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General information

Name	N-Ary Relation Pattern (OWL 2)
Also known as
Author(s)	Rinke Hoekstra
SubmittedBy	Rinke Hoekstra

Description

Motivation	OWL does not support N-Ary relations. This means that an n-ary relation can only be represented in its reified form in OWL. This is problematic, as the relational character is then completely lost.
Aim	The aim of this pattern is to allow the inference of property relations between the different relata of the original N-Ary relation based on its reification.
Solution description	The N-Ary relation is reified by creating a class for the relation (NR), and creating properties and classes for the domain (D) and ranges (R1-Rn) of the relation (that is, if the relation is directional). The NR class is specified using a local reflexivity restriction of the form: NR equiv is_NR some Self. We then specify role chains for each of the binary relations between the domain and ranges. For instance: has_NR o is_NR o r1 -> has_r1
Elements	OWL 2 local reflexivity and property chains.
Implementation	Alter the axioms in the reusable component to suit your needs. The component contains an N-Ary relation with four ranges and a domain. This can easily be extended or reduced.
Reusable component	http://purl.org/net/nary-relation
Component type	OWL 2 RDF/XML

Example

Problem example	See the picture, where the cancer diagnosis relation of the SWBP N-Ary relations patterns is expressed using this design pattern.
Pattern solution example
Consequences	The patient (Christine, P) is related both to the diagnosis value (Cancer) and its probability.

Pattern reference

Origin
Known use
Reference
Related ODP
Used in combination with
Test

Additional information

This pattern is made available under the CC-BY licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/). Under this licence the pattern can be freely reused but reusers should include an attribution to the original author (Rinke Hoekstra)

In your academic publications, please refer to this pattern by citing: Rinke Hoekstra. Ontology Representation – Design Patterns and Ontologies that Make Sense, volume 197 of Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence and Applications. IOS Press, Amsterdam, June 2009.

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