Probabilistic Argumentation Systems with Decision Variables

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Anrig, Bernhard | Baziukaitė, Dalia

Affiliations: Berne University of Applied Sciences, School of Engineering and Information Technology, CH–2501 Biel, Switzerland, e‐mail: [email protected] | Klaipėda University, Department of Computer Science, LT–92294 Klaipėda, Lithuania, e‐mail: [email protected]

Abstract: The general concept of probabilistic argumentation systems PAS is restricted to the two types of variables: assumptions, which model the uncertain part of the knowledge, and propositions, which model the rest of the information. Here, we introduce a third kind into PAS: so‐called decision variables. This new kind allows to describe the decisions a user can make to react on some state of the system. Such a decision allows then possibly to reach a certain goal state of the system. Further, we present an algorithm, which exploits the special structure of PAS with decision variables. Some results related with this paper were published in (Anrig and Baziukaitė, 2003a).

Keywords: argumentation systems, probabilistic reasoning, decision, uncertainty, reliability

Journal: Informatica, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3-18, 2005