The Effectiveness of Transferring Multi-Agent Behaviors From a Learning Environment in the Presence of Synthetic Social Structures

Author(s):  
Keith Garfield ◽  
Annie Wu ◽  
Mehmet Onal ◽  
Britt Crawford ◽  
Adam Campbell ◽  
...  

The diverse behavior representation schemes and learning paradigms being investigated within the robotics community share the common feature that successful deployment of agents requires that behaviors developed in a learning environment are successfully applied to a range of unfamiliar and potentially more complex operational environments. The intent of our research is to develop insight into the factors facilitating successful transfer of behaviors to the operational environments. We present experimental results investigating the effects of several factors for a simulated swarm of autonomous vehicles. Our primary focus is on the impact of Synthetic Social Structures, which are guidelines directing the interactions between agents, much like social behaviors direct interactions between group members in the human and animal world. The social structure implemented is a dominance hierarchy, which has been shown previously to facilitate negotiation between agents. The goal of this investigation is to investigate mechanisms adding robustness to agent behavior.

The present work, The Struggle of My Life: An Autobiography of Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, is an English translation of Sahajanand’s autobiography, written in Hindi, Mera Jeevan Sangarsh. It carries an introduction by the translator which briefly deals with the Swami’s life and legacy. It needs to be emphasized that this is not an autobiography in the common run. Its primary focus is not on Swami’s persona; its central theme is the cause of the freedom movement in general and in particular, of the peasant movement under his leadership. It tells of the life and legacy of one of the most uncompromising and fearless freedom fighters and peasant leaders. It covers the social and political history of one of the most crucial periods of our national life, 1920–47. Today, when the Indian peasantry is faced with a number of intractable problems, it reminds them of the struggles of the peasants of yesteryears and the kind of trials and tribulations they went through. It is also remarkable that despite his vast learning and command over Sanskrit, Swami chose to write in simple, colloquial Hindi. That only speaks for his total identification with the masses. Both the teaching and student community as well as general readers would find this book useful, interesting and intellectually stimulating.


1989 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 341-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Vansina

Around 1850 the peoples of central Africa from Duala to the Kunene River and from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes shared a common view of the universe and a common political ideology. This included assumptions about roles, statuses, symbols, values, and indeed the very notion of legitimate authority. Among the plethora of symbols connected with these views were the leopard or the lion, the sun, the anvil, and the drum, symbolizing respectively the leader as predator, protector, forger of society, and the voice of all. Obviously, in each case the common political ideology was expressed in slightly different views, reflecting the impact of differential historical processes on different peoples. But the common core persisted. The gigantic extent of this phenomenon, encompassing an area equal to two-thirds of the continental United States, baffles the mind. How did it come about? Such a common tradition certainly did not arise independently in each of the hundreds of political communities that existed then. However absorbent and stable this mental political constellation was, it must have taken shape over a profound time depth. How and as a result of what did this happen? Is it even possible to answer such queries in a part of the world that did not generate written records until a few centuries ago or less?This paper addresses this question: how can one trace the social construction of such a common constellation over great time depths and over great regional scale? All the peoples involved are agriculturalists and the political repertory with which we are concerned could not easily exist in its known form outside sedentary societies.


1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-393
Author(s):  
Selden D. Bacon

In view of the low likelihood of the acceptance of the social science approach to alcohol problems proposed several years ago, a “common sense” approach is suggested as an alternative. Several assumptions guide this proposal, the principal one being the absence of any significant progress in the reduction of alcohol problems in the United States over the past 200 years. By the development of a common vocabulary and direct methods of observation and data collection, the “common sense” approach would provide for identifying the strengths of the multitude of past and current efforts in dealing with alcohol problems in terms of both intervention and prevention. The guiding criterion in such an approach would be the impact on alcoholism and alcohol-related problems, the definition of which would be a major task of the research.


Author(s):  
William Loader

After a brief overview of the social context and role of marriage and sexuality in Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures, the chapter traces the impact of the Genesis creation narratives, positively and negatively, on how marriage and sexuality were seen both in the present and in depictions of hope for the future. Discussion of pre-marital sex, incest, intermarriage, polygyny, divorce, adultery, and passions follows. It then turns to Jesus’ reported response to divorce, arguing that the prohibition sayings should be read as assuming that sexual intercourse both effects permanent union and severs previous unions, thus making divorce after adultery mandatory, the common understanding and legal requirement in both Jewish and Greco-Roman society of the time. It concludes by noting both the positive appreciation of sex and marriage, grounded in belief that they are God’s creation, and the many dire warnings against sexual wrongdoing, including adulterous attitudes and uncontrolled passions.


Author(s):  
Anastasiya Nikolaevna Soboleva

The object of this research is the youth of Buryat-Mongolian ASSR as most active social group within the social structure of 1941 – 1945, which was the major source for replenishment of labor reserves. The subject of this research is the examination of core financial and social problems faced by the youth working at the defense industry plants of the republic. Special attention is given to analysis of the impact of wartime struggles and hardships upon household and food procurement. It is noted that shortage of housing, low salaries, insecure life, poor nutrition, deficit of clothing and footwear often led breach of employee discipline. The article explores the important vectors in the activity of Komsomol with regards to housing and living conditions, as well as various forms of financial and psychological incentives that promote adaptation of youth to working at the industrial plant. The scientific novelty consists in introduction into the scientific discourse of a number of previously unpublished source that were collected specifically for this research. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that working youth, who for the most part came from rural localities to the city, were put in quite difficult social and living conditions, experiencing critical problems in the process of adaptation; however, they accomplished significant labor achievements and made their contribution to the common Victory.


This final chapter explores yet further examples of how the principles of testing can be applied within the social sciences. As with the previous chapters, the authors begin by asking students to Google questions and then use the results Google provides to ask more sophisticated questions about the impact and personal consequences of the question. They begin by asking a question about how serial killer, Harold Shipman, was able to escape suspicion for as long as he did. They then take up a question about the common traits of serial killers, paying attention to the effects of the traits and how these traits may have personal connections to students. They conclude the chapter with a section about how we might make the decision to eat a third candy bar.


Ranking ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 42-64
Author(s):  
Péter Érdi

This chapter studies how social ranking in humans emerged as the result of an evolutionary process. It starts with the story of the discovery of pecking order among chickens by a Norwegian boy. Both animals and humans need a healthy balance between cooperation and competition to ensure evolutionarily efficient strategies. The biological machinery behind social ranking is discussed. There are two distinct mechanisms for navigating the social ladder: dominance and prestige. Dominance, an evolutionarily older strategy, is based on the ability to intimidate other members in the group by physical size and strength. The group members don’t accept dominance-based social rank freely, only by coercion. Members of a colony fight, and the winners of these fights will be accepted as “dominants” and the losers as “subordinates.” The naturally formed hierarchy serves as a way to prevent superfluous fighting and injuries within a colony. Prestige, as a strategy, is evolutionarily younger and is based on skills and knowledge as appraised by the community. Prestige hierarchies are maintained by the consent of the community, without pressure being applied by particular members. The mechanisms of forming and maintaining social hierarchies are described. Social structures, both hierarchies and network organizations, are reviewed. Discussion of these structures is carried over to social and political history and the tension between democracy and authoritarianism.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
James Goodman

Political and social movements are both empowering and power-seeking: they seek both to mobilize civil society and overwhelm state institutions. As organisations they mobilize collective power, generating solidarities and transforming social structures. As such, political organisations both challenge power and exercise power. This article addresses organizational vehicles for political change in Australia, drawing out limits and possibilities. Three organizational forms are discussed - the political party, the non-government organization (NGO), and the social movement - in terms of their capacity and limits. The social solidarities and social structures that frame political organization are debated, highlighting the impact of political conflicts over ecological change. The article ends with a discussion of the proceeding four articles, drawing out shared themes and implications in terms of the relationships post-Howard, between the Australian state, political parties, NGOs and movements.


Author(s):  
Chun-Tsung Chen

This article intended to explore technological frames held by organisational group members that implicitly served to shape their interpretations of events to give meaning and deliver actions in knowledge management procedures. The research used the existing technological frame (Orlikowski & Gash, 1994) concept to interpret the social aspect of the problems associated with the introduction and utilisation of information technology in conducting knowledge management systems. This research was carried out in the context of four different industries in Taiwan and four cases based on each industry were chosen.


1979 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian L. D. Forbes

In recent times the historiography of the Wilhelmine Reich has clearly reflected the influence of Eckart Kehr and of later historians who have adopted and developed his work. The Rankean dogma of the Primat der Aussenpolitik (primacy of foreign policy) has been replaced by a new slogan, Primat der Innenpolitik (primacy of domestic policy). The resultant interpretive scheme is by now quite familiar. The social structure of the Bismarckean Reich, it is said, was shaken to its foundations by the impact of industrialization. A growing class of industrialists sought to break the power of the feudal agrarian class, and a rapidly developing proletariat threatened to upset the status quo. The internecine struggle between industrialists and agrarians was dangerous for both and for the state, since the final beneficiary might be the proletariat. Consequently agrarians and industrialists closed their ranks against the common social democrat enemy and sought to tame the proletariat, which had grown restive under the impact of the depression, by means of a Weltpolitik which would obviate the effects of the depression, heal the economy, and vindicate the political system responsible for such impressive achievements. Hans-Ulrich Wehler and others call this diversionary strategy against the proletarian threat social imperialism; and this, it is said, is the domestic policy primarily responsible for Wilhelmine imperialism.


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