Thinking with Diagrams

Thinking with Diagrams

This book provides an introductory overview of the rapid growth in interdisciplinary research into Thinking with Diagrams. Diagrammatic representations are becoming more common in everyday human experience, yet they offer unique challenges to cognitive science research. Neither linguistic nor perceptual theories are sufficient to completely explain their advantages and applications. These research challenges may be part of the reason why so many diagrams are badly designed or badly used. This is ironic when the user interfaces of computer software and the worldwide web are becoming so completely dominated by graphical and diagrammatic representations. This book includes chapters commissioned from leading researchers in the major disciplines involved in diagrams research. They review the philosophical status of diagrams, the cognitive processes involved in their application, and a range of specialist fields in which diagrams are central, including education, architectural design and visual programming languages. The result is immediately relevant to researchers in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, as well as in applied technology areas such as human-computer interaction and information design.

Thinking with Diagrams

Living and Surviving in Harms Way

Living and Surviving in Harms Way

In Living and Surviving in Harm’s Way, experts investigate the psychological impact of how warriors live and survive in combat duty. They address the combat preparation of servicemen and women, their support systems, and their interpersonal and intrapersonal experiences. The text maintains a focus on cognitive-behavioral interventions for treating various combat-related disorders, and addresses psychological health and adjustment after leaving the battlefield. The text is logically organized for easy reading and reference, and covers often overlooked topics such as preparation and training of service personnel, women in combat, and the indirect effects of combat stress on family. This book is written by clinicians who have in some ways experienced what they write about, and resonates with mental health professionals, servicemen and women, and their families. Any clinician hoping to treat a serviceman or woman effectively cannot afford to overlook this book.

Living and Surviving in Harms Way

Biomedical Informatics - Fourth Edition

Biomedical Informatics - Fourth Edition

The practice of modern medicine and biomedical research requires sophisticated information technologies with which to manage patient information, plan diagnostic procedures, interpret laboratory results, and carry out investigations. Biomedical Informatics provides both a conceptual framework and a practical inspiration for this swiftly emerging scientific discipline at the intersection of computer science, decision science, information science, cognitive science, and biomedicine. Now revised and in its third edition, this text meets the growing demand by practitioners, researchers, and students for a comprehensive introduction to key topics in the field. Authored by leaders in medical informatics and extensively tested in their courses, the chapters in this volume constitute an effective textbook for students of medical informatics and its areas of application. The book is also a useful reference work for individual readers needing to understand the role that computers can play in the provision of clinical services and the pursuit of biological questions. The volume is organized so as first to explain basic concepts and then to illustrate them with specific systems and technologies.

Biomedical Informatics - Fourth Edition

Foraging: Behavior and Ecology

Foraging: Behavior and Ecology

Foraging is fundamental to animal survival and reproduction, yet it is much more than a simple matter of finding food; it is a biological imperative. Animals must find and consume resources to succeed, and they make extraordinary efforts to do so. For instance, pythons rarely eat, but when they do, their meals are largeas much as 60 percent larger than their own bodies. The snakes digestive system is normally dormant, but during digestion metabolic rates can increase fortyfold. A python digesting quietly on the forest floor has the metabolic rate of thoroughbred in a dead heat. This and related foraging processes have broad applications in ecology, cognitive science, anthropology, and conservation biologyand they can be further extrapolated in economics, neurobiology, and computer science.

Foraging: Behavior and Ecology

Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots

Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots

Autonomous robots must carry out useful tasks all by themselves relying entirely on their own perceptions of their environment. The cognitive abilities required for autonomous action are largely independent of robot size, which makes mini robots attractive as artefacts for research, education and entertainment. Autonomous mini robots must be small enough for experimentation on a desktop or a small laboratory. They must be easy to carry and safe for interaction with humans. They must not be expensive. Mini robot designers have to work at the leading edge of technology so that their creations can carry out purposeful autonomic action under these constraints. Since 2001 researchers have met every two years for an international symposium to report on the advances achieved in Autonomous Mini Robots for Research and Edutainment (AMiRE). The AMiRE Symposium is a single track conference that offers ample opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas. This volume contains the contributed papers of the 2011 AMiRE Symposium held from 23 to 25 May 2011 at Bielefeld University, Germany. The contributions in this volume represent the state-of-the-art of autonomous mini robots; they demonstrate what is currently technically feasible and show some of the applications for autonomous mini robots.

Advances in Autonomous Mini Robots

Soft Computing Approach to Pattern Classification and Object Recognition

Soft Computing Approach to Pattern Classification and Object Recognition

Soft Computing Approach to Pattern Classification and Object Recognition establishes an innovative, unified approach to supervised pattern classification and model-based occluded object recognition. The book also surveys various soft computing tools, fuzzy relational calculus (FRC), genetic algorithm (GA) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) to provide a strong foundation for the reader. The supervised approach to pattern classification and model-based approach to occluded object recognition are treated in one framework , one based on either a conventional interpretation or a new interpretation of multidimensional fuzzy implication (MFI) and a novel notion of fuzzy pattern vector (FPV). By combining practice and theory, a completely independent design methodology was developed in conjunction with this supervised approach on a unified framework, and then tested thoroughly against both synthetic and real-life data. In the field of soft computing, such an application-oriented design study is unique in nature. The monograph essentially mimics the cognitive process of human decision making, and carries a message of perceptual integrity in representational diversity. Soft Computing Approach to Pattern Classification and Object Recognition is intended for researchers in the area of pattern classification and computer vision. Other academics and practitioners will also find the book valuable.

Soft Computing Approach to Pattern Classification and Object Recognition

Educational Algebra

Educational Algebra

Given its abstract nature and the highly syntactical competence required by the use of symbolic algebra, research on its teaching and learning must rely on approaches that include semiotic concepts and analyses that recall the history of algebraic ideas, among others. Educational Algebra: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach deals with a theoretical perspective on the study of school algebra, in which both components (semiotics and history) occur. This perspective runs opposite to general theoretical models, since it submits components for the design of local frameworks for theoretical analysis. The Methodological design allows for the interpretation of specific phenomena and the inclusion, within such interpretative frameworks, of evidence not included in more general treatments. Such is the case of phenomena observed in subjects who are initiating the study of symbolic algebra, involving the production of personal sign systems at the intermediate level or the level previous to the mathematical sign system which is to be learned. Disciplines such as Linguistics, Logic, Psycholinguistics, Semiotics, general Cognitive Psychology, Mathematics Psychology, Mathematics Epistemology, History of Mathematics, and others have carried out research on the same topics approached by Mathematics Education and have redefined their results within the framework of their respective fields. Specifically, theorists in Linguistics, Information Processing and Didactics of Mathematics have done important work on the notion of code. Today, this notion is a key element to interpreting the idea of representation in the new explanatory models of cognitive problems placed by alternative teaching approaches, including those involving a technological environment. Additionally, Psycholinguistics and Artificial Intelligence in procedural models of human abilities have intended to explain how and why users of mathematical language naturally and commonly make mistakes in syntactical procedures. Educational Algebra: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach adds to previous developments with priority given to a pragmatic perspective on ‘meaning in use’ over ‘formal meaning’. The bulk of these approaches and others of similar nature have lead to a focus on competence rather than on a users activity with mathematical language. Such a shift in perspective has fundamental implications on the way mathematical language is studied. Essentially, Grammarthe abstract formal systemand Pragmaticsthe principles of the use of languageare complementary domains in this volume. Both are related to different teaching models, whether new or traditional, used in helping students to become competent users of Algebra. Because of this, Educational Algebra: A Theoretical and Empirical Approach will be of interest to researchers and practitioners within the mathematics education field.

Educational Algebra

Personality as an Affect-Processing System

Personality as an Affect-Processing System

At least since Hippocrates, human beings have been trying to describe and analyze the behavioral and cognitive consistencies now referred to as personality. And in recent decades, no less than in the preceding centuries, they have generated a bewildering variety of construals and constructs.

Personality as an Affect-Processing System

Visual Masking

Visual Masking

Visual masking is a technique used in cognitive research to understand pre-conscious processes (e.g., priming), consciousness, visual limits, and perception issues associated with psychopathology. This work is a short format review of research using visual masking: how its been used, and what these experiments have discovered. Its a strategic fit to our other cognitive psychology titles.

Visual Masking

Conversation and Brain Damage

Conversation and Brain Damage

How do people with brain damage communicate? How does the partial or total loss of the ability to speak and use language fluently manifest itself in actual conversation? How are people with brain damage able to expand their cognitive ability through interaction with others – and how do these discursive activities in turn influence cognition? This groundbreaking collection of new articles examines the ways in which aphasia and other neurological deficits lead to language impairments that shape the production, reception and processing of language. Edited by noted linguistic anthropologist Charles Goodwin and with contributions from a wide range of international scholars, the articles provide a pragmatic and interactive perspective on the types of challenges that face aphasic speakers in any given act of communication. Conversation and Brain Damage will be invaluable to linguists, discourse analysts, linguistic and medical anthropologists, speech therapists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, workers in mental health care and in public health, sociologists, and readers interested in the long-term implications of brain damage.

Conversation and Brain Damage

Pragmatic Disorders

Pragmatic Disorders

This wide-ranging survey of the state of the art in clinical pragmatics includes an examination of pragmatic disorders in previously neglected populations such as juvenile offenders, children and adults with emotional and behavioural disorders, and adults with non-Alzheimer dementias. This book makes a significant contribution to the discussion of pragmatic disorders by exploring topics which have a fast-rising profile in the field. These topics include disorders in which there are both pragmatic and cognitive components, and studies of the complex impacts of pragmatic disorders such as mental health problems, educational disadvantage and social exclusion.

Pragmatic Disorders

Computability

Computability

In the 1930s a series of seminal works published by Alan Turing, Kurt Gdel, Alonzo Church, and others established the theoretical basis for computability. This work, advancing precise characterizations of effective, algorithmic computability, was the culmination of intensive investigations into the foundations of mathematics. In the decades since, the theory of computability has moved to the center of discussions in philosophy, computer science, and cognitive science. In this volume, distinguished computer scientists, mathematicians, logicians, and philosophers consider the conceptual foundations of computability in light of our modern understanding. Some chapters focus on the pioneering work by Turing, Gdel, and Church, including the Church-Turing thesis and Gdel’s response to Church’s and Turing’s proposals. Other chapters cover more recent technical developments, including computability over the reals, Gdel’s influence on mathematical logic and on recursion theory and the impact of work by Turing and Emil Post on our theoretical understanding of online and interactive computing; and others relate computability and complexity to issues in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of mathematics. Contributors:Scott Aaronson, Dorit Aharonov, B. Jack Copeland, Martin Davis, Solomon Feferman, Saul Kripke, Carl J. Posy, Hilary Putnam, Oron Shagrir, Stewart Shapiro, Wilfried Sieg, Robert I. Soare, Umesh V. Vazirani

Computability

Cannabis And Cognitive Functioning

Cannabis And Cognitive Functioning

Cannabis is the most widely used illicit substance in the world, but the question of whether its long-term use can result in lasting and irreparable cognitive impairment remains controversial. This timely and well-argued volume provides an extensive and comprehensive critical review of the literature relevant to cannabis and cognitive functioning, examining the evidence in the light of important recent findings in the pharmacology and neuropsychology of cannabis. Original studies conducted by the author are presented, utilizing one of the most modern and sensitive tools available to assess cognitive functioning – event-related potentials or ERPs. Her conclusion, that long-term cannabis use may produce irreversible impairment in memory, attention and the organization and integration of complex functions, will be of compelling interest to a wide range of clinicians, researchers and policy makers.

Cannabis And Cognitive Functioning

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Do the arts mean? Do all the arts mean? Do they all mean in the same way? Does an art work mean in the same way in which a street sign means? More importantly, do all art works mean in a semiotically interesting way? This book argues for the importance of those formal meanings in the arts which most effectively enrich our knowledge of ‘the way things are’ and train our cognitive faculties to deal with them. Jackson Barry examines the meaning of art works as read through their material and formal constituents using a semiotic approach which clarifies the historical and cultural forces molding these sensorially elaborated ‘signs.’ Medieval wheel-of-fortune diagrams, a Shakespeare play, non-objective painting, and a stage set for Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, all demonstrate the interplay between concepts struggling for expression and the available matter and form for their manifestation. At the end, the author considers the biological basis for art as defined in contemporary cognitive science.

Art, Culture and the Semiotics of Meaning

Engineering Design

Engineering Design

Contrary to a lot of popular mythology, the designs of popular products and successful systems do not appear suddenly, or magically. The authors believe that symbolic representation, and related problem-solving methods, offer significant opportunities to clarify and articulate concepts of design to lay a better framework for design research and design education. Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides a substantial body of material concerned with understanding and modeling cognitive processes. This book adopts the vocabulary and paradigms of AI to enhance the presentation and explanation of design. It includes concepts from AI because of their explanatory power and because of their utility as possible ingredients of practical design activity. This second edition has been enriched by the inclusion of recent work on design reasoning, computational design, AI in design, and design cognition, with pointers to a wide cross section of the current literature.

Engineering Design

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps

In a world of chaotic alignments, traditional logic with its strict boundaries of truth and falsity has not imbued itself with the capability of reflecting the reality. Despite various attempts to reorient logic, there has remained an essential need for an alternative system that could infuse into itself a representation of the real world. Out of this need arose the system of Neutrosophy (the philosophy of neutralities, introduced by FLORENTIN SMARANDACHE), and its connected logic Neutrosophic Logic, which is a further generalization of the theory of Fuzzy Logic. In this book we study the concepts of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) and their Neutrosophic analogue, the Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps (NCMs). Fuzzy Cognitive Maps are fuzzy structures that strongly resemble neural networks, and they have powerful and far-reaching consequences as a mathematical tool for modeling complex systems. Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps are generalizations of FCMs, and their unique feature is the ability to handle indeterminacy in relations between two concepts thereby bringing greater sensitivity into the results. Some of the varied applications of FCMs and NCMs which has been explained by us, in this book, include: modeling of supervisory systems; design of hybrid models for complex systems; mobile robots and in intimate technology such as office plants; analysis of business performance assessment; formalism debate and legal rules; creating metabolic and regulatory network models; traffic and transportation problems; medical diagnostics; simulation of strategic planning process in intelligent systems; specific language impairment; web-mining inference application; child labor problem; industrial relations: between employer and employee, maximizing production and profit; decision support in intelligent intrusion detection system; hyper-knowledge representation in strategy formation; female infanticide; depression in terminally ill patients and finally, in the theory of community mobilization and women empowerment relative to the AIDS epidemic.

Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps

Climbing and Walking Robots

Climbing and Walking Robots

Nowadays robotics is one of the most dynamic fields of scientific researches. The shift of robotics researches from manufacturing to services applications is clear. During the last decades interest in studying climbing and walking robots has been increased. This increasing interest has been in many areas that most important ones of them are: mechanics, electronics, medical engineering, cybernetics, controls, and computers. Todays climbing and walking robots are a combination of manipulative, perceptive, communicative, and cognitive abilities and they are capable of performing many tasks in industrial and non- industrial environments. Surveillance, planetary exploration, emergence rescue operations, reconnaissance, petrochemical applications, construction, entertainment, personal services, intervention in severe environments, transportation, medical and etc are some applications from a very diverse application fields of climbing and walking robots. By great progress in this area of robotics it is anticipated that next generation climbing and walking robots will enhance lives and will change the way the human works, thinks and makes decisions. This book presents the state of the art achievments, recent developments, applications and future challenges of climbing and walking robots. These are presented in 24 chapters by authors throughtot the world The book serves as a reference especially for the researchers who are interested in mobile robots. It also is useful for industrial engineers and graduate students in advanced study.

Climbing and Walking Robots

Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases XVIII, Volume 15

Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases XVIII, Volume 15

‘In the last decades, information modelling and knowledge bases have become hot topics not only in academic communities related to information systems and computer science, but also in business areas where information technology is applied. This book aims to exchange scientific results and experiences achieved in computer science and other related disciplines using innovative methods and progressive approaches. A platform has been established drawing together researches as well as practitioners dealing with information modelling and knowledge bases. The main topics of this publication target the variety of themes in the domain of information modelling, conceptual analysis, design and specification of information systems, ontologies, software engineering, knowledge and process management, data and knowledge bases. The editors also aim at applying new progressive theories. To this end, much attention is also being paid to theoretical disciplines including cognitive science, artificial intelligence, logic, linguistics and analytical philosophy. The selected papers cover many areas of information modelling, namely theory of concepts, database semantics, knowledge representation, software engineering, WWW information management, context-based information retrieval, ontological technology, image databases, temporal and spatial databases, document data management, process management, and many others.’

Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases XVIII, Volume 15

Context and the Attitudes Meaning in Context, Volume 1

Context and the Attitudes Meaning in Context, Volume 1

Context and the Attitudes collects thirteen seminal essays by Mark Richard on semantics and propositional attitudes. These essays develop a nuanced account of the semantics and pragmatics of our talk about such attitudes, an account on which in saying what someone thinks, we offer our words as a ‘translation’ or representation of the way the target of our talk represents the world. A broad range of topics in philosophical semantics and the philosophy of mind are discussed in detail, including: contextual sensitivity; pretense and semantics; negative existentials; fictional discourse; the nature of quantification; the role of Fregean sense in semantics; ‘direct reference’ semantics; de re belief and the contingent a priori; belief de se; intensional transitives; the cognitive role of tense; and the prospects for giving a semantics for the attitudes without recourse to properties or possible worlds. Richard’s extensive, newly written introduction gives an overview of the essays. The introduction also discusses attitudes realized by dispositions and other non-linguistic cognitive structures, as well as the debate between those who think that mental and linguistic content is structured like the sentences that express it, and those who see content as essentially unstructured.

Context and the Attitudes Meaning in Context, Volume 1

Cognition Through Understanding

Cognition Through Understanding

Cognition Through Understanding presents a selection of Tyler Burge’s essays that use epistemology to illumine powers of mind. The essays focus on epistemic warrants that differ from those warrants commonly discussed in epistemology–those for ordinary empirical beliefs and for logical and mathematical beliefs. The essays center on four types of cognition warranted through understanding–self-knowledge, interlocution, reasoning, and reflection. Burge argues that by reflecting on warrants for these types of cognition, one better understands cognitive powers that are distinctive of persons, and (on earth) of human beings. The collection presents three previously unpublished independent essays, in addition to substantial, retrospective commentary. The retrospective commentary invites the reader to make connections that were not fully in mind when the essays were written.

Cognition Through Understanding