Computing Least Common Subsumers in ALEN

Computing the least common subsumer (lcs) in description logics is an inference task first introduced for sublanguages of CLASSIC. Roughly speaking, the lcs of a set of concept descriptions is the most specific concept description that subsumes all of the input descriptions. As such, the lcs allows to extract the commonalities from given concept descriptions, a task essential for several applications like, e.g., inductive learning, information retrieval, or the bottom-up construction of KR-knowledge bases. Previous work on the lcs has concentrated on description logics that either allow for number restrictions or for existential restrictions. Many applications, however, require to combine these constructors. In this work, we present an lcs algorithm for the description logic ALEN, which allows for both constructors (as well as concept conjunction, primitive negation, and value restrictions). The proof of correctness of our lcs algorithm is based on an appropriate structural characterization of subsumption in ALEN also introduced in this paper.This research was carried out while the second author was still at the LuFG Theoretical Computer Science, RWTH Aachen

Unification in a Description Logic with Transitive Closure of Roles

Unification of concept descriptions was introduced by Baader and Narendran as a tool for detecting redundancies in knowledge bases. It was shown that unification in the small description logic FL₀, which allows for conjunction, value restriction, and the top concept only, is already ExpTime-complete. The present paper shows that the complexity does not increase if one additionally allows for composition, union, and transitive closure of roles. It also shows that matching (which is polynomial in FL₀) is PSpace-complete in the extended description logic. These results are proved via a reduction to linear equations over regular languages, which are then solved using automata. The obtained results are also of interest in formal language theory.An abridged version will appear in Proc. LPAR'01

Matching Concept Descriptions with Existential Restrictions

Matching of concepts with variables (concept patterns) is a relatively new operation that has been introduced in the context of description logics, originally to help filter out unimportant aspects of large concepts appearing in industrial-strength knowledge bases. Previous work has concentrated on (sub-)languages of CLASSIC, which in particular do not allow for existential restrictions. In this work, we present sound and complete decision algorithms for the solvability of matching problems and for computing sets of matchers for matching problems in description logics with existential restrictions

Simultane Tiefen- und Flussbestimmung pflanzlicher Oberflächen

Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die stereobasierte 3D-Vermessung deformierbarer Objekte. Speziell wird der r¨aumliche Verlauf sowie die Verformung von pflanzlichen Oberfl¨achen bestimmt. Die Lage im Raum sowie das Bewegungsfeld der beobachteten Objekte werden simultan als Tiefe und optischer Fluss inMultikamera-Bildsequenzen gesch¨atzt. Dies ist durch einen Near-Baseline-Stereoansatz realisiert. ZeitlicheMehrkamerasequenzen werden als 4D-Datensatz interpretiert. Zur Berechnung der Tiefe kann ein lineares Modell aufgestellt werden. Die Kontinuit¨atsgleichung des optischen Flusses (BCCE) wird um Disparit¨atsterme erweitert. Eine Parametersch¨atzung mit einem differentiellen lokalen Total-Least-Squares-Verfahren, dem Strukturtensoransatz, liefert simultan Tiefen- und Flussinformation. Eine zus¨atzliche Erweiterung der BCCE erlaubt die gleichzeitige Sch¨atzung der Divergenz des Flussfeldes und damit der Tiefengeschwindigkeit. Genauigkeitsanalysen auf synthetischen und realen Sequenzen zeigen die f¨ur das Strukturtensorverfahren charakteristische hohe Rauschstabilit¨at und Genauigkeit. Als botanische Anwendung wird ein Verfahren zur Messung der lokalen relativen Oberfl¨achen¨anderung von sich bewegenden, gew¨olbten Pflanzenorganen aus der Gr¨oßen¨anderung von Teilfl¨achen entwickelt. Der zeitliche Verlauf dieser Wuchsratenmessungen zeigt einen deutlichen Tagesgang. Eine Beschr¨ankung auf die Auswertung statischer Multikamerasequenzen erlaubt die 3D-Vermessung der Kronend¨acher von B¨aumen als gegl¨attete Einh¨ullende. Um dies auch bei ausgedehnten Pflanzenbest¨anden zu erm¨oglichen, wird ein Verfahren entwickelt, das biangular rotierte 3D-Teilrekonstruktionen fusioniert. Als Anwendung erfolgt eine hochaufgel¨oste Rekonstruktion des Verlaufs des Regenwaldkronendaches im Biosphere 2 Center, Arizona

Simultane Tiefen- und Flussbestimmung pflanzlicher Oberflächen

Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit ist die stereobasierte 3D-Vermessung deformierbarer Objekte. Speziell wird der r¨aumliche Verlauf sowie die Verformung von pflanzlichen Oberfl¨achen bestimmt. Die Lage im Raum sowie das Bewegungsfeld der beobachteten Objekte werden simultan als Tiefe und optischer Fluss inMultikamera-Bildsequenzen gesch¨atzt. Dies ist durch einen Near-Baseline-Stereoansatz realisiert. ZeitlicheMehrkamerasequenzen werden als 4D-Datensatz interpretiert. Zur Berechnung der Tiefe kann ein lineares Modell aufgestellt werden. Die Kontinuit¨atsgleichung des optischen Flusses (BCCE) wird um Disparit¨atsterme erweitert. Eine Parametersch¨atzung mit einem differentiellen lokalen Total-Least-Squares-Verfahren, dem Strukturtensoransatz, liefert simultan Tiefen- und Flussinformation. Eine zus¨atzliche Erweiterung der BCCE erlaubt die gleichzeitige Sch¨atzung der Divergenz des Flussfeldes und damit der Tiefengeschwindigkeit. Genauigkeitsanalysen auf synthetischen und realen Sequenzen zeigen die f¨ur das Strukturtensorverfahren charakteristische hohe Rauschstabilit¨at und Genauigkeit. Als botanische Anwendung wird ein Verfahren zur Messung der lokalen relativen Oberfl¨achen¨anderung von sich bewegenden, gew¨olbten Pflanzenorganen aus der Gr¨oßen¨anderung von Teilfl¨achen entwickelt. Der zeitliche Verlauf dieser Wuchsratenmessungen zeigt einen deutlichen Tagesgang. Eine Beschr¨ankung auf die Auswertung statischer Multikamerasequenzen erlaubt die 3D-Vermessung der Kronend¨acher von B¨aumen als gegl¨attete Einh¨ullende. Um dies auch bei ausgedehnten Pflanzenbest¨anden zu erm¨oglichen, wird ein Verfahren entwickelt, das biangular rotierte 3D-Teilrekonstruktionen fusioniert. Als Anwendung erfolgt eine hochaufgel¨oste Rekonstruktion des Verlaufs des Regenwaldkronendaches im Biosphere 2 Center, Arizona

Matching under Side Conditions in Description Logics

Whereas matching in Description Logics is now relatively well investigated, there are only very few formal results on matching under additional side conditions, though these side conditions were already present in the original paper by Borgida and McGuinness introducing matching in DLs. The present report closes this gap for the DL ALN and its sublanguages

Approximation and Difference in Description Logics

Approximation is a new inference service in Description Logics first mentioned by Baader, Küsters, and Molitor. Approximating a concept, defined in one Description Logic, means to translate this concept to another concept, defined in a second typically less expressive Description Logic, such that both concepts are as closely related as possible with respect to subsumption. The present paper provides the first in-depth investigation of this inference task. We prove that approximations from the Description Logic ALC to ALE always exist and propose an algorithm computing them. As a measure for the accuracy of the approximation, we introduce a syntax-oriented difference operator, which yields a concept description that contains all aspects of the approximated concept that are not present in the approximation. It is also argued that a purely semantical difference operator, as introduced by Teege, is less suited for this purpose. Finally, for the logics under consideration, we propose an algorithm computing the difference

AUC: Accountable Universal Composability

Accountability is a well-established and widely used security concept that allows for obtaining undeniable cryptographic proof of misbehavior, thereby incentivizing honest behavior. There already exist several general purpose accountability frameworks for formal game-based security analyses. Unfortunately, such game-based frameworks do not support modular security analyses, which is an important tool to handle the complexity of modern protocols. Universal composability (UC) models provide native support for modular analyses, including re-use and composition of security results. So far, accountability has mainly been modeled and analyzed in UC models for the special case of MPC protocols, with a general purpose accountability framework for UC still missing. That is, a framework that among others supports arbitrary protocols, a wide range of accountability properties, handling and mixing of accountable and non-accountable security properties, and modular analysis of accountable protocols. To close this gap, we propose AUC, the first general purpose accountability framework for UC models, which supports all of the above, based on several new concepts. We exemplify AUC in three case studies not covered by existing works. In particular, AUC unifies existing UC accountability approaches within a single framework

A Hybrid Approach for Proving Noninterference of Java Programs

Several tools and approaches for proving noninterference properties for Java and other languages exist. Some of them have a high degree of automation or are even fully automatic, but overapproximate the actual information flow, and hence, may produce false positives. Other tools, such as those based on theorem proving, are precise, but may need interaction, and hence, analysis is time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a hybrid approach that aims at obtaining the best of both approaches: We want to use fully automatic analysis as much as possible and only at places in a program where, due to overapproximation, the automatic approaches fail, we resort to more precise, but interactive analysis, where the latter involves only the verification of specific functional properties in certain parts of the program, rather than checking more intricate noninterference properties for the whole program. To illustrate the hybrid approach, in a case study we use the hybrid approach–along with the fully automatic tool Joana for checking noninterference properties for Java programs and the theorem prover KeY for the verification of Java programs–and the CVJ framework proposed by Küsters, Truderung, and Graf to establish cryptographic privacy properties for a non-trivial Java program, namely an e-voting system. The CVJ framework allows one to establish cryptographic indistinguishability properties for Java programs by checking (standard) noninterference properties for such programs