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• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Measures of Interpretability Explicable Behavior Generation Legible Behavior Explanation as Model Reconciliation Acquiring Mental Models for Explanations Balancing Communication and Behavior Explaining in the Presence of Vocabulary Mismatch Obfuscatory Behavior and Deceptive Communication Applications Conclusion Bibliography Authors' Biographies Index.
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From its inception, artificial intelligence (AI) has had a rather ambivalent relationship with humans-swinging between their augmentation and replacement. Now, as AI technologies enter our everyday lives at an ever-increasing pace, there is a greater need for AI systems to work synergistically with humans. One critical requirement for such synergistic human-AI interaction is that the AI systems' behavior be explainable to the humans in the loop. To do this effectively, AI agents need to go beyond planning with their own models of the world, and take into account the mental model of the human in the loop. At a minimum, AI agents need approximations of the human's task and goal models, as well as the human's model of the AI agent's task and goal models. The former will guide the agent to anticipate and manage the needs, desires and attention of the humans in the loop, and the latter allow it to act in ways that are interpretable to humans (by conforming to their mental models of it), and be ready to provide customized explanations when needed.The authors draw from several years of research in their lab to discuss how an AI agent can use these mental models to either conform to human expectations or change those expectations through explanatory communication. While the focus of the book is on cooperative scenarios, it also covers how the same mental models can be used for obfuscation and deception. The book also describes several real-world application systems for collaborative decision-making that are based on the framework and techniques developed here. Although primarily driven by the authors' own research in these areas, every chapter will provide ample connections to relevant research from the wider literature. The technical topics covered in the book are self-contained and are accessible to readers with a basic background in AI.
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• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Defining a Recognition Problem Implicit vs. Explicit Representation of Knowledge Improving a Recognizer Future Directions Bibliography Authors' Biographies.
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Plan recognition, activity recognition, and goal recognition all involve making inferences about other actors based on observations of their interactions with the environment and other agents. This synergistic area of research combines, unites, and makes use of techniques and research from a wide range of areas including user modelling, machine vision, automated planning, intelligent user interfaces, human-computer interaction, autonomous and multi-agent systems, natural language understanding, and machine learning. It plays a crucial role in a wide variety of applications including assistive technology, software assistants, computer and network security, human-robot collaboration, natural language processing, video games, and many more. This wide range of applications and disciplines has produced a wealth of ideas, models, tools, and results in the recognition literature. However, it has also contributed to fragmentation in the field, with researchers publishing relevant results in a wide spectrum of journals and conferences. This book seeks to address this fragmentation by providing a high-level introduction and historical overview of the plan and goal recognition literature. It provides a description of the core elements that comprise these recognition problems and practical advice for modelling them. In particular, we define and distinguish the different recognition tasks. We formalize the major approaches to modelling these problems using a single motivating example. Finally, we describe a number of state-of-the-art systems and their extensions, future challenges, and some potential applications.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Background Taxonomy Intra-Agent Transfer Methods Inter-Agent Transfer Methods Experiment Domains and Applications Current Challenges Resources Conclusion Bibliography Authors' Biographies.
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Learning to solve sequential decision-making tasks is difficult. Humans take years exploring the environment essentially in a random way until they are able to reason, solve difficult tasks, and collaborate with other humans towards a common goal. Artificial Intelligent agents are like humans in this aspect. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a well-known technique to train autonomous agents through interactions with the environment. Unfortunately, the learning process has a high sample complexity to infer an effective actuation policy, especially when multiple agents are simultaneously actuating in the environment. However, previous knowledge can be leveraged to accelerate learning and enable solving harder tasks. In the same way humans build skills and reuse them by relating different tasks, RL agents might reuse knowledge from previously solved tasks and from the exchange of knowledge with other agents in the environment. In fact, virtually all of the most challenging tasks currently solved by RL rely on embedded knowledge reuse techniques, such as Imitation Learning, Learning from Demonstration, and Curriculum Learning. This book surveys the literature on knowledge reuse in multiagent RL. The authors define a unifying taxonomy of state-of-the-art solutions for reusing knowledge, providing a comprehensive discussion of recent progress in the area. In this book, readers will find a comprehensive discussion of the many ways in which knowledge can be reused in multiagent sequential decision-making tasks, as well as in which scenarios each of the approaches is more efficient. The authors also provide their view of the current low-hanging fruit developments of the area, as well as the still-open big questions that could result in breakthrough developments. Finally, the book provides resources to researchers who intend to join this area or leverage those techniques, including a list of conferences, journals, and implementation tools. This book will be useful for a wide audience; and will hopefully promote new dialogues across communities and novel developments in the area.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Background and Traditional Approaches Neighborhood Reconstruction Methods Multi-Relational Data and Knowledge Graphs The Graph Neural Network Model Graph Neural Networks in Practice Theoretical Motivations Traditional Graph Generation Approaches Deep Generative Models Conclusion Bibliography Author's Biography.
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This book is a foundational guide to graph representation learning, including state-of-the art advances, and introduces the highly successful graph neural network (GNN) formalism. Graph-structured data is ubiquitous throughout the natural and social sciences, from telecommunication networks to quantum chemistry. Building relational inductive biases into deep learning architectures is crucial for creating systems that can learn, reason, and generalize from this kind of data. Recent years have seen a surge in research on graph representation learning, including techniques for deep graph embeddings, generalizations of convolutional neural networks to graph-structured data, and neural message-passing approaches inspired by belief propagation. These advances in graph representation learning have led to new state-of-the-art results in numerous domains, including chemical synthesis, 3D vision, recommender systems, question answering, and social network analysis. It begins with a discussion of the goals of graph representation learning as well as key methodological foundations in graph theory and network analysis. Following this, the book introduces and reviews methods for learning node embeddings, including random-walk-based methods and applications to knowledge graphs. It then provides a technical synthesis and introduction to the highly successful graph neural network (GNN) formalism, which has become a dominant and fast-growing paradigm for deep learning with graph data. The book concludes with a synthesis of recent advancements in deep generative models for graphs -- a nascent but quickly growing subset of graph representation learning.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Basics of Math and Graph Basics of Neural Networks Vanilla Graph Neural Networks Graph Convolutional Networks Graph Recurrent Networks Graph Attention Networks Graph Residual Networks Variants for Different Graph Types Variants for Advanced Training Methods General Frameworks Applications
• Structural Scenarios Applications
• Non-Structural Scenarios Applications
• Other Scenarios Open Resources Conclusion Bibliography Authors' Biographies.
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This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the basic concepts, models, and applications of graph neural networks. It starts with the introduction of the vanilla GNN model. Then several variants of the vanilla model are introduced such as graph convolutional networks, graph recurrent networks, graph attention networks, graph residual networks, and several general frameworks. Graphs are useful data structures in complex real-life applications such as modeling physical systems, learning molecular fingerprints, controlling traffic networks, and recommending friends in social networks. However, these tasks require dealing with non-Euclidean graph data that contains rich relational information between elements and cannot be well handled by traditional deep learning models (e.g., convolutional neural networks (CNNs) or recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Nodes in graphs usually contain useful feature information that cannot be well addressed in most unsupervised representation learning methods (e.g., network embedding methods). Graph neural networks (GNNs) are proposed to combine the feature information and the graph structure to learn better representations on graphs via feature propagation and aggregation. Due to its convincing performance and high interpretability, GNN has recently become a widely applied graph analysis tool. Variants for different graph types and advanced training methods are also included. As for the applications of GNNs, the book categorizes them into structural, non-structural, and other scenarios, and then it introduces several typical models on solving these tasks. Finally, the closing chapters provide GNN open resources and the outlook of several future directions.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Introduction Datasets Queries Updates Query Evaluation View Optimization View Definitions View Evaluation Examples Lists, Sets, Trees Dynamic Systems Metaknowledge Operations Dynamic Logic Programs Database Management Interactive Worksheets Variations References Authors' Biographies.
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This is an introduction to Logic Programming theory, current technology, and popular applications. It is an innovative, model-theoretic approach to logic programming. Logic Programming is a style of programming in which programs take the form of sets of sentences in the language of Symbolic Logic. Over the years, there has been growing interest in Logic Programming due to applications in deductive databases, automated worksheets, Enterprise Management (business rules), Computational Law, and General Game Playing. It begins with the fundamental notion of datasets, i.e., sets of ground atoms. Given this fundamental notion, it then introduces views, i.e., virtual relations; and defines classical logic programs as sets of view definitions, written using traditional Prolog-like notation but with semantics given in terms of datasets rather than implementation. It then introduces actions, i.e., additions and deletions of ground atoms; and defines dynamic logic programs as sets of action definitions. In addition to the printed book, there is an online version of the text with an interpreter and a compiler for the language used in the text and an integrated development environment for use in developing and deploying practical logic programs.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Acknowledgments Table of Abbreviations Introduction Multi-Objective Decision Problems Taxonomy Inner Loop Planning Outer Loop Planning Learning Applications Conclusions and Future Work Bibliography Authors' Biographies.
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Many real-world decision problems have multiple objectives. For example, when choosing a medical treatment plan, we want to maximize the efficacy of the treatment, but also minimize the side effects. These objectives typically conflict, e.g., we can often increase the efficacy of the treatment, but at the cost of more severe side effects. In this book, we outline how to deal with multiple objectives in decision-theoretic planning and reinforcement learning algorithms. To illustrate this, we employ the popular problem classes of multi-objective Markov decision processes (MOMDPs) and multi-objective coordination graphs (MO-CoGs). First, we discuss different use cases for multi-objective decision making, and why they often necessitate explicitly multi-objective algorithms. We advocate a utility-based approach to multi-objective decision making, i.e., that what constitutes an optimal solution to a multi-objective decision problem should be derived from the available information about user utility. We show how different assumptions about user utility and what types of policies are allowed lead to different solution concepts, which we outline in a taxonomy of multi-objective decision problems. Second, we show how to create new methods for multi-objective decision making using existing single-objective methods as a basis. Focusing on planning, we describe two ways to creating multi-objective algorithms: in the inner loop approach, the inner workings of a single-objective method are adapted to work with multi-objective solution concepts; in the outer loop approach, a wrapper is created around a single-objective method that solves the multi-objective problem as a series of single-objective problems. After discussing the creation of such methods for the planning setting, we discuss how these approaches apply to the learning setting. Next, we discuss three promising application domains for multi-objective decision making algorithms: energy, health, and infrastructure and transportation. Finally, we conclude by outlining important open problems and promising future directions.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Acknowledgments List of Symbols Introduction Elements of Supply Elements of Demand Traffic Assignment: Connecting Supply and Demand Getting Data for Demand Estimation and Traffic Flow Modeling Modeling and Simulation of Advanced Decision Making Intelligent Measures in Control and Management Driver Support and Guidance Trends and New Technologies Bibliography Authors' Biographies.
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Urban mobility is not only one of the pillars of modern economic systems, but also a key issue in the quest for equality of opportunity, once it can improve access to other services. Currently however, there is a number of negative issues related to traffic, especially in megacities, such as economical issues (cost of opportunity caused by delays), environmental (externalities related to emissions of pollutants), and social (traffic accidents). Solutions to these issues are more and more closely tied to information and communication technology. Indeed, a search in the technical literature (using the keyword "urban traffic" to filter out articles on data network traffic) retrieved the following number of articles (as of December 3rd, 2013): 9,443 (ACM Digital Library), 26,054 (Scopus), and 1,730,000 (Google Scholar). Moreover, articles listed in the ACM query relate to conferences as diverse as MobiCom, CHI, PADS, and AAMAS. This means that there is a big and diverse community of computer scientists and computer engineers who venture on research that is connected to the development of intelligent traffic and transportation systems. It is also possible to see that this community is growing, and that research projects are getting more and more interdisciplinary. To foster the cooperation among the involved communities, the present book aims at giving a broad introduction into the basic but relevant concepts related to transportation systems, targeting researchers and practitioners from computer science and information technology. On the other hand, the second part of this book gives a panorama about some of the newest and exciting new technologies that originate in computer science and computer engineering, which are now being employed in projects related to car to car communication, interconnected vehicles, car navigation, platooning, crowd sensing and sensor networks, among others. This second part may well be interesting to traffic engineers and researchers from this community.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• List of Figures List of Tables Motivation Introduction Basic modeling Grounding Characterizations Solving Systems Advanced modeling Conclusions.
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Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a declarative problem solving approach, initially tailored to modeling problems in the area of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR). More recently, its attractive combination of a rich yet simple modeling language with high-performance solving capacities has sparked interest in many other areas even beyond KRR. This book presents a practical introduction to ASP, aiming at using ASP languages and systems for solving application problems. Starting from the essential formal foundations, it introduces ASP's solving technology, modeling language and methodology, while illustrating the overall solving process by practical examples.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction Human Computation Algorithms Aggregating Outputs Task Routing Understanding Workers and Requesters The Art of Asking Questions The Future of Human Computation.
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Human computation is a new and evolving research area that centers around harnessing human intelligence to solve computational problems that are beyond the scope of existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. With the growth of the Web, human computation systems can now leverage the abilities of an unprecedented number of people via the Web to perform complex computation. There are various genres of human computation applications that exist today. Games with a purpose (e.g., the ESP Game) specifically target online gamers who generate useful data (e.g., image tags) while playing an enjoyable game. Crowdsourcing marketplaces (e.g., Amazon Mechanical Turk) are human computation systems that coordinate workers to perform tasks in exchange for monetary rewards. In identity verification tasks, users perform computation in order to gain access to some online content; an example is reCAPTCHA, which leverages millions of users who solve CAPTCHAs every day to correct words in books that optical character recognition (OCR) programs fail to recognize with certainty. This book is aimed at achieving four goals: (1) defining human computation as a research area; (2) providing a comprehensive review of existing work; (3) drawing connections to a wide variety of disciplines, including AI, Machine Learning, HCI, Mechanism/Market Design and Psychology, and capturing their unique perspectives on the core research questions in human computation; and (4) suggesting promising research directions for the future.
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• Introduction Example: Bidding on eBay Auction Fundamentals Continuous Double Auctions Interdependent Markets Conclusion.
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Automated trading in electronic markets is one of the most common and consequential applications of autonomous software agents. Design of effective trading strategies requires thorough understanding of how market mechanisms operate, and appreciation of strategic issues that commonly manifest in trading scenarios. Drawing on research in auction theory and artificial intelligence, this book presents core principles of strategic reasoning that apply to market situations. The author illustrates trading strategy choices through examples of concrete market environments, such as eBay, as well as abstract market models defined by configurations of auctions and traders. Techniques for addressing these choices constitute essential building blocks for the design of trading strategies for rich market applications. The lecture assumes no prior background in game theory or auction theory, or artificial intelligence.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction Overview: Recognition of Specific Objects Local Features: Detection and Description Matching Local Features Geometric Verification of Matched Features Example Systems: Specific-Object Recognition Overview: Recognition of Generic Object Categories Representations for Object Categories Generic Object Detection: Finding and Scoring Candidates Learning Generic Object Category Models Example Systems: Generic Object Recognition Other Considerations and Current Challenges Conclusions.
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The visual recognition problem is central to computer vision research. From robotics to information retrieval, many desired applications demand the ability to identify and localize categories, places, and objects. This tutorial overviews computer vision algorithms for visual object recognition and image classification. We introduce primary representations and learning approaches, with an emphasis on recent advances in the field. The target audience consists of researchers or students working in AI, robotics, or vision who would like to understand what methods and representations are available for these problems. This lecture summarizes what is and isn't possible to do reliably today, and overviews key concepts that could be employed in systems requiring visual categorization.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Markov Decision Processes Value Prediction Problems Control For Further Exploration.
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Reinforcement learning is a learning paradigm concerned with learning to control a system so as to maximize a numerical performance measure that expresses a long-term objective. What distinguishes reinforcement learning from supervised learning is that only partial feedback is given to the learner about the learner's predictions. Further, the predictions may have long term effects through influencing the future state of the controlled system. Thus, time plays a special role. The goal in reinforcement learning is to develop efficient learning algorithms, as well as to understand the algorithms' merits and limitations. Reinforcement learning is of great interest because of the large number of practical applications that it can be used to address, ranging from problems in artificial intelligence to operations research or control engineering. In this book, we focus on those algorithms of reinforcement learning that build on the powerful theory of dynamic programming. We give a fairly comprehensive catalog of learning problems, describe the core ideas, note a large number of state of the art algorithms, followed by the discussion of their theoretical properties and limitations.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Interactive Edition Introduction Basic Concepts Query Folding Query Planning Master Schema Management Appendix References Index Author Biography.
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Data integration is a critical problem in our increasingly interconnected but inevitably heterogeneous world. There are numerous data sources available in organizational databases and on public information systems like the World Wide Web. Not surprisingly, the sources often use different vocabularies and different data structures, being created, as they are, by different people, at different times, for different purposes. The goal of data integration is to provide programmatic and human users with integrated access to multiple, heterogeneous data sources, giving each user the illusion of a single, homogeneous database designed for his or her specific need. The good news is that, in many cases, the data integration process can be automated. This book is an introduction to the problem of data integration and a rigorous account of one of the leading approaches to solving this problem, viz., the relational logic approach. Relational logic provides a theoretical framework for discussing data integration. Moreover, in many important cases, it provides algorithms for solving the problem in a computationally practical way. In many respects, relational logic does for data integration what relational algebra did for database theory several decades ago. A companion web site provides interactive demonstrations of the algorithms.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Introduction to Statistical Machine Learning Overview of Semi-Supervised Learning Mixture Models and EM Co-Training Graph-Based Semi-Supervised Learning Semi-Supervised Support Vector Machines Human Semi-Supervised Learning Theory and Outlook.
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Semi-supervised learning is a learning paradigm concerned with the study of how computers and natural systems such as humans learn in the presence of both labeled and unlabeled data. Traditionally, learning has been studied either in the unsupervised paradigm (e.g., clustering, outlier detection) where all the data are unlabeled, or in the supervised paradigm (e.g., classification, regression) where all the data are labeled. The goal of semi-supervised learning is to understand how combining labeled and unlabeled data may change the learning behavior, and design algorithms that take advantage of such a combination. Semi-supervised learning is of great interest in machine learning and data mining because it can use readily available unlabeled data to improve supervised learning tasks when the labeled data are scarce or expensive. Semi-supervised learning also shows potential as a quantitative tool to understand human category learning, where most of the input is self-evidently unlabeled. In this introductory book, we present some popular semi-supervised learning models, including self-training, mixture models, co-training and multiview learning, graph-based methods, and semi-supervised support vector machines. For each model, we discuss its basic mathematical formulation. The success of semi-supervised learning depends critically on some underlying assumptions. We emphasize the assumptions made by each model and give counterexamples when appropriate to demonstrate the limitations of the different models. In addition, we discuss semi-supervised learning for cognitive psychology. Finally, we give a computational learning theoretic perspective on semi-supervised learning, and we conclude the book with a brief discussion of open questions in the field.
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• Introduction Markov Logic Inference Learning Extensions Applications Conclusion.
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Most subfields of computer science have an interface layer via which applications communicate with the infrastructure, and this is key to their success (e.g., the Internet in networking, the relational model in databases, etc.). So far this interface layer has been missing in AI. First-order logic and probabilistic graphical models each have some of the necessary features, but a viable interface layer requires combining both. Markov logic is a powerful new language that accomplishes this by attaching weights to first-order formulas and treating them as templates for features of Markov random fields. Most statistical models in wide use are special cases of Markov logic, and first-order logic is its infinite-weight limit. Inference algorithms for Markov logic combine ideas from satisfiability, Markov chain Monte Carlo, belief propagation, and resolution. Learning algorithms make use of conditional likelihood, convex optimization, and inductive logic programming. Markov logic has been successfully applied to problems in information extraction and integration, natural language processing, robot mapping, social networks, computational biology, and others, and is the basis of the open-source Alchemy system.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• 1. Introduction
• 1.1. What is AI planning?
• 1.2. Planning models
• 1.3. Examples
• 1.4. The origins of PDDL and the scope of this book
• 1.5. Planning systems and modelling tools

• 2. Discrete and deterministic planning
• 2.1. Domain and problem definition
• 2.2. Plans and plan validity
• 2.3. Notes on PDDL's syntax : the strips fragment
• 2.4. Advanced modelling examples
• 2.5. Expressiveness and complexity

• 3. More expressive classical planning
• 3.1. Conditional and quantified conditions and effects
• 3.2. Axioms
• 3.3. Preferences and plan quality
• 3.4. State trajectory constraints
• 3.5. Expressiveness and complexity

• 4. Numeric planning
• 4.1. Numeric planning in PDDL
• 4.2. Numeric plan validity
• 4.3. More modelling examples
• 4.4. Complexity of numeric planning

• 5. Temporal planning
• 5.1. Durative actions
• 5.2. Planning with predictable events
• 5.3. Temporal plan validity
• 5.4. Combining numeric and temporal planning

• 6. Planning with hybrid systems
• 6.1. Continuous processes
• 6.2. Exogenous events
• 6.3. Example : the generator
• 6.4. Example : multiple-battery management
• 6.5. Plan validation in hybrid domains

• 7. conclusion
• 7.1. Other planning PDDL-like languages
• 7.2. The future of PDDL
• A. Online PDDL resources.

Planning is the branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that seeks to automate reasoning about plans, most importantly the reasoning that goes into formulating a plan to achieve a given goal in a given situation. AI planning is model-based: a planning system takes as input a description (or model) of the initial situation, the actions available to change it, and the goal condition to output a plan composed of those actions that will accomplish the goal when executed from the initial situation. The Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) is a formal knowledge representation language designed to express planning models. Developed by the planning research community as a means of facilitating systems comparison, it has become a de-facto standard input language of many planning systems, although it is not the only modelling language for planning. Several variants of PDDL have emerged that capture planning problems of different natures and complexities, with a focus on deterministic problems. The purpose of this book is two-fold. First, we present a unified and current account of PDDL, covering the subsets of PDDL that express discrete, numeric, temporal, and hybrid planning. Second, we want to introduce readers to the art of modelling planning problems in this language, through educational examples that demonstrate how PDDL is used to model realistic planning problems. The book is intended for advanced students and researchers in AI who want to dive into the mechanics of AI planning, as well as those who want to be able to use AI planning systems without an in-depth explanation of the algorithms and implementation techniques they use.

• Preface Acknowledgments Introduction Statistical Models for Rank Data Parameter Estimation Algorithms The Rank-Breaking Framework Mixture Models for Rank Data Bayesian Preference Elicitation Socially Desirable Group Decision-Making from Rank Data Future Directions Bibliography Author's Biography.
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The ubiquitous challenge of learning and decision-making from rank data arises in situations where intelligent systems collect preference and behavior data from humans, learn from the data, and then use the data to help humans make efficient, effective, and timely decisions. Often, such data are represented by rankings. This book surveys some recent progress toward addressing the challenge from the considerations of statistics, computation, and socio-economics. We will cover classical statistical models for rank data, including random utility models, distance-based models, and mixture models. We will discuss and compare classical and state of-the-art algorithms, such as algorithms based on Minorize-Majorization (MM), Expectation-Maximization (EM), Generalized Method-of-Moments (GMM), rank breaking, and tensor decomposition. We will also introduce principled Bayesian preference elicitation frameworks for collecting rank data. Finally, we will examine socio-economic aspects of statistically desirable decision-making mechanisms, such as Bayesian estimators. This book can be useful in three ways: (1) for theoreticians in statistics and machine learning to better understand the considerations and caveats of learning from rank data, compared to learning from other types of data, especially cardinal data; (2) for practitioners to apply algorithms covered by the book for sampling, learning, and aggregation; and (3) as a textbook for graduate students or advanced undergraduate students to learn about the field. This book requires that the reader has basic knowledge in probability, statistics, and algorithms. Knowledge in social choice would also help but is not required.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)

• Preface Introduction Defining Graphical Models Inference: Bucket Elimination for Deterministic Networks Inference: Bucket Elimination for Probabilistic Networks Tree-Clustering Schemes AND/OR Search Spaces for Graphical Models Combining Search and Inference: Trading Space for Time Conclusion Bibliography Author's Biography.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

Graphical models (e.g., Bayesian and constraint networks, influence diagrams, and Markov decision processes) have become a central paradigm for knowledge representation and reasoning in both artificial intelligence and computer science in general. These models are used to perform many reasoning tasks, such as scheduling, planning and learning, diagnosis and prediction, design, hardware and software verification, and bioinformatics. These problems can be stated as the formal tasks of constraint satisfaction and satisfiability, combinatorial optimization, and probabilistic inference. It is well known that the tasks are computationally hard, but research during the past three decades has yielded a variety of principles and techniques that significantly advanced the state of the art. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the primary exact algorithms for reasoning with such models. The main feature exploited by the algorithms is the model's graph. We present inference-based, message-passing schemes (e.g., variable-elimination) and search-based, conditioning schemes (e.g., cycle-cutset conditioning and AND/OR search). Each class possesses distinguished characteristics and in particular has different time vs. space behavior. We emphasize the dependence of both schemes on few graph parameters such as the treewidth, cycle-cutset, and (the pseudo-tree) height. The new edition includes the notion of influence diagrams, which focus on sequential decision making under uncertainty. We believe the principles outlined in the book would serve well in moving forward to approximation and anytime-based schemes. The target audience of this book is researchers and students in the artificial intelligence and machine learning area, and beyond.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)