Various ways for decision making with imprecise probabilities (admissibility, maximal expected utility, maximality, E-admissibility, $Γ$-maximax, $Γ$-maximin, all of which are well-known from the literature) are discussed and compared. We generalize a well-known sufficient condition for existence of optimal decisions. A simple numerical example shows how these criteria can work in practice, and demonstrates their differences. Finally, we suggest an efficient approach to calculate optimal decisions under these decision criteria.
The objective of this work is to quantify the uncertainty in probability of failure estimates resulting from incomplete knowledge of the probability distributions for the input random variables. We propose a framework that couples the widely used Subset simulation (SuS) with Bayesian/information theoretic multi-model inference. The process starts with data used to infer probability distributions for the model inputs. Often such data sets are small. Multi-model inference is used to assess uncertainty associated with the model-form and parameters of these random variables in the form of model pr…
The field of algorithmic randomness studies what it means for infinite binary sequences to be random for some given uncertainty model. Classically, martingale-theoretic notions of such randomness involve precise uncertainty models, and it is only recently that imprecision has been introduced into this context. As a consequence, the investigation into how imprecision alters our view on martingale-theoretic random sequences has only just begun. In this contribution, where we allow for non-computable uncertainty models, we establish a close and surprising connection between precise and imprecise …
In recent years probabilistic model checking has become an important area of research because of the diffusion of computational systems of stochastic nature. Despite its great success, standard probabilistic model checking suffers the limitation of requiring a sharp specification of the probabilities governing the model behaviour. The theory of imprecise probabilities offers a natural approach to overcome such limitation by a sensitivity analysis with respect to the values of these parameters. However, only extensions based on discrete-time imprecise Markov chains have been considered so far f…
We investigate how basic probability inequalities can be extended to an imprecise framework, where (precise) probabilities and expectations are replaced by imprecise probabilities and lower/upper previsions. We focus on inequalities giving information on a single bounded random variable $X$, considering either convex/concave functions of $X$ (Jensen's inequalities) or one-sided bounds such as $(X\geq c)$ or $(X\leq c)$ (Markov's and Cantelli's inequalities). As for the consistency of the relevant imprecise uncertainty measures, our analysis considers coherence as well as weaker requirements, n…
We present a novel algorithm to solve a non-linear system of equations, whose solution can be interpreted as a tight lower bound on the vector of expected hitting times of a Markov chain whose transition probabilities are only partially specified. We also briefly sketch how this method can be modified to solve a conjugate system of equations that gives rise to the corresponding upper bound. We prove the correctness of our method, and show that it converges to the correct solution in a finite number of steps under mild conditions on the system. We compare the runtime complexity of our method to…
This paper considers theoretical solutions for path planning problems under non-probabilistic uncertainty used in the travel salesman problems under uncertainty. The uncertainty is on the paths between the cities as nodes in a travelling salesman problem. There is at least one path between two nodes/stations where the travelling time between the nodes is not precisely known. This could be due to environmental effects like crowdedness (rush period) in the path, the state of the charge of batteries, weather conditions, or considering the safety of the route while travelling. In this work, we con…
