Iranian undergraduate non-English majors’ interpretation of english structures

The present study sought to determine whether Iranian non-English major students with or without the experience of attending language institutes, were more influenced by the type of verb or the argument structure patterns in their interpretation of English structures. To answer this question, 100 non-English major participants took part in a grouping task which was designed to reveal the participants' preference in sentence interpretation. Except for those who did not have the required knowledge base and displayed no grouping preference, the participants of the study exhibited three different grouping or sorting strategies in their performance: verb-centered strategy and two types of construction-based performance. The results of a Chi square test indicated that regardless of attending language institutes, the said participants were more inclined to group the structures (i.e., through interpreting them) by relying on the structures' verb types rather than paying attention to the argument structure patterns around which the structures were configured.The implication of these findings is that at least in a foreign language context, a verb valency-based reading strategy is needed to enhance the foreign language learners’ information processing skills. The pedagogical overtones of the findings would affect both teaching activities as well as syllabus design and material development for non- English majors’ English books used in the universit

A canonical theory of dynamic decision-making

Decision-making behavior is studied in many very different fields, from medicine and eco- nomics to psychology and neuroscience, with major contributions from mathematics and statistics, computer science, AI, and other technical disciplines. However the conceptual- ization of what decision-making is and methods for studying it vary greatly and this has resulted in fragmentation of the field. A theory that can accommodate various perspectives may facilitate interdisciplinary working. We present such a theory in which decision-making is articulated as a set of canonical functions that are sufficiently general to accommodate diverse viewpoints, yet sufficiently precise that they can be instantiated in different ways for specific theoretical or practical purposes. The canons cover the whole decision cycle, from the framing of a decision based on the goals, beliefs, and background knowledge of the decision-maker to the formulation of decision options, establishing preferences over them, and making commitments. Commitments can lead to the initiation of new decisions and any step in the cycle can incorporate reasoning about previous decisions and the rationales for them, and lead to revising or abandoning existing commitments. The theory situates decision-making with respect to other high-level cognitive capabilities like problem solving, planning, and collaborative decision-making. The canonical approach is assessed in three domains: cognitive and neuropsychology, artificial intelligence, and decision engineering

An Introduction to Mechanized Reasoning

Mechanized reasoning uses computers to verify proofs and to help discover new theorems. Computer scientists have applied mechanized reasoning to economic problems but -- to date -- this work has not yet been properly presented in economics journals. We introduce mechanized reasoning to economists in three ways. First, we introduce mechanized reasoning in general, describing both the techniques and their successful applications. Second, we explain how mechanized reasoning has been applied to economic problems, concentrating on the two domains that have attracted the most attention: social choice theory and auction theory. Finally, we present a detailed example of mechanized reasoning in practice by means of a proof of Vickrey's familiar theorem on second-price auctions

Relational union organising in a healthcare setting: a qualitative study

This article explores the impact of a relational organising model within a local UNISON NHS branch. While initial outcomes were modest, we argue that relational approaches have the potential to increase branch engagement with organising activity and to provide a focus on the importance of community within the workplace