2022-10-24 editor preferred term The concise, meaningful, and human-friendly name for a class or property preferred by the ontology developers. (US-English) PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> editor preferred term example of usage A phrase describing how a term should be used and/or a citation to a work which uses it. May also include other kinds of examples that facilitate immediate understanding, such as widely know prototypes or instances of a class, or cases where a relation is said to hold. PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> example of usage has curation status PERSON:Alan Ruttenberg PERSON:Bill Bug PERSON:Melanie Courtot has curation status definition The official definition, explaining the meaning of a class or property. Shall be Aristotelian, formalized and normalized. Can be augmented with colloquial definitions. 2012-04-05: Barry Smith The official OBI definition, explaining the meaning of a class or property: 'Shall be Aristotelian, formalized and normalized. Can be augmented with colloquial definitions' is terrible. Can you fix to something like: A statement of necessary and sufficient conditions explaining the meaning of an expression referring to a class or property. Alan Ruttenberg Your proposed definition is a reasonable candidate, except that it is very common that necessary and sufficient conditions are not given. Mostly they are necessary, occasionally they are necessary and sufficient or just sufficient. Often they use terms that are not themselves defined and so they effectively can't be evaluated by those criteria. On the specifics of the proposed definition: We don't have definitions of 'meaning' or 'expression' or 'property'. For 'reference' in the intended sense I think we use the term 'denotation'. For 'expression', I think we you mean symbol, or identifier. For 'meaning' it differs for class and property. For class we want documentation that let's the intended reader determine whether an entity is instance of the class, or not. For property we want documentation that let's the intended reader determine, given a pair of potential relata, whether the assertion that the relation holds is true. The 'intended reader' part suggests that we also specify who, we expect, would be able to understand the definition, and also generalizes over human and computer reader to include textual and logical definition. Personally, I am more comfortable weakening definition to documentation, with instructions as to what is desirable. We also have the outstanding issue of how to aim different definitions to different audiences. A clinical audience reading chebi wants a different sort of definition documentation/definition from a chemistry trained audience, and similarly there is a need for a definition that is adequate for an ontologist to work with. PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> definition editor note An administrative note intended for its editor. It may not be included in the publication version of the ontology, so it should contain nothing necessary for end users to understand the ontology. PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obofoundry.org/obo/obi> editor note term editor Name of editor entering the term in the file. The term editor is a point of contact for information regarding the term. The term editor may be, but is not always, the author of the definition, which may have been worked upon by several people 20110707, MC: label update to term editor and definition modified accordingly. See https://github.com/information-artifact-ontology/IAO/issues/115. PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> term editor alternative term An alternative name for a class or property which means the same thing as the preferred name (semantically equivalent) PERSON:Daniel Schober GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> alternative term definition source Formal citation, e.g. identifier in external database to indicate / attribute source(s) for the definition. Free text indicate / attribute source(s) for the definition. EXAMPLE: Author Name, URI, MeSH Term C04, PUBMED ID, Wiki uri on 31.01.2007 PERSON:Daniel Schober Discussion on obo-discuss mailing-list, see http://bit.ly/hgm99w GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> definition source has obsolescence reason Relates an annotation property to an obsolescence reason. The values of obsolescence reasons come from a list of predefined terms, instances of the class obsolescence reason specification. PERSON:Alan Ruttenberg PERSON:Melanie Courtot has obsolescence reason term tracker item the URI for an OBI Terms ticket at sourceforge, such as https://sourceforge.net/p/obi/obi-terms/772/ An IRI or similar locator for a request or discussion of an ontology term. Person: Jie Zheng, Chris Stoeckert, Alan Ruttenberg Person: Jie Zheng, Chris Stoeckert, Alan Ruttenberg The 'tracker item' can associate a tracker with a specific ontology term. term tracker item elucidation person:Alan Ruttenberg Person:Barry Smith Primitive terms in a highest-level ontology such as BFO are terms which are so basic to our understanding of reality that there is no way of defining them in a non-circular fashion. For these, therefore, we can provide only elucidations, supplemented by examples and by axioms elucidation may be identical to A annotation relationship between two terms in an ontology that may refer to the same (natural) type but where more evidence is required before terms are merged. David Osumi-Sutherland #40 VFB Edges asserting this should be annotated with to record evidence supporting the assertion and its provenance. may be identical to term replaced by Use on obsolete terms, relating the term to another term that can be used as a substitute Person:Alan Ruttenberg Person:Alan Ruttenberg Add as annotation triples in the granting ontology term replaced by is part of my brain is part of my body (continuant parthood, two material entities) my stomach cavity is part of my stomach (continuant parthood, immaterial entity is part of material entity) this day is part of this year (occurrent parthood) a core relation that holds between a part and its whole Everything is part of itself. Any part of any part of a thing is itself part of that thing. Two distinct things cannot be part of each other. Occurrents are not subject to change and so parthood between occurrents holds for all the times that the part exists. Many continuants are subject to change, so parthood between continuants will only hold at certain times, but this is difficult to specify in OWL. See https://code.google.com/p/obo-relations/wiki/ROAndTime Parthood requires the part and the whole to have compatible classes: only an occurrent can be part of an occurrent; only a process can be part of a process; only a continuant can be part of a continuant; only an independent continuant can be part of an independent continuant; only an immaterial entity can be part of an immaterial entity; only a specifically dependent continuant can be part of a specifically dependent continuant; only a generically dependent continuant can be part of a generically dependent continuant. (This list is not exhaustive.) A continuant cannot be part of an occurrent: use 'participates in'. An occurrent cannot be part of a continuant: use 'has participant'. A material entity cannot be part of an immaterial entity: use 'has location'. A specifically dependent continuant cannot be part of an independent continuant: use 'inheres in'. An independent continuant cannot be part of a specifically dependent continuant: use 'bearer of'. part_of part of http://www.obofoundry.org/ro/#OBO_REL:part_of has part my body has part my brain (continuant parthood, two material entities) my stomach has part my stomach cavity (continuant parthood, material entity has part immaterial entity) this year has part this day (occurrent parthood) a core relation that holds between a whole and its part Everything has itself as a part. Any part of any part of a thing is itself part of that thing. Two distinct things cannot have each other as a part. Occurrents are not subject to change and so parthood between occurrents holds for all the times that the part exists. Many continuants are subject to change, so parthood between continuants will only hold at certain times, but this is difficult to specify in OWL. See https://code.google.com/p/obo-relations/wiki/ROAndTime Parthood requires the part and the whole to have compatible classes: only an occurrent have an occurrent as part; only a process can have a process as part; only a continuant can have a continuant as part; only an independent continuant can have an independent continuant as part; only a specifically dependent continuant can have a specifically dependent continuant as part; only a generically dependent continuant can have a generically dependent continuant as part. (This list is not exhaustive.) A continuant cannot have an occurrent as part: use 'participates in'. An occurrent cannot have a continuant as part: use 'has participant'. An immaterial entity cannot have a material entity as part: use 'location of'. An independent continuant cannot have a specifically dependent continuant as part: use 'bearer of'. A specifically dependent continuant cannot have an independent continuant as part: use 'inheres in'. has_part has part realized in this disease is realized in this disease course this fragility is realized in this shattering this investigator role is realized in this investigation is realized by realized_in [copied from inverse property 'realizes'] to say that b realizes c at t is to assert that there is some material entity d & b is a process which has participant d at t & c is a disposition or role of which d is bearer_of at t& the type instantiated by b is correlated with the type instantiated by c. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [059-003]) Paraphrase of elucidation: a relation between a realizable entity and a process, where there is some material entity that is bearer of the realizable entity and participates in the process, and the realizable entity comes to be realized in the course of the process realized in realizes this disease course realizes this disease this investigation realizes this investigator role this shattering realizes this fragility to say that b realizes c at t is to assert that there is some material entity d & b is a process which has participant d at t & c is a disposition or role of which d is bearer_of at t& the type instantiated by b is correlated with the type instantiated by c. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [059-003]) Paraphrase of elucidation: a relation between a process and a realizable entity, where there is some material entity that is bearer of the realizable entity and participates in the process, and the realizable entity comes to be realized in the course of the process realizes occurs in b occurs_in c =def b is a process and c is a material entity or immaterial entity& there exists a spatiotemporal region r and b occupies_spatiotemporal_region r.& forall(t) if b exists_at t then c exists_at t & there exist spatial regions s and s’ where & b spatially_projects_onto s at t& c is occupies_spatial_region s’ at t& s is a proper_continuant_part_of s’ at t occurs_in unfolds in unfolds_in Paraphrase of definition: a relation between a process and an independent continuant, in which the process takes place entirely within the independent continuant occurs in site of [copied from inverse property 'occurs in'] b occurs_in c =def b is a process and c is a material entity or immaterial entity& there exists a spatiotemporal region r and b occupies_spatiotemporal_region r.& forall(t) if b exists_at t then c exists_at t & there exist spatial regions s and s’ where & b spatially_projects_onto s at t& c is occupies_spatial_region s’ at t& s is a proper_continuant_part_of s’ at t Paraphrase of definition: a relation between an independent continuant and a process, in which the process takes place entirely within the independent continuant contains process This document is about information artifacts and their representations A (currently) primitive relation that relates an information artifact to an entity. 7/6/2009 Alan Ruttenberg. Following discussion with Jonathan Rees, and introduction of "mentions" relation. Weaken the is_about relationship to be primitive. We will try to build it back up by elaborating the various subproperties that are more precisely defined. Some currently missing phenomena that should be considered "about" are predications - "The only person who knows the answer is sitting beside me" , Allegory, Satire, and other literary forms that can be topical without explicitly mentioning the topic. person:Alan Ruttenberg Smith, Ceusters, Ruttenberg, 2000 years of philosophy is about A person's name denotes the person. A variable name in a computer program denotes some piece of memory. Lexically equivalent strings can denote different things, for instance "Alan" can denote different people. In each case of use, there is a case of the denotation relation obtaining, between "Alan" and the person that is being named. A primitive, instance-level, relation obtaining between an information content entity and some portion of reality. Denotation is what happens when someone creates an information content entity E in order to specifically refer to something. The only relation between E and the thing is that E can be used to 'pick out' the thing. This relation connects those two together. Freedictionary.com sense 3: To signify directly; refer to specifically 2009-11-10 Alan Ruttenberg. Old definition said the following to emphasize the generic nature of this relation. We no longer have 'specifically denotes', which would have been primitive, so make this relation primitive. g denotes r =def r is a portion of reality there is some c that is a concretization of g every c that is a concretization of g specifically denotes r person:Alan Ruttenberg Conversations with Barry Smith, Werner Ceusters, Bjoern Peters, Michel Dumontier, Melanie Courtot, James Malone, Bill Hogan denotes inverse of the relation 'denotes' Person: Jie Zheng, Chris Stoeckert, Mike Conlon denoted by has_specified_output has_specified_output A relation between a planned process and a continuant participating in that process. The presence of the continuant at the end of the process is explicitly specified in the objective specification which the process realizes the concretization of. PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Bjoern Peters PERSON: Larry Hunter PERSON: Melanie Courtot has_specified_output is_specified_output_of is_specified_output_of A relation between a planned process and a continuant participating in that process. The presence of the continuant at the end of the process is explicitly specified in the objective specification which the process realizes the concretization of. Alan Ruttenberg PERSON:Bjoern Peters is_specified_output_of inheres in this fragility inheres in this vase this red color inheres in this apple a relation between a specifically dependent continuant (the dependent) and an independent continuant (the bearer), in which the dependent specifically depends on the bearer for its existence A dependent inheres in its bearer at all times for which the dependent exists. inheres_in inheres in bearer of this apple is bearer of this red color this vase is bearer of this fragility a relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a specifically dependent continuant (the dependent), in which the dependent specifically depends on the bearer for its existence A bearer can have many dependents, and its dependents can exist for different periods of time, but none of its dependents can exist when the bearer does not exist. bearer_of is bearer of bearer of participates in this blood clot participates in this blood coagulation this input material (or this output material) participates in this process this investigator participates in this investigation a relation between a continuant and a process, in which the continuant is somehow involved in the process participates_in participates in has participant this blood coagulation has participant this blood clot this investigation has participant this investigator this process has participant this input material (or this output material) a relation between a process and a continuant, in which the continuant is somehow involved in the process Has_participant is a primitive instance-level relation between a process, a continuant, and a time at which the continuant participates in some way in the process. The relation obtains, for example, when this particular process of oxygen exchange across this particular alveolar membrane has_participant this particular sample of hemoglobin at this particular time. has_participant http://www.obofoundry.org/ro/#OBO_REL:has_participant has participant this investigator role is a role of this person a relation between a role and an independent continuant (the bearer), in which the role specifically depends on the bearer for its existence A role inheres in its bearer at all times for which the role exists, however the role need not be realized at all the times that the role exists. is role of role_of role of this person has role this investigator role (more colloquially: this person has this role of investigator) a relation between an independent continuant (the bearer) and a role, in which the role specifically depends on the bearer for its existence A bearer can have many roles, and its roles can exist for different periods of time, but none of its roles can exist when the bearer does not exist. A role need not be realized at all the times that the role exists. has_role has role An organism that is a member of a population of organisms is member of is a mereological relation between a item and a collection. is member of member part of SIO member of has member is a mereological relation between a collection and an item. SIO has member creating a data set A planned process that has a data set as its specified output. William R. Hogan data set creation dataset creation dataset creating entity Entity Julius Caesar Verdi’s Requiem the Second World War your body mass index BFO 2 Reference: In all areas of empirical inquiry we encounter general terms of two sorts. First are general terms which refer to universals or types:animaltuberculosissurgical procedurediseaseSecond, are general terms used to refer to groups of entities which instantiate a given universal but do not correspond to the extension of any subuniversal of that universal because there is nothing intrinsic to the entities in question by virtue of which they – and only they – are counted as belonging to the given group. Examples are: animal purchased by the Emperortuberculosis diagnosed on a Wednesdaysurgical procedure performed on a patient from Stockholmperson identified as candidate for clinical trial #2056-555person who is signatory of Form 656-PPVpainting by Leonardo da VinciSuch terms, which represent what are called ‘specializations’ in [81 Entity doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. For example Werner Ceusters 'portions of reality' include 4 sorts, entities (as BFO construes them), universals, configurations, and relations. It is an open question as to whether entities as construed in BFO will at some point also include these other portions of reality. See, for example, 'How to track absolutely everything' at http://www.referent-tracking.com/_RTU/papers/CeustersICbookRevised.pdf An entity is anything that exists or has existed or will exist. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [001-001]) entity Entity doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. For example Werner Ceusters 'portions of reality' include 4 sorts, entities (as BFO construes them), universals, configurations, and relations. It is an open question as to whether entities as construed in BFO will at some point also include these other portions of reality. See, for example, 'How to track absolutely everything' at http://www.referent-tracking.com/_RTU/papers/CeustersICbookRevised.pdf per discussion with Barry Smith An entity is anything that exists or has existed or will exist. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [001-001]) continuant Continuant An entity that exists in full at any time in which it exists at all, persists through time while maintaining its identity and has no temporal parts. BFO 2 Reference: Continuant entities are entities which can be sliced to yield parts only along the spatial dimension, yielding for example the parts of your table which we call its legs, its top, its nails. ‘My desk stretches from the window to the door. It has spatial parts, and can be sliced (in space) in two. With respect to time, however, a thing is a continuant.’ [60, p. 240 Continuant doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. For example, in an expansion involving bringing in some of Ceuster's other portions of reality, questions are raised as to whether universals are continuants A continuant is an entity that persists, endures, or continues to exist through time while maintaining its identity. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [008-002]) if b is a continuant and if, for some t, c has_continuant_part b at t, then c is a continuant. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [126-001]) if b is a continuant and if, for some t, cis continuant_part of b at t, then c is a continuant. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [009-002]) if b is a material entity, then there is some temporal interval (referred to below as a one-dimensional temporal region) during which b exists. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [011-002]) (forall (x y) (if (and (Continuant x) (exists (t) (continuantPartOfAt y x t))) (Continuant y))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [009-002] (forall (x y) (if (and (Continuant x) (exists (t) (hasContinuantPartOfAt y x t))) (Continuant y))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [126-001] (forall (x) (if (Continuant x) (Entity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [008-002] (forall (x) (if (Material Entity x) (exists (t) (and (TemporalRegion t) (existsAt x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [011-002] continuant Continuant doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. For example, in an expansion involving bringing in some of Ceuster's other portions of reality, questions are raised as to whether universals are continuants A continuant is an entity that persists, endures, or continues to exist through time while maintaining its identity. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [008-002]) if b is a continuant and if, for some t, c has_continuant_part b at t, then c is a continuant. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [126-001]) if b is a continuant and if, for some t, cis continuant_part of b at t, then c is a continuant. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [009-002]) if b is a material entity, then there is some temporal interval (referred to below as a one-dimensional temporal region) during which b exists. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [011-002]) (forall (x y) (if (and (Continuant x) (exists (t) (continuantPartOfAt y x t))) (Continuant y))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [009-002] (forall (x y) (if (and (Continuant x) (exists (t) (hasContinuantPartOfAt y x t))) (Continuant y))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [126-001] (forall (x) (if (Continuant x) (Entity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [008-002] (forall (x) (if (Material Entity x) (exists (t) (and (TemporalRegion t) (existsAt x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [011-002] occurrent Occurrent An entity that has temporal parts and that happens, unfolds or develops through time. BFO 2 Reference: every occurrent that is not a temporal or spatiotemporal region is s-dependent on some independent continuant that is not a spatial region BFO 2 Reference: s-dependence obtains between every process and its participants in the sense that, as a matter of necessity, this process could not have existed unless these or those participants existed also. A process may have a succession of participants at different phases of its unfolding. Thus there may be different players on the field at different times during the course of a football game; but the process which is the entire game s-depends_on all of these players nonetheless. Some temporal parts of this process will s-depend_on on only some of the players. Occurrent doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. An example would be the sum of a process and the process boundary of another process. Simons uses different terminology for relations of occurrents to regions: Denote the spatio-temporal location of a given occurrent e by 'spn[e]' and call this region its span. We may say an occurrent is at its span, in any larger region, and covers any smaller region. Now suppose we have fixed a frame of reference so that we can speak not merely of spatio-temporal but also of spatial regions (places) and temporal regions (times). The spread of an occurrent, (relative to a frame of reference) is the space it exactly occupies, and its spell is likewise the time it exactly occupies. We write 'spr[e]' and `spl[e]' respectively for the spread and spell of e, omitting mention of the frame. An occurrent is an entity that unfolds itself in time or it is the instantaneous boundary of such an entity (for example a beginning or an ending) or it is a temporal or spatiotemporal region which such an entity occupies_temporal_region or occupies_spatiotemporal_region. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [077-002]) Every occurrent occupies_spatiotemporal_region some spatiotemporal region. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [108-001]) b is an occurrent entity iff b is an entity that has temporal parts. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [079-001]) (forall (x) (if (Occurrent x) (exists (r) (and (SpatioTemporalRegion r) (occupiesSpatioTemporalRegion x r))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [108-001] (forall (x) (iff (Occurrent x) (and (Entity x) (exists (y) (temporalPartOf y x))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [079-001] occurrent Occurrent doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. An example would be the sum of a process and the process boundary of another process. per discussion with Barry Smith Simons uses different terminology for relations of occurrents to regions: Denote the spatio-temporal location of a given occurrent e by 'spn[e]' and call this region its span. We may say an occurrent is at its span, in any larger region, and covers any smaller region. Now suppose we have fixed a frame of reference so that we can speak not merely of spatio-temporal but also of spatial regions (places) and temporal regions (times). The spread of an occurrent, (relative to a frame of reference) is the space it exactly occupies, and its spell is likewise the time it exactly occupies. We write 'spr[e]' and `spl[e]' respectively for the spread and spell of e, omitting mention of the frame. An occurrent is an entity that unfolds itself in time or it is the instantaneous boundary of such an entity (for example a beginning or an ending) or it is a temporal or spatiotemporal region which such an entity occupies_temporal_region or occupies_spatiotemporal_region. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [077-002]) Every occurrent occupies_spatiotemporal_region some spatiotemporal region. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [108-001]) b is an occurrent entity iff b is an entity that has temporal parts. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [079-001]) (forall (x) (if (Occurrent x) (exists (r) (and (SpatioTemporalRegion r) (occupiesSpatioTemporalRegion x r))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [108-001] (forall (x) (iff (Occurrent x) (and (Entity x) (exists (y) (temporalPartOf y x))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [079-001] ic IndependentContinuant a chair a heart a leg a molecule a spatial region an atom an orchestra. an organism the bottom right portion of a human torso the interior of your mouth A continuant that is a bearer of quality and realizable entity entities, in which other entities inhere and which itself cannot inhere in anything. b is an independent continuant = Def. b is a continuant which is such that there is no c and no t such that b s-depends_on c at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [017-002]) For any independent continuant b and any time t there is some spatial region r such that b is located_in r at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [134-001]) For every independent continuant b and time t during the region of time spanned by its life, there are entities which s-depends_on b during t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [018-002]) (forall (x t) (if (IndependentContinuant x) (exists (r) (and (SpatialRegion r) (locatedInAt x r t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [134-001] (forall (x t) (if (and (IndependentContinuant x) (existsAt x t)) (exists (y) (and (Entity y) (specificallyDependsOnAt y x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [018-002] (iff (IndependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (not (exists (b t) (specificallyDependsOnAt a b t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [017-002] independent continuant b is an independent continuant = Def. b is a continuant which is such that there is no c and no t such that b s-depends_on c at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [017-002]) For any independent continuant b and any time t there is some spatial region r such that b is located_in r at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [134-001]) For every independent continuant b and time t during the region of time spanned by its life, there are entities which s-depends_on b during t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [018-002]) (forall (x t) (if (IndependentContinuant x) (exists (r) (and (SpatialRegion r) (locatedInAt x r t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [134-001] (forall (x t) (if (and (IndependentContinuant x) (existsAt x t)) (exists (y) (and (Entity y) (specificallyDependsOnAt y x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [018-002] (iff (IndependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (not (exists (b t) (specificallyDependsOnAt a b t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [017-002] process Process a process of cell-division, \ a beating of the heart a process of meiosis a process of sleeping the course of a disease the flight of a bird the life of an organism your process of aging. An occurrent that has temporal proper parts and for some time t, p s-depends_on some material entity at t. p is a process = Def. p is an occurrent that has temporal proper parts and for some time t, p s-depends_on some material entity at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [083-003]) BFO 2 Reference: The realm of occurrents is less pervasively marked by the presence of natural units than is the case in the realm of independent continuants. Thus there is here no counterpart of ‘object’. In BFO 1.0 ‘process’ served as such a counterpart. In BFO 2.0 ‘process’ is, rather, the occurrent counterpart of ‘material entity’. Those natural – as contrasted with engineered, which here means: deliberately executed – units which do exist in the realm of occurrents are typically either parasitic on the existence of natural units on the continuant side, or they are fiat in nature. Thus we can count lives; we can count football games; we can count chemical reactions performed in experiments or in chemical manufacturing. We cannot count the processes taking place, for instance, in an episode of insect mating behavior.Even where natural units are identifiable, for example cycles in a cyclical process such as the beating of a heart or an organism’s sleep/wake cycle, the processes in question form a sequence with no discontinuities (temporal gaps) of the sort that we find for instance where billiard balls or zebrafish or planets are separated by clear spatial gaps. Lives of organisms are process units, but they too unfold in a continuous series from other, prior processes such as fertilization, and they unfold in turn in continuous series of post-life processes such as post-mortem decay. Clear examples of boundaries of processes are almost always of the fiat sort (midnight, a time of death as declared in an operating theater or on a death certificate, the initiation of a state of war) (iff (Process a) (and (Occurrent a) (exists (b) (properTemporalPartOf b a)) (exists (c t) (and (MaterialEntity c) (specificallyDependsOnAt a c t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [083-003] process p is a process = Def. p is an occurrent that has temporal proper parts and for some time t, p s-depends_on some material entity at t. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [083-003]) (iff (Process a) (and (Occurrent a) (exists (b) (properTemporalPartOf b a)) (exists (c t) (and (MaterialEntity c) (specificallyDependsOnAt a c t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [083-003] realizable RealizableEntity the disposition of this piece of metal to conduct electricity. the disposition of your blood to coagulate the function of your reproductive organs the role of being a doctor the role of this boundary to delineate where Utah and Colorado meet A specifically dependent continuant that inheres in continuant entities and are not exhibited in full at every time in which it inheres in an entity or group of entities. The exhibition or actualization of a realizable entity is a particular manifestation, functioning or process that occurs under certain circumstances. To say that b is a realizable entity is to say that b is a specifically dependent continuant that inheres in some independent continuant which is not a spatial region and is of a type instances of which are realized in processes of a correlated type. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [058-002]) All realizable dependent continuants have independent continuants that are not spatial regions as their bearers. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [060-002]) (forall (x t) (if (RealizableEntity x) (exists (y) (and (IndependentContinuant y) (not (SpatialRegion y)) (bearerOfAt y x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [060-002] (forall (x) (if (RealizableEntity x) (and (SpecificallyDependentContinuant x) (exists (y) (and (IndependentContinuant y) (not (SpatialRegion y)) (inheresIn x y)))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [058-002] realizable entity To say that b is a realizable entity is to say that b is a specifically dependent continuant that inheres in some independent continuant which is not a spatial region and is of a type instances of which are realized in processes of a correlated type. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [058-002]) All realizable dependent continuants have independent continuants that are not spatial regions as their bearers. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [060-002]) (forall (x t) (if (RealizableEntity x) (exists (y) (and (IndependentContinuant y) (not (SpatialRegion y)) (bearerOfAt y x t))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [060-002] (forall (x) (if (RealizableEntity x) (and (SpecificallyDependentContinuant x) (exists (y) (and (IndependentContinuant y) (not (SpatialRegion y)) (inheresIn x y)))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [058-002] sdc SpecificallyDependentContinuant Reciprocal specifically dependent continuants: the function of this key to open this lock and the mutually dependent disposition of this lock: to be opened by this key of one-sided specifically dependent continuants: the mass of this tomato of relational dependent continuants (multiple bearers): John’s love for Mary, the ownership relation between John and this statue, the relation of authority between John and his subordinates. the disposition of this fish to decay the function of this heart: to pump blood the mutual dependence of proton donors and acceptors in chemical reactions [79 the mutual dependence of the role predator and the role prey as played by two organisms in a given interaction the pink color of a medium rare piece of grilled filet mignon at its center the role of being a doctor the shape of this hole. the smell of this portion of mozzarella A continuant that inheres in or is borne by other entities. Every instance of A requires some specific instance of B which must always be the same. b is a specifically dependent continuant = Def. b is a continuant & there is some independent continuant c which is not a spatial region and which is such that b s-depends_on c at every time t during the course of b’s existence. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [050-003]) Specifically dependent continuant doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. We're not sure what else will develop here, but for example there are questions such as what are promises, obligation, etc. (iff (SpecificallyDependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (forall (t) (if (existsAt a t) (exists (b) (and (IndependentContinuant b) (not (SpatialRegion b)) (specificallyDependsOnAt a b t))))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [050-003] specifically dependent continuant b is a specifically dependent continuant = Def. b is a continuant & there is some independent continuant c which is not a spatial region and which is such that b s-depends_on c at every time t during the course of b’s existence. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [050-003]) Specifically dependent continuant doesn't have a closure axiom because the subclasses don't necessarily exhaust all possibilites. We're not sure what else will develop here, but for example there are questions such as what are promises, obligation, etc. per discussion with Barry Smith (iff (SpecificallyDependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (forall (t) (if (existsAt a t) (exists (b) (and (IndependentContinuant b) (not (SpatialRegion b)) (specificallyDependsOnAt a b t))))))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [050-003] role Role John’s role of husband to Mary is dependent on Mary’s role of wife to John, and both are dependent on the object aggregate comprising John and Mary as member parts joined together through the relational quality of being married. the priest role the role of a boundary to demarcate two neighboring administrative territories the role of a building in serving as a military target the role of a stone in marking a property boundary the role of subject in a clinical trial the student role A realizable entity the manifestation of which brings about some result or end that is not essential to a continuant in virtue of the kind of thing that it is but that can be served or participated in by that kind of continuant in some kinds of natural, social or institutional contexts. BFO 2 Reference: One major family of examples of non-rigid universals involves roles, and ontologies developed for corresponding administrative purposes may consist entirely of representatives of entities of this sort. Thus ‘professor’, defined as follows,b instance_of professor at t =Def. there is some c, c instance_of professor role & c inheres_in b at t.denotes a non-rigid universal and so also do ‘nurse’, ‘student’, ‘colonel’, ‘taxpayer’, and so forth. (These terms are all, in the jargon of philosophy, phase sortals.) By using role terms in definitions, we can create a BFO conformant treatment of such entities drawing on the fact that, while an instance of professor may be simultaneously an instance of trade union member, no instance of the type professor role is also (at any time) an instance of the type trade union member role (any more than any instance of the type color is at any time an instance of the type length).If an ontology of employment positions should be defined in terms of roles following the above pattern, this enables the ontology to do justice to the fact that individuals instantiate the corresponding universals – professor, sergeant, nurse – only during certain phases in their lives. b is a role means: b is a realizable entity & b exists because there is some single bearer that is in some special physical, social, or institutional set of circumstances in which this bearer does not have to be& b is not such that, if it ceases to exist, then the physical make-up of the bearer is thereby changed. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [061-001]) (forall (x) (if (Role x) (RealizableEntity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [061-001] role b is a role means: b is a realizable entity & b exists because there is some single bearer that is in some special physical, social, or institutional set of circumstances in which this bearer does not have to be& b is not such that, if it ceases to exist, then the physical make-up of the bearer is thereby changed. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [061-001]) (forall (x) (if (Role x) (RealizableEntity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [061-001] site Site Manhattan Canyon) a hole in the interior of a portion of cheese a rabbit hole an air traffic control region defined in the airspace above an airport the Grand Canyon the Piazza San Marco the cockpit of an aircraft the hold of a ship the interior of a kangaroo pouch the interior of the trunk of your car the interior of your bedroom the interior of your office the interior of your refrigerator the lumen of your gut your left nostril (a fiat part – the opening – of your left nasal cavity) b is a site means: b is a three-dimensional immaterial entity that is (partially or wholly) bounded by a material entity or it is a three-dimensional immaterial part thereof. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [034-002]) (forall (x) (if (Site x) (ImmaterialEntity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [034-002] site b is a site means: b is a three-dimensional immaterial entity that is (partially or wholly) bounded by a material entity or it is a three-dimensional immaterial part thereof. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [034-002]) (forall (x) (if (Site x) (ImmaterialEntity x))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [034-002] gdc GenericallyDependentContinuant The entries in your database are patterns instantiated as quality instances in your hard drive. The database itself is an aggregate of such patterns. When you create the database you create a particular instance of the generically dependent continuant type database. Each entry in the database is an instance of the generically dependent continuant type IAO: information content entity. the pdf file on your laptop, the pdf file that is a copy thereof on my laptop the sequence of this protein molecule; the sequence that is a copy thereof in that protein molecule. A continuant that is dependent on one or other independent continuant bearers. For every instance of A requires some instance of (an independent continuant type) B but which instance of B serves can change from time to time. b is a generically dependent continuant = Def. b is a continuant that g-depends_on one or more other entities. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [074-001]) (iff (GenericallyDependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (exists (b t) (genericallyDependsOnAt a b t)))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [074-001] generically dependent continuant b is a generically dependent continuant = Def. b is a continuant that g-depends_on one or more other entities. (axiom label in BFO2 Reference: [074-001]) (iff (GenericallyDependentContinuant a) (and (Continuant a) (exists (b t) (genericallyDependsOnAt a b t)))) // axiom label in BFO2 CLIF: [074-001] immaterial ImmaterialEntity BFO 2 Reference: Immaterial entities are divided into two subgroups:boundaries and sites, which bound, or are demarcated in relation, to material entities, and which can thus change location, shape and size and as their material hosts move or change shape or size (for example: your nasal passage; the hold of a ship; the boundary of Wales (which moves with the rotation of the Earth) [38, 7, 10 immaterial entity conditional specification A directive information entity that specifies what should happen if the trigger condition is fulfilled. PlanAndPlannedProcess Branch OBI branch derived OBI_0000349 conditional specification objective specification In the protocol of a ChIP assay the objective specification says to identify protein and DNA interaction. A directive information entity that describes an intended process endpoint. When part of a plan specification the concretization is realized in a planned process in which the bearer tries to effect the world so that the process endpoint is achieved. 2009-03-16: original definition when imported from OBI read: "objective is an non realizable information entity which can serve as that proper part of a plan towards which the realization of the plan is directed." 2014-03-31: In the example of usage ("In the protocol of a ChIP assay the objective specification says to identify protein and DNA interaction") there is a protocol which is the ChIP assay protocol. In addition to being concretized on paper, the protocol can be concretized as a realizable entity, such as a plan that inheres in a person. The objective specification is the part that says that some protein and DNA interactions are identified. This is a specification of a process endpoint: the boundary in the process before which they are not identified and after which they are. During the realization of the plan, the goal is to get to the point of having the interactions, and participants in the realization of the plan try to do that. Answers the question, why did you do this experiment? PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Barry Smith PERSON: Bjoern Peters PERSON: Jennifer Fostel goal specification OBI Plan and Planned Process/Roles Branch OBI_0000217 objective specification Pour the contents of flask 1 into flask 2 A directive information entity that describes an action the bearer will take. Alan Ruttenberg OBI Plan and Planned Process branch action specification data item Data items include counts of things, analyte concentrations, and statistical summaries. An information content entity that is intended to be a truthful statement about something (modulo, e.g., measurement precision or other systematic errors) and is constructed/acquired by a method which reliably tends to produce (approximately) truthful statements. 2/2/2009 Alan and Bjoern discussing FACS run output data. This is a data item because it is about the cell population. Each element records an event and is typically further composed a set of measurment data items that record the fluorescent intensity stimulated by one of the lasers. 2009-03-16: data item deliberatly ambiguous: we merged data set and datum to be one entity, not knowing how to define singular versus plural. So data item is more general than datum. 2009-03-16: removed datum as alternative term as datum specifically refers to singular form, and is thus not an exact synonym. 2014-03-31: See discussion at http://odontomachus.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/aboutness-objects-propositions/ JAR: datum -- well, this will be very tricky to define, but maybe some information-like stuff that might be put into a computer and that is meant, by someone, to denote and/or to be interpreted by some process... I would include lists, tables, sentences... I think I might defer to Barry, or to Brian Cantwell Smith JAR: A data item is an approximately justified approximately true approximate belief PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Chris Stoeckert PERSON: Jonathan Rees data data item symbol a serial number such as "12324X" a stop sign a written proper name such as "OBI" An information content entity that is a mark(s) or character(s) used as a conventional representation of another entity. 20091104, MC: this needs work and will most probably change 2014-03-31: We would like to have a deeper analysis of 'mark' and 'sign' in the future (see https://github.com/information-artifact-ontology/IAO/issues/154). PERSON: James A. Overton PERSON: Jonathan Rees based on Oxford English Dictionary symbol information content entity Examples of information content entites include journal articles, data, graphical layouts, and graphs. A generically dependent continuant that is about some thing. 2014-03-10: The use of "thing" is intended to be general enough to include universals and configurations (see https://groups.google.com/d/msg/information-ontology/GBxvYZCk1oc/-L6B5fSBBTQJ). information_content_entity 'is_encoded_in' some digital_entity in obi before split (040907). information_content_entity 'is_encoded_in' some physical_document in obi before split (040907). Previous. An information content entity is a non-realizable information entity that 'is encoded in' some digital or physical entity. PERSON: Chris Stoeckert OBI_0000142 information content entity An information content entity whose concretizations indicate to their bearer how to realize them in a process. 2009-03-16: provenance: a term realizable information entity was proposed for OBI (OBI_0000337) , edited by the PlanAndPlannedProcess branch. Original definition was "is the specification of a process that can be concretized and realized by an actor" with alternative term "instruction".It has been subsequently moved to IAO where the objective for which the original term was defined was satisfied with the definitionof this, different, term. 2013-05-30 Alan Ruttenberg: What differentiates a directive information entity from an information concretization is that it can have concretizations that are either qualities or realizable entities. The concretizations that are realizable entities are created when an individual chooses to take up the direction, i.e. has the intention to (try to) realize it. 8/6/2009 Alan Ruttenberg: Changed label from "information entity about a realizable" after discussions at ICBO Werner pushed back on calling it realizable information entity as it isn't realizable. However this name isn't right either. An example would be a recipe. The realizable entity would be a plan, but the information entity isn't about the plan, it, once concretized, *is* the plan. -Alan PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Bjoern Peters directive information entity curation status specification The curation status of the term. The allowed values come from an enumerated list of predefined terms. See the specification of these instances for more detailed definitions of each enumerated value. Better to represent curation as a process with parts and then relate labels to that process (in IAO meeting) PERSON:Bill Bug GROUP:OBI:<http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/obi> OBI_0000266 curation status specification data set Intensity values in a CEL file or from multiple CEL files comprise a data set (as opposed to the CEL files themselves). A data item that is an aggregate of other data items of the same type that have something in common. Averages and distributions can be determined for data sets. 2009/10/23 Alan Ruttenberg. The intention is that this term represent collections of like data. So this isn't for, e.g. the whole contents of a cel file, which includes parameters, metadata etc. This is more like java arrays of a certain rather specific type 2014-05-05: Data sets are aggregates and thus must include two or more data items. We have chosen not to add logical axioms to make this restriction. person:Allyson Lister person:Chris Stoeckert OBI_0000042 group:OBI data set data about an ontology part Data about an ontology part is a data item about a part of an ontology, for example a term Person:Alan Ruttenberg data about an ontology part plan specification PMID: 18323827.Nat Med. 2008 Mar;14(3):226.New plan proposed to help resolve conflicting medical advice. A directive information entity with action specifications and objective specifications as parts that, when concretized, is realized in a process in which the bearer tries to achieve the objectives by taking the actions specified. 2009-03-16: provenance: a term a plan was proposed for OBI (OBI_0000344) , edited by the PlanAndPlannedProcess branch. Original definition was " a plan is a specification of a process that is realized by an actor to achieve the objective specified as part of the plan". It has been subsequently moved to IAO where the objective for which the original term was defined was satisfied with the definitionof this, different, term. 2014-03-31: A plan specification can have other parts, such as conditional specifications. Alternative previous definition: a plan is a set of instructions that specify how an objective should be achieved Alan Ruttenberg OBI Plan and Planned Process branch OBI_0000344 2/3/2009 Comment from OBI review. Action specification not well enough specified. Conditional specification not well enough specified. Question whether all plan specifications have objective specifications. Request that IAO either clarify these or change definitions not to use them plan specification obsolescence reason specification The reason for which a term has been deprecated. The allowed values come from an enumerated list of predefined terms. See the specification of these instances for more detailed definitions of each enumerated value. The creation of this class has been inspired in part by Werner Ceusters' paper, Applying evolutionary terminology auditing to the Gene Ontology. PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Melanie Courtot obsolescence reason specification document A journal article, patent application, laboratory notebook, or a book A collection of information content entities intended to be understood together as a whole PERSON: Lawrence Hunter document publication journal article, newspaper story, book, etc. A document that is the output of a publishing process. PERSON: Chris Stoeckert PERSON: Jie Zheng PERSON: Lawrence Hunter published document Revisit the term in Octorber 2020. Improve the defintion. publication denotator type The Basic Formal Ontology ontology makes a distinction between Universals and defined classes, where the formal are "natural kinds" and the latter arbitrary collections of entities. A denotator type indicates how a term should be interpreted from an ontological perspective. Alan Ruttenberg Barry Smith, Werner Ceusters denotator type A planned process of making information, such as literature, music, and software etc., available to the public for sale or for free. Person: Jie Zheng https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishing VEuPathDB publishing process The sentence "The article has Pubmed ID 12345." contains a CRID that has two parts: one part is the CRID symbol, which is '12345'; the other part denotes the CRID registry, which is Pubmed. A symbol that is part of a CRID and that is sufficient to look up a record from the CRID's registry. PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Bill Hogan PERSON: Bjoern Peters PERSON: Melanie Courtot CRID symbol Original proposal from Bjoern, discussions at IAO calls centrally registered identifier symbol The sentence "The article has Pubmed ID 12345." contains a CRID that has two parts: one part is the CRID symbol, which is '12345'; the other part denotes the CRID registry, which is Pubmed. An information content entity that consists of a CRID symbol and additional information about the CRID registry to which it belongs. 2014-05-05: In defining this term we take no position on what the CRID denotes. In particular do not assume it denotes a *record* in the CRID registry (since the registry might not have 'records'). Alan, IAO call 20101124: potentially the CRID denotes the instance it was associated with during creation. Note, IAO call 20101124: URIs are not always CRID, as not centrally registered. We acknowledge that CRID is a subset of a larger identifier class, but this subset fulfills our current needs. OBI PURLs are CRID as they are registered with OCLC. UPCs (Universal Product Codes from AC Nielsen)are not CRID as they are not centrally registered. PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Bill Hogan PERSON: Bjoern Peters PERSON: Melanie Courtot CRID Original proposal from Bjoern, discussions at IAO calls centrally registered identifier PubMed is a CRID registry. It has a dataset of PubMed identifiers associated with journal articles. A CRID registry is a dataset of CRID records, each consisting of a CRID symbol and additional information which was recorded in the dataset through a assigning a centrally registered identifier process. PERSON: Alan Ruttenberg PERSON: Bill Hogan PERSON: Bjoern Peters PERSON: Melanie Courtot CRID registry Original proposal from Bjoern, discussions at IAO calls centrally registered identifier registry identifier An identifier is an information content entity that is the outcome of a dubbing process and is used to refer to one instance of entity shared by a group of people to refer to that individual entity. identifier planned process A process that realizes a plan which is the concretization of a plan specification. planned process Obsolete Class example to be eventually removed example to be eventually removed failed exploratory term The term was used in an attempt to structure part of the ontology but in retrospect failed to do a good job Person:Alan Ruttenberg failed exploratory term metadata complete Class has all its metadata, but is either not guaranteed to be in its final location in the asserted IS_A hierarchy or refers to another class that is not complete. metadata complete organizational term Term created to ease viewing/sort terms for development purpose, and will not be included in a release organizational term ready for release Class has undergone final review, is ready for use, and will be included in the next release. Any class lacking "ready_for_release" should be considered likely to change place in hierarchy, have its definition refined, or be obsoleted in the next release. Those classes deemed "ready_for_release" will also derived from a chain of ancestor classes that are also "ready_for_release." ready for release metadata incomplete Class is being worked on; however, the metadata (including definition) are not complete or sufficiently clear to the branch editors. metadata incomplete uncurated Nothing done yet beyond assigning a unique class ID and proposing a preferred term. uncurated pending final vetting All definitions, placement in the asserted IS_A hierarchy and required minimal metadata are complete. The class is awaiting a final review by someone other than the term editor. pending final vetting placeholder removed placeholder removed terms merged An editor note should explain what were the merged terms and the reason for the merge. terms merged term imported This is to be used when the original term has been replaced by a term imported from an other ontology. An editor note should indicate what is the URI of the new term to use. term imported term split This is to be used when a term has been split in two or more new terms. An editor note should indicate the reason for the split and indicate the URIs of the new terms created. term split universal Hard to give a definition for. Intuitively a "natural kind" rather than a collection of any old things, which a class is able to be, formally. At the meta level, universals are defined as positives, are disjoint with their siblings, have single asserted parents. Alan Ruttenberg A Formal Theory of Substances, Qualities, and Universals, http://ontology.buffalo.edu/bfo/SQU.pdf universal defined class A defined class is a class that is defined by a set of logically necessary and sufficient conditions but is not a universal "definitions", in some readings, always are given by necessary and sufficient conditions. So one must be careful (and this is difficult sometimes) to distinguish between defined classes and universal. Alan Ruttenberg defined class named class expression A named class expression is a logical expression that is given a name. The name can be used in place of the expression. named class expressions are used in order to have more concise logical definition but their extensions may not be interesting classes on their own. In languages such as OWL, with no provisions for macros, these show up as actuall classes. Tools may with to not show them as such, and to replace uses of the macros with their expansions Alan Ruttenberg named class expression to be replaced with external ontology term Terms with this status should eventually replaced with a term from another ontology. Alan Ruttenberg group:OBI to be replaced with external ontology term requires discussion A term that is metadata complete, has been reviewed, and problems have been identified that require discussion before release. Such a term requires editor note(s) to identify the outstanding issues. Alan Ruttenberg group:OBI requires discussion