33 research outputs found
On Distributive Subalgebras of Qualitative Spatial and Temporal Calculi
Qualitative calculi play a central role in representing and reasoning about
qualitative spatial and temporal knowledge. This paper studies distributive
subalgebras of qualitative calculi, which are subalgebras in which (weak)
composition distributives over nonempty intersections. It has been proven for
RCC5 and RCC8 that path consistent constraint network over a distributive
subalgebra is always minimal and globally consistent (in the sense of strong
-consistency) in a qualitative sense. The well-known subclass of convex
interval relations provides one such an example of distributive subalgebras.
This paper first gives a characterisation of distributive subalgebras, which
states that the intersection of a set of relations in the subalgebra
is nonempty if and only if the intersection of every two of these relations is
nonempty. We further compute and generate all maximal distributive subalgebras
for Point Algebra, Interval Algebra, RCC5 and RCC8, Cardinal Relation Algebra,
and Rectangle Algebra. Lastly, we establish two nice properties which will play
an important role in efficient reasoning with constraint networks involving a
large number of variables.Comment: Adding proof of Theorem 2 to appendi
Constraint Satisfaction and Semilinear Expansions of Addition over the Rationals and the Reals
A semilinear relation is a finite union of finite intersections of open and
closed half-spaces over, for instance, the reals, the rationals, or the
integers. Semilinear relations have been studied in connection with algebraic
geometry, automata theory, and spatiotemporal reasoning. We consider semilinear
relations over the rationals and the reals. Under this assumption, the
computational complexity of the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) is known
for all finite sets containing R+={(x,y,z) | x+y=z}, <=, and {1}. These
problems correspond to expansions of the linear programming feasibility
problem. We generalise this result and fully determine the complexity for all
finite sets of semilinear relations containing R+. This is accomplished in part
by introducing an algorithm, based on computing affine hulls, which solves a
new class of semilinear CSPs in polynomial time. We further analyse the
complexity of linear optimisation over the solution set and the existence of
integer solutions.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figur
The Complexity of Combinations of Qualitative Constraint Satisfaction Problems
The CSP of a first-order theory is the problem of deciding for a given
finite set of atomic formulas whether is satisfiable. Let
and be two theories with countably infinite models and disjoint
signatures. Nelson and Oppen presented conditions that imply decidability (or
polynomial-time decidability) of under the
assumption that and are decidable (or
polynomial-time decidable). We show that for a large class of
-categorical theories the Nelson-Oppen conditions are not
only sufficient, but also necessary for polynomial-time tractability of
(unless P=NP).Comment: Version 2: stronger main result with better presentation of the
proof; multiple improvements in other proofs; new section structure; new
example
Tractability in Constraint Satisfaction Problems: A Survey
International audienceEven though the Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) is NP-complete, many tractable classes of CSP instances have been identified. After discussing different forms and uses of tractability, we describe some landmark tractable classes and survey recent theoretical results. Although we concentrate on the classical CSP, we also cover its important extensions to infinite domains and optimisation, as well as #CSP and QCSP
Using Model Theory to Find Decidable and Tractable Description Logics with Concrete Domains
Concrete domains have been introduced in the area of Description Logic (DL) to enable reference to concrete objects (such as numbers) and predefined predicates on these objects (such as numerical comparisons) when defining concepts. Unfortunately, in the presence of general concept inclusions (GCIs), which are supported by all modern DL systems, adding concrete domains may easily lead to undecidability.
To regain decidability of the DL ALC in the presence of GCIs, quite strong restrictions, called ω-admissibility, were imposed on the concrete domain. On the one hand, we generalize the notion of ω-admissibility from concrete domains with only binary predicates to concrete domains with predicates of arbitrary arity. On the other hand, we relate ω-admissibility to well-known notions from model theory. In particular, we show that finitely bounded homogeneous structures yield ω-admissible concrete domains. This allows us to show ω-admissibility of concrete domains using existing results from model theory.
When integrating concrete domains into lightweight DLs of the EL family, achieving decidability of reasoning is not enough. One wants the resulting DL to be tractable. This can be achieved by using so-called p-admissible concrete domains and restricting the interaction between the DL and the concrete domain. We investigate p-admissibility from an algebraic point of view. Again, this yields strong algebraic tools for demonstrating p-admissibility. In particular, we obtain an expressive numerical p-admissible concrete domain based on the rational numbers. Although ω-admissibility and p-admissibility are orthogonal conditions that are almost exclusive, our algebraic characterizations of these two properties allow us to locate an infinite class of p-admissible concrete domains whose integration into ALC yields
decidable DLs.
DL systems that can handle concrete domains allow their users to employ a fixed set of predicates of one or more fixed concrete domains when modelling concepts.
They do not provide their users with means for defining new predicates, let alone new concrete domains. The good news is that finitely bounded homogeneous structures offer precisely that. We show that integrating concrete domains based on finitely bounded homogeneous structures into ALC yields decidable DLs even if we allow predicates specified by first-order formulas. This class of structures also provides effective means for defining new ω-admissible concrete domains with at most binary predicates. The bad news is that defining ω-admissible concrete domains with predicates of higher arities is computationally hard. We obtain two new lower bounds for this meta-problem, but leave its decidability open. In contrast, we prove that there is no algorithm that would facilitate defining p-admissible concrete domains already for binary signatures.:1. Introduction . . . 1
2. Preliminaries . . . 5
3. Description Logics with Concrete Domains . . . 9
3.1. Basic definitions and undecidability results . . . 9
3.2. Decidable and tractable DLs with concrete domains . . . 16
4. A Model-Theoretic Analysis of ω-Admissibility . . . 23
4.1. Homomorphism ω-compactness via ω-categoricity . . . 23
4.2. Patchworks via homogeneity . . . 24
4.3. JDJEPD via decomposition into orbits . . . 27
4.4. Upper bounds via finite boundedness . . . 28
4.5. ω-admissible finitely bounded homogeneous structures . . . 32
4.6. ω-admissible homogeneous cores with a decidable CSP . . . 34
4.7. Coverage of the developed sufficient conditions . . . 36
4.8. Closure properties: homogeneity & finite boundedness . . . 39
5. A Model-Theoretic Analysis of p-Admissibility . . . 47
5.1. Convexity via square embeddings . . . 47
5.2. Convex ω-categorical structures . . . 50
5.3. Convex numerical structures . . . 52
5.4. Ages defined by forbidden substructures . . . 54
5.5. Ages defined by forbidden homomorphic images . . . 56
5.6. (Non-)closure properties of convexity . . . 59
6. Towards user-definable concrete domains . . . 61
6.1. A proof-theoretic perspective . . . 65
6.2. Universal Horn sentences and the JEP . . . 66
6.3. Universal sentences and the AP: the Horn case . . . 77
6.4. Universal sentences and the AP: the general case . . . 90
7. Conclusion . . . 99
7.1. Contributions and future outlook . . . 99
A. Concrete Domains without Equality . . . 103
Bibliography . . . 107
List of figures . . . 115
Alphabetical Index . . . 11
Proceedings of the Joint Automated Reasoning Workshop and Deduktionstreffen: As part of the Vienna Summer of Logic – IJCAR 23-24 July 2014
Preface
For many years the British and the German automated reasoning communities have successfully run independent series of workshops for anybody working in the area of automated reasoning. Although open to the general
public they addressed in the past primarily the British and the German communities, respectively. At the occasion of the Vienna Summer of Logic the two series have a joint event in Vienna as an IJCAR workshop. In the spirit of the two series there will be only informal proceedings with abstracts of the works presented. These are collected in this document. We have tried to maintain the informal open atmosphere of the two series and have welcomed in particular research students to present their work. We have solicited for all work related to automated reasoning and its applications with a particular interest in work-in-progress and the presentation of half-baked ideas.
As in the previous years, we have aimed to bring together researchers from all areas of automated reasoning in order to foster links among researchers from various disciplines; among theoreticians, implementers and users alike, and among international communities, this year not just the British and German communities
Efficiently reasoning about qualitative constraints through variable elimination
© 2016 ACM. We introduce, study, and evaluate a novel algorithm in the context of qualitative constraint-based spatial and temporal reasoning, that is based on the idea of variable elimination, a simple and general exact inference approach in probabilistic graphical models. Given a qualitative constraint network M, our algorithm enforces a particular directional local consistency on M, which we denote by ←-consistency. Our discussion is restricted to distributive subclasses of relations, i.e., sets of relations closed under converse, intersection, and weak composition and for which weak composition distributes over non-empty intersections for all of their relations. We demonstrate that enforcing ←-consistency on a given qualitative constraint network defined over a distributive subclass of relations allows us to decide its satisfiability. The experimentation that we have conducted with random and real-world qualitative constraint networks defined over a distributive subclass of relations of the Region Connection Calculus, shows that our approach exhibits unparalleled performance against competing state-of-the-art approaches for checking the satisfiability of such constraint networks