Query-based extracting: how to support the answer?

Human-made query-based summaries commonly contain information not explicitly asked for. They answer the user query, but also provide supporting information. In order to find this information in the source text, a graph is used to model the strength and type of relations between sentences of the query and document cluster, based on various features. The resulting extracts rank second in overall readability in the DUC 2006 evaluation. Employment of better question answering methods is the key to improve also content-based evaluation results

Dark Matter in Galaxies: Observational overview

I review the observational side of the present state of the debate about the dark matter in galaxies, with emphasis on the core/cusp problem in low surface brightness galaxies, and the question of maximum / sub-maximum disks in spiral galaxies. Some remarks are made about the dwarf spheroidals around the Milky Way, and about elliptical galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, includes style file, invited review at IAU Symposium 220, eds. S. Ryder, D.J. Pisano, M. Walker & K.C. Freeman, has 2 page appendix with historical note

Query-Based Summarization using Rhetorical Structure Theory

Research on Question Answering is focused mainly on classifying the question type and finding the answer. Presenting the answer in a way that suits the user’s needs has received little attention. This paper shows how existing question answering systems—which aim at finding precise answers to questions—can be improved by exploiting summarization techniques to extract more than just the answer from the document in which the answer resides. This is done using a graph search algorithm which searches for relevant sentences in the discourse structure, which is represented as a graph. The Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) is used to create a graph representation of a text document. The output is an extensive answer, which not only answers the question, but also gives the user an opportunity to assess the accuracy of the answer (is this what I am looking for?), and to find additional information that is related to the question, and which may satisfy an information need. This has been implemented in a working multimodal question answering system where it operates with two independently developed question answering modules

Subsurface melting of nylon by friction-induced vibrations

Dry sliding of nylon on steel may lead to subsurface recrystallization of the polymer. This phenomenon is described and explained by subsurface melting due to internal heating as a result of the dissipation of frictioninduced vibrations at frequencies above 10 kHz. A vibration model relating the distribution of stress and temperature is proposed. Calculations based on this model show reasonable agreement with experimental observations