Complexity of certificates, heuristics, and counting types , with applications to cryptography and circuit theory

In dieser Habilitationsschrift werden Struktur und Eigenschaften von Komplexitätsklassen wie P und NP untersucht, vor allem im Hinblick auf: Zertifikatkomplexität, Einwegfunktionen, Heuristiken gegen NP-Vollständigkeit und Zählkomplexität. Zum letzten Punkt werden speziell untersucht: (a) die Komplexität von Zähleigenschaften von Schaltkreisen, (b) Separationen von Zählklassen mit Immunität und (c) die Komplexität des Zählens der Lösungen von ,,tally`` NP-Problemen

Reference and Indexicality

Tese arquivada ao abrigo da Portaria nº 227/2017 de 25 de Julho-Registo de Grau EstrangeiroThis thesis is a general defence of a context-dependent description theory of reference with special regards to indexical reference on the basis of a truth-conditional theory of meaning. It consists of two parts. In the first part, the roots of the Frege-Russell view are laid out and contrasted with various aspects of direct reference theory and the New Theory of Reference. Two description-based accounts of the reference of proper names, nominal and external description theory, are defended against various known counter-arguments such as Kripke’s circularity objection and the Church-Langford translation test. It is shown how the resulting analysis of de dicto belief ascriptions can be made compositional, but also argued that compositionality is not mandatory. The second part deals with forms of indexical and non-indexical contextdependence. Taking into account a range of typological data, referential features of indexical expressions like their egocentricity, token-reflexivity, and the vagueness of spatial and temporal indexicals are laid out. Kaplan’s Logic of Demonstratives is then reformulated, but following Cresswell (1990) it is argued that full quantification over modal indices is needed. Various indicators and demonstratives are analyzed on the basis of a description theory of reference in a variant of first-order predicate logic with non-traditional predication theory and two sorts of reified contexts. Examples analyzed include: I, now, here, actually, we, the former president, the left entrance, context-shifting indexicals, and demonstratives like Japanese are. Finally, essential indexicality is addressed and it is conceded that description theory cannot deal with attitudes de se. In defense of indirect reference it is argued that the cognitive phenomena underlying essential indexicality, as for example I-thoughts, aren’t aspects of the public meaning of natural language expressions and that speaking of a ‘language of thinking’ or ‘reference in thinking’ are unfitting metaphors for general semiotic reasons

Conditions on argument drop

This article pursues the idea that null arguments are derived without any statement or parameter, instead following "naturally" from 3rd factor principles and effects (in the sense of Chomsky 2005). The article thus contributes to the program of eliminating statements in grammar in favor of general factors. More specifically, it develops a theory of C/edge linking in terms of syntactically active but silent C-features, where all referential definite arguments, overt and silent, must match these features in order to be successfully C/edge-linked (interpreted). On the approach pursued, radically silent arguments-such as Germanic zero topics and controlled 3rd person null subjects in Finnish-commonly raise across a lexical C (a complementizer or a verb-second (V2) verb) into the edge of the C-domain for the purpose of successful C/edge linking (circumventing C-intervention), thereby showing (A) over bar -behavior not observed for other types of arguments (including the Romance type of pro). Silent arguments are universally available in syntax, whereas their C/edge linking is constrained by factors (such as Germanic V2) that may or may not be present or active in individual languages and constructions

Context-Dependence, Perspective and Relativity

This volume brings together original papers by linguists and philosophers on the role of context and perspective in language and thought. Several contributions are concerned with the contextualism/relativism debate, which has loomed large in recent philosophical discussions. In a substantial introduction, the editors survey the field and map out the relevant issues and positions

Graph Theory and Universal Grammar

Tese arquivada ao abrigo da Portaria nº 227/2017 de 25 de Julho-Registo de Grau EstrangeiroIn the last few years, Noam Chomsky (1994; 1995; 2000; 2001) has gone quite far in the direction of simplifying syntax, including eliminating X-bar theory and the levels of D-structure and S-structure entirely, as well as reducing movement rules to a combination of the more primitive operations of Copy and Merge. What remain in the Minimalist Program are the operations Merge and Agree and the levels of LF (Logical Form) and PF (Phonological form). My doctoral thesis attempts to offer an economical theory of syntactic structure from a graph-theoretic point of view (cf. Diestel, 2005), with special emphases on the elimination of category and projection labels and the Inclusiveness Condition (Chomsky 1994). The major influences for the development of such a theory have been Chris Collins’ (2002) seminal paper “Eliminating labels”, John Bowers (2001) unpublished manuscript “Syntactic Relations” and the Cartographic Paradigm (see Belletti, Cinque and Rizzi’s volumes on OUP for a starting point regarding this paradigm). A syntactic structure will be regarded here as a graph consisting of the set of lexical items, the set of relations among them and nothing more

Broadening Adenoviral Oncolysis in PDAC: Interrogation of Patient-Derived Organoids for personalized virotherapy and modulation of miRNA content to boost adenoviral potency

[eng] The general goal of this thesis has been to progress oncolytic adenovirus therapy for PDAC, by the incorporation of novel preclinical models to test for patient-specific responses and the generation of oncolytic adenoviruses with enhanced therapeutic index. The two main objectives have been the following: i) Evaluate patients-derived organoids (PDOs) technology as a platform to screen for personalized virotherapy in vitro 1) Establishment of a battery of PDOs from PDAC and normal pancreatic tissues, and evaluation of their applicability in the study of adenoviral infection; 2) Screening of a battery of PDOs to identify individual sensitivities to virotherapies, and the effects derived from the combination with chemotherapy; 3) Study virotherapy-responses in metastasis originated from PDOs xenografted in mice; (ii) Improve oncolytic adenovirus potency by modulation of miRNAs deregulated in PDAC 4) Screening of aberrantly expressed miRNAs sensitizing viral oncolysis in PDAC via CRISPR/Cas9 system; 5) Generation of a miRNA sponge-adenovirus and evaluation of its oncolytic effects in vitro and in vivo; 6) Modulation of miRNA levels with the THZ1 transcriptional inhibitor, and assessment of the effects of its combination with oncolytic adenoviruses