The record of successful applications of formal verification techniques is slowly growing. Our ultimate aim, however, is not to perform small pilot projects that show that verification is sometimes feasible in an industrial setting; our aim must be to integrate verification techniques into the software design cycle as a non−negotiable part of quality control. We take a snapshot of the state of ...

This research extends previous studies regarding the metaphoric competence of autistic and learning disable children on different measures of visual and verbal non-literal language comprehension, as well as cognitive abilities that include semantic knowledge, executive functions, similarities, and reading fluency. Thirty seven children with autism (ASD), 20 children with learning disabilities (...

Metaphor identification in text is an open problem in natural language processing. In this paper, we present a new, supervised learning approach called MIL (Metaphor Identification by Learning), for identifying three major types of metaphoric expressions without using any knowledge resources or handcrafted rules. We derive a set of statistical features from a corpus representing a given domain ...

The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of...

Analogy researchers do not often examine gesture, and gesture researchers do not often borrow ideas from the study of analogy. One borrowable idea from the world of analogy is the importance of distinguishing between attributes and relations. Gentner (, ) observed that some metaphors highlight attributes and others highlight relations, and called the latter analogies. Mirroring this logic, we o...

Since Saussure, the idea that the forms of words are arbitrarily related to their meanings has been widely accepted. Yet, implicit metaphorical mappings may provide opportunities for iconicity throughout the lexicon. We hypothesized that vertical spatial metaphors for emotional valence are manifested in language through space in signed languages and through the spatialized dimension of pitch in...

What influences the likelihood that a word will be used metaphorically? We tested whether the likelihood of metaphorical use is related to the relationality of a word’s meaning. Relational words name relations between entities. We predicted that relational words, such as verbs (e.g., speak) and relational nouns (e.g., marriage) would be more likely to be used metaphorically than words that name...

Humans turn abstract referents and discourse structures into gesture using metaphors. The semantic relation between abstract communicative intentions and their physical realization in gesture is a question that has not been fully addressed. Our hypothesis is that a limited set of primary metaphors and image schemas underlies a wide range of gestures. Our analysis of a video corpus supports this...

A notation is presented for formally describing the design of a user-interface. The speciication of a system is given using the Object-Z formal speciication language and then extended to describe presentation using an Object-Z class library. The Object-Z notation is extended to enable designs to be described using UAN (User Action Notation) annotations and the semantics for the design extension...

From early 20th century headlines to presidential tweets, immigration is described frequently in terms of waves, floods, and tides. Although usage this inundation metaphor has been widely documented, its potential influence on attitudes not assessed empirically. Building from conceptual theory’s claim that abstract ideas can be grounded simpler, conc...