15,248 research outputs found
Reasoning about Action: An Argumentation - Theoretic Approach
We present a uniform non-monotonic solution to the problems of reasoning
about action on the basis of an argumentation-theoretic approach. Our theory is
provably correct relative to a sensible minimisation policy introduced on top
of a temporal propositional logic. Sophisticated problem domains can be
formalised in our framework. As much attention of researchers in the field has
been paid to the traditional and basic problems in reasoning about actions such
as the frame, the qualification and the ramification problems, approaches to
these problems within our formalisation lie at heart of the expositions
presented in this paper
t-DeLP: An argumentation-based Temporal Defeasible Logic Programming framework
The aim of this paper is to propose an argumentation-based defeasible logic, called t-DeLP, that focuses on forward temporal reasoning for causal inference. We extend the language of the DeLP logical framework by associating temporal parameters to literals. A temporal logic program is a set of basic temporal facts and (strict or defeasible) durative rules. Facts and rules combine into durative arguments representing temporal processes. As usual, a dialectical procedure determines which arguments are undefeated, and hence which literals are warranted, or defeasibly follow from the program. t-DeLP, though, slightly differs from DeLP in order to accommodate temporal aspects, like the persistence of facts. The output of a t-DeLP program is a set of warranted literals, which is first shown to be non-contradictory and be closed under sub-arguments. This basic framework is then modified to deal with programs whose strict rules encode mutex constraints. The resulting framework is shown to satisfy stronger logical properties like indirect consistency and closure. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish MICINN projects CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 Agreement Technologies CSD2007-00022 and ARINF TIN2009-14704-C03-03, with FEDER funds of the EU, and by the Generalitat de Catalunya grant 2009-SGR-1434Peer Reviewe
Social determinants of content selection in the age of (mis)information
Despite the enthusiastic rhetoric about the so called \emph{collective
intelligence}, conspiracy theories -- e.g. global warming induced by chemtrails
or the link between vaccines and autism -- find on the Web a natural medium for
their dissemination. Users preferentially consume information according to
their system of beliefs and the strife within users of opposite narratives may
result in heated debates. In this work we provide a genuine example of
information consumption from a sample of 1.2 million of Facebook Italian users.
We show by means of a thorough quantitative analysis that information
supporting different worldviews -- i.e. scientific and conspiracist news -- are
consumed in a comparable way by their respective users. Moreover, we measure
the effect of the exposure to 4709 evidently false information (satirical
version of conspiracy theses) and to 4502 debunking memes (information aiming
at contrasting unsubstantiated rumors) of the most polarized users of
conspiracy claims. We find that either contrasting or teasing consumers of
conspiracy narratives increases their probability to interact again with
unsubstantiated rumors.Comment: misinformation, collective narratives, crowd dynamics, information
spreadin
An Efficient Coding Theory for a Dynamic Trajectory Predicts non-Uniform Allocation of Grid Cells to Modules in the Entorhinal Cortex
Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex encode the position of an animal in its
environment using spatially periodic tuning curves of varying periodicity.
Recent experiments established that these cells are functionally organized in
discrete modules with uniform grid spacing. Here we develop a theory for
efficient coding of position, which takes into account the temporal statistics
of the animal's motion. The theory predicts a sharp decrease of module
population sizes with grid spacing, in agreement with the trends seen in the
experimental data. We identify a simple scheme for readout of the grid cell
code by neural circuitry, that can match in accuracy the optimal Bayesian
decoder of the spikes. This readout scheme requires persistence over varying
timescales, ranging from ~1ms to ~1s, depending on the grid cell module. Our
results suggest that the brain employs an efficient representation of position
which takes advantage of the spatiotemporal statistics of the encoded variable,
in similarity to the principles that govern early sensory coding.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures. Supplemental Information available from the
authors on request. A previous version of this work appeared in abstract form
(Program No. 727.02. 2015 Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Chicago, IL: Society
for Neuroscience, 2015. Online.
Alcune considerazioni sul rapporto tra semantica e metafisica nella teoria degli eventi di Kim
La teoria degli eventi che Kim delinea \ue8 considerata una delle pi\uf9 influenti teorie metafisiche de- gli eventi. In questo lavoro si presenta tale teoria e si esamina la sua plausibilit\ue0. In particolare, si indaga la tesi semantica di Kim secon- do cui due nominali per eventi sono coreferenziali solo se le espres- sioni predicative che essi contengono stanno per la stessa propriet\ue0. Inoltre, si esamina i) se gli eventi concepiti alla Kim debbano essere distinti dai fatti e ii) quali sono i motivi per cui tale teoria d\ue0 luogo ad una implausibile moltiplicazione degli eventi
Collaborative design : managing task interdependencies and multiple perspectives
This paper focuses on two characteristics of collaborative design with
respect to cooperative work: the importance of work interdependencies linked to
the nature of design problems; and the fundamental function of design
cooperative work arrangement which is the confrontation and combination of
perspectives. These two intrinsic characteristics of the design work stress
specific cooperative processes: coordination processes in order to manage task
interdependencies, establishment of common ground and negotiation mechanisms in
order to manage the integration of multiple perspectives in design
About Norms and Causes
Knowing the norms of a domain is crucial, but there exist no repository of
norms. We propose a method to extract them from texts: texts generally do not
describe a norm, but rather how a state-of-affairs differs from it. Answers
concerning the cause of the state-of-affairs described often reveal the
implicit norm. We apply this idea to the domain of driving, and validate it by
designing algorithms that identify, in a text, the "basic" norms to which it
refers implicitly
Getting rid of Keynes ? A survey of the history of macroeconomics from Keynes to Lucas and beyond
The aim of this paper is to recount the ebbs and flows of Keynesianism over the history of macroeconomics. The bulk of the paper consists of a discussion of the main episodes of the unfolding of macroeconomics (Keynesian macroeconomics, monetarism, new classical macroeconomics, real business cycle models and new neoclassical synthesis models) against the background of a distinction between Keynesianism as a ‘moderately conservative’ (Keynes’s words) vision about the working of the market system and as a conceptual apparatus. Particular attention is given to the contrast between Keynesian and Lucasian macroeconomics. The paper ends with a few remarks about the impact of the present crisis on the development of macroeconomic theoryKeynes, Lucas, history of macroeconomics
Planning with Incomplete Information
Planning is a natural domain of application for frameworks of reasoning about
actions and change. In this paper we study how one such framework, the Language
E, can form the basis for planning under (possibly) incomplete information. We
define two types of plans: weak and safe plans, and propose a planner, called
the E-Planner, which is often able to extend an initial weak plan into a safe
plan even though the (explicit) information available is incomplete, e.g. for
cases where the initial state is not completely known. The E-Planner is based
upon a reformulation of the Language E in argumentation terms and a natural
proof theory resulting from the reformulation. It uses an extension of this
proof theory by means of abduction for the generation of plans and adopts
argumentation-based techniques for extending weak plans into safe plans. We
provide representative examples illustrating the behaviour of the E-Planner, in
particular for cases where the status of fluents is incompletely known.Comment: Proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Non-Monotonic
Reasoning, April 9-11, 2000, Breckenridge, Colorad
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