966 research outputs found

    The philosophy of perceptions a Wittgensteinian perspective

    Get PDF
    The aim of this thesis is to balance a positive account of the family of concepts included in and logically involved with the concept of perception, with critical considerations of accounts that are philosophically problematic. The problematic accounts in question will range from those of Wittgenstein’s contemporaries, or near contemporaries, such as Russell, Janes and Kohler, to those of psychologists and philosophers of our own time, some, but not all, of whom profess to embrace Wittgenstein’s position; these will include the authors of a standard textbook on visual perception (Bruce and Green), Quine, Peacocke, Vesey, Anscombe, Martin, McDowell, Mulhall and Candlish, Additionally, the general nature of the problems in question will be reflected in a positive account of the concepts of acceleration (chapter 1), identity and personal identity (chapter 5), in relation to problematic accounts given by Leibniz and Parfit respectively. Crucial to this aim will be an interpretation of Wittgenstein’s position that is distinct from all those positions that profess to be Wittgensteinian, but that in fact remain in the grip of the very Cartesian / empiricist preconceptions that Wittgenstein diagnoses as the source of the problems. This will be the key to the positive account, and will depend on showing that Wittgenstein's diagnosis is essentially the same for all problems of a philosophical nature, despite its highly specific application to problems concerning various concepts in different parts of the Investigations, whose subtle differences it is equally important to discern clearly

    Learning to predict closed questions on stack overflow

    Full text link
    The paper deals with the problem of predicting whether the user’s question will be closed by the moderator on Stack Overflow, a popular question answering service devoted to software programming. The task along with data and evaluation metrics was offered as an open machine learning competition on Kaggle platform. To solve this problem, we employed a wide range of classification features related to users, their interactions, and post content. Classification was carried out using several machine learning methods. According to the results of the experiment, the most important features are characteristics of the user and topical features of the question. The best results were obtained using Vowpal Wabbit – an implementation of online learning based on stochastic gradient descent. Our results are among the best ones in overall ranking, although they were obtained after the official competition was over

    Letting reality bite

    Get PDF
    Describes an experiment in teaching undergraduate epistemology, guided by Peirce’s pragmatic maxim

    The Cowl - v.55 - n.17 - Feb 27, 1991

    Get PDF
    The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 55, Number 17 - February 27, 1991. 24 pages

    Increasing boys' and girls' intention to avoid teenage pregnancy: a cluster randomised control feasibility trial of an interactive video drama based intervention in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland

    Get PDF
    Background: Adolescent men have a vital yet neglected role in reducing unintended teenage pregnancy (UTP). There is a need for gender-sensitive educational interventions. Objectives: To determine the value and feasibility of conducting an effectiveness trial of the If I Were Jack Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) intervention in a convenience quota sample of post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Secondary objectives were to assess acceptability to schools, pupils (male/female, aged 14–15 years) and parents/guardians; to identify optimal delivery structures and systems; to establish participation rates and reach, including equality of engagement of different socioeconomic and religious types; to assess trial recruitment and retention rates; to assess variation in normal RSE practice; to refine survey instruments; to assess differences in outcomes for male and female pupils; to identify potential effect sizes that might be detected in an effectiveness trial and estimate appropriate sample size for that trial; and to identify costs of delivery and pilot methods for assessing cost-effectiveness. Design: Cluster randomised Phase II feasibility trial with an embedded process and economic evaluation. Intervention: A teacher-delivered classroom-based RSE resource – an interactive video drama (IVD) with classroom materials, teacher training and an information session for parents – to immerse young people in a hypothetical scenario of Jack, a teenager whose girlfriend is unintentionally pregnant. It addresses gender inequalities in RSE by focusing on young men and is designed to increase intentions to avoid UTP by encouraging young people to delay sexual intercourse and to use contraception consistently in sexual relationships. Main outcome measures: Abstinence from sexual intercourse (delaying initiation of sex or returning to abstinence) or avoidance of unprotected sexual intercourse (consistent correct use of contraception). Secondary outcomes included Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Intentions. Results: The intervention proved acceptable to schools, pupils and parents, as evidenced through positive process evaluation. One minor refinement to the parental component was required, namely the replacement of the teacher-led face-to-face information session for parents by online videos designed to deliver the intervention to parents/guardians into their home. School recruitment was successful (target 25%, achieved 38%). No school dropped out. Pupil retention was successful (target 85%, achieved 93%). The between-group difference in incidence of unprotected sex of 1.3% (95% confidence interval 0.55% to 2.2%) by 9 months demonstrated an effect size consistent with those reported to have had meaningful impact on UTP rates (resulting in an achievable sample size of 66 schools at Phase III). Survey instruments showed high acceptability and reliability of measures (Cronbach’s alpha: 0.5–0.7). Economic evaluation at Phase III is feasible because it was possible to (1) identify costs of delivering If I Were Jack (mean cost per pupil, including training of teachers, was calculated as £13.66); and (2) develop a framework for assessing cost-effectiveness. Conclusion: Trial methods were appropriate, and recruitment and retention of schools and pupils was satisfactory, successfully demonstrating all criteria for progression to a main trial. The perceived value of culture- and gender-sensitive public health interventions has been highlighted. Future work: Progression to a Phase III effectiveness trial. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN99459996. Funding: This project was funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme and will be published in full in Public Health Research; Vol. 5, No. 1. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information

    Geometric Algebra Model of Distributed Representations

    Full text link
    Formalism based on GA is an alternative to distributed representation models developed so far --- Smolensky's tensor product, Holographic Reduced Representations (HRR) and Binary Spatter Code (BSC). Convolutions are replaced by geometric products, interpretable in terms of geometry which seems to be the most natural language for visualization of higher concepts. This paper recalls the main ideas behind the GA model and investigates recognition test results using both inner product and a clipped version of matrix representation. The influence of accidental blade equality on recognition is also studied. Finally, the efficiency of the GA model is compared to that of previously developed models.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figure
    corecore