Most probabilistic inference algorithms are specified and processed on a propositional level. In the last decade, many proposals for algorithms accepting first-order specifications have been presented, but in the inference stage they still operate on a mostly propositional representation level. [Poole, 2003] presented a method to perform inference directly on the first-order level, but this method is limited to special cases. In this paper we present the first exact inference algorithm that operates directly on a first-order level, and that can be applied to any first-order model (specified in a language that generalizes undirected graphical models). Our experiments show superior performance in comparison with propositional exact inference. 1

Abstract. We give a logic programming based account of probability and describe a declarative language P-log capable of reasoning which combines both logical and probabilistic arguments. Several non-trivial examples illustrate the use of P-log for knowledge representation. 1

We study the problem of probabilistic deduction with conditional constraints over basic events. We show that globally complete probabilistic deduction with conditional constraints over basic events is NP-hard. We then concentrate on the special case of probabilistic deduction in conditional constraint trees. We elaborate very efficient techniques for globally complete probabilistic deduction. In detail, for conditional constraint trees with point probabilities, we present a local approach to globally complete probabilistic deduction, which runs in linear time in the size of the conditional constraint trees. For conditional constraint trees with interval probabilities, we show that globally complete probabilistic deduction can be done in a global approach by solving nonlinear programs. We show how these nonlinear programs can be transformed into equivalent linear programs, which are solvable in polynomial time in the size of the conditional constraint trees. 1. Introduction Dealing wit...

We present an approach to reasoning from statistical and subjective knowledge, which is based on a combination of probabilistic reasoning from conditional constraints with approaches to default reasoning from conditional knowledge bases. More precisely, we introduce the notions of -, lexicographic, and conditional entailment for conditional constraints, which are probabilistic generalizations of Pearl's entailment in system , Lehmann's lexicographic entailment, and Geffner's conditional entailment, respectively. We show that the new formalisms have nice properties. In particular, they show a similar behavior as referenceclass reasoning in a number of uncontroversial examples. The new formalisms, however, also avoid many drawbacks of reference-class reasoning. More precisely, they can handle complex scenarios and even purely probabilistic subjective knowledge as input. Moreover, conclusions are drawn in a global way from all the available knowledge as a whole. We then show that the new formalisms also have nice general nonmonotonic properties. In detail, the new notions of -, lexicographic, and conditional entailment have similar properties as their classical counterparts. In particular, they all satisfy the rationality postulates proposed by Kraus, Lehmann, and Magidor, and they have some general irrelevance and direct inference properties. Moreover, the new notions of - and lexicographic entailment satisfy the property of rational monotonicity. Furthermore, the new notions of -, lexicographic, and conditional entailment are proper generalizations of both their classical counterparts and the classical notion of logical entailment for conditional constraints. Finally, we provide algorithms for reasoning under the new formalisms, and we analyze its computational com...

. In this paper, we focus on the combination of probabilistic logic programming with the principle of maximum entropy. We start by defining probabilistic queries to probabilistic logic programs and their answer substitutions under maximum entropy. We then present an efficient linear programming characterization for the problem of deciding whether a probabilistic logic program is satisfiable. Finally, and as a central contribution of this paper, we introduce an efficient technique for approximative probabilistic logic programming under maximum entropy. This technique reduces the original entropy maximization task to solving a modified and relatively small optimization problem. 1 Introduction Probabilistic propositional logics and their various dialects are thoroughly studied in the literature (see especially [19] and [5]; see also [15] and [16]). Their extensions to probabilistic first-order logics can be classified into first-order logics in which probabilities are defined over the do...

We introduce probabilistic many-valued logic programs in which the implication connective is interpreted as material implication. We show that probabilistic many-valued logic programming is computationally more complex than classical logic programming. More precisely, some deduction problems that are P-complete for classical logic programs are shown to be co-NP-complete for probabilistic many-valued logic programs. We then focus on many-valued logic programming in Pr ? n as an approximation of probabilistic many-valued logic programming. Surprisingly, many-valued logic programs in Pr ? n have both a probabilistic semantics in probabilities over a set of possible worlds and a truth-functional semantics in the finite-valued Łukasiewicz logics Łn . Moreover, many-valued logic programming in Pr ? n has a model and fixpoint characterization, a proof theory, and computational properties that are very similar to those of classical logic programming. We especially introduce the proof...

. We present many-valued disjunctive logic programs in which classical disjunctive logic program clauses are extended by a truth value that respects the material implication. Interestingly, these many-valued disjunctive logic programs have both a probabilistic semantics in probabilities over possible worlds and a truth-functional semantics. We then dene minimal, perfect, and stable models and show that they have the same properties like their classical counterparts. In particular, perfect and stable models are always minimal models. Under local stratication, the perfect model semantics coincides with the stable model semantics. Finally, we show that some special cases of propositional many-valued disjunctive logic programming under minimal, perfect, and stable model semantics have the same complexity like their classical counterparts. 1 Introduction In the logic programming framework, there exist at least two main streams in handling uncertain knowledge. Many-valued and probabilisti...

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Managing uncertainty and/or vagueness is starting to play an important role in Semantic Web representation languages. Our aim is to overview basic concepts on representing uncertain and vague knowledge in current Semantic Web ontology and rule languages (and their combination).

We present a simple, yet general top-down query answering procedure for normal logic programs over lattices and bilattices, where functions may appear in the rule bodies. Its interest relies on the fact that many approaches to paraconsistency and uncertainty in logic programs with or without non-monotonic negation are based on bilattices or lattices, respectively.