Ontological Research and its Applications to theBiomedical Domain

摘要

Ontology is an area of philosophy "the science of what is, of the kinds andrnstructures of objects, properties, events and relations in every area of reality"rn(Smith & Welty, 2001). In computer and information science ontology is usedrnto represent the common understanding and concepts related to a specificrndomain. In this sense, an ontology includes a set of generic concepts as wellrnas their definitions and relationships. The main purpose of using an ontology is to present the shared view of the knowledge of a domain. Other advantagesrnof ontologies are that they provide computer systems with a way to specifyrnconcepts, allow interoperability and reusability, and ultimately represent a wayrnto relate the concepts expressed in our computer information systems with thernreal objects that they represent. This panel will present a general overview ofrnthe current issues on ontological research its applications in biomedicine. Thernpanel includes presentations on the state-of-the-art in ontology research asrnwell as several applications in the biomedical domain.