We have proposed a knowledge-based system for the recognition of t ime varying vi tal signals, such as electrocardiograms. This paper discusses its causal model approach. A prototype system exhibits the efficacy of the method of knowledge base stratif ication, where each knowledge base (KB) represents a distinct perspective to the phenomenon, such as the observable waveform knowledge and the ca...

What distinguishes a whole from an arbitrary sum of elements? I suggest a temporal and causal oriented approach. I defend two connected claims. The former is that existence is, by every means, coextensive with being the cause of a causal process. The latter is that a whole is the cause of a causal process with a joint effect. Thus, a whole is something that takes place in time. The approach end...

Causal discovery is the task of finding plausible causal relationships from statistical data. Such methods rely on various assumptions about the data generating process to identify it from uncontrolled observations. We have recently proposed a causal discovery method based on independent component analysis (ICA) called LiNGAM, showing how to completely identify the data generating process under...

Learning causal models is a central problem of qualitative reasoning. We describe a simulation of learning causal models from exemplars that uses progressive alignment and qualitative process theory to derive plausible qualitative causal models from observations. We show how protohistories can be created via progressive alignment and used to infer causality. The result, a causal corpus, can mak...

Disturbances that spread plant-wide in a chemical process pose challenges to maintenance staff. Connections within the plant and the presence of multiple causal paths mean it is not straightforward to locate the root disturbance because the effects can propagate and be detected elsewhere. Measurementbased methods use quantitative process history to generate hypotheses about the root cause, whil...

The causal nature of evolution is one of the central topics in the philosophy of biology. It has been discussed whether equations used in evolutionary genetics point to some causal processes or are purely phenomenological patterns. To address this question the present paper builds well-defined causal models that underlie standard equations in evolutionary genetics. These models are based on min...