Machine learning, data mining and artificial intelligence (AI) based methods have been used to determine the relations between chemical structure and biological activity, called quantitative structure activity relationships (QSARs) for the compounds. Pre-processing of the dataset, which includes the mapping from a large number of molecular descriptors in the original high dimensional space to a small number of components in the lower dimensional space while retaining the features of the original data, is the first step in this process. A common practice is to use a mapping method for a dataset without prior analysis. This pre-analysis has been stressed in our work by applying it to two important classes of QSAR prediction problems: drug design (predicting anti-HIV-1 activity) and predictive toxicology (estimating hepatocarcinogenicity of chemicals). We apply one linear and two nonlinear mapping methods on each of the datasets. Based on this analysis, we conclude the nature of the inherent relationships between the elements of each dataset, and hence, the mapping method best suited for it. We also show that proper preprocessing can help us in choosing the right feature extraction tool as well as give an insight about the type of classifier pertinent for the given problem.

We describe a method for inferring linear causal relations among multi-dimensional variables. The idea is to use an asymmetry between the distributions of cause and effect that occurs if both the covariance matrix of the cause and the structure matrix mapping cause to the effect are independently chosen. The method works for both stochastic and deterministic causal relations, provided that the dimensionality is sufficiently high (in some experiments, 5 was enough). It is applicable to Gaussian as well as non-Gaussian data.

Large-scale, parallel clusters composed of commodity processors are increasingly available, enabling the use of vast processing capabilities and distributed RAM to solve hard search problems.  We investigate parallel algorithms for optimal sequential planning, with an emphasis on exploiting distributed memory computing clusters.  In particular, we focus on an approach which distributes and schedules work among processors based on a hash function of the search state.  We use this approach to parallelize the A* algorithm in the optimal sequential version of the Fast Downward planner.  The scaling behavior of the algorithm is evaluated experimentally on clusters using up to 128 processors, a significant increase compared to previous work in parallelizing planners.  We show that this approach scales well, allowing us to effectively utilize the large amount of distributed memory to optimally solve problems which require hundreds of gigabytes of RAM to solve. We also show that this approach scales  well for a single, shared-memory multicore machine.

We propose Interactive Differential Evolution (IDE) based on paired comparisons for reducing user fatigue and evaluate its convergence speed in comparison with Interactive Genetic Algorithms (IGA) and tournament IGA. User interface and convergence performance are two big keys for reducing Interactive Evolutionary Computation (IEC) user fatigue. Unlike IGA and conventional IDE, users of the proposed IDE and tournament IGA do not need to compare whole individuals each other but compare pairs of individuals, which largely decreases user fatigue. In this paper, we design a pseudo-IEC user and evaluate another factor, IEC convergence performance, using IEC simulators and show that our proposed IDE converges significantly faster than IGA and tournament IGA, i.e. our proposed one is superior to others from both user interface and convergence performance points of view.

Grid environment is a service oriented infrastructure in which many heterogeneous resources participate to provide the high performance computation. One of the bug issues in the grid environment is the vagueness and uncertainty between advertised resources and requested resources. Furthermore, in an environment such as grid dynamicity is considered as a crucial issue which must be dealt with. Classical rough set have been used to deal with the uncertainty and vagueness. But it can just be used on the static systems and can not support dynamicity in a system. In this work we propose a solution, called Dynamic Rough Set Resource Discovery (DRSRD), for dealing with cases of vagueness and uncertainty problems based on Dynamic rough set theory which considers dynamic features in this environment. In this way, requested resource properties have a weight as priority according to which resource matchmaking and ranking process is done. We also report the result of the solution obtained from the simulation in GridSim simulator. The comparison has been made between DRSRD, classical rough set theory based algorithm, and UDDI and OWL S combined algorithm. DRSRD shows much better precision for the cases with vagueness and uncertainty in a dynamic system such as the grid rather than the classical rough set theory based algorithm, and UDDI and OWL S combined algorithm.

Practically all programming languages allow the programmer to split a program into several modules which brings along several advantages in software development. In this paper, we are interested in the area of answer-set programming where fully declarative and nonmonotonic languages are applied. In this context, obtaining a modular structure for programs is by no means straightforward since the output of an entire program cannot in general be composed from the output of its components. To better understand the effects of disjunctive information on modularity we restrict the scope of analysis to the case of disjunctive logic programs (DLPs) subject to stable-model semantics. We define the notion of a DLP-function, where a well-defined input/output interface is provided, and establish a novel module theorem which indicates the compositionality of stable-model semantics for DLP-functions. The module theorem extends the well-known splitting-set theorem and enables the decomposition of DLP-functions given their strongly connected components based on positive dependencies induced by rules. In this setting, it is also possible to split shared disjunctive rules among components using a generalized shifting technique. The concept of modular equivalence is introduced for the mutual comparison of DLP-functions using a generalization of a translation-based verification method.

This paper presents a multilayered architecture that enhances the capabilities of current QA systems and allows different types of complex questions or queries to be processed. The answers to these questions need to be gathered from factual information scattered throughout different documents. Specifically, we designed a specialized layer to process the different types of temporal questions. Complex temporal questions are first decomposed into simple questions, according to the temporal relations expressed in the original question. In the same way, the answers to the resulting simple questions are recomposed, fulfilling the temporal restrictions of the original complex question. A novel aspect of this approach resides in the decomposition which uses a minimal quantity of resources, with the final aim of obtaining a portable platform that is easily extensible to other languages. In this paper we also present a methodology for evaluation of the decomposition of the questions as well as the ability of the implemented temporal layer to perform at a multilingual level. The temporal layer was first performed for English, then evaluated and compared with: a) a general purpose QA system (F-measure 65.47% for QA plus English temporal layer vs. 38.01% for the general QA system), and b) a well-known QA system. Much better results were obtained for temporal questions with the multilayered system. This system was therefore extended to Spanish and very good results were again obtained in the evaluation (F-measure 40.36% for QA plus Spanish temporal layer vs. 22.94% for the general QA system).

To capture the uncertainty of information or knowledge in information systems, various information granulations, also known as knowledge granulations, have been proposed. Recently, several axiomatic definitions of information granulation have been introduced. In this paper, we try to improve these axiomatic definitions and give a universal construction of information granulation by relating information granulations with a class of functions of multiple variables. We show that the improved axiomatic definition has some concrete information granulations in the literature as instances.

In this paper, we investigate knowledge reasoning within a simple framework called knowledge structure. We use variable forgetting as a basic operation for one agent to reason about its own or other agents\' knowledge. In our framework, two notions namely agents\' observable variables and the weakest sufficient condition play important roles in knowledge reasoning. Given a background knowledge base and a set of observable variables for each agent, we show that the notion of an agent knowing a formula can be defined as a weakest sufficient condition of the formula under background knowledge base. Moreover, we show how to capture the notion of common knowledge by using a generalized notion of weakest sufficient condition. Also, we show that public announcement operator can be conveniently dealt with via our notion of knowledge structure. Further, we explore the computational complexity of the problem whether an epistemic formula is realized in a knowledge structure. In the general case, this problem is PSPACE-hard; however, for some interesting subcases, it can be reduced to co-NP. Finally, we discuss possible applications of our framework in some interesting domains such as the automated analysis of the well-known muddy children puzzle and the verification of the revised Needham-Schroeder protocol. We believe that there are many scenarios where the natural presentation of the available information about knowledge is under the form of a knowledge structure. What makes it valuable compared with the corresponding multi-agent S5 Kripke structure is that it can be much more succinct.

The explorative mind-map is a dynamic framework, that emerges automatically from the input, it gets. It is unlike a verificative modeling system where existing (human) thoughts are placed and connected together. In this regard, explorative mind-maps change their size continuously, being adaptive with connectionist cells inside; mind-maps process data input incrementally and offer lots of possibilities to interact with the user through an appropriate communication interface. With respect to a cognitive motivated situation like a conversation between partners, mind-maps become interesting as they are able to process stimulating signals whenever they occur. If these signals are close to an own understanding of the world, then the conversational partner becomes automatically more trustful than if the signals do not or less match the own knowledge scheme. In this (position) paper, we therefore motivate explorative mind-maps as a cognitive engine and propose these as a decision support engine to foster trust.