title: Constraint violations in stochastically generated data: detection and correction strategies.
abstract: We consider the generation of stochastic data under constraints where the constraints can be expressed in terms of different parameter sets. Obviously, the constraints and the generated data must remain the same over each parameter set. Otherwise, the parameters and/or the generated data would be inconsistent. We consider how to avoid or detect and then correct such inconsistencies under three proposed classifications: (1) data versus characteristic parameters, (2) macro- versus microconstraint scopes, and (3) intra- versus intervariable relationships. We propose several strategies and a heuristic for generating consistent stochastic data. Experimental results show that these strategies and heuristic generate more consistent data than the traditional discard-and-replace methods. Since generating stochastic data under constraints is a very common practice in many areas, the proposed strategies may have wide-ranging applicability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Accounting and Information Systems, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5487-3120
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fadlalla
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer and Information Science, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 44114, USA.
authors.forename: Toshinori
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6755-306X
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Munakata
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013269:Stochastic Processes