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Studies in Computational Intelligence 794

László T. Kóczy
Jesús Medina-Moreno
Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa Editors

Interactions Between
Computational
Intelligence and
Mathematics Part 2
Studies in Computational Intelligence

Volume 794

Series editor
Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
e-mail: kacprzyk@ibspan.waw.pl
The series “Studies in Computational Intelligence” (SCI) publishes new develop-
ments and advances in the various areas of computational intelligence—quickly and
with a high quality. The intent is to cover the theory, applications, and design
methods of computational intelligence, as embedded in the fields of engineering,
computer science, physics and life sciences, as well as the methodologies behind
them. The series contains monographs, lecture notes and edited volumes in
computational intelligence spanning the areas of neural networks, connectionist
systems, genetic algorithms, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence,
cellular automata, self-organizing systems, soft computing, fuzzy systems, and
hybrid intelligent systems. Of particular value to both the contributors and the
readership are the short publication timeframe and the world-wide distribution,
which enable both wide and rapid dissemination of research output.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/7092


László T. Kóczy Jesús Medina-Moreno

Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Editors

Interactions Between
Computational Intelligence
and Mathematics Part 2

123
Editors
László T. Kóczy Jesús Medina-Moreno
Department of Information Technology Department of Mathematics,
Széchenyi István University Faculty of Science
Győr, Hungary University of Cádiz
Cádiz, Spain
and
Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Budapest University of Technology Department of Mathematics,
and Economics Faculty of Economic and
Budapest, Hungary Business Sciences
University of Cádiz
Cádiz, Spain

ISSN 1860-949X ISSN 1860-9503 (electronic)


Studies in Computational Intelligence
ISBN 978-3-030-01631-9 ISBN 978-3-030-01632-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01632-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930367

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface

The latest technological advances in handling very complex problems make nec-
essary the combination of mathematical techniques with computational intelligence
tools in order to solve these various problems emerging in many different areas.
Indeed, important funding programs are devoted to the development of new
instruments to deal with the challenges that we face in the current technological age.
Without doubt, research topics associated with the interaction between computa-
tional intelligence and mathematics play a key role at presence. In this special issue,
engineers, scientists, and mathematicians provide appealing contributions focused
on the solution of meaningful and realistic problems, which connect those two
research areas. This contributed volume presents a series of novel solutions for such
problems.
Chapter “On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-
Prolog System: Declarative Semantics, Implementation and Applications” by
Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña is focused on the design and
the implementation of an interval-valued fuzzy (IVF) logic language and its
incorporation into the Bousi-Prolog system. First of all, a detailed study on the
syntax and the semantics corresponding to the IVF logic language is presented. The
formalization of the notion of least IVF Herbrand model for IVF programs plays a
key role in this research. From the implementation point of view, the main chal-
lenge is now to add an IVFSs’ arithmetic to the Warren Abstract Machine based on
similarity. By means of potential applications, the authors show that the IVF logic
programming language thus developed is very useful in modeling the uncertainty
and imprecision of the knowledge related to lexical resources.
Chapter “The Existence of Generalized Inverses of Fuzzy Matrices” by
Miroslav Ćirić and Jelena Ignjatović provides a novel approach for testing the
existence of different generalized inverses of fuzzy matrices whose entries belong to
a complete residuated lattice. An iterative method to compute these greatest gen-
eralized inverses is also proposed. In particular, this iteration ends in a finite number
of steps when the considered fuzzy matrices have their entries in a Heyting algebra.
Moreover, the problem of representing generalized inverses as a solution for linear
equation systems is discussed.

v
vi Preface

Chapter “Gender Detection of Twitter Users Based on Multiple Information


Sources” by Marco Vicente, Fernando Batista, and Joao P. Carvalho presents a
mechanism based on the combination of four different classifiers for the gender
detection of Twitter users. Each of these classifiers has been trained, under a
supervised approach, in order to analyze the most influential features in the gender
detection problem: user name, screen name, user description, content of the tweets,
and the profile picture. A final classifier, combining the results obtained from the
previous classifiers, gives a prediction about the user gender. The experiments
carried out in this paper have considered two different datasets in regard to the
nationality. According to the high percentage of accuracy, the authors conclude that
the proposed mechanism for gender detection works efficiently.
Chapter “On the n-ary Generalization of Dual Bonds” by Ondrej Krídlo and
Manuel Ojeda-Aciego deals with the problem of obtaining logical consequences
from the underlying information given as a set of tables. Specifically, this problem
is transferred to the extraction of logical consequences from a set of formal contexts.
The bonds and the Chu correspondences are two important constructions that allow
relating two formal contexts. In this contribution, the authors introduce the notion
of n-ary dual bond as a generalization of the bond between two formal contexts to
the case of n formal contexts. Furthermore, some properties of these new type
bonds are presented, together with a process for generating n-ary bonds.
Chapter “Brouwer’s Ideas and Intuitionistic Fuzziness” by Krassimir Atanassov
presents an interesting discussion about Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer’s ideas, one
of the most relevant mathematicians of the twentieth century, from the intuitionistic
fuzzy point of view. Intuitionistic fuzzy sets are one of the most interesting
extensions of fuzzy sets given by Atanassov in 1983. In this study, the author shows
that intuitionistic fuzziness corresponds to Brouwer’s idea that the law of excluded
middle is not valid. In addition, the paper presents the application of Brouwer’s
fixed-point theorem for the intuitionistic fuzzy quantifiers and operators from modal
and level types.
Chapter “Nature Inspired Clustering – Use Cases of Krill Herd Algorithm and
Flower Pollination Algorithm” by Piotr A. Kowalski, Szymon Łukasik,
Małgorzata Charytanowicz, and Piotr Kulczycki studies the resolution of the data
clustering problem applying two different metaheuristic techniques such as the Krill
Herd Algorithm (KHA) and the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA). The inves-
tigation is formalized by means of an optimization task with a set of cluster centers
representing a single solution. Considering datasets extracted from the UCI
Machine Learning Repository, computational experiments are carried out in order
to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms. Finally, the authors eval-
uate and compare the quality of the obtained results by using the Rand index value.
As the result of this wide investigation, they conclude that both KHA and FPA can
be considered suitable tools to carry out clustering.
Chapter “On the Lower Limit for Possibilistic Correlation Coefficient with
Identical Marginal Possibility Distributions” by István Á. Harmati and
Robert Fullér studies the possibilistic correlation coefficient within possibility the-
ory. The authors have considered the works given by Fullér et al. in which two
Preface vii

questions, about a new measure on interactivity between fuzzy numbers, called the
“weighted possibilistic correlation coefficient,” were left unanswered. This paper
proves that when the marginal possibility distributions have equal, strictly
increasing or strictly decreasing membership functions, the lower limit of the
possibilistic correlation coefficient is −1. In addition, they also present an extension
of these results to the general case for fuzzy and quasi-fuzzy numbers. It is
important to highlight that the results presented in this work can be very useful in
time-series models and fuzzy statistics.
Chapter “A Generalized Net Model for the Coordination and Synchronization of
Human and Computer-Based Expert Type Decision Support Activities” by
Evdokia Sotirova, Janusz Kacprzyk, Krassimir Atanassov, and Eulalia Szmidt is
framed in the area of decision making. In this work, the authors introduce a new
approach for modeling and supporting a special class of multi-agent decision
making. The generalized net model of a decision-making process involves the
human agents (experts), some decision-making tools, and techniques exemplified
by algorithms, procedures, decision support systems, and expert systems.
Therefore, they prove that the use of the tools and techniques of the generalized nets
can organize, coordinate, and synchronize both the work of experts and
decision-making tools in order to obtain results in the most adequate, effective, and
efficient way.
Chapter “Wavelet Analysis and Structural Entropy Based Intelligent
Classification Method for Combustion Engine Cylinder Surfaces” by
Szilvia Nagy and Levente Solecki develops an intelligent fuzzy classification
method, based on structural entropy and wavelet analysis, for characterizing
combustion engine cylinder surfaces. From scanned images of the surfaces, the
proposed method is capable of identifying whether a surface is either worn or new
and if such surface can be helpful to establish the grade of wear. Specifically,
structural entropies are used to determine the general slope of the shape of the
surface. Concerning the wavelet analysis, this technique is employed to separate the
scale behavior patterns of the surfaces. The authors conclude that the developed
method can distinguish, with a good accuracy, both a worn surface scanned by a
contact stylus and a new surface scanned by an optical scanner on a silicone replica.
We wish to thank the authors for their excellent and inspiring contributions and
anonymous peer reviewers whose insight and suggestions have helped a lot to
improve the contributions. And last but not least, we wish to thank
Dr. Tom Ditzinger, Dr. Leontina di Cecco, and Mr. Holger Schaepe for their
dedication and help to implement and finish this large and ambitious publication
project.

Győr/Budapest, Hungary László T. Kóczy


Cádiz, Spain Jesús Medina-Moreno
Cádiz, Spain Eloísa Ramírez-Poussa
Contents

On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets


into the Bousi-Prolog System: Declarative Semantics,
Implementation and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña
The Existence of Generalized Inverses of Fuzzy Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Miroslav Ćirić and Jelena Ignjatović
Gender Detection of Twitter Users Based on Multiple
Information Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Marco Vicente, Fernando Batista and Joao P. Carvalho
On the n-ary Generalization of Dual Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Ondrej Krídlo and Manuel Ojeda-Aciego
Brouwer’s Ideas and Intuitionistic Fuzziness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Krassimir Atanassov
Nature Inspired Clustering – Use Cases of Krill Herd Algorithm
and Flower Pollination Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Piotr A. Kowalski, Szymon Łukasik, Małgorzata Charytanowicz
and Piotr Kulczycki
On the Lower Limit for Possibilistic Correlation Coefficient
with Identical Marginal Possibility Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
István Á. Harmati and Robert Fullér

ix
x Contents

A Generalized Net Model for the Coordination and Synchronization


of Human and Computer-Based Expert Type Decision
Support Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Evdokia Sotirova, Janusz Kacprzyk, Krassimir Atanassov
and Eulalia Szmidt
Wavelet Analysis and Structural Entropy Based Intelligent
Classification Method for Combustion Engine Cylinder Surfaces . . . . . . 127
Szilvia Nagy and Levente Solecki
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued
Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System:
Declarative Semantics, Implementation
and Applications

Clemente Rubio-Manzano and Martín Pereira-Fariña

Abstract In this paper we analyse the benefits of incorporating interval-valued fuzzy


sets into the Bousi-Prolog system. A syntax, declarative semantics and implemen-
tation for this extension is presented and formalised. We show, by using potential
applications, that fuzzy logic programming frameworks enhanced with them can
correctly work together with lexical resources and ontologies in order to improve
their capabilities for knowledge representation and reasoning.

Keywords Interval-valued fuzzy sets · Approximate reasoning · Lexical


knowledge resources · Fuzzy logic programming · Fuzzy prolog

1 Introduction and Motivation

Nowadays, lexical knowledge resources as well as ontologies of concepts are widely


employed for modelling domain independent knowledge [1, 2] or by automated
reasoners [3]. In the case of approximate reasoning, this makes possible to incorpo-
rate general knowledge into any system, which is independent of the programmer’s
background [4].
Inside the former and current frameworks of fuzzy logic programming [5–10], we
argue that lexical reasoning might be an appropriate way for tackling this challenge,
because of this type of knowledge is usually expressed linguistically. However, from

C. Rubio-Manzano (B)
Department of Information Systems, University of the Bío-Bío, Concepción, Chile
e-mail: clrubio@ubiobio.cl
M. Pereira-Fariña
Centre for Argument Technology, University of Dundee, QMB Balfour Street,
Dundee DD14HN, UK
e-mail: mzpereirafarina@dundee.ac.uk; martin.pereira@usc.es
M. Pereira-Fariña
Departamento de Filosofía e Antropoloxía, Universidade de Santiago de
Compostela, Praza de Mazarelos, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 1


L. T. Kóczy et al. (eds.), Interactions Between Computational Intelligence
and Mathematics Part 2, Studies in Computational Intelligence 794,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01632-6_1
2 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

a computational point of view, this source of information involves vagueness and


uncertainty and, consequently, it must be specifically addressed. Fuzzy set theory
(FS) is a good candidate, but it shows some particular limitations to this aim: (i)
sometimes, words mean different things to different people and this generates and
additional layer of uncertainty that cannot be adequately handled by FS; (ii) the
definition of membership functions for word meaning is also a debatable question
and, therefore, achieving an agreement by means of a standard fuzzy set it is difficult;
and, (iii) with respect to semantic similarity measures used in this proposal, there
is not a dominant one and, therefore, for two given words, different degrees of
resemblance can be obtained with the resulting additional level of uncertainty.
In the specific field of fuzzy logic programming and fuzzy Prolog systems, little
attention has been paid to the impact of this type of high degree of uncertainty and
vagueness inherent to lexical knowledge, which is used in the definition of knowledge
bases and inference processes. Next, a very simple example is introduced in order to
illustrate (i) and (ii) in the building of a Prolog knowledge base.
Example 1 Suppose that we extract from Internet two people’s opinions about a
particular football player. The first one says “a is a normal player” and the second
one says “a is a bad player”. If we consider the label for qualifying the highest
quality (e.g., “good”) as a basic component, this lexical knowledge could be mod-
elled by using two annotated facts as: “football_player(a, good):−0.8.” and “foot-
ball_player(a, good):−0.6.”, respectively. In this case, we use “football_player(a,
good):−0.6.” given the infimum is usually employed. However, as it can be observed,
the information of the first person is lost.
Case (iii) deserves a special attention, given it involves the use of independent
linguistic resources (such as WordNet Similarity [11]). As we said, this tool provide
us different measures according to alternative criteria for assessing the degree of
similarity between two words. In Example 2, we illustrate this situation by means of
a simple case.
Example 2 Suppose we have the fact “loves (a, b)” and we extract the closeness
between “loves” and “desires” by using two different semantics measures obtaining
0.8 and 0.6. Therefore, in order to represent this semantic knowledge we could
employ two facts either “desires(a, b):−0.8” or “desires (a, b):−0.6”.
In order to address both Examples 1 and 2 inside the same frame, we propose
to enhance the Bousi-Prolog system with interval-valued fuzzy sets (IVFSs), since
they allow us to capture the uncertainty associated to lexical knowledge better than
FS. Several advantages have pointed out for dealing with environments with high
uncertainty or imprecision using IVFSs, such as [12]; other authors have also shown
that IVFSs can generate better results than standard FSs [13]. Additionally, the use
of intervals for describing uncertain information has been successfully applied in the
realms of decision making, risk analysis, engineering design, or scheduling [14].
Both Examples 1 and 2 can be easily modelled by means of IVFSs, using and
interval for combining information of the different sources into a single fact such as
“football_player(a, good):−[0.6, 0.8]” or “desires(a, b):−[0.6, 0.8]”, respectively.
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 3

The main contribution of this paper is to design and implement an interval-valued


fuzzy logic language, and to incorporate it into the Bousi-Prolog system [15]. This
task involves different challenges both from theoretical and implementation points
of view. The former entails adding a IVFSs arithmetic into the Warren Abstract
Machine based on Similarity (SWAM) [16]; the latter, means to establish a (model-
theoretic) declarative semantics for the language in the classical way, formalising
the notion of least interval valued fuzzy Herbrand model for interval-valued fuzzy
definite programs.
This paper is divided into the following sections: Sect. 2 introduces the concepts
that support our approach; Sect. 3 describes the details of the syntax, semantics and
implementation of the proposed language; Sect. 4 analyses different realms where
this programming language can be applied; in Sect. 5, the main differences between
this proposal an others that are described in the literature are discussed; and, finally,
Sect. 6 summarizes our main conclusions and some ideas for future work.

2 Preliminary Concepts

2.1 Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets

IVFSs are a fuzzy formalism based on two membership mappings instead of a single
one, like in standard FSs. Each one of these membership functions are called, lower
membership function and upper membership function. Both are established on a
universe of discourse X , and they map each element from X to a real number in the
[0, 1] interval, where the elements of X belongs to A according to an interval.

Definition 1 An interval-valued fuzzy set A in X is a (crisp) set of ordered triples:


A = {(x, μ A (x), μ A (x)) : x ∈ X ; μ A (x), μ A (x) : X → [0, 1]} where: μ, μ are the
lower and the upper membership functions, respectively, satisfying the following
condition: 0 ≤ μ A (x) ≤ μ A (x) ≤ 1 ∀x ∈ X

As can be observed in Definition 1, those intervals are included in [0, 1] and closed
at both ends. On the other hand, some arithmetic operations on interval-numbers have
been recalled since they are useful in operating on cardinalities of IVFSs. Let a =
[a, a], b = [b, b] be intervals in R, and r ∈ R+. The arithmetic operations ’+’, ’−’,
’·’ and power are defined as follows:
     
a, a + b, b = a + b, a + b ; (1)
     
a, a − b, b = a − b, a − b ; (2)
     
a, a · b, b = min(a · b, a · b, a · b, a · b), max(a · b, a · b, a · b, a · b) ;
(3)
  r  r r 
a, a = a , a for non-negative a, a (4)
4 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

The operations of union and intersection for IVFSs are defined by triangular
norms. Let A, B be IVFSs in X , t a t-norm and s a t-conorm. The union of A and
B is the interval-valued fuzzy set A ∪ B with the membership function: μ A∪B (x) =
[s(μ A (x), μ B (x)), s(μ A (x), μ B (x))]. The intersection of A and B is the IVFSs A∩B
in which μ A∩B (x) = [t (μ A (x), μ B (x)), t (μ A (x), (μ B (x))]. Thus, de Morgan’s laws
for IVFSs A,B in X are: (A ∪ B)c = Ac ∩ B c and (A ∩ B)c = Ac ∪ B c .
Let L be a lattice of intervals in [0, 1] that satisfies:

L = [x1 , x2 ] ∈ [0, 1]2 with x1 ≤ x2 ; (5)


[x1 , x2 ] ≤ L [y1 , y2 ] i f f x1 ≤ y1 and x2 ≤ y2 . (6)

Also by definition

[x1 , x2 ] < L [y1 , y2 ] ⇔ x1 < y1 , x2 ≤ y2 or x1 ≤ y1 , x2 < y2 ; (7)


[x1 , x2 ] = L [y1 , y2 ] ⇔ x1 = y1 , x2 = y2 . (8)

Hence, 0 L = [0, 0] and 1 L = [1, 1] are the smallest and the greatest elements in L.

2.2 Approximate Deductive Reasoning

When we consider a collection of imprecise premises and a possible imprecise con-


clusion inferred from them in a Prolog program, we are applying a process of approx-
imate deductive reasoning. These set of statements can be interpreted under two dif-
ferent frames [17] in a Prolog program: conditional and set-based interpretations. If
the former is assumed, an imprecise premise is an assertion qualified by a degree of
truth; e.g. “John is tall with [0.2, 0.5]” means that the degree of truthfulness of this
sentence using and IVFS is [0.2, 0.5]. On the other hand, if the latter is adopted, the
interval that qualifies the sentence means the degree of membership of an element to
a specific set; e.g., “John is tall with [0.2, 0.5]” means that the membership of John to
the set of tall people is [0.2, 0.5]. The conclusion inferred from an imprecise premise
must be also qualified by the same type of degree; e.g. “John is a good player with
[0.2, 0.5]”.
In order to preserver the coherence with classical Prolog, we adopt the propo-
sitional interpretation (the interval indicates the degree of truth of the assertion)
and, consequently, approximate deductive reasoning is based on multi-valued modus
ponens [18]:

Q, [α, α] (9)
A ← Q, [β, β] (10)
A, T ([α, α], [β, β]] (11)
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 5

If we have (9) and (10), we can deduce (11) with T a t-norm defined on the lattice
L([0, 1]).

3 Simple Interval-Valued Fuzzy Prolog: Syntax, Semantics


and Implementation

The design of a programming language involves three main steps. Firstly, the defini-
tion of the syntax; secondly, the elaboration of a formal study of its semantics; and
thirdly, an implementation of the system. In order to address the tasks related with
syntax and semantics, we will follow the guidelines established in [19, 20]1 ; for the
implementation task, we will follow the guidelines detailed in [16].

3.1 Sintax

An Interval-valued fuzzy program conveys a classical Prolog knowledge base and a


set of IVFSs, which are used for annotating the facts by means of an interval-valued
fuzzy degree: p(t1 , . . . , tn )[α, α].
Definition 2 An interval-valued fuzzy definite clause is a Horn clause of the form
A[α, α] or A ← B1 , . . . , Bn [β, β], where A is called the head, and B1 , . . . , Bn
denote a conjunction which is called the body (variables in a clause are assumed
to be universally quantified).
Definition 3 An interval-valued fuzzy definite program is a finite set of interval-
valued fuzzy clauses.
Example 3 Let  = { p(X ) ← q(X ), q(a)[0.8, 0.9], q(b)[0.7, 0.8]} be an interval-
valued fuzzy definite program,  generates a first order language, L, whose alphabet
is comprised of the set of variable symbols, X , constant symbols, C, function symbols,
F and predicate symbols, P, which appear in the clauses of . We assume that the
first order language L has, at least one constant symbol; i.e., an assertion. If there
are not constants available in the alphabet, an artificial constant “a” must be added
to it. The first order language L generated by  is: X = {x}, C = {a, b, c}, F = ∅
and P = { p, q, r }.

3.2 Declarative Semantics

In logic programming, the declarative semantics for a program is traditionally for-


mulated on the basis of the least Herbrand model (conceived as the infimum of a

1 We assume familiarity with the theory and practice of logic programming.


6 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

set of interpretations). In this section, we formally introduce the semantic notions of


Herbrand interpretation, Herbrand model and least Herbrand model for an interval-
valued fuzzy program , in order to characterise it.
In our framework, truth-values of the facts are modelled in terms of interval-
valued degrees [α, α] with 0 ≤ α ≤ α ≤ 1. An interval-valued fuzzy interpretation
I is a pair D, J where D is the domain of the interpretation and J is a mapping
which assigns meaning to the symbols of L: specifically n-ary relation symbols are
interpreted as mappings Dn −→ L([0, 1]). In order to evaluate open formulas, we
have to introduce the notion of variable assignment. A variable assignment, ϑ, w.r.t.
an interpretation I = D, J , is a mapping ϑ : V −→ D, from the set of variables
V of L to the elements of the interpretation domain D. This notion can be extended
to the set of terms of L by structural induction as usual. The following definition
formalises the notion of valuation of a formula in our framework.

Definition 4 Given an interval-valued fuzzy interpretation I and a variable assign-


ment ϑ in I, the valuation of a formula w.r.t. I and ϑ is:
1. (a) I( p(t1 , . . . , tn ))[ϑ] = p̄(t1 ϑ, . . . , tn ϑ), where J ( p) = p̄;
(b) I(A1 , . . . , An ))[ϑ] = in f {I(A1 )[ϑ], . . . , I(An )[ϑ]};
2. I(A ← Q)[ϑ] = 1 if I (A) >= I (Q); I(A ← Q)[ϑ] = I(A)[ϑ] if I (A) < I (Q);
3. I((∀x)C)[ϑ] = inf{I(C)[ϑ ] | ϑ x–equivalent to ϑ} where p is a predicate sym-
bol, A and Ai atomic formulas and Q any body, C any clause, T is any left-
continuous t-norm defined on L([0, 1]). An assignment ϑ is x–equivalent to ϑ
when zϑ = zϑ for all variables z = x in V.

Definition 5 Let L be a first order language. The Herbrand universe UL for L, is


the set of all ground terms, which can be formed out of the constants and function
symbols appearing in L.

Definition 6 Let L be a first order language. The Herbrand base BL for L is the set
of all ground atoms which can be formed by using predicate symbols from L with
ground terms from the Herbrand universe as arguments.

Example 4 Let us consider again the language L generated by the program  of


Example 3, the Herbrand universe UL = {, , } and the Herbrand base: BL =
p(a), p(b), p(c), q(a), q(b), q(c), r (a), r (b), r (c).

It is well-known that, in the classical case, it is possible to identify a Herbrand


interpretation with a subset of the Herbrand base. Therefore, a convenient generaliza-
tion of the notion of Herbrand interpretation to the interval-valued fuzzy case consists
in establishing an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretation as an interval-valued
fuzzy subset of the Herbrand base.

Definition 7 (Interval-valued fuzzy interpretation) Given, a first order language L,


an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretation for L is a mapping I : BL −→
L([0, 1]).
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 7

Hence, the truth value of a ground atom A ∈ BL is I(A). Sometimes we will


represent an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretation I extensively: as a set of
pairs { A, [α, α] | A ∈ BL and [α, α] = I(A)}.
Now, we introduce the notion of Interval-valued Fuzzy Herbrand Model, which
is formalised in Definitions 8 and 9. We employ a declarative semantics based on a
threshold [20, 21]. Intuitively, a threshold [λ, λ] is delimiting truth degrees equal o
greater that [λ, λ] as true. Therefore, we are going to speak of Interval-valued Fuzzy
Herbrand Model at level [λ, λ] or simply [λ, λ]-model.

Definition 8 An Interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand Interpretation is a [λ, λ]-model of


an interval-valued fuzzy clause C[α, α] if and only if I(C) ≥ [α, α] ≥ [λ, λ].

Definition 9 An Interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand Interpretation is a [λ, λ]-model of


an interval-valued fuzzy program  if and only if I is a [λ, λ]-model for each clause
C[α, α] ∈ .

Theorem 1 Let  be an Interval-valued fuzzy program and suppose  has a [λ, λ]-
model. Then  has a Herbrand [λ, λ]-model.

Proof Suppose that M is a [λ, λ]-model of . Let M be an Interval-valued fuzzy


Herbrand interpretation: M = {A ∈ B | M(A) ≥ [λ, λ]}. We are going to prove
that this interpretation is a [λ, λ]-model for all clauses of . Let C any clause, by
initial supposition and by definition of [λ, λ]-model for an interval-valued fuzzy
program, we have that:
C ≡ ∀x1 , . . . , xn ( p(x1 , . . . , xn ) ← q1 (x1 , . . . , xn ) ∧ . . . ∧ qm (x1 , . . . , xn ))[β, β]

M is a [λ, λ]-model of C iff ∀a1 , . . . , an ∈ U L , M(C) ≥ [β, β] ≥ [λ, λ]. Let


a1 , . . . , an ∈ U L then we have that M( p(a1 , . . . , an )) = [β, β] ≥ [λ, λ] what
implies that M ( p(a1 , . . . , an )) ≥ [λ, λ].

Definition 10 Let  be an interval-valued fuzzy program. Let A be an interval-


valued fuzzy clause of . Then A is a logical consequence of  at level [λ, λ] if
and only if for each interval-valued fuzzy interpretation I , if I is a [λ, λ]-model for
 then I is a [λ, λ]-model for A.

Proposition 1 A is a logical consequence of an interval-valued fuzzy program  at


level [λ, λ] if and only if for every interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretation I for
, if I is a [λ, λ]-model for , it is an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand [λ, λ]-model
for A.

Proof First, let us suppose that A is a logical consequence for  at level [λ, λ],
then, by definition, for any interval-valued fuzzy interpretation I if I is [λ, λ]-model
for , it is a [λ, λ]-model for A. Moreover, by the Theorem 1, there must exist I’
which being an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand model for  at level [λ, λ], it is a
[λ, λ]-model for A. This establishes the first side of the argument. Now, we have
that for every interpretation I, if I is a Herbrand model for  at level [λ, λ], it is
8 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

a Herbrand [λ, λ]-model for A. Let M be an interpretation, not necessarily Her-


brand, which is a [λ, λ]-model for . We have that: M = { p(t1 , . . . , tn )[α, α] with
p(t1 , . . . , tn ) ∈ B L | M( p(t1 , . . . , tn )) ≥ [α, α] ≥ [λ, λ]} and by the Theorem 1 M’
is a [λ, λ]-model for . And so it is for A. So, M is a [λ, λ]-model for all ground
instances A’ of A. As result M is a [λ, λ]-model for A’, hence for A and A’. This
establishes the other side of the argument.
The ordering ≤ in the lattice L([0, 1]) can be extended to the set of interval-valued
fuzzy interpretation as follows: I1  I2 iff I1 (A) ≤ I2 (A) for all interval-valued fuzzy
atom A ∈ B L . It is important note that the pair H I V F ,  is a complete lattice. Then
it comes equipped with t-norms and t-conorms, that is, T (I1 , I2 ) is an interval-
valued fuzzy interpretation for all A ∈ B L , and t (I1 , I2 ) an interval-valued fuzzy
interpretation for all A ∈ B L . Therefore, the top element of this lattice is A, [0, 1]
with A ∈ B L and the bottom element is A, [0, 1] with A ∈ B L .
Interval-valued fuzzy interpretations have an important property which allow us
to characterize the semantics of an interval-valued fuzzy program .
Definition 11 If M1 is a model of  at level [λ1 , λ1 ] and M2 is a model of  at level
[λ2 , λ2 ], then M1 ∩ M2 contains the interval-valued fuzzy atom in both M1 and M2
but to degree min([λ1 , λ1 ], [λ2 , λ2 ]).
Proposition 2 (Intersection Property of Models: Min-Model) Let  be an interval-
valued fuzzy program. Let M1 , . . . , Mn be  a non-empty set of model for  at
levels [λ1 , λ1 ] . . . [λn , λn ], respectively. Then (M1 , . . . , Mn ) ≥ min([λ1 , λ1 ] . . .
[λn , λn ]) is a min-model for .
Proof We prove this proposition by induction on the number of interpretations i:
1. Base Case (i = 2) Let M1 and M2 be models for  at levels [λ1 , λ1 ] and [λ2 , λ2 ].
Then for all interval-valued fuzzy clause C, M1 (C) ≥ [λ1 , λ1 ] and M2 (C) ≥
[λ2 , λ2 ], so M1 ∩ M2 is a min([λ1 , λ1 ], [λ2 , λ2 ])-model for ;
2. Inductive Case (i = n) Let M1 , M2 , . . . Mn be models for  at levels [λ1 , λ1 ] . . .
[λn , λn ]. Then for all interval-valued fuzzy clause C, Mi (C) ≥ min([λi , λi ]), so
by the properties of the minimum.
Definition 12 Let  be an  interval-valued fuzzy program. The least model for 
is defined as follows: M = {I(A) ≥ [λ, λ] | A ∈ B L }. We call it a min-interval-
valued fuzzy degree [λ, λ]min .
Theorem 2 Let  an interval-valued fuzzy program. Let M be the least model of
. Let A ∈ BL a ground atom of the interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand base. M(A) ≥
[λ, λ]min if and only if A is logical consequence of  at level [λ, λ]min .

Proof First, by definition M = {I (A) ≥ [λ, λ] | A ∈ B L }. Hence, for all model
I of , I(A) ≥ M(A) ≥ [λ, λ]min . That is, A is a logical consequence for  at
level [λ, λ]min . This establishes the first side of the argument. Now, If A is a logical
consequence of  by definition all model I for , I is a [λ, λ]min
 -model for A. That is,
I (A) ≥ [λ, λ]min . Therefore, by definition of least model, (I (A)) ≥ [λ, λ] what
implies that M ≥ [λ, λ]min . This establishes the another side of the argument.
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 9

3.3 Fixpoint Semantics

In this section, we give a deeper characterisation of the least Herbrand model for an
interval-valued fuzzy program  using fixpoint concepts.
This is possible because of each interval-valued fuzzy program has associated a
complete lattice of interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretations and we can define
a continuous operator on that lattice. This allows us to provide a constructive vision
of the meaning of a program by defining an immediate consequences operator and
to construct the least Herbrand model by means of successive applications.
Definition 13 (Fixpoint Characterization of the least Herbrand model) Let  be an
interval-valued fuzzy program, the mapping O : 2 BL → 2 BL is defined as follows.
Let I be an interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand interpretation, then:
O = {A ∈ BL : A ← B1 , . . . , Bn [α, α] is a ground instance of a clause in  and
I(Bi ) ≥ [α, α] ≥ [λ, λ] where I(A) ≥ in f (I(B1 , . . . , Bn ))}
As in the case of classical logic programming, interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand
interpretations which are models can be characterised in terms of the operator O.
Theorem 3 Let  be an interval-valued fuzzy program. Let I be an interval-valued
fuzzy Herbrand interpretation of . I is [λ, λ]-model for  if and only if O(I) ⊆ I.
Proof I is a [λ, λ]-model for  if and only if for all clause C in  then I(C) ≥ [λ, λ].
Therefore, it is fulfilled if and only if for every variable assignment ϑ, I(Cϑ) ≥ [λ, λ].
Therefore, supposing without loss of generality that C ≡ A ← B1 , . . . , Bn [α, α]
then I(A ← B1 , . . . , Bn ϑ) ≥ [λ, λ], by the properties of the t-norm minimun
I(B1 , . . . , Bn ϑ) ≥ [α, α] ≥ [λ, λ]min what implies that I(B1 , . . . , Bn ϑ) ⊆ O and
hence I(Aϑ) ⊆ O(I), again by the properties of the t-norm minimun I(Aϑ) ≥
in f (I(B1 ϑ), . . . , I(Bn ϑ)) what implies that O(I) ⊆ I
Now we are ready to demonstrate the main theorem of this subsection, but first
we recall the following results from fixpoint theory.
Theorem 4 (FixPoint Theorem) Let L , ≤ be a complete lattice and O : L → L
be a monotonic mapping. Then O has a least fixpoint l f p(O) = in f {x | O(x) =
x} = in f {x | T (x) ≤ x}.
Proposition 3 Let L , ≤ be a complete lattice and O : L → L be a continuous
mapping. Then l f p(O) = O ↑ ω.
Proof See [19]
Theorem 5 Let  be an interval-valued fuzzy definite program. Then M =
T
l f p(O ) = O ↑ →.
Proof M is the least model which is the intersection of any [λ, λ]-model for .
As the lattice of interval-valued fuzzy Herbrand models is a complete one, then we
can use the Theorem 4, the Proposition 3 and the Theorem 3. Applying them and the
continuity of O establishes the theorem.
10 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

Example 5 Given the program  of Example 3, the least Herbrand model for :

O ↑ 0 = I⊥ ;
O ↑ 1 = O(O ↑ 0) = { p(a), [0, 1] , p(b), [0, 1] , q(a), [0.8, 0.9] ,
q(a), [0.7, 0.8] }
O ↑ 2 = O(O ↑ 1) = { p(a), [0.8, 0.9] , p(b), [0.7, 0.8] , q(a), [0.8, 0.9] ,
q(a), [0.7, 0.8] }
O ↑ 3 = O ↑ 2.
Therefore, as the fixpoint is reached at the next item: M = O ↑ 2.

3.4 Operational Semantics

We begin by providing definitions of an interval-valued SLD-derivation and an


interval-valued fuzzy SLD-refutation that will be used later for showing the sound-
ness and the completeness of the system.

Definition 14 Let G be ← A1 , . . . , Am , . . . , Ak and C be either A[α, α] or A ←


B1 , . . . , Bq [β, β]. Then G is derived from G and C using mgu θ if the following con-
ditions hold (G’ is the interval-fuzzy resolvent of G and C): (i) Am is an atom called the
selected atom in G; (ii) θ is a mgu of Am and A; (iii) G is the interval-valued fuzzy goal
← (A1 , . . . , B1 , . . . , Bq , , . . . , Ak )θ with [αG , αG ] = min([αC , αC ], [αG , αG ]).

Definition 15 An interval-valued fuzzy SLD-derivation of  ∪ G is a successful


interval-valued SLD-derivation of  ∪ G which has the empty clause as the last
goal in the derivation. If G n is the empty clause, we say that the derivation has
length n. The empty clause is derived from ← (A1 , . . . , Am , . . . , Ak )[αG , αG ] and
A(t1 , . . . , tq )[α A , α A ] ← with [αG n , αG n ] = min([α A , α A ], [αG , αG ]).

Definition 16 Let  be an interval-valued fuzzy program and G be an interval-


valued fuzzy goal. An interval-valued fuzzy computed answer θ, [β, β] for  ∪ G
is the substitution obtained by restricting the composition θ1 , . . . , θn to the variables
of G, where θ1 , . . . , θn is the sequence of mgu’s employed in the finite interval-valued
fuzzy SLD-derivation of  ∪ G with an interval-valued approximation degree [β, β].

Definition 17 Let  be an interval-valued fuzzy program, G be an interval-valued


fuzzy goal ← (A1 , . . . , Ak ) and θ, [β, β] be an answer for  ∪ G. We say that
θ, [β, β] is an interval-valued fuzzy correct answer if ∀(A1 , . . . , Ak )θ is a logical
consequence of  at level [λ, λ]min , that is, [β, β] ≥ [λ, λ]min .
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 11

3.5 Implementation

In this section, we briefly explain how interval-valued fuzzy sets are incorporated
into the Bousi-Prolog system.2 Here, we describe the structure and main features
of its abstract machine. It was created as extension of the SWAM for the execu-
tion of Bousi-Prolog programs. We have appropriately modified the compiler, some
machine instructions and SWAM structures in order to trigger the interval-valued
fuzzy resolution. It is worth noting that, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first
SWAM implementation that supports interval-valued fuzzy resolution.
A mandatory step to achieve this result is to include a new data structure
into the architecture for computing with interval-valued fuzzy sets. This data
structure has been implemented by using a class called IntervalFS which is
formed by two private attributes of double type: upper_limit, lower_limit. We
define the public method constructor IntervalFS(double ll,double lu)
and the four methods (sets and gets): double getUpperLimit(); double
getLowerLimit(); void setUpperLimit(double v); void
setLowerLimit(double v). Additionally, we overwrite both the toString and
the equals methods in the usual way. Finally, methods for adding, substracting
and computing minimum of interval valued fuzzy set are implemented: IntervalFS
add(IntervalFS a, IntervalFS b); IntervalFS substract(IntervalFS a, IntervalFS b);
IntervalFS min(IntervalFS a, IntervalFS b).
The following example illustrates the new features of the SWAM enhanced with
IVFSs.
Example 6 Let us suppose that we want to represent the following knowledge: a
football player is good when he is fast, tall and coordinated. We know a particular
player that is fast, quite tall but he is not very coordinated. Thus, is he a good player?
Answering this question and in this scenario, the linguistic expression “is not very
coordinate” could be represented by the fact “coordinate(a) [0.2, 0.4]”, the linguistic
term “fast” could be represented by the fact “fast(a) [0.9, 1.0]” and “quite tall” could
be represented by the fact “tall(a) [0.8, 0.9]”. A possible solution by employing a
Bousi-Prolog program is described as follows:

% FACTS
coordinate(a) [0.2,0.4]
fast(a) [0.9,1.0]
tall(a )[0.8,0.9]

% RULES
good_player(X):-tall(X), fast(X), coordinate(X)

The SWAM enhanced with IVFSs allows us to obtain the answer: “X = a with
[0.2,0.4]”. The SWAM code generated for this program is as follows:

2A beta version can be founded at the http://www.face.ubiobio.cl/~clrubio/bousiTools/.


12 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

00:good_player:trust_me [1.0,1.0] 11:coordinate:trust_me [0.2,0.4]


01: allocate 12: get_constant a A0
02: get_variable Y0 A0 13: proceed
03: put_value Y0 A0 14: fast: trust_me [0.9,1.0]
04: call coordinate (11) 15: get_constant a A0
05: put_value Y0 A0 16: proceed
06: call fast (14) 17:tall: trust_me [0.8,0.9]
07: put_value Y0 A0 18: get_constant a A0
08: call tall (17) 19: proceed
09: deallocate 20:query: trust_me
10: proceed 21: create_variable Q0 X
22: put_value Q0 A0
23: call good_player (00)
24: halt

The first instruction to be executed is the one labelled with the key “query”, hence
the execution starts at the position 20 with a degree D = [1.0, 1.0] (which is fixed in
the instruction tr ust_me). After that, from line 20 to line 23 the query is launched
and the variable X is created (cr eate_variable instruction). After that from line
00 to line 04 the first subgoal (coordinate(X)) is launched, then the execution goes
to line 11 and the unification with the term “coordinate(a)” is produced (from line
11 to 13) ( put_value and get_constant instructions), a new approximation degree
is established D = min([1.0, 1.0], [0.2, 0.4]) (tr ust_me instruction), as these terms
unify the following subgoal ( f ast (X ), line 05 and from line 14 to line 16) is launched
with an approximation degree D = min([0.2, 0.4], [0.9, 1.0]); as the terms unify,
then the following subgoal (tall(X ), line 08 and from line 17 to 19) is launched with
an approximation degree D = min([0.2, 0.4], [0.9, 1.0]). Finally, the assignation
X = a with [0.2, 0.4] is produced.
We have implemented a limit to the expansion of the search space in a compu-
tation by what we called a “λ-cut for IVFSs”. When the LambdaCutIVFS flag is
set to a value different than [0.0, 0.0], the weak unification process fails if the com-
puted approximation degree goes below the stored LambdaCutIVFS value. There-
fore, the computation also fails and all possible branches starting from that choice
point are discarded. By default the LambdaCutIVFS value is [0.0, 0.0]. However,
the lambda cut flag can be set to a different value by means of a λ-cut directive: “:-
lambdaCutIVFS(N).”, where N is an interval between [0.0, 0.0] and [1.0, 1.0]. For
example, a λ-cut of [0.5, 0.5] could be established by using the following directive:
“:-lambdaCutIVFS ([0.5, 0.5])”.

4 Applications

The main realms for the application of the IVFSs programming language described
in this paper are those which involve natural language semantics processing. In this
section, we will discuss two of them: linguistic knowledge modelling and proximity-
based logic programming using linguistic resources.
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 13

4.1 Linguistic Knowledge Modelling

Linguistic knowledge modelling handles the computational representation of knowl-


edge that is embedded in natural language. This framework can be enhanced by
combining multiadjoint paradigm with interval-valued fuzzy sets [14]. For example,
we can define interval-valued annotated atoms. Let us assume the same definition of
suitable journal given in [22], that is, a journal with a high impact factor, a medium
immediacy index, a relatively big half-life and with a not bad position in the listing
of the category. Now, we introduce in the program the following inference rule:

suitable_journal(X):-impact_factor(X)[0.8,0.9],
immediacy_index(X)[0.4,0.6],
cited_half_life(X)[0.6,0.7],
best_position(X)[0.4,0.6].

Now, let us suppose the IEEE Transactions of Fuzzy System journal has the fol-
lowing properties: “high” impact factor, “small” immediacy index, “relatively small”
cited half life and the “best position”. Regarding the linguistic variables: “high”,
“medium”, “relatively big” and “not bad”, which can be related to the following
truth-values: [0.8, 0.9], [0.4, 0.6], [0.6, 0.7] and [0.4, 0.6], respectively, considering
the variables “medium” and “not a bad” with a similar meaning. This knowledge
could be model in an interval-valued fuzzy logic language as follows:

% high impact factor


impact_factor(ieee_fs)[0.8,0.9]

% small immediacy index


immediacy_index(ieee_fs) [0.3,0.5]

% relatively small
cited_half_life(ieee_fs)[0.3,0.5]

% best position
best_position(ieee_fs) [1,1]

When the query “suitable_journal(X)” is launched, then the system answers: “X =


ieee_ f s” with [0.3, 0.6].

4.2 Proximity-Based Logic Programming Based on WordNet

Proximity-based Logic Programming is a framework that provides us with the capa-


bility of enriching semantically classical logic programming languages by using
14 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

Proximity Equations (PEs). A limitation of this approach is that PEs are mostly
defined for a specific domain [6, 23], being the designer who manually fixes the
values of these equations. This fact makes harder to use PLP systems in real appli-
cations.
A possible solution consists in obtaining the proximity equations from WordNet
which requires to employ interval-valued fuzzy sets in order to deal with the high
uncertainty generated by the possibility of using several different semantic similarity
metrics. Let us assume a fragment of a deductive database that stores information
about people and their preferences. The proximity equations can be generated from
WordNet, we only put here some of them (see [4] for more detail).

% m loves mountaineering
loves(mary,mountaineering).

% j likes football
likes(john,football).

% peter plays basketball


plays(peter,basketball).

% if a person practises sports


% the he/she is a healthy person
healthy(X):- practices(X,sport).

%automatically generated from wordnet


love˜passion=[0.25,0.8].
basketball˜hoops=[1,1].
play˜act=[0.25,0.7].
practice˜rehearse=[1,1].
sport˜variation=[0.1,0.5].
sport˜fun=[0.3,0.8].

5 Related Work

In the literature, other proposals that address our same goal can be found [24, 25].
One of the most relevant ones is Ciao-Prolog [25] and, for that reason, we will c in
detail the differences between it and Bousi-Prolog in order to clarify and reinforce
the novelty of our proposal:

• From the point of view of its implementation. In Ciao-Prolog, IVFSs are


included by means of constrains and hence a translator must be implemented. As a
result, the programmer must code the variables in order to manage the truth values
and get the answers from the system based on those constraints. In Bousi-Prolog,
On the Incorporation of Interval-Valued Fuzzy Sets into the Bousi-Prolog System … 15

on the other hand, IVFSs are included in a different way, where the compiler and
the warren abstract machine are enhanced by using a IVFSs data structure which
has been created and adapted for this architecture. As a result, intervals work as
a standard data structure in the code of the program instead of a particular set
of variables defined ad hoc by the programmer. This feature allows us to include
IVFSs in both fuzzy unification (see [4]) and fuzzy resolution. In addition, this
framework also allows other possible extensions, such as the incorporation of a
reasoning module using WordNet (see [4]).
• From the point of view of its syntax. Ciao-Prolog and Bousi-Prolog, although
both are Prolog languages, they have a well differentiated syntax. The former only
allows the annotation of facts, rules cannot be annotated because these only allow
the use of an c operator for the computing of the annotated IVFSs. The latter, on
the other hand, allows the user both the annotation the fact and rules by means of
IVFSs. In addition, if we focus on the inference engine, while Ciao-Prolog only
extends the resolution mechanism, Bousi-Prolog uses interval-valued proximity
equations (e.g., “young teenager = [0.6, 0.8]”), which extends both the resolution
and unification process.
• From the point of view of its semantics. Ciao-Prolog and Bousi-Prolog have rel-
evant differences at the semantic levels as well. Firstly, Bousi-Prolog implements
the concept of cut-level, which allows to the user imposes a threshold in the sys-
tem, and according to it you can be as precise as you want in your answer. This is
a substantial change due to the introduction of a threshold operational semantics.
Therefore, our operational mechanism behaves very much as the one of a Prolog
system (obtaining correct answers one by one), while this option is not available
in Ciao semantics. As we mentioned in Sect. 3.5, a λ-cut for IVFS approximation
degrees has been implemented. The concepts of interpretation, least model seman-
tics, model, so on, are presented and defined in a different way, in Bousi-Prolog
the operational semantics is based an extension of SLD Resolution. In [25] the
type of resolution is based on the classical SLD Resolution of Prolog Systems.

6 Conclusions and Future Work

We have formally defined and efficiently implemented a simple interval-valued fuzzy


programming language using interval-valued fuzzy sets for modelling the uncertainty
and imprecision of the knowledge associated to lexical resources. As future work, we
propose to extend our language and to provide results of soundness and completeness.
Additionally, we want to develop a fully integrated framework in which interval-
valued fuzzy sets and interval-valued fuzzy relations can be combined in a same
framework.

Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledges the comments made by reviewers. This
work has been partially supported by FEDER and the State Research Agency (AEI) of the Spanish
Ministry of Economy and Competition under grants TIN2016-76843-C4-2-R (AEI/FEDER, UE)
16 C. Rubio-Manzano and M. Pereira-Fariña

and TIN2014-56633-C3-1-R, the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (the


Postdoctoral Training Grants 2016 and Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation
2016-2019, ED431G/08) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). This work has been
done in collaboration with the research group SOMOS (SOftware-MOdelling-Science) funded by
the Research Agency and the Graduate School of Management of the Bío-Bío University.

References

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2. Liu, H., Singh, P.: Commonsense reasoning in and over natural language. In: Negoita, M.G.,
Howlett, R.J., Jain, L.C. (eds). Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Knowledge-
Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems (KES 2004), Wellington, New Zealand,
20–25, September, pp. 293–306. Springer, Berlin (2004)
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The Existence of Generalized Inverses
of Fuzzy Matrices

Miroslav Ćirić and Jelena Ignjatović

Abstract In this paper we show that every fuzzy matrix with entries in a complete
residuated lattice possess the generalized inverses of certain types, and in particular,
it possess the greatest generalized inverses of these types. We also provide an iterative
method for computing these greatest generalized inverses, which terminates in a finite
number of steps, for example, for all fuzzy matrices with entries in a Heyting algebra.
For other types of generalized inverses we determine criteria for the existence, given
in terms of solvability of particular systems of linear matrix equations. When these
criteria are met, we prove that there is the greatest generalized inverse of the given
type and provide a direct method for its computing.

1 Introduction

Generalized inverses have a very long and rich history. They originated as gen-
eralizations of inverses matrices, linear operators, etc., and have acquired very
important applications in statistics, science and engineering, such as solving matrix
equations, solving singular differential and difference equations, investigation of
Cesaro–Neumann iterations, least squares approximation, finite Markov chains, cryp-
tography, and other areas.
General inverses are commonly defined as solutions of algebraic equations called
Moore–Penrose equations. It is well-known that all systems composed of Moore–
Penrose equations are solvable for matrices over the field of complex numbers.
This implies the existence of all types of generalized inverses defined by these sys-
tems, such as the g-inverse, outer inverse, reflexive g-inverse, last-squares g-inverse,
minimum-norm g-inverse, and Moore–Penrose inverse. Although the group inverse
does not necessarily exist, the Drazin inverse always exists. However, the situation

M. Ćirić (B) · J. Ignjatović


Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Niš, Višegradska 33, 18000 Niš, Serbia
e-mail: miroslav.ciric@pmf.edu.rs
J. Ignjatović
e-mail: jelena.ignjatovic@pmf.edu.rs

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 19


L. T. Kóczy et al. (eds.), Interactions Between Computational Intelligence
and Mathematics Part 2, Studies in Computational Intelligence 794,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01632-6_2
20 M. Ćirić and J. Ignjatović

is completely different when the generalized inverses are considered in the con-
text of semigroups, the most general context in which they are studied. None of
these types of generalized inverses does not necessarily exist in a semigroup, or an
involutive semigroup.
The aim of this paper is to show that fuzzy matrices, with entries in an arbitrary
complete residuated lattice, are somewhere between. It is easy to see that fuzzy
matrices always possess certain types of generalized inverses, such as generalized
inverses defined by the Eq. (2), or those defined by some of the Eqs. (3)–(5) given
below. For example, the zero matrix is always such a generalized inverse. However,
we will show that fuzzy matrices also have other inverses of these types, and in
particular, we show that they possess the greatest such inverses. The Eq. (1) behaves
differently from others, and those types of generalized inverses whose definitions
include this equation do not necessarily exist. Here, in Sect. 2, we determine criteria
for the existence of these types of generalized inverse, including the criteria for the
existence of all previously listed important types of generalized inverses. In addition,
we provide methods for computing the greatest inverses of these types. The method is
iterative and does not necessarily terminate in a finite number of steps for every fuzzy
matrix, but it terminates, for example, for all fuzzy matrices with entries in a Heyting
algebra. To avoid this uncertain, and generally more complicated and demanding
procedure, in Sect. 3 we discuss the problem of representing generalized inverses as
solution to certain equations of the form AX B = C, where A, B and C are given
matrices and X is an unknown matrix. We call them linear equations. We characterize
numerous types of generalized inverses by linear equations, and using them, we
determine the criteria of existence and provide direct methods for computing the
greatest inverses of these types that are generally simpler than those presented in
Sect. 2.

2 Preliminaries

Throughout this paper, N will denote the set of all natural numbers, for any n ∈ N
we write [1, n] = {k ∈ N | 1  k  n}, and N0 = N ∪ {0}.
A residuated lattice is an algebra L = (L , ∧, ∨, ⊗, →, 0, 1) such that
(L1) (L , ∧, ∨, 0, 1) is a lattice with the least element 0 and the greatest element 1,
(L2) (L , ⊗, 1) is a commutative monoid with the unit 1,
(L3) ⊗ and → satisfy the residuation property: for all x, y, z ∈ L,

x ⊗ y  z ⇔ x  y → z.

In addition, if (L , ∧, ∨, 0, 1) is a complete lattice, then L is a complete residuated lat-


tice. A (complete) residuated lattice in which the operations ⊗ and ∧ coincide is
called a (complete) Heyting algebra.
Another random document with
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Jesus Christ, along with Moses and Ezra. Thus there was not full
proof against the accused on the principal point of the statute
charged upon—namely, the cursing of God or any other person of the
blessed Trinity. The jury nevertheless unanimously found it proven
‘that the panel, Thomas Aikenhead, has railed against the first
person, and also cursed and railed our blessed Lord, the second
person, of the holy Trinity.’ They further found ‘the other crimes
libelled proven—namely, the denying the incarnation of our Saviour,
the holy Trinity, and scoffing at the Holy Scriptures.’ Wherefore the
judges ‘decern and adjudge the said Thomas Aikenhead to be taken
to the Gallowlee, betwixt Leith and Edinburgh, upon Friday the
eighth day of January next to come, and there to be hanged on a
gibbet till he be dead, and his body to be interred at the foot of the
gallows.’
It struck some men in the Privy Council that it was hard to take the
life of a lad of eighteen, otherwise irreproachable, for a purely
metaphysical offence, regarding which he had already expressed an
apparently sincere penitence; and this feeling was probably
increased when a petition was received from Aikenhead, not asking
for life, which he had ceased to hope for, but simply entreating for
delay of a sentence which he acknowledged to be just, on the ground
that it had ‘pleased Almighty God to begin so far in His mercy to
work upon your petitioner’s obdured heart, as to give him some
sense and conviction of his former wicked errors ... and he doth
expect ... if time were allowed ... through the merits of Jesus, by a
true remorse and repentance, to be yet reconciled to his offended
God and Saviour.’ I desire, he said, this delay, that ‘I may have the
opportunity of conversing with godly ministers in the place, and by
their assistance be more prepared for an eternal rest.’
Lord Anstruther and Lord Fountainhall, two members of the
Council, were led by humane feeling to visit the culprit in prison. ‘I
found a work on his spirit,’ says the former gentleman, ‘and wept
that ever he should have maintained such tenets.’ He adds that he
desired for Aikenhead a short reprieve, as his eternal state depended
on it. ‘I plead [pleaded] for him in Council, and brought it to the
Chan[cellor’s] vote. It was told it could not be granted unless the
ministers would intercede.... The ministers, out of a pious, though I
think ignorant zeal, spoke and preached for 1696.
cutting him off ... our ministers being,’ he adds, ‘generally of a
narrow set of thoughts and confined principles, and not able to bear
things of this nature.’ It thus appears that the clergy were eager for
the young man’s blood, and the secular powers so far under awe
towards that body, that they could not grant mercy. The Council
appears in numberless instances as receiving applications for delay
and pardon from criminals under sentence, and so invariably assents
to the petition, that we may infer there having been a routine
practice in the case, by which petitions were only sent after it was
ascertained that they would probably be complied with. There being
no petition for pardon from Aikenhead to the Council after his trial,
we may fairly presume that he had learned there was no relaxation of
the sentence to be expected.
As the time designed for his execution drew nigh, Aikenhead wrote
a paper of the character of a ‘last speech’ for the scaffold, in which he
described the progress of his mind throughout the years of his
education. From the age of ten, he had sought for grounds on which
to build his faith, having all the time an insatiable desire of attaining
the truth. He had bewildered himself amongst the questions on
morals and religion which have bewildered so many others, and only
found that the more he thought on these things the further he was
from certainty. He now felt the deepest contrition for the ‘base,
wicked, and irreligious expressions’ he had uttered—‘although I did
the same out of a blind zeal for what I thought the truth.’ ‘Withal, I
acknowledge and confess to the glory of God, that in all he hath
brought upon me, either one way or other, he hath done it most
wisely and justly.... Likeas I bless God I die in the true Christian
Protestant apostolic faith.’ He then alluded in terms of self-
vindication to aspersions regarding him which had been circulated in
a satire by Mr Mungo Craig, ‘whom I leave,’ said he, ‘to reckon with
God and his own conscience, if he was not as deeply concerned in
those hellish notions for which I am sentenced, as ever I was:
however, I bless the Lord, I forgive him and all men, and wishes the
Lord may forgive him likewise.’ Finally, he prayed that his blood
might ‘give a stop to that raging spirit of atheism which hath taken
such a footing in Britain both in practice and profession.’ Along with
this paper, he left a letter to his friends, dated the day of his
execution, expressing a hope that what he had written would give
them and the world satisfaction, ‘and after I am gone produce more
charity than [it] hath been my fortune to be trysted hitherto with,
and remove the apprehensions which I hear 1696.
[195]
are various with many about my case.’
There was at that time in Edinburgh an English Nonconformist
clergyman, of Scottish birth, named William Lorimer, who had come
to fill the chair of divinity at St Andrews. While Aikenhead was under
sentence, Mr Lorimer preached before the Lord Chancellor and other
judges and chief magistrates, On the Reverence due to Jesus Christ,
being a sermon apropos to the occasion; and we find in this
discourse not one word hinting at charity or mercy for Aikenhead,
but much to encourage the audience in an opposite temper. It would
appear, however, that the preacher afterwards found some cause for
vindicating himself from a concern in bringing about the death of
Aikenhead, and therefore, when he published his sermon, he gave a
preface, in which he at once justified the course which had been
taken with the youth, and tried to shew that he, and at least one
other clergyman, had tried to get the punishment commuted. The
prosecution, he tells us, was undertaken entirely on public grounds,
in order to put down a ‘plague of blasphemous deism’ which had
come to Edinburgh. The magistrates, being informed of the progress
of this pestilence among the young men, had two of them
apprehended. ‘One [John Fraser] made an excuse ... humbly
confessed that it was a great sin for him to have uttered with his
mouth such words of blasphemy against the Lord; professed his
hearty repentance ... and so the government pardoned him, but
withal ordered that he should confess his sin, and do public penance
in all the churches in Edinburgh. And I believe the other might have
been pardoned also, if he had followed the example of his
companion; but he continued sullen and obstinate, I think for some
months; and the party were said to be so very bold and insolent, as to
come in the night and call to him by name at his chamber-window in
the prison, and to tell him that he had a good cause, and to exhort
him to stand to it, and suffer for it bravely. This influenced the
government to execute the law.’
With regard to efforts in favour of Aikenhead, Mr Lorimer’s
statement is as follows: ‘I am sure the ministers of the Established
Church used him with an affectionate tenderness, and took much
pains with him to bring him to faith and repentance, and to save his
soul; yea, and some of the ministers, to my certain knowledge, and
particularly the late reverend, learned, prudent, peaceable, and pious
Mr George Meldrum, then minister of the Tron Church, interceded
for him with the government, and solicited for his pardon; and when
that could not be obtained, he desired a reprieve for him, and I
joined with him in it. This was the day before his execution. The
chancellor was willing to have granted him a reprieve, but could not
do it without the advice of the Privy Council and judges; and, to shew
his willingness, he called the Council and judges, who debated the
matter, and then carried it by a plurality of votes for his execution,
according to the sentence of the judges, that there might be a stop
put to the spreading of that contagion of blasphemy.’[196]
Mr Lorimer’s and Lord Anstruther’s statements are somewhat
discrepant, and yet not perhaps irreconcilable. It may be true that, at
the last moment, one of the city clergy, accompanied by an English
stranger, tried to raise his voice for mercy. It is evident, however,
that no very decided effort of the kind was made, for the records of
the Privy Council contain no entry on the subject, although, only
three days before Aikenhead’s execution, we find in them a reprieve
formally granted to one Thomas Weir, sentenced for housebreaking.
The statement itself, implying a movement entirely exceptive, only
makes the more certain the remarkable fact, derived from Lord
Anstruther’s statement, that the clergy, as a body, did not intercede,
but ‘spoke and preached for cutting him off,’ for which reason the
civil authorities were unable to save him. The clergy thus appear
unmistakably in the character of the persecutors of Aikenhead, and
as those on whom, next to Sir James Steuart, rests the guilt of his
blood.
The Postman, a journal of the day, relates the last moments of the
unhappy young man. ‘He walked thither [to the place of execution—a
mile from the prison] on foot, between a strong guard of fusiliers
drawn up in two lines. Several ministers assisted him in his last
moments; and, according to all human appearance, he died with all
the marks of a true penitent. When he was called out of the prison to
the City Council-house, before his going to the place of execution, as
is usual on such occasions, he delivered his thoughts at large in a
paper written by him, and signed with his own hand, and then
requested the ministers that were present to 1696.
pray for him, which they did; and afterwards he himself prayed, and
several times invocated the blessed Trinity, as he did likewise at the
place of execution, holding all the time the Holy Bible in his hand;
and, being executed, he was buried at the foot of the gallows.’

There had been for two years under 1697. Jan. 16.
process in the Court of Session a case in
which a husband was sued for return of a deceased wife’s tocher of
eight thousand merks (£444, 8s. 10d.⅔), and her paraphernalia or
things pertaining to her person. It came, on this occasion, to be
debated what articles belonging to a married woman were to be
considered as paraphernalia, or jocalia, and so destined in a
particular way in case of her decease. The Lords, after long
deliberation, fixed on a rule to be observed in future cases, having a
regard, on the one hand, to ‘the dignity of wives,’ and, on the other,
to the restraining of extravagances. First was ‘the mundus or vestitus
muliebris—namely, all the body-clothes belonging to the wife,
acquired by her at any time, whether in this or any prior marriage, or
in virginity or viduity; and whatever other ornaments or other things
were peculiar or proper to her person, and not proper to men’s use or
wearing, as necklaces, earrings, breast-jewels, gold chains, bracelets,
&c. Under childbed linens, as paraphernal and proper to the wife,
are to be understood only the linen on the wife’s person in childbed,
but not the linens on the child itself, nor on the bed or room, which
are to be reckoned as common movables; therefore found the child’s
spoon, porringer, and whistle contained in the condescendence [in
this special case] are not paraphernal, but fall under the communion
of goods; but that ribbons, cut or uncut, are paraphernal, and belong
to the wife, unless the husband were a merchant. All the other
articles that are of their own nature of promiscuous and common
use, either to men or women, are not paraphernal, but fall under the
communion of goods, unless they become peculiar and paraphernal
by the gift and appropriation of the husband to her, such as a
marriage-watch, rings, jewels, and medals. A purse of gold or other
movables that, by the gift of a former husband, became properly the
wife’s goods and paraphernal, exclusive of the husband, are only to
be reckoned as common movables quoad a second husband, unless
they be of new gifted and appropriated by him to the wife again. Such
gifts and presents as one gives to his bride before or on the day of the
marriage, are paraphernal and irrevokable by the husband during
that marriage, and belong only to the wife 1697.
and her executors; but any gifts by the
husband to the wife after the marriage-day are revokable, either by
the husband making use of them himself, or taking them back during
the marriage; but if the wife be in possession of them during the
marriage or at her death, the same are not revokable by the husband
thereafter. Cabinets, coffers, &c., for holding the paraphernalia, are
not paraphernalia, but fall under the communion of goods. Some of
the Lords were for making anything given the next morning after the
marriage, paraphernalia, called the morning gift in our law; but the
Lords esteemed them man and wife then, and [the gift] so
irrevokable.’[197]

John, late Archbishop of Glasgow, having Jan. 30.


applied to the king for permission to go to
Scotland ‘for recovery of his health,’ obtained a letter granting him
the desired liberty under certain restrictions. On the ensuing 16th of
March, there is an ordinance of the Privy Council, appointing the
town of Cupar, in Fife, and four miles about the same, as the future
residence of the ex-prelate, provided he give sufficient caution for
keeping within these bounds, and entering into no contrivance or
correspondence against the government.
On the 15th of April, the archbishop, having found no ‘convenient
lodging for his numerous family in Cupar,’ was permitted, on his
petition, to reside in the mansion of Airth, under the same
conditions. Two months later, this was changed to ‘the mansion-
house of Gogar, near to Airth, within the shire of Clackmannan.’ The
archbishop does not appear to have been released from his partial
restraint till February 1701.[198]

Commenced an inquiry by a commission Feb.


from the Privy Council into the celebrated
case of Bargarran’s Daughter—namely, Christian Shaw, a girl of
eleven years old, the daughter of John Shaw of Bargarran, in
Renfrewshire. A solemn importance was thus given to circumstances
which, if they took place now, would be slighted by persons in
authority, and scarcely heard of beyond the parish, or at most the
county. It was, however, a case highly characteristic of the age and
country in which it happened.
In the parish of Erskine, on the south bank of the Clyde, stands
Bargarran House, a small old-fashioned mansion, with some inferior
buildings attached, the whole being 1697.
enclosed, after the fashion of a time not
long gone by, in a wall capable of some defence. Here dwelt John
Shaw, a man of moderate landed estate, with his wife and a few
young children. His daughter Christian had as yet attracted no
particular attention from her parents or neighbours, though
observed to be a child of lively character and ‘well-inclined.’
One day (August 17, 1696), little Christian having informed her
mother of a petty theft committed by a servant, the woman broke out
upon her with frightful violence, wishing her soul might be harled
[dragged] through hell, and thrice imprecating the curse of God upon
her. Considering the pious feelings of old and young in that age, we
shall see how such an assault of terrible words might well impress
the mind of a child, to whom all such violences must have been a
novelty. The results, however, were of a kind which could scarcely
have been anticipated. Five days afterwards, when Christian had
been a short while in bed, and asleep, she suddenly started up with a
great cry, calling, ‘Help! help!’ and immediately sprung into the air,
in a manner astonishing to her parents and others who were in the
room. Then being put into another bed, she remained stiff and to
appearance insensible for half an hour; after which, for forty-eight
hours, she continued restless, complaining of violent pains through
her whole body, or, if she dozed for a moment, immediately starting
up with the same cry of irrepressible terror, ‘Help! help!’
For eight days the child had fits of extreme violence, under which
she was ‘often so bent and rigid that she stood like a bow on her feet
and neck at once,’ and continued without the power of speech, except
at short intervals, during which she seemed perfectly well. A doctor
and apothecary were brought to her from Paisley; but their bleedings
and other applications had no perceptible effect. By and by, her
troubles assumed a different aspect. She seemed to be wrestling and
fighting with an unseen enemy, and there were risings and fallings of
her belly, and strange shakings of her whole body, that struck the
beholders with consternation. She now began, in her fits, to
denounce Catherine Campbell, the woman-servant, and an old
woman of evil fame, named Agnes Naismith, as the cause of her
torments, alleging that they were present in person cutting her side,
when in reality they were at a distance. At this crisis, fully two
months after the beginning of her ailments, her parents took her to
Glasgow, to consult an eminent physician, named Brisbane,
regarding her case. He states in his 1697.
[199]
deposition, that at first he thought the
child quite well; but after a few minutes, she announced a coming fit,
and did soon after fall into convulsions, accompanied by heavy
groanings and murmurings against two women named Campbell and
Naismith; all of which he thought ‘reducible to the effect of a
hypochondriac melancholy.’ He gave some medicines suitable to his
conception of the case, and for eight days, during which the girl
remained in Glasgow, she was comparatively well, as well as for eight
days after her return home. Then the fits returned with even
increased violence; she became as stiff as a corpse, without sense or
motion; her tongue would be drawn out of her mouth to a prodigious
length, while her teeth set firmly upon it; at other times it was drawn
far back into her mouth. Her parents set out with her again to
Glasgow, that she might be under the doctor’s care; but as they were
going, a new fact presented itself. She spat or took from her mouth,
every now and then, parcels of hair of different colours, which she
declared her two tormentors were trying to force down her throat.
She had also fainting-fits every quarter of an hour. Dr Brisbane saw
her again (November 12), and from that time for some weeks was
frequently with her. He says: ‘I observed her narrowly, and was
confident she had no human correspondent to subminister the straw,
wool, cinders, hay, feathers, and such like trash to her; all which,
upon several occasions, I have seen her pull out of her mouth in
considerable quantities, sometimes after several fits, and sometimes
after no fit at all, whilst she was discoursing with us; and for the most
part she pulled out those things without being wet in the least; nay,
rather as if they had been dried with care and art; for one time, as I
remember, when I was discoursing with her, she gave me a cinder
out of her mouth, not only dry, but hot, much above the degree of the
natural warmth of a human body.’ ‘Were it not,’ he adds, ‘for the
hairs, hay, straw, and other things wholly contrary to human nature,
I should not despair to reduce all the other symptoms to their proper
classes in the catalogue of human diseases.’ Thereafter, as we are
further informed, there were put out of her mouth bones of various
sorts and sizes, small sticks of candle-fir, some stable-dung mingled
with hay, a quantity of fowl’s feathers, a gravel-stone, a whole gall-
nut, and some egg-shells.
Sometimes, during her fits, she would fall 1697.
a-reasoning, as it were, with Catherine
Campbell about the course she was pursuing, reading and quoting
Scripture to her with much pertinence, and entreating a return of
their old friendship. The command which she shewed of the language
of the Bible struck the bystanders as wonderful for such a child; but
they easily accounted for it. ‘We doubt not,’ says the narrator of the
case, ‘that the Lord did, by his good spirit, graciously afford her a
more than ordinary measure of assistance.’
Before leaving Glasgow for the second time, she had begun to
speak of other persons as among her tormentors, naming two,
Alexander and James Anderson, and describing other two whose
names she did not know.
Returned to Bargarran about the 12th of December, she was at
ease for about a week, and then fell into worse fits than ever. She
now saw the devil in various shapes threatening to devour her. Her
face and body underwent frightful contortions. She would point to
places where her tormentors were standing, wondering why others
did not see them as well as she. One of these ideal tormentors, Agnes
Naismith, came in the body to see the child, spoke kindly, and prayed
God to restore her health; after which Christian always spoke of her
as her defender from the rest. Catherine Campbell was of a different
spirit. She could by no means be prevailed on to pray for the child,
but cursed her and all her family, imprecating the devil to let her
never grow better, for all the trouble she had brought upon herself.
This woman being soon after imprisoned, it seemed as if from that
time she also disappeared from among the child’s tormentors. We
are carefully informed that in her pocket was found a ball of hair,
which was thrown into the fire, and after that time the child vomited
no more hair.
The devil’s doings at Bargarran having now effectually roused
public attention, the presbytery sent relays of their members to be
present in the house, and lend all possible spiritual help. One
evening, Christian was suddenly carried off with an unaccountable
motion through the chamber and hall, down the long winding stair,
to the outer gate, laughing wildly, while ‘her feet did not touch the
ground, so far as anybody was able to discern.’ She was brought back
in a state of rigidity, and declared when she recovered that she had
felt as one carried in a swing. On the ensuing evening, she was
carried off in the same manner, and borne to the top of the house;
thence, as she stated, by some men and 1697.
women, down to the outer gate, where, as
formerly, she was found lying like one dead. The design of her
bearers, she said, was to throw her into the well, when the world
would believe she had drowned herself. On a third occasion, she
moved in the same unaccountable manner down to the cellar, when
the minister, trying to bring her up again, felt as if some one were
pulling her back out of his arms. On several occasions, she spoke of
things which she had no visible means of knowing, but which were
found to be true, thus manifesting one of the assigned proofs of
possession, and of course further confirming the general belief
regarding her ailments and their cause. She said that some one spoke
over her head, and distinctly told her those things.
The matter having been reported with full particulars to the Privy
Council, the commission before spoken of was issued, and on the 5th
February it came to Bargarran, under the presidency of Lord
Blantyre, who was the principal man in the parish. Catherine
Campbell, Agnes Naismith, a low man called Anderson, and his
daughter Elizabeth, Margaret Fulton, James Lindsay, and a Highland
beggar-man, all of whom had been described as among Christian’s
tormentors, were brought forward and confronted with her; when it
was fully seen that, on any of these persons touching her, she fell into
fits, but not when she was touched by any other person. It is stated
that, even when she was muffled up, she distinguished that it was the
Highland beggar who touched her. The list of the culprits, however,
was not yet complete. There was a boy called Thomas Lindsay, who
for a half-penny would pronounce a charm, and turn himself about
withershins, or contrary to the direction of the sun, and so stop a
plough, and cause the horse to break the yoke. He was taken up, and
speedily confessed being in paction with the devil, and bearing his
marks. At the same time, Elizabeth Anderson confessed that she had
been at several meetings with the devil, and declared her father and
the Highland beggar to have been active instruments for tormenting
Christian Shaw. There had been one particular meeting of witches
with the devil in the orchard of Bargarran, where the plan for the
affliction of the child had been made up. Amongst the delinquents
was a woman of rather superior character, a midwife, commonly
called Maggie Lang, together with her daughter, named Martha
Semple. These two women, hearing they were accused, came to
Bargarran, to demonstrate their innocence; nor could Christian at
first accuse Maggie; but after a while, a ball of hair was found where
she had sat, and the afflicted girl declared 1697.
this to be a charm which had hitherto
imposed silence upon her. Now that the charm was broken, she
readily pronounced that Mrs Lang had been amongst her
tormentors.
In the midst of these proceedings, by order of the presbytery, a
solemn fast was kept in Erskine parish, with a series of religious
services in the church. Christian was present all day, without making
any particular demonstrations.
On the 18th of February—to pursue the contemporary narration
—‘she being in a light-headed fit, said the devil now appeared to her
in the shape of a man; whereupon being struck in great fear and
consternation, she was desired to pray with an audible voice: “The
Lord rebuke thee, Satan!” which trying to do, she presently lost the
power of her speech, her teeth being set, and her tongue drawn back
into her throat; and attempting it again, she was immediately seized
with another severe fit, in which, her eyes being twisted almost
round, she fell down as one dead, struggling with her feet and hands,
and, getting up again suddenly, was hurried violently to and fro
through the room, deaf and blind, yet was speaking to some invisible
creature about her, saying: “With the Lord’s strength, thou shalt
neither put straw nor sticks into my mouth.” After this she cried in a
pitiful manner: “The bee hath stung me.” Then, presently sitting
down, and untying her stockings, she put her hand to that part which
had been nipped or pinched; upon which the spectators discerned
the lively marks of nails, deeply imprinted on that same part of her
leg. When she came to herself, she declared that something spoke to
her as it were over her head, and told her it was Mr M. in a
neighbouring parish (naming the place) that had appeared to her,
and pinched her leg in the likeness of a bee.’
At another time, while speaking with an unseen tormentor, she
asked how she had got those red sleeves; then, making a plunge
along the bed at the supposed witch, she was heard as it were tearing
off a piece of cloth, when presently a piece of red cloth rent in two
was seen in her hands, to the amazement of the bystanders, who
were certain there had been no such cloth in the room before.
On the 28th of March, while the inquiries of the commission were
still going on, Christian Shaw all at once recovered her usual health;
nor did she ever again complain of being afflicted in this manner.
The case was in due time formally prepared for trial; and seven
persons were brought before an assize at Paisley, with the Lord
Advocate as prosecutor, and an advocate assigned, according to the
custom of Scotland, for the defence of the accused. It was a new
commission which sat in judgment, comprehending, we are told,
several persons not only ‘of honour,’ but ‘of singular knowledge and
experience.’ The witnesses were carefully examined; full time was
allowed to every part of the process, which lasted twenty hours; and
six hours more were spent by the jury in deliberating on their verdict.
The crimes charged were the murders of several children and
persons of mature age, including a minister, and the tormenting of
several persons, and particularly of Bargarran’s daughter. It is
alleged by the contemporary narrator, Francis Cullen, advocate, that
all things were carried on ‘with tenderness and moderation;’ yet the
result was that the alleged facts were found to be fully proved, and a
judgment of guilty was given.
It is fitting to remember here, that the Lord Advocate, Sir James
Steuart, in his address to the jury, holds all those instances of
clairvoyance and of flying locomotion which have been mentioned, as
completely proved, and speaks as having no doubt of the murders
and torments effected by the accused. He insisted strongly on the
devil’s marks which had been found upon their persons; also on the
coincidence between many things alleged by Christian Shaw and
what the witches had confessed. From such records of the trial as we
have, it fully appears that the whole affair was gone about in a
reasoning way: the premises granted, everything done and said was
right, as far as correct logic could make it so.
On the 10th of June, on the Gallow Green of Paisley, a gibbet and a
fire were prepared together. Five persons, including Maggie Lang,
were brought out and hung for a few minutes on the one, then cut
down and burned in the other. A man called John Reid would have
made a sixth victim, if he had not been found that morning dead in
his cell, hanging to a pin in the wall by his handkerchief, and believed
to have been strangled by the devil. And so ended the tragedy of
Bargarran’s Daughter.
The case has usually, in recent times, been treated as one in which
there were no other elements than a wicked imposture on her part,
and some insane delusions on that of the confessing victims; but
probably in these times, when the phenomena of mesmerism have
forced themselves upon the belief of a large and respectable portion
of society, it will be admitted as more likely 1697.
that the maledictions of Campbell threw the
child into an abnormal condition, in which the ordinary beliefs of her
age made her sincerely consider herself as a victim of diabolic malice.
How far she might be tempted to put on appearances and make
allegations, in order to convince others of what she felt and believed,
it would be difficult to say. To those who regard the whole affair as
imposture, an extremely interesting problem is presented for
solution by the original documents, in which the depositions of
witnesses are given—namely, how the fallaciousness of so much, and,
to appearance, so good testimony on pure points of fact, is to be
reconciled with any remaining value in testimony as the verifier of
the great bulk of what we think we know.

About thirty years before this date, a Mar.


certain Sir Alexander M‘Culloch of Myreton,
in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, with two sons, named Godfrey and
John, attracted the attention of the authorities by some frightfully
violent proceedings against a Lady Cardiness and her two sons,
William and Alexander Gordon, for the purpose of getting them
extruded from their lands.[200] Godfrey in time succeeded to the title,
and to all the violent passions of his father; but his property was
wholly compromised for the benefit of his creditors, who declared it
to be scarcely sufficient to pay his debts. Desperate for a subsistence,
he attempted, in the late reign, by ‘insinuations with the Chancellor
Perth,’ and putting his son to the Catholic school in Holyrood Palace,
to obtain some favour from the law, and succeeded so far as to get
assigned to him a yearly aliment of five hundred merks (about £28)
out of his lands, being allowed at the same time to take possession of
the family mansion of Bardarroch. From a complaint brought against
him in July 1689 before the Privy Council, it would appear that he
intromitted with the rents of the estate, and did no small amount of
damage to the growing timber; moreover, he attempted to embezzle
the writs of the property, with the design of annihilating the claims of
his creditors. Insufferable as his conduct was, the Council assigned
him six hundred merks of aliment, but only on condition of his
immediately leaving Bardarroch, and giving up the writs of the
estate. Yielding in no point to their decree, he was soon after ordered
to be summarily ejected by the sheriff.[201]
There was a strong, unsubdued Celtic element in the
Kirkcudbright population, and Sir Godfrey 1697.
M‘Culloch reminds us entirely of a West
Highland Cameron or Macdonald of the reign of James VI. What
further embroilments took place between him and his old family
enemies, the Gordons of Cardiness, we do not learn; but certain it is,
that on the 2d of October 1690, he came to Bush o’ Bield, the house
of William Gordon, whom twenty years before he had treated so
barbarously, with the intent of murdering him. Sending a servant in
to ask Gordon out to speak with some one, he no sooner saw the
unfortunate man upon his threshold, than ‘with a bended gun he did
shoot him through the thigh, and brak the bane thereof to pieces; of
which wound William Gordon died within five or six hours
thereafter.’[202]
The homicide made his way to a foreign country, and thus for
some years escaped justice. He afterwards returned to England, and
was little taken notice of. William Stewart of Castle-Stewart, husband
of the murdered Gordon’s daughter, offered to intercede for a
remission in his behalf, if he would give up the papers of the
Cardiness estate; but he did not accept of this offer. Perhaps he
became at length rather too heedless of the vengeance that might be
in store for him. It is stated that, being in Edinburgh, he was so
hardy as to go to church, when a gentleman of Galloway, who had
some pecuniary interest against him, rose, and called out with an air
of authority: ‘Shut the doors—there’s a murderer in the house!’[203]
He was apprehended, and immediately after subjected to a trial
before the High Court of Justiciary, and condemned to be beheaded
at the Cross of Edinburgh. The execution was appointed to take place
on the 5th of March 1697;[204] but on the 4th he presented a petition
to the Privy Council, in which, while expressing submission to his
sentence, he begged liberty to represent to their Lordships, ‘that as
the petitioner hath been among the most unhappy of mankind in the
whole course of his life, so he hath been singularly unfortunate in
what hath happened to him near the period of it.’ He thought that
‘nobody had any design upon him after the course of so many years,
and he flattered himself with hopes of life on many considerations,
and specially believing that the only two proving witnesses would not
have been admitted. Being now found guilty, he is exceedingly
surprised and unprepared to die.’ On his 1697.
petition for delay, the execution was put
forward to the 25th March.
Sir Walter Scott has gravely published, in the Minstrelsy of the
Scottish Border, a strange story about Sir Godfrey M‘Culloch, to the
effect that he had made friendship in early life with an old man of
fairyland, by diverting a drain which emptied itself into the fairies’
chamber of dais; and when he came to the scaffold on the Castle Hill,
this mysterious personage suddenly came up on a white palfrey, and
bore off the condemned man to a place of safety. There is, however,
too much reason to believe that Sir Godfrey really expiated the
murder of William Gordon at the market-cross of Edinburgh. The
fact is recorded in a broadside containing the unhappy man’s last
speech, which has been reprinted in the New Statistical Account of
Scotland. In this paper, he alleged that the murder was
unpremeditated, and that he came to the place where it happened
contrary to his own inclination. He denied a rumour which had gone
abroad that he was a Roman Catholic, and recommended his wife
and children to God, with a hope that friends might be stirred up to
give them some protection. It has been stated, however, that he was
never married. He left behind him several illegitimate children, who,
with their mother, removed to Ireland on the death of their father;
and there a grandson suffered capital punishment for robbery about
the year 1760.[205]

The Privy Council had an unpleasant Mar.


affair upon its hands. Alexander Brand, late
bailie of Edinburgh—a man of enterprise, noted for having
introduced a manufacture of gilt leather hangings—had vented a libel
under the title of ‘Charges and Gratuities for procuring the additional
fifteen hundred pounds of my Tack-duty of Orkney and Zetland,
which was the surplus of the price agreed by the Lords,’ specifying
‘sums of money, hangings, or other donatives given to the late
Secretary Johnston; the Marquis of Tweeddale, late Lord High
Chancellor; the Duke of Queensberry, then Lord Drumlanrig; the
Earl of Cassillis; the Viscount of Teviot, then Sir Thomas
Livingstone; the Lord Basil Hamilton; the Lord Raith, and others.’
He had, in 1693, along with Sir Thomas Kennedy of Kirkhill and Sir
William Binning, late provosts of Edinburgh, entered into a contract
with the government for five thousand stands of arms, at a pound
sterling each, which, it was alleged, would have allowed them a good
profit; yet, when abroad for the purchase of the arms, he wrote to his
partners in the transaction, that they could not be purchased under
twenty-six shillings the piece; and his associates had induced the
Council to agree to this increased price, the whole affair being, as was
alleged, a contrivance for cheating the government. To obtain
payment of the extra sum (£1500), the two knights had entered into
a contract for giving a bribe of two hundred and fifty guineas to the
Earls of Linlithgow and Breadalbane, ‘besides a gratuity to James
Row, who was to receive the arms.’ But no such sum had ever been
paid to these two nobles, ‘they being persons of that honour and
integrity that they were not capable to be imposed upon that way.’
Yet Kennedy and Binning had allowed the contract to appear in a
legal process before the Admiralty Court, ‘to the great slander and
reproach of the said two noble persons.’ In short, it appeared that the
three contractors had proceeded upon a supposition of what was
necessary for the effecting of their business with the Privy Council,
and while not actually giving any bribes—at least, so they now
acknowledged—had been incautious enough to let it appear as if they
had. For the compound fault of contriving bribery and defaming the
nobles in question, they were cast in heavy fines—Kennedy in £800,
Binning in £300, and Brand in £500, to be imprisoned till payment
was made.
Notwithstanding this result, there is no room to doubt that it had
become a custom for persons doing business for the government to
make ‘donatives’ to the Lords of the Privy Council. Fountainhall
reports a case (November 23, 1693) wherein Lord George Murray,
who had been a partner with Sir Robert Miln of Barnton in a tack of
the customs in 1681, demurred, amongst other things in their
accounts, to 10,000 merks given yearly to the then officers of state.
‘As to the donatives, the Lords [of Session] found they had grown
considerably from what was the custom in former years, and that it
looked like corruption and bribery: [they] thought it shameful that
the Lords, by their decreet, should own any such practice; therefore
they recommended to the president to try what was the perquisite
payment in wine by the tacksmen to every officer of state, and to
study to settle [the parties].’[206]
From the annual accounts of the Convention of Royal Burghs, it
appears that fees or gratuities to public 1697.
officers with whom they had any dealing
were customary. For example, in 1696, there is entered for consulting
with the king’s advocate anent prisoners, &c., £84, 16s. (Scots); to his
men, £8, 14s.; to his boy, £1, 8s. Again, to the king’s advocate, for
consulting anent the fishery, bullion, &c., £58; and to his men, £11,
12s. Besides these sums, £333, 6s. 8d. were paid to the same officer
as pension, and to his men, £60. There were paid in the same year,
£11, 12s. to the chancellor’s servants; £26, 13s. 4d. to the macers of
the Council; and an equal sum to the macers of the Court of Session.

The Quakers of Edinburgh were no better Apr. 20.


used by the rest of the public than those of
Glasgow. Although notedly, as they alleged, ‘an innocent and
peaceable people,’ yet they could not meet in their own hired house
for worship without being disturbed by riotous men and boys; and
these, instead of being put down, were rather encouraged by the local
authorities. On their complaining to the magistrates of one
outrageous riot, Bailie Halyburton did what in him lay to add to their
burden by taking away the key of their meeting-house, thus
compelling them to meet in the street in front, where ‘they were
further exposed to the fury of ane encouraged rabble.’ They now
entreated the Privy Council to ‘find out some method whereby the
petitioners (who live as quiet and peaceable subjects under a king
who loves not that any should be oppressed for conscience’ sake)
may enjoy a free exercise of their consciences, and that those who
disturb them may be discountenanced, reproved, and punished.’ This
they implore may be speedily done, ‘lest necessity force them to
apply to the king for protection.’
The Council remitted to the magistrates ‘to consider the said
representation, and to do therein as they shall find just and right.’[207]

St Kilda, a fertile island of five miles’ June 1.


circumference, placed fifty miles out from
the Hebrides, was occupied by a simple community of about forty
families, who lived upon barley-bread and sea-fowl, with their eggs,
undreaming of a world which they had only heard of by faint reports
from a factor of their landlord ‘Macleod,’ who annually visited them.
Of religion they had only caught a confused 1697.
notion from a Romish priest who stayed
with them a short time about fifty years ago. It was at length thought
proper that an orthodox minister should go among these simple
people, and the above is the date of his visit.
‘M. Martin, gentleman,’ who accompanied the minister, and
afterwards published an account of the island, gives us in his
book[208] a number of curious particulars about a personage whom he
calls Roderick the Impostor, who, for some years bypast, had
exercised a religious control over the islanders. He seems to have
been, in reality, one of those persons, such as Mohammed, once
classed as mere deceivers of their fellow-creatures for selfish
purposes, but in whom a more liberal philosophy has come to see a
basis of what, for want of a better term, may in the meantime be
called ecstaticism or hallucination.
Roderick was a handsome, fair-complexioned man, noted in his
early years for feats of strength and dexterity in climbing, but as
ignorant of letters and of the outer world as any of his companions,
having indeed had no opportunities of acquiring any information
which they did not possess. Having, in his eighteenth year, gone out
to fish on a Sunday—an unusual practice—he, on his return
homeward, according to his own account, met a man upon the road,
dressed in a Lowland dress—that is, a cloak and hat; whereupon he
fell flat upon the ground in great disorder. The stranger announced
himself as John the Baptist, come direct from heaven, to
communicate through Roderick divine instructions for the benefit of
the people, hitherto lost in ignorance and error. Roderick pleaded
unfitness for the commission imposed upon him; but the Baptist
desired him to be of good cheer, for he would instantly give him all
the necessary powers and qualifications. Returning home, he lost no
time in setting about his mission. He imposed some severe penances
upon the people, particularly a Friday’s fast. ‘He forbade the use of
the Lord’s Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments, and instead of
them, prescribed diabolical forms of his own. His prayers and
rhapsodical forms were often blended with the name of God, our
blessed Saviour, and the immaculate Virgin. He used the Irish word
Phersichin—that is, verses, which is not known in St Kilda, nor in the
Northwest Isles, except to such as can read the Irish tongue. But
what seemed most remarkable in his obscure prayers was his
mentioning ELI, with the character of our preserver. He used several
unintelligible words in his devotions, of 1697.
which he could not tell the meaning
himself; saying only that he had received them implicitly from St
John the Baptist, and delivered them before his hearers without any
explication.’ ‘This impostor,’ says Martin, ‘is a poet, and also
endowed with that rare faculty, the second-sight, which makes it the
more probable that he was haunted by a familiar spirit.’
He stated that the Baptist communicated with him on a small
mount, which he called John the Baptist’s Bush, and which he
forthwith fenced off as holy ground, forbidding all cattle to be
pastured on it, under pain of their being immediately killed.
According to his account, every night after he had assembled the
people, he heard a voice without, saying: ‘Come you out,’ whereupon
he felt compelled to go forth. Then the Baptist, appearing to him,
told him what he should say to the people at that particular meeting.
He used to express his fear that he could not remember his lesson;
but the saint always said: ‘Go, you have it;’ and so it proved when he
came in among the people, for then he would speak fluently for
hours. The people, awed by his enthusiasm, very generally became
obedient to him in most things, and apparently his influence would
have known no restriction, if he had not taken base advantage of it
over the female part of the community. Here his quasi-sacred
character broke down dismally. The three lambs from one ewe
belonging to a person who was his cousin-german, happened to stray
upon the holy mount, and when he refused to sacrifice them,
Roderick denounced upon him the most frightful calamities. When
the people saw nothing particular happen in consequence, their
veneration for him experienced a further abatement. Finally, when
the minister arrived, and denounced the whole of his proceedings as
imposture, he yielded to the clamour raised against him, consented
to break down the wall round the Baptist’s Bush, and peaceably
submitted to banishment from the island. Mr Martin brought him to
Pabbay island in the Harris group, whence he was afterwards
transferred to the laird’s house of Dunvegan in Skye. He is said to
have there confessed his iniquities, and to have subsequently made a
public recantation of his quasi-divine pretensions before the
presbytery of Skye.[209]
Mr Martin, in his book, stated a fact which has since been the
subject of much discussion—namely, that whenever the steward and
his party, or any other strangers, came to St 1697.
Kilda, the whole of the inhabitants were, in
a few days, seized with a severe catarrh. The fact has been doubted; it
has been explained on various hypotheses which were found
baseless: visitors have arrived full of incredulity, and always come
away convinced. Such was the case with Mr Kenneth Macaulay, the
author of the amplest and most rational account of this singular
island. He had heard that the steward usually went in summer, and
he thought that the catarrh might be simply an annual epidemic; but
he learned that the steward sometimes came in May, and sometimes
in August, and the disorder never failed to take place a few days after
his arrival, at whatever time he might come, or how often so ever in a
season. A minister’s wife lived three years on the island free of the
susceptibility, but at last became liable to it. Mr Macaulay did not
profess to account for the phenomenon; but he mentions a
circumstance in which it may be possible ultimately to find an
explanation. It is, that not only is a St Kildian’s person disagreeably
odoriferous to a stranger, but ‘a stranger’s company is, for some

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