Neurons and symbols: a manifesto

We discuss the purpose of neural-symbolic integration including its principles, mechanisms and applications. We outline a cognitive computational model for neural-symbolic integration, position the model in the broader context of multi-agent systems, machine learning and automated reasoning, and list some of the challenges for the area of neural-symbolic computation to achieve the promise of effective integration of robust learning and expressive reasoning under uncertainty

10302 Abstracts Collection -- Learning paradigms in dynamic environments

From 25.07. to 30.07.2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10302 ``Learning paradigms in dynamic environments \u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

Neurons and Symbols: A Manifesto

We discuss the purpose of neural-symbolic integration including its principles, mechanisms and applications. We outline a cognitive computational model for neural-symbolic integration, position the model in the broader context of multi-agent systems, machine learning and automated reasoning, and list some of the challenges for the area of neural-symbolic computation to achieve the promise of effective integration of robust learning and expressive reasoning under uncertainty

Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings 10302 Learning paradigms in dynamic environments

Abstract We discuss the purpose of neural-symbolic integration including its principles, mechanisms and applications. We outline a cognitive computational model for neural-symbolic integration, position the model in the broader context of multi-agent systems, machine learning and automated reasoning, and list some of the challenges for the area of neural-symbolic computation to achieve the promise of effective integration of robust learning and expressive reasoning under uncertainty. Overview The study of human behaviour is an important part of computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), neural computation, cognitive science, philosophy, psychology and other areas. Among the most prominent tools in the modelling of behaviour are computational-logic systems (classical logic, nonmonotonic logic, modal and temporal logic) and connectionist models of cognition (feedforward and recurrent networks, symmetric and deep networks, self-organising networks). Recent studies in cognitive science, artificial intelligence and evolutionary psychology have produced a number of cognitive models of reasoning, learning and language that are underpinned by computatio

Processing mathematical thinking through digital pedagogical media: the spreadsheet

Abstract This study is concerned with the ways mathematical understanding emerges when mathematical phenomena are encountered through digital pedagogical media, the spreadsheet, in particular. Central to this, was an examination of the affordances digital technologies offer, and how the affordances associated with investigating mathematical tasks in the spreadsheet environment, shaped the learning trajectories of the participants. Two categories of participating students were involved, ten-year-old primary school pupils, and pre-service teachers. An eclectic approach to data collection, including qualitative and quantitative methods, was initially undertaken, but as my research perspective evolved, a moderate hermeneutic frame emerged as the most productive way in which to examine the research questions. A hermeneutic process transformed the research methodology, as well as the manner in which the data were interpreted. The initial analysis and evolving methodology not only informed this transition to a moderate hermeneutic lens, they were constitutive of the ongoing research perspectives and their associated interpretations. The data, and some that was subsequently collected, were then reconsidered from this modified position. The findings indicated that engaging mathematical tasks through the pedagogical medium of the spreadsheet, influenced the nature of the investigative process in particular ways. As a consequence, the interpretations of the interactions, and the understandings this evoked, also differed. The students created and made connections between alternative models of the situations, while the visual, tabular structuring of the environment, in conjunction with its propensity to instantly manage large amounts of output accurately, facilitated their observation of patterns. They frequently investigated the visual nature of these patterns, and used visual referents in their interpretations and explanations. It also allowed them to pose and test their informal conjectures and generalisations in non-threatening circumstances, to reset investigative sub-goals easily, hence fostering risk taking in their approach. At times, the learning trajectory evolved in unexpected ways, and the data illustrated various alternative ways in which unexpected, visual output stimulated discussion and extended the boundaries of, or reorganised, their interaction and mathematical thinking. An examination of the visual perturbations, and other elements of learning as hermeneutic processes also revealed alternative understandings and explanations. Viewing the data and the research process through hermeneutic filters enhanced the connectivity between the emergence of individual mathematical understanding, and the cultural formation of mathematics. It permitted consideration of the ways this process influences the evolution of mathematics education research. While interpretive approaches are inevitably imbued with the researcher perspective in the analysis of what gets noticed, the research gave fresh insights into the ways learning emerges through digital pedagogical media, and the potential of this engagement to change the nature of mathematics education

A flexible object orientated design approach for the realisation of assistive technology

This thesis contributes to a growing body of research conducted by the Interactive Systems Research Group (ISRG) at Nottingham Trent University within the fields of accessibility and accessible technologies. Core to this research is the exploration of how interactive technologies can be developed and applied as platforms for education, rehabilitation and social inclusion. To this end the group has been actively evolving the User Sensitive and Inclusive Design (USID) methodology for the design, development and evaluation of accessible software and related technologies. This thesis contributes to the further development of the USID method with a focus on its application for the design of assistive technology

Modeling Human Group Behavior In Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds and massively-multiplayer online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. They provide new outlets for human social interaction that differ from both face-to-face interactions and non-physically-embodied social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. We aim to study group dynamics in these virtual worlds by collecting and analyzing public conversational patterns of users grouped in close physical proximity. To do this, we created a set of tools for monitoring, partitioning, and analyzing unstructured conversations between changing groups of participants in Second Life, a massively multi-player online user-constructed environment that allows users to construct and inhabit their own 3D world. Although there are some cues in the dialog, determining social interactions from unstructured chat data alone is a difficult problem, since these environments lack many of the cues that facilitate natural language processing in other conversational settings and different types of social media. Public chat data often features players who speak simultaneously, use jargon and emoticons, and only erratically adhere to conversational norms. Humans are adept social animals capable of identifying friendship groups from a combination of linguistic cues and social network patterns. But what is more important, the content of what people say or their history of social interactions? Moreover, is it possible to identify whether iii people are part of a group with changing membership merely from general network properties, such as measures of centrality and latent communities? These are the questions that we aim to answer in this thesis. The contributions of this thesis include: 1) a link prediction algorithm for identifying friendship relationships from unstructured chat data 2) a method for identifying social groups based on the results of community detection and topic analysis. The output of these two algorithms (links and group membership) are useful for studying a variety of research questions about human behavior in virtual worlds. To demonstrate this we have performed a longitudinal analysis of human groups in different regions of the Second Life virtual world. We believe that studies performed with our tools in virtual worlds will be a useful stepping stone toward creating a rich computational model of human group dynamics

A parallel transformations framework for cluster environments.

In recent years program transformation technology has matured into a practical solution for many software reengineering and migration tasks. FermaT, an industrial strength program transformation system, has demonstrated that legacy systems can be successfully transformed into efficient and maintainable structured C or COBOL code. Its core, a transformation engine, is based on mathematically proven program transformations and ensures that transformed programs are semantically equivalent to its original state. Its engine facilitates a Wide Spectrum Language (WSL), with low-level as well as high-level constructs, to capture as much information as possible during transformation steps. FermaT’s methodology and technique lack in provision of concurrent migration and analysis. This provision is crucial if the transformation process is to be further automated. As the constraint based program migration theory has demonstrated, it is inefficient and time consuming, trying to satisfy the enormous computation of the generated transformation sequence search-space and its constraints. With the objective to solve the above problems and to extend the operating range of the FermaT transformation system, this thesis proposes a Parallel Transformations Framework which makes parallel transformations processing within the FermaT environment not only possible but also beneficial for its migration process. During a migration process, many thousands of program transformations have to be applied. For example a 1 million line of assembler to C migration takes over 21 hours to be processed on a single PC. Various approaches of search, prediction techniques and a constraint-based approach to address the presented issues already exist but they solve them unsatisfactorily. To remedy this situation, this dissertation proposes a framework to extend transformation processing systems with parallel processing capabilities. The parallel system can analyse specified parallel transformation tasks and produce appropriate parallel transformations processing outlines. To underpin an automated objective, a formal language is introduced. This language can be utilised to describe and outline parallel transformation tasks whereas parallel processing constraints underpin the parallel objective. This thesis addresses and explains how transformation processing steps can be automatically parallelised within a reengineering domain. It presents search and prediction tactics within this field. The decomposition and parallelisation of transformation sequence search-spaces is outlined. At the end, the presented work is evaluated on practical case studies, to demonstrate different parallel transformations processing techniques and conclusions are drawn

Thinking the Problematic

The notion of »the problematic« has changed its meaning within the history of power and knowledge since the early 20th century, leading up to today's performative, neocybernetic fascination with generalized management ideas and technocratic models of science. This book explores central scenes, conceptual elaborations, and practical affiliations of what historically has been called »the problem« or »the problematic«. By way of considering modes of problematization as modes of inhabitation, intervention, and transformation the contributions map its current conceptual-political uses as well as onto-epistemological challenges. Thus, »problematization« is positioned as a critical concept that links, often in intricate ways, several currents from speculative philosophy to the formation of interdisciplinary fields. The »problematic«, as it turns out, has been the source of change in philosophy and the sciences all along