Representing a robotic domain using temporal description logics

Author(s):  
ALESSANDRO ARTALE ◽  
ENRICO FRANCONI

A temporal logic for representing and reasoning on a robotic domain is presented. Actions are represented by describing what is true while the action itself is occurring, and plans are constructed by temporally relating actions and world states. The temporal language is a member of the family of Description Logics, which are characterized by high expressivity combined with good computational properties. The logic is used to organize the domain actions and plans in a taxonomy. The classification and recognition tasks, together with the subsumption task form the basis for action management. An action/plan description can be automatically classified into a taxonomy; an action/plan instance can be recognized to take place at a certain moment from the observation of what is happening in the world during a time interval.

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 463-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Artale ◽  
E. Franconi

A class of interval-based temporal languages for uniformly representing and reasoning about actions and plans is presented. Actions are represented by describing what is true while the action itself is occurring, and plans are constructed by temporally relating actions and world states. The temporal languages are members of the family of Description Logics, which are characterized by high expressivity combined with good computational properties. The subsumption problem for a class of temporal Description Logics is investigated and sound and complete decision procedures are given. The basic language TL-F is considered first: it is the composition of a temporal logic TL -- able to express interval temporal networks -- together with the non-temporal logic F -- a Feature Description Logic. It is proven that subsumption in this language is an NP-complete problem. Then it is shown how to reason with the more expressive languages TLU-FU and TL-ALCF. The former adds disjunction both at the temporal and non-temporal sides of the language, the latter extends the non-temporal side with set-valued features (i.e., roles) and a propositionally complete language.


Author(s):  
Jane Austen ◽  
Jane Stabler

‘Me!’ cried Fanny … ‘Indeed you must excuse me. I could not act any thing if you were to give me the world. No, indeed, I cannot act.’ At the age of ten, Fanny Price leaves the poverty of her Portsmouth home to be brought up among the family of her wealthy uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, in the chilly grandeur of Mansfield Park. There she accepts her lowly status, and gradually falls in love with her cousin Edmund. When the dazzling and sophisticated Henry and Mary Crawford arrive, Fanny watches as her cousins become embroiled in rivalry and sexual jealousy. As the company starts to rehearse a play by way of entertainment, Fanny struggles to retain her independence in the face of the Crawfords’ dangerous attractions; and when Henry turns his attentions to her, the drama really begins… This new edition does full justice to Austen’s complex and subtle story, placing it in its Regency context and elucidating the theatrical background that pervades the novel.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Philip M. Novack-Gottshall ◽  
Roy E. Plotnick

The horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus, 1758) is a famous species, renowned as a ‘living fossil’ (Owen, 1873; Barthel, 1974; Kin and Błażejowski, 2014) for its apparently little-changed morphology for many millions of years. The genus Limulus Müller, 1785 was used by Leach (1819, p. 536) as the basis of a new family Limulidae and synonymized it with Polyphemus Lamarck, 1801 (Lamarck's proposed but later unaccepted replacement for Limulus, as discussed by Van der Hoeven, 1838, p. 8) and Xyphotheca Gronovius, 1764 (later changed to Xiphosura Gronovius, 1764, another junior synonym of Limulus). He also included the valid modern genus Tachypleus Leach, 1819 in the family. The primary authority of Leach (1819) is widely recognized in the neontological literature (e.g., Dunlop et al., 2012; Smith et al., 2017). It is also the authority recognized in the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board, 2021).


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 256
Author(s):  
Pedro Plans-Rubió

In 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Global Vaccine Action Plan with the objective to promote essential vaccinations in all countries and achieve at least 90% vaccination coverage for all routine vaccines by 2020. The study assessed the mean percentages of vaccination coverage in 2019 for 13 routine vaccines, vaccination coverage variation from 2015 to 2019, and herd immunity levels against measles and pertussis in 2019 in countries and regions of WHO. In 2019, the mean percentages of vaccination coverage were lower than 90% for 10 (78.9%) routine vaccines. The mean percentages of vaccination coverage also decreased from 2015 to 2019 for six (46.2%) routine vaccines. The prevalence of individuals with vaccine-induced measles immunity in the target measles vaccination population was 88.1%, and the prevalence of individuals with vaccine-induced pertussis immunity in the target pertussis vaccination population was 81.1%. Herd immunity against measles viruses with Ro = 18 was established in 63 (32.5%) countries but not established in any region. Herd immunity against pertussis agents was not established in any country and in any region of WHO. National immunization programs must be improved to achieve ≥90% vaccination coverage in all countries and regions. Likewise, it is necessary to achieve ≥95% vaccination coverage with two doses of measles vaccines and three doses of pertussis vaccines in all countries and regions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0192513X2110249
Author(s):  
Gustavo González-Calvo ◽  
Marta Arias-Carballal

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, and the world has witnessed significant changes since then. Spain has been forced to go into extreme lockdown, cancelling all school classes and outdoor activities for children. Our study explores how parents of a group of school children aged 7 to 8 years have experienced confinement due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Following a narrative methodology, the results have been organized around a story that takes as a reference the period of confinement for a mother and worker in times of confinement. The conclusions of our study suggest that participants have experienced significant changes in their routines, having faced numerous personal and professional dilemmas in a climate of great emotional burden. This study is the first of its kind in investigating how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the ways that children and their families live and its possible implications for their futures.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Kumar

Obesity has emerged as the most potential cardiovascular risk factor and has raised concern among public and their health related issues not only in developed but also in developing countries. The Worldwide obesity occurrence has almost has gone three times since 1975. Research suggests there are about 775 million obese people in the World including adult, children, and adolescents. Nearly 50% of the children who are obese and overweight in Asia in are below 5 years. There is a steep incline of childhood obesity when compared to 1971 which is not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. A considerable amount of weight gain occurs during the transition phase from adolescence to young adulthood. It is also suggested that those adultswho were obese in childhood also remained obese in their adulthood with a higher metabolic risk than those who became obese in their adulthood. In India, the urban Indian female in the age group of 30-45 years have emerged as an 〝at risk population” for cardiovascular diseases. To understand how obesity can influence cardiovascular function, it becomes immense important to understand the changes which can take place in adipose tissue due to obesity. There are two proposed concepts explaining the inflammatory status of macrophage. The predominant cause of insulin resistance is obesity. Epidemiological and research studies have indicated that the pathogenesis of obesity-related metabolic dysfunction involves the development of a systemic, low-grade inflammatory state. It is becoming clear that targeting the pro-inflammatory pathwaymay provide a novel therapeutic approach to prevent insulin resistance, particularly in obesity inducedinsulin resistance. Some cost effective interventions that are feasible by all and can be implemented even in low-resource settings includes - population-wide and individual, which are recommended to be used in combination to reduce the greatest cardiovascular disease burden. The sixth target in the Global NCD action plan is to reduce the prevalence of hypertension by 25%. Reducing the incidence of hypertension by implementing population-wide policies to educe behavioral risk factors. Reducing cigarette smoking, body weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood glucose all have a beneficial impact on major biological cardiovascular risk factors. A variety of lifestyle modifications have been shown, in clinical trials, to lower bloodpressure, includes weight loss, physical activity, moderation of alcohol intake, increased fresh fruit and vegetables and reduced saturated fat in the diet, reduction of dietary sodium intake, andincreased potassium intake. Also, trials of reduction of saturated fat and its partial replacement by unsaturated fats have improved dyslipidaemia and lowered risk of cardiovascular events. This initiative driven by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, State Governments, Indian Council of Medical Research and the World Health Organization are remarkable. The Government of India has adopted a national action plan for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with specific targets to be achieved by 2025, including a 25% reduction inoverall mortality from cardiovascular diseases, a 25% relative reduction in the prevalence of raised blood pressure and a 30% reduction in salt/sodium intake. In a nutshell increased BMI values can predict the nature of obesity and its aftermaths in terms inflammation and other disease associated with obesity. It’s high time; we must realize it and keep an eye on health status in order to live long and healthy life.


1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Yeo Carpenter

Ancestor veneration remains a major obstacle to conversion among the Chinese the world over. While the issue often comes to a head over funeral rites, ancestor veneration cannot be understood in isolation. Rather one must look at the broader issues of the cult of the family, a tenet propagated by Confucius, putting loyalty to the family above every other claim including that of the gods or the state. There was also the influence of Taoism which sees the universe as a living organism co-existing in interdependence. The family then is not just a sociological unit, but also a metaphysical unit with ancestral spirits helping to keep the fragile balance which their descendants have with the rest of the universe and with other spirits. Finally, we must not forget that death is a psychological trauma and that living relatives often need a rite of passage to remember and to grieve for the dead. Ancestor veneration then is not a simple act that can be abolished by deciding which rituals in a funeral are biblical and which are not. Rather it is part of a complex web that needs to be understood in its totality. This paper, written by a Chinese and first-generation Christian, attempts to do that.


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