An inference engine for RDF - Agfa

An inference engine for RDF
A query on the World Wide Web can extend over more than one server. This
means that a process of subquerying must be defined. This concept is introduced
in an experimental inference engine, RDFEngine.
An important characteristic for an engine that has to be active in the World Wide
Web is efficiency. Therefore it is important to do research about the methods that
can be used to make an efficient engine. The structure has to be such that it is
possible to work with huge volumes of data. Eventually these data are kept in
relational databases.
On the World Wide Web there is information available in a lot of places and in a
lot of different forms. Joining parts of this information and reasoning about the
result can easily lead to the existence of contradictions and inconsistencies.
These are inherent to the used logic or are dependable on the application. A
special place is taken by inconsistencies that are inherent to the used ontology.
For the Semantic Web the ontology is determined by the standards rdfs and
OWL.
An ontology introduces a classification of data and applies restrictions to those
data. An inference engine for the Semantic Web needs to have such
characteristics that it is compatible with rdfs and OWL.
An executable specification of an inference engine in Haskell was constructed.
This permitted to test different aspects of inferencing and the logic connected to
it. This engine has the name RDFEngine. A large number of existing testcases
was executed with the engine. A certain number of testcases was constructed,
some of them for inspecting the logic characteristics of RDF.
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