A semantic account of the stative adverb gap

It is argued that there is a surprising gap in the distribution of adverbial modifiers, namely that there are (practically) no adverbs that modify exclusively stative verbs. Given the general range of selectional restrictions associated with adverb/verb modification, this comes as a surprise. It is argued that this gap cannot be the result of standard selectional restrictions. An independently motivated account of the state-event verb contrast, in which state verbs are proposed to lack Davidsonian arguments is presented and argued to account for this stative adverb gap. Some apparent and real problems with the analysis are discussed

Standoff Detection via Single-Beam Spectral Notch Filtered Pulses

We demonstrate single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS), for detecting and identifying traces of solids, including minute amounts of explosives, from a standoff distance (>50 m) using intense femtosecond pulses. Until now, single-beam CARS methods relied on pulse-shapers in order to obtain vibrational spectra. Here we present a simple and easy-to-implement detection scheme, using a commercially available notch filter, that does not require the use of a pulse-shaper.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

05151 Abstracts Collection -- Annotating, Extracting and Reasoning about Time and Events

From 10.04.05 to 15.04.05, the Dagstuhl Seminar 05151 ``Annotating, Extracting and Reasoning about Time and Events\u27\u27 was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available

05151 Summary -- Annotating, Extracting and Reasoning about Time and Events

The main focus of the seminar was on TimeML-based temporal annotation and reasoning. We were concerned with three main points: determining how effectively one can use the TimeML language for consistent annotation, determining how useful such annotation is for further processing, and determining what modifications should be applied to the standard to improve its usefulness in applications such as question-answering and information retrieval

NASA Pilot-Engaged Expert Response Using IBM Watson Technology: Prototype Evaluation of Knowledge Retrieval System

NASA Langley Research Center and IBM have been investigating the use of IBM Watson technology in aerospace research and development. One application of Watson technology is the Pilot-Engaged Expert Response (PEER) use case. The PEER system is envisioned as an in-cockpit advisor that will act as a source of situationally-relevant information for pilots and other flight crew members to assist in decision making about real-time events and situations that arise in the course of aircraft operations. PEER will make available vast stores of knowledge and information quickly and directly, putting important informational resources where they are needed most. IBM has worked with NASA to develop an architecture and articulate a roadmap for the development of the PEER system. That vision is built around Watson Discovery Advisor (WDA) software solution, derived from IBM's Jeopardy!-winning automatic question answering system. PEER makes use of WDA's sophisticated question-answering capabilities as its core, adding important User Interface components and other customizations for the cockpit environment, including communication with flight systems and other external data sources. The development plan for PEER includes four development stages, with the current project constituting the first phase. In this project, a prototype instance of PEER was successfully adapted to the aviation domain, enabling users to ask questions about aviation topics and receive useful and accurate answers to these questions. Major tasks accomplished include the development of procedures for domain adaptation through automatic lexicon extraction from domain glossaries; generation of question-answer training data which was used to train the system; and assessment of the effectiveness of domain adaptation, which showed a dramatic improvement in the ability of the PEER system to answer domain-relevant questions. In addition, the vision for the PEER system was pushed forward by the articulation of a plan for the automatic enhancement of question-answering with contextual information. This initial phase focused on two main goals: 1) the targeted domain adaptation of the underlying WDA system to the aviation domain; and, 2) the design of the software systems needed to leverage flight-contextual data. Domain adaptation of the WDA system proceeds via three main activities: Domain data ingestion, lexical customization and model training. A textual corpus consisting of 1,147 individual documents with more than 7.5 million words of text was ingested into the system and this served as the basis of all further development. A domain lexicon of over 3,500 aviation-domain terms was semi-automatically generated from domain documents and used to train the system. In addition, a set of over 500 question-answer (QA) pairs relevant to the PEER use case was developed; these were used to train and assess the system. These important first steps established the basis for the PEER system. In addition, steps were taken towards the integration of the PEER system into the cockpit environment with the development of a functional design for the Contextual Data Augmentation (CDA) subsystem. This subsystem brings to bear contextual data to improve system responses. It has three main submodules: the Contextual Data Collection module, the Contextual Data Selection module, and the Contextual QA Augmentation module. These modules form a processing pipeline that addresses the problems associated with automatically integrating information from external resources into the knowledge-retrieval mechanism

A Modal Account of the English Present Perfect Puzzle

No abstract

Extending semantic long-term knowledge on the basis of episodic short-term knowledge

Voss I, Wachsmuth I. Extending semantic long-term knowledge on the basis of episodic short-term knowledge. In: Schmalhofer F, Young RM, Katz G, eds. Proceedings of the EuroCogSci03. Mahwah, NJ, USA: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2003: 445-445

Grist: Grid-based Data Mining for Astronomy

The Grist project is developing a grid-technology based system as a research environment for astronomy with massive and complex datasets. This knowledge extraction system will consist of a library of distributed grid services controlled by a work ow system, compliant with standards emerging from the grid computing, web services, and virtual observatory communities. This new technology is being used to find high redshift quasars, study peculiar variable objects, search for transients in real time, and fit SDSS QSO spectra to measure black hole masses. Grist services are also a component of the "hyperatlas" project to serve high-resolution multi-wavelength imagery over the Internet. In support of these science and outreach objectives, the Grist framework will provide the enabling fabric to tie together distributed grid services in the areas of data access, federation, mining, subsetting, source extraction, image mosaicking, statistics, and visualization

A Comparison of Exergaming Interfaces for Use in Rehabilitation Programs and Research

Exergames or active video games are video games with interfaces that require active involvement and the exertion of physical force by participants. These exergames are designed to track body motion and provide both fun and exercise for game players. Numerous video game console companies have designed exergaming interfaces that are becoming very popular. This paper examines the nature of the interfaces and explores the possibility of using these interfaces for rehabilitation programs and research. While many systems exist, this paper will focus on three major players: Sony PlayStation Move, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect. Comparisons include the technical specifications, the motion sensed by each interface, and the motion required in each therapeutic activity type. Discussion addresses the research implications of using these tools