bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
INTEGRATED BACKGROUND MONITORING IN BIOSPHERE RESERVES OF RUSSIA: A TRIUMPH OR A FIASCO?
Authors:   All-Russian Research Institute for Environment Protection, BUYVOLOV YU. , PARAMONOV S. ,   Yu.A. Izrael Institute of Global Climate and Ecology, GROMOV S. ,   Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences
Published: October 2021

The network of the Integrated background monitoring (IBMon) stations have operated in Russia for 40 years more. Many years ago the IBMon stations were the hallmark of the biosphere reserves (BR) in the USSR. Nowadays they are sometimes perceived as a rudiment of the USSR era, something antique, out of modern realities. This article describes the chronology of the development and functioning of the IBMon system in Russia, and also presents the scientific achievements obtained owing to the creation of this system. There were 16 IBMon stations created in 13 biosphere reserves of the USSR and Russia in total for 1978-1998, and after 1998 there are stations in 5 biosphere reserves only in Russia at present time: at Altaisky BR, Astrakhanskiy BR, Voronezhskiy BR, Kavkazskiy BR and Prioksko-Terrasnyi BR. The paper provides monitoring data on pollutant concentrations in the air, atmospheric precipitation, surface waters, soils and plants in the biosphere reserves, where the IBMon stations operate. The discussion is devoted to topics on reasons and goals of the IBMon station network creation in the USSR, what kind of scientific role they had played and why this activity direction is relevant today and should be developed in modern Russia.
LAND USE AND LAND DEGRADATION ISSUES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE UNESCO “MAN & BIOSPHERE” PROGRAMME
Authors:   Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, KUST G.S. , ANDREEVA O.V. , LOBKOVSKIY V.A. , SLAVKO V.D.
Published: October 2021

A brief historical overview of approaches to study the problem of land use and land degradation in the MAB UNESCO program is provided. Over the past 50 years these issues remain important although the general strategic approach to their research and solving has changed from a multilateral study of land management and land degradation in different geographic and socio-economic conditions with an emphasis on natural diversity, to practices and approaches of sustainable land management in biosphere reserves, as reflected in MAB Strategy (2015-2025) and Lima Action Plan (2016-2025). Many of the MAB initiatives in the field of sustainable land management and combating land degradation have been further reflected and revised in different international programs and conventions. The development of these approaches and the integration of the MAB program with other modern activities can significantly increase the effectiveness of the results of Strategic Direction “A” of the Lima Action Plan on the use of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves as models for sustainable development. Five objectives are proposed for closer cooperation of the MAB program and its network of biosphere reserves with other international and national measures for promoting sustainable land management practices and combating land degradation: 1) using biosphere reserves as priority sites and observatories for comparative assessments of indicators of land degradation neutrality (LDN) for protected areas and adjacent territories in similar bioclimatic conditions; 2) use of data obtained through the series of observations in the territory of protected areas as the most important additional or alternative indicators and measures for the LDN interpretation; 3) biosphere reserves as models for selecting effective solutions reflecting the triad of adaptive actions to avoid degradation, reduce the rate of degradation and restore previously degraded lands; 4) achieving LDN on the territory of biosphere reserves through the implementation of the Aichi biodiversity targets; 5) the use of LDN as a criterion for evaluating the effectiveness of the activities of biosphere reserves. Preliminary results of the LDN assessment for Central Chernozem State Natural Biosphere Reserve and Middle Volga Integrated Biosphere Reserve and their adjacent territories provided to demonstrate the possibility of performing some of the objectives listed.
PROBLEMATIKA NIKAH SIRI, NIKAH ONLINE DAN TALAK SIRI SERTA IMPLIKASI HUKUMNYA DALAM FIKIH NIKAH
Authors: Akmal Andi Muhammad , Asti Mulham Jaki
Published: October 2021

Artikel ini bertujuan
Application of bio-resorbable membranes in preventing complications of lower jaw surgery
Authors: Tušek Ivan , Pohodenko-Chudakova Irina , Tserakhava Nikolaevna , Maksimovich Ekaterina , Karsyuk Yuri , Savich Alexander , Mladenović Raša
Published: October 2021

Background/Aim: Prevention of inflammation and alveolar bone atrophy is very important in oral surgery. The aim of this study was to compare the use of two osteoplastic bio-resorbable membranes in order to prevent inflammatory complications and atrophy of the alveolar part of the mandible after surgical interventions. Material and Methods: We examined 86 patients 45-70 years old who were classified into four groups. In group 1, there were 21 patients who had a "bio-resorbable membrane type 1 implanted. The group 2 consisted of 23 persons treated with bio-resorbable membrane type 2. Only the occurrence of inflammatory complications after the placement of these membranes was monitored. Group 3 included 20 persons treated with membrane type 1 and group 4 included 22 patients treated with membrane type 2 to prevent both inflammatory complications and atrophy of the alveolar part of the mandible. The level of atrophy of the alveolar bone after one year was determined by cone-beam computed tomography. The obtained data were statistically evaluated. Results: Six inflammatory complications ("dry socket") have been identified in operated patients treated with a membrane type 1 (the first and the third groups). Only two "dry socket" occurred in patients treated with membrane type 2 (the second and fourth groups). Group 4 had significant advantages in the alveolar crest height 14.6 (11.2-22.3) and in its width 7.7 (5.1-10.2) both in relation to the indices of group 3 (11.1 (9.7-20.4) and 6.2 (4.2-9.0). Conclusions: The bio-resorbable membrane type 2 prevented inflammatory complications in the short postoperative period after surgical interventions, as well as, the atrophy of the mandible.
Assessment of Biological Degradability of the Waste Produced by Food Industry
Authors: Samešová Dagmar , Poništ Juraj , Hybská Helena , Veverková Darina
Published: October 2021

Organic waste from production processes is unutilised potential for the production of energy from renewable sources. The submitted paper studies the conditions of anaerobic degradation of selected waste from food industry (diary and distillery) when biogas is produced. Both types of organic waste have low pH values. Ash form municipal incineration as a material for the treatment of pH of waste was used. Except for the pH increase during anaerobic degradation, ash also serves as a source of macroelements for inoculum microorganisms. Kinetics of anaerobic biological digestion of organic material based on the change of pressure and biogas production depending on the ash addition (change of pH) of input samples was observed. Beside these tests, degradability of the waste was assessed by limiting biologically degradable ratio, BR and specific speed of degradability, q. pH values were adjusted with different amounts of ash (0.5; 1.8; 2.7 g/g of dry matter of organic material). Results of the research confirmed that the addition of optimum amount of ash has a positive effect on anaerobic degradation of organic materials.
Evaluation of Total Organic Carbon Quantity and Emissions of CO2 from Soil Into the Atmosphere Near Street
Authors: Pranskevicius Mantas , Paliulis Dainius
Published: October 2021

Soil as an ecosystem is actively involved into climate formation process. Therefore, it is important to assess such soil quality indicators as total organic carbon (TOC) and CO2 emissions. Soil organic matter is considered to be its indicator of quality, which is one of the most important components of biosphere consistency and stability. Soil respiration shows carbon emission from soil into the atmosphere. This is a great indicator, illustrating soil biological activity. Impact of soil temperature, air humidity, time of day was evaluated on CO2 emission from the soil. The highest CO2 emission is observed in afternoon hours, up to 0.201 g CO2∙m–2·h–1.
The Growth Performance of Selected Spice Crops in Haryana State
Authors: Lal Choote , Kait Rohtas
Published: October 2021

Subject and purpose of work: The study aims to evaluate the growth performance of spice crops in Haryana state of India.

Materials and methods: The study is based on secondary data obtained over the period of 17 years i.e., from 2001-2002 to 2017-2018. Four spice crop – ginger, turmeric, garlic and fenugreek were selected from rabi and kharif season on the basis of the largest area sown. In order to analyze the data descriptive statistics (mean and C.V.) and CGR (compound growth rate) were employed.

Results: T he s tudy r evealed a significant p ositive g rowth r ate o f 2.20%, 4.50% and 2.20% in the area, production and productivity of ginger in the district of Panchkula, respectively. In the district of Yamunanagar, a growth rate 13.80% and 10.20% was found in the area and production of turmeric. However, a negative productivity growth rate of -3.20% was also revealed. A positive growth rate 1.50%, 3.30% and 0.17% was found in the area, production and productivity of garlic in Karnal district. In the district of Yamunanagar, a growth rate for fenugreek of 7.30% and 7.60% and 13.90% in the area, production and productivity was found. The state of Haryana recorded a significant growth of 1.7%, 2.8% and 1.1% per annum in the area, production and productivity of spice crops respectively.

Conclusions: T he s tudy r evealed a positive g rowth rate across all the selected spice crops, indicating improving prospects of spice crops in Haryana state.
Air Quality Monitoring in Jiu Valley
Authors: Roman Liliana
Published: October 2021

The paper presents air quality monitoring in Jiu Valley, which is carried out at HD-5 Vulcan monitoring station, starting with March 2010, allowing the obtaining of useful data for the rapid identification of polluted areas and for taking strategic decisions by competent factors and tactics to combat and prevent pollution. After highlighting the pollution sources in Jiu Valley, we present both the evolution of hourly and / or daily values of pollutants recorded at the automatic HD-Vulcan air quality monitoring station during 2020: SO2, NO2, CO, gravimetric PM10, Pb, Cd and Ni, but also the evolution of air quality for quality indicators, monitored in Hunedoara County (including Jiu Valley, at HD-5 station), during 2010-2020.

Taking into account the average annual values of pollutants recorded in 2020 at HD-5 Vulcan station, the paper calculates air quality indices for each pollutant and then indicates air quality throughout Jiu Valley in 2020, establishing that air quality is good in this area, with a very low level of pollution and no effect on humans, ecosystems and materials.
Digitalization as a Vector of Information Systems Development and Accounting System Modernization
Authors: Chyzhevska Lyudmyla , Voloschuk Lidiia , Shatskova Liubov , Sokolenko Liudmyla
Published: October 2021

Digitalization causes structural changes in the economic sectors and influences business activity and processes, leading to the companies’ increased productivity, competitive advantages and effective development creation and consolidation. This article is purposed to substantiate that the economy digitalization entails the need for companies’ system and mechanisms modernization to ensure their competitiveness and to improve management systems. The research is conducted using methods of theoretical generalization, analysis, synthesis, comparison and grouping. This study resulted in defining both global and Ukrainian economies’ trends for digitalization with a description of its impact on the business activity and business processes, assessing the economy digitalization effects to the requirements for the company’s information system that therefore serves to establishing directions for its modernization through the introduction of digital technologies, such as Electronic Data Interchange, Extensible Business Reporting Language, BigData, Internet of Things, Robotic Process Automation, Artificial intelligence, Real-time Adherence, cloud technologies, blockchain. The directions of companies’ accounting digitalization implementation and development are as flows: changes in the accounting system in terms of its method elements; application of Assets, Liabilities and Capital new digital forms; advanced training in compliance with the requirements for the accounting personnel digital competencies.
PENGARUH SCAFFOLDING TERHADAP KEMAMPUAN SISWA MENULIS TEKS BAHASA INGGRIS
Authors: Khanza Meutia , Zulfitria Zulfitria , Ansharullah Ansharullah
Published: October 2021

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui apakah scaffolding dapat memberikan efek yang signifikan pada kemampuan siswa dalam menulis teks prosedur. Dalam penelitian ini, sampel yang digunakan adalah siswa kelas XI SMA Muhammadiyah 25 Setiabudi Pamulang. Sampel tersebut berasal dari kelas XI IPA 1 sebagai kelas eksperimen dan XI IPA 2 sebagai kelas kontrol. Masing-masing terdiri dari 36 siswa. Metode yang digunakan adalah kuantitatif dan desain yang digunakan adalah quasi experimental study. Temuan dari penelitian ini berupa nilai rata-rata pre-test siswa kelas eksperimen adalah 56.47 serta nilai rata-rata pos-tes siswa kelas tersebut adalah 76.14. Berbeda dengan kelas kontrol, nilai rata-rata pre-test siswa di kelas kontrol adalah 63.25 dan nilai rata-rata untuk pos-tes adalah 66.72. Pengaruh yang signifikan dilihat dari nilai rata-rata pos-tes siswa kelas eksperimen yang diberi perlakuan daripada nilai rata-rata siswa di kelas kontrol yang tidak diberi perlakuan berupa scaffolding. Hasil dari hipotesis statistik menemukan tingkat signifikansi 0.000 < 0.005. Dengan demikian H0 (Hipotesis Nul) ditolak dan H1 (Hipotesis Alternatif) diterima. Hal ini menandakan bahwa penggunaan teknik scaffolding efektif pada kemampuan siswa dalam menulis prosedur teks.
METODE AGILE UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KREATIVITAS GURU MELALUI BERBAGI PENGETAHUAN (KNOWLEDGE SHARING) (STUDI KASUS: SDN CIPULIR 03 KEBAYORAN LAMA, JAKARTA
Authors: Hikmah Nur , Suradika Agus , Ahmad Gunadi R. Andi
Published: October 2021

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah  untuk  menunjukan manfaat  Metode Agile dalam meningkatkan Kreativitas Guru melalui berbagi pengetahuan (Knowledge Sharing).  Penelitian  dilakukan di SDN Cipulir 03, Jakarta Selatan. Pendekatan penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan metode deskriptif. Data dalam penelitian ini dianalisis melalui empat tahapan analisis sebagaimana disarankan oleh Miles & Huberman.
DESAIN PEMBELAJARAN KITAB AT TIBYAN DENGAN MODEL ASSURE DI PESANTREN TAHFIDZ MASKANUL HUFFADZ
Authors: Lestari Ayu
Published: October 2021

Rancangan pembelajaran kitab At-Tibyan ini disusun berdasarkan model ASSURE. Rancangan pembelajaran ini terdiri dari enam tahapan perancangan, dimulai dari melakukan analisis terhadap para santri sampai mengevaluasi hasil dari pembelajaran. Hasil rancangan berupa (a) silabus pembelajaran dalam satu semester, (b) bahan pembelajaran dalam bentuk power point dan video edukatif yang menunjang setiap bab pembelajaran sesuai dengan tujuan pembelajaran kitab At-Tibyan, dan (c) pedoman penilaian keberhasilan peserta didik selama program belajar berlangsung.
PERAN SUPERVISI KEPALA MADRASAH DAN KUALIFIKASI AKADEMIK DALAM MENINGKATKAN KOMPETENSI GURU
Authors: Pranpantja Yuda , Satispi Evi , WD Tuti Retnowati
Published: October 2021

Rendahnya kompetensi guru di Indonesia dapat dilihat dari kelayakan guru mengajar. Bukti rendahnya profesionalitas guru juga dapat terlihat dari masih banyaknya guru yang tidak menguasai berbagai kompetensi. Misalnya saja masih banyak guru mengalami kendala dalam menerapkan berbagai strategi pembelajaran. Dalam pembelajaran, seorang guru dituntut untuk mampu mengembangkan berbagai kompetensi yang ada pada dirinya. Sehingga diharapkan dengan peningkatan kompetensi tersebut akan menciptakan suasana belajar yang lebih menarik. Jika dalam mengajar ternyata guru belum mampu menggunakan variasi metode pembelajaran, maka dikhawatirkan minat siswa terhadap pelajaran ekonomi akan berkurang. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui Peran Supervisi Kepala Madrasah dan Kualifikasi Akademik Guru dalam Kompetensi Guru di Jakarta. Metode yang digunakan adalah Deskriptif dengan pendekatan Kualitatif, hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa dalam pelaksanaan supervisi akademik oleh kepala sekolah dapat dilakukan dalam tiga tahap yaitu: melakukan pra supervisi akademik, pelaksanaan kunjungan kelas, dan pembahasan hasil kunjungan kelas. Pelaksanaan program efektif supervisi akademik adalah untuk mencapai kualitas yang dipersyaratkan perlu mendapat pengawasan yang sungguh-sungguh oleh kepala sekolah. Hambatan dalam pelaksanaan supervisi akademik oleh kepala sekolah dalam meningkatan komperensi guru yaitu: tidak tersedianya waktu yang cukup bagi supervisor untuk melakukan supervisi dan terkesan terburu-buru dalam melaksanakan supervisi akademik. Bila dilihat dari efektivitasnya, waktu pelaksanaan supervisi akademik dapat dilakukan tiap bulan, namun waktu tidak mencukupi maka kepala sekolah mensupervisi guru tiap triwulan atau dalam satu semester dapat dilakukan cuma dua supervisi.
Владивостокская таможня в 1921 году
Authors: БЕЛЯЕВА Н. А.
Published: October 2021

На основе документов из фонда Владивостокской таможни, Российского государственного исторического архива Дальнего Востока показаны процессы, происходящие в таможне на заключительном этапе Гражданской войны в условиях политической нестабильности и нарастания экономического кризиса.
Тарифно-преференциальный режим свободной торговли стран СНГ: характеристика, история становления, современный характер отношений и стратегия развития
Authors: ВИТЮК В. В.
Published: October 2021

Анализируется и комментируется вопрос предоставления декларантам товаров тарифных преференций на условиях режима свободной торговли между странами СНГ – участницами Договора о зоне свободной торговли и Соглашения «О Правилах определения страны происхождения товаров в Содружестве Независимых Государств». Освещаются фрагменты истории создания и развития СНГ, современный характер отношений его участников, стратегия и перспективы развития Содружества.
Overview of the range of medicinal extracts at the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine
Authors: Matsiuk O.D. , Vyshnevska L. I. , Buhai A. V.
Published: October 2021

Aim. To study the range of medicinal extracts at the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine as of 2020 in order to determine the feasibility of developing a new medicinal product based on them.Materials and methods. The bibliosemantic, analytical, logical research methods were used to analyze the literature sources; the analytical analysis was applied to study the segment of the domestic pharmaceutical market regarding the range of medicinal extracts as of 2020. Thus, their composition, distribution by the aggregate state, forms of production and country of origin, harmonization with the Ph. Eur. were analyzed.Results. It has been determined that the domestic pharmaceutical market has 18 extracts, all of them are liquid. Among all extracts registered in Ukraine the leading place (16 items) belongs to the Ukrainian manufacturers. The nomenclature of imported drugs consists of 1 extract of Vietnamese and 1 of Swiss production. Among the Ukrainian manufacturers, the largest market segment belongs to PJSC “Lubnipharm” ‒ 4 drugs; “Rotokan” is available in 55 and 110 ml bottles, while “Aloe extract”, solution for injection, 1 ml, No. 10, in ampoules is produced by PJSC “Lubnipharm” and CJSC “Darnytsia”; “Eleutherococcus extract”, 50 ml, in a bottle ‒ by LLC “Unipharma” (“Ternopharm”) and agricultural firm “Yan”. There are 19 drugs with extracts at the domestic pharmaceutical market; among them the largest market segment is occupied by drugs in the form of tablets and capsules (7 items), 2 oral solutions, 1 drug in the form of oral drops, 1 syrup and powder for oral solution. Most drugs containing extracts are made by the Ukrainian manufacturers (about 47 %), while manufacturers from Germany, France and Switzerland supply 2 drugs each, Spain, Bulgaria, Slovenia and the Czech Republic ‒ 1 drug each.Conclusions. There are 18 extracts and 19 preparations with extracts at the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine. Most of the drugs in this sample are hypnotics and sedatives (55 %), as well as drugs used in diseases of the liver and biliary tract, they improve digestion and the functional state of the gastrointestinal tract.
The concept of implementation of specifications on cosmetic products in Ukraine
Authors: Kazakova I. S. , Kovalenko S. M. , Lebedynets V. O. , Kazakova V. S. , Tkachenko O. V.
Published: October 2021

Aim. To develop the сoncept of implementation of specifications on cosmetic products in Ukraine.Materials and methods. As research materials the processes of technical regulation of cosmetic products were studied, logical, research methods, as well as the method of content analysis were used.Results. The analysis of the practice of regulating the turnover of cosmetic products was performed; it allowed identifying potential risks in the process of implementing specifications on cosmetic products in Ukraine. Based on the results of the systematization of the impact factors on implementation of the normative legal act the model of its implementation plan was developed, and the main procedures for applying the general provisions of the document were described.Conclusions. Taking into account the problems of implementation of specifications on cosmetic products the concept of implementation regulating the rules of the turnover of cosmetic products at the Ukrainian consumer market has been proposed.
The study of opinions of healthcare professionals on the role and functions of pharmaceutical workers in the modern system of palliative care for children
Authors: Kubareva І. V. , Beketova M. S. , Blagun O. D.
Published: October 2021

Aim. To study opinions of healthcare professionals on the role and functions of pharmaceutical workers in the modern system of palliative care for children and identify the most important and promising areas of partnership with other providers of palliative care.Materials and methods. The sociological, statistical,  quantitative expert-analytical methods were used in the study. The study was conducted during 2018-2020.Results. According to the results of the analysis of the opinions of experts –employees of specialized healthcare institutions, the average level of agreement on the role and functions of pharmaceutical specialists in providing palliative services has been determined. In addition, the directions for cooperation of pharmacy specialists with other healthcare professionals in the context of palliative services have been identified. As promising areas of partnership we have identified: providing the availability of medicines, special food, medical devices; managing potential and actual problems of pharmacotherapy; informing medical specialists, patients / caregivers about the rational use of medicines, etc.Conclusions. The palliative care providers who presented the expert group have noted the expediency and necessity of participation of pharmaceutical specialists in the work of the multidisciplinary palliative care team and focused on the importance of organizing unimpeded provision of pharmaceutical care to palliative care patients.
Choices and their Consequences - Explaining Acceptable Sets in Abstract Argumentation Frameworks
Authors: Baumann Ringo , Ulbricht Markus
Published: October 2021

We develop a notion of explanations for acceptance of arguments in an abstract argumentation framework.

To this end we show that extensions returned by Dung's standard semantics can be decomposed into

i) non-deterministic choices made on even cycles of the given argumentation graph and then

ii) deterministic iteration of the so-called characteristic function.

Naturally, the choice made in i) can be viewed as an explanation for the corresponding extension and thus the arguments it contains.

We proceed to propose desirable criteria a reasonable notion of an explanation should satisfy.

We present an exhaustive study of the newly introduced notion w.r.t. these criteria.

Finally some interesting decision problems arise from our analysis and we examine their computational complexity, obtaining some surprising tractability results.
Reasoning about Explanations for Non-validation in SHACL
Authors: Ahmetaj Shqiponja , David Robert , Ortiz Magdalena , Polleres Axel , Shehu Bojken , Šimkus Mantas
Published: October 2021

The Shapes Constraint Language (SHACL) is a recently standardized language for describing and validating constraints over RDF graphs. The SHACL specification describes the so-called validation reports, which are meant to explain to the users the outcome of validating an RDF graph against a collection of constraints. Specifically, explaining the reasons why the input graph does not satisfy the constraints is challenging. In fact, the current SHACL standard leaves it open on how such explanations can be provided to the users. In this paper, inspired by works on logic-based abduction and database repairs, we study the problem of explaining non-validation of SHACL constraints. In particular, in our framework non-validation is explained using the notion of a repair, i.e., a collection of additions and deletions whose application on an input graph results in a repaired graph that does satisfy the given SHACL constraints. We define a collection of decision problems for reasoning about explanations, possibly restricting to explanations that are minimal with respect to cardinality or set inclusion. We provide a detailed characterization of the computational complexity of those reasoning tasks, including the combined and the data complexity.
A Compilation of Succinctness Results for Arithmetic Circuits
Authors: de Colnet Alexis , Mengel Stefan
Published: October 2021

Arithmetic circuits (AC) are circuits over the real numbers with 0/1-valued input variables whose gates compute the sum or the product of their inputs. Positive AC – that is, AC representing non-negative functions – subsume many interesting probabilistic models such as probabilistic sentential decision diagram (PSDD) or sum-product network (SPN) on indicator variables. Efficient algorithms for many operations useful in probabilistic reasoning on these models critically depend on imposing structural restrictions to the underlying AC. Generally, adding structural restrictions yields new tractable operations but increases the size of the AC. In this paper we study the relative succinctness of classes of AC with different combinations of common restrictions. Building on existing results for Boolean circuits, we derive an unconditional succinctness map for classes of monotone AC – that is, AC whose constant labels are non-negative reals – respecting relevant combinations of the restrictions we consider. We extend a small part of the map to classes of positive AC. Those are known to generally be exponentially more succinct than their monotone counterparts, but we observe here that for so-called deterministic circuits there is no difference between the monotone and the positive setting which allows us to lift some of our results. We end the paper with some insights on the relative succinctness of positive AC by showing exponential lower bounds on the representations of certain functions in positive AC respecting structured decomposability.
Synthesis with Mandatory Stop Actions
Authors: De Giacomo Giuseppe , Di Stasio Antonio , Perelli Giuseppe , Zhu Shufang
Published: October 2021

We study the impact of the need for the agent to obligatorily instruct the action stop in her strategies. More specifically we consider synthesis (i.e., planning) for LTLf goals under LTL environment specifications in the case the agent must mandatorily stop at a certain point. We show that this obligation makes it impossible to exploit the liveness part of the LTL environment specifications to achieve her goal, effectively reducing the environment specifications to their safety part only. This has a deep impact on the efficiency of solving the synthesis, which can sidestep handling Buchi determinization associated to LTL synthesis, in favor of finite-state automata manipulation as in LTLf synthesis. Next, we add to the agent goal, expressed in LTLf, a safety goal, expressed in LTL. Safety goals must hold forever, even when the agent stops, since the environment can still continue its evolution. Hence the agent, before stopping, must ensure that her safety goal will be maintained even after she stops. To do synthesis in this case, we devise an effective approach that mixes a synthesis technique based on finite-state automata (as in the case of LTLf goals) and model-checking of nondeterministic Buchi automata. In this way, again, we sidestep Buchi automata determinization, hence getting a synthesis technique that is intrinsically simpler than standard LTL synthesis.
Beyond Simple Images: Human Knowledge-Guided GANs for Clinical Data Generation
Authors: Dhami Devendra Singh , Das Mayukh , Natarajan Sriraam
Published: October 2021

While Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have accelerated the use of generative modelling within the machine learning community, most of the adaptations of GANs are restricted to images. The use of GANs to generate clinical data has been rare due to the inability of GANs to faithfully capture the intrinsic relationships between features given a small amount of observational data. We hypothesize and verify that this challenge can be mitigated by incorporating rich domain knowledge in the form of expert advice in the generative process. Specifically, we propose human-allied GANs that uses correlation advice from humans to create synthetic clinical data. We construct a system that takes a symbolic representation of the expert advice and converts it into constraints on correlation of the features during the generative process. Our empirical evaluation demonstrates (a) the superiority of our approach over other GAN models, (b) the importance of incorporating advice over instance noise and (c) an initial framework for incorporation of privacy in our model while capturing the relationships between features.
Expressing and Exploiting the Common Subgoal Structure of Classical Planning Domains Using Sketches
Authors: Drexler Dominik , Seipp Jendrik , Geffner Hector
Published: October 2021

Width-based planning methods deal with conjunctive goals by decomposing problems into subproblems of low width. Algorithms like SIW thus fail when the goal is not easily serializable in this way or when some of the subproblems have a high width. In this work, we address these limitations by using a simple but powerful language for expressing finer problem decompositions introduced recently by Bonet and Geffner, called policy sketches. A policy sketch R over a set of Boolean and numerical features is a set of sketch rules that express how the values of these features are supposed to change. Like general policies, policy sketches are domain general, but unlike policies, the changes captured by sketch rules do not need to be achieved in a single step. We show that many planning domains that cannot be solved by SIW are provably solvable in low polynomial time with the SIW_R algorithm, the version of SIW that employs user-provided policy sketches. Policy sketches are thus shown to be a powerful language for expressing domain-specific knowledge in a simple and compact way and a convenient alternative to languages such as HTNs or temporal logics. Furthermore, they make it easy to express general problem decompositions and prove key properties of them like their width and complexity.
Treewidth-Aware Cycle Breaking for Algebraic Answer Set Counting
Authors: Eiter Thomas , Hecher Markus , Kiesel Rafael
Published: October 2021

Probabilistic reasoning, parameter learning, and most probable explanation inference for answer set programming have recently received growing attention. They are only some of the problems that can be formulated as Algebraic Answer Set Counting (AASC) problems. The latter are however hard to solve, and efficient evaluation techniques are needed. Inspired by Vlasser et al.'s Tp-compilation (JAR, 2016), we introduce Tp-unfolding, which employs forward reasoning to break the cycles in the positive dependency graph of a program by unfolding them. Tp-unfolding is defined for any normal answer set program and unfolds programs with respect to unfolding sequences, which are akin to elimination orders in SAT-solving. Using "good" unfolding sequences, we can ensure that the increase of the treewidth of the unfolded program is small. Treewidth is a measure adhering to a program's tree-likeness, which gives performance guarantees for AASC. We give sufficient conditions for the existence of good unfolding sequences based on the novel notion of component-boosted backdoor size, which measures the cyclicity of the positive dependencies in a program. The experimental evaluation of a prototype implementation, the AASC solver aspmc, shows promising results.
Borda, Cancellation and Belief Merging
Authors: Everaere Patricia , Fellah Chouaib , Konieczny Sébastien , Pino Pérez Ramón
Published: October 2021

In this work, we explore the links between the Borda voting rule and belief merging operators. More precisely, we define two families of merging operators inspired by the definition of the Borda voting rule. We also introduce a notion of cancellation in belief merging, inspired by the axiomatization of the Borda voting rule proposed by Young. This allows us to provide a characterization of the drastic merging operator.
Reasoning over Attack-incomplete AAFs in the Presence of Correlations
Authors: Fazzinga Bettina , Flesca Sergio , Furfaro Filippo
Published: October 2021

Attack-Incomplete Abstract Argumentation Frameworks (att-

iAAFs) are a popular extension of AAFs where attacks are

marked as uncertain when they are not unanimously per-

ceived by different agents reasoning on the same arguments.

We here extend att-iAAFs with the possibility of specifying

correlations involving the uncertain attacks. This feature sup-

ports a unified and more precise representation of the differ-

ent scenarios for the argumentation, where, for instance, it

can be stated that an attack α has to be considered only if an

attack β is considered, or that α and β are alternative, and

so on. In order to provide a user-friendly language for spec-

ifying the correlations, we allow the argumentation analyst

to express them in terms of a set of elementary dependen-

cies, using common logical operators (namely, OR , NAND ,

CHOICE , ⇒). In this context, we focus on the problem of

verifying extensions under the possible perspective, and study

the sensitivity of its computational complexity to the forms of

correlations expressed and the semantics of the extensions.
Rational Verification for Probabilistic Systems
Authors: Gutierrez Julian , Hammond Lewis , Lin Anthony W. , Najib Muhammad , Wooldridge Michael
Published: October 2021

Rational verification is the problem of determining which temporal logic properties will hold in a multi-agent system, under the assumption that agents in the system act rationally, by choosing strategies that collectively form a game-theoretic equilibrium. Previous work in this area has largely focussed on deterministic systems. In this paper, we develop the theory and algorithms for rational verification in probabilistic systems. We focus on concurrent stochastic games (CSGs), which can be used to model uncertainty and randomness in complex multi-agent environments. We study the rational verification problem for both non-cooperative games and cooperative games in the qualitative probabilistic setting. In the former case, we consider LTL properties satisfied by the Nash equilibria of the game and in the latter case LTL properties satisfied by the core. In both cases, we show that the problem is 2EXPTIME-complete, thus not harder than the much simpler verification problem of model checking LTL properties of systems modelled as Markov decision processes (MDPs).
Formalizing Statistical Beliefs in Hypothesis Testing Using Program Logic
Authors: Kawamoto Yusuke , Sato Tetsuya , Suenaga Kohei
Published: October 2021

We propose a new approach to formally describing the requirement for statistical inference and checking whether the statistical method is appropriately used in a program. Specifically, we define belief Hoare logic (BHL) for formalizing and reasoning about the statistical beliefs acquired via hypothesis testing. This logic is equipped with axiom schemas for hypothesis tests and rules for multiple tests that can be instantiated to a variety of concrete tests. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to introduce a program logic with epistemic modal operators that can specify the preconditions for hypothesis tests to be applied appropriately.
Unfounded Sets for Disjunctive Hybrid MKNF Knowledge Bases
Authors: Killen Spencer , You Jia-Huai
Published: October 2021

Combining the closed-world reasoning of answer set programming (ASP) with the open-world reasoning of ontologies broadens the space of applications of reasoners.

Disjunctive hybrid MKNF knowledge bases succinctly extend ASP and in some cases without increasing the complexity of reasoning tasks. However, in many cases, solver development is lagging behind.

As the result, the only known method of solving disjunctive hybrid MKNF knowledge bases is based on guess-and-verify, as formulated by Motik and Rosati in their original work.

A main obstacle is understanding how constraint propagation may be performed by a solver, which, in the context of ASP, centers around the computation of \textit{unfounded atoms}, the atoms that are false given a partial interpretation.

In this work, we build towards improving solvers for hybrid MKNF knowledge bases with disjunctive rules:

We formalize a notion of unfounded sets for these knowledge bases, identify lower complexity bounds, and demonstrate how we might integrate these developments into a DPLL-based solver.

We discuss challenges introduced by ontologies that are not present in the development of solvers for disjunctive logic programs, which warrant some deviations from traditional definitions of unfounded sets.

We compare our work with prior definitions of unfounded sets.
Strategic Reasoning in Automated Mechanism Design
Authors: Maubert Bastien , Mittelmann Munyque , Murano Aniello , Perrussel Laurent
Published: October 2021

Mechanism Design aims at defining mechanisms that satisfy a predefined set of properties, and Auction Mechanisms are of foremost importance. Core properties of mechanisms, such as strategy-proofness or budget-balance, involve: (i) complex strategic concepts such as Nash equilibria, (ii) quantitative aspects such as utilities, and often (iii) imperfect information,with agents’ private valuations. We demonstrate that Strategy Logic provides a formal framework fit to model mechanisms, express such properties, and verify them. To do so, we consider a quantitative and epistemic variant of Strategy Logic. We first show how to express the implementation of social choice functions. Second, we show how fundamental mechanism properties can be expressed as logical formulas,and thus evaluated by model checking. Finally, we prove that model checking for this particular variant of Strategy Logic can be done in polynomial space.
Properties of Module Notions and Atomic Decomposition
Authors: Nolte Robin , Schneider Thomas
Published: October 2021

Various properties of ontology modules have been studied, such as coverage, self-containment, depletingness, monotonicity, preservation of justifications. These properties are important from a theoretical and practical point of view because they ensure, e.g., that modules have meaningful interfaces, can be used for ontology debugging, or are suitable for computing a meaningful modular structure of an ontology, such as via atomic decomposition (AD). Given one of the many existing module notions, it is not always obvious whether it satisfies a given property, particularly when the module extraction procedure is based on normalization. We investigate several module properties from an abstract point of view with an emphasis on properties relevant for AD. We examine their

interrelations, their relation with iterated module extraction, their preservation in normalization-based module notions, and the adjustment of the latter to the requirements of AD. As a case study, we apply our results to modules based on Datalog reasoning (DBMs), which comprise a large family of normalization-based module notions that provide logical guarantees of varying strengths and are thus suitable to a wide range of use cases. This makes DBMs ready to be used for AD and thereby opens AD to new applications.
Monotonicity and Noise-Tolerance in Case-Based Reasoning with Abstract Argumentation
Authors: Paulino-Passos Guilherme , Toni Francesca
Published: October 2021

Recently, abstract argumentation-based models of case-based reasoning (AA-CBR in short) have been proposed, originally inspired by the legal domain, but also applicable as classifiers in different scenarios. However, the formal properties of AA-CBR as a reasoning system remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we focus on analysing the non-monotonicity properties of a regular version of AA-CBR (that we call AA-CBR_>). Specifically, we prove that AA-CBR_> is not cautiously monotonic, a property frequently considered desirable in the literature. We then define a variation of AA-CBR_> which is cautiously monotonic. Further, we prove that such variation is equivalent to using AA-CBR_> with a restricted casebase consisting of all "surprising" and "sufficient" cases in the original casebase. As a by-product, we prove that this variation of AA-CBR_> is cumulative, rationally monotonic, and empowers a principled treatment of noise in "incoherent" casebases. Finally, we illustrate AA-CBR and cautious monotonicity questions on a case study on the U.S. Trade Secrets domain, a legal casebase.
Existential Abstraction on Argumentation Frameworks via Clustering
Authors: Saribatur Zeynep G. , Wallner Johannes P.
Published: October 2021

Argumentation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) builds on formal approaches to reasoning argumentatively. Common to many such approaches is to use argumentation frameworks (AFs) as reasoning engines, with AFs being composed of arguments and attacks between arguments, which are instantiated from knowledge bases in a principle-based manner. While representing what can be argued for in an AF provides a conceptually clean way, this process can face challenges arising from generating a large number of arguments, which can act as a barrier to explainability. Inspired by successful approaches to model checking where the state explosion is mitigated by applying existential abstraction, we study an adaption of existential abstraction in form of clustering arguments in an AF to address an associated "argument explosion". In this paper, we provide a foundational investigation of this form of existential abstraction by defining semantics of the resulting clustered AFs, which balance two inherent aspects of existential abstractions: abstracting from concrete AFs and not permitting too much spuriousness (i.e., conclusions that hold on the abstraction but not on the original AF). Moreover, we show properties of clustered AFs, including complexity results, discuss use of clusterings for explaining results of reasoning tasks, and employ the recently introduced methodology of abstraction in answer set programming (ASP) for obtaining and reasoning over clustered AFs.
Boolean Network Learning in Vector Spaces for Genome-wide Network Analysis
Authors: Sato Taisuke , Kojima Ryosuke
Published: October 2021

Boolean networks (BNs) are one of the standard tools for modeling gene

regulatory networks in biology but their learning has been limited to

small networks due to computational difficulty. Aiming at

unprecedented scalability, we focus on a subclass of BNs called AND/OR

Boolean networks where Boolean formulas are restricted to a

conjunction or a disjunction of literals. We represent an AND/OR BN

with N nodes by an N x 2N binary matrix Q paired with

an N dimensional integer vector theta called a threshold vector,

a state of the BN by an N dimensional binary state vector s

and a state transition by matrix operations on Q, theta and s.

Given a list of state transitions S = s_0...s_L,

we learn Q and theta in a continuous space by

minimizing a cost function J(Q*,theta,S) w.r.t.

a real number matrix Q* and theta while thresholding

Q* into a binary matrix Q using theta so that

Q represents an AND/OR BN realizing the target state

transitions S.

We conducted experiments with artificial and real data sets to check

scalability and accuracy of our learning algorithm. First we randomly

generated AND/OR BNs up to N=5,000 nodes and empirically confirmed

O(N^2) learning time behavior using them. We also observed 99.8%

bit-by-bit prediction accuracy (prediction accuracy = 1 - test error)

with state transition data generated by AND/OR BNs. For real data,

we learned genome-wide AND/OR BNs with 10,928 nodes for budding

yeast from transcription profiling data sets, each containing 10,928

mRNAs and 40 transitions and achieved for instance 84.3%

prediction accuracy and successfully extracted more than 6,000 small

AND/ORs whose average prediction accuracy reaches much higher 94.9%.
Gaussian Elimination Meets Maximum Satisfiability
Authors: Soos Mate , Meel Kuldeep S.
Published: October 2021

Given a set of constraints F and a weight function W over the assignments, the problem of MaxSAT is to compute a maximum weighted solution of F. MaxSAT is a fundamental problem with applications in numerous areas. The success of MaxSAT solvers has prompted researchers in AI and formal methods communities to develop algorithms that can use MaxSAT solver as oracle. One such problem that stands to benefit from advances in MaxSAT solving is discrete integration. Recently, Ermon et al. achieved a significant breakthrough by reducing the problem of integration to polynomially many queries to an optimization oracle where $F$ is conjuncted with randomly chosen XOR constraints. Unlike approximate model counting, where hashing-based approaches have been able to achieve scalability as well as rigorous formal guarantees, the practical evaluation of Ermon et al's approach, called WISH, often sacrifice theoretical guarantees, largely due to lack of existing MaxSAT solvers with native XOR support.

The primary contribution of this paper is a new MaxSAT solver, GaussMaxHS, with built-in XOR support. The architecture of GaussMaxHS is inspired by CryptoMiniSAT, which has been the workhorse of hashing-based approximate model counting techniques. The resulting solver, GaussMaxHS, outperforms MaxHS over 9628 benchmarks arising from spin glass models and network reliability domains. In particular, with a timeout of 5000 seconds, MaxHS could solve only 5473 benchmarks while GaussMaxHS could solve 6120 benchmarks.
Lifted Inference with Tree Axioms
Authors: van Bremen Timothy , Kuželka Ondřej
Published: October 2021

We consider the problem of weighted first-order model counting (WFOMC): given a first-order sentence ϕ and domain size n ∈ ℕ, determine the weighted sum of models of ϕ over the domain {1, ..., n}. Past work has shown that any sentence using at most two logical variables admits an algorithm for WFOMC that runs in time polynomial in the given domain size (Van den Broeck 2011; Van den Broeck, Meert, and Darwiche 2014). In this paper, we extend this result to any two-variable sentence ϕ with the addition of a tree axiom, stating that some distinguished binary relation in ϕ forms a tree in the graph-theoretic sense.