Knowledge acquisition is one of the most important aspects influencing the quality of methods used in artificial intelligence and the reliability of expert systems. The various issues dealt with in this volume concern many different approaches to the handling of partial knowledge and to the ensuing methods for reasoning and decision making under uncertainty, as applied to problems in artificial intelligence. The volume is composed of the invited and contributed papers presented at the Workshop on Mathematical Models for Handling Partial Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, held at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture of Erice (Sicily, Italy) on June 19-25, 1994, in the framework of the International School of Mathematics "G.Stampacchia." It includes also a transcription of the roundtable held during the workshop to promote discussions on fundamental issues, since in the choice of invited speakers we have tried to maintain a balance between the various schools of knowl edge and uncertainty modeling. Choquet expected utility models are discussed in the paper by Alain Chateauneuf: they allow the separation of perception of uncertainty or risk from the valuation of outcomes, and can be of help in decision mak ing. Petr Hajek shows that reasoning in fuzzy logic may be put on a strict logical (formal) basis, so contributing to our understanding of what fuzzy logic is and what one is doing when applying fuzzy reasoning."

These four volumes (CCIS 297, 298, 299, 300) constitute the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2012, held in Catania, Italy, in July 2012. The 258 revised full papers presented together with six invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on fuzzy machine learning and on-line modeling; computing with words and decision making; soft computing in computer vision; rough sets and complex data analysis: theory and applications; intelligent databases and information system; information fusion systems; philosophical and methodological aspects of soft computing; basic issues in rough sets; 40th anniversary of the measures of fuziness; SPS11 uncertainty in profiling systems and applications; handling uncertainty with copulas; formal methods to deal with uncertainty of many-valued events; linguistic summarization and description of data; fuzzy implications: theory and applications; sensing and data mining for teaching and learning; theory and applications of intuitionistic fuzzy sets; approximate aspects of data mining and database analytics; fuzzy numbers and their applications; information processing and management of uncertainty in knowledge-based systems; aggregation functions; imprecise probabilities; probabilistic graphical models with imprecision: theory and applications; belief function theory: basics and/or applications; fuzzy uncertainty in economics and business; new trends in De Finetti's approach; fuzzy measures and integrals; multicriteria decision making; uncertainty in privacy and security; uncertainty in the spirit of Pietro Benvenuti; coopetition; game theory; probabilistic approach.

These four volumes (CCIS 297, 298, 299, 300) constitute the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2012, held in Catania, Italy, in July 2012. The 258 revised full papers presented together with six invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on fuzzy machine learning and on-line modeling; computing with words and decision making; soft computing in computer vision; rough sets and complex data analysis: theory and applications; intelligent databases and information system; information fusion systems; philosophical and methodological aspects of soft computing; basic issues in rough sets; 40th anniversary of the measures of fuziness; SPS11 uncertainty in profiling systems and applications; handling uncertainty with copulas; formal methods to deal with uncertainty of many-valued events; linguistic summarization and description of data; fuzzy implications: theory and applications; sensing and data mining for teaching and learning; theory and applications of intuitionistic fuzzy sets; approximate aspects of data mining and database analytics; fuzzy numbers and their applications; information processing and management of uncertainty in knowledge-based systems; aggregation functions; imprecise probabilities; probabilistic graphical models with imprecision: theory and applications; belief function theory: basics and/or applications; fuzzy uncertainty in economics and business; new trends in De Finetti's approach; fuzzy measures and integrals; multi criteria decision making; uncertainty in privacy and security; uncertainty in the spirit of Pietro Benvenuti; coopetition; game theory; probabilistic approach.

These four volumes (CCIS 297, 298, 299, 300) constitute the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2012, held in Catania, Italy, in July 2012. The 258 revised full papers presented together with six invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on fuzzy machine learning and on-line modeling; computing with words and decision making; soft computing in computer vision; rough sets and complex data analysis: theory and applications; intelligent databases and information system; information fusion systems; philosophical and methodological aspects of soft computing; basic issues in rough sets; 40th anniversary of the measures of fuziness; SPS11 uncertainty in profiling systems and applications; handling uncertainty with copulas; formal methods to deal with uncertainty of many-valued events; linguistic summarization and description of data; fuzzy implications: theory and applications; sensing and data mining for teaching and learning; theory and applications of intuitionistic fuzzy sets; approximate aspects of data mining and database analytics; fuzzy numbers and their applications; information processing and management of uncertainty in knowledge-based systems; aggregation functions; imprecise probabilities; probabilistic graphical models with imprecision: theory and applications; belief function theory: basics and/or applications; fuzzy uncertainty in economics and business; new trends in De Finetti's approach; fuzzy measures and integrals; multicriteria decision making; uncertainty in privacy and security; uncertainty in the spirit of Pietro Benvenuti; coopetition; game theory; probabilistic approach.

These four volumes (CCIS 297, 298, 299, 300) constitute the proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems, IPMU 2012, held in Catania, Italy, in July 2012. The 258 revised full papers presented together with six invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on fuzzy machine learning and on-line modeling; computing with words and decision making; soft computing in computer vision; rough sets and complex data analysis: theory and applications; intelligent databases and information system; information fusion systems; philosophical and methodological aspects of soft computing; basic issues in rough sets; 40th anniversary of the measures of fuziness; SPS11 uncertainty in profiling systems and applications; handling uncertainty with copulas; formal methods to deal with uncertainty of many-valued events; linguistic summarization and description of data; fuzzy implications: theory and applications; sensing and data mining for teaching and learning; theory and applications of intuitionistic fuzzy sets; approximate aspects of data mining and database analytics; fuzzy numbers and their applications; information processing and management of uncertainty in knowledge-based systems; aggregation functions; imprecise probabilities; probabilistic graphical models with imprecision: theory and applications; belief function theory: basics and/or applications; fuzzy uncertainty in economics and business; new trends in De Finetti's approach; fuzzy measures and integrals; multicriteria decision making; uncertainty in privacy and security; uncertainty in the spirit of Pietro Benvenuti; coopetition; game theory; probabilistic approach.

The approach to probability theory followed in this book (which differs radically from the usual one, based on a measure-theoretic framework) characterizes probability as a linear operator rather than as a measure, and is based on the concept of coherence, which can be framed in the most general view of conditional probability. It is a flexible' and unifying tool suited for handling, e.g., partial probability assessments (not requiring that the set of all possible outcomes' be endowed with a previously given algebraic structure, such as a Boolean algebra), and conditional independence, in a way that avoids all the inconsistencies related to logical dependence (so that a theory referring to graphical models more general than those usually considered in bayesian networks can be derived). Moreover, it is possible to encompass other approaches to uncertain reasoning, such as fuzziness, possibility functions, and default reasoning.
The book is kept self-contained, provided the reader is familiar with the elementary aspects of propositional calculus, linear algebra, and analysis.

The approach to probability theory followed in this book (which differs radically from the usual one, based on a measure-theoretic framework) characterizes probability as a linear operator rather than as a measure, and is based on the concept of coherence, which can be framed in the most general view of conditional probability. It is a flexible' and unifying tool suited for handling, e.g., partial probability assessments (not requiring that the set of all possible outcomes' be endowed with a previously given algebraic structure, such as a Boolean algebra), and conditional independence, in a way that avoids all the inconsistencies related to logical dependence (so that a theory referring to graphical models more general than those usually considered in bayesian networks can be derived). Moreover, it is possible to encompass other approaches to uncertain reasoning, such as fuzziness, possibility functions, and default reasoning.
The book is kept self-contained, provided the reader is familiar with the elementary aspects of propositional calculus, linear algebra, and analysis.

Knowledge acquisition is one of the most important aspects influencing the quality of methods used in artificial intelligence and the reliability of expert systems. The various issues dealt with in this volume concern many different approaches to the handling of partial knowledge and to the ensuing methods for reasoning and decision making under uncertainty, as applied to problems in artificial intelligence. The volume is composed of the invited and contributed papers presented at the Workshop on Mathematical Models for Handling Partial Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, held at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture of Erice (Sicily, Italy) on June 19-25, 1994, in the framework of the International School of Mathematics "G.Stampacchia." It includes also a transcription of the roundtable held during the workshop to promote discussions on fundamental issues, since in the choice of invited speakers we have tried to maintain a balance between the various schools of knowl edge and uncertainty modeling. Choquet expected utility models are discussed in the paper by Alain Chateauneuf: they allow the separation of perception of uncertainty or risk from the valuation of outcomes, and can be of help in decision mak ing. Petr Hajek shows that reasoning in fuzzy logic may be put on a strict logical (formal) basis, so contributing to our understanding of what fuzzy logic is and what one is doing when applying fuzzy reasoning."

The volume "Modern Information Processing: From Theory to Applications," edited by Bernadette Bouchon-Meunier, Giulianella Coletti and Ronald Yager, is a collection of carefully selected papers drawn from the program of IPMU'04, which was held in Perugia, Italy.
The book represents the cultural policy of IPMU conference which is not focused on narrow range of methodologies, but on the contrary welcomes all the theories for the management of uncertainty and aggregation of information in intelligent systems, providing a medium for the exchange of ideas between theoreticians and practitioners in these and related areas.
The book is composed by 7 sections:
UNCERTAINTY
PREFERENCES
CLASSIFICATION AND DATA MINING
AGGREGATION AND MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING
KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION
The book contributes to enhancement of our ability to deal effectively with uncertainty in all of its manifestations.
The book can help to build brigs among theories and methods methods for the management of uncertainty.
The book addresses issues which have a position of centrality in our information-centric world.
The book presents interesting results devoted to representing knowledge: the goal is to capture the subtlety of human knowledge (richness) and to allow computer manipulation (formalization).
The book contributes to the goal: an efficient use of the information for a good decision strategy.
APPLIED DOMAINS
. The book contributes to enhancement of our ability to deal effectively with uncertainty in all of its manifestations.
. The book can help to build brigs among theories and methods methods for the management of uncertainty.
. The book addresses issues which have a position of centrality in our information-centric world.
. The book presents interesting results devoted to representing knowledge: the goal is to capture the subtlety of human knowledge (richness) and to allow computer manipulation (formalization).
. The book contributes to the goal: an efficient use of the information for a good decision strategy."