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cs/0206001
Neural Net Model for Featured Word Extraction
cs.NE cs.NI
Search engines perform the task of retrieving information related to the user-supplied query words. This task has two parts; one is finding "featured words" which describe an article best and the other is finding a match among these words to user-defined search terms. There are two main independent approaches to achieve this task. The first one, using the concepts of semantics, has been implemented partially. For more details see another paper of Marko et al., 2002. The second approach is reported in this paper. It is a theoretical model based on using Neural Network (NN). Instead of using keywords or reading from the first few lines from papers/articles, the present model gives emphasis on extracting "featured words" from an article. Obviously we propose to exclude prepositions, articles and so on, that is, English words like "of, the, are, so, therefore, " etc. from such a list. A neural model is taken with its nodes pre-assigned energies. Whenever a match is found with featured words and userdefined search words, the node is fired and jumps to a higher energy. This firing continues until the model attains a steady energy level and total energy is now calculated. Clearly, higher match will generate higher energy; so on the basis of total energy, a ranking is done to the article indicating degree of relevance to the user's interest. Another important feature of the proposed model is incorporating a semantic module to refine the search words; like finding association among search words, etc. In this manner, information retrieval can be improved markedly.
cs/0206003
Handling Defeasibilities in Action Domains
cs.AI
Representing defeasibility is an important issue in common sense reasoning. In reasoning about action and change, this issue becomes more difficult because domain and action related defeasible information may conflict with general inertia rules. Furthermore, different types of defeasible information may also interfere with each other during the reasoning. In this paper, we develop a prioritized logic programming approach to handle defeasibilities in reasoning about action. In particular, we propose three action languages {\cal AT}^{0}, {\cal AT}^{1} and {\cal AT}^{2} which handle three types of defeasibilities in action domains named defeasible constraints, defeasible observations and actions with defeasible and abnormal effects respectively. Each language with a higher superscript can be viewed as an extension of the language with a lower superscript. These action languages inherit the simple syntax of {\cal A} language but their semantics is developed in terms of transition systems where transition functions are defined based on prioritized logic programs. By illustrating various examples, we show that our approach eventually provides a powerful mechanism to handle various defeasibilities in temporal prediction and postdiction. We also investigate semantic properties of these three action languages and characterize classes of action domains that present more desirable solutions in reasoning about action within the underlying action languages.
cs/0206004
Mining All Non-Derivable Frequent Itemsets
cs.DB cs.AI
Recent studies on frequent itemset mining algorithms resulted in significant performance improvements. However, if the minimal support threshold is set too low, or the data is highly correlated, the number of frequent itemsets itself can be prohibitively large. To overcome this problem, recently several proposals have been made to construct a concise representation of the frequent itemsets, instead of mining all frequent itemsets. The main goal of this paper is to identify redundancies in the set of all frequent itemsets and to exploit these redundancies in order to reduce the result of a mining operation. We present deduction rules to derive tight bounds on the support of candidate itemsets. We show how the deduction rules allow for constructing a minimal representation for all frequent itemsets. We also present connections between our proposal and recent proposals for concise representations and we give the results of experiments on real-life datasets that show the effectiveness of the deduction rules. In fact, the experiments even show that in many cases, first mining the concise representation, and then creating the frequent itemsets from this representation outperforms existing frequent set mining algorithms.
cs/0206006
Robust Feature Selection by Mutual Information Distributions
cs.AI cs.LG
Mutual information is widely used in artificial intelligence, in a descriptive way, to measure the stochastic dependence of discrete random variables. In order to address questions such as the reliability of the empirical value, one must consider sample-to-population inferential approaches. This paper deals with the distribution of mutual information, as obtained in a Bayesian framework by a second-order Dirichlet prior distribution. The exact analytical expression for the mean and an analytical approximation of the variance are reported. Asymptotic approximations of the distribution are proposed. The results are applied to the problem of selecting features for incremental learning and classification of the naive Bayes classifier. A fast, newly defined method is shown to outperform the traditional approach based on empirical mutual information on a number of real data sets. Finally, a theoretical development is reported that allows one to efficiently extend the above methods to incomplete samples in an easy and effective way.
cs/0206007
Using the Annotated Bibliography as a Resource for Indicative Summarization
cs.CL cs.DL
We report on a language resource consisting of 2000 annotated bibliography entries, which is being analyzed as part of our research on indicative document summarization. We show how annotated bibliographies cover certain aspects of summarization that have not been well-covered by other summary corpora, and motivate why they constitute an important form to study for information retrieval. We detail our methodology for collecting the corpus, and overview our document feature markup that we introduced to facilitate summary analysis. We present the characteristics of the corpus, methods of collection, and show its use in finding the distribution of types of information included in indicative summaries and their relative ordering within the summaries.
cs/0206008
Computer modeling of feelings and emotions: a quantitative neural network model of the feeling-of-knowing
cs.AI cs.NE q-bio.NC q-bio.QM
The first quantitative neural network model of feelings and emotions is proposed on the base of available data on their neuroscience and evolutionary biology nature, and on a neural network human memory model which admits distinct description of conscious and unconscious mental processes in a time dependent manner. As an example, proposed model is applied to quantitative description of the feeling of knowing.
cs/0206013
High-order fundamental and general solutions of convection-diffusion equation and their applications with boundary particle method
cs.CE cs.CG
In this study, we presented the high-order fundamental solutions and general solutions of convection-diffusion equation. To demonstrate their efficacy, we applied the high-order general solutions to the boundary particle method (BPM) for the solution of some inhomogeneous convection-diffusion problems, where the BPM is a new truly boundary-only meshfree collocation method based on multiple reciprocity principle. For the sake of completeness, the BPM is also briefly described here.
cs/0206014
A Method for Open-Vocabulary Speech-Driven Text Retrieval
cs.CL
While recent retrieval techniques do not limit the number of index terms, out-of-vocabulary (OOV) words are crucial in speech recognition. Aiming at retrieving information with spoken queries, we fill the gap between speech recognition and text retrieval in terms of the vocabulary size. Given a spoken query, we generate a transcription and detect OOV words through speech recognition. We then correspond detected OOV words to terms indexed in a target collection to complete the transcription, and search the collection for documents relevant to the completed transcription. We show the effectiveness of our method by way of experiments.
cs/0206015
Japanese/English Cross-Language Information Retrieval: Exploration of Query Translation and Transliteration
cs.CL
Cross-language information retrieval (CLIR), where queries and documents are in different languages, has of late become one of the major topics within the information retrieval community. This paper proposes a Japanese/English CLIR system, where we combine a query translation and retrieval modules. We currently target the retrieval of technical documents, and therefore the performance of our system is highly dependent on the quality of the translation of technical terms. However, the technical term translation is still problematic in that technical terms are often compound words, and thus new terms are progressively created by combining existing base words. In addition, Japanese often represents loanwords based on its special phonogram. Consequently, existing dictionaries find it difficult to achieve sufficient coverage. To counter the first problem, we produce a Japanese/English dictionary for base words, and translate compound words on a word-by-word basis. We also use a probabilistic method to resolve translation ambiguity. For the second problem, we use a transliteration method, which corresponds words unlisted in the base word dictionary to their phonetic equivalents in the target language. We evaluate our system using a test collection for CLIR, and show that both the compound word translation and transliteration methods improve the system performance.
cs/0206016
Distance function wavelets - Part III: "Exotic" transforms and series
cs.CE cs.CG
Part III of the reports consists of various unconventional distance function wavelets (DFW). The dimension and the order of partial differential equation (PDE) are first used as a substitute of the scale parameter in the DFW transforms and series, especially with the space and time-space potential problems. It is noted that the recursive multiple reciprocity formulation is the DFW series. The Green second identity is used to avoid the singularity of the zero-order fundamental solution in creating the DFW series. The fundamental solutions of various composite PDEs are found very flexible and efficient to handle a borad range of problems. We also discuss the underlying connections between the crucial concepts of dimension, scale and the order of PDE through the analysis of dissipative acoustic wave propagation. The shape parameter of the potential problems is also employed as the "scale parameter" to create the non-orthogonal DFW. This paper also briefly discusses and conjectures the DFW correspondences of a variety of coordinate variable transforms and series. Practically important, the anisotropic and inhomogeneous DFW's are developed by using the geodesic distance variable. The DFW and the related basis functions are also used in making the kernel distance sigmoidal functions, which are potentially useful in the artificial neural network and machine learning. As or even worse than the preceding two reports, this study scarifies mathematical rigor and in turn unfetter imagination. Most results are intuitively obtained without rigorous analysis. Follow-up research is still under way. The paper is intended to inspire more research into this promising area.
cs/0206017
The Prioritized Inductive Logic Programs
cs.AI cs.LG
The limit behavior of inductive logic programs has not been explored, but when considering incremental or online inductive learning algorithms which usually run ongoingly, such behavior of the programs should be taken into account. An example is given to show that some inductive learning algorithm may not be correct in the long run if the limit behavior is not considered. An inductive logic program is convergent if given an increasing sequence of example sets, the program produces a corresponding sequence of the Horn logic programs which has the set-theoretic limit, and is limit-correct if the limit of the produced sequence of the Horn logic programs is correct with respect to the limit of the sequence of the example sets. It is shown that the GOLEM system is not limit-correct. Finally, a limit-correct inductive logic system, called the prioritized GOLEM system, is proposed as a solution.
cs/0206023
Relational Association Rules: getting WARMeR
cs.DB cs.AI
In recent years, the problem of association rule mining in transactional data has been well studied. We propose to extend the discovery of classical association rules to the discovery of association rules of conjunctive queries in arbitrary relational data, inspired by the WARMR algorithm, developed by Dehaspe and Toivonen, that discovers association rules over a limited set of conjunctive queries. Conjunctive query evaluation in relational databases is well understood, but still poses some great challenges when approached from a discovery viewpoint in which patterns are generated and evaluated with respect to some well defined search space and pruning operators.
cs/0206026
Interleaved semantic interpretation in environment-based parsing
cs.CL cs.HC
This paper extends a polynomial-time parsing algorithm that resolves structural ambiguity in input to a speech-based user interface by calculating and comparing the denotations of rival constituents, given some model of the interfaced application environment (Schuler 2001). The algorithm is extended to incorporate a full set of logical operators, including quantifiers and conjunctions, into this calculation without increasing the complexity of the overall algorithm beyond polynomial time, both in terms of the length of the input and the number of entities in the environment model.
cs/0206027
Behaviour-based Knowledge Systems: An Epigenetic Path from Behaviour to Knowledge
cs.AI cs.AR cs.NE
In this paper we expose the theoretical background underlying our current research. This consists in the development of behaviour-based knowledge systems, for closing the gaps between behaviour-based and knowledge-based systems, and also between the understandings of the phenomena they model. We expose the requirements and stages for developing behaviour-based knowledge systems and discuss their limits. We believe that these are necessary conditions for the development of higher order cognitive capacities, in artificial and natural cognitive systems.
cs/0206028
Knowledge management for enterprises (Wissensmanagement fuer Unternehmen)
cs.IR cs.AI
Although knowledge is one of the most valuable resource of enterprises and an important production and competition factor, this intellectual potential is often used (or maintained) only inadequate by the enterprises. Therefore, in a globalised and growing market the optimal usage of existing knowledge represents a key factor for enterprises of the future. Here, knowledge management systems should engage facilitating. Because geographically far distributed establishments cause, however, a distributed system, this paper should uncover the spectrum connected with it and present a possible basic approach which is based on ontologies and modern, platform independent technologies. Last but not least this attempt, as well as general questions of the knowledge management, are discussed.
cs/0206030
A Probabilistic Method for Analyzing Japanese Anaphora Integrating Zero Pronoun Detection and Resolution
cs.CL
This paper proposes a method to analyze Japanese anaphora, in which zero pronouns (omitted obligatory cases) are used to refer to preceding entities (antecedents). Unlike the case of general coreference resolution, zero pronouns have to be detected prior to resolution because they are not expressed in discourse. Our method integrates two probability parameters to perform zero pronoun detection and resolution in a single framework. The first parameter quantifies the degree to which a given case is a zero pronoun. The second parameter quantifies the degree to which a given entity is the antecedent for a detected zero pronoun. To compute these parameters efficiently, we use corpora with/without annotations of anaphoric relations. We show the effectiveness of our method by way of experiments.
cs/0206034
Applying a Hybrid Query Translation Method to Japanese/English Cross-Language Patent Retrieval
cs.CL
This paper applies an existing query translation method to cross-language patent retrieval. In our method, multiple dictionaries are used to derive all possible translations for an input query, and collocational statistics are used to resolve translation ambiguity. We used Japanese/English parallel patent abstracts to perform comparative experiments, where our method outperformed a simple dictionary-based query translation method, and achieved 76% of monolingual retrieval in terms of average precision.
cs/0206035
PRIME: A System for Multi-lingual Patent Retrieval
cs.CL
Given the growing number of patents filed in multiple countries, users are interested in retrieving patents across languages. We propose a multi-lingual patent retrieval system, which translates a user query into the target language, searches a multilingual database for patents relevant to the query, and improves the browsing efficiency by way of machine translation and clustering. Our system also extracts new translations from patent families consisting of comparable patents, to enhance the translation dictionary.
cs/0206036
Language Modeling for Multi-Domain Speech-Driven Text Retrieval
cs.CL
We report experimental results associated with speech-driven text retrieval, which facilitates retrieving information in multiple domains with spoken queries. Since users speak contents related to a target collection, we produce language models used for speech recognition based on the target collection, so as to improve both the recognition and retrieval accuracy. Experiments using existing test collections combined with dictated queries showed the effectiveness of our method.
cs/0206037
Speech-Driven Text Retrieval: Using Target IR Collections for Statistical Language Model Adaptation in Speech Recognition
cs.CL
Speech recognition has of late become a practical technology for real world applications. Aiming at speech-driven text retrieval, which facilitates retrieving information with spoken queries, we propose a method to integrate speech recognition and retrieval methods. Since users speak contents related to a target collection, we adapt statistical language models used for speech recognition based on the target collection, so as to improve both the recognition and retrieval accuracy. Experiments using existing test collections combined with dictated queries showed the effectiveness of our method.
cs/0206039
Hidden Markov model segmentation of hydrological and enviromental time series
cs.CE cs.NA math.NA nlin.CD physics.data-an
Motivated by Hubert's segmentation procedure we discuss the application of hidden Markov models (HMM) to the segmentation of hydrological and enviromental time series. We use a HMM algorithm which segments time series of several hundred terms in a few seconds and is computationally feasible for even longer time series. The segmentation algorithm computes the Maximum Likelihood segmentation by use of an expectation / maximization iteration. We rigorously prove algorithm convergence and use numerical experiments, involving temperature and river discharge time series, to show that the algorithm usually converges to the globally optimal segmentation. The relation of the proposed algorithm to Hubert's segmentation procedure is also discussed.
cs/0206041
Anticipatory Guidance of Plot
cs.AI
An anticipatory system for guiding plot development in interactive narratives is described. The executable model is a finite automaton that provides the implemented system with a look-ahead. The identification of undesirable future states in the model is used to guide the player, in a transparent manner. In this way, too radical twists of the plot can be avoided. Since the player participates in the development of the plot, such guidance can have many forms, depending on the environment of the player, on the behavior of the other players, and on the means of player interaction. We present a design method for interactive narratives which produces designs suitable for the implementation of anticipatory mechanisms. Use of the method is illustrated by application to our interactive computer game Kaktus.
cs/0207001
National Infrastructure Contingencies: Survey of Wireless Technology Support
cs.DC cs.CE
In modern society, the flow of information has become the lifeblood of commerce and social interaction. This movement of data supports most aspects of the United States economy in particular, as well as, serving as the vehicle upon which governmental agencies react to social conditions. In addition, it is understood that the continuance of efficient and reliable data communications during times of national or regional disaster remains a priority in the United States. The coordination of emergency response and area revitalization / rehabilitation efforts between local, state, and federal emergency response is increasingly necessary as agencies strive to work more seamlessly between the affected organizations. Additionally, international support is often made available to react to such adverse conditions as wildfire suppression scenarios and therefore require the efficient management of workforce and associated logistics support. It is through the examination of the issues related to un-tethered data transmission during infrastructure contingencies that responders may best tailor a unified approach to the rapid recovery after disasters occur.
cs/0207002
Using eigenvectors of the bigram graph to infer morpheme identity
cs.CL
This paper describes the results of some experiments exploring statistical methods to infer syntactic behavior of words and morphemes from a raw corpus in an unsupervised fashion. It shares certain points in common with Brown et al (1992) and work that has grown out of that: it employs statistical techniques to analyze syntactic behavior based on what words occur adjacent to a given word. However, we use an eigenvector decomposition of a nearest-neighbor graph to produce a two-dimensional rendering of the words of a corpus in which words of the same syntactic category tend to form neighborhoods. We exploit this technique for extending the value of automatic learning of morphology. In particular, we look at the suffixes derived from a corpus by unsupervised learning of morphology, and we ask which of these suffixes have a consistent syntactic function (e.g., in English, -tion is primarily a mark of nouns, but -s marks both noun plurals and 3rd person present on verbs), and we determine that this method works well for this task.
cs/0207003
Analysis of Titles and Readers For Title Generation Centered on the Readers
cs.CL
The title of a document has two roles, to give a compact summary and to lead the reader to read the document. Conventional title generation focuses on finding key expressions from the author's wording in the document to give a compact summary and pays little attention to the reader's interest. To make the title play its second role properly, it is indispensable to clarify the content (``what to say'') and wording (``how to say'') of titles that are effective to attract the target reader's interest. In this article, we first identify typical content and wording of titles aimed at general readers in a comparative study between titles of technical papers and headlines rewritten for newspapers. Next, we describe the results of a questionnaire survey on the effects of the content and wording of titles on the reader's interest. The survey of general and knowledgeable readers shows both common and different tendencies in interest.
cs/0207005
Efficient Deep Processing of Japanese
cs.CL
We present a broad coverage Japanese grammar written in the HPSG formalism with MRS semantics. The grammar is created for use in real world applications, such that robustness and performance issues play an important role. It is connected to a POS tagging and word segmentation tool. This grammar is being developed in a multilingual context, requiring MRS structures that are easily comparable across languages.
cs/0207008
Agent Programming with Declarative Goals
cs.AI cs.PL
A long and lasting problem in agent research has been to close the gap between agent logics and agent programming frameworks. The main reason for this problem of establishing a link between agent logics and agent programming frameworks is identified and explained by the fact that agent programming frameworks have not incorporated the concept of a `declarative goal'. Instead, such frameworks have focused mainly on plans or `goals-to-do' instead of the end goals to be realised which are also called `goals-to-be'. In this paper, a new programming language called GOAL is introduced which incorporates such declarative goals. The notion of a `commitment strategy' - one of the main theoretical insights due to agent logics, which explains the relation between beliefs and goals - is used to construct a computational semantics for GOAL. Finally, a proof theory for proving properties of GOAL agents is introduced. Thus, we offer a complete theory of agent programming in the sense that our theory provides both for a programming framework and a programming logic for such agents. An example program is proven correct by using this programming logic.
cs/0207010
Symmetric boundary knot method
cs.CE cs.CG
The boundary knot method (BKM) is a recent boundary-type radial basis function (RBF) collocation scheme for general PDEs. Like the method of fundamental solution (MFS), the RBF is employed to approximate the inhomogeneous terms via the dual reciprocity principle. Unlike the MFS, the method uses a nonsingular general solution instead of a singular fundamental solution to evaluate the homogeneous solution so as to circumvent the controversial artificial boundary outside the physical domain. The BKM is meshfree, superconvergent, integration free, very easy to learn and program. The original BKM, however, loses symmetricity in the presense of mixed boundary. In this study, by analogy with Hermite RBF interpolation, we developed a symmetric BKM scheme. The accuracy and efficiency of the symmetric BKM are also numerically validated in some 2D and 3D Helmholtz and diffusion reaction problems under complicated geometries.
cs/0207011
Improving Web Database Access Using Decision Diagrams
cs.LO cs.DB
In some areas of management and commerce, especially in Electronic commerce (E-commerce), that are accelerated by advances in Web technologies, it is essential to support the decision making process using formal methods. Among the problems of E-commerce applications: reducing the time of data access so that huge databases can be searched quickly; decreasing the cost of database design ... etc. We present the application of Decision Diagrams design using Information Theory approach to improve database access speeds. We show that such utilization provides systematic and visual ways of applying Decision Making methods to simplify complex Web engineering problems.
cs/0207015
New advances in dual reciprocity and boundary-only RBF methods
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper made some significant advances in the dual reciprocity and boundary-only RBF techniques. The proposed boundary knot method (BKM) is different from the standard boundary element method in a number of important aspects. Namely, it is truly meshless, exponential convergence, integration-free (of course, no singular integration), boundary-only for general problems, and leads to symmetric matrix under certain conditions (able to be extended to general cases after further modified). The BKM also avoids the artificial boundary in the method of fundamental solution. An amazing finding is that the BKM can formulate linear modeling equations for nonlinear partial differential systems with linear boundary conditions. This merit makes it circumvent all perplexing issues in the iteration solution of nonlinear equations. On the other hand, by analogy with Green's second identity, this paper also presents a general solution RBF (GSR) methodology to construct efficient RBFs in the dual reciprocity and domain-type RBF collocation methods. The GSR approach first establishes an explicit relationship between the BEM and RBF itself on the ground of the weighted residual principle. This paper also discusses the RBF convergence and stability problems within the framework of integral equation theory.
cs/0207016
Relationship between boundary integral equation and radial basis function
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper aims to survey our recent work relating to the radial basis function (RBF) from some new views of points. In the first part, we established the RBF on numerical integration analysis based on an intrinsic relationship between the Green's boundary integral representation and RBF. It is found that the kernel function of integral equation is important to create efficient RBF. The fundamental solution RBF (FS-RBF) was presented as a novel strategy constructing operator-dependent RBF. We proposed a conjecture formula featuring the dimension affect on error bound to show the independent-dimension merit of the RBF techniques. We also discussed wavelet RBF, localized RBF schemes, and the influence of node placement on the RBF solution accuracy. The centrosymmetric matrix structure of the RBF interpolation matrix under symmetric node placing is proved. The second part of this paper is concerned with the boundary knot method (BKM), a new boundary-only, meshless, spectral convergent, integration-free RBF collocation technique. The BKM was tested to the Helmholtz, Laplace, linear and nonlinear convection-diffusion problems. In particular, we introduced the response knot-dependent nonsingular general solution to calculate varying-parameter and nonlinear steady convection-diffusion problems very efficiently. By comparing with the multiple dual reciprocity method, we discussed the completeness issue of the BKM. Finally, the nonsingular solutions for some known differential operators were given in appendix. Also we expanded the RBF concepts by introducing time-space RBF for transient problems.
cs/0207017
New Insights in Boundary-only and Domain-type RBF Methods
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper has made some significant advances in the boundary-only and domain-type RBF techniques. The proposed boundary knot method (BKM) is different from the standard boundary element method in a number of important aspects. Namely, it is truly meshless, exponential convergence, integration-free (of course, no singular integration), boundary-only for general problems, and leads to symmetric matrix under certain conditions (able to be extended to general cases after further modified). The BKM also avoids the artificial boundary in the method of fundamental solution. An amazing finding is that the BKM can formulate linear modeling equations for nonlinear partial differential systems with linear boundary conditions. This merit makes it circumvent all perplexing issues in the iteration solution of nonlinear equations. On the other hand, by analogy with Green's second identity, we also presents a general solution RBF (GSR) methodology to construct efficient RBFs in the domain-type RBF collocation method and dual reciprocity method. The GSR approach first establishes an explicit relationship between the BEM and RBF itself on the ground of the potential theory. This paper also discusses some essential issues relating to the RBF computing, which include time-space RBFs, direct and indirect RBF schemes, finite RBF method, and the application of multipole and wavelet to the RBF solution of the PDEs.
cs/0207018
Definitions of distance function in radial basis function approach
cs.CE cs.CG
Very few studies involve how to construct the efficient RBFs by means of problem features. Recently the present author presented general solution RBF (GS-RBF) methodology to create operator-dependent RBFs successfully [1]. On the other hand, the normal radial basis function (RBF) is defined via Euclidean space distance function or the geodesic distance [2]. This purpose of this note is to redefine distance function in conjunction with problem features, which include problem-dependent and time-space distance function.
cs/0207021
Abduction, ASP and Open Logic Programs
cs.AI
Open logic programs and open entailment have been recently proposed as an abstract framework for the verification of incomplete specifications based upon normal logic programs and the stable model semantics. There are obvious analogies between open predicates and abducible predicates. However, despite superficial similarities, there are features of open programs that have no immediate counterpart in the framework of abduction and viceversa. Similarly, open programs cannot be immediately simulated with answer set programming (ASP). In this paper we start a thorough investigation of the relationships between open inference, abduction and ASP. We shall prove that open programs generalize the other two frameworks. The generalized framework suggests interesting extensions of abduction under the generalized stable model semantics. In some cases, we will be able to reduce open inference to abduction and ASP, thereby estimating its computational complexity. At the same time, the aforementioned reduction opens the way to new applications of abduction and ASP.
cs/0207022
What is a Joint Goal? Games with Beliefs and Defeasible Desires
cs.MA cs.GT
In this paper we introduce a qualitative decision and game theory based on belief (B) and desire (D) rules. We show that a group of agents acts as if it is maximizing achieved joint goals.
cs/0207023
Domain-Dependent Knowledge in Answer Set Planning
cs.AI
In this paper we consider three different kinds of domain-dependent control knowledge (temporal, procedural and HTN-based) that are useful in planning. Our approach is declarative and relies on the language of logic programming with answer set semantics (AnsProlog*). AnsProlog* is designed to plan without control knowledge. We show how temporal, procedural and HTN-based control knowledge can be incorporated into AnsProlog* by the modular addition of a small number of domain-dependent rules, without the need to modify the planner. We formally prove the correctness of our planner, both in the absence and presence of the control knowledge. Finally, we perform some initial experimentation that demonstrates the potential reduction in planning time that can be achieved when procedural domain knowledge is used to solve planning problems with large plan length.
cs/0207024
On Concise Encodings of Preferred Extensions
cs.AI cs.CC cs.DS
Much work on argument systems has focussed on preferred extensions which define the maximal collectively defensible subsets. Identification and enumeration of these subsets is (under the usual assumptions) computationally demanding. We consider approaches to deciding if a subset S is a preferred extension which query a representations encoding all such extensions, so that the computational effort is invested once only (for the initial enumeration) rather than for each separate query.
cs/0207025
"Minimal defence": a refinement of the preferred semantics for argumentation frameworks
cs.AI
Dung's abstract framework for argumentation enables a study of the interactions between arguments based solely on an ``attack'' binary relation on the set of arguments. Various ways to solve conflicts between contradictory pieces of information have been proposed in the context of argumentation, nonmonotonic reasoning or logic programming, and can be captured by appropriate semantics within Dung's framework. A common feature of these semantics is that one can always maximize in some sense the set of acceptable arguments. We propose in this paper to extend Dung's framework in order to allow for the representation of what we call ``restricted'' arguments: these arguments should only be used if absolutely necessary, that is, in order to support other arguments that would otherwise be defeated. We modify Dung's preferred semantics accordingly: a set of arguments becomes acceptable only if it contains a minimum of restricted arguments, for a maximum of unrestricted arguments.
cs/0207029
Two Representations for Iterative Non-prioritized Change
cs.AI
We address a general representation problem for belief change, and describe two interrelated representations for iterative non-prioritized change: a logical representation in terms of persistent epistemic states, and a constructive representation in terms of flocks of bases.
cs/0207030
Collective Argumentation
cs.AI
An extension of an abstract argumentation framework, called collective argumentation, is introduced in which the attack relation is defined directly among sets of arguments. The extension turns out to be suitable, in particular, for representing semantics of disjunctive logic programs. Two special kinds of collective argumentation are considered in which the opponents can share their arguments.
cs/0207031
Intuitions and the modelling of defeasible reasoning: some case studies
cs.AI cs.LO
The purpose of this paper is to address some criticisms recently raised by John Horty in two articles against the validity of two commonly accepted defeasible reasoning patterns, viz. reinstatement and floating conclusions. I shall argue that Horty's counterexamples, although they significantly raise our understanding of these reasoning patterns, do not show their invalidity. Some of them reflect patterns which, if made explicit in the formalisation, avoid the unwanted inference without having to give up the criticised inference principles. Other examples seem to involve hidden assumptions about the specific problem which, if made explicit, are nothing but extra information that defeat the defeasible inference. These considerations will be put in a wider perspective by reflecting on the nature of defeasible reasoning principles as principles of justified acceptance rather than `real' logical inference.
cs/0207032
Alternative Characterizations for Strong Equivalence of Logic Programs
cs.AI cs.LO
In this work we present additional results related to the property of strong equivalence of logic programs. This property asserts that two programs share the same set of stable models, even under the addition of new rules. As shown in a recent work by Lifschitz, Pearce and Valverde, strong equivalence can be simply reduced to equivalence in the logic of Here-and-There (HT). In this paper we provide two alternatives respectively based on classical logic and 3-valued logic. The former is applicable to general rules, but not for nested expressions, whereas the latter is applicable for nested expressions but, when moving to an unrestricted syntax, it generally yields different results from HT.
cs/0207033
Reducing the Computational Requirements of the Differential Quadrature Method
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper shows that the weighting coefficient matrices of the differential quadrature method (DQM) are centrosymmetric or skew-centrosymmetric if the grid spacings are symmetric irrespective of whether they are equal or unequal. A new skew centrosymmetric matrix is also discussed. The application of the properties of centrosymmetric and skew centrosymmetric matrix can reduce the computational effort of the DQM for calculations of the inverse, determinant, eigenvectors and eigenvalues by 75%. This computational advantage are also demonstrated via several numerical examples.
cs/0207035
A Lyapunov Formulation for Efficient Solution of the Poisson and Convection-Diffusion Equations by the Differential Quadrature Method
cs.CE cs.CG
Civan and Sliepcevich [1, 2] suggested that special matrix solver should be developed to further reduce the computing effort in applying the differential quadrature (DQ) method for the Poisson and convection-diffusion equations. Therefore, the purpose of the present communication is to introduce and apply the Lyapunov formulation which can be solved much more efficiently than the Gaussian elimination method. Civan and Sliepcevich [2] first presented DQ approximate formulas in polynomial form for partial derivatives in tow-dimensional variable domain. For simplifying formulation effort, Chen et al. [3] proposed the compact matrix form of these DQ approximate formulas. In this study, by using these matrix approximate formulas, the DQ formulations for the Poisson and convection-diffusion equations can be expressed as the Lyapunov algebraic matrix equation. The formulation effort is simplified, and a simple and explicit matrix formulation is obtained. A variety of fast algorithms in the solution of the Lyapunov equation [4-6] can be successfully applied in the DQ analysis of these two-dimensional problems, and, thus, the computing effort can be greatly reduced. Finally, we also point out that the present reduction technique can be easily extended to the three-dimensional cases.
cs/0207037
Some logics of belief and disbelief
cs.AI cs.LO
The introduction of explicit notions of rejection, or disbelief, into logics for knowledge representation can be justified in a number of ways. Motivations range from the need for versions of negation weaker than classical negation, to the explicit recording of classic belief contraction operations in the area of belief change, and the additional levels of expressivity obtained from an extended version of belief change which includes disbelief contraction. In this paper we present four logics of disbelief which address some or all of these intuitions. Soundness and completeness results are supplied and the logics are compared with respect to applicability and utility.
cs/0207038
Iterated revision and the axiom of recovery: a unified treatment via epistemic states
cs.AI cs.LO
The axiom of recovery, while capturing a central intuition regarding belief change, has been the source of much controversy. We argue briefly against putative counterexamples to the axiom--while agreeing that some of their insight deserves to be preserved--and present additional recovery-like axioms in a framework that uses epistemic states, which encode preferences, as the object of revisions. This provides a framework in which iterated revision becomes possible and makes explicit the connection between iterated belief change and the axiom of recovery. We provide a representation theorem that connects the semantic conditions that we impose on iterated revision and the additional syntactical properties mentioned. We also show some interesting similarities between our framework and that of Darwiche-Pearl. In particular, we show that the intuitions underlying the controversial (C2) postulate are captured by the recovery axiom and our recovery-like postulates (the latter can be seen as weakenings of (C2).
cs/0207039
Dual reciprocity BEM and dynamic programming filter for inverse elastodynamic problems
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper presents the first coupling application of the dual reciprocity BEM (DRBEM) and dynamic programming filter to inverse elastodynamic problem. The DRBEM is the only BEM method, which does not require domain discretization for general linear and nonlinear dynamic problems. Since the size of numerical discretization system has a great effect on the computing effort of recursive or iterative calculations of inverse analysis, the intrinsic boundary-only merit of the DRBEM causes a considerable computational saving. On the other hand, the strengths of the dynamic programming filter lie in its mathematical simplicity, easy to program and great flexibility in the type, number and locations of measurements and unknown inputs. The combination of these two techniques is therefore very attractive for the solution of practical inverse problems. In this study, the spatial and temporal partial derivatives of the governing equation are respectively discretized first by the DRBEM and the precise integration method, and then, by using dynamic programming with regularization, dynamic load is estimated based on noisy measurements of velocity and displacement at very few locations. Numerical experiments involved with the periodic and Heaviside impact load are conducted to demonstrate the applicability, efficiency and simplicity of this strategy. The affect of noise level, regularization parameter, and measurement types on the estimation is also investigated.
cs/0207040
Well-Founded Argumentation Semantics for Extended Logic Programming
cs.LO cs.AI
This paper defines an argumentation semantics for extended logic programming and shows its equivalence to the well-founded semantics with explicit negation. We set up a general framework in which we extensively compare this semantics to other argumentation semantics, including those of Dung, and Prakken and Sartor. We present a general dialectical proof theory for these argumentation semantics.
cs/0207041
RBF-based meshless boundary knot method and boundary particle method
cs.CE cs.CG
This paper is concerned with the two new boundary-type radial basis function collocation schemes, boundary knot method (BKM) and boundary particle method (BPM). The BKM is developed based on the dual reciprocity theorem, while the BPM employs the multiple reciprocity technique. Unlike the method of fundamental solution, the wto methods use the nonsingular general solutions instead of singular fundamental solution to circumvent the controversial artificial boundary outside physical domain. Compared with the boundary element method, both the BKM and BPM are meshfree, superconvergent, meshfree, integration free, symmetric, and mathematically simple collocation techniques for general PDEs. In particular, the BPM does not require any inner nodes for inhomogeneous problems. In this study, the accuracy and efficiency of the two methods are numerically demonstrated to some 2D, 3D Helmholtz and convection-diffusion problems under complicated geometries.
cs/0207042
Logic Programming with Ordered Disjunction
cs.AI
Logic programs with ordered disjunction (LPODs) combine ideas underlying Qualitative Choice Logic (Brewka et al. KR 2002) and answer set programming. Logic programming under answer set semantics is extended with a new connective called ordered disjunction. The new connective allows us to represent alternative, ranked options for problem solutions in the heads of rules: A \times B intuitively means: if possible A, but if A is not possible then at least B. The semantics of logic programs with ordered disjunction is based on a preference relation on answer sets. LPODs are useful for applications in design and configuration and can serve as a basis for qualitative decision making.
cs/0207043
A meshless, integration-free, and boundary-only RBF technique
cs.CE cs.CG
Based on the radial basis function (RBF), non-singular general solution and dual reciprocity method (DRM), this paper presents an inherently meshless, integration-free, boundary-only RBF collocation techniques for numerical solution of various partial differential equation systems. The basic ideas behind this methodology are very mathematically simple. In this study, the RBFs are employed to approximate the inhomogeneous terms via the DRM, while non-singular general solution leads to a boundary-only RBF formulation for homogenous solution. The present scheme is named as the boundary knot method (BKM) to differentiate it from the other numerical techniques. In particular, due to the use of nonsingular general solutions rather than singular fundamental solutions, the BKM is different from the method of fundamental solution in that the former does no require the artificial boundary and results in the symmetric system equations under certain conditions. The efficiency and utility of this new technique are validated through a number of typical numerical examples. Completeness concern of the BKM due to the only use of non-singular part of complete fundamental solution is also discussed.
cs/0207045
Compilation of Propositional Weighted Bases
cs.AI
In this paper, we investigate the extent to which knowledge compilation can be used to improve inference from propositional weighted bases. We present a general notion of compilation of a weighted base that is parametrized by any equivalence--preserving compilation function. Both negative and positive results are presented. On the one hand, complexity results are identified, showing that the inference problem from a compiled weighted base is as difficult as in the general case, when the prime implicates, Horn cover or renamable Horn cover classes are targeted. On the other hand, we show that the inference problem becomes tractable whenever DNNF-compilations are used and clausal queries are considered. Moreover, we show that the set of all preferred models of a DNNF-compilation of a weighted base can be computed in time polynomial in the output size. Finally, we sketch how our results can be used in model-based diagnosis in order to compute the most probable diagnoses of a system.
cs/0207055
The Rise and Fall of the Church-Turing Thesis
cs.CC cs.AI
The essay consists of three parts. In the first part, it is explained how theory of algorithms and computations evaluates the contemporary situation with computers and global networks. In the second part, it is demonstrated what new perspectives this theory opens through its new direction that is called theory of super-recursive algorithms. These algorithms have much higher computing power than conventional algorithmic schemes. In the third part, we explicate how realization of what this theory suggests might influence life of people in future. It is demonstrated that now the theory is far ahead computing practice and practice has to catch up with the theory. We conclude with a comparison of different approaches to the development of information technology.
cs/0207056
Modeling Complex Domains of Actions and Change
cs.AI
This paper studies the problem of modeling complex domains of actions and change within high-level action description languages. We investigate two main issues of concern: (a) can we represent complex domains that capture together different problems such as ramifications, non-determinism and concurrency of actions, at a high-level, close to the given natural ontology of the problem domain and (b) what features of such a representation can affect, and how, its computational behaviour. The paper describes the main problems faced in this representation task and presents the results of an empirical study, carried out through a series of controlled experiments, to analyze the computational performance of reasoning in these representations. The experiments compare different representations obtained, for example, by changing the basic ontology of the domain or by varying the degree of use of indirect effect laws through domain constraints. This study has helped to expose the main sources of computational difficulty in the reasoning and suggest some methodological guidelines for representing complex domains. Although our work has been carried out within one particular high-level description language, we believe that the results, especially those that relate to the problems of representation, are independent of the specific modeling language.
cs/0207058
Question Answering over Unstructured Data without Domain Restrictions
cs.CL cs.IR
Information needs are naturally represented as questions. Automatic Natural-Language Question Answering (NLQA) has only recently become a practical task on a larger scale and without domain constraints. This paper gives a brief introduction to the field, its history and the impact of systematic evaluation competitions. It is then demonstrated that an NLQA system for English can be built and evaluated in a very short time using off-the-shelf parsers and thesauri. The system is based on Robust Minimal Recursion Semantics (RMRS) and is portable with respect to the parser used as a frontend. It applies atomic term unification supported by question classification and WordNet lookup for semantic similarity matching of parsed question representation and free text.
cs/0207059
Value Based Argumentation Frameworks
cs.AI
This paper introduces the notion of value-based argumentation frameworks, an extension of the standard argumentation frameworks proposed by Dung, which are able toshow how rational decision is possible in cases where arguments derive their force from the social values their acceptance would promote.
cs/0207060
Preferred well-founded semantics for logic programming by alternating fixpoints: Preliminary report
cs.AI
We analyze the problem of defining well-founded semantics for ordered logic programs within a general framework based on alternating fixpoint theory. We start by showing that generalizations of existing answer set approaches to preference are too weak in the setting of well-founded semantics. We then specify some informal yet intuitive criteria and propose a semantical framework for preference handling that is more suitable for defining well-founded semantics for ordered logic programs. The suitability of the new approach is convinced by the fact that many attractive properties are satisfied by our semantics. In particular, our semantics is still correct with respect to various existing answer sets semantics while it successfully overcomes the weakness of their generalization to well-founded semantics. Finally, we indicate how an existing preferred well-founded semantics can be captured within our semantical framework.
cs/0207062
Some addenda on distance function wavelets
cs.NA cs.CE
This report will add some supplements to the recently finished report series on the distance function wavelets (DFW). First, we define the general distance in terms of the Riesz potential, and then, the distance function Abel wavelets are derived via the fractional integral and Laplacian. Second, the DFW Weyl transform is found to be a shifted Laplace potential DFW. The DFW Radon transform is also presented. Third, we present a conjecture on truncation error formula of the multiple reciprocity Laplace DFW series and discuss its error distributions in terms of node density distributions. Forth, we point out that the Hermite distance function interpolation can be used to replace overlapping in the domain decomposition in order to produce sparse matrix. Fifth, the shape parameter is explained as a virtual extra axis contribution in terms of the MQ-type Possion kernel. The report is concluded with some remarks on a range of other issues.
cs/0207064
Interpolation Theorems for Nonmonotonic Reasoning Systems
cs.AI cs.LO
Craig's interpolation theorem (Craig 1957) is an important theorem known for propositional logic and first-order logic. It says that if a logical formula $\beta$ logically follows from a formula $\alpha$, then there is a formula $\gamma$, including only symbols that appear in both $\alpha,\beta$, such that $\beta$ logically follows from $\gamma$ and $\gamma$ logically follows from $\alpha$. Such theorems are important and useful for understanding those logics in which they hold as well as for speeding up reasoning with theories in those logics. In this paper we present interpolation theorems in this spirit for three nonmonotonic systems: circumscription, default logic and logic programs with the stable models semantics (a.k.a. answer set semantics). These results give us better understanding of those logics, especially in contrast to their nonmonotonic characteristics. They suggest that some \emph{monotonicity} principle holds despite the failure of classic monotonicity for these logics. Also, they sometimes allow us to use methods for the decomposition of reasoning for these systems, possibly increasing their applicability and tractability. Finally, they allow us to build structured representations that use those logics.
cs/0207065
Embedding Default Logic in Propositional Argumentation Systems
cs.AI
In this paper we present a transformation of finite propositional default theories into so-called propositional argumentation systems. This transformation allows to characterize all notions of Reiter's default logic in the framework of argumentation systems. As a consequence, computing extensions, or determining wether a given formula belongs to one extension or all extensions can be answered without leaving the field of classical propositional logic. The transformation proposed is linear in the number of defaults.
cs/0207067
On the existence and multiplicity of extensions in dialectical argumentation
cs.AI
In the present paper, the existence and multiplicity problems of extensions are addressed. The focus is on extension of the stable type. The main result of the paper is an elegant characterization of the existence and multiplicity of extensions in terms of the notion of dialectical justification, a close cousin of the notion of admissibility. The characterization is given in the context of the particular logic for dialectical argumentation DEFLOG. The results are of direct relevance for several well-established models of defeasible reasoning (like default logic, logic programming and argumentation frameworks), since elsewhere dialectical argumentation has been shown to have close formal connections with these models.
cs/0207070
A continuation semantics of interrogatives that accounts for Baker's ambiguity
cs.CL cs.PL
Wh-phrases in English can appear both raised and in-situ. However, only in-situ wh-phrases can take semantic scope beyond the immediately enclosing clause. I present a denotational semantics of interrogatives that naturally accounts for these two properties. It neither invokes movement or economy, nor posits lexical ambiguity between raised and in-situ occurrences of the same wh-phrase. My analysis is based on the concept of continuations. It uses a novel type system for higher-order continuations to handle wide-scope wh-phrases while remaining strictly compositional. This treatment sheds light on the combinatorics of interrogatives as well as other kinds of so-called A'-movement.
cs/0207071
A Polynomial Translation of Logic Programs with Nested Expressions into Disjunctive Logic Programs: Preliminary Report
cs.AI cs.LO
Nested logic programs have recently been introduced in order to allow for arbitrarily nested formulas in the heads and the bodies of logic program rules under the answer sets semantics. Nested expressions can be formed using conjunction, disjunction, as well as the negation as failure operator in an unrestricted fashion. This provides a very flexible and compact framework for knowledge representation and reasoning. Previous results show that nested logic programs can be transformed into standard (unnested) disjunctive logic programs in an elementary way, applying the negation as failure operator to body literals only. This is of great practical relevance since it allows us to evaluate nested logic programs by means of off-the-shelf disjunctive logic programming systems, like DLV. However, it turns out that this straightforward transformation results in an exponential blow-up in the worst-case, despite the fact that complexity results indicate that there is a polynomial translation among both formalisms. In this paper, we take up this challenge and provide a polynomial translation of logic programs with nested expressions into disjunctive logic programs. Moreover, we show that this translation is modular and (strongly) faithful. We have implemented both the straightforward as well as our advanced transformation; the resulting compiler serves as a front-end to DLV and is publicly available on the Web.
cs/0207072
Complexity of Nested Circumscription and Nested Abnormality Theories
cs.AI cs.CC cs.LO
The need for a circumscriptive formalism that allows for simple yet elegant modular problem representation has led Lifschitz (AIJ, 1995) to introduce nested abnormality theories (NATs) as a tool for modular knowledge representation, tailored for applying circumscription to minimize exceptional circumstances. Abstracting from this particular objective, we propose L_{CIRC}, which is an extension of generic propositional circumscription by allowing propositional combinations and nesting of circumscriptive theories. As shown, NATs are naturally embedded into this language, and are in fact of equal expressive capability. We then analyze the complexity of L_{CIRC} and NATs, and in particular the effect of nesting. The latter is found to be a source of complexity, which climbs the Polynomial Hierarchy as the nesting depth increases and reaches PSPACE-completeness in the general case. We also identify meaningful syntactic fragments of NATs which have lower complexity. In particular, we show that the generalization of Horn circumscription in the NAT framework remains CONP-complete, and that Horn NATs without fixed letters can be efficiently transformed into an equivalent Horn CNF, which implies polynomial solvability of principal reasoning tasks. Finally, we also study extensions of NATs and briefly address the complexity in the first-order case. Our results give insight into the ``cost'' of using L_{CIRC} (resp. NATs) as a host language for expressing other formalisms such as action theories, narratives, or spatial theories.
cs/0207073
Reinforcing Reachable Routes
cs.NI cs.AI
This paper studies the evaluation of routing algorithms from the perspective of reachability routing, where the goal is to determine all paths between a sender and a receiver. Reachability routing is becoming relevant with the changing dynamics of the Internet and the emergence of low-bandwidth wireless/ad-hoc networks. We make the case for reinforcement learning as the framework of choice to realize reachability routing, within the confines of the current Internet infrastructure. The setting of the reinforcement learning problem offers several advantages, including loop resolution, multi-path forwarding capability, cost-sensitive routing, and minimizing state overhead, while maintaining the incremental spirit of current backbone routing algorithms. We identify research issues in reinforcement learning applied to the reachability routing problem to achieve a fluid and robust backbone routing framework. The paper is targeted toward practitioners seeking to implement a reachability routing algorithm.
cs/0207075
Nonmonotonic Probabilistic Logics between Model-Theoretic Probabilistic Logic and Probabilistic Logic under Coherence
cs.AI
Recently, it has been shown that probabilistic entailment under coherence is weaker than model-theoretic probabilistic entailment. Moreover, probabilistic entailment under coherence is a generalization of default entailment in System P. In this paper, we continue this line of research by presenting probabilistic generalizations of more sophisticated notions of classical default entailment that lie between model-theoretic probabilistic entailment and probabilistic entailment under coherence. That is, the new formalisms properly generalize their counterparts in classical default reasoning, they are weaker than model-theoretic probabilistic entailment, and they are stronger than probabilistic entailment under coherence. The new formalisms are useful especially for handling probabilistic inconsistencies related to conditioning on zero events. They can also be applied for probabilistic belief revision. More generally, in the same spirit as a similar previous paper, this paper sheds light on exciting new formalisms for probabilistic reasoning beyond the well-known standard ones.
cs/0207076
Introducing Dynamic Behavior in Amalgamated Knowledge Bases
cs.PL cs.DB cs.LO
The problem of integrating knowledge from multiple and heterogeneous sources is a fundamental issue in current information systems. In order to cope with this problem, the concept of mediator has been introduced as a software component providing intermediate services, linking data resources and application programs, and making transparent the heterogeneity of the underlying systems. In designing a mediator architecture, we believe that an important aspect is the definition of a formal framework by which one is able to model integration according to a declarative style. To this purpose, the use of a logical approach seems very promising. Another important aspect is the ability to model both static integration aspects, concerning query execution, and dynamic ones, concerning data updates and their propagation among the various data sources. Unfortunately, as far as we know, no formal proposals for logically modeling mediator architectures both from a static and dynamic point of view have already been developed. In this paper, we extend the framework for amalgamated knowledge bases, presented by Subrahmanian, to deal with dynamic aspects. The language we propose is based on the Active U-Datalog language, and extends it with annotated logic and amalgamation concepts. We model the sources of information and the mediator (also called supervisor) as Active U-Datalog deductive databases, thus modeling queries, transactions, and active rules, interpreted according to the PARK semantics. By using active rules, the system can efficiently perform update propagation among different databases. The result is a logical environment, integrating active and deductive rules, to perform queries and update propagation in an heterogeneous mediated framework.
cs/0207083
Evaluating Defaults
cs.AI
We seek to find normative criteria of adequacy for nonmonotonic logic similar to the criterion of validity for deductive logic. Rather than stipulating that the conclusion of an inference be true in all models in which the premises are true, we require that the conclusion of a nonmonotonic inference be true in ``almost all'' models of a certain sort in which the premises are true. This ``certain sort'' specification picks out the models that are relevant to the inference, taking into account factors such as specificity and vagueness, and previous inferences. The frequencies characterizing the relevant models reflect known frequencies in our actual world. The criteria of adequacy for a default inference can be extended by thresholding to criteria of adequacy for an extension. We show that this avoids the implausibilities that might otherwise result from the chaining of default inferences. The model proportions, when construed in terms of frequencies, provide a verifiable grounding of default rules, and can become the basis for generating default rules from statistics.
cs/0207085
Repairing Inconsistent Databases: A Model-Theoretic Approach and Abductive Reasoning
cs.LO cs.DB
In this paper we consider two points of views to the problem of coherent integration of distributed data. First we give a pure model-theoretic analysis of the possible ways to `repair' a database. We do so by characterizing the possibilities to `recover' consistent data from an inconsistent database in terms of those models of the database that exhibit as minimal inconsistent information as reasonably possible. Then we introduce an abductive application to restore the consistency of a given database. This application is based on an abductive solver (A-system) that implements an SLDNFA-resolution procedure, and computes a list of data-facts that should be inserted to the database or retracted from it in order to keep the database consistent. The two approaches for coherent data integration are related by soundness and completeness results.
cs/0207088
A Paraconsistent Higher Order Logic
cs.LO cs.AI
Classical logic predicts that everything (thus nothing useful at all) follows from inconsistency. A paraconsistent logic is a logic where an inconsistency does not lead to such an explosion, and since in practice consistency is difficult to achieve there are many potential applications of paraconsistent logics in knowledge-based systems, logical semantics of natural language, etc. Higher order logics have the advantages of being expressive and with several automated theorem provers available. Also the type system can be helpful. We present a concise description of a paraconsistent higher order logic with countable infinite indeterminacy, where each basic formula can get its own indeterminate truth value (or as we prefer: truth code). The meaning of the logical operators is new and rather different from traditional many-valued logics as well as from logics based on bilattices. The adequacy of the logic is examined by a case study in the domain of medicine. Thus we try to build a bridge between the HOL and MVL communities. A sequent calculus is proposed based on recent work by Muskens.
cs/0207093
Preference Queries
cs.DB
The handling of user preferences is becoming an increasingly important issue in present-day information systems. Among others, preferences are used for information filtering and extraction to reduce the volume of data presented to the user. They are also used to keep track of user profiles and formulate policies to improve and automate decision making. We propose here a simple, logical framework for formulating preferences as preference formulas. The framework does not impose any restrictions on the preference relations and allows arbitrary operation and predicate signatures in preference formulas. It also makes the composition of preference relations straightforward. We propose a simple, natural embedding of preference formulas into relational algebra (and SQL) through a single winnow operator parameterized by a preference formula. The embedding makes possible the formulation of complex preference queries, e.g., involving aggregation, by piggybacking on existing SQL constructs. It also leads in a natural way to the definition of further, preference-related concepts like ranking. Finally, we present general algebraic laws governing the winnow operator and its interaction with other relational algebra operators. The preconditions on the applicability of the laws are captured by logical formulas. The laws provide a formal foundation for the algebraic optimization of preference queries. We demonstrate the usefulness of our approach through numerous examples.
cs/0207094
Answer Sets for Consistent Query Answering in Inconsistent Databases
cs.DB
A relational database is inconsistent if it does not satisfy a given set of integrity constraints. Nevertheless, it is likely that most of the data in it is consistent with the constraints. In this paper we apply logic programming based on answer sets to the problem of retrieving consistent information from a possibly inconsistent database. Since consistent information persists from the original database to every of its minimal repairs, the approach is based on a specification of database repairs using disjunctive logic programs with exceptions, whose answer set semantics can be represented and computed by systems that implement stable model semantics. These programs allow us to declare persistence by defaults and repairing changes by exceptions. We concentrate mainly on logic programs for binary integrity constraints, among which we find most of the integrity constraints found in practice.
cs/0207097
Optimal Ordered Problem Solver
cs.AI cs.CC cs.LG
We present a novel, general, optimally fast, incremental way of searching for a universal algorithm that solves each task in a sequence of tasks. The Optimal Ordered Problem Solver (OOPS) continually organizes and exploits previously found solutions to earlier tasks, efficiently searching not only the space of domain-specific algorithms, but also the space of search algorithms. Essentially we extend the principles of optimal nonincremental universal search to build an incremental universal learner that is able to improve itself through experience. In illustrative experiments, our self-improver becomes the first general system that learns to solve all n disk Towers of Hanoi tasks (solution size 2^n-1) for n up to 30, profiting from previously solved, simpler tasks involving samples of a simple context free language.
cs/0208005
Probabilistic Search for Object Segmentation and Recognition
cs.CV
The problem of searching for a model-based scene interpretation is analyzed within a probabilistic framework. Object models are formulated as generative models for range data of the scene. A new statistical criterion, the truncated object probability, is introduced to infer an optimal sequence of object hypotheses to be evaluated for their match to the data. The truncated probability is partly determined by prior knowledge of the objects and partly learned from data. Some experiments on sequence quality and object segmentation and recognition from stereo data are presented. The article recovers classic concepts from object recognition (grouping, geometric hashing, alignment) from the probabilistic perspective and adds insight into the optimal ordering of object hypotheses for evaluation. Moreover, it introduces point-relation densities, a key component of the truncated probability, as statistical models of local surface shape.
cs/0208008
Soft Concurrent Constraint Programming
cs.PL cs.AI
Soft constraints extend classical constraints to represent multiple consistency levels, and thus provide a way to express preferences, fuzziness, and uncertainty. While there are many soft constraint solving formalisms, even distributed ones, by now there seems to be no concurrent programming framework where soft constraints can be handled. In this paper we show how the classical concurrent constraint (cc) programming framework can work with soft constraints, and we also propose an extension of cc languages which can use soft constraints to prune and direct the search for a solution. We believe that this new programming paradigm, called soft cc (scc), can be also very useful in many web-related scenarios. In fact, the language level allows web agents to express their interaction and negotiation protocols, and also to post their requests in terms of preferences, and the underlying soft constraint solver can find an agreement among the agents even if their requests are incompatible.
cs/0208009
Offline Specialisation in Prolog Using a Hand-Written Compiler Generator
cs.PL cs.AI
The so called ``cogen approach'' to program specialisation, writing a compiler generator instead of a specialiser, has been used with considerable success in partial evaluation of both functional and imperative languages. This paper demonstrates that the cogen approach is also applicable to the specialisation of logic programs (also called partial deduction) and leads to effective specialisers. Moreover, using good binding-time annotations, the speed-ups of the specialised programs are comparable to the speed-ups obtained with online specialisers. The paper first develops a generic approach to offline partial deduction and then a specific offline partial deduction method, leading to the offline system LIX for pure logic programs. While this is a usable specialiser by itself, it is used to develop the cogen system LOGEN. Given a program, a specification of what inputs will be static, and an annotation specifying which calls should be unfolded, LOGEN generates a specialised specialiser for the program at hand. Running this specialiser with particular values for the static inputs results in the specialised program. While this requires two steps instead of one, the efficiency of the specialisation process is improved in situations where the same program is specialised multiple times. The paper also presents and evaluates an automatic binding-time analysis that is able to derive the annotations. While the derived annotations are still suboptimal compared to hand-crafted ones, they enable non-expert users to use the LOGEN system in a fully automated way. Finally, LOGEN is extended so as to directly support a large part of Prolog's declarative and non-declarative features and so as to be able to perform so called mixline specialisations.
cs/0208010
TerraService.NET: An Introduction to Web Services
cs.DL cs.DB
This article explores the design and construction of a geo-spatial Internet web service application from the host web site perspective and from the perspective of an application using the web service. The TerraService.NET web service was added to the popular TerraServer database and web site with no major structural changes to the database. The article discusses web service design, implementation, and deployment concepts and design guidelines. Web services enable applications that aggregate and interact with information and resources from Internet-scale distributed servers. The article presents the design of two USDA applications that interoperate with database and web service resources in Fort Collins Colorado and the TerraService web service located in Tukwila Washington.
cs/0208013
Petabyte Scale Data Mining: Dream or Reality?
cs.DB cs.CE
Science is becoming very data intensive1. Today's astronomy datasets with tens of millions of galaxies already present substantial challenges for data mining. In less than 10 years the catalogs are expected to grow to billions of objects, and image archives will reach Petabytes. Imagine having a 100GB database in 1996, when disk scanning speeds were 30MB/s, and database tools were immature. Such a task today is trivial, almost manageable with a laptop. We think that the issue of a PB database will be very similar in six years. In this paper we scale our current experiments in data archiving and analysis on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey2,3 data six years into the future. We analyze these projections and look at the requirements of performing data mining on such data sets. We conclude that the task scales rather well: we could do the job today, although it would be expensive. There do not seem to be any show-stoppers that would prevent us from storing and using a Petabyte dataset six years from today.
cs/0208015
Spatial Clustering of Galaxies in Large Datasets
cs.DB cs.DS
Datasets with tens of millions of galaxies present new challenges for the analysis of spatial clustering. We have built a framework that integrates a database of object catalogs, tools for creating masks of bad regions, and a fast (NlogN) correlation code. This system has enabled unprecedented efficiency in carrying out the analysis of galaxy clustering in the SDSS catalog. A similar approach is used to compute the three-dimensional spatial clustering of galaxies on very large scales. We describe our strategy to estimate the effect of photometric errors using a database. We discuss our efforts as an early example of data-intensive science. While it would have been possible to get these results without the framework we describe, it will be infeasible to perform these computations on the future huge datasets without using this framework.
cs/0208016
A note on fractional derivative modeling of broadband frequency-dependent absorption: Model III
cs.CE cs.CC
By far, the fractional derivative model is mainly related to the modelling of complicated solid viscoelastic material. In this study, we try to build the fractional derivative PDE model for broadband ultrasound propagation through human tissues.
cs/0208017
Linking Makinson and Kraus-Lehmann-Magidor preferential entailments
cs.AI
About ten years ago, various notions of preferential entailment have been introduced. The main reference is a paper by Kraus, Lehmann and Magidor (KLM), one of the main competitor being a more general version defined by Makinson (MAK). These two versions have already been compared, but it is time to revisit these comparisons. Here are our three main results: (1) These two notions are equivalent, provided that we restrict our attention, as done in KLM, to the cases where the entailment respects logical equivalence (on the left and on the right). (2) A serious simplification of the description of the fundamental cases in which MAK is equivalent to KLM, including a natural passage in both ways. (3) The two previous results are given for preferential entailments more general than considered in some of the original texts, but they apply also to the original definitions and, for this particular case also, the models can be simplified.
cs/0208019
Knowledge Representation
cs.AI
This work analyses main features that should be present in knowledge representation. It suggests a model for representation and a way to implement this model in software. Representation takes care of both low-level sensor information and high-level concepts.
cs/0208020
Using the DIFF Command for Natural Language Processing
cs.CL
Diff is a software program that detects differences between two data sets and is useful in natural language processing. This paper shows several examples of the application of diff. They include the detection of differences between two different datasets, extraction of rewriting rules, merging of two different datasets, and the optimal matching of two different data sets. Since diff comes with any standard UNIX system, it is readily available and very easy to use. Our studies showed that diff is a practical tool for research into natural language processing.
cs/0208022
Symbolic Methodology in Numeric Data Mining: Relational Techniques for Financial Applications
cs.CE
Currently statistical and artificial neural network methods dominate in financial data mining. Alternative relational (symbolic) data mining methods have shown their effectiveness in robotics, drug design and other applications. Traditionally symbolic methods prevail in the areas with significant non-numeric (symbolic) knowledge, such as relative location in robot navigation. At first glance, stock market forecast looks as a pure numeric area irrelevant to symbolic methods. One of our major goals is to show that financial time series can benefit significantly from relational data mining based on symbolic methods. The paper overviews relational data mining methodology and develops this techniques for financial data mining.
cs/0208030
A direct time-domain FEM modeling of broadband frequency-dependent absorption with the presence of matrix fractional power: Model I
cs.CE cs.CG
The frequency-dependent attenuation of broadband acoustics is often confronted in many different areas. However, the related time domain simulation is rarely found in literature due to enormous technical difficulty. The currently popular relaxation models with the presence of convolution operation require some material parameters which are not readily available. In this study, three reports are contributed to address broadband ultrasound frequency-dependent absorptions using the readily available empirical parameters. This report is the first in series concerned with developing a direct time domain FEM formulation. The next two reports are about the frequency decomposition model and the fractional derivative model.
cs/0208033
Complete Axiomatizations for Reasoning About Knowledge and Time
cs.LO cs.AI
Sound and complete axiomatizations are provided for a number of different logics involving modalities for knowledge and time. These logics arise from different choices for various parameters. All the logics considered involve the discrete time linear temporal logic operators `next' and `until' and an operator for the knowledge of each of a number of agents. Both the single agent and multiple agent cases are studied: in some instances of the latter there is also an operator for the common knowledge of the group of all agents. Four different semantic properties of agents are considered: whether they have a unique initial state, whether they operate synchronously, whether they have perfect recall, and whether they learn. The property of no learning is essentially dual to perfect recall. Not all settings of these parameters lead to recursively axiomatizable logics, but sound and complete axiomatizations are presented for all the ones that do.
cs/0208034
Causes and Explanations: A Structural-Model Approach. Part II: Explanations
cs.AI
We propose new definitions of (causal) explanation, using structural equations to model counterfactuals. The definition is based on the notion of actual cause, as defined and motivated in a companion paper. Essentially, an explanation is a fact that is not known for certain but, if found to be true, would constitute an actual cause of the fact to be explained, regardless of the agent's initial uncertainty. We show that the definition handles well a number of problematic examples from the literature.
cs/0208035
Evaluation of Coreference Rules on Complex Narrative Texts
cs.CL
This article studies the problem of assessing relevance to each of the rules of a reference resolution system. The reference solver described here stems from a formal model of reference and is integrated in a reference processing workbench. Evaluation of the reference resolution is essential, as it enables differential evaluation of individual rules. Numerical values of these measures are given, and discussed, for simple selection rules and other processing rules; such measures are then studied for numerical parameters.
cs/0208036
Three New Methods for Evaluating Reference Resolution
cs.CL
Reference resolution on extended texts (several thousand references) cannot be evaluated manually. An evaluation algorithm has been proposed for the MUC tests, using equivalence classes for the coreference relation. However, we show here that this algorithm is too indulgent, yielding good scores even for poor resolution strategies. We elaborate on the same formalism to propose two new evaluation algorithms, comparing them first with the MUC algorithm and giving then results on a variety of examples. A third algorithm using only distributional comparison of equivalence classes is finally described; it assesses the relative importance of the recall vs. precision errors.
cs/0208037
Cooperation between Pronoun and Reference Resolution for Unrestricted Texts
cs.CL
Anaphora resolution is envisaged in this paper as part of the reference resolution process. A general open architecture is proposed, which can be particularized and configured in order to simulate some classic anaphora resolution methods. With the aim of improving pronoun resolution, the system takes advantage of elementary cues about characters of the text, which are represented through a particular data structure. In its most robust configuration, the system uses only a general lexicon, a local morpho-syntactic parser and a dictionary of synonyms. A short comparative corpus analysis shows that narrative texts are the most suitable for testing such a system.
cs/0208038
Reference Resolution Beyond Coreference: a Conceptual Frame and its Application
cs.CL
A model for reference use in communication is proposed, from a representationist point of view. Both the sender and the receiver of a message handle representations of their common environment, including mental representations of objects. Reference resolution by a computer is viewed as the construction of object representations using referring expressions from the discourse, whereas often only coreference links between such expressions are looked for. Differences between these two approaches are discussed. The model has been implemented with elementary rules, and tested on complex narrative texts (hundreds to thousands of referring expressions). The results support the mental representations paradigm.
cs/0208040
Using Hierarchical Data Mining to Characterize Performance of Wireless System Configurations
cs.CE
This paper presents a statistical framework for assessing wireless systems performance using hierarchical data mining techniques. We consider WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) systems with two-branch STTD (space time transmit diversity) and 1/2 rate convolutional coding (forward error correction codes). Monte Carlo simulation estimates the bit error probability (BEP) of the system across a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). A performance database of simulation runs is collected over a targeted space of system configurations. This database is then mined to obtain regions of the configuration space that exhibit acceptable average performance. The shape of the mined regions illustrates the joint influence of configuration parameters on system performance. The role of data mining in this application is to provide explainable and statistically valid design conclusions. The research issue is to define statistically meaningful aggregation of data in a manner that permits efficient and effective data mining algorithms. We achieve a good compromise between these goals and help establish the applicability of data mining for characterizing wireless systems performance.
cs/0209001
A Novel Statistical Diagnosis of Clinical Data
cs.CE cs.CC
In this paper, we present a diagnosis method of diseases from clinical data. The data are routine test such as urine test, hematology, chemistries etc. Though those tests have been done for people who check in medical institutes, how each item of the data interacts each other and which combination of them cause a disease are neither understood nor studied well. Here we attack the practically important problem by putting the data into mathematical setup and applying support vector machine. Finally we present simulation results for fatty liver, gastritis etc and discuss about their implications.
cs/0209002
A Chart-Parsing Algorithm for Efficient Semantic Analysis
cs.CL
In some contexts, well-formed natural language cannot be expected as input to information or communication systems. In these contexts, the use of grammar-independent input (sequences of uninflected semantic units like e.g. language-independent icons) can be an answer to the users' needs. A semantic analysis can be performed, based on lexical semantic knowledge: it is equivalent to a dependency analysis with no syntactic or morphological clues. However, this requires that an intelligent system should be able to interpret this input with reasonable accuracy and in reasonable time. Here we propose a method allowing a purely semantic-based analysis of sequences of semantic units. It uses an algorithm inspired by the idea of ``chart parsing'' known in Natural Language Processing, which stores intermediate parsing results in order to bring the calculation time down. In comparison with using declarative logic programming - where the calculation time, left to a prolog engine, is hyperexponential -, this method brings the calculation time down to a polynomial time, where the order depends on the valency of the predicates.
cs/0209003
Rerendering Semantic Ontologies: Automatic Extensions to UMLS through Corpus Analytics
cs.CL
In this paper, we discuss the utility and deficiencies of existing ontology resources for a number of language processing applications. We describe a technique for increasing the semantic type coverage of a specific ontology, the National Library of Medicine's UMLS, with the use of robust finite state methods used in conjunction with large-scale corpus analytics of the domain corpus. We call this technique "semantic rerendering" of the ontology. This research has been done in the context of Medstract, a joint Brandeis-Tufts effort aimed at developing tools for analyzing biomedical language (i.e., Medline), as well as creating targeted databases of bio-entities, biological relations, and pathway data for biological researchers. Motivating the current research is the need to have robust and reliable semantic typing of syntactic elements in the Medline corpus, in order to improve the overall performance of the information extraction applications mentioned above.
cs/0209008
The partition semantics of questions, syntactically
cs.CL cs.AI cs.LO
Groenendijk and Stokhof (1984, 1996; Groenendijk 1999) provide a logically attractive theory of the semantics of natural language questions, commonly referred to as the partition theory. Two central notions in this theory are entailment between questions and answerhood. For example, the question "Who is going to the party?" entails the question "Is John going to the party?", and "John is going to the party" counts as an answer to both. Groenendijk and Stokhof define these two notions in terms of partitions of a set of possible worlds. We provide a syntactic characterization of entailment between questions and answerhood . We show that answers are, in some sense, exactly those formulas that are built up from instances of the question. This result lets us compare the partition theory with other approaches to interrogation -- both linguistic analyses, such as Hamblin's and Karttunen's semantics, and computational systems, such as Prolog. Our comparison separates a notion of answerhood into three aspects: equivalence (when two questions or answers are interchangeable), atomic answers (what instances of a question count as answers), and compound answers (how answers compose).
cs/0209009
Question answering: from partitions to Prolog
cs.CL cs.AI cs.LO
We implement Groenendijk and Stokhof's partition semantics of questions in a simple question answering algorithm. The algorithm is sound, complete, and based on tableau theorem proving. The algorithm relies on a syntactic characterization of answerhood: Any answer to a question is equivalent to some formula built up only from instances of the question. We prove this characterization by translating the logic of interrogation to classical predicate logic and applying Craig's interpolation theorem.
cs/0209010
Introduction to the CoNLL-2002 Shared Task: Language-Independent Named Entity Recognition
cs.CL
We describe the CoNLL-2002 shared task: language-independent named entity recognition. We give background information on the data sets and the evaluation method, present a general overview of the systems that have taken part in the task and discuss their performance.
cs/0209019
Reasoning about Evolving Nonmonotonic Knowledge Bases
cs.AI
Recently, several approaches to updating knowledge bases modeled as extended logic programs have been introduced, ranging from basic methods to incorporate (sequences of) sets of rules into a logic program, to more elaborate methods which use an update policy for specifying how updates must be incorporated. In this paper, we introduce a framework for reasoning about evolving knowledge bases, which are represented as extended logic programs and maintained by an update policy. We first describe a formal model which captures various update approaches, and we define a logical language for expressing properties of evolving knowledge bases. We then investigate semantical and computational properties of our framework, where we focus on properties of knowledge states with respect to the canonical reasoning task of whether a given formula holds on a given evolving knowledge base. In particular, we present finitary characterizations of the evolution for certain classes of framework instances, which can be exploited for obtaining decidability results. In more detail, we characterize the complexity of reasoning for some meaningful classes of evolving knowledge bases, ranging from polynomial to double exponential space complexity.
cs/0209020
A new definition of the fractional Laplacian
cs.NA cs.CE
It is noted that the standard definition of the fractional Laplacian leads to a hyper-singular convolution integral and is also obscure about how to implement the boundary conditions. This purpose of this note is to introduce a new definition of the fractional Laplacian to overcome these major drawbacks.