Scope ambiguities, monads and strengths

In this paper, we will discuss three semantically distinct scope assignment strategies: traditional movement strategy, polyadic approach, and continuation-based approach. As a generalized quantifier on a set X is an element of C(X), the value of continuation monad C on X, in all three approaches QPs are interpreted as C-computations. The main goal of this paper is to relate the three strategies to the computational machinery connected to the monad C (strength and derived operations). As will be shown, both the polyadic approach and the continuation-based approach make heavy use of monad constructs. In the traditional movement strategy, monad constructs are not used but we still need them to explain how the three strategies are related and what can be expected of them wrt handling scopal ambiguities in simple sentences.Comment: 47 pages, small correction

Towards an Intelligent Learning Environment for Melody Composition Through Formalisation of Narmour's <i>Implication-Realisation Model</i>

This thesis describes research with the ultimate goal o f finding ways to use artificial intelligence (AI) to encourage and facilitate melody composition by musical novices. The work described in this thesis forms the groundwork for the development of intelligent learning environments for novice composers in this domain. There were two stages to the research. The first stage was the formalisation and testing of an existing analytical theory o f melody. This theory offers an explanation of how musical listeners break-up a melody into "chunks", and hear some notes as more important than others. The theory enables analysis of melodies in a hierarchical fashion. The formalisation process involved the implementation of a parser to create hierarchical analyses, and comparison of published analyses based on the theory with those created by the parser from the same melodies. From these results a critical evaluation of the analytical theory, and the parser, is presented. The second stage o f the research involved extending the parser with constraint-based generation techniques. One result is an AI tool (called MOTIVE), which can generate melodies given an analysis (from the parser, or constructed by the user) and a set of constraints to be applied at each hierarchical level. The features of the tool are presented, and a general architecture for an intelligent learning environment is proposed, within which MOTIVE would reside, which shows how the formalised analytical theory from the first part of the work could be used educationally by novice composers of melody

Parameterized monads in linguistics

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.This dissertation follows the formal semantics approach to linguistics. It applies recent developments in computing theories to study theoretical linguistics in the area of the interaction between semantics and pragmatics and analyzes several natural language phenomena by parsing them in these theories. Specifically, this dissertation uses parameterized monads, a particular theoretical framework in category theory, as a dynamic semantic framework to reinterpret the compositional Discourse Representation Theory(cDRT), and to provide an analysis of donkey anaphora. Parameterized monads are also used in this dissertation to interpret information states as lists of presuppositions, and as dot types. Alternative interpretations for demonstratives and imperatives are produced, and the conventional implicature phenomenon in linguistics substantiated, using the framework. Interpreting donkey anaphora shows that parameterized monads is able to handle the sentential dependency. Therefore, this framework shows an expressive power equal to that of related frameworks such as the typed logical grammar and the dynamic predicate logic. Interpreting imperatives via parameterized monads also provides a compositional dynamic semantic analysis which is one of the main approaches to analysing imperatives

Extensible Languages for Flexible and Principled Domain Abstraction

Die meisten Programmiersprachen werden als Universalsprachen entworfen. Unabhängig von der zu entwickelnden Anwendung, stellen sie die gleichen Sprachfeatures und Sprachkonstrukte zur Verfügung. Solch universelle Sprachfeatures ignorieren jedoch die spezifischen Anforderungen, die viele Softwareprojekte mit sich bringen. Als Gegenkraft zu Universalsprachen fördern domänenspezifische Programmiersprachen, modellgetriebene Softwareentwicklung und sprachorientierte Programmierung die Verwendung von Domänenabstraktion, welche den Einsatz von domänenspezifischen Sprachfeatures und Sprachkonstrukten ermöglicht. Insbesondere erlaubt Domänenabstraktion Programmieren auf dem selben Abstraktionsniveau zu programmieren wie zu denken und vermeidet dadurch die Notwendigkeit Domänenkonzepte mit universalsprachlichen Features zu kodieren. Leider ermöglichen aktuelle Ansätze zur Domänenabstraktion nicht die Entfaltung ihres ganzen Potentials. Einerseits mangelt es den Ansätzen für interne domänenspezifische Sprachen an Flexibilität bezüglich der Syntax, statischer Analysen, und Werkzeugunterstützung, was das tatsächlich erreichte Abstraktionsniveau beschränkt. Andererseits mangelt es den Ansätzen für externe domänenspezifische Sprachen an wichtigen Prinzipien, wie beispielsweise modularem Schließen oder Komposition von Domänenabstraktionen, was die Anwendbarkeit dieser Ansätze in der Entwicklung größerer Softwaresysteme einschränkt. Wir verfolgen in der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit einen neuartigen Ansatz, welcher die Vorteile von internen und externen domänenspezifischen Sprachen vereint um flexible und prinzipientreue Domänenabstraktion zu unterstützen. Wir schlagen bibliotheksbasierte erweiterbare Programmiersprachen als Grundlage für Domänenabstraktion vor. In einer erweiterbaren Sprache kann Domänenabstraktion durch die Erweiterung der Sprache mit domänenspezifischer Syntax, statischer Analyse, und Werkzeugunterstützung erreicht werden . Dies ermöglicht Domänenabstraktionen die selbe Flexibilität wie externe domänenspezifische Sprachen. Um die Einhaltung üblicher Prinzipien zu gewährleisten, organisieren wir Spracherweiterungen als Bibliotheken und verwenden einfache Import-Anweisungen zur Aktivierung von Erweiterungen. Dies erlaubt modulares Schließen (durch die Inspektion der Import-Anweisungen), unterstützt die Komposition von Domänenabstraktionen (durch das Importieren mehrerer Erweiterungen), und ermöglicht die uniforme Selbstanwendbarkeit von Spracherweiterungen in der Entwicklung zukünftiger Erweiterungen (durch das Importieren von Erweiterungen in einer Erweiterungsdefinition). Die Organisation von Erweiterungen in Form von Bibliotheken ermöglicht Domänenabstraktionen die selbe Prinzipientreue wie interne domänenspezifische Sprachen. Wir haben die bibliotheksbasierte erweiterbare Programmiersprache SugarJ entworfen und implementiert. SugarJ Bibliotheken können Erweiterungen der Syntax, der statischen Analyse, und der Werkzeugunterstützung von SugarJ deklarieren. Eine syntaktische Erweiterung besteht dabei aus einer erweiterten Syntax und einer Transformation der erweiterten Syntax in die Basissyntax von SugarJ. Eine Erweiterung der Analyse testet Teile des abstrakten Syntaxbaums der aktuellen Datei und produziert eine Liste von Fehlern. Eine Erweiterung der Werkzeugunterstützung deklariert Dienste wie Syntaxfärbung oder Codevervollständigung für bestimmte Sprachkonstrukte. SugarJ Erweiterungen sind vollkommen selbstanwendbar: Eine erweiterte Syntax kann in eine Erweiterungsdefinition transformiert werden, eine erweiterte Analyse kann Erweiterungsdefinitionen testen, und eine erweiterte Werkzeugunterstützung kann Entwicklern beim Definieren von Erweiterungen assistieren. Um eine Quelldatei mit Erweiterungen zu verarbeiten, inspizieren der SugarJ Compiler und die SugarJ IDE die importierten Bibliotheken um die aktiven Erweiterungen zu bestimmen. Der Compiler und die IDE adaptieren den Parser, den Codegenerator, die Analyseroutine und die Werkzeugunterstützung der Quelldatei entsprechend der aktiven Erweiterungen. Wir beschreiben in der vorliegenden Doktorarbeit nicht nur das Design und die Implementierung von SugarJ, sondern berichten darüber hinaus über Erweiterungen unseres ursprünglich Designs. Insbesondere haben wir eine Generalisierung des SugarJ Compilers entworfen und implementiert, die neben Java alternative Basissprachen unterstützt. Wir haben diese Generalisierung verwendet um die bibliotheksbasierten erweiterbaren Programmiersprachen SugarHaskell, SugarProlog, und SugarFomega zu entwickeln. Weiterhin haben wir SugarJ ergänzt um polymorphe Domänenabstraktion und Kommunikationsintegrität zu unterstützen. Polymorphe Domänenabstraktion ermöglicht Programmierern mehrere Transformationen für die selbe domänenspezifische Syntax bereitzustellen. Dies erhöht die Flexibilität von SugarJ und unterstützt bekannte Szenarien aus der modellgetriebenen Entwicklung. Kommunikationsintegrität spezifiziert, dass die Komponenten eines Softwaresystems nur über explizite Kanäle kommunizieren dürfen. Im Kontext von Codegenerierung stellt dies eine interessante Eigenschaft dar, welche die Generierung von impliziten Modulabhängigkeiten untersagt. Wir haben Kommunikationsintegrität als weiteres Prinzip zu SugarJ hinzugefügt. Basierend auf SugarJ und zahlreicher Fallstudien argumentieren wir, dass flexible und prinzipientreue Domänenabstraktion ein skalierbares Programmiermodell für die Entwicklung komplexer Softwaresysteme darstellt

Designing graphical interface programming languages for the end user

This thesis sets out to answer three simple questions: What tools are available for novice programmers to program GUIs? Are those tools fulfilling their role? Can anything be done to make better tools? Despite being simple questions, the answers are not so easily constructed. In answering the first question, it was necessary to examine the range of tools available and decide upon criteria which could be used to identify tools aimed specifically at the novice programmer (there being no currently agreed criteria for their identification). Having identified these tools, it was then necessary to construct a framework within which they could be sensibly compared. The answering of the second question required an investigation of what were the successful features of current tools and which features were less successful. Success or failure of given features was determined by research in both programming language design and studies of programmer satisfaction. Having discovered what should be retained and discarded from current systems, the answering of the third question required the construction of new systems through blending elements from visual languages, program editors and fourth generation languages. These final prototypes illustrate a new way of thinking about and constructing the next generation of GUI programming languages for the novice

Community Detection in Multimodal Networks

Community detection on networks is a basic, yet powerful and ever-expanding set of methodologies that is useful in a variety of settings. This dissertation discusses a range of different community detection on networks with multiple and non-standard modalities. A major focus of analysis is on the study of networks spanning several layers, which represent relationships such as interactions over time, different facets of high-dimensional data. These networks may be represented by several different ways; namely the few-layer (i.e. longitudinal) case as well as the many-layer (time-series cases). In the first case, we develop a novel application of variational expectation maximization as an example of the top-down mode of simultaneous community detection and parameter estimation. In the second case, we use a bottom-up strategy of iterative nodal discovery for these longer time-series, abetted with the assumption of their structural properties. In addition, we explore significantly self-looping networks, whose features are inseparable from the inherent construction of spatial networks whose weights are reflective of distance information. These types of networks are used to model and demarcate geographical regions. We also describe some theoretical properties and applications of a method for finding communities in bipartite networks that are weighted by correlations between samples. We discuss different strategies for community detection in each of these different types of networks, as well as their implications for the broader contributions to the literature. In addition to the methodologies, we also highlight the types of data wherein these ``non-standard" network structures arise and how they are fitting for the applications of the proposed methodologies: particularly spatial networks and multilayer networks. We apply the top-down and bottom-up community detection algorithms to data in the domains of demography, human mobility, genomics, climate science, psychiatry, politics, and neuroimaging. The expansiveness and diversity of these data speak to the flexibility and ubiquity of our proposed methods to all forms of relational data.Doctor of Philosoph

Mapping ‘the ANT multiple’: a comparative, critical and reflexive analysis

Despite decades of development, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) continues to be characterized by a good deal of ambiguities and internal tensions. This situation has led to a suggestion that instead of one ANT it may be meaningful to speak of ‘the ANT multiple’. Following this line of reasoning, this article aims to create a map of the variety of positions riding under the ANT banner. Based on an in-depth reading of ANT literature, seven different interpretations of ANT are identified and subjected to critical analysis while accommodating for the concerns of ANT proponents about the way ANT has been previously criticized. The results of the analysis serve to increase the reflexivity of both sides of the debate about their underlying assumptions, and provide suggestions how ANT could be employed, developed and criticized more productively in the future

An Embedded Domain Specific Language to Model, Transform and Quality Assure Business Processes in Business-Driven Development

Business process models are produced by business analysts to graphically communicate the business requirements to IT specialists. As business processes are updated to meet the new demands in the competitive market, the underlying IT solution is adapted, to reflect precisely the current goals of the organisation. The models should then act as an abstract representation of the solution. It is essential to adapt to Business-Driven Development (BDD), whereby models are refined into the IT solution and implemented in a Service-Oriented Architecture. This means that models must be free from data and control-flow errors, such as deadlocks. If models are not quality assured at the modelling phase, errors would be discovered later and the entire BDD lifecycle would have to be repeated. Combining model transformations with quality assurance would help modellers to preserve the correctness of models and rapidly carry out modifications. Although various modelling languages have been developed to assist modellers in the production of high quality business process models, none of them adopted a functional approach, based on higher-order logic. As BDD is being adopted by most organisations, the need for such a language is becoming more evident. Since specialized functionality is required, a general-purpose language is not really necessary. Instead, a domain-specific language which provides the right abstraction and captures precisely the semantics of the business process modelling domain, should be developed. The definitions of the models would be easy to comprehend and reason about, by anyone who is not necessarily an IT specialist. However, since languages are made up of domain independent and dependent linguistic components, it is more cost effective and feasible to embed the new language in a general-purpose language. In this project we present a domain specific language embedded in the functional language, Haskell, to model, transform and quality assure business processes in Business-Driven Development. By adopting a functional approach, we developed a language: 1) with which various models can rapidly be produced in a concise and abstract manner, 2) allows users to focus on the required behaviour rather than its implementation, 3) ensures that all the required details, to generate the executable code, are specified, 4) the abstract representation can be interpreted, analysed and transformed in various ways, 5) quality assures models by carrying out three types of checks; by Haskell’s type checker, at construction-time through our embedded type system, and by specialised functions that analyse the components in the model. By embedding our language in Haskell, the models, quality assurance checks and transformations are essentially functions which can easily be composed and defined. Connection patterns, defined in the language, play an important role to ensure that definitions are concise, readable and easy to comprehend. Different from other previous modelling tools, users are able to define their own parameterized models and transformations. By generating a directed graph for the models, various types of analysis can be carried out with greater ease. Moreover, quality assurance can be combined to model transformations by declaratively defining pre and post conditions for each transformation. These conditions as well as transformations can easily be composed of other previously defined checks or transformations. With this language, we aim to capture the domain semantics of IBM’s WebSphere Business Modeler Advanced v6.0.2

1st doctoral symposium of the international conference on software language engineering (SLE) : collected research abstracts, October 11, 2010, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

The first Doctoral Symposium to be organised by the series of International Conferences on Software Language Engineering (SLE) will be held on October 11, 2010 in Eindhoven, as part of the 3rd instance of SLE. This conference series aims to integrate the different sub-communities of the software-language engineering community to foster cross-fertilisation and strengthen research overall. The Doctoral Symposium at SLE 2010 aims to contribute towards these goals by providing a forum for both early and late-stage Ph.D. students to present their research and get detailed feedback and advice from researchers both in and out of their particular research area. Consequently, the main objectives of this event are: – to give Ph.D. students an opportunity to write about and present their research; – to provide Ph.D. students with constructive feedback from their peers and from established researchers in their own and in different SLE sub-communities; – to build bridges for potential research collaboration; and – to foster integrated thinking about SLE challenges across sub-communities. All Ph.D. students participating in the Doctoral Symposium submitted an extended abstract describing their doctoral research. Based on a good set of submisssions we were able to accept 13 submissions for participation in the Doctoral Symposium. These proceedings present final revised versions of these accepted research abstracts. We are particularly happy to note that submissions to the Doctoral Symposium covered a wide range of SLE topics drawn from all SLE sub-communities. In selecting submissions for the Doctoral Symposium, we were supported by the members of the Doctoral-Symposium Selection Committee (SC), representing senior researchers from all areas of the SLE community.We would like to thank them for their substantial effort, without which this Doctoral Symposium would not have been possible. Throughout, they have provided reviews that go beyond the normal format of a review being extra careful in pointing out potential areas of improvement of the research or its presentation. Hopefully, these reviews themselves will already contribute substantially towards the goals of the symposium and help students improve and advance their work. Furthermore, all submitting students were also asked to provide two reviews for other submissions. The members of the SC went out of their way to comment on the quality of these reviews helping students improve their reviewing skills