An official website of the United States government
A central question of language comprehension concerns the interaction between linguistic form and broader representations of discourse in the interpretation of context-sensitive expressions. This interaction is instantiated in the interpretation of verb phrase ellipsis, where previous work has shown that the linguistic antecedent and the broader context are both considered in resolution. Using a novel experimental paradigm, we investigated VPE interpretation in discourses where the antecedent and the broader context make different information available for inclusion in the interpretation of the ellipsis site. Our results point to a complex interaction between linguistic antecedents and the broader discourse context in interpretation, putting considerable constraints on the set of possible models for VPE resolution. This work contributes to a better understanding of both the connections between and the boundaries separating linguistic structure and mental models of discourse contexts.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on March 1, 2026
Pressure Inside Hadrons: Criticism, Conjectures, and All That
The interpretation of the energy-momentum tensor form factor D(t) of hadrons in terms of pressure and shear force distributions is discussed, concerns raised in the literature are reviewed, and ways to reconcile the concerns with the interpretation are indicated.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2412625
- PAR ID:
- 10624093
- Editor(s):
- Eides, M; Praszalowicz, M; Strakovsky, I
- Publisher / Repository:
- Acta Physica Polonica
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Acta Physica Polonica B
- Volume:
- 56
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0587-4254
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
null (Ed.)Dear Editor-in-Chief: We have given two articles published recently in Science of the Total Environment by Mandal and Pal (2020) and Zambrano-Monserrate et al. (2020) a thorough reading. Both articles present a significant association between the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) social distancing policies and improvement in environmental quality such as air pollution, land surface temperature, and noise. Both articles present good research, complemented by detailed explanations and displays, yet we have a few concerns that affect the interpretation and meaning of the results.more » « less
-
Machine-learning models have demonstrated great success in learning complex patterns that enable them to make predictions about unobserved data. In addition to using models for prediction, the ability to interpret what a model has learned is receiving an increasing amount of attention. However, this increased focus has led to considerable confusion about the notion of interpretability. In particular, it is unclear how the wide array of proposed interpretation methods are related and what common concepts can be used to evaluate them. We aim to address these concerns by defining interpretability in the context of machine learning and introducing the predictive, descriptive, relevant (PDR) framework for discussing interpretations. The PDR framework provides 3 overarching desiderata for evaluation: predictive accuracy, descriptive accuracy, and relevancy, with relevancy judged relative to a human audience. Moreover, to help manage the deluge of interpretation methods, we introduce a categorization of existing techniques into model-based and post hoc categories, with subgroups including sparsity, modularity, and simulatability. To demonstrate how practitioners can use the PDR framework to evaluate and understand interpretations, we provide numerous real-world examples. These examples highlight the often underappreciated role played by human audiences in discussions of interpretability. Finally, based on our framework, we discuss limitations of existing methods and directions for future work. We hope that this work will provide a common vocabulary that will make it easier for both practitioners and researchers to discuss and choose from the full range of interpretation methods.more » « less
-
Blind and low vision people use visual description services (VDS) to gain visual interpretation and build access in a world that privileges sight. Despite their many benefits, VDS have many harmful privacy and security implications. As a result, researchers are suggesting, exploring, and building obfuscation systems that detect and obscure private or sensitive materials. However, as obfuscation depends largely on sight to interpret outcomes, it is unknown whether Blind and low vision people would find such approaches useful. Our work aims to center the perspectives and opinions of Blind and low vision people on the potential of obfuscation to address privacy concerns in VDS. By reporting on interviews with 20 Blind and low vision people who use VDS, our findings reveal that popular research trends in obfuscation fail to capture the needs of Blind and low vision people. While obfuscation might be helpful in gaining more control, tensions around obfuscation misrecognition and confirmation are prominent. We turn to the framework of interdependence to unpack and understand obfuscation in VDS, enabling us to complicate privacy concerns, uncover the labor of Blind and low vision people, and emphasize the importance of safeguards. We provide design directions to move the trajectory of obfuscation research forward.more » « less
-
Throughout the 1920s Congress failed to pass an apportionment bill. Among the various reasons for the failure was Congress’s inability to decide which method, or algorithm, should govern apportionment. Two competing methods, major fractions and equal proportions, rose to the top and the supporter of each claimed that his method offered the only “fair” and “unbiased” solution to the problem. Following this early debate, this chapter argues that contemporary concerns about algorithm fairness and equality do not emerge out of the nature of their complexity. Rather, they inhere in the incommensurability between mathematical and social rationales and the wide room for interpretation yawning between the two. Not only are definitions of “fairness” multiple but how algorithms are described, either through method or through principle, can lead to completely different results.more » « less
