NITELIGHT: A Graphical Tool for Semantic Query Construction

Query formulation is a key aspect of information retrieval, contributing to both the efficiency and usability of many semantic applications. A number of query languages, such as SPARQL, have been developed for the Semantic Web; however, there are, as yet, few tools to support end users with respect to the creation and editing of semantic queries. In this paper we introduce a graphical tool for semantic query construction (NITELIGHT) that is based on the SPARQL query language specification. The tool supports end users by providing a set of graphical notations that represent semantic query language constructs. This language provides a visual query language counterpart to SPARQL that we call vSPARQL. NITELIGHT also provides an interactive graphical editing environment that combines ontology navigation capabilities with graphical query visualization techniques. This paper describes the functionality and user interaction features of the NITELIGHT tool based on our work to date. We also present details of the vSPARQL constructs used to support the graphical representation of SPARQL queries

Automated Consulting for Extending User Expertise in Interactive Environments: A Task Centered Approach

Interactive computing environments provide facilities to support and assist the range from novice to expert users, but casual and novice users tend to rely on a small starter set of commands. This proposal for thesis work addresses this problem through the implementation of GENIE (GENerated Informative Explanations), a system that answers users' questions about how to accomplish tasks in the domain of Berkeley Unix Mail. This work unifies three new perspectives on consulting. First, the decision on what to tell a user, including the "best" plan for the user's goal, is based on an evaluation of the user's current computational goal, and the goals the user has attempted in the past. Secondly, the decision on how to phrase the answer relies on a careful mixture of tutoring strategies. Finally, both an expert and user model are represented as declarative structures of goals with alternative plans that include explicit semantic relationships between plans

gMotion: A spatio-temporal grammar for the procedural generation of motion graphics

Creating by hand compelling 2D animations that choreograph several groups of shapes requires a large number of manual edits. We present a method to procedurally generate motion graphics with timeslice grammars. Timeslice grammars are to time what split grammars are to space. We use this grammar to formally model motion graphics, manipulating them in both temporal and spatial components. We are able to combine both these aspects by representing animations as sets of affine transformations sampled uniformly in both space and time. Rules and operators in the grammar manipulate all spatio-temporal matrices as a whole, allowing us to expressively construct animation with few rules. The grammar animates shapes, which are represented as highly tessellated polygons, by applying the affine transforms to each shape vertex given the vertex position and the animation time. We introduce a small set of operators showing how we can produce 2D animations of geometric objects, by combining the expressive power of the grammar model, the composability of the operators with themselves, and the capabilities that derive from using a unified spatio-temporal representation for animation data. Throughout the paper, we show how timeslice grammars can produce a wide variety of animations that would take artists hours of tedious and time-consuming work. In particular, in cases where change of shapes is very common, our grammar can add motion detail to large collections of shapes with greater control over per-shape animations along with a compact rules structure

Personalised correction, feedback, and guidance in an automated tutoring system for skills training

In addition to knowledge, in various domains skills are equally important. Active learning and training are effective forms of education. We present an automated skills training system for a database programming environment that promotes procedural knowledge acquisition and skills training. The system provides support features such as correction of solutions, feedback and personalised guidance, similar to interactions with a human tutor. Specifically, we address synchronous feedback and guidance based on personalised assessment. Each of these features is automated and includes a level of personalisation and adaptation. At the core of the system is a pattern-based error classification and correction component that analyses student input

Sharing and Reusing Semantic Queries for Searching the Web

This Bachelor's Thesis was preformed during a study stay at the Université de Nice, France. It is about developing a graphical user interface for drawing or generating intentional maps using goals and strategies.This Bachelor's Thesis was preformed during a study stay at the Université de Nice, France. It is about developing a graphical user interface for drawing or generating intentional maps using goals and strategies.

An Investigation into the Pedagogical Features of Documents

Characterizing the content of a technical document in terms of its learning utility can be useful for applications related to education, such as generating reading lists from large collections of documents. We refer to this learning utility as the "pedagogical value" of the document to the learner. While pedagogical value is an important concept that has been studied extensively within the education domain, there has been little work exploring it from a computational, i.e., natural language processing (NLP), perspective. To allow a computational exploration of this concept, we introduce the notion of "pedagogical roles" of documents (e.g., Tutorial and Survey) as an intermediary component for the study of pedagogical value. Given the lack of available corpora for our exploration, we create the first annotated corpus of pedagogical roles and use it to test baseline techniques for automatic prediction of such roles.Comment: 12th Workshop on Innovative Use of NLP for Building Educational Applications (BEA) at EMNLP 2017; 12 page

PoN-S : a systematic approach for applying the Physics of Notation (PoN)

Visual Modeling Languages (VMLs) are important instruments of communication between modelers and stakeholders. Thus, it is important to provide guidelines for designing VMLs. The most widespread approach for analyzing and designing concrete syntaxes for VMLs is the so-called Physics of Notation (PoN). PoN has been successfully applied in the analysis of several VMLs. However, despite its popularity, the application of PoN principles for designing VMLs has been limited. This paper presents a systematic approach for applying PoN in the design of the concrete syntax of VMLs. We propose here a design process establishing activities to be performed, their connection to PoN principles, as well as criteria for grouping PoN principles that guide this process. Moreover, we present a case study in which a visual notation for representing Ontology Pattern Languages is designed

Patterns and Variation in English Language Discourse

The publication is reviewed post-conference proceedings from the international 9th Brno Conference on Linguistics Studies in English, held on 16–17 September 2021 and organised by the Faculty of Education, Masaryk University in Brno. The papers revolve around the themes of patterns and variation in specialised discourses (namely the media, academic, business, tourism, educational and learner discourses), effective interaction between the addressor and addressees and the current trends and development in specialised discourses. The principal methodological perspectives are the comparative approach involving discourses in English and another language, critical and corpus analysis, as well as identification of pragmatic strategies and appropriate rhetorical means. The authors of papers are researchers from the Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Serbia and Georgia