Auditing description-logic-based medical terminological systems by detecting equivalent concept definitions

Concept definitions exemplifying the use of primitive and non-primitive definitions. Primitive definitions are indicated by use of the symbol, non-primitive definitions by . The symbol states logical conjunction (i.e. “AND”), the symbol (“SOME”) preceding a role specifies existence of a relation with the role-filler.

Stated and inferred classification of the concepts defined in Fig. 1. Stated classification is indicated by a solid arrow, inferred classification by a dashed arrow. Concepts are represented as boxes, non-primitive concepts having straight corners, and primitive concepts having rounded corners. On the right-hand side, this model is presented using Protégé [32], a knowledge modeling environment commonly used for (medical) terminological systems.

Example of application of the method to concepts in a “disease” category. On the left-hand side, the original representation is shown. The right-hand side shows the resulting representation, where the defining characteristics, which remain unchanged, are indicated by “…”. In the middle, the steps that involve this result are given.