Moving the goal posts: a reply to Dawson and Piercey

Berkeley [Minds Machines 10 (2000) 1] described a methodology that showed the subsymbolic nature of an artificial neural network system that had been trained on a logic problem, originally described by Bechtel and Abrahamsen [Connectionism and the mind. Blackwells, Cambridge, MA, 1991]. It was also claimed in the conclusion of this paper that the evidence was suggestive that the network might, in fact, count as a symbolic system. Dawson and Piercey [Minds Machines 11 (2001) 197] took issue with this latter claim. They described some lesioning studies that they argued showed that Berkeley’s (2000) conclusions were premature. In this paper, these lesioning studies are replicated and it is shown that the effects that Dawson and Piercey rely upon for their argument are merely an artifact of a threshold function they chose to employ. When a threshold function much closer to that deployed in the original studies is used, the significant effects disappear.     

Emergence of communication in embodied agents evolved for the ability to solve a collective navigation problem

In this paper, we present the results of an experiment in which a collection of simulated robots that have been evolved for the ability to solve a collective navigation problem develop a communication system that allows them to co-operate better. The analysis of the results obtained indicates how evolving robots develop a non-trivial communication system and exploit different communication modalities. The results also indicate how the possibility of co-adapting the robots’ individual and social/communicative behaviour plays a key role in the development of progressively more complex and effective individuals.     

Active symbols and internal models: Towards a cognitive connectionism

In the first section of the article, we examine some recent criticisms of the connectionist enterprise: first, that connectionist models are fundamentally behaviorist in nature (and, therefore, non-cognitive), and second that connectionist models are fundamentally associationist in nature (and, therefore, cognitively weak). We argue that, for a limited class of connectionist models (feed-forward, pattern-associator models), the first criticism is unavoidable. With respect to the second criticism, we propose that connectionist modelsare fundamentally associationist but that this is appropriate for building models of human cognition. However, we do accept the point that there are cognitive capacities for which any purely associative model cannot provide a satisfactory account. The implication that we draw from is this is not that associationist models and mechanisms should be scrapped, but rather that they should be enhanced.In the next section of the article, we identify a set of connectionist approaches which are characterized by active symbols — recurrent circuits which are the basis of knowledge representation. We claim that such approaches avoid criticisms of behaviorism and are, in principle, capable of supporting full cognition. In the final section of the article, we speculate at some length about what we believe would be the characteristics of a fully realized active symbol system. This includes both potential problems and possible solutions (for example, mechanisms needed to control activity in a complex recurrent network) as well as the promise of such systems (in particular, the emergence of knowledge structures which would constitute genuine internal models).     

Back to the Future: An Historical Perspective on the Pendulum-Like Changes in Literacy

This article focuses on the pendulum-like change in the way people read and use text, which was triggered by the introduction of new reading and writing technologies in human history. The paper argues that textual features, which characterized the ancient pre-print writing culture, disappeared with the establishment of the modern-day print culture and has been “revived” in the digital post-modern era. This claim is based on the analysis of four cases which demonstrate this textual-pendulum swing: (1) The swing from concrete iconic-graphic representation of letters and words in the ancient alphabet to abstract phonetic representation of text in modern eras, and from written abstract computer commands “back” to the concrete iconic representation in graphic user interfaces of the digital era; (2) The swing from scroll reading in the pre-print era to page or book reading in the print era and “back” to scroll reading in the digital era; (3) The swing from a low level of authorship in the pre-print era to a strong authorship perception in the print era, and “back” to a low degree of authorship in the digital era; (4) The swing from synchronic representation of text in both visual and audio formats during the pre-print era to a visual representation only in print, and “back” to a synchronic representation in many environments of the digital era. We suggest that the print culture, which is usually considered the natural and preferred textual environment, should be regarded as the exception.     

基于感知规则集策略的约束空间RFID室内符号定位算法

随着普适计算的不断发展,室内定位技术的研究也成为当今研究的热点问题。室内定位技术的不断进步使得RFID也开始部署到各种各样的室内场景。为了提高室内空间中的定位精度,提出了一种基于感知规则集策略的约束空间RFID室内符号定位方法。算法基于室内空间中的符号,通过定义感知情况来确立定位规则,使得算法具有良好的室内空间适应性,且使用少量的阅读器即可实现较高精度的定位。为了提高定位精度,引入了感知规则集的概念,对场景中的情况抽象提取,进一步增加算法定位精度。最后,以约束空间中的室内场景作为实验环境对算法进行验证,分析结果表明,在室内空间中算法的定位精度及抗干扰能力优于现有算法。     

从修辞学的角度对设计符号学中象征功能的再认识

我试图通过解读修辞学的发展历程,探究符号学发展的必然性,由本不存在修辞,到需要修辞,再到修辞的消亡的逻辑关系,联想到设计符号学的发展历程竟与其如此惊人的相似,由仅追求原始功能,到添加装饰满足非本质的需求,继而又摒弃装饰成分,聚焦其本质所在的现代设计,就像我在文章开头说的乙杂邢薜姆绞奖硐治尴蘧褪敲烙是象征的精髓一样,以最简洁的形式传达了最准确的信息,是设计符号学的核心所在。     

On the structure of systematic prefix codes

Systematic prefix codes play an important role in coding theory, we relate them with the problem of the partition of a free (sub-) monoid into two free sub-monoids. We show too that among the dual codes of a systematic prefix code A there exists one and only one which appears in the automaton recognizing A ^*. The characterization of this automaton and some corollaries stated here will allow us to show in further note that systematic prefix codes are involved in the structure of any regular prefix code. Work done under CNR contract No. R-l7-02-417-0-A.     

近代鼓浪屿城市转型中的空间竞争与文化适应

从居住、政治、宗教等方面探究近代鼓浪屿城市转型过程中,华、洋不同势力对鼓浪屿城市空间的控制和争夺,及其呈现的城市文化象征。并讨论这一过程中的文化适应现象对城市空间的影响。