Writing Tools: Looking Back to Look Ahead

Research on writing tools started with the increased availability of computers in the 1970s. After a first phase addressing the needs of programmers and data scientists, research in the late 1980s started to focus on writing-specific needs. Several projects aimed at supporting writers and letting them concentrate on the creative aspects of writing by having the writing tool take care of the mundane aspects using NLP techniques. Due to technical limitations at that time the projects failed and research in this area stopped. However, today's computing power and NLP resources make the ideas from these projects technically feasible; in fact, we see projects explicitly continuing from where abandoned projects stopped, and we see new applications integrating NLP resources without making references to those old projects. To design intelligent writing assistants with the possibilities offered by today's technology, we should re-examine the goals and lessons learned from previous projects to define the important dimensions to be considered.Comment: Final version of the position paper to participate in the Second Workshop on Intelligent and Interactive Writing Assistants (colocated with the ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2023) in Hamburg

SMM: Detailed, Structured Morphological Analysis for Spanish

We present a morphological analyzer for Spanish called SMM. SMM is implemented in the grammar development framework Malaga, which is based on the formalism of Left-Associative Grammar. We briefly present the Malaga framework, describe the implementation decisions for some interesting morphological phenomena of Spanish, and report on the evaluation results from the analysis of corpora. SMM was originally only designed for analyzing word forms; in this article we outline two approaches for using SMM and the facilities provided by Malaga to also generate verbal paradigms. SMM can also be embedded into applications by making use of the Malagaprogramming interface; we briefly discuss some application scenarios

Short and Intermediate Term Outcomes of the Convergent Procedure: Initial Experience in a Tertiary Referral Center

PURPOSE: The Convergent procedure is a hybrid, multidisciplinary treatment for symptomatic atrial fibrillation (AF) consisting of minimally invasive surgical epicardial ablation and percutaneous/catheter endocardial ablation. We investigated outcomes following introduction of the Convergent procedure at our institution. METHODS: Retrospective study examining single-center outcomes. Demographic, procedural, and post-procedural variables were collected with follow-up data obtained at 3, 6, and 12 months. RESULTS: In all, 36 patients with paroxysmal (11%) or persistent/long-standing persistent (89%) AF underwent the Convergent procedure. 36% also underwent concomitant left atrial appendage (LAA) exclusion by thoracoscopic placement of an epicardial clip. Mean age 60.6 ± 8.0 years with mean arrhythmia burden of 3.9 ± 2.7 years. All patients had failed prior attempts at medical management, 81% had failed prior cardioversion, and 17% had failed prior catheter ablation. Convergent was performed successfully in all patients with no peri-procedural deaths or major complications. At 3 and 12 months, 77.8% and 77.3% of patients, respectively, were free from symptomatic arrhythmia. 65.8% were off anti-arrhythmic medication at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: The Convergent procedure is safe and has good short- and intermediate-term clinical success rates. This unique hybrid approach combines strengths of surgical and catheter ablation and should be part of any comprehensive AF treatment program

Letter, from Orange County Reporter to Clara Louise Guild, pertaining to her commencement essay

Letter from Mahlow Gore to Clara Louise Guild pertaining to the manuscript of her Rollins College commencement speech, which was submitted to the Orange County Reporter for publishing

Evolution of Strategic Levers in Insurance Claims Management: An Industry Survey

This article discusses competing strategic goals and success factors in non life insurers' claims management using new and ad hoc empirical data. We structure the study of the companies' aims along the three main conflicting goals: (1) the minimization of claims volume, (2) the optimization of internal claims processes, and (3) the maximization of customer satisfaction. We analyze the insurance industry perspective through a qualitative survey carried out in Germany and Switzerland. Findings on the current and expected importance of selected topics are derived. The results shall lead to managerial implications improving industry practice and serve as a starting point for further research. Our findings are relevant for academics and practitioners beyond the two markets surveyed in the study

Computational linguistics for word processing: opportunities and limits

In this paper the authors briefly outline editing functions which use methods from computational linguistics and take the structures of natural languages into consideration. Such functions could reduce errors and better support writers in realizing their communicative goals. However, linguistic methods have limits, and there are various aspects software developers have to take into account to avoid creating a solution looking for a problem: Language-aware functions could be powerful tools for writers, but writers must not be forced to adapt to their tools

Academic writing and publishing beyond documents

Research on writing tools stopped in the late 1980s when Microsoft Word had achieved monopoly status. However, the development of the Web and the advent of mobile devices are increasingly rendering static print-like documents obsolete. In this vision paper we reflect on the impact of this development on scholarly writing and publishing. Academic publications increasingly include dynamic elements, e.g., code, data plots, and other visualizations, which clearly requires other tools for document production than traditional word processors. When the printed page no longer is the desired final product, content and form can be addressed explicitly and separately, thus emphasizing the structure of texts rather than the structure of documents. The resulting challenges have not yet been fully addressed by document engineering

Sentence Completion Tests in a Virtual Laboratory

This paper describes a type of on-line test, the Sentence Completion Test (SCT), that tries to fill the gap between rigid MC tests and unreliable automatic essay grading approaches. We give a short overview of the main concepts, the implementation and show examplary use and applications. SCTs are used as one component in a fully operational virtual laboratory of Computational Linguistics in use at the University of Zurich