463 research outputs found
A natureza da ciĂȘncia empĂrica segundo Berkeley
Tradução para o portuguĂȘs do capĂtulo 5 do livro "Berkeley" (Oxford University Press, 1982), Cap. 5, p. 47-57. Republicado em The British Empiricists: Locke, Berkeley, Hume (Oxford University Press, 1992)
Motion Planning of Autonomous Vehicles on a Dual Carriageway without Speed Lanes
The problem of motion planning of an autonomous vehicle amidst other vehicles on a straight road is considered. Traffic in a number of countries is unorganized, where the vehicles do not move within predefined speed lanes. In this paper, we formulate a mechanism wherein an autonomous vehicle may travel on the âwrongâ side in order to overtake a vehicle. Challenges include assessing a possible overtaking opportunity, cooperating with other vehicles, partial driving on the âwrongâ side of the road and safely going to and returning from the âwrongâ side. The experimental results presented show vehicles cooperating to accomplish overtaking manoeuvres
A-B-C â Shaping Alphabets with Methods of Outdoor and Multisensory Learning
In this study the development of literacy skills is connected to outdoor learning, visual arts, and the thinking skills method. The study represents design research where the teachers and the researchers actively work together pursuing for more child-centered and motivating pedagogical approaches for learning literacy. The teaching experiment described in this article consists of playing with the shapes of alphabets, creating the forms of alphabets, and trying to find those alphabets in the outdoor environment, and empathizing with imaginary characters living in the immediate surroundings of the school. The methods used in the experiment brought child-centeredness and playfulness to learning. The holistic approach encouraged children to be active and supported their achieving a range of learning goals simultaneously and effectively
Ultimate Limit State Response of Reinforced Concrete Columns for Use in Performance-Based Analysis and Design
The design of reinforced concrete structures for extreme events requires accurate
predictions of the ultimate rotational capacity of critical sections, which is dictated by
the failure mechanisms of shear, hoop fracture, low-cycle fatigue and longitudinal bar
buckling. The purpose of this research is to develop a model for the full compressive
behavior of longitudinal steel including the effects of bar buckling. A computational
algorithm is developed whereby experimental data can be rigorously modeled. An
analytical model is developed from rational mechanics for modeling the complete
compressive stress-strain behavior of steel including local buckling effects. The global
buckling phenomenon is then investigated in which trends are established using a
rigorous computational analysis, and a limit analysis is used to derive simplified design
and analysis equations. The derived buckling models are incorporated into wellestablished
sectional analysis routines to predict full member behavior, and the
application of these routines is demonstrated via an incremental dynamic analysis of a
ten-storey reinforced concrete building. The buckling models and the sectional analysis
routine compare favorably with experimental data. Design recommendations and topics
for further research are presented
Automating Vehicles by Deep Reinforcement Learning using Task Separation with Hill Climbing
Within the context of autonomous driving a model-based reinforcement learning
algorithm is proposed for the design of neural network-parameterized
controllers. Classical model-based control methods, which include sampling- and
lattice-based algorithms and model predictive control, suffer from the
trade-off between model complexity and computational burden required for the
online solution of expensive optimization or search problems at every short
sampling time. To circumvent this trade-off, a 2-step procedure is motivated:
first learning of a controller during offline training based on an arbitrarily
complicated mathematical system model, before online fast feedforward
evaluation of the trained controller. The contribution of this paper is the
proposition of a simple gradient-free and model-based algorithm for deep
reinforcement learning using task separation with hill climbing (TSHC). In
particular, (i) simultaneous training on separate deterministic tasks with the
purpose of encoding many motion primitives in a neural network, and (ii) the
employment of maximally sparse rewards in combination with virtual velocity
constraints (VVCs) in setpoint proximity are advocated.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
Companions, playmates and status-symbols: pet-keeping in Medieval England
This dissertation examines archaeological evidence for pet keeping in Britain from the mid-1st Century AD until the 15th Century AD, to investigate past relationships between people and their pets. This thesis focusses on the presence of certain species (rabbits, squirrels) on archaeological sites and compile a spreadsheet with the data gathered, including sex, age, associated deposits and any visible pathologies. Both recent academic work and the documentary evidence show that pet keeping was more popular among children and women, and in the Middle Ages, both male and female members of the clergy; therefore this would suggest that pets are more likely to be present at sites frequented by these social subgroups, e.g. urban and ecclesiastical sites. This thesis will also discuss if the inclusion of pets in their ownerâs grave would be archaeologically recognisable, and if not then why this would be the case. It also aims to address how common this practise was during the time stretching between the Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages, and if there are any potential British examples of pet/human burials from this time period
Progress toward multiârobot reconnaissance and the MAGIC 2010 competition
Tasks like searchâandârescue and urban reconnaissance benefit from large numbers of robots working together, but high levels of autonomy are needed to reduce operator requirements to practical levels. Reducing the reliance of such systems on human operators presents a number of technical challenges, including automatic task allocation, global state and map estimation, robot perception, path planning, communications, and humanârobot interfaces. This paper describes our 14ârobot team, which won the MAGIC 2010 competition. It was designed to perform urban reconnaissance missions. In the paper, we describe a variety of autonomous systems that require minimal human effort to control a large number of autonomously exploring robots. Maintaining a consistent global map, which is essential for autonomous planning and for giving humans situational awareness, required the development of fast loopâclosing, map optimization, and communications algorithms. Key to our approach was a decoupled centralized planning architecture that allowed individual robots to execute tasks myopically, but whose behavior was coordinated centrally. We will describe technical contributions throughout our system that played a significant role in its performance. We will also present results from our system both from the competition and from subsequent quantitative evaluations, pointing out areas in which the system performed well and where interesting research problems remain. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93532/1/21426_ftp.pd
Educating through Exemplars: Alternative Paths to Virtue
This paper confronts Zagzebskiâs exemplarism with the intertwined debates over the conditions of exemplarity and the unity-disunity of the virtues, to show the advantages of a pluralistic exemplar-based approach to moral education (PEBAME). PEBAME is based on a prima facie disunitarist perspective in moral theory, which amounts to admitting both exemplarity in all respects and single-virtue exemplarity. First, we account for the advantages of PEBAME, and we show how two figures in
recent Italian history (Giorgio Perlasca and Gino Bartali) satisfy Blumâs definitions of âmoral heroâ and âmoral saintâ (1988). Then, we offer a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of heroes and saints with respect to character education, according to four criteria derived from PEBAME: admirability, virtuousness, transparency, and imitability. Finally, we conclude that both unitarist and disunitarist exemplars are fundamental to character education; this is because of the hero's superiority to the saint with respect to imitability, a fundamental feature of the exemplar for character
education
Millâs Moral Standard
A book chapter (about 7,000 words, plus references) on the interpretation of Millâs criterion of right and wrong, with particular attention to act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism, and sanction utilitarianism. Along the way, major topics include Millâs thoughts on liberalism, supererogation, the connection between wrongness and punishment, and breaking rules when doing so will produce more happiness than complying with them will
Saints, heroes, sages, and villains
This essay explores the question of how to be good. My starting point is
a thesis about moral worth that Iâve defended in the past: roughly, that an action is
morally worthy if and only it is performed for the reasons why it is right. While I
think that account gets at one important sense of moral goodness, I argue here that it
fails to capture several ways of being worthy of admiration on moral grounds. Moral
goodness is more multi-faceted. My title is intended to capture that multi-facetedness:
the essay examines saintliness, heroism, and sagacity. The variety of our
common-sense moral ideals underscores the inadequacy of any one account of
moral admirableness, and I hope to illuminate the distinct roles these ideals play in
our everyday understanding of goodness. Along the way, I give an account of what
makes actions heroic, of whether such actions are supererogatory, and of what, if
anything, is wrong with moral deference. At the close of the essay, I begin to
explore the flipside of these ideals: villainy
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