Representing And Reasoning With Qualitative Preferences

This book provides a tutorial introduction to modern techniques for representing and reasoning about qualitative preferences with respect to a set of alternatives. The syntax and semantics of several languages for representing preference languages, including CP-nets, TCP-nets, CI-nets, and CP-theories, are reviewed. Some key problems in reasoning about preferences are introduced, including determining whether one alternative is preferred to another, or whether they are equivalent, with respect to a given set of preferences. These tasks can be reduced to model checking in temporal logic. Specifically, an induced preference graph that represents a given set of preferences can be efficiently encoded using a Kripke Structure for Computational Tree Logic (CTL). One can translate preference queries with respect to a set of preferences into an equivalent set of formulae in CTL, such that the CTL formula is satisfied whenever the preference query holds. This allows us to use a model checker to reason about preferences, i.e., answer preference queries, and to obtain a justification as to why a preference query is satisfied (or not) with respect to a set of preferences. This book defines the notions of the equivalence of two sets of preferences, including what it means for one set of preferences to subsume another, and shows how to answer preferential equivalence and subsumption queries using model checking. Furthermore, this book demontrates how to generate alternatives ordered by preference, along with providing ways to deal with inconsistent preference specifications. A description of CRISNER—an open source software implementation of the model checking approach to qualitative preference reasoning in CP-nets, TCP-nets, and CP-theories is included, as well as examples illustrating its use.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, now affects the day-to-day life of almost everyone on the planet, and continues to be a perennial hot topic in the news. This book presents the proceedings of ECAI 2023, the 26th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, and of PAIS 2023, the 12th Conference on Prestigious Applications of Intelligent Systems, held from 30 September to 4 October 2023 and on 3 October 2023 respectively in Kraków, Poland. Since 1974, ECAI has been the premier venue for presenting AI research in Europe, and this annual conference has become the place for researchers and practitioners of AI to discuss the latest trends and challenges in all subfields of AI, and to demonstrate innovative applications and uses of advanced AI technology. ECAI 2023 received 1896 submissions – a record number – of which 1691 were retained for review, ultimately resulting in an acceptance rate of 23%. The 390 papers included here, cover topics including machine learning, natural language processing, multi agent systems, and vision and knowledge representation and reasoning. PAIS 2023 received 17 submissions, of which 10 were accepted after a rigorous review process. Those 10 papers cover topics ranging from fostering better working environments, behavior modeling and citizen science to large language models and neuro-symbolic applications, and are also included here. Presenting a comprehensive overview of current research and developments in AI, the book will be of interest to all those working in the field.

The two volume set LNAI 8481 and 8482 constitutes the refereed conference proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Industrial, Engineering and Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems, IEA/AIE 2014, held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in June 2014. The total of 106 papers selected for the proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from various submissions. The papers deal with a wide range of topics from applications of applied intelligent systems to solve real-life problems in all areas including engineering, science, industry, automation and robotics, business and finance, medicine and biomedicine, bioinformatics, cyberspace and human-machine interaction.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, ECSQARU 2007. Coverage in the 78 revised full papers, presented together with three invited papers, includes Bayesian networks, graphical models, learning causal networks, planning, causality and independence, preference modeling and decision, argumentation systems, inconsistency handling, and uncertainty measures.

Computational social choice is an expanding field that merges classical topics like economics and voting theory with more modern topics like artificial intelligence, multiagent systems, and computational complexity. This book provides a concise introduction to the main research lines in this field, covering aspects such as preference modelling, uncertainty reasoning, social choice, stable matching, and computational aspects of preference aggregation and manipulation. The book is centered around the notion of preference reasoning, both in the single-agent and the multi-agent setting. It presents the main approaches to modeling and reasoning with preferences, with particular attention to two popular and powerful formalisms, soft constraints and CP-nets. The authors consider preference elicitation and various forms of uncertainty in soft constraints. They review the most relevant results in voting, with special attention to computational social choice. Finally, the book considers preferences in matching problems. The book is intended for students and researchers who may be interested in an introduction to preference reasoning and multi-agent preference aggregation, and who want to know the basic notions and results in computational social choice. Table of Contents: Introduction / Preference Modeling and Reasoning / Uncertainty in Preference Reasoning / Aggregating Preferences / Stable Marriage Problems

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on the Theory and Applications of Formal Argumentation, TAFA 2011, held in Barcelona, Spain, in Juli 2011, as a workshop at IJCAI 2011, the 22nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. The 9 revised full papers presented together with 8 revised poster papers were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement from 32 initial submissions. The workshop promotes and fosters uptake of argumentation as a viable AI paradigm with wide ranging application, and provides a forum for further development of ideas and the initiation of new and innovative collaborations. The papers cover the following topics: properties of formal models of argumentation; instantiations of abstract argumentation frameworks; relationships among different argumentation frameworks; practical applications of formal models of argumentation; argumentation and other artificial intelligence techniques; evaluation of formal models of argumentation; validation and evaluation of applications of argumentation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Service-Oriented Computing, ICSOC 2008, held in Sydney, Australia, in December 2008. The 32 revised full papers and 20 short papers of the research track presented together with 6 industrial papers, 6 demonstration papers of the industrial track, and the abstracts of 4 keynote lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 184 submissions. The papers present original research in the field of service oriented computing, from theoretical and foundational results to empirical evaluations as well as practical and industrial experiences. Topics addressed include services foundations, business service modelling, integrating systems of systems using services, service engineering, service assembly, service management, SOA runtime, quality of service, service applications (grid, e-science, government, etc.), as well as business and economical aspects of services.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Algorithmic Decision Theory , ADT 2015, held in September 2015 in Lexington, USA. The 32 full papers presented were carefully selected from 76 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections such as preferences; manipulation, learning and other issues; utility and decision theory; argumentation; bribery and control; social choice; allocation and other problems; doctoral consortium.