The temporal representation and reasoning of complex events

This paper introduces a formalization of complex events. In particular, a formalism is presented to represent intentional and causal events in narrative contexts, and in their mechanisms of composition. Complex events have been defined through classes of a formal ontology that has been called the Ontology of Complex Events (OntoCE). This approach has allowed for the applications (reuse) of existing axiomatizations belonging to a large repertoire of temporal reasoning techniques and, the definition of new axiomatizations presented and discussed in this work. The focus in this work has been placed on three particular temporal aspects: the analysis of consistency, the discovery of new temporal relations in a knowledge base of events, and the causal reasoning in narrative contexts.