This study explored Mandarin-speaking children’s ability in maintaining narrative coherence. Thirty Mandarin-speaking fiveyear-olds, 30 nine-year-olds and 30 adults participated. The narrative data were elicited using Frog, where are you? Narrative coherence was assessed in terms of causal networks. The results displayed children’s development in achieving narrative coherence by establishing ca...

An operational domain-independent decision-aiding system for situation assessment tasks is described. The system elicits the user's perception of a given situation through a stylized English dialogue and focuses the user's attention on the issue of highest relevancy. Elicited problems are structured as networks where nodes represent variables and directed links represent causal relationships. T...

A rank-n tensor on a Lorentzian manifold whose contraction with n arbitrary causal future directed vectors is non-negative is said to have the dominant property. These tensors, up to sign, are called causal tensors, and we determine their general mathematical properties in arbitrary dimension N . Then, we prove that rank-2 tensors which map the null cone on itself are causal tensors. Previously...

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PURPOSE To compare the orientation column maps elicited by different spatial frequency gratings in cortical area 17 of cats before and during brief elevation of intraocular pressure (IOP). METHODS IOP was elevated by injecting saline into the anterior chamber of a cat's eye through a syringe needle. The IOP was elevated enough to cause a retinal perfusion pressure (arterial pressure minus IOP...

In this study, we build a causal map of the investment decision using causal mapping techniques by interviewing venture capitalists (VCs). We convert this map into a causal Bayes net using techniques we developed. Causal Bayes nets are especially suited for domains characterized by high degree of uncertainty. Bayes nets have been recently developed in artificial intelligence and used in medical...

This paper provides a background discussion of agent-based modeling (ABM) and simulation and its support for strategic decision support. Causal mapping is introduced as a structured method for situational formulation and analysis of unstructured strategic problems. Causal mapping includes specific processes and analytical approaches offering cognitive modeling support for problem formulation an...

ii Chapter 1 Dissertation Overview 1 Chapter 2 SSH Overview 6 2.1 The Spatial Semantic Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.2 Creating Schemas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.3 The SSH topological level: regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.4 Physical Implementation of the SSH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1...