We describe ONIONS, a methodology for integrating ontologically-heterogeneous taxonomic knowledge and its current application to medical domain. Some clarification is given of our intended meaning of ontology and related notions, then main problems of ontology design are addressed, with a short comparison with alternative approaches. The methodology is described as a sequence of phases. The top-level of the current integrated ontology of heterogeneous medical taxonomies is presented in an order-sorted logic. ONIONS includes no claim of global objectivity (it performs an integration of explicit —or explicited— ontologies of given taxonomic sources), but provides a feasible solution to the problems of modelling stopover and cognitive basicality. ONIONS has been defined in order to be applied to sources within the same domain, nevertheless it has been applied to a very wide and inherently heterogeneous domain like medicine, so complex that it can be considered in itself an integration of subdomains.

ONIONS: An Ontological Methodology for Taxonomic Knowledge Integration

We collected a set of words, suffixes, and idioms regarding actions in surgical procedures, ie. “deeds” as defined in a CEN European Prestandard; we then searched for their definitions in different authoritative sources and we performed an ontological analysis of this material according to the ONIONS methodology. The result was a formal model on surgical actions, as an extension of our previous model ON8.5, using Ontolingua with “frame ontology”.

An Ontological Analysis of Surgical Deeds

Modelling a Sharable Medical Concept System: Ontological Foundation in GALEN

By building a medical conceptual model inside the galen project, a methodology has been defined to deal with both operative goals and deep and unsolved problems about knowledge. This knowledge sharing oriented approach exploits existing medical coding systems such as knowledge sources and enables us to represent their concepts in a wider cognitive context referring to ontological theories. The tasks of cognitive ergonomy, quasi-naturalness of language, versatility, and flexibility seem to be supported through some functions, such as viewpoint, context, and sign, which act as spin-off points to knowledge or information which is not modeled.

Rossi M

Papers

Cognitive design for sharing medical knowledge models.