Probabilistic entailment in the setting of coherence: The role of quasi conjunction and inclusion relation

In this paper, by adopting a coherence-based probabilistic approach to default reasoning, we focus the study on the logical operation of quasi conjunction and the Goodman-Nguyen inclusion relation for conditional events. We recall that quasi conjunction is a basic notion for defining consistency of conditional knowledge bases. By deepening some results given in a previous paper we show that, given any finite family of conditional events F and any nonempty subset S of F, the family F p-entails the quasi conjunction C(S); then, given any conditional event E|H, we analyze the equivalence between p-entailment of E|H from F and p-entailment of E|H from C(S), where S is some nonempty subset of F. We also illustrate some alternative theorems related with p-consistency and p-entailment. Finally, we deepen the study of the connections between the notions of p-entailment and inclusion relation by introducing for a pair (F,E|H) the (possibly empty) class K of the subsets S of F such that C(S) implies E|H. We show that the class K satisfies many properties; in particular K is additive and has a greatest element which can be determined by applying a suitable algorithm

Temporalised Description Logics for Monitoring Partially Observable Events

Inevitably, it becomes more and more important to verify that the systems surrounding us have certain properties. This is indeed unavoidable for safety-critical systems such as power plants and intensive-care units. We refer to the term system in a broad sense: it may be man-made (e.g. a computer system) or natural (e.g. a patient in an intensive-care unit). Whereas in Model Checking it is assumed that one has complete knowledge about the functioning of the system, we consider an open-world scenario and assume that we can only observe the behaviour of the actual running system by sensors. Such an abstract sensor could sense e.g. the blood pressure of a patient or the air traffic observed by radar. Then the observed data are preprocessed appropriately and stored in a fact base. Based on the data available in the fact base, situation-awareness tools are supposed to help the user to detect certain situations that require intervention by an expert. Such situations could be that the heart-rate of a patient is rather high while the blood pressure is low, or that a collision of two aeroplanes is about to happen. Moreover, the information in the fact base can be used by monitors to verify that the system has certain properties. It is not realistic, however, to assume that the sensors always yield a complete description of the current state of the observed system. Thus, it makes sense to assume that information that is not present in the fact base is unknown rather than false. Moreover, very often one has some knowledge about the functioning of the system. This background knowledge can be used to draw conclusions about the possible future behaviour of the system. Employing description logics (DLs) is one way to deal with these requirements. In this thesis, we tackle the sketched problem in three different contexts: (i) runtime verification using a temporalised DL, (ii) temporalised query entailment, and (iii) verification in DL-based action formalisms

On the Role of Context and Subjectivity on Scientific Information Systems

The explicit representation of context and subjectivity enables an information system to support multiple interpretations of the data it records. This is a crucial aspect of learning and innovation within scientific information systems. We present an ontology-based framework for context and subjectivity that integrates two lines of research: data provenance and ontological foundations of the Semantic Web. Data provenance provides a set of constructs for representing data history. We extend the definition of these constructs in order to describe multiple viewpoints or interpretations held within a domain. The W7 model, the Toulmin model, and the Proof Markup Language (PML) provide the Interlingua for creating multiple viewpoints of data in a machine-readable and sharable form. Example use cases in space sciences are used to demonstrate the feasibility and value of our approach

Ontologies on the semantic web

As an informational technology, the World Wide Web has enjoyed spectacular success. In just ten years it has transformed the way information is produced, stored, and shared in arenas as diverse as shopping, family photo albums, and high-level academic research. The “Semantic Web” was touted by its developers as equally revolutionary but has not yet achieved anything like the Web’s exponential uptake. This 17 000 word survey article explores why this might be so, from a perspective that bridges both philosophy and IT

Written corrective feedback at a Saudi University : English language teachers’ beliefs, students’ preferences, and teachers’ practices

This study investigates the beliefs and practices of writing tutors regarding written corrective feedback (WCF) in a Saudi Arabian university. The central focus of this work is threefold: (a) the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding the provision of WCF on students’ L2 writing, (b) the factors that prevent teachers from enacting their beliefs into practices, and (c) the relationship between students’ preferences and teachers’ practices regarding WCF. Ten writing tutors and their thirty students at the English language and Literature department at the University of Dammam participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to understand teachers’ beliefs and students’ preferences. In order to understand teachers’ actual WCF practices, teachers were observed while teaching writing over almost a full semester. The think-aloud protocols of teachers while providing feedback on their students’ writing were examined and teachers’ feedback on student writing was analysed. Finally, stimulated-recall interviews were conducted to understand the factors that influence teachers’ WCF practices. The study showed both congruence and tensions between teachers’ beliefs and practices. Teachers’ beliefs were greatly congruent with their practices regarding the amount and focus of WCF. Conversely, teachers’ beliefs were incongruent concerning the explicitness of WCF, the use of positive feedback, and the source of WCF. Several contextual factors related to the university overall context (e.g. time allocated to cover the syllabus), teachers (e.g. teaching experience), and students (e.g. proficiency levels) were found to affect teachers’ practices. As for the relationship between students’ preferences and teachers’ practices, complete congruence was found in terms of teachers being the key providers of feedback. Conversely, students’ preferences were incongruent with teachers’ practices regarding the explicitness of WCF, the focus of WCF, and the provision of positive feedback. Finally, although students valued teachers’ WCF and placed a great importance to it, they faced difficulties understanding some of their teachers’ comments. This study concludes by providing some implications which could serve more than one purpose by creating knowledge which will be useful for researchers in the field of language teacher cognition and WCF

Celebrity endorsements: Investigating the interactive effects of internalization, identification and product type on consumers’ attitudes and intentions

In line with Kang and Herr's work (2006), this research questions the ELM's contention that celebrity credibility serves foremost as a peripheral element in a persuasive communication context. Nevertheless, in a different light to the Kang and Herr's ‘either-central-or-peripheral-role’ of a source characteristic, this research advances that celebrity credibility plays concomitantly central and peripheral roles in a persuasive message context depending on product involvement and brand-purchase motive. Particularly, this research uses the notions of ‘source internalization’ and ‘source identification’ (Kelman, 1961) to theorize that source credibility can have a concomitant dual role (peripheral and central) in a persuasion context. More precisely, this research investigates the interactive effects of source identification and internalization with product involvement as well as brand-purchase motives on consumers' attitudes and intentions. Source internalization is predicted to have persuasive effects in the contexts of high-involvement as well as informational products. Source identification is predicted to have persuasive effects in the context of low-involvement as well as transformational products. The findings of two experiments show that celebrity credibility acts through only a single route (i.e., only internalization has persuasive effects) uniformly across different product involvement levels and brand-purchase motive types. We interpret these results with the lens of the ‘match-up’ hypothesis (Kamins, 1990)

The Collegian (1971)

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/collegian/1393/thumbnail.jp

The College News, 1935-10-23, Vol. 22, No. 02

Bryn Mawr College student newspaper. Merged with The Haverford News in 1968 to form the Bi-college News (with various titles from 1968 on). Published weekly (except holidays) during the academic year

Pseudo-contractions as Gentle Repairs

Updating a knowledge base to remove an unwanted consequence is a challenging task. Some of the original sentences must be either deleted or weakened in such a way that the sentence to be removed is no longer entailed by the resulting set. On the other hand, it is desirable that the existing knowledge be preserved as much as possible, minimising the loss of information. Several approaches to this problem can be found in the literature. In particular, when the knowledge is represented by an ontology, two different families of frameworks have been developed in the literature in the past decades with numerous ideas in common but with little interaction between the communities: applications of AGM-like Belief Change and justification-based Ontology Repair. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between pseudo-contraction operations and gentle repairs. Both aim to avoid the complete deletion of sentences when replacing them with weaker versions is enough to prevent the entailment of the unwanted formula. We show the correspondence between concepts on both sides and investigate under which conditions they are equivalent. Furthermore, we propose a unified notation for the two approaches, which might contribute to the integration of the two areas

The Pacifican, Feburary 3, 1984

https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/pacifican/3627/thumbnail.jp