70,493 research outputs found
A Formal Context Representation Framework for Network-Enabled Cognition
Network-accessible resources are inherently contextual with respect to the specific situations (e.g., location and default assumptions) in which they are used. Therefore, the explicit conceptualization and representation of contexts is required to address a number of problems in Network- Enabled Cognition (NEC). We propose a context representation framework to address the computational specification of contexts. Our focus is on developing a formal model of context for the unambiguous and effective delivery of data and knowledge, in particular, for enabling forms of automated inference that address contextual differences between agents in a distributed network environment. We identify several components for the conceptualization of contexts within the context representation framework. These include jurisdictions (which can be used to interpret contextual data), semantic assumptions (which highlight the meaning of data), provenance information and inter-context relationships. Finally, we demonstrate the application of the context representation framework in a collaborative military coalition planning scenario. We show how the framework can be used to support the representation of plan-relevant contextual information
Computer Science and Metaphysics: A Cross-Fertilization
Computational philosophy is the use of mechanized computational techniques to
unearth philosophical insights that are either difficult or impossible to find
using traditional philosophical methods. Computational metaphysics is
computational philosophy with a focus on metaphysics. In this paper, we (a)
develop results in modal metaphysics whose discovery was computer assisted, and
(b) conclude that these results work not only to the obvious benefit of
philosophy but also, less obviously, to the benefit of computer science, since
the new computational techniques that led to these results may be more broadly
applicable within computer science. The paper includes a description of our
background methodology and how it evolved, and a discussion of our new results.Comment: 39 pages, 3 figure
Abstract State Machines 1988-1998: Commented ASM Bibliography
An annotated bibliography of papers which deal with or use Abstract State
Machines (ASMs), as of January 1998.Comment: Also maintained as a BibTeX file at http://www.eecs.umich.edu/gasm
Amitav Ghosh and the Aesthetic Turn in Postcolonial Studies
This essay explores the aesthetic turn in postcolonial studies in light of the literary works of Indo-Burmese author Amitav Ghosh. While a renewed interest in aesthetic theories is apparent throughout the humanities in the past decade, it is particularly striking in postcolonial studies, where it holds out the possibility of blending the materialist/historicist and culturalist/textualist strands of postcolonial scholarship. Recent studies by Deepika Bahri, Nicholas Brown, Ato Quayson and others have been enormously promising; this essay argues for bringing their Frankfurt School-influenced aesthetic theories into conversation with other theories of aesthetics. Particular attention in this essay is given to the quasi-Kantian conception of beauty that emerges in Ghosh\u27s The Glass Palace (2001), which seeks to balance the desire for universal norms with the need to respect cultural differences
Designing Normative Theories for Ethical and Legal Reasoning: LogiKEy Framework, Methodology, and Tool Support
A framework and methodology---termed LogiKEy---for the design and engineering
of ethical reasoners, normative theories and deontic logics is presented. The
overall motivation is the development of suitable means for the control and
governance of intelligent autonomous systems. LogiKEy's unifying formal
framework is based on semantical embeddings of deontic logics, logic
combinations and ethico-legal domain theories in expressive classic
higher-order logic (HOL). This meta-logical approach enables the provision of
powerful tool support in LogiKEy: off-the-shelf theorem provers and model
finders for HOL are assisting the LogiKEy designer of ethical intelligent
agents to flexibly experiment with underlying logics and their combinations,
with ethico-legal domain theories, and with concrete examples---all at the same
time. Continuous improvements of these off-the-shelf provers, without further
ado, leverage the reasoning performance in LogiKEy. Case studies, in which the
LogiKEy framework and methodology has been applied and tested, give evidence
that HOL's undecidability often does not hinder efficient experimentation.Comment: 50 pages; 10 figure
Belief Revision, Minimal Change and Relaxation: A General Framework based on Satisfaction Systems, and Applications to Description Logics
Belief revision of knowledge bases represented by a set of sentences in a
given logic has been extensively studied but for specific logics, mainly
propositional, and also recently Horn and description logics. Here, we propose
to generalize this operation from a model-theoretic point of view, by defining
revision in an abstract model theory known under the name of satisfaction
systems. In this framework, we generalize to any satisfaction systems the
characterization of the well known AGM postulates given by Katsuno and
Mendelzon for propositional logic in terms of minimal change among
interpretations. Moreover, we study how to define revision, satisfying the AGM
postulates, from relaxation notions that have been first introduced in
description logics to define dissimilarity measures between concepts, and the
consequence of which is to relax the set of models of the old belief until it
becomes consistent with the new pieces of knowledge. We show how the proposed
general framework can be instantiated in different logics such as
propositional, first-order, description and Horn logics. In particular for
description logics, we introduce several concrete relaxation operators tailored
for the description logic \ALC{} and its fragments \EL{} and \ELext{},
discuss their properties and provide some illustrative examples
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