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Endurant Types in Ontology Driven Conceptual Modeling towards onto Uml 2 0

Abstract

For over a decade now, a community of researchers has con- tributed to the development of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO) - aimed at providing foundations for all major conceptual modeling con- structs. This ontology has led to the development of an Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling language dubbed OntoUML, reflecting the ontolog- ical micro-theories comprising UFO. Over the years, UFO and OntoUML have been successfully employed in a number of academic, industrial and governmental settings to create conceptual models in a variety of differ- ent domains. These experiences have pointed out to opportunities of improvement not only to the language itself but also to its underlying theory. In this paper, we take the first step in that direction by revis- ing the theory of types in UFO in response to empirical evidence. The new version of this theory shows that many of the meta-types present in OntoUML (differentiating Kinds, Roles, Phases, Mixins, etc.) should be considered not as restricted to Substantial types but instead should be applied to model Endurant Types in general, including Relator types, Quality types and Mode types. We also contribute a formal character- ization of this fragment of the theory, which is then used to advance a metamodel for OntoUML 2.0. Finally, we propose a computational sup- port tool implementing this updated metamodel.

Hightlighs

  • "One of these “language subversions” led us in this ar- ticle to reconsider some of the theoretical foundations underlying the language, i.e., it led us to rethink and evolve a core theory in UFO, namely, its theory of Endurant Types and Taxonomic structures "
    • e.g. the relationship between Giovanni and UN is of the Kind “Employment”, that it is currently in a “Tenured” Phase, and that it can play the Role of “Legal Grounds” for his visa application
  • Consciously ignoring this restriction, users of the language started to systematically employ these meta-type distinctions to other types of endurants, in particular, to existentially dependent endurants such as qualities (e.g., the perceived value of the experience, the color of the apple), modes (e.g., Paul’s Dengue Fever, Matteo’s capacity of programming in Scratch) and relators (e.g., John and Mary’s Marriage, Giovanni’s Employment at the UN).
  • like full-fledged endurants, qualities, modes and relators are also subject of both essential and accidental properties
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