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IFOMIS
Institute for Formal Ontology and Medical Information Science
Faculty of Medicine
University of Leipzig
http://ifomis.de
5
The Idea
Computational medical research
will transform the discipline of medicine
… but only if communication problems can be solved
6
Medicine
desperately needs to find a way
to enable the huge amounts of data
resulting from trials by different groups
to be (f)used together
7
How resolve incompatibilities?
Ganze Industrie von ‘Ontologien’ in der heutigen Informationswissenschaft
“ONTOLOGY” = the solution of first resort (compare: kicking a television set)
But what does ‘ontology’ mean?Current most popular answer: a hierarchy of concepts (a thesaurus, a list of terms)
13
Example 1: UMLS
Universal Medical Language System
Very large taxonomy maintained by National Library of Medicine in Washington DC
14
Example 1: UMLS
134 semantic types800,000 concepts10 million interconcept relationships UMLS is the product of fusion of several
source vocabularies(built out of concept trees)
15
Example 2: SNOMED-RT
Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine
A Reference Terminology with Legal Force
16
Example 2: SNOMED-RT
121,000 concepts,
340,000 relationships
“common reference point for comparison and aggregation of data throughout the entire healthcare process”
17
Problems with UMLS and SNOMED
Each is a ‘fusion’ of several source vocabularies, some of dubious quality
They were fused without an ontological system being established first
They contain circularities, taxonomic gaps, and unnatural ad hoc determinations
18
Representation of Blood in UMLS
Blood
Tissue
EntityPhysical Object
Anatomical StructureFully Formed Anatomical Structure
Body SubstanceBody Fluid Soft Tissue
Blood as tissue
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Representation of Blood in SNOMED
Blood
Liquid Substance
Substance categorized by physical state
Body fluid
Body Substance
Substance
Blood as Fluid
21
Example: The Gene Ontology (GO)
hormone ; GO:0005179
%digestive hormone ; GO:0046659 %peptide hormone ; GO:0005180 %adrenocorticotropin ; GO:0017043 %glycopeptide hormone ; GO:0005181 %follicle-stimulating hormone ; GO:0016913
22
as tree
hormone
digestive hormone peptide hormone
adrenocorticotropin glycopeptide hormone
follicle-stimulating hormone
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Problem: There exist multiple databases
genomic cellular
structural phenotypic
… and even for each specific type of information, e.g. DNA sequence data, there exist several databases of different scope and organisation
25
What is a gene?GDB: a gene is a DNA fragment that can
be transcribed and translated into a protein
Genbank: a gene is a DNA region of biological interest with a name and that carries a genetic trait or phenotype
GO does not tell us which of these is correct, or indeed whether either is correct, and it does not tell us how to integrate data from the corresponding sources
26
Example: The Semantic Web
Vast amount of heterogeneous data sourcesNeed dramatically better support to yield the ability to query and integrate across different conceptual systemsThe currently preferred answer is The Semantic Web, based on tagging websites in terms of conceptual hierarchiesWill not work: How tag blood? how tag gene?
27
Concept hierarchies
cannot solve the problems of database integration
There can be no mechanical solution to the problems of data integration
in a domain like medicine or genetics
28
The problem in every case
is one of finding an overarching framework for good definitions,
definitions which will be adequate to the nuances of the domain under investigation
29
Concept hierarchy ontology:
Ontologies are inside the computer
thus subject to severe constraints on expressive power
(effectively the expressive power of description logic)
30
Concept hierarchy ontology cannot solve the data-integration
problem
because of its roots in knowledge representation/knowledge mining
33
we cannot make incompatible concept-systems interconnect
just by looking at concepts, or knowledge – we need some tertium quid
34
Concept hierarchy ontology
has its philosophical roots also in Quine’s doctrine of ontological commitment and in the ‘internal metaphysics’ of Carnap/Putnam Roughly, for an concept hierarchy ontology the world and the semantic model are one and the sameWhat exists = what the system says exists
35
Quineanism:
ontology is the study of the ontological commitments or presuppositions embodied in scientific theories (or in the beliefs of experts)
36
Quineanism, too, faces the integration problem
If an ontology is the set of ontological commitments of a theory, how can we cope with questions pertaining to the relations between the objects to which different theories are committed?
(Recall the Vienna Circle program of the Unity of Science)
37
What is needed
is some sort of wider common framework
sufficiently rich and nuanced to allow concept systems deriving from different theoretical/data sources to be hand-callibrated
38
What is needed
is not a Concept Hierarchy Ontology
but
a Reference Ontology
(something like old-fashioned,
realist,
metaphysics)
39
Reference Ontology
An ontology is a theory of a domain of entities in the world
Ontology is outside the computer
seeks maximal expressiveness and adequacy to reality
and sacrifices computational tractability for the sake of representational adequacy
40
Belnap
“it is a good thing logicians were around before computer scientists;
“if computer scientists had got there first, then we wouldn’t have numbers
because arithmetic is undecidable”
41
It is a good thing
Aristotelian metaphysics was around before description logic, because otherwise
we would have only hierarchies of
concepts/universals/classes and no individual instances …
42
Reference Ontology
a theory of the tertium quid
– called reality –
needed to hand-callibrate database/terminology systems
43
Methodology
Get ontology right first
(realism; descriptive adequacy; rather powerful logic);
solve tractability problems later
44
The Reference Ontology Community
IFOMIS (Leipzig) Laboratories for Applied Ontology
(Trento/Rome, Turin)Foundational Ontology Project (Leeds)Ontology Works (Baltimore)BORO Program (London)Ontek Corporation (Buffalo/Leeds)LandC (Belgium/Philadelphia)
45
Domains of Current Work
IFOMIS Leipzig: Medicine
Laboratories for Applied Ontology
Trento/Rome: Ontology of Cognition/Language
Turin: Law
Foundational Ontology Project: Space, Physics
Ontology Works: Genetics, Molecular Biology
BORO Program: Core Enterprise Ontology
Ontek Corporation: Biological Systematics
LandC: NLP
46
Recall:
GDB: a gene is a DNA fragment that can be transcribed and translated into a protein
Genbank: a gene is a DNA region of biological interest with a name and that carries a genetic trait or phenotype
47
Ontology
Note that terms like ‘fragment’, ‘region’, ‘name’, ‘carry’, ‘trait’, ‘type’
… along with terms like ‘part’, ‘whole’, ‘function’, ‘substance’, ‘inhere’ …
are ontological terms in the sense of traditional (philosophical) ontology
48
Was ist Gesundheit? WHO, 1948: Gesundheit = Zustand des
psychischen und physischen Wohlbefindens eines Menschen
Zustand als ontologische Kategorie
Psychisch–Physisch als ontologische Dichotomie
… sonst Zirkulär (‘Wohlbefinden’ = ‘Gesundheit’)
49
Gesundheit also statistische Norm:
Gesund = was auf die Mehrzahl der Menschen zutrifft
Krankheit = ein Zustand, der vom normalen Zustand des Patienten abweicht
… Kranksein abhängig von generellem Zustand der Gesellschaft
Norm als ontologische Kategorie
50
Gesundheit als Abwesenheit von Krankheit
Abwesenheit?
als ontologische Kategorie?
… sonst zirkulär
Gesundheit/Krankheit gegenseitig voneinander abhängig
51
Krankheit als Defekt
Körper = Maschine
Behandlungsziel = Defekt beheben
Krankenhaus als Werkstatt
Was ist die eigentliche Funktion (telos) dieser Maschine?
Funktion als ontologische Kategorie
52
Gesundheit/Krankheit = soziale Konstruktionen
x ist krank =def.
die Gesellschaft sagt, x ist krank
oder:
Der Zunft der Ärzte sagt, x ist krank
55
Formal Ontology
term coined by Husserl
= the theory of those ontological structures
such as part-whole, universal-particular
which apply to all domains whatsoever
Formal ontology = theory of things
Formal logic = theory of truths
56
Husserl outlines a new methodof constituent ontology
to study a domain ontologically
is to establish the parts of the domain
and the interrelations between them
especially the dependence relations
(assembly structures, modules)
57
Ontological Dependence
a color is dependent on an extension
a charge is dependent on a conductor
a speech act is dependent on a speaker
58
Logical Investigations¸1900/01
Aristotelian theory of universals and particulars
theory of part and whole
theory of ontological dependence
the theory of boundaries and fusion
59
Formal Ontology
contrasted with material or regional ontologies
(compare relation between pure and applied mathematics)
Husserl’s idea:
If we can build a good formal ontology, this should save time and effort in building reference ontologies for each successive domain
61
Organisms
order to be able to sustain themselves effectively as identical through time, must be at least in some respects “bounded off from the surrounding world and partially isolated or shielded from it.”
62
Each multi-cellular organism
is a system of relatively isolated causal systems organized in modular fashion in such a way as to contain within itself further relatively isolated causal systems on successively lower levels.
The systems within this modular hierarchy are both partially interconnected (they collaborate in their functioning)
and also partially segregated via coverings or membranes
63
Bodily systems
are not absolutely closed off from each other: they are partially open and partially shielded. There are paths between them along which a certain restricted spectrum of causal influences and substances may flow. Each sense organ is a partially open system which is “attuned to a special selection of outside processes and at the same time also shielded in other respects.”
65
Basic Formal Ontology
Aristotelian theory of universals and instances
theory of part and whole
theory of ontological dependence
theory of boundary, continuity and contact/fusion
theory of states, powers, qualities, roles, functions, systems
dual ontology of endurants and perdurants
theory of environments/niches/contexts and spatial and spatio-temporal regions
theory of normativity (health, sickness, malfunction)
66
SNAP: Ontology of entities enduring through time
Concrete Entity[Exists in Space and Time]
Concrete Entity[Exists in Space and Time]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 4-D Ontology[Perdure. Unfold in Time]Entity in 4-D Ontology
[Perdure. Unfold in Time]
Processual EntityProcessual EntitySpatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3Spatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3
Spatial regions of dimension0,1,2,3
Spatial regions of dimension0,1,2,3 Dependent EntityDependent Entity
Independent EntityIndependent Entity
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Boundary of Substance *Fiat or Bona Fide or MixedBoundary of Substance *
Fiat or Bona Fide or Mixed
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Fiat Part of Process*Fiat Part of Process*
Aggregate of Processes*Aggregate of Processes*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-Role/Function/PowerThe Functions of the PresidentQuasi-Role/Function/Power
The Functions of the President
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SPAN: Ontology of entities extended in time
SPANEntity extended in time
Portion of Spacetime
Fiat part of process *First phase of a clinical trial
Spacetime worm of 3 + Tdimensions
occupied by life of organism
Temporal interval *projection of organism’s life
onto temporal dimension
Aggregate of processes *Clinical trial
Process[±Relational]
Circulation of blood,secretion of hormones,course of disease, life
Processual Entity[Exists in space and time, unfolds
in time phase by phase]
Temporal boundary ofprocess *
onset of disease, death
69
BFOnot just a system of categories
but a formal theory
with definitions, axioms, theorems
designed to provide the resources for reference ontologies for specific domains
the latter should be of sufficient richness that terminological incompatibilities can be resolves intelligently rather than by brute force
70
Three types of reference ontology
1. formal ontology = framework for definition of the highly general concepts – such as object, event, part – employed in every domain
2. domain ontology, a top-level theory with a few highly general concepts from a particular domain, such as genetics or medicine
3. terminology-based ontology, a very large theory embracing many concepts and inter-concept relations
71
MedO: medical domain ontology
universals and instances and normativitytheory of part and whole and absencetheory of ontological dependencetheory of boundaries/membranestheory of states, powers, qualities, roles,
(mal)functions, bodily systemsdual ontology of endurants and perdurants:
anatomy and physiologytheory of environments: inside and outside
the organism
73
and sub-ontologies:anatomical ontology
epidemiological ontology
disease ontology
therapy ontology
pathology ontology
the whole designed to give structure to the medical domain
(currently medical education comparable to stamp-collecting)
74
If sub-domains like these
cell ontology
drug ontology
protein ontology
gene ontology
are to be knitted together within a single theory,
then we need also a theory of granularity
75
Testing the BFO/MedO approach
within a software environment for NLP of unstructured patient records
collaborating with
Language and Computing nv (www.landc.be)
76
L&C
LinKBase®: world’s largest terminology-based ontology
incorporating UMLS, SNOMED, etc.
+ LinKFactory®: suite for developing and managing large terminology-based ontologies
77
L&C’s long-term goal
Transform the mass of unstructured patient records into a gigantic medical experiment
78
LinKBase
LinKBase still close to being a flat list
BFO and MedO designed to add depth, and so also reasoning capacity
79
Problem
Wie findet man Subjekte für klinische Studien?
Wie stellt man automatisch die Zuläßigkeit von Patienten auf dem Basis von unstrukturierten Patientenberichten?
80
www.LandC.be
Language and Communication nv
bietet Informationssysteme für die Gewinnung digitaler Inhalte aus unstrukturieren medizinischen Texten
81
Clinical history description
Mr. Kovács is an 83-year-old man with a past medical history of hypertension, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, hypercholesterolemia, and a history of CVA, who presented himself to the Budapest Emergency Room on April 25 with primary complaint of right-sided chest pain since April 24. The patient was in his usual state of health until April 24 when he experienced right-sided chest pain after 10 minutes of bicycling exercise at the YMCA. He described the chest pain as a dull ache in the right side of his chest radiating posteriorly to the right scapular area. …
82
Zuläßigkeitskriteria für die Studie
1. Male or female
2. Age 50 to no upper limit
3. a) Hypertension documented as according to the 6th report of the Joint National Committee on Detection and Evaluation of the treatment of high BP (JNC VI) , b) and the need for drug therapy (previously documented hypertension in patients currently taking antihypertensive agents is acceptable)
4. Documented CAD (e.g., classic angina pectoris; stable angina pectoris; Heberden angina pectoris), myocardial infarction three or more months ago, abnormal coronary angiography, or concordant abnormalities on two different types of stress tests
5. Willingness to sign informed consent
83
Passen sie zusammen?
• Mr. Kovács is … an 83-year-old man with past medical history of hypertension, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, hypercholesterolemia, history of CVA who presented to Budapest Emergency Room on April 25 with chief complaint of right-sided chest pain since April 24. The patient was in his usual state of health until April 24 when he experienced right-sided chest pain after 10 minutes of bicycling exercise at YMCA. He described the chest pain as a dull ache in the right side of his chest radiating posteriorly to the right scapular area. He rated the intensity as 7 out of 10. The chest pain lasted about 3 minutes and resolved with rest. That same night, the patient once again experienced right-sided chest pain while lying in bed right before he went to sleep. He describes the pain as right-sided chest pain with same radiation to posterior at an intensity of 6-7 out of 10. The chest pain lasted about 10 minutes and resolved spontaneously.
• 1. Male or female • 2. Age 50 to no upper limit
• 3. Hypertension documented according to the 6th report of the Joint National Committee on Detection and Evaluation of the treatment of high BP (JNC VI) and the need for drug therapy (previously documented hypertension in patients currently taking antihypertensive agents is acceptable)
• 4. Documented CAD (e.g., classic angina pectoris (stable angina pectoris; Heberden angina pectoris), myocardial infarction three or more months ago, abnormal coronary angiography, or concordant abnormalities on two different types of stress tests)
• 5. Willingness to sign informed consent
84
Der Rechner wird diese Schlussfolgerung machen können ...
• Mr. Kovács is … an
83-year-old man with past medical history of hypertension, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, hypercholesterolemia, history of CVA who presented to Budapest Emergency Room on April 25 with chief complaint of right-sided chest pain since April 24. The patient was in his usual state of health until April 24 when he experienced right-sided chest pain after 10 minutes of bicycling exercise at YMCA. He described the chest pain as a dull ache in the right side of his chest radiating posteriorly to the right scapular area. He rated the intensity as 7 out of 10. The chest pain lasted about 3 minutes and resolved with rest. That same night, the patient once again experienced right-sided chest pain while lying in bed right before he went to sleep. He describes the pain as right-sided chest pain with same radiation to posterior at an intensity of 6-7 out of 10. The chest pain lasted about 10 minutes and resolved spontaneously.
• 1. Male or female • 2. Age 50 to no upper limit • 3. Hypertension documented according to
the 6th report of the Joint National Committee on Detection and Evaluation of the treatment of high BP (JNC VI) and the need for drug therapy (previously documented hypertension in patients currently taking antihypertensive agents is acceptable)
• 4. Documented CAD (e.g., classic angina pectoris (stable angina pectoris; Heberden angina pectoris), myocardial infarction three or more months ago, abnormal coronary angiography, or concordant abnormalities on two different types of stress tests)
• 5. Willingness to sign informed consent
... nur wenn er versteht.
85
Example: joint anatomyjoint HAS-HOLE joint spacejoint capsule IS-OUTER-LAYER-OF jointmeniscus
IS-INCOMPLETE-FILLER-OF joint spaceIS-TOPO-INSIDE joint capsuleIS-NON-TANGENTIAL-MATERIAL-PART-OF
joint
joint IS-CONNECTOR-OF bone XIS-CONNECTOR-OF bone Y
synoviaIS-INCOMPLETE-FILLER-OF joint space
synovial membrane IS-BONAFIDE-BOUNDARY-OF joint space
86
LandC-Ontologie
Having a healthcare phenomenon
Generalised PossessionHealthcare phenomenonHuman
IS-A
Has-possessor Has-
possessed
PatientIs-possessor-of
Cancer patient
IS-A
Has-Healthcare-phenomenon
Malignant neoplasm
IS-A
11
1
2
2
IS-A
3
3lung carcinoma
IS-A
Mr. Kovács has a pulmonary carcinoma
87
LinKBase
LinKBase still close to being a flat list
BFO and MedO designed to add depth, and so also reasoning capacity
89
We cannot solve this problem just by looking at concepts (by engaging in further acts of
knowledge mining)
92
A reference ontology
is a theory of reality
But how is this possible?
How can we get beyond our concepts?
answer: ontology must be maximally opportunistic
93
“Maximally opportunistic”
means:
draw on 2 millennia of philosophical research
pertaining to realism, scepticism, error, theory change, and the language/concept/world relation
cognitive science (theories of error, bias)
but also pertaining to the structure of reality itself and to the relations between different scientific disciplines
94
Maximally opportunistic
means:
don’t just look at beliefs
look at the objects themselves
from every possible direction,
formal and informal
scientific and non-scientific …
95
It means further:
looking at concepts and beliefs critically
and always in the context of a wider view which includes independent ways to access the objects at issue at different levels of granularity
including physical ways (involving the use of physical measuring instruments, real physical contact with objects/bodies/organs)
96
And also:
taking account of tacit knowledge of those features of reality of which the domain experts are not consciously aware
look not at concepts, representations, of a passive observer
but rather at agents, at organisms acting in the world
97
Maximally opportunistic
means:
look not at what the expert says
but at what the expert does
Experts have expertise = knowing how
Ontologists skilled in extracting knowledge that from knowing how
The experts don’t know what the ontologist knows
98
Topography
as unifying factor in generating practical knowledge in the medical sphere
(missing from computers;
missing from most medical education)
100
We then recognize
that the same object can be apprehended at different levels of granularity:
at the perceptual level blood is a liquid
at the cellular level blood is a tissue
101
select out the good conceptualizations
those which have a reasonable chance of being integrated together into a single ontological system because they are
• based on tested principles• robust• conform to natural science
102
Partitions should be cuts through reality
a good medical ontology should NOT be compatible with a conceptualization of disease as caused by evil spirits
104
The Tests
Uniform top-level formal ontology
Domain ontology for medicine applicable at distinct granularities
Show that this medical domain ontology can increase efficiency and scope of existing industrial-strength software systems applied to processing of unstructured patient records
105
Can our ontological system
help to convert the huge existing mass of unstructured patient records into a unified, structured database
which can be used as a new type of gigantic object for medical research
106
The GoalsUniform top-level ontology for testing in medical
domainONE YEARApplicable at distinct granularities (e.g. gene
ontology)TWO YEARSTesting in processing of unstructured patient
records (www.landc.be)THREE YEARS
107
Measures of SuccessUniform top-level ontology for medicine
NO COMPETITORapplicable at distinct granularities
NO COMPETITORProcessing of unstructured patient records MANY COMPETITORS (INCLUDING DUMB
STATISTICAL PATTERN-RECOGNITION)BUT GOOD MEASURES OF EFFECTIVENESS
109
Brooks’ Engineering Approach to Robotics
takes its inspiration from evolutionary biology
lends very little weight to the role of representations or models
AI should use the world in all its complexity in producing systems that react directly to the world
110
Engineering Approach
An intelligent system embodies a number of distinct layers of activity (compare: faculties of the mind, plus sensor-motoric faculties)
These layers operate independently and connect directly to the environment outside the system
Each layer operates as a complete system that copes in real time with a changing environment
Layers evolve through interaction with the environment (artificial insects/vehicles …)
111
Brooks: An intelligent system
must be situated
it is situatedness which gives the processes within each layer meaning
Most importantly:
the world serves to unify the different layers together and to make them compatible/mutually adjusting
112
Organisms, especially humans,
fix their beliefs not only in their heads but in their worlds, as they attune themselves differently to different parts of the world as a result of their experience. And they pull the same trick with their memories, not only by rearranging their parsing of the world (their understanding of what they see), but by marking it. They place traces out there which changes what they will be confronted with the next time it comes around. Thus they don't have to carry their memories with them.
“Intelligence without Representation”
113
J. J. Gibson The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
we are like (multi-layered) tuning forks – tuned to the environment which surrounds us(we have evolved in such a way as to be attuned to our environment;we are all experts in common sense;our perceptual beliefs are almost always true)
114
Organisms are tuning forks
They have evolved to resonate automatically and directly to those quality regions in their niche which are relevant for survival
-- perception is a form of automatic resonation-- cognitive beings resonate to speech acts and
to linguistic records-- cognitive beings resonate deontically
115
The Ecological Approach
To understand cognition we should study the moving, acting organism as it exists in its real-world environment
and for human organisms this is a social environment which includes records and traces of prior actions in the form of communication systems (languages), storage systems (libraries), transport systems (roads), legal systems
116
Gibson: Environment as Array of Affordances
“The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides or furnishes, either for good or evil.”
James J. Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
The environment of a commercial organism includes affordances such as prices.
117
Gibson’s theory of surface layout
Niches = systems of barriers, openings, pathways to which organisms are specifically attuned,
Include: temperature gradients, patterns of movement of air or water molecules, electro-chemical signals guiding the movements of micro-organisms
But also: traffic signs, instructions posted on notice boards or displayed on the computer screen
118
Application of the niche concept
in biology, ecology
in medicine (embryology …)
in anthropology
in economics
in the ontology of artifacts
in law
in politics
119
Roger G. Barker’s Eco-Behavioral Science
Gibson: Ecological Psychology of Perception
Barker: Ecological Psychology of Social Action
P. Schoggen, Behavior Settings: A Review and Extension of Roger G. Barker’s Ecological
Psychology. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1989.
120
Roger Barker: Niche as Behavioral SettingNiches are recurrent settings which serve as the environments for our everyday activities:
a newspaper kiosk in the morning rush-hour,
your table in the cafeteria,
the 5pm train to Long Island.
121
Behavior Settings
Each behavior setting is associated with certain standing patterns of behavior.
122
Settings, for Barker,
are natural units in no way imposed by an investigator.
To laymen they are as objective as rivers and forests
— they are parts of the objective environment that are experienced as directly as rain and sandy beaches are experienced. (Barker 1968, p. 11)
123
Unity of Behaviour and Ecological Setting
A physical-behavioural unit is a unit: its parts are unified together, but not through any similarity or community of substance.
Transcategorial complexity of behavior and setting
124
Barker on Unity of Social Reality
“The conceptual incommensurability of phenomena which is such an obstacle to the unification of the sciences does not appear to trouble nature’s units.
Within the larger units, things and events from conceptually more and more alien sciences are incorporated and regulated.”
125
Barker on Unity of Social Reality
“As far as our behaviour is concerned, … even the most radical diversity of kinds and categories need not prevent integration”
126
The Systematic Mutual Fittingness of Behaviour and Setting
The behaviour and the physical objects … are intertwined in such a way as to form a pattern that is by no means random: there is a relation of harmonious fit between the standard patterns of behaviour occurring within the unit and the pattern of its physical components.
127
The Systematic Mutual Fittingness of Behaviour and Setting
The seats in the lecture hall face the speaker. The speaker addresses his remarks out towards the audience.
The boundary of the football field is … the boundary of the game.
Non-transposability
128
Non-transposability
This mutual fittingness of behaviour and physical environment extends to the fine, interior structure of behaviour in a way which will imply a radical nontransposability of standing patterns of behaviour from one environment to another.
(Can’t play football in a lecture theater)
129
Power and Authority
… forces which help to sustain this mutual fittingness and thus to constitute the unity of the physical-behavioural unit through time. These include physical constraints exercised by hedges, walls or corridors or by persons with sticksalso social forces manifested in threats, promises, warnings, admonitions
130
Settings shape Persons
Each person has many strengths, many intelligences, many social maturities, many speeds, many degrees of liberality and conservativeness, and many moralities, depending in large part on the particular contexts of the person’s behavior.
131
Aurel Kolnai
a human society
… comprehends the same individual over and over again in line with his various social affiliations …
What an agent is, depends on the agent’s environment
132
Daily life
= passage through a succession of physical-behavioural units The latter are as much a part of the furniture of reality as are garden-variety continuants and occurrents
133
Environments may be nested may have actual parts which are also environmental settings(hierarchical nesting)
Theory of the organization of organizations:
the roles you take on as inhabitant of the niche called IBMthe roles you take on as inhabitant of the niche called US-Division 4B/661 of IBM (YOU ARE
THE BOSS)the roles you take on as inhabitant of the niche called your local office (YOU ISSUE
COMMANDS)
134
Marks of (bodily) substance
i. Rounded-offness
ii. Occupies space
iii. Complete boundary
iv. May have substantial parts (nesting)
v. May be included in larger substances
vi. Has a life (manifests contrary accidents at different times)
135
Corresponding Marks of Niches (3-Dimensional Environments)
(i) A niche enjoys a certain natural completeness or rounded-offness,
being neither too small nor too large
—in contrast to the arbitrary undetached parts of environmental settings and to arbitrary heaps or aggregates of environmental settings.
136
(ii) A niche takes up space,
it occupies a physical-temporal locale,
and is such as to have spatial parts.
Within this physical-temporal locale is a privileged locus—a hole—
into which the tenant or occupant of the setting fits exactly.
137
(iii) A niche
has an outer boundary:
there are objects which fall clearly within it,
and other objects which fall clearly outside it.
(The boundary itself need not be crisp.)
138
(iv) A niche
may have actual parts which are also environmental settings
Barker: Many settings occur in assemblies. A unit in the middle range of a nesting structure is simultaneously both … whole and part, both entity and environment.
Compare the hierarchical organization of the human body into organs, cells, …
140
(vi) A niche has a lifeNiches are endurants/continuants
is now warm, now cold
now at peace, now at war ….
now expanding, now contracting
141
Marks of (bodily) substance
i. Rounded-offness
ii. Occupies space
iii. Complete boundary
iv. May have substantial parts (nesting)
v. May be included in larger substances
vi. Has a life; is now warm, now cold (Substances are endurants/continuants)
142
On being in a niche
Niches are in some ways like the interiors of substances
Two concepts of car:
John is in his car
John saw his car from a distance
The embryo is in the uterus
The doctor examined the uterus
143
Two concepts of London
John is in London
John saw London from the air
London London
IBM IBM
A is part of B vs. A is in the interior of B as a tenant is in its niche
144
3-dimensional environments
EnglandThe Nile DeltaThe interior of your carA stagnant pond
+ ecologists’ habitat
145
4-dimensional environments
Lobsters have evolved into environments marked by cyclical patterns of temperature change
Tudor EnglandThe Afghan winterThe window of opportunity for an invasion of Iraq
+ Barker’s behavior settings
146
Where are Niches?Concrete Entity
[Exists in Space and Time]Concrete Entity
[Exists in Space and Time]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 4-D Ontology[Perdure. Unfold in Time]Entity in 4-D Ontology
[Perdure. Unfold in Time]
Processual EntityProcessual EntitySpatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3Spatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3
Spatial Regionof Dimension 0,1,2,3
Spatial Regionof Dimension 0,1,2,3 Dependent EntityDependent Entity
Independent EntityIndependent Entity
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Boundary of Substance *Fiat or Bona Fide or MixedBoundary of Substance *
Fiat or Bona Fide or Mixed
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Fiat Part of Process*Fiat Part of Process*
Aggregate of Processes*Aggregate of Processes*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-Role/Function/PowerThe Functions of the PresidentQuasi-Role/Function/Power
The Functions of the President
147
SNAP: Ontology of entities enduring through time
Concrete Entity[Exists in Space and Time]
Concrete Entity[Exists in Space and Time]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 4-D Ontology[Perdure. Unfold in Time]Entity in 4-D Ontology
[Perdure. Unfold in Time]
Processual EntityProcessual EntitySpatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3Spatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3
Spatial regions of dimension0,1,2,3
Spatial regions of dimension0,1,2,3 Dependent EntityDependent Entity
Independent EntityIndependent Entity
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Quality (Your Redness, My Tallness)[Form Quality Regions/Scales]
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Role, Function, PowerHave realizations (called: Processes)
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Substance[maximally connected causal unity]
Boundary of Substance *Fiat or Bona Fide or MixedBoundary of Substance *
Fiat or Bona Fide or Mixed
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Aggregate of Substances * (includes masses of stuff? liquids?)
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Fiat Part of Substance * Nose, Ear, Mountain
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Process [Has Unity]Clinical trial; exercise of role
Fiat Part of Process*Fiat Part of Process*
Aggregate of Processes*Aggregate of Processes*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Instantaneous Temporal Boundary of Process (= Ingarden’s 'Event’)*
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-ProcessJohn’s Youth. John’s Life
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-Quality Prices, Values, Obligations
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-SubstanceChurch, College, Corporation
Quasi-Role/Function/PowerThe Functions of the PresidentQuasi-Role/Function/Power
The Functions of the President
148
Where are Places?Concrete Entity
[Exists in Space and Time]Concrete Entity
[Exists in Space and Time]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 3-D Ontology[Endure. No Temporal Parts]
Entity in 4-D Ontology[Perdure. Unfold in Time]Entity in 4-D Ontology
[Perdure. Unfold in Time]
Processual EntityProcessual EntitySpatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3Spatio-Temporal Region
Dim = T, T+0, T+1, T+2, T+3
Spatial Regionof Dimension
0,1,2,3
Spatial Regionof Dimension
0,1,2,3
Dependent EntityDependent Entity
Independent EntityIndependent Entity
149
Where are behavior-settings?
SPANEntity extended in time
Portion of Spacetime
Fiat part of process *First phase of a clinical trial
Spacetime worm of 3 + Tdimensions
occupied by life of organism
Temporal interval *projection of organism’s life
onto temporal dimension
Aggregate of processes *Clinical trial
Process[±Relational]
Circulation of blood,secretion of hormones,course of disease, life
Processual Entity[Exists in space and time, unfolds
in time phase by phase]
Temporal boundary ofprocess *
onset of disease, death
spatio-temporal volumes
150
SPAN: Ontology of entities extended in time
SPANEntity extended in time
Portion of Spacetime
Fiat part of process *First phase of a clinical trial
Spacetime worm of 3 + Tdimensions
occupied by life of organism
Temporal interval *projection of organism’s life
onto temporal dimension
Aggregate of processes *Clinical trial
Process[±Relational]
Circulation of blood,secretion of hormones,course of disease, life
Processual Entity[Exists in space and time, unfolds
in time phase by phase]
Temporal boundary ofprocess *
onset of disease, death
spatio-temporal volumes
standardizedpatterns of
behavior
151
Three Main Ingredients to the SNAP/SPAN Framework
Independent SNAP entities: Substances
Dependent SNAP entities: powers, qualities, roles, functions
SPAN entities: Processes
152
Gene Ontology
Cellular Component Ontology: subcellular structures, locations, and macromolecular complexes;examples: nucleus, telomere
Molecular Function Ontology: tasks performed by individual gene products; examples: transcription factor, DNA helicase
Biological Process Ontology: broad biological goals accomplished by ordered assemblies of molecular functions; examples: mitosis, purine metabolism
153
Three Main Ingredients to the SNAP/SPAN Framework
Independent SNAP entities: Molecular Components
Dependent SNAP entities: Functions
SPAN entities: Processes
154
Conclusions
Two sorts of ontology:
Domain ontology (ontology within an agent/information system)
Reference ontology (including both agents/systems and environment within a single theory)
Communication between agents/systems can be achieved only via hand-callibration of their communication protocols via reference ontology
155
Conclusions for a Theory of Agents
Agents are in the world, they have to achieve their goals in relation to a particular environment, and adapt to this environment
Therefore if we want to have a good theory of agent-based computing, we need to have a good theory of (worldly) environments
157
Knowledge-down-a-wireImagine a 5-stone weakling having his brain loaded with the knowledge of a champion tennis player.
He goes to serve in his first match
-- Wham! –
his arm falls off.
He just doesn't have the bone structure or muscular development to serve that hard.
158
Types of knowledge/ability/skill
1. those that can be transferred simply by passing signals from one brain/computer to another.
2. those that can’t:
161
Types of knowledge/ability/skill
1. those that can be transferred simply by passing signals from one brain/computer to another.
2. those that can’t: -- here the "hardware" is important;abilities/skills contained (a) in the body(b) in the world
162
From
The Methodological Solipsist Approach to Information Processing
ToThe Ecological Approach to Information
Processing
163
Fodorian Psychology
To understand human cognition we should study the mind/brain in abstraction from its real-world environment
(as if it were a hermetically sealed Cartesian ego)
164
I know where the book is= I know how to find it
I know what the square root of 2489 is= I know how to calculate it
I know how to recognize the presence of a tiger
= by smell, noise … (in real-world context)