A conversational model of causal explanation

Es wird ein Konversationsmodell der kausalen Erklärung vorgestellt, das existierende Modelle der kausalen Erklärung integriert und konsistent mit allgemeinen Modellen von Gesprächsanalysen ist. Fundamentale Fragen über die Faktoren der Erklärung wie Wahrscheinlichkeit und Relevanz werden diskutiert. Ferner werden Erklärungsmuster im Bereich des umgangssprachlichen Gesprächs behandelt. (psz)'A conversational model of causal explanation is outlined, which emphasises the role of counterfactual reasoning, contrast cases and conversational constraints in causal explanation. It is used to organise existing models of causal attributions, to integrate attribution research with other models of causal reasoning, and to study explanations in ordinary language.' (author's abstract

Conversational inference and rational judgment

Rationale Interpretationen von Aussagen und Gesprächen beruhen auf der Annahme, daß der Zuhörer sich eine Hypothese über die Intentionen des Sprechers bildet. Es wird ein Modell für die Konversationsanalyse vorgestellt, mit dessen Hilfe gezeigt wird, daß diese Interpretationen bestimmt werden durch die Attribute, die der Sprecher dem Zuhörer zuschreibt. Das Modell wird auf die Analyse von Experimenten der kognitiven Psychologie und Sozialpsychologie angewendet, wobei sich zeigt, daß die experimentelle Anordnung und die Gesprächseigenschaften die Schlußfolgerungen von Untersuchungspersonen beeinflussen können. (psz)'Conversational inference is inductive in nature, requiring the listener to go beyond the information explicitly given in a mesage. This requirement runs counter to the assumption that rational subjects should only operate on the information explicitly given in judgment tasks. Rational interpretations of messages are guided by hearers' hypotheses about the speaker's intended meaning. An attributional model of conversational inference is presented which shows how these interpretations are governed by conversational assumptions, which in turn are governed by the attributions the speaker makes about the hearer. The model is then applied to the analysis of experiments on reasoning processes in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology and decision research. It is shown that the conversational model can predict how experimental manipulations of relevant source and message attributes affect subjects' judgments. In conclusion, failure to recognize the role of conversational assumptions in governing inference processes can lead rational responses to be misclassified, and misattributed to cognitive shortcomings.' (author's abstract

Coherent two-dimensional Fourier transform spectroscopy using a 25 Tesla resistive magnet.

We performed nonlinear optical two-dimensional Fourier transform spectroscopy measurements using an optical resistive high-field magnet on GaAs quantum wells. Magnetic fields up to 25 T can be achieved using the split helix resistive magnet. Two-dimensional spectroscopy measurements based on the coherent four-wave mixing signal require phase stability. Therefore, these measurements are difficult to perform in environments prone to mechanical vibrations. Large resistive magnets use extensive quantities of cooling water, which causes mechanical vibrations, making two-dimensional Fourier transform spectroscopy very challenging. Here, we report on the strategies we used to overcome these challenges and maintain the required phase-stability throughout the measurement. A self-contained portable platform was used to set up the experiments within the time frame provided by a user facility. Furthermore, this platform was floated above the optical table in order to isolate it from vibrations originating from the resistive magnet. Finally, we present two-dimensional Fourier transform spectra obtained from GaAs quantum wells at magnetic fields up to 25 T and demonstrate the utility of this technique in providing important details, which are obscured in one dimensional spectroscopy

Heroes and villains of world history across cultures

© 2015 Hanke et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedEmergent properties of global political culture were examined using data from the World History Survey (WHS) involving 6,902 university students in 37 countries evaluating 40 figures from world history. Multidimensional scaling and factor analysis techniques found only limited forms of universality in evaluations across Western, Catholic/Orthodox, Muslim, and Asian country clusters. The highest consensus across cultures involved scientific innovators, with Einstein having the most positive evaluation overall. Peaceful humanitarians like Mother Theresa and Gandhi followed. There was much less cross-cultural consistency in the evaluation of negative figures, led by Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. After more traditional empirical methods (e.g., factor analysis) failed to identify meaningful cross-cultural patterns, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to identify four global representational profiles: Secular and Religious Idealists were overwhelmingly prevalent in Christian countries, and Political Realists were common in Muslim and Asian countries. We discuss possible consequences and interpretations of these different representational profiles.This research was supported by grant RG016-P-10 from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (http://www.cckf.org.tw/). Religion Culture Entropy China Democracy Economic histor

“Heroes” and “Villains” of world history across cultures

Emergent properties of global political culture were examined using data from the World History Survey (WHS) involving 6,902 university students in 37 countries evaluating 40 figures from world history. Multidimensional scaling and factor analysis techniques found only limited forms of universality in evaluations across Western, Catholic/Orthodox, Muslim, and Asian country clusters. The highest consensus across cultures involved scientific innovators, with Einstein having the most positive evaluation overall. Peaceful humanitarians like Mother Theresa and Gandhi followed. There was much less cross-cultural consistency in the evaluation of negative figures, led by Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. After more traditional empirical methods (e.g., factor analysis) failed to identify meaningful cross-cultural patterns, Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) was used to identify four global representational profiles: Secular and Religious Idealists were overwhelmingly prevalent in Christian countries, and Political Realists were common in Muslim and Asian countries. We discuss possible consequences and interpretations of these different representational profiles.This research was supported by grant RG016-P-10 from the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (http://www.cckf.org.tw/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor (CLASS) Telescope Architecture

We describe the instrument architecture of the Johns Hopkins University-led CLASS instrument, a groundbased cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarimeter that will measure the large-scale polarization of the CMB in several frequency bands to search for evidence of inflation

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor Receiver Design

The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor consists of four instruments performing a CMB polarization survey. Currently, the 40 GHz and first 90 GHz instruments are deployed and observing, with the second 90 GHz and a multichroic 150/220 GHz instrument to follow. The receiver is a central component of each instrument's design and functionality. This paper describes the CLASS receiver design, using the first 90 GHz receiver as a primary reference. Cryogenic cooling and filters maintain a cold, low-noise environment for the detectors. We have achieved receiver detector temperatures below 50 mK in the 40 GHz instrument for 85% of the initial 1.5 years of operation, and observed in-band efficiency that is consistent with pre-deployment estimates. At 90 GHz, less than 26% of in-band power is lost to the filters and lenses in the receiver, allowing for high optical efficiency. We discuss the mounting scheme for the filters and lenses, the alignment of the cold optics and detectors, stray light control, and magnetic shielding.Comment: Fixed formatting of abstract; 20 Pages, 11 Figures, SPIE Conference Proceeding

Detailed Analysis of Sequence Changes Occurring during vlsE Antigenic Variation in the Mouse Model of Borrelia burgdorferi Infection

Lyme disease Borrelia can infect humans and animals for months to years, despite the presence of an active host immune response. The vls antigenic variation system, which expresses the surface-exposed lipoprotein VlsE, plays a major role in B. burgdorferi immune evasion. Gene conversion between vls silent cassettes and the vlsE expression site occurs at high frequency during mammalian infection, resulting in sequence variation in the VlsE product. In this study, we examined vlsE sequence variation in B. burgdorferi B31 during mouse infection by analyzing 1,399 clones isolated from bladder, heart, joint, ear, and skin tissues of mice infected for 4 to 365 days. The median number of codon changes increased progressively in C3H/HeN mice from 4 to 28 days post infection, and no clones retained the parental vlsE sequence at 28 days. In contrast, the decrease in the number of clones with the parental vlsE sequence and the increase in the number of sequence changes occurred more gradually in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice. Clones containing a stop codon were isolated, indicating that continuous expression of full-length VlsE is not required for survival in vivo; also, these clones continued to undergo vlsE recombination. Analysis of clones with apparent single recombination events indicated that recombinations into vlsE are nonselective with regard to the silent cassette utilized, as well as the length and location of the recombination event. Sequence changes as small as one base pair were common. Fifteen percent of recovered vlsE variants contained “template-independent” sequence changes, which clustered in the variable regions of vlsE. We hypothesize that the increased frequency and complexity of vlsE sequence changes observed in clones recovered from immunocompetent mice (as compared with SCID mice) is due to rapid clearance of relatively invariant clones by variable region-specific anti-VlsE antibody responses