Transcoding multilingual and non-standard web content to voiceXML

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-119).Transcoding systems redesign and reformat already existing web interfaces into other formats so that they can be available to other audiences. For example, change it into audio, sign language or other medium. The bene_t of such systems is less work on meeting the needs of di_erent audiences. This thesis describes the design and the implementation details of a transcoding system called Dinaco. Dinaco is targeted at converting HTML web pages which are created using Extensible MarkupLanguage (XML) technologies to speech interfaces. The di_erentiating feature ofDinaco is that it uses separated annotations during its transcoding process, while previous transcoding systems use HTML dependent annotations. These separated annotations enable Dinaco to pre-normalize non-standard words and to generate VoiceXML interfaces which have semantics of content. The semantics help Textto-Speech (TTS) tools to read multilingual text and to do text normalization. The results from experiments indicate that pre-normalizing non-standard words and appending semantics enable Dinaco to generate VoiceXML interfaces which are more usable than those which are generated by transcoding systems which use HTML dependent annotations. The thesis uses the design of Dinaco to demonstrate how separating annotations makes it possible to write descriptions of content which cannot be written using external HTML dependent annotations and how separating annotations makes it easy to write, maintain, re-use and share annotations

Design and Implementation of a Research Data Management System: The CRC/TR32 Project Database (TR32DB)

Research data management (RDM) includes all processes and measures which ensure that research data are well-organised, documented, preserved, stored, backed up, accessible, available, and re-usable. Corresponding RDM systems or repositories form the technical framework to support the collection, accurate documentation, storage, back-up, sharing, and provision of research data, which are created in a specific environment, like a research group or institution. The required measures for the implementation of a RDM system vary according to the discipline or purpose of data (re-)use. In the context of RDM, the documentation of research data is an essential duty. This has to be conducted by accurate, standardized, and interoperable metadata to ensure the interpretability, understandability, shareability, and long-lasting usability of the data. RDM is achieving an increasing importance, as digital information increases. New technologies enable to create more digital data, also automatically. Consequently, the volume of digital data, including big data and small data, will approximately double every two years in size. With regard to e-science, this increase of data was entitled and predicted as the data deluge. Furthermore, the paradigm change in science has led to data intensive science. Particularly scientific data that were financed by public funding are significantly demanded to be archived, documented, provided or even open accessible by different policy makers, funding agencies, journals and other institutions. RDM can prevent the loss of data, otherwise around 80-90 % of the generated research data disappear and are not available for re-use or further studies. This will lead to empty archives or RDM systems. The reasons for this course are well known and are of a technical, socio-cultural, and ethical nature, like missing user participation and data sharing knowledge, as well as lack of time or resources. In addition, the fear of exploitation and missing or limited reward for publishing and sharing data has an important role. This thesis presents an approach in handling research data of the collaborative, multidisciplinary, long-term DFG-funded research project Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 32 (CRC/TR32) “Patterns in Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Systems: Monitoring, Modelling, and Data Assimilation”. In this context, a RDM system, the so-called CRC/TR32 project database (TR32DB), was designed and implemented. The TR32DB considers the demands of the project participants (e.g. heterogeneous data from different disciplines with various file sizes) and the requirements of the DFG, as well as general challenges in RDM. For this purpose, a RDM system was established that comprises a well-described self-designed metadata schema, a file-based data storage, a well-elaborated database of metadata, and a corresponding user-friendly web interface. The whole system is developed in close cooperation with the local Regional Computing Centre of the University of Cologne (RRZK), where it is also hosted. The documentation of the research data with accurate metadata is of key importance. For this purpose, an own specific TR32DB Metadata Schema was designed, consisting of multi-level metadata properties. This is distinguished in general and data type specific (e.g. data, publication, report) properties and is developed according to the project background, demands of the various data types, as well as recent associated metadata standards and principles. Consequently, it is interoperable to recent metadata standards, such as the Dublin Core, the DataCite Metadata Schema, as well as core elements of the ISO19115:2003 Metadata Standard and INSPIRE Directive. Furthermore, the schema supports optional, mandatory, and automatically generated metadata properties, as well as it provides predefined, obligatory and self-established controlled vocabulary lists. The integrated mapping to the DataCite Metadata Schema facilitates the simple application of a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for a dataset. The file-based data storage is organized in a folder system, corresponding to the structure of the CRC/TR32 and additionally distinguishes between several data types (e.g. data, publication, report). It is embedded in the Andrew File System hosted by the RRZK. The file system is capable to store and backup all data, is highly scalable, supports location independence, and enables easy administration by Access Control Lists. In addition, the relational database management system MySQL stores the metadata according to the previous mentioned TR32DB Metadata Schema as well as further necessary administrative data. A user-friendly web-based graphical user interface enables the access to the TR32DB system. The web-interface provides metadata input, search, and download of data, as well as the visualization of important geodata is handled by an internal WebGIS. This web-interface, as well as the entire RDM system, is self-developed and adjusted to the specific demands. Overall, the TR32DB system is developed according to the needs and requirements of the CRC/TR32 scientists, fits the demands of the DFG, and considers general problems and challenges of RDM as well. With regard to changing demands of the CRC/TR32 and technologic advances, the system is and will be consequently further developed. The established TR32DB approach was already successfully applied to another interdisciplinary research project. Thus, this approach is transferable and generally capable to archive all data, generated by the CRC/TR32, with accurately, interoperable metadata to ensure the re-use of the data, beyond the end of the project

Computational Methods for Medical and Cyber Security

Over the past decade, computational methods, including machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), have been exponentially growing in their development of solutions in various domains, especially medicine, cybersecurity, finance, and education. While these applications of machine learning algorithms have been proven beneficial in various fields, many shortcomings have also been highlighted, such as the lack of benchmark datasets, the inability to learn from small datasets, the cost of architecture, adversarial attacks, and imbalanced datasets. On the other hand, new and emerging algorithms, such as deep learning, one-shot learning, continuous learning, and generative adversarial networks, have successfully solved various tasks in these fields. Therefore, applying these new methods to life-critical missions is crucial, as is measuring these less-traditional algorithms' success when used in these fields

BlogForever: D3.1 Preservation Strategy Report

This report describes preservation planning approaches and strategies recommended by the BlogForever project as a core component of a weblog repository design. More specifically, we start by discussing why we would want to preserve weblogs in the first place and what it is exactly that we are trying to preserve. We further present a review of past and present work and highlight why current practices in web archiving do not address the needs of weblog preservation adequately. We make three distinctive contributions in this volume: a) we propose transferable practical workflows for applying a combination of established metadata and repository standards in developing a weblog repository, b) we provide an automated approach to identifying significant properties of weblog content that uses the notion of communities and how this affects previous strategies, c) we propose a sustainability plan that draws upon community knowledge through innovative repository design

Designing a Sensor-Based Wearable Computing System for Custom Hand Gesture Recognition Using Machine Learning

This thesis investigates how assistive technology can be made to facilitate communication for people that are unable to or have difficulty communicating via vocal speech, and how this technology can be made more universal and compatible with the many different types of sign language that they use. Through this research, a fully customisable and stand-alone wearable device was developed, that employs machine learning techniques to recognise individual hand gestures and translate them into text, images and speech. The device can recognise and translate custom hand gestures by training a personal classifier for each user, relying on a small training sample size, that works online on an embedded system or mobile device, with a classification accuracy rate of up to 99%. This was achieved through a series of iterative case studies, with user testing carried out by real users in their every day environments and in public spaces

2016-2017

Contains information on courses and class descriptions as well as campus resources at Collin College.https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/catalogs/1028/thumbnail.jp

Simple identification tools in FishBase

Simple identification tools for fish species were included in the FishBase information system from its inception. Early tools made use of the relational model and characters like fin ray meristics. Soon pictures and drawings were added as a further help, similar to a field guide. Later came the computerization of existing dichotomous keys, again in combination with pictures and other information, and the ability to restrict possible species by country, area, or taxonomic group. Today, www.FishBase.org offers four different ways to identify species. This paper describes these tools with their advantages and disadvantages, and suggests various options for further development. It explores the possibility of a holistic and integrated computeraided strategy

B!SON: A Tool for Open Access Journal Recommendation

Finding a suitable open access journal to publish scientific work is a complex task: Researchers have to navigate a constantly growing number of journals, institutional agreements with publishers, funders’ conditions and the risk of Predatory Publishers. To help with these challenges, we introduce a web-based journal recommendation system called B!SON. It is developed based on a systematic requirements analysis, built on open data, gives publisher-independent recommendations and works across domains. It suggests open access journals based on title, abstract and references provided by the user. The recommendation quality has been evaluated using a large test set of 10,000 articles. Development by two German scientific libraries ensures the longevity of the project

Untangling the Web: A Guide To Internet Research

[Excerpt] Untangling the Web for 2007 is the twelfth edition of a book that started as a small handout. After more than a decade of researching, reading about, using, and trying to understand the Internet, I have come to accept that it is indeed a Sisyphean task. Sometimes I feel that all I can do is to push the rock up to the top of that virtual hill, then stand back and watch as it rolls down again. The Internet—in all its glory of information and misinformation—is for all practical purposes limitless, which of course means we can never know it all, see it all, understand it all, or even imagine all it is and will be. The more we know about the Internet, the more acute is our awareness of what we do not know. The Internet emphasizes the depth of our ignorance because our knowledge can only be finite, while our ignorance must necessarily be infinite. My hope is that Untangling the Web will add to our knowledge of the Internet and the world while recognizing that the rock will always roll back down the hill at the end of the day