The probabilistic analysis of language acquisition: theoretical, computational, and experimental analysis

There is much debate over the degree to which language learning is governed by innate language-specific biases, or acquired through cognition-general principles. Here we examine the probabilistic language acquisition hypothesis on three levels: We outline a novel theoretical result showing that it is possible to learn the exact generative model underlying a wide class of languages, purely from observing samples of the language. We then describe a recently proposed practical framework, which quantifies natural language learnability, allowing specific learnability predictions to be made for the first time. In previous work, this framework was used to make learnability predictions for a wide variety of linguistic constructions, for which learnability has been much debated. Here, we present a new experiment which tests these learnability predictions. We find that our experimental results support the possibility that these linguistic constructions are acquired probabilistically from cognition-general principles.     

用哲学思维引领肝癌的现代治疗理念

肝癌的现代治疗原则已从单一的外科手术切除发展为多学科参与、多技术应用、多阶段序贯的综合治疗。但是,这一理念还远没有成为肝癌临床实践中一以贯之的追求,相关学科之间缺乏经常性的、实质性的、富有成效的合作。其深层次的原因,是医师们专业越来越细化,仅仅从各自专业的视角看肝癌,缺乏哲学层面的深度思考。本文分别从医学本质、肝脏在人...     

The effect of sonority on word segmentation: evidence for the use of a phonological universal

It has been well documented how language-specific cues may be used for word segmentation. Here, we investigate what role a language-independent phonological universal, the sonority sequencing principle (SSP), may also play. Participants were presented with an unsegmented speech stream with non-English word onsets that juxtaposed adherence to the SSP with transitional probabilities. Participants favored using the SSP in assessing word-hood, suggesting that the SSP represents a potentially powerful cue for word segmentation. To ensure the SSP influenced the segmentation process (i.e., during learning), we presented two additional groups of participants with either (a) no exposure to the stimuli prior to testing or (b) the same stimuli with pauses marking word breaks. The SSP did not influence test performance in either case, suggesting that the SSP is important for word segmentation during the learning process itself. Moreover, the fact that SSP-independent segmentation of the stimulus occurred (in the latter control condition) suggests that universals are best understood as biases rather than immutable constraints on learning.     

On the Ranges of Algebraic Functions on Lattices

We study ranges of algebraic functions in lattices and in algebras, such as Łukasiewicz-Moisil algebras which are obtained by extending standard lattice signatures with unary operations.We characterize algebraic functions in such lattices having intervals as their ranges and we show that in Artinian or Noetherian lattices the requirement that every algebraic function has an interval as its range implies the distributivity of the lattice. Presented by Daniele Mundici     

乳腺癌治疗的新视野与医院管理的改革

阐述了乳腺癌治疗方法的发展过程,包括外科、内科、放疗科、生物治疗。乳腺外科由扩大根治手术发展到保乳手术,由局部的病变认识到全身病变。内科治疗与外科配合,与内分泌的治疗相结合,又有大量的新药出现,使内科治疗从姑息性治疗走向根治性治疗。加上放疗技术和放疗设备的进步,靶向治疗药的层出不穷使人们越来越认识到乳腺癌是需要综合性治疗,从而推论到对医院管理制度及方法的探讨。认为医院需要建立正确的核心价值观即与患者携手同行让生命不再灰色,表现出更多的人文关怀,利用高科技为患者提供个性化的综合治疗,并付以相应的管理制度。     

中国本土化心理治疗的回顾与思考

心理治疗的理论建构、价值取向和具体操作,受到社会文化的深刻影响,而现代的心理治疗理论及操作技术多产生于西方,所以应该研究创立中国本土化的心理治疗理论及操作技术.通过对中国古代传统心理治疗和现代西方心理治疗中国化的回顾,分析中国文化和哲学对本土心理治疗的影响,探讨发展中国本土化心理治疗的途径.     

我国心理咨询业的伦理学探讨

目前我国心理咨询需求日趋增加,心理咨询师培训异常火爆,但是从业者的素质良莠不齐,心理咨询工作者的伦理道德和行业规范不健全,导致了来访者和咨询师之间的伦理学困惑和问题,本文系统地分析我国心理咨询工作中的伦理学现状,结合欧美国家心理咨询伦理规范的发展历程,提出了自己的几点思考。     

The principle of liberty and legal representation of posterity

This paper considers a guardianship model for the legal representation of future generations. According to this model, national and international courts should be given the competence to appoint guardians for future generations, if agents who care about the welfare of posterity apply for the creation of a guardianship in relation to a dispute that can be resolved by the application of law. This reform would grant guardians of future people legal standing or locus standi before courts, that is, the right to bring an action before a court of law for adjudication. Although the guardianship model faces several difficult theoretical and practical problems pertaining to the representation of different near and distant future generations, it is argued that this model – and certain other legal norms intended to protect future basic needs – can be justified on the basis of the principle of liberty.     

Is Mozi a utilitarian philosopher?

In this essay I argue that Mozi’s philosophy is anything but utilitarianism by way of analysing four ethical theories. Utilitarianism is an ethics in which the moral subject is an atomic individual human being, and its concern is how to fulfill the interests of the individual self and the social majority. Confucian ethics is centered on the notion of the family and its basic question is that of priority in the relationship between the small self and the enlarged or collective self. Opposite to these two moral theories is Mozi’s ethics: The interests that Mozi is primarily concerned with are not the interests of my individual self or my collective self, but the interests of the other. The fulfillment of the material needs of the other is my moral obligation. The arguments are centered on the three basic concepts, “the I,” “the we,” and “the other.” The significance of Mozi’s thought in modern or postmodern context lies in its striking resemblance to the philosophy of a contemporary western philosopher, Levinas. In both Mozi and Levinas, there is a suspension of utilitarianism. __________ Translated from Zhongguo Zhexue Shi 中国哲学史 (History of Chinese Philosophy), 2005 (1)     

CONTINGENCY IN PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY: A CRITIQUE OF THE THEOLOGY OF WOLFHART PANNENBERG

Abstract. The concept of contingency serves to bridge the doctrine of creation and natural science in Wolfhart Pannenberg's theology. My paper first analyzes the relation of creatio ex nihilo and creatio continua. Next I suggest three categories of contingency: global, local, and nomological. Under each category I assess Pannenberg's use of physics, cosmology, and philosophy of science. Although I agree with Pannenberg's emphasis on continuous creation and on the role of science in renewing the doctrine of creation, I argue for a shift in the discussion from Pannenberg's topics to others, such as the anthropic principle, quantum physics, and thermodynamics.