Econometric Causality This paper presents the econometric approach to causal modeling. It is motivated by policy problems. New causal parameters are defined and identified to address specific policy problems. Economists embrace a scientific approach to causality and model the preferences and choices of agents to infer subjective (agent) evaluations as well as objective outcomes. Anticipated and...

The paper describes a new evaluation measure for speech recognition in spoken language dialogue systems. The measure is based on the usefulness of the recognition for the system, and the usefulness is measured at the level of meaning representation. It is argued that the new measure is more useful than word error rate, and is more accurate than simpler functional measures.

Oxytocin is an evolutionarily highly preserved neuropeptide that contributes to the regulation of social interactions including the processing of facial stimuli. We hypothesized that its improving effect on social approach behavior depends on perceived sexual features and, consequently, on sexual orientation. In 19 homosexual and 18 heterosexual healthy young men, we investigated the acute effe...

A mathematical driver model is given in the spacial equation form, which takes into account the previewed information of the path. Optimal control method is considered for the ideal no time-delay case and Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional approach is applied to deal with drivers’ reaction time-delay. For both cases, exponential stability is guaranteed for the closedloop system.

This paper studies a principal–agent relation in which the principal’s private information about the agent’s effort choice is more accurate than a noisy public performance measure. For some contingencies the optimal contract has to specify ex post inefficiencies in the form of inefficient termination (firing the agent) or third–party payments (money burning). We show that money burning is the l...

In this paper we continue the study of the geometrical features of a functional approach to classical mechanics proposed some time ago. In particular we try to shed some light on a N=2 " universal " supersymmetry which seems to have an interesting interplay with the concept of ergodicity of the system. To study the geometry better we make this susy local and clarify pedagogically several issues...

In CBSD, the possible benefits of COTS software development, such as low cost, low risk, and high quality, cannot be satisfactorily achieved due to inadequate and/or incomplete proposals for component specification. In particular, non-functional aspects play an important role for components description and selection, but are usually not taken into account when documenting components and searchi...

Interpreting the outcome of a recent survey on Internet banking in Europe, [CARIGNANI et al., 2000], we point the attention to the adoption of Web technologies in Italian retail banks. Four patterns are emerging: minimal (just a presence on the WWW); tactical (Web as a distribution channel); functional (adoption of Web-based information systems); strategic (a definite strategy centered on Web t...

Recent security breaches show the need to secure large, distributed, complex systems. A fundamental, but little discussed aspect of security is how to evaluate when a complete system is secure. Purely formal methods cannot handle this level of complexity. Code checking does not consider the interaction of separate modules working together and is hard to scale. Model-based approaches, such as pa...