Cooperative answers in database systems

A major concern of researchers who seek to improve human-computer communication involves how to move beyond literal interpretations of queries to a level of responsiveness that takes the user's misconceptions, expectations, desires, and interests into consideration. At Maryland, we are investigating how to better meet a user's needs within the framework of the cooperative answering system of Gal and Minker. We have been exploring how to use semantic information about the database to formulate coherent and informative answers. The work has two main thrusts: (1) the construction of a logic formula which embodies the content of a cooperative answer; and (2) the presentation of the logic formula to the user in a natural language form. The information that is available in a deductive database system for building cooperative answers includes integrity constraints, user constraints, the search tree for answers to the query, and false presuppositions that are present in the query. The basic cooperative answering theory of Gal and Minker forms the foundation of a cooperative answering system that integrates the new construction and presentation methods. This paper provides an overview of the cooperative answering strategies used in the CARMIN cooperative answering system, an ongoing research effort at Maryland. Section 2 gives some useful background definitions. Section 3 describes techniques for collecting cooperative logical formulae. Section 4 discusses which natural language generation techniques are useful for presenting the logic formula in natural language text. Section 5 presents a diagram of the system

A Review on Cooperative Question-Answering Systems

The Question-Answering (QA) systems fall in the study area of Information Retrieval (IR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). Given a set of documents, a QA system tries to obtain the correct answer to the questions posed in Natural Language (NL). Normally, the QA systems comprise three main components: question classification, information retrieval and answer extraction. Question classification plays a major role in QA systems since it classifies questions according to the type in their entities. The techniques of information retrieval are used to obtain and to extract relevant answers in the knowledge domain. Finally, the answer extraction component is an emerging topic in the QA systems. This module basically classifies and validates the candidate answers. In this paper we present an overview of the QA systems, focusing on mature work that is related to cooperative systems and that has got as knowledge domain the Semantic Web (SW). Moreover, we also present our proposal of a cooperative QA for the SW

Bacteria Hunt: A multimodal, multiparadigm BCI game

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) allow users to control applications by brain activity. Among their possible applications for non-disabled people, games are promising candidates. BCIs can enrich game play by the mental and affective state information they contain. During the eNTERFACE’09 workshop we developed the Bacteria Hunt game which can be played by keyboard and BCI, using SSVEP and relative alpha power. We conducted experiments in order to investigate what difference positive vs. negative neurofeedback would have on subjects’ relaxation states and how well the different BCI paradigms can be used together. We observed no significant difference in mean alpha band power, thus relaxation, and in user experience between the games applying positive and negative feedback. We also found that alpha power before SSVEP stimulation was significantly higher than alpha power during SSVEP stimulation indicating that there is some interference between the two BCI paradigms

COOPERATIVE QUERY ANSWERING FOR APPROXIMATE ANSWERS WITH NEARNESS MEASURE IN HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Cooperative query answering for approximate answers has been utilized in various problem domains. Many challenges in manufacturing information retrieval, such as: classifying parts into families in group technology implementation, choosing the closest alternatives or substitutions for an out-of-stock part, or finding similar existing parts for rapid prototyping, could be alleviated using the concept of cooperative query answering. Most cooperative query answering techniques proposed by researchers so far concentrate on simple queries or single table information retrieval. Query relaxations in searching for approximate answers are mostly limited to attribute value substitutions. Many hierarchical structure information systems, such as manufacturing information systems, store their data in multiple tables that are connected to each other using hierarchical relationships - "aggregation", "generalization/specialization", "classification", and "category". Due to the nature of hierarchical structure information systems, information retrieval in such domains usually involves nested or jointed queries. In addition, searching for approximate answers in hierarchical structure databases not only considers attribute value substitutions, but also must take into account attribute or relation substitutions (i.e., WIDTH to DIAMETER, HOLE to GROOVE). For example, shape transformations of parts or features are possible and commonly practiced. A bar could be transformed to a rod. Such characteristics of hierarchical information systems, simple query or single-relation query relaxation techniques used in most cooperative query answering systems are not adequate. In this research, we proposed techniques for neighbor knowledge constructions, and complex query relaxations. We enhanced the original Pattern-based Knowledge Induction (PKI) and Distribution Sensitive Clustering (DISC) so that they can be used in neighbor hierarchy constructions at both tuple and attribute levels. We developed a cooperative query answering model to facilitate the approximate answer searching for complex queries. Our cooperative query answering model is comprised of algorithms for determining the causes of null answer, expanding qualified tuple set, expanding intersected tuple set, and relaxing multiple condition simultaneously. To calculate the semantic nearness between exact-match answers and approximate answers, we also proposed a nearness measuring function, called "Block Nearness", that is appropriate for the query relaxation methods proposed in this research

Weakening of fuzzy relational queries: an absolute proximity relation-based approach

In this paper we address the problem of query failure in the context of flexible querying. We propose a fuzzy set–based approach for relaxing queries involving gradual predicates. This approach relies on the notion of proximity relation which is defined in an absolute way. We show how such proximity relation allows for transforming a given predicate into an enlarged one. The resulting predicate is semantically not far from the original one and it is obtained by a simple fuzzy arithmetic operation. The main features of the weakening mechanism are investigated and a comparative study with some methods proposed for the purpose of fuzzy query weakening is presented as well. Last, an example is provided to illustrate our proposal in the case of conjunctive queries.Peer Reviewe

Viewpoints of elementary principals and their teachers concerning teachers' meetings as they are conducted within schools in five Massachusetts towns

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Construction de réponses coopératives : du corpus à la modélisation informatique

Les stratégies utilisées pour la recherche d’information dans le cadre du Web diffèrent d’un moteur de recherche à un autre, mais en général, les résultats obtenus ne répondent pas directement et simplement à la question posée. Nous présentons une stratégie qui vise à définir les fondements linguistiques et de communication d’un système d’interrogation du Web qui soit coopératif avec l’usager et qui tente de lui fournir la réponse la plus appropriée possible dans sa forme et dans son contenu. Nous avons constitué et analysé un corpus de questions-réponses coopératives construites à partir des sections Foire Aux Questions (FAQ) de différents services Web aux usagers. Cela constitue à notre sens une bonne expérimentation de ce que pourrait être une communication directe en langue naturelle sur le Web. Cette analyse de corpus a permis d’extraire les caractéristiques majeures du comportement coopératif et de construire l’architecture de notre système informatique webcoop, que nous présentons à la fin de cet article.Algorithms and strategies used on the Web for information retrieval differ from one search engine to another, but, in general, results do not lead to very accurate and informative answers. In this paper, we describe our strategy for designing a cooperative question answering system that aims at producing the most appropriate answers to natural language questions. To characterize these answers, we collected a corpus of cooperative question in our opinion answer pairs extracted from Frequently Asked Questions. The analysis of this corpus constitutes a good experiment on what a cooperative natural language communication on the Web could be. This analysis allows for the elaboration of a general architecture for our cooperative question answering system webcoop, which we present at the end of this paper

Methodology for Creating a FairShares Lab

Welcome to the first intellectual output (IO1) of the Erasmus+ project FairShares Labs for Social and Blue Innovation Project (Project 2016-1-DE02-KA204-003397). IO1 has been prepared by project partners to describe their methodology for creating FairShares Labs. Work started in Erfurt, Germany (7-9 December 2016) and has been discussed in three further transnational meetings in Sheffield (26-28 June 2017), Berlin (27-28 August 2017) and Osijek (20-22 Feb 2018). In this document, we set out the purpose of IO1. This document provides any person involved in the creation and development of a FairShares Lab (partners, coordinators, trainers and advisers) with an overview of the methodology for creating their lab. This includes an account of the FairShares Model itself as well as processes for setting up, recruiting people to and marketing a FairShares Lab, and supporting lab participants as they incubate new FairShares enterprises and contribute to building an ecosystem for FairShares. Section 1 provides background information and an overview of the methodology. Section 2 provides an overview of five elements of a FairShares Lab. Three elements come from the FairShares Model of social enterprise development (created by FairShares Association Ltd) - values and principles; key questions and; legal choices. The other two elements are social and technical support systems selected by the partners for this project. Social support is provided through learning and development methods (elaborated further in Section 3). These generate ideas, improve the effectiveness of team work and enable stakeholders to make decisions together. In Section 4, we examine the process of establishing a lab, inviting people to it, running activities, selecting projects, producing prototypes of goods and services, planning and incorporating (social) enterprises. In Section 5, we consider the marketing of FairShares Labs, who they are for, what needs they serve, what messages should be communicated to target groups (and future lab organisers)