The probatilistic Quantifier Fuzzification Mechanism FA: A theoretical analysis

The main goal of this work is to analyze the behaviour of the FA quantifier fuzzification mechanism. As we prove in the paper, this model has a very solid theorethical behaviour, superior to most of the models defined in the literature. Moreover, we show that the underlying probabilistic interpretation has very interesting consequences.Comment: 58 pages, 1 figur

Characterizing Quantifier Fuzzification Mechanisms: a behavioral guide for practical applications

Important advances have been made in the fuzzy quantification field. Nevertheless, some problems remain when we face the decision of selecting the most convenient model for a specific application. In the literature, several desirable adequacy properties have been proposed, but theoretical limits impede quantification models from simultaneously fulfilling every adequacy property that has been defined. Besides, the complexity of model definitions and adequacy properties makes very difficult for real users to understand the particularities of the different models that have been presented. In this work we will present several criteria conceived to help in the process of selecting the most adequate Quantifier Fuzzification Mechanisms for specific practical applications. In addition, some of the best known well-behaved models will be compared against this list of criteria. Based on this analysis, some guidance to choose fuzzy quantification models for practical applications will be provided.Comment: 28 page

Fuzzy quantification for linguistic data analysis and data mining

Fuzzy quantification is a subtopic of fuzzy logic which deals with the modelling of the quantified expressions we can find in natural language. Fuzzy quantifiers have been successfully applied in several fields like fuzzy, control, fuzzy databases, information retrieval, natural language generation, etc. Their ability to model and evaluate linguistic expressions in a mathematical way, makes fuzzy quantifiers very powerful for data analytics and data mining applications. In this paper we will give a general overview of the main applications of fuzzy quantifiers in this field as well as some ideas to use them in new application contexts

The FA Quantifier Fuzzification Mechanism: analysis of convergence and efficient implementations

The fuzzy quantification model FA has been identified as one of the best behaved quantification models in several revisions of the field of fuzzy quantification. This model is, to our knowledge, the unique one fulfilling the strict Determiner Fuzzification Scheme axiomatic framework that does not induce the standard min and max operators. The main contribution of this paper is the proof of a convergence result that links this quantification model with the Zadeh's model when the size of the input sets tends to infinite. The convergence proof is, in any case, more general than the convergence to the Zadeh's model, being applicable to any quantitative quantifier. In addition, recent revisions papers have presented some doubts about the existence of suitable computational implementations to evaluate the FA model in practical applications. In order to prove that this model is not only a theoretical approach, we show exact algorithmic solutions for the most common linguistic quantifiers as well as an approximate implementation by means of Monte Carlo. Additionally, we will also give a general overview of the main properties fulfilled by the FA model, as a single compendium integrating the whole set of properties fulfilled by it has not been previously published.Comment: 22 page

Structural reliability analysis for p-boxes using multi-level meta-models

In modern engineering, computer simulations are a popular tool to analyse, design, and optimize systems. Furthermore, concepts of uncertainty and the related reliability analysis and robust design are of increasing importance. Hence, an efficient quantification of uncertainty is an important aspect of the engineer's workflow. In this context, the characterization of uncertainty in the input variables is crucial. In this paper, input variables are modelled by probability-boxes, which account for both aleatory and epistemic uncertainty. Two types of probability-boxes are distinguished: free and parametric (also called distributional) p-boxes. The use of probability-boxes generally increases the complexity of structural reliability analyses compared to traditional probabilistic input models. In this paper, the complexity is handled by two-level approaches which use Kriging meta-models with adaptive experimental designs at different levels of the structural reliability analysis. For both types of probability-boxes, the extensive use of meta-models allows for an efficient estimation of the failure probability at a limited number of runs of the performance function. The capabilities of the proposed approaches are illustrated through a benchmark analytical function and two realistic engineering problems

The Semantic Web Rule Language Expressiveness Extensions-A Survey

The Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL) is a direct extension of OWL 2 DL with a subset of RuleML, and it is designed to be the rule language of the Semantic Web. This paper explores the state-of-the-art of SWRL's expressiveness extensions proposed over time. As a motivation, the effectiveness of the SWRL/OWL combination in modeling domain facts is discussed while some of the common expressive limitations of the combination are also highlighted. The paper then classifies and presents the relevant language extensions of the SWRL and their added expressive powers to the original SWRL definition. Furthermore, it provides a comparative analysis of the syntax and semantics of the proposed extensions. In conclusion, the decidability requirement and usability of each expressiveness extension are evaluated towards an efficient inclusion into the OWL ontologies

On the quantification and efficient propagation of imprecise probabilities with copula dependence

This paper addresses the problem of quantification and propagation of uncertainties associated with dependence modeling when data for characterizing probability models are limited. Practically, the system inputs are often assumed to be mutually independent or correlated by a multivariate Gaussian distribution. However, this subjective assumption may introduce bias in the response estimate if the real dependence structure deviates from this assumption. In this work, we overcome this limitation by introducing a flexible copula dependence model to capture complex dependencies. A hierarchical Bayesian multimodel approach is proposed to quantify uncertainty in dependence model-form and model parameters that result from small data sets. This approach begins by identifying, through Bayesian multimodel inference, a set of candidate marginal models and their corresponding model probabilities, and then estimating the uncertainty in the copula-based dependence structure, which is conditional on the marginals and their parameters. The overall uncertainties integrating marginals and copulas are probabilistically represented by an ensemble of multivariate candidate densities. A novel importance sampling reweighting approach is proposed to efficiently propagate the overall uncertainties through a computational model. Through an example studying the influence of constituent properties on the out-of-plane properties of transversely isotropic E- glass fiber composites, we show that the composite property with copula-based dependence model converges to the true estimate as data set size increases, while an independence or arbitrary Gaussian correlation assumption leads to a biased estimate.Comment: 41 pages, 16 figure

Fuzzy-Stochastic Partial Differential Equations

We introduce and study a new class of partial differential equations (PDEs) with hybrid fuzzy-stochastic parameters, coined fuzzy-stochastic PDEs. Compared to purely stochastic PDEs or purely fuzzy PDEs, fuzzy-stochastic PDEs offer powerful models for accurate representation and propagation of hybrid aleatoric-epistemic uncertainties inevitable in many real-world problems. We will use the level-set representation of fuzzy functions and define the solution to fuzzy-stochastic PDE problems through a corresponding parametric problem, and further present theoretical results on the well-posedness and regularity of such problems. We also propose a numerical strategy for computing output fuzzy-stochastic quantities, such as fuzzy failure probabilities and fuzzy probability distributions. We present two numerical examples to compute various fuzzy-stochastic quantities and to demonstrate the applicability of fuzzy-stochastic PDEs to complex engineering problems.Comment: 31 page

What are the Goals of Distributional Semantics?

Distributional semantic models have become a mainstay in NLP, providing useful features for downstream tasks. However, assessing long-term progress requires explicit long-term goals. In this paper, I take a broad linguistic perspective, looking at how well current models can deal with various semantic challenges. Given stark differences between models proposed in different subfields, a broad perspective is needed to see how we could integrate them. I conclude that, while linguistic insights can guide the design of model architectures, future progress will require balancing the often conflicting demands of linguistic expressiveness and computational tractability.Comment: To be published in Proceedings of the 58th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL

On the analysis of set-based fuzzy quantified reasoning using classical syllogistics

Syllogism is a type of deductive reasoning involving quantified statements. The syllogistic reasoning scheme in the classical Aristotelian framework involves three crisp term sets and four linguistic quantifiers, for which the main support is the linguistic properties of the quantifiers. A number of fuzzy approaches for defining an approximate syllogism have been proposed for which the main support is cardinality calculus. In this paper we analyze fuzzy syllogistic models previously described by Zadeh and Dubois et al. and compare their behavior with that of the classical Aristotelian framework to check which of the 24 classical valid syllogistic reasoning patterns or moods are particular crisp cases of these fuzzy approaches. This allows us to assess to what extent these approaches can be considered as either plausible extensions of the classical crisp syllogism or a basis for a general approach to the problem of approximate syllogism.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure