Uncovering and Interpreting

Interpreting Heisenberg Interpreting Quantum States

The paper investigates possible readings of the later Heisenberg's remarks on the nature of quantum states. It discusses, in particular, whether Heisenberg should be seen as a proponent of the epistemic conception of states---the view that quantum states are not descriptions of quantum systems but rather reflect the state assigning observers' epistemic relations to these systems. On the one han...

Covering and Uncovering Equivalent Mutants

Mutation testing measures the adequacy of a test suite by seeding artificial defects (mutations) into a program. If a test suite fails to detect a mutation, it may also fail to detect real defects—and hence should be improved. However, there are also mutations that keep the program semantics unchanged and thus cannot be detected by any test suite. Such equivalent mutants must be weeded out manu...

Reading and Interpreting Ethnography

Although ethnographic methods are still regarded, to an extent, as new aspects of HCI research practice, they have been part of HCI research almost since its inception, and certainly since the early 1980s, about the same time as the CHI conference was founded. What, then, accounts for this sense of novelty and the mystery that goes along with it? One reason is that ethnographic methods have gen...

Evaluating And Interpreting Interactions

Interpreting Concatenation and Concatenates

What is the significance of combining expressions in a natural human language? A complex expression is not a mere list of words. Combining expressions, as in 'red ball' or 'ball that Pat kicked yesterday' has a semantic effect. But how is the meaning of a phrase related to the meanings of its constituents? And how are the meanings of predicates, simple or complex, related to the meanings of sen...