Logic-Based Specification Languages for Intelligent Software Agents

The research field of Agent-Oriented Software Engineering (AOSE) aims to find abstractions, languages, methodologies and toolkits for modeling, verifying, validating and prototyping complex applications conceptualized as Multiagent Systems (MASs). A very lively research sub-field studies how formal methods can be used for AOSE. This paper presents a detailed survey of six logic-based executable agent specification languages that have been chosen for their potential to be integrated in our ARPEGGIO project, an open framework for specifying and prototyping a MAS. The six languages are ConGoLog, Agent-0, the IMPACT agent programming language, DyLog, Concurrent METATEM and Ehhf. For each executable language, the logic foundations are described and an example of use is shown. A comparison of the six languages and a survey of similar approaches complete the paper, together with considerations of the advantages of using logic-based languages in MAS modeling and prototyping.Comment: 67 pages, 1 table, 1 figure. Accepted for publication by the Journal "Theory and Practice of Logic Programming", volume 4, Maurice Bruynooghe Editor-in-Chie

The Copying Paradox: Why Converging Policies but Diverging Capacities in Eastern European Innovation Systems?

This paper analyzes the development of Eastern European innovation systems since the 1990s by looking at the theoretical and empirical accounts of two discourses that have had a significant impact on the development of innovation systems: innovation policy and public administration and management. We propose a framework for analyzing the development of innovation policies by distinguishing between two concepts – policy and administrative capacity – that are necessary for innovation policy making and implementation. Using the framework we show how the Eastern European innovation systems have because of past legacies and international policy transfers developed a highly specific understanding of innovation policy based on the initial impact of the Washington Consensus policies and later the European Union. We argue that because of the interplay between the principles and policy recommendations of the two international discourses we can see the emergence of a “copying paradox” in Eastern European innovation systems: that is, despite the perception of policy convergence, we can witness a divergence in the policy from the intended results, and as a result can talk about limited and de-contextualized policymaking capacities.- administrative capacity, catch-up, innovation policy, Eastern Europe

Research with Collaborative Unmanned Aircraft Systems

We provide an overview of ongoing research which targets development of a principled framework for mixed-initiative interaction with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). UASs are now becoming technologically mature enough to be integrated into civil society. Principled interaction between UASs and human resources is an essential component in their future uses in complex emergency services or bluelight scenarios. In our current research, we have targeted a triad of fundamental, interdependent conceptual issues: delegation, mixed- initiative interaction and adjustable autonomy, that is being used as a basis for developing a principled and well-defined framework for interaction. This can be used to clarify, validate and verify different types of interaction between human operators and UAS systems both theoretically and practically in UAS experimentation with our deployed platforms

Information in the Context of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences

This textbook briefly maps as many as possible areas and contexts in which information plays an important role. It attempts an approach that also seeks to explore areas of research that are not commonly associated, such as informatics, information and library science, information physics, or information ethics. Given that the text is intended especially for students of the Master's Degree in Cognitive Studies, emphasis is placed on a humane, philosophical and interdisciplinary approach. It offers rather directions of thought, questions, and contexts than a complete theory developed into mathematical and technical details

A Formal Model of Emotions: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects

When constructing a formal model of emotions for intelligent agents, two types of aspects have to be taken into account. First, qualitative aspects pertain to the conditions that elicit emotions. Second, quantitative aspects pertain to the actual experience and intensity of elicited emotions. In this presentation, we show how the qualitative aspects of a well-known psychological model of human emotions can be formalized in an agent specification language and how its quantitative aspects can be integrated into this model. Furthermore, we discuss several unspecified details and implicit assumptions in the psychological model that are explicated by this effort

The Crescent Student Newspaper, December 4, 1981

Student newspaper of Pacific College (later George Fox University). 8 pages, black and white.https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/the_crescent/1984/thumbnail.jp

The State of Out-of-School Girls in Sierra Leone: Findings Across Six Districts

The Girls' Circles baseline survey affirmed what we know – that girls' lives in Sierra Leone, especially those who are out of school, are characterised by multiple hardships: little to no education; the ubiquity of transactional sex; teen pregnancy; and everyday violence. Whilst little of this will be new for those who know Sierra Leone, the scale of these issues (which are likely to be under reported) is shocking, as is their everyday nature – girls struggling, for example, to identify violence where it is simply part of the fabric of their daily lives.This report was born out of a recognition that all of this rich data is available and should be shared with the world, particularly given the relative rarity of girls' voices being foregrounded in the Sierra Leonean context. It presents an opportunity for a 'state of the nation' summary about the lives of girls who are often most marginalised in Sierra Leone, and the findings are grounded in what girls themselves and their mentors are telling us about their lives.The availability of this nuanced data and verbatim accounts has enabled the report to go beyond the simplified or binary narratives often presented about girls, to present the realities of their lives, in their words. We hope this provides deep insight into their experiences and what lies behind these, as well as the possibilities for positive change

Dagstuhl News January - December 2002

"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic

Towards the Verification of Human-Robot Teams

Human-Agent collaboration is increasingly important. Not only do high-profile activities such as NASA missions to Mars intend to employ such teams, but our everyday activities involving interaction with computational devices falls into this category. In many of these scenarios, we are expected to trust that the agents will do what we expect and that the agents and humans will work together as expected. But how can we be sure? In this paper, we bring together previous work on the verification of multi-agent systems with work on the modelling of human-agent teamwork. Specifically, we target human-robot teamwork. This paper provides an outline of the way we are using formal verification techniques in order to analyse such collaborative activities. A particular application is the analysis of human-robot teams intended for use in future space exploration

Using Pilot Systems to Execute Many Task Workloads on Supercomputers

High performance computing systems have historically been designed to support applications comprised of mostly monolithic, single-job workloads. Pilot systems decouple workload specification, resource selection, and task execution via job placeholders and late-binding. Pilot systems help to satisfy the resource requirements of workloads comprised of multiple tasks. RADICAL-Pilot (RP) is a modular and extensible Python-based pilot system. In this paper we describe RP's design, architecture and implementation, and characterize its performance. RP is capable of spawning more than 100 tasks/second and supports the steady-state execution of up to 16K concurrent tasks. RP can be used stand-alone, as well as integrated with other application-level tools as a runtime system