27 research outputs found
Exposition of two forms of semantic skepticism: Wittgenstein’s paradox of rule following and Kripke’s semantic paradox
Despite persistent attempts to defend Kripke’s argument (Kripke 1982),
analyses of this argument seem to be reaching a consensus that it is
characterized by fatal flaws in both its interpretation of Wittgenstein and
its argument of meaning independent of interpretation. Most scholars who do
not agree with Kripke’s view have directly contrasted his understanding of
Wittgenstein (KW) with Wittgenstein’s own perspective (LW) in or after
Philosophical Investigations (PI). However, I believe that those who have
closely read both PI and Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language without
any preconceptions have a different impression from the one that is generally
accepted: that KW does not directly oppose LW. Indeed, KW seems to present
one aspect of LW with precision, although the impression that KW deviates
from LW in some respects remains unavoidable. In this paper, I will attempt
to elucidate the underpinnings of this impression by formulating the
paradoxes presented by Wittgenstein and Kripke and revealing the complicated
relation between the two forms of semantic paradoxes. I will then not only
propose a new interpretation of the argument about meaning contained in PI
but also suggest a schema or condition for semantics that I think holds by
itself, independent from exegetical matters
CoVR: A Large-Scale Force-Feedback Robotic Interface for Non-Deterministic Scenarios in VR
We present CoVR, a novel robotic interface providing strong kinesthetic
feedback (100 N) in a room-scale VR arena. It consists of a physical column
mounted on a 2D Cartesian ceiling robot (XY displacements) with the capacity of
(1) resisting to body-scaled users' actions such as pushing or leaning; (2)
acting on the users by pulling or transporting them as well as (3) carrying
multiple potentially heavy objects (up to 80kg) that users can freely
manipulate or make interact with each other. We describe its implementation and
define a trajectory generation algorithm based on a novel user intention model
to support non-deterministic scenarios, where the users are free to interact
with any virtual object of interest with no regards to the scenarios' progress.
A technical evaluation and a user study demonstrate the feasibility and
usability of CoVR, as well as the relevance of whole-body interactions
involving strong forces, such as being pulled through or transported.Comment: 10 pages (without references), 14 pages tota
TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access
Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives