A graph-theoretic method for organizing overlapping clusters into trees,multiple trees,or extended trees

A clustering that consists of a nested set of clusters may be represented graphically by a tree. In contrast, a clustering that includes non-nested overlapping clusters (sometimes termed a “nonhierarchical” clustering) cannot be represented by a tree. Graphical representations of such non-nested overlapping clusterings are usually complex and difficult to interpret. Carroll and Pruzansky (1975, 1980) suggested representing non-nested clusterings with multiple ultrametric or additive trees. Corter and Tversky (1986) introduced the extended tree (EXTREE) model, which represents a non-nested structure as a tree plus overlapping clusters that are represented by marked segments in the tree. We show here that the problem of finding a nested (i.e., tree-structured) set of clusters in an overlapping clustering can be reformulated as the problem of finding a clique in a graph. Thus, clique-finding algorithms can be used to identify sets of clusters in the solution that can be represented by trees. This formulation provides a means of automatically constructing a multiple tree or extended tree representation of any non-nested clustering. The method, called “clustrees”, is applied to several non-nested overlapping clusterings derived using the MAPCLUS program (Arabie and Carroll 1980).     

An error variance approach to two-mode hierarchical clustering

A new agglomerative method is proposed for the simultaneous hierarchical clustering of row and column elements of a two-mode data matrix. The procedure yields a nested sequence of partitions of the union of two sets of entities (modes). A two-mode cluster is defined as the union of subsets of the respective modes. At each step of the agglomerative process, the algorithm merges those clusters whose fusion results in the smallest possible increase in an internal heterogeneity measure. This measure takes into account both the variance within the respective cluster and its centroid effect defined as the squared deviation of its mean from the maximum entry in the input matrix. The procedure optionally yields an overlapping cluster solution by assigning further row and/or column elements to clusters existing at a preselected hierarchical level. Applications to real data sets drawn from consumer research concerning brand-switching behavior and from personality research concerning the interaction of behaviors and situations demonstrate the efficacy of the method at revealing the underlying two-mode similarity structure.     

数据库语义学纲要

数据库语义学(Database Semantics,DBS)将自然语言交流的周期构建为从听觉过渡到思维再过渡到说话,然后从说话返回到听觉的模式(这是一个循环模式)。与真值条件语义学和短语结构语法使用的替换驱动和基于符号的方法不同,数据库语义学是数据驱动的和基于智能代理的。其目的是为具有语言能力的自主机器人提供一种语义学理论。在数据库语义学中,命题是表示内容的,而不是表示真值的(第1—3节)。内容由指称、属性和关系等语义类建立起来,它们由经典的结构语义关系,即函子论元和协调关系串联而成。为了使指称成为一个智能代理内部的认知过程,语言和非语言的内容都使用了相同的计算数据结构和操作种类,而它们之间的主要区别在于是否存在与语言相关的表面值。数据库语义学包括三部分:(i)一个交互界面,(ii)一个存储器,(iii)一个操作组件。交互界面部分在智能的认知与其外部和内部环境之间进行协调,表示为由传感器和激活器提供的原始数据(第4—7节)。智能代理每时每刻的监测数据都被存储在存储器的前端。作为智能代理控制单元的一部分,存储器的这个前端就是执行操作组件程序的位置所在,它是在内容中产生的。     

实验科学:一种新的权力/知识分析

在科学发展进程中，科学是怎样成功地取得对事件的技术控制的呢？很显然关注理论再现的正统解释已受到来自各方面的批判。劳斯（Joseph Rouse）提出了一种新的解释。它专注于科学的技巧、实践和技术，认为后者是现代权力关系展开和起作用的场所。这种权力关系，不仅发生在实验室对微型世界的构造过程中，也常常表现为科学对实验室之外的日常生活和社会实践的政治影响。权力／知识形式贯穿自然科学之中。     

汉语生命伦理学的后现代反省

汉语生命伦理学正在经历危机.生命伦理学应是这样一门学科:对人的生命状态进行道德追问;对生命的终极问题进行伦理研究;对生命科学技术进行伦理裁判与反省;对生命、特别是人的生命的本质、价值与意义的道德哲学解读.汉语生命伦理学的学术知识生产,已深深地和各种社会权力、利益体制相互交缠,其学术体制的内部组织、学科发展、学术行动和开拓的规划,都受制于社会权力和利益的关系,加之学科门类的顽固偏见,使其始终处于政治伦理、制度伦理或政策边缘,始终处于医学、哲学与社会科学专门化的边缘.生命伦理学至今没有建立完整而融贯的理论传统和科学的方法学训练机制,并由少数人操控学术体制使之成为学术偏见的生产地,以服务于局部利益,建立虚假的权威之虞.     

A Hierarchical Methodology for Class Detection Problems with Skewed Priors

We describe a novel extension to the Class-Cover-Catch-Digraph (CCCD) classifier, specifically tuned to detection problems. These are two-class classification problems where the natural priors on the classes are skewed by several orders of magnitude. The emphasis of the proposed techniques is in computationally efficient classification for real-time applications. Our principal contribution consists of two boosted classi- fiers built upon the CCCD structure, one in the form of a sequential decision process and the other in the form of a tree. Both of these classifiers achieve performances comparable to that of the original CCCD classifiers, but at drastically reduced computational expense. An analysis of classification performance and computational cost is performed using data from a face detection application. Comparisons are provided with Support Vector Machines (SVM) and reduced SVMs. These comparisons show that while some SVMs may achieve higher classification performance, their computational burden can be so high as to make them unusable in real-time applications. On the other hand, the proposed classifiers combine high detection performance with extremely fast classification.     

What is Sustainable Theory? A Luhmannian Perspective on the Science of Conceptual Systems

Sustainability is an important topic for understanding and developing our society (including business, government, and NGOs). For scholars who want their academic contributions to have an impact, sustainability is important for our conceptual systems (including theories, models, and policies). Because our conceptual systems share similarities with our social systems, we may investigate their characteristics to gain insight into how both may be achieved or at least understood. Theories of the humanities as well as the social/behavioral sciences are changing very rapidly. They are fragile and few seem to have any longevity. At the same time, the theoretical base does not seem to be “advancing.” They are not supporting highly effective results in the real world, so we continue to have seemingly insolvable problems such as crime, war, and poverty. This may be because academia has become inward-focused or, in Luhmann’s terminology, autonomous from the outside world. In seeking to understand how to develop more sustainable theories we found that the concept of sustainability is contested. And, in the process of comparing the sustainability of social systems to the sustainability of theories, we came to realize that neither perspective is viable. Drawing on Luhmann’s insights on the interdependence of theories and society, we came to realize that the two exist in a coevolutionary relationship. Importantly, we present an approach for measuring that evolution and suggest directions for accelerating the coevolutionary advance of society and science.     

论现代企业技术创新组织模式的虚拟化特征

虚拟化是现代企业技术创新组织模式的发展趋势,它的模式特征表现在其虚拟的结构、人员和功能三个方面;它的基本形态主要有链式模式、联盟模式、虚拟平台模式、网络创新模式、横向虚拟一体化外包模式和网络企业孵化器、技术实验室联合体等;促使模式转化的内部动因主要是利用资源的互补创造增值、利用虚拟的增长空间创造增值、利用创新结构的重塑创造增值、利用创新成果的共享创造增值、利用未来发展的趋势创造增值。外部动因主要是经济全球一体化、信息网络技术的发展、不同企业的核心竞争力及其之间的沟通信任等。     

Different Perspectives on Meaning and Meaningfulness

In this comment on Johan Von Essen’s contribution on the meaning of volunteering we make some remarks about Von Essen’s starting point, which reveals a particular perspective on meaningfulness, namely that people perceive reality as meaningful when their actions and the things they encounter are part of a meaningful whole. By introducing another perspective on meaningfulness, namely that the shattering of a meaningful whole is full of meaning, we question if practices of volunteering which occur in face-to-face situations—and thus outside the public realm—can be fully captured by the five predicates that make up the phenomenological structure of volunteering.     

Constructivism: A ‘Next’ Area of Scientific Development?

Radical Constructivism has been defined as an‘unconventional approach to the problem ofknowledge and knowing’. Its unconventionalityis summarised by its claim that it isimpossible to attribute unique meaning toexperience – as no mind-independent yardstick canbe assumed to exist against which to identifyuniqueness, and hence to produce knowledge andknowing. In other words, it is claimed thatthere is no ‘reality’ that is knowable to allindividual knowers. This claim appearsindefensible by itself, as it does not explainwhy the successes of traditional science appearas such. However, it is defensible in thecontext of numerous failures to achieve uniqueattributions, or of the history of science.Even so, what is missing are concrete methodsand research designs. This often leaves RadicalConstructivism to be critical only, toconcentrate on justifying the impossibility ofsuccess without contributing itself.Where this is the case it reduces scientiststo individuals considered unable to communicatewith others on public (and unique)attributions-who may do so only by borrowingmethods from previous approaches. It is arguedthat a more valuable contribution is possibleif Radical Constructivism is seen as a responseto the challenge defined by frequent failuresof traditional approaches. The latter may beextended such that the extensions converge toRadical Constructivism. Such extensions arebased on reported observations, rather than onexperiences in general, and are to beattributed meanings – uniquely as well asnon-uniquely – by way of a collective. The lattershould allow its ‘actors’ to restrict whatmaintains the collective to what is observableto others, as well as use the collective torestrict their own observations. The study ofcollectives thus allows for the study ofrestrictions or values, and hence for includingsubjective or constructivist experiences beyond(reportable) observations.     

技术创新的生态制约与平衡

技术创新与其生存环境之间以及技术创新系统内技术之间的密切联系和相互作用,构成了一个生态系统。技术创新一方面离不开其所在的生态系统,受其制约;另一方面又不能给其所在的生态系统造成破坏。本文探讨了技术创新生态系统的特点和市场选择机制,分析了技术创新的生态制约与平衡机制。     

Computer-Supported Resolution of Measurement Conflicts: A Case-Study in Materials Science

Resolving conflicts between different measurements ofa property of a physical system may be a key step in a discoveryprocess. With the emergence of large-scale databases and knowledgebases with property measurements, computer support for the task ofconflict resolution has become highly desirable. We will describe amethod for model-based conflict resolution and the accompanyingcomputer tool KIMA, which have been applied in a case-study inmaterials science. In order to be a useful aid to scientists, the toolneeds to be integrated with other tools in a computer-supporteddiscovery environment. We will give an outline of such acomputer-supported discovery environment and argue that its use mightlead to new ways of doing science, so-called computer regimes.     

基于演进理性特征的技术创新与市场结构关系探析

大规模企业具有垄断势力的市场结构是否有利于技术创新,是一个长期受到关注的问题,并由此引发了对技术创新与市场结构关系的研究。本文以市场竞争过程和技术创新活动所具有的演进理性特征为基础,从市场竞争中体现演进理性的选择过程中,研究了技术创新与市场结构的关系特征,并对这种关系特征在产业生命周期中的体现和展开过程进行分析,进而讨论了本文分析结论对发展中国家技术政策思路的影响。     

哲学如何关注环境

哲学关注环境问题，要以哲学意义上的环境概念为基点进行讨论。即如何确定“中心事物”和“有关的周围事物”。对此的不同确定导致“生态中心主义”与“人类中心主义”的原则分歧。但分歧的双方都聚焦于同一个对象：生态系统中有自主意识的生命体——人类及其活动。哲学关注的环境是人类作为主体在其中活动和发生影响的环境。哲学关注环境的目的：一是探讨作为环境的存在本质上“是什么”的问题，二是讨论自主活动的人类对于环境所担负的责任伦理问题。可以尝试哲学原有的经验实证方法、理性预设方法和现象学方法的综合来提供一种具有系统性的哲学框架以构建一种环境哲学的方法论体系。     

Sustainability Transitions and the Nature of Technology

For more than 20?years, sustainable development has been advocated as a way of tackling growing global environmental and social problems. The sustainable development discourse has always had a strong technological component and the literature boasts an enormous amount of debate on which technologies should be developed and employed and how this can most efficiently be done. The mainstream discourse in sustainable development argues for an eco-efficiency approach in which a technology push strategy boosts efficiency levels by a factor 10 and more in industrialised and developing countries. A minority argues for a socio-cultural lifestyle switch, relying on new values, quality of life, sufficiency and redistribution strategies, with calls for appropriate and soft technologies. It is remarkable, however, that the articles, books and policy debates on sustainability seldom explicitly draw in a discussion of the nature of technology, how technology influences and is influenced by society, and what this implies for sustainable development. The mainstream interprets technology as neutral and instrumental: technology is no more than an instrument to reach a goal; it cannot be judged on its intrinsic characteristics, only on its use. The alternative view often builds on an autonomous and substantive interpretation of technology: technology is an autonomous, almost uncontrollable power that fundamentally reshapes our culture. A more balanced approach seems to be growing in the research on socio-technical sustainability transitions where the focus shifts to the co-evolution of technology and society, and to the networks, seamless webs and complex multi-actor processes that may carry a sustainability transition forward. This approach builds on insights from recent traditions in the philosophy and sociology of technology, in particular the social construction of technology (SCOT) and actor-network theory (ANT). While this provides for a better understanding of the nature and potential role of technology in sustainability policies, it remains to be seen whether it will actually influence the choice between technologies. This article investigates the different conceptualisations of technology in the sustainability debate. It first distinguishes between different approaches of sustainability and how these are related to differing views on technology. It then moves on to how the socio-technical transitions research incorporates insights from contemporary philosophy and sociology of technology. It reflects on the potential of transitions research to give guidance in technology choices, suggesting that the transition approach might be strengthened by drawing in insights from critical theory of technology and by taking a more political stance in defining sustainable development.     

Discovering the Principle of Finality in Computational Machines

In this essay we argue that the notion of machine necessarily includes its being designed for a purpose. Therefore, being a mechanical system is not enough for being a machine. Since the experimental scientific method excludes any consideration of finality on methodological grounds, it is then also insufficient to fully understand what machines are. Instead in order to understand a machine it is first required to understand its purpose, along with its structure, in clear parallel with Aristotle’s final and formal causes. Obviously, purpose and structure are not machine components that can physically interact with other components; nonetheless they are essential to understanding their operation. This casts an interesting light on the relationship between mind and body: for just as an artifact’s finality and structure explain its operation, so also consciousness is the explanation—not the efficient cause—of specifically human behavior. What machines and human beings have in common is that, in order to understand them, it is necessary to appeal to the principle of finality. Yet while finality is given and extrinsic in the case of machines, we human beings are characterized by the ability to self-propose our own ends. Since the principle of finality is essential to understanding the production of machines, the traditional view in modern Western philosophy that finality lies beyond the scope of objective/scientific knowledge should be rectified to allow for a genuine science of the artificial. We think a correct understanding of final causality will overcome current resistance to this principle.     

幸福智力的结构分析

从幸福智力的定义入手,文章较深入地分析了其结构设想,认为幸福智力由"操作"和"内容"两个独立的维度组成。前者包括感知和体验、表达、评价、调控等四种成分,后者包括个人生活、个人情感、社会生活和个人发展等成分。这两个维度组成包括16种获取幸福的能力的二阶结构模型。在此基础上,文章还分析了提出该设想的理论缘由及一些日常生活证据。     

Spatio-Cultural Evolution as Information Dynamics—Part II

A model of a spatio-cultural sub-context (enfolded in a wider scope context) is presented in the form of a blue print of a Complex System with a two-stage decision engine at its core. The engine first attaches a meaning to analyzable datum, and then decides whether to keep or change it. It does not alter already stored meanings but is designed to search for data to be converted into additional stored meanings and improve the accuracy of correspondence of their spatial and cultural range of relevance. Meaning is reduced to the choice of a strategy??a future continuum of events; a choice dependent on a unique Evolutionary Path, a past continuum of events specific enough to lead to the current temporarily stable state of a spatio-cultural category. It is a blue print for a program that can emulate decisions to initiate changes in the environment in which a collective of culture partners resides; changes consisting of movements from one location to another or in the layout of its current location. The model is proposed at a low cultural resolution and is applicable, after suitable modifications, to a majority of city/period pairs. However, any such model has to be city/period specific. It is illustrated with a design for analyzing changes in the Israeli city, in particular in Tel Aviv.     

论以词素作为中医术语的翻译单位

通过回顾词素层翻译的历史，探讨此法在中医术语翻译规范化进程中所起的作用，从而提出由于词素层译法是实现中医术语标准化的科学翻译方法之一，可以把词素作为中医术语的翻译单位，其最大的优点是这种方法译出的术语更符合科技术语的形式要求。     

自然与自然界

将自然等同于自然界,这是现代人的现代意识,这种意识导致了人对自然的掠夺和破坏。批判现代性和保护自然环境,应该把自然和自然界区别开来。可是在目前的生态伦理学研究中,由于未能区分自然和自然界,错误地将“人是自然一部分”等命题作为生态伦理何以存在的哲学根据。人只能归属于自然,而不能归属于自然界,人与自然界合二为一,人就沦落为自然存在物。人是自然存在物并不能够合乎逻辑地推论出人是道德存在物。