Research activities of Pietro Baroni

Uncertainty representation, approximate reasoning and computational argumentation

The research activity in this area has concerned both the study of innovative applications of uncertain and approximate reasoning in several application domains and theoretical contributions in the fields of uncertainty representation and modeling, argumentation theory, distributed argumentation and uncertainty transformations and interchange.

 

Innovative applications of uncertain and approximate reasoning

Uncertain and approximate reasoning pervade a variety of application areas ranging from engineering to medicine and from cultural heritage to economics and finance. 
Applied research projects  involving the use of uncertain and/or approximate reasoning techniques have bene carried out in the following domains: industrial diagnosis, nuclear safety assessment, preservation of Italian violin heritage, diagnosis of acute coronaric ischemia, wastewater treatment plant regulation. 
Besides providing specific contributions in the relevant application domains (in particular, a patent is pending on the application developed for wastewater treatment) these investigations have been  a steady source of feedback "from the field" indicating useful directions for work of more theoretical nature.

 

Relevant publications:

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Causal reasoning under uncertainty with Q/C-E networks: A case study on preventive diagnosis of power transformers, Proc. AIENG 95 10th Int. Conf. on Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, Udine, I, 1995, 119-128

G. Guida, P. Baroni, G. Cojazzi, L. Pinola, R. Sardella, Preliminary requirements for expert judgment acquisition in probabilistic safety assessment, Proc. ESREL 96-PSAM III International Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management, Crete, GR, 1996, 491-498

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Modeling aetiological knowledge and causal-evidential reasoning using Q/C-E networks, Proc. of ESIT 97, European Symposium on Intelligent Techniques, Bari, 1997, 269-273

G. Cojazzi, G. Guida, L. Pinola, R. Sardella, P. Baroni, Keejam: a knowledge engineering methodology for expert judgment acquisition and modeling in probabilistic safety assessment, Proc. of ESREL 97 International Conference on Safety and Reliability, Lisbon, P, 1997, 199-207

P. Baroni, G. Guida, R. Meucci, La conservazione del patrimonio storico della liuteria italiana: un progetto sperimentale basato su tecniche di ingegneria della conoscenza, Atti del Workshop: Intelligenza Artificiale per i Beni Culturali, Sesto Congresso della Associazione Italiana per l'Intelligenza Artificiale, Bologna 1999, 69-77 (successivamente apparso in versione riveduta su AI*IA Notizie, 12 (4), 1999, 44-49)

P. Baroni, G. Guida, R. Meucci, La conservazione del patrimonio storico della liuteria italiana: un progetto sperimentale basato su tecniche di ingegneria della conoscenza, AI*IA Notizie, 12 (4), 1999, 44-49

C. Collivignarelli, G. Bertanza, R.Pedrazzani, P. Baroni, Simultaneous nitrification - denitrification process: performance and control systems, Proc. of Joint Conference on Wastewater Treatment: Standards and Technologies, Leeds, UK, 2000, 339-346.

P. Baroni, G. Guida, M. Zanella, GART: a tool for experimenting with approximate reasoning models, Expert Systems with Applications, 21 (1), 2001, 15-30.

P. Baroni, G. Guida, M. Zanella, Managing uncertainty in diagnosis of acute coronaric ischemia, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, 23, 2001, 129-147.

G. Bertanza, C. Collivignarelli, P. Baroni, V. Zambarda, Simulazione del processo a fanghi attivi: un approccio basato su logica fuzzy, Ingegneria Ambientale, 31(6), 2002, 318-334

P. Baroni, G. Bertanza, C. Collivignarelli, V. Zambarda, Process improvement and energy saving in a full scale wastewater treatment plant: air supply regulation by a fuzzy logic system, Environmental Technology, 27(7), 2006, 733-746

P. Baroni, R. Pelessoni, P. Vicig, Shortfall-dependant Risk Measures (and Previsions), Proc. of EUSFLAT 07, 5th Conference of the European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology, Ostrava, CZ, 2007, Vol. I, 281-288

P. Baroni, R. Pelessoni, P. Vicig, Generalizing Dutch Risk Measures Through Imprecise Previsions, International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems, 17(2), 2009, 153-177

G. Bertanza, P. Baroni, C. Collivignarelli, Air supply regulation by a fuzzy logic system in activated sludge WWTPs, Atti dei Seminari Ecomondo 2008, Rimini, 2008, 175-179

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, D. Fogli, C. Gandelli, M. Giacomin, From User-Generated Tagging to User-Agreed Knowledge: an Argumentation-Based Approach, Proc. of NMR 2010, 10th International Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning, Toronto, CA, 2010, paper ADD-5

P. Baroni, D. Fogli, M, Giacomin, G. Guida, L. Parasiliti Provenza, M. Rossi, M. Bohanec, M. Znidarsic, Supporting DSS acceptability through a User-Centered Design Methodology: Experiences in Emergency Management, Proc. of DSS 2010, 15th IFIP WG8.3 International Conference on Decision Support Systems, Lisbon, P, 2010, 87-98

 

 

Uncertainty representation and modeling

Research in this area deals with conceptual and foundational issues concerning the classification of different types of uncertainty and their proper modeling and treatment, in order to enhance their cognitive plausibility when faced with practical applications.
In particular, the distinction between uncertainty about applicability and about validity of relational knowledge  has been proposed, leading to the notion of full monotonicity, which in turn shows that "foundational" approaches of foundational nature are more appropriate then the "coherentist" ones in this context. This observation has been the basis for the subsequent research works in the field of argumentation.

 

Relevant publications:

P. Baroni, G. Guida, and S. Mussi, Modeling uncertain relational knowledge: the AV-quantified production rules approach, Proc. ECSQARU 95 3rd European Conf. on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning and Uncertainty, Fribourg, CH, 1995, 18-27

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Modeling default reasoning through A-uncertainty, Proc. IPMU 96, 6th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Granada, E, 1996, 1197-1204

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, From ignorance to uncertainty: a conceptual analysis, Proc. of WUPES 97, 4th Workshop on Uncertainty Processing, Prague, 1997, 1-10

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Full nonmonotonicity: a new perspective in defeasible reasoning, Proc. of ESIT 97, European Symposium on Intelligent Techniques, Bari, 1997, 58-62

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Conditioning in a fully nonmonotonic context, Presented at Workshop on Conditioning and inference in intelligent systems, Erice, 8-15 Aprile 1997

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, Enhancing cognitive plausibility of uncertainty calculus: a common-sense-based approach to propagation and aggregation, IEEE Trans. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics-Part A, 28 (4), 1998, 394-407

P. Baroni, G. Guida, S. Mussi, From ignorance to uncertainty: a conceptual analysis, Kybernetika, 34 (1), 1998, 105-120

P. Baroni, Encompassing full nonmonotonicity within belief modification activity, Soft Computing, 3 (3), 1999, 131-140

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, A- and V-uncertainty: an exploration about uncertainty modeling from a knowledge engineering perspective, International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, 16 (2), 2007, 161-194

 

Argumentation theory

Argumentation theory is a foundational approach to practical and uncertain reasoning, where arguments supporting conclusions are progressively constructed and compared in order to identify the set of conclusions that should be considered justified.
Investigations in this area have concerned the analysis of some conceptual issues related to the notions of strength and of skepticism, the generalization of the theory of abstract argumentation systems, the introduction of the fundamental notion of SCC-recursiveness for argumentation semantics, and the study of general evaluation and comparison criteria for argumentation semantics.

Relevant publications:

P. Baroni, D. Fogli, G. Guida, Modeling argumentation in practical reasoning: a conceptual analysis of argument life cycle, Proc. of IPMU '98, 7th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Paris, F, 1998, 1790-1797

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Extending abstract argumentation systems theory, Artificial Intelligence, 120 (2), 2000, 251-270

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, On the notion of strength in argumentation: overcoming the epistemic/practical dichotomy, Proc. of ECSQARU 2001 Workshop "Adventures in argumentation", Toulouse, FR, 2001, 1-8.

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Solving semantic problems with odd-length cycles in argumentation, Proc. of ECSQARU 2003, 7th European Conf. on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Aalborg, DK, 2003, 440-451

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, On the role of strongly connected components in argumentation, Proc. of IPMU 2004, 10th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Perugia, I, 2004, 1887-1894

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, A recursive approach to argumentation: motivation and perspectives, Proc. of NMR 2004, 10th International Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning, Whistler, BC, 2004, 50-58

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, A general recursive schema for argumentation semantics, Proc. of ECAI 2004, 16th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Valencia, E, 2004, 783-787

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Towards a formalization of skepticism in extension-based argumentation semantics, Proc. of CMNA 2004, 4th Workshop on Computational Models of Natural Argument, Valencia, E, 2004, 47-52

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Evaluating argumentation semantics with respect to skepticism adequacy, Proc. of ECSQARU 2005, 8th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Barcelona, E, 2005, 329-340

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, SCC-recursiveness: a general schema for argumentation semantics, Artificial Intelligence, 168 (1-2), 2005, 162-210

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Refining SCC decomposition in argumentation semantics: a first investigation, Proc. of NMR 2006, 11th International Workshop on Non-Monotonic Reasoning, Lake District, UK, 2006, 442-450

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Evaluation and comparison criteria for extension-based argumentation semantics, Proc. of COMMA 06, 1st International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Liverpool, UK, 2006, 157-168

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Characterizing defeat graphs where argumentation semantics agree, Proc. of ArgNMR, Workshop on Argumentation and Non-Monotonic Reasoning, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 2007, 33-48

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, On principle-based evaluation of extension-based argumentation semantics, Artificial Intelligence, 171(10/15), 2007, 675-700

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Comparing argumentation semantics with respect to skepticism, Proc. of ECSQARU 2007, 9th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Hammamet, Tunisia, 2007, 210-221

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Resolution-based argumentation semantics, Proc. of COMMA 08, 2nd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Toulouse, F, 2008, 25-36

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, A systematic classification of argumentation frameworks where semantics agree, Proc. of COMMA 08, 2nd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Toulouse, F, 2008, 37-48

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Skepticism relations for comparing argumentation semantics, International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, 50(6), 2009, 854-866

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Semantics of abstract argument systems, In G. R. Simari, Iyad Rahwan (Eds.), Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence, Springer Science+Business Media, 2009, 25-44

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Encompassing Attacks to Attacks in Abstract Argumentation Frameworks, Proc. of ECSQARU 2009, 10th European Conference on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Verona, I, 2009, 83-94

P. Baroni, P. E. Dunne, M. Giacomin, Computational Properties of Resolution-based Grounded Semantics, Proc. of IJCAI 09, 21st International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Pasadena, CA, 2009, 683-689

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, An Argumentation-Based Approach to Modeling Decision Support Contexts with What-If Capabilities, Proc. of the AAAI Fall Symposium: The Uses of Computational Argumentation, Washington, D.C., 2009, 2-7

P. Baroni, P.E. Dunne, M. Giacomin, On extension counting problems in argumentation frameworks, Proc. of COMMA 2010, 3rd International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Desenzano del Garda, I, 2010, 63-74

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Argumentation-based decision making and structural models of personality, Proc. of the 11th AI*IA Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Brescia, I, 2010, 193-200

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, AFRA: Argumentation Framework with Recursive Attacks, International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, 52(1), 2011, 19-37

P. Baroni, P.E. Dunne, M. Giacomin, On the resolution-based family of abstract argumentation semantics and its grounded instance, Artificial Intelligence, 175(3-4), 2011, 791-813

P. Baroni, M. Caminada, M. Giacomin, An introduction to argumentation semantics, Knowledge Engineering Review, 26(4), 2011, 365-410

 P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, P.E. Dunne, M. Giacomin, Computing with Infinite Argumentation Frameworks: the Case of AFRAs, in S. Modgil, N. Oren, F. Toni (Eds.), Theory and Applications of Formal Argumentation - TAFA 2011 Revised Selected Papers, LNAI 7132,  Springer, 2012, 197-214

P. Baroni, G. Boella, F. Cerutti, M. Giacomin, L. W. N. van der Torre, S. Villata, On Input/Output Argumentation Frameworks, Proc. of COMMA 2012, 4th International Conference on Computational Models of Argument, Vienna, A, 2012, 358-365

P. Baroni, F. Cerutti, P.E. Dunne, M. Giacomin, Automata for infinite argumentation structures, Artificial Intelligence, 203, 2013, 104-150

P. Baroni, M. Romano, F. Toni, M. Aurisicchio, G. Bertanza, An Argumentation-Based Approach for Automatic Evaluation of Design Debates, Proc. of 14th International Workshop on Computational Logic in Multi-Agent Systems, Corunna, E, 2013, 340-356

 

Distributed argumentation

The problem of defining self-stabilizing distributed algorithms for argument defeat status computation in a fully distributed setting has been investigated. A general impossibility result has been obtained and optimal algorithms for some significant families of argumentation frameworks have been defined and characterized.

Relevant publications:

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, A distributed self-stabilizing algorithm for argumentation, Proc. of IPDPS 2001 15th IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, San Francisco, CA, 2001, paper #198.

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Argumentation in multi-agent systems: self-stabilizing defeat status computation, Atti dell'Ottavo Convegno dell' Associazione Italiana per l'Intelligenza Artificiale, Siena, 2002, 225-234

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, A distributed self-stabilizing approach to defeat status computation in argumentation, Proc. of IPMU 2002, 9th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Annecy, F, 2002, 1687-1694

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, Argumentation through a distributed self-stabilizing approach, Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 14(4), 2002, 273-301

P. Baroni, M. Giacomin, G. Guida, Self-stabilizing defeat status computation: dealing with conflict management in multi-agent systems, Artificial Intelligence, 165 (2), 2005, 187-259

Uncertainty transformations and interchange

Transformations between different uncertainty formalisms may be required for two main reasons: on the one hand transforming a more complex representation into a simpler one is often computationally advantageous, on the other hand, these procedures are a key issue for enabling interoperability among heterogeneous uncertain reasoning systems, adopting different approaches to uncertainty.
Investigations in this areas have concerned the definition of an uncertainty interchange format, based on the theory of coherent imprecise probabilities, and the study of several original transformation procedures between imprecise probabilities and the formalisms of precise probability, possibility and belief functions. 

Relevant publications:

P. Baroni, G. Guida, Towards an uncertainty interchange format based on fuzzy numbers, Proc. of ESIT 99, European Symposium on Intelligent Techniques, Creta, 1999, AC-04-2

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, An uncertainty interchange format for multi-agent systems based on imprecise probabilities, Proc. of IPMU 2000, 8th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Madrid, E, 2000, 1027-1034.

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, On the conceptual status of belief functions with respect to coherent lower probabilities, Proc. of ECSQARU 2001, 6th European Conf. on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Toulouse, FR, 2001, 328-339.

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, Transforming imprecise probabilities into partial possibilities, Proc. of IPMU 2002, 9th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Annecy, F, 2002, 1069-1076

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, Transformations from imprecise to precise probabilities, Proc. of ECSQARU 2003, 7th European Conf. on Symbolic and Quantitative Approaches to Reasoning with Uncertainty, Aalborg, DK, 2003, 37-49

P. Baroni, Extending consonant approximations to capacities, Proc. of IPMU 2004, 10th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Perugia, I, 2004, 1127-1134

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, An uncertainty interchange format with imprecise probabilities, International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, 40(3), 2005, 147-180

P. Baroni, P. Vicig, On computing the maximum-entropy probability consistent with a capacity, Proc. of IPMU 2006, 11th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, Paris, F, 2006, 1732-1739