Language and speech

1981 ◽  
Vol 295 (1077) ◽  
pp. 215-222 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Linear Time ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Grammatical Function ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Language System ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
On Line ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Species Specific

This paper is intended to serve as an introduction both to the first session and to the Discussion Meeting as a whole. I begin by distinguishing natural human languages, in relation to their apparent species-specificity, from non-natural languages and from non-human languages. I then explain the technical terms ‘language system’, ‘grammar’, ‘lexicon’, ‘competence’ and ‘performance’. Languages, as we know them, are manifest in two mediums: in the phonic medium when spoken; in the graphic medium when written. Although there are good reasons for saying that speech is primary in relation to writing, in any discussion of the psychological mechanisms of language, it is important to maintain a distinction between language and medium, as follows. (1) It is possible that the integration of syntax and phonology, though based on a species-specific biological endowment for the acquisition of language and for vocalization, is a product of the normal environmental conditions in which languages are acquired and should not be ascribed to what Chomsky identifies as universal grammar. (2) Spoken utterances have a linear, time-related, structure. Sentences, as medium-independent units, do not. What, then, are the factors that determine the linearization of sentences so that, in particular contexts of utterance, one order of words and phrases, rather than another, is adopted? Are the same factors responsible for the fixation of word-order in those languages in which the order of words and phrases has a grammatical function? More generally, do such psychological factors, including the requirements of on-line processing, have an influence upon the historical development of language systems? (3) Is the language system, including the lexicon, stored in the brain in a medium-independent format, so that it can be accessed equally well in both speech and writing and without either of them influencing the other?

Models of Self-Replicators

2010 ◽  
pp. 282-314
Author(s):  
Eleonora Bilotta ◽  
Pietro Pantano
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
External World ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Cognitive Representations ◽  
Christopher Alexander ◽  
On Line ◽  
Instinctive Behavior ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Way

Structural models and patterns are vitally important for human beings. From birth, we base our emotional and cognitive representations of the external world on species-specific signals (the human face) and exploit these signals to structure our instinctive behavior. The creation of cognitive patterns to represent the world lies at the very heart of human cognition. It is this process that underlies our efficient use of signs, our ability to communicate with natural languages and to build cognitive artifacts, the way we organize the external world, and the way we organize external events in our memories and our flow of consciousness. Patterns are sometimes called schemas, or models, and discussed in terms of a gestalt (Piaget, 1960; 1970; Koelher, 1974). In the middle ages a pattern meant “the.original.proposed.to.imitation;.the. archetype;.that.which.is.to.be.copied;.an.exemplar” (from the On Line Etymology Dictionary). Modern use dates back to the XVIII century. In 1977 Christopher Alexander introduced a new way of using the term in architecture. For Alexander, a pattern was a model used to encode and organize existing knowledge, avoiding the need to reinvent the knowledge every time it was needed. For Alexander a pattern was “a three part rule, which expresses a relation between a certain context, a problem, and a solution” (Alexander et al., 1977).

scholarly journals The influence of chemical parameters on the in-situ metal carbonyl complex formation studied with the fast on-line reaction apparatus (FORA)

2021 ◽  
Vol 109 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Wittwer ◽  
Robert Eichler ◽  
Dominik Herrmann ◽  
Andreas Türler
Keyword(s):  
Metal Carbonyl ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Single Atom ◽  
Carbonyl Complex ◽  
Carbonyl Complexes ◽  
On Line ◽  
Carrier Gases ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Atom Chemistry

Abstract A new setup named Fast On-line Reaction Apparatus (FORA) is presented which allows for the efficient investigation and optimization of metal carbonyl complex (MCC) formation reactions under various reaction conditions. The setup contains a 252Cf-source producing short-lived Mo, Tc, Ru and Rh isotopes at a rate of a few atoms per second by its 3% spontaneous fission decay branch. Those atoms are transformed within FORA in-situ into volatile metal carbonyl complexes (MCCs) by using CO-containing carrier gases. Here, the design, operation and performance of FORA is discussed, revealing it as a suitable setup for performing single-atom chemistry studies. The influence of various gas-additives, such as CO2, CH4, H2, Ar, O2, H2O and ambient air, on the formation and transport of MCCs was investigated. O2, H2O and air were found to harm the formation and transport of MCCs in FORA, with H2O being the most severe. An exception is Tc, for which about 130 ppmv of H2O caused an increased production and transport of volatile compounds. The other gas-additives were not influencing the formation and transport efficiency of MCCs. Using an older setup called Miss Piggy based on a similar working principle as FORA, it was additionally investigated if gas-additives are mostly affecting the formation or only the transport stability of MCCs. It was found that mostly formation is impacted, as MCCs appear to be much less sensitive to reacting with gas-additives in comparison to the bare Mo, Tc, Ru and Rh atoms.

scholarly journals Interactive effects of incentive value and valence on the performance of discrete action sequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler J. Adkins ◽  
Bradley S. Gary ◽  
Taraz G. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Motor Tasks ◽  
Skill Retention ◽  
Incentive Value ◽  
Discrete Action ◽  
On Line ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Gains And Losses

AbstractIncentives can be used to increase motivation, leading to better learning and performance on skilled motor tasks. Prior work has shown that monetary punishments enhance on-line performance while equivalent monetary rewards enhance off-line skill retention. However, a large body of literature on loss aversion has shown that losses are treated as larger than equivalent gains. The divergence between the effects of punishments and reward on motor learning could be due to perceived differences in incentive value rather than valence per se. We test this hypothesis by manipulating incentive value and valence while participants trained to perform motor sequences. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that large reward enhanced on-line performance but impaired the ability to retain the level of performance achieved during training. However, we also found that on-line performance was better with reward than punishment and that the effect of increasing incentive value was more linear with reward (small, medium, large) while the effect of value was more binary with punishment (large vs not large). These results suggest that there are differential effects of punishment and reward on motor learning and that these effects of valence are unlikely to be driven by differences in the subjective magnitude of gains and losses.

scholarly journals A biological infrastructure for communication underlies the cultural evolution of languages

2008 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 518-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. de Ruiter ◽  
Stephen C. Levinson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Primate Brain ◽  
Human Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Development Of Language

AbstractUniversal Grammar (UG) is indeed evolutionarily implausible. But if languages are just “adapted” to a large primate brain, it is hard to see why other primates do not have complex languages. The answer is that humans have evolved a specialized and uniquely human cognitive architecture, whose main function is to compute mappings between arbitrary signals and communicative intentions. This underlies the development of language in the human species.

scholarly journals Low turbidity in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) reduces feeding behaviour and increases stress-related physiological parameters in pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) during grow-out

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan S W Ende ◽  
Ekaterina Larceva ◽  
Mirko Bögner ◽  
Vincent Lugert ◽  
Matthew James Slater ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Feed Intake ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Feeding Time ◽  
Sander Lucioperca ◽  
Recirculating Aquaculture ◽  
Recirculating Aquaculture Systems ◽  
Body Weights ◽  
High Turbidity ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Species Specific

Abstract There is a tendency to farm fish in low turbidity water when production takes place in the land-based recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). However, the effect of water turbidity on stress and performance is unknown for many species cultured in RAS. The effect of different turbidity treatments as Formazine Attenuation Units (0 FAU, 15 FAU, and 38 FAU) on feed intake performance (latency, total feeding time, and total feed intake) and physiological blood stress parameters (cortisol, lactate, and glucose) in medium-sized pikeperch ((Sander lucioperca) n = 27, undetermined sex and age) of initial body weights of 508.13g ± 83 g (at FAU 0, 15 and 38, respectively) was investigated. The rearing system consisted of 9 rectangular tanks (200 L per tank). Fish were housed individually (n = 1, per tank, n replicates per treatment = 9). All tanks were connected to a recirculation system equipped with a moving bed biofilter. Feed intake in pikeperch kept at low turbidity (0 FAU) was 25% lower than pikeperch kept at high turbidity (38 FAU) (P<0.01) and also significantly (10.5%) lower compared to feed intake in pikeperch kept at intermediate turbidity (15 FAU) (P<0.01 for 0 FAU vs 15 FAU, feed intake sign. Value as the main effect is P<0.01). Pikeperch kept at low turbidity showed significantly slower feeding response (latency time) towards pellets entering the tank, shorter feeding times (both P< 0.05), and higher glucose blood concentration (73%) in contrast to pikeperch kept at highest turbidity. A reduction of 25% feed intake has obvious economic consequences for any fish farm and present data strongly emphasize the importance of considering the species-specific biology in future RAS farming.

Use of space, active and resting behaviour in fattening rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) housed in a combi park system: A case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-506
Author(s):  
S Kimm ◽  
SL Rauterberg ◽  
J Bill ◽  
J Stracke ◽  
N Kemper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
Housing System ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
Continuous Sampling ◽  
Resting Behaviour ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Species Specific

In this case study, a housing system for rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was developed, complying with the new German Welfare Regulation, and evaluated on-farm with regard to the rabbits' behaviour during four fattening periods. The housing system was characterised by the large group size of fatteners (maximum 65 animals per group, 12 animals per m²) due to the merging of six former single units for does and their litters, post-weaning. A large elevated platform, a box with a roof (small elevated platform), a tube and gnawing materials were made available per unit. The aim being to assess the suitability of the housing system for rabbits with regard to animal welfare, based on behavioural analyses. Therefore, the use of space by the rabbits (n = 247) was investigated by video analysis (instantaneous scan sampling) during daytime. Additionally, the individual behaviour of 20 focal rabbits in different locations was assessed by continuous sampling. Results showed that rabbits preferred to huddle together in the outer units in the first weeks post-weaning. The highest animal densities were found under and in front of the large and on the small platforms. The large platforms were visited increasingly from the 10th fattening day onwards. Elevated platforms supported resting and comfort behaviours. Nonelevated open-top areas enabled upright positions and locomotor behaviours. Aggression and stereotypic behaviours rarely occurred. We conclude that the housing system supported species-specific behaviour and seemed to cater for the needs of rabbits in terms of welfare. Nevertheless, further investigation is needed to ascertain the effects on animal health and performance.

Discovering Opinions from Customers' Unstructured Textual Reviews Written in Different Natural Languages

2014 ◽  
pp. 834-859
Author(s):  
Jan Žižka ◽  
František Dařena
Keyword(s):  
Decision Tree ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Real World ◽  
Large Data ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Internet Shopping ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
On Line ◽  
Multilingual Data ◽  
Textual Form

Gaining new and keeping existing clients or customers can be well-supported by creating and monitoring feedbacks: “Are the customers satisfied? Can we improve our services?” One of possible feedbacks is allowing the customers to freely write their reviews using a simple textual form. The more reviews that are available, the better knowledge can be acquired and applied to improving the service. However, very large data generated by collecting the reviews has to be processed automatically as humans usually cannot manage it within an acceptable time. The main question is “Can a computer reveal an opinion core hidden in text reviews?” It is a challenging task because the text is written in a natural language. This chapter presents a method based on the automatic extraction of expressions that are significant for specifying a review attitude to a given topic. The significant expressions are composed using significant words revealed in the documents. The significant words are selected by a decision-tree generator based on the entropy minimization. Words included in branches represent kernels of the significant expressions. The full expressions are composed of the significant words and words surrounding them in the original documents. The results are here demonstrated using large real-world multilingual data representing customers' opinions concerning hotel accommodation booked on-line, and Internet shopping. Knowledge discovered in the reviews may subsequently serve for various marketing tasks.

A Web Knowledge Discovery Engine Based on Concept Algebra

2012 ◽  
pp. 136-151
Author(s):  
Kai Hu ◽  
Yingxu Wang ◽  
Yousheng Tian
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Discovery ◽  
Knowledge Engineering ◽  
Cognitive Computing ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Learning Capability ◽  
Web Documents ◽  
Cognitive Informatics ◽  
On Line ◽  
Cognitive Knowledge ◽  
Web Knowledge

Autonomous on-line knowledge discovery and acquisition play an important role in cognitive informatics, cognitive computing, knowledge engineering, and computational intelligence. On the basis of the latest advances in cognitive informatics and denotational mathematics, this paper develops a web knowledge discovery engine for web document restructuring and comprehension, which decodes on-line knowledge represented in informal documents into cognitive knowledge represented by concept algebra and concept networks. A visualized concept network explorer and a semantic analyzer are implemented to capture and refine queries based on concept algebra. A graphical interface is built using concept and semantic models to refine users’ queries. To enable autonomous information restructuring by machines, a two-level knowledge base that mimics human lexical/syntactical and semantic cognition is introduced. The information restructuring model provides a foundation for automatic concept indexing and knowledge extraction from web documents. The web knowledge discovery engine extends machine learning capability from imperative and adaptive information processing to autonomous and cognitive knowledge processing with unstructured documents in natural languages.

Generalized Evidential Processing in Multiple Simultaneous Threat Detection in UNIX

2012 ◽  
pp. 104-120
Author(s):  
Zafar Sultan ◽  
Paul Kwan
Keyword(s):  
Data Fusion ◽  
Detection System ◽  
Set Cover ◽  
Threat Detection ◽  
Fusion Model ◽  
Detection Systems ◽  
Size Groups ◽  
On Line ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Statistical Data Fusion

In this paper, a hybrid identity fusion model at decision level is proposed for Simultaneous Threat Detection Systems. The hybrid model is comprised of mathematical and statistical data fusion engines; Dempster Shafer, Extended Dempster and Generalized Evidential Processing (GEP). Simultaneous Threat Detection Systems improve threat detection rate by 39%. In terms of efficiency and performance, the comparison of 3 inference engines of the Simultaneous Threat Detection Systems showed that GEP is the better data fusion model. GEP increased precision of threat detection from 56% to 95%. Furthermore, set cover packing was used as a middle tier data fusion tool to discover the reduced size groups of threat data. Set cover provided significant improvement and reduced threat population from 2272 to 295, which helped in minimizing the processing complexity of evidential processing cost and time in determining the combined probability mass of proposed Multiple Simultaneous Threat Detection System. This technique is particularly relevant to on-line and Internet dependent applications including portals.

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