Discovering relevant patterns for a particular user remains a challenging task in data mining. In real-life applications, relevant patterns may be either frequent or rare ones in the data. In itemset mining, setting the minimum support threshold is a real dilemma (a high value misses rare itemsets, a low value generates a large number of meaningless itemsets). To tackle the rare item problem [8], several approaches were proposed to mine frequent pattern with multiple minimum supports. In [8], the problem of mining frequent itemsets with multiple Minimum Item Supports (MIS) was introduced with a first revision of Apriori algorithm (MSApriori). Then, other Apriori-like approaches were proposed like MMS Cumulate and MMS Stratify [12]. The well-known FPGrowth was extended with a condensed FP-tree structure to mine frequent itemsets with multiple MIS (CFPGrowth [5], CFPGrowth [6]). In [3], FP ME was proposed based on set-enumeration-tree structure and sorted downward closure property. The specialized algorithms introduced previously are effective for mining patterns with multiple MIS.

We developed and compared Constraint Programming (CP) and Quantum Annealing (QA) approaches for rolling stock optimisation considering necessary maintenance tasks. To deal with such problems in CP we investigated specialised pruning rules and implemented them in a global constraint. For the QA approach, we developed quadratic unconstrained binary optimisation (QUBO) models. For testing, we use data sets based on real data from Deutsche Bahn and run the QA approach on real quantum computers from D-Wave. Classical computers are used to run the CP approach as well as tabu search for the QUBO models. We find that both approaches tend at the current development stage of the physical quantum annealers to produce comparable results, with the caveat that QUBO does not always guarantee that the maintenance constraints hold, which we fix by adjusting the QUBO model in preprocessing, based on how close the trains are to a maintenance threshold distance.

Object SLAM introduces the concept of objects into Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and helps understand indoor scenes for mobile robots and object-level interactive applications. The state-of-art object SLAM systems face challenges such as partial observations, occlusions, unobservable problems, limiting the mapping accuracy and robustness. This paper proposes a novel monocular Semantic Object SLAM (SO-SLAM) system that addresses the introduction of object spatial constraints. We explore three representative spatial constraints, including scale proportional constraint, symmetrical texture constraint and plane supporting constraint. Based on these semantic constraints, we propose two new methods - a more robust object initialization method and an orientation fine optimization method.

Constraint acquisition systems such as QuAcq and MultiAcq can assist non-expert users to model their problems as constraint networks by classifying (partial) examples as positive or negative. For each negative example, the former focuses on one constraint of the target network, while the latter can learn a maximum number of constraints. Two bottlenecks of the acquisition process where both these algorithms encounter problems are the large number of queries required to reach convergence, and the high cpu times needed to generate queries, especially near convergence. In this paper we propose algorithmic and heuristic methods to deal with both these issues. We first describe an algorithm, called MQuAcq, that blends the main idea of MultiAcq into QuAcq resulting in a method that learns as many constraints as MultiAcq does after a negative example, but with a lower complexity. A detailed theoretical analysis of the proposed algorithm is also presented. %We also present a technique that boosts the performance of constraint acquisition by reducing the number of queries significantly. Then we turn our attention to query generation which is a significant but rather overlooked part of the acquisition process. We describe %in detail how query generation in a typical constraint acquisition system operates, and we propose heuristics for improving its efficiency. Experiments from various domains demonstrate that our resulting algorithm that integrates all the new techniques does not only generate considerably fewer queries than QuAcq and MultiAcq, but it is also by far faster than both of them, in average query generation time as well as in total run time, and also largely alleviates the premature convergence problem.

We consider the problem of tabular infinite horizon concave utility reinforcement learning (CURL) with convex constraints. Various learning applications with constraints, such as robotics, do not allow for policies that can violate constraints. To this end, we propose a model-based learning algorithm that achieves zero constraint violations. To obtain this result, we assume that the concave objective and the convex constraints have a solution interior to the set of feasible occupation measures. We then solve a tighter optimization problem to ensure that the constraints are never violated despite the imprecise model knowledge and model stochasticity. We also propose a novel Bellman error based analysis for tabular infinite-horizon setups which allows to analyse stochastic policies. Combining the Bellman error based analysis and tighter optimization equation, for $T$ interactions with the environment, we obtain a regret guarantee for objective which grows as $\Tilde{O}(1/\sqrt{T})$, excluding other factors.

Object SLAM introduces the concept of objects into Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and helps understand indoor scenes for mobile robots and object-level interactive applications. The state-of-art object SLAM systems face challenges such as partial observations, occlusions, unobservable problems, limiting the mapping accuracy and robustness. This paper proposes a novel monocular Semantic Object SLAM (SO-SLAM) system that addresses the introduction of object spatial constraints. We explore three representative spatial constraints, including scale proportional constraint, symmetrical texture constraint and plane supporting constraint. Based on these semantic constraints, we propose two new methods - a more robust object initialization method and an orientation fine optimization method. We have verified the performance of the algorithm on the public datasets and an author-recorded mobile robot dataset and achieved a significant improvement on mapping effects. We will release the code here: https://github.com/XunshanMan/SoSLAM.

The subject of Job Scheduling Optimisation (JSO) deals with the scheduling of jobs in an organization, so that the single working steps are optimally organized regarding the postulated targets. In this paper a use case is provided which deals with a sub-aspect of JSO, the Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP or JSP). As many optimization problems JSSP is NP-complete, which means the complexity increases with every node in the system exponentially. The goal of the use case is to show how to create an optimized duty rooster for certain workpieces in a flexible organized machinery, combined with an Autonomous Ground Vehicle (AGV), using Constraint Programming (CP) and Quantum Computing (QC) alternatively. The results of a classical solution based on CP and on a Quantum Annealing model are presented and discussed. All presented results have been elaborated in the research project PlanQK.

We consider requirements for cyber-physical systems represented in constrained natural language. We present novel automated techniques for aiding in the development of these requirements so that they are consistent and can withstand perceived failures. We show how cyber-physical systems' requirements can be modeled using the event calculus (EC), a formalism used in AI for representing actions and change. We also show how answer set programming (ASP) and its query-driven implementation s(CASP) can be used to directly realize the event calculus model of the requirements. This event calculus model can be used to automatically validate the requirements. Since ASP is an expressive knowledge representation language, it can also be used to represent contextual knowledge about cyber-physical systems, which, in turn, can be used to find gaps in their requirements specifications. We illustrate our approach through an altitude alerting system from the avionics domain.

Prescriptive process monitoring is a family of techniques to optimize the performance of a business process by triggering interventions at runtime. Existing prescriptive process monitoring techniques assume that the number of interventions that may be triggered is unbounded. In practice, though, specific interventions consume resources with finite capacity. For example, in a loan origination process, an intervention may consist of preparing an alternative loan offer to increase the applicant's chances of taking a loan. This intervention requires a certain amount of time from a credit officer, and thus, it is not possible to trigger this intervention in all cases. This paper proposes a prescriptive process monitoring technique that triggers interventions to optimize a cost function under fixed resource constraints. The proposed technique relies on predictive modeling to identify cases that are likely to lead to a negative outcome, in combination with causal inference to estimate the effect of an intervention on the outcome of the case. These outputs are then used to allocate resources to interventions to maximize a cost function. A preliminary empirical evaluation suggests that the proposed approach produces a higher net gain than a purely predictive (non-causal) baseline.

Most existing works in Probabilistic Simple Temporal Networks (PSTNs) base their frameworks on well-defined, parametric probability distributions. Under the operational contexts of both strong and dynamic control, this paper addresses robustness measure of PSTNs, i.e. the execution success probability, where the probability distributions of the contingent durations are ordinary, not necessarily parametric, nor symmetric (e.g. histograms, PERT), as long as these can be discretized. In practice, one would obtain ordinary distributions by considering empirical observations (compiled as histograms), or even hand-drawn by field experts. In this new realm of PSTNs, we study and formally define concepts such as degree of weak/strong/dynamic controllability, robustness under a predefined dispatching protocol, and introduce the concept of PSTN expected execution utility. We also discuss the limitation of existing controllability levels, and propose new levels within dynamic controllability, to better characterize dynamic controllable PSTNs based on based practical complexity considerations. We propose a novel fixed-parameter pseudo-polynomial time computation method to obtain both the success probability and expected utility measures. We apply our computation method to various PSTN datasets, including realistic planetary exploration scenarios in the context of the Mars 2020 rover. Moreover, we propose additional original applications of the method.