Action Semantics Research Articles

Handling Fuzzy SQL on Crisp databases using Lex-YACC

querying language presumes precision and certainty in user queries. But in factual situations the queries may be imprecise and may be desired to result in uncertain outcome. Introducing fuzziness in querying permits the realistic querying on the crisp data. In this paper, we propose the architecture for fuzzy querying along with an experimental implementation of the same. The implementation is using LEX and YACC that facilitate the lexical analysis of fuzzy terms and parsing the fuzzy query respectively. Fuzzy query is interpreted by the parser and the consequent semantic actions are carried out on MySQL database.

The role of mirror neurons in speech perception and action word semantics

The discovery of mirror neurons in the macaque monkey has ignited intense interest in motor theories of cognition, including speech and language. Here we examine two such claims, that the perception of speech sounds critically depends on motor representations of speech gestures (the motor theory of speech perception) and that the representation of action-related semantic knowledge critically depends on motor representations involved in performing actions. We conclude that there is strong evidence against the claim that speech perception critically depends on the motor system and that there is no conclusive evidence in support of the view that the motor system supports action semantics. We propose instead that motor-related activity during perceptual processes stem from spreading activation in sensory-motor networks that are critical for speech and language production.

Impact of the virtual reality on the neural representation of an environment

Despite the increasing use of virtual reality, the impact on cerebral representation of topographical knowledge of learning by virtual reality rather than by actual locomotion has never been investigated. To tackle this challenging issue, we conducted an experiment wherein participants learned an immersive virtual environment using a joystick. The following day, participants' brain activity was monitored by functional magnetic resonance imaging while they mentally estimated distances in this environment. Results were compared with that of participants performing the same task but having learned the real version of the environment by actual walking. We detected a large set of areas shared by both groups including the parieto-frontal areas and the parahippocampal gyrus. More importantly, although participants of both groups performed the same mental task and exhibited similar behavioral performances, they differed at the brain activity level. Unlike real learners, virtual learners activated a left-lateralized network associated with tool manipulation and action semantics. This demonstrated that a neural fingerprint distinguishing virtual from real learning persists when subjects use a mental representation of the learnt environment with equivalent performances.

The N400-concreteness effect reflects the retrieval of semantic information during the preparation of meaningful actions

The present ERP study investigated when and how action semantics, i.e. the conceptual knowledge that we acquired over the course of our lives, is activated during the preparation of object-directed actions. Subjects were required to grasp one of two objects and were implicitly instructed to either perform a meaningful action (e.g. moving a cup towards the mouth) or a meaningless action with the object (e.g. moving a cup towards the eye). A larger anterior N400 was found for the preparation of meaningful compared to meaningless actions, likely reflecting the retrieval of action semantic information in case a meaningful action was required with the object. The distribution and the latency of the anterior N400-effect were strongly related to standard N400-repetition effects, thereby further corroborating the semantic nature of the effect. In sum, the present study provides new insight in the neural and temporal dynamics underlying semantics for action.

An I/O Automata-based Approach to Verify Component Compatibility: Application to the CyCab Car

An interesting formal approach to specify component interfaces is interface automata based approach, which is proposed by L. Alfaro and T. Henzinger. These formalisms have the ability to model both the input and output requirements of components system. In this paper, we propose a method to enrich interface automata by the semantics of actions in order to verify components interoperability at the levels of signatures, semantics, and protocol interactions of actions. These interfaces consist of a set of required and offered actions specified by Pre and Post conditions. The verification of the compatibility between interface automata reuse the L. Alfaro and T. Henzinger proposed algorithm and adapt it by taking into account the action semantics. Our approach is illustrated by a case study of the vehicle CyCab.

Verb impairment in aphasia: A priming study of body-part overlap

Background: Verb production impairments are well documented in aphasia, especially in non-fluent aphasias with lesions of the left frontal lobe. Evidence is inconclusive about whether the impaired verb production is accompanied by inefficient processing and comprehension of verbs. It is unknown if specific semantic features of verbs, such as knowledge of the effector (body-part used to implement the action), are automatically activated by aphasic individuals during verb processing. This question is especially relevant given the growing evidence that unimpaired speakers mentally simulate the action portrayed by a verb, and action simulation is an inherent part of language comprehension (embodied action semantics). There is additional evidence that reading or listening to verbs depicting hand, mouth, or leg actions activates frontal motor areas associated with implementing hand, mouth, and leg actions respectively in unimpaired individuals (semantic somatotopy). Aims: This study examined on-line verb processing in nonfluent aphasic participants who are impaired in production of verbs. We investigated (1) whether somatotopic (body-part) information is automatically accessed when processing verbs, (2) how the time course of this activation influences processing of other somatotopically related verbs, and (3) whether somatotopic information that is devoid of action context (as in line drawings of body-parts) can affect downstream verb processing. Methods & Procedures: A visual-visual lexical priming paradigm was used. In Experiments 1 and 2, the prime–target verb pairs were somatotopically congruent, incongruent, or neutral nonword (licking–kissing; licking–clapping, xxxx–clapping respectively), and the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was short or long. Instead of verbs, the primes in Experiment 3 were line drawings of congruent or incongruent body-parts. Six nonfluent agrammatic aphasic individuals with verb retrieval difficulties participated in the study. Outcomes & Results: Aphasic participants were highly accurate in their responses. Lexical decision speed was influenced by the preceding primes in a specific pattern: somatotopically congruent primes caused a delay (interference) in response times, and this diminished with longer SOA. Incongruent primes had no effect on response times. Picture primes caused a general delay in lexical decision speed, but this was not a somatotopically specific effect. This pattern of results is identical to that observed with unimpaired participants. Conclusions: This group of verb-impaired aphasic individuals was able to automatically (and rapidly) activate somatotopic features of verbs, showing little evidence of impaired lexical-semantic representations. Hence verb processing and verb naming were found to dissociate. In addition, this study extends our understanding of language processing by showing that actions are simulated by the human brain, even when verbs are encountered as de-contextualised single words. Further, somatotopic information is necessary, but not sufficient, for action simulation.

Family of Extended Dynamic Description Logics

作为描述逻辑的扩展,动态描述逻辑为语义Web服务的建模和推理提供了一种有效途径.在将语义Web服务建模为动作之后,动态描述逻辑从动作执行结果的角度提供了丰富的推理机制,但对于动作的执行过程却不能加以处理.借鉴Pratt关于命题动态逻辑的相关研究,一方面,对动态描述逻辑中动作的语义重新进行定义,将每个动作解释为由关于可能世界的序列组成的集合;另一方面,在动态描述逻辑中引入动作过程断言,用来对动作的执行过程加以刻画.在此基础上提出一类扩展的动态描述逻辑EDDL(X),其中的X表示从ALC(attributive language with complements)到SHOIN(D)等具有不同描述能力的描述逻辑.以X为描述逻辑ALCQO(attributive language with complements,qualified number restrictions and nominals)的情况为例,给出了EDDL(ALCQO)的表判定算法,并证明了算法的可终止性、可靠性和完备性.EDDL(X)可以从动作执行过程和动作执行结果两个方面对动作进行全面的刻画和推理,为语义Web服务的建模和推理提供了进一步的逻辑支持.;As the extension of the description logic, many dynamic description logics are proposed for modeling and reasoning about Semantic Web Services. These dynamic description logics provide decidable reasoning mechanisms for the result of action execution. However, the procedure of action execution can not be described and reasoned about according to these logics. Inspired by an extended propositional dynamic logic studied by Pratt, this paper proposes two improvements to the dynamic description logic. One is that, semantics of actions in the dynamic description logic are redefined in such a way that each action is interpreted as a set of trajectories, where each trajectory is a sequence of possible worlds of the semantic model. The other is that, assertions on the procedure of action execution are introduced to the logic so that not only the result but also the procedure can be described for the execution of actions. As a result, a family of extended dynamic description logics named EDDL(X) is presented in this paper, where X represents well-studied description logics ranging from ALC (attributive language with complements) to SHOIN(D). Taking the description logic ALCQO (attributive language with complements, qualified number restrictions and nominals) as an example of the X of EDDL(X), this paper proposes a tableau decision algorithm for the logic EDDL(ALCQO) and proves that this algorithm is terminating, sound and complete. With EDDL(X), both the result and the procedure of action execution can be described and reasoned about. Therefore, compared with dynamic description logics, EDDL(X) provides further support for modeling and reasoning about semantic Web services.

Potential role of monkey inferior parietal neurons coding action semantic equivalences as precursors of parts of speech

The anterior portion of the inferior parietal cortex possesses comprehensive representations of actions embedded in behavioural contexts. Mirror neurons, which respond to both self-executed and observed actions, exist in this brain region in addition to those originally found in the premotor cortex. We found that parietal mirror neurons responded differentially to identical actions embedded in different contexts. Another type of parietal mirror neuron represents an inverse and complementary property of responding equally to dissimilar actions made by itself and others for an identical purpose. Here, we propose a hypothesis that these sets of inferior parietal neurons constitute a neural basis for encoding the semantic equivalence of various actions across different agents and contexts. The neurons have mirror neuron properties, and they encoded generalization of agents, differentiation of outcomes, and categorization of actions that led to common functions. By integrating the activities of these mirror neurons with various codings, we further suggest that in the ancestral primates’ brains, these various representations of meaningful action led to the gradual establishment of equivalence relations among the different types of actions, by sharing common action semantics. Such differential codings of the components of actions might represent precursors to the parts of protolanguage, such as gestural communication, which are shared among various members of a society. Finally, we suggest that the inferior parietal cortex serves as an interface between this action semantics system and other higher semantic systems, through common structures of action representation that mimic language syntax.

Semi-automatic financial events discovery based on lexico-semantic patterns

Due to the market sensitivity to emerging news, investors on financial markets need to continuously monitor financial events when deciding on buying and selling equities. We propose the use of lexico-semantic patterns for financial event extraction from RSS news feeds. These patterns use financial ontologies, leveraging the commonly used lexico-syntactic patterns to a higher abstraction level, thereby enabling lexico-semantic patterns to identify more and more precisely events than lexico-syntactic patterns from text. We have developed rules based on lexico-semantic patterns used to find events, and semantic actions that allow for updating the domain ontology with the effects of the discovered events. Both the lexico-semantic patterns and the semantic actions make use of the triple paradigm that fosters their easy construction and understanding by the user. Based on precision, recall, and F 1 measures, we show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

スポーツにおける意味生成論―拡大体験の可能性とその契機―

The aim of the present study was to examine semantic generation related to experiences associated with sports activities, and to clarify the moments at which semantic generation occurs. Although Yano and Kubo did not discuss the issue of expanding experience, they acknowledge the possibility of semantic generation in dissolved experience, which is similar to expanding experience. Grupe perceived the achievement of voluntary and autotelic play following the rules of the game as the general semantic of sports, and mentioned several derived semantics, i.e. physical and self-personality experiences, health and well-being, excitement and tension, connections with others, involvement with nature, aesthetics and drama, and play-related motivation. Studies in this area have confirmed that semantic content other than play-related motivation is derived from either dissolved experience or expanding experience. Dissolved experience should therefore be interpreted as generation and expanding experience as semantic generation. Next, focusing on the expanding experience to which Yano and Kubo have not referred, a problem has arisen regarding the meaning of semantics and how to investigate the momentum of semantic generation. The results derived so far suggest that semantics refers to primary semantic actions, rather than content, and that in order to achieve semantic generation, recombination of already formed concepts is needed. In this regard, ”flesh” may be considered an opportunity for recombination, or a type of denial. With regard to situations in which semantic generation can be experienced, or more concretely, situations in which aspect modifications can be experienced, it can be considered that these represent a state of double bind as one form of communication, and the present study considers situations involving such experiences in sports. For example, when passing the ball in soccer or running a crucial leg of a long-distance race, athletes may experience an adverse situation and change their views and mind-set to overcome it. Such experiences will prompt a conversion of interpretation schema of the athlete him/herself.

TOWARDS A SEMANTIC STATE TRANSITION SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED GENERATION OF DATA FLOW IN WEB SERVICE COMPOSITION

Most of the work on automated web service composition has focused so far on composition of stateful web services. This level of composition so-called "Process Level" considers web services with their internal and complex behaviors. At process level formal models such as State Transition Systems (STS from now) or Interface Automata are the most appropriate models to represent the internal behavior of stateful web services. However such models focus only on semantics of their behaviors and unfortunately not on semantics of actions and their parameters. In this paper, we suggest to extend the STS model, by following the WSMO based annotation for Abstract State Machine. This semantic enhancement of STS so called S2 TS will enable to model semantics of internal behaviors and semantics of their actions together with their input and output parameters. Secondly, we will focus on automated generation of data flow (or the process to perform automated assignments between parameter of services involved in a composition). Thus we do not restrict to assignments of exact parameters (which is practically never used in industrial scenario) but extend assignments to semantically close parameters (e.g., through a subsumption matching) in the same ontology. Our system is implemented and interacting with web services dedicated to Telecommunication scenarios. The preliminary evaluation results showed high efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Early action in an Earley parser

Traditional Earley parsers operate in two phases: first recognizing the input, then constructing the forest of parse trees. Practically speaking, this quirk makes it awkward to use in a compiler-compiler, because semantic actions attached to rules are only executed after the fact. We address this problem by identifying safe Earley sets, points during the recognition phase at which partial parse trees can be constructed; this means that semantic actions may be executed on the fly. A secondary benefit is that Earley sets can be deleted during recognition, resulting in a substantial savings of both space and time.

Refinement of Interface Automata Strengthened by Action Semantics

Interface automata are light-weight models that capture the temporal interface behavior of software components. They have the ability to model both the input requirements and the output behavior of a component. They support the compatibility check between interface models to ensure a correct interaction between components and they adopt an alternating simulation approach to design refinement. In this paper, we extend our previous works on checking interface automata interoperability by adapting their alternating refinement relation to the action semantics. We show the relation between pre and post-conditions of transitions in the abstract version of an interface and their corresponding ones in its concrete version. We illustrate our extensions by a case study of the CyCab car component-based system.

Action semantic knowledge about objects is supported by functional motor activation.

The present study assessed the functional organization of action semantics by asking subjects to categorize pictures of an actor holding objects with a correct or incorrect grip at either a correct or incorrect goal location. Overall, reaction times were slower if the object was presented with an inappropriate posture, and this effect was stronger for goal violations compared with grip violations (Experiment 1). In addition, the retrieval of action semantics was found accompanied by the implicit activation of motor representations. Body-related objects (e.g., cup) were classified faster when a movement toward the subject's body was required, whereas world-related objects (e.g., pincers) were responded to faster with a movement in the opposite direction (Experiments 2 and 3). In contrast, when subjects were required to retrieve only visual semantics (Experiment 4), no interference effects of postural information were observed, and motor representations were only partially activated. These findings suggest that action semantics can be accessed independently from visual semantics and that the retrieval of action semantics is supported by functional motor activation reflecting the prototypical use of an object.

Zum Begriff der Wissenschaft bei Cassirer

The concept of sciences holds a central place in the early philosophy of Ernst Cassirer and it provides a conceptual framework even for the philosophy of symbolic forms. This paper identifies Cassirer's concept of sciences as a double barrelled reconstructive approach, which allows to understand not only the constitution of actual scientific semantics but at the same time the transformation of the scientific mode of thought. It is shown, that these principles of transformation are indeed the very form of form, referring to which the transformation of a mode of thought is to be considered as a process of self-determination and self-development, a process that can only be understood re-constructively. It is this reconstructive approach of Marburgian Neokantianism which provides a specific culturalist point of view on the status of sciences and their formal, theoretical and experimental modes of world-making.

Family of Extended Dynamic Description Logics

As the extension of the description logic,many dynamic description logics are proposed for modeling and reasoning about Semantic Web Services. These dynamic description logics provide decidable reasoning mechanisms for the result of action execution. However,the procedure of action execution can not be described and reasoned about according to these logics. Inspired by an extended propositional dynamic logic studied by Pratt,this paper proposes two improvements to the dynamic description logic. One is that,semantics of actions in the dynamic description logic are redefined in such a way that each action is interpreted as a set of trajectories,where each trajectory is a sequence of possible worlds of the semantic model. The other is that,assertions on the procedure of action execution are introduced to the logic so that not only the result but also the procedure can be described for the execution of actions. As a result,a family of extended dynamic description logics named EDDL(X) is presented in this paper,where X represents well-studied description logics ranging from ALC (attributive language with complements) to SHOIN(D). Taking the description logic ALCQO (attributive language with complements,qualified number restrictions and nominals) as an example of the X of EDDL(X),this paper proposes a tableau decision algorithm for the logic EDDL(ALCQO) and proves that this algorithm is terminating,sound and complete. With EDDL(X),both the result and the procedure of action execution can be described and reasoned about. Therefore,compared with dynamic description logics,EDDL(X) provides further support for modeling and reasoning about semantic Web services.

The employee in the sign of love

In this article we explore the language of passion, which has evolved to be a significant element in the descriptions of late modern job life. Niklas Luhman’s theory of social communication systems frames the analysis. It allows us to make a clear distinction between semantics and systems and enables us to track the empirical developments in semantics and reflect upon their communicative consequences. The article is divided into three parts. Part one is a semantic analysis of the past 25 years of human resource management (HRM) discourse in the Danish public sector, where we note the development from a bureaucratic description of the work relation towards a passionate one. Part two employs Luhmann’s theory of symbolically generalized media in order to systematize the development of semantics. Step by step, we examine whether the characteristics of communication in the code of love can be recognized in actual HRM semantics and, if so, in which form. The third part of the article explores the reasons why public organizations have opened themselves up, first, to the HRM discourse and, second, to a codification of love. We contend that it is due to a significant shift in the temporality of public organizations, where the new ideal of change‐driven organizations promotes a logic of enthusiasm and capacity for change that is not reconcilable with legal and bureaucratic coding. The article finally discusses some of the consequences, among which we especially point to the privatization of organizational inclusion and exclusion accompanying the semantic turn towards passion.

The Two-Level Theory of verb meaning: An approach to integrating the semantics of action with the mirror neuron system

Verbs have two separate levels of meaning. One level reflects the uniqueness of every verb and is called the “root”. The other level consists of a more austere representation that is shared by all the verbs in a given class and is called the “event structure template”. We explore the following hypotheses about how, with specific reference to the motor features of action verbs, these two distinct levels of semantic representation might correspond to two distinct levels of the mirror neuron system. Hypothesis 1: Root-level motor features of verb meaning are partially subserved by somatotopically mapped mirror neurons in the left primary motor and/or premotor cortices. Hypothesis 2: Template-level motor features of verb meaning are partially subserved by representationally more schematic mirror neurons in Brodmann area 44 of the left inferior frontal gyrus. Evidence has been accumulating in support of the general neuroanatomical claims made by these two hypotheses—namely, that each level of verb meaning is associated with the designated cortical areas. However, as yet no studies have satisfied all the criteria necessary to support the more specific neurobiological claims made by the two hypotheses—namely, that each level of verb meaning is associated with mirror neurons in the pertinent brain regions. This would require demonstrating that within those regions the same neuronal populations are engaged during (a) the linguistic processing of particular motor features of verb meaning, (b) the execution of actions with the corresponding motor features, and (c) the observation of actions with the corresponding motor features.

Функционирование высказываний с семантикой вынужденного действия в речи

Функционирование высказываний с семантикой вынужденного действия в речи

Maude Object-Oriented Action Tool

Object-Oriented Action Semantics (OOAS) incorporates object-oriented concepts to the Action Semantics formalism. Its main goal is to obtain more readable and reusable semantics specifications. Moreover, it supports syntax-independent specifications, due to the way classes are written. Maude Object-Oriented Action Tool (MOOAT) is an executable environment for Object-Oriented Action Semantics implemented as a conservative extension of Full Maude and Maude MSOS Tool (MMT). The Modular SOS of Action Notation has been implemented using MMT transitions and Full Maude has been used to implement the Classes Notation. The syntax created by MOOAT is fairly similar to the original Object-Oriented Action Semantics syntax. In addition to it, the tool combines the modularity aspects observed in the object-oriented approach with the efficient execution and analysis of the Maude system. We use MOOAT to describe syntax-independent specifications of programming languages. In this way, we show how Constructive Object-Oriented Action Semantics (COOAS) may be achieved as a combination between Object-Oriented Action Semantics and Constructive Action Semantics (CAS) using MOOAT, in order to increase the modularity aspects observed in the object-oriented formalism. This paper reports on the development of Maude Object-Oriented Action Tool and its application to the formal specification of programming languages.