Probabilistic Modeling and OWL: A User Oriented Introduction to P-SHIQ(D)

This paper presents a non-technical, user oriented introduction into P-SHIQ(D)— an expressive formalism that allows modelers to incorporate probabilistic background knowledge in OWL ontologies. Instead of providing formal description of the language, its syntax, semantics, and reasoning procedures, we explain the basic principles, potentially useful practices and pitfalls of probabilistic modeling. The goal of the paper is to present P-SHIQ(D) and the reasoning tools, such as Pronto, in an accessible form to encourage their usage in practical applications. We describe features and benefits of P-SHIQ(D) using examples from the HealthCare and Life Sciences domain including the prototype of a probabilistic ontology for breast cancer risk assessment.