Using WordNet relations and semantic classes in information retrieval tasks

In this paper we explore the use of semantic classes in an existing information retrieval system in order to improve its results. Thus, we use two different ontologies of semantic classes (WordNet domain and Basic Level Concepts) in order to re-rank the retrieved documents and obtain better recall and precision. Finally, we implement a new method for weighting the expanded terms taking into account the weights of the original query terms and their relations in WordNet with respect to the new ones (which have demonstrated to improve the results). The evaluation of these approaches was carried out in the CLEF Robust-WSD Task, obtaining an improvement of 1.8% in GMAP for the semantic classes approach and 10% in MAP employing the WordNet term weighting approach.

Enriching the integration of semantic resources based on WordNet

In this paper we present the enrichment of the Integration of Semantic Resources based in WordNet (ISR-WN Enriched). This new proposal improves the previous one where several semantic resources such as SUMO, WordNet Domains and WordNet Affects were related, adding other semantic resources such as Semantic Classes and SentiWordNet. Firstly, the paper describes the architecture of this proposal explaining the particularities of each integrated resource. After that, we analyze some problems related to the mappings of different versions and how we solve them. Moreover, we show the advantages that this kind of tool can provide to different applications of Natural Language Processing. Related to that question, we can demonstrate that the integration of semantic resources allows acquiring a multidimensional vision in the analysis of natural language.

ISR-WN: Integración de recursos semánticos basados en WordNet

La presente herramienta informática constituye un software que es capaz concebir una red semántica con los siguientes recursos: WordNet versión 1.6 y 2.0, WordNet Affects versión 1.0 y 1.1, WordNet Domain versión 2.0, SUMO, Semantic Classes y Senti WordNet versión 3.0, todos integrados y relacionados en una única base de conocimiento. Utilizando estos recursos, ISR-WN cuenta con funcionalidades añadidas que permiten la exploración de dicha red de un modo simple aplicando funciones tanto como de recorrido como de búsquedas textuales. Mediante la interrogación de dicha red semántica es posible obtener información para enriquecer textos, como puede ser obtener las definiciones de aquellas palabras que son de uso común en determinados Dominios en general, dominios emocionales, y otras conceptualizaciones, además de conocer de un determinado sentido de una palabra su valoración proporcionada por el recurso SentiWordnet de positividad, negatividad y objetividad sentimental. Toda esta información puede ser utilizada en tareas de procesamiento del lenguaje natural como: • Desambiguación del Sentido de las Palabras, • Detección de la Polaridad Sentimental • Análisis Semántico y Léxico para la obtención de conceptos relevantes en una frase según el tipo de recurso implicado. Esta herramienta tiene como base el idioma inglés y se encuentra disponible como una aplicación de Windows la cual dispone de un archivo de instalación el cual despliega en el ordenador de residencia las librerías necesarias para su correcta utilización. Además de la interfaz de usuario ofrecida, esta herramienta puede ser utilizada como API (Application Programming Interface) por otras aplicaciones.

La Validación Lingüística en los Principales Cuestionarios de Salud y Calidad de Vida

The goals of this article are to summarize the problems and solutions found in translating seven Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) questionnaires from English into Spanish which have used a common international protocol based on back-translation techniques. The methodology used is based on the linguistic validation model including both the linguistic and the sociopragmatic equivalence. Five questionnaires from seven have obtained good results, not so two of them. Considering linguistic questions, there were more problems than good solutions on the lexical-semantic level. With respect to the sociocultural questions, there were more solutions than problems. The Spanish translated questionnaires still present deficiencies to be corrected, so both linguistic and sociocultural questions have to be studied more carefully in order not to allow differences between the translated versions and the source questionnaires.

Applying semantic knowledge to the automatic processing of temporal expressions and events in natural language

This paper addresses the problem of the automatic recognition and classification of temporal expressions and events in human language. Efficacy in these tasks is crucial if the broader task of temporal information processing is to be successfully performed. We analyze whether the application of semantic knowledge to these tasks improves the performance of current approaches. We therefore present and evaluate a data-driven approach as part of a system: TIPSem. Our approach uses lexical semantics and semantic roles as additional information to extend classical approaches which are principally based on morphosyntax. The results obtained for English show that semantic knowledge aids in temporal expression and event recognition, achieving an error reduction of 59% and 21%, while in classification the contribution is limited. From the analysis of the results it may be concluded that the application of semantic knowledge leads to more general models and aids in the recognition of temporal entities that are ambiguous at shallower language analysis levels. We also discovered that lexical semantics and semantic roles have complementary advantages, and that it is useful to combine them. Finally, we carried out the same analysis for Spanish. The results obtained show comparable advantages. This supports the hypothesis that applying the proposed semantic knowledge may be useful for different languages.

Semantic localization in the PCL library

The semantic localization problem in robotics consists in determining the place where a robot is located by means of semantic categories. The problem is usually addressed as a supervised classification process, where input data correspond to robot perceptions while classes to semantic categories, like kitchen or corridor. In this paper we propose a framework, implemented in the PCL library, which provides a set of valuable tools to easily develop and evaluate semantic localization systems. The implementation includes the generation of 3D global descriptors following a Bag-of-Words approach. This allows the generation of fixed-dimensionality descriptors from any type of keypoint detector and feature extractor combinations. The framework has been designed, structured and implemented to be easily extended with different keypoint detectors, feature extractors as well as classification models. The proposed framework has also been used to evaluate the performance of a set of already implemented descriptors, when used as input for a specific semantic localization system. The obtained results are discussed paying special attention to the internal parameters of the BoW descriptor generation process. Moreover, we also review the combination of some keypoint detectors with different 3D descriptor generation techniques.