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Title: An evidential path logic for multi-relational networks

Journal Article ·
OSTI ID:962269
 [1];  [2]
  1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
  2. UNIV OF DURHAM

Multi-relational networks are used extensively to structure knowledge. Perhaps the most popular instance, due to the widespread adoption of the Semantic Web, is the Resource Description Framework (RDF). One of the primary purposes of a knowledge network is to reason; that is, to alter the topology of the network according to an algorithm that uses the existing topological structure as its input. There exist many such reasoning algorithms. With respect to the Semantic Web, the bivalent, axiomatic reasoners of the RDF Schema (RDFS) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) are the most prevalent. However, nothing prevents other forms of reasoning from existing in the Semantic Web. This article presents a non-bivalent, non-axiomatic, evidential logic and reasoner that is an algebraic ring over a multi-relational network and two binary operations that can be composed to perform various forms of inference. Given its multi-relational grounding, it is possible to use the presented evidential framework as another method for structuring knowledge and reasoning in the Semantic Web. The benefits of this framework are that it works with arbitrary, partial, and contradictory knowledge while, at the same time, supporting a tractable approximate reasoning process.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
962269
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-08-06397; LA-UR-08-6397; TRN: US200920%%130
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English