Argument systems are computational models that enable an artificial intelligent agent to reason via argumentation. Basically, the computations in argument systems can be viewed as search problems. In general, for a wide range of such problems existing algorithms lack five important features. Firstly, there is no comprehensive study that shows which algorithm among existing others is the most efficient in solving a particular problem. Secondly, there is no work that establishes the use of cost-effective heuristics leading to more efficient algorithms. Thirdly, mechanisms for pruning the search space are understudied, and hence, further pruning techniques might be neglected. Fourthly, diverse decision problems, for extended models of argument systems, are left without dedicated algorithms fine-tuned to the specific requirements of the respective extended model. Fifthly, some existing algorithms are presented in a high level that leaves some aspects of the computations unspecified, and therefore, implementations are rendered open to different interpretations. The work presented in this thesis tries to address all these concerns. Concisely, the presented work is centered around a widely studied view of what computationally defines an argument system. According to this view, an argument system is a pair: a set of abstract arguments and a binary relation that captures the conflicting arguments. Then, to resolve an instance of argument systems the acceptable arguments must be decided according to a set of criteria that collectively define the argumentation semantics. For different motivations there are various argumentation semantics. Equally, several proposals in the literature present extended models that stretch the basic two components of an argument system usually by incorporating more elements and/or broadening the nature of the existing components. This work designs algorithms that solve decision problems in the basic form of argument systems as well as in some other extended models. Likewise, new algorithms are developed that deal with different argumentation semantics. We evaluate our algorithms against existing algorithms experimentally where sufficient indications highlight that the new algorithms are superior with respect to their running time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:579416 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Nofal, Samer |
| Contributors | Dunne, Paul; Atkinson, Katie |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/12173/ |
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