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States, Events, and Truth-makers
Get PDFIn the last decade, the debate about the ontological foundations of reified temporal logics (RTLs) has been relatively quiet, even though we think some problems still exist. In this paper, we identify some of these problems and propose (partial) solutions to them in a FOL framework. States are here characterized (at the syntactic level) as truth-makers of propositions-they reify true propositions-and events are built from states. These choices make the event-state distinction much crisper than the one characterized in terms of the (meta-)predicates HOLDS vs. OCCURS, which are necessary in RTLs but not in our theory. We also offer some epistemological arguments in favor of this choice
Old and New Riddles on Concept Sharing
Get PDFWe ask whether social interaction demands sharing social concepts. We illustrate our point by depicting possible situations that emerge when two individuals play chess. We formalize our hypothesis in First Order Logic and we show that the very idea of sharing social concepts poses an interesting challenge both from the standpoint of knowledge representation and of philosophical conceptual analysis. By endorsing a minimal notion of interaction, we conclude that sharing social concepts is not necessary for social interaction. Then, we relate our view to Wittgenstein\u27s and Kripke\u27s "Rule-following Considerations
Fear, hate, anger, resentment, and envy in youths\u27 racist attitudes toward immigrants
Get PDFIn our earlier studies on Italian youths\u27 attitudes toward multiculturalism, we identified fear, hate, anger, resentment, and envy as significant emotions underlying youths\u27 racism toward immigrants. Here, these emotions are compared and contrasted within the context of cross-cultural relations and, more precisely, of youths\u27 attitudes toward cultural diversity. Surprisingly, our research indicates that envy can sometimes play a significant role in youths\u27 non-acceptance or slight acceptance of diversity. Some main constituents of each of these emotions, particularlof envy, anger, and resentment, are considered, especially those constituents that most specifically characterize each emotion and differentiate it from the others. The various reciprocal interactions among these emotions and the relationships between them and perception of threat and perception of social cohesion respectively are also considered. What is more, it can be clearly seen that in various ways these emotions and these perceptions are related to knowledge, another element of the theoretical model I am proposing. Here knowledge embraces such conceptualizations as: a) general information about immigration; b) the various types of socio-cultural patterns provided both by school and by the family regarding attitudes toward multiculturalism; c) the different experiences of direct contact with specific immigrants. Furthermore, the importance of cultural differences per se in youths\u27 cross-cultural relations is questioned
Different yawns, different functions? Testing social hypotheses on spontaneous yawning in Theropithecus gelada
Get PDFHere, we tested hypotheses about the potential functions of yawning based on its intensity and social contexts. Due to their spectrum intensity of yawns (covered teeth/YW1; uncovered teeth/YW2; uncovered gums/YW3), geladas are a good model species for this purpose. We suggest that yawns of different intensity can bear different information according to the performer, the context and the behavioural pattern temporally associated to the yawn event. YW3, mainly performed by high ranking males during periods of high social tension, was frequently associated with an auditory component and often accompanied by scratching (a measure of anxiety). YW1 and YW2, preferentially performed by females, were frequently associated to lip smacking, an affiliative display. In conclusion, even though a clear-cut functional distinction of geladas\u27 yawn intensity is difficult, YW1 and YW2 seem to be more linked to affiliative social interactions; whereas, YW3 seems to be more linked to agonistic and tension situations
Exploration and learning in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.): the role of action-outcome contingencies
Get PDFAnimals have a strong propensity to explore the environment. Spontaneous exploration has a great biological significance since it allows animals to discover and learn the relation between specific behaviours and their consequences. The role of the contingency between action and outcome for learning has been mainly investigated in instrumental learning settings and much less in free exploration contexts. We tested 16 capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) with a mechatronic platform that allowed complex modules to be manipulated and to produce different outcomes. Experimental subjects could manipulate the modules and discover the contingencies between their own specific actions and the outcomes produced (i.e., the opening and lighting of a box). By contrast, Control subjects could operate on the modules, but the outcomes experienced were those performed by their paired Experimental subjects (\u27\u27yoked-control\u27\u27 paradigm). In the exploration phase, in which no food reward was present, Experimental subjects spent more time on the board and manipulated the modules more than Yoked subjects. Experimental subjects outperformed Yoked subjects in the following test phase, where success required recalling the effective action so to open the box, now baited with food. These findings demonstrate that the opportunity to experience action-outcome contingencies in the absence of extrinsic rewards promotes capuchins\u27 exploration and facilitates learning processes. Thus, this intrinsically motivated learning represents a powerful mechanism allowing the acquisition of skills and cognitive competence that the individual can later exploit for adaptive purposes
Training for crisis decision making - An approach based on plan adaptation
No full textThe human ability to take the right decisions is very important in real world critical situations. An interesting problem always worth being investigated concerns how to teach decision making skills to humans. The real nature of taking decisions is extremely difficult to describe in detail and, as a consequence, training it according to fixed protocols is also challenging. This is because it comes out as a combination of natural talent, competence from previous experience, ability to quick reasoning, leadership, resilience to stress, and so on. We have addressed this problem while building a new learning environment to train crisis decision makers. The environment, called Pandora, is grounded on Artificial Intelligence planning techniques known as "timeline-based". This technology is used to create and manipulate segments of lesson\u27s content over time. Planning a lesson corresponds to logically organize events over time that are then rendered in front of trainees during the lesson\u27s actual enactment. This paper shows how the machinery of continuous plan adaptation is functional to create variety and novelty in the lessons thus engaging the trainees during the teaching interaction. In particular, it shows the different uses of plan adaptation to take into account the basic reactivity of the trainees, the background deductions from user modeling, and the mixed-initiative interactions guided by the trainer
Lexical acquisition in bilingual contexts: aspects of (extra)linguistic and psycholinguistic modeling
No full textThe overall research goals of this bilateral action have been to focus on cognitive and extra-linguistic factors involved in bilingual word recognition, with a view to exploring implications, requirements and constraints on computational models of bilingual acquisition. In particular, the cross visits intended to investigate linguistic, extra-linguistic and psycholinguistic issues which are generally assumed to have a bearing on aspects of bilingual lexicon acquisition and word processing, with a view to better understanding their role and dynamic relationship with aspects more closely related to the language-specific input
Marine Planning and Service Platform (MAPS): An Advanced Research Engine for Grey Literature in Marine Science
No full textThe MAPS (Marine Planning and Service Platform) project is a development of the Marine project (Ricerca Industriale e Sviluppo Sperimentale Regione Liguria 2007-2013) aiming at building a computer platform for supporting Operative Oceanography in its activities. One of the main objective of the project is to develop a repository that should gather, classify and structure marine scientific literature and data thus guaranteeing their accessibility to researchers and institutions by means of standard protocols. Community and Requirements. Operative Oceanography is the branch of marine research which deals with the development of integrated systems for examining and modeling the ocean monitoring and forecast. Experts need access to real-time data on the state of the sea such as forecasts on temperatures, streams, tides and the relevant scientific literature. This finds application in many areas, ranging from civilian and military safety to protection of off-shore and coastal infrastructures. The metadata. The set of metadata associated with marine data is defined in the CDI (Common Data Index) documented standard. They encode: the types of sizes which have been measured; the measurement tools the platform which has been employed; the geographic area where measures have been taken; the environmental matrix; the descriptive documentation. As concerns the scientific documentation, at the current stage of the CDI standard, a document is shaped around the following metadata: Title, Authors, Version, ISBN/DOI, Topic, Date of publication, Body/Institution, Abstract. The search engine. The query system (which is actually under development) has been designed for operating with structured data - the metadata - and raw data - the associated technical and scientific documentation. Full-text technologies are often unsuccessful when applied to this type of queries since they assume the presence of specific keywords in the text; in order to fix this problem, the MAPS project suggests to use different emantic technologies for retrieving the text and data and thus getting much more complying results. In the Poster we will present the scenario of the Operative Oceanography together with the technologies used to develop an advanced earch engine which aims at providing rapid and efficient access to a Digital Library of oceanographic data. The case-study is also highlighting how the retrieval of grey literature from this specific marine community could be reproduced for similar communities as well, thus revealing the 2 great impact that the processing, re-use as well as application of grey data have on societal needs/problems and their answers
The PAIS? Corpus of Italian Web Texts
Get PDFPAISA\u27 is a Creative Commons licensed, large web corpus of contemporary Italian. We describe the design, harvesting, and processing steps involved in its creation
Gestione e trasmissione sicura dei dati attraverso piattaforme tecnologiche: dati sensibili e privacy
Get PDFThe document reports some of the policies considered or adopted for the management of issues related to computerized collection of personal and sensitive data, in line with the standards currently in force (Decree No. 196 of 30/06/2003 "Code regarding the protection of personal data ", deriving from the European Directive 95/46/EC) and the provisions on the ESF (Guidelines on the subject of electronic Health Record and Health Dossier of July 16, 2009, requirements regarding electronic health records, OJ. 178 03/08/2009). In particular, we focus on design and implementation aspects of technological platforms for the data management through web applications; authentication and traceability; secure hardware and databases; cryptographic standards; secure storage and redundant data; safe management of offline files containing personal and sensitive data.Il documento descrive alcune delle politiche prese in esame o adottate per la gestione dei problemi riguardanti la raccolta informatizzata di dati personali e sensibili, in linea con le norme attualmente in vigore (DL 30/06/2003 n.196 "Codice in materia di protezione dei dati personali", derivante dalla direttiva europea 95/46/CE) e con le disposizioni sul FSE (Linee Guida in tema di Fascicolo Sanitario Elettronico e di Dossier Sanitario del 16 Luglio 2009, Prescrizioni in tema di Fascicolo Sanitario elettronico, G.U. n.178 03/08/2009). In particolare, si focalizzano gli aspetti di progettazione ed implementazione di piattaforme tecnologiche per la gestione di tali dati via web; procedure di autenticazione e tracciabilit?; messa in sicurezza dell\u27hardware e dei database; standard crittografici; modalit? di archiviazione sicura e ridondata dei dati; gestione in sicurezza di archivi offline, contenenti dati personali e sensibili