Hierarchical Goal Research Articles

Initial Goal Allocation for Multi-agent Systems

In the multi-agent environment, a human expert engages inthe allocation of objectives among individual agents. How-ever, autonomous agents need to determine and allocate ob-jectives without external intervention from humans. There-fore, in this research, we attempt to solve initial goal distri-bution challenges in multi-agent settings by developing twogoal allocation algorithms. The primary objectives are to findcost-effective goal solution sets and distribute them evenlyamong available agents. We introduce two algorithms whenthe goals are structured in a hierarchical goal tree structure,and then test their efficiency across a variety of baseline al-location methods. Both algorithms were able to increase theperformance of agents in multi-agent settings by finding themost optimal distributions of goals and allowing agents to actindependently from human intervention.

大中小学思政课教师队伍一体化建设的意义、阻碍与路径研究

Teachers of ideological and political courses are the main implementers of ideological and political teaching and the key to running ideological and political courses well. Promoting the integrated construction of the teaching team of ideological and political courses in primary, secondary, and tertiary schools has important value and significance, which helps to achieve the unity of the overall and hierarchical goals of ideological and political education in primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, the unity of the similarities and differences in teaching content, and the unity of the stages and connections in educational effects. However, achieving the integration of ideological and political education teachers in primary, secondary, and tertiary schools requires a long-term and complex construction process. Currently, there are still many constraints such as varying levels of emphasis on the construction of ideological and political education teachers in different stages of primary, secondary, and tertiary education, insufficient effective communication and interaction among teachers, and uneven teacher abilities and qualities. It is necessary to find a practical path to optimize the ideological and political education teacher team and achieve the integration of ideological and political education teachers in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, Complete the fundamental task of cultivating virtue and talent.

Research on the Optimization of Postgraduate Education Management Path from the Perspective of Management by Objectives

With the continuous increase of the total number of graduate students in colleges and universities, optimizing the management of graduate education has become an urgent issue for colleges and universities to solve. Based on the theory of management by objectives, this paper discusses the practical application of management by objectives in the management of graduate education in colleges and universities by studying the current situation of the management path of graduate education in colleges and universities, analyzes the hierarchical goal system of the management of graduate education in colleges and universities, and puts forward targeted measures to optimize the management path of graduate education in colleges and universities from the perspective of management by objectives, so as to provide reference for improving the management level of graduate education in colleges and universities.

Balancing the water-energy dilemma in nexus system planning with bi-level and multi-uncertainty

The complicated interrelationship between water and energy makes the water-energy dilemma a complex challenge to be tackled, especially considering the tradeoffs among decision-makers at different hierarchical levels and multiple uncertainties derived from climate change, socio-economic development, technical improvement and decision-making preferences. Thus, a water-energy nexus planning framework would be established in this paper to assist optimal decision-making with bi-level programming and multi-uncertainty. By integrating the regional climate model, multiple linear regression, and bi-level interval flexible programming, an integrated prediction optimization model would be developed as the core of the water-energy nexus planning framework. Then it is applied to planning Zhengzhou City over fifteen years. Multiple scenarios based on electricity demand-supply and carbon dioxide emission satisfaction degrees are analyzed leading to the results of (1) compared to the conventional single-level optimization method, the developed model can achieve the hierarchical goals of water saving and economic suitability; (2) renewable energy will be largely developed and its ratio to electricity generation will reach [26.30, 27.51] % under the limited water availability. Overall, the proposed water-energy nexus planning framework can achieve a balanced water-energy dilemma considering bi-level decision-making preferences and multi-uncertainties, which can be applied to planning water-energy nexus systems at a similar scale.

Hierarchical goals contextualize local reward decomposition explanations

One-step reinforcement learning explanation methods account for individual actions but fail to consider the agent’s future behavior, which can make their interpretation ambiguous. We propose to address this limitation by providing hierarchical goals as context for one-step explanations. By considering the current hierarchical goal as a context, one-step explanations can be interpreted with higher certainty, as the agent’s future behavior is more predictable. We combine reward decomposition with hierarchical reinforcement learning into a novel explainable reinforcement learning framework, which yields more interpretable, goal-contextualized one-step explanations. With a qualitative analysis of one-step reward decomposition explanations, we first show that their interpretability is indeed limited in scenarios with multiple, different optimal policies—a characteristic shared by other one-step explanation methods. Then, we show that our framework retains high interpretability in such cases, as the hierarchical goal can be considered as context for the explanation. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first to investigate hierarchical goals not as an explanation directly but as additional context for one-step reinforcement learning explanations.

A Hierarchical Goal-Biased Curriculum for Training Reinforcement Learning

Hierarchy and curricula are two techniques commonly used to improve training for Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents. Yet few works have examined how to leverage hierarchical planning to generate a curriculum for training RL Options. We formalize a goal skill that extends an RL Option with state-based conditions that must hold during training and execution. We then define a Goal-Skill Network that integrates a Hierarchical Goal Network, a variant of hierarchical planning, with goal skills as the leaves of the network. An automatically generated plan for a Goal-Skill Network correctly orders goal skills such that (1) it is a Goal-Biased Curriculum for training the goal skills, and (2) it can be executed to achieve top-level goals. In a set of six distinct gridworld environments using up to ten goal skills, we demonstrate that these contributions train nearly perfect policies significantly faster than learning a whole policy from scratch.

Graph-Grounded Goal Planning for Conversational Recommendation

Conversational recommendation casts the recommendation problem as a dialog-based interactive task, which could acquire user interest more efficiently and effectively by allowing users to express what they like. In this work, we move a step towards a new conversational recommendation task that is more suitable for real-world applications. In this task, the recommender proactively and naturally lead a dialog from non-recommendation content to approach an item being of interest to users, and allow users to ask questions for better support of user decisions. The challenge of this task lies in how to effectively control the dialog flow to complete the recommendation while appropriately responding to user utterances. To address this challenge, we first construct a Chinese recommendation dialog dataset DuRecDial. We then propose a two-stage Multi-Goal driven Conversation Generation framework, MGCG. In particular, the goal planning module leverages the global graph structure information and local goal-sequence information to effectively control the dialog flow step by step. The goal-guided responding module can produce an in-depth dialog about each goal by fully exploiting hierarchical goal information for response retrieval or generation. Results on DuRecDial demonstrate that MGCG can lead the dialog more proactively and naturally, and complete the recommendation task more effectively.

ФОРМУВАННЯ БЮДЖЕТУ ПРОЄКТУ ФІНАНСОВО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ ГРАМОТНОСТІ ДЛЯ ДІТЕЙ ДОШКІЛЬНОГО ТА МОЛОДШОГО ШКІЛЬНОГО ВІКУ ЗАСОБАМИ MICROSOFT OFFICE PROJECT

The financial services market is developing rapidly in today’s dynamic world. The financial inclusion of our compatriots directly depends on their financial and economic literacy. Therefore, awareness of Ukrainian citizens with financial and economic terms, as well as the basics of financial transactions should take place in childhood. The aim of the article is to draw up the budget of the educational project of financial and economic literacy for the children of preschool and primary school age with the help of the Microsoft Office Project. The article describes the features of the project (purpose, existing hierarchical goals, coordinated implementation of related actions, time frame, availability of the budget, uniqueness). The project of financial and economic literacy for the children is classified into certain types of projects according to different classification criteria (scale, duration, industry affiliation, functional direction, the nature of the parties involved, the degree of complexity, the composition and structure of the organizations involved, the requirements for project quality, the degree of binding, the degree of communication, the number of participants). The step-by-step algorithm of project development from the establishment of the project team to project budget formulation is created and described. Methods used: SWOT-analysis (to identify strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities of the project), critical path (for planning project work), budgeting (for project budgeting). The algorithm of automated scheduling of project tasks in the Microsoft Office Project program is described. The project budget includes the costs of printing presentation materials; creating drawings to explain the financial and economic terms that will be used in the children’s book; creating a layout and printing a children’s book; creating a cartoon; creating a project web page; remuneration of teachers for conducting training sessions. The time frame of the project was 5,5 months. The universality of the project is indicated, as it can be implemented by teachers of economic departments of any institution of higher education in Ukraine. It is noted that the developed project of financial and economic literacy for the children can serve as a basis for other educational projects in preschool or school education or for similar projects of financial and economic literacy, where the target audience will be middle and high school students studying in general secondary education institutions, gymnasiums, lyceums.

Research methodology in the system of financial and economic security

The purpose of the article is to form a methodology of scientific research in the system of financial and economic security. Methodology. The scientific works of scientists in the study of financial and economic security are the theoretical and methodological basis of the study. To achieve the study’s purpose, the following research methods were used: theoretical generalization – the essence and main components of the system of financial and economic security; methods of positive and normative analysis – to make recommendations on the methodology of scientific research in the system of financial and economic security. Results. Research in the financial and economic security system has been proven to be carried out in five areas. Among the areas of research of the system of financial and economic security are dangerous processes and phenomena occurring in the world economy that can negatively affect the economic security of Ukraine; the level of stability, protection of interests, and opportunities of the national economy to counteract the negative impact of the crisis of the world economy; the state of economic security of Ukraine and trends in the development of adverse factors in the national economy and the formation of mechanisms to counter them; the state of economic security of economic entities, external and internal factors of dangers and threats to economic security; features of the organization of the system of economic security of enterprises, the activities of the subjects of its provision and their use of techniques and technologies that make it possible to ensure economic security. The basic principles of research methodology in the system of financial and economic security have been provided. The principles of research methodology in the system of financial and economic security include the principle of conformity (responsible for building a system of definitions of basic concepts, axioms based on these definitions, theorems of the theory of economic security); the principle of additionality (allows the establishment of the place of the theory of economic security in the structure of economic science); the principle of hierarchical goals (ensuring the security of the upper level of the economic system is a condition for ensuring the economic security of the lower level of the economic system); the principle of relative independence of horizontal goals, methodological consistency, spatial consistency. Indicative, resource-functional, and program-target have been proven to be among the methodological approaches to the study of the system of financial and economic security. Practical significance. The methodology of scientific research in the system of financial and economic security, which can be used by applicants and scientific and pedagogical workers of higher education, is provided. Prospects for further research. Selection of the optimal methodology of scientific research in the formation of the system of financial and economic security.

Supply chain redesign in the aquaculture supply chain: a longitudinal case study

Companies aiming to upgrade their supply chains to meet operational and sustainability objectives are often required to redesign their supply networks. However, there is scarce empirical evidence on how to redesign existing supply chains, especially global supply chains. This longitudinal case study examined the aquaculture supply chain redesign process with the aim of improving market, operational, and sustainability performance. Aquaculture, although characterized as the blue revolution, has received little attention in management studies. Action research collected evidence via informal interviews, participant observation, on-site visits, and secondary data selection. The redesign process included three phases: (i) physical distribution network mapping, risk-uncertainty analysis, and hierarchical goal setting, (ii) implementation of physical network re-design, and (iii) performance monitoring, control, and continuous improvement. The company achieved significant lead time reduction and fast response to the markets while, at the same time, reducing environmental pollution and meeting sustainable targets. The study uncovers that supply chain redesign should not be limited to physical network restructuring but also include facilities value extension and integrated information management. It shows how companies can mitigate different types of risks (supply, production, logistics, demand) via specific supply chain redesign interventions.

In Pursuit of Multiple Goals: Influences of Corporate and Business Unit Performance on Divestitures

We investigate how diversified firms adapt in response to performance feedback on multiple goals across corporate and business unit levels. By connecting performance feedback theory to the divestiture literature, we show that organizational structure influences adaptation through business and geographic divestitures in response to performance close to and far below aspirations, and that performance feedback on a lower-level business unit goal can modify the response to performance feedback on a higher-level corporate goal. We posit that declining corporate performance increases divestments of business and geographic segments to fix corporate performance problems up to a point after which these relationships taper off due to threat-rigidity response. In contrast, declining unit performance leads to increases in business divestitures and net decreases in geographic divestitures as freed-up resources from unproductive areas are reinvested into attractive regions; these coordinated set of refocusing and reinvestment activities improve profitability up to a point after which the relationships taper off as troubled units face reduced flexibility to change. We also posit that conflict resolution of multiple interdependent goals across levels occurs through changes in the types of divestitures. By empirically studying how adaptation occurs across diversified firms, we contribute to extending knowledge on divestiture behaviors in response to performance shortfalls with respect to multiple hierarchical goals.

Digital natives’ snack content consumption and their goals: A means-end chain approach

This study explores digital natives’ consumption of snack contents, which are short-form digital contents that reflects on the emerging trend of snack culture, referring to the participative, multi-tasking, and shortened consumption of digital contents. Specifically, employing goal theory and a means-end chain approach, this study investigates digital natives’ snack content consumption behaviors and the goals they pursue through those behaviors. Data were collected using laddering interviews, a type of semi-structured interview, and the results of the analyses were presented in a hierarchical goal map that identified four attributes and 14 goals associated with snack content consumption. The findings show that information acquisition, sense of accomplishment, fun, and restorative are the main four values users obtain through the usage of snack contents. This empirical study enhances the understanding of digital natives’ goals in consuming snack contents and provides insights into the current trend of digital content consumption.

Goal Lifecycle Networks For Robotics

A Goal Lifecycle Network (GLN) is a conceptual process model that captures the progression of goals from their formulation to their completion, including planning and execution concerns. GLNs synthesize the literature on hierarchical goal networks, goal lifecycles, and plan execution. We formalize GLNs based on a state-variable representation, extend GLNs with an execution lifecycle, describe a partial reference implementation of GLNs, and show how the temporal PDDL language can be translated into GLNs for dispatchable execution. We integrate GLNs in three proof-of-concept robotics demonstrations: (1) a two-armed robot sorting items into baskets; (2) a multi-vehicle quad-rotor team surveying a region; and (3) centralized planning for a simulated disaster relief based on the Robocup Rescue League. The theory, implementation, and demonstrations highlight that GLNs are effective for goal management in the robotics systems we study.

Science with Duplo: Multilevel goal management in preschoolers’ toy house constructions

Executing goal-directed action sequences is fundamental to our behavior. Planning and controlling these action sequences improves greatly over the preschool years. In this study, we examined preschoolers’ ability to plan action sequences. A total of 69 3- to 5-year-olds were assessed on an action sequence planning task with a hierarchical goal structure and on several executive function tasks. Planning abilities improved with age. Improvements in inhibition were related to avoidance of actions irrelevant to the goal hierarchy. Updating skill appears to be associated with executing actions relevant to different subgoals. Using optical motion capture, we showed that children who followed the subgoals displayed less movement with their nonreaching hand within a subgoal. This effect was enhanced in children with better inhibitory skills, suggesting that such skills allow greater focus on executing the current subgoal. Thus, we provide evidence that structuring of subgoals in action sequence planning emerges during the preschool years and that improvements in performance in action sequence planning are related to executive functions.

Building of knowledge bases of decision support systems using the directed networks of terms during information operations research

The relevant issue of information operations research is considered, which includes issues of detection, recognition, analysis, and counteraction. This relevance is due to the significant impact of the information environment on society, social groups and individuals who are in it. The construction of knowledge bases of decision support systems in the information operations research takes place within the method of hierarchical goal dynamic estimating of alternatives. A new approach for the building knowledge bases of decision support systems during information operations research is proposed, which allows reducing the number of appeals to experts through the use of directed weighted networks of terms. Its application saves time and financial resources by reducing expert information usage and also provides an opportunity to identify gaps in knowledge bases. The concept of an information-analytical system for information operations research is developed, which uses directed networks of terms, within which this approach will be implemented. This system allows making recommendations that can be used to analyze and counteract information operations. During automated processing of texts related to the subject domain of the information operation object, there are conducted the formation of text corpora, based on which the construction of networks of terms. Processing of text corpora is performed by computational linguistics, and the construction of a directed network of terms is conducted using an algorithm for constructing a graph of horizontal visibility. It is proposed to determine a sufficient number of texts for representative coverage of the subject domain by stabilizing the ranks of terms when constructing thematic text corpora. An approach for determining the weights of links in the subject domain's directed networks is proposed. The application of the proposed approaches was tested on the example of texts corpora on current topics “Brexit”.

Hierarchical goal effects on center of mass velocity and eye fixations during gait.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hierarchical goal structure of a yet-to-be performed task on gait and eye fixation behavior while walking to the location of where the task was to be performed. Subjects performed different goal-directed tasks representing three hierarchical levels of planning. The first level of planning consisted of having the subject walk to a bookcase on which an object (a cup) was located in the middle of a shelf. The second level of planning consisted of walking to the bookcase and picking up the cup which was in the middle, on the right side, or on the left side of the bookcase shelf. The third level of planning consisted of walking to the bookcase, picking up the cup which was located in the middle of the bookcase shelf, and moving it to a higher shelf. Findings showed that hierarchal goals do affect center of mass velocity and eye fixation behavior. Center of mass velocity to the bookcase increased with an increase in the number of goals. Subjects decreased gait velocity as they approached the bookcase and adjusted their last steps to accommodate picking up the cup. The findings also demonstrated the important role of vision in controlling gait velocity in goal-directed tasks. Eye fixation duration was more important than the number of eye fixations in controlling gait velocity. Thus, the amount of information gained through object fixation duration is of greater importance than the number of fixations on the object for effective goal achievement.

Embodied Self-Aware Computing Systems

Embodied self-aware computing systems are embedded in a physical environment with a rich set of sensors and actuators to interact both with their environment and with their own embodiment. Through this interaction, they learn about their situation, their own state, and their performance. Although they are application specific like traditional embedded systems (ESs), they are significantly more flexible, robust, and autonomous; they can adapt to a wide range of environmental variation and can cope with deterioration and shortcomings of their own performance. As such, embodied self-aware computing systems are an evolution of traditional embedded and cyber-physical systems into the direction of more autonomy, robustness, and flexibility. When traditional ESs operate in a changing world by demanding unchanging and fully characterized computing resources, embodied self-aware computing systems adapt to a changing world and changing computing resources. This article surveys the methods and methodologies used for embodied self-aware computing systems structured along with the faculties of: 1) sensory observation and abstraction; 2) self-aware assessment; and 3) hierarchical goals and control. The discussion is exemplified by application cases in the areas of systems-on-chip, control systems, health monitoring, and condition monitoring in industrial production systems.

Suggesting Growth Strategy for Last Miles in South Korea through Case Study and AHP

최근 O2O(Online to Offline) 비즈니스·모바일·온라인 시장이 급증하면서 빠른 배달은 물론 다른 장소에 다양한 방법으로 배송되길 원하는 소비자 욕구가 커지고 있다. O2O의 핵심은 결국 물류이기 때문에 쇼핑 패턴의 온·오프라인 경계가 무너져서소비자는 다채로운 경로로 구매하므로 배송 경쟁은 갈수록 치열해지고 있다. 라스트 마일(Last Mile)은 주소·소비 트랜드·성향 등 많은 ‘소비자 데이터’를 축적시킬 수 있어 물류 서비스의 세분화를 통해 고객을 만족시킬 수 있는 컨시어지 경제(Concierge Economy)에도 적합하다. 본 연구는 AHP로 분석하여 라스트 마일의 성장을 위해서는 수익성 확보, 배송, 물류기술 및 인프라 확충, 정책지원, 고객 편익, 환경 및 교통과 같은 요인 도출을 거쳐 자료 분석을 하였고 고객 편익 및 고객 요구도 상승이 가장 중요시 되는 것으로 나타났다. 젊은 여성들 중심으로 사람과 만나지 않은 서비스를 좋아하는 ‘언텍트(untact)’ 족의 출현과 라스트 마일이 고객과 만나는 최초이자 최후의 순간인 만큼 소비자의 요구를 세밀하게 파악하여 그들의 심정적 지지와 마음을 사로잡는 차별화된 서비스가 필요하다.Purpose : This study aims to contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of the logistics industry by studying the current challenges in Korea, as the last mile experience is spread to the service value felt by customers as the e-commerce market grows slowly. Research design, data, methodology : Through interviews and literature studies, this study set up the core areas by setting the AHP analysis hierarchical goal as “discovering the last mile growth strategy in South Korea.” To estimate the relative importance of the alternatives, evaluation criteria by total sectors were derived. The definition of operational concepts by field was selected through relevant research reports, papers and field experts’ opinions. Results : Results figured out that the importance of each factor was customer benefit-expansion of logistics technology and infrastructure-securing profitability-delivery-policy support-environment and transportation. Customer benefits are the most important factor in last mile. Conclusions : As the logistics industry grows, the last mile culture matures, requiring a virtuous cycle that expands customer choice, offers differentiated services, and increases sales and profitability using customer data. It is necessary to create a more detailed strategy that can be linked to the company s overall performance by creating an ideal last mile application model that can gain the emotional sympathy and support of consumers, not just fast delivery, but well received by customers.

Improving Medication Information Presentation Through Interactive Visualization in Mobile Apps: Human Factors Design.

BackgroundDespite the detailed patient package inserts (PPIs) with prescription drugs that communicate crucial information about safety, there is a critical gap between patient understanding and the knowledge presented. As a result, patients may suffer from adverse events. We propose using human factors design methodologies such as hierarchical task analysis (HTA) and interactive visualization to bridge this gap. We hypothesize that an innovative mobile app employing human factors design with an interactive visualization can deliver PPI information aligned with patients’ information processing heuristics. Such an app may help patients gain an improved overall knowledge of medications.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of designing an interactive visualization-based mobile app using an HTA approach through a mobile prototype.MethodsTwo pharmacists constructed the HTA for the drug risperidone. Later, the specific requirements of the design were translated using infographics. We transferred the wireframes of the prototype into an interactive user interface. Finally, a usability evaluation of the mobile health app was conducted.ResultsA mobile app prototype using HTA and infographics was successfully created. We reiterated the design based on the specific recommendations from the usability evaluations.ConclusionsUsing HTA methodology, we successfully created a mobile prototype for delivering PPI on the drug risperidone to patients. The hierarchical goals and subgoals were translated into a mobile prototype.

Neurocognitive free will.

Free will is an apparent paradox because it requires a historical identity to escape its history in a self-guided fashion. Philosophers have itemized design features necessary for this escape, scaling from action to agency and vice versa. These can be organized into a coherent framework that neurocognitive capacities provide and that form a basis for neurocognitive free will. These capacities include (1) adaptive access to unpredictability, (2) tuning of this unpredictability in the service of hierarchical goal structures, (3) goal-directed deliberation via search over internal cognitive representations, and (4) a role for conscious construction of the self in the generation and choice of alternatives. This frames free will as a process of generative self-construction, by which an iterative search process samples from experience in an adaptively exploratory fashion, allowing the agent to explore itself in the construction of alternative futures. This provides an explanation of how effortful conscious control modulates adaptive access to unpredictability and resolves one of free will's key conceptual problems: how randomness is used in the service of the will. The implications provide a contemporary neurocognitive grounding to compatibilist and libertarian positions on free will, and demonstrate how neurocognitive understanding can contribute to this debate by presenting free will as an interaction between our freedom and our will.