Multi-Modal CTL: Completeness,Complexity, and an Application

We define a multi-modal version of Computation Tree Logic (ctl) by extending the language with path quantifiers E ^δ and A ^δ where δ denotes one of finitely many dimensions, interpreted over Kripke structures with one total relation for each dimension. As expected, the logic is axiomatised by taking a copy of a ctl axiomatisation for each dimension. Completeness is proved by employing the completeness result for ctl to obtain a model along each dimension in turn. We also show that the logic is decidable and that its satisfiability problem is no harder than the corresponding problem for ctl. We then demonstrate how Normative Systems can be conceived as a natural interpretation of such a multi-dimensional ctl logic. Presented by Jacek Malinowski     

The Spanish and Catalan Versions of the Parent Development Interview-Revised (PDI-R): Adaptation and Validation Process

The reflective function (RF) or mentalization is nowadays considered a concept with a great explanatory and therapeutic potential. In this article we present the adaptation and validation of Parent Development Interview-Revised (PDI-R) to the Spanish and Catalan languages. It was performed by a cross-sectional design with a non-clinical sample of 61 Spanish and Catalan speaking mothers of under five mentally healthy children. The same sample responded to an Adult Attachment Questionnaire and to the Child Behavior Check List. The construct hypothesis based on attachment theory and mentalization research, expected a positive correlation between the parental RF level and adult attachment. Other hypothesis did not predict significant differences in the results of the two subsamples depending on sociodemographic characteristics. The results do confirm the hypothesis considered in a concordance way with the literature. The discussion provides some qualitative analysis closer to what is expected of the PDI-R’s clinical uses as a frame to work with parents. This study represents the PDI-R’s introduction in the Spanish and Catalan speaking population over the world. We think it opens the door to further research assessing the parental RF with Spanish speaking parents’ samples as well as to guide the clinical work with them.     

Belief revision and uncertain reasoning

When a new piece of information contradicts a currently held belief, one has to modify the set of beliefs in order to restore its consistency. In the case where it is necessary to give up a belief, some of them are less likely to be abandoned than others. The concept of epistemic entrenchment is used by some AI approaches to explain this fact based on formal properties of the belief set (e.g., transitivity). Two experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that contrary to such views, (i) belief is naturally represented by degrees rather than in an all-or-nothing manner, (ii) entrenchment is primarily a matter of content and not only a matter of form, and (iii) consequently prior degree of belief is a powerful factor of change. The two experiments used Elio and Pelletier's (1997) paradigm in which participants were presented with full simple deductive arguments whose conclusion was denied, following which they were asked to decide which premise to revise.     

Facilitation of a Distributed Shuttle-Box Conditioning with Posttraining Intracranial Self-Stimulation in Old Rats

Old Wistar rats (16–17 months) were trained in a two-way active avoidance task for 5 consecutive days (10 trials/day). Immediately after each training session a lateral hypothalamic intracranial self-stimulation session (ICSS group) or a sham-treatment session (Control group) was given to the animals. Long-term retention was tested 7 days after the last acquisition session. ICSS treatment led to a significant improvement in acquisition. In the long-term retention session the level of avoidance in both groups was similar to that achieved in the last acquisition session, although differences among groups failed to reach statistical significance. These results are compared with those obtained in previous experiments with young adult rats. While ICSS facilitated the process of acquisition in both young and old rats (however, it was much more powerful in young animals), further experiments are needed to elucidate whether this effect is long-lasting in old rats, as occurs in young adult subjects.     

Preliminary validation of a Spanish language version of the Adoption Communication Scale in adopted adolescents / Validación preliminar de una versión en español de la escala Adoption Communication Scale para adolescentes adoptados

Abstract

The Adoption Communication Scale (ACS) is a 28-item child-report instrument used to assess adoptees’ perception of communication openness in the family. The aim was to develop a Spanish language version of the scale (ACS-S) and to assess the instrument’s psychometric properties in a sample of 55 adopted adolescents. The ACS-S was found to have high internal consistency (α = .93) and moderately high test-retest stability (.68). An exploratory factorial analysis yielded two factors, the first loaded on satisfaction with emotional communication items and the second encompassing satisfaction with the completeness of the information offered by the parents. These factors are coherent with the theory underlying the scale. The total ACS-S score was significantly positively correlated with adolescent Global Satisfaction with Openness as measured by a Visual Analogue Scale. The ACS-S scale appears to be a valid tool in assessing communication openness in Spanish adopted adolescents.     

The Proof by Cases Property and its Variants in Structural Consequence Relations

This paper is a contribution to the study of the rôle of disjunction in Abstract Algebraic Logic. Several kinds of (generalized) disjunctions, usually defined using a suitable variant of the proof by cases property, were introduced and extensively studied in the literature mainly in the context of finitary logics. The goals of this paper are to extend these results to all logics, to systematize the multitude of notions of disjunction (both those already considered in the literature and those introduced in this paper), and to show several interesting applications allowed by the presence of a suitable disjunction in a given logic.