Chapter 3

Describing Web Resources in RDF

Grigoris Antoniou
Frank van Harmelen

1 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

2 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Drawbacks of XML

 XML is a universal metalanguage for defining

markup
 It provides a uniform framework for interchange of
data and metadata between applications
 However, XML does not provide any means of
talking about the semantics (meaning) of data
 E.g., there is no intended meaning associated with
the nesting of tags
– It is up to each application to interpret the nesting.

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 Nesting of Tags in XML

David Billington is a lecturer of Discrete Maths

<course name="Discrete Maths">
<lecturer>David Billington</lecturer>
</course>
<lecturer name="David Billington">
<teaches>Discrete Maths</teaches>
</lecturer>
Opposite nesting, same information!

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 Basic Ideas of RDF

 Basic building block: object-attribute-value

triple
– It is called a statement
– Sentence about Billington is such a statement
 RDF has been given a syntax in XML
– This syntax inherits the benefits of XML
– Other syntactic representations of RDF possible

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 Basic Ideas of RDF (2)

 The fundamental concepts of RDF are:

– resources
– properties
– statements

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 Resources

 We can think of a resource as an object, a

“thing” we want to talk about
– E.g. authors, books, publishers, places, people,
hotels
 Every resource has a URI, a Universal
Resource Identifier
 A URI can be
– a URL (Web address) or
– some other kind of unique identifier
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 Properties

 Properties are a special kind of resources

 They describe relations between resources
– E.g. “written by”, “age”, “title”, etc.
 Properties are also identified by URIs
 Advantages of using URIs:
– Α global, worldwide, unique naming scheme
– Reduces the homonym problem of distributed
data representation
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 Statements

 Statements assert the properties of

resources
 A statement is an object-attribute-value triple
– It consists of a resource, a property, and a value
 Values can be resources or literals
– Literals are atomic values (strings)

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 Three Views of a Statement

 A triple
 A piece of a graph
 A piece of XML code
Thus an RDF document can be viewed as:
 A set of triples
 A graph (semantic net)
 An XML document

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 Statements as Triples

(http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db,
http://www.mydomain.org/site-owner,
#David Billington)
 The triple (x,P,y) can be considered as a
logical formula P(x,y)
– Binary predicate P relates object x to object y
– RDF offers only binary predicates (properties)

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 XML Vocabularies

 A directed graph with labeled nodes and arcs

– from the resource (the subject of the statement)
– to the value (the object of the statement)
 Known in AI as a semantic net
 The value of a statement may be a resource
– Ιt may be linked to other resources

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 A Set of Triples as a Semantic Net

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 Statements in XML Syntax

 Graphs are a powerful tool for human

understanding but
 The Semantic Web vision requires machine-
accessible and machine-processable
representations
 There is a 3rd representation based on XML
– But XML is not a part of the RDF data model
– E.g. serialisation of XML is irrelevant for RDF
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 Statements in XML (2)

<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:mydomain="http://www.mydomain.org/my-rdf-ns">

<rdf:Description
rdf:about="http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db">
<mydomain:site-owner
rdf:resource=“#David Billington“/>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>

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 Statements in XML (3)

 An RDF document is represented by an XML

element with the tag rdf:RDF
 The content of this element is a number of
descriptions, which use rdf:Description tags.
 Every description makes a statement about a
resource, identified in 3 ways:
– an about attribute, referencing an existing resource
– an ID attribute, creating a new resource
– without a name, creating an anonymous resource

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 Statements in XML (4)

 The rdf:Description element makes a

statement about the resource
http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db
 Within the description
– the property is used as a tag
– the content is the value of the property

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 Reification

 In RDF it is possible to make statements

about statements
– Grigoris believes that David Billington is the
creator of http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db
 Such statements can be used to describe
belief or trust in other statements
 The solution is to assign a unique identifier to
each statement
– It can be used to refer to the statement
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 Reification (2)

 Introduce an auxiliary object (e.g. belief1)

 relate it to each of the 3 parts of the original
statement through the properties subject,
predicate and object
 In the preceding example
– subject of belief1 is David Billington
– predicate of belief1 is creator
– object of belief1 is http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/~db
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 Data Types

 Data types are used in programming

languages to allow interpretation
 In RDF, typed literals are used, if necessary

(#David Billington,
http://www.mydomain.org/age,
“27”^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema
#integer)
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 Data Types (2)

 ^^-notation indicates the type of a literal

 In practice, the most widely used data typing
scheme will be the one by XML Schema
– But the use of any externally defined data typing
scheme is allowed in RDF documents
 XML Schema predefines a large range of
data types
– E.g. Booleans, integers, floating-point numbers,
times, dates, etc.
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 A Critical View of RDF:
Binary Predicates

 RDF uses only binary properties

– This is a restriction because often we use
predicates with more than 2 arguments
– But binary predicates can simulate these
 Example: referee(X,Y,Z)
– X is the referee in a chess game between players
Y and Z

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 A Critical View of RDF:
Binary Predicates (2)

 We introduce:
– a new auxiliary resource chessGame
– the binary predicates ref, player1, and player2
 We can represent referee(X,Y,Z) as:

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 A Critical View of RDF: Properties

 Properties are special kinds of resources

– Properties can be used as the object in an
object-attribute-value triple (statement)
– They are defined independent of resources
 This possibility offers flexibility
 But it is unusual for modelling languages
and OO programming languages
 It can be confusing for modellers

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 A Critical View of RDF: Reification

 The reification mechanism is quite powerful

 It appears misplaced in a simple language like RDF
 Making statements about statements introduces a
level of complexity that is not necessary for a basic
layer of the Semantic Web
 Instead, it would have appeared more natural to
include it in more powerful layers, which provide
richer representational capabilities

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 A Critical View of RDF: Summary

 RDF has its idiosyncrasies and is not an

optimal modeling language but
 It is already a de facto standard
 It has sufficient expressive power
– At least as for more layers to build on top
 Using RDF offers the benefit that information
maps unambiguously to a model

26 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

27 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 XML-Based Syntax of RDF

 An RDF document consists of an rdf:RDF

element
– The content of that element is a number of
descriptions
 A namespace mechanism is used
– Disambiguation
– Namespaces are expected to be RDF documents
defining resources that can be reused
– Large, distributed collections of knowledge

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 Example of University Courses

<rdf:RDF
xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#"
xmlns:uni="http://www.mydomain.org/uni-ns">

<rdf:Description rdf:about="949318">
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
<uni:age rdf:datatype="&xsd:integer">27<uni:age>
</rdf:Description>

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 Example of University Courses (2)

<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT1111">
<uni:courseName>Discrete Maths</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy>David Billington</uni:isTaughtBy>
</rdf:Description>

<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT2112">
<uni:courseName>Programming III</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy>Michael Maher</uni:isTaughtBy>
</rdf:Description>

</rdf:RDF>

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 rdf:about versus rdf:ID

 An element rdf:Description has

– an rdf:about attribute indicating that the resource has been
“defined” elsewhere
– An rdf:ID attribute indicating that the resource is defined
 Formally, there is no such thing as “defining” an
object in one place and referring to it elsewhere
– Sometimes is useful (for human readability) to have a
defining location, while other locations state “additional”
properties

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 Property Elements

 Content of rdf:Description elements

<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT3116">
<uni:courseName>Knowledge
Representation</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy>Grigoris Antoniou</uni:isTaughtBy>
</rdf:Description>
 uni:courseName and uni:isTaughtBy
define two property-value pairs for CIT3116
(two RDF statements)
– read conjunctively
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 Data Types

 The attribute rdf:datatype="&xsd:integer" is used to

indicate the data type of the value of the age property

<rdf:Description rdf:about="949318">
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
<uni:age rdf:datatype="&xsd:integer">27<uni:age>
</rdf:Description>

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 Data Types (2)

 The age property has been defined to have

"&xsd:integer" as its range
– It is still required to indicate the type of the value
of this property each time it is used
– This is to ensure that an RDF processor can
assign the correct type of the property value even
if it has not "seen" the corresponding RDF
Schema definition before
– This scenario is quite likely to occur in the
unrestricted WWW
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 The rdf:resource Attribute

 The relationships between courses and

lecturers (in the example) were not formally
defined but existed implicitly through the use
of the same name
 The use of the same name may just be a
coincidence for a machine
 We can denote that two entities are the same
using the rdf:resource attribute
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 The rdf:resource Attribute (2)

<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT1111">
<uni:courseName>Discrete
Mathematics</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="949318"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="949318">
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
</rdf:Description>
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 Referencing Externally Defined
Resources

 E.g., to refer the externally defined resource CIT1111:

http://www.mydomain.org/uni-ns#CIT1111
as the value of rdf:about
 www.mydomain.org/uni-ns is the URI where the
definition of CIT1111 is found
 A description with an ID defines a fragment URI, which
can be used to reference the defined description

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 Nested Descriptions: Example

<rdf:Description rdf:about="CIT1111">
<uni:courseName>Discrete
Maths</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy>
<rdf:Description rdf:ID="949318">
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
</rdf:Description>
</uni:isTaughtBy>
</rdf:Description>

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 Nested Descriptions

 Descriptions may be defined within other

descriptions
 Other courses, such as CIT3112, can still
refer to the new resource with ID 949318
 Although a description may be defined within
another description, its scope is global

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 Introducing some Structure to RDF
Documents using the rdf:type Element

<rdf:Description rdf:ID="CIT1111">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.mydomain.org/uni-
ns#course"/>
<uni:courseName>Discrete Maths</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="#949318"/>
</rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description rdf:ID="949318">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.mydomain.org/uni-
ns#lecturer"/>
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:title>Associate Professor</uni:title>
</rdf:Description>

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 Abbreviated Syntax

 Simplification rules:
1. Childless property elements within description elements may
be replaced by XML attributes
2. For description elements with a typing element we can use
the name specified in the rdf:type element instead of
rdf:Description
 These rules create syntactic variations of the same
RDF statement
– They are equivalent according to the RDF data model,
although they have different XML syntax

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 Abbreviated Syntax: Example

<rdf:Description rdf:ID="CIT1111">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.mydomain.org/uni-
ns#course"/>
<uni:courseName>Discrete Maths</uni:courseName>
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="#949318"/>
</rdf:Description>

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 Application of First Simplification Rule

<rdf:Description rdf:ID="CIT1111"
uni:courseName="Discrete Maths">
<rdf:type rdf:resource="http://www.mydomain.org/uni-
ns#course"/>
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="#949318"/>
</rdf:Description>

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 Application of 2nd Simplification Rule

<uni:course rdf:ID="CIT1111"
uni:courseName="Discrete Maths">
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:resource="#949318"/>
</uni:course>

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 Container Elements

 Collect a number of resources or attributes

about which we want to make statements as
a whole
 E.g., we may wish to talk about the courses
given by a particular lecturer
 The content of container elements are
named rdf:_1, rdf:_2, etc.
– Alternatively rdf:li
45 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer
 Three Types of Container Elements

 rdf:Bag an unordered container, allowing multiple

occurrences
– E.g. members of the faculty board, documents in a folder
 rdf:Seq an ordered container, which may contain
multiple occurrences
– E.g. modules of a course, items on an agenda, an
alphabetized list of staff members (order is imposed)
 rdf:Alt a set of alternatives
– E.g. the document home and mirrors, translations of a
document in various languages

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 Example for a Bag

<uni:lecturer rdf:ID="949352" uni:name="Grigoris

Antoniou"
uni:title="Professor">
<uni:coursesTaught>
<rdf:Bag>
<rdf:_1 rdf:resource="#CIT1112"/>
<rdf:_2 rdf:resource="#CIT3116"/>
</rdf:Bag>
</uni:coursesTaught>
</uni:lecturer>

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 Example for Alternative

<uni:course rdf:ID="CIT1111"
uni:courseName="Discrete Mathematics">
<uni:lecturer>
<rdf:Alt>
<rdf:li rdf:resource="#949352"/>
<rdf:li rdf:resource="#949318"/>
</rdf:Alt>
</uni:lecturer>
</uni:course>

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 Rdf:ID Attribute for Container
Elements

<uni:lecturer rdf:ID="949318"
uni:name="David Billington">
<uni:coursesTaught>
<rdf:Bag rdf:ID="DBcourses">
<rdf:_1 rdf:resource="#CIT1111"/>
<rdf:_2 rdf:resource="#CIT3112"/>
</rdf:Bag>
</uni:coursesTaught>
</uni:lecturer>

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 RDF Collections

 A limitation of these containers is that there is

no way to close them
– “these are all the members of the container”
 RDF provides support for describing groups
containing only the specified members, in
the form of RDF collections
– list structure in the RDF graph
– constructed using a predefined collection
vocabulary: rdf:List, rdf:first, rdf:rest and rdf:nil

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 RDF Collections (2)

 Shorthand syntax:
– "Collection" value for the rdf:parseType
attribute:

<rdf:Description rdf:about="#CIT2112">
<uni:isTaughtBy rdf:parseType="Collection">
<rdf:Description rdf:about="#949111"/>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="#949352"/>
<rdf:Description rdf:about="#949318"/>
</uni:isTaughtBy>
</rdf:Description>
51 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer
 Reification

 Sometimes we wish to make statements

about other statements
 We must be able to refer to a statement
using an identifier
 RDF allows such reference through a
reification mechanism which turns a
statement into a resource

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 Reification Example

<rdf:Description rdf:about="#949352">
<uni:name>Grigoris Antoniou</uni:name>
</rdf:Description>
 reifies as
<rdf:Statement rdf:ID="StatementAbout949352">
<rdf:subject rdf:resource="#949352"/>
<rdf:predicate rdf:resource="http://www.mydomain.org/
uni-ns#name"/>
<rdf:object>Grigoris Antoniou</rdf:object>
</rdf:Statement>

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 Reification (2)

 rdf:subject, rdf:predicate and rdf:object

allow us to access the parts of a statement
 The ID of the statement can be used to refer
to it, as can be done for any description
 We write an rdf:Description if we don’t want
to talk about a statement further
 We write an rdf:Statement if we wish to refer
to a statement

54 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

55 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Basic Ideas of RDF Schema

 RDF is a universal language that lets users

describe resources in their own vocabularies
– RDF does not assume, nor does it define
semantics of any particular application domain
 The user can do so in RDF Schema using:
– Classes and Properties
– Class Hierarchies and Inheritance
– Property Hierarchies

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 Classes and their Instances

 We must distinguish between

– Concrete “things” (individual objects) in the
domain: Discrete Maths, David Billington etc.
– Sets of individuals sharing properties called
classes: lecturers, students, courses etc.
 Individual objects that belong to a class are
referred to as instances of that class
 The relationship between instances and
classes in RDF is through rdf:type
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 Why Classes are Useful

 Impose restrictions on what can be stated in

an RDF document using the schema
– As in programming languages
– E.g. A+1, where A is an array
– Disallow nonsense from being stated

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 Nonsensical Statements disallowed
through the Use of Classes

 Discrete Maths is taught by Concrete Maths

– We want courses to be taught by lecturers only
– Restriction on values of the property “is taught by”
(range restriction)
 Room MZH5760 is taught by David Billington
– Only courses can be taught
– This imposes a restriction on the objects to which
the property can be applied (domain restriction)

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 Class Hierarchies

 Classes can be organised in hierarchies

– A is a subclass of B if every instance of A is also
an instance of B
– Then B is a superclass of A
 A subclass graph need not be a tree
 A class may have multiple superclasses

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 Class Hierarchy Example

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 Inheritance in Class Hierarchies

 Range restriction: Courses must be taught by

academic staff members only
 Michael Maher is a professor
 He inherits the ability to teach from the class of
academic staff members
 This is done in RDF Schema by fixing the semantics
of “is a subclass of”
– It is not up to an application (RDF processing software) to
interpret “is a subclass of

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 Property Hierarchies

 Hierarchical relationships for properties

– E.g., “is taught by” is a subproperty of “involves”
– If a course C is taught by an academic staff member A, then
C also involves Α
 The converse is not necessarily true
– E.g., A may be the teacher of the course C, or
– a tutor who marks student homework but does not teach C
 P is a subproperty of Q, if Q(x,y) is true whenever
P(x,y) is true

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 RDF Layer vs RDF Schema Layer

 Discrete Mathematics is taught by David

Billington
 The schema is itself written in a formal
language, RDF Schema, that can express its
ingredients:
– subClassOf, Class, Property, subPropertyOf,
Resource, etc.

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 RDF Layer vs RDF Schema Layer (2)

65 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

66 Chapter 3 A Semantic Web Primer

 Lecture Outline

1. Introduction
2. Detailed Description of XML
3. Structuring
a) DTDs
b) XML Schema
4. Namespaces
5. Accessing, querying XML documents: XPath
6. Transformations: XSLT
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 RDF Schema in RDF

 The modeling primitives of RDF Schema are defined

using resources and properties (RDF itself is used!)
 To declare that “lecturer” is a subclass of “academic
staff member”
– Define resources lecturer, academicStaffMember, and
subClassOf
– define property subClassOf
– Write triple (lecturer,subClassOf,academicStaffMember)
 We use the XML-based syntax of RDF

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 Core Classes

 rdfs:Resource, the class of all

resources
 rdfs:Class, the class of all classes
 rdfs:Literal, the class of all literals
(strings)
 rdf:Property, the class of all properties.
 rdf:Statement, the class of all reified
statements
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 Core Properties

 rdf:type, which relates a resource to its class

– The resource is declared to be an instance of that
class
 rdfs:subClassOf, which relates a class to
one of its superclasses
– All instances of a class are instances of its
superclass
 rdfs:subPropertyOf, relates a property to
one of its superproperties
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 Core Properties (2)

 rdfs:domain, which specifies the domain of a

property P
– The class of those resources that may appear as subjects in
a triple with predicate P
– If the domain is not specified, then any resource can be the
subject
 rdfs:range, which specifies the range of a property P
– The class of those resources that may appear as values in a
triple with predicate P

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 Examples

<rdfs:Class rdf:about="#lecturer">
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="#staffMember"/>
</rdfs:Class>

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="phone">
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#staffMember"/>
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/
2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal"/>
</rdf:Property>
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 Relationships Between Core Classes
and Properties

 rdfs:subClassOf and rdfs:subPropertyOf are

transitive, by definition
 rdfs:Class is a subclass of rdfs:Resource
– Because every class is a resource
 rdfs:Resource is an instance of rdfs:Class
– rdfs:Resource is the class of all resources, so it is a class
 Every class is an instance of rdfs:Class
– For the same reason

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 Reification and Containers

 rdf:subject, relates a reified statement to its

subject
 rdf:predicate, relates a reified statement to its
predicate
 rdf:object, relates a reified statement to its object
 rdf:Bag, the class of bags
 rdf:Seq, the class of sequences
 rdf:Alt, the class of alternatives
 rdfs:Container, which is a superclass of all
container classes, including the three above
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 Utility Properties

 rdfs:seeAlso relates a resource to another

resource that explains it
 rdfs:isDefinedBy is a subproperty of rdfs:seeAlso
and relates a resource to the place where its
definition, typically an RDF schema, is found
 rdfs:comment. Comments, typically longer text,
can be associated with a resource
 rdfs:label. A human-friendly label (name) is
associated with a resource

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 Example: A University

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="lecturer">
<rdfs:comment>
The class of lecturers. All lecturers are
academic staff members.
</rdfs:comment>
<rdfs:subClassOf
rdf:resource="#academicStaffMember"/>
</rdfs:Class>

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 Example: A University (2)

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="course">
<rdfs:comment>The class of courses</rdfs:comment>
</rdfs:Class>

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="isTaughtBy">
<rdfs:comment>
Inherits its domain ("course") and range ("lecturer")
from its superproperty "involves"
</rdfs:comment>
<rdfs:subPropertyOf rdf:resource="#involves"/>
</rdf:Property>

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 Example: A University (3)
<rdf:Property rdf:ID="phone">
<rdfs:comment>
It is a property of staff members
and takes literals as values.
</rdfs:comment>
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#staffMember"/>
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-
schema#Literal"/>
</rdf:Property>

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 Class Hierarchy for the Motor Vehicles
Example

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 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

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 The Namespace of RDF

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Statement"
rdfs:comment="The class of triples consisting of a
predicate, a subject and an object (that is, a
reified statement)"/>

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Property"
rdfs:comment="The class of properties"/>

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Bag"
rdfs:comment="The class of unordered collections"/>

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 The Namespace of RDF (2)

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="predicate"
rdfs:comment="Identifies the property of a
statementin reified form"/>
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Statement"/>
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="#Property"/>
</rdf:Property>

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 The Namespace of RDF Schema

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Resource"
rdfs:comment="The most general class"/>

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="Class"
rdfs:comment="The concept of classes.
All classes are resources"/>
<rdfs:subClassOf rdf:resource="#Resource"/>
</rdfs:Class>

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 The Namespace of RDF Schema (2)

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="subPropertyOf">
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/
1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property"/>
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/
1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#Property"/>
</rdf:Property>

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="subClassOf">
<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Class"/>
<rdfs:range rdf:resource="#Class"/>
</rdf:Property>
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 Namespace versus Semantics

 Consider rdfs:subClassOf
– The namespace specifies only that it applies to
classes and has a class as a value
– The meaning of being a subclass not expressed
 The meaning cannot be expressed in RDF
– If it could RDF Schema would be unnecessary
 External definition of semantics required
– Respected by RDF/RDFS processing software

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 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

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 Axiomatic Semantics

 We formalize the meaning of the modeling

primitives of RDF and RDF Schema
 By translating into first-order logic
 We make the semantics unambiguous and
machine accessible
 We provide a basis for reasoning support
by automated reasoners manipulating
logical formulas

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 The Approach

 All language primitives in RDF and RDF Schema are

represented by constants:
– Resource, Class, Property, subClassOf, etc.
 A few predefined predicates are used as a
foundation for expressing relationships between the
constants
 We use predicate logic with equality
 Variable names begin with ?
 All axioms are implicitly universally quantified
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 An Auxiliary Axiomatisation of Lists

 Function symbols:
– nil (empty list)
– cons(x,l) (adds an element to the front of the list)
– first(l) (returns the first element)
– rest(l) (returns the rest of the list)
 Predicate symbols:
– item(x,l) (tests if an element occurs in the list)
– list(l) (tests whether l is a list)
 Lists are used to represent containers in RDF

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 Basic Predicates

 PropVal(P,R,V)
– A predicate with 3 arguments, which is used to represent an
RDF statement with resource R, property P and value V
– An RDF statement (triple) (P,R,V) is represented as
PropVal(P,R,V).
 Type(R,T)
– Short for PropVal(type,R,T)
– Specifies that the resource R has the type T
 Type(?r,?t)  PropVal(type,?r,?t)

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 RDF Classes

 Constants: Class, Resource, Property, Literal

– All classes are instances of Class
Type(Class,Class)
Type(Resource,Class)
Type(Property,Class)
Type(Literal,Class)

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 RDF Classes (2)

 Resource is the most general class: every class and

every property is a resource
Type(?p,Property)  Type(?p,Resource)
Type(?c,Class)  Type(?c,Resource)
 The predicate in an RDF statement must be a
property
 PropVal(?p,?r,?v)  Type(?p,Property)

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 The type Property

 type is a property
PropVal(type,type,Property)
 type can be applied to resources (domain) and has
a class as its value (range)
Type(?r,?c)  (Type(?r,Resource) 
Type(?c,Class))

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 The Auxiliary FuncProp Property

 P is a functional property if, and only if,

– it is a property, and
– there are no x, y1 and y2 with P(x,y1), P(x,y2 ) and
y1y2

Type(?p, FuncProp) 
(Type(?p, Property) 
?r ?v1 ?v2
(PropVal(?p,?r,?v1) 
PropVal(?p,?r,?v2)  ?v1 = ?v2))

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 Containers

 Containers are lists:

Type(?c,Container)  list(?c)
 Containers are bags or sequences or alternatives:
Type(?c,Container) 
(Type(?c,Bag)  Type(?c,Seq)  Type(?c,Alt))
 Bags and sequences are disjoint:
¬(Type(?x,Bag)  Type(?x,Seq))

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 Containers (2)

 For every natural number n > 0, there is the selector

_n, which selects the nth element of a container
 It is a functional property:
Type(_n,FuncProp)
 It applies to containers only:
PropVal(_n,?c,?o)  Type(?c,Container)

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 Subclass

 subClassOf is a property:
Type(subClassOf,Property)
 If a class C is a subclass of a class C', then all
instances of C are also instances of C':
PropVal(subClassOf,?c,?c') 
(Type(?c,Class)  Type(?c',Class) 
?x (Type(?x,?c)  Type(?x,?c')))

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 Subproperty

 P is a subproperty of P', if P'(x,y) is true whenever

P(x,y) is true:
Type(subPropertyOf,Property)
PropVal(subPropertyOf,?p,?p') 
(Type(?p,Property)  Type(?p',Property) 
?r ?v (PropVal(?p,?r,?v) 
PropVal(?p',?r,?v)))

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 Domain and Range

 If the domain of P is D, then for every P(x,y), xD

PropVal(domain,?p,?d) 
?x ?y (PropVal(?p,?x,?y)  Type(?x,?d))
 If the range of P is R, then for every P(x,y), yR
PropVal(range,?p,?r) 
?x ?y (PropVal(?p,?x,?y)  Type(?y,?r))

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 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

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 Semantics based on Inference Rules

 Semantics in terms of RDF triples instead of

restating RDF in terms of first-order logic
 … and sound and complete inference systems
 This inference system consists of inference rules of
the form:
IF E contains certain triples
THEN add to E certain additional triples
 where E is an arbitrary set of RDF triples

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 Examples of Inference Rules

IF E contains the triple (?x,?p,?y)

THEN E also contains (?p,rdf:type,rdf:property)
IF E contains the triples (?u,rdfs:subClassOf,?v) and
(?v,rdfs:subclassOf,?w)
THEN E also contains the triple
(?u,rdfs:subClassOf,?w)
IF E contains the triples (?x,rdf:type,?u) and
(?u,rdfs:subClassOf,?v)
THEN E also contains the triple (?x,rdf:type,?v)

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 Examples of Inference Rules (2)

 Any resource ?y which appears as the value of a

property ?p can be inferred to be a member of the
range of ?p
– This shows that range definitions in RDF Schema are not
used to restrict the range of a property, but rather to infer the
membership of the range

IF E contains the triples (?x,?p,?y) and

(?p,rdfs:range,?u)
THEN E also contains the triple (?y,rdf:type,?u)

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 Lecture Outline

1. Basic Ideas of RDF

2. XML-based Syntax of RDF
3. Basic Concepts of RDF Schema
4. Τhe Language of RDF Schema
5. The Namespaces of RDF and RDF Schema
6. Axiomatic Semantics for RDF and RDFS
7. Direct Semantics based on Inference Rules
8. Querying of RDF/RDFS Documents using SPARQL

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 Why an RDF Query Language?
Different XML Representations

 XML at a lower level of abstraction than RDF

 There are various ways of syntactically
representing an RDF statement in XML
 Thus we would require several XPath queries,
e.g.
– //uni:lecturer/uni:title if uni:title element
– //uni:lecturer/@uni:title if uni:title attribute
– Both XML representations equivalent!
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SPARQL Basic Queries

 SPARQL is based on matching graph patterns

 The simplest graph pattern is the triple pattern :
- like an RDF triple, but with the possibility of a
variable instead of an RDF term in the subject,
predicate, or object positions
 Combining triple patterns gives a basic graph
pattern, where an exact match to a graph is
needed to fulfill a pattern
Examples

PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>

PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
SELECT ?c
WHERE
{
?c rdf:type rdfs:Class .
}
 Retrieves all triple patterns, where:
-the property is rdf:type
-the object is rdfs:Class
 Which means that it retrieves all classes
Examples (2)
 Get all instances of a particular class (e.g. course) :
(declaration of rdf, rdfs prefixes omitted for brevity)

PREFIX uni: <http://www.mydomain.org/uni-ns#>

SELECT ?i
WHERE
{
?i rdf:type uni:course .
}
 Using select-from-where
 As in SQL, SPARQL queries have a SELECT-FROM-WHERE
structure:
– SELECT specifies the projection: the number and order of retrieved
data
– FROM is used to specify the source being queried (optional)
– WHERE imposes constraints on possible solutions in the form of
graph pattern templates and boolean constraints
 Retrieve all phone numbers of staff members:
SELECT ?x ?y
WHERE
{ ?x uni:phone ?y .}
 Here ?x and ?y are variables, and ?x uni:phone ?y represents a
resource-property-value triple pattern

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 Implicit Join

 Retrieve all lecturers and their phone numbers:

SELECT ?x ?y
WHERE
{ ?x rdf:type uni:Lecturer ;
uni:phone ?y . }
 Implicit join: We restrict the second pattern only to those triples,
the resource of which is in the variable ?x
– Here we use a syntax shorcut as well: a semicolon indicates that the
following triple shares its subject with the previous one

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Implicit join (2)

 The previous query is equivalent to writing:

SELECT ?x ?y
WHERE
{
?x rdf:type uni:Lecturer .
?x uni:phone ?y .
}
 Explicit Join

 Retrieve the name of all courses taught by the lecturer

with ID 949352
SELECT ?n
WHERE
{
?x rdf:type uni:Course ;
uni:isTaughtBy :949352 .
?c uni:name ?n .
FILTER (?c = ?x) .
}
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 Optional Patterns

<uni:lecturer rdf:about=“949352”>
<uni:name>Grigoris Antoniou</uni:name>
</uni:lecturer>
<uni:professor rdf:about=“94318”>
<uni:name>David Billington</uni:name>
<uni:email>[email protected]</uni:email>
</uni:professor>

 For one lecturer it only lists the name

 For the other it also lists the email address
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 Optional Patterns (2)

 All lecturers and their email addresses:

SELECT ?name ?email
WHERE
{ ?x rdf:type uni:Lecturer ;
uni:name ?name ;
uni:email ?email .
}
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 Optional Patterns (3)

 The result of the previous query would

be:
?name ?email
David Billington [email protected]

 Grigoris Antoniou is listed as a lecturer,

but he has no e-mail address

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 Optional Patterns (4)

 As a solution we can adapt the query to use

an optional pattern:
SELECT ?name ?email
WHERE
{ ?x rdf:type uni:Lecturer ;
uni:name ?name .
OPTIONAL { x? uni:email ?email }
}
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 Optional Patterns (5)

 The meaning is roughly “give us the names

of lecturers, and if known also their e-mail
address”
 The result looks like this:

?name ?email
Grigoris Antoniou
David Billington [email protected]

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 Summary

 RDF provides a foundation for representing and

processing metadata
 RDF has a graph-based data model
 RDF has an XML-based syntax to support syntactic
interoperability
– XML and RDF complement each other because RDF
supports semantic interoperability
 RDF has a decentralized philosophy and allows
incremental building of knowledge, and its sharing
and reuse

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 Summary (2)

 RDF is domain-independent
- RDF Schema provides a mechanism for describing specific
domains
 RDF Schema is a primitive ontology language
– It offers certain modelling primitives with fixed meaning
 Key concepts of RDF Schema are class, subclass
relations, property, subproperty relations, and
domain and range restrictions
 There exist query languages for RDF and RDFS,
including SPARQL

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 Points for Discussion in Subsequent
Chapters

 RDF Schema is quite primitive as a

modelling language for the Web
 Many desirable modelling primitives are
missing
 Therefore we need an ontology layer on top
of RDF and RDF Schema

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