A framework for managing uncertain inputs: An axiomization of rewarding

The success postulate in belief revision ensures that new evidence (input) is always trusted. However, admitting uncertain input has been questioned by many researchers. Darwiche and Pearl argued that strengths of evidence should be introduced to determine the outcome of belief change, and provided a preliminary definition towards this thought. In this paper, we start with Darwiche and Pearl’s idea aiming to develop a framework that can capture the influence of the strengths of inputs with some rational assumptions. To achieve this, we first define epistemic states to represent beliefs attached with strength, and then present a set of postulates to describe the change process on epistemic states that is determined by the strengths of input and establish representation theorems to characterize these postulates. As a result, we obtain a unique rewarding operator which is proved to be a merging operator that is in line with many other works. We also investigate existing postulates on belief merging and compare them with our postulates. In addition, we show that from an epistemic state, a corresponding ordinal conditional function by Spohn can be derived and the result of combining two epistemic states is thus reduced to the result of combining two corresponding ordinal conditional functions proposed by Laverny and Lang. Furthermore, when reduced to the belief revision situation, we prove that our results induce all the Darwiche and Pearl’s postulates as well as the Recalcitrance postulate and the Independence postulate.     

A Brief Remark on Non-prioritized Belief Change and the Monotony Postulate

The AGM success postulates for belief expansions and revisions have been widely criticized. This has resulted in the development of a number of non-prioritized belief change theories that violate these postulates. It is shown that we must also discard the monotony postulate for belief expansions if we abandon the success postulates. Non-prioritized belief change theories should instead fulfill a weaker postulate, which we call Conditional Monotony.     

Lukasiewicz-based merging possibilistic networks

Possibility theory provides a good framework for dealing with merging problems when information is pervaded with uncertainty and inconsistency. Many merging operators in possibility theory have been proposed. This paper develops a new approach to merging uncertain information modeled by possibilistic networks. In this approach we restrict our attention to show how a “triangular norm” establishes a lower bound on the degree to which an assessment is true when it is obtained by a set of initial hypothesis represented by a joint possibility distribution. This operator is characterized by its high effect of reinforcement. A strongly conjunctive operator is suitable to merge networks that are not involved in conflict, especially those supported by both sources. In this paper, the Lukasiewicz t-norm is first applied to a set of possibility measures to combine networks having the same and different graphical structures. We then present a method to merge possibilistic networks dealing with cycles.     

Revising beliefs on the basis of evidence

Approaches to belief revision most commonly deal with categorical information: an agent has a set of beliefs and the goal is to consistently incorporate a new item of information given by a formula. However, most information about the real world is not categorical. In revision, one may circumvent this fact by assuming that, in some fashion or other, an agent has elected to accept a formula ?, and the task of revision is to consistently incorporate ? into its belief corpus. Nonetheless, it is worth asking whether probabilistic information and noncategorical beliefs may be reconciled with, or even inform, approaches to revision. In this paper, one such account is presented. An agent receives uncertain information as input, and its probabilities on (a finite set of) possible worlds are updated via Bayesian conditioning. A set of formulas among the noncategorical beliefs is identified as the agent’s categorical belief set. The effect of this updating on the belief set is examined with respect to its appropriateness as a revision operator. We show that few of the classical AGM belief revision postulates are satisfied by this approach. Most significantly, though not surprisingly, the success postulate is not guaranteed to hold. However it does hold after a sufficient number of iterations. As well, it proves to be the case that in revising by a formula consistent with the agent’s beliefs, revision does not correspond to expansion. Postulates for iterated revision also examined, and it proves to be the case that most such postulates also do not hold. On the other hand, limiting cases of the presented approach correspond to specific approaches to revision that have appeared in the literature.     

Common Belief with the Logic of Individual Belief

The logic of common belief does not always reflect that of individual beliefs. In particular, even when the individual belief operators satisfy the KD45 logic, the common belief operator may fail to satisfy axiom 5. That is, it can happen that neither is A commonly believed nor is it common belief that A is not commonly believed. We identify the intersubjective restrictions on individual beliefs that are incorporated in axiom 5 for common belief.     

Postulates for logic-based argumentation systems

Logic-based argumentation systems are developed for reasoning with inconsistent information. Starting from a knowledge base encoded in a logical language, they define arguments and attacks between them using the consequence operator associated with the language. Finally, a semantics is used for evaluating the arguments.In this paper, we focus on systems that are based on deductive logics and that use Dung's semantics. We investigate rationality postulates that such systems should satisfy. We define five intuitive postulates: consistency and closure under the consequence operator of the underlying logic of the set of conclusions of arguments of each extension, closure under sub-arguments and exhaustiveness of the extensions, and a free precedence postulate ensuring that the free formulas of the knowledge base (i.e., the ones that are not involved in inconsistency) are conclusions of arguments in every extension. We study the links between the postulates and explore conditions under which they are guaranteed or violated.     

An approximation to max min fairness in multi commodity networks

Computational Management Science - The two objectives of max min fairness (MMF) in multi commodity networks are maximizing the overall throughput so the network operator is satisfied when network...     

Totally compatible associative and Lie dialgebras, tridendriform algebras and PostLie algebras

This paper studies the concepts of a totally compatible dialgebra and a totally compatible Lie dialgebra,defined to be a vector space with two binary operations that satisfy individual and mixed associativity conditions and Lie algebra conditions respectively.We show that totally compatible dialgebras are closely related to bimodule algebras and semi-homomorphisms.More significantly,Rota-Baxter operators on totally compatible dialgebras provide a uniform framework to generalize known results that Rota-Baxter related operators give tridendriform algebras.Free totally compatible dialgebras are constructed.We also show that a Rota-Baxter operator on a totally compatible Lie dialgebra gives rise to a PostLie algebra,generalizing the fact that a Rota-Baxter operator on a Lie algebra gives rise to a PostLie algebra.     

A simplified kinematic wave model at a merge bottleneck

A merge is a point of a highway where two or more streams of traffic flow into one. It is always easy to solve the demand–supply problem at a merge when the merge is operating under uncongested condition. However, when congestion backs up exceeding the merging point where multiple streams of traffic meet, one is typically faced with splitting downstream supply among the merging branches. Solutions of this situation are multiple and several merge queuing models have been proposed in the past. To address the drawbacks of the past models, this paper proposes a capacity-based weighted fair queuing (CBWFQ) model that is characterized by its fidelity (approximation to real situation), simplicity, and extensibility. Based on the CBWFQ merge queuing model, a simplified kinematic wave model is formulated to model traffic operation at a merge bottleneck.     

More Delphic theory and practice

Summary We find conditions on semigroups satisfying Kendall's [5] Delphic postulates A and B such that they then satisfy also postulate C (the central limit theorem). These conditions are of the type that the semigroup possess enough continuous homomorphisms (each into the additive reals or circle group) to separate its points. We show that the classical Delphic semigroups (of probability laws on the line, renewal sequences, and p-functions) satisfy our conditions, and thus get the classical results as consequences of the abstract theorems.We also find some curious spiral Delphic semigroups for counter-examples to do with the I ₀-problem.I am very grateful to Professor J. F. C. Kingman, for proposing, at my Ph. D. interview, the problems examined here.     

Propositional belief base merging or how to merge beliefs/goals coming from several sources and some links with social choice theory

We give in this paper new results on merging operators. Those operators aim to define the goals (or beliefs) of an agents' group after the individuals' goals (beliefs). Using the logical framework of Konieczny and Pino Pérez [Proceedings of the Fifth European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty (ECSQARU'99), Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 1638, 1999, pp. 233–244] we study the relationships between two important sub-families of merging operators: majority operators and arbitration operators. An open question was to know if those two families were disjoint or not. We show that there are operators that belong simultaneously to the two families. Furthermore, the new family introduced allows the user to choose the “consensual level” he wants for his majority operator. We show at the end of this work some relationships between logical belief merging operators and social choice rules.     

投资和再保险策略下保险公司的最优合并时刻问题

本文考虑的是允许采用比例再保险策略和投资策略的两个保险公司如何寻找最优合并时刻的问题.两个保险公司的风险过程由漂移布朗运动刻画,目标为最大化它们的生存概率.各个公司的安全负荷系数和波动系数在决定两公司是否要合并时起到了关键作用.决定合并后,公司合并费用,合并前后公司的生存概率状况在决定最优合并时刻时起到了关键作用.我们分两种情况讨论了这个问题并分别给出相应情况下的最优策略和值函数.     

A generalized vertex operator algebra for Heisenberg intertwiners

We consider the extension of the Heisenberg vertex operator algebra by all its irreducible modules. We give an elementary construction for the intertwining vertex operators and show that they satisfy a complex parameterized generalized vertex operator algebra. We illustrate some of our results with the example of integral lattice vertex operator superalgebras.     

Metric aggregation functions revisited

In 1981, J. Borsík and J. Doboš analyzed what properties a function must satisfy in order to merge a collection of metric spaces into a single one. Later on, E. Castiñeira, A. Pradera and E. Trillas studied a variant of the same problem in which each metric of the collection to be merged is defined on the same non-empty set. In this, paper we continue the work in this last aforesaid direction. On the one hand, we provide a new characterization of such functions and a few methods to construct them. On the other hand, we analyze the existence of absorbent, idempotent and neutral elements for such class of functions and, thus, we design techniques that allow to discard those functions that are not useful for merging metrics. Finally, we discuss when the functions under study preserve metrics.     

Firms can benefit from inaccurate market beliefs

A supplier sells to a retailer who serves a market with uncertain demand. Before the season starts, the retailer preorders from the supplier, who stocks to satisfy at least the preorder. After the actual demand is realized, the retailer can place an at-once order, which is satisfied up to stock availability. Market demand, as perceived by a firm, can differ from what it actually is. We find that a firm can benefit from holding an inaccurate market belief.     

Dealing with external actions in belief causal networks

Graphical models are efficient and simple ways to represent dependencies between variables. We introduce in this paper the so-called belief causal networks where dependencies are uncertain causal links and where the uncertainty is represented by belief masses. Through these networks, we propose to represent the results of passively observing the spontaneous behavior of the system and also evaluate the effects of external actions. Interventions are very useful for representing causal relations, we propose to compute their effects using a generalization of the “do” operator. Even if the belief chain rule is different from the Bayesian chain rule, we show that the joint distributions of the altered structures to graphically describe interventions are equivalent. This paper also addresses new issues that are arisen when handling interventions: we argue that in real world applications, external manipulations may be imprecise and show that they have a natural encoding under the belief function framework.     

Rethinking common belief,revision, and backward induction

Whether rationality and common belief in rationality jointly entail the backward inductive outcome in centipede games has long been debated. Stalnaker’s compelling negative argument appeals to the AGM belief revision postulates to argue that off-path moves may be rational, given the revisions they may prompt. I counter that the structure of common belief and the principles of AGM justify an additional assumption about revision. I then prove that, given my proposed constraint, for all finite, n-player, extensive form, perfect information games with a unique backward inductive solution, if there is initial common belief in rationality, then backward induction is guaranteed.     

Elliptic operators and maximal regularity on periodic little-H?lder spaces

We consider one-dimensional inhomogeneous parabolic equations with higher-order elliptic differential operators subject to periodic boundary conditions. In our main result we show that the property of continuous maximal regularity is satisfied in the setting of periodic little-H?lder spaces, provided the coefficients of the differential operator satisfy minimal regularity assumptions. We address parameter-dependent elliptic equations, deriving invertibility and resolvent bounds which lead to results on generation of analytic semigroups. We also demonstrate that the techniques and results of the paper hold for elliptic differential operators with operator-valued coefficients, in the setting of vector-valued functions.     

Composite wavelet bases for operator equations

This paper is concerned with the construction of biorthogonal wavelet bases defined on a union of parametric images of the unit -cube. These bases are to satisfy certain requirements imposed by applications to a class of operator equations acting on such domains. This covers also elliptic boundary value problems, although this study is primarily motivated by our previous analysis of wavelet methods for pseudo-differential equations with special emphasis on boundary integral equations. In this case it is natural to model the boundary surface as a union of parametric images of the unit cube. It will be shown how to construct wavelet bases on the surface which are composed of wavelet bases defined on each surface patch. Here the relevant properties are the validity of norm equivalences in certain ranges of Sobolev scales, as well as appropriate moment conditions.

     

Wavelets with Complementary Boundary Conditions — Function Spaces on the Cube

This paper is concerned with the construction of biorthogonal wavelet bases on n-dimensional cubes which provide Riesz bases for Sobolev and Besov spaces with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions on any desired selection of boundary facets. The essential point is that the primal and dual wavelets satisfy corresponding complementary boundary conditions. These results form the key ingredients of the construction of wavelet bases on manifolds [DS2] that have been developed for the treatment of operator equations of positive and negative order.