Abstract. We propose a simple approach to combining first-order logic and probabilistic graphical models in a single representation. A Markov logic network (MLN) is a first-order knowledge base with a weight attached to each formula (or clause). Together with a set of constants representing objects in the domain, it specifies a ground Markov network containing one feature for each possible grounding of a first-order formula in the KB, with the corresponding weight. Inference in MLNs is performed by MCMC over the minimal subset of the ground network required for answering the query. Weights are efficiently learned from relational databases by iteratively optimizing a pseudo-likelihood measure. Optionally, additional clauses are learned using inductive logic programming techniques. Experiments with a real-world database and knowledge base in a university domain illustrate the promise of this approach.

Conditional random fields for sequence labeling offer advantages over both generative models like HMMs and classifiers applied at each sequence position. Among sequence labeling tasks in language processing, shallow parsing has received much attention, with the development of standard evaluation datasets and extensive comparison among methods. We show here how to train a conditional random field to achieve performance as good as any reported base noun-phrase chunking method on the CoNLL task, and better than any reported single model. Improved training methods based on modern optimization algorithms were critical in achieving these results. We present extensive comparisons between models and training methods that confirm and strengthen previous results on shallow parsing and training methods for maximum-entropy models.

In typical classification tasks, we seek a function which assigns a label to a single object. Kernel-based approaches, such as support vector machines (SVMs), which maximize the margin of confidence of the classifier, are the method of choice for many such tasks. Their popularity stems both from the ability to use high-dimensional feature spaces, and from their strong theoretical guarantees. However, many real-world tasks involve sequential, spatial, or structured data, where multiple labels must be assigned. Existing kernel-based methods ignore structure in the problem, assigning labels independently to each object, losing much useful information. Conversely, probabilistic graphical models, such as Markov networks, can represent correlations between labels, by exploiting problem structure, but cannot handle high-dimensional feature spaces, and lack strong theoretical generalization guarantees. In this paper, we present a new framework that combines the advantages of both approaches: Maximum margin Markov (M 3) networks incorporate both kernels, which efficiently deal with high-dimensional features, and the ability to capture correlations in structured data. We present an efficient algorithm for learning M 3 networks based on a compact quadratic program formulation. We provide a new theoretical bound for generalization in structured domains. Experiments on the task of handwritten character recognition and collective hypertext classification demonstrate very significant gains over previous approaches. 1

Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) are undirected graphical models, a special case of which correspond to conditionally-trained finite state machines. A key advantage of CRFs is their great flexibility to include a wide variety of arbitrary, non-independent features of the input. Faced with

We describe semi-Markov conditional random fields (semi-CRFs), a conditionally trained version of semi-Markov chains. Intuitively, a semi-CRF on an input sequence x outputs a “segmentation ” of x, in which labels are assigned to segments (i.e., subsequences) of x rather than to individual elements xi of x. Importantly, features for semi-CRFs can measure properties of segments, and transitions within a segment can be non-Markovian. In spite of this additional power, exact learning and inference algorithms for semi-CRFs are polynomial-time—often only a small constant factor slower than conventional CRFs. In experiments on five named entity recognition problems, semi-CRFs generally outperform conventional CRFs. 1

The typical processing paradigm in natural language processing is the "pipeline" approach, where learners are being used at one level, their outcomes are being used as features for a second level of predictions and so one. In addition to accumulating errors, it is clear that the sequential processing is a crude approximation to a process in which interactions occur across levels and down stream decisions often interact with previous decisions. This work develops a general...

Most real-world data is heterogeneous and richly interconnected. Examples include the Web, hypertext, bibliometric data and social networks. In contrast, most statistical learning methods work with "flat" data representations, forcing us to convert our data into a form that loses much of the link structure. The recently introduced framework of probabilistic relational models (PRMs) embraces the object-relational nature of structured data by capturing probabilistic interactions between attributes of related entities. In this paper, we extend this framework by modeling interactions between the attributes and the link structure itself. An advantage of our approach is a unified generarive model for both content and relational structure. We propose two mechanisms for representing a probabilistic distribution over link structures: reference uncertainty and existence uncertainty. We describe the appropriate conditions for using each model and present learning algorithms for each. We present experimental results showing that the learned models can be used to predict link structure and, moreover, the observed link structure can be used to provide better predictions for the attributes in the model.

In sequence modeling, we often wish to represent complex interaction between labels, such as when performing multiple, cascaded labeling tasks on the same sequence, or when longrange dependencies exist. We present dynamic conditional random fields (DCRFs), a generalization of linear-chain conditional random fields (CRFs) in which each time slice contains a set of state variables and edges---a distributed state representation as in dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs)---and parameters are tied across slices. Since exact

Procedures for collective inference make simultaneous statistical judgments about the same variables for a set of related data instances. For example, collective inference could be used to simultaneously classify a set of hyperlinked documents or infer the legitimacy of a set of related financial transactions. Several recent studies indicate that collective inference can significantly reduce classification error when compared with traditional inference techniques. We investigate the underlying mechanisms for this error reduction by reviewing past work on collective inference and characterizing different types of statistical models used for making inference in relational data. We show important differences among these models, and we characterize the necessary and sufficient conditions for reduced classification error based on experiments with real and simulated data.

In this paper we define a general framework for activity recognition by building upon and extending Relational Markov Networks. Using the example of activity recognition from location data, we show that our model can represent a variety of features including temporal information such as time of day, spatial information extracted from geographic databases, and global constraints such as the number of homes or workplaces of a person. We develop an efficient inference and learning technique based on MCMC. Using GPS location data collected by multiple people we show that the technique can accurately label a person’s activity locations. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to learn good models from less data by using priors extracted from other people’s data.