59,968 research outputs found
A taxonomy of errors for information systems
We provide a full characterization of computational error states for information systems. The class of errors considered is general enough to include human rational processes, logical reasoning, scientific progress and data processing in some functional programming languages. The aim is to reach a full taxonomy of error states by analysing the recovery and processing of data. We conclude by presenting machine-readable checking and resolve algorithms
A taxonomy of errors for information systems
We provide a full characterization of computational error states for information systems. The class of errors considered is general enough to include human rational processes, logical reasoning, scientific progress and data processing in some functional programming languages. The aim is to reach a full taxonomy of error states by analysing the recovery and processing of data. We conclude by presenting machine-readable checking and resolve algorithms
Logic Meets Algebra: the Case of Regular Languages
The study of finite automata and regular languages is a privileged meeting
point of algebra and logic. Since the work of Buchi, regular languages have
been classified according to their descriptive complexity, i.e. the type of
logical formalism required to define them. The algebraic point of view on
automata is an essential complement of this classification: by providing
alternative, algebraic characterizations for the classes, it often yields the
only opportunity for the design of algorithms that decide expressibility in
some logical fragment.
We survey the existing results relating the expressibility of regular
languages in logical fragments of MSO[S] with algebraic properties of their
minimal automata. In particular, we show that many of the best known results in
this area share the same underlying mechanics and rely on a very strong
relation between logical substitutions and block-products of pseudovarieties of
monoid. We also explain the impact of these connections on circuit complexity
theory.Comment: 37 page
The Mixed Powerdomain
This paper characterizes the powerdomain constructions which have been used in the semantics of programming languages in terms of formulas of first order logic under a preordering of provable implication. The goal is to reveal the basic logical significance of the powerdomain elements by casting them in the right setting. Such a treatment may contribute to a better understanding of their potential uses in areas which deal with concepts of sets and partial information such as databases and computational linguistics. This way of viewing powerdomain elements suggests a new form of powerdomain - called the mixed powerdomain - which expresses data in a different way from the well-known constructions from programming semantics. It is shown that the mixed powerdomain has many of the properties associated with the convex powerdomain such as the possiblity of solving recursive equations and a simple algebraic characterization
Expressive Completeness of Existential Rule Languages for Ontology-based Query Answering
Existential rules, also known as data dependencies in Databases, have been
recently rediscovered as a promising family of languages for Ontology-based
Query Answering. In this paper, we prove that disjunctive embedded dependencies
exactly capture the class of recursively enumerable ontologies in
Ontology-based Conjunctive Query Answering (OCQA). Our expressive completeness
result does not rely on any built-in linear order on the database. To establish
the expressive completeness, we introduce a novel semantic definition for OCQA
ontologies. We also show that neither the class of disjunctive tuple-generating
dependencies nor the class of embedded dependencies is expressively complete
for recursively enumerable OCQA ontologies.Comment: 10 pages; the full version of a paper to appear in IJCAI 2016.
Changes (regarding to v1): a new reference has been added, and some typos
have been correcte
On Left and Right Dislocation: A Dynamic Perspective
The paper argues that by modelling the incremental and left-right process of interpretation as a process of growth of logical form (representing logical forms as trees), an integrated typology of left-dislocation and right-dislocation phenomena becomes available, bringing out not merely the similarities between these types of phenomena, but also their asymmetry. The data covered include hanging topic left dislocation, clitic left dislocation, left dislocation, pronoun doubling, expletives, extraposition, and right node raising, with each set of data analysed in terms of general principles of tree growth. In the light of the success in providing a characterisation of the asymmetry between left and right periphery phenomena, a result not achieved in more wellknown formalisms, the paper concludes that grammar formalisms should model the dynamics of language processing in time.Articl
The price of inscrutability
In our reasoning we depend on the stability of language, the fact that its signs do not arbitrarily change in meaning from moment to moment.(Campbell, 1994, p.82)
Some philosophers offer arguments contending that ordinary names such as âLondonâ are radically indeterminate in reference. The conclusion of such arguments is that there is no fact of the matter whether âLondonâ refers to a city in the south of England, or whether instead it refers to
Sydney, Australia. Some philosophers have even suggested that we accept the conclusion of these arguments.
Such a position seems crazy to many; but what exactly goes wrong if one adopts such a view? This paper evaluates the theoretical costs incurred by one who endorses extreme inscrutability of reference (the âinscrutabilistâ). I show that there is one particular implication of extreme
inscrutability which pushes the price of inscrutabilism too high. An extension of the classic âpermutationâ arguments for extreme inscrutability allow us to establish what I dub âextreme indexical inscrutabilityâ. This result, I argue, unacceptably undermines the epistemology of inference.
The first half of the paper develops the background of permutation arguments for extreme inscrutability
of reference and evaluates some initial attempts to make trouble for the inscrutabilist.
Sections 1 and 2 describe the setting of the original permutation arguments for extreme inscrutability.
Sections 3 and 4 survey four potential objections to extreme inscrutability of reference,
including some recently raised in Vann McGeeâs excellent (2005a). Sections 5 sketches how the permutation arguments can be generalized to establish extreme indexical inscrutability; and shows how this contradicts a âstability principleââthat our words do not arbitrarily
change their reference from one moment to the nextâwhich I claim plays a vital role in the epistemology of inference.
The second half of the paper develops in detail the case for thinking that language is stable
in the relevant sense. In section 6, I use this distinction to call into question the epistemological
relevance of validity of argument types; Kaplanâs treatment of indexical validity partially resolves this worry, but there is a residual problem. In section 7, I argue that stability is exactly what is needed to bridge this final gap, and so secure the relevance of validity to good inferential practice. Section 8 responds to objections to this claim.
An appendix to the paper provides formal backing for the results cited in this paper, including a generalization of permutation arguments to the kind of rich setting required for a realistic semantics of natural language.1 Extreme indexical inscrutability results can be proved within
this setting. The first half of the paper shows that the inscrutabilist is committed to extreme indexical inscrutability, which implies that language not determinately âstableâ. The second half of the paper argues that good inference requires stability. The price of inscrutabilism, therefore, is to sever the connection between the validity of argument-forms and inferential practice: and this is too high a price to pay
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