Parameter estimation based on interval-valued belief structures

Parameter estimation based on uncertain data represented as belief structures is one of the latest problems in the Dempster-Shafer theory. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for the parameter estimation in the case where belief structures are uncertain and represented as interval-valued belief structures. Within our proposed method, the maximization of likelihood criterion and minimization of estimated parameter's uncertainty are taken into consideration simultaneously. As an illustration, the proposed method is employed to estimate parameters for deterministic and uncertain belief structures, which demonstrates its effectiveness and versatility. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.