Sophisticated Representation Research Articles

The poetics of disappointment: Wordsworth to Ashbery

Poetics of Disappointment offers nothing less than a complete revision of our understanding of romantic poetry. By examining the lineage of Wordsworth, Shelley, Stevens, and Ashbery, Quinney challenges Harold Bloom's identification of major romantic poems as crisis lyrics and questions his idea that the disappointment these poets explore is compensated by their celebration of a heroic Rather, Quinney argues, the form of disappointment examined by the romantic poet often finds him bewildered and oppressed, in a state beyond the simple failure of literary ambition or romantic love. Beginning with Wordsworth's major autobiographical poems, including Tintern Abbey and the Intimations Ode, Quinney identifies a strain of romantic and postromantic lyric that devotes itself to capturing a disoriented sadness, a disappointment in which the self is isolated and frozen. She considers poems by Shelley, Stevens, and Ashbery, which she argues concern not specific disappointments but a psychic state of being disappointed. According to Quinney, an experience of loss has fractured and paralyzed the formerly hopeful self because that self seems in retrospect arrogant and naive or, as Ashbery puts it, the dream sustaining all other dreams dies. Quinney's critical prose is wonderfully fluent, conversant with theory but never relying on jargon to make her complex and sensitive argument. Drawing on the psychological insights of Freud and Klein and on the philosophy of Kierkegaard, Quinney sees in her paradigm of disappointment a sophisticated representation of self that goes beyond mere pathos or melancholia. The history of romantic and postromantic poetry, she finds, is not a history of ambitious self-assertion but a collective testimony of chagrin over the broken promises of the self.

The Semantic Web: the roles of XML and RDF

XML and RDF are the current standards for establishing semantic interoperability on the Web, but XML addresses only document structure. RDF better facilitates interoperation because it provides a data model that can be extended to address sophisticated ontology representation techniques. We explain the role of ontologies in the architecture of the Semantic Web. We then briefly summarize key elements of XML and RDF, showing why using XML as a tool for semantic interoperability will be ineffective in the long run. We argue that a further representation and inference layer is needed on top of the Web's current layers, and to establish such a layer, we propose a general method for encoding ontology representation languages into RDF/RDF schema. We illustrate the extension method by applying it to Ontology Interchange Language, an ontology representation and inference language.

Towards structural optimization of planar integrated lightwave circuits

In this paper we present a simulation and optimization approach which is based on a sophisticated representation scheme. Three levels of representation (geometry, functional description, and netlist) in combination with a scattering matrix approach allow a very fast and accurate simulation of geometrically defined lightwave circuits. A semantic analysis makes the transition between the geometry and the functional description by detecting and extracting elements like, e.g., different shapes of directional couplers. Based on this representation scheme an evolutionary optimization strategy is proposed, which allows the optimization of a given topology using a number of different mutation operators, and with which in future it should be possible to find new topologies. An outlook in this direction is given.

Human simulations of vocabulary learning

The work reported here experimentally investigates a striking generalization about vocabulary acquisition: Noun learning is superior to verb learning in the earliest moments of child language development. The dominant explanation of this phenomenon in the literature invokes differing conceptual requirements for items in these lexical categories: Verbs are cognitively more complex than nouns and so their acquisition must await certain mental developments in the infant. In the present work, we investigate an alternative hypothesis; namely, that it is the information requirements of verb learning, not the conceptual requirements, that crucially determine the acquisition order. Efficient verb learning requires access to structural features of the exposure language and thus cannot take place until a scaffolding of noun knowledge enables the acquisition of clause-level syntax. More generally, we experimentally investigate the hypothesis that vocabulary acquisition takes place via an incremental constraint-satisfaction procedure that bootstraps itself into successively more sophisticated linguistic representations which, in turn, enable new kinds of vocabulary learning. If the experimental subjects were young children, it would be difficult to distinguish between this information-centered hypothesis and the conceptual change hypothesis. Therefore the experimental “learners” are adults. The items to be “acquired” in the experiments were the 24 most frequent nouns and 24 most frequent verbs from a sample of maternal speech to 18–24-month-old infants. The various experiments ask about the kinds of information that will support identification of these words as they occur in mother-to-child discourse. Both the proportion correctly identified and the type of word that is identifiable changes significantly as a function of information type. We discuss these results as consistent with the incremental construction of a highly lexicalized grammar by cognitively and pragmatically sophisticated human infants, but inconsistent with a procedure in which lexical acquisition is independent of and antecedent to syntax acquisition.

Hierarchical models of object recognition in cortex.

Visual processing in cortex is classically modeled as a hierarchy of increasingly sophisticated representations, naturally extending the model of simple to complex cells of Hubel and Wiesel. Surprisingly, little quantitative modeling has been done to explore the biological feasibility of this class of models to explain aspects of higher-level visual processing such as object recognition. We describe a new hierarchical model consistent with physiological data from inferotemporal cortex that accounts for this complex visual task and makes testable predictions. The model is based on a MAX-like operation applied to inputs to certain cortical neurons that may have a general role in cortical function.

Expert-Novice Differences in Performance Skills and Problem Representations of Youth and Adults during Tennis Competition

Expert and novice tennis players selected from three different age groups (i.e., 10–11 years, 12–13 years, and collegiate adults) were examined for differences in performance skills (i.e., behavioral analyses of video recordings) and problem representations (i.e., verbal report analyses of tape recordings) during matched competition. Factorial analyses of variance on behavioral measures indicated that experts' performances exhibited higher levels of decision and execution than novices, regardless of age. Kruskal-Wallis tests on verbal report measures indicated that experts generated more total, varied, and sophisticated condition and action concepts than novices. Within experts, adults accessed more sophisticated problem representations than youth. Both current event and action plan profiles guided and mediated adult experts' response selections and executions, respectively. Youth experts primarily used action plan profiles to guide their response selections. Novices, regardless of age, accessed weak problem representations.

Event Representations: Communicating Change Information in Supervisory Control

There has traditionally been relatively little emphasis on temporal and event-oriented information in the cognitive engineering literature on representation design for supervisory control environments. Not surprisingly perhaps, current methods in these settings for capturing and representing events (patterns of behavior in the monitored system), are relatively crude. The need for more sophisticated representations of this type of information will become increasingly urgent as a result of evolving operations practices in many industries. This paper presents an argument for the importance of event information and briefly reviews how current representational techniques can make events hard for operators to observe and interpret. The paper concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges to be met in developing a principled basis for the design of more effective event representations.

L-shell photoionization cross-sections for Fe XIX and Fe XX recombination rate coefficients

High-quality atomic data concerning the interaction of photons with highly ionized ions of iron are an essential requirement in the modelling of X-ray emission from astrophysical plasmas. Consequently a detailed study of the photoionization of the ground-state fine-structure levels (2s22p43P2,0,1) of Fe xix has been undertaken, and a set of high-resolution cross-sections for photoionization of each of these levels obtained. We have considered both the total and partial cross-section cases, with the latter restricted to those instances where the residual ion is left in one of the energetically lowest 23 Jπ (12 LSπ) states of Fe xx. The calculation was performed by applying the Breit-Pauli R-matrix codes using a sophisticated representation of these 23 target-states. This approach allows for the possibility of fine-structure splitting in both thresholds and resonances, as well as incorporating any coupling between target-states with different LS symmetries through the inclusion of the spin-orbit operator. A significant amount of such coupling is discovered in the present investigation, and is responsible for a background cross-section whose magnitude is lower than that determined in previous LS-coupling calculations by more than a factor of 2. Extensive resonance structure is also resolved, including shape resonances in the 133 → 148 Ryd photon energy region. Such structure has not been resolved in any previous investigation and is of extreme importance in the modelling of X-ray emission plasmas. Using the derived photoionization cross-section data, recombination rate coefficients are calculated using the Milne relation, for the case of an electron recombining with Fe xx in the ground state to form Fe xix existing in each of the fine-structure ground-state levels. These recombination rates are summarized over a temperature range of 50 000 to 107 K. To supplement these data further we also present a set of energy levels and oscillator strengths for Fe xx.

Perception of novel changes in a familiar environment by socially-housed rhesus monkeys.

Many animals appear to have a sophisticated spatial representation of their environment. The development of these representations depends on the joint abilities of discriminating novel objects and remembering their locations. Variations of a detection of novelty paradigm were used to determine the nature and limitations of these abilities in rhesus monkeys. Socially-housed monkeys at two facilities (UMASS Primate Laboratory and the New England Regional Primate Research Center) were exposed to novelty detection tasks using a vertical object grid arranged on a mesh wall of the animals' pens. Monkeys rapidly responded with increased exploration to the replacement of one familiar object with a novel object, to the movement of a familiar object to a novel location, and to the swapping of two familiar objects. However, novelty of object was more salient than novelty of place. In these initial studies, monkeys were given continuous access to the grid, and only one or two changes occurred on a given day. In subsequent studies, the task difficulty was varied either by reducing the length of grid exposure or increasing the number of changed objects/session. Surprisingly, only a reduction in length of exposure markedly affected novelty detecting abilities. Rhesus monkeys clearly possessed the dual novelty detecting abilities. These skills were negatively affected only when monkeys' access to the grid was limited. The procedure employed here provided a convenient way to assess complex cognitive abilities in a group setting. It also relied on rhesus monkeys' inherent attraction to novelty and required only their species-typical behavior for assessment.

Space-time array processing: The model-based approach

A method of space–time array processing is introduced that is based on the model-based approach. The signal and measurement systems are placed into state-space form, thereby allowing the unknown parameters of the model, such as signal bearings, to be estimated by an extended Kalman filter. A major advantage of the model-based approach is that there is no inherent limitation to the degree of sophistication of the models used, and therefore it can deal with other than plane-wave models, such as cylindrically or spherically spreading propagation models, as well as more sophisticated representations such as the normal mode and the parabolic equation propagation models. Since the processor treats the parameters of interest as unknown parameters to be estimated, there is no explicit beamformer structure, and therefore no accuracy limitations such as fixed beam bin sizes and predetermined number of preformed beams. After a theoretical exposition of the underlying theory, the performance of the processor is evaluated with synthesized data sets. The results indicate that the method is a highly effective approach that is capable of significantly outperforming conventional array processors.

Angular momentum analysis of rotational transfer of superthermal relative velocity distributions

An angular momentum (AM) theory is developed to calculate the relative populations of final rotational states after collision between a diatomic molecule and an atom having a narrow, superthermal velocity distribution as produced by, e.g. photolysis of a precursor species. Probability densities are derived from semiclassical expressions for energy and angular momentum assuming the classically impulsive limit with the repulsive wall modelled by a hard ellipsoid. The treatment given is general and therefore applies to molecules in which the centre-of-mass does not coincide with the centre of the potential coordinates. A transfer function for RT is derived and applied to the H+CO system. Analysis of the data allows the anisotropy to be extracted which is in good agreement with an ab initio potential surface. The method described allows one to rapidly assess the contributions from the elliptical core of the potential and from other features of the potential, and would permit more sophisticated representations of the topology to be incorporated.

GIS and geometric representation in facility location problems

Abstract A neglected aspect of facility location problems is the geometric representation of the facilities sited and clients served. Point objects represent these entities in most facility location problems. This can cause solution error and limit the range of potential solutions. The increasing capabilities of geographical information systems (GIS) to represent, store and manipulate spatial entities provides a substantial but unrealized potential for more sophisticated geometric representation in facility location problems. This paper provides a framework for realizing this potential. Specifically, this paper: (i) synthesizes existing formulations; (ii) develops a unified mathematical framework; (iii) identifies feasible computational strategies that can be implemented within a GIS framework, and; (iv) discusses potential GIS-based solution algorithms.

Pixel-Based versus Correspondence-Based Representations of Human Faces: Implications for Sex Discrimination

In human perception, as well as in machine vision, a crucial step in solving any object recognition task is an appropriate description of the object class under consideration. We emphasise this issue when considering the object class ‘human faces’. We discuss different representations that can be characterised by the degree of alignment between the images they provide for. The representations used span the whole range between a purely pixel-based image representation and a sophisticated model-based representation derived from the pixel-to-pixel correspondence between the faces [Vetter and Troje, 1995, in Mustererkennung Eds G Sagerer, S Posch, F Kummert (Berlin: Springer)]. The usefulness of these representations for sex classification was compared. This was done by first applying a Karhunen — Loewe transformation on the representation to orthogonalise the data. A linear classifier was trained by means of a gradient-descent procedure. The classification error in a completely cross-validated simulation ranged from 15% in the simplest version of the pixel-based representation to 2.5% for the correspondence-based representation. However, even with intermediate representations very good performance was achieved.

Parent-Child Symbolic Pay: Three Theories in Search of an Effect

In symbolic play, children construct increasingly sophisticated representations of the world as well as relations between symbols and their external referents as they advance upon their developing cognitions about people, actions, and objects. Presumably, more sophisticated partners, like parents, promote children′s development in this domain. Yet the empirical literature to date shows little support for the notion that child solitary symbolic play grows through adult-child symbolic play interactions. This paper first reviews empirical studies that address the role and effects of a more sophisticated partner on children′s early symbolic play. Next, the paper presents three theoretical perspectives that support a view that symbolic play and advance children′s representational competencies more broadly; they include attachment, scaffolding, and ethological theory. Finally, the paper revisits the literature on interactive influences on children′s play reconsidering the nature and role of specific independent and dependent variables in studies of the growth of children′s symbolic play.

Culture, Environmental Experience and Environmental Awareness: Making Sense of Young Kenyan Children's Views of Place

Few studies have explicitly examined the importance of cultural settings to children's environmental awareness, especially in a non-Western context. In this paper, the author reviews those studies which have drawn attention to how culture affects children's behaviour in large-scale environments and refers to an empirical study of a group of young Kenyan children which examines the relationship between environmental experience and environmental awareness. The findings are interesting for three principal reasons. First, they demonstrate that children who are without formal training and with limited access to maps are able to draw relatively sophisticated place representations and to recall their local environment in vivid terms. Secondly, these maps and place descriptions are different to those of their age-sex-counterparts from Britain, which suggests that culture influences expressive style if not cognitive ability. Thirdly, they suggest that further studies, set within other cross-cultural contexts, are needed, if the importance of culture to environmental capability is to be understood. The author argues that although geographers are well-placed to carry out this kind of investigation little geographical research on children's place relationships has been undertaken. In this sense, geographers are particularly remiss and are guilty of forgetting their 'roots'.

Can computer personalities be human personalities?

The claim that computer personalities can be human personalities was tested by demonstrating that (1) computer personalities can be easily created using a minimal set of cues, and (2) that people will respond to these personalities in the same way they would respond to similar human personalities. The present study focused on the "similarity-attraction hypothesis," which predicts that people will prefer to interact with others who are similar in personality. In a 2 × 2, balanced, between-subjects experiment ( n = 48), dominant and submissive subjects were randomly matched with a computer that was endowed with the properties associated with dominance or submissiveness. Subjects recognized the computer's personality type, distinct from friendliness and competence. In addition, subjects not only preferred the similar computer, but they were more satisfied with the interaction. The findings demonstrate that personality does not require richly defined agents, sophisticated pictorial representations, nautral language processing, or artificial intelligence. Rather, even the most superficial manipulations are sufficient to exhibit personality, with powerful effects.

One century of diagnostic imaging in medicine.

The historical outline shows the development of radiologic diagnostics from the early Roentgen days up to this centenary. The roots of radiologic diagnostics go back to the European Renaissance. It is a history of medical pattern recognition and functional analysis by several methods including X-rays, ultrasound waves or strong magnetic fields. The difference between conventional radiographs and a picture reconstructed after digitalization, with several possibilities of postprocessing, is explained. Research and further technical revolutions, like the development of semiconductor elements and computers or tailored contrast media, sophisticated pictorial representations and perceptions, are among the cornerstones of imaging diagnostics. During this century many diseases have changed their manifestation and spread. This is illustrated by tuberculosis and cancer and highlights the growing importance of imaging diagnostics and interventional radiology. The thorny path to independence of radiology is also a history of the medical establishment's resistance.

Real-Time Forecasting of the Western Australian Summertime Trough: Evaluation of a New Regional Model

The real-time prediction of the location, strength, and structure of the summertime heat trough is a major forecasting problem over Western Australia. Maximum temperatures, wind strength and direction along the west coast, low-level coastal cloud, and thunderstorm activity are vulnerable to forecast errors in the heat trough. This study has three main parts. First, prediction errors of the operational Australian region numerical weather prediction (NWP) model were quantified over the period December 1991 to February 1992. Second, a newly developed regional NWP model, which will be the next operational regional model, was compared with the current operational model. The new model has more efficient numerics than the present operational model, allowing higher-resolution forecasts and a more sophisticated representation of physical processes. The third part was a set of sensitivity experiments to assess the relative importance of the differences. The dominant errors in the current operational model are a large westward bias in the trough location, a wide spread of errors in the intensity of the low in the northern section of the heat trough, a sizable range of coastal pressure gradient errors, and a northward bias in the latitude of the subtropical ridge axis between longitudes 110° and 120°E. It was demonstrated that these errors are reduced significantly in the new model, especially the subtropical ridge error, which has been virtually eliminated. The sensitivity studies revealed the importance of each of the differences between the models, and that the relative impact varies from case to case.

Relationship between user models in HCI and AI

Considers the relationship between the two independent lines of research into user modelling activities in human-computer interaction (HCI) and artificial intelligence (AI). The paper begins by considering the potential use of AI user models in HCI. The user modelling research conducted in HCI and AI respectively is then discussed along with the goals of HCI and AI. Considerable differences underlie the apparent similarities of the respective research in user modelling in HCI and AI and we discuss these distinctions from the viewpoint of the roles, nature, goals and development of user models. It is argued that HCI can contribute techniques concerned with gathering and modelling user requirements to AI, and in addition a view of how the results of employing AI user models might be evaluated. On the other hand, sophisticated knowledge representation techniques can be provided by AI to the use of embedded user models in HCI.

Lawyers and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Washington Community and Legal Elites

The past several decades have witnessed tremendous growth in the number of professional representatives in the Washington community. Despite a wealth of research that testifies to the importance of these experts in the legislative and executive branches, we know comparatively little regarding sophisticated representation in the judicial context. Is there an identifiable group of specialized representatives in the U.S. Supreme Court? Under the rubric of network theory, I examine the bar of the Court and the patterns of association within it. With survey data from lawyers who participated in Supreme Court litigation during the 1986 term, I develop a predictive model that suggests that the lawyers in the Court are a discrete collection of representatives, strongly anchored in Washington, DC. While many are connected through legal education, geography, and generational affinity, the core of that group-former law clerks to the justices, alumni of the Solicitor General's Office, and the lawyers of the leading law firms in Washington-are the prominent experts within that network.