Deontic action logic, atomic boolean algebras and fault-tolerance

We introduce a deontic action logic and its axiomatization. This logic has some useful properties (soundness, completeness, compactness and decidability), extending the properties usually associated with such logics. Though the propositional version of the logic is quite expressive, we augment it with temporal operators, and we outline an axiomatic system for this more expressive framework. An important characteristic of this deontic action logic is that we use boolean combinators on actions, and, because of finiteness restrictions, the generated boolean algebra is atomic, which is a crucial point in proving the completeness of the axiomatic system. As our main goal is to use this logic for reasoning about fault-tolerant systems, we provide a complete example of a simple application, with an attempt at formalization of some concepts usually associated with fault-tolerance.     

胰岛素样生长因子结合蛋白3mRNA在肾癌中的表达

为探讨胰岛素样生长因子结合蛋白3（IGFBP-3）mRNA在肾癌（RCC）中的表达,采用半定量RT-PCR方法进行检测,检测56例RCC组织标本及56例癌旁组织标本中IGFBP-3的表达。结果显示RCC与癌旁组织之间IGFBP-3表达差异有显著性（P〈0.05）,IGFBP-3在透明细胞癌的强阳性表达,高于其他病理类型（P均〈0.05）,并与病理分级相关。因此,IGFBP-3在RCC组织中的表达具有显著性,其在肾透明细胞癌中的强阳性表达具有特异性。     

The philosophical novelty of computer simulation methods

Reasons are given to justify the claim that computer simulations and computational science constitute a distinctively new set of scientific methods and that these methods introduce new issues in the philosophy of science. These issues are both epistemological and methodological in kind.     

Foregoing the labor for the fruits: The effect of just world threat on the desire for immediate monetary rewards

Previous theorizing and research suggest that the need to believe in a just world develops when children begin to understand the benefits of foregoing their immediate gratifications for more desirable, long-term outcomes. Drawing on this previous work, we propose that an extant just world threat may induce a desire for smaller, immediate rewards at the expense of larger, delayed rewards. Participants were exposed to the suffering of an innocent or non-innocent victim and then, in a different context, completed a temporal discounting task that assessed, across six time delays, their preferences for smaller, immediate monetary rewards versus a constant, larger, delayed reward. Consistent with our reasoning, participants exposed to the suffering of an innocent versus non-innocent victim more steeply discounted the value of the delayed reward—that is, they were willing to accept smaller immediate rewards in place of the larger, delayed reward. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

How and how not to make predictions with temporal Copernicanism

Gott (Nature 363:315–319, 1993) considers the problem of obtaining a probabilistic prediction for the duration of a process, given the observation that the process is currently underway and began a time t ago. He uses a temporal Copernican principle according to which the observation time can be treated as a random variable with uniform probability density. A simple rule follows: with a 95% probability,

Brain correlates of early auditory processing are attenuated by expectations for time and pitch

The present study investigated how auditory processing is modulated by expectations for time and pitch by analyzing reaction times and event-related potentials (ERPs). In two experiments, tone sequences were presented to the participants, who had to discriminate whether the last tone of the sequence contained a short gap or was continuous (Experiment 1: go/nogo, Experiment 2: choice reaction). Expectations were induced by varying the temporal and pitch regularity of the sequence. Results were consistent across both experiments. Expectations for both time and pitch were associated with faster responding. Both temporal and pitch expectations led to an attenuation of the auditory N1, thus indicating a modulation of early, perceptual processing by temporal and pitch expectations. Effects of temporal expectations were also evident in a P300-like deflection, suggesting that temporal expectations also affect decision- or response-related processing stages.     

An Axiomatisation for the Multi-modal Logic of Knowledge and Linear Time LTK

The paper aims at providing the multi-modal propositional logicLTK with a sound and complete axiomatisation. This logic combinestemporal and epistemic operators and focuses on m odeling thebehaviour of a set of agents operating in a system on the backgroundof a temporal framework. Time is represented as linear and discrete,whereas knowledge is modeled as an S₅-like modality. A furthermodal operator intended to represent environment knowledge isadded to the system in order to achieve the expressive powersufficient to describe the piece of information available tothe agents at each moment in the flow of time.     

Automatic verification of multi-agent systems by model checking via ordered binary decision diagrams

We present a methodology for the verification of multi-agent systems, whose properties are specified by means of a modal logic that includes a temporal, an epistemic, and a modal operator to reason about correct behaviour of agents. The verification technique relies on model checking via ordered binary decision diagrams. We present an implementation and report on experimental results for two scenarios: the bit transmission problem with faults and the protocol of the dining cryptographers.     

Combinations of tense and deontic modality: On the approach to temporal logic with historical necessity and conditional obligation

We consider three infinite hierarchies of what I call “two-dimensional temporal logics with explicit realization operators”, viz. (i) one without historical or deontic modalities, (ii) one with historical but without deontic modalities, and (iii) one with historical and with dyadic deontic modalities for conditional obligation and permission. Sound and complete axiomatizations are obtained for all three hierarchies relative to a simplified version of the finite co-ordinate-system semantics given for so-called T × W logic of historical necessity in [L. Åqvist, The logic of historical necessity as founded on two-dimensional modal tense logic, J. Philos. Logic 28 (1999) 329–369].     

内侧颞叶系统在知觉启动中的作用及其机制

以ll例内侧颞叶(MTL)损伤病人为被试,探讨MTL与知觉启动的关系及其内在机制。被试依次完成学习颜色词、快速词命名和再认任务。在实验l的词命名中包括旧词、重组颜色词和新词,结果表明,MTL损伤病人没有表现出旧词的命名时间短于重组颜色词的现象,颜色启动效应受损,其再认成绩也低于正常被试。但是当用新颜色词代替重组颜色词后(实验2),MTL损伤病人读旧词的时间明显短于新颜色词,颜色启动与正常对照组之间没有明显差别,但他们的再认成绩仍比对照组低。这表明,当任务要求被试加工项目与其特性之间的关系时(词与颜色),MTL损伤对启动效应会有影响,提示MTL在一些形式的知觉启动中起重要作用。