A fast combination method in DSmT and its application to recommender system

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 19;13(1):e0189703. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189703. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

In many applications involving epistemic uncertainties usually modeled by belief functions, it is often necessary to approximate general (non-Bayesian) basic belief assignments (BBAs) to subjective probabilities (called Bayesian BBAs). This necessity occurs if one needs to embed the fusion result in a system based on the probabilistic framework and Bayesian inference (e.g. tracking systems), or if one needs to make a decision in the decision making problems. In this paper, we present a new fast combination method, called modified rigid coarsening (MRC), to obtain the final Bayesian BBAs based on hierarchical decomposition (coarsening) of the frame of discernment. Regarding this method, focal elements with probabilities are coarsened efficiently to reduce computational complexity in the process of combination by using disagreement vector and a simple dichotomous approach. In order to prove the practicality of our approach, this new approach is applied to combine users' soft preferences in recommender systems (RSs). Additionally, in order to make a comprehensive performance comparison, the proportional conflict redistribution rule #6 (PCR6) is regarded as a baseline in a range of experiments. According to the results of experiments, MRC is more effective in accuracy of recommendations compared to original Rigid Coarsening (RC) method and comparable in computational time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Bayes Theorem*
  • Decision Making*
  • Models, Theoretical*

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61573097, 91748106, in part by Key Laboratory of Integrated Automation of Process Industry (PAL-N201704), in part by the Qing Lan Project and Six Major Top-talent Plan, and in part by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions to XL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.