To perform automatic, unconscious inference, the human brain must solve the binding problem by correctly grouping properties with objects. Temporal binding models like SHRUTI already suggest much of how this might be done in a connectionist and localist way by using temporal synchrony. We propose a set of alternatives to temporal synchrony mechanisms that instead use short signatures. This serv...

We set up a formal framework to describe term deduction systems such as tran sition system speci cations in the style of Plotkin and conditional term rewriting systems This framework has the power to express many sortedness general bind ing mechanisms and substitutions among other notions such as negative premises and unary predicates on terms The framework is used to present a conservativity f...

The permutation model of set theory with atoms (FM-sets), devised by Fraenkel and Mostowski in the 1930s, supports notions of ‘name-abstraction’ and ‘fresh name’ that provide a new way to represent, compute with, and reason about the syntax of formal systems involving variable-binding operations. Inductively defined FM-sets involving the name-abstraction set former (together with Cartesian prod...

This paper investigates the use of symmetric monoidal closed (smc) structure for representing syntax with variable binding, in particular for languages with linear aspects. In this setting, one first specifies an smc theory T , which may express binding operations, in a way reminiscent from higher-order abstract syntax (hoas). This theory generates an smc category S(T ) whose morphisms are, in ...

This paper compares three models for formal reasoning about programming languages with binding. Higher order abstract syntax (hoas) uses meta-level binding to represent object-level binding [PE88]. Nominal Logic couples a concrete representation of bound variables with a formal apparatus for safely manipulating bound variables [Pit03]. The locally named binding representation places bound and f...

The handling of variables is a crucial issue in designing a parallel Prolog system. The so called closed binding environment is an excellent candidate for a binding scheme in a distributed system, however, it has several weaknesses when the computation is not migrating. In this paper the closed binding method is analysed, a possible modification is introduced and the implementation and performa...

We propose a model for binding of variables such as the thematic role of a word in a sentence or episode (e.g., agent or patient), to concrete fillers (e.g., a word or concept). Our model is based on recent experimental data about corresponding processes in the human brain. One source of information are electrode recordings from the human brain, which suggest that concepts are represented in th...

A one-paragraph abstractconsisting of no more than 250words (200 words in Policy Forumessays) must be included. It shouldstate the purpose of the study, basicprocedures used, main findings, andconclusions. Abbreviations. All nonstandardabbreviations must be listed inalphabetical order, giving eachabbrevia t ion fo l lowed by i t sspelled-out version. Spel...

Diversity-generating retroelements (DGRs) recognize novel ligands through massive protein sequence variation, a property shared uniquely with the adaptive immune response. Little is known about how recognition is achieved by DGR variable proteins. Here, we present the structure of the Bordetella bacteriophage DGR variable protein major tropism determinant (Mtd) bound to the receptor pertactin, ...

Lindström [1] introduced a very powerful notion of quantifiers, which permits multi-place quantification and the simultaneous binding of several variables. ‘Branching’ quantifification was found to be useful by linguists e.g. for modelling reciprocal constructions like “Most men and most women admire each other”. Westerståhl [2] showed how to compute the three-place Lindström quantifier for “Q1...