We propose a formal treatment of scenarios in the context of a dialectical argumentation formalism for qualitative reasoning about uncertain propositions. Our formalism extends prior work in which arguments for and against uncertain propositions were presented and compared in interaction spaces called Agoras. We now define the notion of a scenario in this framework and use it to define a set of...

We describe configuration space visualization methods for mechanical design. Configuration spaces are geometric representations of mechanical function that encode quantitative information, such as part motions, and qualitative information, such as system failure modes. Visualization tools help designers elucidate the qualitative information, which appears as geometric properties of the configur...

This paper considers the technique to construct the general decision rule for the contradictory expert classification of objects which are described with many qualitative attributes. This approach is based on the theory of multiset metric spaces, and allows to classify a collection of multi-attribute objects and define the classification rule which approximates the set of individual sorting rules.

The theory of neighborhood systems is abstracted from the geometric notion of "near" or "negligible distances." It is a "new" theory of the classical concept of neighborhood systems within the context of advanced computing. By definition neighborhood systems include both rough sets and topological spaces as special cases. The deeper and more interesting part is in its interactions with fuzzy se...

We consider the problem of assessing the sustainability of alternative designs (e.g., for an urban environment) that are assembled from multiple components (e.g., water supply, transportation system, shopping centers, commercial spaces, parks). We model the sustainability of a design in terms of a set of sustainability attributes. Given the (qualitative) preferences and tradeoffs of decision ma...

In the developed countries, especially over the last decade, there has been an explosive growth in the capability to generate, collect and use very large data sets. The objects of these data sets could be simultaneously described by quantitative and qualitative attributes. At present, algorithms able to process either very large data sets (in metric spaces) or mixed (qualitative and quantitativ...

Typically, autonomous robot navigation relies on a detailed, accurate map. The associated representations, however, do not readily support human-friendly interaction. The approach reported here offers an alternative: navigation with a spatial model and commonsense qualitative spatial reasoning. Both are based on research about how people experience and represent space. The spatial model quickly...

Riemannian foliations occupy an important place in geometry. An excellent survey is A. Haefliger’s Bourbaki seminar [11], and the book of P. Molino [18] is the standard reference for Riemannian foliations. In one of the appendices to this book, E. Ghys proposes the problem of developing a theory of equicontinuous foliated spaces paralleling that of Riemannian foliations; he uses the suggestive ...

urban design, being concerned with the quality of built environment, requires close interaction with other disciplines such as urban planning, environmental design and architecture as well as sociology, psychology, and economics. this is necessary in order to appropriately recognize and analyze different dimensions of existing problems and provide solutions to them and to improve the quality of...