Human knowing is examined as it emerges from classical empirical psychology, with its ramifications into language, computing, science, and scholarship. While the discussion takes empirical support from a wide range, claims for the significance of logic and rules are challenged throughout. Highlights of the discussion: knowing is a matter of habits or dispositions that guide the person's stream of consciousness; rules of language have no significance in language production and understanding, being descriptions of linguistic styles; statements that may be true or false enter into ordinary linguistic activity, not as elements of messages, but merely as summaries of situations, with a view to action; in computer programming the significance of logic, proof, and formalized description, is incidental and subject to the programmer's personality; analysis of computer modelling of the mental activity shows that in describing human knowing the computer is irrelevant; in accounting for the scholarly/scientific activity, logic and rules are impotent; a novel theory: scholarship and science have coherent descriptions as their core. The discussion addresses questions that are basic to advanced applications of computers and to students of language and science.

The present book is the product of conferences held in Bielefeld at the Center for interdisciplinary Sturlies (ZiF) in connection with a year-long ZiF Research Group with the theme "Prerational intelligence". The premise ex plored by the research group is that traditional notions of intelligent behav ior, which form the basis for much work in artificial intelligence and cog nitive science, presuppose many basic capabilities which are not trivial, as more recent work in robotics and neuroscience has shown, and that these capabilities may be best understood as ernerging from interaction and coop eration in systems of simple agents, elements that accept inputs from and act upon their surroundings. The main focus is on the way animals and artificial systems process in formation about their surroundings in order to move and act adaptively. The analysis of the collective properties of systems of interacting agents, how ever, is a problern that occurs repeatedly in many disciplines. Therefore, contributions from a wide variety of areas have been included in order to obtain a broad overview of phenomena that demoostrate complexity arising from simple interactions or can be described as adaptive behavior arising from the collective action of groups of agents. To this end we have invited contributions on topics ranging from the development of complex structures and functions in systems ranging from cellular automata, genetic codes, and neural connectivity to social behavior and evolution. Additional contribu tions discuss traditional concepts of intelligence and adaptive behavior. 1.

The three-volume set LNCS 10288, 10289, and 10290 constitutes the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Design, User Experience, and Usability, DUXU 2017, held as part of the 19th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2017, in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in July 2017, jointly with 14 other thematically similar conferences. The total of 1228 papers presented at the HCII 2017 conferences were carefully reviewed and selected from 4340 submissions. These papers address the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of Human-Computer Interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas. The total of 168 contributions included in the DUXU proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this three-volume set. LNCS 10288: The 56 papers included in this volume are organized in topical sections on design thinking and design philosophy; aesthetics and perception in design; user experience evaluation methods and tools; user centered design in the software development lifecycle; DUXU education and training. LNCS 10289: The 56 papers included in this volume are organized in topical sections on persuasive and emotional design; mobile DUXU; designing the playing experience; designing the virtual, augmented and tangible experience; wearables and fashion technology. LNCS 10290: The 56 papers included in this volume are organized in topical sections on information design; understanding the user; DUXU for children and young users; DUXU for art, culture, tourism and environment; DUXU practice and case studies.

This fascinating book examines some of the characteristics of technological/engineering models that are likely to be unfamiliar to those who are interested primarily in the history and philosophy of science and mathematics, and which differentiate technological models from scientific and mathematical ones. Themes that are highlighted include: • the role of language: the models developed for engineering design have resulted in new ways of talking about technological systems • communities of practice: related to the previous point, particular engineering communities have particular ways of sharing and developing knowledge • graphical (re)presentation: engineers have developed many ways of reducing quite complex mathematical models to more simple representations • reification: highly abstract mathematical models are turned into ‘objects’ that can be manipulated almost like components of a physical system • machines: not only the currently ubiquitous digital computer, but also older analogue devices – slide rules, physical models, wind tunnels and other small-scale simulators, as well as mechanical, electrical and electronic analogue computers • mathematics and modelling as a bridging tool between disciplines This book studies primarily modelling in technological practice. It is worth noting that models of the type considered in the book are not always highly valued in formal engineering education at university level, which often takes an “applied science” approach close to that of the natural sciences (something that can result in disaffection on the part of students). Yet in an informal context, such as laboratories, industrial placements, and so on, a very different situation obtains. A number of chapters considers such epistemological aspects, as well as the status of different types of models within the engineering education community. The book will be of interest to practising engineers and technologists; sociologists of science and technology; and historians and philosophers of science and mathematics. It will also be written in a way that will be accessible to non-specialists.

Social constructivism is one of the most prominent theoretical approaches in the social sciences. This volume celebrates the 50th anniversary of its first formulation in Peter Berger and Luckmann’s classic foundational text, The Social Construction of Reality. Addressing the work’s contribution to establishing social constructivism as a paradigm and discussing its potential for current questions in social theory, the contributing authors indicate the various cultural understandings and theoretical formulations that exist of social construction, its different fields of research and the promising new directions for future research that it presents in its most recent developments. A study of the importance of a work that established a paradigm in the international sociology of knowledge, this book will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in social theory, the history of the social sciences and the significance of social constructivism.

The focus of prerational intelligence is on the way animals and artificial systems utilize information about their surroundings in order to behave intelligently; the premise is that logic and symbolic reasoning are neither necessary nor, possibly, sufficient. Experts in the fields of biology, psychology, robotics, AI, mathematics, engineering, computer science, and philosophy review the evidence that intelligent behaviour can arise in systems of simple agents interacting according to simple rules; that self-organization and interaction with the environment are critical; and that quick approximations may replace logical analyses. It is argued that a better understanding of the intelligence inherent in procedure like those illustrated will eventually shed light on how rational intelligence is realised in humans. Readership: Scientifically literate general readers and scientists in all fields interested in understanding and duplicating biological intelligence.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 7th ERCIM Workshop on User Interfaces for All, held in Paris, France, in October 2002. The 40 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected during two rounds of refereeing and revision. The papers are organized in topical sections on user interfaces for all: accessibility issues, user interfaces for all: design and assessment, towards an information society for all, novel interaction paradigms: new modalities and dialogue style, novel interaction paradigms: accessibility issues, and mobile computing: design and evaluation.