Query DAGs Adnan Darwiche Department of Mathematics American University of Beirut PO Box 11 236 Beirut, Lebanon [email protected] Gregory Provan Department of Diagnostics Rockwell Science Center 1049 Camino Dos Rios Thousand Oaks, Ca 91360 [email protected] Abstract This paper proposes a novel, algorithmindependent approach to optimizing belief network inference. Rather than designing ...

Behavioral accounting research deals with a complex set of phenomenon including the broad domain of human decision making under uncertainty. Two aspects of decision making of particular relevance to accounting and auditing research are two constructs that are inexorably interrelated: uncertainty and information (evidence). This paper introduces a theoretical perspective that enriches the knowle...

This paper introduces a new probabilistic model for online learning which dynamically incorporates information from stochastic gradients of an arbitrary loss function. Similar to probabilistic filtering, the model maintains a Gaussian belief over the optimal weight parameters. Unlike traditional Bayesian updates, the model incorporates a small number of gradient evaluations at locations chosen ...

We have created a logic-based, first-order, and Turingcomplete set of software tools for stochastic modeling. Because the inference scheme for this language is based on a variant of Pearl's loopy belief propagation algorithm, we call it Loopy Logic. Traditional Bayesian belief networks have limited expressive power, basically constrained to that of atomic elements as in the propositional calcul...

Philosophical discussions of knowledge typically examine what makes a true belief knowledge. Traditionally those discussions involve the notions of reliability, safety, evidence, or justification (among others), notions labelled ‘epistemic’ since they seem to matter to whether one knows. But many epistemologists now argue that traditionally non-epistemic factors can play a crucial role in wheth...

Modal logics based on Kripke style semantics are the prominent formalism in AI for modeling beliefs Kripke semantics involve a collection of possible worlds and a relation among the worlds called an accessibility relation Dependent on the properties of the accessibility relation di erent modal operators can be captured Belief operators have been modeled by an accessibility relation which produc...

The paper suggests a way of modeling belief changes within the tradition of formal belief revision theories. The present model extends the scope of traditional proposals, such as AGM, so as to take care of “structural belief changes” – a type of radical shifts that is best illustrated with, but not limited to, instances of scientific discovery; we obtain AGM expansions and contractions as limit...

Hyper graph matching problems have drawn attention recently due to their ability to embed higher order relations between nodes. In this paper, we formulate hyper graph matching problems as constrained MAP inference problems in graphical models. Whereas previous discrete approaches introduce several global correspondence vectors, we introduce only one global correspondence vector, but several lo...

Recently, Shafer and Srivastava [1], Srivastava and Shafer [2], Srivastava [3]-[4], and Van den Acker [5] have identified appealing features of belief function evidential networks. These networks can express the support that audit evidence provides for assertions, accounts and financial statements. These networks can also aggregate many pieces of evidence into an overall level of support for a ...

The conflicts between science and morals which still continue to arise despite the apparent hegemony of atheistic scientism over traditional Judeo-Christianity in the twentieth century reflect a basic contradiction in the metaphysical foundation of Western lives. As was set forth by Machiavelli, the contradiction inherent in Western ethics is that it is based on the simultaneous belief in both ...