Modelling Structured Domains Using Description Graphs and Logic Programming

OWL 2 is widely used to describe complex objects such as chemical
molecules, but cannot represent ‘structural’ features of chemical entities such as
having a ring. Adding rules, and description graphs (DGs) has been suggested
as a possible solution, but still exhibits several drawbacks. We present a radically
different approach that we call Description Graph Logic Programs. Syntactically,
our approach combines DGs, rules, and OWL 2 RL axioms, but the semantics is
via a translation into logic programs interpreted under stable model semantics.
The result is an expressive OWL 2 RL-compatible formalism that is well suited
for modelling objects with complex structure.