The medical profession is in a state of social transformation. Medical education must follow suit to continue to produce physicians who can meet the demands of the ever-changing field of medicine and of the public it serves. In this study, an institutional logic framework is used in examining how the implementation of transformative pedagogy in medical education may be impeded by competing institutional logics, thereby disrupting the change process. This study proposed three questions aimed at examining and understanding the perceptions of social actors as it relates to transformational change in medical education: 1) What is the impact of institutional logics on the implementation of transformative pedagogy in medical education? 2) What are the institutional logics in medical education that may impact change, and are there any conflicts between them? 3) Is there any evidence that these conflicts, if they exist, act as a barrier or disincentive to pedagogical reform when diversity, equity, and inclusion measures are introduced? A mixed method approach involving a two-step method of data collection and analysis was used in this study. Information from websites were used to create interview guidelines for interviews with faculty, administrators, and students at two US-based urban medical schools. By analyzing data from the websites of two US-based urban medical schools and comparing those findings to that of the perceived notions retrieved from interviews of the impact logics have on service learning, this research has shown that understanding institutional logics aid in the implementation of transformative pedagogy by better understanding the role of competing logics. This researcher provides three recommendations for medical schools to consider when using an institutional logics framework to enact transformational pedagogy. The first recommendation is change on the micro level (i.e., on the program level). The second recommendation relates to change on the macro level (i.e., relationship with governing bodies). And the third recommendation is related to the influence on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices on the change process. I end with providing reasons for how examining the perceptions of the role of transformative pedagogy as a change agent in medical education can advance the field of medical sociology. / Sociology

Hybrid organizations, such as the Royal Dramatic Theater (Dramaten) in Sweden, face the challenge of balancing conflicting institutional logics and their prescribed goals. Dramaten, as the national stage for theater, is expected to uphold high artistic standards set by its sole owner, the Swedish state. At the same time, it has efficiency goals to meet as a joint-stock company. This study aimed to understand if the quantifiability of goals, derived from different logics, impacts the prioritization of goals within hybrid organizations. Through a qualitative case study of Dramaten, the findings suggest that the most influential actor, rather than the quantifiability of goals, determines the prioritization of goals within the organization. In other words, who is giving directions seems to influence the balancing act more than the nature of the different goals. Additionally, the study found that efforts to make all goals equally measurable may not necessarily affect the prioritization of goals but can help reduce internal confusion.

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A key aspect in legitimacy from an institutional perspective is the social evaluation of collective actors that create a generalized perception that an organizations action is desirable within some socially constructed system. Based on an empirical case based research, this paper interprets legitimacy highlighting the complex dynamics in a social enterprise in regards to the dualistic institutional logics. By adapting the evaluators perspective on legitimacy, we interpret the collective actors perception on the social enterprise examining the actors from various economic sectors. We further discuss the implication of the complex dynamic arguing for the impact from the institutional setting on the perception of social enterprises, suggesting that the social welfare system influences the perception and thus the positioning of the social enterprise. Lastly, we discuss the positioning of the social enterprise and its implication on the long-term sustainability in organization.

Multi-agent planning and control is an active and increasingly studied topic of research, with many practical applications, such as rescue missions, security, surveillance, and transportation. More specifically, cases that involve complex manipulator-endowed systems  deserve extra attention due to potential complex cooperative manipulation tasks and their interaction with the environment. This thesis addresses the problem of cooperative motion- and task-planning of multi-agent and multi-agent-object systems under complex specifications expressed as temporal logic formulas. We consider manipulator-endowed robotic agents that can coordinate in order to perform, among other tasks, cooperative object manipulation/transportation. Our approach is based on the integration of tools from the following areas: multi-agent systems, cooperative object manipulation, discrete abstraction design of multi-agent-object systems, and formal verification. More specifically, we divide the main problem into three different parts.The first part is devoted to the control design for the formation control of a team of rigid-bodies, motivated by its application to cooperative manipulation schemes. We propose decentralized control protocols such that desired position and orientation-based formation between neighboring agents is achieved. Moreover, inter-agent collisions and connectivity breaks are guaranteed to be avoided. In the second part, we design continuous control laws explicitly for the cooperative manipulation/transportation of an object by a team of robotic agents. Firstly, we propose robust decentralized controllers for the trajectory tracking of the object's center of mass.  Secondly, we design model predictive control-based controllers for the transportation of the object with collision and singularity constraints. In the third part, we design discrete representations of multi-agent continuous systems and synthesize hybrid controllers for the satisfaction of complex tasks expressed as temporal logic formulas. We achieve this by combining the results of the previous parts and by proposing appropriate trajectory tracking- and potential field-based continuous control laws for the transitions of the agents among the discrete states. We consider teams of unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile manipulators as well as multi-agent-object systems where the specifications of the objects are also taken into account.Numerical simulations and experimental results verify the claimed results. / <p>QC 20180219</p>

The main theme shared by the two main parts of this thesis is EFFICIENT AUTOMATED REASONING.Part I is focussed on a general theory underpinning a number of efficient approximate algorithms for Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs),the constraint propagation algorithms.In Chapter 3, we propose a Structured Generic Algorithm schema (SGI) for these algorithms. This iterates functions according to a certain strategy, i.e. by searching for a common fixpoint of the functions. A simple theory for SGI is developed by studying properties of functions and of the ways these influence the basic strategy. One of the primary objectives of our theorisation is thus the following: using SGI or some of its variations for DESCRIBINING and ANALISYING HOW the "pruning" and "propagation" process is carried through by constraint propagation algorithms.Hence, in Chapter 4, different domains of functions (e.g., domain orderings) are related to different classes of constraint propagation algorithms (e.g., arc consistency algorithms); thus each class of constraint propagation algorithms is associated with a "type" of function domains, and so separated from the others. Then we analys each such class: we distinguished functions on the same domains for their different ways of performing pruning (point or set based), and consequently differentiated between algorithms of the same class (e.g., AC-1 and AC-3 versus AC-4 or AC-5). Besides, we also show how properties of functions (e.g., commutativity or stationarity) are related to different strategies of propagation in constraint algorithms of the same class (see, for instance, AC-1 versus AC-3). In Chapter 5 we apply the SGI schema to the case of soft CSPs (a generalisation of CSPs with sort-of preferences), thereby clarifying some of the similarities and differences between the "classical" and soft constraint-propagation algorithms. Finally, in Chapter 6, we summarise and characterise all the functions used for constraint propagation; in fact, the other goal of our theorisation is abstracting WHICH functions, iterated as in SGI or its variations, perform the task of "pruning" or "propagation" of inconsistencies in constraint propagation algorithms.We focus on relations and relational structures in Part II of the thesis. More specifically, modal languages allow us to talk about various relational structures and their properties. Once the latter are formulated in a modal language, they can be passed to automated theorem provers and tested for satisfiability, with respect to certain modal logics. Our task, in this part, can be described as follows: determining the satisfiability of modal formulas in an efficient manner. In Chapter 8, we focus on one way of doing this: we refine the standard translation as the layered translation, and use existing theorem provers for first-order logic on the output of this refined translation. We provide ample experimental evidence on the improvements in performances that were obtained by means of the refinement.The refinement of the standard translation is based on the tree model property. This property is also used in the basic algorithm schema in Chapter 9 ---the original schema is due to~\cite{seb97}. The proposed algorithm proceeds layer by layer in the modal formula and in its candidate models, applying constraint propagation and satisfaction algorithms for finite CSPs at each layer. With Chapter 9, we wish to draw the attention of constraint programmers to modal logics, and of modal logicians to CSPs.Modal logics themselves express interesting problems in terms of relations and unary predicates, like temporal reasoning tasks. On the other hand, constraint algorithms manipulate relations in the form of constraints, and unary predicates in the form of domains or unary constraints, see Chapter 6. Thus the question of how efficiently those algorithms can be applied to modal reasoning problems seems quite natural and challenging.

Concrete domains have been introduced in Description Logic (DL) to enable reference to concrete objects (such as numbers) and predefined predicates on these objects (such as numerical comparisons) when defining concepts. The primary research goal in this context was to find restrictions on the concrete domain such that its integration into certain DLs preserves decidability or tractability. In this paper, we investigate the abstract expressive power of logics extended with concrete domains, namely which classes of first-order interpretations can be expressed using these logics. In the first part of the paper, we show that, under natural conditions on the concrete domain D (which also play a role for decidability), extensions of first-order logic (FOL) or 𝒜ℒ𝒞 with D share important formal properties with FOL, such as the compactness and the Löwenheim-Skolem property. Nevertheless, their abstract expressive power need not be contained in that of FOL. In the second part of the paper, we investigate whether finitely bounded homogeneous structures, which preserve decidability if employed as concrete domains, can be used to express certain universal first-order sentences, which then could be added to DL knowledge bases without destroying decidability. We show that this requires rather strong conditions on said sentences or an extended scheme for integrating the concrete domain that leads to undecidability.

Yes / In this conceptual paper, we respond to the calls for broader theoretical approaches that can coherently demonstrate a high degree of conceptual sensitivity to multiple combinations of institutional factors influencing women's informal entrepreneurship (WIE) and related agency. We do so by integrating constructs of gender and gender inequality with those of institutional logics and institutional voids. We find that a refined understanding of institutional voids is required to pave the way for a meaningful theoretical integration and empirical application of the related conceptualizations. We offer such a revised definition by placing formal and informal logics (rather than institutions) at the heart of it. In our theorizing, we propose that gender interplaying with formal and informal institutional logics create varying degrees of obscure and unique institutional voids that shape WIE prevalence. The proposed harmonized theoretical lens provides researchers with flexible yet consistent guidance for conducting context-specific empirical work that can coherently advance understanding of underlying logics shaping WIE and related agency. / Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, Jan 2023.

Underlying institutional forms are normative orders which give meaning to rules, norms, practices and customs. It is only recently that scholars have seriously considered the role of normative orders in institutional dynamics. Two meta-theories of institutionalism offer competing visions of how these normative orders are invoked. The Institutional Logics Perspective calls normative orders “institutional logics” and suggest that they are invoked in a consistent stable fashion. The Pragmatist Institutionalism approach calls normative orders “anchoring concepts” and suggests that they are used in less predictable ways to produce meaning. This study introduces the concept of fidelity to capture the difference between these two approaches and test which approach may offer a more accurate account of how normative orders are invoked in practice. The study uses the case of the USCG response to melting Arctic ice to study this issue by focusing on the two most dominant normative orders of American government. The study relies on interviews conducted with USCG personnel dealing with the agency’s response to melting Artic Ice. The data is then analyzed through a narrative analysis framework. The study finds that normative orders are invoked, in this case, in a manner more closely aligned with Pragmatist Institutionalism. This finding has implications for how administrative judgement is understood especially with respect to public agencies. / Ph. D. / Rules, norms, practices and customs are all types of institutional forms which derive meaning from something called normative orders. Normative orders help individuals make determinations on things such as whether rules are “good”/“bad” or when those rules are appropriate to apply. While these normative orders are understood to be important, they are not yet well understood. Two recent approaches which attempt to better define normative orders offer competing visions. The Institutional Logics Perspective calls normative orders “institutional logics” and suggest that they are invoked in a consistent stable fashion. The Pragmatist Institutionalism approach calls normative orders “anchoring concepts” and suggests that they are used in less predictable ways to produce meaning. This study introduces the concept of fidelity to capture the difference between these two approaches and test which approach may offer a more accurate account of how normative orders are invoked in practice. The study uses the case of the USCG response to melting Arctic ice to study this issue by focusing on the two most dominant normative orders of American government. The study relies on interviews conducted with USCG personnel dealing with the agency’s response to melting Artic Ice. The data is then analyzed through a narrative analysis framework. The study finds that normative orders are invoked, in this case, in a manner more closely aligned with Pragmatist Institutionalism. This finding has implications for how administrative judgement is understood especially with respect to public agencies.

Model checking is a well-established method for automatic system verification. Besides the extensively studied qualitative case, there is also an increasing interest in the quantitative analysis of system properties. Many important quantities can be formalised as the accumulated values of weight functions. These measures include resource usage such as energy consumption, or performance metrics such as the cost-utility ratio or reliability guarantees. Different kinds of accumulation like summation, averaging and ratios are necessary to cover the diverse spectrum of quantities. This work provides a general framework for the formalisation and verification of system models and property specifications with accumulative values. On the modelling side, we rely on weighted extensions of well-known modelling formalisms. Besides weighted transition systems, we investigate weighted probabilistic models such as Markov chains and Markov decision processes (MDPs). The weights in this sense are functions, mapping each state or transition in the model to a value, e.g., a rational vector. For the specification side, we provide a language in the form of an extension of temporal logic with new modalities that impose restrictions on the accumulated weight along path fragments. These fragments are regular and can be characterised by finite automata, so called monitors. Specifically, we extend linear temporal logic (LTL) and (probabilistic) computation tree logic (CTL) with such constraints. The framework allows variation to weaker formalisms, like non-negative or integral weight functions and bounded accumulation. We study the border of decidability of the model-checking problem for different combinations of these restrictions and give complexity results and algorithms for the decidable fragment. An implementation of the model-checking algorithms on top of the popular probabilistic model checker PRISM is provided. We also investigate several optimization techniques that can be applied to a broad range of formula patterns. The practical behaviour of the implementation and its optimization methods is put to the test by a set of scaling experiments for each model type.:1. Introduction 1.1. Goal of the Thesis 1.2. Main Contributions 1.3. Related Work 1.4. Outline 1.5. Resources 2. Preliminaries 2.1. Modeling Formalisms 2.2. Finite Automata 2.3. Propositional Logic 2.4. Temporal Logics 2.4.1. Linear Temporal Logic 2.4.2. Computation Tree Logic 2.5. Model-Checking Problems 2.5.1. Markov Decision Processes 2.5.2. Markov Chains 2.5.3. Transition Systems 2.5.4. Calculate Probabilities 3. Specifications with Weight Accumulation 3.1. Weight Constraints 3.1.1. Syntax of Weight Constraints 3.1.2. Weighted Models 3.1.3. Interpretation of Weight Constraints 3.1.4. Properties of Weight Constraints 3.2. Monitor Automata 3.2.1. Automata Classes 3.2.2. Observing WMDP Paths 3.3. Variants 3.3.1. Weight Ratios 3.3.2. Other Linear Accumulation Operators 3.3.3. Other Weight Combinations 3.3.4. Filtered Semantics 4. Linear Temporal Logic with Accumulation 4.1. Syntax and Semantics of AccLTL 4.1.1. Syntax of AccLTL 4.1.2. Semantics of AccLTL 4.1.3. Past Variant 4.1.4. Transformation of Weight Functions 4.1.5. Examples for AccLTL Formulae 4.2. Decidability Results for Accumulation LTL 4.2.1. Encoding the Post Correspondence Problem 4.2.2. Reduction of the AccLTL Model-Checking Problem 4.3. Complexity Results for Bounded Accumulation LTL 4.3.1. Transformation to Unweighted MDP and LTL 4.3.2. Reduction to LTL Model-Checking Problems 4.3.3. Algorithm 4.4. Decidability Results for Conic Accumulation LTL and RMDPs 4.4.1. Transformation to Unweighted MDP and LTL 4.4.2. Simple Weight Constraints 4.4.3. 1-dimensional Weight Constraints 4.5. NP-hard and coNP-hard Formulae for WTS and WMCs 4.5.1. Formulae for WTS 4.5.2. Formulae for WMC 4.6. Efficiently Decidable Patterns 4.7. Summary 5. Computation Tree Logic with Accumulation 5.1. Syntax and Semantics 5.1.1. Syntax and Semantics of AccCTL 5.1.2. Syntax and Semantics of AccPCTL 5.2. Decidability Results for Accumulation (P)CTL 5.3. Complexity Results for Bounded Accumulation (P)CTL 5.3.1. Weighted Markov Decision Processes 5.3.2. Weighted Markov Chains 5.3.3. Weighted Transition Systems 5.4. Decidability Results for Conic Accumulation (P)CTL and RMDPs 5.5. Summary 6. Implementation and Experiments 6.1. Implementation Details 6.1.1. Formula Expression 6.1.2. Model Construction 6.2. Optimizations 6.2.1. Single Track Method 6.2.2. Rewriting Without Until 6.2.3. Monitor Filtering 6.2.4. Detection of Optimization Methods 6.3. Scaling Experiments 6.3.1. Scaling Dimensions 6.3.2. Setting 6.3.3. Model Description 6.3.4. Input Size 6.3.5. Optimization Effects 6.3.6. Filtering 7. Conclusions 7.1. Summary 7.2. Outlook and Future Work A. Bibliography B. Material for the experiments B.1. Environment for the Experiments B.1.1. Container Image B.1.2. Model Definitions