Instance-Based Query Answering with Semantic Knowledge Bases

A procedure founded in instance-based learning is presented, for performing a form of analogical reasoning on knowledge bases expressed in a wide range of ontology languages. The procedure exploits a novel semi-distance measure for individuals, that is based on their semantics w.r.t. a number of dimensions corresponding to a committee of features represented by concept descriptions. The procedure can answer by analogy to class’membership queries on the grounds of the classification of a number of training instances (the nearest ones w.r.t. the semi-distance measure). Particularly, it may also predict assertions that are not logically entailed by the knowledge base. In the experimentation, where we compare the procedure to a logical reasoner, we show that it can be quite accurate and augment the scope of its applicability, outperforming previous prototypes that adopted other semantic measures.