" Interactively controlled language as a bridge between law and artificial intelligence "
Dr. Stefan Höfler, University Zurich, CHF 93'718.-

The field of Artificial Intelligence and Law investigates how methods of artificial intelligence can be employed in the legal domain. One main obstacle to progress in the field is the fact that legal texts are written in natural language, while AI methods are based on formal logic. A complete and precise automatic translation of one form of representation into the other is as yet not feasible due to natural language ambiguity.

The aim of the project was to investigate whether the syntax and semantics of legislative language (specifically, Swiss legislative language) can be controlled so that it can be automatically translated into formal logical representations and still remains natural and expressive enough for practical use in legislative drafting.

In a first step, existing legislative texts (and drafts of such texts provided by the editorial board of the Swiss Federal Chancellery) were analysed with regard to potential ambiguities contained therein. Two types of ambiguities were distinguished: ambiguities that pose a problem to automatic pro¬cessing but are usually not noticed by human readers, and ambiguities that lead to misinterpre¬tations even in humans. The methods of controlled natural language were then applied to both types of ambiguities: the use of some linguistic constructions that can lead to ambiguity were either prohibited (construction rules), or the constructions were assigned default interpretations that determine the sense in which they are to be used (interpretation rules). This method was used to develop a linguistic standard consisting of a number of well-defined conventions that reduce ambiguity in legislative language and thus facilitate its automatic processing.

In order to ensure that the developed standard would not deviate from existing legislative language too much, construction and interpretation rules were, wherever possible, designed to reflect (a) existing domain-specific conventions, (b) the style guidelines issued by various cantonal and federal authorities, (c) frequency distributions occurring in existing legislative language. Thus, additional control mechanisms were established for a range of phenomena that are frequently sources of ambiguities; these mechanisms are explained in more detail in the publications that resulted from the project.

The project showed that, while the chosen approach cannot solve all problems that the automatic semantic processing of legislative language faces, it can get some major obstacles out of the way. A whole range of lexical, syntactic and semantic ambiguities can be prevented by employing con¬trolled language. However, the fact that research in the area of deontic logic has as yet not been able to represent the content of legislative texts in a complete and adequate way will continue to pose a problem. The acceptability of a standard such as the one developed in the project will furthermore depend on how closely the defined rules manage to reflect actual language usage. With regard to this issue, in-depth corpus-based studies in Swiss legal linguistics would be desirable.

The project has yielded two technical reports, four conference contributions, one journal article and two invited talks. As suggested by the cogito foundation council, a follow-up proposal was submitted to the Swiss National Foundation and has been accepted to grant the funds for another three years.

"Evidence, Probability and Evolution-Studies in the Epistemology of Molecular Phylogenetics"
Bengt Autzen, London School of Economics (LSE), London, Fr. 79'860.-

The PhD thesis is abou the epistemological foundations of molecular phylogenetics in the philosophy of biology. In particular, the notion of statistical evidence underlying claims in molecular phylogenetics was examined, such as the claim that DNA sequence data are evidence that chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than to gorillas.

The notion of evidence is central to both epistemology and philosophy of science. In epistemology it is relevant for justified belief which in turn is typically seen as necessary for knowledge. In philosophy of science, talk about evidence is associated with topics such as induction and confirmation as well as the questions raised by recent developments such as evidence-based medicine or evidence-based policy. Finding an account of evidence adequate for one particular scientific discipline, such as molecular phylogenetics, has therefore implications for more general debates in epistemology and the philosophy of science.

The search for an account of evidence for molecular phylogenetics has both a descriptive and a normative aspect to it. It is descriptive in the sense that an adequate notion of evidence is supposed to line up with scientific practice as closely as possible; it is normative by imposing certain a priori criteria on the evidential relation. In particular, philosophers often impose the following two criteria: the concept of evidence has to be objective and it has to be applicable to scientific inference.

Since phylogeneticists use statistical techniques for inferring phylogenetic trees based on molecular data, natural candidates for such a notion of evidence can be found in the probabilistic accounts suggested by likelihoodists, Bayesians, and frequentists. In my thesis I argue that likelihoodism is ill suited for statistical model-selection problems such as the problem of phylogenetic inference. While Bayesians offer a workable approach to phylogenetic inference, the problem of the priors threatens the objectivity of this account. More specifically, The argument is made that the role of auxiliary assumptions in Bayesian phylogenetics prevents the application of 'washing out of priors' theorems typically invoked in the Bayesian literature. In a more positive vein, it is shown how prior probabilities of phylogenetic trees can be constrained by means of the principle of direct probability and offer an interpretation of these probabilities. Finally a limited defence of frequentist methods is offered and it is argued that these techniques should ideally be involved in the assessment of the models of molecular evolution invoked in phylogenetic inference. Currently there are practical limitations to the application of frequentist notions of evidence to the phylogenetic context due to a lack of data needed for proper frequentist testing of model assumptions and some suggestions on how to make progress regarding this problem are offered.

The negative part of the thesis consists in showing that, as it stands, none of the three probabilistic theories of evidence satisfies both desiderata for an adequate account of evidence for molecular phylogenetics. Positively speaking, this result indicates that by weakening one of these desiderata an account of evidence for molecular phylogenetics can be identified. For instance, weakening the objectivity requirement leads to the Bayesian approach. By adopting the Bayesian view, evidential statements about evolutionary history based on molecular data turn out to be correct systematizations given our background beliefs about processes of molecular evolution. The author suggest that this result may not be as unwelcome as it sounds for a scientific discipline such as molecular phylogenetics and show that even within the Bayesian framework methodological advice can be given to practising phylogeneticists.

"10th International Summer School on Humour and Laughter: Theory, Research and Applications"
Prof. Willibald Ruch, University Zurich

The 10th International Summer School and Symposium on Humour and Laughter was held in Maennedorf, Switzerland, in the Boldern Conference Centre in conjunction with the University of Zurich, from July 5 – 10, 2010 (see: http://www.humoursummerschool.org/10/).

The Summer School was designed to benefit both research students and more experienced researchers who are considering conducting research in the field of humour and laughter. Twenty two lectures and four workshops were offered over the course of six days. The teaching faculty comprised eleven speakers, allowing greater diversity in the topics covered.

The programme aimed to provide an overview of the interdisciplinary nature of humour research, by considering theory and empirical evidence, addressing special research issues, discussing methodology and evaluation of research findings to date, and considering some of the applications of humour and laughter. Meet the Lecturer sessions, were offered daily so participants could have discussion hopefully optimising their experience by allowing one to one conversations.

The Summer School was attended by 39 participants. The student body consisted of undergraduates, postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, and university faculty members, as well as professionals (teacher, consultant, clinical psychologist, health professional, professional clowns working in the area of therapeutic laughter and performance artists). The participants represented many different cultures, ranging from, as far south as Australia to as north as Finland, and from Russia to United States of America, with many countries in between. The variety of participants' experiences was reflected in the debate engendered by many of the sessions.

From the feedback received from delegates 65% said the overall organisation of the Summer School was excellent, with the remaining 35% rating it as good. Asked how effective they thought the teaching method was, 55% said it was excellent, 35 % said it was good and the remaining 10% said it was satisfactory. The Summer School stimulated their interest in the subject, with all answering positively with 65% giving the excellent rating. The impact of the learning and development from the Summer School was overall rate as good (45%) excellent (35%) and satisfactory (15%), only once person said it was unsatisfactory for them. Thus, we can confidently say that the aims of the Summer School were met.

"The potential of ancient sacred natural sites for a novel approach to nature conservation"
Dr. Claudia Rutte, University of Berne Fr. 67'200.-

The conservation of biodiversity has been mainly based on protected areas. However, the exclusion of local people is believed to be one of the reasons why protected areas are often ineffective. More recently, conservation initiatives involve local communities in the management of protected areas. The implementation of participatory forms of governance also shows shortcomings and in many cases paper parks have been created without much participation of the communities. An alternative conservation strategy to such top-down approaches could build on supporting existing community-based conservation areas, such as sacred natural sites. Sacred landscapes exist in many countries and are especially prevalent in biodiversity rich regions.

To facilitate interdisciplinary research and exchange among researchers interested in understanding and strengthening the link between nature and culture, an online database on sacred natural sites was developed. SANASI is accessible at www.sanasi.org and contains information on different aspects of sacred natural sites around the earth linked to geography and ecology, belief system, management, current threats, and economic values. Data for SANASI are sourced from publications in scientific journals covering different disciplines within life sciences and social sciences, from reports of national or international organisations, from books, and from the internet. The SANASI advisory board is currently working on a data policy to also include information shared by local community members (based on a Free, Prior and Informed Consent).

In May 2011, data on more than 200 sites in 25 countries have been included in SANASI. It is a long-term initiative and collaborations with the IUCN Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (CSVPA), the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) registry, and Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) are planned.

"TEXTURES", 6th European Meeting of the SLSA / 1st Conference of the SLSAeu.
Dr. Manuela Rossini, European Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSAeu) CHF 6'000.-

The international Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) and its European sister organization (SLSAeu) promote the scholarly exchange of the humanities, the social sciences and the arts with the medical, the natural, computer, engineering and techno sciences as well as with artists and curators. In 2010, the biennial conference of the SLSAeu took place in Riga (Latvia) from 15-19 June. The event was organised by the academic-creative network electronic text and textiles (e+t+t) in cooperation with both Latvian and international partners: www.e-text-textiles.lv/SLSAeu2010/home.htm

The overall topic TEXTURES interwove five thematic threads that dealt with the fabric, structures, surfaces and interfaces of a world radically transformed by technology and digital media: (1) Materiality and Textuality; (2) Networks and Sustainability; (3) Tissue Cultures; (4) Architextures; (5) Biopalimpsests. An additional, more general but central component of the SLSAeu’s profile "Art as Research". Unfortunately the philosopher Catherine Malabou had to cancel her participation last minute but Erin Manning and Brian Massumi (Canada) were more than a substitute: Their lecture-performance on the cognitive experience of autistic people offered an engaged and engaging case for "neurodiversity". Two other speakers funded by the cogito foundation were Daina Taimina, a professor of mathematics of Latvian descent at Cornell University, who explained hyperbolic structures with the help of crocheting, and Joanna Zylinska, a cultural and media critic at Goldsmiths College London who addressed the (bio)ethical challenges of the posthumanist age in her talk. The academic programme was accompanied by the exhibition TRANSBIOTICS with internationally renowned artists who presented their ideas on the conference issues to a very curious audience by means of interactive installations.

The term "texture" as well as metaphors such as "fold" or "tissue" proved to be very productive for the dialogue between the disciplines as well as between theory and practice. As representional forms of real and virtual liminal spaces and figures of thought for diverse material, symbolic, human and non-human "go-betweens", these terms enabled the drawing of contact zones but also clear boundaries between the thought styles and approaches of different knowledge cultures. A major red thread of the conference was the question of materiality, especially the question in how far consciousness, perception, memory etc. were constituted by material textures and where neurophysiological and other biologistic explanations do not suffice for such complex processes.

The knowledge of paradigms from the natural sciences by humanistic scholars, who were the majority at the conference, was impressive. Conversely, the (few) natural scientists that were present at the meeting articulated a readiness to learn from artistic perspectives and the "soft" sciences. For this very reason, the SLSAeu will endeavour to bring more representatives of the natural and other "hard" sciences to the conference for joint panel discussions and projects.

The next SLSAeu conference will take place in London in 2012. Its provisional title is: "Fluctus – an international arts-science celebration of sound".

"Environmental Decisions: Risks and Uncertainties"
Prof. Dr. Renate Schubert, Dr. Vivianne Visschers, IED ETHZ CHF 12'000.-

The main goal of the conference on Monte Verità, 25-29 April, 2010. was to stimulate interdisciplinary work between scholars working in risk governance, management, perception, and assessment, in order to improve environmental decision making.

Ten invited international speakers discussed the latest findings within their specific research field with the audience. Their talks provided a variety of insights on environmental decision making, namely fundamental discussions about definitions of risks and uncertainty, practical experiences with risk assessment, political aspects related to environmental decision making, and scientific studies on laypeople’s perception of climate change and on decision making aids.

During parallel workshops, each pillar focused on current issues within its field related to environmental problems. Additionally, the four pillars were integrated in two types of plenary sessions, in which they discussed what their field could offer to the other fields and what their field needed from the others to improve environmental decision making.

Among the key results of this conference was the insight that integrated research teams should be formed for specific environmental problems. Stakeholders from various disciplines should take part in such topic-related problem-solving workgroups to enable an in-depth focus on the type of actors involved, the type of risk communication and the relevant time frame that are needed to tackle the specific environmental problem. The more collaboration between different disciplines and between different risk fields we have, the better the chances are to develop technically, economically, and ethically sound solutions for solving environmental problems.

"Cosmic Enthusiasm: The cultural impact of space exploration on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe"
Prof. Monica Rüthers, Dr. Carmen Scheide, Julia Richers, Eva Maurer, University Basle and Fribourg, Fr. 3'300.-

The conference which took place in Basel, January 22-24, 2009, focused on the impact of the Soviet space exploration program on Soviet and East European culture since the 1950s. 21 speakers from various European countries and North America spoke on topics as diverse as (to name just a few)

• the Cosmonaut as motif in Estonian art during and after the Soviet era (Anneli Porri)
• the influence of the Cosmic craze, especially of the first woman cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, on Soviet girls’ career choices
• the Soviet science-fiction and popular science films of Pavel Klushantsev (Cathleen Lewis)
• Attitudes towards American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who visited Yugoslavia (Radina Vučetić).

Two key lectures, sponsored by the cogito foundation, were held by Asif Siddiqi and Slava Gerovitch. Siddiqi demonstrated how the Soviet government’s almost paranoiac policy of secrecy led to a situation where even the most trivial details of the actual spaceflights could not be mentioned in interviews and reports – while at the same time, these abounded. Thus, instead of evoking interest in technology, they involuntarily contributed to further myth-making about spaceflight and the cosmos. Gerovitch’s talk focused on the myth(s) construed around Sergej Korolev, the “father of Soviet rocketry”, and demonstrated how different communities of memory were formed within Soviet space sciences and how their different, entangled individual and collective narratives are relevant until today when it comes to assess contributions to Soviet space history.
The participants much appreciated the interdisciplinary character of the conference; especially the different approaches towards the visuality of Soviet space culture. An intense three days ended in a very lively and thought-provoking final discussion. A selection of essays stemming from the papers will be published 2011 with Palgrave Macmillan.

www.spacecultures.net

"Adjusting People. Conceptions of the Self in Psychosurgery after World War II"
Dr. Marietta Meier, Collegium Helveticum, Zurich CHF 67'042.-

Between 1935 and 1970, tens of thousands of people worldwide underwent brain operations due to psychiatric indication that were intended to positively influence their mental state and behavior. The majority of these psychosurgical procedures were prefrontal lobotomies. Developed in 1935, the procedure initially met with fierce opposition, but was introduced in numerous countries in the following decade, and was employed until the late 1960s.

The project investigated why psychosurgery was widely accepted after World War II. It examined the effect, which was hoped that psychosurgical intervention would have, the undesired outcomes in which the method could potentially result, and the significance these outcomes was evaluated. The analysis of scientific articles of the period as well as one case study show that the goal of the operation was, first and foremost, to help the mentally ill adapt to the social order inside and outside the mental institution. Changes in personality, severe physical side effects and death were accepted in order to reach this goal.

Thus, with psychosurgical intervention the social adjustment of patients, also in their own interest, was rated higher than physical and psychic integrity. This widely held view shows that after World War II ideas about normality dominated according to which an individual was to adapt and to function in the interests of the collective. According to this assumption, the triumph of lobotomy was related to the development of a new conception of the self that made a broad implementation of the procedure possible and that was consolidated through psychosurgery.

"Social information and the evolution of culture"
Dr. Daniel J. Rankin, Department of Biochemistry, University of Zurich, CHF 5'050.-

Based on work as a research fellow at the FAS Centre for Systems biology in Harvard in 2007, funded by the cogito foundation an article has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London

F-139-07.pdf

SUMMARY

Reputation has been shown to promote cooperation in humans and other animals, but the way that reputations are formed have not been addressed. Here the authors use a simulation to investigate how humans may bias the reputation of their competitors to get ahead. They find that bad acts (such as refusing to help someone) should be remembered much more strongly than good acts (where you help). This means that it takes a lot to "forgive" unhelpful individuals. Such "judgement-bias", as the authors term it, help to explain why we are able to remember people that cheated us much more than people we helped. It also explains why we often pay more attention to scandalous gossip, which harm someones reputation, over gossip which puts people in a good light.

"The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road"
Prof. Dr. Andreas Kaplony, University Zurich, Dr. Philippe Forêt, Federal Institute of Technology, CHF 10'000.-

The comprehensive history of how visual materials and concepts changed while they crossed Eurasia remains an ambitious task. This book covers new ground on the diffusion and transmission of geographical knowledge that occurred at critical junctures in the long history of the Silk Road. Much of twentieth-century scholarship on the Silk Road examined the ancient archaeological objects and medieval historical records found within each cultural area, while the consequences of long-distance interaction across Eurasia remained poorly studied. Here ample attention is given to the journeys that notions and objects undertook to transmit spatial values to other civilizations. In retracing the steps of four major circuits right across the many civilizations that shared the Silk Road.

Methodological Issues
The conceptual tools with which scholars are analyzing visual representations are often inappropriate for probing the depth and wealth of non-Western cultures. We tend to examine foreign images intuitively, even when we are well equipped to read foreign texts with a critical eye. We let ourselves be seduced by images that seem similar to our own; conversely, we distance ourselves from those that  look alien. We run the risk of misreading the Silk Road traditions if we neglect the cultures that exported the items that local artists later accepted, adapted, or rejected. The original context of Silk Road iconography obviously has little in common with today’s  context, whether these images are displayed in situ or in museums, seen by the wider public or examined by scholars.

The Context of Transmission
The pace of diffusion along the Silk Road depended on the  merchants, pilgrims, soldiers, officers, ambassadors, servants, artists, and craftsmen who took images with them when they traveled. Cultural significance and practical considerations determined what  these travelers carried and what residents along the way selected in the marketplaces of the oasis cities. Administrative supplies moved easily on the Silk Road because they were intimately connected to the exercise of political power. The situation on the Silk Road changed when the Mongol khans reorganized travel conditions and transportation patterns: East Asian symbols of power spread quickly westward as Mongol power reached its climax.

The Process of Transmission
Concepts did not move from one language to the next without being altered. To discuss the journey of maps and images, “transmission” has been a helpful notion because it has compelled us to identify similar, or almost similar, features in maps and images. Innovations came with the adoption of foreign concepts, which could result in imitation, inspiration, or even total innovation. Adaptation is a richly illustrated theme in our sources. Often playful, the adoption of new concepts also implied misunderstandings and approximations.

Transmission through Image, and Transmission through Text
Silk Road travelers had two methods to transmit images: either they copied an original image (direct transmission) or they translated the original image into a text, copied the text, and at the end of the journey translated the text back into an image (text-mediated transmission). Direct transmission would have had many advantages if images had traveled easily. Because they did not, artists memorized the originals, made drafts, and eventually took notes. How well they remembered the first image was a key consideration. Text-mediated transmission provided a secure way to convey information. Translating from image to text and from text to image were nonetheless delicate operations that often resulted in errors. For centuries, mapmakers preferred to transmit spatial information through texts, as Ptolemy (90–168 CE) did. His safe methodology to locate eight thousand places explains the long-lasting influence of his Guide to Geography.

This book should be read as an introduction to more detailed essays on Silk Road topics: The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road. Brill's Inner Asian Library 21, Leiden, Brill, 2008
ISBN 978-90-04-17165-7