Ontologies for semantic integration

许多任务需要智能代理和信息资源之间正确和有意义的通信和集成。这种互操作性的一个主要障碍是语义异构性：不同的应用程序、数据库和代理可能会将不同的含义赋予相同的术语，或者使用不同的术语来传达相同的含义。人们已经认识到，与本体的开发和应用有关的新兴技术将在实现语义集成方面发挥核心作用。本体是一种计算机可解释的规范，由代理、应用程序或其他信息资源使用，以声明它使用什么术语以及术语的含义。这项建议的目的是进行基础研究的本体设计使用数理逻辑和应用这项工作，以支持软件系统的语义集成。特别是，研究将集中在本体的过程规范语言，本体的应用将集中在两个关键技术-生成的语义映射和语义Web服务的规范。

Many tasks require correct and meaningful communication and integration among intelligent agents and information resources. A major barrier to such interoperability is semantic heterogeneity: different applications, databases, and agents may ascribe disparate meanings to the same terms or use distinct terms to convey the same meaning. It has been recognized that the emerging technology concerned with the development and application of ontologies will play a central role in achieving semantic integration. An ontology is a computer-interpretable specification that is used by an agent, application, or other information resource to declare what terms it uses, and what the terms mean. The objective of this proposal is to conduct basic research into the design of ontologies using mathematical logic and the application of this work to support semantic integration of software systems. In particular, the research will focus on the ontology of the Process Specification Language, and the application of ontologies will focus on two keytechnologies -- the generation of semantic mappings and the specification of semantic web services.