1,200 research outputs found
Characterizing and Extending Answer Set Semantics using Possibility Theory
Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a popular framework for modeling
combinatorial problems. However, ASP cannot easily be used for reasoning about
uncertain information. Possibilistic ASP (PASP) is an extension of ASP that
combines possibilistic logic and ASP. In PASP a weight is associated with each
rule, where this weight is interpreted as the certainty with which the
conclusion can be established when the body is known to hold. As such, it
allows us to model and reason about uncertain information in an intuitive way.
In this paper we present new semantics for PASP, in which rules are interpreted
as constraints on possibility distributions. Special models of these
constraints are then identified as possibilistic answer sets. In addition,
since ASP is a special case of PASP in which all the rules are entirely
certain, we obtain a new characterization of ASP in terms of constraints on
possibility distributions. This allows us to uncover a new form of disjunction,
called weak disjunction, that has not been previously considered in the
literature. In addition to introducing and motivating the semantics of weak
disjunction, we also pinpoint its computational complexity. In particular,
while the complexity of most reasoning tasks coincides with standard
disjunctive ASP, we find that brave reasoning for programs with weak
disjunctions is easier.Comment: 39 pages and 16 pages appendix with proofs. This article has been
accepted for publication in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming,
Copyright Cambridge University Pres
Semantics for possibilistic answer set programs: uncertain rules versus rules with uncertain conclusions
Although Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a powerful framework for declarative problem solving, it cannot in an intuitive way handle situations in which some rules are uncertain, or in which it is more important to satisfy some constraints than others. Possibilistic ASP (PASP) is a natural extension of ASP in which certainty weights are associated with each rule. In this paper we contrast two different views on interpreting the weights attached to rules. Under the first view, weights reflect the certainty with which we can conclude the head of a rule when its body is satisfied. Under the second view, weights reflect the certainty that a given rule restricts the considered epistemic states of an agent in a valid way, i.e. it is the certainty that the rule itself is correct. The first view gives rise to a set of weighted answer sets, whereas the second view gives rise to a weighted set of classical answer sets
Logic-Based Decision Support for Strategic Environmental Assessment
Strategic Environmental Assessment is a procedure aimed at introducing
systematic assessment of the environmental effects of plans and programs. This
procedure is based on the so-called coaxial matrices that define dependencies
between plan activities (infrastructures, plants, resource extractions,
buildings, etc.) and positive and negative environmental impacts, and
dependencies between these impacts and environmental receptors. Up to now, this
procedure is manually implemented by environmental experts for checking the
environmental effects of a given plan or program, but it is never applied
during the plan/program construction. A decision support system, based on a
clear logic semantics, would be an invaluable tool not only in assessing a
single, already defined plan, but also during the planning process in order to
produce an optimized, environmentally assessed plan and to study possible
alternative scenarios. We propose two logic-based approaches to the problem,
one based on Constraint Logic Programming and one on Probabilistic Logic
Programming that could be, in the future, conveniently merged to exploit the
advantages of both. We test the proposed approaches on a real energy plan and
we discuss their limitations and advantages.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, 26th Int'l. Conference on Logic Programming
(ICLP'10
Computing only minimal answers in disjunctive deductive databases
A method is presented for computing minimal answers in disjunctive deductive
databases under the disjunctive stable model semantics. Such answers are
constructed by repeatedly extending partial answers. Our method is complete (in
that every minimal answer can be computed) and does not admit redundancy (in
the sense that every partial answer generated can be extended to a minimal
answer), whence no non-minimal answer is generated. For stratified databases,
the method does not (necessarily) require the computation of models of the
database in their entirety. Compilation is proposed as a tool by which problems
relating to computational efficiency and the non-existence of disjunctive
stable models can be overcome. The extension of our method to other semantics
is also considered.Comment: 48 page
Magic Sets for Disjunctive Datalog Programs
In this paper, a new technique for the optimization of (partially) bound
queries over disjunctive Datalog programs with stratified negation is
presented. The technique exploits the propagation of query bindings and extends
the Magic Set (MS) optimization technique.
An important feature of disjunctive Datalog is nonmonotonicity, which calls
for nondeterministic implementations, such as backtracking search. A
distinguishing characteristic of the new method is that the optimization can be
exploited also during the nondeterministic phase. In particular, after some
assumptions have been made during the computation, parts of the program may
become irrelevant to a query under these assumptions. This allows for dynamic
pruning of the search space. In contrast, the effect of the previously defined
MS methods for disjunctive Datalog is limited to the deterministic portion of
the process. In this way, the potential performance gain by using the proposed
method can be exponential, as could be observed empirically.
The correctness of MS is established thanks to a strong relationship between
MS and unfounded sets that has not been studied in the literature before. This
knowledge allows for extending the method also to programs with stratified
negation in a natural way.
The proposed method has been implemented in DLV and various experiments have
been conducted. Experimental results on synthetic data confirm the utility of
MS for disjunctive Datalog, and they highlight the computational gain that may
be obtained by the new method w.r.t. the previously proposed MS methods for
disjunctive Datalog programs. Further experiments on real-world data show the
benefits of MS within an application scenario that has received considerable
attention in recent years, the problem of answering user queries over possibly
inconsistent databases originating from integration of autonomous sources of
information.Comment: 67 pages, 19 figures, preprint submitted to Artificial Intelligenc
05171 Abstracts Collection -- Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Answer Set Programming and Constraints
From 24.04.05 to 29.04.05, the Dagstuhl Seminar
05171 ``Nonmonotonic Reasoning, Answer Set Programming and Constraints\u27\u27
was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI),
Schloss Dagstuhl.
During the seminar, several participants presented their current
research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of
the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of
seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section
describes the seminar topics and goals in general.
Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available
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