The case for an interval-based representation of linguistic truth

This paper develops an interval-based approach to the concept of linguistic truth. A special-purpose interval logic is defined, and it is argued that, for many applications, this logic provides a potentially useful alternative to the conventional fuzzy logic.The key idea is to interpret the numerical truth value v(p) of a proposition p as a degree of belief in the logical certainty of p, in which case p is regarded as true, for example, if v(p) falls within a certain range, say, the interval [0.7, 1]. This leads to a logic which, although being only a special case of fuzzy logic, appears to be no less linguistically correct and at the same time offers definite advantages in terms of mathematical simplicity and computational speed.It is also shown that this same interval logic can be generalized to a lattice-based logic having the capacity to accommodate propositions p which employ fuzzy predicates of type 2.     

Bilattices for deductions in multi-valued logic

In this exploratory paper we propose a framework for the deduction apparatus of multi-valued logics based on the idea that a deduction apparatus has to be a tool to manage information on truth values and not directly truth values of the formulas. This is obtained by embedding the algebraic structure V defined by the set of truth values into a bilattice B. The intended interpretation is that the elements of B are pieces of information on the elements of V. The resulting formalisms are particularized in the framework of fuzzy logic programming. Since we see fuzzy control as a chapter of multi-valued logic programming, this suggests a new and powerful approach to fuzzy control based on positive and negative conditions.     

A parametric representation of linguistic hedges in Zadeh’s fuzzy logic

This paper proposes a model for the parametric representation of linguistic hedges in Zadeh’s fuzzy logic. In this model each linguistic truth-value, which is generated from a primary term of the linguistic truth variable, is identified by a real number r depending on the primary term. It is shown that the model yields a method of efficiently computing linguistic truth expressions accompanied with a rich algebraic structure of the linguistic truth domain, namely De Morgan algebra. Also, a fuzzy logic based on the parametric representation of linguistic truth-values is introduced.     

An Extension Principle for Fuzzy Logics

Let S be a set, P(S) the class of all subsets of S and F(S) the class of all fuzzy subsets of S. In this paper an “extension principle” for closure operators and, in particular, for deduction systems is proposed and examined. Namely we propose a way to extend any closure operator J defined in P(S) into a fuzzy closure operator J* defined in F(S). This enables us to give the notion of canonical extension of a deduction system and to give interesting examples of fuzzy logics. In particular, the canonical extension of the classical propositional calculus is defined and it is showed its connection with possibility and necessity measures. Also, the canonical extension of first order logic enables us to extend some basic notions of programming logic, namely to define the fuzzy Herbrand models of a fuzzy program. Finally, we show that the extension principle enables us to obtain fuzzy logics related to fuzzy subalgebra theory and graded consequence relation theory. Mathematics Subject Classification : 03B52.     

Extending possibilistic logic over Gödel logic

In this paper we present several fuzzy logics trying to capture different notions of necessity (in the sense of possibility theory) for Gödel logic formulas. Based on different characterizations of necessity measures on fuzzy sets, a group of logics with Kripke style semantics is built over a restricted language, namely, a two-level language composed of non-modal and modal formulas, the latter, moreover, not allowing for nested applications of the modal operator N. Completeness and some computational complexity results are shown.     

Fuzzy Horn logic I

The paper presents generalizations of results on so-called Horn logic, well-known in universal algebra, to the setting of fuzzy logic. The theories we consider consist of formulas which are implications between identities (equations) with premises weighted by truth degrees. We adopt Pavelka style: theories are fuzzy sets of formulas and we consider degrees of provability of formulas from theories. Our basic structure of truth degrees is a complete residuated lattice. We derive a Pavelka-style completeness theorem (degree of provability equals degree of truth) from which we get some particular cases by imposing restrictions on the formulas under consideration. As a particular case, we obtain completeness of fuzzy equational logic.     

Disturbing Fuzzy Propositional Logic and its Operators

In this paper, the concept of disturbing fuzzy propositional logic is introduced, and the operators of disturbing fuzzy propositions is defined. Then the 1-dimensional truth value of fuzzy logic operators is extended to be two-dimensional operators, which include disturbing fuzzy negation operators, implication operators, “and” and “or” operators and continuous operators. The properties of these logic operators are studied.     

EQ-algebras

We introduce a new class of algebras called EQ-algebras. An EQ-algebra has three basic binary operations (meet, multiplication and a fuzzy equality) and a top element. These algebras are intended to become algebras of truth values for a higher-order fuzzy logic (a fuzzy type theory, FTT). The motivation stems from the fact that until now, the truth values in FTT were assumed to form either an IMTL-, BL-, or MV-algebra, all of them being special kinds of residuated lattices in which the basic operations are the monoidal operation (multiplication) and its residuum. The latter is a natural interpretation of implication in fuzzy logic; the equivalence is then interpreted by the biresiduum, a derived operation. The basic connective in FTT, however, is a fuzzy equality and, therefore, it is not natural to interpret it by a derived operation. This defect is expected to be removed by the class of EQ-algebras introduced and studied in this paper. From the algebraic point of view, the class of EQ-algebras generalizes, in a certain sense, the class of residuated lattices and so, they may become an interesting class of algebraic structures as such.     

A characterization of truth-functions in the nilpotent minimum logic

By introducing a new family of partitions into the n-cube [0,1]ⁿ, the problem of characterizing truth tables of formulas in the nilpotent minimum logic is solved and their normal forms are presented. So far, only this kind of fuzzy truth functions have normal forms among all fuzzy propositional calculi which are based on left-continuous but discontinuous t-norm.     

Well-Defined Fuzzy Sentential Logic

A many-valued sentential logic with truth values in an injective MV-algebra is introduced and the axiomatizability of this logic is proved. The paper develops some ideas of Goguen and generalizes the results of Pavelka on the unit interval. The proof for completeness is purely algebraic. A corollary of the Completeness Theorem is that fuzzy logic on the unit interval is semantically complete if and only if the algebra of the truth values is a complete MV-algebra. In the well-defined fuzzy sentential logic holds the Compactness Theorem, while the Deduction Theorem and the Finiteness Theorem in general do not hold. Because of its generality and good-behaviour, MV-valued logic can be regarded as a mathematical basis of fuzzy reasoning.     

Probability,fuzziness and borderline cases

An integrated approach to truth-gaps and epistemic uncertainty is described, based on probability distributions defined over a set of three-valued truth models. This combines the explicit representation of borderline cases with both semantic and stochastic uncertainty, in order to define measures of subjective belief in vague propositions. Within this framework we investigate bridges between probability theory and fuzziness in a propositional logic setting. In particular, when the underlying truth model is from Kleene's three-valued logic then we provide a complete characterisation of compositional min–max fuzzy truth degrees. For classical and supervaluationist truth models we find partial bridges, with min and max combination rules only recoverable on a fragment of the language. Across all of these different types of truth valuations, min–max operators are resultant in those cases in which there is only uncertainty about the relative sharpness or vagueness of the interpretation of the language.     

A bipolar model of assertability and belief

Valuation pairs are introduced as a bipolar model of the assertability of propositions. These correspond to a pair of dual valuation functions, respectively, representing the strong property of definite assertability and the dual weaker property of acceptable assertability. In the case where there is uncertainty about the correct valuation pair for a language then a probability distribution is defined on possible valuation pairs. This results in two measures, μ⁺ giving the probability that a sentence is definitely assertable, and μ⁻ giving the probability that a sentence is acceptable to assert. It is shown that μ⁺ and μ⁻ can be determined directly from a two dimensional mass function m defined on pairs of sets of propositional variables. Certain natural properties of μ⁺ and μ⁻ are easily expressed in terms of m, and in particular we introduce certain consonance or nestedness assumptions. These capture qualitative information in the form of assertability orderings for both the propositional variables and the negated propositional variables. On the basis of these consonance assumptions we show that label semantics, intuitionistic fuzzy logic and max-min fuzzy logic can all be viewed as special cases of this bipolar model. We also show that bipolar belief measures can be interpreted within an interval-set model.     

H∞ estimation for fuzzy membership function optimization

Given a fuzzy logic system, how can we determine the membership functions that will result in the best performance? If we constrain the membership functions to a specific shape (e.g., triangles or trapezoids) then each membership function can be parameterized by a few variables and the membership optimization problem can be reduced to a parameter optimization problem. The parameter optimization problem can then be formulated as a nonlinear filtering problem. In this paper we solve the nonlinear filtering problem using H_∞ state estimation theory. However, the membership functions that result from this approach are not (in general) sum normal. That is, the membership function values do not add up to one at each point in the domain. We therefore modify the H_∞ filter with the addition of state constraints so that the resulting membership functions are sum normal. Sum normality may be desirable not only for its intuitive appeal but also for computational reasons in the real time implementation of fuzzy logic systems. The methods proposed in this paper are illustrated on a fuzzy automotive cruise controller and compared to Kalman filtering based optimization.     

Foundation of credibilistic logic

In this paper, credibilistic logic is introduced as a new branch of uncertain logic system by explaining the truth value of fuzzy formula as credibility value. First, credibilistic truth value is introduced on the basis of fuzzy proposition and fuzzy formula, and the consistency between credibilistic logic and classical logic is proved on the basis of some important properties about truth values. Furthermore, a credibilistic modus ponens and a credibilistic modus tollens are presented. Finally, a comparison between credibilistic logic and possibilistic logic is given.     

A fuzzy approach to cooperative n-person games

The object of this paper is to provide a systematic treatment of bargaining procedures as a basis for negotiation. An innovative fuzzy logic approach to analyze n-person cooperative games is developed. A couple of indices, the Good Deal Index and the Counterpart Convenience Index are proposed to characterize the heuristic of bargaining and to provide a solution concept. The indices are examined theoretically and experimentally by analyzing three case studies. The results verify the validity of the approach.     

A new approach to fuzzy programming

A fuzzy program is defined in the usual way as a sequence of statements (instruction) which are considered as functions (possibly fuzzy functions) and fuzzy predicates defined on the given input domain. The essential difference in the approach presented in this paper is the new interpretation of the execution of fuzzy programs, and a new method of evaluating fuzzy predicates. The result of the fuzzy program execution is an appropriate fuzzy subset in the output domain.     

Locally α-compact spaces based on continuous valued logic

This paper is a continuation of [1]. That is, it considers fuzzifying topologies, a special case of I-fuzzy topologies (bifuzzy topologies), introduced by Ying [2]. It investigates topological notions defined by means of α-open sets when these are planted into the framework of Ying’s fuzzifying topological spaces (by Łukasiewicz logic in [0, 1]). Other characterizations of fuzzifying α-compactness are given, including characterizations in terms of nets and α-subbases. Several characterizations of locally α-compactness in the framework of fuzzifying topology are introduced and the mapping theorems are obtained.