Rational approximations are introduced and studied in granular graded rough sets and generalizations thereof by the first author in recent research papers. The concept of rationality is determined by related ontologies and coherence between granularity, mereology and approximations in the context. In addition, a framework for rational approximations is introduced by her in the mentioned paper(s). Granular approximations constructed as per the procedures of variable precision rough sets (VPRS) are likely to be more rational than those constructed from a classical perspective under certain conditions. This may continue to hold for some generalizations of the former. However, a formal characterization of such conditions is not available in the previously published literature. In this research, theoretical aspects of the problem are critically examined, uniform generalizations of granular VPRS are introduced, new connections with granular graded rough sets are proved, appropriate concepts of substantial parthood are introduced, their extent of compatibility with the framework is accessed, and the framework is extended. Basic assumptions are explained in detail, and additional examples are constructed for readability. Furthermore, meta applications to cluster validation, image segmentation and dynamic sorting are invented. Extensions to direct generalizations of VPRS such as probabilistic rough sets are a natural consequence of the work.

Sharing, downloading, and reusing software is common-place, some of which is carried out legally with open source software. When it is not legal, it is unclear just how many copyright infringements and trade secret violations have taken place: does an infringement count for the artefact as a whole or perhaps for each file of the program? To answer this question, it must first be established whether a program should be considered as an integral whole, a collection, or a mere set of distinct files, and why. We argue that a program is a functional whole, availing of, and combining, arguments from mereology, granularity, modularity, unity, and function to substantiate the claim. The argumentation and answer contributes to the ontology of software artefacts, may assist industry in litigation cases, and demonstrates that the notion of unifying relation is operationalisable. Indirectly, it provides support for continued modular design of artefacts following established engineering practices.

In one perspective, the main theme of this research revolves around the inverse problem in the context of general rough sets that concerns the existence of rough basis for given approximations in a context. Granular operator spaces and variants were recently introduced by the present author as an optimal framework for anti-chain based algebraic semantics of general rough sets and the inverse problem. In the framework, various sub-types of crisp and non-crisp objects are identifiable that may be missed in more restrictive formalism. This is also because in the latter cases concepts of complementation and negation are taken for granted - while in reality they have a complicated dialectical basis. This motivates a general approach to dialectical rough sets building on previous work of the present author and figures of opposition. In this paper dialectical rough logics are invented from a semantic perspective, a concept of dialectical predicates is formalised, connection with dialetheias and glutty negation are established, parthood analyzed and studied from the viewpoint of classical and dialectical figures of opposition by the present author. Her methods become more geometrical and encompass parthood as a primary relation (as opposed to roughly equivalent objects) for algebraic semantics.

We present an ontology consisting of a theory of spatial dimension and a theory of dimension-independent mereological and topological relations in space. Though both are fairly weak axiomatizations, their interplay suffices to define various mereotopological relations and to make any necessary dimension constraints explicit. We show that models of the INCH Calculus and the Region-Connection Calculus (RCC) can be obtained from extensions of the proposed ontology.

In this paper, I defend a multiplicative approach that distinguishes statues from amounts of matter, political entities from physical ones, qua entities (e.g. John qua Alitalia passenger) from players (e.g. John), etc. I develop a theory of levels which is based on the primitive notions of level, parthood, and grounding (a kind of existential dependence) and that is used to characterize more specific relations like constitution, inherence, and abstraction. I neither aim to propose a `definitive' theory of levels nor to commit to their ontological or conceptual nature. Hence, the adjective `ontological' used in the title does not qualify the nature of the entities that belong to levels but the way the notion of level is characterized, i.e. in terms of general and philosophically well-founded notions. By keeping away from a purely realist attitude, I can then discuss the adequacy of some alternative first-order theories to account for three puzzling scenarios.