In defense of the possibilism–actualism distinction

In Modal Logic as Metaphysics, Timothy Williamson claims that the possibilism-actualism (P-A) distinction is badly muddled. In its place, he introduces a necessitism-contingentism (N-C) distinction that he claims is free of the confusions that purportedly plague the P-A distinction. In this paper I argue first that the P-A distinction, properly understood, is historically well-grounded and entirely coherent. I then look at the two arguments Williamson levels at the P-A distinction and find them wanting and show, moreover, that, when the N-C distinction is broadened (as per Williamson himself) so as to enable necessitists to fend off contingentist objections, the P-A distinction can be faithfully reconstructed in terms of the N-C distinction. However, Williamson’s critique does point to a genuine shortcoming in the common formulation of the P-A distinction. I propose a new definition of the distinction in terms of essential properties that avoids this shortcoming

Beitrag zur Flora der Niederrheinischen Braunkohlenformation

Seit dem Erscheinen von O. WEBER'S Tertiärflora der niederrheinischen Braunkohleformation im 2. und 4. Bande der Palaeontographica (1852 und 1856) sind zwar von verschiedenen Seiten Mitteilungen über Funde fossiler Pflanzen aus dem niederrheinischen Tertiärgebiete gemacht worden, immerhin aber war die Zahl neuer Pflanzenfunde gering; es war daher zu begrüßen, daß im Laufe der letzten Jahre eine größere Anzahl von Pflanzenresten in den Besitz der Königlich Preußischen Geologischen Landesanstalt bzw. der geologischen Sammlung der Technischen Hochschule in Aachen gelangte, welche im Folgenden beschrieben werden sollen

Parsing of Spoken Language under Time Constraints

Spoken language applications in natural dialogue settings place serious requirements on the choice of processing architecture. Especially under adverse phonetic and acoustic conditions parsing procedures have to be developed which do not only analyse the incoming speech in a time-synchroneous and incremental manner, but which are able to schedule their resources according to the varying conditions of the recognition process. Depending on the actual degree of local ambiguity the parser has to select among the available constraints in order to narrow down the search space with as little effort as possible. A parsing approach based on constraint satisfaction techniques is discussed. It provides important characteristics of the desired real-time behaviour and attempts to mimic some of the attention focussing capabilities of the human speech comprehension mechanism.Comment: 19 pages, LaTe

First descriptions of copepodid stages, sexual dimorphism and intraspecific variability of Mesocletodes Sars, 1909 (Copepoda, Harpacticoida, Argestidae), including the description of a new species with broad abyssal distribution

Mesocletodes Sars, 1909a encompasses 37 species to date. Initial evidence on intraspecific variability and sexual dimorphism has been verified for 77 specimens of Mesocletodes elmari sp. n. from various deep-sea regions, and ontogenetic development has been traced for the first time. Apomorphies are a strong spinule- like pinna on the mx seta that is fused to the basis, P2–P4 exp3 proximal outer seta lost, P1–P4 enp2 extremely elongated, furcal rami elongated, female body of prickly appearance, female P2–P4 enp2 proximal inner seta lost. Intraspecific variability involves spinulation, ornamentation and size of the body and setation and spinulation of pereiopods. Sexually dimorphic modifications of adult females include prickly appearance of the body, P1 enp exceeds exp in length, P1 coxa externally broadened, seta of basis arising from prominent protrusion, hyaline frills of body somites ornate. Sexual dimorphism in adult males is expressed in smaller body size, haplocer A1, 2 inner setae on P2–P4 enp2 and on P5 exp, P5 basendopodal lobe with 2 setae. Some modifications allow sexing of copepodid stages. The female A1 is fully developed in CV, the male A1 undergoes extensive modifications at the last molt. P1–P4 are fully developed in CV. Mesocletodes faroerensis and Mesocletodes thielei lack apomorphies of Mesocletodes and are excluded

Robust Processing of Natural Language

Previous approaches to robustness in natural language processing usually treat deviant input by relaxing grammatical constraints whenever a successful analysis cannot be provided by ``normal'' means. This schema implies, that error detection always comes prior to error handling, a behaviour which hardly can compete with its human model, where many erroneous situations are treated without even noticing them. The paper analyses the necessary preconditions for achieving a higher degree of robustness in natural language processing and suggests a quite different approach based on a procedure for structural disambiguation. It not only offers the possibility to cope with robustness issues in a more natural way but eventually might be suited to accommodate quite different aspects of robust behaviour within a single framework.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, uses pstricks.sty, pstricks.tex, pstricks.pro, pst-node.sty, pst-node.tex, pst-node.pro. To appear in: Proc. KI-95, 19th German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Bielefeld (Germany), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer 199

The Waggle Dance as an Intended Flight: A Cognitive Perspective

The notion of the waggle dance simulating a flight towards a goal in a walking pattern has been proposed in the context of evolutionary considerations. Behavioral components, like its arousing effect on the social community, the attention of hive mates induced by this behavior, the direction of the waggle run relative to the sun azimuth or to gravity, as well as the number of waggles per run, have been tentatively related to peculiar behavioral patterns in both solitary and social insect species and are thought to reflect phylogenetic pre-adaptations. Here, I ask whether these thoughts can be substantiated from a functional perspective. Communication in the waggle dance is a group phenomenon involving the dancer and the followers that perform partially overlapping movements encoding and decoding the message respectively. It is thus assumed that the dancer and follower perform close cognitive processes. This provides us with access to these cognitive processes during dance communication because the follower can be tested in its flight performance when it becomes a recruit. I argue that the dance message and the landscape experience are processed in the same navigational memory, allowing the bee to fly novel direct routes, a property understood as an indication of a cognitive map

Spectrometer

Ultraviolet spectrometer measures pure monochromatic wavelengths in predetermined narrow wave bands. Two stages are incorporated: stationary dispersed beam is intercepted by array of slits cut into plate at discrete wavelength locations; second stage is inverted spectrometer which recombines dispersed spectrum at single exit slit

Making meaning through movement : hiking the Cathar Trail in the south of France : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Captions to the following figures have been altered since thesis submission to include permissions statements in accordance with copyright: figures 2.9 (p. 50), 5.2 (p. 129), 5.3 (p. 130)Redacted from thesis due to copyright reasons: pp. 343–344: Appendix 3: Lyrics Reproduction of lyrics taken from: Crombé Debatte, J. 2013 [1946]. ‘Automne’. In: Profos-Sulzer, E. (ed.). Chansons populaires de France, de Suisse, de Belgique et du Canada. Stuttgart: Reclam. Pp. 21–22.Listed in 2017 Dean's List of Exceptional ThesesThis thesis explores how meaning is formed through movement. It argues that the way in which hikers perceive, experience and make sense of their environment is contingent on their movement. Specifically, it explores walkers’ lived experiences and perceptions of their environments on a long-distance hiking trail. The thesis is based on participant observation on the Cathar Trail in the south of France in 2013 and on archival research. The Cathar Trail lends itself to such an investigation because it invites visitors who are intent on hiking and on the history of the Cathars, a persecuted thirteenth-century religious minority. To interrelate processes of interpretation and interaction in an anthropological perspective, I adopt a phenomenological approach and Ingold’s (2000a) ecological approach to human-environment interaction in combination with interdisciplinary and interpretative approaches. The thesis situates hikers’ journeys in socio-political and geographical contexts by deconstructing the twentieth-century historical narratives, heritage discourses and sites (ruined fortresses) which are the basis of the Trail. I then show that hikers came to know the Trail through their physical engagement with their environments. To highlight that walkers’ environment-related movement was constitutive of their sense of place, I propose the holistic concept of terroir as an alternative to ‘landscape’. My discussion of wayfinding demonstrates that hikers made their own way, shaped by movement, topography, sensory perception, technologies and other hikers. I show that walking the Cathar Trail produces a knowledge particular to people’s bodily movement along a path and to histories. Crucially, I develop the theory of a hiking spatiality which is generated by, and specific to, hikers’ movement along the Trail. Locally specific but encompassing in its scope, the thesis seeks a common ground in movement. Throughout, I use photographs to engage the reader through intimated and intuited bodily experience. Interweaving epistemology and methodology, the thesis is at one and the same time about meaningmaking in movement and is in itself a form of knowledge formed from movement (in particular through the employed ‘walking-with’ method) according to a research agenda