6,872 research outputs found
A Theory of Granular Partitions
We have a variety of different ways of dividing up, classifying, mapping, sorting and listing the objects in reality. The theory of granular partitions presented here seeks to provide a general and unified basis for understanding such phenomena in formal terms that is more realistic than existing alternatives. Our theory has two orthogonal parts: the first is a theory of classification; it provides an account of partitions as cells and subcells; the second is a theory of reference or intentionality; it provides an account of how cells and subcells relate to objects in reality. We define a notion of well-formedness for partitions, and we give an account of what it means for a partition to project onto objects in reality. We continue by classifying partitions along three axes: (a) in terms of the degree of correspondence between partition cells and objects in reality; (b) in terms of the degree to which a partition represents the mereological structure of the domain it is projected onto; and (c) in terms of the degree of completeness with which a partition represents this domain
A unified theory of granularity, vagueness and approximation
Abstract: We propose a view of vagueness as a semantic property of names and predicates. All entities are crisp, on this semantic view, but there are, for each vague name, multiple portions of reality that are equally good candidates for being its referent, and, for each vague predicate, multiple classes of objects that are equally good candidates for being its extension. We provide a new formulation of these ideas in terms of a theory of granular partitions. We show that this theory provides a general framework within which we can understand the relation between vague terms and concepts and the corresponding crisp portions of reality. We also sketch how it might be possible to formulate within this framework a theory of vagueness which dispenses with the notion of truth-value gaps and other artifacts of more
familiar approaches. Central to our approach is the idea that judgments about reality involve in every case (1) a separation of reality into foreground and background of attention and (2) the feature of granularity. On this basis we attempt to show that even vague judgments made in naturally occurring contexts are not marked by truth-value indeterminacy. We distinguish, in addition to crisp granular partitions, also vague partitions, and reference partitions, and we explain the role of the latter in the context of judgments that involve vagueness. We conclude by showing how reference partitions provide an effective means by which judging subjects are able to temper the vagueness of their judgments by means of approximations
Characteristic of partition-circuit matroid through approximation number
Rough set theory is a useful tool to deal with uncertain, granular and
incomplete knowledge in information systems. And it is based on equivalence
relations or partitions. Matroid theory is a structure that generalizes linear
independence in vector spaces, and has a variety of applications in many
fields. In this paper, we propose a new type of matroids, namely,
partition-circuit matroids, which are induced by partitions. Firstly, a
partition satisfies circuit axioms in matroid theory, then it can induce a
matroid which is called a partition-circuit matroid. A partition and an
equivalence relation on the same universe are one-to-one corresponding, then
some characteristics of partition-circuit matroids are studied through rough
sets. Secondly, similar to the upper approximation number which is proposed by
Wang and Zhu, we define the lower approximation number. Some characteristics of
partition-circuit matroids and the dual matroids of them are investigated
through the lower approximation number and the upper approximation number.Comment: 12 page
The logic of systems of granular partitions
The theory of granular partitions is designed to capture in a formal framework
important aspects of the selective character of common-sense views of reality. It
comprehends not merely the ways in which we can view reality by conceiving its
objects as gathered together not merely into sets, but also into wholes of various
kinds, partitioned into parts at various levels of granularity. We here represent
granular partitions as triples consisting of a rooted tree structure as first component,
a domain satisfying the axioms of Extensional Mereology as second component,
and a mapping (called ’projection’) of the first into the second as a third
component. We define ordering relations among granular partitions the resulting
structures are called partition frames. We then introduce an axiomatic theory which
sentences are interpreted in partition frame
Ontology and medical terminology: Why description logics are not enough
Ontology is currently perceived as the solution of first resort for all problems related to biomedical terminology, and the use of description logics is seen as a minimal requirement on adequate ontology-based systems. Contrary to common conceptions, however, description logics alone are not able to prevent incorrect representations; this is because they do not come with a theory indicating what is computed by using them, just as classical arithmetic does not tell us anything about the entities that are added or subtracted. In this paper we shall show that ontology is indeed an essential part of any solution to the problems of medical terminology – but only if it is understood in the right sort of way. Ontological engineering, we shall argue, should in every case go hand in hand with a sound ontological theory
Optimal Clustering under Uncertainty
Classical clustering algorithms typically either lack an underlying
probability framework to make them predictive or focus on parameter estimation
rather than defining and minimizing a notion of error. Recent work addresses
these issues by developing a probabilistic framework based on the theory of
random labeled point processes and characterizing a Bayes clusterer that
minimizes the number of misclustered points. The Bayes clusterer is analogous
to the Bayes classifier. Whereas determining a Bayes classifier requires full
knowledge of the feature-label distribution, deriving a Bayes clusterer
requires full knowledge of the point process. When uncertain of the point
process, one would like to find a robust clusterer that is optimal over the
uncertainty, just as one may find optimal robust classifiers with uncertain
feature-label distributions. Herein, we derive an optimal robust clusterer by
first finding an effective random point process that incorporates all
randomness within its own probabilistic structure and from which a Bayes
clusterer can be derived that provides an optimal robust clusterer relative to
the uncertainty. This is analogous to the use of effective class-conditional
distributions in robust classification. After evaluating the performance of
robust clusterers in synthetic mixtures of Gaussians models, we apply the
framework to granular imaging, where we make use of the asymptotic
granulometric moment theory for granular images to relate robust clustering
theory to the application.Comment: 19 pages, 5 eps figures, 1 tabl
Covering matroid
In this paper, we propose a new type of matroids, namely covering matroids,
and investigate the connections with the second type of covering-based rough
sets and some existing special matroids. Firstly, as an extension of
partitions, coverings are more natural combinatorial objects and can sometimes
be more efficient to deal with problems in the real world. Through extending
partitions to coverings, we propose a new type of matroids called covering
matroids and prove them to be an extension of partition matroids. Secondly,
since some researchers have successfully applied partition matroids to
classical rough sets, we study the relationships between covering matroids and
covering-based rough sets which are an extension of classical rough sets.
Thirdly, in matroid theory, there are many special matroids, such as
transversal matroids, partition matroids, 2-circuit matroid and
partition-circuit matroids. The relationships among several special matroids
and covering matroids are studied.Comment: 15 page
Alignment of Rods and Partition of Integers
We study dynamical ordering of rods. In this process, rod alignment via
pairwise interactions competes with diffusive wiggling. Under strong diffusion,
the system is disordered, but at weak diffusion, the system is ordered. We
present an exact steady-state solution for the nonlinear and nonlocal kinetic
theory of this process. We find the Fourier transform as a function of the
order parameter, and show that Fourier modes decay exponentially with the wave
number. We also obtain the order parameter in terms of the diffusion constant.
This solution is obtained using iterated partitions of the integer numbers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Approximations from Anywhere and General Rough Sets
Not all approximations arise from information systems. The problem of fitting
approximations, subjected to some rules (and related data), to information
systems in a rough scheme of things is known as the \emph{inverse problem}. The
inverse problem is more general than the duality (or abstract representation)
problems and was introduced by the present author in her earlier papers. From
the practical perspective, a few (as opposed to one) theoretical frameworks may
be suitable for formulating the problem itself. \emph{Granular operator spaces}
have been recently introduced and investigated by the present author in her
recent work in the context of antichain based and dialectical semantics for
general rough sets. The nature of the inverse problem is examined from
number-theoretic and combinatorial perspectives in a higher order variant of
granular operator spaces and some necessary conditions are proved. The results
and the novel approach would be useful in a number of unsupervised and semi
supervised learning contexts and algorithms.Comment: 20 Pages. Scheduled to appear in IJCRS'2017 LNCS Proceedings,
Springe
Clinical guidelines as plans: An ontological theory
Clinical guidelines are special types of plans realized by collective agents. We provide an ontological theory of such plans that is designed to support the construction of a framework in which guideline-based information systems can be employed in the management of workflow in health care organizations.
The framework we propose allows us to represent in formal terms how clinical guidelines are realized through the actions of are realized through the actions of individuals organized into teams. We provide various levels of implementation representing different levels of conformity on the part of health care organizations.
Implementations built in conformity with our framework are marked by two dimensions of flexibility that are designed to make them more likely to be accepted by health care professionals than standard guideline-based management systems. They do justice to the fact 1) that responsibilities within a health care organization are widely shared, and 2) that health care professionals may on different occasions be non-compliant with guidelines for a variety of well justified reasons.
The advantage of the framework lies in its built-in flexibility, its sensitivity to clinical context, and its ability to use inference tools based on a robust ontology. One disadvantage lies in its complicated implementation
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