A source modelling system and its use for uncertainty management

Human agents have to deal with a considerable amount of information from their environment and are also continuously faced with the need to take actions. As that information is largely of an uncertain nature, human agents have to decide whether, or how much, to believe individual pieces of information. To enable a reasoning system to deal in general with the demands of a real environment, and with information from human sources in particular, requires tools for uncertainty management and belief formation. This thesis presents a model for the management of uncertain information from human sources. Dealing, more specifically, with information which has been pre-processed by a natural language processor and transformed into an event-based representation, the model assesses information, forms beliefs and resolves conflicts between them in order to maintain a consistent world model. The approach is built on the fundamental principle that the uncertainty of information from people can, in the majority of situations, successfully be assessed through source models which record factors concerning the source's abilities and trustworthiness. These models are adjusted to reflect changes in the behaviour of the source. A mechanism is presented together with the underlying principles to reproduce such a behaviour. A high-level design is also given to make the proposed model reconstructible, and the successful operation of the model is demonstrated on two detailed examples

Impact of prenatal diganosis on the prevalence of live births with Down sysndrome in the eastern half of Switzerland 1980-1996

Objectives and methods: To investigate the impact of prenatal diagnosis on trisomy 21 live births, we collected all prenatal and postnatal trisomy 21 cases (n = 1096) in the eastern half of Switzerland for the years 1980-1996. Results: Despite increasing prenatal detection rates of trisomy 21 foetuses (an increase of 169% in the last 5 versus the first 5 years of the study period) and subsequent termination of pregnancies, the number of liveborn Down syndrome children remained constant. The reason is a shift towards a higher mean maternal age from 28 to 30 years between 1980 and 1996. If mean maternal age at delivery was considered, the observed increase of trisomy 21 conceptions matched well with the calculated figures. Conclusion: If the tendency to have pregnancies at a more advanced age continues and if the use of prenatal diagnosis does not increase, an increase in incidence of Down syndrome liveborns may be expected in the first decades of the 21st century

»... with my God I can scale Walls« (Ps 18:29). Theology and the Church in Europe, Twenty Years after the Fall of the Wall

Tema je ovoga rada promišljanje o temeljnim izazovima i zadatcima pred kojima se nalaze teologija i Crkva 20 godina poslije sloma komunizma. Iako su zidovi koji su obilježili 20. stoljeće srušeni, zidovi i ograde, tj. posljedice hladnoga rata koji je trajao preko 40 godina u čovjeku će još dugo postojati. »S Bogom svojim preskačem zidine« -ove riječi iz Psalma 18,30 potiču na aktivnost s Bogom, potiču na odvažnost i istodobno na otvorenost Božjoj pomoći i zaštiti. Psalmist nas stavlja pred pitanja: U današnjoj Europi, nakon pada Zida, koju ulogu igra vjera? Koji su znakovi vremena na koje teolozi u Europi trebaju odgovoriti? U prvom dijelu autor stoga promišlja o znakovima vremena u Europi danas. To čini kritički se osvrćući unatrag, na ono što se dogodilo s padom zidova, osobito na ono što se dogodilo na području vjere. Izdvaja tako tri razvojne faze. U prvoj fazi, nakon pada Zida, kod velike većine ljudi dogodilo se golemo oslobađanje: nestao je stari pritisak. Crkvi je omogućeno slobodno djelovanje u društvu. U drugoj fazi počeli su se uočavati novi problemi koje je donijela zadobivena sloboda. Nestankom dugogodišnjeg neprijatelja nastala je čudna praznina koju je počela prožimati čežnja za starim strukturama, starim razgraničenjima, starim identitetom zajednice. Malo-pomalo mnogi su nanovo otkrili neprijatelja, identificiranog u novom društvu. U trećoj fazi, u kojoj se nalaze mnogi, osobito teolozi, primjećuje se nastojanje da se odgovore na nove izazove traži i pronalazi u starim misaonim navikama, u posezanju za prošlošću. U drugom se dijelu promišlja o mogućnostima i izazovima vjere danas, nastojeći definirati neke perspektive za budućnost teologije i vjere u Europi. Teologija treba biti posve usmjerena na konkretno vrijeme, tj. osjetljiva za čovjeka današnjice i solidarna s njime. Povezanost teologije s vremenom uključuje potrebu da teologija potvrdi i prihvati ovaj svijet kao Božje dobro stvorenje, kao od samoga Boga darovan životni prostor koji čovjek zahvalno može i smije prihvatiti i snagom kreativne slobode oblikovati. S druge strane, solidarnost s čovjekom današnjice zahtijeva da se teologija istodobno distancira od svega onoga što u tom svijetu čovjeka ugrožava. Samo u dijalektičkoj napetosti potvrđivanja svijeta, te istodobno nijekanja svega onoga što je usmjereno protiv života u tom svijetu, vjera može razviti snagu za preskakanje novih zidova koje ljudi stalno iznova dižu. Na kraju, autor problematizira identitet teologije kao znanosti ističući opasnosti s kojima se ona danas susreće.The subject of this article is focussed on the fundamental challenges and duties facing theology and the Church twenty years after the fall of communism. Even though the walls that marked the 20th century have been brought down, walls and barriers, i.e. the consequences of the Cold War which lasted for more than 40 years, they will continue to remain within men for some time to come. »With my God I can scale walls« -from Psalm 18:29 - inspires us to greater activity with God. It inspires courage and at the same time, openness to God\u27s help and protection. The psalm leads us to pose several questions: What role does religion have in today\u27s Europe following the fall of the Wall? What are the signs of the times that theologians in Europe need to respond to? In the first part of the article the author reflects on the signs of the times in Europe today. The author takes a critical stance reflecting towards the past, what happened with the fall of the wall, particularly with reference to religion. The author identifies three phases. The first phase -following the fall of the Wall - meant emancipation for a huge mass of people: they were free of the pressure they had felt until then. The Church was allowed the opportunity to act within society. The second phase marked the start of new problems which followed the freedom that was gained. As the enemy disappeared, a new emptiness emerged which led to feelings of nostalgia for the old structure, old divisions, old identification with the community. Soon, new enemies were found and identified in the new society. The third phase found many - and in particularly theologians - endeavouring to respond to new challenges while searching for them in old habits, in reaching for the past. The second part of the article deals with the opportunities and challenges facing religion today in an attempt to define new prospects for the future of theology and faith in Europe. Theology needs to be completely focussed on the times at hand, i.e. sensitive to man\u27s every day lives and to feel solidarity with man. The connection between theology and the times involves the need for theology to confirm and accept the world as God\u27s good creation, as something given from God himself to man who should and can gratefully accept it and shape it with creative freedom. On the other hand, solidarity with the man of today requires theology to distance itself from all that may threaten man in today\u27s world. Only in a dialectic tension of confirming the world while at the same time denying all that is directed against life in that world can develop faith and give it the strength to scale new walls that people keep raising anew. In conclusion, the author deals with the identity of theology as a science, highlighting the dangers that face it now, today

Mid-diaphyseal Endosteal Thickening With Subsequent Medullary Narrowing in a Patient With Hallermann-Streiff Syndrome

We report on a 5-year-old girl who presented with the full clinical criteria of Hallermann-Streiff syndrome (HSS). Classically, overtubulation (thin and gracile) bones are the characteristic and constant features in HSS. Interestingly, our present patient manifested unusual mid-diaphyseal endosteal thickening with subsequent medullary narrowing (defective endosteal resorption). To the best of our knowledge no previous reports described such unusual feature in a patient with HSS

The evaluation of a fine grinder and air classifier in the performance of protein shifting of wheat flour

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1968 F735Master of Scienc