Over the past five years the Artificial Intelligence Center at SRI has been developing a new technology to address the problem of automated information management within real- world contexts. The result of this work is a body of techniques for automated reasoning from evidence that we call evidential reasoning. The techniques are based upon the mathematics of belief functions developed by Dempster and Shafer and have been successfully applied to a variety of problems including computer vision, multisensor integration, and intelligence analysis.
We have developed both a formal basis and a framework for implementating automated reasoning systems based upon these techniques. Both the formal and practical approach can be divided into four parts: (1) specifying a set of distinct propositional spaces, (2) specifying the interrelationships among these spaces, (3) representing bodies of evidence as belief distributions, and (4) establishing paths of the bodies for evidence to move through these spaces by means of evidential operations, eventually converging on spaces where the target questions can be answered. These steps specify a means for arguing from multiple bodies of evidence toward a particular (probabilistic) conclusion. Argument construction is the process by which such evidential analyses are constructed and is the analogue of constructing proof trees in a logical context.
This technology features the ability to reason from uncertain, incomplete, and occasionally inaccurate information based upon seven evidential operations: fusion, discounting, translation, projection, summarization, interpretation, and gisting. These operation are theoretically sound but have intuitive appeal as well.
In implementing this formal approach, we have found that evidential arguments can be represented as graphs. To support the construction, modification, and interrogation of evidential arguments, we have developed Gister. Gister provides an interactive, menu-driven, graphical interface that allows these graphical structures to be easily manipulated.
Our goal is to provide effective automated aids to domain experts for argument construction. Gister represents our first attempt at such an aid. 相似文献
The satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) is a widely accepted and widely used tool for measuring well-being. Although its potential
as a cross-cultural index is recognized, an introduction and systematic validation of the Hebrew version is needed. Thus,
the purpose of this study is: (1) to describe the process of developing the Hebrew version of the SWLS, and (2) to examine
its construct validity as well as its internal consistency. Four hundred and eighty seven working adults completed the following
self reported Hebrew language versions of the: (1) SWLS, (2) positive affect and negative affect scales (PANAS), and (3) the
self-rated health (SRH) scale. In addition, as way of gathering additional evidence of validity, the SWLS was completed by
proxy (i.e., each participant’s life partner or significant other). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a single-factor
structure with significant correlations between the SWLS and the rest of the measures—PANAS scores, the SRH scores as well
as the SWLS scores as measured by proxy. In addition, item-analysis supports the internal consistency of the scale. The Hebrew
version of the SWLS is a valid and reliable scale and can be utilized in the Israeli context. 相似文献
This study introduces the Satisfaction with Life Scale adapted for Children (SWLS-C) and presents psychometric findings regarding
its validation. The SWLS-C was adapted from the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener et al. 1985), which is one of the most commonly used measures to assess satisfaction with life in adults. Three subject matter experts
adapted the SWLS by changing the wording of the item stem and response format in order to make it more understandable for
children. A stratified random sample of 1,233 students (48% girls) in grades 4–7 (mean age 11 years and 7 months) provided
data on the SWLS-C and measures of optimism, self-concept, self-efficacy, depression, emphatic concern, and perspective taking.
The SWLS-C demonstrated a unidimensional factor structure and high internal consistency. Furthermore, differential item functioning
and differential scale functioning analyses indicated that the SWLS-C measures satisfaction with life in the same way for
different groups of children (i.e., with regard to gender, first language learned at home—English vs. other language(s) than
English—and across different grades) at the item and at the scale level. Associations between scores on the SWLS-C and demographic
variables were statistically non-significant or of small effect size. In addition, the SWLS-C showed evidence of convergent
and discriminant validity in relation to the other measures. Our results indicate that the SWLS-C is a psychometrically sound
instrument that demonstrated evidence of construct validity for this age group. Limitations and future directions are discussed. 相似文献
Whether government‐based forms of food assistance such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), communal efforts including food pantries, aid from friends and family, or alternative means such as gardening are the appropriate means to reduce the prevalence of household food insecurity is a continuous source of policy contention. To inform this debate, we examine the relative importance of these forms of food assistance and acquisition to a sample of U.S. older adults from the 2010 Brazos Valley Health Assessment of central Texas households that have been stratified by income eligibility for SNAP, low‐income SNAP ineligibility, and above low income status. To identify how membership in these socioeconomic groups constrains household capacity to acquire sufficient food to maintain an adequate and healthy diet, we explore the varied associations of assets received from government; communal and intimate social networks; and alternative food sources such as gardening, hunting, and fishing with household food security across socioeconomic status, while examining the importance of place of residence on the use of capital assets. SNAP participation was the only specific capital asset associated with all levels of food insecurity for both SNAP‐eligible and ineligible low‐income groups, thus emphasizing the continued importance of food assistance among poverty‐level older adults. 相似文献
This study explores whether youth involvement in Scouting has positive consequences later in life. We examine whether the number of years of participation in Scouting is positively associated with human and social capital and recreational lifestyles in adulthood, and whether these are linked to subjective well-being: relational, emotional, and physical health. To explore this potential relationship, we estimated a structural equation model, analyzing data from a national sample of adult males. We found that youth involvement in Scouting is positively related to subjective well-being indirectly via the positive adult outcomes. 相似文献
Few studies have examined male clients who pay for sex with male escorts. In 2012, clients (n = 495) completed an online survey about their most recent hire. Most clients were White/Caucasian (87.7%), HIV negative (89.5%), employed full time (71.1%), single (58.6%), with a mean age of 54. Three-quarters of clients were gay identified, 18% bisexual, and 4% heterosexual. The median rate paid to escorts was $250 per hour with a modal appointment time of 1 to 2 hours (41.6%). Oral sex was common (80% gave, 69% received), 30% reported anal insertive sex, and 34% reported anal receptive sex. In total, few (12%) reported unprotected anal sex. Satisfaction with encounters was high. Receptive unprotected anal intercourse was associated with greater satisfaction in bivariate analyses but not in multivariable analyses. In a multivariable model, having receptive anal sex (whether protected or not) and rating the financial cost of the encounter as “worth it” were significantly associated with greater satisfaction. This study contributes to a scarce literature regarding clients of male sex workers and, in particular, provides information on the characteristics of men hiring men for sexual services, behavioral event-level data about their encounters, and analysis of factors directly associated with client satisfaction. 相似文献
This study examines the means by which privileged mothers comply to the dominant expectations of intensive mothering. As women struggle with the complicated, and often contradictory, experience of meeting the demands of the dominant ideology, we examine the mediating role of an institution, in this case the most popular maternal support organization in the United States—Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS). Organizations such as MOPS create an ideal cultural site for reinforcing ideologies that promulgate unattainable standards of perfection. Data were collected from observations of two MOPS groups, in‐depth interviews, and ethnographic content analysis of organizational materials. This dominant organization supports mothers by discouraging them from questioning the expectations of intensive mothering or considering alternative methods of parenting, which reinforces intensive mothering as the gold standard of parenting. 相似文献