English

Abstract

Semantic relations are an important element in the construction of ontologies and models of problem domains. Nevertheless, they remain underspecified. This is a pervasive problem in Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. Consequently, we find semantic links that can have multiple interpretations in ontologies that support information systems, semantic data models with abstractions that are not enough to capture the relation richness of problem domains, and improperly structured taxonomies. However, if provided with precise semantics, some of these problems can be avoided, and meaningful operations can be performed on them. In this paper we present some insightful issues about the modeling and representation of semantic relations that include the available taxonomy structuring methodologies as well as the initiatives aiming to provide relations with precise semantics. Furthermore, we explain and propose the notion of control and verification of relations as a means to properly structure ontologies.