An Architectural Approach to Ensuring Consistency in Hierarchical Execution

Hierarchical task decomposition is a method used in many agent systems to organize agent knowledge. This work shows how the combination of a hierarchy and persistent assertions of knowledge can lead to difficulty in maintaining logical consistency in asserted knowledge. We explore the problematic consequences of persistent assumptions in the reasoning process and introduce novel potential solutions. Having implemented one of the possible solutions, Dynamic Hierarchical Justification, its effectiveness is demonstrated with an empirical analysis

Problems with Using Evolutionary Theory in Philosophy

Does science move toward truths? Are present scientific theories (approximately) true? Should we invoke truths to explain the success of science? Do our cognitive faculties track truths? Some philosophers say yes, while others say no, to these questions. Interestingly, both groups use the same scientific theory, viz., evolutionary theory, to defend their positions. I argue that it begs the question for the former group to do so because their positive answers imply that evolutionary theory is warranted, whereas it is self-defeating for the latter group to do so because their negative answers imply that evolutionary theory is unwarranted

The ethics of workforce drug testing and HRM

19 page(s

'A thing apart': controlling male family migration to the UK

While gender offers valuable perspectives for understanding migration law, masculinity has received little attention. In family migration, men are generally regarded as economic agents and family as marginal to their lives, a view that is difficult to dislodge because it serves the purposes of governments anxious to reduce unwanted immigration. In British immigration law, measures have often explicitly or implicitly relied on such gender-based assumptions.Recently, lawyers have utilised the gap between official and unofficial standards by promoting test cases involving either a woman or a vulnerable man but where the principles established will benefit all migrants. Gains may be short-lived however as new ways emerge of making distinctions. These arguments are demonstrated in this article through examination of British immigration control and judicial decisions. The article finds that, in this arena, new understandings of masculinity and fatherhood have yet to make much impact

Estimating Effects and Making Predictions from Genome-Wide Marker Data

In genome-wide association studies (GWAS), hundreds of thousands of genetic markers (SNPs) are tested for association with a trait or phenotype. Reported effects tend to be larger in magnitude than the true effects of these markers, the so-called ``winner's curse.'' We argue that the classical definition of unbiasedness is not useful in this context and propose to use a different definition of unbiasedness that is a property of the estimator we advocate. We suggest an integrated approach to the estimation of the SNP effects and to the prediction of trait values, treating SNP effects as random instead of fixed effects. Statistical methods traditionally used in the prediction of trait values in the genetics of livestock, which predates the availability of SNP data, can be applied to analysis of GWAS, giving better estimates of the SNP effects and predictions of phenotypic and genetic values in individuals.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-STS306 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Subversive citizens: using free movement law to bypass the UK’s rules on marriage migration

In 2012, new and restrictive spousal reunification laws were implemented in the UK. EU free movement rules however have enabled British citizens to circumvent those restrictions by residing for a period in another Member State, and then returning with their family member to the UK. The article examines the resulting tension between national and EU law. It explores use of the Surinder Singh route (named after the court case which established the rule) against a background in which a much wider group of British citizens than previously are now ineligible for family reunification under national laws. The route is perceived as a threat to government authority in a critical area of national sovereignty, as demonstrated by its invocation in the Brexit process. The article draws on interviews with twenty families who used or planned to use the route and discusses how it provides a safety valve for those with high cultural, but insufficient economic, capital to fulfil the domestic rules. It provides insight into how legal categories are fluid and contingent, demanding analytical flexibility and awareness of their dynamic effect on the lives of marriage migrants and sponsors

Introduction: the invisible (migrant) man

Migration scholarship has often lagged behind developments in gender studies. The importance of gender has gained increasing recognition but this has predominantly meant a focus on women migrants; only recently has agendered lens been turned to the study of migrant men. Discourses surrounding migrationin law andgovernment, and in legal scholarship, remain characterised by neglect or dismissal of the gendered experiences of male migrants. Where they do appear, men are frequently cast as the oppressor of family members or as abusing legal channels of migration. Their vulnerabilities and affective ties and needs are rarely foregrounded. This negative representation may be instrumentalizedat a variety of levels, and for a variety of purposes, making it difficult for more nuanced critiques to gain purchase.This Special Issue seeks to extend the discussion of migration and gender by exploring the ways in which men’s gendered experiences of migration remain marginalised

Family friendly? The impact on children of the family migration rules: a review of the financial requirements

This report, published by the Children's Commissioner, explores the impact on children of the financial requirements of the Immigration Rules (the ‘Rules’), in particular, the minimum income threshold of £18,600 per annum which came into force on 9th July 2012. The Rules govern the admission of spouses and partners from outside the European Economic Area