3.9.4.1 The version 3.9 of DOLCE-Lite (updated to D18 of DOLCE-Full) with some basic extensions, called DOLCE-Lite-Plus, or DLP. The ontology graph in this version is the following: ------Backbone: http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/DOLCE-Lite# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/TemporalRelations# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/SpatialRelations# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/DnS# ------Basic extensions: http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/InformationObjects# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Actions# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/SocialUnits# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Plans# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/FunctionalParticipation# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Collections# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Collectives# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/CommonSenseMapping# -----Experimental extensions: http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Systems# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/SemioticCommunicationTheory# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/Causality# http://www.loa-cnr.it/ontologies/ModalDescriptions# The backbone of the library is constituted by (1) DOLCE-Lite (2) two sets of temporal relations defined over perdurants which are adapted from Allen's temporal calculus, and of spatial relations that simplify the expression of places and locations from particulars to regions (3) the DnS (Descriptions and Situations) ontology, which provides a vocabulary to talk of reified entities such as relations, roles, contexts, situations, parameters, etc. Appropriate relations link DnS reifications to DOLCE-Lite non-reified entities. Based on that backbone, other wide-scoping ontologies are provided: (4) ontology of information objects, based on semiotics, which provides a vocabulary to talk of languages, expressions vs. meaning, logical vs. physical documents, reference, etc. (5) a still preliminary and rough vocabulary for actions, agents and social units (persons, organizations) (6) a well-developed ontology of plans and tasks, containing also a set of individual tasks that provide grounded primitives to specify process types (7) a preliminary ontology of functional participation relations, which provide a vocabulary for event-oriented relations encoded by linguistic verbs (in Western languages), like 'performs' or 'makes' (8) an ontology of collections and collectives (9) a set of common sense mappings, introduced to support a mapping to WordNet (contained in another file). Besides these basic extensions, which are currently exploited in several application domains, and are actively under development, there are also some less developed ontologies, all bases on the backbone, but still at a preliminary and debatable stage. Some of them are included here as placeholders, and are used by some applications, but they are not yet stable. *******Scope of DOLCE-Lite-Plus******* The lite versions of DOLCE are simplified translations of DOLCE into various logical languages. They are maintained for several reasons: 1. allowing the implementation of DOLCE-based ontologies in languages that are less expressive than FOL. In particular, DOLCE-Lite does not make use of S5 modalities and of some temporally-indexed relations. Modal operators are not heavily exploited in DOLCE, then the consequences are not very harmful for most uses. Temporal indexing is partly supported by composing originally indexed relations with temporal location relations. Even this support is not provided for description logic versions of DOLCE-Lite like DAML+OIL, OWL-DL, etc. 2. allowing a description-logic-like naming policy for DOLCE signature. In many cases, different names are adopted for relations that have the same name but different arities in the FOL version, or for relations that have polymorphic domains 3. allowing extensions of DOLCE that do not have a detailed axiomatization yet, and modularizing them (placeholders) 4. taking benefit of the services of certain implemented languages -specially the classification services provided by description logics- in order to support domain applications The DLP ontology library is currently maintained in two languages: a dialect of KIF3.0 (PL), and DAML+OIL. The first one contains a complete code for the library, including theWordNet alignment modules. The second one contains the library (according to available costructs of DAML+OIL) without the WordNet code, since it is very simple and takes much space. DLP+KIF is currently used in some applications that need deep inferences, which can only be provided by expressive, logic-programming-enabled languages. DLP+DAML is currently used in Semantic Web applications, for example in the Core Ontology for Services (COS). The extensions to DOLCE presented in the library are work in progress, and although some of them have been tested in realistic applications, they should be taken cautiously from the viewpoint of rigorous formal ontology. DOLCE-Lite-Plus A social object that is not assumed to have intentionality (in the wider sense of conceiving some description). Since a social object is dependent on physical ones, it is not trivial to interpret the local sense in which a social object 'conceives' a description. See 'agentive-social-object' for some discussion. 0 An atomic region. A saturated plan is a plan that cannot be executed twice, since it defines spatio-temporal parameters restricted to one value, e.g. one of its tasks classifies an event that is valued by a definite temporal value in a definite space region. Of course, in the case of maximal spatio-temporal regions, a saturated plan tends to approximate an abstract plan from the execution viewpoint, but these worst cases are unavoidable when dealing with maximality. a.k.a. 'social individual'. Figures are social objects defined or used by descriptions, but differently from concepts, they do not classify entities. Examples of figures are organisations, political geographic objects, sacred symbols, etc. Organized collections introduce a different unity criterion for collections. They can be conceived as characterized by further roles played by some (or all) members of the collection, and related among them through the social objects (figures, descriptions, collections) that either use or depute or are covered by them. 2 A physical body is a non-agentive physical object whose primary identity criterion is not given by its artefactual origin, if any. For example, a rock or a tree can be considered physical bodies unless or until they are not viewed as artifacts. As a matter of fact, no easy definition of artifactual properties is possible, hence it is better to rely on alternative descriptions and roles: a physical object that shows or is known to have an artifactual origin that counts in the tasks an ontology is supposed to support, will be a material artifact. On the other hand, physical objects that do not show that origin, or that origin is unimportant for the task of the ontology, will be physical bodies. Formally, a restriction is provided here that requires for a material artifact to play no role defined by a plan or project. BTW, a physical body can still be a *device*, can be 'used' and have 'functions' (roles), e.g. a stone used as a weapon, but it plays no role like being produced, as artifacts do. Physical bodies can have several granularity levels: geological, chemical, physical, biological, etc. Formerly known as description. A unitary endurant with no mass (non-physical), generically constantly depending on some intentional agent, on some communication act, and indirectly on some agent participating in that act. Either descriptions (in the current sense), and concepts are non-physical objects. Here communication is taken in a rather wide sense, being possible as an (intentional) activity as well as a phenomenon. A commitment is a cognitive modal description, characterized by certain obligations and rights targeted by at least one of its roles. 2 A task that has at least two other tasks as components. A quality inherent in a perdurant. A description usually requiring a C-SAT satisfaction for a situation. Norms, codes of practice, etc. are examples. The situation in which a working system interacts with its environment according to its functionality description. A control task is an elementary task that sequences a planning activity, e.g. an activity aimed at (cognitively or via simulation) anticipating other activities. Therefore, control tasks have usually at least one direct successor task (the controlled one), with the exception of ending tasks. The reification of control constructs allows to represent procedural knowledge into the same ontology including controlled action. Besides cognitive transparency and independency from a particular grounding system, a further advantage is enable the representation of coordination tasks. For example, a manager that coordinates the execution of several related activities can be represented as a role with a responsibility (duty+right) towards some complex task. Any physical body at the chemical granularity level. Eventive occurrences (events) are called achievements if they are atomic, otherwise they are accomplishments. Further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be seen as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (collapsing the time interval of the erosion into a time point), as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another). In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation focus, b) effectual focus, c) condensation d) transition (causality). A goal situation is a situation that satisfies a goal. Opposite to the case of subplan executions, a goal situation is not part of a plan execution. In other words, it is not true in general that any situation satisfying a part of a description, is also part of the situation that satisfies the whole description. This helps to account for the following cases: ¥ Execution of plans containing abort or suspension conditions (the plan would be satisfied even if the goal has not been reached, see below) ¥ Incidental satisfaction, like when a situation satisfies a goal without being intentionally planned (but anyway desired). Eventive occurrences (events) are called achievements if they are atomic, otherwise they are accomplishments. Further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be seen as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (collapsing the time interval of the erosion into a time point), as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another). In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation focus, b) effectual focus, c) condensation d) transition (causality). A non-social relation(ship): formal, linguistic, etc. It is considered here a theory, because relations are established in order to give an ordering to some reality. A perceptual structure, from the descriptive viewpoint. In other words, this encodes the conditions by which a configuration, structure, or arrangement is perceived by a cognitive agent. Agentive figures are those which are assigned (agentive) roles from a society or community; hence, they can act like a physical agent: AgentiveFigure(x) ? Figure(x) ? ?y,z,w. Description(y) ? Role(z) ? Description(w) ? y­w ? Defines(y,z) ? Defines(w,x) ? Selects(z,x) Typical agentive figures are societies, organizations, and in general all socially constructed persons. Figures are not dependent on roles defined or used in the same descriptions they are defined or used, but they can act because they depute some powers to some of those roles. In other words, a figure classified by some agentive role can play that role because there are other roles in the descriptions that define or use the figure. Those roles classify endurants that result to act for the figure: DeputedBy(r,f) ? Role(r) ? Figure(f) ? ?d. Description(d) ? Uses(d,r) ? Uses(d,f) DeputedBy(r,f) ? ?r1. Role(r1) ? Selects(r1,f) ActsFor(e,f) ? ?r. Role(r) ? DeputedBy(r,f) ? Selects(r,e) For example, an employee acts for an organization that deputes the role (e.g. turner) that classifies the employee. Simply put, a guy working as a turner at FIAT acts for (or on behalf of) FIAT. In complex figures, like organizations or societies, a total agency is possible when an endurant plays a delegate, or representative role of the figure. Since figures are social objects, it is conceivable to find figures that act for other figures. A role played by some feature of a physical object. a.k.a. unitary collection in D18. The physical counterpart of a collection. A collection (see) is characterized by a conventional or emergent property. Physical pluralities have as *proper parts* only physical objects that are *members* of a same collection. A plan is a method for executing or performing a procedure or a stage of a procedure. A plan must use both at least one role played by an agent, and at least one task. Finally, a plan has a goal as proper part, and can also have regulations and other descriptions as proper parts. An atom at time t. Within stative occurrences, we distinguish between states and processes according to homeomericity: sitting is classified as a state but running is classified as a process, since there are (very short) temporal parts of a running that are not themselves runnings. In general, processes differ from situations because they are not assumed to have a description from which they depend. They can be sequenced by some course, but they do not require a description as a unifying criterion. On the other hand, at any time, one can conceive a description that asserts the constraints by which a process of a certian type is such, and in this case, it becomes a situation. Since the decision of designing an explicit description that unifies a perdurant depends on context, task, interest, application, etc., when aligning an ontology do DLP, there can be indecision on where to align a process-oriented class. For example, in the WordNet alignment, we have decided to put only some physical processes under 'process', e.g. 'organic process', in order to stress the social orientedness of DLP. But whereas we need to talk explicitly of the criteria by which we conceive organic processes, these will be put under 'situation'. Similar considerations are made for the other types of perdurants in DOLCE. A different notion of event (dealing with change) is currently investigated for further developments: being 'achievement', 'accomplishment', 'state', 'event', etc. can be also considered 'aspects' of processes or of parts of them. For example, the same process 'rock erosion in the Sinni valley' can be conceptualized as an accomplishment (what has brought the current state that e.g. we are trying to explain), as an achievement (the erosion process as the result of a previous accomplishment), as a state (if we collapse the time interval of the erosion into a time point), or as an event (what has changed our focus from a state to another). In the erosion case, we could have good motivations to shift from one aspect to another: a) causation focus, b) effectual focus, c) condensation d) transition (causality). If we want to consider all the aspects of a process together, we need to postulate a unifying descriptive set of criteria (i.e. a 'description'), according to which that process is circumstantiated in a 'situation'. The different aspects will arise as a parts of a same situation. A non-physical place, generically dependent on some (physical) geographical object. A bag task is a complex task that does not include either a control task, or a successor relation among any two component tasks. The last condition cannot be stated in OWL-DL, because it needs a coreference. A role used to express logical levels within some layering description or granular partition. A typical example is the Linnean taxonomic ordering, where Phylum or Species are hierarchical roles. We use the presence and structure of a unifying plan in order to characterize kinds of collectives. A preliminary consideration is that plan unification can have two senses. The first one only takes into account the action schemas executed by the members, who do not necessarily interact in a ÔglobalÕ way. In other words, the roles played by members cover the collective, because they are (dispositionally) played by each member. The second sense is richer, and assumes that the unifying (maximal) plan (d-)uses roles that characterize (are played by some members, and related between them in a typical way) the collective. The first sense of plan unification is applicable to a subclass of simple collectives that we call here 'simple-planned-collectives'. The second sense of plan unification applies to intentional collectives proper. An intentional collective acts intentionally because its members act, and because it is unified by a plan that is conceived by some cognitive agent. Therefore, there is nothing special in a collective being intentional: it is just a matter of having a plan and agentive members playing its characterizing roles. What is special is the distinction between the diversified ways of acting collectively (see subclasses). A placeholder for some roles in common sense that do not easily map to other types of roles. More work is needed here. Within Physical objects, a special place have those to which we ascribe generic intentionality (compatibly to Brentano's distinction, the ability to conceive a description). These are called Agentive, as opposite to Non-agentive. In general, we assume that agentive objects are constituted by non-agentive objects: a person is constituted by an organism, a robot is constituted by some machinery, and so on. Among non-agentive physical objects we have for example houses, body organs, pieces of wood, etc. Generic agentivity is defined here in a wide sense as implying conception (to be characterized in a dedicated Ð but not developed as yet Ð ontology of mind). A conception only requires intentionality in BrentanoÕs terms (i.e., the ability to represent something to oneself). See also 'cognitive agentive physical object'. An agentive physical object that is able to have desires and intentions, besides beliefs. In this ontology, this is encoded as having the ability to conceive plans. Features that are relevant parts of their host, like a bump or an edge. A physical plurality dependent on a collection that is unified by a project or plan to 'produce' it, or acts for a figure (e.g. an organization). A role defined (not just used!) by a causal description, and exploited to conceptualize some causation invariants. Causal notions are still primitive in this version of DLP. Plan executions are situations that proactively satisfy a plan (cf. definition of P-SAT above). Subplan executions are proper parts of the whole plan execution. An organized collection whose only members are agents. An action task is an elementary task that sequences non-planning activities, like: moving, exercising forces, gathering information, etc. Planning activites are mental events involving some rational event. A technique is a practical method to obtain some modification in the environment (or evaluation of an environment) that fulfils some task. A part of a word that can express a meaning. A concept that classifies (in particular, it is 'valued by') regions, as a component of some description. Parameters are the descriptive counterpart of regions, and, as regions represent the qualities of perdurants or endurants, they can be requisites for some functional role or course. A parameter has at least one region that is value for it. A region at which only physical qualities can be directly located. It assumes some metrics for physical properties. A state related to planning. It is sequenced by 'deliberation task', and is preceded by a decision activity. The task sequencing a decision activity, aiming at if action has to be taken in order to start a plan execution. The task sequencing an activity from which the possibility is raised to execute a plan. A task that articulates the plan into an ordered set of tasks. 2 A case task branched to exactly 2 tasks, not executable in parallel. A case task is a task branched to a set of tasks that are not executable concurrently. In order to choose the task to be executed, preliminary deliberation tasks should be executed. A case task sequences a decision activity (a kind of mental event involving rationality) that has a deliberation state as outcome (sequenced by a deliberation task). A control task that directly precedes both a case task and some other task. It specializes the branching task. A concurrent task is a task branched to a set of tasks executable concurrently (the sequenced perdurants can overlap), which means that no deliberation task is performed in order to choose among them. A concurrent task has at least one successor synchronization task, which is aimed at waiting for the execution of all (except the optional ones) tasks direct successor to the concurrent (or any order, see below) one. The axioms cannot be expressed fully in OWL-DL (no value mapping available). An any order task is a branching task that defines no order in the successor tasks. ItÕs another way of defining a bag task, because any temporal relation can be expected between any two perdurants sequenced by the tasks that are direct successor to the any order task. 2 A task for parallel concurrent activities. A task that joins a set a tasks after a branching. In particular, a synchronization task is aimed at waiting for the execution of all (except the optional ones) tasks that are direct successor to a concurrent or any order task. 2 The task sequencing a decision to take action in order to start a plan execution. The task sequencing an assessment that the activities aiming at creating the prerequisites to start a plan execution are completed. The task joining the decision and preparation phases of the plan assessment, with the activation phases of the plan. A control task aimed at starting an activity. It is specialized either by a beginning task or a reactivation task. A specialization of ending-task, aimed at sequencing events that end a plan execution without having reached its main-goal for a certain time A specialization of ending-task, aimed at sequencing events that end a plan execution having reached its main-goal. A specialization of ending-task, aimed at sequencing events that end a plan execution without having reached its main-goal, but with the possibility or resurrecting the plan. A specialization of ending-task, aimed at sequencing events that end a plan execution without having reached its main-goal, and with no intention to resurrect the plan. An ending task is a control task that has no successor tasks defined in the plan. An activation task to start a plan execution after it has been suspended. A beginning task is a control task that is the predecessor of all tasks defined in the plan. The task sequencing a positive decision to adopt a plan execution. The task sequencing a negative decision to adopt a plan execution. A loop task, which specifies when a certain condition becomes true for a cyclical task to exit. A loop task with a defined number (and possibly frequency) of iterations. A loop task is a control task that has as successor an action (or complex) task that sequences at least two distinct activities sharing a minimal common set of properties (they have a minimal common type). Notice that MinimalCommonType cannot be formalised as a first-order predicate, and then neither in OWL-DL. It can be considered a trivial guideline: Çwhen sequencing looped actions, choose a definite action class from the ground ontologyÈ. Some relations typically hold for loop tasks. Exit condition can be used to state what deliberation task (see below) causes to exit the cycle; iteration interval can be used to state how much time should be taken by each iteration of the looped activity; iteration cardinality can be used to state how many times the action should be repeated. A deliberation task is a control task that sequences deliberation states (decisions taken after a case task execution). A role played by some substance. A simple collection whose members are only agents. Examples of Social Descriptions are laws, norms, shares, peace treaties, etc., which are generically dependent on societies. Social descriptions are dependent on a community of agents. A quality space is a topologically maximal region. The constraint of maximality cannot be given completely in OWL, but a constraint is given that creates a partition out of all quality spaces (e.g. no two quality spaces can overlap mereologically). Any physical entity that realizes an information object. A political geographic object that is (generically) dependent on some physical place (in principle, countries can change their borders). A role played by some substance or object within a commercial transaction description. This is a role (e.g. closed area) for places. Locative roles are played by physical objects (in locational cases, physical places), as well as non-physical places (individual places depending on a physical object). Any physical particular that realizes a non-physical endurant. Such physical particulars can be either physical endurants, physical qualities, physical regions, perdurants with at least one physical participant, or a situation with one physical entity in its setting. Ultimately, a physical realization depends on at least one physical endurant (each of the others physical entity types depend on a physical endurant to be considered as such). Fluxes are processes that (also) contain accomplishments as constituents. In other words, fluxes emerge out of accomplishments. A maximal task is a complex task that has all the tasks defined in a plan as components. In OWL-DL the axiom is defined as a concept axiom over plan component task. A simple collective covered by roles corresponding to natural science properties ascribed to members. A code that orders the generation of information objects according to formally defined vocabulary, axioms, rules, etc. An agentive physical object, capable of 'acting for' a social individual. Socially-constructed persons, like legal ones, can be acted by natural persons, but are never identical to them, since social and physical objects are disjoint in DOLCE. As a consequence e.g. someone after death can no longer be a natural person, but in some legal systems, the legal counterpart (a socially-constructed person) can still exist for some legal contexts, e.g. for hereditary issues. Collections are social objects (either agentive or not), which are not defined by a description, but they depend both on member entities and on some concepts, figures, and indirectly on descriptions. While we could talk in general of collections of any kind of entities (events, objects, abstracts, etc.), we restrict here our attention to collections of endurants, and therefore to their roles (not to concepts whatsoever). 2 An information object ordered by a shematic iconic code An information encoding system that provides roles and operations to create valid information objects (e.g. grammars, templates, codes