The Research On The Method Of Ontology-based Construction Of The Thesaurus Of Traditional Chinese Medicine Classics

Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history and a vast collection of ancient literature.In the past 20 years,the systematization and researching of Chinese classics have been transformed gradually from the traditional manual systematization to digital resource construction.Based on the achievements of traditional systematization of ancient literature,the contradiction between the preservation and the use of ancient books has been intelligently solved by the digitalization of ancient Chinese medical classics. The development of the databases and knowledge base of traditional Chinese medicine classics have significantly promoted the efficiency and convenience of the search and the use of ancient literatures.However,because of the lack of the semantic description with a uniform mechanism in the information resources of the knowledge base of TCM classics,it is very difficult for the computer program to correctly understand the semantics,and more difficult for the users to find the resources correctly and quickly.Therefore,a kind of semantic management tools is badly needed by the knowledge base of the traditional Chinese medicine classics in order to truly achieve its knowledge discovery and knowledge reuse.The construction of the thesaurus of Traditional Chinese Medicine classics which is based on ontology provides an effective way to resolve this problem.Based on the investigation into the organization of the information resources of ancient Chinese medicine classics,this paper offers a systematic analysis of the organizational system and expression method of knowledge,and makes an exposition of the basic theory and research progress of thesaurus and ontology.By making good use of the research results of traditional knowledge classification offered by the Research Group of TCM Knowledge Protection and using the theory of ontology for reference,The classification table of TCM and the system of conception relationship are based on the computer knowledge expression method of TCM classics put forward by Prof.Liu Changhua which is based on "the knowledge element" With the top-down approach,the classification table of TCM and the system of conception relationship which are suited to the construction of knowledge base are compiled and be used as the foundation of the thesaurus of TCM classics which can provide the themes integration of classification.Then select different versions of Precious Essential Formulary for Emergency(PEFE) in different dynasties by the bottom-up approach.The principle of extraction of concept of word is made on the basis of the indexing and analysis in the level of knowledge element made by finishing (systematization)experts on ancient classics of TCM,and by using theories and methods of information science,statistics,philology,TCM,computer and information science and semantics,etc.,to establish the model of concept of the word for Precious Essential Formulary for Emergency(PEFE) on the foundation of the knowledge classification table of ancient classics of TCM.An in-depth study of the semantic structure and relationships of the knowledge of formulary, Chinese herbs,consultation,syndrome,etiology and pathogenesis and formal expression and visualization of the display of OWL are needed in order to provide technical supports for the construction of the huge thesaurus under computer supported environment,and offer the foundation for the transformation from thesaurus to ontology.Finally,this paper draws the conclusion:the thesaurus of TCM classics which is based on ontology differs from the strict standard,static,and linear traditional ones.It is the thesaurus between ontology and traditional ones, which is open,scalable,and dynamic natural language with mesh semantic relations.