Description Logic

Lecturer: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Franz Baader
Tutorials: Dr. Oliver Fernández Gil

OPAL course: https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/auth/RepositoryEntry/29496606730

Course Description

Intelligent behavior usually depends on the availability of appropriate domain knowledge and the ability to draw inferences from this knowledge and observed facts. For this reason, knowledge representation and reasoning is a key subarea of Artificial Intelligence. Description Logics (DLs) are a well-investigated family of logic-based knowledge representation languages, which are frequently used to formalize ontologies for application domains such as the Semantic Web, biology and medicine, and engineering domains. The course introduces syntax and semantics of DLs as well as the relevant inference problems. It then investigates model-theoretic properties (like finite-model-property, tree-model-property, and bisimulation invariance) and computational properties (like decidablility and complexity of reasoning) both for expressive and inexpressive members of the DL family of knowledge representation languages. It also shows up a connection between query answering in databases and reasoning in DLs.

Organisation

The lecture will be held online, but synchronous using a video conferencing tool. Videos recorded during the lecture will be made available afterwards. It takes place twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays 16:40–18:10), and is accompanied by weekly tutorials (Wednesdays 14:50–16:20). Exercise sheets will be made available approximately one week in advance of the respective tutorial.

To participate in the course, you need to register for the course in OPAL. Links for accessing the video conference and other material will be provided for registered participants within OPAL.

The exact organization of the lecture will be discussed in the first lecture, which starts on Tuesday, April 13, at 16:40.

SWS/Modules

SWS: 4/2/–
This course can be used in the following modules:

• Master Computational Logic: MCL-AI, MCL-PI, MCL-TCSL
• Master Informatik, Diplom Informatik: INF-BAS6, INF-VERT6
• Bachelor Informatik: INF-B-520
• Computational Modeling and Simulation: CMS-LM-AI, CMS-LM-ADV

Literature

• Franz Baader, Carsten Lutz, Ian Horrocks, Uli Sattler: An Introduction to Description Logic. Cambridge University Press, 2017. Book's webpage. Also available for download at the publisher's web page via SLUB Dresden (only from within the network of TU Dresden).
• Franz Baader, Diego Calvanese, Deborah McGuinness, Daniele Nardi, Peter F. Patel-Schneider: The Description Logic Handbook: Theory, Implementation, and Applications. Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2007.
• Franz Baader, Carsten Lutz: Description logic. In Patrick Blackburn, Johan van Benthem, and Frank Wolter, editors, Handbook of Modal Logic, pages 757-819. North-Holland, 2007. Available online here and at ElsevierLink.
• Franz Baader. Description Logics. In Reasoning Web: Semantic Technologies for Information Systems, 5th International Summer School 2009, volume 5689 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 1-39. Springer-Verlag, 2009. Available online here and at SpringerLink.