18,220 research outputs found
A Survey of Languages for Specifying Dynamics: A Knowledge Engineering Perspective
A number of formal specification languages for knowledge-based systems has been developed. Characteristics for knowledge-based systems are a complex knowledge base and an inference engine which uses this knowledge to solve a given problem. Specification languages for knowledge-based systems have to cover both aspects. They have to provide the means to specify a complex and large amount of knowledge and they have to provide the means to specify the dynamic reasoning behavior of a knowledge-based system. We focus on the second aspect. For this purpose, we survey existing approaches for specifying dynamic behavior in related areas of research. In fact, we have taken approaches for the specification of information systems (Language for Conceptual Modeling and TROLL), approaches for the specification of database updates and logic programming (Transaction Logic and Dynamic Database Logic) and the generic specification framework of abstract state machine
Differential Privacy for Relational Algebra: Improving the Sensitivity Bounds via Constraint Systems
Differential privacy is a modern approach in privacy-preserving data analysis
to control the amount of information that can be inferred about an individual
by querying a database. The most common techniques are based on the
introduction of probabilistic noise, often defined as a Laplacian parametric on
the sensitivity of the query. In order to maximize the utility of the query, it
is crucial to estimate the sensitivity as precisely as possible.
In this paper we consider relational algebra, the classical language for
queries in relational databases, and we propose a method for computing a bound
on the sensitivity of queries in an intuitive and compositional way. We use
constraint-based techniques to accumulate the information on the possible
values for attributes provided by the various components of the query, thus
making it possible to compute tight bounds on the sensitivity.Comment: In Proceedings QAPL 2012, arXiv:1207.055
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
Abstract Diagnosis for Timed Concurrent Constraint programs
The Timed Concurrent Constraint Language (tccp in short) is a concurrent
logic language based on the simple but powerful concurrent constraint paradigm
of Saraswat. In this paradigm, the notion of store-as-value is replaced by the
notion of store-as-constraint, which introduces some differences w.r.t. other
approaches to concurrency. In this paper, we provide a general framework for
the debugging of tccp programs. To this end, we first present a new compact,
bottom-up semantics for the language that is well suited for debugging and
verification purposes in the context of reactive systems. We also provide an
abstract semantics that allows us to effectively implement debugging algorithms
based on abstract interpretation. Given a tccp program and a behavior
specification, our debugging approach automatically detects whether the program
satisfies the specification. This differs from other semiautomatic approaches
to debugging and avoids the need to provide symptoms in advance. We show the
efficacy of our approach by introducing two illustrative examples. We choose a
specific abstract domain and show how we can detect that a program is
erroneous.Comment: 16 page
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