Using Insights from Psychology and Language to Improve How People Reason with Description Logics

Inspired by insights from theories of human reasoning and language, we propose additions to the Manchester OWL Syntax to improve comprehensibility. These additions cover: functional and inverse functional properties, negated conjunction, the definition of exceptions, and existential and universal restrictions. By means of an empirical study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of a number of these additions, in particular: the use of solely to clarify the uniqueness of the object in a functional property; the replacement of and with intersection in conjunction, which was particularly beneficial in negated conjunction; the use of except as a substitute for and not; and the replacement of some with including and only with noneOrOnly, which helped in certain situations to clarify the nature of these restrictions

Discourse Analysis: varieties and methods

This paper presents and analyses six key approaches to discourse analysis, including political discourse theory, rhetorical political analysis, the discourse historical approach in critical discourse analysis, interpretive policy analysis, discursive psychology and Q methodology. It highlights differences and similarities between the approaches along three distinctive dimensions, namely, ontology, focus and purpose. Our analysis reveals the difficulty of arriving at a fundamental matrix of dimensions which would satisfactorily allow one to organize all approaches in a coherent theoretical framework. However, it does not preclude various theoretical articulations between the different approaches, provided one takes a problem-driven approach to social science as one?s starting-point

Bounded Rationality and Heuristics in Humans and in Artificial Cognitive Systems

In this paper I will present an analysis of the impact that the notion of “bounded rationality”, introduced by Herbert Simon in his book “Administrative Behavior”, produced in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In particular, by focusing on the field of Automated Decision Making (ADM), I will show how the introduction of the cognitive dimension into the study of choice of a rational (natural) agent, indirectly determined - in the AI field - the development of a line of research aiming at the realisation of artificial systems whose decisions are based on the adoption of powerful shortcut strategies (known as heuristics) based on “satisficing” - i.e. non optimal - solutions to problem solving. I will show how the “heuristic approach” to problem solving allowed, in AI, to face problems of combinatorial complexity in real-life situations and still represents an important strategy for the design and implementation of intelligent systems

Improving comprehension of Knowledge Representation languages: a case study with Description Logics

Knowledge representation languages are frequently difficult to understand, particularly for those not trained in formal logic. This is the case for Description Logics, which have been adopted for knowledge representation on the Web and in a number of application areas. This work looks at the difficulties experienced with Description Logics; and in particular with the widely-used Manchester OWL Syntax, which employs natural language keywords. The work comprises three studies. The first two identify a number of difficulties which users experience, e.g. with negated intersection, functional properties, the use of subproperties and restrictions. Insights from cognitive psychology and the study of language are applied to understand these difficulties. Whilst these difficulties are in part inherent in reasoning about logic, and Description Logics in particular, they are made worse by the syntax. In the third study, alternative syntactic constructs are proposed which demonstrate some improvement in accuracy and efficiency of comprehension. In addition to proposing alternative syntactic constructs, the work makes some suggestions regarding training and support systems for Description Logics

The Consultant-Client Relationship: A Systems-Theoretical Perspective

The aim of this paper is to explain consulting failure from a systems-theoretical perspective and to provide a new framework for analysing consultant–client relationships. By drawing on Luhmann’s systems theory, clients and consultants are conceptualised as two autopoietic communication systems that operate according to idiosyncratic logics. They are structurally coupled through a third system, the so-called “contact system”, which constitutes a separate discourse. Due to their different logics no transfer of meaning between the three discourses is possible. This contradicts the traditional notion of consulting as a means of providing solutions to the client’s problems: neither is the consultant able to understand the client’s problems nor is it possible to transfer any solutions into the client system. Instead, consulting interventions only cause perturbations in the client system. Consequently, the traditional functions of consulting are called into question. The paper discusses the implications of this analysis with relation to the traditional approach to consulting, and presents a tentative framework for a systemic concept of consulting

International returnees and the capturing of foreign knowledge by emerging market firms

As emerging markets grow and provide new economic opportunities, firms in these countries have an opportunity to benefit from the international knowledge their diaspora can bring when they return home. This thesis aims to contribute to the international assignee and knowledge transfer literature by examining the processes by which international returnees help firms in emerging markets capture and utilize the knowledge they have gained overseas. International returnees are people who have completed post-graduate studies overseas, and then returned to work in their home country. This dissertation is grounded in institutional theory at a micro-foundational level. It integrates research from the expatriate and repatriate knowledge transfer literatures with research in psychological distance, and the educational framework of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to offer a multi-dimensional understanding of the process by which returnees transfer knowledge. A case methodology was employed in which 47 returnees in large domestic Korean firms were interviewed. The result is a process model that develops propositions about knowledge transfer across institutional boundaries. We found that the nature of the knowledge being transferred and a returnee’s understanding of foreign and local institutional logics affect their ability to transfer knowledge. We also found that, over time, returnees can educate members of their workgroups by reducing the psychological distance of the knowledge they wish to introduce. Our data suggest that returnees who are more successful at transferring knowledge do this by incrementally building trust and legitimacy amongst their peers and superiors. In addition, they scaffold workgroup members by providing the language and mental frameworks needed for them to understand the knowledge they are attempting to transfer. They also seek opportunities to transfer knowledge that is more immediately relevant to their colleagues, has a more certain payoff, and can be applied to their colleagues’ and superiors’ current needs before attempting to introduce knowledge which is more distant to the workgroup. In this way, we have found that these returnees follow an incremental pattern that can be placed within the ZPD framework of learning

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

The Consultant-Client Relationship: A Systems-Theoretical Perspective

The aim of this paper is to explain consulting failure from a systems-theoretical perspective and to provide a new framework for analysing consultant–client relationships. By drawing on Luhmann’s systems theory, clients and consultants are conceptualised as two autopoietic communication systems that operate according to idiosyncratic logics. They are structurally coupled through a third system, the so-called “contact system”, which constitutes a separate discourse. Due to their different logics no transfer of meaning between the three discourses is possible. This contradicts the traditional notion of consulting as a means of providing solutions to the client’s problems: neither is the consultant able to understand the client’s problems nor is it possible to transfer any solutions into the client system. Instead, consulting interventions only cause perturbations in the client system. Consequently, the traditional functions of consulting are called into question. The paper discusses the implications of this analysis with relation to the traditional approach to consulting, and presents a tentative framework for a systemic concept of consulting.Consulting; Consultant-Client Relation; Consulting Failure; Systems Theory