Some Artificial Intelligence Tools for Argument Evaluation: An Introduction

Even though tools for identifying and analyzing arguments are now in wide use in the field of argumentation studies, so far there is a paucity of resources for evaluating real arguments, aside from using deductive logic or Bayesian rules that apply to inductive arguments. In this paper it is shown that recent developments in artificial intelligence in the area of computational systems for modeling defeasible argumentation reveal a different approach that is currently making interesting progress. It is shown how these systems provide the general outlines for a system of argument evaluation that can be applied to legal arguments as well as everyday conversational arguments to assist a user to evaluate an argument.     

Argumentation in and Across Disciplines: Two Norwegian Cases

This paper aims at exploring the challenges arising when teachers at secondary school level decide to cooperate about students’ argumentative writing. Two teams of teachers and researchers have met regularly during the school year, discussing students’ texts from a variety of disciplines. Going into two writing tasks in detail, the authors discuss the importance of scaffolding (support) in the teaching of argument. The paper includes a discussion of some specific textual features that are often touched upon in the meetings.     

一般人工智能概述(英文)

AGI是为解决传统人工智能存在的问题而产生的,更注重通用智能的基础问题和人工实现,与认知科学、心灵哲学也密切相关。本文通过介绍AGI的发展历史、AGI的定义及其与传统AI的关系以及一些有代表性的AGI方案等对AGI进行介绍。     

人工智能医疗的三个逻辑

人们对人工智能医疗的发展普遍持乐观态度,仅有少数研究从数据相关的角度对其负面效应表示了谨慎的担心。研究回顾了支撑人工智能医疗发展的技术和市场逻辑指出,是冷战竞赛和经济衰退等历史偶然性导致了人工智能医疗对以错误率为代表的“客观”结果和市场规模、收购金额以及医院成本收益等“主观”价值的片面关注。但以“黑箱化”的方式忽略社会逻辑,尤其是对医疗体制尚不成熟的中国而言,不可避免地会引发专业人才缺口进一步加剧、优质医疗资源进一步集中,以及缺医少药的部分人群始终被排除在新技术的美好蓝图之外等一系列的严重后果。     

医疗人工智能对知情同意的挑战与应对

目前在辅助诊断、辅助治疗方面,人工智能技术取得了较大进展,但是医疗人工智能对知情同意带来了诸多新问题：弱人工智能的黑箱属性不突出,患者对医疗人工智能决策过程的知情可以用对临床试验结果等的知情以及其他严格管理措施去间接地实现;强人工智能需要提高可解释性或以其他方式应对黑箱问题。因额外风险的存在,在使用医疗人工智能时,医方应增加患者知情同意的内容,并利用人工智能应对知情同意的形式主义问题。医方还应在必要时特别说明诊疗主体与责任主体。医疗人工智能处理患者个人信息时亦需严守知情同意原则。

     

Strategic Maneuvering in Treatment Decision-Making Discussions: Two Cases in Point

Over the past decade, the ideal model of shared decision-making has been increasingly promoted as the preferred standard of doctor-patient communication in medical consultation. The model advocates a treatment decision-making process in which the doctor and his patient are considered coequal partners that carefully negotiate the treatment options available in order to ultimately reach a treatment decision that is mutually shared. Thereby, the model notably leaves room for—and stimulates—argumentative discussions to arise in the context of medical consultation. A paradigm example of a discussion that often emerges between doctors and their patients concerns antibiotics as a method of treatment for what is presumed to be a viral infection. Whereas the doctor will generally not encourage treatment with antibiotics, patients oftentimes prefer the medicine to other methods of treatment. In this paper, two cases of such antibiotic-related discussions in consultation are studied using insights gained in the extended pragma-dialectical theory to argumentation. It is examined how patient and physician maneuver strategically in order to maintain a balance between dialectical reasonableness and rhetorical effectiveness, as well as an equilibrium between patient participation and evidence-based medication, while arguing a case for and against antibiotics respectively.     

Two Worlds Are Ours: An Introduction to Christian Mysticism – John Macquarrie

Book reviewed:
Two Worlds Are Ours: An Introduction to Christian Mysticism , John Macquarrie, SCM Press 2004 (0-334-02965-1), viii + 287 pp., pb £19.99     

Personality and Intelligence in Business People: A Study of Two Personality and Two Intelligence Measures

This study examined the overlap and correlations among two well-known personality measures (NEO-PI–R; Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBTI) and two widely used intelligence tests (the Graduate Management Assessment (GMA), Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA)). The GMA measures both fluid intelligence (Gf) and crystallized intelligence (Gc), whereas WGCTA mainly assess Gc. A total of over 3,500 participants completed the four measures in a middle management assessment event. Correlational analysis showed that Extraversion on the MBTI tended to be associated with Openness and Stability on the NEO. Intuition was associated with Openness and Introversion. Feeling types tended to be both Agreeable and Neurotic while perceiving types were high on Openness but low on Agreeableness. The NEO Big Five factor of Openness was most consistently and significantly associated with both measures of intelligence (r = .09 to r =.12). Results from the MBTI showed that Intuition and Perceiving scores were positively and significantly associated with both intelligence test scores which were intercorrelated (r = .38). Regressional analysis showed that personality traits are logically and coherently related to intelligence test scores. Implications for selection and assessment are considered.     

Rehabilitating AI: Argument Loci and the Case for Artificial Intelligence

This article examines argument structures and strategies in pro and con argumentation about the possibility of human-level artificial intelligence (AI) in the near term future. It examines renewed controversy about strong AI that originated in a prominent 1999 book and continued at major conferences and in periodicals, media commentary, and Web-based discussions through 2002. It will be argued that the book made use of implicit, anticipatory refutation to reverse prevailing value hierarchies related to AI. Drawing on Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's (1969) study of refutational argument, this study considers points of contact between opposing arguments that emerged in opposing loci, dissociations, and casuistic reasoning. In particular, it shows how perceptions of AI were reframed and rehabilitated through metaphorical language, reversal of the philosophical pair artificial/natural, appeals to the paradigm case, and use of the loci of quantity and essence. Furthermore, examining responses to the book in subsequent arguments indicates the topoi characteristic of the rhetoric of technology advocacy.     

Two Sociological Approaches to Religion in Modern Britain

This article compares the approach adopted by two recent sociological accounts of religion in modern Britain (by Bruce and Davie). Attention is drawn in broad terms to the parallels between sociological and religious approaches, and a contrast made specifically between a sociology of religion cast in terms of a narrative of decline and diversity (or an account of the place of religion in the perspective of modernity), and one that pays primary attention to indigenous patterns of meaning. Conclusions are drawn as to the limitations of method and apprehension of the one approach, and the openness and potential for comparison of the other.     

Two Sociological Approaches to Religion in Modern Britain

This article compares the approach adopted by two recent sociological accounts of religion in modern Britain (by Bruce and Davie). Attention is drawn in broad terms to the parallels between sociological and religious approaches, and a contrast made specifically between a sociology of religion cast in terms of a narrative of decline and diversity (or an account of the place of religion in the perspective of modernity), and one that pays primary attention to indigenous patterns of meaning. Conclusions are drawn as to the limitations of method and apprehension of the one approach, and the openness and potential for comparison of the other.     

Implementation of a Trauma-Specific,Evidence-Informed Treatment for Adolescents: Two Cases Highlighting How to and How Not to Integrate

The clinical team at an urban trauma clinic sought to evaluate a protocol representing an integration of empirically validated treatment components to address trauma sequelae among female adolescents with a history of physical and/or sexual abuse. PARTNERS with teens is an exposure-based, trauma-specific cognitive-behavioral therapy protocol. Specifically, PARTNERS integrates engagement strategies, cultural sensitivity, and elements of motivational interviewing, dialectical behavior therapy, and family-based parent and communication training in order to reduce symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression and improve affect regulation among economically disadvantaged, multiracial/ethnic adolescents. This paper describes two cases that represent both treatment success and failure in treatment integration, specifically in negotiation of caregiver resistance, adolescent safety concerns, and ongoing interpersonal crises. Results illustrate how treatment components were emphasized and incorporated differentially throughout treatment as a function of case conceptualization. Successful implementation of treatment resulted in reductions in PTSD, depression, externalizing behaviors, and emotion dysregulation. In contrast, failure to effectively reconcile different philosophies and techniques within the treatment model to address challenges in engagement and motivation, inconsistent caregiver involvement, and trauma-related conflicts in the dyad, contributed to disengagement from treatment and persistence of trauma sequelae. Treatment outcome across these two cases is discussed as a function of how well the philosophies and techniques of different adolescent specific treatment components are integrated; directions for future research and training are discussed.     

Tackling Acute Cases of School Bullying in the KiVa Anti-Bullying Program: A Comparison of Two Approaches

Whether cases of bullying should be handled in a direct, condemning mode or in a manner that does not involve blaming the perpetrator is a controversial issue among school professionals. This study compares the effectiveness of a Confronting Approach where the bully is openly told that his behavior must cease immediately to a Non-Confronting Approach where the adult shares his concern about the victim with the bully and invites him to provide suggestions on what could improve the situation. We analysed 339 cases of bullying involving 314 children from grades 1 to 9 (mean age?=?11.95). Cases were handled in 65 schools as part of the implementation of the KiVa anti-bullying program. In each school, a team of three teachers addressed cases coming to their attention by organizing discussions with the bullies using either a Confronting or a Non-Confronting Approach; schools were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions. Victims reported that bullying stopped in 78 % of the cases. Logistic regression analyses indicated that neither approach was overall more effective than the other, controlling for grade level, duration of victimization and type of aggression. The Confronting Approach worked better than the Non-Confronting Approach in secondary school (grades 7 to 9), but not in primary school (grades 1 to 6). The Confronting Approach was more successful than the Non-Confronting Approach in cases of short-term victimization, but not in cases of long-term victimization. The type of aggression used did not moderate the effectiveness of either approach.     

From Treatment to Empowerment: New Approaches to Youth Mentoring

Traditional approaches to formal youth mentoring have focused primarily on improving the lives of “at‐risk” youth through the assignment of individual mentors who are typically disconnected from youth's communities. Similarly, research in the field of formal mentoring has emphasized the dyadic relationship between the mentor and the mentee, with less attention paid to the broader relational contexts in which such relationships unfold. The current paper proposes a new framework that expands the scope of mentoring interventions to include approaches that build on and cultivate informal supports and empower youth to identify and reach out to networks of potential supportive adults, thus increasing the reach of youth mentoring.