Defining answer classes using resolution refutation

Resolution theorem proving provides a useful paradigm for the exploration of question answering. A partition of the clauses generated during resolution refutation based on their syntactic structure is presented. The three classes comprising this partition correspond to semantically intuitive types of answers. This work encompasses and expands upon previous work on question answering in a theorem proving paradigm, which began with the association of answers with proofs. A complete, formal definition of what is meant by answer in the context of resolution theorem proving is presented. In this context, clauses that are relevant are all identified as answers, where relevance is determined with respect to a question and knowledge base: any clause descended from the clause form of a negated question is deemed relevant. This definition of relevance is not in and of itself novel; rather, it is the way in which the set of relevant clauses is partitioned that provides the key to interpreting clauses as answers. The three answer classes identified are: specific, generic, and hypothetical. These classes are formally distinguished by the way in which literals in a clause share variables, with class membership based on a property termed the closure of variable sharing of a literal. The results presented provide a foundation for further work by establishing a context-independent logical pragmatics of question answering.     

Using temporal logics of knowledge for specification and verification—a case study

Temporal logics of knowledge are useful for reasoning about situations where the knowledge of an agent or component is important, and where change in this knowledge may occur over time. Here we use temporal logics of knowledge to reason about the game Cluedo. We show how to specify Cluedo using temporal logics of knowledge and prove statements about the knowledge of the players using a clausal resolution calculus for this logic. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using this logic to specify and verify the game Cluedo and describe related implementations.     

Cogex: A semantically and contextually enriched logic prover for question answering

This paper presents the architecture and functionality of a logic prover designed for question answering. The approach transforms questions and answer passages into logic representations based on syntactic, semantic and contextual information. World knowledge supplements the linguistic, ontological, and temporal axioms supplied to the prover which renders a deep understanding of the relationship between the question and answer text. The trace of the proofs provides a basis for generating human comprehensible answer justifications. The results show that the prover boosts the performance of the Question Answering system on TREC 2004 questions by 12%.     

A low power fuzzy logic based variable resolution ADC for wireless ECG monitoring systems

Portable low power and high quality monitoring devices play an important role for improving the performance of wireless body sensor networks. Mixed signal processor is required in ECG monitoring unit that comprises of analog front end, analog to digital converter (ADC) and digital signal processor. ADC is a core element in mixed signal processing unit and the proper design of ADC is crucial for data acquisition without losing heart related information and originality. The adaptive sampling has been used in the existing ADCs for choosing the sampling clock adaptively. Adaptive sampling rate ADC performs compression and reduces power consumption to some extent, however low powers ADCs are essential in wireless healthcare monitoring systems. In this paper, fuzzy logic based variable resolution controller is proposed to design the ADC efficiently in terms of circuit complexity and power. To further reduce the power consumption, power gating technique is adopted for static power reduction. Under 90 nm CMOS technology, gate count, core area utilization and power consumption have been determined for existing adaptive sampling ADC and fuzzy logic based adaptive sampling ADC. Cadence design tools have been used for the measurement of power in the designed circuit. The performance has been found to be better in terms of area and power that are very much essential for wireless ECG monitoring systems.     

A sequent calculus for a logic of contingencies

We introduce a sequent calculus that is sound and complete with respect to propositional contingencies, i.e., formulas which are neither provable nor refutable. Like many other sequent and natural deduction proof systems, this calculus possesses cut elimination and the subformula property and has a simple proof search mechanism.     

A quasi-nonmetric method for multidimensional scaling VIA an extended euclidean model

An Extended Two-Way Euclidean Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) model which assumes both common and specific dimensions is described and contrasted with the standard (Two-Way) MDS model. In this Extended Two-Way Euclidean model then stimuli (or other objects) are assumed to be characterized by coordinates onR common dimensions. In addition each stimulus is assumed to have a dimension (or dimensions) specific to it alone. The overall distance between objecti and objectj then is defined as the square root of the ordinary squared Euclidean distance plus terms denoting the specificity of each object. The specificity,s _j , can be thought of as the sum of squares of coordinates on those dimensions specific to objecti, all of which have nonzero coordinatesonly for objecti. (In practice, we may think of there being just one such specific dimension for each object, as this situation is mathematically indistinguishable from the case in which there are more than one.)We further assume that _ij =F(d _ij ) +e _ij where _ij is the proximity value (e.g., similarity or dissimilarity) of objectsi andj,d _ij is the extended Euclidean distance defined above, whilee _ij is an error term assumed i.i.d.N(0, ²).F is assumed either a linear function (in the metric case) or a monotone spline of specified form (in the quasi-nonmetric case). A numerical procedure alternating a modified Newton-Raphson algorithm with an algorithm for fitting an optimal monotone spline (or linear function) is used to secure maximum likelihood estimates of the paramstatistics) can be used to test hypotheses about the number of common dimensions, and/or the existence of specific (in addition toR common) dimensions.This approach is illustrated with applications to both artificial data and real data on judged similarity of nations.     

基于可达阵的一种Q矩阵标定方法

Q矩阵标定是实施认知诊断评估的前提,已有Q矩阵修正方法并不太适合测验中已知属性向量的题目数较少的情形。根据拓展Q矩阵理论中可达阵R列与简化Q阵列存在布尔“或”关系,在一定认知假设下,率先提出可达阵R与简化Q阵的潜在反应列存在布尔“与”关系,并由此提出基于可达阵的Q矩阵标定方法。研究显示：在已知一个可达阵下,当可达阵项目的猜测或失误参数在.20以下且待标定项目的项目参数约在.30以下时,新方法所得Q矩阵元素返真率基本在.90以上,并且真实Q矩阵与估计Q矩阵下被试分类准确率差异很小;对于含5个属性的独立结构,新方法要求的随机样本的样本量较小;实证研究也印证了模拟研究的结论。新方法只需专家标定少量题目的Q矩阵,即已经标定的Q矩阵对应属性层级结构的可达阵。     

A Draft for Unifying Controversies in Philosophy of Science

The basic (negative and positive) methodological maxims of three currents of philosophy of science (logical empiricism, falsificationism, and postpositivism) are formulated. Many of these maxims (stratagems) are controversial, e.g., the stance about the nonsense of metaphysics, and that of its indispensability. The restricted validity of these maxims allows for their unification. Within the framework of most of them there may be a relationship of (synchronic, or diachronic) subordination of the contradicting desiderata. In this vein ten stratagems are formulated. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Lessons Learned from the Intensive Mental Health Program: A School-based,Community Oriented Program for Children with Serious Emotional Disturbances

The Intensive Mental Health Program meets the needs for services in school systems for children with serious emotional disturbances and for training graduate students in clinical applications with a difficult-to-serve population. We address the range of challenges and rewards experienced in the development of the comprehensive intervention program, the continued maintenance of program elements, and the program evaluation.     

A simple general method for oblique rotation

A simple and very general algorithm for oblique rotation is identified. While motivated by the rotation problem in factor analysis, it may be used to minimize almost any function of a not necessarily square matrix whose columns are restricted to have unit length. The algorithm has two steps. The first is to compute the gradient of the rotation criterion and the second is to project this onto a manifold of matrices with unit length columns. For this reason it is called a gradient projection algorithm. Because the projection step is very simple, implementation of the algorithm involves little more than computing the gradient of the rotation criterion which for many applications is very simple. It is proven that the algorithm is strictly monotone, that is as long as it is not already at a stationary point, each step will decrease the value of the criterion. Examples from a variety of areas are used to demonstrate the algorithm, including oblimin rotation, target rotation, simplimax rotation, and rotation to similarity and simplicity simultaneously. While it may be, the algorithm is not intended for use as a standard algorithm for well established problems, but rather as a tool for investigating new methods where its generality and simplicity may save an investigator substantial effort.The author would like to thank the review team for their insights and recommendations.     

A method for combining occurrence and nonoccurrence interobserver agreement scores

Various statistics have been proposed as standard methods for calculating and reporting interobserver agreement scores. The advantages and disadvantages of each have been discussed in this journal recently but without resolution. A formula is presented that combines separate measures of occurrence and nonoccurrence percentages of agreement, with weight assigned to each measure, varying according to the observed rate of behavior. This formula, which is a modification of a formula proposed by Clement (1976), appears to reduce distortions due to "chance" agreement encountered with very high or low observed rates of behavior while maintaining the mathematical and conceptual simplicity of the conventional method for calculating occurrence and nonoccurrence agreement.     

A component model for diagnosing and treating children who stutter

Nine components of stuttering and their distribution among 54 children who stutter are described. The components are arranged into a model that includes four neurologic components (attending disorder, auditory-processing disorder, sentence-formulation disorder, and oral-motor disorder) and five traditional components (high self-expectations, manipulative stuttering, disruptive communication environment, unrealistic parental expectations, and abnormal parental need for the child to stutter). Diagnostic and treatment usefulness of the model are discussed. Thirty-two of the children have been followed through component-based treatment and 12 mo post termination. Results indicate that treatment was successful with 27 (84%) of the 32 children. Only one child regressed during the 12 mo after treatment ended. These results suggest that treating the neurologic and traditional factors which disrupt fluency improves maintenance and carry-over.     

中国中小学生综合幸福感量表的编制研究

幸福是人类社会的终极目标和共同追求。幸福社会基础在民生,关键靠教育,重心在培养学生的幸福感。本研究以中国特色世界视野的马克思主义幸福观为理论基础,在综合借鉴国内外相关研究成果基础上,通过对5029名中小学生的测量,编制了中国文化背景下的中小学生综合幸福感量表。量表由道德幸福感、心理幸福感、学业幸福感、健康幸福感和社会幸福感五大分量表构成,包括17个因子,共113个项目,力争科学、系统、全面反映中小学生的幸福感水平。研究结果表明,该量表具有良好的信效度,可用于测评中国中小学生的综合幸福感发展状况     

Right hemispheric specialization for mental imagery: A review of the evidence

An implicit assumption in the literature on functional hemispheric asymmetry is that the right hemisphere plays a special role in mental imagery. Using a definition of mental imagery as quasi-perceptual experience, we draw distinctions among visual imagery, visual recognition memory, and visuospatial abilities. We then review the research literature to evaluate the hypothesis that mental imagery is a specialized function of the right cerebral hemisphere, and find that it receives little unambiguous support. Case reports of loss of imagery are no more frequent with right than with left unilateral brain damage. Systematic studies of brain-injured patients provide some support for the hypothesis, but are also consistent with the alternative hypothesis of bilateral representation of imagery. Commissurotomized patients report dreaming and being able to form visual images. Behavioral and psychophysiological studies of non-brain-injured patients either fail to provide evidence in favor of the hypothesis or can be interpreted as compatible with the alternate hypothesis of bilateral hemispheric involvement in imagery. We conclude that there is, presently, insufficient empirical basis for considering imagery a right hemispheric function. We then discuss implications of this conclusion for future research.     

Vibrotactile magnitude production scaling: A method for studying sensory-perceptual responses of stutterers and fluent speakers

The method of vibrotactile mangitude production scaling was used to determine the tactile sensory-perceptual integrity for the dorsum of the tongue and thenar eminence of the right hand for 10 fluent speakers and 10 stutterers. It was discovered that both groups performed the task in a similar manner for the thenar eminence of the hand (a nonoral structure) but in a dissimilar manner for the tongue (an oral structure). From these data, it is suggested that the stutterers may maintain a different internal sensory-perceptual process for the tactile system involved in the speech process. The possibility exists that stuttering, for some, may be an “internal disorder” of the tactile-proprioceptive feedback mechanism that is directly involved in speech production.     

A test of a method for quantifying amount, complexity, and arrangement of play resources in the preschool classroom

This study was a test of the feasibility of a method for quantifying the physical features of a high quality preschool setting. Play resources were selected and arranged for: (a) visibility and access, (b) variations in complexity level, and (c) availability of alternate selections for play choices. Independent analyses from two urban day care settings (N=60) provided concurrent replication of the test of the hypotheses. As predicted, significant increases in participation were recorded from baseline to experimental treatment, and concomitant decreases from treatment to post-treatment. Conflicts rarely occurred during baseline or treatment. However, the increase in conflicts during post-treatment was viewed as a significant effect of the cessation of treatment. Treatment condition did not affect the statistical prevalence of waiting and watching behaviors, but did appear to influence the functions served by these noninteractions. Implications of these results for application by early childhood personnel are offered.