2D Grammar Extension of the CMP Mathematical Formulae On-line Recognition System

Projecte realitzat en col.laboració amb Czech Technical University in PragueIn the last years, the recognition of handwritten mathematical formulae has recieved an increasing amount of attention in pattern recognition research. However, the diversity of approaches to the problem and the lack of a commercially viable system indicate that there is still much research to be done in this area. In this thesis, I will describe the previous work on a system for on-line handwritten mathematical formulae recognition based on the structural construction paradigm and two-dimensional grammars. In general, this approach can be successfully used in the anaylysis of inputs composed of objects that exhibit rich structural relations. An important benefit of the structural construction is in not treating symbols segmentation and structural anaylsis as two separate processes which allows the system to perform segmentation in the context of the whole formula structure, helping to solve arising ambiguities more reliably. We explore the opening provided by the polynomial complexity parsing algorithm and extend the grammar by many new grammar production rules which made the system useful for formulae met in the real world. We propose several grammar extensions to support a wide range of real mathematical formulae, as well as new features implemented in the application. Our current approach can recognize functions, limits, derivatives, binomial coefficients, complex numbers and more

Non-Visual Representation of Complex Documents for Use in Digital Talking Books

Essential written information such as text books, bills, and catalogues needs to be accessible by everyone. However, access is not always available to vision-impaired people. As they require electronic documents to be available in specific formats. In order to address the accessibility issues of electronic documents, this research aims to design an affordable, portable, standalone and simple to use complete reading system that will convert and describe complex components in electronic documents to print disabled users

2D Grammar Extension of the CMP Mathematical Formulae On-line Recognition System

Projecte realitzat en col.laboració amb Czech Technical University in PragueIn the last years, the recognition of handwritten mathematical formulae has recieved an increasing amount of attention in pattern recognition research. However, the diversity of approaches to the problem and the lack of a commercially viable system indicate that there is still much research to be done in this area. In this thesis, I will describe the previous work on a system for on-line handwritten mathematical formulae recognition based on the structural construction paradigm and two-dimensional grammars. In general, this approach can be successfully used in the anaylysis of inputs composed of objects that exhibit rich structural relations. An important benefit of the structural construction is in not treating symbols segmentation and structural anaylsis as two separate processes which allows the system to perform segmentation in the context of the whole formula structure, helping to solve arising ambiguities more reliably. We explore the opening provided by the polynomial complexity parsing algorithm and extend the grammar by many new grammar production rules which made the system useful for formulae met in the real world. We propose several grammar extensions to support a wide range of real mathematical formulae, as well as new features implemented in the application. Our current approach can recognize functions, limits, derivatives, binomial coefficients, complex numbers and more

MECA: Mathematical Expression Based Post Publication Content Analysis

Mathematical expressions (ME) are critical abstractions for technical publications. While the sheer volume of technical publications grows in time, few ME centric applications have been developed due to the steep gap between the typesetting data in post-publication digital documents and the high-level technical semantics. With the acceleration of the technical publications every year, word-based information analysis technologies are inadequate to enable users in discovery, organizing, and interrelating technical work efficiently and effectively. This dissertation presents a modeling framework and the associated algorithms, called the mathematical-centered post-publication content analysis (MECA) system to address several critical issues to build a layered solution architecture for recovery of high-level technical information. Overall, MECA is consisted of four layers of modeling work, starting from the extraction of MEs from Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Specifically, a weakly-supervised sequential typesetting Bayesian model is developed by using a concise font-value based feature space for Bayesian inference of ME vs. words for the rendering units separated by space. A Markov Random Field (MRF) model is designed to merge and correct the MEs identified from the rendering units, which are otherwise prone to fragmentation of large MEs. At the next layer, MECA aims at the recovery of ME semantics. The first step is the ME layout analysis to disambiguate layout structures based on a Content-Constrained Spatial (CCS) global inference model to overcome local errors. It achieves high accuracy at low computing cost by a parametric lognormal model for the feature distribution of typographic systems. The ME layout is parsed into ME semantics with a three-phase processing workflow to overcome a variety of semantic ambiguities. In the first phase, the ME layout is linearized into a token sequence, upon which the abstract syntax tree (AST) is constructed in the second phase using probabilistic context-free grammar. Tree rewriting will transform the AST into ME objects in the third phase. Built upon the two layers of ME extraction and semantics modeling work, next we explore one of the bonding relationships between words and MEs: ME declarations, where the words and MEs are respectively the qualitative and quantitative (QuQn) descriptors of technical concepts. Conventional low-level PoS tagging and parsing tools have poor performance in the processing of this type of mixed word-ME (MWM) sentences. As such, we develop an MWM processing toolkit. A semi-automated weakly-supervised framework is employed for mining of declaration templates from a large amount of unlabeled data so that the templates can be used for the detection of ME declarations. On the basis of the three low-level content extraction and prediction solutions, the MECA system can extract MEs, interpret their mathematical semantics, and identify their bonding declaration words. By analyzing the dependency among these elements in a paper, we can construct a QuQn map, which essentially represents the reasoning flow of a paper. Three case studies are conducted for QuQn map applications: differential content comparison of papers, publication trend generation, and interactive mathematical learning. Outcomes from these studies suggest that MECA is a highly practical content analysis technology based on a theoretically sound framework. Much more can be expanded and improved upon for the next generation of deep content analysis solutions

Non-visual representation of complex documents for use in digital talking books

According to a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) estimation, only 5% of the world's one million print titles that are published every year are accessible to the approximately 340 million blind, visually impaired or print disabled people. Equal access to information is a basic right of all people. Essen- tial information such as flyers, brochures, event calendars, programs, catalogues and booking information needs to be accessible by everyone. Information helps people to make decisions, be involved in society and live independent lives. Ar- ticle 21, Section 4.2. of the United Nation's Convention on the rights of people with disabilities advocates the right of blind and partially sighted people to take control of their own lives. However, this entitlement is not always available to them without access to information. Today, electronic documents have become pervasive. For vision-impaired people electronic documents need to be available in specific formats to be accessible. If these formats are not made available, vision-impaired people are greatly disadvantaged when compared to the general population. Therefore, addressing electronic document accessibility for them is an extremely important concern. In order to address the accessibility issues of electronic documents, this research aims to design an affordable, portable, stand-alone and simple to use "Complete Reading System" to provide accessible electronic documents to vision impaired

Interactive speech-driven facial animation

One of the fastest developing areas in the entertainment industry is digital animation. Television programmes and movies frequently use 3D animations to enhance or replace actors and scenery. With the increase in computing power, research is also being done to apply these animations in an interactive manner. Two of the biggest obstacles to the success of these undertakings are control (manipulating the models) and realism. This text describes many of the ways to improve control and realism aspects, in such a way that interactive animation becomes possible. Specifically, lip-synchronisation (driven by human speech), and various modeling and rendering techniques are discussed. A prototype that shows that interactive animation is feasible, is also described.Mr. A. Hardy Prof. S. von Solm

Dominance Motivation, Goal Pursuit and Mania in Bipolar Disorder

The study aimed to test how progress on achievement and power goals, and perceptions of power, fluctuate with mania symptoms in Bipolar Disorder (BD), testing the Dominance Behavioural System (DBS) model. The DBS includes biological, psychological, and behavioural components that serve the goal of control over social and material resources needed for survival and reproduction (Johnson, Leedom, & Muhtadie, 2012c). Daily diary methodology was employed, with 29 individuals meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria for BD I or II as verified by the Structured Clinical Interview [SCID-I-RV] (First, Spitzer, Gibbon & Williams, 2002). Baseline measures of dominance motivation and ambitious goal setting were taken. Over fourteen days, participants reported daily on their goal progress, symptoms of mania, power, and anger. It was hypothesised there would be a positive relationship between symptoms of mania and dominance motivation. It was also hypothesised that for power but not achievement goals, ii) goal progress would be associated with perceptions of power, iii) symptoms of mania, and iv) that goal frustration would be associated with anger. Pearson’s correlations and multilevel modelling analyses found largely null results with the exception of a positive relationship between progress towards power goals and perceptions of power. Thus, the results did not provide support for the DBS model predictions for relationships between power goals and manic symptoms. Future studies could utilise further measures of dominance motivation and power, and study goal pursuit over a more protracted duration, including comparisons between BD, depressed groups, and healthy controls. Keywords Bipolar Disorder, Dominance Behavioural System, Goals, Powe