Autonomous Entities Research Articles

ABSEM: An agent-based simulator of emotions in mindfulness programs

Abstract Among other utilities, expert and intelligent systems can provide estimations similar to the ones from human experts. In this context, agent-based simulators support the prediction of some features of groups of individuals based on the simulation of some autonomous entities called agents. However, the literature lacks the appropriate simulators to simulate the repercussions of mindfulness programs on the emotions of meditators. Mindfulness has proven to be related to several indicators of health and quality of life in the later years. Mindfulness has also proven to be strongly related with certain emotions, but there are different programs for training mindfulness. In this context, the current approach presents an Agent-based Simulator of Emotions in Mindfulness programs (ABSEM). The current approach allows instructors to define different mindfulness programs and simulate their repercussions on the emotions of a group of practitioners with certain features. In this way, these simulations support instructors in selecting an adequate program for a given group of practitioners. In addition, this simulator can also be useful for practitioners because it lets them know an estimation of the repercussions of each mindfulness program. In two different scenarios, the experiments show that the system provides simulated outcomes that are similar to the real ones, when establishing the same input circumstances. The current work distributes ABSEM as an open-source tool. This fact not only assures the reproducibility of the experiments, but also allows researchers and practitioners to use and extend the simulator. Therefore, ABSEM contributes on the application of expert and intelligent systems to the mindfulness field, allowing novel instructors and meditators benefit from the implicit knowledge integrated in the simulator. This system can promote both (a) the use of expert systems for exploring their performance in predicting emotional repercussions from any kind of health intervention, and (b) the practice of mindfulness for repairing negative emotions as a social benefit.

Online Human-Bot Interactions: Detection, Estimation, and Characterization

Increasing evidence suggests that a growing amount of social media content is generated by autonomous entities known as social bots. In this work we present a framework to detect such entities on Twitter. We leverage more than a thousand features extracted from public data and meta-data about users: friends, tweet content and sentiment, network patterns, and activity time series. We benchmark the classification framework by using a publicly available dataset of Twitter bots. This training data is enriched by a manually annotated collection of active Twitter users that include both humans and bots of varying sophistication. Our models yield high accuracy and agreement with each other and can detect bots of different nature. Our estimates suggest that between 9% and 15% of active Twitter accounts are bots. Characterizing ties among accounts, we observe that simple bots tend to interact with bots that exhibit more human-like behaviors. Analysis of content flows reveals retweet and mention strategies adopted by bots to interact with different target groups. Using clustering analysis, we characterize several subclasses of accounts, including spammers, self promoters, and accounts that post content from connected applications.

The Choice of Nationality Policy in Bashkiria, 1917–1925

Several factors shaped nationality policy in Bashkiria in 1917–25: involvement of the central Bolshevik and regional White governments and activities of Muslim and Turko-Tatar elites, but Bashkir elites’ activism proved most significant. At first (1917–19) a long-range approach to practical organizational steps predominated. National activists in this period proceeded mainly on the higher elite level, proclaiming their principles and organizing national governing institutions; at the lower level they only disseminated propaganda of their views. In the second phase (1919–25), with Soviet power established in the Southern Urals a crucial struggle occurred concerning forms of national autonomy for Bashkiria and significant attention was paid to extending nationality policy to lower administrative levels. The main forms of struggle to achieve national autonomy’s objectives were convening congresses of deputies, forming assorted power structures based upon the congresses, establishing contacts with various governments but mainly with the Bolshevik government in Moscow, creating a national military, and struggling against alternative governments in Ufa and Orenburg. The major results of nationality policy in Bashkiria in 1917–25 can be summarized thus: legal formalization of the territorial integrity of a Bashkir autonomous entity and its relations with the federal center; inclusion of factory agglomerations in the autonomous region; granting of broad autonomous powers in education, culture, direct self-rule, and matters of justice; and creating conditions for development of all spheres of life involving the Bashkir language. Finally, the successes of indigenization policy and activity toward formation of a national intelligentsia are noteworthy.

Copyrightability of Artworks Produced by Creative Robots, Driven by Artificial Intelligence Systems and the Concept of Originality: The Formality - Objective Model

In our new era of advanced technology, creative robots, driven by sophisticated artificial intelligence systems and hence, acting autonomously, are capable of producing innovative artistic and other works — ones which, had they been created by humans, would be eligible for copyright protection. This article addresses the question of copyrightability of artworks created by creative robots. We argue that creative robots as autonomous entities are capable of holding copyrights in art works they produce. However, the greatest hurdle to this notion, from the copyright law point of view, is the interpretation of the most important concept in copyright protection: the requirement of originality. Therefore, in this article we are revisiting the concept of originality. This article argues that confronting the challenges of the new 3A era (advanced, automated and autonomy), calls for a reassessment of the meaning of originality, which is undefined in the field of copyright protection both in international law, under the Berne Convention, and in domestic U.S. copyright law. The lack of a clear definition means that the existing concept of originality is inadequate for addressing new, possibly “copyrightable” works produced by creative robots. Moreover, the lack of a clear definition leads to interpretations of “originality” that are vague, immeasurable, and disharmonized, does already cause confusion in the industry as well as the public. This uncertainty surrounding an important legal concept has triggered a search for a solution that could eliminate or, at the very least, reduce future conflicts. This article suggests that a more formal, objective approach — as opposed to the existing, subjective (or mixed) approach — to the concept of originality should be adopted. The proposed objective approach might be applicable to works created by creative robots as well as artworks generated by digital tools and is further warranted by the intangible, vague nature of art. We suggest that a consistent legal determination of the question “what is original?” can successfully be achieved only by a formal, objective, descriptive approach.

Etno-confessional features of Ukraines integration into the united Europe

In all societies, at least prior to the Enlightenment, religion served as a basis for formation of ideology determining the existence of culture. All important areas of society and its institutions were determined by the religious legitimacy this way or the other. Today they are separated from the order of life and culture specified for the society as a whole by the religion and have the status of independent subsystems. However, in fact, religion has become one of the spheres of social life. Now it coexists with the art, philosophy, science, politics, economics and so on. According to the differentiation and specialization of society the individual acquires the status of free and autonomous entity: he is not required to submit to the power of the religious tradition. He is free to use the opportunities to choose any branch of knowledge opening prospects for his capacities. Man has the right to profess any religion or profess none being limited to purely secular activities.

A 3\u2032-5\u2032 exonuclease activity embedded in the helicase core domain of Candida albicans Pif1 helicase

3′-5′ exonucleases are frequently found to be associated to polymerases or helicases domains in the same enzyme or could function as autonomous entities. Here we uncovered that Candida albicans Pif1 (CaPif1) displays a 3′-5′ exonuclease activity besides its main helicase activity. These two latter activities appear to reside on the same polypeptide and the new exonuclease activity could be mapped to the helicase core domain. We clearly show that CaPif1 displays exclusively exonuclease activity and unambiguously establish the directionality of the exonuclease activity as the 3′-to-5′ polarity. The enzyme appears to follow the two-metal-ion driven hydrolyzing activity exhibited by most of the nucleases, as shown by its dependence of magnesium and also by the identification of aspartic residues. Interestingly, an excellent correlation could be found between the presence of the conserved residues and the exonuclease activity when testing activities on Pif1 enzymes from eight fungal organisms. In contrast to others proteins endowed with the double helicase/exonuclease functionality, CaPif1 differs in the fact that the two activities are embedded in the same helicase domain and not located on separated domains. Our findings may suggest a biochemical basis for mechanistic studies of Pif1 family helicases.

Evolution of complexity in a resource-based model

Through a resource-based modelling the evolution of organismal complexity is studied. In the model, the cells are characterized by their metabolic rates which, together with the availability of resource, determine the rate at which they divide. The population is structured in groups. Groups are also autonomous entities regarding reproduction and propagation, and so they correspond to a higher biological organization level. The model assumes reproductive altruism as there exists a fitness transfer from the cell level to the group level. Reproductive altruism comes about by inflicting a higher energetic cost to cells belonging to larger groups. On the other hand, larger groups are less prone to extinction. The strength of this benefit arising from group augmentation can be tuned by the synergistic parameter \(\gamma\). Through extensive computer simulations we make a thorough exploration of the parameter space to find out the domain in which the formation of larger groups is allowed. We show that formation of small groups can be obtained for a low level of synergy. Larger group sizes can only be attained as synergistic interactions surpass a given level of strength. Although the total resource influx rate plays a key role in determining the number of groups coexisting at the equilibrium, its function on driving group size is minor. On the other hand, how the resource is seized by the groups matters.

Subordinated complacency, ferocious rivalry, or equitable work

This article presents three deviations from the Separation of Powers Principle ( trias politica) as they have taken place in Mexico and Venezuela: the increment in the amount of state powers, the subordination of powers to the agenda of a unique political tendency with the subsequent nullification of the power that is acting in an independent way, and the creation of constitutional autonomous institutes or entities. It suggests that governments can become complex self-referential systems that avoid public consultation of political decisions and the free formation of citizens’ informed and educated opinions that are much needed for a country’s development in a democracy.

A New Description of a Healthcare Professional’s Resilience, Incorporating an Eastern Philosophical Perspectives of Self-definition. How to Bridge the Gap between Independent and Interdependent Self-definition in Medical Education

Teaching about resilience is one of the biggest challenges in medical education. One of the problems is that medical educators might still ascribe to the individualistic self-definition mainly promoted in the North American society. This definition includes characteristics such as “enduring ongoing hardship,” “thriving on challenges,” “being healthy,” and “being stronger,” which may raise hidden expectations that a healthcare professional’s personality should be strong enough to bounce back to his or her original condition even in a psychologically demanding situation. Psychological theorists describe two broad modes of self-definition in two different cultures: independent self-definition in North American individualism and interdependent self-definition in East Asian collectivism. Despite this seemingly stereotypical discussion on the characteristics of self-definition, a discussion of the two types of self-definition can still encourage medical educators to propose a broader model of resilience in medical education. More specifically, a person using an independent self-definition may become be a complete, whole, autonomous entity, without others, and thus tends to achieve more and become more productive in a competitive society. In contrast, a person using an interdependent self-definition is more likely to be open to another aspect of the context and thus might be able to find and value the self in different ways even in the same context. However, these two self-definitions may not be dichotomous or mutually exclusive but occur in varying ratios in any one individual, particularly as trends of increased globalization, immigration, and technology call for changes in an individual’s value systems in countries. From this standpoint, this review proposes a new definition of resilience in medical education, which is ‘a person’s capacity to be aware of the aspects of the self differently identified in each context, and to consciously value oneself and others in the context’. This is the first article that incorporates the concept of the two self-definitions into resilience education in healthcare. The proposed definition may provide a broader model of resilience in a healthcare professional for educators as well as trainees in medical education.

The collaborative factory of the future

This work is a contribution to the ever-evolving concept of factory of the future (FoF); thinking about its challenges, and how we can best accomplish its promise. Globalised economies, competitive, volatile and complex business environments have gradually transformed modern manufacturing processes into highly distributed but interconnected networks of entities, which divide their responsibilities and core competencies to sustain and evolve. To achieve these ends, collaboration among networks of intelligent and autonomous entities must be effectively engineered and augmented. In view of that need, a formalism of the collaborative control theory (CCT) is developed in this article, based on the state-of-the-art advances in its design principles, supported by collaborative e-Work and their roles in engineering augmentation of collaboration. Several specific examples of e-Manufacturing systems (e-Factories) are used to elaborate further the mechanics of the developed formalism. The goal is to provide a framework of the collaborative factory of the future (CFoF). This framework is applied to enable the abstraction of disparate e-Factories as collaborative networks of entities, which in turn can be engineered and augmented through the CCT operators in order to address the FoF-2020 challenges of scalability and sustainability.

The Ambiguity of Hygiene and Taste-Focusing on the Fish-Farming Industry in Vietnam

The terms ‘cultured fish’ and ‘wild fish’ have emerged recently as a reflection of socio-economic circumstances, but only some papers in Vietnam have researched them. This paper examines the human-nature relationship articulated in the distinction between cultured fish and wild fish in rural Vietnam. Nature has been socially constructed and considered in different ways according to its relationship with the social arena. In wild fish, the appraisal standard is taste, the state of being pollution-free and ingredients beneficial to the human body are emphasized. Nature that does not relate to human intervention is perceived as good. If humans intervene in nature, the nature is polluted and becomes useless to humans. The view that nature possesses independent productivity and is a subject of awe, a self-contained being, and an autonomous entity, appears in the consumption of wild fish. But in industrial fish-farming, elements such as export, productivity, and economic gains are taken very seriously, and hygiene and nutrition of fish are emphasized. Wild nature is considered unsanitary, dirty, wild, and dangerous. It is through control by humans that the feral state of nature is minimized and nature becomes sanitary, vitalized, and useful to human beings. In industrial fish-farming, under the guise of scientific control, people get rid of the dangerousness of nature directly. Meanwhile, nature in the consumption of wild fish and in industrial fish-farming is a product of the human spirit and an abstract concept that does not include concrete attributes. Wild fish is not in itself contrary to cultured fish. It is socially constructed and reflects a view of nature.

NATIONAL-LINGUISTIC CHANGES IN THE KARELIAN SCHOOL IN THE POSTWAR DECADE

The paper discusses language shift in schools of various autonomous entities of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, particularly of the Republic of Karelia, in the post-war period. The aim of the paper is to analyze the processes in school at the beginning of 1950-60ies and to reveal the trends in reforming and reduction of national school in Karelia and in other autonomous regions. To achieve the aim various sources have been analyzed: history books, scientific papers in journals, archival documents and others, which deal with the problems of development of national schools in detail. The paper describes how the mother tongue ceased to be used by the indigenous people, who shifted to the language with higher status, to Russian. The comparative historic method leads to the conclusion that language assimilation was inevitable. Despite the fact that the given process was connected with the problems in the national policy and was regulated at all the levels of the Soviet system, in many instances it was stipulated by global social, demographic and ethnical changes. To reveal the trends, the paper refers to many factors of the development of Russian language environment in the autonomous republics of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. For this purpose, autonomous entities are analysed regarding population size, ethnic composition, distance to centre, industrialization level.

Applying LBT in Group Settings

This study is to show how the Logic-Based Therapy (LBT) method can be applied to groups in an attempt to point out possible risks and benefits of its application related to a group context. From observation and analysis a single practical case has been outlined, taking into consideration influence of group dynamics on the counselees’ cognitive processes during the LBT session. Judging from the analysis of the outlined results, it seems that intersubjectivity can play an important role if considered as a productive resource in the co-construction of a changing process among LBT group members during the application of its six steps. In particular, new research fields on the need to analyze LBT in groups have been opened, exploiting the possibility to consider the group as an autonomous entity, especially in long term counseling therapies.

About the Hungarian Autonomous Territoriality of Szeklerland. The Autonomous Enclave Within Romania: A Second Territorial Entity Where the Hungarian Ethnic Group Is Concentrated

The fact that after World War II, during a historical period internationally considered as fully legitimate, a Hungarian autonomous entity was established in Transylvania that has not been possible to be eliminated by any fair and legal means, should be the focus of an ongoing fight for Hungarian territorial autonomy in Romania. This autonomous entity is able to provide the necessary structural, administrative and political framework for the Hungarian ethnic group and can also ensure security in the region. The structural build-up of Szeklerland as an autonomy is an important priority task. The option of depriving the Szekler region of its national and ethnic autonomy must be rejected and the boundaries of the entity should be modified and finalized in agreement with the Romanian nation.

Pedestrian tracking using probability fields and a movement feature space

Recuperar información de secuencias de video, como la dinámica de peatones u otros objetos en movimiento en la escena, representa una herramienta indispensable para interpretar que está ocurriendo en la escena. Este artículo propone el uso de una Arquitectura basada en Targets, que asocian a cada persona una entidad autónoma y modeliza su dinámica con una máquina de estados. Nuestra metodología utiliza una familia de descriptores calculados en el Movement Feature Space (MFS) para realizar la detección y seguimiento de las personas. Esta arquitectura fue evaluada usando dos bases de datos públicas (PETS2009 y TownCentre), y comparándola con algoritmos de la literatura, arrojó mejores resultados, aun cuando estos algoritmos poseen una mayor complejidad computacional.

A Hybrid Transport Concept for the Material Supply of a Modular Manufacturing Environment

Today's research projects propose a modular manufacturing environment for automotive production sites, which adapt itself autonomously and makes manufacturing decisions without the need of human interaction. Tugger trains are an energy-efficient possibility to handle intralogistics material supply due to the bundling of transport volumes but reaches its limits in the proposed automotive manufacturing environments. The spatial nearness of the production units and the necessity of a high-frequented and small-scaled supply lead to the application of small-scaled autonomous transport entities. The main disadvantage of this technology in turn is a higher intralogistics traffic. Therefore, the concluded concept of this paper connects the advantages of both technologies.

Skill formation, cultural policies, and institutional hybridity: Bridging the gap between politics and policies at federal and state levels in Brazil

AbstractThis article analyses ideas, institutions and policy designs that aim at facilitating the resolution of social, economic and cultural problems through the direct involvement of civil society organizations, and other parties. More specifically, it focuses on two hybrid designs of partnerships in Brazil for the deliverance of public policies: the first sealed between the Brazilian government and paulista industrialists; the second, between the state of Sao Paulo government and civil society organizations. From the former stems a set of non-state autonomous entities that, among other functions, provide apprenticeship; from the latter, Social Organizations (OS) are contracted (contratualizadas) to deliver policies of culture. This study concludes that distinct ideas that opened windows of opportunity to design and implement hybrid partnerships for the deliverance of public policies beyond the state led to similar strategies of institutional insulation. The article finishes discussing possible implicat...

Hepatogenous diabetes: Is it time to separate it from type 2 diabetes?

By definition, hepatogenous diabetes is directly caused by loss of liver function, implying that it develops after cirrhosis onset. Therefore, it should be distinguished from type 2 diabetes developing before cirrhosis onset, in which specific causes of liver disease play a major role, in addition to traditional risk factors. Currently, although hepatogenous diabetes shows distinct pathophysiological and clinical features, it is not considered as an autonomous entity. Recent evidence suggests that the failing liver exerts an independent "toxic" effect on pancreatic islets resulting in β-cell dysfunction. Moreover, patients with hepatogenous diabetes usually present with normal fasting glucose and haemoglobin A1c levels and abnormal response to an oral glucose tolerance test, which is therefore required for diagnosis. This article discusses the need to separate hepatogenous diabetes from type 2 diabetes occurring in subjects with chronic liver disease and to identify individuals suffering from this condition for prognostic and therapeutic purposes.

Modeling of Multi Agent System: From Analysis to Design

Multi Agent System (MAS) is an assembly of autonomous, proactive and dynamic entities called agents. These agents provide some service once an event is invoked. By providing the designated service the MAS achieves a specific goal. A logic based formal analysis of MAS is necessary to understand the system, its structure and dynamics. A systematic and sequential methodology is used for analysis of MAS. As a result of analysis several constructs in form of templates is obtained to represent the different facets of MAS. This is extremely necessary as it allows to explicitly identify how agents directly or indirectly interact or coordinate and collaborate with each other. This paper proposes an Architectural Design Language called Agent Description Language (ADL) that will be required to map these analysis templates to the design phase. Establishing the correctness of the structural transformation and correspondence from analysis to design phase constitutes the other side of the proposal. The proposed ADL has been used to get the corresponding classes of the templates generated. Jason, the universal MAS programming language has been used to implement the ADL classes to get the logical design which conforms to the conceptual design phase. The case study of Medical Emergency Service (MES) has also been taken to illustrate the proposals and findings.

SkateTown, USSR

SkateTown, USSR Amber Dermont (bio) We never intended to lead an insurrection. True, we’d spent the summer convincing our sponsors to donate Hype! skateboard decks, golden Seismic wheels with high-performance Spitfire bearings. We wanted to black market our sidewalk cruisers to the angry, acned, fledgling former members of the former Soviet Union, spraining wrists, road-burning shins, and spreading our World-Class Extreme Sports democracy. By we, I mean me, Thomas “The Beach” Beachy, my pal and co-conspirator Jefferson “Sped” Runner, and Agrafena, the chestnut-haired czarina/chicken smuggler/punk rock warlord we were both smitten with/obsessed over/terrified of. On Agrafena’s urging, Sped and I dedicated ourselves to schooling the disenfranchised youth of the breakaway republic of Transnistria on our tricktionary of skateboarding footflips and grinds. We taught those Ivans how to 180-frontside ollie, and when they landed sketchy, we made sure they sucked then savored the pebbles and creosote embedded in their own broken bleeding skin. Looking back, I suppose there were certain neon signs that we were leading a revolution, possible indications Sped and I might wind up incarcerated in a Moldovan gulag. But we were just b-boys vibing on our international celebrity. We mostly wanted to get laid. A year ago, Sped and I could barely name the fifteen nations that asserted themselves as autonomous entities after the crumbling of the USSR. Now it’s all we argue over. That and Agrafena, which one of us she meant to save. Sped paces our prison cell’s dirt-on-ceramic floor, twisting his studded eyebrow ring, confident that Moldova, a broke-ass kingdom, never should have been allowed to exert its hegemony over the good people of Transnistria. I bite my golden lip ring and try not to argue. After the money laundering, the passport fraud, the human trafficking, after being frisked by bodyguards sheathed in bulletproof leather jackets toting Kalashnikovs with modified Kobra sights, after watching Agrafena, whose [End Page 114] name means “Wild Horse” stick her sharp pink tongue out at a Moldovan henchman during a “Free Transnistria: Skate Back the Night Rally,” after she’d stuck that same cherry tongue in Sped’s ear while finger-clutching and double-pumping my groin, since the morning after of our awkward threesome, I’m no longer certain that Transnistria should be a country. We’d met Agrafena at a skate park in Plovdiv. Sped and I were reigning over a half-pipe competition, catching sick Bulgarian amplitude when Agrafena, our only real rival, challenged us. If we lost, she wanted us to tour a sliver of disputed land between Moldova and Ukraine. Transnistria, she called it, a wannabe nation neither Sped nor I had heard of during our first season on the Slavic Pro-Am Skateboarding circuit. Since I’ve confessed to competing against a girl, I suppose I should also admit that Sped and I were not good enough thrashers to battle in our United States, that we recognized these limitations, trusted our trust funds would keep us flush, and took off for Eastern Europe, the easiest and cheapest sports market to conquer. I had a college semester’s worth of Polish; Sped’s Belarusian nanny had taught him how to insult strangers in Russian. We figured our shortcomings could be translated into hope. From what Sped and I have pieced together during our confinement, Agrafena had always planned on engineering an uprising. Even as a pigtailed teenager overseeing her family’s chicken-smuggling empire, Agrafena had armed herself with English and a love of American popular culture. Right before we were arrested, she even quoted American Idol Kelly Clarkson’s certified gold single “Breakaway.” In our last moments together she commanded us to “Take a chance/Make a change/And breakaway.” But on the gray Bulgarian morning Sped and I packed up our gear, Agrafena appealed to our sense of history and patriotism. She asked me, “You are Thomas?” Smiled at Sped and questioned “And you Jefferson?” We acknowledged our real names. “Thomas and Jefferson.” She smiled, her mouth a bitten ruby. “Come to Transnistria, Thomas/Jefferson. Declare for us our independence.” She then whispered in my...