Deep Learning for Automatic Assessment and Feedback of Spoken English

Growing global demand for learning a second language (L2), particularly English, has led to considerable interest in automatic spoken language assessment, whether for use in computerassisted language learning (CALL) tools or for grading candidates for formal qualifications. This thesis presents research conducted into the automatic assessment of spontaneous nonnative English speech, with a view to be able to provide meaningful feedback to learners. One of the challenges in automatic spoken language assessment is giving candidates feedback on particular aspects, or views, of their spoken language proficiency, in addition to the overall holistic score normally provided. Another is detecting pronunciation and other types of errors at the word or utterance level and feeding them back to the learner in a useful way. It is usually difficult to obtain accurate training data with separate scores for different views and, as examiners are often trained to give holistic grades, single-view scores can suffer issues of consistency. Conversely, holistic scores are available for various standard assessment tasks such as Linguaskill. An investigation is thus conducted into whether assessment scores linked to particular views of the speaker’s ability can be obtained from systems trained using only holistic scores. End-to-end neural systems are designed with structures and forms of input tuned to single views, specifically each of pronunciation, rhythm, intonation and text. By training each system on large quantities of candidate data, individual-view information should be possible to extract. The relationships between the predictions of each system are evaluated to examine whether they are, in fact, extracting different information about the speaker. Three methods of combining the systems to predict holistic score are investigated, namely averaging their predictions and concatenating and attending over their intermediate representations. The combined graders are compared to each other and to baseline approaches. The tasks of error detection and error tendency diagnosis become particularly challenging when the speech in question is spontaneous and particularly given the challenges posed by the inconsistency of human annotation of pronunciation errors. An approach to these tasks is presented by distinguishing between lexical errors, wherein the speaker does not know how a particular word is pronounced, and accent errors, wherein the candidate’s speech exhibits consistent patterns of phone substitution, deletion and insertion. Three annotated corpora x of non-native English speech by speakers of multiple L1s are analysed, the consistency of human annotation investigated and a method presented for detecting individual accent and lexical errors and diagnosing accent error tendencies at the speaker level

RFID Technology in Intelligent Tracking Systems in Construction Waste Logistics Using Optimisation Techniques

Construction waste disposal is an urgent issue for protecting our environment. This paper proposes a waste management system and illustrates the work process using plasterboard waste as an example, which creates a hazardous gas when land filled with household waste, and for which the recycling rate is less than 10% in the UK. The proposed system integrates RFID technology, Rule-Based Reasoning, Ant Colony optimization and knowledge technology for auditing and tracking plasterboard waste, guiding the operation staff, arranging vehicles, schedule planning, and also provides evidence to verify its disposal. It h relies on RFID equipment for collecting logistical data and uses digital imaging equipment to give further evidence; the reasoning core in the third layer is responsible for generating schedules and route plans and guidance, and the last layer delivers the result to inform users. The paper firstly introduces the current plasterboard disposal situation and addresses the logistical problem that is now the main barrier to a higher recycling rate, followed by discussion of the proposed system in terms of both system level structure and process structure. And finally, an example scenario will be given to illustrate the system’s utilization

Advanced document data extraction techniques to improve supply chain performance

In this thesis, a novel machine learning technique to extract text-based information from scanned images has been developed. This information extraction is performed in the context of scanned invoices and bills used in financial transactions. These financial transactions contain a considerable amount of data that must be extracted, refined, and stored digitally before it can be used for analysis. Converting this data into a digital format is often a time-consuming process. Automation and data optimisation show promise as methods for reducing the time required and the cost of Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes, especially Supplier Invoice Management (SIM), Financial Supply Chain Management (FSCM) and Supply Chain procurement processes. This thesis uses a cross-disciplinary approach involving Computer Science and Operational Management to explore the benefit of automated invoice data extraction in business and its impact on SCM. The study adopts a multimethod approach based on empirical research, surveys, and interviews performed on selected companies.The expert system developed in this thesis focuses on two distinct areas of research: Text/Object Detection and Text Extraction. For Text/Object Detection, the Faster R-CNN model was analysed. While this model yields outstanding results in terms of object detection, it is limited by poor performance when image quality is low. The Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) model is proposed in response to this limitation. The GAN model is a generator network that is implemented with the help of the Faster R-CNN model and a discriminator that relies on PatchGAN. The output of the GAN model is text data with bonding boxes. For text extraction from the bounding box, a novel data extraction framework consisting of various processes including XML processing in case of existing OCR engine, bounding box pre-processing, text clean up, OCR error correction, spell check, type check, pattern-based matching, and finally, a learning mechanism for automatizing future data extraction was designed. Whichever fields the system can extract successfully are provided in key-value format.The efficiency of the proposed system was validated using existing datasets such as SROIE and VATI. Real-time data was validated using invoices that were collected by two companies that provide invoice automation services in various countries. Currently, these scanned invoices are sent to an OCR system such as OmniPage, Tesseract, or ABBYY FRE to extract text blocks and later, a rule-based engine is used to extract relevant data. While the system’s methodology is robust, the companies surveyed were not satisfied with its accuracy. Thus, they sought out new, optimized solutions. To confirm the results, the engines were used to return XML-based files with text and metadata identified. The output XML data was then fed into this new system for information extraction. This system uses the existing OCR engine and a novel, self-adaptive, learning-based OCR engine. This new engine is based on the GAN model for better text identification. Experiments were conducted on various invoice formats to further test and refine its extraction capabilities. For cost optimisation and the analysis of spend classification, additional data were provided by another company in London that holds expertise in reducing their clients' procurement costs. This data was fed into our system to get a deeper level of spend classification and categorisation. This helped the company to reduce its reliance on human effort and allowed for greater efficiency in comparison with the process of performing similar tasks manually using excel sheets and Business Intelligence (BI) tools.The intention behind the development of this novel methodology was twofold. First, to test and develop a novel solution that does not depend on any specific OCR technology. Second, to increase the information extraction accuracy factor over that of existing methodologies. Finally, it evaluates the real-world need for the system and the impact it would have on SCM. This newly developed method is generic and can extract text from any given invoice, making it a valuable tool for optimizing SCM. In addition, the system uses a template-matching approach to ensure the quality of the extracted information

Do informal caregivers of people with dementia mirror the cognitive deficits of their demented patients?:A pilot study

Recent research suggests that informal caregivers of people with dementia (ICs) experience more cognitive deficits than noncaregivers. The reason for this is not yet clear. Objective: to test the hypothesis that ICs ‘mirror' the cognitive deficits of the demented people they care for. Participants and methods: 105 adult ICs were asked to complete three neuropsychological tests: letter fluency, category fluency, and the logical memory test from the WMS-III. The ICs were grouped according to the diagnosis of their demented patients. One-sample ttests were conducted to investigate if the standardized mean scores (t-scores) of the ICs were different from normative data. A Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Results: 82 ICs cared for people with Alzheimer's dementia and 23 ICs cared for people with vascular dementia. Mean letter fluency score of the ICs of people with Alzheimer's dementia was significantly lower than the normative mean letter fluency score, p = .002. The other tests yielded no significant results. Conclusion: our data shows that ICs of Alzheimer patients have cognitive deficits on the letter fluency test. This test primarily measures executive functioning and it has been found to be sensitive to mild cognitive impairment in recent research. Our data tentatively suggests that ICs who care for Alzheimer patients also show signs of cognitive impairment but that it is too early to tell if this is cause for concern or not

In-Game Social Interactions to Facilitate ESL Students\u27 Morphological Awareness, Language and Literacy Skills

Video games that require players to utilize a target or second language to complete tasks have emerged as alternative pedagogical tools for Second Language Acquisition (SLA). With the exception of vocabulary acquisition, much of the prior research in game-based SLA fails to gauge students\u27 literacy skills, specifically their morphological awareness or understanding of the smallest meaningful linguistic units (e.g., prefixes, suffixes, and roots). Given this shortcoming, we utilize a two-player online game to facilitate social interactions between Native English Speakers (NES) and English as a Second Language (ESL) students as a mechanism to generate ESL students\u27 written output in the targeted language and draw attention to their morphological awareness. Analysis of chat logs demonstrates the game\u27s potential to enhance ESL students\u27 morphological awareness and other important L2 literacy skills such as word reading accuracy. Both NES and ESL students\u27 reflections of their gameplay experiences suggest game design modifications that promote ESL students\u27 willingness to communicate with NES while developing their morphological awareness and practicing their L2 communication and literacy skills

Learning Disabilities

Learning disabilities are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by failure to acquire, retrieve, and use information competently. These disorders have a multifactorial aetiology and are most common and severe in children, especially when comorbid with other chronic health conditions. This book provides current and comprehensive information about learning disorders, including information on neurobiology, assessment, clinical features, and treatment. Chapters cover such topics as historical research and hypotheses of learning disorders, neuropsychological assessment and counselling, characteristics of specific disorders such as autism and ADHD, evidence-based treatment strategies and assistive technologies, and much more

A Sound Approach to Language Matters: In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn

The contributions in this Festschrift were written by Ocke’s current and former PhD-students, colleagues and research collaborators. The Festschrift is divided into six sections, moving from the smallest building blocks of language, through gradually expanding objects of linguistic inquiry to the highest levels of description - all of which have formed a part of Ocke’s career, in connection with his teaching and/or his academic productions: “Segments”, “Perception of Accent”, “Between Sounds and Graphemes”, “Prosody”, “Morphology and Syntax” and “Second Language Acquisition”. Each one of these illustrates a sound approach to language matters

Réorganisation cérébrale chez l’adulte sourd : de la privation à la restauration auditive

On estime que 5 % de la population dans le monde souffre d’une perte auditive handicapante, dont 34 millions d’enfants. Ce déficit perceptif, lorsqu’il survient dès la naissance ou lors des premières années de vie, a de multiples répercussions sur le développement cérébral et neurocognitif. La réorganisation cérébrale ayant cours dans le cerveau des individus privés de l’audition précocement constitue un sujet d’étude très prisé par la communauté scientifique, mais pour laquelle de nombreuses questions restent en suspens. Ainsi, les articles qui composent cette thèse ont pour objectif principal d’améliorer nos connaissances portant sur les mécanismes de réorganisation cérébrale, tant au niveau fonctionnel que structurel afin de mieux comprendre leur implication comportementale chez les individus sourds. Pour ce faire, nous avons souhaité investiguer, par le biais de l’imagerie par résonance magnétique fonctionnelle, quel était le lien entre les activations cérébrales et les performances comportementales lors d’une tâche portant sur les mouvements biologiques chez des adultes sourds congénitaux, en comparaison à des pairs neurotypiques. L’article 1 révèle que les individus sourds présentent une sensibilité accrue à la reconnaissance du mouvement biologique, et notamment des emblèmes, en comparaison à des individus neurotypique. De plus, cette spécificité comportementale observée uniquement chez les individus sourds, s’accompagne d’un recrutement extensif des régions comprises dans le gyrus temporal supérieur, et tout particulièrement le cortex auditif primaire ainsi que le planum temporale. Nos résultats supportent la présence d’une réorganisation intermodale qui s’exprime par le recrutement cérébral des régions auditives lors de stimulations visuelles complexes, entraînant une amélioration de la reconnaissance des mouvements biologiques chez les adultes sourds. Par la suite, nous avons souhaité préciser les mécanismes de réorganisation cérébrale de type structurel. En raison de l’hétérogénéité des résultats rapportés précédemment dans la littérature à propos des changements de matière grise et de matière blanche chez les enfants, les adolescents et les adultes sourds privés de l’audition précocement, la réalisation d’une revue systématique a permis de répertorier l’ensemble des changements structurels obtenus par le biais de diverses techniques d’analyse en imagerie par résonance magnétique. L’article 2 de la présente thèse offre une généralisation des altérations structurelles et intègre une visée clinique à la compréhension de ces changements anatomiques et notamment leur impact sur le développement langagier et neurocognitif. Mis ensemble, ces résultats contribuent à une meilleure appréciation des changements cérébraux à la suite d’une privation précoce de l’audition. En outre, ils offrent une perspective développementale à ces changements par la description de comportements adaptatifs à la situation de handicap auditif, ainsi que du profil neurocognitif de ces individus, dans le but d’apporter de nouvelles pistes aux stratégies de restauration de l’audition et du langage.It is estimated that 5% of the world’s population suffers from a disabling hearing loss, including 34 million children. This sensory deficit, when it occurs at birth or in the first years of life, has multiple repercussions on the brain and neurocognitive development. The brain reorganization taking place in the brain of early-deaf individuals is an area of research highly valued by the scientific community but for which many questions remain unanswered. Thus, the main objective of the articles in this thesis is to improve our knowledge of brain reorganization mechanisms, both at the functional and structural levels, in deaf individuals. This will allow a better understanding of their impact on the behavioural adaptations of deaf individuals. To do this, we investigated, through functional magnetic resonance imaging, the relationship between brain activation and behavioural performance in a task involving biological motions in early-deaf adults, compared to hearing peers. Article 1 reveals that deaf individuals are more sensitive to the recognition of biological motion, including emblems, than hearing individuals. In addition, this behavioural specificity, observed only in deaf individuals, is accompanied by extensive recruitment of the regions included in the superior temporal gyrus, such as the primary auditory cortex but more particularly, the planum temporale. Our results support the presence of intermodal reorganization, which is expressed by brain recruitment of auditory regions during complex visual stimuli, leading to improved recognition of the biological motion in early deaf adults. On the other hand, we wanted to specify the mechanisms of structural brain reorganization. Due to the heterogeneity of the results previously reported in the literature on changes in grey matter and white matter in early-deaf children, adolescents, and adults, the completion of a systematic review identified all the structural changes obtained through various magnetic resonance imaging analysis techniques. The second article of this thesis offers a generalization of structural alterations. It also integrates a clinical frame to the understanding of these anatomical changes to optimize the language and neurocognitive development of these individuals. Together, these results contribute to a better appreciation of brain changes following an early hearing loss at both the functional and structural levels. Besides, they offer a developmental perspective to these changes by describing adaptive behaviours and the neurocognitive profile of these individuals, with providing new insights into hearing and language restoration strategies

Vocabulary Teaching and Learning in the First-year Students of Electro mechanics and Nursing of the Escuela Naval de Suboficiales ARC Barranquilla (ENSB) : A case study /

The current case study has as the objective of investigating how vocabulary is taught and learned in two English classes at the Escuela Naval de Suboficiales A.R.C Barranquilla (ENSB) since students at this institution have not been progressing as expected in their English level. The participants were 42 first-year military students and two English teachers in the second and third modules of studies in the academic year of 2016. Using a mixed method approach, classroom observations, student questionnaires, and a pre- and post-test for each group were used to collect the data for this study. The findings reveal that student progress in regards to their vocabulary word knowledge. Also, it was seen that both teachers and students use some vocabulary teaching-learning strategies; however, the ones used are limited, repeated, and focus mainly on improving students’ vocabulary breadth. Students’ vocabulary depth progress is very limited. Other factors such as an insufficient use of vocabulary for communication in English seem to affect student progress negatively. The findings of this investigation guided the researcher to offer some recommendations, including using a variety of vocabulary strategies that focus on both depth and breadth vocabulary knowledge and developing both receptive and productive vocabulary. Also, students should be directly taught how to use a variety of vocabulary strategies in order to enhance their development