Negative Answers Research Articles

On the Negativity of Negative Fragment Answers and Ellipsis Resolution

Based on the assumption that the amwu-(N)-to expressions in Korean are Negative Concord Items, this paper presents evidence for the inherent negativity of the amwu-(N)-to expressions. Further, along the line of the recent studies which argue that ellipsis ‘is’ subject to some syntactic identity condition over and above any semantic identity condition, this paper explores the syntactic resolution of Negative fragment ellipsis: the amwu-(N)-to expressions can be used without negation only in ellipsis exactly because ellipsis repairs a violation of Neg-feature checking requirement. In consequence, the puzzle of Island-Insensitivity of fragments in Korean can be handled.

Ending up with less: the role of working memory in solving simple subtraction problems with positive and negative answers

Does solving subtraction problems with negative answers (e.g., 5–14) require different cognitive processes than solving problems with positive answers (e.g., 14–5)? In a dual-task experiment, young adults (N=39) combined subtraction with two working memory tasks, verbal memory and visual-spatial memory. All of the subtraction problems required verbal working memory but only large problems with negative answers (e.g., 8–17) required visual-spatial working memory. Small-operand problems (e.g., 5–3) required less verbal working memory than large-operand problems (e.g., 15–9). Answers to small problems were probably retrieved from memory even when the answer was negative (e.g., 3–5). In contrast, large problems with negative answers may have required participants to modify their solution procedures such that problem difficulty increased. These results indicate that even relatively simple subtraction problems can be cognitively demanding of both verbal and visual-spatial working memory, especially when solutions are not activated automatically.

Humans are not alone in computing how others see the world

It is 35 years since Premack & Woodruff famously asked, ‘Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?’ (1978, Behavioral and Brain Sciences , 1 , 515–526). The first wave of experiments designed to tackle this provocative question in the context of cooperative transactions with humans offered largely negative answers. It was not until a landmark Animal Behaviour paper by Hare et al. (2000 , Animal Behaviour , 59 , 771–786) that a different approach based around foraging competition between conspecifics delivered an affirmative (if limited) verdict that, at least, ‘Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see’. This influential paper laid the foundations for a much more productive decade of studies that provided evidence for apes' recognition in others of states corresponding to knowing, intending and inferring. It further stimulated related studies in other mammalian and avian species too. Here I set the Hare et al. paper in its historical, scientific context, provide an overview of the variety of studies that have followed in its wake and address some core questions about the scientific tractability of identifying phenomena in nonverbal creatures that may be akin to human ‘theory of mind’.

Response to comment of Sierra Rayne on “Targeting aquatic microcontaminants for monitoring: exposure categorization and application to the Swiss situation [Götz et al., Environ Sci Pollut Res (2010) 17:341–354

In the comment of S. Rayne on the article “Targeting aquatic microcontaminants for monitoring,” two concerns are raised: (1) The article lacked pKa data. The author of the comment claims that the pKa values are missing for 26 of the approximately 250 substances investigated. (2) The model that was applied for the calculation of water–organic phase partitioning is too simplistic to correctly describe sorption to solid phases. Essentially, both questions target the applicability of the presented method for assessing the aquatic fate of ionizable substances. The method presented clearly has its shortcomings with respect to these substances. However, since the method presented in our article was intended as a screening tool to select substances for monitoring, it was developed to cover the broadest range of chemicals possible, and therefore false positive and negative answers have to be accepted to a certain extent, as in every screening tool. The main objective was to develop an easily applicable method that had a lower data demand than other existing models and allowed the identification of new substances that might warrant more intense investigation. Response to query 1: “lack of pKa data”

Assessment of HIV-related risky behaviour: a comparative study of face-to-face interviews and polling booth surveys in the general population of Cotonou, Benin

ObjectivesDuring the 2008 HIV prevalence survey carried out in the general population of Cotonou, Benin, face-to-face interviews (FTFI) were used to assess risky behaviours for HIV and other sexually transmitted...

On sunflowers and matrix multiplication

We present several variants of the sunflower conjecture of Erdős & Rado (J Lond Math Soc 35:85–90, 1960) and discuss the relations among them. We then show that two of these conjectures (if true) imply negative answers to the questions of Coppersmith & Winograd (J Symb Comput 9:251–280, 1990) and Cohn et al. (2005) regarding possible approaches for obtaining fast matrix-multiplication algorithms. Specifically, we show that the Erdős–Rado sunflower conjecture (if true) implies a negative answer to the “no three disjoint equivoluminous subsets” question of Coppersmith & Winograd (J Symb Comput 9:251–280, 1990); we also formulate a “multicolored” sunflower conjecture in $${\mathbb{Z}_3^n}$$ and show that (if true) it implies a negative answer to the “strong USP” conjecture of Cohn et al. (2005) (although it does not seem to impact a second conjecture in Cohn et al. (2005) or the viability of the general group-theoretic approach). A surprising consequence of our results is that the Coppersmith–Winograd conjecture actually implies the Cohn et al. conjecture. The multicolored sunflower conjecture in $${\mathbb{Z}_3^n}$$ is a strengthening of the well-known (ordinary) sunflower conjecture in $${\mathbb{Z}_3^n}$$ , and we show via our connection that a construction from Cohn et al. (2005) yields a lower bound of (2.51 . . .) n on the size of the largest multicolored 3-sunflower-free set, which beats the current best-known lower bound of (2.21 . . . ) n Edel (2004) on the size of the largest 3-sunflower-free set in $${\mathbb{Z}_3^n}$$ .

On the Law of Large Numbers for Nonmeasurable Identically Distributed Random Variables

Let $\Omega$ be a countable infinite product $\Omega^\N$ of copies of the same probability space $\Omega_1$, and let ${\Xi_n}$ be the sequence of the coordinate projection functions from $\Omega$ to $\Omega_1$. Let $\Psi$ be a possibly nonmeasurable function from $\Omega_1$ to $\R$, and let $X_n(\omega) = \Psi(\Xi_n(\omega))$. Then we can think of ${X_n}$ as a sequence of independent but possibly nonmeasurable random variables on $\Omega$. Let $S_n = X_1+...+X_n$. By the ordinary Strong Law of Large Numbers, we almost surely have $E_*[X_1] \le \liminf S_n/n \le \limsup S_n/n \le E^*[X_1]$, where $E_*$ and $E^*$ are the lower and upper expectations. We ask if anything more precise can be said about the limit points of $S_n/n$ in the non-trivial case where $E_*[X_1] < E^*[X_1]$, and obtain several negative answers. For instance, the set of points of $\Omega$ where $S_n/n$ converges is maximally nonmeasurable: it has inner measure zero and outer measure one.

The Negation of Three Measure Conjectures

In this paper we propose three measure conjectures that seem to be right,via some theorems and the construction of A-Cantor set and its complementary set,we obtain the negative answers to the three conjectures.

Triagem pré-participação em exercício físico em pacientes com doença arterial periférica

CONTEXTO: Os indivíduos com doença arterial periférica (DAP) apresentam alto risco de doença cardiovascular. Dessa forma, é imprescindível que os instrumentos de triagem pré-participação em exercício indiquem quais pacientes com DAP devem realizar avaliação cardiovascular antes de iniciar o programa de exercício. OBJETIVO: Comparar a sensibilidade de dois instrumentos de triagem pré-participação em exercício para identificação de indivíduos com DAP. MÉTODOS: Vinte e oito pacientes com DAP de ambos os sexos responderam ao questionário de prontidão para a atividade física (PAR-Q) e um questionário de estratificação do risco cardiovascular (QERC) baseado nas diretrizes do American College of Sports Medicine. RESULTADOS: O PAR-Q mostrou que a questão seis (Algum médico já recomendou o uso de medicamentos para a sua pressão arterial ou condição cardiovascular?) foi a que apresentou maior frequência de respostas positivas (82,1%). Considerando todas as respostas, cinco indivíduos não tiveram nenhuma positiva ao questionário (17,9%), indicando que estariam aptos para a prática de atividade física. Os resultados do QERC mostraram que as questões 11 (Você sente queimação ou sensação de câimbras em suas pernas quando faz caminhada?) e 2 (Algum médico já falou que você tem pressão alta?) apresentaram a maior frequência de respostas positivas (82,1%). CONCLUSÕES: Segundo o QERC, todos os indivíduos da amostra foram considerados com alto risco cardiovascular. O PAR-Q não foi sensível o suficiente para identificar todos os sujeitos, ao passo que o QERC identificou todos os indivíduos. Assim, sugere-se a utilização do QERC para identificação de indivíduos com DAP.

Feedback de usuários como subsídio para avaliação do estudante de medicina

A avaliação é fundamental para o processo ensino-aprendizagem. Diferentes métodos de avaliação e diversos atores envolvidos na avaliação podem fornecer elementos distintos, que, somados, fornecem melhor compreensão sobre a efetividade do processo educacional em suas variadas dimensões. A avaliação de habilidades e atitudes de estudantes tem recebido grande atenção recentemente. O envolvimento de pacientes no processo pode ser contributivo, pois sua perspectiva acrescenta informações ímpares. O presente estudo avaliou a aquisição de competências e habilidades de estudantes de Medicina no internato de Obstetrícia, sob o ponto de vista de gestantes. As pacientes responderam a um questionário segundo escala de Likert, com itens de avaliação divididos em habilidades de comunicação, exame físico e profissionalismo. Os resultados mostraram boa avaliação dos estudantes em geral, o que atribuímos ao sentimento de gratidão das pacientes. Algumas questões com maiores frequências de respostas negativas, porém, apontam aspectos que merecem maior atenção da escola médica pelo impacto que podem trazer à prática profissional. A perspectiva de pacientes na avaliação do estudante de Medicina poderá balizar estratégias de feedback para qualificar a formação médica.

NOTES ON -TOPOLOGICAL GROUPS AND HOMEOMORPHISMS OF TOPOLOGICAL GROUPS

AbstractIn this paper, it is shown that there exists a connected topological group which is not homeomorphic to any $\omega $-narrow topological group, and also that there exists a zero-dimensional topological group $G$ with neutral element $e$ such that the subspace $X = G\setminus \{e\}$ is not homeomorphic to any topological group. These two results give negative answers to two open problems in Arhangel’skii and Tkachenko [Topological Groups and Related Structures (Atlantis Press, Amsterdam, 2008)]. We show that if a compact topological group is a $K$-space, then it is metrisable. This result gives an affirmative answer to a question posed by Malykhin and Tironi [‘Weakly Fréchet–Urysohn and Pytkeev spaces’, Topology Appl. 104 (2000), 181–190] in the category of topological groups. We also prove that a regular $K$-space $X$ is a weakly Fréchet–Urysohn space if and only if $X$has countable tightness.

Is 'no' a force-indicator? Sometimes, possibly

Some bilateralists have suggested that some of our negative answers to yes-or-no questions are cases of rejection. Mark Textor (2011. Is ‘no’ a force-indicator? No! Analysis 71: 448–56) has recently argued that this suggestion falls prey to a version of the Frege-Geach problem. This note reviews Textor's objection and shows why it fails. We conclude with some brief remarks concerning where we think that future attacks on bilateralism should be directed.

Predictors for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo with positive Dix-Hallpike test.

ObjectivePatient medical history is important for making a diagnosis of causes of dizziness, but there have been no studies on the diagnostic value of individual items in the history. This study was performed to identify and validate useful questions for suspecting a diagnosis of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).MethodsConstruction and validation of a disease prediction model was performed at the outpatient clinic in the Department of General Medicine of Chiba University Hospital. Patients with dizziness were enrolled (145 patients for construction of the disease prediction model and 61 patients for its validation). This study targeted BPPV of the posterior semicircular canals only with a positive Dix–Hallpike test (DHT + BPPV) to avoid diagnostic ambiguity. Binomial logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the items that were useful for diagnosis or exclusion of DHT + BPPV.ResultsTwelve patients from the derivation set and six patients from the validation set had DHT + BPPV. Binomial logistic regression analysis selected a “duration of dizziness ≤15 seconds” and “onset when turning over in bed” as independent predictors of DHT + BPPV with an odds ratio (95% confidence interval) of 4.36 (1.18–16.19) and 10.17 (2.49–41.63), respectively. Affirmative answers to both questions yielded a likelihood ratio of 6.81 (5.11–9.10) for diagnosis of DHT + BPPV, while negative answers to both had a likelihood ratio of 0.19 (0.08–0.47).ConclusionA “duration of dizziness ≤15 seconds” and “onset when turning over in bed” were the two most important questions among various historical features of BPPV.

블렌디드 러닝을 활용한 ‘기초중국어’ 수업 모형 개발 및 적용

The purpose of this study is to propose a fundamental chinese class model using blended learning for the undergraduate student who is learning chinese first time. When the proposed teaching model was applied to the University fundamental chinese class, it is observed that there was no student who answered negative aspects of the class. There was also no negative answers about the class style, which was that on-line class was mainly composed of explanation and off-line class for practice of conversation. However, originally proposed teaching method was restricted by the time limit of discussion and sudden quiz. For the active discussion, it should be scheduled in between online and offline class.

Is it Possible to Treat Hypoglycaemia Adequately in Pupils Suffering From Type 1 Diabetes in Schools in the Tuzla Canton

Objective – The study was undertaken in order to assess on the basis of the opinions of high school teachers if the conditions exist in their schools to provide adequate assistance to pupils suffering from type 1 diabetes mellitus in a state of hypoglycaemia. Subjects and Methods – 74 teachers from 35 different schools were surveyed by means of a cross-sectional study. According to whether the school was attended by a pupil suffering from T1DM, the teachers were divided into two groups: group 1 (schools with a pupil suffering from T1DN; n=7) and group 2 (schools without any pupils suffering from T1DM; n=47). Results – Most of the teachers knew what hypoglycaemia is, and there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in this regard (p=0.718). There were more negative answers in both groups (p=00.001 and p<0.001) to the question: “Does the school have written instructions on how to treat hypoglycaemia?” In the first group the question: “Can a pupil measure his/her blood sugar levels during lesson time?” received more positive replies (p=0.013), whilst in the second group the difference between the replies was not statistically significant (p=0.144). In response to the question “Does the school have drinks or food available to treat hypoglycaemia?” there were more negative answers in both groups (p<0.001 and p<0.001). To the question: “Can a child suffering from diabetes eat food or have a drink during lesson time?” there were more positive answers in both groups (p<0.001, and p<0.001). In response to the question: “Does the school have people who know how to give an injection of glucagon?” there were more negative answers in both groups (p=0.003, and p<0.001). There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of the answers given. The main reasons for insufficient care for pupils suffering from T1DM whilst in school were seen by 40.5% of teachers as a lack of attention given to the problems of these pupils and the lack of education of teaching staff about T1DM. Conclusion – The results obtained indicate that the conditions are not met in our schools to provide appropriate assistance to children suffering from T1DM in a state of hypoglycaemia.

Representation of squares by monic second degree polynomials in the field of 𝑝-adic meromorphic functions

We prove a result on the representation of squares by monic second degree polynomials in the field ofpp-adic meromorphic functions in order to solve positively Büchi’snnsquares problem in this field. Using this result, we prove the non-existence of an algorithm to decide whether a system of diagonal quadratic forms overZ[z]\mathbb {Z}[z]represents or not in the ring ofpp-adic entire functions (in the variablezz) a given vector of polynomials inZ[z]\mathbb {Z}[z], and a similar result forpp-adic meromorphic functions when the systems allow vanishing conditions on the unknowns. This improves the known negative answers for the analogue of Hilbert’s Tenth Problem for these structures. We also improve some results by Vojta concerning the case of complex meromorphic functions, the case of function fields and finally the case of number fields, and we show an intimate relation of the latter with Bombieri’s Conjecture for surfaces over number fields.

Deligne’s representation theory in complex rank and objects of integral type

Working with Pierre Deligne’s category of representations of the “symmetric group S t with t a complex number” we give negative answers to certain questions on $${\otimes}$$ -categories raised by Bruno Kahn and Charles A. Weibel.

Rationality problem of three-dimensional monomial group actions

Let K be a field of characteristic not two and K ( x , y , z ) the rational function field over K with three variables x , y , z . Let G be a finite group acting on K ( x , y , z ) by monomial K-automorphisms. We consider the rationality problem of the fixed field K ( x , y , z ) G under the action of G, namely whether K ( x , y , z ) G is rational (that is, purely transcendental) over K or not. We may assume that G is a subgroup of GL ( 3 , Z ) and the problem is determined up to conjugacy in GL ( 3 , Z ) . There are 73 conjugacy classes of G in GL ( 3 , Z ) . By results of Endo–Miyata, Voskresenskiĭ, Lenstra, Saltman, Hajja, Kang and Yamasaki, 8 conjugacy classes of 2-groups in GL ( 3 , Z ) have negative answers to the problem under certain monomial actions over some base field K, and the necessary and sufficient condition for the rationality of K ( x , y , z ) G over K is given. In this paper, we show that the fixed field K ( x , y , z ) G under monomial action of G is rational over K except for possibly negative 8 cases of 2-groups and unknown one case of the alternating group of degree four. Moreover we give explicit transcendental bases of the fixed fields over K. For the unknown case, we obtain an affirmative solution to the problem under some conditions. In particular, we show that if K is quadratically closed field then K ( x , y , z ) G is rational over K. We also give an application of the result to 4-dimensional linear Noetherʼs problem.

Carnap, Goguen, and the Hyperontologies: Logical Pluralism and Heterogeneous Structuring in Ontology Design

This paper addresses questions of universality related to ontological engineering, namely aims at substantiating (negative) answers to the following three basic questions: (i) Is there a ‘universal ontology’?, (ii) Is there a ‘universal formal ontology language’?, and (iii) Is there a universally applicable ‘mode of reasoning’ for formal ontologies? To support our answers in a principled way, we present a general framework for the design of formal ontologies resting on two main principles: firstly, we endorse Rudolf Carnap’s principle of logical tolerance by giving central stage to the concept of logical heterogeneity, i.e. the use of a plurality of logical languages within one ontology design. Secondly, to structure and combine heterogeneous ontologies in a semantically well-founded way, we base our work on abstract model theory in the form of institutional semantics, as forcefully put forward by Joseph Goguen and Rod Burstall. In particular, we employ the structuring mechanisms of the heterogeneous algebraic specification language HetCasl for defining a general concept of heterogeneous, distributed, highly modular and structured ontologies, called hyperontologies. Moreover, we distinguish, on a structural and semantic level, several different kinds of combining and aligning heterogeneous ontologies, namely integration, connection, and refinement. We show how the notion of heterogeneous refinement can be used to provide both a general notion of sub-ontology as well as a notion of heterogeneous equivalence of ontologies, and finally sketch how different modes of reasoning over ontologies are related to these different structuring aspects.

Some classes of semisimple group (and loop) algebras over finite fields

We determine the structure of the semisimple group algebra of certain groups over the rationals and over those finite fields where the Wedderburn decompositions have the least number of simple components. We apply our work to obtain similar information about the loop algebras of indecomposable RA loops and to produce negative answers to the isomorphism problem over various fields.