Towards a Model Ontology for Grail

this paper we propose an approach to reuse medical ontologies written in Grail[1] to and from different terminological systems of the KL-ONE family and other knowledge representation systems. Our approach is based on a meta-language named M-Kif whose principal concept is the meta-relation concept. M-Kif aims to describe representation primitives and constructors used for knowledge representation in DLs and object-oriented based-systems. Through this approach it is possible to use a unique translator instead of two translators for each couple of considered languages. In the case of the Grail language, M-Kif associates to each Grail constructor (e.g., Which, SpecializedBy) a meta-relation whose definition in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions encapsulates the meaning of the constructor. The set of definitions describing the Grail language constitutes the Model Ontology of Grail. Given a Grail terminology T1, the unique translator associated with M-Kif applies the Grail's model ontology to T1 in order to produce a pivot form equivalent to T1. In the pivot form the initial knowledge is expressed solely in terms of instances of M-Kif predefined meta-relations. The translation process consists in interpreting each meta-relation whose name appears in T1 as a necessary condition from which it is possible to deduce a set of meta-relations which describe it in the corresponding definition. The same translator can also perform the reverse translation, i.e., from the pivot form to Grail, following the same approach. In this case, the meta-relation definitions of the Model Ontology of Grail are interpreted as sufficient conditions which allow the translator to deduce the meta-relation (the constructor) which the name is associated to the definition. The pivot form which co..