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Paper   IPM / Cognitive Sciences / 15024
School of Cognitive Sciences
  Title:   Information-Based Evaluation of Approximation Methods in Dempster-Shafer Theory
  Author(s): 
1.  Atiye Sarabi-Jamab
2.  Babak Araabi
  Status:   Published
  Journal: International Journal of Uncertainty, Fuzziness and Knowledge-Based Systems
  No.:  04
  Vol.:  24
  Year:  2016
  Pages:   503-535
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
Complexity of computations, particularly due to large number of focal elements (FEs), in Dempster-Shafer theory (DST) motivates the development of approximation algorithms. Existing approximation methods include efficient algorithm for special hypothesis space, Monte Carlo based techniques, and simplification procedures. In this paper, the quality of the simplification-based approximation algorithms is evaluated using a new information-based comparison methodology. To this end, three structured testbeds are introduced. Each testbed is designed with an eye on a particular form of uncertainty associated with a body of evidence (BoE) in DST, i.e., conflict and non-specificity. Three proposed testbeds along with the classic testbed are utilized to evaluate the accuracy and complexity of existing algorithms. In light of the proposed evaluation methodology, a new approximation method is presented as well. The proposed algorithm has the ability to choose the most informative FEs without being forced to select the FEs with the largest mass function. Comparison of overall qualitative performance of approximation algorithms provides accuracy versus computational time tradeoff to choose an appropriate approximation method in different applications. Moreover, experiments with testbeds indicate that our proposed algorithm enhances the accuracy and computational tractability simultaneously.


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