Unification problems are identified with conjunctions of equations between simply typed λ-terms where free variables in the equations can be universally or existentially quantified. Two schemes for simplifying quantifier alternation, called Skolemization and raising (a dual of Skolemization), are presented. In this setting where variables of functional type can be quantified and not all types contain closed terms, the naive generalization of firstorder Skolemization has several technical problems that are addressed. The method of searching for pre-unifiers described by Huet is easily extended to the mixed prefix setting, although solving flexible-flexible unification problems is undecidable since types may be empty. Unification problems may have numerous incomparable unifiers. Occasionally, unifiers share common factors and several of these are presented. Various optimizations on the general unification search problem are as discussed. 1.

We present an extension of Horn-clause logic which can hypothetically add and delete tuples from a database. Such logics have been discussed in the literature, but their complexities and expressibilities have remained an open question. This paper examines two such logics in the function-free, predicate case. It is shown, in particular, that augmenting Horn-clause logic with hypothetical addition increases its data-complexity from PTIME to PSPACE. When deletions are added as well, complexity increases again, to EXPTIME. We then augment the logic with negation-as-failure and develop the notion of stratified hypothetical rulebases. It is shown that negation does not increase complexity. To establish expressibility, we view the logic as a query language for relational databases. It is shown that any typed generic query that is computable in PSPACE can be expressed as a stratified rulebase of hypothetical additions. Similarly, any typed generic query that is computable in EXPTIME can be exp...

An embedding of the implicational propositional intuitionistic logic (iil) into the nonmodal fragment of intuitionistic linear logic (imall) is given. The embedding preserves cut-free proofs in a proof system that is a variant of iil. The embedding is efficient and provides an alternative proof of the pspace-hardness of imall. It exploits several proof-theoretic properties of intuitionistic implication that analyze the use of resources in iil proofs. Linear logic is a refinement of classical and intuitionistic logic that provides an intrinsic and natural accounting of resources. In Girard's words [12], "linear logic is a logic behind logic." A convenient way to present linear logic is by modifying the traditional Gentzen-style sequent calculus axiomatization of classical logic (see, e.g., [15, 22]). The modification may be briefly described in three steps. The first step is to remove two structural rules, contraction and weakening, which manipulate the use of hypotheses and conclusi...

We consider the computational complexity of evaluating nested counterfactuals over a propositional knowledge base. Counterfactual implication p ? q models a statement "if p, then q," where p is known or expected to be false, and is different from material implication p ) q. A nested counterfactual is a counterfactual statement where the conclusion q is a (possibly negated) counterfactual. Statements of the form p 1 ? (p 2 ? \Delta \Delta \Delta (p n ? q) \Delta \Delta \Delta) intuitively correspond to hypothetical queries involving a sequence of revisions. We show that evaluating such statements is \Pi P 2 -complete, and that this task becomes PSPACE-complete if negation is allowed in the nesting. We also consider nesting a counterfactual in the premise, i.e. (p ? q) ? r and show that evaluating such statements is most likely much harder than evaluating p ? (q ? r). 1 Introduction A counterfactual is a conditional statement "if p, then q," where the premise p is eit...

Sufficient conditions for first order based sequent calculi to admit cut elimination by a Schütte-Tait style cut elimination proof are established. The worst case complexity of the cut elimination is analysed. The obtained upper bound is parameterized by a quantity related with the calculus. The conditions are general enough to be satisfied by a wide class of sequent calculi encompassing, among others, some sequent calculi presentations for the first order and the propositional versions of classical and intuitionistic logic, classical and intuitionistic modal logic S4, and classical and intuitionistic linear logic and some of its fragments. Moreover the conditions are such that there is an algorithm for checking if they are satisfied by a sequent calculus.

Abstract not found

This paper addresses a limitation of most deductive database systems: they

This paper addresses a limitation of most deductive database systems: They cannot reason hypothetically. Although they reason effectively about the world as it is, they are poor at tasks such as planning and design, where one must explore the consequences of hypothetical actions and possibilities. To address this limitation, this paper presents a logic-programming language in which a user can create hypotheses and draw inferences from them. Two types of hypothetical operations are considered: the insertion of tuples into a database, and the creation of new constant symbols. These two operations are interesting, not only because they extend the capabilities of database systems, but also because they fit neatly into a well-established logical framework, namely intuitionistic logic. This paper presents the proof theory for the logic, outlines its intuitionistic model theory, and summarizes results on its complexity and on its ability to express database queries. Our results establish a st...

this paper, we establish more comprehensive results by exploring the interaction of negation-as-failure with a natural syntactic restriction called linearity. The main result is a tight connection between intuitionistic logic, database queries, and the polynomial time hierarchy. A tight connection with second-order logic follows as a corollary. First, we show that rulebases in our language fit neatly into a well-established logical framework---intuitionistic logic. Second, we show that linearity reduces their data complexity from PSPACE to NP. Third, we show that negation-as-failure increases their complexity from NP to some level in the polynomial time hierarchy (PHIER). Specifically, linear rulebases with k strata are data complete for \Sigma

Classical logic has so far been the logic of choice in formal hardware verification. This paper proposes the application of intuitionistic logic to the timing analysis of digital circuits. The intuitionistic setting serves two purposes. The model-theoretic properties are exploited to handle the second-order nature of bounded delays in a purely propositional setting without need to introduce explicit time and temporal operators. The proof theoretic properties are exploited to extract quantitative timing information and to reintroduce explicit time in a convenient and systematic way. We present a natural Kripke-style semantics for intuitionistic propositional logic, as a special case of a Kripke constraint model for Propositional Lax Logic [15], in which validity is validity up to stabilisation, and implication oe comes out as "boundedly gives rise to." We show that this semantics is equivalently characterised by a notion of realisability with stabilisation bounds as realisers...