Common-sense reasoning as proto-scientific agent activity

We wish to model common-sense reasoning in situations where it contains some of the ingredients typical of proto-scientific reasoning, with a view to future elaboration and proof of concept. To model this proto-scientific narrative, we employ the integrative formal computational machinery we have been developing and implementing for rational cooperative epistemic agents. In our logic-based framework, agents can update their own and each other's theories, which are comprised of knowledge, active rules, integrity constraints, queries, abducibles, and preferences; they can engage in abductive reasoning involving updatable preferences; set each other queries; react to circumstances; plan and carry out actions; and revise their theories and preferences by means of concurrent updates on self and others.     

A multi-attribute extension of the secretary problem: Theory and experiments

We present a generalization of a class of sequential search problems with ordinal ranks, referred to as “secretary” problems, in which applicants are characterized by multiple attributes. We then present a procedure for numerically computing the optimal search policy and test it in two experiments with incentive-compatible payoffs. With payoffs dependent on the absolute ranks of the attributes, we test the optimal search model with both symmetric (Experiment 1) and asymmetric (Experiment 2) search problems. In both experiments we find that, relative to the optimal search policy, subjects stop the search too early. Our results show that this bias is largely driven by a propensity to stop prematurely on applicants of intermediate (relative) quality.     

A First Order Nonmonotonic Extension of Constructive Logic

Certain extensions of Nelson's constructive logic N with strong negation have recently become important in arti.cial intelligence and nonmonotonic reasoning, since they yield a logical foundation for answer set programming (ASP). In this paper we look at some extensions of Nelson's .rst-order logic as a basis for de.ning nonmonotonic inference relations that underlie the answer set programming semantics. The extensions we consider are those based on 2-element, here-and-there Kripke frames. In particular, we prove completeness for .rst-order here-and-there logics, and their minimal strong negation extensions, for both constant and varying domains. We choose the constant domain version, which we denote by QN^c₅, as a basis for de.ning a .rst-order nonmonotonic extension called equilibrium logic. We establish several metatheoretic properties of QN^c₅, including Skolem forms and Herbrand theorems and Interpolation, and show that the .rst-oder version of equilibrium logic can be used as a foundation for answer set inference.     

产前母亲心理压力对儿童心理行为发展影响的研究述评

产前母亲心理压力对儿童心理行为发展有着重要的影响。大量的研究证据表明,产前母亲的心理应激,对后代的情感或认知发展会产生消极的影响,如容易出现注意力缺陷/活动过度、焦虑、语言迟缓等问题。这种影响的潜在机制之一是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的变化,另一个机制可能是,母亲压力或焦虑引起交感-肾上腺系统高度激活。关于产前母亲心理压力对儿童心理行为发展影响的研究,在方法学上存在一定的缺陷,也还有一些未明确的问题,如产前压力的敏感期、性别特异性效应等。未来这一领域应该开发更多的研究途径。已有的证据足以表明,应该积极开展关于预防、干预和支持性方案方面的研究,以减轻妊娠期的压力或焦虑及其对儿童发展的不利影响。     

Nonmonotonic abductive inductive learning

Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is concerned with the task of generalising sets of positive and negative examples with respect to background knowledge expressed as logic programs. Negation as Failure (NAF) is a key feature of logic programming which provides a means for nonmonotonic commonsense reasoning under incomplete information. But, so far, most ILP research has been aimed at Horn programs which exclude NAF, and has failed to exploit the full potential of normal programs that allow NAF. By contrast, Abductive Logic Programming (ALP), a related task concerned with explaining observations with respect to a prior theory, has been well studied and applied in the context of normal logic programs. This paper shows how ALP can be used to provide a semantics and proof procedure for nonmonotonic ILP that utilises practical methods of language and search bias to reduce the search space. This is done by lifting an existing method called Hybrid Abductive Inductive Learning (HAIL) from Horn clauses to normal logic programs. To demonstrate its potential benefits, the resulting system, called XHAIL, is applied to a process modelling case study involving a nonmonotonic temporal Event Calculus (EC).     

Visuomotor tracking abilities of speakers with apraxia of speech or conduction aphasia

This investigation examined the visuomotor tracking abilities of persons with apraxia of speech (AOS) or conduction aphasia (CA). In addition, tracking performance was correlated with perceptual judgments of speech accuracy. Five individuals with AOS and four with CA served as participants, as well as an equal number of healthy controls matched by age and gender. Participants tracked predictable (sinusoidal) and unpredictable signals using jaw and lip movements transduced with strain gauges. Tracking performance in participants with AOS was poorest for predictable signals, with decreased kinematic measures of cross-correlation and gain ratio and increased target-tracker difference. In contrast, tracking of the unpredictable signal by participants with AOS was performed as well as for other groups (e.g. participants with CA, healthy controls). Performance of the subjects with AOS on the predictable tracking task was found to strongly correlate with perceptual judgments of speech. These findings suggest that motor control capabilities are impaired in AOS, but not in CA. Results suggest that AOS has its basis in motor programming deficits, not impaired motor execution.     

Jeab at 50: coevolution of research and technology

Evidence of how behavioral research and technology have evolved together abounds in the history of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB). Technology from outside the discipline (exogenous), from such disciplines as electronics and computer science, has been adapted for use in behavioral research. Technology from within the discipline (endogenous) has developed from both basic behavioral research and existing apparatus. All of these sources of technology have contributed to the corpus of behavioral research as it has evolved in JEAB. Such research, in turn, has provided the environmental pressure necessary for continuing technological evolution both within and outside the discipline. The new technology thus evolved further spurs research along in novel directions. This dynamic coevolutionary interplay between research and technology is an important variable in the past, present, and future of JEAB.     

Open answer set programming for the semantic web

We extend answer set programming (ASP) with, possibly infinite, open domains. Since this leads to undecidable reasoning, we restrict the syntax of programs, while carefully guarding knowledge representation mechanisms such as negation as failure and inequalities. Reasoning with the resulting extended forest logic programs (EFoLPs) can be reduced to finite answer set programming, for which reasoners are available.We argue that extended forest logic programming is a useful tool for uniformly representing and reasoning with both ontological and rule-based knowledge, as they can capture a large fragment of the OWL DL ontology language equipped with DL-safe rules. Furthermore, EFoLPs enable nonmonotonic reasoning, a desirable feature in locally closed subareas of the Semantic Web.