Situation based strategic positioning for coordinating a team of homogeneous agents

. In this paper we are proposing an approach for coordinating a team ofhomogeneous agents based on a flexible common Team Strategy as well as onthe concepts of Situation Based Strategic Positioning and Dynamic Positioningand Role Exchange. We also introduce an Agent Architecture including a specifichigh-level decision module capable of implementing this strategy. Ourproposal is based on the formalization of what is a team strategy for competingwith an opponent team having opposite goals. A team strategy is composed of aset of agent types and a set of tactics, which are also composed of several formations.Formations are used for different situations and assign each agent a defaultspatial positioning and an agent type (defining its behaviour at several levels).Agents reactivity is also introduced for appropriate response to the dynamicsof the current situation. However, in our approach this is done in a way thatpreserves team coherence instead of permitting uncoordinated agent behaviour.We have applied, with success, this coordination approach to the RoboSoccersimulated domain. The FC Portugal team, developed using this approach wonthe RoboCup2000 (simulation league) European and World championshipsscoring a total of 180 goals and conceding none

A Hybrid Multi-Robot Control Architecture

Multi-robot systems provide system redundancy and enhanced capability versus single robot systems. Implementations of these systems are varied, each with specific design approaches geared towards an application domain. Some traditional single robot control architectures have been expanded for multi-robot systems, but these expansions predominantly focus on the addition of communication capabilities. Both design approaches are application specific and limit the generalizability of the system. This work presents a redesign of a common single robot architecture in order to provide a more sophisticated multi-robot system. The single robot architecture chosen for application is the Three Layer Architecture (TLA). The primary strength of TLA is in the ability to perform both reactive and deliberative decision making, enabling the robot to be both sophisticated and perform well in stochastic environments. The redesign of this architecture includes incorporation of the Unified Behavior Framework (UBF) into the controller layer and an addition of a sequencer-like layer (called a Coordinator) to accommodate the multi-robot system. These combine to provide a robust, independent, and taskable individual architecture along with improved cooperation and collaboration capabilities, in turn reducing communication overhead versus many traditional approaches. This multi-robot systems architecture is demonstrated on the RoboCup Soccer Simulator showing its ability to perform well in a dynamic environment where communication constraints are high

Resurrecting a Witch: An Intimate Look at the Roles Faith and Politics Played During the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692

This work deals with the roles faith and politics played in the hearts and minds of those people who were caught up in the mass hysteria of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. It examines the trials through the colored lenses of several of Salem\u27s accused, their accusers, and the men who served as their judges. It focuses on the mishandling of the accused witches at both their hearings and trials, and how the purported visions seen by their accusers were often used as the sole evidence to indict, try, sentence, and hang many of the accused. Resurrecting a Witch does not claim to explain why Salem happened, rather it gives us a unique insight into the motivations behind the accusations of several of Salem\u27s accused witches. Furthermore, it intimately details the aftermath of Salem on the lives of two individuals who played key roles in the trials, and how that experience reshaped their hearts and brought them to regret their role in Salem\u27s injustices. Yet, the work does not end there, it also brings to the forefront a lesson for people today on what havoc can be wrought when misguided fear is paired with selfish desire. For Salem, this mixture of fear and desire would result in persons of faith who were willing to blindly accuse their neighbors of crimes they did not commit rather than to see themselves faced with that same fate. Resurrecting a Witch opens our eyes to the darker side of the human psyche, one that protects itself at all cost, even if the cost paid is the life of friend or even a member of our own family

From Community Governance to Customer Service and Back Again: Re-Examining Pre-Web Models of Online Governance to Address Platforms’ Crisis of Legitimacy

As online platforms grow, they find themselves increasingly trying to balance two competing priorities: individual rights and public health. This has coincided with the professionalization of platforms’ trust and safety operations—what we call the “customer service” model of online governance. As professional trust and safety teams attempt to balance individual rights and public health, platforms face a crisis of legitimacy, with decisions in the name of individual rights or public health scrutinized and criticized as corrupt, arbitrary, and irresponsible by stakeholders of all stripes. We review early accounts of online governance to consider whether the customer service model has obscured a promising earlier model where members of the affected community were significant, if not always primary, decision-makers. This community governance approach has deep roots in the academic computing community and has re-emerged in spaces like Reddit and special purpose social networks and in novel platform initiatives such as the Oversight Board and Community Notes. We argue that community governance could address persistent challenges of online governance, particularly online platforms’ crisis of legitimacy. In addition, we think community governance may offer valuable training in democratic participation for users

The BG News January 20, 2000

The BGSU campus student newspaper January 20, 2000. Volume 85 - Issue 7https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/7588/thumbnail.jp

“There is only power”: Surveying the Structures and Operations of Power in the Magical World of Harry Potter

As the internationally best-selling series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling moves into its second generation of readers, it becomes increasingly important to analyze the assumptions it communicates about power differentials between people and belief systems. A central tenant of narrative paradigm holds that humans are innately narrative, internalizing narrative frameworks as a means to understand the world which then become externalized through human action. Thus, while the social hierarchies, collective actions, and institutional authorities in the fantasy world of Harry Potter in some ways map onto Anglo-American social and political structures, the significant differences between these textual and “real world” structures reveal the complex, often entangled ways of distributing power in both contexts. Through identifying and analyzing the complex power systems within the Harry Potter novels, this essay critiques the contradicting power struggles that simultaneously pursue social revolution and maintenance of a traditional feudal fantasy. This involves an in-depth critique of how power is apportioned throughout society through four general locations of power. By locating power as ideological, individual, collective, and institutional it creates a framework to analyze the varying types of power exhibited in the Wizarding world, which is then used to interpret how these structures compete or cooperate. The competing power dynamics between locations of power, such as the individual power enacted by Harry and Dumbledore in their acts of civil disobedience against the Ministry of Magic, reflect the novels’ tension between the desire for social revolution and the desire for tradition/nostalgia. These competing desires that erupt from various power structures – which reflect many of the same structures and modes of thinking in the real world – invite a criticism of the narrative frameworks in the novels, which as they become externalized through human action invite criticism of the normative behaviors of real world power structures

A Program Evaluation of Immersive Devised Story Drama: Process and Impacts at a Summer Creativity Camp

This utilization-focused evaluation examined the relationship of a devised drama program at a summer youth camp to the campers’ social-emotional learning (SEL), creativity growth, and character development. Methods used in the study included surveys of parents, interviews of teachers, and focus groups of campers. Results indicated that the devised drama provides durable, effective enrichment in SEL, creativity growth, and character development. Data also suggested that engagement in the drama contributed to an enhanced ability to manage anxiety. Concluding recommendations propose the overt use of the vocabulary of SEL competencies and grade-level appropriate SEL curricula. Professional development in Applied Improvisation for teachers, adult SEL for counselors, and pursuing a national program accreditation were also recommended