Futures Studies in the Interactive Society

This book consists of papers which were prepared within the framework of the research project (No. T 048539) entitled Futures Studies in the Interactive Society (project leader: Éva Hideg) and funded by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) between 2005 and 2009. Some discuss the theoretical and methodological questions of futures studies and foresight; others present new approaches to or procedures of certain questions which are very important and topical from the perspective of forecast and foresight practice. Each study was conducted in pursuit of improvement in futures fields

Connectionist simulation of attitude learning: Asymmetries in the acquisition of positive and negative evaluations

Connectionist computer simulation was employed to explore the notion that, if attitudes guide approach and avoidance behaviors, false negative beliefs are likely to remain uncorrected for longer than false positive beliefs. In Study 1, the authors trained a three-layer neural network to discriminate "good" and "bad" inputs distributed across a two-dimensional space. "Full feedback" training, whereby connection weights were modified to reduce error after every trial, resulted in perfect discrimination. "Contingent feedback," whereby connection weights were only updated following outputs representing approach behavior, led to several false negative errors (good inputs misclassified as bad). In Study 2, the network was redesigned to distinguish a system for learning evaluations from a mechanism for selecting actions. Biasing action selection toward approach eliminated the asymmetry between learning of good and bad inputs under contingent feedback. Implications for various attitudinal phenomena and biases in social cognition are discussed

Integration of DFDs into a UML - based model-driven engineering approach

The main aim of this article is to discuss how the functional and the object-oriented views can be inter-played to represent the various modeling perspectives of embedded systems.We discuss whether the object-oriented modeling paradigm, the predominant one to develop software at the present time, is also adequate for modeling embedded software and how it can be used with the functional paradigm.More specifically, we present how the main modeling tool of the traditional structured methods, data flow diagrams, can be integrated in an object-oriented development strategy based on the unified modeling language. The rationale behind the approach is that both views are important for modeling purposes in embedded systems environments, and thus a combined and integrated model is not only useful, but also fundamental for developing complex systems. The approach was integrated in amodel-driven engineering process, where tool support for the models used was provided. In addition, model transformations have been specified and implemented to automate the process.We exemplify the approach with an IPv6 router case study.FEDER -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(HH-02-383

Consciosusness in Cognitive Architectures. A Principled Analysis of RCS, Soar and ACT-R

This report analyses the aplicability of the principles of consciousness developed in the ASys project to three of the most relevant cognitive architectures. This is done in relation to their aplicability to build integrated control systems and studying their support for general mechanisms of real-time consciousness.\ud To analyse these architectures the ASys Framework is employed. This is a conceptual framework based on an extension for cognitive autonomous systems of the General Systems Theory (GST).\ud A general qualitative evaluation criteria for cognitive architectures is established based upon: a) requirements for a cognitive architecture, b) the theoretical framework based on the GST and c) core design principles for integrated cognitive conscious control systems

Reconceptualizing The Construct Of The Individual Writer In Composition Studies: A Felt Life Model Of Writing

Current scholars in composition and rhetoric emphasize how our worldview perspectives and intellectual positions are animated by our emotional investments, attachments, and commitments. However, despite disciplinary efforts to theorize “the writing subject” in Composition Studies from the 1960s on, I argue the field has yet to develop an integrated cognitive-emotional-motivational construct of the individual writer that comprehensively investigates how an individual’s cognition, emotion, and motivation shapes, and is influenced by, one’s writing process. In my dissertation project, I draw on a range of perspectives from composition studies, neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy to develop a model of the individual writer as an embodied, situated, and invested individual, one that I am calling an individual with a felt life, which I see as constituted by rich mixtures of cognition, emotion, and motivation that construct one’s sense of well-being (quality of life) and reflect one’s personal investments (goals, concerns, commitments) in the world. Since recent theories of human cognition and the emotion process contend that individuals engage with their world based on unconscious and conscious notions of value, or what is judged as important and even imperative to their survival and well-being, my felt life model of writing showcases how this valuation process involves perceiving, evaluating, and often reflecting on the personal meaning and relevance of what is happening in one’s body, mind, or environment during the writing process, as it connects with one’s needs, goals, or concerns within a writing situation or the world more broadly