Memetic algorithms for ontology alignment

Abstract

Semantic interoperability represents the capability of two or more systems to meaningfully and accurately interpret the exchanged data so as to produce useful results. It is an essential feature of all distributed and open knowledge based systems designed for both e-government and private businesses, since it enables machine interpretation, inferencing and computable logic. Unfortunately, the task of achieving semantic interoperability is very difficult because it requires that the meanings of any data must be specified in an appropriate detail in order to resolve any potential ambiguity. Currently, the best technology recognized for achieving such level of precision in specification of meaning is represented by ontologies. According to the most frequently referenced definition [1], an ontology is an explicit specification of a conceptualization, i.e., the formal specification of the objects, concepts, and other entities that are presumed to exist in some area of interest and the relationships that hold them [2]. However, different tasks or different points of view lead ontology designers to produce different conceptualizations of the same domain of interest. This means that the subjectivity of the ontology modeling results in the creation of heterogeneous ontologies characterized by terminological and conceptual discrepancies. Examples of these discrepancies are the use of different words to name the same concept, the use of the same word to name different concepts, the creation of hierarchies for a specific domain region with different levels of detail and so on. The arising so-called semantic heterogeneity problem represents, in turn, an obstacle for achieving semantic interoperability... [edited by author]