A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
The structure of rough sets defined by reflexive relations
Authors: Järvinen Jouni; Radeleczki Sándor
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Publication year: 2025
Journal: International Journal of Approximate Reasoning
Journal name in source: International Journal of Approximate Reasoning
Article number: 109471
Volume: 185
First page : 109471
ISSN: 0888-613X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijar.2025.109471
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijar.2025.109471
For several types of information relations, the induced rough sets system RS does not form a lattice but only a partially ordered set. However, by studying its Dedekind–MacNeille completion DM(RS), one may reveal new important properties of rough set structures. Building upon D. Umadevi's work on describing joins and meets in DM(RS), we previously investigated pseudo-Kleene algebras defined on DM(RS) for reflexive relations. This paper delves deeper into the order-theoretic properties of DM(RS) in the context of reflexive relations. We describe the completely join-irreducible elements of DM(RS) and characterize when DM(RS) is a spatial completely distributive lattice. We show that even in the case of a non-transitive reflexive relation, DM(RS) can form a Nelson algebra, a property generally associated with quasiorders. We introduce a novel concept, the core of a relational neighbourhood, and use it to provide a necessary and sufficient condition for DM(RS) to determine a Nelson algebra.