Theoretical and Architectural Framework for Contextual Modular Knowledge Bases

摘要

The paper presents the approach aimed at building modularized knowledge bases in a systematic, context-aware way. The paper focuses on logical modeling of such knowledge bases, including an underlying SIM metamodel. The architecture of a comprehensive set of tools for knowledge base systems engineering is presented. The tools enable an engineer to design, create and edit a knowledge base schema according to a novel context approach presented elsewhere by the authors. It is explained how a knowledge base built according to SIM (Structured-Interpretation Model) paradigm is processed by a prototypical reasoner Conglo-S, which is a custom version of widely known Pellet reasoner extended with support for modules of ontologies called tarsets (also introduced elsewhere under the name of conglomerates). The user interface of the system is a plug-in to Protege ontology editor that is a standard tool for development of Semantic Web ontologies. Possible applications of the presented framework to development of knowledge bases for culture heritage and scientific information dissemination are also discussed.