We present a new language feature, specified as an extension to Java. The feature is a form of dispatch, which includes and subsumes multimethods, but which is not as powerful as general predicate dispatch. It is, however, intended to be more practical and easier to use than the latter. The extension, dubbed OOMatch, allows method parameters to be specified as patterns, which are matched against the arguments to the method call. When matches occur, the method applies; if multiple methods apply, the method with the more specific pattern overrides the others. The pattern matching is very similar to that found in the "case" constructs of many functional languages, with an important difference: functional languages normally allow pattern matching over variant types (and other primitives such as tuples), while OOMatch allows pattern matching on Java ob jects. Indeed, the wider goal here is the study of the combination of functional and ob ject-oriented programming paradigms. Maintaining encapsulation while allowing pattern matching is of special importance. Class designers should have the control needed to prevent implementation details (such as private variables) from being exposed to clients of the class. We here present both an informal "tutorial" description of OOMatch, as well as a formal specification of the language, and a proof that the conditions specified guarantee run-time safety.

Adopting the generative framework (Chomsky, 1988) and the theory of argument structure (e.g. Grimshaw, 1990), the present study reexamines the Mandarin Chinese middle V-qilai constructions and argues against the previous analyses (e.g. Sung, 1994; Wang, 2005a) that V-qilai is a main predicate. First, it is proposed in the present study that the Evaluative as well as the Eventive V-qilai sentences can both be regarded as the middle constructions; that is, both [-Agent] and [+Agent] V-qilai constructions can be middle sentences. Second, comparing with Huang¡¦s (1988) analysis of the resultative constructions, it is argued in the present study that the second predicate, i.e. the modification predicate, serves as the main predicate. The present study also proposes the two different syntactic representations of the Evaluative and Eventive middle V-qilai constructions,¡@and adopts Wang (2005b) and Lin & Tang (1995) to propose that the V-qilai serves as a modal: Not only can the V-qilai predicates be classified into the raising type and the control type (cf. Wang, 2005b), but can also be classified into the Evaluative/epstemic type and the Eventive/deontic type, just as Mandarin Chinese modals (cf. Lin and Tang, 1995). Moreover, the argument structures of the modification predicates determine the syntactic representations of the V-qilai sentences: Theme-modifying predicates construe Evaluative V-qilai sentences, and Agent-modifying predicates construe Eventive V-qilai sentences. The Evaluative/epistemic middle sentences like zhe ke pingguo chi qilai hen hao chi ¡¥this apple tastes good¡¦ disallow the Agent, and the Theme NP moves from the modification clause to the matrix subject position to meet the EPP feature. Eventive/deontic middle sentences like zhe jian gongguo Zhangsan zuo qilai hen renzhen ¡¥the job, Zhangsan does it seriously¡¦, on the other hand, allow an Agent, and the Theme NP is assumed to be base-generated in situ. That is, the V-qilai in the Evaluative sentences is a raising modal, while the V-qilai in the Eventive sentences is assumed to be a control modal. The third issue concerns which types of verbs can enter into the V-qilai constructions. Similar to English middle constructions (Fagan, 1992), Chinese activity verbs and accomplishment verbs can enter into the V-qilai constructions. Lexically, qilai is unlikely to incorporate with the achievement verb complex like zhao-dao ¡¥find¡¦ or xue-hui ¡¥acquire¡¦ (cf. Sung, 1994). The semantic factor is related to the continuous or the inchoative sense of qilai; verbs with the continuous sense (activity verbs) or inchoative sense (accomplishment verbs) are more likely to enter into the V-qilai constructions.

Landman (1989) introduced contemporary linguistics to the as-phrase. An as-phrase is a qualifier, introduced in English by "as." "John is corrupt as a judge," for instance, contains the as-phrase "as a judge." Philosophical discourse is full of examples of as-phrase sentences. Their presence can make it difficult to distinguish valid from invalid arguments, a perennial concern for philosophers. Landman proposed the first formal semantic theory of as-phrases, based on a set of seven intuitively-valid patterns of inference involving as-phrases. Szabó (2003), Jaeger (2003), Asher (2011) each attempt to improve upon Landman's theory. Chapter 1 reviews and criticizes a temporal account of as-phrase semantics, while tracing some precedents and motivations for my approach. Chapters 2-3 criticize Szabó's and Asher's theories. Szabó's theory shows problems handling the future tense and intensional contexts. Asher's complex theory solves these problems, but resorts to the obscure notions of relative identity and bare particulars. Chapter 4 argues that neither Szabó's nor Asher's theory is clearly superior, because implicitly, they focus on different classes of sentences, which I call "Type A" and "Type B." From John Bowers' syntactic research, I argue that the element common to Type A and Type B is Pr, a predication head pronounced "as" in some contexts. Chapter 5 develops a formal semantic theory tailored to Type A sentences that solves the problems of Szabó's theory while avoiding Asher's assumptions. On my approach, the semantic properties of Type A sentences resolve into an interaction among generic quantifiers, determiner-phrase interpretation, and one core quantifier based on a principal ultrafilter. It is the interaction-effects of these elements that give rise to the many unusual readings we find in these as-phrase sentences. This result supports my motivating view that linguistic research helps to solve semantic problems of philosophical interest.

Différentes études sur de larges corpus oraux ont permis ces dernières années de mettre en lumière des structures bien particulières tout en élaborant différents modèles articulés autour de nouvelles unités opératoires censées remplacer avec efficacité la notion de phrase. Nous pensons à l’inverse que la notion de phrase comme prédication assortie d’une modalité énonciative peut aisément être conservée pour traiter du français parlé, à condition cependant d’être perçue en temps réel. La phrase, désormais analysée en « noyau + affixes », est en effet avant tout une unité de traitement et de production n’ayant qu’une existence temporaire dans le flux de l’activité productive et interprétative. Ce postulat nous permettra d’expliquer certains phénomènes averbaux typiques de l’oral comme les réalisations de compléments différés, les répétitions, les reformulations, les recatégorisations de prédicats en affixes. Nous nous sommes donc intéressée plus particulièrement aux différents fonctionnements des segments sans verbe dans un corpus oral. Un premier ensemble rassemble les segments sans verbe fonctionnant en tant que phrases selon des degrés de prédicativité plus au moins élevés : prédications averbales, prédications interjectives et réalisations averbales d’une prédication verbale implicite. Cependant, pour de nombreux segments sans verbe, l’interprétation est moins sûre et ces segments dits « flottants », en marge des emplois canoniques, nous renvoient à la problématique de la phrase. C’est par exemple le cas de compléments différés, constituants averbaux oscillant entre trois pôles : éléments intégrés, éléments détachés et éléments autonomes. / Over the last few years, various studies on large corpora in spoken French have shed light on quite specific structures and have come up with various patterns which resort to new operating units. These units are alleged to efficiently replace the notion of sentence. However, we have chosen to keep the word 'sentence', which we define as the association of a predication and of an enunciative modality. We therefore think that this definition needn’t be replaced to analyse spoken French, provided the segment under scrutiny is deciphered at the time of its utterance. In this study, we will consider that the sentence is composed of a “nucleus plus affixes” and that it is above all a means of analysis as well as a production unit which are both temporary within the process of the productive and interpretative activity. This postulate will enable us to explain why some verbless structures are only found in spoken French, such as the product! ion of deferred complements, repetitions, rewordings and the re-categorizing of predicates into affixes. We took special interest in the various functions performed by verbless segments in a spoken French corpus. A first subgroup includes verbless segments which work like sentences in so far as they express various levels of predicability, such as verbless predications, interjectional predications, or verbless realisations of an implicit verbal predication. Yet, this analysis does not seem to work when applied to many verbless segments called floating segments since they do not correspond to the canonical definitions of the sentence. We thus have to reconsider what a sentence is, especially when we tackle postponed complements, or verbless constituents which partake of the three following categories: integrated elements, detached elements and autonomous elements.

This study identifies two syntactically distinguishable types of Serial Verb Constructions (SVCs) in Mandarin Chinese (MC) and Jinjiang Southern Min (JSM), corresponding to the nuclear and core distinction made in Role and Reference Grammar (Foley and Van Valin 1984, Foley and Olson 1985, Van Valin and LaPolla 1997). This distinction is also made on the basis of a general consensus of the cross-linguistic classifications of the processes of monoclausal multi-verb construction formation (e.g., Butt 1993, 1997, Baker and Harvey 2010): namely, predicate fusion and argument fusion. In this study, I propose two sets of diagnostics to establish the distinction; these go beyond the range covered in previous studies (e.g., Olson 1981, Foley and Olson 1985, Crowley 2002, Chang 2007). In the first set of diagnostics in this study, seven inter-clausal diagnostics are considered as the threshold where the behaviours of bi-clausal structures and SVCs split. These diagnostics include independent negation, passivisation of the object of V2, independent modification by temporal adverbial, independent marking of viewpoint aspect, independent modification by manner adverbial, prosodic structure and the Coordinate Structure Constraint (Ross 1967) that is employed in a more restricted manner. In the second set of diagnostics, four intra-clausal diagnostics are adopted to make the distinction between nuclear and core SVCs, which include passivisation of O1, insertion of intervening material, coordination within the SVC, and obligatory topicalisation of undergoer argument. Of particular interest is the possibility that the same string of verbs may occur in superficially similar, but structurally different, SVCs: for example, the Cause-Effect SVC and the Excessive SVC. The diagnostics employed in this study are proposed as a novel method to establish the distinction between the SVCs and the bi-clausal structures, and more importantly, between core and nuclear types of SVC. Contributing to the originality of the new method of diagnosing the status of the SVCs proposed in this study, I add five novel diagnostics, such as passivisation of the object of V2, independent marking of viewpoint aspect, tone sandhi between adjacent verbs, coordination within the SVC and obligatory topicalisation of the undergoer argument, in addition to those that have been employed in the literature. I restrict myself to data of MC and JSM in discussing the rationale of the diagnostics. However, this novel method of identifying SVCs is expected to be cross-linguistically applicable with consistent results, while at the same time allowing for the possibility of cross-linguistic differences in the semantic sub-types of SVCs identified in each language.

Magister Legum - LLM / This paper discusses the progress of international anti-money laundering (AML) law with regard to making tax evasion a predicate offence for the crime of money laundering (ML). This paper will focus particularly on the recent amendments that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) made to its 40 + 9 Recommendations. The FATF Recommendations are recognised as the global AML standards. The amendments to these have resulted in tax crimes being made designated offences for ML. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the rationale behind this change and to assess the implications of bringing fiscal crimes under the AML regime.

Magister Legum - LLM / Annually, money laundering costs global financial markets $2.5 trillion. Money laundering is especially problematic in that it results in a plethora of socioeconomic problems including poor economic performance and an upsurge in crime. In fact, predicate crimes such as corruption, drug trafficking, tax evasion, smuggling, fraud, and terrorism are so embedded within money laundering so much so that combatting either is a complicated task. Although it is a daunting endeavour, best practice teaches that multilateral and international cooperation are most effective at fighting money laundering. For that reason, establishing locally sensitive and yet internationally focussed anti-money laundering regimes is a priority for numerous countries.

Με σκοπό την ενίσχυση του μαθήματος Τεχνητή Νοημοσύνη στο τμήμα Μηχανικών Η/Υ και Πληροφορικής της Πολυτεχνικής σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών έχει δημιουργηθεί από την Ομάδα Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης το πρωτότυπο για ένα Ευφυές Σύστημα Διδασκαλίας Τεχνητής Νοημοσύνης (ΣΔΤΝ). Το σύστημα αυτό, ανάμεσα στα άλλα, διδάσκει την Κατηγορηματική Λογική ως γλώσσα Αναπαράστασης Γνώσης και Αυτόματου Συλλογισμού. Πρόκειται για ένα σύστημα που προσαρμόζεται, επιτρέποντας στους φοιτητές να επιλέγουν οι ίδιοι τον ρυθμό και το επίπεδο μάθησης. Ένα από τα θέματα που διαπραγματεύεται το σύστημα είναι και η μετατροπή από προτάσεις φυσικής γλώσσας (ΦΓ) σε εκφράσεις Κατηγορηματικού Λογισμού Πρώτης Τάξεως (ΚΛΠΤ). Επειδή η διαδικασία αυτή δεν είναι αυτοματοποιήσιμη, ο φοιτητής δεν μπορεί να πάρει κάποια βοήθεια ή υπόδειξη από το σύστημα, κατά τη διάρκεια μιας τέτοιας άσκησης, πριν δώσει την τελική του απάντηση. Γι’ αυτό, στα πλαίσια του ΣΔΤΝ αποφασίστηκε να ενσωματωθεί μια επιπλέον δυνατότητα: να μετατρέπει εκφράσεις ΚΛΠΤ τις οποίες δημιουργεί ο φοιτητής, στην προσπάθειά του να λύσει μια τέτοια άσκηση, σε προτάσεις ΦΓ. Σκοπός της λειτουργίας αυτής είναι να χρησιμοποιηθεί σαν ανατροφοδότηση από το σύστημα στον φοιτητή, προκειμένου ο τελευταίος να αξιολογήσει την απάντησή του, πριν την καταθέσει σαν τελική απάντησή στην άσκηση. Για την υλοποίηση της παραπάνω δυνατότητας ξεκίνησε η ανάπτυξη ενός συστήματος βασισμένου σε κανόνες, του FOLtoNL (First Order Logic to Natural Language). Στόχος του συστήματος ήταν η επιτυχής μετατροπή εκφράσεων ΚΛΠΤ σε ΦΓ. Το FOLtoNL υλοποιήθηκε σε Jess, μια γλώσσα προγραμματισμού με κανόνες (γραμμένη εξ’ ολοκλήρου σε Java) και αξιολογήθηκε με βάση τα αποτελέσματά του σε ειδικά σχεδιασμένο σύνολο εκφράσεων ΚΛΠΤ. / To help teaching the course of Artificial Intelligence in Computer Engineering and Informatics Department of Patras University, a web-based intelligent tutoring system, called Artificial Intelligence Teaching System (AITS), was created. Among other things, AITS teaches Predicate Logic as a Knowledge Representation and Automated Reasoning language and is an adapting system, allowing students to choose themselves the teaching rate and level. One of the issues that AITS deals with is the conversion of natural language (NL) sentences into First-Order Logic (FOL) formulas. Given that this is a non-automated process, it is difficult to give some hints to the students-users during their effort to convert an “unknown” (to the system) NL sentence into a FOL formula. However, some kind of help could be provided, if the system could translate (after checking its syntax) the proposed by the student FOL formula into a NL sentence. The student then will be able to compare the initial NL sentence with the one that its FOL formula corresponds to. In this way, it is easier to see whether his/her proposed FOL formula is compatible with the given NL sentence and perhaps make some amendments, before submitting the final answer. FOLtoNL (First Order Logic to Natural Language) is a rule-based system that converts FOL formulas into NL in order to provide the functionality described above. It uses the expert systems approach alongside natural language processing aspects. FOLtoNL is implemented in Jess (an expert system shell written in Java) and has been evaluated via an appropriately created set of FOL expressions.

L’adverbe est l’une des catégories invariables du discours. Le définir clairement n’est pas toujours chose aisée, tant cette catégorie grammaticale regorge de mots d’une grande hétérogénéité, non seulement du point de vue de leur nature, mais également du point de vue de leur rôle. L’adverbe peut ainsi signifier la comparaison, le lieu, la manière ou la qualité, l’ordre et le rang, la quantité, le temps, etc. Il peut encore servir de connecteur logique, de négation, etc. Lorsque l’adverbe permet de répondre à la question « où ? » posé autour du verbe, on parle d’adverbe locatif, traditionnellement appelé adverbe de lieu. C’est à cette catégorie d’adverbes que nous avons consacré notre étude. Les adverbes locatifs ont rarement fait l’objet d’une étude exhaustive, ce qui nous a amené à nous intéresser à leur classification dans le cadre théorique du lexique-grammaire. Pour parvenir à nos fins, nous nous sommes proposé pour objectif principal de mettre en évidence les différentes propriétés syntactico-sémantiques de ces adverbes locatifs. Mais avant d’en arriver-là, il était nécessaire de clarifier la notion très ambivalente de lieu, ce vocable permettant en effet de regrouper des réalités diverses telles que les lieux ayant un sens purement locatif (ex. ici, là-haut) et les lieux impliquant l’idée d’activités qui leur sont associées (ex. au cinéma, à l’école), pour ne citer que ces deux exemples. Il s’agissait donc de mettre en évidence cette classification interne au sein même de cette dernière notion de lieu. Ainsi, nous parlons d’adverbes locatifs non prédicatifs pour désigner les adverbes ayant un sens de lieu impliquant également un sens d’activité associée à ce lieu. De même, les adverbes locatifs prédicatifs pour parler des adverbes désignant explicitement une activité liée à un lieu tout en possédant une référence de lieu rendant possible une telle activité. Compte tenu de la rareté des études qui examinent de manière systématique le lien entre la notion de lieu et les adverbes de lieu, tout l’intérêt de notre démarche aura été d’élaborer une approche analytique qui rende compte des phénomènes sémantico-syntaxiques propres aux adverbes locatifs. Cette étude est d’autant plus nécessaire que l’absence d’une méthode d’analyse a souvent fait obstacle à l’établissement d’une classification des adverbes locatifs. / The adverb is an invariable part of discourse. Defining it with clarity is not a simple assignment, as this category in grammar is filled with words of great heterogeneity, not only from the point of view of their nature, but also from the point of view of their role. The adverb can thus mean comparison, place, manner, quality, order, rank, quantity, and time, etc. It can also be used as a logical connector, negation, etc. When the adverb allows the question "where?" to be raised around the verb, one speaks of locative adverb, traditionally known as adverb of place. It is to this category of adverbs that we have devoted our study. Locative adverbs have rarely been studied exhaustively, which has led us to consider their classification in the theoretical framework of the lexicon-grammar. In order to achieve our goals, we propose to highlight the different syntactico-semantic properties of these adverbs. But before we came to that point, it was necessary to clarify the very ambivalent notion of place, since this term allows us to gather diverse realities such as places with a purely locative sense (e.g. here, up there) and places involving the idea of activities associated within them (e.g. at the cinema, at the school), to only mention these two examples. It was therefore necessary to bring to light this internal classification within the very notion of place. Thus, we speak of non-predicative locative adverbs to denote adverbs with a sense of place that also implies a sense of activity associated with those places. Similarly, predicative locative adverbs to speak of adverbs explicitly designating an activity linked to a place while referring to a location allowing such activity to be performed Given the scarcity of studies that systematically examine the link between the notion of place and adverbs of place, all the interest of our approach will have been to develop an analytical approach that accounts for the semantico-syntactic phenomena specific to locative adverbs. This study is all the more necessary due to the absence of a method of analysis often hindered the establishment of a classification of adverbs of place.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In this work the relationship between two famous conceptions of existence is investigated. The first, proposed by Kant, excludes the concept of existence from the set of possible predicates or properties of objects. The second, later proposed by Frege, treats the concept of existence as a higher-level predicate, i.e., it presents this concept as a predicate of predicates rather than as a predicate of objects. A closer look at these conceptions reveals, however, that despite this similarity it would be premature to identify their conceptions, because there are differences with regard to the systems in which they are embedded as well as differences with regard to the aims that they pursue. The present work tries to show that Kant developed his conceptions of the concept of existence in an epistemological context whose aim was, as he makes clear in his opus magnum, to warrant the claim that every knowledge should have besides a conceptual element also a counterpart arising from the intuition. Frege, on the other hand, develops his conception in a basically logical context, in which the treatment of expressions is submitted to strong rigor. The aim of the present work is to compare Kant s and Frege s approaches in order to answer the question whether there are significant differences between their characterizations of the concept of existence and, if so, which ones. One important result of the present work is that the differences in their positions are consequences of some differences between the contexts in which they are developed. Another result is that their conceptions include some common theses, such as the claim that the concept of existence is not a concept that can be used to characterize an object, or the claim that existential statements constitute an odd type of judgement whose appearance in natural languages suggests an erroneous reading of them. On the other hand, however, there are significant differences between the positions advocated by Kant and Frege as, for instance, differences with regard to the possibility of deriving statements of existence from the analysis of concepts, a possibility that is categorically denied by Kant but admitted, with some qualifications, by Frege. The third important result finally is that Frege s conception of existence must be regarded as an improvement, not as a mere repetition, of Kant s conception. / Este trabalho apresenta um estudo da relação entre duas célebres abordagens do conceito de existência. A primeira, apresentada por Kant, exclui o conceito de existência do conjunto dos possíveis predicados ou propriedades de objetos. A segunda, apresentada mais tarde por Frege, trata o conceito de existência como um predicado de nível superior, i.e., apresenta o conceito como um predicado de predicados, e não como um conceito que se aplica diretamente a objetos. Apesar de ambas abordagens se parecerem muito entre si, um estudo mais aprofundado de ambas servirá para mostrar que a diferença entre os sistemas teóricos em que se inserem, bem como entre os objetivos que visavam, sugerem que seria precipitado identificá-las. Tentar-se-á mostrar, neste trabalho, que Kant desenvolve suas concepções a respeito deste conceito num contexto epistemológico, tendo em vista, como fica claro na sua opus magnum, garantir o requisito de que todo conhecimento deve ter, além do elemento conceitual, também uma contraparte advinda da intuição. Frege, por sua vez, apresenta suas teses a respeito do tema dentro de um contexto basicamente lógico, onde se fazia necessária uma rigorização do tratamento das expressões que compõem a linguagem. O objetivo do presente trabalho consiste em estudar a abordagem de cada autor separadamente, e, em seguida, comparar as duas abordagens a fim de mostrar se existem diferenças significativas entre as caracterizações que ambos deram ao conceito de existência, e, em caso positivo, mostrar quais seriam estas diferenças. Dentre os principais resultados a que se chegou, destacam-se as diferenças que as posições dos autores possuem; diferenças sugeridas pela diferenciação entre os contextos de apresentação da temática nos dois autores. Também se destaca a equivalência das teses de ambos em alguns aspectos, como por exemplo, a tese segundo a qual o conceito de existência não se encontra entre os conceitos que podem servir para caracterizar um objeto, ou a alegação de que os enunciados existenciais constituem um tipo único de juízo, cuja aparência nas linguagens naturais sugere uma leitura errônea dos mesmos. Deve-se mencionar, por outro lado, a diferença significativa de posições de Kant e Frege em outros aspectos, como no que tange à possibilidade de se derivar existência por meio de análise conceitual, possibilidade negada categoricamente por Kant e admitida, com algumas ressalvas, por Frege. Por fim, destaca-se a possibilidade de se interpretar as teses de Frege como um aperfeiçoamento, mas não como uma mera repetição, das teses de Kant.