Ontological Concepts and Taxonomies for Nano World

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to provide a detailed overview of the methods of indexing and categorizing data generated to solve problems in a complex and multifaceted field of knowledge related to the application of nanotechnology. Analysis of the capabilities and restrictions of various categorization methods are applied to the issues of the subject field, starting with simple classification schemes and up to high level ontologies. The content of integrating methods and approaches developed in many natural sciences is considered: life science, chemistry, material science, etc. The main restriction of the currently applicable ontologies and vocabularies has been identified — a primary focus on the tasks of bio- and medical informatics. It is shown that the way to overcome them includes the adoption of a new system for describing nanomaterials proposed in the CODATA-VAMAS international project. The overview shows how the extreme broadness and continuous evolution of the subject field are reflected in the means of data categorization. It is shown that the most developed of them can serve as a basis for building a knowledge base. The prospective tasks of nanoinformatics are stated required to be solved to cover fundamentally unlimited classes of materials, their properties and fields of application.