Weak Definition Research Articles

Assortment and the evolution of cooperation in a Moran process with exponential fitness

We study the evolution of cooperation in a finite population interacting according to a simple model of like-with-like assortment. Evolution proceeds as a Moran process, and payoffs from the underlying cooperator–defector game are translated to positive fitnesses by an exponential transformation. These evolutionary dynamics can arise, for example, in a nest-structured population with rare migration. The use of the exponential transformation, rather than the usual linear one, is appropriate when interactions have multiplicative fitness effects, and allows for a tractable characterisation of the effect of assortment on the evolution of cooperation. We define two senses in which a greater degree of assortment can favour the evolution of cooperation, the first stronger than the second: (i) greater assortment increases, at all population states, the probability that the number of cooperators increases, relative to the probability that the number of defectors increases; and (ii) greater assortment increases the fixation probability of cooperation, relative to that of defection. We show that, by the stronger definition, greater assortment favours the evolution of cooperation for a subset of cooperative dilemmas: prisoners' dilemmas, snowdrift games, stag-hunt games, and some prisoners' delight games. For other cooperative dilemmas, greater assortment favours cooperation by the weak definition, but not by the strong definition. We also show that increasing assortment expands the set of games in which cooperation dominates the evolutionary dynamics. Our results hold for any strength of selection.

Cryptotermes colombianus a new drywood termite and distribution record of Cryptotermes in Colombia.

A new species of drywood termite (Kalotermitidae), Cryptotermes colombianus, is described and new records for Cryptotermes cylindroceps and Cryptotermes mangoldi are presented from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Cryptotermes colombianus is described from two soldiers and genetic sequences. This unusual species differs noticeably from other regional Cryptotermes species for its weak and inconspicuous definition of the frontal and genal horns and its acute angle of the frons with respect to the vertex. Cryptotermes colombianus clustered with species from the Ethiopian and Oriental region and it is closely related to Cryptotermes havilandi. Cryptotermes cylindroceps is widely distributed along the Colombian Caribbean coast, commonly associated with dead wood in mangrove habitats. It also is commonly found in wooden furniture, constituting an important household pest. Cryptotermes mangoldi is reported from the Caribbean mainland for the first time.With these new records, there are now five Cryptotermes species for Colombia, including the pest species Cryptotermes brevis and Cryptotermes dudleyi. This new description raises the numbers of Neotropical Cryptotermes to a total of 34 species, of which 2 are fossils, 4 introduced, and 28 endemic.

The Role of the Psychosocial Dimension in the Improvement of Quality of Care: A Systematic Review.

The aim of our systematic review was to analyse the published literature on the psychosocial dimension of care in family medicine and its relationship with quality of care. We wanted to find out whether there is any evidence on the psychosocial approach in (family) medicine. The recommended bio-psycho-social approach, besides the biomedical model of illness, takes into account several co-influencing psychological, sociological and existential factors. An online search of nine different databases used Boolean operators and the following selection criteria: the paper contained information on the holistic approach, quality indicators, family medicine, patient-centred care and/or the bio-psycho-social model of treatment. We retrieved 743 papers, of which 36 fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Including the psychosocial dimension in patient management has been found to be useful in the prevention and treatment of physical and psychiatric illness, resulting in improved social functioning and patient satisfaction, reduced health care disparities, and reduced annual medical care charges. The themes of patient-centred, behavioural or psychosocial medicine were quite well presented in several papers. We could not find any conclusive evidence of the impact of a holistic bio-psycho-social-approach. Weak and variable definitions of psychosocial dimensions, a low number of well-designed intervention studies, and low numbers of included patients limited our conclusions.

Weak Definites Under the Generative Lexicon Theory

This paper claims that the underlying class of weak definites is possessive weak definites, not non-possessive weak definites. Furthermore, under the framework of Pustejovsky (1995), this paper argues that the argument accompanied by possessive weak definites is a default argument. Thus, the default argument of the possessive weak definite should be represented in the qualia structure, not in the argument structure. Extending the analysis of possessive weak definites to non-possessive weak definites, this paper assumes that non-possessive weak definites have a default argument which is logically expressed but is syntactically optional. The differences found between possessive weak definites and non-possessive weak definites are attributed to the fact that the former has a nominal default argument expressed by the constitutive quale while the latter has an eventive default argument expressed by the telic quale.

Pointwise (Approximate) Versions of Amenability and Connes Amenability with Application over some Algebras

Suppose A is a presumably if intransitive commutative Banach algebra in its second dual A **. The paper studied several weaker definitions on amenability, Connes amenability including quotient pointwise amenability and approximate Connes amenability. Furthermore, the relations between them were discussed.

LA PROBLEMÁTICA UTILIZACIÓN DEL PRINCIPIO DE PRECAUCIÓN COMO REFERENTE DE LA POLÍTICA CRIMINAL DEL MODERNO DERECHO PENAL. ¿HACIA UN DERECHO PENAL DEL MIEDO A LO DESCONOCIDO O HACIA UNO REALMENTE PREVENTIVO?

This paper examines whether the so-called precautionary principle, initially developed and used to legitimize administrative environmental protection against the enormous and quite frequently uncertain risks derived from the use of some of the latest scientific and technological developments (biotechnology, nanotechnology, etc.), could also achieve a legitimate use in criminal law as a legal instrument targeted to implement its effective and adequate control. Within this goal, a variety of definitions of the precautionary principle are analysed to determine to what extent a weak or less radical definition, especially used in the EU, could be used to define the level of the tolerable risk from different offences without breaking any of the requirements coming up from minimal intervention and guilt principles that limit, and simultaneously legitimize, the criminal law of a genuine rule of law.

Comparison of methods of enterprise competitiveness estimation

In order to be successful any enterprise needs to assess its competitiveness on a regular basis that enables to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the company, identify its hidden potential opportunities and, accordingly, improve its strategy. In the article the authors suggest broaden classification of methodological approaches to evaluate competitiveness, that can help define the most appropriate method. The choice of the method to assesse competitiveness depends on the matter who and what for is doing it. SWOT-analysis can be used with the aim of general analysis of the enterprise and the market, identification of their opportunities and threats. This method is based on the definition of strengths and weaknesses of the company and its competitors. PEST-analysis is recommended to be used for studying of the external environment of the enterprise, the development of measures to minimize the impact of negative factors and planning the development strategy based on positive factors. Comprehensive competitiveness evaluation methods are the most informative. In particular, the market position of the enterprise compared to its strategic competitors can be determined by the method of competitiveness pyramid constructing.The authors prove the necessity of using different methods for competitiveness evaluation based on practical examples. It depends on the purpose of the assessment, spheres of business, available information, preferences of the decision maker, the time allowed for decision making.

Weak definites and reference to kinds

Weak definite NPs do not presuppose the existence of uniquely identifiable entities. In addition, they display a range of other peculiar properties such as sloppy readings in VPs ellipsis, narrow scope interpretations, lexical restrictions and enriched meaning. In order to account for these, in this paper we analyze weak definites as expressions that refer to the same sort of kind individuals that definite generics refer to. We propose that the combination of weak definites with object- level predicates is made possible by a lexical rule that lifts object-level relations to ‘enriched’ kind-level relations.

Language for Specific Purpose (LSP) performance assessment in Asian call centres: strong and weak definitions

LSP performance assessment has become a special focus for language testers in recent years where experts have debated how testing tools and processes can be strengthened to more accurately and more validly assess professional communication at work. Suggestions to achieve this include ethnographic studies of the target language situation; authentic discourse analyses of the relevant texts; and subject matter experts (SMEs) being invited as informants when defining ‘successful’ communication at work. These are proposed as key steps in building LSP performance assessment validity (see for example Jacoby & McNamara: English for Specific Purposes 18(3):203–241, 1999). Language testing researchers have also suggested there may be some merit in distinguishing LSP performance as ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ (see also McNamara: Measuring Second Language Performance, 1996; Douglas: Language Testing 18(2):171–185, 2001) although clear lines of distinction between these have not yet been made in LSP assessment studies to date. In this article I propose a distinction between a ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ version of LSP performance assessment based on the empirical data collected over the last ten years of developing and embedding the Business Performance Language Assessment Scales (BUPLAS) into Asian call centres. A distinction that has been unclear to date in this area of research is whether a workplace LSP spoken assessment for work (meaning those assessment tasks that gauge employment entry levels as ‘predictive’ of work success) is the same as a workplace LSP spoken assessments at work (meaning those authentic assessments that gauge quality levels on-the-job as ‘observed’ success at work). For the Asian call centre industry this distinction is important because the purpose of recruitment (exclusion) is very different from the purpose of quality assurance (appraisal and coaching feedback). I argue that recruitment assessment with its attendant characteristics constitutes a ‘weak’ version of LSP performance assessment whilst its quality assurance counterpart constitutes a ‘strong’ version.

Weak Adjectives and Definiteness in Old English

Weak Adjectives and Definiteness in Old English

Different by-phrases with adjectival and verbal passives: Evidence from Spanish corpus data

We present a Spanish corpus data study that shows that event-related by-phrases in the two types of passives are qualitatively different with respect to the types of complements they take: with verbal passives we find more strongly referential nominals (e.g. proper names, pronouns, demonstratives, regular definites), whereas with adjectival passives, we mainly find weakly or non-referential nominals (e.g. indefinites, bare nominals, weak and generic definites). These differences comply with an account, according to which the event in adjectival passives remains in the kind domain, restricting event modification to kind modification. Furthermore, the data show that there are no qualitative differences in the complements we find in state-related by-phrases of either passive, which have the same properties as those in event-related ones with verbal passives. We take this fact to support the claim that there are two different kinds of by-phrases with adjectival passives: event-related ones which modify an event kind (the VP/PrtP before adjectivisation), and state-related ones which modify a state token (the AP).

Variational views of stokeslets and stresslets

In this paper we present a self-contained variational theory of the layer potentials for the Stokes problem on Lipschitz boundaries. We use these weak definitions to show how to prove the main theorems about the associated Calderon projector. Finally, we relate these variational definitions to the integral forms. Instead of working these relations from scratch, we show some formulas parametrizing the Stokes layer potentials in terms of those for the Lame and Laplace operators. While all the results in this paper are well known for smooth domains, and most might be known for non-smooth domains, the approach is novel and gives a solid structure to the theory of Stokes layer potentials.

The MIPEX Assessment of the Republic of Korea’s Immigrant Integration Policies

Korea, a new immigration country, deserves to be included in the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX). With an overall MIPEX score of 60/100, the Republic’s current integration policies are just “slightly favorable” for promoting integration. It ranks 13th among the 31 MIPEX III countries. Compared to most other recent emerging countries of immigration, the country has very quickly improved its legal framework for integration. The major areas of strength in South Korea’s integration policies are its targeted policies on labor market support, migrant pupils’ education access and needs, voting rights, and support for immigrant associations. However, these policies are relatively new and need to be fully evaluated as to their implementation and effectiveness. Moreover, significant policy weaknesses emerge across all seven areas, such as autonomous permits for reunited family members, the implementation of intercultural education, the political liberties of foreigners, the exclusion from family reunion and long-term residence for certain permit-holders, various restrictions on access to nationality, and the weak definitions and enforcement mechanisms on discrimination. The research demonstrates that Korea has taken important steps forward, but that it can do better to create a more encouraging environment in which immigrants can contribute to a country’s prosperity and well-being.

Accounting methods for international land-related leakage and distant deforestation drivers

International agricultural trade flows are increasingly important as distant drivers in global land-use changes, creating teleconnections between geographically separated locations of consumption and production. Land-use displacement and associated carbon emissions can undermine the effectiveness of land-use and climate policies, such as activities to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Nevertheless, few accounting methods exist for international emissions leakage from land-use change, due to methodological and policy challenges. In this paper we review methods to quantify international land-use displacement and teleconnections through international trade. Weaknesses and strengths of those methods are assessed as well as the conclusiveness of results. We identify limitations and potential ways forward for the quantification of land-related leakage in general, while highlighting implications for REDD-leakage accounting in particular. Results show that land-related leakage assessments are facilitated by applying a weak leakage definition, without the requirement to demonstrate causal leakage effects. Suitable quantification approaches combine method elements such as economic modeling, trade-flow analysis, biophysical accounting and life-cycle assessments. Depending on the use of monetary or physical input data the results can change considerably. All reviewed methods face limitations such as uncertainties and data gaps in emission factors.

Amount definites

Our project in the paper is twofold. First, we present an analysis of weak definites in general. Second, we present an analysis of the Semitic state inflection and its role in determining strong and weak definiteness, and introduce a novel type of weak definites which we call amount definites. Adopting the choice-function analysis of (in)definiteness, we analyse weak definiteness as the application of a type-shifted definite determiner to a relational noun. This application results in the reinterpretation of the relational noun as functional. When this function is in turn applied to the possessor, the definiteness of the result depends on the definiteness of the possessor. In Hebrew, weak definites often take the form of noun phrases headed by a noun marked with construct-state inflection; the paper discusses the interpretation of all construct-state nouns as relational. In colloquial Hebrew, the type-shifted definite determiner used in the formation of weak definites may take the form of a numeral (or other amount nouns) marked with emphatic-state inflection. We name weak definites headed by emphatic-state amount nouns amount definites, and compare the properties of amount definites to those of definite noun phrases where the amount noun is marked with construct-state inflection, which are strong definites.

Weak definites as a form of definiteness: experimental investigations

Definite noun phrases typically refer to entities that are uniquely identifiable in the speaker and addressee’s common ground. However, some definite noun phrases (e.g. the hospital in Mary had to go the hospital and John did too) seem to violate uniqueness. We discuss a series of experiments that seek to understand some of the properties of this class of definites. We consider most carefully the hypothesis that these “weak definite” interpretations arise in implicitly “incorporated” constructions, attempting to provide a sketch of this hypothesis’ motivation and potential consequences. In our experiments we found that compared to regular definites, the weak definites need not refer uniquely, and readily trigger semantically enriched readings that compete effectively with normal inferences one might draw from a sentence. Perhaps the most surprising finding in the experiments is that nouns that could occur as weak definites, also seemed to retain some of these “weak” properties even when expressed as indefinites. We try and make sense of this within the “incorporation” framework.

Weak definites as bound relational definites

This paper introduces a new proposal for accommodating “weak definites” (Carlson and Sussman 2005) within a comprehensive theory of definiteness. Weak definites are analyzed as relational definites and compared to other members of this paradigm: associative (or “bridging”) definites (Hawkins 1978), and full relational definites (Barker 1993). The main claim is that weak definites are based on a relational meaning containing free variables which are bound within their own clause. The proposal defines weak definiteness as a constructional meaning involving the whole host clause and triggering a meaning enrichment based on the telic quale (Pustejovsky 1995) of the head noun.

Back to uniqueness presupposition

While it is usually assumed that definite descriptions presuppose the existence and the uniqueness for their referent, there are lots of counter-examples, in which either the existence or the uniqueness isn’t presupposed. Among them are weak definites, which can be divided into two classes: (i) the short weak definites such as the train in the VP take the train and (ii) the long weak definites such as the student of a linguist in the sentence this data comes from the student of a linguist. A unified analysis of these two classes is proposed, based on the claim that nouns in weak definite descriptions refer to types and that the definite determiner triggers only a weak uniqueness presupposition, in wich the uniqueness depends on the existence.

Weak definites refer to kinds

This paper presents an analysis of weak definites (e.g. to answer the phone) as introduced by Carlson and Sussman (2005). The proposal is that these definites refer to kinds, which are instantiated by ordinary individuals when they combine with object-level predicates. This combination is made possible by a lexical rule that lifts object-level predicates to kind-level predicates, and incorporates into their denotation a predicate that represents the stereotypical usages of the kinds. This analysis accounts for most of the peculiar properties of weak definites.

Three-Dimensional Spine Model Reconstruction Using One-Class SVM Regularization

Statistical shape models have become essential for medical image registration or segmentation and are used in many biomedical applications. These models are often based on Gaussian distributions learned from a training set. We propose in this paper a shape model which does not rely on the estimation of a Gaussian distribution, but on similarities computed with a kernel function. Our model takes advantage of the one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) to do so. In this context, we propose in this paper a method for reconstructing the spine of scoliotic patients using OCSVM regularization. Current state-of-the-art methods use conventional statistical shape models, and the reconstruction is commonly processed by minimizing a Mahalanobis distance. Nevertheless, when a shape differs significantly from the statistical model, the associated Mahalanobis distance often overstates the need for statistical regularization. We show that OCSVM regularization is more robust and is less sensitive to weak landmarks definition and is hardly influenced by the presence of outliers in the training data. The proposed OCSVM model applied to 3-D spine reconstruction was evaluated on real patient data, and results showed that our approach allows precise reconstruction.