Authors:
Fateh Mohamed Ali Adhnouss
1
;
Husam M. Ali El-Asfour
1
;
Kenneth McIsaac
1
;
Idris El-Feghia
2
;
Raafat Aburukba
3
and
AbdulMutalib Wahaishi
4
Affiliations:
1
Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Western, London, Canada
;
2
Faculty of Information Technology, Misurata University, Libya
;
3
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, U.A.E.
;
4
Software Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, U.S.A.
Keyword(s):
Ontological View, Extensional Semantics, Intensional Semantics, Semantic Integration.
Abstract:
Ontologies are an essential component of semantic integration approaches for information systems . In a decentralized environment, each specification of the domain reflects an Ontological view. However, the semantics characterization of information systems in such decentralized environment poses a significant issue related to their integration. Information systems are viewed as independent intensional entities with their own beliefs, distinct from those held by others. Such autonomy is distorted by traditional extensional semantics. Other entities’ beliefs are introduced into a given entity, thus affecting their beliefs. Additionally, the information that one entity provides to another entity may not be consistent with the information known by the latter. We need an alternative semantics for information integration, which is not dependent on the extension, but rather on the underlying conceptualization. This paper proposes a classification of the environment where the information sys
tems lives and a novel modelling paradigm for information integration using intensional logic to model the ontological views. The model comprises a formal modeling approach for the conceptualization as well as for the semantic integration process.
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