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36 pages, 614 KB

Open AccessArticle

Iterative/Semelfactive = Collective/Singulative? Parallels in Slavic

by Marcin Wągiel

Languages 2025, 10(9), 203; https://doi.org/10.3390/languages10090203 - 22 Aug 2025

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In this paper, I will discuss a topic concerning part–whole structures in the nominal and verbal domain. Specifically, I will address the question of whether there is a universal mechanism for the individuation of entities and events by exploring parallels between singulatives and semelfactives in Slavic. Singulatives are derived unit nouns, whereas semelfactives are punctual verbs that describe a brief event which culminates by returning to the initial state. Cross-linguistically, singulative morphology often alternates with collective marking, whereas semelfactives alternate with iteratives. Collectives and iteratives describe homogenous groupings of entities and events, respectively. From a conceptual perspective, both singulatives and semelfactives individuate to the effect of singular bounded unit reference and in the literature, the parallel between the mass count/distinction and aspect has often been drawn. In Slavic, singulative and semelfactive morphologies share a component; specifically, both markers involve a nasal -n and a vocalic component, e.g., compare Russian gorox ‘peas (as a mass)’ ∼goroš-in-a ‘a pea’ and prygať ‘to jump (repeatedly)’ ∼ pryg-nu-ť ‘to jump once’. I will argue that the singulative -in and semelfactive -nu are complex and both involve the very same -n, which denotes a declustering atomizer modeled in mereotopological terms. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Aspectual Architecture of the Slavic Verb: Analogies in Different Languages and Other Grammatical Domains)

44 pages, 11002 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Logical–Algebraic Approach to Revising Formal Ontologies: Application in Mereotopology

by Gonzalo A. Aranda-Corral, Joaquín Borrego-Díaz, Antonia M. Chávez-González and Nataliya M. Gulayeva

AI 2024, 5(2), 746-789; https://doi.org/10.3390/ai5020039 - 29 May 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2758

Abstract

In ontology engineering, reusing (or extending) ontologies poses a significant challenge, requiring revising their ontological commitments and ensuring accurate representation and coherent reasoning. This study aims to address two main objectives. Firstly, it seeks to develop a methodological approach supporting ontology extension practices. Secondly, it aims to demonstrate its feasibility by applying the approach to the case of extending qualitative spatial reasoning (QSR) theories. Key questions involve effectively interpreting spatial extensions while maintaining consistency. The framework systematically analyzes extensions of formal ontologies, providing a reconstruction of a qualitative calculus. Reconstructed qualitative calculus demonstrates improved interpretative capabilities and reasoning accuracy. The research underscores the importance of methodological approaches when extending formal ontologies, with spatial interpretation serving as a valuable case study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section AI Systems: Theory and Applications)

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29 pages, 1936 KB

Open AccessArticle

Extension of RCC*-9 to Complex and Three-Dimensional Features and Its Reasoning System

by Eliseo Clementini and Anthony G. Cohn

ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2024, 13(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi13010025 - 10 Jan 2024

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3630

Abstract

RCC*-9 is a mereotopological qualitative spatial calculus for simple lines and regions. RCC*-9 can be easily expressed in other existing models for topological relations and thus can be viewed as a candidate for being a “bridge” model among various approaches. In this paper, we present a revised and extended version of RCC*-9, which can handle non-simple geometric features, such as multipolygons, multipolylines, and multipoints, and 3D features, such as polyhedrons and lower-dimensional features embedded in

R^{3}

. We also run experiments to compute RCC*-9 relations among very large random datasets of spatial features to demonstrate the JEPD properties of the calculus and also to compute the composition tables for spatial reasoning with the calculus. Full article

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50 pages, 9859 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Phase-Field Perspective on Mereotopology

by Georg J. Schmitz

AppliedMath 2022, 2(1), 54-103; https://doi.org/10.3390/appliedmath2010004 - 17 Jan 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6173

Abstract

Mereotopology is a concept rooted in analytical philosophy. The phase-field concept is based on mathematical physics and finds applications in materials engineering. The two concepts seem to be disjoint at a first glance. While mereotopology qualitatively describes static relations between things, such as x isConnected y (topology) or x isPartOf y (mereology) by first order logic and Boolean algebra, the phase-field concept describes the geometric shape of things and its dynamic evolution by drawing on a scalar field. The geometric shape of any thing is defined by its boundaries to one or more neighboring things. The notion and description of boundaries thus provides a bridge between mereotopology and the phase-field concept. The present article aims to relate phase-field expressions describing boundaries and especially triple junctions to their Boolean counterparts in mereotopology and contact algebra. An introductory overview on mereotopology is followed by an introduction to the phase-field concept already indicating its first relations to mereotopology. Mereotopological axioms and definitions are then discussed in detail from a phase-field perspective. A dedicated section introduces and discusses further notions of the isConnected relation emerging from the phase-field perspective like isSpatiallyConnected, isTemporallyConnected, isPhysicallyConnected, isPathConnected, and wasConnected. Such relations introduce dynamics and thus physics into mereotopology, as transitions from isDisconnected to isPartOf can be described. Full article

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17 pages, 1337 KB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Mereotopological Correction of Segmentation Errors in Histological Imaging

by David A. Randell, Antony Galton, Shereen Fouad, Hisham Mehanna and Gabriel Landini

J. Imaging 2017, 3(4), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/jimaging3040063 - 12 Dec 2017

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5605

Abstract

In this paper we describe mereotopological methods to programmatically correct image segmentation errors, in particular those that fail to fulfil expected spatial relations in digitised histological scenes. The proposed approach exploits a spatial logic called discrete mereotopology to integrate a number of qualitative spatial reasoning and constraint satisfaction methods into imaging procedures. Eight mereotopological relations defined on binary region pairs are represented as nodes in a set of 20 directed graphs, where the node-to-node graph edges encode the possible transitions between the spatial relations after set-theoretic and discrete topological operations on the regions are applied. The graphs allow one to identify sequences of operations that applied to regions of a given relation, and enables one to resegment an image that fails to conform to a valid histological model into one that does. Examples of the methods are presented using images of H&E-stained human carcinoma cell line cultures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from “MIUA 2017”)

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