A framework for generalized monotonicity of fusion functions

Abstract

The relaxation of the property of monotonicity is a trend in the theory of aggregation and fusion functions and several generalized forms of monotonicity have been introduced, most of which are based on the notion of directional monotonicity. In this paper, we propose a general framework for generalized monotonicity that encompasses the different forms of monotonicity that we can find in the literature. Additionally, we introduce various new forms of monotonicity that are not based on directional monotonicity. Specifically, we introduce dilative monotonicity, which requires that the function increases when the inputs have increased by a common factor, and a general form of monotonicity that is dependent on a function T and a subset of the domain Z. This two new generalized monotonicities are the basis to propose a set of different forms of monotonicity. We study the particularities of each of the new proposals and their links to the previous relaxed forms of monotonicity. We conclude that the introduction of dilative monotonicity complements the conditions of weak monotonicity for fusion functions and that (T,Z)-monotonicity yields a condition that is slightly stronger than weak monotonicity. Finally, we present an application of the introduced notions of monotonicity in sentiment analysis.