High-level Entities Research Articles

Vision-Based Situational Graphs Exploiting Fiducial Markers for the Integration of Semantic Entities

Situational Graphs (S-Graphs) merge geometric models of the environment generated by Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) approaches with 3D scene graphs into a multi-layered jointly optimizable factor graph. As an advantage, S-Graphs not only offer a more comprehensive robotic situational awareness by combining geometric maps with diverse, hierarchically organized semantic entities and their topological relationships within one graph, but they also lead to improved performance of localization and mapping on the SLAM level by exploiting semantic information. In this paper, we introduce a vision-based version of S-Graphs where a conventional Visual SLAM (VSLAM) system is used for low-level feature tracking and mapping. In addition, the framework exploits the potential of fiducial markers (both visible and our recently introduced transparent or fully invisible markers) to encode comprehensive information about environments and the objects within them. The markers aid in identifying and mapping structural-level semantic entities, including walls and doors in the environment, with reliable poses in the global reference, subsequently establishing meaningful associations with higher-level entities, including corridors and rooms. However, in addition to including semantic entities, the semantic and geometric constraints imposed by the fiducial markers are also utilized to improve the reconstructed map’s quality and reduce localization errors. Experimental results on a real-world dataset collected using legged robots show that our framework excels in crafting a richer, multi-layered hierarchical map and enhances robot pose accuracy at the same time.

Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality and Life Cycle Closure

Abstract We propose a novel account of evolutionary transitions in individuality as life cycle closure: that is, the emergence of a new embedding life cycle. To characterize this process, we show how the life trajectory of lower-level entities (e.g., cells) can be coarse-grained into classes of a higher-level entity. We argue that only higher-level entities displaying two necessary conditions for the existence of a life cycle (e.g., multicellular organisms) have achieved life cycle closure. Throughout, we illustrate our point with stage-structured demographic models that yield a rigorous characterization of the conditions for life cycle closure.

A coarse-graining account of individuality: how the emergence of individuals represents a summary of lower-level evolutionary processes

Explaining the emergence of individuality in the process of evolution remains a challenge; it faces the difficulty of characterizing adequately what ‘emergence’ amounts to. Here, I present a pragmatic account of individuality in which I take up this challenge. Following this account, individuals that emerge from an evolutionary transition in individuality are coarse-grained entities: entities that are summaries of lower-level evolutionary processes. Although this account may prima facie appear to ultimately rely on epistemic considerations, I show that it can be used to vindicate the emergence of individuals in a quasi-ontological sense. To this end, I discuss a recent account of evolutionary transitions in individuality proposed by Godfrey-Smith and Kerr (Brit J Philos Sci 64(1):205–222, 2013) where a transition occurs through several stages, each with an accompanying model. I focus on the final stage where higher-level entities are ascribed a separate fitness parameter, while they were not in the previous stages. In light of my account, I provide some justification for why such a change in parameters is necessary and cannot be dismissed as merely epistemic.

Building a search tool for compositely annotated entities using Transformer-based approach: Case study in Biosimulation Model Search Engine (BMSE).

The Transformer-based approaches to solving natural language processing (NLP) tasks such as BERT and GPT are gaining popularity due to their ability to achieve high performance. These approaches benefit from using enormous data sizes to create pre-trained models and the ability to understand the context of words in a sentence. Their use in the information retrieval domain is thought to increase effectiveness and efficiency. This paper demonstrates a BERT-based method (CASBERT) implementation to build a search tool over data annotated compositely using ontologies. The data was a collection of biosimulation models written using the CellML standard in the Physiome Model Repository (PMR). A biosimulation model structurally consists of basic entities of constants and variables that construct higher-level entities such as components, reactions, and the model. Finding these entities specific to their level is beneficial for various purposes regarding variable reuse, experiment setup, and model audit. Initially, we created embeddings representing compositely-annotated entities for constant and variable search (lowest level entity). Then, these low-level entity embeddings were vertically and efficiently combined to create higher-level entity embeddings to search components, models, images, and simulation setups. Our approach was general, so it can be used to create search tools with other data semantically annotated with ontologies - biosimulation models encoded in the SBML format, for example. Our tool is named Biosimulation Model Search Engine (BMSE).

Essentialist Non-Reductivism

According to many contemporary metaphysicians, we ought to theorize in terms of grounding because of its promise to explicate the idea of reality having a layered structure. However, a tension emerges when one combines the layered structure view with the view that higher-level facts are not reducible to lower level facts. This tension emerges from two problems. The first problem arises from the fact that grounding explanations entail true universal generalizations. In order to satisfy this constraint, we will face serious pressure to make sure the entities involved in the grounded facts are appropriately connected to the entities involved in the grounding facts, otherwise the generalizations associated with those grounding claims will come out false. However, ensuring the appropriate connections seemingly leaves no way for the non-reductivist to fully squeeze out reference to higher-level entities as we descend the levels of ground. This threatens the result that some higher-level facts must be taken as fundamental, which the non-reductivist cannot accept. I’ll argue that we can resolve the tension by taking the connections at issue to be essentially true. We can call this view essentialist non-reductivism. One significant upshot of the argument is that we can see not only that essentialist non-reductivism successfully resolves the tension, but that in principle no better solution could be offered.

Cultural macroevolution in the middle to late Holocene Arctic of east Siberia and north America

A fundamental debate in evolutionary theory concerns the scale of evolutionary process. For cultural evolution, it is well understood that cultural elements on the scales of basic units of information (i.e. how to manufacture a lithic tool) change over time. We also recognize change in more complexly integrated cultural traditions spanning composite technologies to the fundamentals of social and political systems. The question remains as to whether change in the latter entities is a byproduct of evolution on lower scales leading to blended higher level entities or if evolutionary process actually unfolds on higher integrated scales. This study poses a test of the opposing hypotheses that evolution acts on the highest (species-like) scale versus the lowest (ephemeral traits) scales using data from the Middle to late Holocene Siberian and American Arctic. Results of modelling using Bayesian phylogenetic and Neighbornet Network procedures suggest that two distinct Arctic cultures, termed Paleo-Inuit and Neo-Inuit, evolved as species-like entities. Once established each evolved further on lower scales leading to blended within-group outcomes. We argue that cultural evolution is best understood as a process that can simultaneously act on multiple scales.

D_PSNI: Delimited persistent stochastic non-interference

Non-Interference is an information flow security property which aims to protect confidential data by ensuring the complete absence of any information flow from high level entities to low level ones. However, this requirement is too demanding when dealing with real applications: indeed, no real policy ever guarantees a total absence of information flow. In order to deal with real applications, it is often necessary to allow mechanisms for downgrading or declassifying information such as information filters and channel control.In this paper we introduce the notion of Delimited Persistent Stochastic Non-Interference (D_PSNI) that allows information to flow from a higher to a lower security level through a downgrader. We provide two algebraic characterizations of D_PSNI and prove some compositionality properties. Finally, we present a decision algorithm and discuss its time complexity.

The Politics of Generosity. Colombian Official Discourse towards Migration from Venezuela, 2015-2018

Objective/Context:As a step towards understanding the nature of power and political action amidst large-scale human mobility, the article analyses how migration from Venezuela emerged in Colombian official discourse between 2015 and 2018. The aim is to trace Colombia’s migration policy’s leading drivers, widely perceived as a generous response towards an escalating humanitarian crisis. Methodology: A context analysis of over 400-plus pieces of information produced by three high-level entities inside the Colombian government was designed. Units of analysis were defined based on van Dijk´s (1997) approach to political discourse, while coding of information was traced drawing upon selected scholarship on Critical Border Studies. Conclusions:Colombian official discourse between 2015 and 2018 was shaped by pragmatism, focusing on consolidating a schema of specific governmentality by eliciting three interrelated processes: the construction of an imaginary of migration from Venezuela as a process made precarious; the consolidation of a strategy of irregularization; and the centering of ‘generosity’ as the leading premise for legitimizing political action. Originality:The article sheds light on the nature of the power context in which the Colombian government’s response to migration from Venezuela emerged by empirically adapting current critical scholarship.

Automated Detection of Retinal Hemorrhage based on Supervised Classifiers

Supervised machine learning algorithm based retinal hemorrhage detection and classification is presented. For developing an automated diabetic retinopathy screening system, efficient detection of retinal hemorrhage is important. Splat, which is a high level entity in image segmentation is used to mark out hemorrhage in the pre-processed fundus image. Here, color images of retina are portioned into different segments (splats) covereing the whole image. With the help of splat level and GLCM features extracted from the splats, three classifiers are trained and tested using the relevant features. The ground-truth is established with the help of a retinal expert and using dataset and clinical images the validation was done. The output obtained using the three classifiers had more than 96 % sensitivity and accuracy.

Automated Detection of Retinal Hemorrhage based on Supervised Classifiers

Supervised machine learning algorithm based retinal hemorrhage detection and classification is presented. For developing an automated diabetic retinopathy screening system, efficient detection of retinal hemorrhage is important. Splat, which is a high level entity in image segmentation is used to mark out hemorrhage in the pre-processed fundus image. Here, color images of retina are portioned into different segments (splats) covereing the whole image. With the help of splat level and GLCM features extracted from the splats, three classifiers are trained and tested using the relevant features. The ground-truth is established with the help of a retinal expert and using dataset and clinical images the validation was done. The output obtained using the three classifiers had more than 96 % sensitivity and accuracy.

Transitions in evolution: a formal analysis

Evolutionary transitions in individuality (ETIs) are events during which individuals at a given level of organization (particles) interact to form higher-level entities (collectives) which are then recognized as new individuals at that level. ETIs are intimately related to levels of selection, which, following Okasha, can be approached from two different perspectives. One, referred to as ‘synchronic’, asks whether selection occurs at the collective level while the partitioning of particles into collectives is taken for granted. The other, referred to as ‘diachronic’, asks about the origins of the partitioning of particles into collectives. After having presented the two perspectives and a classical formalism used to deal with the levels-of-selection question in the literature, namely the multilevel version of the Price equation, I show that because this formalism treats the levels-of-selection question from a synchronic perspective, it is inadequate to explain ETIs. This is because a fundamental aspect of ETIs is the origin of collectives. From there, I develop a framework for levels of selection compatible with the diachronic perspective. This framework relies on the distinction between what I call, on the one hand, a ‘functional aggregative collective trait’, and on the other hand, a ‘functional non-aggregative collective trait’. After having presented this distinction, I implement it in the Price equation, leading to a new statistical partitioning of this equation which, I argue, represents a causal decomposition more relevant for ETIs. Finally, I exploit this partitioning to explain the critical stages of an ETI. In addition to its explanatory power, a measure of the degree of functional non-aggregativity could be used as a proxy for the degree of individuality of a collective.

Volumetric Instance-Aware Semantic Mapping and 3D Object Discovery

To autonomously navigate and plan interactions in real-world environments, robots require the ability to robustly perceive and map complex, unstructured surrounding scenes. Besides building an internal representation of the observed scene geometry, the key insight toward a truly functional understanding of the environment is the usage of higher level entities during mapping, such as individual object instances. This work presents an approach to incrementally build volumetric object-centric maps during online scanning with a localized RGB-D camera. First, a per-frame segmentation scheme combines an unsupervised geometric approach with instance-aware semantic predictions to detect both recognized scene elements as well as previously unseen objects. Next, a data association step tracks the predicted instances across the different frames. Finally, a map integration strategy fuses information about their 3D shape, location, and, if available, semantic class into a global volume. Evaluation on a publicly available dataset shows that the proposed approach for building instance-level semantic maps is competitive with state-of-theart methods, while additionally able to discover objects of unseen categories. The system is further evaluated within a real-world robotic mapping setup, for which qualitative results highlight the online nature of the method. Code is available athttps://github.com/ ethz-asl/voxblox-plusplus.

How to Restructure PPDRC and MIRC According to DOLCE

Abstract The use of ontologies in information systems for engineering applications calls for ontologies representing experts’ knowledge in a principled and robust manner. The work we present in the paper brings together, on the one hand, two ontologies developed for the engineering domain, namely PPDRC and MIRC and, on the other hand, the DOLCE foundational ontology. The former two have been developed by taking DOLCE as reference model for distinguishing between the high-level entities they quantify over. However, the relation with DOLCE calls for improvements. The ultimate purpose of the paper is to show how the conceptual transparency of domain ontologies can be enhanced by (properly) using a foundational ontology.

THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE GMINA IN TOURISM POLICY IN POLAND

The aim of the article is to indicate the role and importance of the gmina as a special institution of the Polish tourism system in shaping the local tourism policy of the area. The article presents the concept and objectives of tourism policy, and describes the various entities of tourism policy in Poland and their tasks. Against this background, the article captures the gmina's tasks in the sphere of tourism together with the instruments of tourism policy that are at its disposal. The article uses a descriptive and qualitative analysis method that allowed to identify the role of the gmina in the tourism system in Poland. The analysis includes literature in the field of economic sciences, based additionally on legal acts related to the discussed issue. As an institution of the tourism system, the gmina has the task of satisfying the needs of the local community and stimulating local development, thanks to which it plays an important role in shaping the local tourism policy. The gmina has a wide range of activities on the local tourist economy. It should be emphasized that this is not an individual task of the gmina, although there is no doubt that it has a wide range of opportunities to influence this sphere of social and economic life. Tourism policy should be undertaken and implemented in cooperation with private sector entities conducting tourist activity, but also entities from outside the tourism industry (so-called paratourism entities) and their organizations and associations. Tourism policy should also be implemented together with other local government units, the area of which is covered by an initiative in the field of tourism development, including also higher-level entities (such as poviats and voivodships), as well as with local and regional tourist organizations and other non-governmental organizations.

DATABASE FOR AGROECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL LAND

Databases have been created to form models of knowledge representation and geoinformation modeling of regional standards for the assessment and grouping of agricultural lands. The process of creating databases included the main stages: designing a conceptual domain model, logical and physical design. At the initial stage of the design, when developing the conceptual model, a choice was made of the type of data organization. High-level entities in the databases are defined by Climate, Relief, Soil and Culture. The basis is an object-oriented relational model with the possibility of its further use for geomodels constructing. The application of object-oriented technology gives system properties of the geoinformation model and allows creating a natural hierarchy of territorial objects, as well as the processes of interaction between them, ensuring the functioning of the system as a whole. A complex system of describing natural conditions and factors associated with agricultural lands in the form of interconnected tables is created in which the information object is represented as a named set of units or entities with a given structure. The analysis of functioning and support of statistical data processing, necessary connections with the server and database tables is performed. At the stage of physical implementation, a program was developed for accessing and working with databases. It is possible to upgrade and adapt the databases for making changes, optimizing the functioning and modifying the program. Information from external data sources is updated in the form of Excel files or other database formats that are compatible with MS SQL Server 2012 database management system.

Municipal Environmental Management Indicators: A Bottom-Up Approach Applied to the Colombian Context

The participation of local governments is one of the determining factors for achieving the objectives of sustainable development, whereby municipalities must have planning, assessment, control instruments, and indicators which will lead to proper environmental management and sustainable development. In this respect the existing models of sustainability indicators reflect, mainly, the state of the environment. However, these indicators do not allow the identification of the state of the environment’s direct responsible actors and do not contribute towards the formulation of specific objectives and goals for each of the responsible actors. Furthermore, the sustainable development indicators are elaborated and measured by higher level entities, and are aimed towards a regional and national level, using a top-down approach. In this context, this paper proposes a model of environmental management indicators that lets us observe the state of the environment and identifies those responsible for that state. The set of indicators was developed in the municipalities of the department of Narino, Colombia, through a participatory bottom-up approach which includes: the vision and needs of the stakeholders, who are responsible for the information, and the vision of the regional control organisms. Thus, a set of 40 environmental management indicators was formulated, and a framework to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the local environmental management was proposed. Their application indicates that a majority of the municipalities are in a weak environmental management situation and it lets the stakeholders critically analyze their performance through the set of indicators and also identify areas for improvement.

Command Agent Belief Architecture to Support Commander Decision Making in Military Simulation

<p class="p1">In the war, military conflicts have many aspects that are consistent with complexity theory e.g., the higher commander’s decision is directed at animate entity that react under hierarchical and self-organised structure in decentralised command and control for the collectivist dynamism of decomposed elements due to nonlinear complexity of warfare on the battlefield. Agent technology have been found to be suitable for modelling tactical behaviour of entities at multiple level of resolution under hierarchical command and control (C2) structure and provide a powerful abstraction mechanism required for designing simulations of complex and dynamic battlefield situations. Intelligent agents can potentially reduce the overhead on such experiments and studies. Command agents, plan how to carry out the operation and assign tasks to subordinate agents. They receive information from battlefield environment and use such information to build situation awareness and also to respond to unforeseen situations. In the paper, we have proposed a mechanism for modelling tactical behaviour of an intelligent agent by which higher command level entities should be able to synthesize their beliefs derived from the lower level sub ordinates entities. This paper presents a role-based belief, desire and intention mechanism to facilitate in the representation of military hierarchy, modelling of tactical behaviour based on agent current belief, teammate’s belief propagation, and coordination issues. Higher commander can view the battlefield information at different levels of abstraction based on concept of aggregation and disaggregation and take appropriate reactive response to any unforeseen circumstances happening in battlefield.</p>

Truthmaking and fundamentality

Consider the idea that some entities are more fundamental than others, some entities ‘ground’ other, less fundamental, entities. What is it for something to be more fundamental than another, or for something to ‘ground’ something else? This paper urges the rejection of conceptions of grounding and fundamentality according to which reality has a hierarchical structure in which higher-level entities are taken to be distinct from but metaphysically dependent on more fundamental lower-level entities. Truthmaking is offered as an apt replacement for at least some of the many applications of grounding.

Recognition of Machining Features Based on Identification of Inner/Outer Loops on Basic Face

There exists different feature definitions, but they all agree upon the point of view that considers features as high level entities. Solid models are built from features instances, which are designated as feature attributes, consisting of feature shape attributes, position and orientation of feature with respect to established coordinate system, material characteristics, geometric tolerances. The definition of manufacturing features links the ensemble of interrelated geometric elements to appropriate manufacturing method. This paper proposes a feature recognition algorithm that identifies features, such as simple hole, tapered hole, counterbored hole, counterdrilled hole, countersunk hole, step through/blind, slot through/blind, pocket through/blind, chamfer, fillet, filleted/chamfered slot, filleted/chamfered pocket, pocket/slot island or boss, based on a set of established definitions, with exemplification on slot features.

Origins of multicellular evolvability in snowflake yeast.

Complex life has arisen through a series of ‘major transitions’ in which collectives of formerly autonomous individuals evolve into a single, integrated organism. A key step in this process is the origin of higher-level evolvability, but little is known about how higher-level entities originate and gain the capacity to evolve as an individual. Here we report a single mutation that not only creates a new level of biological organization, but also potentiates higher-level evolvability. Disrupting the transcription factor ACE2 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevents mother–daughter cell separation, generating multicellular ‘snowflake’ yeast. Snowflake yeast develop through deterministic rules that produce geometrically defined clusters that preclude genetic conflict and display a high broad-sense heritability for multicellular traits; as a result they are preadapted to multicellular adaptation. This work demonstrates that simple microevolutionary changes can have profound macroevolutionary consequences, and suggests that the formation of clonally developing clusters may often be the first step to multicellularity.