MoL-2005-05: Exploring Logical Perspectives on Distributed Information and its Dynamics

MoL-2005-05: Roelofsen, Floris (2005) Exploring Logical Perspectives on Distributed Information and its Dynamics. [Report]

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Abstract

This thesis is divided into two parts. Each part explores a particular
logical perspective on distributed information and its dynamics.
The first part takes the perspective of epistemic and dynamic
epistemic logic. We first explain why distributed knowledge does not
always comply with the principle of full communication, as observed by
van der Hoek, van Linder, and Meyer and Gerbrandy, and give a complete
characterization of the class of models in which distributed knowledge
does comply with the principle of full communication. Then, we address
an issue raised by van Benthem: is there a natural extended notion of
bisimulation that matches the expressive power of distributed
knowledge operators in epistemic logic. Next, we show that distributed
knowledge operators (or more generally, intersection modalities) can
be incorporated into the logic of communication and change, recently
proposed by van Benthem, van Eijck, and Kooi. At last, we discuss a
more conceptual point. Distributed knowledge is what can be
established by a group of agents through a particular kind of
communication: everyone writes down everything he knows, all that is
put together, and what follows from the accumulated facts is
distributed knowledge. Other, arguably more interactive kinds of
communication may be considered as well. Van Benthem, for example, is
interested in the information that can be established by a group of
agents through public announcements. We discuss the information that
can be established by a group of agents given a certain communication
network.
The second part of the thesis takes the perspective of multi-context
systems. These systems describe the distribution and flow of
information among a number of contexts (people, databases, etc.). We
provide a simplified semantics for the basic systems and define
generalizations of this semantics for various extended systems.

Item Type: Report
Report Nr: MoL-2005-05
Series Name: Master of Logic Thesis (MoL) Series
Year: 2005
Uncontrolled Keywords: Distributed Information, Epistemic Logic, Dynamic Epistemic Logic, Multi-Context Systems
Date Deposited: 12 Oct 2016 14:38
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2016 14:38
URI: https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/id/eprint/759

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