Ontology: From Philosophy to

Engineering

Barry Smith

August 26, 2013

Part One: Introduction

Part Two: An Oil and Gas Industry Case Study

Part Three: How to Do It Right

Part Four: Massively Planned Social Agency

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Ontology (Philosophy)

“Ontology” a synonym for “Metaphysics”

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The theory of being as being

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Ontology (Engineering)

Ontologies are standardized classification systems which enable data from different sources to be combined

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National Center for Biomedical Ontology

$35.8 mill. NIH Roadmap Center

founded 2005

Stanford Medical Informatics

The Mayo Clinic

University at Buffalo Department of Philosophy

national center for

ontological research

founded October 2005

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established to:• advance ontology standards and principles• advance ontology education• develop measures of quality for ontologies and

to establish best practiceshttp://ncor.us

Main activities:• initiated Ontology for the Intelligence Community

(OIC) series: http://ncor.us/OICseries• ontology contributions to Army Net-Centric Data

Strategy

NCOR

Examples of Ontology Projects funded by National Institutes of Health

NIH / NHGRI GO: Gene Ontology

NIH / NIGMS PRO: Protein Ontology

NIH / NIAID IDO: Infectious Disease Ontology

NIH / NIAID Major Histocompatilibity Complex (MHC) Ontology

NIH / NHGRI SO: Sequence Ontology

NIH / NLM FMA: Foundational Model of Anatomy

NIH / NHGRI CL: Cell Ontology

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How Siri Works – Interview with Tom Gruber, CTO of SIRI

January 26th, 2010

Nova Spivack: Siri seems smart, at least about the kinds of tasks it was designed for. How is the knowledge represented in Siri – is it an ontology or something else?

Tom Gruber: Siri’s knowledge is represented in a unified modeling system that combines ontologies, inference networks, pattern matching agents, dictionaries, and dialog models. … Siri can look at what it knows and think about similarities and generalizations at a semantic level.

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Part Two: Oil and Gas Industry Case Study

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Ontology (Engineering) often marked by intellectual confusions, which lead to failures

Gruber: ‘For AI systems what “exists” is what can be represented’

Microsoft Healthvault: ‘An allergy episode is … a single unit of data that is recorded in Microsoft Healthvault’

www.acrc.unisa.edu.au

An Ontological Core for Conformance Checking in the Engineering LifecycleFOIS 2014

Andreas Jordan, Matt Selway, Georg Grossmann, Wolfgang Mayer, Markus Stumptner

University of South Australia

Advanced Computing Research Centre

Adelaide, South Australia

Industrial plants

Engineering Lifecycle

• Plant or Component

Engineering Conformance Checks

• Want to validate concrete systems– Components– Composed subsystems– Plant

• Operational behavior monitored over time– To do this requires passing data between the software

systems in different stages of the lifecycle

Document Management

Engineering CAD/CAE Systems

Process Modeling Systems

Planning and Dispatch Systems

Lab Information Management

Reconciliation System

Maintenance System

Historian System Data

Data

Data

Data

Data

Data

Data

Data

Environmental Monitoring System Data

Financial SystemData

HR SystemData

Production SystemData

Documents SystemData

Procedures SystemData

Planning SystemData

EHS SystemData

Maintenance SystemData

Supply SystemData

Enterprise ManagementProduction Management

Data Exchange in a Production Enterprise

• System Stability And Reliability Issues• No Single Version Of The Truth• System Maintenance Issues• Difficult Access To Multiple Systems/Applications

(courtesy of Emerson Process Management)

Prioritized Oil & Gas Use Cases

1 Information Handover from EPC to O/O

2 Recurring Engineering Updates to O&M

3 Field Changes to Plant/Facility Engineering

4 Online Product Data Library

5 Asset Configuration Updates

6 Preventive Maintenance Triggering

7 Condition-Based Maintenance Triggering

8 Early Warning Notifications

9 Incident Management/Accountability

10 Information Provisioning of O&M Systems

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ISO 15926 Design Information

Practical aspects

• After a decade, not all of the “Data Model” is used (about 45%)

• Concrete implementations institute auxiliary concepts to sideslip 4D nature

• Explicit entry of classification relationships means that these become prescriptive– If a pump deteriorates in use and moves outside its

design parameters, the model becomes inconsistent

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 Data Model: a generic 4D model that can support all disciplines, supply chain company types and life cycle stages, regarding information about functional requirements, physical solutions, types of objects and individual objects as well as activities

ISO 15926 Part 2

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How Not to Build Useful Ontologies

ISO/FDIS 15926-2

Lifecycle integration of process plant data including oil and gas production facilities

Matthew West (Shell, Retd.)

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Heh ! Let’s reinvent the wheel

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2006 NIST Upper Ontology Summit

March 14-15, 2006,Gaithersburg, MD

ISO 15926 proposed for general use as an upper level ontology – for ‘integrating diverse information systems’ and ‘integrating [and] analyzing mid-level ontologies’ without restriction.

Matthew West, “ISO 15926 – Integration of Lifecycle Data” http://ontolog.cim3.net /file/work/UpperOntologySummit/UO-Summit-Meeting_20050315/UOS--west_ 20060315.ppt

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General Defects in Ontology Documentation

many ontology authors do not take account of the fact that expressions such as ‘data’, ‘instance’, ‘entity’, ‘object’, ‘represent’, ‘model’ etc., are used in different ways by different (database, programmer, general user) communities.

How to avoid creating puddings out of such abstract nouns?

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The importance of consensus-based uptake

An ontology is like a telephone network: it is designed to support exchange of information.

Its value depends on the number of users who agree to adopt and to help maintain this common network

Thus it depends also on the existence of a straightforward learning path for new users, and of clear and easily accessible documentation.

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The importance of consensus-based uptake

is even greater in the case of an upper level ontology

which is designed to support exchange of information about all subjects

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First Great Mystery

Of the 201 terms included in the ISO 15926 upper-level ontology, 88 are of the form ‘class of X’, for example:

class_of_composite_materialclass_of_compoundclass_of_dimension_for_shape class_of_featureclass_of_feature_whole_partclass_of_functional_objectclass_of_inanimate_physical_objectclass_of_indirect_connection

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Definition of ‘class’

A <class> is a <thing> that is an understanding of the nature of things and that divides things into those which are members of the class and those which are not according to one or more criteria.

Example: ‘Centrifugal pump is a <class>’.

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‘class_of_ relationship_with_related_end_1’

DEFINITION: a <class_of_ relationship> where a particular <thing> is related in the <class_of_relationship>, rather than the members of a <class>. The related <thing> plays the <role_ and_domain> indicated by the class_of_end_1 attribute.

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‘class_of_cause_of_beginning_of_class_of_individual’

DEFINITION: A <class_of_relationship> that indicates that a member of a <class_of_activity> causes the beginning of a member of a <class_of_individual>.

How does a class ‘indicate’?

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‘class_of_cause_of_beginning_of_class_of_individual’

DEFINITION: a <class_of_relationship> that indicates that a member of a <class_of_activity> causes the beginning of a member of a <class_of_individual>.

The term ‘class_of_cause_of_beginning_of_class_of_individua’ indicates that we are to focus on the causes of beginnings of classes.

The definition seems to be about the causes of the beginnings of individuals

But ISO 15926 elsewhere tells us that classes do not have beginnings,

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<class_of_class_of_composition>

DEFINITION: a <class_of_class_of_ relationship> whose members are instances of <class_of_composition>. It indicates that a member of a member of the class_of_class_of_part is a part of a member of an instance of the class_of_class_of_whole,

EXAMPLE: Toxicity description is a class_of_class_of_part of a material data sheet, where the description “has carcinogenic components” is a class_of_part on the Mogas Material Safety Data Sheet, and copy #5 of the Mogas Material Safety Data Sheet has “has carcinogenic components” as a part.

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Believe me, this is not the best way to deal with part-whole relations in an

ontology

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Pleural Cavity

Pleural Cavity

Interlobar recess

Interlobar recess

Mesothelium of Pleura

Mesothelium of Pleura

Pleura(Wall of Sac)

Pleura(Wall of Sac)

VisceralPleura

VisceralPleura

Pleural SacPleural Sac

Parietal Pleura

Parietal Pleura

Anatomical SpaceAnatomical Space

OrganCavityOrganCavity

Serous SacCavity

Serous SacCavity

AnatomicalStructure

AnatomicalStructure

OrganOrgan

Serous SacSerous Sac

MediastinalPleura

MediastinalPleura

TissueTissue

Organ PartOrgan Part

Organ Subdivision

Organ Subdivision

Organ Component

Organ Component

Organ CavitySubdivision

Organ CavitySubdivision

Serous SacCavity

Subdivision

Serous SacCavity

Subdivision

part

_of

is_a

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Det Norske Veritas*http://projects.dnv.com/reference_data/RD7Browser/

*Norwegian Truth

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What the oil and gas industry tells me

The ‘upper ontology’ of ISO 15926 is hardly used

The lower branches of ISO 15926 are useful as a controlled vocabulary (because what came before was so bad) – these lower levels deal

with pump, flange, valve,

Part Three: How to Do It Right

Basic Formal Ontology (upper level architecture

Domain Ontologies built downwards by SMEs collaborating to create stable reference modules

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OBO Foundry approach extended into other domains

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NIF Standard Neuroscience Information Framework

IDO Consortium Infectious Disease Ontology

cROP Common Reference Ontologies for Plants

MilPortal.org Military Ontology

AIRS Ontology Suite

Intelligence Ontology Suite

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Planned

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Finance Ontology Suite (FIBO)

Institutions and Organizations Ontology Suite

Document and Document Control Ontology Suite

Planning Ontology Suite (AFRL)

Massively Planned Social Agency

• Part Four

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Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems

• Intelligent buildings • Weather, Climate• Energy, sustainability• Sensor data• Heating and cooling, combustion• Materials• Pollutants, toxins

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The meshing of actions of large numbers of people in

is made possible by an intermeshing of documents

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Orchestal score with

staves

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52Hector Berlioz, Le corsaire, Overture, H 101

The actions of the players in an orchestral performance

• are intermeshed through the sets of intermeshed documents we call orchestral scores

• scores are sets of instructions for playing• scores generate intermeshed obligations to

play in a certain way

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Scores bring it about that specific obligation series are distributed across large groups

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scores and subscoresplans and subplans

which also allow training (rehearsal)

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Modularity of Orchestral Score

Laws allow intermeshing too• systems of intermeshed obligations• systems of intermeshed plans • systems of intermeshed instructions• system of intermeshed authorities

which in turn allow• conception of ever more complex intermeshed plans

through reliance on shared commitments and on development of intermeshed expertise

• excution of these plans through shared agency• investment in human and physical capital

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Directions of fit

• world-to-document: a plan is formulated to change the world (to make it conform to the mind of the planner …)

• document-to-world: an assertion is about something in the world

• automatic mind-to-world-and-world-to-mind: I say “I promise to pay you $100 dollars” and thereby make it true that I promise to pay you $100 dollars

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what begins as a plan, ends as a record

what makes the record true is: the journey you took

Blueprint

what begins as a plan

ends as a record • of process• of product

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Blueprint associated with multiple series of documents with deontic powers

chain of commitments from order to blueprint creation to acceptance of

blueprint to process of building in

accordance with blueprint

to acceptance of finished building 61

Plans will be modified along the way

physical changes to the building to meet building codes

changes in materials/supplierschanges in allowed physical

processeschanges in administrative

(approval) processesbills and receipts for fees paid

for approvals and certificates

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Documents with different directions of fit become intermeshed through being

stapled together over time

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How create intelligent urban planning

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Robert Moses’ Richmond Parkway Interchange, Staten Island

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Urban PlanningPolice, Public Safety

Local Government

Sanitation, Sewers, Cemeteries

Entertainment

Garbage Removal

Housing, Building Codes, Zoning

Employment

Parks, Zoos

Light, Fresh Air

Primary and Secondary Education

Public Health

Doctors, Hospitals

Streets and Roads, Public Transport

Regional and National PlanningMilitary

Agriculture

Regional and National Government

Housing Supply

Food Supply

Water Supply

Trade, Commerce

Tertiary Education

Scientific Research

Major Arteries, Airports

Tourism

Environmental Protection

Plans have document-to-world directions of fit

Plans, here, must be mediated by documented-guided actions of

persons and groups with authority

But what are the juridictions here?

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Urban PlanningPolice, Public Safety

Local Government

Sanitation, Sewers, Cemeteries

Entertainment

Garbage Removal

Housing, Building Codes, Zoning

Employment

Parks, Zoos

Light, Fresh Air

Primary and Secondary Education

Public Health

Doctors, Hospitals

Streets and Roads, Public Transport

Regional and National PlanningMilitary

Agriculture

Regional and National Government

Housing Supply

Food Supply

Water Supply

Trade, Commerce

Tertiary Education

Scientific Research

Major Arteries, Airports

Tourism

Environmental Protection

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Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems

• Intelligent buildings • Weather, Climate• Heating and cooling, combustion• Materials• Pollutants, toxins

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Industrial Foundations Classes

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• IfcRelationship[edit]• IfcRelationship captures relationships among

objects. There are five fundamental relationship types: composition, assignment, connectivity, association, and definition.

• IfcRelDecomposes captures a whole-part relationship having exclusive containment such as subdividing a building into floors and rooms or a wall into studs and sheathing.

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importing BFO

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http://x.co/5Gwqf

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http://x.co/5GwuR

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Computer Coupling of Phase Diagrams and Thermochemistry

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John’s temperature: June 4, 1952

Parts of the graph•a label indicating the target of measurement, here: Ringo•a label indicating the quality that is being measured, here: temperature •a time axis with associated actual time values and a measurement unit•a second, orthogonal axis with associated measurement values, here degrees Celsius•a set of graph entries (points on the graph)•a rectangular graph background (the two-dimensional shaded area demarcated by the two axes)•a continuous line connecting the graph entries, which we refer to as the graph line•rest: smoothing, error, slope, area under curve …

an information content entity