On a Unifying Framework for Comparing Knowledge Representation Schemes

Giorgos Flouris
Dimitris Plexousakis
Grigoris Antoniou

Institute of Computer Science, FO.R.T.H.
P.O. Box 1385, GR 71110, Heraklion, Greece
{fgeo, dp, antoniou}@ics.forth.gr

Abstract
Given the numerous knowledge representation models (KR-schemes)
that have been proposed, it would be desirable to have a formal, 
unifying model for the description of a KR-scheme, as well as a 
general method of comparing KR-schemes in terms of expressive power. 
This work attempts to fill this gap, by proposing an elegant, yet 
very general, model of describing KR-schemes. This formalization is 
used to describe any knowledge representation model, including 
databases, logic-based schemes, semantic networks etc. It is also 
applied to introduce a general comparison method for KR-schemes and a 
formal definition of the reduction of one scheme to another. Using 
this model, we can reason about KR-schemes in an abstract manner and 
to determine whether a certain reduction is possible or not.