Combining Expression and Content in Domains for Dialog Managers

We present work in progress on abstracting dialog managers from their domain in order to implement a dialog manager development tool which takes (among other data) a domain description as input and delivers a new dialog manager for the described domain as output. Thereby we will focus on two topics; firstly, the construction of domain descriptions with description logics and secondly, the interpretation of utterances in a given domain.Comment: 5 pages, uses conference.st

Detection of Offensive Tweets: A Comparative Study

With the growing popularity, Twitter has become a major platform for posting views via tweets. Tweets contain useful, relevant and offensive content as well. More than a decade of research has resulted in numerous techniques and models to detect offensive content. However, little is known about lexically offensive and contextual offensive content. In this research paper, lexical offensive contents have been identified using two techniques- Rule-Based Naive Bayes (RNB) and a collaborative model of LDA with Naïve Bayes (LDANB). LDANB provides better results as compared to RNB for lexical offensive tweet detection. Further, contextually offensive contents are detected using newly devised Adjective Based approach. Contextual offensive content results prove to be better with Adjective based approach than Cosine similarity based results. To validate results of applied offensive tweet detection techniques three performance metrics- precision, Accuracy and recall are used

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

TLAD 2010 Proceedings:8th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the eighth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2010), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2010 - the 27th International Information Systems Conference. TLAD 2010 is held on the 28th June at the beautiful Dudhope Castle at the Abertay University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.This year, the workshop includes an invited talk given by Richard Cooper (of the University of Glasgow) who will present a discussion and some results from the Database Disciplinary Commons which was held in the UK over the academic year. Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will also present seven peer reviewed papers, and six refereed poster papers. Of the seven presented papers, three will be presented as full papers and four as short papers. These papers and posters cover a number of themes, including: approaches to teaching databases, e.g. group centered and problem based learning; use of novel case studies, e.g. forensics and XML data; techniques and approaches for improving teaching and student learning processes; assessment techniques, e.g. peer review; methods for improving students abilities to develop database queries and develop E-R diagrams; and e-learning platforms for supporting teaching and learning

An overview of computer-based natural language processing

Computer based Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the key to enabling humans and their computer based creations to interact with machines in natural language (like English, Japanese, German, etc., in contrast to formal computer languages). The doors that such an achievement can open have made this a major research area in Artificial Intelligence and Computational Linguistics. Commercial natural language interfaces to computers have recently entered the market and future looks bright for other applications as well. This report reviews the basic approaches to such systems, the techniques utilized, applications, the state of the art of the technology, issues and research requirements, the major participants and finally, future trends and expectations. It is anticipated that this report will prove useful to engineering and research managers, potential users, and others who will be affected by this field as it unfolds

Hyperlocal Online Deliberation and Civic Governance: A Sociotechnical Perspective

This dissertation concerns the role of online deliberation in hyperlocal governance, that is the self-governance of a small geographically bounded neighbourhood or community. The research has three closely related but distinct purposes: to assess the impact of online technology in terms of the emergent character of self-governance; to describe the social and technological relations that produced the observed impact; and to suggest explanations that link those socio-technical relations with the observed governance effects. The work draws upon concepts at the intersection of theories from human-centred computing, especially those that relate to online deliberation, and from political science, where direct deliberative democracy offers an evaluative benchmark for democratic governance. This interdisciplinary theoretical framework provides the basis for a case-based analysis of empirical observations of online interactions relating to hyperlocal governance. The study describes and analyses patterns of "governance conversation" observed in interactions on local e-mail lists, and shows how they facilitate the pluralist deliberation required to manage complex local governance problems. The analysis suggests how geographic proximity presents both distinctive opportunities and constraints for online deliberation that aspires to support direct, democratic process and practice

Semiosic translation : A new theoretical framework for the implementation of pedagogically-oriented subtitling

RESUMEN: El presente artículo explora un nuevo tipo de traducción semiótica en el marco de la traducción audiovisual (TA). El estudio se nutre de varias secuencias lexicales llamadas hedging strings. El artículo sugiere que ciertas fórmulas usadas en inglés durante el proceso de construcción del discurso conversacional, pueden incluirse en cursos de inglés como lengua extrajera. El marco teórico de la propuesta parte del concepto de Traducción Semiósica, con especial énfasis en la noción de subtitulación semiósica, la cual se divide a su vez en tres tipos de esenciales de traducción: (i) Traducción metaléptica, (ii) traducción indicial, y (iii) traducción como continuidad dinámica. Dicho marco teórico busca reivindicar la relación del signo lingüístico con otros sistemas de signos.ABSTRATC: In this paper, I explore a new type of semiotic translation in the context of Audiovisual Translation Studies (AVTS). To that end, a set of formulaic sequences bestowed of pragmalinguistic value (hedging strings) is analysed. It is argued that the semiotic analysis of conversational features in English may contribute to facilitate their pedagogical exploitation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Th is analysis builds theoretically on a semiotic translational framework termed Semiosic Translation (and its subset, Semiosic Subtitling) predicated upon three types of translation: (i) Metaleptic translation; (ii) indexical translation; and (iii) translation as dynamic discontinuity. Th e translational rationale thus arrived at is deemed to account for what it is that binds together linguistic signs with other sign systems

Vagueness in mathematics talk

The Cockcroft Report claimed that "mathematics provides a means of communication which is powerful, concise and unambiguous". Such precision in language may be a conventional aim of mathematics, particularly when communicated in writing. Nonetheless, as this thesis demonstrates, vagueness is commonplace when people talk about mathematics. In this thesis, I examine the circumstances in which vagueness arises in mathematics talk, and consider the practical purposes which speakers achieve by means of vague utterances in this context. The empirical database, which is considered in Chapters 4 to 7, consists almost entirely of transcripts of mathematical conversations between adult interviewers (including myself) and one or two children. The data were collected from clinical interviews focused on a small number of tasks, and from fragments of teaching. For the most part, the pupils involved in the study were aged between 9 and 12, although the age-range in Chapter 7 extends from 4 to 25. I draw on a number of approaches to discourse associated with 'pragmatics' -a field of linguistics - to analyse the motives and communicative effectiveness of speakers who deploy vagueness in mathematics talk. I claim that, for these speakers, vagueness fulfills a number of purposes, especially 'shielding', i. e. self-protection against accusation of being wrong. Another purpose is to give approximate information; sometimes to achieve shielding, but also to provide the level of detail that is deemed to be appropriate in a given situation. A different purpose, associated with a particular form of vagueness (of reference), is to compensate for lexical gaps in pursuit of effective communication of concepts and ideas. I show, in particular, how speakers use the pronouns 'it' and 'you' in mathematics talk to communicate concepts and generalisations. Some consideration is given to the intentions of 'expert speakers of mathematics when they deploy vague language. Their purposes include some of those identified for novices. Teachers also use vagueness as a means of indirectness in addressing pupils; this strategy is associated with the redress of 'face threatening acts'. My thesis is that vagueness can be viewed and presented, not as a disabling feature of language, but as a subtle and versatile device which speakers can and do deploy to make mathematical assertions with as much precision, accuracy or as much confidence as they judge is warranted by both the content and the circumstances of their utterances. I report on the validation and generalisation of my findings by an Informal Research Group of school teachers, who transcribed and analysed their own classroom interactions using the methods I had developed

A typology of conflict resolution strategies in e-mail communication

E-mail is used extensively to share ideas, discuss issues and to collaborate in the management of projects. However, it is often considered to be a lean medium of communication, epistolary in style, and lacking in both the verbal and non-verbal cues found in face-to-face communication. These limitations can predispose the message to misunderstandings between interlocutors leading to tensions and the use of aggressive tactics. Ensuing conflicts, if badly managed, can be both destructive and costly. The main premise for this research is that conflict resolution strategies, similar to those found in interpersonal interactions, are used in e-mail communication. The purpose of this study is to identify in group projects the features inherent in the language of e-mail that show the interlocutors' use of these strategies within their written exchanges. The analysis of the data is derived from the e-mail text of three separate project teams working in European Universities. The problem of identifying these strategies is approached from the perspective of Pragmatics. The methodology used is Discourse Analysis. The study is divided into two analytical phases; the first, employs the use of Speech Acts to analyse the written utterances; the second, utilises Sillars' Typology of Conflict Resolution Strategies as a template for identifying the types of conflict used in e-mail communication. The results of this study confirm the use of three kinds of conflict resolution strategies in the e-mail; this allows a comparative analysis of the three groups to be undertaken. These findings are considered to have important implications within the field of Computer-Mediated Communication, particularly for the understanding of expressions of conflict within e-mail contexts as well as their consequences for sender/receiver interaction in project group