Abductive reasoning

About: Abductive reasoning is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1917 publications have been published within this topic receiving 44645 citations. The topic is also known as: abduction & abductive inference.

Natural language and logic : International Scientific Symposium, Hamburg, FRG, May 9-11, 1989 : proceedings

Abstract: Treatment of anaphoric problems in referentially opaque contexts.- Knowledge processing in the LILOG project from the first to the second prototype.- Indexicality and representation.- Contextualization and de-contextualization.- Computational semantics: Steps towards "intelligent" text processing.- Propositional and depictorial representations of spatial knowledge: The case of path-concepts.- Slot Grammar.- On the logical structure of comparatives.- Aspects of consistency of sophisticated knowledge representation languages.- Unification based machine translation.- Perspectives in multiple-valued logic.- Properties and actions.- Rationale and methods for abductive reasoning in natural-language interpretation.

Fault Detection and Localization Using Modelica and Abductive Reasoning

Abstract: Modelica is an object-oriented and domain-independent programming language that is excellently suited for modeling and simulating a wide range of systems. In this chapter, after briefly discussing the use of Modelica for representing hybrid systems, we show how to use corresponding simulation results for detecting and isolating faults. To this end, we present three approaches to comparing simulated signals with actually observed behavior. This includes the use of average values and pre-defined tolerances, temporal band sequences, and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Once we identify significant deviations from expected behavior, we are, of course, interested in identifying their cause. For this task, we show how to add fault models to the Modelica system model, so that we can simulate the corresponding faulty behavior. From the described faults and their simulations, we then derive an intuitive cause-and-effect model that we can use for fault localization using abductive diagnosis. Aside describing the foundations, we illustrate the concept with examples and outline also limitations and applicability in practice.

Validating Library Usage Interactively

Abstract: Programmers who develop large, mature applications often want to optimize the performance of their program without changing its semantics. They often do so by changing how their program invokes a library function or a function implemented in another module of the program. Unfortunately, once a programmer makes such an optimization, it is difficult for him to validate that the optimization does not change the semantics of the original program, because the original and optimized programs are equivalent only due to subtle, implicit assumptions about library functions called by the programs. In this work, we present an interactive program analysis that a programmer can apply to validate that his optimization does not change his program's semantics. Our analysis casts the problem of validating an optimization as an abductive inference problem in the context of checking program equivalence. Our analysis solves the abductive equivalence problem by interacting with the programmer so that the programmer implements a solver for a logical theory that models library functions invoked by the program. We have used our analysis to validate optimizations of real-world, mature applications: the Apache software suite, the Mozilla Suite, and the MySQL database.

A Categorical-Generative Theory of Social Processes: Towards the Ontological and Mathematical Foundations of a Grammar-Based Model for Qualitative Research

Abstract: This paper proposes a mathematical model to describe the dynamics of flows of events that evolve, conditioned by a specific set of structures and contextual conditions, such as complex, dynamic, and contingent social phenomena. A discrete rule-based model for patterns of sequences of events deduced from Generative Grammar Theory and Category Theory depicts theoretical propositions and identifies causal relationships in empirical evidence. Regarding the ontological and epistemological assumptions of Critical Realism, the proposed modeling methodology adopts the logic of retroduction instead of the logic of falsification as a knowledge-extending means of drawing explanatory inferences from data in a systematic way.

Abductive Thematic Analysis in Hospitality and Tourism Research

Abstract: The chapter discusses abductive thematic analysis as an innovative qualitative methodology in hospitality and tourism research. The novelty of the abductive approach is to combine the power of both deductive and inductive reasoning: it is possible to initiate the research starting from an existing theoretical, without renouncing to a creative phase where the researcher interprets the phenomenon beyond the words utilized and theorizes dependencies between concepts. The chapter further presents a case study to illustrate how abductive thematic analysis can be applied to study small hospitality and tourism businesses. The chapter further highlights the benefits of adapting thematic analysis to abductive reasoning, which is a paradigmatic position thus adding rigor to hospitality and tourism. The chapter finally highlights future avenues for development of methodology research toward adding further rigor to this novel methodology.