Acquiring Correct Knowledge for Natural Language Generation

Natural language generation (NLG) systems are computer software systems that produce texts in English and other human languages, often from non-linguistic input data. NLG systems, like most AI systems, need substantial amounts of knowledge. However, our experience in two NLG projects suggests that it is difficult to acquire correct knowledge for NLG systems; indeed, every knowledge acquisition (KA) technique we tried had significant problems. In general terms, these problems were due to the complexity, novelty, and poorly understood nature of the tasks our systems attempted, and were worsened by the fact that people write so differently. This meant in particular that corpus-based KA approaches suffered because it was impossible to assemble a sizable corpus of high-quality consistent manually written texts in our domains; and structured expert-oriented KA techniques suffered because experts disagreed and because we could not get enough information about special and unusual cases to build robust systems. We believe that such problems are likely to affect many other NLG systems as well. In the long term, we hope that new KA techniques may emerge to help NLG system builders. In the shorter term, we believe that understanding how individual KA techniques can fail, and using a mixture of different KA techniques with different strengths and weaknesses, can help developers acquire NLG knowledge that is mostly correct

A requirements engineering framework for integrated systems development for the construction industry

Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) systems are computer environments through which collaborative working can be undertaken. Although many CIC systems have been developed to demonstrate the communication and collaboration within the construction projects, the uptake of CICs by the industry is still inadequate. This is mainly due to the fact that research methodologies of the CIC development projects are incomplete to bridge the technology transfer gap. Therefore, defining comprehensive methodologies for the development of these systems and their effective implementation on real construction projects is vital. Requirements Engineering (RE) can contribute to the effective uptake of these systems because it drives the systems development for the targeted audience. This paper proposes a requirements engineering approach for industry driven CIC systems development. While some CIC systems are investigated to build a broad and deep contextual knowledge in the area, the EU funded research project, DIVERCITY (Distributed Virtual Workspace for Enhancing Communication within the Construction Industry), is analysed as the main case study project because its requirements engineering approach has the potential to determine a framework for the adaptation of requirements engineering in order to contribute towards the uptake of CIC systems

Joseph Priestley College: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 69/95 and 93/98)

The Further Education Funding Council has a legal duty to make sure further education in England is properly assessed. The FEFC’s inspectorate inspects and reports on each college of further education according to a four-year cycle. This record comprises two of these reports for 1994-95 and 1997-98

Resilience Assignment Framework using System Dynamics and Fuzzy Logic.

This paper is concerned with the development of a conceptual framework that measures the resilience of the transport network under climate change related events. However, the conceptual framework could be adapted and quantified to suit each disruption’s unique impacts. The proposed resilience framework evaluates the changes in transport network performance in multi-stage processes; pre, during and after the disruption. The framework will be of use to decision makers in understanding the dynamic nature of resilience under various events. Furthermore, it could be used as an evaluation tool to gauge transport network performance and highlight weaknesses in the network. In this paper, the system dynamics approach and fuzzy logic theory are integrated and employed to study three characteristics of network resilience. The proposed methodology has been selected to overcome two dominant problems in transport modelling, namely complexity and uncertainty. The system dynamics approach is intended to overcome the double counting effect of extreme events on various resilience characteristics because of its ability to model the feedback process and time delay. On the other hand, fuzzy logic is used to model the relationships among different variables that are difficult to express in numerical form such as redundancy and mobility

An instinct for detection: psychological perspectives on CCTV surveillance

The aim of this article is to inform and stimulate a proactive, multidisciplinary approach to research and development in surveillance-based detective work. In this article we review some of the key psychological issues and phenomena that practitioners should be aware of. We look at how human performance can be explained with reference to our biological and evolutionary legacy. We show how critical viewing conditions can be in determining whether observers detect or overlook criminal activity in video material. We examine situations where performance can be surprisingly poor, and cover situations where, even once confronted with evidence of these detection deficits, observers still underestimate their susceptibility to them. Finally we explain why the emergence of these relatively recent research themes presents an opportunity for police and law enforcement agencies to set a new, multidisciplinary research agenda focused on relevant and pressing issues of national and international importance

Final Report-Workshop on Experiences and Options for Priority Setting in NARS, August 12-16, 1996, Nairobi, Kenya

The motivation for this workshop came from two sources. First, under a project funded by USAID (AFR/SD/PSGE/TDT Office), Michigan State University (MSU) has been carrying out various activities to assist African national agricultural research systems (NARS) and regional organizations to improve their capacity for strategic agricultural research planning, including technology assessment and priority setting within a commodity sector framework. Second, recent collaborative work by the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR) and the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) has focused on the development of a process and methods for program-level priority setting. The objectives of the workshop were (1) to provide a forum for ASARECA member NARS to synthesize their experiences with institute and program-level priority setting and technology assessment; (2) to examine the process and methods developed by KARI/ISNAR and other NARS in commodity program planning; and (3) to develop country-specific frameworks and action plans for a priority-setting/technology assessment study in a focus program area, to be carried out beginning in late 1996.food security, food policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Downloads July 2008 - June 2009: 11, F0,

Управління міжнародним бізнесом: Agility Journey для високотехнологічних компаній

The purpose of the article is the development of recommendations for the business maturity determination and measurement in the implementation of the agile approach for high-tech companies. Methods of analysis of documents, observation, personal and in-depth interviews, case studies have been used in the research. The findings of the research: Business Agility Journey has been suggested for defining the state of the maturity of the company and conducting express diagnostics of agility. Agile Project Management Journey has been developed for the identification of weaknesses by the companies in the path to agility, as well as for the determination of events for the transition from the traditional to the agile approach. Personal Agility Checklist has been designed for testing the soft skills of employees for the presence of the agile mindset. Research limitations include the study of the maturity of companies in the IT industry. Practical implications are based on the use of suggested Agility Journeys in defining the state of maturity and main problems on the transition path. Also, Personal Agility Checklist will help to check the agility of the future employees. The originality of the article is based on the uniqueness of the Agility Journey that has been developed for the first time. Further research on this topic should be focused on the development of an agile mindset as a prerequisite for the provision of agility in the company.Метою статті є розробка рекомендацій щодо визначення та вимірювання зрілості бізнесу при впровадженні еджайл-підходу для високотехнологічних компаній. У дослідженні використовуються методи аналізу документів, спостереження, особистого та глибинного інтерв’ю та кейс-стаді. Розроблено Business Agility Journey для визначення стану зрілості компанії та проведення експрес-діагностики еджайльності. Agile Project Management Journey було розроблено для визначення компаніями своїх слабких сторін, а також заходів для переходу від традиційного до еджайльного підходу. Personal Agility Checklist був створений для перевірки «гнучких навичок» (soft skills) співробітників на наявність гнучкого мислення (agile mindset). Обмеження досліджень включають вивчення зрілості компаній ІТ-галузі. Практична значущість ґрунтується на використанні запропонованих Agility Journeys для визначення стану зрілості та основних проблем на шляху переходу. Також Personal Agility Checklist допоможе перевірити еджайльність майбутніх працівників. Оригінальність статті базується на унікальності Agility Journey, яка була розроблена вперше. Подальші дослідження на цю тему доцільно зосередити на розвитку гнучкого мислення як передумови забезпечення еджайльності в компанії