Terminology

Term	Definition
Component	See Pathway. The term Component which was used in our earlier ontological research has been replaced with the term Pathway.
Dimension	A logical, semantic, taxonomic axis of a problem space. The taxonomies of the dimensions of a problem together define the problem space in a natural language. A dimension may have sub-dimensions. The dimensions of a problem space must comprehensively encapsulate that space. The name/label of a dimension denotes its constituent elements.
Element	A member of a taxonomy constituting a dimension. An element may have sub-elements, sub-sub-elements, etc. in a hierarchy. The elements denote the terminology of the problem space. An element may include many synonymous connotations in a problem space. The constituent elements express a dimension.
Monad Map	A composite (graphical and numerical) visualization of the occurrence of the elements of an ontology in a corpus of documents about the problem. The documents may be research articles, policy papers, practice guidelines, and others. The map highlights the ‘bright’ spots in the corpus that have been frequently mentioned, the ‘light’ spots that have been infrequently mentioned, and the ‘blind/blank’ spots that have been overlooked or are logically infeasible. A visual representation of the monad map envisioned, designed, and developed jointly by Dr Arkalgud Ramaprasad and Dr Thant Syn.
Ontology	A semantically interpretable visual organization of the dimensions of a problem space. It organizes the terminologies and taxonomies of the problem/domain space clearly, concisely, and comprehensively. It represents the combinatorial complexity of a problem systemically and enables analysis of all the pathways systematically in a natural language. It encapsulates the core logic of the problem. A visual representation of the ontology envisioned, designed, and developed jointly by Dr Arkalgud Ramaprasad and Dr Thant Syn.
Ontological Framework/Theory	A framework expressed as an ontology with the power to describe, explain, predict, and control the dynamics of a problem. It is a theory of the problem.
Pathway	A concatenation of individual elements from each dimension of an ontology with connecting words/phrases forming a natural-language sentence that denotes a logical facet of the problem. The connections may be lateral across dimensions, vertical within a dimension, or a combination of the two. A logical pathway may have multiple connotations—it may be instantiated empirically in many ways. All logical pathways in an ontology may not be empirically instantiable.
Taxonomy	An ordered set or hierarchical classification of related terms of a problem space that constitutes a dimension of the problem. The elements of a taxonomy of a dimension for a problem must be reasonably mutually exclusive and exhaustive. The order of the elements may be logical, symmetrical, nominal, ordinal, or scaled based on the properties of the denoted dimension.
Theme Map	A color-coded, graphical visualization of the co-occurrence of the elements of an ontology in a corpus of documents about the problem. The documents may be research articles, policy papers, practice guidelines, and others. The map visually highlights the pathways or segments of pathways based on the co-occurrence of the constituent elements in the corpus. It depicts the primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary themes in the corpus. The quinary theme is the absent theme—the absent pathways and their segments. A visual representation of the theme map envisioned, designed, and developed jointly by Dr Arkalgud Ramaprasad and Dr Thant Syn.