual modeling extends the conventional two-level scheme by admitting that types can be instances of other types, giving rise to multiple levels of classification. Nevertheless, the vast majority of tools and techniques are still confined to the two-level scheme, and hence cannot be used for multi-level models directly. We show here how a multi-level model in ML2 can be transformed into a two-level specification in the formal modeling technique Alloy, thereby leveraging the Alloy analyzer to multi-level models.

Preserving multi-level semantics in conventional two-level modeling techniques

Abstract: Conceptual models are often built with techniques that propose a strict stratification of entities into two classification levels: a level of types (or classes) and a level of instances. Multi-level conceptual modeling extends the conventional two-level scheme by admitting that types can be instances of other types, giving rise to multiple levels of classification (individuals, classes, metaclasses, metametaclasses, and so on). As a result, multi-level models capture not only invariants about individuals, but also invariants about types themselves, which become regular elements of the domain of inquiry (first-class citizens). Despite the benefits of the multi-level approach, the vast majority of tools for conceptual modeling are still confined to the two-level scheme, and hence cannot accommodate multi-level entities. This paper proposes a transformation of multi-level to two-level models that preserves the semantics of the original multi-level model. We employ the systematic reification of the instance facet of a class and its linking to the type facet. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by a transformation of ML2 (multi-level) models to Alloy (two-level) specifications.

Foundational Choices in Enterprise Architecture: The Case of Capability in Defense Frameworks

Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) description frameworks embody a "worldview" which is used by architects to conceptualize the enterprise and its elements. This "worldview" manifests itself in the choice of language constructs and in modeling rules and guidelines, and, whether explicitly or not, reflects some foundational ontological choices. This paper reflects on the practical consequences of some of these choices. We focus on the capability-related elements in EA defense frameworks (DoDAF, MODAF and NAF). In particular, we analyse the support for modeling capabilities in these frameworks from the prism of a fundamental distinction in formal ontology: two-category vs. four-category ontology. By analyzing the current choices in these frameworks and identifying some adverse consequences, we are able to suggest well-founded recommendations for improvements.

Knowledge Models for Diagnosing Postharvest Diseases of Apples.

Abstract: Postharvest diseases are a common problem in the cultivation of apples. Since determining the exact disease is often difficult and time-consuming, an ontology-based decision support system is being developed to support this diagnosis process. In this paper a reference ontology is presented that captures the lifecycle of apples from the orchard to the storage phase. This ontology focuses mainly on postharvest diseases including their symptoms, characteristics, and other important factors. This reference model is represented using the ontology-driven conceptual modeling language OntoUML and it is then encoded as an OWL specification enriched with SWRL rules. The latter will then serve as a basis for supporting automated reasoning in the aforementioned decision support system.

Ontological Anti-Patterns in Taxonomic Structures.

Abstract: Over the years, there is a growing interest in employing theories from philosophical ontology, cognitive science, and linguistics to devise theoretical, methodological and computational tools for conceptual modeling, knowledge representation, and ontology engineering. In this paper, we discuss one particular kind of such tools, namely, ontological anti-patterns. Ontological antipatterns are error-problem modeling structures that can create a deviation between the possible and the intended interpretations of an ontology. The contributions of this paper are three-fold. Firstly, we propose three empirically elicited ontological anti-patterns related to the modeling of taxonomic structures. Secondly, we advance a series of rectification plans that can be used to eliminate the occurrence of these anti-patterns in domain ontologies. Finally, we present a software tool that supports the automated detection, analysis, and elimination of these anti-patterns.

Capability Agreements and Risk

Abstract: In this paper we analyse the ontological nature of capability agreements and discuss the relation between capability delegation, vulnerabilities and risk.

A Reference Conceptual Model for Virtual Network Function Online Marketplaces.

Abstract: Recently, we witnessed a shift in the Networking paradigm, with large part of the network control moving from hardware to software. This move has been accompanied by an increase of interest in declarative software models (conceptual models) for the domain. Moreover, novel architectures allow services to be deployed in multiple domains. These changes call for new business models to allow the commercialization of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). This paper proposes the creation of an ontology-based reference conceptual model to support VNF Marketplaces, allowing VNF vendors and infrastructure providers to commercialize VNFaaS (VNFs as services). The proposed reference model has been engineered by using foundational ontology techniques (UFO/OntoUML), it has been formally validated by using model simulation techniques, and it has been implemented in OWL.

It's (ontological) patterns all the way down.

Abstract: In the years to come, we will experience an increasing demand for building Reference Ontologies in critical domains in reality, as well as employing them to address classes of problems, for which sophisticated conceptual distinctions are demanded. One of these key problems is Semantic Interoperability. Effective semantic interoperability requires an alignment between worldviews or, to put it more accurately, it requires the precise understanding of the relation between the (inevitable) Ontological Commitments assumed by different representations based on them [1,2]. In this talk, I argue that, in this scenario, ontologies should be seen as true “Meaning Contracts”, i.e., as precise descriptions that explicitly represent the ontological commitments of a collective of stakeholders sharing a certain worldview. I then elaborate on a number of theoretical, methodological and computational tools required for building such artifacts. Firstly, I discuss the importance of Formal Ontology in the philosophical sense and, in particular, I elaborate on the role of foundational axiomatic theories and principles in the design of ontology engineering tools [3]. Secondly, I discuss the role played by four types of complexity management tools that are derived from these foundational theories, namely: (a) Ontological Design Patterns (ODPs), as methodological mechanisms for encoding these ontological theories [4,5]; (b) Ontology Pattern Languages (OPLs), as systems of representation that take ODPs as higher-granularity modeling primitives [6]; (c) Pattern-Based Graph Operations that can suitably support Modularization, Ontology Abstraction, and Recoding of Large-Scale Models [7,8]; (d) Ontological Anti-Patterns (OAPs), as structures that can be used to systematically identify possible deviations between the set of valid state of affairs admitted by an ontology (the actual ontological commitment) and the set of state of affairs actually intended by the stakeholders (the intended ontological commitment) [9,10,11]; Finally, I illustrate the role played by a particular type of computer-based visual simulation approach in the validation of these models [12] as well as for anti-pattern elicitation and rectification [11].

Advances in conceptual modeling : ER 2019 Workshops FAIR, MREBA, EmpER, MoBiD, OntoCom, and ER Doctoral Symposium Papers, Salvador, Brazil, November 4–7, 2019, Proceedings

Abstract: The increasing volume and complexity of scientific research data associated with its semantic heterogeneity demands strategies to enable data integrated reuse. This is essential to improve global collaborations, in what has been called e-Science. A way to promote data integration is through the use of ontologies. Ontologies can play the role of a shared conceptualization, providing a common semantic background for data interpretation. In the case of scientific research, particularly empirical research, there are many concepts related to research activities that are general, despite any specific domain in which they may occur. Thus, they can be represented by means of a core ontology. In this paper, we propose the design of a core ontology to deal with research activities (e.g., sampling and measurement). As the concepts used are neutral with respect to different application domains, they can be reused to build ontologies for specific research domains, speeding up the development process. To illustrate this, we present an environmental research ontology developed based on this core ontology. The proposed core ontology is grounded in the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO), which provides a solid basis for its key elements.