Showing papers on "Class (philosophy) published in 2001"

Mining frequent neighboring class sets in spatial databases

Abstract: We consider the problem of finding neighboring class sets. Objects of each instance of a neighboring class set are grouped using their Euclidean distances from each other. Recently, location-based services are growing along with mobile computing infrastructure such as cellular phones and PDAs. Therefore, we expect to see the development of spatial databases that contains very large number of access records including location information. The most typical type would be a database of point objects. Records of the objects may consist of "requested service name," "number of packet transmitted" in addition to x and y coordinate values indicating where the request came from. The algorithm presented here efficiently finds sets of "service names" that were frequently close to each other in the spatial database. For example, it may find a frequent neighboring class set, where "ticket" and "timetable" are frequently requested close to each other. By recognizing this, location-based service providers can promote a "ticket" service for customers who access the "timetable."

A methodological integration of generalized equivalence classes, natural categories, and cross-modal perception

Abstract: A generalized equivalence class contains some stimuli that are perceptually disparate and others that resemble one another. They all function as members of a generalized equivalence class when all of them occasion the selection of the others in the set, and a response trained to one or a few are occasioned by all other stimuli in the set. This article formalizes the structural relations among the stimuli in these classes and identifies the generalization tests needed to fully document the range of stimuli that function as members of such a class. These include tests conducted in variant-to-base, base-to-variant, and variant-to­ variant formats. The structural and functional properties that characterize generalized equivalence classes also characterize naturally occurring categories, natural kinds, semantic superordinate categories, and cross-modal perceptual classes. Thus, the procedures used to measure generalized equivalence classes could also be used to document these other classes.

Applications of probabilistic quorums to iterative algorithms

Abstract: Presents a definition of a read-write register that sometimes returns out-of-date values, shows that the definition is implemented by the probabilistic quorum algorithm of D. Malkhi et al. (1997), and shows how to program with such registers using the framework of A. U/spl uml/resin and M. Dubois (1990). Consequently, existing iterative algorithms for an interesting class of problems (including finding shortest paths, constraint satisfaction and transitive closure) converge with high probability if executed in a system in which the shared data is implemented with registers satisfying the new definition. Furthermore, the algorithms in this framework inherit positive attributes concerning load and availability from the underlying register implementation. A monotone version of the new register definition is specified and implemented; it can provide improved expected convergence time and message complexity for iterative algorithms.

A generalisation of the mixture decomposition problem in the symbolic data analysis framework

Abstract: In Symbolic Data Analysis, more complex units can be considered like "concepts" (as towns, insurance companies, species of animals). A concept can be characterized by an "extent" defined by a class of standard units called "individuals" (as a sample of inhabitant of a town, a sample of insurance companies, a sample of animals of a given species). These classes can be described by a distribution associated to each variable, summarizing in that way huge sets of data. Therefore, here we are interested by the case where each unit representing a "concept" is described by a vector of p distributions associated to p variables. Our aim is to find simultaneously a "good" partition of these units and a model using "copulas" associated to each class of this partition. Different copulas models are recalled where the case of Markov process and Brownian motion are considered. The mixture decomposition problem is settled in this general case. It extends the standard mixture decomposition problem to the case where each unit is described by a vector of distributions instead as usual, by a vector of unique (categorical or numerical) values. Several generalization of standard algorithms are suggested. One of them is illustrated by a simple example. All these results are first considered in the case of a unique variable and then extended to the case of a vector of p variables by using a top-down binary tree approach. Finally, the case of infinite joint and copulas is considered.

A model for Extracting a Class of Knowledge Operators, Logic Disjunctions and Logic Alternatives from BDI Agents

Abstract: Private knowledge structures of the intentional agent are presented. It is pointed out in what way these structures are used to generate a class of basic knowledge formulas with logic disjunctions and alternatives as their arguments. A knowledge formula is treated as a proper logic-based and externally oriented representation of agent’s knowledge if and only if it is true for the overall state of encapsulated knowledge bases. Although the presented solution is based on the idea of possible worlds semantics, it applies an alternative approach to defining truth-values for knowledge operators. In particular, it takes into account the intensional nature of knowledge operators and strictly private nature of possible worlds. The proposed semantics gives a theoretical support for autonomous algorithms that mine disjunctions and alternatives from internal agent’s representations of states of ontologically independent and self-contained atom objects.

A Model-Free Definition of Increasing Uncertainty

Abstract: We present a definition of increasing uncertainty, independent of any notion of subjective probabilities, or of any particular model of preferences.Our notion of an elementary increase in the uncertainty of any act corresponds to the addition of an 'elementary bet' which increases consumption by a fixed amount in the (relatively) 'good' states and decreases consumption by a fixed (and possibly different) amount in the (relatively) 'bad' states.This definition naturally gives rise to a dual definition of comparative aversion to uncertainty.We characterize this definition for a popular class of generalized models of choice under uncertainty.

Synthesizing noise-tolerant language learners

Abstract: An index for an r.e. class of languages (by definition) generates a sequence of grammars defining the class. An index for an indexed family of languages (by definition) generates a sequence of decision procedures defining the family. F. Stephen's model of noisy data is empoloyed, in which, roughly, correct data crops up infintely often, and incorrect data only finitely often. Studied, then, is the synthesis from indices for r.e. classes and for indexed families of languages of various kinds of noise-tolerant language-learners for the corresponding classes or families indexed. Many positive results, as well as some negative results, are presented regarding the existence of such synthesizers. The proofs of most of the positive resutls yield, as pleasant corollaries, strict subset-principle or tell-tale style characterization for the noise-tolerant learn-ability of the corresponding classes or families indexed.

Record medium and method for analyzing a source file

Abstract: A source file analyzing method for specifying a class and its member influenced by a change made in a predetermined class included in a source file described in an object-oriented language. Inputting means inputs a source file to be analyzed and provides it to reference relationship examining means. The reference relationship examining means examines the reference relationships of classes and methods included in the classes. To be concrete, the reference relationship examining means creates class definition information regarding class definitions, class member definition information regarding class member definitions, and class member content information regarding the contents of class members, creates reference relationship information indicating inheritance relationships among classes and class call relationships, and provides them to influenced class specifying means. The influenced class specifying means accepts the name of a changed class entered and specifies an influenced class by referring to the class definition information, class member definition information, class member content information, and reference relationship information.

Forms of instruction in secondary school

Abstract: In didactics and subject methods it is forms of instruction that have been studied less than others. Along with this phrase ("forms of instruction") a number of other combinations of words are also used in the pedagogical literature, such as these: "form of learning activity," "organizational form of instruction," "form of learning work," "general form of organization of learning work," "form of students' learning activity in class," "form of organizing instruction," "group form of learning work," "form of teaching-upbringing process," and so on. Some authors use them without clarification, while others try to interpret their content, often seeing different meanings in the different terms, which leads to confusion and makes it hard to formulate scientific postulates. Especially unsuccessful, as a rule, are lectures, practical classes, and excursions that relate either to methods or to forms of instruction.

Method and configuration for assigning an object to at least one class

Abstract: An object is assigned to at least one class of a set of classes by determining for the object a membership criterion to each class. In this process, class-dependent threshold values are determined for the assignment by optimizing an evaluation criterion under prescribed secondary conditions. A comparison of the membership criterion with the threshold values of the classes yields the appropriate assignment of the object to at least one class.

Semantics of normal logic programs with embedded implications.

Abstract: The aim of our work is the definition of a model-theoretic semantics of normal logic programs with embedded implications. We first propose a quite simple operational semantics for this class of programs whose negation mechanism is the constructive negation. This semantics is used to prove the adequacy of the model-theoretic semantics. Then we define a declarative semantics for this class of programs in terms of Beth models and show that in the model class associated to every program there is a least model that can be seen as the semantics of the program, which may be built upwards as the least fixpoint of a continuous immediate consequence operator. Finally, it is proved that the operational semantics is sound and complete with respect to the least fixpoint semantics.

Could Aristotle Teach the Honors Courses I Envision? Theory and Practice in the Arts

Abstract: In general, art survey and art history courses focus on the influence of culture on art and on art on culture, and the changes in art from century to century or from any period to any period. When an art survey or art history section is taught at the honors level, what results is a class with fewer students moving at a faster pace so more material can be covered, the introduction of discussion into what is usually a lecture class, and a more concentrated study of the material presented. This, of course, is the case for many general education courses given honors designation. It seems to me, however, that something important is missing for the honors student who does not take two-dimensional or three-dimensional art courses. What is missing is the hands-on experience that is important in "fleshing-out" a more informed or, to use a term I will explain in arguing my case, a "wiser" honors student. In my opinion, an honors art course ought to incorporate three segments: lecture, a hands-on experience, and discussion after the first two segments. The teachings of Aristotle concerning what a wise man is plus some reflections on my own experience will be the basis for my insistence. Early in his Metaphysics Aristotle claims that wisdom is the "knowledge of certain principles and causes." Following that statement, he adds, "We suppose ... that the wise man knows all things, as far as possible, although he has not knowledge of each of them in detail" (500a). By "in detail" Aristotle means the senses: "[S]ense-perception is common to all, and therefore easy and not a mark of Wisdom." Obviously, then, sense-perception alone does not make a person wise for it is not a necessity for learning "certain principles and causes" well. Yet, he begins his Metaphysics with these words: "All men by nature desire to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves" (499a). He goes on to argue that a series of sense-perceptions produces memory in men which, in turn, leads to experience. That is, "several memories of the same thing produce finally the capacity for a single experience." He continues by claiming that art comes to men through experience. He clarifies by stating, "Now art arises when from many notions gained by experience one universal judgement about a class of objects is produced." So, a man who has both theory and sensual experience realizes that the senusal experience has given rise to theory. Yes, it is possible to learn theory through reading or lecture, but obviously who has the better knowledge? Who is "wiser" about "the class of objects" (sculpture, let us say), the pure theorist or the "experienced" theorist? After arguing that experience leads to art, Aristotle makes a very interesting distinction between men of art and men of experience. By men of experience he seems to mean those who experience with the senses but don't or can't bundle the experiences together to come up with theory--a manual worker, in another of his terminologies, as opposed to a master worker. He points out that the master worker is the artist in that he knows "the causes of the things that are done ..." (500b). He goes on to claim that the master-worker (artist) can teach, whereas the manual worker (the man of mere experience) cannot. I suppose that if the manual worker doesn't know the "why" of things, he cannot teach. But manual workers are human beings, not zombies or robots. Through the honors art class I briefly describe above, I believe the honors student will become more like the master-worker who has been taught theory but who has also experienced the details through sensory experience. That experience, it seems to me, leads to a man who knows. Of course, a person cannot have detailed knowledge of all subjects, so I believe that Aristotle might agree that a "wise" person would have knowledge of the "principles and causes" (theory) of many subjects, but of some of those he would have knowledge "in detail. …

A Thousand and One Rights

Abstract: It is generally considered that there is a dearth of rights in the field of law and terrorism. In fact, when it comes to the Immigration Act and the process of deporting those alleged to be members of an inadmissible class due to their affiliation with terrorist organizations, there is an embarassment of riches when it comes to procedural rights. Some of Canada's most prominent terrorism cases read like intricate fantasy tales rather than like the deductive reasoning to a straightforward conclusion that one expects of legal writing.

Globality, Organization, Class

Abstract: Although one could hardly imagine a topic more far-ranging than "Theory, Globalization, and the Remains of the University," it can be argued that it does not range far enough. Or perhaps ranges too far. For the questions suggested by this concatenation of terms cannot be limited to the fate or future of "theory" in whatever will remain of the "university" in a globalized world. And yet it is no doubt significant that "theory" leads the parade-significant but also perhaps part of the problem. For not just etymology links "theory" to notions such as detached contemplation, spectatorship, and appropriation through vision. The history and practice that have been associated with this term continue, even today, to be indebted to the dualist paradigm of an underlying subject-today reformulated as "agent" or "position"-confronting and comprehending an ob-ject. And yet, if we are still discussing "theory," here and today, it is by virtue of a series of texts that have persistently and powerfully questioned the subject-object paradigm that has dominated theoretical discourse at least since Descartes, and sought to elaborate alternatives to it. Those alternatives have almost always involved a reflection upon language as the medium of a practice that is no longer "theoretical" in the traditional sense, because it no longer works within the parameters of the subject-object model of cognition and truth. From Kierkegaard to Nietzsche, Benjamin, Heidegger, de Man, and Derrida, the subject-object model of cognition has been reinterpreted as an effect of the medium of language, a medium that articulates itself through the reading, writing, and repetition of texts, understood as concatenations of significance that both respond to and address an irreducible alterity. The "university" has always occupied an equivocal position with respect to this "linguistic" problematization of the subject-object model of cognition and truth: not only because "the university" as such has never existed-not at least as the singular universal implied by the definite article-but even more, because of the traditional claim of universities to serve as places where universally valid cognition is both transmitted and produced. In this sense, notions such as "the globalization of the university" simply continue the universalizing claims built into universities and promoted by them in order to justify their social existence and dependency. The very notion, or rather figure, implied in the notion of "globalization" tends to strengthen such universalism. Coming after the struggle between Communist and Capitalist camps in the Cold War, "Globalization" stresses that there is no place left on the "globe" where the capitalist system, its values, its power, and way of life can be contested. The "globe" is all there is, and despite its diversity, it is to have a single future, prolongation of the prevailing relation of forces. Globalization is thus the successor to the notion of "One World," itself a recent offshoot of the "universal history" that was the Enlightenment heir of the Christian eschatological narrative.

Method and device for processing information

Abstract: PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the readability and developing efficiency of a program by excluding redundancy by describing definition related with the same attribute in a batch, and clearly discriminating a part defining attribute from a part defining an instance in the description SOLUTION: A syntax analyzing part 302 reads an extended UIL file 301, and extracts general object definition data 305 defining GUI parts, class definition data 303 defining a common attribute for GUI parts whose attributes are common, and instance definition data 304 defining the substance of the GUI part referring the class definition data An object definition developing part 306 generates general object data defining each GUI part from the extracted class definition data 303 and the instance definition data 304, and generates object definition data 305 and UIL file data 307