Profiling is Politically \u27Correct\u27: Agent-Based Modeling of Ethno-Political Conflict

A holy grail for military, diplomatic, and intelligence analysis is a valid set of software agent models that act as the desired ethno-political factions so that one can test the effects that may arise from alternative courses of action in different lands. This article enumerates the challenges of such a testbed and describes best-of-breed leader and follower profiling models implemented to improve the realism and validity of the agent. Realistic, \u27descriptive\u27 agents are contrasted to rational actor theory in terms of the different equilibria one would expect to emerge in conflict games. These predictions are examined in two real world cases (Iraq and SE Asia) where the agent models are subjected to validity tests and a policy experiment is then run. We conclude by arguing that substantial effort on game realism, best-of-breed social science models, and agent validation efforts is essential if analytic experiments are to effectively explore conflicts and alternative ways to influence outcomes. Such efforts are likely to improve behavioral game theory as well

A Generalized Spatial Measure for Resilience of Microbial Systems

The emergent property of resilience is the ability of a system to return to an original state after a disturbance. Resilience may be used as an early warning system for significant or irreversible community transition; that is, a community with diminishing or low resilience may be close to catastrophic shift in function or an irreversible collapse. Typically, resilience is quantified using recovery time, which may be difficult or impossible to directly measure in microbial systems. A recent study in the literature showed that under certain conditions, a set of spatial-based metrics termed recovery length, can be correlated to recovery time, and thus may be a reasonable alternative measure of resilience. However, this spatial metric of resilience is limited to use for step-change perturbations. Building upon the concept of recovery length, we propose a more general form of the spatial metric of resilience that can be applied to any shape of perturbation profiles (for example, either sharp or smooth gradients). We termed this new spatial measure “perturbation-adjusted spatial metric of resilience” (PASMORE). We demonstrate the applicability of the proposed metric using a mathematical model of a microbial mat

El programa Etnomatemáticas: bases cognitivas, antropológicas, históricas y socioculturales

This document was originally presented at the Segundo Coloquio Internacional de la Teoría de la Objetivación, Laurentian University, Canadá; Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Colombia; Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Mexico: Instituto Politécnico Nacional, México, 17 al 20 de enero de 2017.We discuss the concept of knowledge and the cognitive process backing the evolution of knowledge in the human species. This leads to a reflection about the meaning peace. In simple terms, peace is the capability of dealing with conflicts [which are unavoidable as a result of individual differences] without the resource to arrogance and to bigotry, which culminates in aggression and violent confrontation. A road to peace is the reformulation of education. A proposal of a new concept of curriculum is presented and there is a brief discussion of the Program Ethnomathematics as the realization of the proposal.Discutimos el concepto de conocimiento y el proceso cognitivo de soporte a la evolución del conocimiento en la especie humana. Esto conduce a una reflexión sobre el significado de paz. En términos simples, la paz es la capacidad de lidiar con conflictos [que son inevitables como consecuencia de las diferencias individuales] sin el recurso a la arrogancia y fanatismo, que culmina en agresión y la confrontación violenta. Un camino hacia la paz es la reformulación de la educación. Se presenta una propuesta de un nuevo concepto de currículo y hay una breve discusión del Programa Etnomatemáticas como la realización de la propuesta.Universidad de Granada. Grupo de Investigación Didáctica de la Matemática: Pensamiento Numérico (FQM-193

Modeling Factions for \u27Effects Based Operations\u27: Part I Leader and Follower Behaviors

This paper presents a synthetic approach for generating role playing simulation games intended to support analysts (and trainees) interested in testing alternative competing courses of action (operations) and discovering what effects they are likely to precipitate in potential ethno-political conflict situations. Simulated leaders and followers capable of playing these games are implemented in a cognitive modeling framework, called PMFserv, which covers value systems, personality and cultural factors, emotions, relationships, perception, stress/coping style and decision making. Of direct interest, as Sect. 1.1 explains, is mathematical representation and synthesis of best-of-breed behavioral science models within this framework to reduce dimensionality and to improve the realism and internal validity of the agent implementations. Sections 2 and 3 present this for leader profiling instruments and group membership decision-making, respectively. Section 4 serves as an existence proof that the framework has generated several training and analysis tools, and Sect. 5 concludes with lessons learned. Part II turns to the question of assessment of the synthesis and its usage in course of action studies

CONCEIVING AND GENERATING A VIABLE COMPLEXITY MODEL FOR PERSONAL AND/OR ENTREPRENEURIAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

This article proposes on the one hand to do research and study – with a genuine approach, inspiredand deep-rooted in the method of the sociological school in Bucharest and creatively renewed and integrating thenewest acquisitions of complexity science – the representative intricate entity “man as an economic actor (resourceand potential) within the industrial organization and corporation in mono-industrial area (region) in the period inwhich the phenomenon of transition from an industrial society to knowledge society takes place; and on the otherhand our project proposes to conceive a viable model of change and career of the human resources in the ElectricPlant of Rovinari as well as to conceive and accomplish a pilot-model of a platform in order to support the efficientimplement through a research-action approach of the model of personal and/or entrepreneurship change and careerof the human resources in the Electric Plant of Rovinari

Conceptual graph-based knowledge representation for supporting reasoning in African traditional medicine

Although African patients use both conventional or modern and traditional healthcare simultaneously, it has been proven that 80% of people rely on African traditional medicine (ATM). ATM includes medical activities stemming from practices, customs and traditions which were integral to the distinctive African cultures. It is based mainly on the oral transfer of knowledge, with the risk of losing critical knowledge. Moreover, practices differ according to the regions and the availability of medicinal plants. Therefore, it is necessary to compile tacit, disseminated and complex knowledge from various Tradi-Practitioners (TP) in order to determine interesting patterns for treating a given disease. Knowledge engineering methods for traditional medicine are useful to model suitably complex information needs, formalize knowledge of domain experts and highlight the effective practices for their integration to conventional medicine. The work described in this paper presents an approach which addresses two issues. First it aims at proposing a formal representation model of ATM knowledge and practices to facilitate their sharing and reusing. Then, it aims at providing a visual reasoning mechanism for selecting best available procedures and medicinal plants to treat diseases. The approach is based on the use of the Delphi method for capturing knowledge from various experts which necessitate reaching a consensus. Conceptual graph formalism is used to model ATM knowledge with visual reasoning capabilities and processes. The nested conceptual graphs are used to visually express the semantic meaning of Computational Tree Logic (CTL) constructs that are useful for formal specification of temporal properties of ATM domain knowledge. Our approach presents the advantage of mitigating knowledge loss with conceptual development assistance to improve the quality of ATM care (medical diagnosis and therapeutics), but also patient safety (drug monitoring)