148,067 research outputs found
Aiming for Cognitive Equivalence – Mental Models as a Tertium Comparationis for Translation and Empirical Semantics
This paper introduces my concept of cognitive equivalence (cf. Mandelblit, 1997), an attempt to reconcile elements of Nida’s dynamic equivalence with recent innovations in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology, and building on the current focus on translators’ mental processes in translation studies (see e.g. Göpferich et al., 2009, Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 2010; Halverson, 2014). My approach shares its general impetus with Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk’s concept of re-conceptualization, but is independently derived from findings in cognitive linguistics and simulation theory (see e.g. Langacker, 2008; Feldman, 2006; Barsalou, 1999; Zwaan, 2004). Against this background, I propose a model of translation processing focused on the internal simulation of reader reception and the calibration of these simulations to achieve similarity between ST and TT impact. The concept of cognitive equivalence is exemplarily tested by exploring a conceptual / lexical field (MALE BALDNESS) through the way that English, German and Japanese lexical items in this field are linked to matching visual-conceptual representations by native speaker informants. The visual data gathered via this empirical method can be used to effectively triangulate the linguistic items involved, enabling an extra-linguistic comparison across languages. Results show that there is a reassuring level of interinformant agreement within languages, but that the conceptual domain for BALDNESS is linguistically structured in systematically different ways across languages. The findings are interpreted as strengthening the call for a cognition-focused, embodied approach to translation
Partially-commutative context-free languages
The paper is about a class of languages that extends context-free languages
(CFL) and is stable under shuffle. Specifically, we investigate the class of
partially-commutative context-free languages (PCCFL), where non-terminal
symbols are commutative according to a binary independence relation, very much
like in trace theory. The class has been recently proposed as a robust class
subsuming CFL and commutative CFL. This paper surveys properties of PCCFL. We
identify a natural corresponding automaton model: stateless multi-pushdown
automata. We show stability of the class under natural operations, including
homomorphic images and shuffle. Finally, we relate expressiveness of PCCFL to
two other relevant classes: CFL extended with shuffle and trace-closures of
CFL. Among technical contributions of the paper are pumping lemmas, as an
elegant completion of known pumping properties of regular languages, CFL and
commutative CFL.Comment: In Proceedings EXPRESS/SOS 2012, arXiv:1208.244
Biologically inspired distributed machine cognition: a new formal approach to hyperparallel computation
The irresistable march toward multiple-core chip technology presents currently intractable pdrogramming challenges. High level mental processes in many animals, and their analogs for social structures, appear similarly massively parallel, and recent mathematical models addressing them may be adaptable to the multi-core programming problem
Equivalence-Checking on Infinite-State Systems: Techniques and Results
The paper presents a selection of recently developed and/or used techniques
for equivalence-checking on infinite-state systems, and an up-to-date overview
of existing results (as of September 2004)
Condensation in stochastic particle systems with stationary product measures
We study stochastic particle systems with stationary product measures that
exhibit a condensation transition due to particle interactions or spatial
inhomogeneities. We review previous work on the stationary behaviour and put it
in the context of the equivalence of ensembles, providing a general
characterization of the condensation transition for homogeneous and
inhomogeneous systems in the thermodynamic limit. This leads to strengthened
results on weak convergence for subcritical systems, and establishes the
equivalence of ensembles for spatially inhomogeneous systems under very general
conditions, extending previous results which were focused on attractive and
finite systems. We use relative entropy techniques which provide simple proofs,
making use of general versions of local limit theorems for independent random
variables.Comment: 44 pages, 4 figures; improved figures and corrected typographical
error
Practical Distributed Control Synthesis
Classic distributed control problems have an interesting dichotomy: they are
either trivial or undecidable. If we allow the controllers to fully
synchronize, then synthesis is trivial. In this case, controllers can
effectively act as a single controller with complete information, resulting in
a trivial control problem. But when we eliminate communication and restrict the
supervisors to locally available information, the problem becomes undecidable.
In this paper we argue in favor of a middle way. Communication is, in most
applications, expensive, and should hence be minimized. We therefore study a
solution that tries to communicate only scarcely and, while allowing
communication in order to make joint decision, favors local decisions over
joint decisions that require communication.Comment: In Proceedings INFINITY 2011, arXiv:1111.267
Dysfunctions of highly parallel real-time machines as 'developmental disorders': Security concerns and a Caveat Emptor
A cognitive paradigm for gene expression in developmental biology that is based on rigorous application of the asymptotic limit theorems of information theory can be adapted to highly parallel real-time computing. The coming Brave New World of massively parallel 'autonomic' and 'Self-X' machines driven by the explosion of multiple core and molecular computing technologies will not be spared patterns of canonical and idiosyncratic failure analogous to the developmental disorders affecting organisms that have had the relentless benefit of a billion years of evolutionary pruning. This paper provides a warning both to potential users of these machines and, given that many such disorders can be induced by external agents, to those concerned with larger scale matters of homeland security
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