Representing Transitive Propagation in OWL

Transitive propagation along properties can be modelled in various ways in the OWL description logic. Doing so allows existing description logic reasoners based on the tableaux algorithm to make inferences based on such transitive constructs. This is espectially useful for medical knowledge bases, where such constructs are common. This paper compares, contrasts and evaluates a variety of different methods for simulating transitive propagation: property subsumption, classic SEP triples and adapted SEP triples. These modelling techniques remove the need to extending the OWL language with additional operators in order to express the transitive propagation. Other approaches require an extended tableaux reasoner or first-order logic prover, as well as a modification of the OWL standard. The adapted SEP triples methodology is ultimately recommended as the most reliable modelling technique.