Localized Fairness: A Rewriting Semantics

Proofs of progress properties often require fairness assumptions. Directly incorporating global fairness assumptions in a compositional method is difficult, given the local flavor of such reasoning. We present a fully automated local reasoning algorithm which handles fairness assumptions through a process of iterative refinement. Refinement strengthens local proofs by the addition of auxiliary shared variables which expose internal process state; it is needed as local reasoning is inherently incomplete. Experiments demonstrate that the new algorithm shows significant improvement over standard model checking.

Modalities for model checking: branching time logic strikes back

The concept of must testing is naturally parametrised with a chosen completeness criterion or fairness assumption. When taking weak fairness as used in I/O automata, I show that it characterises exactly the fair preorder on I/O automata as defined by Lynch & Tuttle.KeywordsI/O automataMust testingFairness

Tzeng, O. C. S. (1993). Measurement of Love and Intimate Relations: Theories, Scales, and Applications for Love Development, Maintenance, and Dissolution. Westport, CT: Praeger. 299 pp. Hardcover ISBN 0-275-94273-2, price $65.00. This book on measurement of love is a sequel to Tzeng's first volume on subject of love. It consists of a collection, evaluation, and summary of existing measurements of love behaviors. The first half of book presents theoretical foundations for development and evaluation of over 30 love theories organized by eight relationship stages. The second half presents empirical research studies on love measurement scales. Chapter 1 outlines a common methodological framework that includes four considerations for evaluation and development of theories of love. These include forms of theories (e.g., inductive or deductive), components of theories (e.g., postulates and constructs), utility of theories (e.g., prediction ability), and evaluation criteria (e.g., comprehensiveness and parsimony). Chapter 2 describes a common theoretical content framework for studying love. Based on methodological framework and theoretical framework, two models of love are presented: an intrapersonal model and an interpersonal model. In addition, a more general, overarching psychosemantic process paradigm is described. This grand model includes five phases of relationship development that comprehensively explain process of falling into and out of love. Tzeng uses this overarching model in his evaluation of 26 love measurement scales later in Chapter 5. Chapter 3 summarizes history of concept of love and presents Tzeng's Octagonal Love Model, which operationally divides entire process, from development to dissolution of love between two people into eight stages (beginning with strangers and ending with separation or divorce). The model is also used to categorize existing measurements in Chapter 5. The second part of this chapter presents summary descriptions of over 30 love theories. They are evaluated in terms of Tzeng's previously outlined 10 components of his intrapersonal love model and his common methodological framework for theory development and evaluation. Among theories he reviews are psychosexual love theory of Freud, attachment theory, romantic love theory, passionate and compassionate love, equity theory, and stimulus, value, role theory. His general conclusion following his evaluation is, the scientific study of love, barely in its third decade, has not yet matured into a fully developed systematic field of inquiry (p. 78). He calls for a comprehensive study and development of a grand theory of entire life cycle of a relationship in continuous, cohesive terms. The second half of book begins with Chapter 4, which describes theoretical considerations behind measurement of love, including five factors to consider before measuring love. Measurement techniques, forms of reliability and validity, and preparation techniques (e.g., scoring decisions) for statistical analyses are described. Perhaps most interesting guidelines are those for choosing instruments for clinical practice. Chapter 5 compiles 26 love measurement scales that are organized under eight octagonal stages described in Chapter 3. Their content foci are summarized and each tool is described in terms of name, theoretical foundations, author(s), references, number of items in scale, response format for subjects, constructs measured by scale, reliability and validity information, applicability of scale, scoring method, and measurement scales themselves. …

When behaviour therapy was developed in the 1950s and 1960s, it was based firmly on the experimental psychology of the time, principally learning theory. Since that time effective verbal therapies have been developed, and clinicians are faced with the difficult task of selecting among so-called behavioural and cognitive interventions based on radically different philosophies. This paper reviews developments in learning theory, particularly human learning, which suggest that conditioning is a complex cognitive process giving rise to verbally accessible expectancies and beliefs. Such a perspective provides a common theoretical framework (cf. Bandura, 1977) that allows behavioural and cognitive strategies to be coordinated to modify a particular cognitive target, such as biased expectancy of harm in anxiety. It is argued that the terms behavioural and cognitive carry unwanted connotations, and that it is preferable to specify independently the content of information to be conveyed in therapy (e.g., reduction in expectancy), and the mode by which it is conveyed — experience, observation, or language. Learning theory, in conjunction with other areas of experimental psychology, continues to provide a conceptual basis for the understanding of psychopathology and the development of new psychological interventions.

BackgroundUnderstanding how spatial patterns of gene expression emerge from the interaction of individual gene networks is a fundamental challenge in biology. Developing a synthetic experimental system with a common theoretical framework that captures the emergence of short- and long-range spatial correlations (and anti-correlations) from interacting gene networks could serve to uncover generic scaling properties of these ubiquitous phenomena.ResultsHere, we combine synthetic biology, statistical mechanics models, and computational simulations to study the spatial behavior of synthetic gene networks (SGNs) in Escherichia coli quasi-2D colonies growing on hard agar surfaces. Guided by the combined mechanisms of the contact process lattice simulation and two-dimensional Ising model (CPIM), we describe the spatial behavior of bi-stable and chemically coupled SGNs that self-organize into patterns of long-range correlations with power-law scaling or short-range anti-correlations. These patterns, resembling ferromagnetic and anti-ferromagnetic configurations of the Ising model near critical points, maintain their scaling properties upon changes in growth rate and cell shape.ConclusionsOur findings shed light on the spatial biology of coupled and bistable gene networks in growing cell populations. This emergent spatial behavior could provide insights into the study and engineering of self-organizing gene patterns in eukaryotic tissues and bacterial consortia.

Research evidence guiding the identification of pragmatic and effective actions aimed at improving the selection, availability, affordability and rational prescribing of medicines for mental disorders is sparse and inconsistent. In order to boost the development of new research, in this commentary we suggest to organise and classify all the activities in this area under a common theoretical framework and nomenclature, adopting the term 'public health psychopharmacology'. Public health psychopharmacology is proposed as a research discipline, based on contributions from the fields of regulatory science, health services research and implementation science. Implementing the term public health psychopharmacology may offer advantages, as the scientific community would be more focused on common goals and objectives, with, likely, an increasing body of research evidence of practical use.

Most hosts contain few parasites, whereas few hosts contain many. This pattern, known as aggregation, is well-documented in macroparasites where parasite intensity distribution among hosts affects host-parasite dynamics. Infection intensity also drives fungal disease dynamics, but we lack a basic understanding of host-fungal aggregation patterns, how they compare with macroparasites and if they reflect biological processes. To begin addressing these gaps, we characterized aggregation of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) in amphibian hosts. Utilizing the slope of Taylor's Power law, we found Bd intensity distributions were more aggregated than many macroparasites, conforming closely to lognormal distributions. We observed that Bd aggregation patterns are strongly correlated with known biological processes operating in amphibian populations, such as epizoological phase (i.e. invasion, post-invasion and enzootic), and intensity-dependent disease mortality. Using intensity-dependent mathematical models, we found evidence of evolution of host resistance based on aggregation shifts in systems persisting with Bd following disease-induced declines. Our results show that Bd aggregation is highly conserved across disparate systems and contains signatures of potential biological processes of amphibian-Bd systems. Our work can inform future modelling approaches and be extended to other fungal pathogens to elucidate host-fungal interactions and unite host-fungal dynamics under a common theoretical framework.

This book describes and analyzes all available alternating projection methods for solving the general problem of finding a point in the intersection of several given sets belonging to a Hilbert space. For each method the authors describe and analyze convergence, speed of convergence, acceleration techniques, stopping criteria, and applications. Different types of algorithms and applications are studied for subspaces, linear varieties, and general convex sets. The authors also unify these algorithms into a common theoretical framework. Alternating Projection Methods is a comprehensive and accessible source of information, providing readers with the theoretical and practical aspects of the most relevant alternating projection methods. It features several acceleration techniques for every method it presents and analyzes, including schemes that cannot be found in other books. It also provides full descriptions of several important mathematical problems and specific applications for which the alternating projection methods represent an efficient option. Examples and problems that illustrate this material are also included. Audience: This book can be used as a textbook for advanced undergraduate or first-year graduate students. Because it is comprehensive, it can also be used as a tutorial or a reference by mathematicians and nonmathematicians from many fields of application who need to solve alternating projection problems in their work. Contents: Preface; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Overview on Spaces; Chapter 3: The MAP on Subspaces; Chapter 4: Row-Action Methods; Chapter 5: Projecting on Convex Sets; Chapter 6: Applications of MAP for Matrix Problems; Bibliography; Author Index; Subject Index.

On asynchronous iterations

We apply an extended version of the method developed in reference Int.J.Mod.Phys.D5(1996)71, to derive exact cosmological (flat) Friedmann-Robertson-Walker solutions in RS2 brane models with a perfect fluid of ordinary matter plus a scalar field fluid trapped on the brane. We found new exact solutions, that can serve to unify inflation and quintessence in a common theoretical framework.

The McGurk effect is a widely used measure of multisensory integration during speech perception. Two observations have raised questions about the validity of the effect as a tool for understanding speech perception. First, there is high variability in perception of the McGurk effect across different stimuli and observers. Second, across observers there is low correlation between McGurk susceptibility and recognition of visual speech paired with auditory speech-in-noise, another common measure of multisensory integration. Using the framework of the causal inference of multisensory speech (CIMS) model, we explored the relationship between the McGurk effect, syllable perception, and sentence perception in seven experiments with a total of 296 different participants. Perceptual reports revealed a relationship between the efficacy of different McGurk stimuli created from the same talker and perception of the auditory component of the McGurk stimuli presented in isolation, both with and without added noise. The CIMS model explained this strong stimulus-level correlation using the principles of noisy sensory encoding followed by optimal cue combination within a common representational space across speech types. Because the McGurk effect (but not speech-in-noise) requires the resolution of conflicting cues between modalities, there is an additional source of individual variability that can explain the weak observer–level correlation between McGurk and noisy speech. Power calculations show that detecting this weak correlation requires studies with many more participants than those conducted to-date. Perception of the McGurk effect and other types of speech can be explained by a common theoretical framework that includes causal inference, suggesting that the McGurk effect is a valid and useful experimental tool.

Demonstrating a burgeoning interest in the field of family language policy (FLP) around the world, Successful Family Language Policy comprises several contributions from researchers working on multiple different contexts, united in their aim to address the key question of what makes some families successful in achieving bi- or multilingual outcomes for their children and others not. Many factors that might contribute towards or jeopardise success are put forward throughout the course of the volume, helping to lay the groundwork in outlining the broad scope of the question and its implications. This is a valuable first step which, with further research and collaboration, should enable the establishment of a common theoretical framework and methodological approach that might fit the complex, multi-level phenomenon that is FLP and help provide nuanced answers for researchers and parents alike.

Several studies have involved a combination of heat and gravitational energy exchanges to create novel heat engines. A common theoretical framework is developed here to describe thermogravitational cycles which have the same efficiencies as the Carnot, Rankine, or Brayton cycles. Considering a working fluid enclosed in a balloon inside a column filled with a transporting fluid, a cycle is composed of four steps. Starting from the top of the column, the balloon goes down by gravity, receives heat from a hot source at the bottom, then rises and delivers heat to a cold source at the top. Unlike classic power cycles which need external work to operate the compressor, thermogravitational cycles can operate as a “pure power cycle” where no external work is needed to drive the cycle. To illustrate this concept, the prototype of a thermogravitational electrical generator is presented. It uses a hot source of average temperature near 57 °C and relies on the gravitational energy exchanges of an organic fluorinated fluid inside a balloon attached to a magnetic marble to produce an electromotive force of 50 mV peak to peak by the use of a linear alternator. This heat engine is well suited to be operated using renewable energy sources such as geothermal gradients or focused sunlight.

This paper provides evidence on the costs imposed by crime and violence in five Latin American countries: Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, Paraguay and Uruguay. Crime and violence stand out as one of the major social challenges to be dealt with in Latin America. However, the incidence of crime (and thus its social and economic impact) varies among countries. Based on a common theoretical framework across all five countries, we use a costs-accounting methodology and find that the cost of criminality varies from a striking 10.5 % of GDP in Honduras to a moderate 2.5 % in Costa Rica. Also, by quantifying the different components of the cost equation separately, we provide insight on which felonies are more costly and which agents are burdened most heavily by these costs.