Formal Semantics

Dung, P.M., On the relations between stable and well-founded semantics of logic programs, Theoretical Computer Science 105 (1992) 7-25. We study the relations between stable and well-founded semantics of logic programs. (1) We show that stable semantics can be defined in the same way as well-founded semantics based on the basic notion of unfounded sets. Hence, stable semantics can be considered as "two-valued well-founded semantics". (2) An axiomatic characterization of stable and well-founded semantics of logic programs is given by a new completion theory, called srrong completion. Similar to the Clark's completion, the strong completion can be interpreted in either two-valued or three-valued logic. We show that . Two-valued strong completion specifies the stable semantics. l Three-valued strong completion specifies the well-founded semantics. (3) We study the equivalence between stable semantics and well-founded semantics. At first, we prove the equivalence between the two semantics for strict programs. Then we introduce the bottom-stratified and top-strict condition generalizing both the stratifiability and the strictness, and show that the new condition is sufficient for the equivalence between stable and well-founded semantics. Further, we show that the call-consistency condition is sufficient for the existence of at least one stable model.

This paper investigates the proof-theoretic foundations of double negation introduction (DNI: A ⊢ ¬¬A) and double negation elimination (DNE: ¬¬A ⊢ A) in classical logic. 1 By examining both sequent calculus and natural deduction, it is shown that these rules originate in reductio ad absurdum (RAA): DNI results from deriving ¬¬A via ¬I by discharging [¬A], while DNE arises from deriving A through a reductio on [¬A]. 2 Their significance extends beyond semantic equivalence, for DNI and DNE embody the identity relation A ⟷ ¬¬A as a structural principle of classical logic. The paper demonstrates that both rules possess harmony, ensuring balance between introduction and elimination, and normalisation, which guarantees that derivations reduce to canonical form without detours. These features reveal double negation not as a redundancy, but as a mechanism of proof-theoretic stability, securing the disciplined integration of RAA into classical logic.

In this work, we introduce a profiling scheme for modern functional logic languages covering notions like laziness, sharing, and non-determinism. Firstly, we instrument a natural (big-step) semantics in order to associate a symbolic cost to each basic operation (e.g., variable updates, function unfoldings, case evaluations). While this cost semantics provides a formal basis to analyze the cost of a computation, the implementation of a cost-augmented interpreter based on it would introduce a huge overhead. Therefore, we also introduce a sound transformation that instruments a program such that its execution-under the standard semantics-yields not only the corresponding results but also the associated costs. Finally, we describe a prototype implementation of a profiler based on the developments in this paper.

This paper introduces Triggered Message Sequence Charts (TMSCs), a graphical, mathematically well-founded framework for capturing scenario-based system requirements of distributed systems. Like Message Sequence Charts (MSCs), TMSCs are graphical depictions of scenarios, or exchanges of messages between processes in a distributed system. Unlike MSCs, however, TMSCs are equipped with a notion of trigger that permits requirements to be made conditional; a notion of partiality indicating that a scenario may be subsequently extended; and a notion of refinement for assessing whether or not a more detailed specification correctly elaborates on a less detailed one. The TMSC notation also includes a collection of composition operators allowing structure to be introduced into scenario specifications, so that interactions among different scenarios may be studied. In the first part of this paper, TMSCs are introduced, and their use in support of requirements modeling is illustrated via two extended examples. The second part develops the mathematical underpinnings of the language.

Without the proliferation of formal semantic annotations, the Semantic Web is certainly doomed to failure. In earlier work we presented a new paradigm to avoid this: the 'Self Annotating Web', in which globally available knowledge is used to annotate resources such as web pages. In particular, we presented a concrete method instantiating this paradigm, called PANKOW (Pattern-based ANnotation through Knowledge On the Web). In PANKOW, a named entity to be annotated is put into several linguistic patterns that convey competing semantic meanings. The patterns that are matched most often on the Web indicate the meaning of the named entityleading to automatic or semi-automatic annotation. In this paper we present C-PANKOW (Context-driven PANKOW), which alleviates several shortcomings of PANKOW. First, by downloading abstracts and processing them off-line, we avoid the generation of large number of linguistic patterns and correspondingly large number of Google queries. Second, by linguistically analyzing and normalizing the downloaded abstracts, we increase the coverage of our pattern matching mechanism and overcome several limitations of the earlier pattern generation process. Third, we use the annotation context in order to distinguish the significance of a pattern match for the given annotation task. Our experiments show that C-PANKOW inherits all the advantages of PANKOW (no training required etc.), but in addition it is far more efficient and effective.

Semantic descriptions of non-textual media available on the web can be used to facilitate retrieval and presentation of media assets and documents containing them. While technologies for multimedia semantic descriptions already exist, there is as yet no formal description of a high quality multimedia ontology that is compatible with existing (semantic) web technologies. We explain the complexity of the problem using an annotation scenario. We then derive a number of requirements for specifying a formal multimedia ontology, including: compatibility with MPEG-7, embedding in foundational ontologies, and modularisation including separation of document structure from domain knowledge. We then present the developed ontology and discuss it with respect to our requirements.

Existing tools for generating application programming interfaces (APIs) for ontologies lack sophisticated support for mapping the logics-based concepts of the ontology to an appropriate object-oriented implementation of the API. Such a mapping has to overcome the fundamental differences between the semantics described in the ontology and the pragmatics, i.e., structure, functionalities, and behavior implemented in the API. Typically, concepts from the ontology are mapped one-toone to classes in the targeted programming language. Such a mapping only produces concept representations but not an API at the desired level of granularity expected by an application developer. We present a Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) process to generate customized APIs for ontologies. This API generation is based on the semantics defined in the ontology but also leverages additional information the ontology provides. This can be the inheritance structure of the ontology concepts, the scope of relevance of an ontology concept, or design patterns defined in the ontology.

In this paper, we present a methodology for engineering semantic knowledge such that these semantic structures are easier reusable when switching between several representa- tion languages. For this purpose, we re- consider the commonalities of representation languages and their usage in actual applica- tions. Out of this consideration we derive se- mantic patterns as a means to communicate knowledge at

A framework for modeling Semantic Web Service is proposed. It is based on Description Logic (DL), hence it is endowed with a formal semantics and, in addition, it allows for expressing constraints in service descriptions of different strengths, i.e. Hard and Soft Constraints. Semantic service discovery can be performed by matching DL descriptions, expressing both Hard and Soft constraints, and exploiting DL inferences. Additionally, a method for solving the problem of ranking services is proposed which is based on the use of a semantic similarity measure for DL. This method can rank (matched) service descriptions on the grounds of their semantic similarity w.r.t. the service request, by preferring those that are able to better satisfy both Hard and Soft Constraints. p ) I |) ) = 5 8 • max( 5 8 , 5 5

The development of the World Wide Web is about to mature from a technical platform that allows for the transportation of information from sources to humans (albeit in many syntactic formats) to the communication of knowledge from Web sources to machines. The knowledge food chain has started with technical protocols and preliminary formats for information presentation (HTML–HyperText Markup Language) over a general methodology for separating information contents from layout (XML–eXtensible Markup Language, XSL–eXtensible Stylesheet Language) to reach the realms of knowledge provisioning by the means of RDF and RDFS.

Without the proliferation of formal semantic annotations, the Semantic Web is certainly doomed to failure. In earlier work we presented a new paradigm to avoid this: the 'Self Annotating Web', in which globally available knowledge is used to annotate resources such as web pages. In particular, we presented a concrete method instantiating this paradigm, called PANKOW (Pattern-based ANnotation through Knowledge On the Web). In PANKOW, a named entity to be annotated is put into several linguistic patterns that convey competing semantic meanings. The patterns that are matched most often on the Web indicate the meaning of the named entityleading to automatic or semi-automatic annotation. In this paper we present C-PANKOW (Context-driven PANKOW), which alleviates several shortcomings of PANKOW. First, by downloading abstracts and processing them off-line, we avoid the generation of large number of linguistic patterns and correspondingly large number of Google queries. Second, by linguistically analyzing and normalizing the downloaded abstracts, we increase the coverage of our pattern matching mechanism and overcome several limitations of the earlier pattern generation process. Third, we use the annotation context in order to distinguish the significance of a pattern match for the given annotation task. Our experiments show that C-PANKOW inherits all the advantages of PANKOW (no training required etc.), but in addition it is far more efficient and effective.

Semantic descriptions of non-textual media available on the web can be used to facilitate retrieval and presentation of media assets and documents containing them. While technologies for multimedia semantic descriptions already exist, there is as yet no formal description of a high quality multimedia ontology that is compatible with existing (semantic) web technologies. We explain the complexity of the problem using an annotation scenario. We then derive a number of requirements for specifying a formal multimedia ontology, including: compatibility with MPEG-7, embedding in foundational ontologies, and modularisation including separation of document structure from domain knowledge. We then present the developed ontology and discuss it with respect to our requirements.

Currently computers are changing from single isolated devices to entry points into a worldwide network of information exchange and business transactions. Therefore, support in the exchange of data, information, and knowledge is becoming the key issue in computer technology today. Ontologies provide a shared and common understanding of a domain that can be communicated between people and across application systems. Ontologies will play a major role in supporting information exchange processes in various areas. A ...

The aim of our talk is to discuss a hitherto underresearched and at first glance puzzling non-maximal use of the definite article documented in several – but not all – Romance varieties. As noted by Cardinaletti/Giusti (2018), among others, many varieties of Italian allow definite articles with indefinite (i.e. non-maximal) interpretations ([1a], available also with plural count nouns), in variation with socalled partitive articles and bare nominals (1b). A similar situation holds true, e.g., of Francoprovençal (with the exception of bare nouns being banned in this variety; cf. Stark & Gerards 2021). In French, on the contrary – just as in (Modern) Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian – the morphological equivalent of Italian (1a) can only yield a strongly definite reading, i.e., refer to a maximal sum of wine portions (2a). The triggering of an indefinite reading in French, in turn, crucially hinges upon the presence of the partitive article (2b):

لقد عرف الاقتضاء عند الدارسين العرب المعاصرين تعددا وتنوعا، سواء على مستوى الترجمة والفهم، أو على مستوى التناول والدراسة، أو على مستوى الاصطلاح والاستعمال، وذلك لاختلاف التخصصات أو لتباين المرجعيات المستند إليها في التداوليات الغربية المعاصرة. حيث نجد الاختلاف الكبير بين التداوليين واللسانيين الغربيين المعاصرين أنفسهم في فهم ظاهرة الاقتضاء، قد يصل أحيانا إلى الاختلاف داخل المدرسة الواحدة. وهذا التنوع والتعدد في تناول وفهم هذه النظرية انعكس على المترجمين والدارسين العرب. فمنهم من جعل الاقتضاء ترجمة لمصطلح « Implicature »، كما هو الأمر عند الأستاذ عادل فاخوري؛ ومنهم من جعله مقابلا لمصطلح « Présupposition »، كما هو الأمر عند الأستاذ طه عبد الرحمن. وهذا الاختلاف ليس ناتجا عن اجتهادات الترجمة في اختيار الألفاظ المناسبة، وإنما هو ناتج عن اختلاف الفهم والمرجعية ومنهج الدراسة. وقبل الحديث عن التناول العربي للاقتضاء، لا بأس في البداية من الحديث عن إجراءات الترجمة العربية المعجمية والمصطلحية والعلمية عند الباحثين والدارسين العرب؛ لتتضح بموجب ذلك معالم الاختلاف وأوجه التناول للاقتضاء، باعتباره لفظا أو مصطلحا أو نظرية أو آلية تأويلية قرائية.
إن البحث عن الترجمات المقابلة للفظ الاقتضاء في الدراسات والأبحاث التداولية والدلالية، وكذا في المعاجم والقواميس الحديثة التي تبحث عن المقابلات اللفظية باللغات الأجنبية للكلمات العربية - وخاصة منها تلك المتعلقة باللغتين الفرنسية والإنجليزية - يضعنا أمام مجموعة من الاتجاهات في ترجمة هذا اللفظ، أو في إيجاد المقابل المناسب له في هذه اللغات. إذ هناك الترجمات غير المتخصصة، والتي حاولت الانطلاق من اللفظ العربي "الاقتضاء"، مع تجريده من حمولته الاصطلاحية. وهناك الترجمات المتخصصة، التي عرفت بدورها اختلافا وتنوعا فرضته طبيعة الرؤية التي يتميز بها كل مفكر أو باحث أو مختص لمصطلح "الاقتضاء". لذلك فالحديث هنا يأخذنا للتمييز بين اتجاهين أساسيين هما: الترجمة المتخصصة والترجمة غير المتخصصة.

Validity of (AJ )-(A13) is verifiable by 1 .3.4. (A14)-(A16) are simple set-theoretic principles involving the interpretation rules for v and A. . (Al 7) follows from the fact that wHl. The validity of (A18)-(A21) is a consequence of our particular choice E v (\1. __. ( G . = H, ) ) l"' l l v(V .. , p "">p )=>D.

The paper is an investigation into the concept of actuality from the standpoint of the philosophy of language. It is argued that expressions such as ‘actually’ and ‘in fact’ are not indexicals like ‘here’ and ‘now’; when e.g. ‘Snow is actually white’ is uttered in a world, what proposition is conveyed does not depend on the world. Nor are such expressions ambiguous. The paper makes a suggestion about the role that ‘actually’ and its cognates do play. It is also argued that the sentence ⸢Actually S⸣ expresses a necessary truth only if S itself expresses one. In order to capture the necessitation of the proposition expressed in ⸢Actually S⸣, it is not sufficient to prefix the word ‘necessarily’.

This paper shows how a central part of the Unified Modeling Language UML can be integrated into a single visual semantic model. It discusses UML models composed of class, object, state, sequence and collaboration diagrams and presents an integrated semantics of these models. As formal basis the theoretically well-founded area of graph transformation is employed which supports a visual and rule-based transformation of UML model states. For the translation of a UML model into a graph transformation system the operations in class diagrams and the transitions in state diagrams are associated with graph transformation rules that are then combined into one system in order to obtain a single coherent semantic description. Operation calls in sequence and collaboration diagrams can be associated with applications of graph transformation rules in the constructed graph transformation system so that valid sequence and collaboration diagrams correspond to derivations, i.e., to sequences of graph transformation rule applications. The main aim of this paper is to provide a formal framework that supports visual simulation of integrated UML specifications in which system states and state changes are modeled in a straighforward way.

The specification of acceptable behaviour can be achieved via the use of obligations, permissions and prohibitions, collectively known as norms, which identify the states of affairs that should, may, or should not hold. Norms provide the ability to constrain behaviour while preserving individual agent autonomy. While much work has focused on the semantics of norms, the design of normative systems, and in particular understanding the impact of norms on a system, has received little attention. Since norms often interact with each other (for example, a permission may temporarily derogate an obligation, or a prohibition and obligation may conflict), understanding the effects of norms and their interactions becomes increasingly difficult as the number of norms increases. Yet this understanding can be critical in facilitating the design and development of effective or efficient systems. In response, this paper addresses the problem of norm explanation for naïve users by providing of a graphical norm representation that can explicate why a norm is applicable, violated or complied with, and identify the interactions between permissions and other types of norms. We adopt a conceptual graph based semantics to provide this graphical representation while maintaining a formal semantics.

We present the results of an acceptability judgment experiment, which indicate that contrastive environments contribute to the licensing of (some) NPIs in the absence of conventional negative licensors. We relate the findings to previous claims that verum focus licenses (some) NPIs, a phenomenon which we argue is actually a sub-type of licensing by contrast. We provide a rough sketch of how Sailer's (2022) theoretical account of licensing by "negative side message" could be extended to the facts we observe in the cases of NPIs in contrastive environments.

Background

The eTRANSAFE project developed tools that support translational research. One of the challenges in this project was to combine preclinical and clinical data, which are coded with different terminologies and granularities, and are expressed as single pre-coordinated, clinical concepts and as combinations of preclinical concepts from different terminologies. This study develops and evaluates the Rosetta Stone approach, which maps combinations of preclinical concepts to clinical, pre-coordinated concepts, allowing for different levels of exactness of mappings.
Methods

Concepts from preclinical and clinical terminologies used in eTRANSAFE have been mapped to the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). SNOMED CT acts as an intermediary terminology that provides the semantics to bridge between pre-coordinated clinical concepts and combinations of preclinical concepts with different levels of granularity. The mappings from clinical terminologies to SNOMED CT were taken from existing resources, while mappings from the preclinical terminologies to SNOMED CT were manually created. A coordination template defines the relation types that can be explored for a mapping and assigns a penalty score that reflects the inexactness of the mapping. A subset of 60 pre-coordinated concepts was mapped both with the Rosetta Stone semantic approach and with a lexical term matching approach. Both results were manually evaluated.
Results

A total of 34,308 concepts from preclinical terminologies (Histopathology terminology, Standard for Exchange of Nonclinical Data (SEND) code lists, Mouse Adult Gross Anatomy Ontology) and a clinical terminology (MedDRA) were mapped to SNOMED CT as the intermediary bridging terminology. A terminology service has been developed that returns dynamically the exact and inexact mappings between preclinical and clinical concepts. On the evaluation set, the precision of the mappings from the terminology service was high (95%), much higher than for lexical term matching (22%).
Conclusion

The Rosetta Stone approach uses a semantically rich intermediate terminology to map between pre-coordinated clinical concepts and a combination of preclinical concepts with different levels of exactness. The possibility to generate not only exact but also inexact mappings allows to relate larger amounts of preclinical and clinical data, which can be helpful in translational use cases.

I claim that evidentiality and future tense cross, arguing that Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian fills a typological gap, having a future which is simultaneously a direct evidential marker. Indonesian mau `want’ has a life as a future modal (Copley 2002, 2010; Tsilia, to appear). In this paper, I analyze future mau as a direct evidential. Although it is true that we cannot have direct evidence of the future, language has a way of talking about what counts as direct enough evidence of the future. Through a case study of two future modals in Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian, future mau and pasti, I argue following Wurm (2023) that natural language is sensitive to the simplicity or complexity of the inference from the available evidence to a modal’s prejacent. Using ideas from the literature on epistemic must as an indirect evidential (von Fintel & Gillies 2010, 2021), I suggest that not only the prejacent of a modal itself, but also what directly leads to it is considered 'direct' evidence. In this way, a future tense can be a direct evidential if the available evidence leads to its prejacent through one inference step. This serves as proof of concept that evidential marking on the future is not restricted to indirect evidentials. Language can encode what counts as 'direct' evidence of the future.

The temporal adverbial 'then' is cross-linguistically incompatible with the present tense, not only in matrix but also in embedded clauses. In languages such as Modern Greek, Russian, Modern Hebrew, and Japanese, where the present tense can shift referring to the ‘now’ of the attitude holder rather than the time of the utterance, then remains incompatible with the present, even though the latter denotes a time in the past or future (Ogihara & Sharvit 2012, Sharvit 2018, Vostrikova 2018, Tsilia 2021). Additionally, in Modern Greek, 'then' is at the same time compatible with a deleted past (Abusch 1997), which is interpreted as a present from the point of view of the attitude holder (Tsilia 2022). Thus, 'then' is incompatible with the shifted present, but compatible with the deleted past in the same language, suggesting that the two are not semantically equivalent. We introduce a new interpretation parameter, which we call ‘temporal perspective’. The interpretation of tenses and of 'then' is sensitive to the temporal perspective. Tense shift is a result of the shift of the perspective, and the incompatibility between 'then' and the present is derived as a shift together effect (Anand & Nevins 2004, Sudo 2012, Deal 2020). On the other hand, the deleted past is assumed to be stripped of its perspective sensitivity, and therefore does not clash with 'then'. We also provide empirical support for distinguishing the perspective from the context and the evaluation index.

Complement anaphora is generally only licensed by downward monotone quantifiers, like ‘few’ (Nouwen, 2003). Yet, sign language data suggest that the use of iconic “loci” can license complement anaphora with upward monotone quantifiers like ‘most’ (Schlenker, 2012; Schlenker et al., 2013). This paper tests the hypothesis that the iconic nature of loci would extend to iconic uses of space in co-speech gestures in English. We hypothesised that, when accompanied by iconic co-speech gestures, complement anaphora will be licensed with upward monotone quantifiers, and will be degraded with downward monotone ones. We designed an experiment testing downward and upward monotone quantifiers with and without gesture, and found a significant effect of both gesture and quantifier type, as well as an interaction between the two. Our results show that iconicity affects complement anaphora licensing, and has the inverse effect of monotonicity. We suggest that the iconicity effects are not sign language specific, but are instead more broad, having to do with how humans interpret iconicity in language. We further argue that iconic co-speech gestures trigger an iconic inference of existence, along the lines of what has been suggested for iconic loci in ASL (Kuhn, 2020).

In this paper, we focus on the cross-linguistic incompatibility between the temporal adverbial 'then' and the present tense. We show that the pattern holds in both matrix and embedded environments, across an array of languages (including Modern Greek, Modern Hebrew, Russian and Japanese) each behaving differently with respect to tense shift. To account for this incompatibility, we propose that interpretation of tenses is sensitive to a perspective parameter. Tense shift occurs thanks to a perspective-shifting operator, similar to operator-based analyses of indexical shift (Anand and Nevins 2004; Anand 2006; Deal 2020). The main advantage of this account over alternative theories of tense shift, such as relative tense (Ogihara, 1996, 2022) or tense deletion (Ogihara and Sharvit, 2012), is that we are able to distinguish between shifted and deleted tense. This is needed to explain the incompatibility of 'then' with the shifted present but not with deleted past. Finally, we argue that the newly introduced perspective parameter needs to be separate from the speech context and the evaluation index.

Davidsonian event semantics has become immensely influential in contemporary natural language semantics. On that view, all events (including acts and states) are considered the same ontologically, i.e., Davidsonian particulars, and they all serve as arguments of verbs and corresponding nominalizations. We argue that that view has to be rejected both ontologically and on the level of compositional semantics. We argue that natural language reflects two related ontological distinctions: first a distinction between base events (BE) and plan events (PE) (which are based on plans or procedures); second a distinction between acts and intentional acts. We propose an ontological account of PEs and intentional acts based on Fine's notion of a qua object: a PE is a BE qua realizing a plan and an intentional act is an act qua realizing an intention. The BE-PE distinction manifests itself in existence predicates for events and predicates of participation (take part in, participate, be part of). Unlike Fine, we allow properties of qua events to be inherited not only from their base (temporal part structure), but also from their gloss, namely as a 'slot mereology' consisting of plan-specific roles, which can be specified for particular individuals or be open. Whereas the ordinary noun part (as in the parts of) picks out parts of the former part structure, the light noun part in the predicates take part in and be part of picks out roles inherited from the plan. Whereas take part in can relate to both specified and open roles, be part of can only target specified roles. The distinction between BEs and PEs is encoded in lexical semantics only; the distinction between acts and intentional acts is also encoded in syntax, in the presence of a silent operator. This requires a more complex form of event semantics than standard Davidsonian semantics.

This short essay discusses the syntactic implications of Wiltschko's (2024) proposal concerning the structure of emotions. Based on a generative analysis of embedded subjunctive clauses cross-linguistically, it argues that the emotive component associated with the subjunctive mood originates in a sub-component of the predicates licensing embedded subjunctives. This emotive component is interpreted as an attitude of desire, with respect to the situation described by the embedded clause. More specifically we argue that the relevant predicates are decomposed into a set of hierarchically organised functional projections, the highest one headed by a bouletic operator-syntactically realised as a [BOUL] feature. We contend that this feature is responsible both for the interpretation of the external argument as the bearer of an emotion and for the syntactic licensing of the subjunctive mood. That the expression of emotions is syntactically encoded into complex structures may shed light on the structure of both the linguistic and psychological structures of emotions.

In the development of embedded software, modeling languages used within or across development phases e.g., requirements, specification, design, etc are based on different paradigms and an approach for relating these is needed. In this paper, we present a formal framework for relating specification and design models of embedded systems. We have chosen UML statemachines as specification models and ProCom component language for design models. While the specification is event-driven, the design is based on time triggering and data flow. To relate these abstractions, through the execution trajectories of corresponding models, formal semantics for both kinds of models and a set of inference rules are defined. The approach is applied on an autonomous truck case-study.

‘Perigar’ is a verb that appears in several constructions of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), such as in ‘periga chover’, and its grammatical features were not yet described. In order to fill this gap, we provide a syntactic description following syntactic cartography (Cinque, 1999, 2006; Cinque; Rizzi, 2008; Drubig, 2001; Tsai, 2015) and a semantic description following formal semantics (Kratzer, 1981, 1991; Condoravdi, 2002; von Fintel, 2006; von Fintel; Heim, 2011; Hacquard, 2011). To provide such a description, we have adopted two methodological procedures: (i) collecting and analyzing spontaneous data from Facebook and (ii) applying syntactic and semantic tests using the introspective method. In the first step, we were able to get one hundred sentences with the verb ‘perigar’ which were analyzed syntactically and semantically in order to formulate some hypothesis about this verb. In order to test them, we have done some syntactic and semantic tests using the introspective method. The syntactic tests’ goal was to verify if it was an auxiliary modal verb or if it was a lexical verb. The semantic tests’ goal was to verify which aspects were lexicalized. The syntactic tests have shown that it can be considered an unaccusative lexical verb. On the other hand, the semantic tests have shown that it resembles modal verbs in some aspects since it takes only a proposition as an argument and has an existential quantification force, but it also resembles lexical verbs in some aspects since the modal base is lexicalized in the verb.

In the European project MOGENTES methods for model-based generation of efficient test cases are developed. A special focus is laid on test cases, which not only allow for assessing the fulfillment of requirements, but in particular looking for potential faults – or prove their absence. This is achieved by mutation-based testing: an original model is modified to simulate faults, and then test cases are searched which are able to distinguish between original and mutated model. This paper gives an overview of MOGENTES, presents an application example from the automotive domain, and summarizes the results from this example.

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a well known and widely used standard for building software models. While it is familiar to many software engineers, it lacks standardized formal semantics. In this paper, we extend on the formalism of object-oriented action systems (OOAS) and describe a mapping of a selected UML-subset to OOAS by choosing one of the several possible semantics of UML. This mapping, together with the introduction of a trace semantics for OOAS, paves the way for applying tools for and theory of labeled transition systems to UML-models. As a running example, we use a car alarm system in the context of model-based test-case generation and show how the UML mapping is done.

This paper proposes eSpaceML as a representation scheme for annotating eventdriven spatial expressions in natural language. It adopts SpatialML (MITRE, 2009) and ISO-Space (ISO, 2010) as a basis for the development of a novel, distributed spatial annotation scheme. SpatialML focuses on the annotation of spatial locations and their topological relations, while both ISO-Space and eSpaceML attempt to extend the scope beyond the treatment of toponyms. ISO-Space and eSpaceML also link space to events in various ways but with considerable differences. Unlike ISO-Space, which attempts to provide a self-contained framework for the various links, eSpaceML treats them in a distributed manner, operating as a pivotal system that refers to several other established annotation schemes such as MAF (ISO, 2008) and ISO-TimeML (ISO, 2009c) for morphosyntactic as well as temporal-eventual annotations.

This note explores Identity, the thesis that well-formedness coincides with meaningfulness in natural language. Threats to Identity are posed by claims from both linguists and philosophers which include the following: (A) grammar can deceive us into thinking of a meaningless expression that it is meaningful; (B) only sentences are meaningful; (C) trivialities are ill-formed. I critically examine each of these claims and suggest responses to them which support Identity. I also discuss how Wittgenstein's Picture Theory of Language provides a way to reconcile Identity with empirical data that motivate (C).

We present a conceptual model for modeling configurable services, an area with relatively little previous research, based on a synthesis of previous work extended with our own experiences. 1 Introduction In the past decades several configurator systems have been developed, mostly for mechanical and electronics products. [eg Faltings and Freuder, 1998; Soininen and Stumptner, 2003]. The central issues for such systems have been suitable product knowledge modeling concepts and formal languages based on these, and correct and efficient ...

A dedicated approach for the design and development of distributed software systems is outlined. The method may be used in combination with any standard objectoriented analysis and design method as far as static aspects are concerned. A new formalism based on extended Petri-Nets { so called Object Coordination Nets (OCoNs) { is used to describe the coordination of the behavior of a class on a per service (method) basis, the allocation of object resources as well as behavioral contracts. The paper discusses the rationale behind the key points of the OCoN approach, introduces the method and illustrates it by means of an extended example.

A common problem in applying choreographies and orchestrations is ensuring and enforcing the consistency of the models which is often referred to as "conformance checking". In this position paper, we introduce a concept for checking the conformance of WS-BPEL based orchestrations to ebBP-ST choreographies: First, the ebBP-ST and WS-BPEL models will be transformed into the process algebra CCS. Afterwards, the actual conformance check is performed by checking these CCS models for bisimulation equivalence.

In this paper, I argue that the phenomenon of faultless disagreement for predicates of taste may be fruitfully explained by appealing to the vagueness of predicates of taste and the epistemicist reading of vagueness as defended by Timothy Williamson (1994). I begin by arguing that this position is better suited to explain both the "faultless" and "disagreement" intuition. The first is explained here by appealing to the necessary ignorance of the predicate's boundaries and a plausible account of constitutive norms of taste assertions, while the second by insisting on classical, absolutist semantics for judgments containing predicates of taste. Furthermore, I analyze the arguments against the reading of taste predicates as vague based on the alleged epistemic privilege concerning one's taste and on the lack of definite cases. Responding to these objections, I develop a plausible account of constitutive norms of taste assertions, comment on the assumed epistemic privilege concerning taste ascriptions and provide a more detailed account of sources of the vagueness of predicates of personal taste, which I dub "super-vagueness." Keywords Faultless disagreement • Vagueness • Epistemicism • Predicates of taste * Maciej Tarnowski

Privacy enhancing security protocols (PESPs) are a family of protocols that allow secure exchange of sensitive user information. They are important in preserving users privacy in today's open environment. Like other security systems, proof of the correctness of PESPs is necessary before they can be deployed. However, the traditional provable security approach, though well established for verifying cryptographic primitives, is not applicable to PESPs. We apply the formal method of Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) to construct an executable specification of a representative PESP, namely the Private Information Escrow Bound to Multiple Conditions Protocol (PIEMCP). Formal semantics of the CPN specification allows us to reason about various security properties of PIEMCP using state space techniques. This investigation has also led us to a number of approaches for modeling and verification of PESPs in general, demonstrating the benefit of applying CPN-based formal approach to proving the correctness of security protocols.

The aim of object-oriented conception is to make sure that the program is well-structured, so as to become perspicuous; it can be extended easily, so that it could be maintained more easily; and its reusability can be increased in order to be modularized. There are lots of measuring methods, by which the realization of the mentioned aims is measured. The measuring methods are the metrics that give us indicators showing the complexity of the program structure. Can the existing object-oriented metrics really indicate the structural quality of the program? As we know, these metrics examine structural properties like the number of inheritance levels, the number of subclasses, or the number of methods, which can not be the basis of real quality examinations. The reason of this is that the aim of the object-oriented conception is not clarified. In order to realize the aims of object-oriented technology, objectoriented paradigms should be reinterpreted. According to our new conception object-oriented methodology is based on the elimination of decision repetitions, that is, sorting the decisions to class hierarchy, so that the data structure and methodology of the decision options could be determined by the subclasses of the given class. When sorting the decisions and decision options to a class and its subclasses, only the first decision case will be executed, which will be archived and enclosed by the instantiation of one of the subclasses. For the following decision cases the archived decision result can be used without knowing which decision option was used, that is, which subclass was instantiated, as it is enclosed by using the type of the parent class, except the necessary data structure and/or methodology is decision option specific. There are two states of decisions depending on the place of their defining: the decision options and their data structures and methodologies can be defined in the method, but the sorted decision can be defined by a class and its subclasses. Decision based examination of object-oritented methodology using JML 97 could be reused. According to this concept, the creation of quality programs is guaranteed by rules based on designing experience. These generic recipes are Design Patterns , which is used to create a quality design and program. Are there any appropriate answers for the aims of Design Patterns beyond the general descriptions? We do not think there are, as the profession tried to define the rules of the programs' quality by collecting Design Patterns, but there are no clear answers for what the main concepts of Design Patterns are. What is the reason for the deficiency of object-oriented metrics and why are not there any clear answers for the aims of Design Patterns? The answers can be found in . According to that conception, the grounds for the answers can be found in the existing interpretation of object-oriented paradigms that block the extended examination of object-oriented methodology. Between the metrics -which are based on the interpretations of these paradigms -and the program quality there is no obvious connection, because these metrics depict the complexity of the program. Nevertheless, there are no clear answers for the aims of Design Patterns based on the existing interpretations of paradigms. In order to resolve the problems described in , a new interpretation of the basic object-oriented paradigms is described, by which the basic concepts of objectoriented methodology can get another approach. According to this, we give new options for controlling the program quality and for repairing the programs as new guidelines are realized (Introduction,) that improve the structures of programs and make their maintenance. The new conception gives Design Patterns a clear interpretation. Accordingly, Design Patterns give us recipes for accomplishing the requirements of wellstructured programs by reducing the number of decision repetitions. So Design Patterns give us recipes how decision repetitions can be eliminated in different decision construction cases . In order to examine program structures and the performance of the guidelines of well-structured programs, we need a formalization tool that examines the definitions of decisions. Formal examinations are based on the Java programs' behaviour interface specification language -JML . JML specifies the data structures and the methodology of decision options based on logical expressions. JML formalized decisions have already been examined according to the decision-based conception and the guidelines of well-structured programs.

A constraint of existing content-based video data models is that each modeled semantic description must be associated with time intervals exactly within which it happens and semantics not related to any time interval are not considered. Consequently, users are provided with limited query capabilities. This paper is aimed at developing a novel model with two innovations: (1) Semantic contents not having related time information can be modeled as ones that do (2) Not only the temporal feature of semantic descriptions, but also the temporal relationships among themselves are components of the model. The query system is by means of reasoning on those relationships. To support users' access, a video algebra and a video calculus as formal query languages, which are based on semantic relationship reasoning, are also presented.

This study shows that the Turkish expression hani exhibits interesting properties for the study of the semantics and pragmatics interface, because on the one hand, its function is merely pragmatic, but on the other hand, it is subject to the truth conditional effect of other constituents at LF. This notwithstanding, studies on this expression are remarkably scarce. The only attempts to describe its properties are Akar and Öztürk (2020); Akar, Öztürk, Göksel, and Kelepir (2020); Erguvanlı-Taylan (2000). In the present study, we introduce the first formal semantic and pragmatic treatment of clauses containing hani. Unlike previous accounts, we claim that hani can have one of the following two major pragmatic functions: making salient a proposition in the Common Ground or challenging one in a past Common Ground, therefore requiring a Common Ground revision. Despite its variety of occurrences, we argue that hani has a uniform interpretation, and provide a compositional analysis of the different construals that it is associated with. Furthermore, we show that a formally explicit and accurate characterization of hani clauses requires operating on indexical parameters, in particular the context time. Therefore, if our proposal is on the right track, hani clauses may provide indirect empirical evidence in favour of the existence of "monstrous" phenomena adding to the accumulating cross-linguistic evidence in this domain (see Schlenker (2003) and much work since then).

This work deals with the acquisition of L2 English 's Genitive Constructions with Bare Proper Name possessors by native speakers of Italian. We investigated original L2 English data collected through a written elicitation test from a group of 94 Italian teen-agers learning L2 English in a formal environment. Results indicate that both Universal Grammar and transfer from the L1 are implied in the acquisition of these structures In Section 1 we compare Italian and English Possessive Constructions in the light of a model of possessive DPs; in Section 2 we present and discuss the experimental design and the results. In Section 3 we discuss the results and examine how 's Genitive Constructions are presented in a sample of textbooks for Italian teenagers. The conclusions are consistent with the view that a closer relation between L2 acquisition research and teaching materials should be pursued. • We thank Adriana Belletti, Valentina Bianchi and Luigi Rizzi for helpful comments. Special thanks are due to Simona Matteini. All errors and omissions are of course our own. For the specific concerns of the Italian Academy, Elisa Di Domenico has taken care of Section 1 and Section 3, Elisa Bennati of Section 2. This work is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Marica De Vincenzi