1,636 research outputs found
Semantics of Horn and disjunctive logic programs
AbstractVan Emden and Kowalski proposed a fixpoint semantics based on model-theory and an operational semantics based on proof-theory for Horn logic programs. They prove the equivalence of these semantics using fixpoint techniques. The main goal of this paper is to present a unified theory for the semantics of Horn and disjunctive logic programs. For this, we extend the fixpoint semantics and the operational or procedural semantics to the class of disjunctive logic programs and prove their equivalence using techniques similar to the ones used for Horn programs
Embedding Non-Ground Logic Programs into Autoepistemic Logic for Knowledge Base Combination
In the context of the Semantic Web, several approaches to the combination of
ontologies, given in terms of theories of classical first-order logic and rule
bases, have been proposed. They either cast rules into classical logic or limit
the interaction between rules and ontologies. Autoepistemic logic (AEL) is an
attractive formalism which allows to overcome these limitations, by serving as
a uniform host language to embed ontologies and nonmonotonic logic programs
into it. For the latter, so far only the propositional setting has been
considered. In this paper, we present three embeddings of normal and three
embeddings of disjunctive non-ground logic programs under the stable model
semantics into first-order AEL. While the embeddings all correspond with
respect to objective ground atoms, differences arise when considering
non-atomic formulas and combinations with first-order theories. We compare the
embeddings with respect to stable expansions and autoepistemic consequences,
considering the embeddings by themselves, as well as combinations with
classical theories. Our results reveal differences and correspondences of the
embeddings and provide useful guidance in the choice of a particular embedding
for knowledge combination.Comment: 52 pages, submitte
Constrained Query Answering
Traditional answering methods evaluate queries only against positive
and definite knowledge expressed by means of facts and deduction rules. They do
not make use of negative, disjunctive or existential information. Negative or indefinite
knowledge is however often available in knowledge base systems, either as
design requirements, or as observed properties. Such knowledge can serve to rule out
unproductive subexpressions during query answering. In this article, we propose an
approach for constraining any conventional query answering procedure with general,
possibly negative or indefinite formulas, so as to discard impossible cases and to
avoid redundant evaluations. This approach does not impose additional conditions
on the positive and definite knowledge, nor does it assume any particular semantics
for negation. It adopts that of the conventional query answering procedure it
constrains. This is achieved by relying on meta-interpretation for specifying the
constraining process. The soundness, completeness, and termination of the underlying
query answering procedure are not compromised. Constrained query answering
can be applied for answering queries more efficiently as well as for generating more
informative, intensional answers
Backdoors to Normality for Disjunctive Logic Programs
Over the last two decades, propositional satisfiability (SAT) has become one
of the most successful and widely applied techniques for the solution of
NP-complete problems. The aim of this paper is to investigate theoretically how
Sat can be utilized for the efficient solution of problems that are harder than
NP or co-NP. In particular, we consider the fundamental reasoning problems in
propositional disjunctive answer set programming (ASP), Brave Reasoning and
Skeptical Reasoning, which ask whether a given atom is contained in at least
one or in all answer sets, respectively. Both problems are located at the
second level of the Polynomial Hierarchy and thus assumed to be harder than NP
or co-NP. One cannot transform these two reasoning problems into SAT in
polynomial time, unless the Polynomial Hierarchy collapses. We show that
certain structural aspects of disjunctive logic programs can be utilized to
break through this complexity barrier, using new techniques from Parameterized
Complexity. In particular, we exhibit transformations from Brave and Skeptical
Reasoning to SAT that run in time O(2^k n^2) where k is a structural parameter
of the instance and n the input size. In other words, the reduction is
fixed-parameter tractable for parameter k. As the parameter k we take the size
of a smallest backdoor with respect to the class of normal (i.e.,
disjunction-free) programs. Such a backdoor is a set of atoms that when deleted
makes the program normal. In consequence, the combinatorial explosion, which is
expected when transforming a problem from the second level of the Polynomial
Hierarchy to the first level, can now be confined to the parameter k, while the
running time of the reduction is polynomial in the input size n, where the
order of the polynomial is independent of k.Comment: A short version will appear in the Proceedings of the Proceedings of
the 27th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI'13). A preliminary
version of the paper was presented on the workshop Answer Set Programming and
Other Computing Paradigms (ASPOCP 2012), 5th International Workshop,
September 4, 2012, Budapest, Hungar
Extremal problems in logic programming and stable model computation
We study the following problem: given a class of logic programs C, determine
the maximum number of stable models of a program from C. We establish the
maximum for the class of all logic programs with at most n clauses, and for the
class of all logic programs of size at most n. We also characterize the
programs for which the maxima are attained. We obtain similar results for the
class of all disjunctive logic programs with at most n clauses, each of length
at most m, and for the class of all disjunctive logic programs of size at most
n. Our results on logic programs have direct implication for the design of
algorithms to compute stable models. Several such algorithms, similar in spirit
to the Davis-Putnam procedure, are described in the paper. Our results imply
that there is an algorithm that finds all stable models of a program with n
clauses after considering the search space of size O(3^{n/3}) in the worst
case. Our results also provide some insights into the question of
representability of families of sets as families of stable models of logic
programs
Logic Programming as Constructivism
The features of logic programming that
seem unconventional from the viewpoint of classical logic
can be explained in terms of constructivistic logic. We
motivate and propose a constructivistic proof theory of
non-Horn logic programming. Then, we apply this formalization
for establishing results of practical interest.
First, we show that 'stratification can be motivated in a
simple and intuitive way. Relying on similar motivations,
we introduce the larger classes of 'loosely stratified' and
'constructively consistent' programs. Second, we give a
formal basis for introducing quantifiers into queries and
logic programs by defining 'constructively domain
independent* formulas. Third, we extend the Generalized
Magic Sets procedure to loosely stratified and constructively
consistent programs, by relying on a 'conditional
fixpoini procedure
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