![](bg6.png)
relational to object-oriented), the constructs (e.g.
table, class) of each model are mapped onto the set
of constructs of a more abstract model, the
supermodel. A set of transformations is applied,
within the supermodel, to the set of constructs that
originated from the source model, in order to
transform them into constructs that can be mapped
into the target model. At the end, the resulting
constructs are mapped from the supermodel back
into those of the target model. Such an approach is
highly flexible as of the set of models and constructs
that it can handle. Changes in the models do not
require changes in the applications that perform
those mappings. Such an approach has not been
applied to map between reference models.
(Martínez-Costa 2008) followed similar ideas but
using software engineering principles instead of
using database techniques.
Finally, as outlined in Section 3, the results
history of previous alignment tasks should also be
used to improve the quality and the automation of
future alignments. Given the current trend (Chung
2007) towards cooperation between communities of
users with similar interests, and given the
community-orientated nature of archetypes, it is
clear that the alignment history between archetypes
should be a resource of such a community. It will be
investigated how alignments between archetypes
developed and used on several sites could be shared
and reused by other sites. These alignments
represent the understanding of all these archetypes
(ontologies), and their equivalences, from the point
of view of the different researchers involved in each
of these mappings. This cumulative knowledge will
be useful when new alignments are to be performed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research has jointly been funded by the Ramon
y Cajal and the Jose Castillejo (JC2007-00050)
programmes of the Spanish Ministry for Science and
Innovation, and the EHRland project funded by Irish
Health Information and Quality Authority.
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