Towards a multimodal interaction space: Categorisation and applications

Based on many experiences of developing interactive systems by the authors, a framework for the description and analysis of interaction has been developed. The dimensions of this multimodal interaction space have been identified as sensory modalities, modes and levels of interaction. To illustrate and validate this framework, development of multimodal interaction styles is carried out and interactions in the real world are studied, going from theory to practice and back again. The paper describes the framework and two recent projects, one in the field of interactive architecture and another in the field of multimodal HCI research. Both projects use multiple modalities for interaction, particularly movement based interaction styles. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2007

Machine aided indexing from natural language text

The NASA Lexical Dictionary (NLD) Machine Aided Indexing (MAI) system was designed to (1) reuse the indexing of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC); (2) reuse the indexing of the Department of Energy (DOE); and (3) reduce the time required for original indexing. This was done by automatically generating appropriate NASA thesaurus terms from either the other agency's index terms, or, for original indexing, from document titles and abstracts. The NASA STI Program staff devised two different ways to generate thesaurus terms from text. The first group of programs identified noun phrases by a parsing method that allowed for conjunctions and certain prepositions, on the assumption that indexable concepts are found in such phrases. Results were not always satisfactory, and it was noted that indexable concepts often occurred outside of noun phrases. The first method also proved to be too slow for the ultimate goal of interactive (online) MAI. The second group of programs used the knowledge base (KB), word proximity, and frequency of word and phrase occurrence to identify indexable concepts. Both methods are described and illustrated. Online MAI has been achieved, as well as several spinoff benefits, which are also described

Optimal choice of machine tool for a machining job in a CAE environment

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Developments in cutting tools, coolants, drives, controls, tool changers, pallet changers and the philosophy of machine tool design have made ground breaking changes in machine tools and machining processes. Modern Machining Centres have been developed to perform several operations on several faces of a workpiece in a single setup. On the other hand industry requires high value added components, which have many quality critical features to be manufactured in an outsourcing environment as opposed to the traditional in-house manufacture. The success of this manufacture critically depends on matching the advanced features of the machine tools to the complexity of the component. This project has developed a methodology to represent the features of a machine tool in the form of an alphanumeric string and the features of the component in another string. The strings are then matched to choose the most suitable and economical Machine Tool for the component’s manufacture. Literature identified that block structure is the way to answer the question ‘how to systematically describe the layout of such a machining centre’. Incomplete attempts to describe a block structure as alphanumeric strings were also presented in the literature. Survey on sales literature from several machine tool suppliers was investigated to systematically identify the features need by the user for the choice of a machine tool. Combining these, a new alphanumeric string was developed to represent machine tools. Using these strings as one of the ‘key’s for sorting a database of machine tools was developed. A supporting database of machine tools was also developed. Survey on machining on the other hand identified, that machining features can be used as a basis for planning the machining of a component. It analysed various features and feature sets proposed and provided and their recognition in CAD models. Though a vast number of features were described only two sets were complete sets. The project was started with one of them, (the other was carrying too many unwanted details for the task of this project) machining features supported by ‘Expert Machinist’ software. But when it became unavailable a ‘Feature set’ along those lines were defined and used in the generation of an alphanumeric string to represent the work. Comparing the two strings led the choice of suitable machines from the database. The methodology is implemented as a bolt on software incorporated within Pro/Engineer software where one can model any given component using cut features (mimicking machining operation) and produce a list of machine tools having features for the machining of that component. This will enable outsourcing companies to identify those Precision Engineers who have the machine tools with the matching apabilities. Supporting software and databases were developed using Access Database, Visual Basic and C with Pro/TOOLKIT functions. The resulting software suite was tested on several case studies and found to be effective

Use of the Compiler-writing Tools Lex and Yacc to Construct 3-d Objects

This thesis describes the procedures of using LEX and YACC to construct 3-D object images. The theory of syntactic pattern recognition is introduced. Several examples are presented to illustrate the method we use in constructing the desired images.Computing and Information Scienc

Learning Analogy-Preserving Sentence Embeddings for Answer Selection

Answer selection aims at identifying the correct answer for a given question from a set of potentially correct answers. Contrary to previous works, which typically focus on the semantic similarity between a question and its answer, our hypothesis is that question-answer pairs are often in analogical relation to each other. Using analogical inference as our use case, we propose a framework and a neural network architecture for learning dedicated sentence embeddings that preserve analogical properties in the semantic space. We evaluate the proposed method on benchmark datasets for answer selection and demonstrate that our sentence embeddings indeed capture analogical properties better than conventional embeddings, and that analogy-based question answering outperforms a comparable similarity-based technique.Comment: To appear in CoNLL1

NASA's online machine aided indexing system

This report describes the NASA Lexical Dictionary, a machine aided indexing system used online at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Center for Aerospace Information (CASI). This system is comprised of a text processor that is based on the computational, non-syntactic analysis of input text, and an extensive 'knowledge base' that serves to recognize and translate text-extracted concepts. The structure and function of the various NLD system components are described in detail. Methods used for the development of the knowledge base are discussed. Particular attention is given to a statistically-based text analysis program that provides the knowledge base developer with a list of concept-specific phrases extracted from large textual corpora. Production and quality benefits resulting from the integration of machine aided indexing at CASI are discussed along with a number of secondary applications of NLD-derived systems including on-line spell checking and machine aided lexicography

Model-based Approach for Product Requirement Representation and Generation in Product Lifecycle Management

The requirement specification is an official documentation activity, which is a collection of certain information to specify the product and its life-cycle activities in terms of functions, features, performance, constraints, production, maintenance, disposal process, etc. It contains mainly two phases; product requirement generation and representation. Appropriate criteria for the product design and further life-cycle activities are determined based on the requirement specification as well as the interrelations of product requirements with other life-cycle information such as; materials, manufacturing, working environments, finance, and regulations. The determination of these criteria is normally error-prone. It is difficult to identify and maintain the completeness and consistency of the requirement information across the product life-cycle. Product requirements are normally expressed in abstract and conceptual terms with document base representation which yields unstructured and heterogeneous information base and it is unsuitable for intelligent machine interpretations. Most of the time determination of the requirements and development of the requirement specification documents are performed by the designers/engineers based on their own experiences that might lead to incompleteness and inconsistency. This research work proposes a unique model-based product requirement representation and generation architecture to aid designers/engineers to specify product requirements across the product life-cycle. A requirement knowledge management architecture is developed to enhance the capabilities of the current Product Life-cycle Management (PLM) platforms in terms of product requirement representation and generation. After a systematic study on the categorization of product requirements, an ontological framework is developed for the specification of the requirements and related product life-cycle domain information. The ontological framework is embedded in an existing PLM system. A computational platform is developed and integrated into the PLM system for the intelligent machine processing of the product requirements and related information. This architecture supports product requirement representation in terms of the ontological framework and further information retrieval, inference, and requirement text generation activities

International Summerschool Computer Science 2014: Proceedings of Summerschool 7.7. - 13.7.2014

Proceedings of International Summerschool Computer Science 201

The fundamentals of Perspective Text Analysis

The major assumption made is that language as a natural system is both self-organising and self-referential. Compared to common syntactic-semantic approaches, the present approach is ecological and builds on the unambiguous identification of textual agents and agencies together with their objectives. Because information transaction cannot be studied without an emphasis on the text producer’s text building behaviour, his intended and oriented schematising as unitizing activity has been focused upon. The main principles making up the foundation of Perspective Text Analysis are presented in the form of 15 propositional statements. These are discussed with a stress on the involved dynamic formalism that creates co-operation and interaction between various (AaO) unities. This implies a stress on analysis and synthesis of the morphogenesis of conceptualizing processes. It follows that PTA traces the transformations involved in the aggregation of joint textual elements into systems. These may be characterized by particular geometric profiles specifying the boundary conditions of the language space in which the textual flow patterns occur, containing the perspective and objective invariants of a particular configuration