boro introduction

BORO introduction

ONTOBRAS-2013

The industrial application of ontology: Driven by a foundational ontology

An introduction to the BORO BDM

© 2013 BORO Solutions

Topics

BORO BDM from a distance

Types, Type Types, Type Type Types, ...,

Tuples

Mereology in the BORO BDM

BORO naming pattern

BORO BDM from a distance


BORO BDM from a distance (1)

BORO = Business Object Reference Ontology

BDM = Business Domain Model

We assume a realist position that distinguishes between an ontology (e.g. Business Domain) and its representation (e.g. Business Domain Model)

An ontology is understood as a chunk of the reality we focus on

A representantion of ontology is a representation of this chunk

One ontology may be related to a number of different representations



Main ontological categories:• Elements• tuples• Types

Types

tuples

Elements

Objects



Main ontological relations:• super-sub-type • type-instance

GPRs

Towns

Towns is a subtype of GPRs

GPRs

Towns

UK

USA Germany

France

Paris

London

Berlin

Washington DC

London is an instance of Towns



Elements are four-dimensional chunks of the space-time reality

They are related by the mereological relations



BORO BDM assumes the extensionalist criterion of identity for types, which makes it possible to employ set theory as a background theory

BORO BDM employs a number of set-theoretical concepts. The most frequently among those are• powerset• singleton• the union and partition of classes



Another characteristic feature of BDM is the fact that it models relationships among BDM entities. For instance, models the relation of parthood among four-dimensional objects from BDM

BDM models also its set-theoretical structure

This implies that if, say, Towns is a subtype of Elements, then the tuple <Towns, Elements> is an instance of

«tuples»wholes-parts

«meta,tuples,super-sub-type»

super-sub-types

«meta,tuples,type-instance types»

types-instances

«meta,tuples,super-sub-type»

super-sub-types



BUML = BORO BUML

BUML is a representation format for BORO Models

So the BORO BDM can be represented in the BUML format; and stored in the UML class diagrams

However, these sometimes have a slightly different non-UML semantics



In particular the following UML representations are used• classes

• generalization links

• dependency links

• association and compositionassociation links

• constraints

«Meta-types»Elements


wholes*

parts*

«Meta-types,Objects»Objects


«Meta-types,tuples»tuples

«Meta-types»Types


«Meta-types»Types




{P}

Types, Type Types, Type Type Types, ...


Types, Type Types, Type Type Types, ... (1)

The BORO BDM object Types collects all classes of objects that BORO BDM recognises

This means that if a BORO BDM object is an instance of Types, then it is a class of BORO BDM objects

For example, since Subjects is an instance of Types, this means that Subjects is a class of BORO BDM entities

«Meta-types»Types

Subjects

Tuples


Tuples (1)

The relationships between BORO BDM objects are modelled by means of tuples

An (individual) tuple models a particular relation between a number of BDM objects. The BDM notion of (individual) tuple corresponds to the set-theoretical notion of n-tuple

A class of tuples is called a tuple type and is stereotyped as <<tuples>>. The BDM notion of tuple type corresponds to the set-theoretical notion of relation

Example • the relation between Paris and France due to which Paris is the capital of France is

modelled as below

The class of all BDM tuples is

«tuples,Example»capital of

«Elements»France

«Elements,Example»Paris

«Example,tuple»t333



Tuples (2)

A tuple has the fixed number of tuple places, i.e. it has a certain arity. Therefore, we can divide the class of all BDM tuples into couples, triples, quadruples, etc.

Tuple places are occupied by objects

Example • the tuple t333 has two tuple places, i.e. it is a couple• one place is occupied by Paris• the other place is occupied by France

Any tuple places of any tuple may by occupied by any BORO BDM object. So, there may be tuples that relate other tuples


«Elements»France



Mereology in the BORO BDM


Mereology (1)

All mereological relations between BORO BDM elements are modelled with the help of the tuple type

Wholes-parts is a couple whose both tuple type places are occupied by Elements

• place1 tuple type place models wholes• place2 tuple type place models parts• place1 tuple type place is represented by means of a composition association

link


«tuples»couples



«place2»parts

*

«place1»wholes*


Mereology (2)

In the example below, Paris is modelled as a part of France



«Elements»France



Countries«Example»Cities

«place1»whole

«place2»part

«place2»part

«place1»whole


Mereology (3)

It is an assumption of the BORO BDM that the relation of parthood satisfies all axioms of the standard mereology

This implies that wholes-parts is the relation of improper parthood

The relation of proper parthood is modelled in BORO BDM by means of strict wholes-parts


«tuples»strict wholes-parts


Mereology (4)

Since the BORO BDM is constructed from a four-dimensional perspective, it models temporal parts of elements. To this end it employs the temporal stages of tuple type


«tuples»strict wholes-parts

«tuples»reflexive elements

«tuples»strict temporal stages of

«Defined,tuples»temporal stages of

{P}


Mereology (5)

In the model below, the temporal part of Wales from the year 1543 onwards is modelled as a temporal part of Wales

Note that all temporal parts of BORO BDM objects are instances of Elements «tuples»

strict temporal stages of

«Elements»Wales 1543-?

«tuple»t136

«Elements»Wales

«place1»whole

«place2»part

BORO BDM naming pattern


Naming pattern (1)

BORO BDM adopts an utterance theory of names according to which names are classes of utterances/inscriptions/..., which are here called character strings

All character strings are four-dimensional objects, i.e. they are instances of Elements

Some classes of character strings are names

«PowerType»Character String

Types

Names

Character Strings

- powertypes of

*

Representations


Naming pattern (2)

All objects in BORO BDM can have names

The relation between objects and their names is modelled by means of the named by tuple type

Each name names exactly one object, but some objects may be named by more than one name


Names«tuples»named by

«place1»

1

«place2»


Naming pattern (3)

In this example, ABC Bank is named by the <ABC Bank> Name whose one instance is the „ABC Bank” #1 character string


Names«tuples»named by

Character Strings«place1»

1

«place2»

«tuple»t850

<ABC Bank> Name«Elements»ABC Bank

«place2»«place1»

«Elements»"ABC Bank" #1


Naming pattern (4)

Among different properties that BORO BDM ascribes to names, there are three that play an important role

• distinctness• uniqueness• being reserved

All three properties are modelled as name types

All three properties are intended

Names«PowerType»Name Types

Intended Unique Characters Name

Types

Intended Distinct Characters Name

Types

«Defined»Intended Reserved Characters Name

Types

{I}

«Defined»Intended Name

Types

- powertype ofs


Naming pattern (5)

A name type is a subtype of Intended Distinct Characters Name Types only if there are no string equivalent duplicates among the instances of this name type

A name type is a subtype of Intended Unique Characters Name Types only if no two instances of this name type name the same object

A name type is a subtype of Intended Reserved Characters Name Types if it is a subtype of Intended Distinct Characters Name Types and a subtype of Intended Unique Characters Name Types

boro introduction

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