Integrating external deduction tools with ACL2

We present an interface connecting the ACL2 theorem prover with external deduction tools. The ACL2 logic contains several mechanisms for proof structuring, which are important to the construction of industrial-scale proofs. The complexity induced by these mechanisms makes the design of the interface challenging. We discuss some of the challenges, and develop a precise specification of the requirements on the external tools for a sound connection with ACL2. We also develop constructs within ACL2 to enable the developers of external tools to satisfy our specifications. The interface is available with the ACL2 theorem prover starting from Version 3.2, and we describe several applications of the interface.     

Globalization, Neo-Liberalism and Community Psychology

A longitudinal analysis (1984–2005) of media language in Norway is presented, demonstrating how the current globalized capitalist market ideology is now permeating this long-established Scandinavian welfare state. This ideological shift carries powerful implications for community psychology, as traditional welfare state values of equal services based on a universalistic principle are set aside, and social and material inequalities are increasingly accepted. The methodology developed in the present study may serve as a “barometer of community changes”, to borrow a metaphor used by Sarason (2000).     

When the mental number line involves a delay: the writing of numbers by children of different arithmetical abilities

Our study focused on number transcoding in children. It investigated how 9-year-olds with and without arithmetical disabilities wrote Arabic digits after they had heard them as number words. Planning time before writing each digit was registered. Analyses revealed that the two groups differed not only in arithmetical abilities but also in verbal and reading abilities. Children with arithmetical disabilities were overall slower in planning Arabic digits than were control children with normal arithmetical abilities. In addition, they showed a number size effect for numbers smaller than 10, suggesting a semantically mediated route in number processing. Control children did not need more planning time for large numbers (e.g., 8) than for small numbers (e.g., 3), suggesting a direct nonsemantic route. For both two- and three-digit numbers, both groups of children showed a number size effect, although the effect was smaller each time for control children. The presence of the stronger number size effect for children with arithmetical disabilities was seen as a delay in the development of quick and direct transcoding. The relation between transcoding problems and arithmetical disabilities is discussed. A defect in the linking of numerical symbols to analog numerical representations is proposed as an explanation for the transcoding problems found in some children.     

Effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents with emotional disturbance: A meta-analysis

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents at-risk for and with emotional disturbance. Published outcome studies (k = 29) from December, 1988, to March, 2006, including 1405 children and adolescents were reviewed. Each investigation was coded on several variables describing the child, parent, and teacher samples, as well as reported outcome results. The overall mean weighted effect size was 1.00 at post-test and 1.35 at follow-up. Mean weighted ESs were 0.42 for between-subjects design studies, 0.87 for within-subjects design studies, and 1.87 for single-subject design studies. Prevention programs yielded a mean weighted ES of 0.54 and intervention programs produced a mean weighted ES of 1.35. Findings for specific outcome foci are presented and implications are discussed.     

Dialogue Foundations: Dialogue Logic Revisited: Erik C. W. Krabbe

In an attempt to redeem the Lorenzen-type dialogues from their detractors, it is perhaps best first to provide a survey of the various benefits these dialogues have been supposed to yield. This will be done in Section I. It will not be possible, within the confines of this paper, to scrutinize them all, but in Section II we shall delve deeper into the capacity of this type of dialogue to yield a model for the immanent criticism of philosophical positions. Section III will extend the concept of a dialogue in such a way as to conform better with our intuitive conceptions of what a rational discussion of a position should contain. This will be followed up by a concept of 'winning a dialogue' that takes position midway between the old conception of 'winning one play' and that of the full-fledged presentation of a winning strategy (a proof). Concepts of 'rational discussion' are thus shown to be, plausibly, more fundamental than those of proof. In Section IV, I shall discuss the specific problems about dialogical foundations put forward by Wilfrid Hodges.     

Olfaction and young children’s preferences: A comparison of odor and visual cues

Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics - This research compared the relative contributions of odor and visual cues in determining young children’s preferences. Thirty-two children were...     

Vowel perception: A neuroradiological localization of the perception of vowels in the human cortex

Whether the perception of vowels takes place in the right or left cerebral hemisphere, or is dependent on bilateral cortical processes, is of importance in our treatment of patients with language deficiencies. To investigate this problem a phonetic test with a series of vowellike stimuli was administered to 68 right-handed adult patients with cerebral lesions, mainly of vascular origin. The results were compared to the results in a control group of 19 speech therapists. Second, a neuroradiologic method was developed in order to visualize the anatomic site of Wernicke's area in the left hemisphere on CT scans. This method formed the basis for an evaluation of the extent and localization of the patients' lesions in Wernicke's area. Of 46 patients with lesions in the left hemisphere, 19 had no perceptual disturbances and 27 had severe perceptual disturbances with lesions predominantly located in Wernicke's area. Twenty-two patients with lesions in the corresponding area in the right hemisphere showed no perceptual disturbances. The results of this investigation appear to indicate that the perception of vowels in right-handed persons is unilaterally located in Wernicke's area in the left hemisphere.