Value Representation Research Articles

Beyond Preferences in AI Alignment

AbstractThe dominant practice of AI alignment assumes (1) that preferences are an adequate representation of human values, (2) that human rationality can be understood in terms of maximizing the satisfaction of preferences, and (3) that AI systems should be aligned with the preferences of one or more humans to ensure that they behave safely and in accordance with our values. Whether implicitly followed or explicitly endorsed, these commitments constitute what we term a preferentist approach to AI alignment. In this paper, we characterize and challenge the preferentist approach, describing conceptual and technical alternatives that are ripe for further research. We first survey the limits of rational choice theory as a descriptive model, explaining how preferences fail to capture the thick semantic content of human values, and how utility representations neglect the possible incommensurability of those values. We then critique the normativity of expected utility theory (EUT) for humans and AI, drawing upon arguments showing how rational agents need not comply with EUT, while highlighting how EUT is silent on which preferences are normatively acceptable. Finally, we argue that these limitations motivate a reframing of the targets of AI alignment: Instead of alignment with the preferences of a human user, developer, or humanity-writ-large, AI systems should be aligned with normative standards appropriate to their social roles, such as the role of a general-purpose assistant. Furthermore, these standards should be negotiated and agreed upon by all relevant stakeholders. On this alternative conception of alignment, a multiplicity of AI systems will be able to serve diverse ends, aligned with normative standards that promote mutual benefit and limit harm despite our plural and divergent values.

Navigating constraints: news values and journalistic role performance in Chinese state media VR news

IntroductionThis study explores the intersection of virtual reality (VR) technology and journalism, with a particular focus on the application of VR in news productions by China Central Television (CCTV). The research aims to assess how VR enhances immersive storytelling, the prevailing news values it supports, and how journalistic roles are performed within these productions in China.MethodsA content analysis was conducted on 234 VR news productions by CCTV, examining the use of immersive elements, the representation of news values, and the roles of journalists in the context of VR news.ResultsThe findings indicate that, while VR enhances audience engagement through immersive experiences, its application in CCTV’s VR news remains limited in scope. The technology is primarily employed within traditional journalistic frameworks, often emphasizing the loyal-facilitator role.DiscussionThe study reveals that immersive journalism at CCTV tends to support state-aligned narratives, promoting positive news values and limiting the critical engagement typically associated with more interventionist journalistic models. By examining the news values and the nuanced performances of journalistic roles in the context of VR news, this research contributes to the broader understanding of how emerging technologies like VR are shaping journalistic practices in authoritarian media systems, offering insights into both the potential and limitations of VR in enhancing audience engagement while maintaining journalistic integrity.

Representation of Women's Loyalty Values in the Film Pilgrimage by Bw Purba Negara (Semiotic Analysis of Roland Barthes)

In the 2017 Asean International Film Festival and Award, Ziarah received four awards, including Best Screenplay (BW Purba Negara), Best Actress (Ponco Sutiyem), Best Director (BW Purba Negara) and Best Film. The film is a drama genre that tells the story of a character named Mbah Sri, a 95-year-old woman who is looking for her husband (Prawiro Said) because he never came home and never even heard from him after saying goodbye to the Second Military Aggression war in 1984. The storyline is entirely based on Mbah Sri as the heir to the memory of the historical events experienced by her husband. This study uses a qualitative approach using Roland Barthes' semiotic analysis. Semiotic analysis is a way or method to analyze and give meanings to symbols that contain a package of symbols, symbols, messages or textsThis research uses a qualitative approach using Roland Barthes' semiotic analysis. In conclusion, the representation of women's loyalty values in the film Ziarah by BW Purba Negara is depicted through the actions and characteristics of couples who are still loyal even though their partners have no news. Mbah Sri still thinks about her partner and tries to find her again at all costs. He did not give up on the search process until he finally rediscovered his true love in his old age.

Locating Values in the Space of Possibilities

Abstract Where do values live in thought? A straightforward answer is that we (or our brains) make decisions using explicit value representations which are our values. Recent work applying reinforcement learning to decision-making and planning suggests that, more specifically, we may represent both the instrumental expected value of actions as well as the intrinsic reward of outcomes. In this paper, I argue that identifying value with either of these representations is incomplete. For agents such as humans and other animals, there is another place where reward can be located in thought: the division of the space of possibilities or “state space.”

Convergent representation of values from tactile and visual inputs for efficient goal-directed behavior in the primate putamen

Animals can discriminate diverse sensory values with a limited number of neurons, raising questions about how the brain utilizes neural resources to efficiently process multi-dimensional inputs for decision-making. Here, we demonstrate that this efficiency is achieved by reducing sensory dimensions and converging towards the value dimension essential for goal-directed behavior in the putamen. Humans and monkeys performed tactile and visual value discrimination tasks while their neural responses were examined. Value information, whether originating from tactile or visual stimuli, was found to be processed within the human putamen using fMRI. Notably, at the single-neuron level in the macaque putamen, half of the individual neurons encode values independently of sensory inputs, while the other half selectively encode tactile or visual value. The responses of bimodal value neurons correlate with value-guided finger insertion behavior in both tasks, whereas modality-selective value neurons show task-specific correlations. Simulation using these neurons reveals that the presence of bimodal value neurons enables value discrimination with a significantly reduced number of neurons compared to simulations without them. Our data indicate that individual neurons in the primate putamen process different values in a convergent manner, thereby facilitating the efficient use of constrained neural resources for value-guided behavior.

Panna Addams: współczesna tożsamość „z pogranicza”. O postawie głównej bohaterki serialu Wednesday

The article is a part of qualitative interpretive research conducted as part of a doctoral thesis addressing the portrayal of femininity in contemporary selected film fairytales. The aim of the analysis was to present fairy tale heroines as an audiovisual representation of expectations, norms, and values stemming from gender and inscribed in the prevailing socio-cultural order. The qualitative interpretation of the active stance of the main character in the popular series Wednesday serves as an exe mplification of cultural contestation between the traditional understanding of femininity and its androgynous redefinition, not constrained by widely accepted social norms.

Cultural aspects of modern education

INTRODUCTION. Consideration of cultural aspects in education is a relevant issue today, as it enhances the overall cultural level of individuals and aids in addressing key tasks facing education in the Russian Federation. Addressing these aspects at different levels of education, such as primary, secondary, and higher education, primarily involves exploring the cultural traditions of the country, as it is a complex of knowledge and value representations related to artistic, aesthetic, physical, political, familial, behavioral, and other components that define harmonious interactions among individuals within a cohesive society. The purpose of the study is to reveal the importance of applying the main cultural aspects at different stages of personality development in education.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The material presented is derived from methods of analysis, generalization, and systematization of knowledge regarding the role of cultural aspects and principles in modern education, as well as their applicability.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. By exploring various cultural traditions, learners acquire the basics of intercultural communication and the unique cultural characteristics of each nation, which enables them to understand the historical, sociocultural, and spiritual traits of the Russian people and the possibilities for peaceful, respectful coexistence among nations.CONCLUSION. Cultural aspects serve as a guiding framework for the development of a creative, self-developing personality.

Visuals in elementary School First Grade Life Studies Textbooks: A Study on Root Values and Academician Perspectives

This study assesses the representation of core values in the visuals of a first-grade Life Studies textbook, based on the opinions of academicians. Employing basic qualitative research methods, including Feldman Art Criticism, Pedagogical Criticism, and a Semi-structured Root Values and Visual Analysis form developed by the researcher with expert advice, it examines 16 visuals for their expression of ten core values as defined by the Board of Education and Instruction. Descriptive analysis was utilized to evaluate the frequency and adequacy of these visuals in conveying the values. The findings reveal that love, respect, and responsibility are the most frequently depicted values, whereas honesty, justice, and patience are the least represented. The study concludes that visuals most effectively embody the values of benevolence and honesty, and recommends incorporating more visuals that depict honesty, justice, and patience in future editions of the textbook.

Representation of Anticipated Rewards and Punishments in the Human Brain.

Subjective value is a core concept in neuroeconomics, serving as the basis for decision making. Despite the extensive literature on the neural encoding of subjective reward value in humans, the neural representation of punishment value remains relatively understudied. This review synthesizes current knowledge on the neural representation of reward value, including methodologies, involved brain regions, and the concept of common currency representation of diverse reward types in decision-making and learning processes. We then critically examine existing research on the neural representation of punishment value, highlighting conceptual and methodological challenges in human studies and insights gained from animal research. Finally, we explore how individual differences in reward and punishment processing may be linked to various mental illnesses, with a focus on stress-related psychopathologies. This review advocates for the integration of both rewards and punishments within value-based decision-making and learning frameworks, leveraging insights from cross-species studies and utilizing ecological gamified paradigms to reflect real-life scenarios.

Representations of the intrinsic value of information in mouse orbitofrontal cortex.

Animals are motivated to seek information that does not influence reward outcomes, suggesting that information has intrinsic value. We have developed an odor-based information seeking task that reveals that mice choose to receive information even though it does not alter the reward outcome. Moreover, mice are willing to pay for information by sacrificing water reward, suggesting that information is of intrinsic value to a mouse. We used a microendoscope to reveal neural activity in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) while mice learned the information seeking task. We observed the emergence of distinct populations of neurons responsive to odors predictive of information and odors predictive of water reward. A latent variable model recapitulated these different representations in the low-dimensional dynamics of OFC neuronal population activity. These data suggest that mice have evolved separate pathways to represent the intrinsic value of information and the extrinsic value of water reward. Thus, the desire to acquire knowledge is observed in mice, and the value of this information is represented in the OFC. The mouse now provides a facile experimental system to study the representation of the value of information, a higher cognitive variable.

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Czech version of the core outcome measures index for low back and neck pain.

The Core Outcome Measures Index (COMI) is a short, multidimensional instrument translated into several languages that covers five domains recommended in the assessment of outcome in patients with low-back and neck pain. The purpose of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the COMI from English to Czech language and to test the face and construct validity and reproducibility of its results in patients with low-back and neck pain. Participants (n = 125) were included from primary and secondary care. The participants reported moderate pain and disability levels. All participants filled in the COMI forms before and after surgery. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon paired test, Crombach's alpha, principal component analysis and information entropy calculation were used. The instrument was successfully forward and back-translated. It can be seen that the questionnaire applied as part of our intervention study produces answers with a sufficient degree of variability and with a satisfactory degree of representation of extreme values. It can be also seen that the questionnaire can diagnose an objectively occurring change associated with the surgeon within the intervention procedure. Our other findings support the idea of ​​a possible reduction in the number of questions that measure the same latent variable. Our investigations also showed that it is possible to reduce the range of the point scale of the perception of pain to 5 degrees of intensity and thus unify the range with the other questions. The Czech COMI shows acceptable properties and is thus suitable to use as a short instrument for measuring important domains in patients with low-back and neck pain.

Value construction through sequential sampling explains serial dependencies in decision making.

Many decisions are expressed as a preference for one item over another. When these items are familiar, it is often assumed that the decision maker assigns a value to each of the items and chooses the item with the highest value. These values may be imperfectly recalled, but are assumed to be stable over the course of an interview or psychological experiment. Choices that are inconsistent with a stated valuation are thought to occur because of unspecified noise that corrupts the neural representation of value. Assuming that the noise is uncorrelated over time, the pattern of choices and response times in value-based decisions are modeled within the framework of Bounded Evidence Accumulation (BEA), similar to that used in perceptual decision-making. In BEA, noisy evidence samples accumulate over time until the accumulated evidence for one of the options reaches a threshold. Here, we argue that the assumption of temporally uncorrelated noise, while reasonable for perceptual decisions, is not reasonable for value-based decisions. Subjective values depend on the internal state of the decision maker, including their desires, needs, priorities, attentional state, and goals. These internal states may change over time, or undergo revaluation, as will the subjective values. We reasoned that these hypothetical value changes should be detectable in the pattern of choices made over a sequence of decisions. We reanalyzed data from a well-studied task in which participants were presented with pairs of snacks and asked to choose the one they preferred. Using a novel algorithm (Reval), we show that the subjective value of the items changes significantly during a short experimental session (about 1 hour). Values derived with Reval explain choice and response time better than explicitly stated values. They also better explain the BOLD signal in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, known to represent the value of decision alternatives. Revaluation is also observed in a BEA model in which successive evidence samples are not assumed to be independent. We argue that revaluation is a consequence of the process by which values are constructed during deliberation to resolve preference choices.

A Critical Exploration of Cultural and Aesthetic Representation of Shandong Dialect Translation in Red Sorghum

The translation of the Shandong dialect, specifically in the novel Red Sorghum authored by Mo Yan and translated by Howard Goldblatt, posed significant challenges to both translators and readers due to its local Chinese cultural richness. Previous researches mainly focused on its traditional translation strategies including foreignization and domestication. Exploration of the aesthetic value of dialect and its cultural representations in modern literature is a relatively new area of research yet to be developed. This paper revealed that translation operates in a complicated three-dimensional structure of translator (aesthetic subject), translated text (aesthetic object), and culture (social environment). In the process of translating dialect, the aesthetic experience and the Aesthetic Regulation Devices (ARD) adopted by the translator, as well as the beauty of characterization and symbolization come into play. Therefore, aesthetic values and cultural uniqueness are represented not only on the linguistic, but also on the spiritual level by contrasting the purity of the villagers in rural China and the brutality of the social turbulence that surrounds them. The paper demonstrated that dialect translation involves a multifaceted and dynamic equivalence between source and target language. The research findings indicated that translation techniques of domestication and foreignization are utilized significantly more often (82%) than the strategy of ARD (18%) during the translation process. This imbalance in strategy usage may result in a deficient representation of aesthetic and cultural values. The significance of this study lies mainly in its intention to reconstruct a more effective theoretical paradigm for dialectal translation procedures.

Remote sensing image classification based on non-linear enhanced attention mechanism

Abstract In recent years, Transformer technology has gradually shown promising applications in the field of computer vision, becoming a research hotspot. However, traditional vision Transformers suffer from significant computational burdens. Although previous studies have attempted to alleviate this issue by reducing the computational load of attention mechanisms, their methods still require improvement. Additionally, past research often overlooked the non-linear representation of values within attention mechanisms, posing another challenge to address. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel attention mechanism aimed at reducing the computational burden of traditional attention mechanisms while enhancing their ability to express non-linearities in values. Furthermore, conventional feedforward neural networks typically output results directly after passing through an activation function, which may limit the model’s representational capacity due to the simplistic structure leading to singular feature information. To address this issue, this study introduces a more robust feature fusion convolutional feedforward network. Through these methods, the aim is to enhance the accuracy of Transformers in the field of remote-sensing image classification.

Representation of Cultural Values in Balochi Classical Poetry

Representation of Cultural Values in Balochi Classical Poetry

Values Reflected in Pictorial Content of Textbooks at Elementary Level of Education in West Bengal, India

Textbooks function as catalysts for social change, influencing students’ values, beliefs, and cultural awareness from the primary education level. Textbooks serve as key learning resources for students that significantly influence students’ character development. Values should be incorporated into textbooks. Images in textbooks are powerful tools for shaping the values of students by engaging them visually, providing real-life context, fostering emotional connections, and promoting critical thinking and cultural sensitivity. The creation of textbooks that reflect current values is essential, and achieving this goal requires a comprehensive assessment of textbooks. This study investigates images used in primary education textbooks in West Bengal, India, to examine the representation of values. A total of 39 textbooks were analyzed, with eight key textbooks selected for in-depth analysis: ‘Amar Boi’ for classes I, II, and III, ‘Patabahar’ for classes IV and V, and ‘Atit O Aitihya’ for classes VI, VII, and VIII. These textbooks were chosen based on their widespread use and significance in the curriculum in govt. school in West Bengal. This study adopted qualitative and documentary research approaches through content analysis. The findings demonstrate that social, moral, environmental, spiritual, and historical values are emphasized across textbooks, reflecting the dominant cultural, social, or national values of the region. The findings of this study provide a foundation for policy changes at the state or national level to ensure the development and implementation of guidelines that promote value-balance content in educational materials and are useful for textbook development agencies, textbook writers, and teachers in developing value-alignment curricula and creating more inclusive, culturally sensitive, and ethically grounded visual materials.

Anhedonia Across and Beyond the Schizophrenia Spectrum.

Anhedonia refers to the diminished ability to experience pleasure, and is a core feature of schizophrenia (SCZ). The neurocognitive and neural correlates of anhedonia remain elusive. Based on several influential theoretical models for negative symptoms, this selective review proposed four important neurocognitive domains, which may unveil the neurobiological mechanisms of anhedonia. The authors critically reviewed the current evidence regarding value representation of reward, prospection, emotion-behavior decoupling, and belief updating in the Chinese setting, covering both behavioral and neuroimaging research. We observed a limited application of the transdiagnostic approach in previous studies on the four domains, and the lack of adequate measures to tap into the expressivity deficit in SCZ. Despite many behavioral paradigms for these four domains utilized both social and non-social stimuli, previous studies seldom focused on the social-versus-non-social differentiation. We further advocated several important directions for future research.

Assessment of the impact of NO2 contribution on aerosol-optical-depth measurements at several sites worldwide

Abstract. This work aims at investigating the effect of NO2 absorption on aerosol-optical-depth (AOD) measurements and Ångström exponent (AE) retrievals of sun photometers by the synergistic use of accurate NO2 characterization for optical-depth estimation from co-located ground-based measurements. The analysis was performed for ∼ 7 years (2017–2023) at several sites worldwide for the AOD measurements and AE retrievals by Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers which use OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) climatology for NO2 representation. The differences in AOD and AE retrievals by NO2 absorption are accounted for using high-frequency columnar NO2 measurements by a co-located Pandora spectroradiometer belonging to the Pandonia Global Network (PGN). NO2 absorption affects the AOD measurements in UV-Vis (visible) range, and we found that the AOD bias is the most affected at 380 nm by NO2 differences, followed by 440, 340, and 500 nm, respectively. AERONET AOD was found to be overestimated in half of the cases, while also underestimated in other cases as an impact of the NO2 difference from “real” (PGN NO2) values. Overestimations or underestimations are relatively low. About one-third of these stations showed a mean difference in NO2 and AOD (at 380 and 440 nm) above 0.5 × 10−4 mol m−2 and 0.002, respectively, which can be considered a systematic contribution to the uncertainties in the AOD measurements that are reported to be of the order of 0.01. However, under extreme NO2 loading scenarios (i.e. 10 % highest differences) at highly urbanized/industrialized locations, even higher AOD differences were observed that were at the limit of or higher than the reported 0.01 uncertainty in the AOD measurement. PGN NO2-based sensitivity analysis of AOD difference suggested that for PGN NO2 varying between 2 × 10−4 and 8 × 10−4 mol m−2, the median AOD differences were found to rise above 0.01 (even above 0.02) with the increase in NO2 threshold (i.e. the lower limit from 2 × 10−4 to 8 × 10−4 mol m−2). The AOD-derivative product, AE, was also affected by the NO2 correction (discrepancies between the AERONET OMI climatological representation of NO2 values and the real PGN NO2 measurements) on the spectral AOD. Normalized frequency distribution of AE (at 440–870 and 340–440 nm wavelength pair) was found to be narrower for a broader AOD distribution for some stations, and vice versa for other stations, and a higher relative error at the shorter wavelength (among the wavelength pairs used for AE estimation) led to a shift in the peak of the AE difference distribution towards a higher positive value, while a higher relative error at a lower wavelength shifted the AE difference distribution to a negative value for the AOD overestimation case, and vice versa for the AOD underestimation case. For rural locations, the mean NO2 differences were found to be mostly below 0.50 × 10−4 mol m−2, with the corresponding AOD differences being below 0.002, and in extreme NO2 loading scenarios, it went above this value and reached above 1.00 × 10−4 mol m−2 for some stations, leading to higher AOD differences but below 0.005. Finally, AOD and AE trends were calculated based on the original AERONET AOD (based on AERONET OMI climatological NO2), and its comparison with the mean differences in the AERONET and PGN NO2-corrected AOD was indicative of how NO2 correction could potentially affect realistic AOD trends.

Representasi Nilai-Nilai Karakter di Kampung Naga Sebagai Referensi Pengembangan Bahan Ajar Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan

This study examines the representation of character values in Naga Village as a reference for the development of teaching materials for Pancasila and Citizenship Education (PPKn). Naga Village, as a traditional community in West Java, has local wisdom that is rich in cultural and moral values, such as environmental values, maintaining a clean and healthy lifestyle, fostering spirituality, applying discipline, and showing strong social concern. This study uses a qualitative approach with a case study method to explore how these values are integrated in the daily life of the people of Naga Village. Data was obtained through observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis. The results of the study show that the character values in Naga Village are very relevant to the educational goals of PPKn, especially in the formation of attitudes and behaviors in accordance with Pancasila. Therefore, these values can be used as an important reference in the development of contextual and applicable teaching materials for students, in order to strengthen character and citizenship education in Indonesia.

Representation of material values in Russian and English linguocultures in a paradigmatic aspect (based on publicistic texts of the early 21st century)

Representation of material values in Russian and English linguocultures in a paradigmatic aspect (based on publicistic texts of the early 21st century)