Cross-Lingual spoken language understanding from unaligned data using discriminative classification models and machine translation

This paper investigates several approaches to bootstrapping a new spoken language understanding (SLU) component in a target language given a large dataset of semantically-annotated utterances in some other source language. The aim is to reduce the cost associated with porting a spoken dialogue system from one language to another by minimising the amount of data required in the target language. Since word-level semantic annotations are costly, Semantic Tuple Classifiers (STCs) are used in conjunction with statistical machine translation models both of which are trained from unaligned data to further reduce development time. The paper presents experiments in which a French SLU component in the tourist information domain is bootstrapped from English data. Results show that training STCs on automatically translated data produced the best performance for predicting the utterance's dialogue act type, however individual slot/value pairs are best predicted by training STCs on the source language and using them to decode translated utterances. © 2010 ISCA.

Why do firms acquire external technologies? Understanding the motivations for technology acquisitions

Why do firms acquire external technologies? Previous research indicates that there are a wide variety of motivations. These include the need to acquire valuable knowledge-based resources, to improve strategic flexibility, to experiment), to overcome organisational inertia, to mitigate risk and uncertainty, to reduce costs and development time in new product development, and the perception that the firm has the absorptive capacity to integrate acquisitions. In this paper we provide an in-depth literature review of the motivations for the acquisition of external technologies by firms. We find that these motivations can be broadly classed into four categories: (1) the development of technological capabilities, (2) the development of strategic options, (3) efficiency improvements, and (4) responses to the competitive environment. In light of this categorisation, we comment on how these different motivations connect to the wider issues of technology acquisition. © 2010 IEEE.

A matrix-calculation-based algorithm for numerical change propagation analysis

Engineering changes (ECs) are raised throughout the lifecycle of engineering products. A single change to one component produces knock-on effects on others necessitating additional changes. This change propagation significantly affects the development time and cost and determines the product's success. Predicting and managing such ECs is, thus, essential to companies. Some prediction tools model change propagation by algorithms, whereof a subgroup is numerical. Current numerical change propagation algorithms either do not account for the exclusion of cyclic propagation paths or are based on exhaustive searching methods. This paper presents a new matrix-calculation-based algorithm which can be applied directly to a numerical product model to analyze change propagation and support change prediction. The algorithm applies matrix multiplications on mutations of a given design structure matrix accounting for the exclusion of self-dependences and cyclic propagation paths and delivers the same results as the exhaustive search-based Trail Counting algorithm. Despite its factorial time complexity, the algorithm proves advantageous because of its straightforward matrix-based calculations which avoid exhaustive searching. Thereby, the algorithm can be implemented in established numerical programs such as Microsoft Excel which promise a wider application of the tools within and across companies along with better familiarity, usability, practicality, security, and robustness. © 1988-2012 IEEE.

An allelic series reveals essential roles for FY in plant development in addition to flowering-time control

The autonomous pathway functions to promote flowering in Arabidopsis by limiting the accumulation of the floral repressor FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Within this pathway FCA is a plant-specific, nuclear RNA-binding protein, which interacts with FY, a highly conserved eukaryotic polyadenylation factor. FCA and FY function to control polyadenylation site choice during processing of the FCA transcript. Null mutations in the yeast FY homologue Pfs2p are lethal. This raises the question as to whether these essential RNA processing functions are conserved in plants. Characterisation of an allelic series of fy mutations reveals that null alleles are embryo lethal. Furthermore, silencing of FY, but not FCA, is deleterious to growth in Nicotiana. The late-flowering fy alleles are hypomorphic and indicate a requirement for both intact FY WD repeats and the C-terminal domain in repression of FLC. The FY C-terminal domain binds FCA and in vitro assays demonstrate a requirement for both C-terminal FY-PPLPP repeats during this interaction. The expression domain of FY supports its roles in essential and flowering-time functions. Hence, FY may mediate both regulated and constitutive RNA 3'-end processing.

Development of a time and space resolved sampling probe diagnostic for engine exhaust hydrocarbons

In order to understand how unburned hydrocarbons emerge from SI engines and, in particular, how non-fuel hydrocarbons are formed and oxidized, a new gas sampling technique has been developed. A sampling unit, based on a combination of techniques used in the Fast Flame Ionization Detector (FFID) and wall-mounted sampling valves, was designed and built to capture a sample of exhaust gas during a specific period of the exhaust process and from a specific location within the exhaust port. The sampling unit consists of a transfer tube with one end in the exhaust port and the other connected to a three-way valve that leads, on one side, to a FFID and, on the other, to a vacuum chamber with a high-speed solenoid valve. Exhaust gas, drawn by the pressure drop into the vacuum chamber, impinges on the face of the solenoid valve and flows radially outward. Once per cycle during a specified crank angle interval, the solenoid valve opens and traps exhaust gas in a storage unit, from which gas chromatography (GC) measurements are made. The port end of the transfer tube can be moved to different locations longitudinally or radially, thus allowing spatial resolution and capturing any concentration differences between port walls and the center of the flow stream. Further, the solenoid valve's opening and closing times can be adjusted to allow sampling over a window as small as 0.6 ms during any portion of the cycle, allowing resolution of a crank angle interval as small as 15°CA. Cycle averaged total HC concentration measured by the FFID and that measured by the sampling unit are in good agreement, while the sampling unit goes one step further than the FFID by providing species concentrations. Comparison with previous measurements using wall-mounted sampling valves suggests that this sampling unit is fully capable of providing species concentration information as a function of air/fuel ratio, load, and engine speed at specific crank angles. © Copyright 1996 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.

Development and validation of a new method for measuring friction between skin and nonwoven materials.

A new method for measuring the coefficient of friction between nonwoven materials and the curved surface of the volar forearm has been developed and validated. The method was used to measure the coefficient of static friction for three different nonwoven materials on the normal (dry) and over-hydrated volar forearms of five female volunteers (ages 18-44). The method proved simple to run and had good repeatability: the coefficient of variation (standard deviation expressed as a percentage of the mean) for triplets of repeat measurements was usually (80 per cent of the time) less than 10 per cent. Measurements involving the geometrically simpler configuration of pulling a weighted fabric sample horizontally across a quasi-planar area of volar forearm skin proved experimentally more difficult and had poorer repeatability. However, correlations between values of coefficient of static friction derived using the two methods were good (R = 0.81 for normal (dry) skin, and 0.91 for over-hydrated skin). Measurements of the coefficient of static friction for the three nonwovens for normal (dry) and for over-hydrated skin varied in the ranges of about 0.3-0.5 and 0.9-1.3, respectively. In agreement with Amontons' law, coefficients of friction were invariant with normal pressure over the entire experimental range (0.1-8.2 kPa).

Investigation of boundary layer development in a multistage LP turbine

This paper describes an investigation of the behavior of suction surface boundary layers in a modern multistage Low-Pressure turbine. An array of 18 surface-mounted hot-film anemometers was mounted on a stator blade of the third stage of a four-stage machine. Data were obtained at Reynolds numbers between 0.9 × 105 and 1.8 × 105. At the majority of the test conditions, wakes from upstream rotors periodically initiated transition at about 40 percent surface length. In between these events, laminar separation occurred at about 75 percent surface length. Because the wake-affected part of the flow appeared to be only intermittently turbulent, laminar separation also occurred at about 75 percent surface length while this flow was instantaneously laminar. At all but the lowest Reynolds numbers, the time-mean boundary layer appeared to have re-attached by the trailing edge even though it was not fully turbulent. It is inferred that the effect of the wakes on the performance of the blade row is limited and that steady flow design methods should provide an adequate assessment of LP turbine performance during design.

The development of turbine exit flow in a swan-necked inter-stage diffuser

This paper describes both the migration and dissipation of flow phenomena downstream of a transonic high-pressure turbine stage. The geometry of the HP stage exit duct considered is a swan-necked diffuser similar to those likely to be used in future engine designs. The paper contains results both from an experimental programme in a turbine test facility and from numerical predictions. Experimental data was acquired using three fast-response aerodynamic probes capable of measuring Mach number, whirl angle, pitch angle, total pressure and static pressure. The probes were used to make time-resolved area traverses at two axial locations downstream of the rotor trailing edge. A 3D time-unsteady viscous Navier-Stokes solver was used for the numerical predictions. The unsteady exit flow from a turbine stage is formed from rotordependent phenomena (such as the rotor wake, the rotor trailing edge recompression shock, the tip-leakage flow and the hub secondary flow) and vane-rotor interaction dependant phenomena. This paper describes the time-resolved behaviour and three-dimensional migration paths of both of these phenomena as they convect downstream. It is shown that the inlet flow to a downstream vane is dominated by two corotating vortices, the first caused by the rotor tip-leakage flow and the second by the rotor hub secondary flow. At the inlet plane of the downstream vane the wake is extremely weak and the radial pressure gradient is shown to have caused the majority of the high loss wake fluid to be located between the mid-height of the passage and the casing wall. The structure of the flow indicates that between a high pressure stage and a downstream vane simple two-dimensional blade row interaction does not occur. The results presented in this paper indicate that the presence of an upstream stage is likely to significantly alter the structure of the secondary flow within a downstream vane. The paper also shows that vane-rotor interaction within the upstream stage causes a 10° circumferential variation in the inlet flow angle of the 2nd stage vane.

The development of aerodynamic performance measurements in a transient test facility

Transient test facilities offer the potential for the simultaneous study of turbine aerodynamic performance, unsteady flow phenomena and the heat transfer characteristics of a turbine stage. This paper describes the development of aerodynamic performance measurement techniques in the Oxford Rotor Facility (ORF). The solutions to the technological issues involved with transient testing presented in this paper are expected to achieve levels of precision uncertainty comparable with traditional steady flow test rigs. The theoretical background to the measurement of aerodynamic performance is presented together with a comprehensive pre-test uncertainty analysis. The instrumentation scheme for the measurement of stage mass flow rate is discussed in detail, the measurements of shaft power, total inlet enthalpy, and stage pressure ratio are also outlined. The current working section features a 62% scale, 1-1/2 stage, high-pressure shroudless transonic turbine. The required inlet flow conditions are provided by an Isentropic Light Piston Tunnel (ILPT) with a quasi-steady state run time of approximately 70ms. The testing is conducted at engine representative specific speed, pressure ratio, gas-to-wall temperature ratio, Mach number and Reynolds number.

Engineering development of the Lancaster flexible bag.

Describes progress in the last 12 months which has established bag designs and fabrication techniques, giving greater confidence in the life and cost of these components. A quarter scale bag is under construction. Extensive tank testing has also established life time bending moment and mooring load envelopes, enabling hull and mooring design to proceed. A computer simulation programme has been used to check tank model results and to establish turbine and generator operating conditions. This has allowed generation and transmission component design to proceed, and suggests a high operating efficiency can be maintained with a simple control regime. Simple solutions in minor areas such as valve design and damage stability control add to the picture of steady progress in establishing the Lancaster Flexible Bag 's feasibility.

Exploring the impacts of the interactions between lifecycles and other dynamics that influence the development of technology-based industries

To address future uncertainty within strategy and innovation, managers extrapolate past patterns and trends into the future. Several disciplines make use of lifecycles, often with a linear sequence of identified phases, to make predictions and address likely uncertainties. Often the aggregation of several cycles is then interpreted as a new cycle - such as product lifecycles into an industry lifecycle. However, frequently different lifecycle terms - technology, product, industry - are used interchangeably and without clear definition. Within the interdisciplinary context of technology management, this juxtaposition of dynamics can create confusion, rather than clarification. This paper explores some typical dynamics associated with technology-based industries, using illustrative examples from the automotive industry. A wide range of dimensions are seen to influence the path of a technology-based industry, and stakeholders need to consider the likely causality and synchronicity of these. Some curves can simply present the aggregation of components; other dynamics incur time lags, rather than being superimposed, but still have a significant impact. To optimise alignment of the important dimensions within any development, and for future strategy decisions, understanding these interactions will be critical. © 2011 IEEE.

Buyer-supplier partnerships during product design and development in the global automotive sector: Who invests, in what and when?

This paper explores the concept of partnerships between buyers and suppliers in the global automotive sector during product design and development. Partnerships are often the goal in a shift away from adversarial arms-length relationships. The objective of this research is to provide empirical evidence to explain the levels of mutual investment expected and achieved in partnerships from both buyer and supplier perspectives. During this research, 25 employees from 12 global supplier organisations who were in partnership with a specific vehicle manufacturer (VM) were interviewed. Twelve employees from this VM were also interviewed. The research showed the differences between partnerships and non-partnerships and the disparities in the expectations of investment from each partner. For suppliers and buyers to get the most out of partnerships, clear expectations and investments needed over time should be understood and agreed early in the relationship. © 2009 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.

Development of modelling method selection tool for health services management: From problem structuring methods to modelling and simulation methods

Background: There is an increasing recognition that modelling and simulation can assist in the process of designing health care policies, strategies and operations. However, the current use is limited and answers to questions such as what methods to use and when remain somewhat underdeveloped. Aim. The aim of this study is to provide a mechanism for decision makers in health services planning and management to compare a broad range of modelling and simulation methods so that they can better select and use them or better commission relevant modelling and simulation work. Methods. This paper proposes a modelling and simulation method comparison and selection tool developed from a comprehensive literature review, the research team's extensive expertise and inputs from potential users. Twenty-eight different methods were identified, characterised by their relevance to different application areas, project life cycle stages, types of output and levels of insight, and four input resources required (time, money, knowledge and data). Results: The characterisation is presented in matrix forms to allow quick comparison and selection. This paper also highlights significant knowledge gaps in the existing literature when assessing the applicability of particular approaches to health services management, where modelling and simulation skills are scarce let alone money and time. Conclusions: A modelling and simulation method comparison and selection tool is developed to assist with the selection of methods appropriate to supporting specific decision making processes. In particular it addresses the issue of which method is most appropriate to which specific health services management problem, what the user might expect to be obtained from the method, and what is required to use the method. In summary, we believe the tool adds value to the scarce existing literature on methods comparison and selection. © 2011 Jun et al.

Graduate Education for Leadership in Sustainable Development Innovation , Practice and Research

This paper reflects on the motivation, method and effectiveness of teaching leadership and organisational change to graduate engineers. Delivering progress towards sustainable development requires engineers who are aware of pressing global issues (such as resource depletion, climate change, social inequity and an interdependent economy) since it is they who deliver the goods and services that underpin society within these constraints. In recognition of this fact the Cambridge University MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development has focussed on educating engineers to become effective change agents in their professional field with the confidence to challenge orthodoxy in adopting traditional engineering solutions. This paper reflects on ten years of delivering this course to review how teaching change management and leadership aspects of the programme have evolved and progressed over that time. As the students on this professional practice have often extensive experience as practising engineers and scientists, they have learned the limitations of their technical background when solving complex problems. Students often join the course recognising their need to broaden their knowledge of relevant cross-disciplinary skills. The course offers an opportunity for these early to mid-career engineers to explore an ethical and value-based approach to bringing about effective change in their particular sectors and organisations. This is achieved through action learning assignments in combination with reflections on the theory of change to enable students to equip themselves with tools that help them to be effective in making their professional and personal life choices. This paper draws on feedback gathered from students during their participation on the course and augments this with alumni reflections gathered some years after their graduation. These professionals are able to look back on their experience of the taught components and reflect on how they have been able to apply this key learning in their subsequent careers.