Design as interactions of problem framing and problem solving

This paper introduces a model of framing in design. The model takes into account a reflective nature of designing, and it is based on the interplay between two conceptually distinct knowledge sources – an explicit specification of a problem and a solution to it. The approach is novel in the former investigated aspect that is presented as a semi-formal operation of framing, i.e. interpretation of a problem using selected conceptual primitives. We argue that the interpretation of design problems lacks a similar rigorous investigation as problem solving received in both design theory and methodology. Furthermore, two design schemas of frame refinement and problem re-framing are discussed and exemplified

Commonsense axiomatizations for logic programs

AbstractVarious semantics for logic programs with negation are described in terms of a dualized program together with additional axioms, some of which are second-order formulas. The semantics of Clark, Fitting, and Kunen are characterized in this framework, and a finite first-order presentation of Kunen's semantics is described. A new axiom to represent “commonsense” reasoning is proposed for logic programs. It is shown that the well-founded semantics and stable models are definable with this axiom. The roles of domain augmentation and domain closure are examined. A “domain foundation” axiom is proposed to replace the domain closure axiom

Modelling the evolution of socio-political complexity

The level of organisation required to maintain cohesion in the vast societies we live in today is unprecedented in our past. In this thesis I look into why human societies began to shift from the small-scale groups which characterises the vast majority of human past, into the large-scale entities most of us currently live in. Several ideas have been proposed to explain why many different features of social complexity began to coalesce together in some areas of the world before others, each with some level of support from the archaeological record. In this thesis I have taken a different approach. I rigorously test one hypothesis for its logical consistency before applying it to archaeological data by formalising it as an agent-based model. The hypothesis described by Robert Carneiro (1970, 2012a) suggests that the more limited population movement is through environmental, resource, or social circumscription, the more likely complex societies are to form. By constructing agent-based models from this hypothesis I can show the conditions under which this statement is true, and have identified several areas where assumptions were not made explicit in the original hypothesis. By adapting the models to correspond with the conditions of the Valley of Oaxaca in highland Mexico, I show the extent to which the circumscription theory may explain the emergence of social complexity there and where the gaps in our knowledge lie. In creating and testing an agent-based model of the circumscription hypothesis I have shown how agent-based models may be used in archaeology to deepen our understanding of verbal theories and identified conditions which could have intensified the emergence of complex societies around the world.Natural Environment Research Council (NERC

Entanglement of Purification and Multiboundary Wormhole Geometries

We posit a geometrical description of the entanglement of purification for subregions in a holographic CFT. The bulk description naturally generalizes the two-party case and leads to interesting inequalities among multi-party entanglements of purification that can be geometrically proven from the conjecture. Further, we study the relationship between holographic entanglements of purification in locally-AdS3 spacetimes and entanglement entropies in multi-throated wormhole geometries constructed via quotienting by isometries. In particular, we derive new holographic inequalities for geometries that are locally AdS3 relating entanglements of purification for subregions and entanglement entropies in the wormhole geometries.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures; v2 added references; v3 fixed inequality direction in Eq.(2), expanded discussion - reflects published versio