Internal Design of the DSS

This technical report describes the implementation of the DSS middleware with focus on the design of the abstract entity interface and the coordination layer. Key concepts are highlighted and described, on the level of C++ classes

Miscommunication in the institutional context of the broadcast news interview : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

This study examined the pattern and relative success of linguistic interaction in the Broadcast News Interview (BNI). BNI is modelled as a genre of institutional communication. The psychological and functional characteristics of the BNI were examined from the viewpoint of how communicative conventions that normally regulate interview performance may, at times, impede effective communication. The BNI is intended to transfer information from an expert witness to an interested, though relatively uninformed audience. The interviewer is supposed to act as both conduit and catalyst. Pragmatic properties of the interlocutors' speech as they orient themselves towards the context of the conversation was analysed in order to reveal the manner in which prior assumptions or beliefs may lead to faulty inferences. The notion of miscommunication is used to describe and explain the faults associated with processes of representing the illocutionary force of an utterance, rather than deficiencies in pronunciation or auditory sensation and perception. Opting for a qualitative analysis, an attempt was made to ground explanations in relevant theoretical models of interpersonal communication and communication failure. Results indicate that the conventions that distinguish the BNI from more mundane types of interaction impede successful communication. The study highlights that participants who wish to attain their communicative goal must be more aware of the functional procedures of the BNI and anticipate impediments to successful communication

Anomalous Scale Dimensions from Timelike Braiding

Using the previously gained insight about the particle/field relation in conformal quantum field theories which required interactions to be related to the existence of particle-like states associated with fields of anomalous scaling dimensions, we set out to construct a classification theory for the spectra of anomalous dimensions. Starting from the old observations on conformal superselection sectors related to the anomalous dimensions via the phases which appear in the spectral decomposition of the center of the conformal covering group $Z(\widetilde{SO(d,2)}),$ we explore the possibility of a timelike braiding structure consistent with the timelike ordering which refines and explains the central decomposition. We regard this as a preparatory step in a new construction attempt of interacting conformal quantum field theories in D=4 spacetime dimensions. Other ideas of constructions based on the $AdS_{5}$-$CQFT_{4}$ or the perturbative SYM approach in their relation to the present idea are briefly mentioned.Comment: completely revised, updated and shortened replacement, 24 pages tcilatex, 3 latexcad figure

Slipped non-Positive Reduced Dynamics and Entanglement

Non-positive Markov approximations are sometimes used to describe the dynamics of qubits in weak interaction with suitable environments; the appearance of negative probabilities is avoided by assuming that the transient regime eliminates from the possible initial conditions those qubit states which would otherwise be mapped out of the Bloch sphere by the subsequent Markovian time-evolution. By means of a simple model, we discuss some physical inconsistencies of this approach in relation to entanglement; in particular, we show that slipped non-positive reduced dynamics might create entanglement through a purely local action.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, LaTe