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Information usually comes in pieces, from different sources. It refers to different, but related questions. Therefore information needs to be aggregated and focused onto the relevant questions. Considering combination and focusing of information as the relevant operations leads to a generic algebraic structure for information. This book introduces and studies information from this algebraic point of view. Algebras of information provide the necessary abstract framework for generic inference procedures. They allow the application of these procedures to a large variety of different formalisms for representing information. At the same time they permit a generic study of conditional independence, a property considered as fundamental for knowledge presentation. Information algebras provide a natural framework to define and study uncertain information. Uncertain information is represented by random variables that naturally form information algebras. This theory also relates to probabilistic assumption-based reasoning in information systems and is the basis for the belief functions in the Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence.
Proceedings volume contains carefully selected papers presented during the 17th IFIP Conference on System Modelling and Optimization. Optimization theory and practice, optimal control, system modelling, stochastic optimization, and technical and non-technical applications of the existing theory are among areas mostly addressed in the included papers. Main directions are treated in addition to several survey papers based on invited presentations of leading specialists in the respective fields. Publication provides state-of-the-art in the area of system theory and optimization and points out several new areas (e.g fuzzy set, neural nets), where classical optimization topics intersects with computer science methodology.
Reasoning under uncertainty is always based on a specified language or for malism, including its particular syntax and semantics, but also on its associated inference mechanism. In the present volume of the handbook the last aspect, the algorithmic aspects of uncertainty calculi are presented. Theory has suffi ciently advanced to unfold some generally applicable fundamental structures and methods. On the other hand, particular features of specific formalisms and ap proaches to uncertainty of course still influence strongly the computational meth ods to be used. Both general as well as specific methods are included in this volume. Broadly speaking, symbolic or logical approaches to uncertaint...
An approach to the modeling of and the reasoning under uncertainty. The book develops the Dempster-Shafer Theory with regard to the reliability of reasoning with uncertain arguments. Of particular interest here is the development of a new synthesis and the integration of logic and probability theory. The reader benefits from a new approach to uncertainty modeling which extends classical probability theory.
This book presents the scientific outcome of a joint effort of the computer science departments of the universities of Berne, Fribourg and Neuchâtel. Within an initiative devoted to "Information and Knowledge", these research groups collaborated over several years on issues of logic, probability, inference, and deduction. The goal of this volume is to examine whether there is any common ground between the different approaches to the concept of information. The structure of this book could be represented by a circular model, with an innermost syntactical circle, comprising statistical and algorithmic approaches; a second, larger circle, the semantical one, in which "meaning" enters the stage; and finally an outermost circle, the pragmatic one, casting light on real-life logical reasoning. These articles are complemented by two philosophical contributions exploring the wide conceptual field as well as taking stock of the articles on the various formal theories of information.
Computer-based mathematical modeling - the technique of representing and managing models in machine-readable form - is still in its infancy despite the many powerful mathematical software packages already available which can solve astonishingly complex and large models. On the one hand, using mathematical and logical notation, we can formulate models which cannot be solved by any computer in reasonable time - or which cannot even be solved by any method. On the other hand, we can solve certain classes of much larger models than we can practically handle and manipulate without heavy programming. This is especially true in operations research where it is common to solve models with many thousa...
This volume, the 7th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the aftermath of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Uncertainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989- 1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of "Dynamics of Reasoning", where reasoning is viewed as a process, and "Reasoning about Dynamics", which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context extended with some work done by outstanding researchers...
Modern civilization relies on a functioning information infrastructure. As a result, dependability has become a central issue in all disciplines of systems engineering and software architecture.Theories, methods and tools that help to master the problems encountered in the design process and the management of operations are therefore of utmost importance for the future of information and communication technology. The present volume documents the results of a research program on Dependable Information and Communication Systems (DICS). The members of the project met in two workshops organized by the Hasler Foundation. This state-of-the-art survey contains 3 overview articles identifying major issues of dependability and presenting the latest solutions, as well as 10 carefully selected and revised papers depicting the research results originating from those workshops. The first workshop took place in Münchenwiler, Switzerland, in March 2004, and the second workshop, which marked the conclusion of the projects, in Löwenberg, Switzerland, in October 2005. The papers are organized in topical sections on surveys, dependable software, dependable computing, and dependable networks.
"Liberal order and software-agents" - long-established ideas and modern technology are bridged. The impulse for undertaking this effort comes from the observation that it becomes difficult for computer science alone to create order for and within machines. The growing complexity of computer systems, open networks like the Internet, and the increasingly social role of software entities push the traditional quest for total global control out of reach. Economic theory of social order offers extensive experience with such conditions, so that it can complement and guide research in computer science. It is shown that a common understanding between economics and computer science's sub-field of dist...
"The papers in this volume formed the programme of the 1st International Conference on Computational Models of Argument (COMMA), which was hosted by the Dept. of Computer Science of the University of Liverpool from Sept. 11th-12th, 2006."--Pref.