Reasoning about context in uncertain pervasive computing environments

Context-awareness is a key to enabling intelligent adaptation in pervasive computing applications that need to cope with dynamic and uncertain environments. Addressing uncertainty is one of the major issues in context-based situation modeling and reasoning approaches. Uncertainty can be caused by inaccuracy, ambiguity or incompleteness of sensed context. However, there is another aspect of uncertainty that is associated with human concepts and real-world situations. In this paper we propose and validate a Fuzzy Situation Inference (FSI) technique that is able to represent uncertain situations and reflect delta changes of context in the situation inference results. The FSI model integrates fuzzy logic principles into the Context Spaces (CS) model, a formal and general context reasoning and modeling technique for pervasive computing environments. The strengths of fuzzy logic for modeling and reasoning of imperfect context and vague situations are combined with the CS model's underlying theoretical basis for supporting context-aware pervasive computing scenarios. An implementation and evaluation of the FSI model are presented to highlight the benefits of the FSI technique for context reasoning under uncertainty</p

Towards Best Practice Framing of Uncertainty in Scientific Publications: A Review of Water Resources Research Abstracts

Uncertainty is recognized as a key issue in water resources research, amongst other sciences. Discussions of uncertainty typically focus on tools and techniques applied within an analysis, e.g. uncertainty quantification and model validation. But uncertainty is also addressed outside the analysis, in writing scientific publications. The language that authors use conveys their perspective of the role of uncertainty when interpreting a claim —what we call here “framing” the uncertainty. This article promotes awareness of uncertainty framing in four ways. 1) It proposes a typology of eighteen uncertainty frames, addressing five questions about uncertainty. 2) It describes the context in which uncertainty framing occurs. This is an interdisciplinary topic, involving philosophy of science, science studies, linguistics, rhetoric, and argumentation. 3) We analyze the use of uncertainty frames in a sample of 177 abstracts from the Water Resources Research journal in 2015. This helped develop and tentatively verify the typology, and provides a snapshot of current practice. 4) Provocative recommendations promote adjustments for a more influential, dynamic science. Current practice in uncertainty framing might be described as carefully-considered incremental science. In addition to uncertainty quantification and degree of belief (present in ~5% of abstracts), uncertainty is addressed by a combination of limiting scope, deferring to further work (~25%) and indicating evidence is sufficient (~40%) – or uncertainty is completely ignored (~8%). There is a need for public debate within our discipline to decide in what context different uncertainty frames are appropriate. Uncertainty framing cannot remain a hidden practice evaluated only by lone reviewers

Linear and Quadratic GUP, Liouville Theorem, Cosmological Constant, and Brick Wall Entropy

Motivated by the works on Equivalence Principle in the context of linear Generalized Uncertainty Principle and, independently, in the context of quadratic Generalized Uncertainty Principle, we expand these endeavors in the context of Generalized Uncertainty Principle when both linear and quadratic terms in momentum are include. We demonstrate how the definitions of equations of motion change upon that expansion. We also show how to obtain an analogue of Liouville theorem in the presence of linear and quadratic Generalized Uncertainty Principle. We employ the corresponding modified invariant unit volume of phase space to discuss the resulting density of states, the problem of cosmological constant, the black body radiation in curved spacetime, the concurrent energy and consequent no Brick Wall entropy.Comment: v1: 10 pages, RevTex, 7 figures; v2: references updated, one footnote added; v3: two footnotes and references added, no change in physics, to appear in EPJ

On the uncertainty relations and squeezed states for the quantum mechanics on a circle

The uncertainty relations for the position and momentum of a quantum particle on a circle are identified minimized by the corresponding coherent states. The sqeezed states in the case of the circular motion are introduced and discussed in the context of the uncertainty relations.Comment: 4 figure

When does aggregation reduce uncertainty aversion?

We study the problem of uncertainty sharing within a household: "risk sharing," in a context of Knightian uncertainty. A household shares uncertain prospects using a social welfare function. We characterize the social welfare functions such that the household is collectively less averse to uncertainty than each member, and satises the Pareto principle and an independence axiom. We single out the sum of certainty equivalents as the unique member of this family which provides quasiconcave rankings over risk-free allocations