On the evaluation and improvement of arabic wordnet coverage and usability

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10579-013-9237-0[EN] Built on the basis of the methods developed for Princeton WordNet and EuroWordNet, Arabic WordNet (AWN) has been an interesting project which combines WordNet structure compliance with Arabic particularities. In this paper, some AWN shortcomings related to coverage and usability are addressed. The use of AWN in question/answering (Q/A) helped us to deeply evaluate the resource from an experience-based perspective. Accordingly, an enrichment of AWN was built by semi-automatically extending its content. Indeed, existing approaches and/or resources developed for other languages were adapted and used for AWN. The experiments conducted in Arabic Q/A have shown an improvement of both AWN coverage as well as usability. Concerning coverage, a great amount of named entities extracted from YAGO were connected with corresponding AWN synsets. Also, a significant number of new verbs and nouns (including Broken Plural forms) were added. In terms of usability, thanks to the use of AWN, the performance for the AWN-based Q/A application registered an overall improvement with respect to the following three measures: accuracy (+9.27 % improvement), mean reciprocal rank (+3.6 improvement) and number of answered questions (+12.79 % improvement).The work presented in Sect. 2.2 was done in the framework of the bilateral Spain-Morocco AECID-PCI C/026728/09 research project. The research of the two first authors is done in the framework of the PROGRAMME D'URGENCE project (grant no. 03/2010). The research of the third author is done in the framework of WIQEI IRSES project (grant no. 269180) within the FP 7 Marie Curie People, DIANA-APPLICATIONS-Finding Hidden Knowledge in Texts: Applications (TIN2012-38603-C02-01) research project and VLC/CAMPUS Microcluster on Multimodal Interaction in Intelligent Systems. We would like to thank Manuel Montes-y-Gomez (INAOE-Puebla, Mexico) and Sandra Garcia-Blasco (Bitsnbrain, Spain) for their feedback on the work presented in Sect. 2.4. We would like finally to thank Violetta Cavalli-Sforza (Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco) for having reviewed the linguistic level of the entire document.Abouenour, L.; Bouzoubaa, K.; Rosso, P. (2013). On the evaluation and improvement of arabic wordnet coverage and usability. Language Resources and Evaluation. 47(3):891-917. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-013-9237-0S891917473Abbès, R., Dichy, J., & Hassoun, M. (2004). The architecture of a standard Arabic lexical database: Some figures, ratios and categories from the DIINAR.1 source program. In Workshop on computational approaches to Arabic script-based languages, Coling 2004. Geneva, Switzerland.Abouenour, L., Bouzoubaa, K., & Rosso, P. (2009a). Structure-based evaluation of an Arabic semantic query expansion using the JIRS passage retrieval system. 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Interim research assessment 2003-2005 - Computer Science

This report primarily serves as a source of information for the 2007 Interim Research Assessment Committee for Computer Science at the three technical universities in the Netherlands. The report also provides information for others interested in our research activities

Language-independent pre-processing of large document bases for text classification

Text classification is a well-known topic in the research of knowledge discovery in databases. Algorithms for text classification generally involve two stages. The first is concerned with identification of textual features (i.e. words andlor phrases) that may be relevant to the classification process. The second is concerned with classification rule mining and categorisation of "unseen" textual data. The first stage is the subject of this thesis and often involves an analysis of text that is both language-specific (and possibly domain-specific), and that may also be computationally costly especially when dealing with large datasets. Existing approaches to this stage are not, therefore, generally applicable to all languages. In this thesis, we examine a number of alternative keyword selection methods and phrase generation strategies, coupled with two potential significant word list construction mechanisms and two final significant word selection mechanisms, to identify such words andlor phrases in a given textual dataset that are expected to serve to distinguish between classes, by simple, language-independent statistical properties. We present experimental results, using common (large) textual datasets presented in two distinct languages, to show that the proposed approaches can produce good performance with respect to both classification accuracy and processing efficiency. In other words, the study presented in this thesis demonstrates the possibility of efficiently solving the traditional text classification problem in a language-independent (also domain-independent) manner

Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 4: Learning, Technology, Thinking

In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 4 includes papers from Learning, Technology and Thinking tracks of the conference

Visualising Business Data: A Survey

A rapidly increasing number of businesses rely on visualisation solutions for their data management challenges. This demand stems from an industry-wide shift towards data-driven approaches to decision making and problem-solving. However, there is an overwhelming mass of heterogeneous data collected as a result. The analysis of these data become a critical and challenging part of the business process. Employing visual analysis increases data comprehension thus enabling a wider range of users to interpret the underlying behaviour, as opposed to skilled but expensive data analysts. Widening the reach to an audience with a broader range of backgrounds creates new opportunities for decision making, problem-solving, trend identification, and creative thinking. In this survey, we identify trends in business visualisation and visual analytic literature where visualisation is used to address data challenges and identify areas in which industries use visual design to develop their understanding of the business environment. Our novel classification of literature includes the topics of businesses intelligence, business ecosystem, customer-centric. This survey provides a valuable overview and insight into the business visualisation literature with a novel classification that highlights both mature and less developed research directions

OGRS2012 Symposium Proceedings

Do you remember the Open Source Geospatial Research and Education Symposium (OGRS) in Nantes? "Les Machines de l’Île", the Big Elephant, the "Storm Boat" with Claramunt, Petit et al. (2009), and "le Biniou et la Bombarde"? A second edition of OGRS was promised, and that promise is now fulfilled in OGRS 2012, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, October 24-26, 2012. OGRS is a meeting dedicated to sharing knowledge, new solutions, methods, practices, ideas and trends in the field of geospatial information through the development and the use of free and open source software in both research and education. In recent years, the development of geospatial free and open source software (GFOSS) has breathed new life into the geospatial domain. GFOSS has been extensively promoted by FOSS4G events, which evolved from meetings which gathered together interested GFOSS development communities to a standard business conference. More in line with the academic side of the FOSS4G conferences, OGRS is a rather neutral forum whose goal is to assemble a community whose main concern is to find new solutions by sharing knowledge and methods free of software license limits. This is why OGRS is primarily concerned with the academic world, though it also involves public institutions, organizations and companies interested in geospatial innovation. This symposium is therefore not an exhibition for presenting existing industrial software solutions, but an event we hope will act as a catalyst for research and innovation and new collaborations between research teams, public agencies and industries. An educational aspect has recently been added to the content of the symposium. This important addition examines the knowledge triangle - research, education, and innovation - through the lens of how open source methods can improve education efficiency. Based on their experience, OGRS contributors bring to the table ideas on how open source training is likely to offer pedagogical advantages to equip students with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in tomorrow’s geospatial labor market. OGRS brings together a large collection of current innovative research projects from around the world, with the goal of examining how research uses and contributes to open source initiatives. By presenting their research, OGRS contributors shed light on how the open-source approach impacts research, and vice-versa. The organizers of the symposium wish to demonstrate how the use and development of open source software strengthen education, research and innovation in geospatial fields. To support this approach, the present proceedings propose thirty short papers grouped under the following thematic headings: Education, Earth Science & Landscape, Data, Remote Sensing, Spatial Analysis, Urban Simulation and Tools. These papers are preceded by the contributions of the four keynote speakers: Prof Helena Mitasova, Dr Gérard Hégron, Prof Sergio Rey and Prof Robert Weibel, who share their expertise in research and education in order to highlight the decisive advantages of openness over the limits imposed by the closed-source license system

A Successful Talent Development Environment in an Amateur Soccer Club: Redefining „Success“ for the Greater Population

This dissertation is one added piece to the puzzle in how environmental factors can contribute to a positive affect to and development within a sport by looking at how environmental models can be used in an amateur format for the first time. The purpose of this thesis to adapt both the ATDE and ESF working models to an amateur environment in soccer, and if necessary, perform an intervention which might improve the positive effect the environment could have on its athletes.  Results showed many of the features and factors found within elite ATDEs could be replicated at an amateur soccer club. Moreover, an intervention based upon previous ecological studies involved connecting the academy and senior-level players through multiple channels. Results showed positive experiences from both sides of the intervention, as youth players began to understand how they could still play at the adult level - balancing an education or job with their sport. In summary, the results demonstrate three key concepts: 1) both ATDE and ESF models can be adapted an applied by practitioners and researchers to the amateur environment, 2) a successful  ecological interventional can be as simple as providing the room and space for interaction between senior and junior-level athletes, and 3) future research into ATDEs and ESF of amateur environments could help many young female athletes stay active into their adult years.:Statement of Authentication 3 Dissertation-Related Publications and Presentations 4 Table of Contents 5 English summary of the dissertation 7 Deutsche Zusammenfassung der Dissertation 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 1.1 The role of amateur sport 10 1.2 Soccer as a world sport 11 Chapter 2: Talent Detection, Identification, and Development 14 2.1 Traditional model of talent development 15 2.2 Talent detection and Identification 17 2.3 Criticisms of talent identification 20 2.4 Talent development models 23 2.5 Summary of talent identification and developmental models 27 Chapter 3: Ecological Approach and Models of Development 28 3.1 Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecologocal Model 29 3.1 A call for the ecological approach 31 3.2 Henriksen’s ecological studies 32 3.3. Ecological intervention and a successful ATDE in soccer 47 3.4. Other ATDE Studies 52 3.5 Summary and future directions 53 Chapter 4: Purpose of Dissertation 55 4.1 Dissertation objectives 55 Chapter 5: Study I - A description of the ATDE and ESF 57 5.1 General methodology 57 5.2 Study I - Selection of the club and participants 59 5.3 Study I - Research methods and instruments 60 5.4 Study I - Procedure 63 5.5 Study I - Results 66 5.6 Study I - Description of the environment 68 5.7 Study I - Factors influencing the success of the environment 76 5.8 Study I - Discussion 82 Chapter 6: Study II - An ecological intervention 102 6.1 Introduction 102 6.2 Study II - Description of the Intervention 102 6.3 Study II - Research methods and instruments 104 6.4 Study II - Analysis and interpretation 105 6.5 Study II - Results 105 6.6 Study II - Discussion 108 Chapter 7: Reflections and applications for practitioners 115 Literature Cited 124 Appendices 137 Appendix 1: Interview guidelines for players, staff, and coaches in study I 137 Appendix 2: Interview guidelines for parents in study I 138 Appendix 3: Interview guidelines for Players and coaches in study II 139 Appendix 4: Node trees developed from analysis of interviews and observations 14