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The problem of plan generation (PG) and the problem of plan execution monitoring (PEM), including updating, queries, and resource-bounded replanning, have different reasoning and representation requirements. PEM requires the integration of qualitative and quantitative information. PEM is the receiving of data about the world in which a plan or agent is executing. The problem is to quickly determine the relevance of the data, the consistency of the data with respect to the expected effects, and if execution should continue. Only spatial and temporal aspects of the plan are addressed for relevance in this work. Current temporal reasoning systems are deficient in computational aspects or expressiveness. This work presents a hybrid qualitative and quantitative system that is fully expressive in its assertion language while offering certain computational efficiencies. In order to proceed, methods incorporating approximate reasoning using hierarchies, notions of locality, constraint expansion, and absolute parameters need be used and are shown to be useful for the anytime nature of PEM.

Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to reason with spatial images or information about space over time. In this dissertation, computational intelligence techniques are applied to computer Go and computer network applications. Among four experiments, the first three are related to the game of Go, and the last one concerns the routing problem in computer networks. The first experiment represents the first training of a modified cellular simultaneous recurrent network (CSRN) trained with cellular particle swarm optimization (PSO). Another contribution is the development of a comprehensive theoretical study of a 2x2 Go research platform with a certified 5 dan Go expert. The proposed architecture successfully trains a 2x2 game tree. The contribution of the second experiment is the development of a computational intelligence algorithm called collective cooperative learning (CCL). CCL learns the group size of Go stones on a Go board with zero knowledge by communicating only with the immediate neighbors. An analysis determines the lower bound of a design parameter that guarantees a solution. The contribution of the third experiment is the proposal of a unified system architecture for a Go robot. A prototype Go robot is implemented for the first time in the literature. The last experiment tackles a disruption-tolerant routing problem for a network suffering from link disruption. This experiment represents the first time that the disruption-tolerant routing problem has been formulated with a Markov Decision Process. In addition, the packet delivery rate has been improved under a range of link disruption levels via a reinforcement learning approach.

The general aim of this study is to elucidate the temporal consistency of the effects of the structure and content of an argument on spatial deductive reasoning. We will investigate the effects of these factors mainly by comparing the opposing predictions made by the Formal Rules theory and the Mental Models theory of spatial deductive reasoning. Thirty-seven subjects solved 48 spatial reasoning problems which varied by their logical structure, that is, by the order of the entities in the premise sets, and their geometrical content, that is, by the number of dimensions (2D, 3D), orientations (horizontal, vertical), and directions (right/left, bottom/top) specified in the premise sets. For half of the problems, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an object pair (EB) in two dimensions. For the other half, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an other object pair (ED) in either one dimension, for the 2D condition, or in three dimensions for the 3D condition. Questions pertaining to each dimension were asked consecutively thus requiring deductions over time but within the bounds of working memory. We varied the symbolic representation of the problems according to their symbolic structure using either sentences or diagrams to represent the relations among entities, and their symbolic content using either nouns or images to represent the entities. We addressed temporal consistency by measuring the effects of the above variables on the responses and the response times obtained for the consecutive questions. Spatial deductions were reliably easier to make from diagrams than from sentences, thus confirming the Mental Models theory. However, diagrams facilitated spatial reasoning only during the initial stage of the process of deduction.

The general aim of this study is to elucidate the temporal consistency of the effects of the structure and content of an argument on spatial deductive reasoning. We will investigate the effects of these factors mainly by comparing the opposing predictions made by the Formal Rules theory and the Mental Models theory of spatial deductive reasoning. Thirty-seven subjects solved 48 spatial reasoning problems which varied by their logical structure, that is, by the order of the entities in the premise sets, and their geometrical content, that is, by the number of dimensions (2D, 3D), orientations (horizontal, vertical), and directions (right/left, bottom/top) specified in the premise sets. For half of the problems, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an object pair (EB) in two dimensions. For the other half, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an other object pair (ED) in either one dimension, for the 2D condition, or in three dimensions for the 3D condition. Questions pertaining to each dimension were asked consecutively thus requiring deductions over time but within the bounds of working memory. We varied the symbolic representation of the problems according to their symbolic structure using either sentences or diagrams to represent the relations among entities, and their symbolic content using either nouns or images to represent the entities. We addressed temporal consistency by measuring the effects of the above variables on the responses and the response times obtained for the consecutive questions. Spatial deductions were reliably easier to make from diagrams than from sentences, thus confirming the Mental Models theory. However, diagrams facilitated spatial reasoning only during the initial stage of the process of deduction.

The general aim of this study is to elucidate the temporal consistency of the effects of the structure and content of an argument on spatial deductive reasoning. We will investigate the effects of these factors mainly by comparing the opposing predictions made by the Formal Rules theory and the Mental Models theory of spatial deductive reasoning. Thirty-seven subjects solved 48 spatial reasoning problems which varied by their logical structure, that is, by the order of the entities in the premise sets, and their geometrical content, that is, by the number of dimensions (2D, 3D), orientations (horizontal, vertical), and directions (right/left, bottom/top) specified in the premise sets. For half of the problems, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an object pair (EB) in two dimensions. For the other half, subjects were to deduce the relative location of an other object pair (ED) in either one dimension, for the 2D condition, or in three dimensions for the 3D condition. Questions pertaining to each dimension were asked consecutively thus requiring deductions over time but within the bounds of working memory. We varied the symbolic representation of the problems according to their symbolic structure using either sentences or diagrams to represent the relations among entities, and their symbolic content using either nouns or images to represent the entities. We addressed temporal consistency by measuring the effects of the above variables on the responses and the response times obtained for the consecutive questions. Spatial deductions were reliably easier to make from diagrams than from sentences, thus confirming the Mental Models theory. However, diagrams facilitated spatial reasoning only during the initial stage of the process of deduction.

1Stoicism

By St. George William Joseph Stock

This short book is part of the <em>Philosophies Ancient and Modern</em> series, which attempts to make Western philosophy more accessible to the general public.<BR><BR>In this volume, George Stock provides a concise primer on Stoicism, the ancient philosophy that maintained that the universe is governed entirely by fate, and that humans can achieve happiness only by cultivating a calm acceptance of the vicissitudes of life. Among the Stoics of the Greek and Roman world were its founder, Zeno, the former slave Epictetus, and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. George Stock discusses not only the Stoic ethics, but also less well-known aspects of Stoicism, such as its division of the branches of philosophy, its account of logic, and its natural philosophy.<br />(Summary by Leon Mire)

2Guide to Stoicism

By St. George William Joseph Stock

This book is a primer on the philosophy of stoicism, resurrected from its origins in Greek and Roman philosophy. The original philosophy was based on a reasoning process which it was assumed would lead to a virtuous life. Zeno, the founder of stoicism, did not begin expounding on its teachings until he was in his forties. He believed that the purpose of life was "to live consistently." Cleanthes, his disciple, added "with nature," so that the purpose of life became "to live consistently with nature." - Summary by Bill Boerst