Toward Synchronous Extensible Dependency Grammar

Extensible Dependency Grammar (XDG; Debusmann, 2007) is a flexible, modular dependency grammarframework in which sentence analyses consist of multigraphs and processing takes the form of constraint satisfaction. This paper shows how XDGlends itself to grammar-driven machine translation and introduces the machinery necessary for synchronous XDG. Since the approach relies on a shared semantics, it resembles interlingua MT.It differs in that there are no separateanalysis and generation phases. Rather, translation consists of the simultaneousanalysis and generation of a single source-target sentence.

Evaluation de la qualité des sites internet francophones traitant de la dépendance à l'alcool [Assessing the quality of French language web sites pertaining to alcohol dependency]

The objective of this article is to systematically assess the quality of web-based information in French language on the alcohol dependence. The authors analysed, using a standardised pro forma, the 20 most highly ranked pages identified by 3 common internet search engines using 2 keywords. Results show that a total of 45 sites were analysed. The authors conclude that the overall quality of the sites was relatively poor, especially for the description of possible treatments, however with a wide variability. Content quality was not correlated with other aspects of quality such as interactivity, aesthetic or accountability.

Independent sources of condition dependency and multiple pathways determine a composite trait: lessons from carotenoid-based plumage colouration.

Many colour ornaments are composite traits consisting of at least four components, which themselves may be more complex, determined by independent evolutionary pathways, and potentially being under different environmental control. To date, little evidence exists that several different components of colour elaboration are condition dependent and no direct evidence exists that different ornamental components are affected by different sources of variation. For example, in carotenoid-based plumage colouration, one of the best-known condition-dependent ornaments, colour elaboration stems from both condition-dependent pigment concentration and structural components. Some environmental flexibility of these components has been suggested, but specifically which and how they are affected remains unknown. Here, we tested whether multiple colour components may be condition dependent, by using a comprehensive 3 × 2 experimental design, in which we carotenoid supplemented and immune challenged great tit nestlings (Parus major) and quantified effects on different components of colouration. Plumage colouration was affected by an interaction between carotenoid availability and immune challenge. Path analyses showed that carotenoid supplementation increased plumage saturation via feather carotenoid concentration and via mechanisms unrelated to carotenoid deposition, while immune challenge affected feather length, but not carotenoid concentration. Thus, independent condition-dependent pathways, affected by different sources of variation, determine colour elaboration. This provides opportunities for the evolution of multiple signals within components of ornamental traits. This finding indicates that the selective forces shaping the evolution of different components of a composite trait and the trait's signal content may be more complex than believed so far, and that holistic approaches are required for drawing comprehensive evolutionary conclusions.

Information sharing in R&D collaboration - Context-dependency and means of governance

Tiedon jakaminen ja kommunikointi ovat tärkeitä toimintoja verkostoituneiden yritysten välillä ja ne käsitetäänkin yhteistyösuhteen yhtenä menestystekijänä ja kulmakivenä. Tiedon jakamiseen liittyviä haasteita ovat mm. yrityksen liiketoiminnalle kriittisen tiedon vuotaminen ja liiketoiminnan vaatima tiedon reaaliaikaisuus ja riittävä määrä. Tuotekehitysyhteistyössä haasteellista on tiedon jäsentymättömyys ja sitä kautta lisääntyvä tiedon jakamisen tarve, minkä lisäksi jaettava tieto on usein monimutkaista ja yksityiskohtaista. Lisäksi tuotteiden elinkaaret lyhenevät, ja ulkoistaminen ja yhteistyö ovat yhä kasvavia trendejä liiketoiminnassa. Yhdessä nämä tekijät johtavat siihen, että tiedon jakaminen on haastavaa eritoten verkostoituneiden yritysten välillä. Tässä tutkimuksessa tiedon jakamisen haasteisiin pyrittiin vastaamaan ottamalla lähtökohdaksi tiedon jakamisen tilanneriippuvuuden ymmärtäminen. Työssä vastattiin kahteen pääkysymykseen: Mikä on tiedon jakamisen tilanneriippuvuus ja miten sitä voidaan hallita? Tilanneriippuvuudella tarkoitetaan työssä niitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat siihen, miten yritys jakaa tietoa tuotekehityskumppaneidensa kanssa. Tiedon jakamisella puolestaan tarkoitetaan yrityksestä toiselle siirrettävää tietoa, jota tarvitaan tuotekehitysprojektin aikana. Työn empiirinen aineisto on kerätty laadullisella tutkimusotteella case- eli tapaustutkimuksena yhdessä telekommunikaatioalan yrityksessä jasen eri liiketoimintayksiköissä. Tutkimusjoukko käsitti 19 tuotekehitys- ja toimittajanhallintatehtävissä toimivaa johtajaa tai päällikköä. Työ nojaa pääasiassa hankintojen johtamisen tutkimuskenttään ja tilanneriippuvuuden selvittämiseksi paneuduttiin erityisesti verkostojen tutkimukseen. Työssä kuvattiin tiedon jakaminen yhtenä verkoston toimintona ja yhteistyöhön liittyvättiedon jakamisen hyödyt, haasteet ja riskit identifioitiin. Tämän lisäksi työssä kehitettiin verkoston tutkimismalleja ja yhdistettiin eri tasoilla tapahtuvaa verkoston tutkimusta. Työssä esitettiin malli verkoston toimintojen tutkimiseksija todettiin, että verkostotutkimusta pitäisi tehdä verkosto, ketju, yrityssuhde- ja yritystasolla. Malliin on myös hyvä yhdistää tuote- ja tehtäväkohtaiset ominaispiirteet. Kirjallisuuskatsauksen perusteella huomattiin, että tiedon jakamista on aiemmin tarkasteltu lähinnä tuote- ja yrityssuhteiden tasolla. Väitöskirjassa esitettiin lisää merkittäviä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat tiedon jakamiseen. Näitä olivat mm. tuotekehitystehtävän luonne, teknologia-alueen kypsyys ja toimittajan kyvykkyys. Tiedon jakamisen luonnetta tarkasteltaessa erotettiin operatiivinen, projektin hallintaan ja tuotekehitykseen liittyvä tieto sekä yleinen, toimittajan hallintaan liittyvä strateginen tieto. Tulosten mukaan erityisesti tuotekehityksen määrittelyvaihe ja tapaamiset kasvotusten korostuivat yhteistyössä. Empirian avulla tutkittiin myös niitä tekijöitä, joilla tiedon jakamista voidaan hallita tilanneriippuvuuteen perustuen, koska aiemmin tiedon jakamisen hallintakeinoja tai menestystekijöitä ei ole liitetty suoranaisesti eri olosuhteisiin. Nämä hallintakeinot jaettiin yhteistyötason- ja tuotekehitysprojektitason tekijöihin. Yksi työn keskeisistä tuloksista on se, että huolimatta tiedon jakamisen haasteista, monet niistä voidaan eliminoida tunnistamalla vallitsevat olosuhteet ja panostamalla tiedon jakamisen hallintakeinoihin. Työn manageriaalinen hyöty koskee erityisesti yrityksiä, jotka suunnittelevat ja tekevät tuotekehitysyhteistyötä yrityskumppaniensa kanssa. Työssä esitellään keinoja tämän haasteellisen tehtäväkentän hallintaan ja todetaan, että yritysten pitäisikin kiinnittää entistä enemmän huomiota tiedon jakamisen ja kommunikaation hallintaan jo tuotekehitysyhteistyötä suunniteltaessa.

Trustworthy context dependency in ubiquitous systems

The modern society is getting increasingly dependent on software applications. These run on processors, use memory and account for controlling functionalities that are often taken for granted. Typically, applications adjust the functionality in response to a certain context that is provided or derived from the informal environment with various qualities. To rigorously model the dependence of an application on a context, the details of the context are abstracted and the environment is assumed stable and fixed. However, in a context-aware ubiquitous computing environment populated by autonomous agents, a context and its quality parameters may change at any time. This raises the need to derive the current context and its qualities at runtime. It also implies that a context is never certain and may be subjective, issues captured by the context’s quality parameter of experience-based trustworthiness. Given this, the research question of this thesis is: In what logical topology and by what means may context provided by autonomous agents be derived and formally modelled to serve the context-awareness requirements of an application? This research question also stipulates that the context derivation needs to incorporate the quality of the context. In this thesis, we focus on the quality of context parameter of trustworthiness based on experiences having a level of certainty and referral experiences, thus making trustworthiness reputation based. Hence, in this thesis we seek a basis on which to reason and analyse the inherently inaccurate context derived by autonomous agents populating a ubiquitous computing environment in order to formally model context-awareness. More specifically, the contribution of this thesis is threefold: (i) we propose a logical topology of context derivation and a method of calculating its trustworthiness, (ii) we provide a general model for storing experiences and (iii) we formalise the dependence between the logical topology of context derivation and its experience-based trustworthiness. These contributions enable abstraction of a context and its quality parameters to a Boolean decision at runtime that may be formally reasoned with. We employ the Action Systems framework for modelling this. The thesis is a compendium of the author’s scientific papers, which are republished in Part II. Part I introduces the field of research by providing the mending elements for the thesis to be a coherent introduction for addressing the research question. In Part I we also review a significant body of related literature in order to better illustrate our contributions to the research field.

Semi-automatic measurement of visual verticality perception in humans reveals a new category of visual field dependency

Previous assessment of verticality by means of rod and rod and frame tests indicated that human subjects can be more (field dependent) or less (field independent) influenced by a frame placed around a tilted rod. In the present study we propose a new approach to these tests. The judgment of visual verticality (rod test) was evaluated in 50 young subjects (28 males, ranging in age from 20 to 27 years) by randomly projecting a luminous rod tilted between -18 and +18° (negative values indicating left tilts) onto a tangent screen. In the rod and frame test the rod was displayed within a luminous fixed frame tilted at +18 or -18°. Subjects were instructed to verbally indicate the rod’s inclination direction (forced choice). Visual dependency was estimated by means of a Visual Index calculated from rod and rod and frame test values. Based on this index, volunteers were classified as field dependent, intermediate and field independent. A fourth category was created within the field-independent subjects for whom the amount of correct guesses in the rod and frame test exceeded that of the rod test, thus indicating improved performance when a surrounding frame was present. In conclusion, the combined use of subjective visual vertical and the rod and frame test provides a specific and reliable form of evaluation of verticality in healthy subjects and might be of use to probe changes in brain function after central or peripheral lesions.

Dependency of military capabilities on technological development

Our goal is to get better understanding of different kind of dependencies behind the high-level capability areas. The models are suitable for investigating present state capabilities or future developments of capabilities in the context of technology forecasting. Three levels are necessary for a model describing effects of technologies on military capabilities. These levels are capability areas, systems and technologies. The contribution of this paper is to present one possible model for interdependencies between technologies. Modelling interdependencies between technologies is the last building block in constructing a quantitative model for technological forecasting including necessary levels of abstraction. This study supplements our previous research and as a result we present a model for the whole process of capability modelling. As in our earlier studies, capability is defined as the probability of a successful task or operation or proper functioning of a system. In order to obtain numerical data to demonstrate our model, we conducted a questionnaire to a group of defence technology researchers where interdependencies between seven representative technologies were inquired. Because of a small number of participants in questionnaires and general uncertainties concerning subjective evaluations, only rough conclusions can be made from the numerical results

Principle-Based Parsing

During the past few years, there has been much discussion of a shift from rule-based systems to principle-based systems for natural language processing. This paper outlines the major computational advantages of principle-based parsing, its differences from the usual rule-based approach, and surveys several existing principle-based parsing systems used for handling languages as diverse as Warlpiri, English, and Spanish, as well as language translation.

Estimating Dependency Structure as a Hidden Variable

This paper introduces a probability model, the mixture of trees that can account for sparse, dynamically changing dependence relationships. We present a family of efficient algorithms that use EMand the Minimum Spanning Tree algorithm to find the ML and MAP mixtureof trees for a variety of priors, including the Dirichlet and the MDL priors.

Estimating Dependency Structure as a Hidden Variable

This paper introduces a probability model, the mixture of trees that can account for sparse, dynamically changing dependence relationships. We present a family of efficient algorithms that use EM and the Minimum Spanning Tree algorithm to find the ML and MAP mixture of trees for a variety of priors, including the Dirichlet and the MDL priors. We also show that the single tree classifier acts like an implicit feature selector, thus making the classification performance insensitive to irrelevant attributes. Experimental results demonstrate the excellent performance of the new model both in density estimation and in classification.