In this lecture, we will continue with the study of ontological distinctions among types with a focus on the so-called Non-Sortal types, i.e., types that classify instances of multiple kinds. In the second part of the lecture, we will study another category of entities, namely, Aspects. Aspects are entities that are existentially dependent on other entities. We will focus here on the modeling of the so-called intrinsic aspects, in particular, qualities and their associated quality spaces (e.g., color, weight, electric charge).

Learning goals: after this lecture you should be able to

Explain the ontological distinctions among non-types according to UFO and their formal meta-properties
Explain the OntoUML primitives reflecting these distinctions and the modeling rules on how they can be combined
Apply this fragment of OntoUML to design conceptual models containing ontologically consistent taxonomic structures
Critically Evaluate and Rectify the ontological consistency of taxonomic structures present in conceptual models
Explain the category of Intrinsic Aspects in UFO and its subcategories (Qualities), as well as the notion of Quality Structures

The recording of the lecture is available here. Slides are available here.

Materials

Guizzardi, G., Fonseca, C., Almeida, J.P., Sales, T.P., Benevides, A.B., Porello, D., Types and Taxonomic Structures in Conceptual Modeling: A Novel Ontological Theory and Engineering Support, Data & Knowledge Engineering, Elsevier, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.datak.2021.101891.
Batista, J.O., Almeida, J.P., Zambom, E., Guizzardi, G., Ontologically correct Taxonomies by construction, Data & Knowledge Engineering, Elsevier, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.datak.2022.102012