Features of the Expert-System-Shell SPIRIT

The inference process in a probabilistic and conditional environmentunder minimum relative entropy, permits the acquisition of basicknowledge, the consideration of - even uncertain - ad hoc knowledge,and the response to queries. Even if these procedures are wellknown in the relevant literature their realisation for large-scaleapplications needs a sophisticated tool, allowing the communicationwith the user as well as all relevant logical transformationsand numerical calculations. SPIRIT is an Expert-System-Shellfor these purposes. Even for hundreds of – consistent– facts about the involved variables’ dependenciesthe shell automatically generates the corresponding epistemicstate, thus permitting the derivation of conclusions from theacquired knowledge. These conclusions’ reliability orprecision can be checked, inviting the user to enrich the knowledgeby further facts, if desired. Any inconsistencies among providedfacts are detected, and their elimination will be supportedby the shell. Knowledge acquisition can come from provided factsby a knowledge engineer as well as from real world data; inductivelearning supports the use of such data. An important capabilityof the shell is the calculation of impacts upon ideas or conceptsfrom a given stimulus. This paper is a brief survey of theoreticalconcepts and the corresponding features of the system, whichare accompanied by illustrative examples.     

Emerging Medical Technologies and Emerging Conceptions of Health

Using ideas gleaned from the philosophy of technology of Martin Heidegger and Hans Jonas and the philosophy of health of Georges Canguilhem, I argue that one of the characteristics of emerging medical technologies is that these technologies lead to new conceptions of health. When technologies enable the body to respond to more and more challenges of disease, we thus establish new norms of health. Given the continued development of successful technologies, we come to expect more and more that our bodies should be able to respond to ever-new challenges of environment and disease by establishing ever-new norms of health. Technologies may aim at the prevention and treatment of disease, but they also bring about modifications of what we consider normal for the human being. Thus, new norms of health arise from technological innovation.     

SARS事件后对卫生体制的反思

SARS事件突出暴露了我国经济和社会发展不协调的问题,由于缺乏科学发展观统领医疗卫生事业的发展,在体制改革中片面突出经济增长在社会发展中的作用、片面追求市场化的支配地位,是导致病象的内在逻辑。从构建“和谐社会”的战略出发,认为应避免社会公共事务管理的“泛市场化”倾向,指出“有管理的市场化”是其应然走向,呼吁在改革实践中重新回复人文精神。     

Learning a new human-computer alphabet: the role of similarity and practice

Two purposes motivated this study: (a) to quantify the difficulty in learning various symbols of the alphabet used to enter data into a personal digital assistant (PDA), and (b) to investigate the interaction of item difficulty with practice conditions that promote varying levels of cognitive effort. Levels of compatibility between members of the PDA alphabet and English were quantified through introspective ratings in Experiment 1 and objective performance measures in Experiment 2. Three levels of item compatibility were learned under conditions of proactive or retroactive augmented information in Experiment 3. Contrary to expectations, the item similarity effect did not interact with practice schedules—a retroactive augmented information condition resulted in degraded levels of acquisition performance, but superior retention levels, compared to the proactive condition. These findings are discussed in terms of the relative merits of cognitive effort in skill acquisition.     

Sustaining our Spirits: Spiritual Study/Discussion Groups For Coping with Medical Illness

Illness is a universal experience that evokes a range of difficult emotions and tough spiritual questions, often without satisfying answers. Illness can be alienating and isolating. Sustaining ones spirits and preserving identity in the face of illness is a challenge for patients, family members, and caregivers. This paper introduces Spiritual study/discussion groups to strengthen patients perceived coping with illness. The groups introduce a spiritual perspective, provide emotional support, and offer a variety of spiritual coping tools, utilizing traditional and contemporary resources. Preliminary evaluations suggest that a healing time and space is created through the provision of comfort, connection, support, and inspiration.     

Plausibility and Verb Subcategorization in Temporarily Ambiguous Sentences: Evidence from Self-Paced Reading

A self-paced reading experiment investigated processing of sentences containing a noun-phrase that could temporarily be mistaken as the direct-object argument of a verb in a subordinate clause but actually constituted the syntactic subject of the main clause (often referred to as an early vs. late closure ambiguity). Subcategorization preference of the subordinate verb and plausibility of the syntactic misanalysis were manipulated. Elevated reading times occurred during processing of the temporarily ambiguous noun-phrase for those sentences where the noun-phrase was an implausible direct-object of the preceding verb, regardless of the verbs subcategorization preferences. Elevated reading times were observed for all sentence types following syntactic disambiguation. Subsequent correlational analyses showed that the verbs individual subcategorization preferences affected processing time on the critical noun-phrase and the syntactically disambiguating main verb.     

Detached Mindfulness In Cognitive Therapy: A Metacognitive Analysis And Ten Techniques

This paper describes the nature and information processing requirements of detached mindfulness. The construct emerged from the self-regulatory information processing theory of emotional disorder (Wells & Matthews, 1994), and is viewed as a metacognitive state that facilitates change in core underlying pathological processes. Detached mindfulness has multiple components, requiring the activation of metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive monitoring and control, suspension of conceptual processing, attentional flexibility, and a de-centered relationship with thoughts. A model of the cognitive structures and processes supporting the state is presented. Implications of the model for the scientific development and effective use of mindfulness techniques are discussed. Ten techniques for rapidly achieving detached mindfulness in the course of metacognitive therapy are described.Address correspondence to Professor Adrian Wells, Academic Division of Clinical Psychology, The University of Manchester, Rawnsley Building, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9WL, UK; e-mail: Adrian.Wells@manchester.ac.uk.     

A note on item information in any direction for the multidimensional three-parameter logistic model

The purpose of this note is twofold: (a) to present the formula for the item information function (IIF) in any direction for the Multidimensional 3-Parameter Logistic (M3-PL) model and (b) to give the equation for the location of maximum item information (θ_max) in the direction of the item discrimination vector. Several corollaries are given. Implications for future research are discussed.This research was supported in part by an Educational Testing Service (ETS) Harold T. Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship to the author.This revised article was published online in August 2005 with the PDF paginated correctly.     

Ecological Neuropsychology: An Alternative to the Deficit Model for Conceptualizing and Serving Students with Learning Disabilities

The present paper contends that children with learning disabilities are better served when assessment and intervention are conceptualized within an ecological neuropsychology perspective than within the traditional deficit model perspective, which is the predominant approach to intervention in medical and educational settings. The deficit method conceptualizes problems as within the child, and the major consequence of this approach is that little time is spent analyzing the learning environment or other systems that might impact the child's ability to be successful in an academic setting. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts have had limited success. In contrast, ecological neuropsychology is a strength-based approach that considers the child, as well as the systems within which he/she interacts, when assessing, diagnosing, and intervening with students who are experiencing learning difficulties.     

Psychology’s Adaptation to Medical Schools,Teaching Hospitals,and Academic Medical Centers: The Role of Academic Medicine Organizations

Psychologists in medical schools, teaching hospitals, and academic medical centers are comparatively small in number, and are often undervalued and denied full practice privileges. As a profession, psychologists must therefore adapt to the realities of a physician-driven, physician-controlled environment. Psychologists’ adaptation to academic medical settings has been considered from several vantage points. An overlooked aspect of adaptation is psychologists’ knowledge of and participation in academic medicine organizations that regulate medical education and specialization. These organizations significantly influence teaching hospital and medical school environments and the psychologists and academic physicians who work in those environments. This paper focuses primarily on three academic medicine organizations, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), and the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which together shape and regulate medical education across all levels and specialties. Knowledge of the evolution and workings of these organizations is useful information for psychologists, but beyond that, such information is a framework that provides benchmarks for understanding psychology’s evolving system of education and specialization.