A new approach is used to determine the transient probability functions of Markov processes. This new solution method is a sample path counting approach and uses dual processes and randomization. The approach is illustrated by determining transient probability functions for a three-state Markov process. This approach also provides a way to calculate transient probability functions for Markov pr...

In this paper I argue that syntactic categories are not part of UG but are acquired during first language acquisition as a result of doubling effects. In short, it is argued that a semantic operator OpF can only be (re-)analysed as a formal feature (that may yield a functional projection) if the language input exhibits doubling effects with respect to F. After providing a theoretical motivation...

This paper proposes two revisions to the Lexical Mapping Theory as part of UG and accounts for dative shift and the interaction between dative shift and passive in Chinese and English. The overall strategy is to maximize the universality of the Lexical Mapping Theory by allowing only morpholexical operations to be language-specific.

In this squib, I present an alternative view of the Gen and Eval mechanisms that lie at the heart of Optimality Theory (“OT”) (see Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and Prince 1993). As originally conceived, Gen is a pattern generator which creates an infinite set of possible phonological realizations of a lexical input string (“candidates”). Eval then evaluates the entire (infinite) set to d...

A method for optimizing MR imaging pulse sequence parameters in a statistical framework is presented. Parameters are defined to be optimal when the resulting scalar images yield optimal image segmentations using Bayesian pixel classification. Thus, Bayes risk is used as the objective function to minimize. Approximations are made to give a tractable solution in a four-step procedure. A sample ca...

This paper addresses the problem of probabilistic reasoning as it applies to Truth Maintenance Systems. A Belief Maintenance System hal! been constructed which manages a current set of probabilistic beliefs in much the same way that a TMS manages a set of true/false beliefs. Such a system may be thought of as a generalization of a. Truth Maintenance System. It enables one to reason using normal...

In this note, we make explicit the limit law of the renormalized supercritical branching random walk, giving credit to a conjecture formulated in [5] for a continuous analogue of the branching random walk. Also, in the case of a branching random walk on a homogeneous tree, we express the law of the corresponding limiting renormalized Gibbs measures, confirming, in this discrete model, conjectur...

This paper introduced the status quo of laws and regulations of sustainable construction in China and investigated the existing problems of current laws and regulations through person-interviews in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen in China. The problems include incomplete legal system, lack of guidance of higher-level laws, backward in some laws and regulations, unclear legal liability...