Assembling a consistent set of sentences in relational probabilistic logic with stochastic independence

We examine the representation of judgements of stochastic independence in probabilistic logics. We focus on a relational logic where (i) judgements of stochastic independence are encoded by directed acyclic graphs, and (ii) probabilistic assessments are flexible in the sense that they are not required to specify a single probability measure. We discuss issues of knowledge representation and inference that arise from our particular combination of graphs, stochastic independence, logical formulas and probabilistic assessments. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relational learning in children with deafness and cochlear implants

This four-experiment series sought to evaluate the potential of children with neurosensory deafness and cochlear implants to exhibit auditory-visual and visual-visual stimulus equivalence relations within a matching-to-sample format. Twelve children who became deaf prior to acquiring language (prelingual) and four who became deaf afterwards (postlingual) were studied. All children learned auditory-visual conditional discriminations and nearly all showed emergent equivalence relations. Naming tests, conducted with a subset of the: children, showed no consistent relationship to the equivalence-test outcomes.. This study makes several contributions: to the literature on stimulus equivalence. First; it demonstrates that both pre- and postlingually deaf children-can: acquire auditory-visual equivalence-relations after cochlear implantation, thus demonstrating symbolic functioning. Second, it directs attention to a population that may be especially interesting for researchers seeking to analyze the relationship. between speaker and listener repertoires. Third, it demonstrates the feasibility of conducting experimental studies of stimulus control processes within the limitations of a hospital, which these children must visit routinely for the maintenance of their cochlear implants.

Memory and hypertext: a reflection on relational knowledge

This paper analyzes the changes the ways of organizing memory have undergone since ancient times, turning them into the current artificial memory systems. It aims to draw a parallel between the art of memory (which associates images to specific texts) and the hypertext (which also uses associations, but in a non-linear way). Our methodology consisted of a qualitative approach, involving the collection of texts about the art of memory and hypertext; this enables us to salvage the historical-cultural changes which have modified form and use of the art of memory and allowed the creation of hypertext. It also analyzes the similarities among artificial memory systems created by different cultures in order to prevent loss of knowledge produced by society.

Evolutionary fuzzy clustering of relational data

This paper is concerned with the computational efficiency of fuzzy clustering algorithms when the data set to be clustered is described by a proximity matrix only (relational data) and the number of clusters must be automatically estimated from such data. A fuzzy variant of an evolutionary algorithm for relational clustering is derived and compared against two systematic (pseudo-exhaustive) approaches that can also be used to automatically estimate the number of fuzzy clusters in relational data. An extensive collection of experiments involving 18 artificial and two real data sets is reported and analyzed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relação conjugal, violência psicológica e complementaridade fusional

Neste artigo abordamos um tipo específico de dinâmica conjugal marcada pela violência psicológica. Na clínica com casais, temos observado situações nas quais são utilizadas agressões verbais e humilhações, que afetam a auto-estima e a capacidade de reação e decisão da pessoa agredida. Forma-se um laço perverso caracterizado por um movimento recíproco no sentido do domínio do parceiro, com condições e exigências que submetem a ambos, levando a um tipo de relação na qual impera a complementaridade fusional. O discurso característico da contemporaneidade, de obtenção de prazer e busca da perfeição nos relacionamentos amorosos e da presença do modelo igualitário nas relações homem/mulher, põe em destaque esse tipo de dinâmica relacional. Observa-se, em alguns casos, uma fixação do modelo "homem-ativo-fálico/mulher-passiva-castrada" que permanece subjacente à mudança dos tempos.

Hans W. Loewald: a importância da realidade na constituição do sujeito e na clínica psicanalítica

Enfatiza-se a importância da realidade e da experiência atual na constituição do sujeito, por meio da apresentação das ideias de Hans W. Loewald e do exame de sua concepção original de realidade. A natureza relacional das pulsões, a ideia do novo objeto na relação analítica, a noção de invenção da realidade, o conceito de sublimação e a forma de compreender o simbolismo estão entre as formulações mais importantes de Loewald acerca do papel do ambiente na constituição do sujeito. Suas formulações também permitem a compreensão da inserção do sujeito na realidade social contemporânea.

A negociação intersubjetiva de significados em Jogos de Interpretação de Papéis

Este artigo focaliza o processo de negociação intersubjetiva de significados por meio da análise microgenética de sessões de Jogos de Interpretação de Papéis (Role-Playing Games). Partiu-se da suposição de que a análise de interações eu - outro durante o jogo poderia evidenciar aspectos relevantes para a compreensão das relações entre intersubjetividade e alteridade em contextos interpessoais. Os resultados da análise microgenética dos diálogos entre os jogadores evidenciaram a participação de processos psicológicos relevantes para o desenvolvimento humano, em que momentos de tensão e inquietação, característicos das relações de alteridade, alternavam-se com momentos de convergência e compartilhamento sobre os temas da conversa e sobre as posições relativas dos interlocutores.

The right to screens: from media education to educommunication in Brazil

Social organizations, local governments and the media in Brazil are confronting them, selves over the need for an oversight board to guarantee quality television programming, and establishing a system to determine which television programs are appropriate for which television time slots. Across Brazil, a representative body of children and young adults have determined that the right to receive quality programming is not currently being met. Children of the new generation see themselves as having a right to access new technologies which enable them to produce their own messages according to their own creativity, interests, and social participation. This new generation wants to go beyond education in order to watch and conquer their ""right to screens"".

Probabilistic logic with independence

This paper investigates probabilistic logics endowed with independence relations. We review propositional probabilistic languages without and with independence. We then consider graph-theoretic representations for propositional probabilistic logic with independence; complexity is analyzed, algorithms are derived, and examples are discussed. Finally, we examine a restricted first-order probabilistic logic that generalizes relational Bayesian networks. (c) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Participatory ergonomics: Understanding the contributions of reflection groups in a hospital food service

Aim: To identify how the methodology of Reflection Groups (RG) can contribute to approach social-psychological problems, so often observed as obstacles in PE efforts. The objective was also to verify the contributions from RG to the implementation of ergonomics recommendations, which were a starting point and organized group discussions. Method: A concrete case was used as an illustration, and studied in depth: RG with administration and production workers` representatives from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics of a cardiologic hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. RG are temporary thinking groups, taking place outside the workplace and having delegative and consultive participation. They make use of Operative Groups, an adapted form of tripartite group, activity as an instrumental resource, group dynamic techniques and videotaping. In 2007, 31 meetings took place during paid working hours with 7 groups of different composition, ranging from 1.5 h to 3 h. Results: Additionally to the positive effects in communication and psychosocial environment, RG could also contribute to changes in interpersonal relationships, cooperation, personal and work behaviours. By dealing with aspects which could hinder the explicit task: fears, conflicts, and stereotyped beliefs and behaviours; resistance to change could be broken and group members could learn. RG allowed input about new risks; continuous information and feedback about ongoing ergonomics interventions so that immediate corrective action could be taken. The main form of participation was in administrative, organizational, and psychosocial problems which required a better clarification and identification of their real causes, commitment, and elaboration of strategies and negotiation of different stakeholders in their solution. Conclusion: RG takes advantage of homogeneous and heterogeneous groups, in face to face communication. The interactions in the groups are task-oriented (explicit task) but attaining groups` goals depends on a relational interaction (implicit task). Relevance to industry: Reflection groups can bring important contributions to ergonomics and industry because they favour the discussion, disclosure of problems and incorporation of solutions, enabling interventions in working organization, psychosocial environment and relationships in a collective and participatory approach, promoting health and social integration. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Seamlessly integrating similarity queries in SQL

Modern database applications are increasingly employing database management systems (DBMS) to store multimedia and other complex data. To adequately support the queries required to retrieve these kinds of data, the DBMS need to answer similarity queries. However, the standard structured query language (SQL) does not provide effective support for such queries. This paper proposes an extension to SQL that seamlessly integrates syntactical constructions to express similarity predicates to the existing SQL syntax and describes the implementation of a similarity retrieval engine that allows posing similarity queries using the language extension in a relational DBM. The engine allows the evaluation of every aspect of the proposed extension, including the data definition language and data manipulation language statements, and employs metric access methods to accelerate the queries. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.