COSMO ontology, Version 0.49-641. Last edit 20080512 by Patrick Cassidy Has 21 top-level classes under 'Thing' Uses elements of the OpenCyc, SUMO, BFO and DOLCE ontologies, as well as elements created specifically for COSMO. Globally unique identifier, fromOpenCyc 0.78. NOTE that this is a formatted string having 32 alphanumberic characters with embedded hyphesns, though it is represented (temporarily) as a simple string here. Another form of 'unique identifier' has 16 characters, and is represented in COSMO as an AbstractString which is a subtype of Identifier. See 'UniqueIdentifier16' Globally Unique ID Points to a string with axioms that include reference to the domain entity. (UAX: SUMAX-25) (<=> (disjoint ?CLASS1 ?CLASS2) (and (instance ?CLASS1 NonNullSet) (instance ?CLASS2 NonNullSet) (forall (?INST) (not (and (instance ?INST ?CLASS1) (instance ?INST ?CLASS2)))))) Classes are disjoint only if they share no instances, i.e. just in case the result of applying IntersectionFn to them is empty. SUMO - 155 The class of Synonyms has two uses: (1) When a synonymous term is included as a subtype of Synonym, it allows searching for a Type by more than one term, in the case where the alternative term(s) are also unique in the ontology. For example, where Cyc class names (but not meanings) have been changed, the Cyc term may also be included as a Synonym. We use the isaSynonymOf relation to relate Synonym classes to the class with the base name. (2) when used with the 'hasSynonym' relation, instances of Synonym can specify the context (such as namespace) in which the second term is a synonym of the first, and can indicate the overall frequency with which the term in that context actually has the same meaning as the base term. Since there can be multiple instances of the same synonymous term, it is represented as a datatype String entity. NOTE that instances of Synonym need to have unique id's as their identifiers in the ontology, so it is recommended that the unique ID's be generated by prefixing a namespace to the synonymous term that is pointed to by the 'hasSynonymousTerm' property of the Synonym instance. Thus if some term has the synonym 'process' in the PSL context, the instance of Synonym that specifies that relation can be named, e.g. 'PSL$process'. The general English contexts, where words may be ambiguous, is indicated by the namespace prefix 'engen'. points from an instance of Synonym to a string that is the term which is synonymous to the base concept. The term should represent the synonym in its natural form, whether capitalized, with spaces, apostrophes, etc. A pointer from a concept to another concept of which it is a synonym. This is a crude method to permit search in Protege for synonyms of terms in the class search window. In v0.3 these synonyms were confined to classes. For other synoyms, use 'hasSynonym'. hasSynonym is used to point to AbstractStrings that can serve as a synonym for the base entity (type or instance), in some context. This relation points to an instance of Synonym, and that instance can specify the context in which it is a synonym for that word. Because a single word can be a synonym of multiple terms, the structure of the 'Synonym' entity includes not only the String expression of the synonymous term, but also the context in which it is a synonym. Among the contexts, databases and other knowledge models are included. A superfluous relation for testing. Objects can be Physical or Abstract or Mental only PhysicalObjects have mass, and that is the defining characteristic of a PhysicalObject in COSMO. All Objects have at least one relation other than the type (isa) relation to some other entity that is not an Object. Almost all objects have an Attribute or AttributeValue. But the relation may be some other relation (e.g. to have a location, a composition, or to have proper parts). Thus a point can have Dimensionality (zero-dimensional), and will have a location, though the location may be in a poorly defined abstract space. For example, a character in an alphabet is an abstract object, which has at least one representation as a shaped physical object, and is an element of an Alphabet. This requirement for an Object to have some relation is not presently (v0.48) formalized in COSMO, as it is not needed for performance, only to clarify the meaning for the human users. 'Object' is a very primitive concept that cannot be defined, but can be comprehended only by the way this concept interacts with other concepts, and by its subclasses and instances. This Type is useful as an umbrella Type for various purposes,including relations on Events. NOTE that in COSMO an 'Object' is not necessarily 3D (as in an endurantist perspective) nor 4D (as in a perdurantist perspective. It can be use in syntactic constructions that appear to be 3D (such as when they are explicitly time-indexed), but when an object is also an instance of TimeSlice,it can be used in syntactic constructions that are typical of the 4D perspective, in which the time of a relation is not explicitly indexed. A Sign is something that refers to something other than itself; it may be a single entity or a group of entities. It can be an Object, an Event, a Process, or an Attribute. This is a very general category. A Sign may be Physical or Abstract or Mental. 'Sign' is a very general concept, and is used primarily through its specialized subtypes. A physical phenomenon (smoke) can be a sign (of a smoke-producing process), and an AbstractSymbolicObject such as the abstract string 'cat' can be a sign that refers to some animals in the real world. isaSignOf relates a specific Sign or SignType to something to which it refers in some way - perhaps by providing evidence os something, or merely isaSymptomOf relates a Symptom (a Sign of some abnormality) to the AbnormalCondition of which it is a sign. A SignObject is a PhysicalObject that is a Sign of something other than itself. It is not necessarily an Artifact.. A Trace is one or more Signs that relate to ordered states of some Event or FunctionalProcess. A sequence of footprints in the mud can be a Trace of the event of some animal walking on that ground; a sequence of abstract symbols, stored in one of more computers, can provide a Trace of some computational or reasoning process such as one carried out in the computer. A Symptom is a Sign that is also a SituationProcessEventOrState, and which provides evidence of an abnormal condition.. A Record is an abstract sequence of symbols (usually linguistic) representing a sequence of events that occurred. For example, a sequence of abstract symbols, stored in one of more computers, can provide a Trace of some computational or reasoning process such as one carried out in the computer. As an Artifact, it has to have an IntelligentAgent as creator - for traces generated by a computer, that Agent will be the programmer or, if sufficiently autonomous, the computer itself - or both. A ReasoningRecord is a Record of some process of Reasoning. It will usually be a process of Reasoning used in a Computer, but could be a record of a person's reasoning.. The most general Type for Objects whose subtypes are abstract - intangible - things that do not have mass. Note that AbstractEntity is not a subtype of AbstractObject - the name 'Abstract' is retained for alignment with other ontologies. NOTE in particular that AbstractEntity is not disjoint from MentalObject, which may be created by people in space and time, and hae a location in space and time. The kind of abstract things that do not have a locaiton in space and time are under 'AbstrctObject' in COSMO. COSMO Note: the notion of 'Abstract' has historically been somewhat vague. It is often defined by saying that it represents things 'not located in space or time' - but then subclasses are defined which are clearly mental constructs with a defined creation time (e.g. musical compositions) - which means that they must indeed be located in time and space. In this ontology we distinguish 'Abstract' things from 'MentalObjects' - the latter are things created by IntelligentAgents (people) that have no mass, and therefore would traditionally be categorized as 'Abstract'. 'AbstractObject' here is used mostly to categorize mathematical things such as numbers, which arguably do not depend on intelligent entities for their existence. But 'AbstractEntities" and 'MentalObjects' are not considered disjoint here, so there is room for people to argue whether mathematical concepts are created or merely discovered by mathematicians - we take no position on that issue. An AbstractObject is an entity which does not exist in space or time. This is more stringnent than merely not having mass, the criterion for belinging to 'AbstractEntity. This category is mostly for mathematical concepts. Under 'AbstractEntity' we also have 'MentalObjects', which do exist in space and time. COSMO Note: the notion of 'Abstract' has historically been somewhat vague. It is often defined by saying that it represents things 'not located in space or time' - but then subclasses are defined which are clearly mental constructs with a defined creation time (e.g. musical compositions) - which means that they must indeed be located in time and space. In this ontology we distinguish generically 'Abstract' things from 'MentalObjects' - the latter are things created by IntelligentAgents (people) that have no mass, and therefore would traditionally be categorized as 'Abstract'. 'AbstractObject' here is used mostly to categorize mathematical things such as numbers, which arguably do not depend on intelligent entities for their existence. But 'AbstractEntities" and 'MentalObjects' are not considered disjoint here, so there is room for people to argue whether mathematical concepts are created or merely discovered by mathematicians - we take no position on that issue. See the note under 'AbstractEntity' to see how 'Abstract' is used in this ontology. The current (20061027) arrangement here is provisional, keeping some of the terminology from Cyc and SUMO for alignment - but it may be changed slightly in the future in a way that will not affect inferencing. Intangible_Cyc__Abstract_SUMO__abstract_object_ISO15926 ISO15926 An Abstract-object is a thing that does not exist in space-time. (COSMO note - this is not the interpretation in COSMO - MentalObjects are abstract, but they do 'exist' in our ordinary space and time.) SUMO: Abstract : Properties or qualities as distinguished from any particular embodiment of the properties/qualities in a physical medium. Instances of Abstract can be said to exist in the same sense as mathematical objects such as sets and relations, but they cannot exist at a particular place and time without some physical encoding or embodiment. #$Intangible: OPENCYC 1: MAY 23, 2002 The collection of things that are not physical - are not made of, or encoded in, matter. Every #$Collection is an #$Intangible (even if its instances are tangible), and so are some #$Individuals. Caution: do not confuse 'tangibility' with 'perceivability' - humans can perceive light even though it's intangible--at least in a sense. For more on this issue, see the relevant #$cyclistNotes. Intangible[Cyc]%Abstract[SUMO]%abstract_object[ISO15926] COSMO: Context is a very general class of entities that can affect the truth of a logical sentence; within any given Context, the factual assertions should all be logically consistent. A Context may be relevant to the internal states and processes of a computational system, or may more generally describe the broad situation in which an Agent finds itself when processing information for the purpose of making a decision. For the latter agent context, the subtype 'SituationalContextComponent' is relevant. A Context can be a time interval, location, belief system, fictional world, theory, hypothetical world, counterfactual situation, segment of text, DatabaseGroup, or the state of our own real world, among other things. Contexts can be nested, combined, or intersected. For example, a Context consisting of a TimeInterval can be intersected with a Context consisting of a GeographicalArea to make a Context within with assertions are explicitly true only in that time and place. That does not mean, of course that the assertion cannot be true elsewhere; it just doesn't guranteee truth elsewhere. Every assertion in the COSMO ontology is implicitly true only in the context of the COSMO ontology, which is itself a theory. But that implicit qualification does not appear directly in any asertion - it can be explicitly mentioned if and when COSMO assertions are referenced in other ontologies. The nesting of Contexts provides a mechanism to create a 'lattice' of theories. In a subcontext for any given Context, all the assertions of the parent Context will be true in the subcontext, and additional assertions may also be true. In this respect, a Context is similar to the 'Microtheories' of the Cyc ontology system; it also has some resemblance to the 'Environments' discussed by Ballim and Wilks ('Artifical Believers', Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991). One specialized example of Context is a 'DatabaseGroup'. In a particular Organization, its set of Databases, if intended to represent some consistent group of facts, can be viewed and represented as a Context within which reasoning may be performed. holdsInContext relates a reified Proposition to a Context in which it is asserted to be true. The Context may be as simple as a TimeInteral or a Database, or it may be a complex context which is a conjunction of a time interval, a location, a belief system, and any other thing tha might affect the truth of an assertion. Context in COSMO is used solely as a syntactic device to provide an umbrella category that can serve as the argument restriction on the 'holdsInContext' statement. There is no general 'theory' of context implied in this usage. Other than its syntactical usage, the only thing that can be asserted about 'contexts' generally is that the principle of non-contradiction holds only in a single context, and for assertions defined in different contexts, it cannot be expected that they will be necessarily true in any other context. Any set of assertions (including this ontology) will have an implied enveloping context. If the assertions are to be reused, it is necessary to be sure that the context of reuse is the same as that of the original set of assertions. Each SituationalContextComponent is one of the components of the situation in which an IntelligentEntity finds itself, of which it must be aware in order to act or respond appropriately so as to fulfill its goals. Each SituationalContextComponent is defined relative to a particular CognitiveAgent whose actions are being represented in the ontology. The PhysicalContext in a Situational is the set of physical objects and attributes that exist at a particular time an in a particular place that affect the way an Agent will make a decision, and may affect the outcome of that decision. A simple PhysicalContext is, for example, who is present and interacting with the Agent. What is the location, time, temperature? Is the agent indoors or outdoors? On land or sea, or underwater? Is anything happening that can physcally affect the Agent? The SocialContext in a Situational is the set of people that an Agent is in contact with, or is acting on behalf of, directly or indirectly, at a particular time. It also includes prior interactions and goals that affector are affected by agents other than the one . A SystemContext is a SituationalContextComponent that is specific for computational agents, whether physical (a computer system including hardware) or merely software. A computational system can be viewed as one agent, though it may include within it multiple software agents. The SystemContext will include anything affecting the ability of the agent to act, including, among other things, the hardware resources available for use - power sources (line or batteries) CPU, disks, RAM, terminals, network connections, anything else connected to a system port, etc. The NetworkContext of a computational system consists of the number, type, and status of network connections connected to system ports, as well as any the type and status of software components that have the capbility of interacting with networks. A 'netowrk' includes only those communications links that are connected to other computers; links to other devices such as measuring devices or non-network output devices, are not condered as part of the 'network'. GenericLocation is the Type representing the most general notion of location, which can be abstract or concrete, a region of space (including an abstract space, such as the Internet considered as a set of nodes and links, where the nodes can represent computers whose physical location may vary), a point in space, or a physical object (e.g. building, ship, room). NOTE that an Address is not a location, but a label for a location. See 'Address'. NOTE: although *almost* all GenericLocations are exclusively spatial in some way, there is one 'TimeAndPlace' that is spatiotemporal, being a region of space-time that specifies some region of space over some interval of time. Use of an instance of 'TimeAndPlace' as an argument of a location relation allows one to include the important time interval qualifier in location relations, even though one is using only binary relations. this would not be necessary in a representation with higher-arity relations. This is somewhat similar to the Cyc 'Location-Underspecified' Cyc comment: The collection of locations, tangible or otherwise, which are typically conceptualized by human beings for purposes of common-sense reasoning as 'locations'. This collection thus includes tangible Places such as #$Ireland-TheIsland, as well as metaphoric locations. For instance, many states-of-being are conceptualized as abstract locations, such as Trouble ('he saw trouble ahead'), Depression ('she fell into a ...'), #$Happiness ('they found bliss together'). be14f511-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 Synonym of GenericLocation, included here as a pointer to the Cyc element. A RelativeLocation is a location that is explicitly relative to something else, which may be a region or an object. All locations are ultimately 'relative' in the sense that they can only be understood by reference to a distance and/or oritentation with respect to some object. However, this Type 'RelativeLocation' is intended to represent those locations that are explicitly relative to something else, in particular objects or regions that are part of some other object or region. isAheadOf relates one location to another location that is behind the first by some spatial interval. 'behind' and 'ahead' imply some direction, but the direction is not specified here. Often the implied direction is a direction of movement for the thing that is 'behind', i.e. a person in a car travelling on a highway may say that a city is 'fifty miles ahead', or another car on the highway is 'fifty feet ahead'. The relations specified by 'ahead' are inherently multiple arity - including two locations (or objects) and some reference to the direction. In an OWL binary formalism, it would be necessary to use {?Obj2 isAheadOf ?Obj1} with {{?Obj2 and ?Obj1} isLocatedAt ?Path} Where {?Obj2 and ?Obj1} is a pair of objects (or locations). But even here, it is not necessarily clear that the 'ahead' refers to that particular ?Path. The full description of 'ahead' should use multiple arity relations. This is a placeholder, for the OWL version of COSMO. This is the most generic generic 'location' relation, and differs from its subProperty 'isLocatedAt' only in that to be 'located at or on' includes the possibility that some pile of objects may be located in some open container and extend beyond the top of the container, but will move when that container moves because it is held to the container by the force of gravity or by some topological constraint. The subproperty 'isLocatedAt' means that the thing located is wholly locaed within the spatial region coextensie with the convex hull of the thing or place where it is located. Thus a pile of coal in an open railway coal car can be said to be 'contained' in the coal car even though it may extend above the top of the coal car; it will go wherever the coal car goes, as long as it satisfies this relation. Likewise, flowers in a vase are located 'at or on' the vase, though they typically extend beyond the top of the vase, and the top of the flowers may even be above the vase by more than the height of the vase. The 'isContainedIn' relation is a subproperty of this relation; therefore if {?x isContainedIn ?Obj} then {?x isLocatedAtOrOn ?Obj}. NOTE, however that 'isSupportedBy' is not a subtype of 'isLocatedAtOrOn' because the supporting object may be flat and extensive, and the supported object may extend well above the surface of the supporting object.. A general 'location' relation for objects and regions (but not for Events - use 'occurredAt'). The location can be a region of space (connected or disconnected) or an object (physical or abstract). Being 'located' at an Object means being located within the convex hull of the Object, But recall that a GeographicalRegion includes some space above the surface of that region, so it is possible that ?obj isLocateAt a GeographicalRegion even if it is in the air not far above the surface of that region. If a pile of objects or a large object is 'contained' in an open-top container, and extends above the top of that container, it cannot be said to be 'located at' thet container, in this sense. For that case, use 'isContainedIn' or its parent 'isLocatedAtOrOn'. The value (object) of this relation answers the question 'where is it?' (for the subject) in some sense. Somewhat non-intuitively, this relation can be used to specify that some set of beliefs (a BeliefSystem) is held by on or more people, since the BeliefSystem is considered an InformationStore that can have a physical location; that is, beliefs are located in the heads of people, or of Groups of people. However, NOTE that specific diseases cannot be located in people by this relation, because a Disease is considered as an Event. Use 'occurredAt' for relating specific instances of Disease to particular people or groups of people. NOTE that this is an instance-level relation and describes where an object is actually located at some particular time. For describing where objects typically are located (e.g. parts of the body), use 'isNormallyLocatedAt', a relation that can take a individual Object or an ObjectType as the subject NOTE: 'isLocatedAt' may be used with an instance of 'TimeAndPlace' (a four-dimensional portion of aspace-time) in the object position of the relation, to specify the location of some thing (but not Events) over some interval of time, using a binary relation. Although this relation is transitive, there are permitted range instances that cannot bw located at some permitted domain instances: for example, a 'TimeAndPlace' will never be locatedAt an Object or region that is not itself Four-dimensional, unless the domain instance is nominally a TimeAndPlace, but with the Time dimension of zero length, in which case the domain instance is effectively three-dimensional. But in general, if the subject is a TimeAndPlace, the Object should also be a TimeAndPlace, not a Region or Object. To avoid unintended errors, this restriction should be encoded as a constraint. NOTE: this relation is close in meaning to that of the OBO_REL relation 'located_in' (http://www.obofoundry.org/ro/#OBO_REL:located_in). In OBO some relations may also be used on Types to create an implicit restriction, but such usage is not part of COSMO, and that usage would need to be represented as a rule. OBO_REL: located_in (see http://www.obofoundry.org/ro/) OBO comments for located_in: Location as a relation between instances: The primitive instance-level relation c located_in r at t reflects the fact that each continuant is at any given time associated with exactly one spatial region, namely its exact location. Following we can use this relation to define a further instance-level location relation - not between a continuant and the region which it exactly occupies, but rather between one continuant and another. c is located in c1, in this sense, whenever the spatial region occupied by c is part_of the spatial region occupied by c1. Note that this relation comprehends both the relation of exact location between one continuant and another which obtains when r and r1 are identical (for example, when a portion of fluid exactly fills a cavity), as well as those sorts of inexact location relations which obtain, for example, between brain and head or between ovum and uterus A 'location' relation for Events. For object or region locations, see 'isLocatedAt'. The location is a GenericLocation: region of space (connected or disconnected) or an object (physical or abstract) . The value of this relation answers the question 'where did it happen?'. NOTE that the use of the past tense in this relation does not necessarily mean that the Event argument occurred in the past before the assertion time; if the relation relates a possible future Event, this relation can also be used. The past tense merely emphasizes that we are discussing Events that, in the given context, are viewed as completed and not ongoing. This can also be used for types of Events, to specify a particular location where they always occur. But to specify types of locations where types of Events usually occur, use 'typicallyOccursAt'. A Type-level 'location' relation for Events, to specify that a certain type of Event usually occurs at a certain type of location. For the instance-level location relation for Events, use 'occurredAt'. For object or region locations, see 'isLocatedAt'. The location specified is a GenericLocation: region of space (connected or disconnected) or an object (physical or abstract) . The value of this relation answers the question 'where does it usually happen?'. . A Type-level 'location' relation for Events, to specify that a certain type of Event usually occurs *inside* a certain type of object. BFO Definition: An occurrent at or in which processual entities can be located. COSMO note: this concept in COSMO is very generic,a nd can be used to specify a spatiotemporal region of any shape. To specify a spatiotemporal region of a more defined shape, use 'TimeAndPlace', for which the spatial shape of the region will depend on the 'location' component of the instance defined. BFO Examples: the spatiotemporal region occupied by a human life, the spatiotemporal region occupied by the development of a cancer tumor, the spatiotemporal context occupied by a process of cellular meiosis spatiotemporal_region A TimeAndPlace is a GenericLocation during some interval of time. It is a four-dimensional spatial region in the way that a time-slice of a PhysicalObject is a four-dimensional Object. These concepts are related inheriting the character of the TimeSlice Type. this is a SpatiotemporalRegion that has an explicit location and an explicit time interval specified. The location is generic, therefore it can be defined relative to some object; i.e. one can specify the location of the heart of an individual person over some period of time as an instance of this Type. NOTE: That 'TimeAndPlace' is a subtype of GenericLocation, as well as of SpatiotemporalRegion. Although *almost* all GenericLocations are exclusively spatial, 'TimeAndPlace' is spatiotemporal, being a region of space-time that specifies some region of space over some interval of time. Use of an instance of 'TimeAndPlace' as an argument of a location relation allows one to include the important time interval qualifier in location relations, even though one is using only binary relations. this would not be necessary in a representation with higher-arity relations. hasSpatialRegion specifies the spatial component of a TimeAndPlace (of zero to three dimensions) which is extended in time to generate a TimeAndPlace. hasTimeInterval specifies the time component which extends the spatial component of a TimeAndPlace into the time dimension, to generate the TimeAndPlace which is the subject of this relation. The intent of this relation can be alternatively specified by filling in the values for the beginning and starting times inherited from 'TimeSlice'. Any measure of length of time, with or without respect to the universal timeline. Time unit. 1 day = 24 hours. The Class of all calendar Days. NOTE: subtypes of this type may represent individual calendar days, or recurring days such as days of the year or days of the week. #$Street-Generic is a specialization of both #$Roadway and #$UrbanArea. Each instance of #$Street-Generic is a #$Roadway located inside a city or town. NOTE: a modern street is typically paved, but that is not a necessary attribute of a Street. bd58f514-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 A typical busy street in an urban area. This is the physical object that is the street, not a region of space. It would extend down to the underlying soil, and include all materials added (such as crushed gravel) to prepare the roadbed. COSMO note: This 'street; Type is interpreted as the full public right-of-way, including the sidewalks, up to the private property line of the property bordering on the street. A RealEstate bounded by a street will therefore be related to the street by 'isAdjacentTo'. bd58b4f8-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 A #$Place or area with clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent human population, including cities, settlements, towns, and villages. It does not include #$Locales. This is a synonym for 'Settlement': 'Settlement' is a very general concept of some area that has people residing in it, the people in it recognizing the area as having an identity distinct from that of other areas. It can be very small or very large. This is similar to the notion of "Populated Place" used in geographical Databases. OCM thesaurus: the topic of 'Settlements' is described: General statements covering several specific aspects of the physical configuration and material facilities of settlements ranging in size and complexity from a temporary camp to a great metropolis. To distinguish early-stage settlements from more established ones, the term 'Settlement' is reserved for this general concept, and 'EarlySettlement' for an early-stage settlement. acf243a4-24df-41d7-92f0-8a8fd5ad2507 A synonym for 'Settlement' used in Geographical Information systems. Any region on the surface of the Earth, within the Earth's atmosphere, or on some object itself located on the surface of the Earth (including on ships at sea), which is not inside of an enclosed structure. See 'OutdoorsObject' for further elaboration. The Cyc 'OutdoorLocation' is very similar - not yet (V0.2) clear if it is different. A specialization of #$GeographicalRegion. Each instance of #$OutdoorLocation is a region of outdoor space; i.e. a region that is directly subject to atmospheric weather. Thus, the collection #$OutdoorLocation does _not_ include as instances any instances of #$UnderwaterLocation (q.v.) or any places that are underground (see #$Underground). Specializations of #$OutdoorLocation include #$MountainRange, #$Stream, and #$Highway. bd58b186-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 A specialization of #$GeographicalRegion. Each instance of #$HumanResidenceArea is a region in which a number of people live semi-permanently (that is, for a duration of at least a year or more). Examples include #$SanFranciscoBayArea, #$ResearchTrianglePark, research stations at the #$SouthPole, and radar posts in the Aleutians. bd58caab-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 A subcollection of #$HumanResidenceArea. Each instance of #$UrbanArea is a geographical region the whole of which (more or less) is characterized by typically urban features (such as streets, buildings, businesses, houses, schools, sidewalks, sewer systems, power lines, automobiles, pedestrians, and so on). An urban area might be as small as an inner-city street corner or as large as the New York City Metropolitan Area. By default, urbanness is a stuff-like property of human residence areas: (nearly) every subregion of an #$UrbanArea is itself an #$UrbanArea. Examples include #$UTAustinCampus, #$ResearchTrianglePark, and the territorial extent of various cities (#$CityOfAustinTX, #$CityOfToulouseFrance, etc.). bd58caec-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 A collection of urban regions. Instances of #$CityBlock are usually roughly rectangular regions within cities or towns that are bounded by four streets running approximately at right angles to each other, and such that they do not spatially subsume any other such regions. City blocks are often divided into one or more instances of #$LotOfLand, on which typically stand houses or other buildings. NOTE: a Region, not a PhysicalObject. A block can be empty of structures, so there is no necessary connection. A CityBlock may have some thoroughfares in it - access roads, driveways, so it is not necessarily devoid of roadways. The usage will be conventional, that is, anything usually thought of or referred to in the same sense as a well-demarcated city block can be represented as an instance of CityBlock, even if it is not neatly adjoined by urban streets on every side. SUMO: A square-shaped area surrounded by Roadways which is part of a City and typically contains Buildings. bdf4b730-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 COSMO Note: a GeopoliticalArea is the spatial region containing the physical portion of earth controlled by a Geopolitical agent (the government of a country or subdivision). It is not a physical object, but contains all objects on or near the earth's surface, so that an object 'locatedAt' any region will also be 'locatedAt' any larger region containing] the first region. SUMO: Any GeographicArea which is associated with some sort of political structure. This class includes Lands, Cities, districts of cities, counties, etc. Note that the identity of a GeopoliticalArea may remain constant after a change in borders. COSMO Note: in SUMO named 'Nation'. Here we make it unambigous that it is the spatial region containing the physical part of the Earth that is represented, not the objects in that region nor the governmental organization controlling that region. A CountryArea is controlled by a Country (a GeopoliticalEntity) SUMO: Nation: The physical area, not the organization The broadest GeopoliticalArea, i.e. Nations are GeopoliticalAreas that are not part of any other overarching and comprehensive governance structure (excepting commonwealths and other sorts of loose international organizations). The spatial region of the Earth's surface encompassed by the borderlines of a City. COSMO Note: in SUMO named 'City'. Here we make it unambigous that it is the spatial region containing the physical part of the Earth that is represented, not the physical objects in the region, nor the governmental organization that controls the region.. The physical objects in that region are represented separately, and are located at the geopolitical area SUMO: A LandArea of relatively small size, inhabited by a community of people, and having some sort of political structure. Note that this class includes both large cities and small settlements like towns, villages, hamlets, etc. An area that is part of a City, not necessarily corresponding to official political district lines. The physical area of The city of London, the capital of the United Kingdom. This object includes the space containing everything in the city (at any given time), including the people. The physical area of the United Kingdom, including everything in it. The physical area of The city of New York. This object includes the space containing everything in the city (at any given time), including the people. The physical area of the United States of America, including the regions containing everything in it. The squarish region in New York City on which the two World Trade center towers were located on Sept. 10, 2001. -1 The city block on which the two World Trade Center towers were located, during the calendar day Sept. 11, 2001, EST (Z-5). The calendar day from 12:00 AM to the instant before 12 midnight on Sept. 11, 2001, EST (Z-5) New York City time. 9-11. isSomethingElseThan is a relation that specifies that the subject entity of the relation is **not** the object entity of the relation. This is a crude way of saying that one knows what something **is not**, even when one cannot be more specific about what something **is**. The subject and object should have a common Type, but that Type can be any Type. An unspecified location that is somewhere other than some reference location, for some interval of time. This 'location' category serves as the base element for the pointer to the location where something (person, vehicle) is known **not to be** (at some particular time). Being able to assert absence in a particular location does not necessarily mean that the true location of the individual thing is actually known - one may simply look around a room and say 'he's not here'. Usage: {?X isLocatedAt ?ALIBI} means that ?X was someplace other than the TimeAndPlace pointed to by the isSomethingOtherThan relation on the instance of TimeAndPlace that is the ?ALIBI. This Type allows one to express notions such as 'NN wasn't at the (meeting/party/scene of the crime/etc)' Every Alibi must specify exactly where and when an entity was absent, using the relation 'isSomethingOtherThan' and pointing to a TimeAndPlace. A synonym for 'Alibi'.. A synonym for 'Alibi'.. A TimeAndPlace that is disjoint from a particular country at a particular time. This is one sense of the English word 'abroad'. A TimeAndPlace that an object is not at, and is disjoint from some other TimeAndPlace. Very similar to 'Alibi', but can be used for convenience with the linguistic 'absent'. Can be used for inanimate objects, not just people. See also 'Absence' for the Event. Usage: {?X isLocatedAt ?ABSENT} means that ?X was someplace other than the TimeAndPlace pointed to by the isSomethingOtherThan relation on the instance of TimeAndPlace that is the ?ABSENT. Absence is an Event that consists of some object being absent, and takes place in an Absent (a TimeAndPlace where something is not present.). For each instance, the Object absent and place of absence must be specified. Linguistically the phrase 'J wasn't at work on Monday' can be expressed as an Absence Event. An Event when some specified thing didn't happen. Similar to a PersistentState, but used differently. Someplace other than the US territory during the 24 hours of 7/15/2007, New York Time. points from one entity in the COSMO ontology to another entity in some named Context within which the entity in the Context has a direct equivalance to the ontology entity is the subject of the triple. This permits the ad hoc definition of a Context within which reasoning can occur. This relation is inherently ternary, and should be elaborated when Ternary relations are represented. See also the relations on Databases - such as 'correspondsToTable' Together with the relation 'isDefinedInContext' it is possible to create ad hoc (or map) a set of terms that are synonymous with entities in the COSMO (or an extension) and perform reasoning only on terms within that Context. This contemplates at least two scenarios: (1) some previous conceptual classification is imported, and because of name clashes, is given its own namespace, which is defined as a Context. For those names that clash, the entity in the imported Context is given a namespace prefix to keep it unique within the overall ontology. The reasoning engine should then reason only within a given Context. (2) To make a subset of the overall ontology for efficiency purposes, a Context can be defined and each entity in the overall ontology that is needed in the new dcontext will be related to that Context by this relation ('correspondsToEntityInContext'). The reasoning engine will then be able to recognize a Context within which reasoning and inference can be confined. isNearTo specifies that some GenericLocation (an Object or a Region) is 'near' to another, but (usually) not touching the other. 'near' is relative to the size of the things being related. To be 'near' another region or object, the distance from one Object or Region to the other must be within two diameters of the larger object or region. NOTE that 'isSupportedBy' is a subproperty of 'isNearTo'. If two objects are touching, that can be represented as a 'TouchingState'. In SUMO treated as an attribute: SUMO: (Near) The relation of common sense adjacency. Note that, if an object is Near another object, then the objects are not connected.. isAdjacentTo specifies that some GenericLocation (an Object or a Region) is 'adjacent' to another. This means that it might be touching, with nothing in between, or might be separated by some thin space, which might have a name, as in a 'crack' or a sulcus in the brain. If there is a solid object separating them, two GenericLocations can be 'near' but not 'adjacent'. NOTE that this relation makes intuitive sense only when the adjacent objects are of comparable size. We do not usually say that a bacterium on the skin is 'adjacent to' the skin. A different (perhaps more general) relation should be defined for such cases, because the gap that exists in non-touching cases can be large relative to one object and small relative to the other. NOTE: this is similar to the instance-level OBO_REL relation 'adjacent_to', except that this COSMO relation is solely an instance relation and is not used at the Type level. For specifying the typical relations of Types (as in the OBO definition below), a separate class-level relation and inference axioms will be required. OBO_REL: relation adjacent_to: (only the instance-level relation is similar to COSMO 'isAdjacentTo'. Definition: C adjacent to C' if and only if: given any instance c that instantiates C at a time t, there is some c' such that: c' instantiates C' at time t and c and c' are in spatial proximity. OBO Comments: Note that adjacent_to as thus defined is not a symmetric relation, in contrast to its instance-level counterpart. For it can be the case that Cs are in general such as to be adjacent to instances of C1 while no analogous statement holds for C1s in general in relation to instances of C. Examples are: nuclear membrane adjacent_to cytoplasm; seminal vesicle adjacent_to urinary bladder; ovary adjacent_to parietal pelvic peritoneum Specifies the context in which the synonymous term is synonymous with the base domain argument term. Specifies the frequency with which the synonymous term, when encountered in the specified context, actually labels the meaning represented by the base entity which is synonymous. Each Attribute is an entity that has an AttributeType and some form of AttributeValue; it can serve as the value of a 'hasAttribute' relation. There are three subtypes of Attribute: QuantitativeAttribute, QualitativeAttribute, and IntensiveAttribute. In COSMO, the representation of 'attributes' (properties in informal terms) includes two or three aspects, depending on whether the Attribute is qualitative or quantitative, respectiely: (1) the AttributeType (Color, Length, Flexibility). The AttributeType specifies the kind of attribute that is being represented (2) the AttributeValue (Color -Red; Length - 10 feet; Flexibility - high) for quantitative attributes (10 feet, 30 pounds) the AttributeValue is composed of both a number and a UnitOfMeasure. The UnitOfMeasure values include 'Dimensionless', a pure number (e.g. as an attribute of 'Cardinality' for a Group) In the case of quantitative attributes, rather than pointing from an instance of Attribute to a QuantitativeAttributeValue, the relations 'hasUnit' and 'hasQuantifier'can point directly to the UnitOfMeasure and the Quantifier. An instance of QuantitativeAttributeValue can be represented as the UnitOfMeasure and the quantifier, separately, specified by relations 'hasUnit' and 'hasQuantifier'. If the implementation allows use of functions, a QuantitativeAttributeValue can be represented as a functin term such as {25.6 feet}. For QualitativeAttributes the AttributeValue may be directly represented. For IntensiveAttributes, the AttributeValue can have interal-type intensity values such as 'Low', 'Medium', 'High'. The type of an Attribute is specified as the value of the 'hasType' relation. AttributeTypeType is a metatype which is a specialization of the Protege owl:Class that can serve as type for AttributeTypes (length, mass), and an argument restriction for various relations on AttributeType types. This is a primitive mechanism to accommodate OWL limitations on relation arguments. takesValue relates an AttributeType to the AttributeValues that instantiate the AttributeType. For example, the AttribugeType Length will be instantiated by an the type 'LengthMeasure'. This relation is similar to the 'instance' relation, but is specific to the relationship between AttributeTypes and AttributeValues, used to implement the specfici method of representing attributes that is adopted for COSMO.. The inverse of 'takesValue'. QuantitativeAttributeType is a metatype which is a specialization of the Protege owl:Class that can serve as type for QuantitativeAttributes (length, mass), and an argument restriction for various relations on AttributeType types. This is a primitive mechanism to accommodate OWL limitations on relation arguments. An IntensiveAttribute is an Attribute that consists of an AttributeType and an Intensity. The values of an IntensiveAttribute will cover broad ranges and will not in general be mutually exclusive, as the ranges may overlap, and may depend on subjective judgments. A FunctionalAttribute is an Attribute that can serve as a function when modifying a type of thing, selecting from that type those instances that have a particular property. They are functional because the property selected may vary somewhat with the type that is modified. At some ppint, subtypes of this type may be defined to aggregate FunctionalAttributes that have some common features. The functionality is not expressible in OWL and will be used when Natural Language interpretation applications are built using the COSMO ontology. Until then, the instance of FunctionalAttribute sere to contain notes regarding the intended meaning of these terms, which will only be executable using a more expressive rerpresentation formalism. For example: Adjectives like 'large', 'small', 'good', bad' can depend for their interpretation in complex ways on the nature of the word they are modifying. They also select subtypes from a type that is named by the word being modified by the adjective, but the subtypes are not simply the intersection of the type being modified and some other type. The adjective selects members of the type based on criteria peculiar to the adjective and the type. For example, a 'red car' is a car whose sheet metal appears red (usually being painted by paint of that color). A 'pink grapefruit' is pink only on the inside, and may not have an external appearance different from a yellow grapefruit. A 'red brick' is red at all points on the surface, and if broken, is the same color red on the newly exposed surfaces. A 'red liquid' will have a different intensity of color depending on the concentration of pigment in the liquid and on the length of the path through which the light one sees has traversed. These differences of meaning must be encoded in the logical representation of the function. An AttributeValue can be a FunctionalAttribute also, but is not necessarily so. If used in the predicative position {Car23 is Red} , it takes the usual interpretation that it is specifying an attribute of a specific object. The FunctionalAttribute 'Typical', when modifying some type, is a function that creates a subtype of the type modified, and all instances of that subtype have one or more properties that are held by most of the members of that type. Deciding what properties to select to interpret something as 'typical' of its type can vary from one person to another. The properties that make a thing typical will be specified within the meaning of this fuction, and will vary with the type being modified. Thus this function may be very complex in its implementation. One possible means of simplifying this function is to keep the list of properties that are considered in deciding 'typicality' as part of the description of the type itself. Typicality will be a function of the type, and will not constrain the typicality of subtypes. Thus the type (Typical Person) will contain many instances that are not present in the type (Typical Infant), and (Typcial Infant) will contain instances not present in (Typical PrematureBaby). In practice, the values of the attributes that are decisive in determnining typicality may be ranges of values rather than individual values, such as the height of a typical person. This method of interpreting the meaning of modification of nouns by adjectives has not yet (v0.48) been implemented in a Language Understanding program. The FunctionalAttribute 'Active', when modifying some type, is a function that creates a subtype of the type modified. It may also be an attribute of individuals, indicating that a particular individual is in some way acting when it might not be acting in the same way. This FunctionalAttribute will be quite complex, since there are multiple senses. The selection of the sense may be contained within pprocedures attached to either this attribute, or the type of thing that it might modify. The Random House Webster has 19 senses for the adjective 'active': 1. engaged in action; characterized by energetic work, participation, etc.; busy: an active life. 2. being in a state of existence, progress, or motion: active hostilities. WN(8) alive -- (in operation; "keep hope alive"; "the tradition was still alive"; "an active tradition") 3. involving physical effort and action: active sports. 4. having the power of quick motion; nimble: active as a gazelle. WN (5) characterized by energetic activity; "an active toddler"; "active as a gazelle"; "an active man is a man of action" 5. (frequency of activity characteristic of the type) characterized by action, motion, volume, use, participation, etc.: an active market in wheat; an active list of subscribers. WN(7) full of activity or engaged in continuous activity; "an active seaport"; "an active bond market"; "an active account") 6. causing activity or change; capable of exerting influence (opposed to passive): active treason. 7. effective (opposed to inert): active ingredients. WN: exerting influence or producing a change or effect 8. Gram. noting or pertaining to a voice of verbal inflection in which typically the subject of the sentence is represented as performing the action expressed by the verb (opposed to passive): Writes in He writes a letter every day is an active verb form. 9. requiring or giving rise to action; practical: an active course. 10. (of a volcano) in eruption. 11. Accounting. profitable; busy: active accounts. 12. requiring personal effort or attention; not automatic: an active alarm system. 13. interest-bearing: active paper. 14. Med. acting quickly; producing immediate effects: active remedies. 15. Sociol. (of a crowd) engaging in purposeful activity, often of a militant nature. Cf. expressive (def. 4). 16. Aerospace. able to transmit signals: an active communications satellite. 17. Electronics. (of a device or system) acting as a source of electrical energy, as a generator, or capable of amplifying or converting voltages or currents, as a transistor or diode. 18. (of a solar heating system) accumulating and distributing solar heat by mechanical means. 19. Mil. serving on active duty. The FunctionalAttribute 'Actual', when modifying some type, is a function that creates a subtype of the type modified. 'Actual' specifies something existing in the given situation, as opposed to something that might have been predicted or could have been otherwise: e.g. 'He should have been in Reno, but his actual location is Las Vegas.' The interpretaion of 'Actual' in a text will likely depend on previous portions of th text or context to determine what might otherwise have been true, as opposed to the actual thing which is true. The meaning overlaps with 'true' and 'real'. Each instance of Intensity is a value (high, low, medium, VeryHigh, etc.) which specifies the value of an IntensiveAttribute. The values of an IntensiveAttribute will cover broad ranges and will not in general be mutually exclusive, as the ranges may overlap, and may depend on subjective judgments. As with a QualitativeAttributeValue, an Intensity does not contain a Quantifier. But its verbally expressed vallues do contain some aspects of quantity, but not expressed in numbers. hasIntensity relates an IntensiveAttribute to the Value of the attribute (high, medium, low). This is a subproperty of hasAttributeValue. hasAttributeValue relates an Object or Substance to some AttributeValue which the Object may have. Each AttributeValue will be a value for at least one AttributeType, but this relation does not specify the AttributeType. For cases where an AttributeValue may measure more than one AttributeType, using this relation may leave ambiguity as to its precise meaning. COSMO Note: AttributeValues may be either classes (instances of AttributeValueType), or instances of AttributeValue. This allows one to express an attribute as a region (e.g. colors will bw classes, not instances, to permit subclassing), or for quantitative measures as instances (e.g. '25 feet'). For quantitative measures, the representation of measurements as classes would be conceptually permissible (the class representing the set of possible values, determined by the measured value and possible error), or as instances of measure to which an uncertainty value has been attached. The specific subrelations (subproperties, in OWL) of 'hasAttributeValue' will in some cases have their range restricted to AttributeValueType of AttributeValue. isAnAttributeValueOf is the inverse of 'hasAttributeValue'. This relation will be used explicitly only in special cases where particular AttributeValues are appropriately applied only to specific types of things. hasAttribute relates an Object or Substance to some Attribute which the Object may have. Each Attribute will explictly include an AttributeType and an AttributeValue. For cases where an AttributeValue may measure more than one AttributeType, using this relation may leave ambiguity as to its precise meaning. This may be used where it is desirable or necessary to explicitly specify the AttributeType as well as the value. Thus a Length will have 'Length' as its AttributeType and some length measure as the value. In COSMO the formalism is adopted that an instance of Attribute can also be an instance of TimeSlice. If hasAttribute points to an instance of Attribute that is an instance of TimeSLice, that is equivalent to specifying that the Attribute applies at all points in the duration of the TimeSlice, i.e. remains constant during that time interval. NOTE That if an Object is specified as having some Attribute during some interval of time, that is equivalent to specifying the existence of a PersistentState for that Object during that interval. hasQualitativeAttribute relates individual Objects or substances to some qualitative attribute (a subclass of QualitativeAttributeValue) that the object has. The accurate use of this property for substances is difficult to express in OWL. Since Substances are classes, to describe a qualitative attribute of a substance, in OWL one would need a metatype specifically for each substance, which multiplies reified entities unnecessarily. A FOL rule would be easy to construct to correctly relate the substances to their properties, but for COSMO version 0.2 a work-around for such a rule is not yet on hand. The restrictions on substances should be interpreted as meaning necessary conditions on all subclasses of the substances. An AttributeValue is the actual value of some AttributeType possessed by some object, such as six feet for a length, or red for a color. Individual AttributeValues are represented as Types (classes) in COSMO, not as instances. IMPORTANT NOTE: the values represented by each of these AttributeValue Types are here viewed as a region ('Quality Space') in which the actual particular value (see Type 'Quality') is located. Thus one may say an object has a 'Red' color, but later refine the description to say it has a 'Fire Red' color. The 'Fire Red' is also a color region, contained within the 'Red' color region. For quantitative measures, representing attributes as classes allows approximate measures to be built in to the ontology itself. One may specify a range for a measure, and any other measure within or overlapping that range can be considered as 'indistinguishable from' (not 'equal to') the other measure. NOTE: under consideration - the possibility of expressing the possession of an attribute for some interval of time by creating instances of AttributeValue or of Attribute that are also TimeSlices, with the time interval of the TimeSlice representing the time interval during which the Attribute was had. This has an advantage over using timeSlice to creat 4D TimeSllices of an object, and then attributing an Attribute to it - in that one need not create new instances of an Object, which may not be easily associated with the 3D object. A QualitativeAttributeValue is the value of some AttributeType which is not expressed in quantitative measures. It can be an attribute of an abstract thing or of a concrete physical object. NOTE that adjectives expressing qualities in English often have a nominalized form: 'Red-Redness' or 'Beautiful-Beauty'. A QuantitativeAttributeValue is a value for some AttributeType which is expressed in quantitative measures. Examples are {10 feet} and {32 degreesF}. An instance of QuantitativeAttributeValue can be represented by creating a reified instance, and then using the relations 'hasUnit' and 'hasQuantifier' to specify the UnitOfMeasure and the quantifier, respectively. . If the implementation allows use of functions, a QuantitativeAttributeValue can be represented, without reification in the ontology, as a function term such as {25.6 feet}. An EvaluativeAttribute is a QualitativeAttributeValue for some entity, concrete or abstract, that reflects the judgment of an IntelligentAgent regarding that entity. the judgment may be objective or subjective, but will be relative to some purpose. An AttractivenessValue is an EvaluativeAttribute that reflects a judgment regarding the ability of an object or event to cause pleasure (or displeasure) when observing the object or event. Subtypes of this AttributeValue have the AtributeType 'Attractiveness'. 'Attractive' is an AttributeValue of an object or event that causes pleasure when observing the object or event. A more intense value of this AttributeValue are the subtype 'Beautiful'. An attribute of a Person who is Attractive. NOTE in Cyc this is a type of object, which is a different way of expressing attributes than in COSMO. bd58f9b5-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 'Beautiful' is a subtype of 'Attractive' expressing the ability to cause a high level of pleasure when viewing an object or event. NOTE that to 'have beauty' is the same as to 'be beautiful', so this sense is systematically related to the sense of the word 'beauty'. This is similar to sense 1 of the RandomHouse Webster: 1. the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). A high intensity of 'Beautiful', specifically applied to women.. NOTE in Cyc this is a type of object, which is a different way of expressing attributes than in COSMO. bd58f973-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 'Unattractive' is an AttributeValue of an object or event that causes mild displeasure when observing the object or event. A more intense value of this AttributeValue is the subtype 'Ugly'. 'Ugly' is an AttributeValue of an object or event that causes strong displeasure when observing the object or event. An Attribute having some percent intensity, such as percent unemployed (same as UnemploymentRate). It is a type of Attribute in which the quantitative element is a PercentageAttributeValue (represented in COSMO by a number, followed by 'percent', as in {25 percent}. A PercentageAttribute should have an AttributeType that specifies what the percentage is about. The AttributeValue will be an instance of PercentageAttributeValue'. Thus the instance of PercentageAttribute named 'Unemployment5.9pct' might have relations (hasAttributeType Unemployment5.9pct UnemploymentRate) (hasValue Unemployment5.9pct {5.9 percent}). AssertionConfidence is an AttributeType that applies to assertions, and expresses a quantitative measuer of belief by the person making the assertion that the assertion is true. A ConfidenceLevel is an Attribute of an assertion that quantitatively expresses the belief of the person making the assertion that the assertion is true. The value of the confidence level is a percentage, expressed as real number from 0 to 1 with the units 'percent'. A QuantitativeAttributeValue consisting of having percentage of some attribute. Each PercentageAttributeValue points to a Percentage, and may have other characteristics, such as specifying how the Percentage was measured. 'hasConfidenceLevel' relates an assertion (which can be a data record in a database) to the numerical confidence (expressed as a percent) that the assertion is true. In COSMO 'TruthValue' is considered an Attribute of either an Abstract Proposition or a linguistic Assertion. See also the subtype 'YesOrNo'. Cyc: #$TruthValue is a collection of mathematical objects; it contains the abstract, logical objects #$True and #$False. SUMO: The Class of truth values, e.g. True and False. These are Attributes of Sentences and Propositions. bd58e3ba-9c29-11b1-9dad-c379636f7270 The prefix used in front of truth codes that are expressed as 'true' 'false' or 'yes' or 'no' or some abbreviation or variant spelling of those. Y YES y Yes yes True true N T F NO n no No False false f Each instance of YesOrNo is a TruthValue that represents either a 'yes' or a 'no' answer to a question. Single chars ('Y') or full words ('YES') are included as instances. Together with the question, it represents a truth value for an assertion which is the answer to the question. NOTE;the word 'no' can serve as a determiner or quantifier: 'Yes, we have no bananas'. But the word 'no' would be represented by an entity labeled with the CodeListPrefix 'WORD_'. So this instance is not the word 'no' and is not a Determiner. NOTE;the word 'no' can serve as a determiner or quantifier: 'Yes, we have no bananas'. But the word 'no' would be represented by an entity labeled with the CodeListPrefix 'WORD_'. So this instance is not the word 'no' and is not a Determiner. NOTE;the word 'no' can serve as a determiner or quantifier: 'Yes, we have no bananas'. But the word 'no' would be represented by an entity labeled with the CodeListPrefix 'WORD_'. So this instance is not the word 'no' and is not a Determiner. An AssertionalAttribute is an AttributeType That points to an Assertion or a Question. The value of Attributes of this type will be in the form 'true' or 'false' for assertions, and 'yes' or 'no' for questions. Age is an Attribute that specifies the magnitude of the time interval between 'now' and when an entity first started to exist. IT can be applied to Objects and People. Age is the quantitative measure of an Age. Its units will be units of time. In COSMO units such as 'yearsOld', 'monthsOld' and 'daysOld' are use as the units for Age. A CaptivityAttribute is the AttributeType That points to the question of whether a person or animal is or is not in captivity. All domestic animals would have the status of being in captivity (even if they prefer to stay at home) (@ToDO should be differentiated. At r603 just starting). Values should include 'hostage'. An alternative way of expressing the relation 'hasCaptivityStatus' - here as a pointer to the method used in COSMO to express the notion of being 'captured'. A TruthAttribute is an expression equivalent to the answer 'yes' or 'no' to some question, or to the values 'true' or 'false' to some assertion. For 'ye' or 'no' answers to questions, the question will be represented by the AttributeType. The value is qualitative. CaptivityStatus is an Attribute of a person (not an animal) indicating whether that person is in captivity, i.e. is in the custody of someone else. The values 'yes' or 'no' are the answer to the question: is this person in captivity? This is a general captivity status, not discriminating between captivity by police, armed forces, rogue militias, or other individuals. Subtypes can be more specific. (@ToDo: or a relation 'isHeldBy' on this Attribute could be used. Not done r603) hasCaptivityStatus relates a Person to that's person's status of either being in captivity or not. At this point (r603) no distinctions are made as to type or location of captivity, or duration. A Measurement is an OrderedPair representing the result of a MeasurementEvent. It is an abstract representation of a MeasurableQuantity. Each instance of Measurement is an OrderedPair in which the first element is a UnitOfMeasure or other Quantifiable AttributeValue, and the second element is a quantity expressing some kind of magnitude associated with that UnitOfMeasure. The magnitude will typically be a number indicating, for example, how many individuals have that attribute, or a percentage indicating what fraction of a group have that Attribute. A Prevalence will typically be one element of a Distribution. NOTE that a Measurement does not have to use actual numbers in the 'Quantifier' field - a Measurement may be approximate, using quantities like 'High', 'Low', etc. qualifying an AttributValue, but it does hae to modify a unit of measure. A Prevalence is a Measurement expressing the intensity of some one AttributeValue out of set of attribute values that are related in some way. This is a general type of Measurement that might be included in a Distribution. A Distribution is a Group of quantitative measures of the prevalence (often a percentage) of some AttributeValue. It may be relevant to an Individual, but is usually of relevance to a Group of entities. For distributions of characteristics among a GroupOfPeople, use 'PopulationCharacteristicDistribution'. A group of numbers expressing the fraction of some population that has a particular value for some category of population attribute. This is not a simple number, but a group of numbers. hasDefaultVariance is used to specify a default variance for a given type of measure, and can can be set differently by each application; but for most precise interoperability, it should be the same for all applications. The default variance for a measure can be absolute or relative. One might specify that all temperature measures are accurate to plus or minus one degree Fahrenheit - which might make sense in some applications. A relative value can be of several types: one might say that any measure is accurate only to within 1% of the nominal value, or might say that every measure is accurate to within plus or minus one digit in the last significant digit of the measure. The 'plus or minus' range by default is the conventional variance, within which any measure has a 67% likelihood of being found. The default variance will be used only if an explicit variance is not specified. If the value of a the varance (expected error) of a measurement is known, each such measurement value can have its individual variance set using the relation 'hasVariance'. hasVariance can be used to specify the variance (confidence interval, error range) for each individual measurement of a QuantitativeAttributeValue, when the variance is known or can be approximated. To specify a default variance for a type of measurement, the relation 'hasDefaultVariance' should be used. This value can be set differently for each type of quantitative measure and each application.. A salient and distinguishing AttributeValue. An AttributeType is a general category of attribute, i.e. some property that adheres in an object, such as length or mass or color or shape for physical objects. More abstract objects such as sets or groups may have more abstract attributes such as cardinality. The distinction between attributes and relations between entities is not absolute. COSMO note: The use of two distinct trees of attribute-related types (AttributeType and AttributeValue) is intended to enable assertions with a linguistic form such as: {Jack has Height {6 feet}) where the second argument 'Height' specifies the general type of attribute, and the value '{6 feet}' specifies the specific attribute value, where 'feet' is a function returning a distance measure. This generic attribute assertion can then be used with other types of attributes, such as: {Jack has Weight {60 kilograms}) and {Car037 has Color RedColor). hasAttributeType relates an Attribute to the Type of the attribute. hasValue relates an Attribute to the Value of the attribute. The value may be qualitative (Flexible) or quantitative {10 feet}. NOTE that AttributeValues can take the form of either instances of AttributeValue or *subtypes* of AttributeValue, which are instances of AttributevalueType. The latter are used to allow for subclassing of AttributeValues, to allow inferring that having one value also implies having its parent AttributeValues (up to the least specific value). hasUnit relates an Attribute or QuantitativeAttributeValue to the UnitOfMeasure in which the value is exp