The Verbmobil semantic formalism (Version 1.3)

This report describes the semantic formalism developed at Saarbrücken University as part of the Verbmobil project. The formalism is based upon DRT with additional functionality to meet the requirements on semantic construction arising from spoken dialogue translation. We define the syntax of the formalism and illustrate the semantic composition process in detail

A compositional DRS-based formalism for NLP applications

This paper describes and discusses the formalism which forms the backbone of semantic processing in the Verbmobil spoken dialogue translation project. In the first part, the theoretical core of the formalism is presented: lambda-DRT, a compositional version of Discourse Representation Theory. The main part describes the implementation of lambda-DRT, as a worked out semantic representation language for the Verbmobil project, which is designed to meet the special requirements of the application. Finally, we discuss future extensions and modications of the formalism

Myoclonus in comatose patients with electrographic status epilepticus after cardiac arrest:Corresponding EEG patterns, effects of treatment and outcomes

Objective: To clarify the significance of any form of myoclonus in comatose patients after cardiac arrest with rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns (RPPs) by analyzing associations between myoclonus and EEG pattern, response to anti-seizure medication and neurological outcome. Design: Post hoc analysis of the prospective randomized Treatment of ELectroencephalographic STatus Epilepticus After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (TELSTAR) trial. Setting: Eleven ICUs in the Netherlands and Belgium. Patients: One hundred and fifty-seven adult comatose post-cardiac arrest patients with RPPs on continuous EEG monitoring. Interventions: Anti-seizure medication vs no anti-seizure medication in addition to standard care. Measurements and Main Results: Of 157 patients, 98 (63%) had myoclonus at inclusion. Myoclonus was not associated with one specific RPP type. However, myoclonus was associated with a smaller probability of a continuous EEG background pattern (48% in patients with vs 75% without myoclonus, odds ratio (OR) 0.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16–0.64) and earlier onset of RPPs (24% vs 9% within 24 hours after cardiac arrest, OR 3.86;95% CI 1.64–9.11). Myoclonus was associated with poor outcome at three months, but not invariably so (poor neurological outcome in 96% vs 82%, p = 0.004). Anti-seizure medication did not improve outcome, regardless of myoclonus presence (6% good outcome in the intervention group vs 2% in the control group, OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.03–3.32). Conclusions: Myoclonus in comatose patients after cardiac arrest with RPPs is associated with poor outcome and discontinuous or suppressed EEG. However, presence of myoclonus does not interact with the effects of anti-seizure medication and cannot predict a poor outcome without false positives.</p

The Verbmobil Syntax Semantics Interface - Version 1.2

This memo offers a working definition of the interface between the syntactic and semantic components of the Verbmobil demonstrator system. A subsequent version of the memo will address the outstanding issues sketched in Section 8. The syntactic component provides a HPSG-style representation of user utterances, derived from the speech recognition component. The semantic component builds a semantic representation from this syntactic representation. The syntactic component is realized by two systems: a system developed by Siemens and based on TUG (Trace and Unification Grammar) (Block and Schachtl, 1991); and one developed by IBM and based upon HPSG (Pollard and Sag, 1987; Pollard and Sag, 1994). The semantic construction component builds representations based upon a DRS-based semantic formalism (Bos et al., 1994). The purpose of the interface is to specify the information flow between these components: i.e. what common syntactic information is available to (and necessary for) the semantic component, and what semantic information is available to the syntactic component. The interface also addresses the syntax requirements arising from other components (such as transfer, dialogue and semantic evaluation). The memo is structured as follows. In Section 2, we give our motivation for a syntax semantic interface. In Section 3 we describe the structure and content of the daughters feature (dtrs) in a HPSG-style sign, and the set of macros which access syntactic information. In Section 4 a macro for accessing semantic information is defined and its use in constraining the syntactic analysis of date and time expressions is outlined. In Section 5 we describe the structure and content of lexical entries. Section 6 describes the analysis of specific phenomena; verb position, the treat..

The Verbmobil Semantic Formalism (Version 1.3)

This report describes the semantic formalism developed at Saarbrucken University as part of the Verbmobil project. The formalism is based upon DRT with additional functionality to meet the requirements on semantic construction arising from spoken dialogue translation. We define the syntax of the formalism and illustrate the semantic composition process in detail. Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Requirements on a Semantic Formalism 3 2.1 Methodological Principles : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 3 2.2 Specific requirements : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 4 3 Syntax of the Formalism 8 3.1 Definitions : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 8 3.2 General Comments : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 10 3.3 Specific Comments : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : 11 3.4 Comments on Notation : : : : : : : : : : : ..

Myoclonus in comatose patients with electrographic status epilepticus after cardiac arrest: Corresponding EEG patterns, effects of treatment and outcomes

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the significance of any form of myoclonus in comatose patients after cardiac arrest with rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns (RPPs) by analyzing associations between myoclonus and EEG pattern, response to anti-seizure medication and neurological outcome. DESIGN: Post hoc analysis of the prospective randomized Treatment of ELectroencephalographic STatus Epilepticus After Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (TELSTAR) trial. SETTING: Eleven ICUs in the Netherlands and Belgium. PATIENTS: One hundred and fifty-seven adult comatose post-cardiac arrest patients with RPPs on continuous EEG monitoring. INTERVENTIONS: Anti-seizure medication vs no anti-seizure medication in addition to standard care. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 157 patients, 98 (63%) had myoclonus at inclusion. Myoclonus was not associated with one specific RPP type. However, myoclonus was associated with a smaller probability of a continuous EEG background pattern (48% in patients with vs 75% without myoclonus, odds ratio (OR) 0.31; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.16-0.64) and earlier onset of RPPs (24% vs 9% within 24 hours after cardiac arrest, OR 3.86;95% CI 1.64-9.11). Myoclonus was associated with poor outcome at three months, but not invariably so (poor neurological outcome in 96% vs 82%, p = 0.004). Anti-seizure medication did not improve outcome, regardless of myoclonus presence (6% good outcome in the intervention group vs 2% in the control group, OR 0.33; 95% CI 0.03-3.32). CONCLUSIONS: Myoclonus in comatose patients after cardiac arrest with RPPs is associated with poor outcome and discontinuous or suppressed EEG. However, presence of myoclonus does not interact with the effects of anti-seizure medication and cannot predict a poor outcome without false positives

Treating Rhythmic and Periodic EEG Patterns in Comatose Survivors of Cardiac Arrest

BACKGROUND: Whether the treatment of rhythmic and periodic electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest improves outcomes is uncertain. METHODS: We conducted an open-label trial of suppressing rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns detected on continuous EEG monitoring in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to a stepwise strategy of antiseizure medications to suppress this activity for at least 48 consecutive hours plus standard care (antiseizure-treatment group) or to standard care alone (control group); standard care included targeted temperature management in both groups. The primary outcome was neurologic outcome according to the score on the Cerebral Performance Category (CPC) scale at 3 months, dichotomized as a good outcome (CPC score indicating no, mild, or moderate disability) or a poor outcome (CPC score indicating severe disability, coma, or death). Secondary outcomes were mortality, length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), and duration of mechanical ventilation. RESULTS: We enrolled 172 patients, with 88 assigned to the antiseizure-treatment group and 84 to the control group. Rhythmic or periodic EEG activity was detected a median of 35 hours after cardiac arrest; 98 of 157 patients (62%) with available data had myoclonus. Complete suppression of rhythmic and periodic EEG activity for 48 consecutive hours occurred in 49 of 88 patients (56%) in the antiseizure-treatment group and in 2 of 83 patients (2%) in the control group. At 3 months, 79 of 88 patients (90%) in the antiseizure-treatment group and 77 of 84 patients (92%) in the control group had a poor outcome (difference, 2 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, -7 to 11; P = 0.68). Mortality at 3 months was 80% in the antiseizure-treatment group and 82% in the control group. The mean length of stay in the ICU and mean duration of mechanical ventilation were slightly longer in the antiseizure-treatment group than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: In comatose survivors of cardiac arrest, the incidence of a poor neurologic outcome at 3 months did not differ significantly between a strategy of suppressing rhythmic and periodic EEG activity with the use of antiseizure medication for at least 48 hours plus standard care and standard care alone. (Funded by the Dutch Epilepsy Foundation; TELSTAR ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02056236.)