]> 2009/04/07 OpenCyc Knowledge Base Copyright© 2001-2009 Cycorp, Inc., http://www.cyc.com/, Austin, TX, USA This file contains an OWL representation of information contained in the OpenCyc Knowledge Base. The content of this OWL file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license whose text can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode. The content of this OWL file, including the OpenCyc content it represents, constitutes the "Work" referred to in the Creative Commons license. The terms of this license equally apply to, without limitation, renamings and other logically equivalent reformulations of the content of this OWL file (or portions thereof) in any natural or formal language, as well as to derivations of this content or inclusion of it in other ontologies. Mappings between OpenCyc terms and Wikipedia article names provided by Olena Medelyan and Catherine Legg, University of Waikato, NZ under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. externalID A unique, language-neutral, variable-sized identifier for a concept that can be used to refer unambiguously to that concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. label A natural-language representation for a concept that is both human readable and readable by the Cyc inference engine. These terms are not guaranteed to refer to the same concept across time but are guaranteed to be consistent within a particular OWL export. Use 'cycAnnot:externalID' for unambiguously referring to a concept across OWL exports or across Cyc inference engines. abstract structure AbstractStructure This collection was reified prior to completing its basic representation in order to facilitate the loading of files on which it depends.

Abstract structure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_structure SyntacticNodeOfNPCategory The collection of all instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4raH1iYqsNQdeV5cXb1nfHSw" class="cyc_term">SyntacticNode</a> that are of syntactic category <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVi2RpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">NounPhrase</a>. syntactic node of NP category unit discourse structure UnitDiscourseStructure An instance of this collection is a local discourse context, that is, the smallest unit of context in a discourse. Each new utterance introduces an additional <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rslxi-MOjQdePDM1g6Ek9MQ" class="cyc_term">UnitDiscourseStructure</a> in a discourse; some parts of utterances have their own UDSs. The main properties of a UDS are represented by the predicates in <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvBHBxsOjQdeAX4QAQjsccQ" class="cyc_term">DiscourseStructureBinaryRole</a> (q.v.). Any number of reference-resolving conditions (cf #$coReferring) may also be asserted in a UDS. A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvntUR5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractStructure</a> (q.v.). Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwA6D-JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractVisualStructure</a> (AVS) is a structure that can be discerned visually. Any concrete instantiation of a given AVS consists of a particular spatial (or spatio-temporal) arrangement of shapes and/or colors. A given AVS might have multiple instantiations. By the same token, a given concrete visual arrangment (appearing, say, on a sheet of paper or a computer monitor screen) might simultaneously instantiate multiple AVSs, corresponding to different degrees of abstractness. For example, when displaying a particular image of a sunset, my computer screen might instantiate (among others) the following AVSs: (i) an AVS such that each of its instantiations consists of a round region and a contrasting surrounding region, (ii) an AVS such that each of its instantiations consists of a round orange region and a surrounding blue region, and (iii) an AVS such that each of its instantiations consists of an image that is pixel-for-pixel indiscernable from my screen in its current state. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwA6D-JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractVisualStructure</a>s can be thought of as the abstract commonality in virtue of which objects, or arrangements of objects, look the same (to some degree of granularity). Abstract visual structures can be instantiated by objects or groups of objects. Thus, a group of objects in a room, together with the room itself, instantiate shapes and colors in a certain spatial arrangement; and any group of objects instantiating all the same <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwA6D-JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractVisualStructure</a>s as the first group would be visually indiscernible from that group. A notable specialization of this collection is <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvafsxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">GraphicalStructure</a>. AbstractVisualStructure abstract visual structure A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvntUR5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractStructure</a>. Each instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> is an abstract individual comprising abstract symbols and relations between them. Important specializations of this collection include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWEA25wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CharacterString</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv5ddsJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Sentence</a>. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> also includes abstract diagrams, graphs, and bit strings. The collection can be more precisely defined as follows: Each <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> is such that each of its physical instantiations (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvlEGHpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">instantiationOfAIS</a>) consists of instantiations of instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvdgfZpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AtomicSymbol_Abstract</a>, arranged in a certain way. For example, the abstract sentence 'The pig flies' is an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a>. Each written instantiation of it consists of an instantiation of the words (symbols) 'The', 'pig' and 'flies', written in that order. (If the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> 'The pig flies' were spoken, the same words would appear in the same order, i.e. 'The' first, etc., but the sequence would be determined by the arrangement of the spoken words in time, rather than space.) Likewise with abstract diagrams, graphs, etc. Each of these is such that its physical instantiations consist of arrangements of instantiations of instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvdgfZpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AtomicSymbol_Abstract</a>. A hard copy of a wiring diagram consists of a group of concrete symbols representing various circuit components, in which these symbols are spatially arranged in a certain in way. The arrangement of the concrete symbols in an instantiation of an <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> is not always a simple matter of arrangement in space or time. The sequence of symbols '0010010111011001' can be instantiated in written, spoken, or electronic forms. In the last case, the order of the symbols is determined by conventions concerning the electronic medium in which it is stored, rather than by any common criterion for precedence or subsequence in space or time. AbstractInformationStructure AIS Hierarchy hierarchy ContextualizedInformationStructure CIS A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvntUR5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractStructure</a> whose instances are individuated by not only their internal structure, but by their relationships to other parts of a larger abstract structure. As such, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r076hGgRjEdqAAAACs71DGQ" class="cyc_term">ContextualizedInformationStructure</a> is disjoint with (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViA45wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">disjointWith</a>) <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a>, a collection of individuals whose identity is determined soley by their decomposition into abstract symbols and the relations between them. Consider, for example, a document that contains the sentence (an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a>), "What you see is what you get." Despite being seven words in length, this sentence contains exactly six instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a> that are also text-strings for words: "What," "you," "see," "is," "what," and "get." However, it contains seven instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r076hGgRjEdqAAAACs71DGQ" class="cyc_term">ContextualizedInformationStructure</a>: the one and only occurrence of "What," the first occurrence of "you," and so on. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r076hGgRjEdqAAAACs71DGQ" class="cyc_term">ContextualizedInformationStructure</a> is the collection of such AIS-occurrences; they are abstract objects that are identified by both the AISes they "contain" (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4raGrGuARkEdqAAAACs71DGQ" class="cyc_term">cisContainsAIS</a>) and the relations they bear to other info-structures in some larger AIS. The occurrence metaphor used to describe contextualized information structures can mislead one into thinking of contextualized information structures, or CISes, as physical instantiations of AISes, in the way that physical character string tokens (c.f., <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwCKd45wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CharacterStringToken</a>) instantiate (c.f., <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvlEGHpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">instantiationOfAIS</a>) a character string (c.f., <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWEA25wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CharacterString</a>) AIS. On the contrary, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r076hGgRjEdqAAAACs71DGQ" class="cyc_term">ContextualizedInformationStructure</a> is not a collection of physical or spatial entities -- they are not instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvkNufpwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">InformationBearingThing</a> -- but are abstract objects derivable from a complete description of an AIS. The collection of all instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvntUR5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractStructure</a> that are the complete abstract structure of a <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwClAZJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ConceptualWork</a>. CW structure CWStructure LogicallySoundSystem logically sound system This is a collection logical systems. A logical system is an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv9WVaZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">LogicallySoundSystem</a> just in case a formula is derivable from the system only if the formula is entailed by the system. DocumentStructureRepresentationConstant document structure representation constant The collection of instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvzSRxJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CycLConstant</a> used to represent the structure of documents. abstract structure AbstractStructure This collection was reified prior to completing its basic representation in order to facilitate the loading of files on which it depends. AbstractIndividual A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rpJ-nSEkJQdeC8NLkYPDBBw" class="cyc_term">AbstractThing</a> and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjj45wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IntangibleIndividual</a> (q.v.). This is the collection of all abstract (i.e. aspatial, atemporal) individuals. Specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r6iVgyruPQdefX9D0i1i7MQ" class="cyc_term">AbstractIndividual</a> include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViAzZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Relation</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVj42JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Tuple</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvntUR5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractStructure</a>. abstract individual Wikipedia Article URL (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rNv0nbm4TTjOp7yhmnzOyqg" class="cyc_term">wikipediaArticleURL</a> THING URL) means that in <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rtqXA6OC8QdiWC72DuLJdUw" class="cyc_term">Wikipedia_WebSite</a> THING is described by an article located at URL wikipediaArticleURL first-order collection FirstOrderCollection An instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvtppU5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">CollectionType</a>, and a specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rNooX_CChEdaAAABQ2rksLw" class="cyc_term">FixedOrderCollection</a>. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rHIBS0h_TEdaAAABQ2rksLw" class="cyc_term">FirstOrderCollection</a> is the collection of all specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjaApwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Individual</a> (q.v.) Notable specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rHIBS0h_TEdaAAABQ2rksLw" class="cyc_term">FirstOrderCollection</a> include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViq35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">TemporalObjectType</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVny6pwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingStuffType</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvWXYgJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ExistingObjectType</a>. abstract structure AbstractStructure This collection was reified prior to completing its basic representation in order to facilitate the loading of files on which it depends. AspatialInformationStore information A specialization of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4r6-GNDEkIQdeTPvxS8JnCLA" class="cyc_term">AspatialThing</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjj45wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IntangibleIndividual</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvu__KJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">InformationStore</a>. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvf9sZJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AspatialInformationStore</a> is the collection of all information stores that have no spatial location. Specializations of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvf9sZJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AspatialInformationStore</a> include <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwClAZJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">ConceptualWork</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViA1ZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Microtheory</a>, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwQGTzJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AbstractInformationStructure</a>, and <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVi3N5wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">FieldOfStudy</a>. Although no instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvf9sZJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">AspatialInformationStore</a> has a spatial location, some instances can have multiple spatio-temporal "embodiments". For example, an instance of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViAqJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">PropositionalInformationThing</a> may be the content of several concrete documents, such as several instances of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwJaXepwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">BookCopy</a> (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvtEvQZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">containsInfoPropositional_IBT</a>); and several distinct events, such as spoken utterances, may have a certain unique <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViA7JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">Proposition</a> as their content (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjCQJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">containsInformation</a>). quotedIsa A binary <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rDeDIGEW0EdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">MetaLanguagePredicate</a> (q.v.) that relates CycL expressions to the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4raOoTci9qEdma4AACs1uxFw" class="cyc_term">SubLExpressionType</a>s (q.v.) of which they are instances. <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> is thus like a restricted version of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> (q.v.), but with one important difference: the first argument-place of <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> is "implicitly quoted" (see <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rwHb_bZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">quotedArgument</a>). So a ground atomic sentence of the form <code>(<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> THING EXPR-TYPE)</code> does not mean that <code>THING</code> itself is an instance of <code>EXPR-TYPE</code>. Rather, such a sentence is partly self-referential, and means that the particular CycL expression appearing in the sentence's own first argument-position is an instance of <code>EXPR-TYPE</code>. Thus, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> provides a convenient shorthand for stating certain things that would otherwise require explicit quotation (or some other device for naming expressions). This is better illustrated with a specific example. Suppose we wish to state that the CycL constant <code><a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a></code> is an instance of the CycL expression type #$PublicConstant. We cannot express this with the straightforward <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> sentence <code>(<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a> #$PublicConstant)</code>, as that states the falsehood that the IndianOcean itself -- which is not a constant but a body of water -- is a public constant. But we can express precisely what we want like this: <pre> (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a> #$PublicConstant) . </pre> Now <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> is a <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rv4oJWZwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">MacroRelation</a> (q.v.), and by its <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvVjg7JwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">expansion</a> any given <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> sentence is equivalent to some <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> sentence with an explicitly quoted first argument. The sentence displayed above turns out to be equivalent to: <pre> (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rgGBbEkNuEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">Quote</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a>) #$PublicConstant). </pre> But the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> version has two related practical advantages over the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> version. First, the former is syntactically simpler than the latter. Second, the simpler syntax of the former makes it easier to browse in the Knowedge Base: while the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> version is conveniently indexed under the KB Browser page for the constant <code><a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a></code>, the <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViBBJwpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">isa</a> version would apparently be indexed under a separate, brand new page for the term <code>(<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rgGBbEkNuEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">Quote</a> <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rvViH35wpEbGdrcN5Y29ycA" class="cyc_term">IndianOcean</a>)</code>. Generalizing the point, <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a> lets us avoid having potentially to double the number of pages currently in the browser. For the semantically more complicated (but rarely encountered) case in which <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rBVVEokNxEdaAAACgydogAg" class="cyc_term">quotedIsa</a>'s first argument-place is filled with an open expression, see the accompanying #$cyclistNotes. Quoted Isa wikipediaArticleName (<a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rTv-jk9SPTXa991kk5mAvHg" class="cyc_term">wikipediaArticleName</a> THING NAME) means that in <a href="http://sw.opencyc.org/concept/Mx4rtqXA6OC8QdiWC72DuLJdUw" class="cyc_term">Wikipedia_WebSite</a> THING is described by an article with the title NAME Wikipedia Article Name