This paper analyzes the suitability of reinforcement learning (RL) for both programming and adapting situated agents. We discuss two RL algorithms: Q-learning and the Bucket Brigade. We introduce a special case of the Bucket Brigade, and analyze and compare its…

The Phase Space is a powerful tool for representing and reasoning about the qualitative behavior of nonlinear dynamical systems. Significant physical phenomena of the dynamical system---periodicity, recurrence, stability and the like---are reflected by outstanding geometric features of the trajectories in…

Intelligent agents in the physical world must work from incomplete information due to partial knowledge and limited resources. An agent copes with these limitations by applying rules of conjecture to make reasonable assumptions about what is known. Circumscription, proposed by…

This paper demonstrates that it is possible to generate a reasonably accurate coordinate system on randomly distributed processors, using only local information and local communication. By coordinate systems we imply that each element assigns itself a logical coordinate that maps…

Can dialogue reveal hidden truths? This is what prompted Bronwen Rees and
Andrew Armitage to experiment with the dialogical process to explore how
realities and knowledge about our organisations are created.

Diagnosis is an important process in patient care. A suitable diagnosis helps a physician determine a precise treatment. Physicians also have a tendency to seek collaboration from other colleagues and expert systems for better confidence in their decision. The sources…

Le plus souvent reconnu comme un associé de la médecine et des organismes de règlementation de la recherche biomédicale, le domaine de la bioéthique a récemment élargi sa compétence académique pour inclure un rôle croissant dans les processus de décision…

We have developed a method and prototype program for assisting two experts in their attempts to construct a single, consensus knowledge base. We show that consensus building can be effectively facilitated by a debugging approach that identifies, explains, and resolves…

This paper examines the issues and the solutions that have been studied in database (DB) integration research and tries to draw lessons from them for knowledge base (KB) integration.

This paper deals with the "Calculus of Knowledge", an extension of the propositional calculus in which one may reason about what other people know. Semantic and Syntactic systems are developed, certain theorems are proven, and a formal solution in the…