Modelling Dynamic Spatial Systems in the Situation Calculus

Abstract

We propose and systematically formalise a dynamical spatial systems approach for the modelling of changing spatial environments. The formalisation adheres to the semantics of the situation calculus and includes a systematic account of key aspects that are necessary to realize a domain-independent qualitative spatial theory that may be utilised across diverse application domains. The spatial theory is primarily derivable from the all-pervasive generic notion of “qualitative spatial calculi” that are representative of differing aspects of space. In addition, the theory also includes aspects, both ontological and phenomenal in nature, that are considered inherent in dynamic spatial systems. Foundational to the formalisation is a causal theory that adheres to the representational and computational semantics of the situation calculus. This foundational theory provides the necessary (general) mechanism required to represent and reason about changing spatial environments and also includes an account of the key fundamental epistemological issues concerning the frame and the ramification problems that arise whilst modelling change within such domains. The main advantage of the proposed approach is that based on the structure and semantics of the proposed framework, fundamental reasoning tasks such as projection and explanation directly follow. Within the specialised spatial reasoning domain, these translate to spatial planning/re-configuration, causal explanation and spatial simulation. Our approach is based on the hypothesis that alternate formalisations of existing qualitative spatial calculi using high-level tools such as the situation calculus are essential for their utilisation in diverse application domains such as intelligent systems, cognitive robotics and event-based GIS.     

SketchMapia: Qualitative Representations for the Alignment of Sketch and Metric Maps

More and more private citizens collect and publish environmental data via web-based geographic information systems. These systems face two challenges: The user interface must be intuitive and the processing of geographic information must account for cognitive impact. We propose to use sketch maps as the medium for interaction, because they reflect a person's spatial knowledge. Information from sketch maps is distorted, schematized, incomplete, and generalized and metric maps are not. This article employs qualitative representations for the alignment of sketch and metric maps. We suggest a set of cognitively oriented aspects in sketch maps stably computed by people and evaluate qualitative representations to formalize these aspects. This allows us to align and integrate geographic information from sketch maps.     

Special issue introduction: Approaching spatial uncertainty visualization to support reasoning and decision making

While research on uncertainty and decision-making has a long history across several disciplines, recent technological developments compel researchers to rethink how to best address and advance the understanding of how humans reason and make decisions under spatial uncertainty. This introduction presents a visual summary graphic to provide an overview of each article in this special issue. Upon viewing these visual summaries, the reader will find that each of these articles covers different topics in the uncertainty visualization domain, offering complementary research in this field. Extending this body of research and finding new ways to explore how these visualizations may help or hinder the analytical and reasoning process of humans continues to be a necessary step towards designing more effective uncertainty visualizations to support reasoning and decision-making.     

基于FFMECA的任务可靠性综合评价方法

任务可靠性的评价是武器装备研制生产过程中的重要工作内容,任务阶段的FMECA评价多从定性的角度进行,未考虑故障模式影响程度的定量指标。基于模糊数学思想,结合FMECA分析中的故障模式影响概率,形成FFMECA分析方法;并在此基础上,将那些影响任务完成的故障模式以定量的形式进行区分,进行考虑故障模式影响概率的任务可靠性评价,并以可撒布地雷为例开展了任务阶段的定量与定性分析。结果表明:本文方法紧密结合可靠性前期工作,对武器装备可靠性评价流程进行了规划,对可靠性评价方法的工程应用具有一定的指导意义。      

航空发动机内窥检测智能诊断专家系统

内窥检测在航空发动机维护中得到广泛应用,但是目前的人工检测方式已经难以满足民航业的需求,将智能诊断专家系统引入到航空发动机内窥故障检测中,并集合了基于规则的专家系统和基于案例的专家系统的优点．研究了一种航空发动机内窥检测智能诊断混合专家系统,该系统首先对处理后的内窥图像进行规则推理,若无法找到匹配规则再转入案例推理,直至给出故障诊断结果和维修策略。通过实验检验,专家系统可以准确、快速地给出诊断结果。     

The knowledge of knots: an interdisciplinary literature review

ABSTRACT

Knots can be found and used in a variety of situations in the 3D world, such as in vines, in the DNA, polymer chains, electrical wires, in mountaineering, seamanship and when ropes or other flexible objects are involved for exerting forces and holding objects in place. Research on knots as topological entities has contributed with a number of findings, not only of interest to pure mathematics, but also to statistical mechanics, quantum physics, genetics, and chemistry. Yet, the cognitive (or algorithmic) aspects involved in the act of tying a knot are a largely uncharted territory. This paper presents a review of the literature related to the investigation of knots from the topological, physical, cognitive and computational (including robotics) standpoints, aiming at bridging the gap between pure mathematical work on knot theory and macroscopic physical knots, with an eye to applications and modeling.     

Qualitative Spatial Reasoning in Interpreting Text and Narrative

Abstract

Simple natural language texts and narratives often raise problems in commonsense spatial knowledge and reasoning of surprising logical complexity and geometric richness. In this article, I consider a dozen short texts—five taken from literature, the remainder contrived as illustrations—and discuss the spatial reasoning involved in understanding them. I conclude by summarizing their common features, and by tentatively drawing some morals for research in this area.     

基于模糊逻辑推理的船舶并联气电混合动力系统能量最优分配研究

针对内河船舶工况启停变化频繁导致瞬态动力性较差、动态响应较慢等问题，提出并联气电混合动力系统改进方案，利用模糊逻辑推理方法来提升动力响应性能。以某内河拖船为研究对象进行混合动力系统参数匹配设计，通过对系统关键参数设计切换规则，建立基于逻辑门限的能量管理控制策略；为进一步优化逻辑门限方法主观设定边界阈值不可调节问题，提出基于“模糊逻辑推理+动态协调”能量最优分配策略。通过最优设计相关试验验证管理策略，结果表明：采用基于模糊逻辑推理的能量管理策略能使天然气发动机的平均负荷提升37.86%，平均效率提高2.74%，动态响应时间缩短44.45%。     

On the evidential reasoning rule for dependent evidence combination

Evidential Reasoning (ER) rule, which can combine multiple pieces of independent evidence conjunctively, is widely applied in multiple attribute decision analysis. However, the assumption of independence among evidence is often not satisfied, resulting in ER rule inapplicable. In this paper, an Evidential Reasoning rule for Dependent Evidence combination (ERr-DE) is developed. Firstly, the aggregation sequence of multiple pieces of evidence is determined according to evidence reliability. On this basis, a calculation method of evidence Relative Total Dependence Coefficient (RTDC) is proposed using the distance correlation method. Secondly, as a discounting factor, RTDC is introduced into the ER rule framework, and the ERr-DE model is formulated. The aggregation process of two pieces of dependent evidence by ERr-DE is investigated, which is then generalized to aggregate multiple pieces of non-independent evidence. Thirdly, sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the relationship between the model output and the RTDC. The properties of sensitivity coefficient are explored and mathematically proofed. The conjunctive probabilistic reasoning process of ERr-DE and the properties of sensitivity coefficient are verified by two numerical examples respectively. Finally, the practical application of the ERr-DE is validated by a case study on the performance assessment of satellite turntable system.     

A novel combination belief rule base model for mechanical equipment fault diagnosis

Due to the excellent performance in complex systems modeling under small samples and uncertainty, Belief Rule Base(BRB) expert system has been widely applied in fault diagnosis. However, the fault diagnosis process for complex mechanical equipment normally needs multiple attributes, which can lead to the rule number explosion problem in BRB, and limit the efficiency and accuracy. To solve this problem, a novel Combination Belief Rule Base(C-BRB) model based on Directed Acyclic Graph(DAG) structu...