A rcccnt trend in cxpcrt systems rcscarch has been toward systems which reason from descriptions of causnl processes in the domain, rather than from the surface cffccts. ‘I’his is the “causal model” versus “cinpirical association” distinction prcscntcd in [2]. Typically, this involves creating a dctailcd model of the physical proccsscs which undcrly the domain. ‘I’his model must support infcrcn...

The study of transportability aims to identify conditions under which causal information learned from experiments can be reused in a different environment where only passive observations can be collected. The theory introduced in [Pearl and Bareinboim, 2011] (henceforth [PB, 2011]) defines formal conditions for such transfer but falls short of providing an effective procedure for deciding wheth...

Telemedicine, enabled by state-of-art information technology, is rapidly gaining awareness in many countries. Despite the advanced telecommunication infrastructure, the introduction of telemedicine in Hong Kong has been slow. Hong Kong’s monopolistic health care system provides an answer for the protracted development of telemedicine in the region. This study attempts to reach a theoretical und...

Commercially successful video games easily sell more than one million units in the US market alone and gross more than $ 100 million. Few research approaches have asked the question what makes a video game succeed in the market. This paper focuses on the role of external information sources. As video games are experience goods whose value for the consumer only becomes apparent after he or she h...

In this paper, we present an extended set of graphical criteria for the identification of direct causal effects in linear Structural Equation Models (SEMs). Previous methods of graphical identification of direct causal effects in linear SEMs include methods such as the single-door criterion, the instrumental variable and the IV-pair, and the accessory set. However, there remain graphical models...

Many kinds of common and easily observed causal relations exhibit property transmission, which is a tendency for the causal object to impose its own properties on the effect object. It is proposed that property transmission becomes a general and readily available hypothesis used to make interpretations and judgments about causal questions under conditions of uncertainty, in which property trans...

This paper deals with the truth conditions of conditional sentences. It focuses on a particular class of problematic examples for semantic theories for these sentences. I will argue that the examples show the need to refer to dynamic, in particular causal laws in an approach to their truth conditions. More particularly, I will claim that we need a causal notion of consequence. The proposal subs...

Reasoners distinguish between different types of causal relations, such as causes, enabling conditions, and preventions. Psychologists disagree about the representations that give rise to the different relations, but agree that mental simulations play a central role in inferring them. We explore how causal relations are extracted from mental simulations. The theory of mental models posits that ...