Using First Order Inductive Learning as an Alternative to a Simulator in a Game Artificial Intelligence

Currently many game artificial intelligences attempt to determine their next moves by using a simulator to predict the effect of actions in the world. However, writing such a simulator is time-consuming, and the simulator must be changed substantially whenever a detail in the game design is modified. As such, this research project set out to determine if a version of the first order inductive learning algorithm could be used to learn rules that could then be used in place of a simulator. By eliminating the need to write a simulator for each game by hand, the entire Darmok 2 project could more easily adapt to additional real-time strategy games. Over time, Darmok 2 would also be able to provide better competition for human players by training the artificial intelligences to play against the style of a specific player. Most importantly, Darmok 2 might also be able to create a general solution for creating game artificial intelligences, which could save game development companies a substantial amount of money, time, and effort.Ram, Ashwin - Faculty Mentor ; Ontañón, Santi - Committee Member/Second Reade

Detecting Metagame Shifts in League of Legends Using Unsupervised Learning

Over the many years since their inception, the complexity of video games has risen considerably. With this increase in complexity comes an increase in the number of possible choices for players and increased difficultly for developers who try to balance the effectiveness of these choices. In this thesis we demonstrate that unsupervised learning can give game developers extra insight into their own games, providing them with a tool that can potentially alert them to problems faster than they would otherwise be able to find. Specifically, we use DBSCAN to look at League of Legends and the metagame players have formed with their choices and attempt to detect when the metagame shifts possibly giving the developer insight into what changes they should affect to achieve a more balanced, fun game

The Nature and Implementation of Representation in Biological Systems

I defend a theory of mental representation that satisfies naturalistic constraints. Briefly, we begin by distinguishing (i) what makes something a representation from (ii) given that a thing is a representation, what determines what it represents. Representations are states of biological organisms, so we should expect a unified theoretical framework for explaining both what it is to be a representation as well as what it is to be a heart or a kidney. I follow Millikan in explaining (i) in terms of teleofunction, explicated in terms of natural selection. To explain (ii), we begin by recognizing that representational states do not have content, that is, they are neither true nor false except insofar as they both “point to” or “refer” to something, as well as “say” something regarding whatever it is they are about. To distinguish veridical from false representations, there must be a way for these separate aspects to come apart; hence, we explain (ii) by providing independent theories of what I call f-reference and f-predication (the ‘f’ simply connotes ‘fundamental’, to distinguish these things from their natural language counterparts). Causal theories of representation typically founder on error, or on what Fodor has called the disjunction problem. Resemblance or isomorphism theories typically founder on what I’ve called the non-uniqueness problem, which is that isomorphisms and resemblance are practically unconstrained and so representational content cannot be uniquely determined. These traditional problems provide the motivation for my theory, the structural preservation theory, as follows. F-reference, like reference, is a specific, asymmetric relation, as is causation. F-predication, like predication, is a non-specific relation, as predicates typically apply to many things, just as many relational systems can be isomorphic to any given relational system. Putting these observations together, a promising strategy is to explain f-reference via causal history and f-predication via something like isomorphism between relational systems. This dissertation should be conceptualized as having three parts. After motivating and characterizing the problem in chapter 1, the first part is the negative project, where I review and critique Dretske’s, Fodor’s, and Millikan’s theories in chapters 2-4. Second, I construct my theory about the nature of representation in chapter 5 and defend it from objections in chapter 6. In chapters 7-8, which constitute the third and final part, I address the question of how representation is implemented in biological systems. In chapter 7 I argue that single-cell intracortical recordings taken from awake Macaque monkeys performing a cognitive task provide empirical evidence for structural preservation theory, and in chapter 8 I use the empirical results to illustrate, clarify, and refine the theory

Incrementally resolving references in order to identify visually present objects in a situated dialogue setting

Kennington C. Incrementally resolving references in order to identify visually present objects in a situated dialogue setting. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2016.The primary concern of this thesis is to model the resolution of spoken referring expressions made in order to identify objects; in particular, everyday objects that can be perceived visually and distinctly from other objects. The practical goal of such a model is for it to be implemented as a component for use in a live, interactive, autonomous spoken dialogue system. The requirement of interaction imposes an added complication; one that has been ignored in previous models and approaches to automatic reference resolution: the model must attempt to resolve the reference incrementally as it unfolds–not wait until the end of the referring expression to begin the resolution process. Beyond components in dialogue systems, reference has been a major player in the philosophy of meaning for longer than a century. For example, Gottlob Frege (1892) has distinguished between Sinn (sense) and Bedeutung (reference), discussed how they are related and how they relate to the meaning of words and expressions. It has furthermore been argued (e.g., Dahlgren (1976)) that reference to entities in the actual world is not just a fundamental notion of semantic theory, but the fundamental notion; for an individual acquiring a language, understanding the meaning of many words and concepts is done via the task of reference, beginning in early childhood. In this thesis, we pursue an account of word meaning that is based on perception of objects; for example, the meaning of the word red is based on visual features that are selected as distinguishing red objects from non-red ones. This thesis proposes two statistical models of incremental reference resolution. Given ex- amples of referring expressions and visual aspects of the objects to which those expressions referred, both model components learn a functional mapping between the words of the refer- ring expressions and the visual aspects. A generative model, the simple incremental update model, presented in Chapter 5, uses a mediating variable to learn the mapping, whereas a dis- criminative model, the words-as-classifiers model, presented in Chapter 6, learns the mapping directly and improves over the generative model. Both models have been evaluated in various reference resolution tasks to objects in virtual scenes as well as real, tangible objects. This thesis shows that both models work robustly and are able to resolve referring expressions made in reference to visually present objects despite realistic, noisy conditions of speech and object recognition. A theoretical and practical comparison is also provided. Special emphasis is given to the discriminative model in this thesis because of its simplicity and ability to represent word meanings. It is in the learning and application of this model that gives credence to the above claim that reference is the fundamental notion for semantic theory and that meanings of (visual) words is done through experiencing referring expressions made to objects that are visually perceivable

Writing as dancing: The dancer in your hands , a novella \u3c\u3e

With the premise to ‘write like I dance,’ Writing as dancing investigates new methods of accessing and revealing choreographic thinking in three distinct ways; writing as a soloist, writing for the ensemble and writing responsively in collaboration. Resulting iterations have variously emerged in the form of performance, novella, play, artist-book, exhibition and long form poem; the novella The Dancer in Your Hands, being the primary solo work presented alongside this exegesis. The research posits engagement with solo dance improvisation practice as a dynamically charged, and tangible way of thinking that is transferable to the practice of writing. It draws on the quick shifting associational response systems and states of heightened attention as developed in the response project in my MA (2002). Writing as dancing proposes the activation of the ‘State of Dancingness’ in mobilising the act of writing as the centralisation of embodiment, and investigates the capability of the professional dancing body to reorient the relationship between dancing and the act of writing. This reorientation is discussed through examining fields of performance writing, feminist texts and queer phenomenology to excavate the liminal spaces between disciplines and the unhiding of emergent content. The agency of the dancer as author provokes new publishing platforms and an expanded readership for dance via the publication of embodied texts. She breathes

Pessimism, Paranoia, Melancholia: The affective life of austerity

This thesis examines the affective life of austerity with a particular focus on UK public libraries. It moves understandings of austerity beyond simply a fiscal policy towards conceptualising austerity as lived and felt in everyday life. This understands austerity as simultaneously an economic, social and cultural phenomenon. This does not jettison austerity as a fiscal policy, but rather emphasises that austerity is also a phenomenon that is rooted in lived experience. This research is based upon eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in a borough-wide library service, North-East England. This thesis examines a particular form in which austerity is lived and felt – namely its affective presence. It not only explores how austerity becomes individually felt, but also collectively felt and participated in. It conceptualises austerity as an affective atmosphere that envelops multiple space-times of the everyday. The thesis examines how austerity becomes the ‘background noise’ of everyday life that ebbs and flows in its intensity, how it shapes capacities to feel and act, how austerity is in some way always there, ready to make itself present. Three collectively felt affects are explored in great detail: paranoia, melancholia and pessimism. Importantly, this thesis pushes forward debates on the temporality of affect and, in particular, the temporality of affective atmospheres, through examining the ways in which atmospheres re-emerge throughout everyday life. As part of this it turns to psychoanalytic concepts to explore how they can be collectively felt. The thesis examines how psychoanalytic concepts have application beyond the ontological stance of the unconscious towards thinking about collective life. Finally, this thesis develops the concept and practice of lingering within research. The thesis examines how lingering can be become a methodological tool within affective research and ethnographic research more broadly

New Fundamental Technologies in Data Mining

The progress of data mining technology and large public popularity establish a need for a comprehensive text on the subject. The series of books entitled by "Data Mining" address the need by presenting in-depth description of novel mining algorithms and many useful applications. In addition to understanding each section deeply, the two books present useful hints and strategies to solving problems in the following chapters. The contributing authors have highlighted many future research directions that will foster multi-disciplinary collaborations and hence will lead to significant development in the field of data mining

Design and social innovation at the margins: finding and making cultures of plurality

Design has become a global activity dominated by one set of cultural interests to produce a consistency of practice. This essay uses an experience of design for social innovation in northern Finland, inspired by land and place, to speculate upon the dimensions across which plurality in designing could be embraced in an increasingly globalized world. Informed by discussions while helping to run the Design and Social Innovation in Asia-Pacific events of 2016, it uses Kasulis’ analysis of cultural orientation and his insight that a key difference underpinning cultures is how people may orientate towards intimacy and integrity. It then explores what a form of intimate design might look like. In doing so, it uses Ingold’s study of North-ness to challenge totalizing narratives of progress and explore what a marginal view can offer to address site-specific needs and dispense with design orthodoxies