Didier Dubois

Proceedings of the Eighth Conference (1992) : July 17-19, 1992, Stanford University

Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence

Henri Prade

Olgierd Hryniewicz

Maria Asuncion Lubiano

María Angeles Gil

Przemyslaw Grzegorzewski

Probability theory has been the only well-founded theory of uncertainty for a long time. It was viewed either as a powerful tool for modelling random phenomena, or as a rational approach to the notion of degree of belief. During the last thirty years, in areas centered around decision theory, artificial intelligence and information processing, numerous approaches extending or orthogonal to the existing theory of probability and mathematical statistics have come to the front. The common feature of those attempts is to allow for softer or wider frameworks for taking into account the incompleteness or imprecision of information. Many of these approaches come down to blending interval or fuzzy interval analysis with probabilistic methods. This book gathers contributions to the 4th International Conference on Soft methods in Probability and Statistics. Its aim is to present recent results illustrating such new trends that enlarge the statistical and uncertainty modeling traditions, towards the handling of incomplete or subjective information. It covers a broad scope ranging from philosophical and mathematical underpinnings of new uncertainty theories, with a stress on their impact in the area of statistics and data analysis, to numerical methods and applications to environmental risk analysis and mechanical engineering. A unique feature of this collection is to establish a dialogue between fuzzy random variables and imprecise probability theories.

Soft Methods for Handling Variability and Imprecision

In the evolution of scientific theories, concern with uncertainty is almost invariably a concomitant of maturation. This is certainly true of the evolution· of physics, economics, operations research, communication sciences, and a host of other fields. And it is true of what has been happening more recently in the area of artificial intelligence, most notably in the development of theories relating to the management of uncertainty in knowledge-based systems. In science, it is traditional to deal with uncertainty through the use of probability theory. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly clear that there are some important facets of uncertainty which do not lend themselves to analysis by classical probability-based methods. One such facet is that of lexical elasticity, which relates to the fuzziness of words in natural languages. As a case in point, even a simple relation X, Y, and Z, expressed as if X is small and Y is very large then between Z is not very small, does not lend itself to a simple interpretation within the framework of probability theory by reason of the lexical elasticity of the predicates small and large.

An Approach to Computerized Processing of Uncertainty

Possibility Theory

Lech Polkowski

James F. Peters

Masahiro Inuiguchi

Jerzy Grzymala-Busse

The LNCS journal Transactions on Rough Sets is devoted to the entire spectrum of rough sets related issues, starting from logical and mathematical foundations, through all aspects of rough set theory and its applications, such as data mining, knowledge discovery, and intelligent information processing, to relations between rough sets and other approaches to uncertainty, vagueness and incompleteness, such as fuzzy sets and theory of evidence. This second volume of the Transactions on Rough Sets presents 17 thoroughly reviewed revised papers devoted to rough set theory, fuzzy set theory; these papers highlight important aspects of these theories, their interrelation and application in various fields.

Rough Sets and Fuzzy Sets

Transactions on Rough Sets II

Rudolf Kruse

Hans-J. Lenz

Giacomo Della Riccia

Planning of actions based on decision theory is a hot topic for many disciplines. Seemingly unlimited computing power, networking, integration and collaboration have meanwhile attracted the attention of fields like Machine Learning, Operations Research, Management Science and Computer Science. Software agents of e-commerce, mediators of Information Retrieval Systems and Database based Information Systems are typical new application areas. Until now, planning methods were successfully applied in production, logistics, marketing, finance, management, and used in robots, software agents etc. It is the special feature of the book that planning is embedded into decision theory, and this will give the interested reader new perspectives to follow-up.

Planning Based on Decision Theory

Inés Couso

Luciano Sánchez

This short book provides a unified view of the history and theory of random sets and fuzzy random variables, with special emphasis on its use for representing higher-order non-statistical uncertainty about statistical experiments. The authors lay bare the existence of two streams of works using the same mathematical ground, but differing form their use of sets, according to whether they represent objects of interest naturally taking the form of sets, or imprecise knowledge about such objects. Random (fuzzy) sets can be used in many fields ranging from mathematical morphology, economics, artificial intelligence, information processing and statistics per se, especially in areas where the outcomes of random experiments cannot be observed with full precision. This book also emphasizes the link between random sets and fuzzy sets with some techniques related to the theory of imprecise probabilities. This small book is intended for graduate and doctoral students in mathematics or engineering, but also provides an introduction for other researchers interested in this area. It is written from a theoretical perspective. However, rather than offering a comprehensive formal view of random (fuzzy) sets in this context, it aims to provide a discussion of the meaning of the proposed formal constructions based on many concrete examples and exercises. This book should enable the reader to understand the usefulness of representing and reasoning with incomplete information in statistical tasks. Each chapter ends with a list of exercises.

An Introduction for Ph.D. Students and Practitioners

Random Sets and Random Fuzzy Sets as Ill-Perceived Random Variables

Erich Peter Klement

Fuzzy Sets, Logics and Reasoning about Knowledge reports recent results concerning the genuinely logical aspects of fuzzy sets in relation to algebraic considerations, knowledge representation and commonsense reasoning. It takes a state-of-the-art look at multiple-valued and fuzzy set-based logics, in an artificial intelligence perspective. The papers, all of which are written by leading contributors in their respective fields, are grouped into four sections. The first section presents a panorama of many-valued logics in connection with fuzzy sets. The second explores algebraic foundations, with an emphasis on MV algebras. The third is devoted to approximate reasoning methods and similarity-based reasoning. The fourth explores connections between fuzzy knowledge representation, especially possibilistic logic and prioritized knowledge bases. Readership: Scholars and graduate students in logic, algebra, knowledge representation, and formal aspects of artificial intelligence.

Fuzzy Sets, Logics and Reasoning about Knowledge

Giacomo Riccia

Hans-Joachim Lenz

The fields of similarity and preference are still broadening due to the exploration of new fields of application. This is caused by the strong impact of vagueness, imprecision, uncertainty and dominance on human and agent information, communication, planning, decision, action, and control as well as by the technical progress of the information technology itself. The topics treated in this book are of interest to computer scientists, statisticians, operations researchers, experts in AI, cognitive psychologists and economists.

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