A rocket-borne airglow photometer

The design of a rocket-borne photometer to measure the airglow emission of ionized molecular nitrogen in the 391.4 nm band is presented. This airglow is a well known and often observed phenomenon of auroras, where the principal source of ionization is energetic electrons. It is believed that at some midlatitude locations energetic electrons are also a source of nighttime ionization in the E region of the ionosphere. If this is so, then significant levels of 391.4 nm airglow should be present. The intensity of this airglow will be measured in a rocket payload which also contains instrumentation to measured in a rocket payload which also contains instrumentation to measure energetic electron differential flux and the ambient electron density. An intercomparison of the 3 experiments in a nightime launch will allow a test of the importance of energetic electrons as a nighttime source of ionization in the upper E region

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Can Rats Reason?

Since at least the mid-1980s claims have been made for rationality in rats. For example, that rats are capable of inferential reasoning (Blaisdell, Sawa, Leising, & Waldmann, 2006; Bunsey & Eichenbaum, 1996), or that they can make adaptive decisions about future behavior (Foote & Crystal, 2007), or that they are capable of knowledge in propositional-like form (Dickinson, 1985). The stakes are rather high, because these capacities imply concept possession and on some views (e.g., Rödl, 2007; Savanah, 2012) rationality indicates self-consciousness. I evaluate the case for rat rationality by analyzing 5 key research paradigms: spatial navigation, metacognition, transitive inference, causal reasoning, and goal orientation. I conclude that the observed behaviors need not imply rationality by the subjects. Rather, the behavior can be accounted for by noncognitive processes such as hard-wired species typical predispositions or associative learning or (nonconceptual) affordance detection. These mechanisms do not necessarily require or implicate the capacity for rationality. As such there is as yet insufficient evidence that rats can reason. I end by proposing the ‘Staircase Test,’ an experiment designed to provide convincing evidence of rationality in rats

An ontology-aided, natural language-based approach for multi-constraint BIM model querying

Being able to efficiently retrieve the required building information is critical for construction project stakeholders to carry out their engineering and management activities. Natural language interface (NLI) systems are emerging as a time and cost-effective way to query Building Information Models (BIMs). However, the existing methods cannot logically combine different constraints to perform fine-grained queries, dampening the usability of natural language (NL)-based BIM queries. This paper presents a novel ontology-aided semantic parser to automatically map natural language queries (NLQs) that contain different attribute and relational constraints into computer-readable codes for querying complex BIM models. First, a modular ontology was developed to represent NL expressions of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) concepts and relationships, and was then populated with entities from target BIM models to assimilate project-specific information. Hereafter, the ontology-aided semantic parser progressively extracts concepts, relationships, and value restrictions from NLQs to fully identify constraint conditions, resulting in standard SPARQL queries with reasoning rules to successfully retrieve IFC-based BIM models. The approach was evaluated based on 225 NLQs collected from BIM users, with a 91% accuracy rate. Finally, a case study about the design-checking of a real-world residential building demonstrates the practical value of the proposed approach in the construction industry

Bridging diversity: a deliberative approach to organizing and application of usability guidelines

Designing interaction for the global society entails addressing multiple issues and challenges, ranging from the technical and economic to the legal and ethical. Usability guidelines recommend or prescribe courses of action and thus play a significant role in designing universally usable systems. Approaches to organizing and applying usability guidelines need to support processes of deliberation and tradeoff, especially when designing for bridging diversity in shared interaction contexts. This paper describes a deliberative approach to addressing some of these design challenges in a rational way. It argues for organizing guidelines by using concepts from Habermas’s discourse theory and Toulmin’s model of argumentation. Application of the approach is illustrated through a set of research-based Web design and usability guidelines. This paper contributes to the HCI literature by providing a theory-based approach to managing and deliberating on many usability guidelines and related usability issues

How Is a Knowledge Representation System Like a Piano?

The research reported here was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant No. 1 P41 RR 01096-02 from the Division of Research Resources, and was conducted at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.In the summer of 1978 a decision was made to devote a special issue of the SIGART newsletter to the subject of knowledge representation research. To assist in ascertaining the current state of people's thinking on this topic, the editors (Ron Brachman and myself) decided to circulate an informal questionnaire among the representation community. What was originally planned as a simple list of questions eventually developed into the current document, and we have decided to issue it as a report on its own merits. The questionnaire is offered here as a potential aid both for understanding knowledge representation research, and for analysing the philosophical foundations on which that research is based. The questionnaire consists of two parts. Part I focuses first on specific details, but moves gradually towards more abstract and theoretical questions regarding assumptions about what knowledge representation is; about the role played by the computational metaphor about the relationships among model, theory, and program; etc. In part II, in a more speculative vein, we set forth for consideration nine hypothesis about various open issues in representation research.MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory National Institutes of Healt

Loose policy and local adaptation:a comparative study of masters degrees in the context of the Bologna Process

The research presented in this thesis focuses on a comparative analysis of six master programmes in Physics in three European countries (England, Portugal and Denmark) in the context of the implementation of reforms triggered by the Bologna Agreement. It undertakes the programme comparison with a particular interest in two dimensions: first, conceptions of master degrees, i.e. what people consider a master degree is, referred to as the ontology of the degree; second, teaching and learning practices as experienced by academics and students, referred to as enacted ontology, determined by an interplay between the ontology of the master and by the process of policy implementation. Policy-making and implementation has received special attention, since the loose guidance and „soft. legislative status that characterises Bologna policy (the open method of coordination) has led to different interpretations and a variety of national and institutional responses determined by local or situated circumstances. To capture the transformation of policy and the evolution of actor conceptions at European, national and institutional level, the implementation staircase approach has been used. The research found that similarities and differences both in conceptions and in teaching and learning practices (manifestations of enacted ontology) emerge as consequences of disciplinary features, national tradition and departmental teaching and learning regimes. In particular, country-specific traditions of university degree organisation appear powerful in shaping the degree.s conceptualisation. Differences in conceptualisation between implementation levels (European/national versus institutional) are particularly pertinent in the exemplar discipline of physics. The most notable one refers to the degree.s purpose. Whereas the national (and European) levels view the degree as preparation for employment and further studies, physics academics and students describe it more as a springboard to a PhD. Teaching methods were found to be overall similar, apparently due to disciplinary tradition. A generally low emphasis on transferable skills has been noted, again explained by disciplinary factors. Nonetheless, although physics is a highly-bounded discipline, with relatively strong agreement on its structure, several differences in its „enacted ontology. have emerged. Thus, assessment practices show discontinuity, sometimes explained by national and sometimes by institutional traditions. Use of learning outcomes is variable, apparently determined by national tradition. There are, too, different approaches to incorporating research in the degree. This research suggests that implementation and ontology are mutually sensitive and act together to shape the practices associated with master courses. First, degree conceptualisations (nationally and institutionally determined) exert influence on the interpretation of new education policies and the choices made during implementation. Second, educational policies have the power to shift ontology. New national imperatives can act as catalysts and determinants of new academic practice. Therefore, the expressions of a master degree materialised in recurrent pedagogic practices (the enacted ontology), are produced by a symbiotic intertwining of the two dimensions