Robot learning language — Integrating programming and learning for cognitive systems

One central property of cognitive systems is the ability to learn and to improve continually. We present a robot control language that combines programming and learning in order to make learning executable in the normal robot program. The language constructs of our learning language RoLL rely on the concept of hierarchical hybrid automata to enable a declarative, explicit specification of learning problems. Using the example of an autonomous household robot, we point out some instances where learning–and especially continued learning–makes the robot control program more cognitive.     

Net models of discrete information transducers. I

Dynamic net models of a special kind — discrete process generators — are considered. Their relation to automata, Petri nets, partially commutative monoids, and the theory of traces is examined.Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 5, pp. 83–90, September–October, 1991.     

– Ant System

Ant System, the first Ant Colony Optimization algorithm, showed to be a viable method for attacking hard combinatorial optimization problems. Yet, its performance, when compared to more fine-tuned algorithms, was rather poor for large instances of traditional benchmark problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem. To show that Ant Colony Optimization algorithms could be good alternatives to existing algorithms for hard combinatorial optimization problems, recent research in this area has mainly focused on the development of algorithmic variants which achieve better performance than Ant System.In this paper, we present – Ant System ( ), an Ant Colony Optimization algorithm derived from Ant System. differs from Ant System in several important aspects, whose usefulness we demonstrate by means of an experimental study. Additionally, we relate one of the characteristics specific to — that of using a greedier search than Ant System — to results from the search space analysis of the combinatorial optimization problems attacked in this paper. Our computational results on the Traveling Salesman Problem and the Quadratic Assignment Problem show that is currently among the best performing algorithms for these problems.     

Human–automation teams and adaptable control for future air traffic management

The design and management of human–automation teams for future air traffic systems require an understanding of principles of cognitive systems engineering, allocation of function and team adaptation. The current article proposes a framework of human–automation team adaptable control that incorporates adaptable automation [Oppermann, R., Simm, H., 1994. Adaptability: user-initiated individualization. In: Oppermann, R. (Ed.), Adaptive User Support: Ergonomic Design of Manually and Automatically Adaptable Software. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 14–64] with an Extended Control Model of Joint Cognitive System functioning [Hollnagel, E., Nåbo, A., Lau, I., 21–24 July 2003. A systemic model for driver-in-control. In: Paper Presented at the Second International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment, Training, and Vehicle Design, Public Policy Center, University of Iowa, Park City, UT] nested within a dynamic view of team adaptation [Burke, C.S., Stagl, K.C., Salas, E., Pierce, L., Kendall, D., 2006. Understanding team adaptation: a conceptual analysis and model. Journal of Applied Psychology 91, 1189–1207]. Modeling the temporal dynamics of the coordination of human–automation teams under conditions of Free Flight requires an appreciation of the episodic, cyclical nature of team processes from transition to action phases, along with the distinction of team processes from emergent states [Marks, M.A., Mathieu, J.E., Zaccaro, S.J., 2001. A temporally based framework and taxonomy of team processes. Academy of Management Review 26, 356–376]. The conceptual framework of human–automation team adaptable control provides a basis for future research and design.

Relevance to industry

The current article provides a conceptual framework to direct future investigations to determine the optimal design and management of Human–automation teams for Free Flight-based air traffic management systems.     

On Hybrid Petri Nets

Petrinets (PNs) are widely used to model discrete event dynamic systems(computer systems, manufacturing systems, communication systems,etc). Continuous Petri nets (in which the markings are real numbersand the transition firings are continuous) were defined morerecently; such a PN may model a continuous system or approximatea discrete system. A hybrid Petri net can be obtained if onepart is discrete and another part is continuous. This paper isbasically a survey of the work of the authors' team on hybridPNs (definition, properties, modeling). In addition, it containsnew material such as the definition of extended hybrid PNs andseveral applications, explanations and comments about the timingsin Petri nets, more on the conflict resolution in hybrid PNs,and connection between hybrid PNs and hybrid automata. The paperis illustrated by many examples.     

Decidability results in First–Order Hybrid Petri Nets

In this paper we tackle the decidabilityof marking reachability for a hybrid formalism based on Petrinets. The model we consider is the untimed version of First–OrderHybrid Petri Nets: it combines a discrete Petri net and a continuousPetri net, the latter being a fluid version of a usual discretePetri net. It is suggested that the decidability results shouldbe pursued exploiting a hierarchy of models as it has been donein the framework of Hybrid Automata. In this paper we definethe class of Single–Rate Hybrid Petri Nets: the continuousdynamics of these nets is such that the vector of the markingderivatives of the continuous places is constant but for a scalarfactor. This class of nets can be seen as the counterpart oftimed automata with skewed clocks. We prove that the reachabilityproblem for this class can be reduced to the reachability problemof an equivalent discrete net and thus it is decidable.     

Effects of cell size and configuration in cellular automata based prey–predator modelling

Cellular automata (CA) have shown to be a viable approach in ecological modelling, in particular when dealing with local interactions between species and their environment. In CA modelling complex patterns emerge on a global scale through the evolution of interactions at a local level. Although the validity of a cell-based approach has successfully been demonstrated in numerous cases, very few studies have been reported that address the effects of cell size and configuration on the behaviours of CA-based models. In this paper, the performance of a cellular automaton based prey–predator model (EcoCA) developed by the author was first calibrated against the classical Lotka–Volterra (LV) model. The model was then used to investigate effects of cell size and cellular configurations (viz. the ‘computational stencil’). By setting up systematic simulation scenarios it was observed that the choice of a particular cell size has a clear effect on the resulting spatial patterns, while different cellular configurations affect both spatial patterns and system stability. On the basis of these findings, it is proposed to use the principal spatial scale of the studied ecosystem as CA model cell size and to apply the Moore type cell configuration. Methods for identifying principal spatial scales have been developed and are presented here.     

ConSpec – A Formal Language for Policy Specification

The paper presents ConSpec, an automata based policy specification language. The language trades off clean semantics to language expressiveness; a formal semantics for the language is provided as security automata. ConSpec specifications can be used at different stages of the application lifecycle, rendering possible the formalization of various policy enforcement techniques.     

Internet addiction: Meta-synthesis of qualitative research for the decade 1996–2006

Internet addiction is “an individual’s inability to control their Internet use, which in turn leads to feelings of distress and functional impairment of daily activities” [Shapira, N., Lessig, M., Goldsmith, T., Szabo, S., Lazoritz, M., Gold, M. et al. (2003). Problematic Internet use: Proposed classification and diagnostic criteria. Depression and Anxiety, 17(4), 207–216]. Previous research in this field has offered inconclusive data on whether Internet addiction can be classified as a disorder. This study provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of internet addiction through a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies on excessive Internet use published during the period of 1996–2006. Several constructs pertaining to the domain of Internet addiction have been identified and a theoretical model of Internet addiction has been proposed.     

From Concurrency to Algebraic Topology

This paper is a survey of the new notions and results scattered in [13,11,12]. However the speculations of Section 5 and Section 6 are new. Starting from a formalization of higher dimensional automata (HDA) by strict globular ω-categories, the construction of a diagram of simplicial sets over the three-object small category – ←– gl → + is exposed. Some of the properties discovered so far on the corresponding simplicial homology theories are explained, in particular their links with geometric problems coming from concurrency theory in computer science.     

Collecting Statistics Over Runtime Executions

We present an extension to linear-time temporal logic (LTL) that combines the temporal specification with the collection of statistical data. By collecting statistics over runtime executions of a program we can answer complex queries, such as “what is the average number of packet transmissions' in a communication protocol, or “how often does a particular process enter the critical section while another process remains waiting' in a mutual exclusion algorithm. To decouple the evaluation strategy of the queries from the definition of the temporal operators, we introduce algebraic alternating automata as an automata-based intermediate representation. Algebraic alternating automata are an extension of alternating automata that produce a value instead of acceptance or rejection for each trace. Based on the translation of the formulas from the query language to algebraic alternating automata, we obtain a simple and efficient query evaluation algorithm. The approach is illustrated with examples and experimental results.     

An Until Hierarchy and Other Applications of an Ehrenfeucht–Fraïssé Game for Temporal Logic

We prove there is a strict hierarchy of expressive power according to the Until depth of linear temporal logic (LTL) formulas: for each k, there is a natural property, based on quantitative fairness, that is not expressible with k nestings of Until operators, regardless of the number of applications of other operators, but is expressible by a formula with Until depth k+1. Our proof uses a new Ehrenfeucht–Fraïssé (EF) game designed specifically for LTL. These properties can all be expressed in first-order logic with quantifier depth and size (log k), and we use them to observe some interesting relationships between LTL and first-order expressibility. We note that our Until hierarchy proof for LTL carries over to the branching time logics, CTL and CTL*. We then use the EF game in a novel way to effectively characterize (1) the LTL properties expressible without Until, as well as (2) those expressible without both Until and Next. By playing the game “on finite automata,” we prove that the automata recognizing languages expressible in each of the two fragments have distinctive structural properties. The characterization for the first fragment was originally proved by Cohen, Perrin, and Pin using sophisticated semigroup-theoretic techniques. They asked whether such a characterization exists for the second fragment. The technique we develop is general and can potentially be applied in other contexts.     

Model order selection of nonlinear input–output models––a clustering based approach

Selecting the order of an input–output model of a dynamical system is a key step toward the goal of system identification. The false nearest neighbors algorithm (FNN) is a useful tool for the estimation of the order of linear and nonlinear systems. While advanced FNN uses nonlinear input–output data-based models for the model-based selection of the threshold constant that is used to compute the percentage of false neighbors, the computational effort of the method increases along with the number of data and the dimension of the model. To increase the efficiency of this method, in this paper we propose a clustering-based algorithm. Clustering is applied to the product space of the input and output variables. The model structure is then estimated on the basis of the cluster covariance matrix eigenvalues. The main advantage of the proposed solution is that it is model-free. This means that no particular model needs to be constructed in order to select the order of the model, while most other techniques are ‘wrapped' around a particular model construction method. This saves the computational effort and avoids a possible bias due to the particular construction method used. Three simulation examples are given to illustrate the proposed technique: estimation of the model structure for a linear system, a polymerization reactor and the van der Vusse reactor.     

Brian Shackel’s contribution to the written history of Human–Computer Interaction

In 1997, Brian Shackel published the article “Human–Computer Interaction – Whence and Whither?” In this early foray into historical reflection on the field, past work is covered with a focus on identifying European contributions, issues of particular contemporary interest are explored, and a set of 10-year predictions are offered. In this essay, from a vantage-point of an additional decade of history, insights of lasting value that Professor Shackel was uniquely positioned to glean are identified. His work is placed in the broader context now available, and an always-useful reminder of the difficulty of anticipating future events is provided.     

Resolution approach to testing compatibility of interacting automata

Conclusion The notion of compatibility of automata was proposed in [1] for formalization of requirements that must be met by interacting partial automata. Testing the compatibility of automata is of essential importance for the design of systems that interact with the environment, especially when we use declarative specificatio of the system to be designed. Under the assumptions of this article for the automaton that models the environment, partiality of the specified automaton is a source of possible incompatibility with the environment. When declarative specification is used, we can never decide in advance if the specified automaton is partial or not. Moreover, even a specification thata priori describes a completely defined automaton may be altered by the actions of the designer in the process of design (especially if these actions are incorrect) so that the specified automaton becomes partial. Therefore the initial specification, and each successive specification produced by human intervention in the design process, must be tested for compatibility with the environment. In the methodology of verification design of automata, compatibility testing is used to solve two problems: a) generating the specification of the class of all automata that satisfy the initial specification and are compatible with the specification of the environment; b) testing for correctness the designer's decisions that alter the current specification of the automaton being designed. The results of this article have led to the development of an efficient resolution procedure for testing the compatibility of automaton specification with the specification of the environment. this procedure has been implemented in the system for verification design of automata from their logical specifications. The efficiency of the developed procedure is based on the results of compatibility analysis of automata from [1] and on the restricted resolution strategy whose completeness and correctness have been proved in [2]. Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 6, pp. 36–50, November–December, 1994.     

Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem for Leibniz -algebras

We construct the universal enveloping algebra of a Leibniz n-algebra and we prove that the category of modules over this algebra is equivalent to the category of representations.We also give a proof of the Poincaré–Birkhoff–Witt theorem for universal enveloping algebras of finite-dimensional Leibniz n-algebras using Gröbner bases in a free associative algebra.     

The consumer loan default predicting model – An application of DEA–DA and neural network

In this paper we construct the consumer loan default predicting model through conducting the empirical analysis on the customers of unsecured consumer loan from a certain financial institution in Taiwan, and adopt the borrower’s demographic variables and money attitude as the real-timeaneous discriminant information. Furthermore, we construct respectively through four predicting methods, such as DA, LR, NN and DEA–DA, to compare the suitability of these four mentioned methods. The results show that DEA–DA and NN are possessed better predicting capability and they are the optimal predicting model that this study longing for. In addition, this study showed that the default loan predicting model will be possessed higher level of predicting capability after added money attitude.     

Smart Dust Security – Key Infection Revisited

Sensor network is a notion denoting an interesting subset of self-organising wireless networks. These networks are rather dense as each node have typically more than dozen neighbours, and large – with tens to hundreds thousands of nodes. Applications of such networks assume distributed environmental sensing performed by each sensor in the network, where data from a particular sensor gain value only when combined with data from a relatively high number of other sensors. One of the open security questions in this specific environment is a possibility to lower requirements on key distribution and key management and thus decrease production costs. One of the possible ways is “key infection”. The paper recaps a protocol and already published results. It also elaborates the concept of key infection by introducing a new variant of security amplification protocol, and presents some interesting results obtained by simulations.     

Infinitary logics and 0–1 laws

We investigate the infinitary logic L_∞ω^ω, in which sentences may have arbitrary disjunctions and conjunctions, but they involve only finite numbers of distinct variables. We show that various fixpoint logics can be viewed as fragments of L_∞ω^ω, and we describe a game-theoretic characterization of the expressive power of the logic. Finally, we study asymptotic probabilities of properties expressible in L_∞ω^ω on finite structures. We show that the 0–1 law holds for L_∞ω^ω, i.e., the asymptotic probability of every sentence in this logic exists and is equal to either 0 or 1. This result subsumes earlier work on asymptotic probabilities for various fixpoint logics and reveals the boundary of 0–1 laws for infinitary logics.