scholarly journals Why do you ask? The informational dynamics of questions and answers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Hawkins ◽  
Noah D. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Social Reasoning ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
The World ◽  
Questions And Answers ◽  
Report Data ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
Critical Aspects

Asking questions is one of our most efficient and reliable means of learning about the world. Yet we do not often pose these questions to an impartial oracle; we ask cooperative social partners, in dialogue. In this paper, we aim to reconcile formal models of optimal question asking and answering with classic effects of social context. We begin from the observation that question-answer dialogue is motivated by a two-sided asymmetry in beliefs: questioners have a private goal but lack goal-relevant information about the world, and answerers have private information but lack knowledge about the questioner's goal. We formalize this problem in a computational framework and derive pragmatic questioner and answerer behavior from recursive social reasoning. Critically, we predict that pragmatic answerers go beyond the literal meaning of the question to be informative with respect to inferred goals, and that pragmatic questioners may therefore select questions to more unambiguously signal their goals. We evaluate our pragmatic models against asocial models in two ways. First, we present computational simulations accounting for three classic answerer effects in psycholinguistics. We then introduce the Hidden Goal paradigm for experimentally eliciting questioner and answerer behavior in scenarios where there is uncertainty about the questioner's goal. We report data from three experiments in this paradigm and show how our core computational framework can be composed with more sophisticated question semantics, hierarchical goal spaces, and a persistent state over which extended dialogue can unfold. We find that social inference is needed to account for critical aspects of the data.

scholarly journals Helping Friends or Influencing Foes: Electoral and Policy Effects of Campaign Finance Contributions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith Schnakenberg ◽  
Ian R Turner
Keyword(s):  
Private Information ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Good News ◽  
Policy Choice ◽  
Policy Effects ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The World ◽  
Informational Effect

Campaign finance contributions may influence policy by affecting elections or influencing the choices of politicians once in office. To study the trade-offs between these two paths to influence, we use a game in which contributions may affect electoral outcomes and signal policy-relevant information to politicians. In the model, a campaign donor and two politicians each possess private information correlated with a policy-relevant state of the world. The donor may allocate his budget to either an ally candidate who has relatively similar preferences or a moderate candidate whose preferences are relatively divergent from the donor's preferred policy. Contributions that increase the likelihood of the moderate being elected can signal good news about the donor's preferred policy and influence the moderate's policy choice. However, when the electoral effect of contributions is too small to demand sufficiently high costs to deter imitation by groups with negative information, this informational effect breaks down.

scholarly journals Blackawton bees

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Blackawton ◽  
S. Airzee ◽  
A. Allen ◽  
S. Baker ◽  
A. Berrow ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Educational Programme ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Bumble Bees ◽  
Real Science ◽  
The World ◽  
Asking Questions ◽  
The Way

Background Real science has the potential to not only amaze, but also transform the way one thinks of the world and oneself. This is because the process of science is little different from the deeply resonant, natural processes of play. Play enables humans (and other mammals) to discover (and create) relationships and patterns. When one adds rules to play, a game is created. This is science: the process of playing with rules that enables one to reveal previously unseen patterns of relationships that extend our collective understanding of nature and human nature . When thought of in this way, science education becomes a more enlightened and intuitive process of asking questions and devising games to address those questions. But, because the outcome of all game-playing is unpredictable, supporting this ‘messyness’, which is the engine of science, is critical to good science education (and indeed creative education generally). Indeed, we have learned that doing ‘real’ science in public spaces can stimulate tremendous interest in children and adults in understanding the processes by which we make sense of the world. The present study (on the vision of bumble-bees) goes even further, since it was not only performed outside my laboratory (in a Norman church in the southwest of England), but the ‘games’ were themselves devised in collaboration with 25 8- to 10-year-old children. They asked the questions, hypothesized the answers, designed the games (in other words, the experiments) to test these hypotheses and analysed the data. They also drew the figures (in coloured pencil) and wrote the paper. Their headteacher (Dave Strudwick) and I devised the educational programme (we call ‘i,scientist’), and I trained the bees and transcribed the childrens' words into text (which was done with smaller groups of children at the school's local village pub). So what follows is a novel study (scientifically and conceptually) in ‘ kids speak ’ without references to past literature, which is a challenge. Although the historical context of any study is of course important, including references in this instance would be disingenuous for two reasons. First, given the way scientific data are naturally reported, the relevant information is simply inaccessible to the literate ability of 8- to 10-year-old children, and second, the true motivation for any scientific study (at least one of integrity) is one's own curiousity, which for the children was not inspired by the scientific literature, but their own observations of the world. This lack of historical, scientific context does not diminish the resulting data, scientific methodology or merit of the discovery for the scientific and ‘non-scientific’ audience. On the contrary, it reveals science in its truest (most naive) form, and in this way makes explicit the commonality between science, art and indeed all creative activities. Principal finding ‘We discovered that bumble-bees can use a combination of colour and spatial relationships in deciding which colour of flower to forage from. We also discovered that science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before. (Children from Blackawton)’.

Sulphonamide: Distribution, Toxicology, Environmental Characteristics, and Analysis - A Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirubanandam Grace Pavithra ◽  
Vasudevan Jaikumar ◽  
Ponnusamy Senthil Kumar ◽  
PanneerSelvam SundarRajan
Keyword(s):  
Aqueous Solution ◽  
High Performance Liquid Chromatography ◽  
Capillary Electrophoresis ◽  
Liquid Chromatography ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Uv Spectroscopy ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Fluorometric Determination ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The World

Background: Many antibiotics were widely used as medication based on their distinctive features. Among them, sulphonamides were commonly used, however their recalcitrant nature makes them difficult to dispose. Hence, their interaction with environment and analytic technique requires considerable attention globally. Objective: Therefore, this review aimed to provide detailed discussion about environmental as well as human health behaviour and analytic techniques corresponding to sulphonamides. Methods: Various results and discussion were extracted from technical journals and books published by different researchers from all over the world. The cited bibliographic references were intentionally investigated in order to extract relevant information related to proposed work. Results: In this review, the determination techniques such as UV-spectroscopy, Enthalpimetry, Immunosensor, Chromatography, Chemiluminescence, Photoinduced fluorometric determination, Capillary electrophoresis for sulphonamide determination were discussed in detail. Among them, High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and UV-spectroscopy was effective and extensively used for screening sulphonamide. Conclusion: Knowing the quantification and behaviour of sulphonamide in aqueous solution is mandatory to opt the suitable wastewater treatment required. Hence, choosing appropriate high precision and feasible screening techniques is necessary, which can be attained with this review.

Vagueness and the World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Bacon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Logical Space ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

According to a fairly widespread assumption, there is some definite collection of completely factual or fundamental propositions upon which all truths supervene and which are unaffected by vagueness. This assumption manifests itself in formal models of vagueness as well—for example, the supervaluationist who represents propositions as sets of world-precisification pairs may divide logical space into propositions that only depend on the world-coordinate. This chapter argues that this assumption leads to paradoxes of higher-order vagueness, and, ultimately, should be rejected in favour of a weaker notion of fundamentality or factuality. It suggests an alternative picture in which there is vagueness ‘all the way down’: logical-space can be divided into basic propositions that settle all precise matters, but it is vague where those divisions lie.

Understanding Narrative-Driven Intergroup Conflict Dynamics Using Computational Cognitive Coherence Maps

2021 ◽  
pp. 089443932110060
Author(s):  
Levent Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
Intergroup Conflict ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Inference Mechanism ◽  
Narrative Space ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Favorable Change ◽  
Cognitive Coherence

Humans make sense of the world through narratives. Therefore, adversaries often use conflict-sustaining narratives to maintain dominance and delegitimize the actions of the rivals. To better understand narratives’ role and influence in such intractable conflicts, a computational framework and methodology are introduced. The computational cognitive model and its underlying inference mechanism allow analysts to simulate and analyze narratives in relation to opposing narratives. The ability to simulate the interaction of adversarial stories with a set of micronarratives shared by members of a group opens new avenues to counter conflict-sustaining narratives. The methodology and its application to a concrete conflict scenario demonstrate how to conduct simulation-driven exploratory analysis over a complex adaptive narrative space to discern how narratives are matched to unfolding events and how they can be used to facilitate favorable change.

scholarly journals An Update on Animal Models for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection and Countermeasure Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Zhang ◽  
Shuaiyin Chen ◽  
Weiguo Zhang ◽  
Haiyan Yang ◽  
Yuefei Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Laboratory Mice ◽  
Disease Manifestation ◽  
Highly Pathogenic ◽  
The World ◽  
Coronavirus Infection ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Critical Aspects

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a pandemic since March 2020 and led to significant challenges to over 200 countries and regions all over the world. The establishment of highly pathogenic coronavirus animal model is beneficial for the study of vaccines and pathogenic mechanism of the virus. Laboratory mice, Syrian hamsters, Non-human primates and Ferrets have been used to establish animal models of emerging coronavirus infection. Different animal models can reproduce clinical infection symptoms at different levels. Appropriate animal models are of great significance for the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and the research progress related to vaccines. This review aims to introduce the current progress about experimental animal models for SARS-CoV-2, and collectively generalize critical aspects of disease manifestation in humans and increase their usefulness in research into COVID-19 pathogenesis and developing new preventions and treatments.

scholarly journals The pervasive role of pragmatics in early language

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Bohn ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Social Reasoning ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Computational Framework ◽  
Linguistic Pragmatics ◽  
Developmental Continuity ◽  
Pragmatic Reasoning

Language is a fundamentally social endeavor. Pragmatics is the study of how speakers and listeners use social reasoning to go beyond the literal meanings of words to interpret language in context. In this review, we take a pragmatic perspective on language development and argue for developmental continuity between early non-verbal communication, language learning, and linguistic pragmatics. We link phenomena from these different literatures by relating them to a computational framework (the rational speech act framework), which conceptualizes communication as fundamentally inferential and grounded in social cognition. The model specifies how different information sources (linguistic utterances, social cues, common ground) are combined when making pragmatic inferences. We present evidence in favor of this inferential view and review how pragmatic reasoning supports children’s learning, comprehension, and use of language.

scholarly journals What Will Keep the Fish Alive? Exploring Intersections of Designing, Making, and Inquiry Among Middle School Learners

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Wallace ◽  
Tarrance Banks ◽  
Mishael Sedas ◽  
Krista Glazewski ◽  
Thomas A. Brush ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Middle School Teachers ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
University Professors ◽  
The World ◽  
Asking Questions

We can see why educators are drawn to making; maker environments hold tremendous potential for engaging learners in both (a) building and representing their knowledge and (b) fostering opportunities for seeing the world in new ways. This potential reflects what our team of middle school teachers, university professors, and graduate students observed during a year-long project in which students built aquaponic systems while simultaneously asking questions about food, food systems, and sustainability. Their systems took a variety of forms, supporting everything from bluegill to aquatic frogs and growing a variety of flowers and vegetables. However, together we all also experienced struggle and moments of doubt. How much guidance is enough? Too much? How do we build knowledge and not just “do projects”? How do we connect the doing and the building with our community? With the world? And, perhaps most practically, how do we fix what we just messed up?

scholarly journals Influence of Organic Fertilizers on Productivity of Barley: A Review

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arebu Hussen Yimer
Keyword(s):  
Management Practice ◽  
Organic Fertilizer ◽  
Poultry Manure ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Animal Manure ◽  
Yield Component ◽  
Organic Fertilizers ◽  
Research Report ◽  
Hordeum Vulgare L ◽  
The World

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is one of the ancient cereal crops of agriculture in the world and one of the first domesticated cereals and fourth largest cereal crop next to maize, wheat and rice in the world. It contributes seven percent of the total cereal production. The production of barley in Ethiopia reduced by many factors from these biotic factors including rodents, pathogens, diseases, weed, pests, insects and abiotic stress like drought, flooding, temperature stress, salinity, poor management practice, frost, poor soil fertility, agronomic practice etc. among those the most important factors that reduce yield of barley in Ethiopia are the use of inappropriate organic fertilizers. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to review the influence of organic fertilizers on productivity of barely. The review was done by collecting the various published and unpublished materials relevant information from different literature sources like libraries, research report, journals, books and Internet center. As various scholars mentioned organic fertilizers affect the growth, development and yield of barley. The uses of farm yard manure, animal manure, poultry manure and vermi compost considerably improved yield and yield component of barley such as number of tillers per plant, spike length, straw, biomass, grain weight and grain yield. It concludes using organic fertilizer has crucial role for increasing barley production and productivity.

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