On reasoning in networks with qualitative uncertainty

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new qualitative reasoning approach for networks that handles uncertainty using possibility theory and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory, enabling qualitative propagation and comparison of different uncertainty formalisms.

Contribution

It presents a novel method for qualitative reasoning that integrates multiple uncertainty formalisms within network structures, expanding beyond probabilistic approaches.

Findings

Qualitative behavior of probabilistic, possibility, and Dempster-Shafer formalisms compared.

Method applicable to a large class of directed graphs.

Qualitative integration of uncertainty formalisms demonstrated.

Abstract

In this paper some initial work towards a new approach to qualitative reasoning under uncertainty is presented. This method is not only applicable to qualitative probabilistic reasoning, as is the case with other methods, but also allows the qualitative propagation within networks of values based upon possibility theory and Dempster-Shafer evidence theory. The method is applied to two simple networks from which a large class of directed graphs may be constructed. The results of this analysis are used to compare the qualitative behaviour of the three major quantitative uncertainty handling formalisms, and to demonstrate that the qualitative integration of the formalisms is possible under certain assumptions.