A generic template for the evaluation of dialogue management systems

We present a generic template for spoken dialogue systems integrating speech recognition and synthesis with 'higher-level' natural language dialogue modelling components. The generic model is abstracted from a number of real application systems targetted at very different domains. Our research aim in developing this generic template is to investigate a new approach to the evaluation of Dialogue Management Systems. Rather than attempting to measure accuracy/speed of output, we propose principles for the evaluation of the underlying theoretical linguistic model of Dialogue Management in a given system, in terms of how well it fits our generic template for Dialogue Management Systems. This is a measure of 'genericness' or 'application-independence' of a given system, which can be used to moderate accuracy/speed scores in comparisons of very unlike DMSs serving different domains. This relates to (but is orthogonal to) Dialogue Management Systems evaluation in terms of naturalness and like measurable metrics (eg. Dybkjaer et al 1995, Vilnat 1996, EAGLES 1994, Fraser 1995); it follows more closely emerging qualitative evaluation techniques for NL grammatical parsing schemes (Leech et al 1996, Atwell 1996)

Developing a corpus-based grammar model within a continuous commercial speech recognition package

This paper is derived from experiments with a commercial ’off-the-shelf’ continuous speech recognition system, applied to the apparently restricted domain of Air Traffic Control (ATC) for light aircraft. The system is required to transcribe key sub-phrases in a transmission by the ATC to a particular aircraft, the commercial speech recognition system providing the main recognition component. After the development of a corpus of transmissions, it was realised that key information is often interspersed with unconstrained English. Initial attempts focused on using a wildcard mechanism for the non-key sub- phrases. The mechanism, however, proved to be valuable only in simplistic grammars due to its overgenerative nature. The speech recognition system showed us that whilst useful mechanisms are provided, such as the wildcard mechanism, they tend to make over-simplistic assumptions about English grammar and dialogue structure

The 2015-2017 excavations at Chalcolithic site of Chlorakas-Palloures on Cyprus

From 2015 to 2017 the first three excavation seasons took place at Chlorakas-Palloures, a Chalcolithic site in western Cyprus. Here we present the site stratigraphy, and the structures and burials, excavated at the site. We also introduce the ground stone, figurines and chipped stone found during these first seasons. We also introduce the ground stone, figurines, and chipped stone found during these first seasons. We discuss the raw materials used, the formal and informal tool types, and the context in which these objects were found, as well as how they fit into the broader knowledge of the period. Finally we present the faunal evidence. The aim is to provide colleagues with a first assessment of our results rather than a final report. Not all our assemblages have been fully processed, and inevitably our interpretations of the site and its assemblages will change in future seasons, as we excavate additional trenches and analyse further assemblages. Nonetheless we feel that our data are providing a siginificant addition to our knowledge of Chalcolithic Cyprus that should therefore be published in this interim report.Archaeology of the Near East and the Mediterranea

How do valence and meaning interact? The contribution of semantic control

The hub‐and‐spoke model of semantic cognition proposes that conceptual representations in a heteromodal ‘hub’ interact with and emerge from modality‐specific features or ‘spokes’, including valence (whether a concept is positive or negative), along with visual and auditory features. As a result, valence congruency might facilitate our ability to link words conceptually. Semantic relatedness may similarly affect explicit judgements about valence. Moreover, conflict between meaning and valence may recruit semantic control processes. Here we tested these predictions using two‐alternative forced‐choice tasks, in which participants matched a probe word to one of two possible target words, based on either global meaning or valence. Experiment 1 examined timed responses in healthy young adults, while Experiment 2 examined decision accuracy in semantic aphasia patients with impaired controlled semantic retrieval following left hemisphere stroke. Across both experiments, semantically related targets facilitated valence matching, while related distractors impaired performance. Valence congruency was also found to facilitate semantic decision‐making. People with semantic aphasia showed impaired valence matching and had particular difficulty when semantically related distractors were presented, suggesting that the selective retrieval of valence information relies on semantic control processes. Taken together, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that automatic access to the global meaning of written words affects the processing of valence, and that the valence of words is also retrieved even when this feature is task‐irrelevant, affecting the efficiency of global semantic judgements

Excavations at Chlorakas-Palloures, New Light on Chalcolithic Cyprus

Archaeology of the Near Eas

The ISLE corpus of non-native spoken English

For the purpose of developing pronunciation training tools for second language learning a corpus of non-native speech data has been collected, which consists of almost 18 hours of annotated speech signals spoken by Italian and German learners of English. The corpus is based on 250 utterances selected from typical second language learning exercises. It has been annotated at the word and the phone level, to highlight pronunciation errors such as phone realisation problems and misplaced word stress assignments. The data has been used to develop and evaluate several diagnostic components, which can be used to produce corrective feedback of unprecedented detail to a language learner