14,396 research outputs found
Bayesian Learning and Predictability in a Stochastic Nonlinear Dynamical Model
Bayesian inference methods are applied within a Bayesian hierarchical
modelling framework to the problems of joint state and parameter estimation,
and of state forecasting. We explore and demonstrate the ideas in the context
of a simple nonlinear marine biogeochemical model. A novel approach is proposed
to the formulation of the stochastic process model, in which ecophysiological
properties of plankton communities are represented by autoregressive stochastic
processes. This approach captures the effects of changes in plankton
communities over time, and it allows the incorporation of literature metadata
on individual species into prior distributions for process model parameters.
The approach is applied to a case study at Ocean Station Papa, using Particle
Markov chain Monte Carlo computational techniques. The results suggest that, by
drawing on objective prior information, it is possible to extract useful
information about model state and a subset of parameters, and even to make
useful long-term forecasts, based on sparse and noisy observations
Symbolic Logic meets Machine Learning: A Brief Survey in Infinite Domains
The tension between deduction and induction is perhaps the most fundamental
issue in areas such as philosophy, cognition and artificial intelligence (AI).
The deduction camp concerns itself with questions about the expressiveness of
formal languages for capturing knowledge about the world, together with proof
systems for reasoning from such knowledge bases. The learning camp attempts to
generalize from examples about partial descriptions about the world. In AI,
historically, these camps have loosely divided the development of the field,
but advances in cross-over areas such as statistical relational learning,
neuro-symbolic systems, and high-level control have illustrated that the
dichotomy is not very constructive, and perhaps even ill-formed. In this
article, we survey work that provides further evidence for the connections
between logic and learning. Our narrative is structured in terms of three
strands: logic versus learning, machine learning for logic, and logic for
machine learning, but naturally, there is considerable overlap. We place an
emphasis on the following "sore" point: there is a common misconception that
logic is for discrete properties, whereas probability theory and machine
learning, more generally, is for continuous properties. We report on results
that challenge this view on the limitations of logic, and expose the role that
logic can play for learning in infinite domains
Data-driven and Model-based Verification: a Bayesian Identification Approach
This work develops a measurement-driven and model-based formal verification
approach, applicable to systems with partly unknown dynamics. We provide a
principled method, grounded on reachability analysis and on Bayesian inference,
to compute the confidence that a physical system driven by external inputs and
accessed under noisy measurements, verifies a temporal logic property. A case
study is discussed, where we investigate the bounded- and unbounded-time safety
of a partly unknown linear time invariant system
Certainty Closure: Reliable Constraint Reasoning with Incomplete or Erroneous Data
Constraint Programming (CP) has proved an effective paradigm to model and
solve difficult combinatorial satisfaction and optimisation problems from
disparate domains. Many such problems arising from the commercial world are
permeated by data uncertainty. Existing CP approaches that accommodate
uncertainty are less suited to uncertainty arising due to incomplete and
erroneous data, because they do not build reliable models and solutions
guaranteed to address the user's genuine problem as she perceives it. Other
fields such as reliable computation offer combinations of models and associated
methods to handle these types of uncertain data, but lack an expressive
framework characterising the resolution methodology independently of the model.
We present a unifying framework that extends the CP formalism in both model
and solutions, to tackle ill-defined combinatorial problems with incomplete or
erroneous data. The certainty closure framework brings together modelling and
solving methodologies from different fields into the CP paradigm to provide
reliable and efficient approches for uncertain constraint problems. We
demonstrate the applicability of the framework on a case study in network
diagnosis. We define resolution forms that give generic templates, and their
associated operational semantics, to derive practical solution methods for
reliable solutions.Comment: Revised versio
Method for finding metabolic properties based on the general growth law. Liver examples. A General framework for biological modeling
We propose a method for finding metabolic parameters of cells, organs and
whole organisms, which is based on the earlier discovered general growth law.
Based on the obtained results and analysis of available biological models, we
propose a general framework for modeling biological phenomena and discuss how
it can be used in Virtual Liver Network project. The foundational idea of the
study is that growth of cells, organs, systems and whole organisms, besides
biomolecular machinery, is influenced by biophysical mechanisms acting at
different scale levels. In particular, the general growth law uniquely defines
distribution of nutritional resources between maintenance needs and biomass
synthesis at each phase of growth and at each scale level. We exemplify the
approach considering metabolic properties of growing human and dog livers and
liver transplants. A procedure for verification of obtained results has been
introduced too. We found that two examined dogs have high metabolic rates
consuming about 0.62 and 1 gram of nutrients per cubic centimeter of liver per
day, and verified this using the proposed verification procedure. We also
evaluated consumption rate of nutrients in human livers, determining it to be
about 0.088 gram of nutrients per cubic centimeter of liver per day for males,
and about 0.098 for females. This noticeable difference can be explained by
evolutionary development, which required females to have greater liver
processing capacity to support pregnancy. We also found how much nutrients go
to biomass synthesis and maintenance at each phase of liver and liver
transplant growth. Obtained results demonstrate that the proposed approach can
be used for finding metabolic characteristics of cells, organs, and whole
organisms, which can further serve as important inputs for many applications in
biology (protein expression), biotechnology (synthesis of substances), and
medicine.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, 4 table
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