Modelling string structure in vector spaces

Searching for similar strings is an important and frequent database task both in terms of human interactions and in absolute world-wide CPU utilisation. A wealth of metric functions for string comparison exist. However, with respect to the wide range of classification and other techniques known within vector spaces, such metrics allow only a very restricted range of techniques. To counter this restriction, various strategies have been used for mapping string spaces into vector spaces, approximating the string distances within the mapped space and therefore allowing vector space techniques to be used. In previous work we have developed a novel technique for mapping metric spaces into vector spaces, which can therefore be applied for this purpose. In this paper we evaluate this technique in the context of string spaces, and compare it to other published techniques for mapping strings to vectors. We use a publicly available English lexicon as our experimental data set, and test two different string metrics over it for each vector mapping. We find that our novel technique considerably outperforms previously used technique in preserving the actual distance.Publisher PD

Lambek vs. Lambek: Functorial Vector Space Semantics and String Diagrams for Lambek Calculus

The Distributional Compositional Categorical (DisCoCat) model is a mathematical framework that provides compositional semantics for meanings of natural language sentences. It consists of a computational procedure for constructing meanings of sentences, given their grammatical structure in terms of compositional type-logic, and given the empirically derived meanings of their words. For the particular case that the meaning of words is modelled within a distributional vector space model, its experimental predictions, derived from real large scale data, have outperformed other empirically validated methods that could build vectors for a full sentence. This success can be attributed to a conceptually motivated mathematical underpinning, by integrating qualitative compositional type-logic and quantitative modelling of meaning within a category-theoretic mathematical framework. The type-logic used in the DisCoCat model is Lambek's pregroup grammar. Pregroup types form a posetal compact closed category, which can be passed, in a functorial manner, on to the compact closed structure of vector spaces, linear maps and tensor product. The diagrammatic versions of the equational reasoning in compact closed categories can be interpreted as the flow of word meanings within sentences. Pregroups simplify Lambek's previous type-logic, the Lambek calculus, which has been extensively used to formalise and reason about various linguistic phenomena. The apparent reliance of the DisCoCat on pregroups has been seen as a shortcoming. This paper addresses this concern, by pointing out that one may as well realise a functorial passage from the original type-logic of Lambek, a monoidal bi-closed category, to vector spaces, or to any other model of meaning organised within a monoidal bi-closed category. The corresponding string diagram calculus, due to Baez and Stay, now depicts the flow of word meanings.Comment: 29 pages, pending publication in Annals of Pure and Applied Logi

Finsler and Lagrange Geometries in Einstein and String Gravity

We review the current status of Finsler-Lagrange geometry and generalizations. The goal is to aid non-experts on Finsler spaces, but physicists and geometers skilled in general relativity and particle theories, to understand the crucial importance of such geometric methods for applications in modern physics. We also would like to orient mathematicians working in generalized Finsler and Kahler geometry and geometric mechanics how they could perform their results in order to be accepted by the community of ''orthodox'' physicists. Although the bulk of former models of Finsler-Lagrange spaces where elaborated on tangent bundles, the surprising result advocated in our works is that such locally anisotropic structures can be modelled equivalently on Riemann-Cartan spaces, even as exact solutions in Einstein and/or string gravity, if nonholonomic distributions and moving frames of references are introduced into consideration. We also propose a canonical scheme when geometrical objects on a (pseudo) Riemannian space are nonholonomically deformed into generalized Lagrange, or Finsler, configurations on the same manifold. Such canonical transforms are defined by the coefficients of a prime metric and generate target spaces as Lagrange structures, their models of almost Hermitian/ Kahler, or nonholonomic Riemann spaces. Finally, we consider some classes of exact solutions in string and Einstein gravity modelling Lagrange-Finsler structures with solitonic pp-waves and speculate on their physical meaning.Comment: latex 2e, 11pt, 44 pages; accepted to IJGMMP (2008) as a short variant of arXiv:0707.1524v3, on 86 page

Port controlled Hamiltonian representation of distributed parameter systems

A port controlled Hamiltonian formulation of the dynamics of distributed parameter systems is presented, which incorporates the energy flow through the boundary of the domain of the system, and which allows to represent the system as a boundary control Hamiltonian system. This port controlled Hamiltonian system is defined with respect to a Dirac structure associated with the exterior derivative and based on Stokes' theorem. The definition is illustrated on the examples of the telegrapher's equations, Maxwell's equations and the vibrating string. \u

Locally Anisotropic Kinetic Processes and Thermodynamics in Curved Spaces

The kinetic theory is formulated with respect to anholonomic frames of reference on curved spacetimes. By using the concept of nonlinear connection we develop an approach to modelling locally anisotropic kinetic processes and, in corresponding limits, the relativistic non-equilibrium thermodynamics with local anisotropy. This lead to a unified formulation of the kinetic equations on (pseudo) Riemannian spaces and in various higher dimensional models of Kaluza-Klein type and/or generalized Lagrange and Finsler spaces. The transition rate considered for the locally anisotropic transport equations is related to the differential cross section and spacetime parameters of anisotropy. The equations of states for pressure and energy in locally anisotropic thermodynamics are derived. The obtained general expressions for heat conductivity, shear and volume viscosity coefficients are applied to determine the transport coefficients of cosmic fluids in spacetimes with generic local anisotropy. We emphasize that such locally anisotropic structures are induced also in general relativity if we are modelling physical processes with respect to frames with mixed sets of holonomic and anholonomic basis vectors which naturally admits an associated nonlinear connection structure.Comment: version 2, 46 pages, latex 209, minor changes, accepted to Annals of Physics (NY

Mathematical Foundations for a Compositional Distributional Model of Meaning

We propose a mathematical framework for a unification of the distributional theory of meaning in terms of vector space models, and a compositional theory for grammatical types, for which we rely on the algebra of Pregroups, introduced by Lambek. This mathematical framework enables us to compute the meaning of a well-typed sentence from the meanings of its constituents. Concretely, the type reductions of Pregroups are `lifted' to morphisms in a category, a procedure that transforms meanings of constituents into a meaning of the (well-typed) whole. Importantly, meanings of whole sentences live in a single space, independent of the grammatical structure of the sentence. Hence the inner-product can be used to compare meanings of arbitrary sentences, as it is for comparing the meanings of words in the distributional model. The mathematical structure we employ admits a purely diagrammatic calculus which exposes how the information flows between the words in a sentence in order to make up the meaning of the whole sentence. A variation of our `categorical model' which involves constraining the scalars of the vector spaces to the semiring of Booleans results in a Montague-style Boolean-valued semantics.Comment: to appea