Semantic geographic information system

This thesis research describes the design and implementation of a Semantic Geographic Information System (GIS) and the creation of its spatial database. The database schema is designed and created, and all textual and spatial data are loaded into the database with the help of the Semantic DBMS's Binary Database Interface currently being developed at the FIU's High Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC). A friendly graphical user interface is created together with the other main system's areas: displaying process, data animation, and data retrieval. All these components are tightly integrated to form a novel and practical semantic GIS that has facilitated the interpretation, manipulation, analysis, and display of spatial data like: Ocean Temperature, Ozone(TOMS), and simulated SeaWiFS data. At the same time, this system has played a major role in the testing process of the HPDRC's high performance and efficient parallel Semantic DBMS.

Semantic Categorization in Portuguese-English Bilinguals

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-linguistic interactions in the semantic categorization of late Portuguese-English bilinguals. The lexical items used in this study have a wider range of applications in one language and narrower in the other. Three types of categories were examined: classical, homophones, and radials. Late Portuguese-English bilinguals, as well as Portuguese and English monolinguals, were tested. After hearing a word, participants were asked to choose from a set of images, one that could be labelled as such. Analyses showed that when tested in English, participants performed better when it was the wider language. Participants’ performance was lower on classical categories than on homophone and radial categories.

A Cross-Generational Analysis of Spanish-to-English Lexico-Semantic Phenomena in Emerging Miami English

Sociolinguists have documented the substrate influence of various languages on the formation of dialects in numerous ethnic-regional setting throughout the United States. This literature shows that while phonological and grammatical influences from other languages may be instantiated as durable dialect features, lexical phenomena often fade over time as ethnolinguistic communities assimilate with contiguous dialect groups. In preliminary investigations of emerging Miami Latino English, we have observed that lexical forms based on Spanish lexical forms are not only ubiquitous among the speech of the first generation Cuban Americans but also of the second. Examples, observed in field work, casual observation, and studied formally in an experimental context include the following: “get down from the car,” which derives from the Spanish equivalent, bajar del carro instead of “get out of the car”. The translation task administered to thirty-one participants showed a variety lexical phenomena are still maintained at equal or higher frequencies.

The effects of semantic and syntactic instruction on user performance and satisfaction in search user interface design

The design of interfaces to facilitate user search has become critical for search engines, ecommercesites, and intranets. This study investigated the use of targeted instructional hints to improve search by measuring the quantitative effects of users' performance and satisfaction. The effects of syntactic, semantic and exemplar search hints on user behavior were evaluated in an empirical investigation using naturalistic scenarios. Combining the three search hint components, each with two levels of intensity, in a factorial design generated eight search engine interfaces. Eighty participants participated in the study and each completed six realistic search tasks. Results revealed that the inclusion of search hints improved user effectiveness, efficiency and confidence when using the search interfaces, but with complex interactions that require specific guidelines for search interface designers. These design guidelines will allow search designers to create more effective interfaces for a variety of searchapplications.

Lexicon Ivris Civilis

Per C.V.D. Iac. Spiegelium

Polysemy in the mental lexicon : Relatedness and frequency affect representational overlap.

Peer reviewed

Polysemy in the mental lexicon : Relatedness and frequency affect representational overlap.

Peer reviewed

GraniteNights - A Multi-Agent Visit Scheduler Utilising Semantic Web Technology

Postprint

FEARLUS-G: A Semantic Grid Service for Land-Use Modelling,

Postprint

Assessing the Quality of Semantic Sensor Data

Acknowledgements The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub; award reference: EP/G066051/1

Notes on the Floridian Theory of Strongly Semantic Information

Other

An Empirical Investigation of Learning From the Semantic Web

Peer reviewed

Semantic Stream Processing for IoT Devices in the Food Safety Domain

Postprint

Effects of emotional salience and semantic domain on cross-form priming

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Parsing mathematical constructs:results from a preliminary eye tracking study

The semantic model described in this paper is based on ones developed for arithmetic (e.g. McCloskey et al. 1985, Cohene and Dehaene 1995), natural language processing (Fodor 1975, Chomsky 1981) and work by the author on how learners parse mathematical structures. The semantic model highlights the importance of the parsing process and the relationship between this process and the mathematical lexicon/grammar. It concludes by demonstrating that for a learner to become an efficient, competent mathematician a process of top-down parsing is essential.