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A study of probabilities and belief functions under conflicting evidence: Comparisons and new methods

  • 1. Mathematical Theory Of Evidence
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Uncertainty in Knowledge Bases (IPMU 1990)

Abstract

This paper compares the expressions obtained from an analysis of a problem involving conflicting evidence when using Dempster's rule of combination and conditional probabilities. Several results are obtained showing if and when the two methodologies produce the same results. The role played by the normalizing constant is shown to be tied to prior probability of the hypothesis if equality is to occur. This forces further relationships between the conditional probabilities and the prior. Ways of incorporating prior information into the Belief function framework are explored and the results are analyzed. Finally a new method for combining conflicting evidence in a belief function framework is proposed. This method produces results more closely resembling the probabilistic ones.

This work is supported by NSERC operating grant #A4515.

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Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier Ronald R. Yager Lotfi A. Zadeh

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© 1991 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Deutsch-McLeish, M. (1991). A study of probabilities and belief functions under conflicting evidence: Comparisons and new methods. In: Bouchon-Meunier, B., Yager, R.R., Zadeh, L.A. (eds) Uncertainty in Knowledge Bases. IPMU 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 521. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0028135

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0028135

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-54346-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47580-4

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