Title: TCMSearch: an in-use semantic web infrastructure for traditional Chinese medicine

Authors: Tong Yu; Meng Cui; Haiyan Li; Shuo Yang; Jinghua Li; Huajun Chen; Peiqin Gu; Yu Zhang

Addresses: Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ' Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ' Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ' Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ' Institute of Information on Traditional Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medicine Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ' Department of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China ' Department of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China ' School of Information Science and Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310018, China

Abstract: In this paper, we present an information infrastructure named TCMSearch, which integrates a plurality of databases in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) domain and provides a unified view of TCM knowledge assets through a web portal. TCMSearch was developed based on the Semantic Web, which refers to a bundle of technologies enabling a higher level of web intelligence, including resource description framework (RDF), expressive ontologies, web-accessible repositories, query and reasoning engines, and information extraction techniques. At the foundation of TCMSearch is the unified traditional Chinese medicine language system (UTCMLS), a large-scale TCM ontology that achieves a comprehensive coverage of the TCM domain. TCMSearch can serve TCM practitioners with knowledge assets covering a broad range of topics including basic theories, diagnostics, diseases, therapeutics, acupuncture and moxibustion, medicinal treatments and so on. It demonstrates the advantages of the Semantic Web in preserving cultural diversity and promoting cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary dialogues.

Keywords: TCM; traditional Chinese medicine; semantic web; LOD; linked open data; ontology; information infrastructure; database integration; web portals; cultural diversity; culture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFIPM.2013.057389

International Journal of Functional Informatics and Personalised Medicine, 2013 Vol.4 No.2, pp.103 - 125

Received: 15 Dec 2012
Accepted: 24 Mar 2013

Published online: 29 Oct 2013 *

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