Skip to main content

An Introduction to Description Logics and Query Rewriting

  • Chapter
Reasoning Web. Reasoning on the Web in the Big Data Era (Reasoning Web 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8714))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This chapter gives an overview of the description logics underlying the OWL 2 Web Ontology Language and its three tractable profiles, OWL2 RL, OWL2EL and OWL 2QL. We consider the syntax and semantics of these description logics as well as main reasoning tasks and their computational complexity.We also discuss the semantical foundations for first-order and datalog rewritings of conjunctive queries over knowledge bases given in the OWL2 profiles, and outline the architecture of the ontology-based data access system Ontop.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Abiteboul, S., Hull, R., Vianu, V.: Foundations of Databases. Addison-Wesley (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  • Arora, S., Barak, B.: Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach, 1st edn. Cambridge University Press, New York (2009)

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Artale, A., Calvanese, D., Kontchakov, R., Zakharyaschev, M.: The DL-Lite family and relations. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (JAIR) 36, 1–69 (2009)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Baader, F., Brandt, S., Lutz, C.: Pushing the EL envelope. In: Kaelbling, L.P., Saffiotti, A. (eds.) Proceedings of the 19th Int. Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-2005, pp. 364–369. Professional Book Center (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baader, F., Brandt, S., Lutz, C.: Pushing the EL envelope further. In: Clark, K., Patel-Schneider, P.F. (eds.) Proceedings of the OWLED 2008 DC Workshop on OWL: Experiences and Directions (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Baget, J.-F., Leclère, M., Mugnier, M.-L., Salvat, E.: On rules with existential variables: Walking the decidability line. Artificial Intelligence 175(9–10), 1620–1654 (2011)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Brandt, S.: Polynomial time reasoning in a description logic with existential restrictions, GCI axioms, and—what else? In: Proc. of the 16th European Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, ECAI-2004, pp. 298–302. IOS Press (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Calì, A., Gottlob, G., Kifer, M.: Taming the infinite chase: Query answering under expressive relational constraints. J. of Artificial Intelligence Research 48, 115–174 (2013)

    MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Calì, A., Gottlob, G., Lukasiewicz, T.: A general datalog-based framework for tractable query answering over ontologies. J. of Web Semantics 14, 57–83 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calvanese, D., De Giacomo, G., Lembo, D., Lenzerini, M., Rosati, R.: DL-Lite: Tractable description logics for ontologies. In: Proc. of AAAI, pp. 602–607. AAAI Press / The MIT Press (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvanese, D., De Giacomo, G., Lembo, D., Lenzerini, M., Rosati, R.: Data complexity of query answering in description logics. In: Proc. of the 10th Int. Conf. on the Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, KR 2006, pp. 260–270 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvanese, D., De Giacomo, G., Lembo, D., Lenzerini, M., Rosati, R.: Tractable reasoning and efficient query answering in description logics: The DL-Lite family. J. of Automated Reasoning 39(3), 385–429 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ceri, S., Gottlob, G., Tanca, L.: What you always wanted to know about datalog (and never dared to ask). IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng. 1(1), 146–166 (1989)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chagrov, A., Zakharyaschev, M.: Modal Logic. Oxford Logic Guides, vol. 35. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1997)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Chakravarthy, U.S., Fishman, D.H., Minker, J.: Semantic query optimization in expert systems and database systems. Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co., Inc. (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  • Chortaras, A., Trivela, D., Stamou, G.: Optimized query rewriting for OWL 2 QL. In: Bjørner, N., Sofronie-Stokkermans, V. (eds.) CADE 2011. LNCS, vol. 6803, pp. 192–206. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eiter, T., Lutz, C., Ortiz, M., Å imkus, M.: Query answering in description logics: The knots approach. In: Ono, H., Kanazawa, M., de Queiroz, R. (eds.) WoLLIC 2009. LNCS, vol. 5514, pp. 26–36. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Eiter, T., Ortiz, M., Å imkus, M., Tran, T.-K., Xiao, G.: Query rewriting for Horn-SHIQ plus rules. In: Proc. of AAAI 2012. AAAI Press (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmasri, R., Navathe, S.: Fundamentals of Database Systems, 6th edn. Addison-Wesley (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Garey, M., Johnson, D.: Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness. W. H. Freeman (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottlob, G., Kikot, S., Kontchakov, R., Podolskii, V.V., Schwentick, T., Zakharyaschev, M.: The price of query rewriting in ontology-based data access. Artificial Intelligence 213, 42–59 (2014)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlob, G., Orsi, G., Pieris, A.: Ontological queries: Rewriting and optimization. In: Proc. of ICDE 2011, pp. 2–13. IEEE Computer Society Press (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Grosof, B.N., Horrocks, I., Volz, R., Decker, S.: Description logic programs: Combining logic programs with description logic. In: Proc. of the 12th Int. World Wide Web Conference, WWW 2003, pp. 48–57 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  • Horrocks, I., Kutz, O., Sattler, U.: The even more irresistible SROIQ. In: Proc. of the 10th Int. Conf. on Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, KR 2006, pp. 57–67. AAAI Press (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Horrocks, I., Motik, B., Wang, Z.: The HermiT OWL reasoner. In: Proc. of ORE, CEUR Workshop Proceedings, vol. 858, CEUR-WS.org (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D.S., Klug, A.C.: Testing containment of conjunctive queries under functional and inclusion dependencies. J. Comput. Syst. Sci. 28(1), 167–189 (1984)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Kikot, S., Kontchakov, R., Podolskii, V., Zakharyaschev, M.: Exponential lower bounds and separation for query rewriting. In: Czumaj, A., Mehlhorn, K., Pitts, A., Wattenhofer, R. (eds.) ICALP 2012, Part II. LNCS, vol. 7392, pp. 263–274. Springer, Heidelberg (2012a)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kikot, S., Kontchakov, R., Zakharyaschev, M.: Conjunctive query answering with OWL 2 QL. In: Proc. of KR 2012, AAAI Press (2012b)

    Google Scholar 

  • König, M., Leclère, M., Mugnier, M.-L., Thomazo, M.: A sound and complete backward chaining algorithm for existential rules. In: Krötzsch, M., Straccia, U. (eds.) RR 2012. LNCS, vol. 7497, pp. 122–138. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kontchakov, R., Lutz, C., Toman, D., Wolter, F., Zakharyaschev, M.: The combined approach to ontology-based data access. In: Proceedings of the 20th Int. Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI-2011, pp. 2656–2661. AAAI Press (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozen, D.: Theory of Computation. Springer (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenzerini, M.: Data integration: A theoretical perspective. In: Proc. of the 21st ACM SIGACT-SIGMOD-SIGART Symposium on Principles of Database Systems, PODS 2002, pp. 233–246. ACM (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  • Libkin, L.: Elements Of Finite Model Theory. Springer (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd, J., Shepherdson, J.: Partial Evaluation in Logic Programming. The Journal of Logic Programming 11(3-4), 217–242 (1991)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, C., Seylan, Ä°., Toman, D., Wolter, F.: The combined approach to OBDA: Taming role hierarchies using filters. In: Alani, H., et al. (eds.) ISWC 2013, Part I. LNCS, vol. 8218, pp. 314–330. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, C., Toman, D., Wolter, F.: Conjunctive query answering in the description logic EL using a relational database system. In: Proceedings of the 21st Int. Joint Conf. on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI 2009, pp. 2070–2075 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, C., Wolter, F.: Conservative extensions of the lightweight description logic EL. In: Pfenning, F. (ed.) CADE 2007. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4603, pp. 84–99. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Motik, B.: On the properties of metamodeling in OWL. J. Log. Comput. 17(4), 617–637 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  • Papadimitriou, C.: Computational Complexity. Addison-Wesley (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Urbina, H., Motik, B., Horrocks, I.: A comparison of query rewriting techniques for DL-Lite. In: Proc. of DL 2009, vol. 477, CEUR-WS (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-Urbina, H., Rodríguez-Díaz, E., Grove, M., Konstantinidis, G., Sirin, E.: Evaluation of query rewriting approaches for OWL 2. In: Proc. of SSWS+HPCSW 2012, vol. 943, CEUR-WS (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  • Poggi, A., Lembo, D., Calvanese, D., De Giacomo, G., Lenzerini, M., Rosati, R.: Linking data to ontologies. J. on Data Semantics, X:133–X:173 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Muro, M., Calvanese, D.: Dependencies: Making ontology based data access work. In: Proc. of AMW 2011, vol. 749, CEUR-WS.org (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Muro, M., Kontchakov, R., Zakharyaschev, M.: Ontology-based data access: Ontop of databases. In: Alani, H., et al. (eds.) ISWC 2013, Part I. LNCS, vol. 8218, pp. 558–573. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rosati, R.: Prexto: Query rewriting under extensional constraints in DL-Lite. In: Simperl, E., Cimiano, P., Polleres, A., Corcho, O., Presutti, V. (eds.) ESWC 2012. LNCS, vol. 7295, pp. 360–374. Springer, Heidelberg (2012)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Rosati, R., Almatelli, A.: Improving query answering over DL-Lite ontologies. In: Proc. of KR 2010. AAAI Press (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaerf, A.: On the complexity of the instance checking problem in concept languages with existential quantification. J. of Intelligent Information Systems 2, 265–278 (1993)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Sirin, E., Parsia, B., Cuenca Grau, B., Kalyanpur, A., Katz, Y.: Pellet: A practical OWL-DL reasoner. J. of Web Semantics 5(2), 51–53 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steigmiller, A., Liebig, T., Glimm, B.: Konclude: System description. J. of Web Semantics (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  • ter Horst, H.J.: Completeness, decidability and complexity of entailment for RDF Schema and a semantic extension involving the OWL vocabulary. J. of Web Semantics 3(2-3), 79–115 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobies, S.: Complexity results and practical algorithms for logics in knowledge representation. PhD thesis, LuFG Theoretical Computer Science, RWTH-Aachen, Germany (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsarkov, D., Horrocks, I.: FaCT++ description logic reasoner: System description. In: Furbach, U., Shankar, N. (eds.) IJCAR 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4130, pp. 292–297. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Vardi, M.: The complexity of relational query languages (extended abstract). In: Proc. of the 14th ACM SIGACT Symp. on Theory of Computing, STOC 1982, pp. 137–146 (1982)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kontchakov, R., Zakharyaschev, M. (2014). An Introduction to Description Logics and Query Rewriting. In: Koubarakis, M., et al. Reasoning Web. Reasoning on the Web in the Big Data Era. Reasoning Web 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8714. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10587-1_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10587-1_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10586-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10587-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics