Ontology driven voice-based interaction in mobile environment

The paper deals with a new approach for spoken dialogue handling in mobile environment. The goal of our project is to allow the user to retrieve information from a knowledge base defined by ontology, using speech in a mobile environment. This environment has specific features that should be taken into account when the speech recognition and synthesis is performed. First of all, it limits the size of the language that can be understood by speech recognizers. On the other hand, it allows us to use information about user context. Our approach is to use the knowledge and user context to allow the user to speak freely to the system. Our research has been performed in the framework of an EU funded project MUMMY. This project is targeted to the use of mobile devices on building sites. This fact determines the approach to the solution of the problem. The main issue is user context in which the interaction takes place. As the application (construction site) is rather specific it is possible to use the knowledge related to this particular application during the speech recognition process. Up-to now the voice based user interfaces are based on various techniques that usually contain various constraints which limit the communication context to strictly predefined application domain. The main idea behind our solution is usage of ontology that represents the knowledge related to our particular application in specific user context. The knowledge acquired from ontology allows the user to communicate in mobile environment as the user input analysis is heavily simplified. The crucial step in our solution was the design of proper system architecture that allows the system to access the knowledge in ontology and use it to enhance the recognition process. The model of environment in which the recognition process is performed has several parts: - Domain ontology (construction sites in general) - instance of the domain ontology (specific construction site) - conversation history + specific user context (location, type of mobile device etc.). The key part of the model is the access mechanism that allows to extract particular knowledge in specific context. This access mechanism is controlled by means of dialogue automaton that controls the course of dialogue. The acquired knowledge is used in the speech recognizer for generation of a specific grammar that defines the possible speech inputs in a particular moment of the dialogue - in the next state another access into ontology in different context is done resulting in generation of a grammar that defines new possible inputs. The same access mechanism is also used to produce a response to user\u27s input in natural language. There exists a pilot implementation of the voice based user interface system, which has been tested in various situations and the results obtained are very encouraging

Object based manipulation with 3D scenes in mobile environment

The increasing power and display resolution of mobile devices allow the user nowadays to work with 3D information in mobile environment. The use of this new technology brings some new problems that need an urgent solution. One of them has its roots in the fact that common users are not trained to work in 3D graphical environment in general. The main obstacle for a common user is the fact that 3D environment offers too much freedom for object manipulation in comparison with situation in 2D environment. There are various solutions to this problem but usually they do not handle efficiently the problem of navigation in 3D environment in context of handling appropriate information density on a small screen on a mobile device. Our approach is based on transformation of a 3D scene in 2D representation in order to decrease freedom of movement during navigation in the scene. The navigation (and other types of interaction) is performed in 2D environment - the information acquired during interaction is transformed back into 3D form (into 3D object space). In such a way the user can manipulate with single objects in various modes (e.g. the user can change focus on various objects what might e.g. result in their temporary elimination from the scene). The work in 2D in mobile environment requires some special features that are not considered in standard environment. Especially critical is zooming. Zooming in raster form could change the picture on a small screen into completely unusable representation (pixels will be transformed in tiles that will be difficult to perceive). Solution to this (and to other related problems) is the use of SVG format to handle 2D scene representation. The main advantage of SVG is that it is object oriented and supports zooming, interaction with objects, scene annotation and manipulations with objects. The process of scene transformation and manipulation with objects is distributed between the server and mobile device. The transformation is performed on the server side. The resulting 2D representation of the scene is sent to mobile device where the visualization is performed. The user can interact with the picture on the mobile device with interaction techniques available on mobile devices. As the SVG is XML based format, the Cascading Style Sheets can be used to style all graphical elements. Therefore each object can be visualized in different mode (solid, transparent, semitransparent). These modes could be changed interactively. This feature (interactive change of modes) substitute in certain sense some functions available for avatars during their walkthroughs when performed in standard 3D environment (e.g. "having look behind corner" etc.). The user interaction in 2D environment is rather limited in comparison with standard 3D interaction but it is less demanding for the user. On the other hand it brings better picture quality due to SVG features applied e.g. during the process of zooming

Self-induced laser line sweeping in double-clad Yb-doped fiber-ring lasers

International audienceExperimental observation of the self-induced laser line sweeping (SLLS) in fiber ring lasers is presented. The SLLS with the same gain fiber is studied in Fabry-Perot cavity for comparison. The SLLS effect manifests itself as a laser wavelength drift with speed of the order of nanometer per second from shorter to longer wavelengths across several nanometers and fast backward jump. Recently, the dynamics of the SLLS in a Fabry-Perot cavity fiber laser was qualitatively described by a dynamic grating induced by spatial-hole-burning in the ytterbium doped fiber where the lifetime of the grating was related to the self-sustained relaxation oscillations. In this paper we address possible discrepancies between the published theoretical model and earlier observations of SLLS, particularly in fiber-ring lasers.We show that the qualitative theoretical model developed for explaining SLLS in the Fabry-Perot cavity can be used also to explain the SLLS effect we observed earlier in fiber-ring lasers

The effect of temperature on the dynamics of common bream Abramis brama migrations between the reservoir and its tributary

An active preference for higher temperatures within a physiological optimum is beneficial for animal movement. For example, ascending temperatures induce an increase in cyprinid fish metabolism and swimming ability. Spring upstream migrations driven by the search for resources may be related to these increases. Conversely, downstream migrations in autumn follow a decrease in temperature. When fish migrations are driven by a search for resources, for example, food availability and reproduction, or to avoid predators, then the temperature effect can be reduced to approximately the threshold temperatures that induce up- and/or downstream movement. To test this assumption, we tracked the seasonal migrations of the common bream Abramis brama between a reservoir and its tributary using radio tags with temperature sensors during a 5-year period. Upstream migrations of the species into the tributary were not motivated by seeking temperatures different from those in the reservoir, that is, fish body temperatures in both environments were comparable across seasons. However, for long-distance migrations, increasing temperature did support upstream migrations. Temperature did not determine the direction or intensity of short-distance migration of the species between the reservoir and the tributary. No significant influence of temperature was recorded for the downstream migrations according to the results of the generalised additive mixed model (GAMM1), which related movement distance as the explanatory variable to the signed fish body temperature as the response. The second model (GAMM2) relating fish body temperature as the explanatory variable to the signed movement distance as the response obtained a threshold value of 19.1 degrees C for the upstream migrations and 1.5 degrees C for the downstream migrations of the common bream

MUMMY – mobile knowledge management, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2006, nr 2

The project MUMMY funded by the European Commission develops means to improve the efficiency of mobile business processes through mobile, personalized knowledge management. MUMMY approaches the challenges of modern mobile work processes. To do so, it takes advantages of latest achievements in mobile connectivity and its capa- bilities (like “always on-line” high bandwidth personalization ubiquity), latest hardware options like camera-equipped hand- held devices, and uses multimedia, hypermedia, and semantic web technologies. Technical development and appliance of the results are intensively consulted and integrated with business processes of several commercial organizations that are mem- bers of the MUMMY consortium. In this paper the achieve- ments of MUMMY are introduced and individual components are briefly described

Scientific Visualizatio n as a Tool for Power Engineering Education

This paper deals with the application of scientific visualization methods in the field of power engineering education. Behavior of various parts of a power plant is simulated and the results of these simulations are visualized. The visualization of processes that run in a power plant gives the students an opportunity to understand better the nature of these processes. This approach solves one of the main problems in power engineering education: the students usually have no chance to see various types of power plants in practice. The existence of models and their corresponding visualization allows students to perform experiments with various devices and in such a way acquire a much deeper knowledge about the subjects taught. Keywords: power engineering, power plant, visualization, particle models. 1. Introduction Production of electrical energy plays an important role in national economies around the world. Therefore it is necessary to pay attention to the education of highly qualifi..

05181 Preface -- Mobile Computing and Ambient Intelligence: The Challenge of Multimedia

Mobile computing gains in last years an increasing importance. It penetrates into new areas of everyday life. With increasing computing power that is available in recently developed mobile devices the mobile computing approach is used in new areas (where its use would not be possible few years ago). Due to specific properties of mobile devices the traditional approaches to the traditional schemes for communication between users and the devices are not applicable. Another important issue that is linked with new applications in the field of mobile computing is derived from the fact that portable information appliances are pervading the everyday life and ambient intelligence is starting to surround us. Adapting multimedia applications and services to these delivery environments and enabling ensembles of multimedia appliances to organize themselves spontaneously and ad hoc will be major technical issues that have to be solved in near future. These problems were discussed during the Dagstuhl Seminar 05181 that took place in Schloss Dagstuhl from 01.05.05 to 04.05.05

Constraint satisfaction problem solved by minimal changes method

Direct manipulation has become a very popular interaction technique in GUI´s in the last few years. It allows the user to manipulate graphical objects in natural way. However, in complicated cases the user must perform complex manipulations that burden the user with many details. Therefore it is necessary to develop new techniques that are more user-friendly. One of many possible approaches is the use of constraints. By means of constraints it is possible to reduce the extent of interaction from the user as the constraints introduced express relations among objects that can be manipulated. This paper describes a new technique that allows for interacting with graphical objects in an effective way. Moreover the implemented system contains features that visualize constraints. This supports the user during interaction as he/she can clearly see the mutual links between objects