1. Dealing with Uncertainty
Topics we will cover
Bayes Formula
Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence
Stanford Certainty Factors
Other topics we will not cover in class
Bayesian belief networks
Causal networks
Nonmonotonic logic
Truth maintenance systems
Set cover and logic-based abduction
Reasoning with fuzzy sets
You are only responsible for the topics we cover

2. Some Definitions
For independent events A and B p(A and B) = p(A) * p(B)

3. A First Example - 1 Given two urns with blue and white balls
Suppose urn 1 has 3 blue balls and 2 white balls
Suppose urn 2 has 1 blue ball and 3 white balls
Suppose the probability of choosing urn 1 is 1/3 and the probability of choosing urn 2 is 2/3
If a blue ball is drawn, what is the probability it came from urn 1?
Using the formula for conditional probability
We can only get B in two ways

4. A First Example - 2 But we know Substituting
We know P(U1) = 1/3 and P(B|U1) = 3/5 and P(U2) = 2/3 and P(B|U2) = ¼ so

5. Baye’s Formula
H H H Hn Hn

6. A Medical Example - 1 Suppose there is a test for HIV positivity.
Let TP be the event that the test is positive
Let TN be the event that the test is negative
Let HP be the event that the person tested is HIV positive
Let HN be the event that the person tested is HIV negative
A false positive is when the test returns a positive result when they do not have HIV
A false negative is when the test returns a negative result when, in fact, they do have HIV
Some data
assume that the false positive rate, P(TP|HN), is 0.02
assume that the false negative rate, P(TN|HP), is 0.01
Assume the rate of HIV positivity in the population is 0.10
If a person is tested and the test comes back positive, what is the probability the person really has HIV?

7. A Medical Example - 2 According to Bayes' Formula
but P(TP|HP) = 1 – P(TN|HP)
Here is the danger of testing for rare diseases. If the rate of HIV in the population is 0.01, then the P(HP | TP) is only about 1/3!
Considering some people might do some strange things after being told they tested positive, this rate of false positives is clearly unacceptable

8. Another Problem Some data
A company rates 75% of its employees satisfactory
25% of the employees are rated unsatisfactory
Of the satisfactory employees, 80% had prior experience
Of the unsatisfactory employees, only 40% had prior experience
If a person with prior experience is hired, what is the probability she will be satisfactory?

9. Using a Bayesian Approach
Requirements
All the P(E | Hi) must be known
All the P(Hi) must be known
The relationship between evidence and hypotheses must be independent (rarely the case in medicine)
Difficulties
A large database of information must be maintained
Any new evidence causes the whole system to change
Data collection and verification may not be possible
Therefore, less rigorous ways of dealing with uncertainty have been developed

10. Dempster-Shafer Theory of Evidence
Each proposition is assigned an interval [belief, plausibility] within which the degree of belief of each proposition must lie
The belief ranges from 0 to 1; the plausibility of a proposition p is pl(p) = 1 – bl( not (p) )
Example: Mellisa says my computer is broken into
M. is reliable 0.9 and unreliable 0.1
Thus a belief(computer broken into) = 0.9
M. says nothing about the belief the computer is not broken into, that that value is assigned 0.0
pl(not broken into) = 1 – 0.0 = 1.0
So the belief interval for Melissa is [0.9, 1.0]

11. Combining Evidence - 1 Bill says the computer is broken into
B. is reliable 0.8 and unreliable 0.2
Assume B. and M. are acting independently
Probability both B. and M. are reliable is 0.8*0.9 = 0.72
Probability both B. and M. are unreliable is 0.2*0.1 = 0.02
Probability at least one of B. and M. is reliable is 1 – 0.02 = 0.98
The resulting belief interval is [0.98, 1.0]
Suppose Bill says the computer was not broken into
They both cannot be correct and both cannot be reliable
The other possible scenarios are M. is reliable, B. is not; or B. is reliable and M. is not, or both are not reliable
These calculations are on the next page

12. Combining Evidence - 2 Calculations
The prior probability only Melissa is reliable is 0.9 * ( ) = 0.18; that only Bill is reliable is 0.8 * (1 – 0.9) = 0.08; and both are unreliable is 0.2 * 0.1 = 0.02
The probability at least one is not reliable is = 0.28
The posterior probability only M. is reliable is 0.18/0.28 = 0.643; the posterior probability only B. is reliable is 0.08/0.28 = 0.286
pl(break_in) = 1 – bl(not break in) = 1 – = 0.714
The belief measure for break in is [0.28, 0.714]

13. Another Example - 1 Demster’s Rule – in general Medical diagnosis
Patient has cold (C), flu (F), headaches (H), or meningitis (M)
Evidence supports hypothesis sets, such as a combination of {C, F, M}
Suppose given the patient has a fever, the first belief, m1(C,F,M) = 0.6, then, at this point, the measure of all other beliefs is 0.4

14. Another Example - 2
Suppose new evidence is the patient has extreme nausea with m2(C,F,H) = 0.7
Given that no sets X  Y are empty, the denominator in our equation is 1
Combined belief is calculated as:

15. Another Example - 3
Suppose new lab evidence indicates mennningitis with m4(M) = 0.8
Combined belief is calculated as:

16. Another Example - 4
The denominator of the equation is 1 – – = 0.44
The final combined beliefs for m5 are:

17. Some Comments
When there is conflicting evidence, belief in the empty set may be high (0.56 in this example)
If H has n elements, then there are 2n subsets, so calculations can become cumbersome
Dempster-Shafer reduces to Bayesian statistics if all the evidence is know precisely
However, often there is only incomplete evidence and this is where Demster-Shafer is most useful

18. Another Problem
Joe and Mary are brother and sister who are now in their mid-twenties. They met at lunch to discuss what appears to be the breakup of their parents’ thirty-year marriage. Joe believes they will break up and he can predict his parents behavior 70% of the time. Mary also believe they will break up and she is correct in predicting her parents behavior 80% of the time. Neither expresses an opinion on the probability that their parents will not break up. Using the techniques developed by Dempster and Shafer, what is the belief interval that the parents will actually get divorced? Show all your work and explain how you carried out the calculations.

19. Stanford Certainty Factor Algebra
Although Bayesian Techniques are firmly based in probability theory, the calculations are complex and data must be continually updated
A simpler measure of confidence was needed
The medical diagnosis system MYCIN developed at Stanford introduced certainty factors
Although the CF system is “ad hoc” in nature, it requires little calculation and allows confidences to be combined as the system progresses towards a goal
The actual confidence values are much less important than the quality of the rules in the system

20. Defining the Certainty Factor
Measures of Belief and Disbelief
The certainty factor is
A value of near +1 represents strong confidence
A value near zero represents a lack of evidence for or against the hypothesis
A value of near –1 represents a lack of confidence

21. Manipulating Confidence Factors
An expert assigns a confidence for each rule in the rule base
These values are used to calculate new values as the system progresses towards a solution
The content of the rule itself is much more significant than the CF assigned
Combining CF for premises using AND and OR

22. An Example Calculation
Suppose a rule in the knowledge base is:
Suppose P1, P2, and P3 have CFs of 0.6, 0.4, 0.2, respectively

23. Combining Rules Suppose rules R1 and R2 support the result R
Given the CF for R1 and R2, we calculate the CF for R as follows
Our Lisp expert system shell will use certainty factors to search for the most likely solution