Digital Commons Network^™

Lsdis: Large Scale Distributed Information Systems Lab, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

The LSDIS (Large Scale Distributed Information Systems) lab was established in 1994 with the guidance and direction provided by Dr. Amit P. Sheth with the help of Dr. John A. Miller and Dr. Krzysztof J. Kochut. In 1998 this faculty group was further strengthened by the addition of Dr. Ismailcem B. Arpinar. LSDIS is the largest research group in Computer Science at UGA and one of the strongest in its area. During Fall 2004, it is funding 15 students (majority of them PhD), and has one research staff.

Over the years LSDIS has been actively involved in research projects in …

From Guts To God: Credulity, Postmodernism, And Contemporary Physics, Michael Hardin

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[Editors' Introduction]

In an attempt to remove one of the major misunderstandings made by individuals in the humanities about contemporary physics, the issue of incredulity, this essay examines Lyotard's The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge against contemporary and twentieth-century theories and discoveries in physics. One of the best arguments against incredulity is the frequent use of god as metaphor within physics. In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont, two physicists, argue that the use of metaphor is one of the characteristics of postmodern science; this essay concludes with a discussion of those elements …

Of Parts And Wholes: Self-Similarity And Synecdoche In Science, Culture And Literature, Dirk Vanderbeke

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[Editors' Introduction]

The discussion here centers on how self-similarity, or parts resembling a whole, has been a recurring aspect in the most diverse fields of human thinking from antiquity to the present. Primary examples are drawn from physics, biology, cybernetics, alchemy, philosophy, myth and, of course, language and literature. The author argues that self-similar patterns are one of the persistent ways in which the human mind structures its experience and knowledge of the world, and then examines some of the questions that arise when an almost ubiquitous concept, structure or linguistic and literary phenomenon resurfaces in a new guise in …

Improving Transliteration With Precise Alignment Of Phoneme Chunks And Using Contextual Features, Wei Gao, Kam-Fai Wong, Wai Lam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Automatic transliteration of foreign names is basically regarded as a diminutive clone of the machine translation (MT) problem. It thus follows IBM’s conventional MT models under the sourcechannel framework. Nonetheless, some parameters of this model dealing with zero-fertility words in the target sequences, can negatively impact transliteration effectiveness because of the inevitable inverted conditional probability estimation. Instead of source-channel, this paper presents a direct probabilistic transliteration model using contextual features of phonemes with a tailored alignment scheme for phoneme chunks. Experiments demonstrate superior performance over the source-channel for the task of English-Chinese transliteration.

Default Reasoning Over Domains And Concept Hierarchies, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

W.C. Rounds and G.-Q. Zhang have proposed to study a form of disjunctive logic programming generalized to algebraic domains [1]. This system allows reasoning with information which is hierarchically structured and forms a (suitable) domain. We extend this framework to include reasoning with default negation, giving rise to a new nonmonotonic reasoning framework on hierarchical knowledge which encompasses answer set programming with extended disjunctive logic programs. We also show that the hierarchically structured knowledge on which programming in this paradigm can be done, arises very naturally from formal concept analysis. Together, we obtain a default reasoning paradigm for conceptual …

A Spectroscopy Of Texts For Effective Clustering, Wenyuan Li, Wee-Keong Ng, Kok-Leong Ong, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

For many clustering algorithms, such as k-means, EM, and CLOPE, there is usually a requirement to set some parameters. Often, these parameters directly or indirectly control the number of clusters to return. In the presence of different data characteristics and analysis contexts, it is often difficult for the user to estimate the number of clusters in the data set. This is especially true in text collections such as Web documents, images or biological data. The fundamental question this paper addresses is: ldquoHow can we effectively estimate the natural number of clusters in a given text collection?rdquo. We propose to use …

Building A Model Of Campus Diversity: An Organization-As-The-Individual Based Approach, Ian Spencer Ray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diversity is a vital concept when engaging with modern social science research and among higher education practitioners. Despite the pervasive discourse surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, quantification of diversity remains a challenge across the social sciences. This study proposes a new conceptual framework, applies the framework to the quantification of diversity and measurement of its impacts. Further, this study demonstrates the robustness of the new conceptual framework alongside the positive impacts of diversity on institutional outcomes.

The Organization-As-The-Individual (OATI) framework arises from an integration of the social and biological sciences. The framework argues that humans, as biological organisms, …

Some Statistical Contributions To The Analysis Of Human Genome Diversity And Evolution., Analabha Basu Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The work embodied in this thesis pertains to human population genetics. In particular, the overarching goals of this thesis are to contribute to the understanding of genomic diversity of human populations and to the development of statistical methods for making inferences in genome diversity studies. With these two goals in mind, we have carried out a detailed statistical analysis of genomic data on a large number of ethnic populations of India, generated in the laboratory of the Anthropology & Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Additionally, wherever relevant, we have compared our data with those collated from the published …

Instructing Teachers Of Children With Disabilities Within The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Katie E. Sampson

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates benefits of in-service training on LDS primary teachers' ability to state an objective, obtain and keep attention, use wait time, incorporate active participation, teach to the multiple intelligences, and employ positive behavior management techniques. Two groups of 30 viewed either a video-tape or read a handout. Pre and post surveys were used to determine mean gain.
Using an ANCOVA, comparisons were made of overall mean gain for each group. Results showed participants made a gain of approximately 1/2 point per question on a 4-point scale on the video and the handout (video gain = .6032 p<.01; handout gain = .6264 p<.01). The results of this study support the hypothesis that teachers receiving one in-service will increase their perception of their ability to teach students with special needs.

Grouping Search-Engine Returned Citations For Person-Name Queries, Reema Al-Kamha

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we present a technique to group search-engine returned citations for person-name queries, such that the search-engine returned citations in each group belong to the same person. To group the returned citations we use a multi-faceted approach that considers evidence from three facets: (1) attributes, (2) links, and (3) page similarity. For each facet we generate a confidence matrix. Then we construct a final confidence matrix for all facets. Using a threshold, we apply a grouping algorithm on the final confidence matrix. The output is a group of search-engine returned citations, such that the citations in each group …

Task-Focused Summarization Of Email, Eric K. Ringger, Richard Campbell, Simon Corston-Oliver, Michael Gamon

Faculty Publications

We describe SmartMail, a prototype system for automatically identifying action items (tasks) in email messages. SmartMail presents the user with a task-focused summary of a message. The summary consists of a list of action items extracted from the message. The user can add these action items to their “to do” list.

Probing The Posthuman: Richard Powers' Galatea 2.2 And The Mind-Body Problem, Miranda Campbell

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[Editors' Introduction]

In this paper, Miranda Campbell discusses Richard Powers' novel Galatea 2.2 and argues that this work is situated at the intersection of the posthumanist and humanist discourses. Campbell examines Powers' approach to the mind-body problem, his interrogation of the limits and limitations of posthumanism, and its dissolution of the importance of the body, difference, and agency. In the posthuman setting of the Center for Advanced Science of this novel, scientists integrate the mind into the body through its designation as a mechanically functioning brain. At the Center, the binary of human and machine begins to erode with the …

Animal Model Research: The Apples And Oranges Quandary, Kenneth J. Shapiro

Experimentation Collection

In this paper, I explore the premises underlying the problem of the evaluation of animal models. I argue that the presence of similarities and differences between the model and the modelled, although historically and currently a dominant antinomy framing evaluation, is not a bottom-line consideration. What is critical is 1) whether we learn and 2) whether we improve treatment through the animal model research. Similarity between model and modelled and the closely related concept of validity are not coterminus with these critical evaluative measures. In fact, differences between the model and modelled also can provide impetus to new understanding and …

An Approximate Search Engine For Structure, Huiyuan Shan

Dissertations

As the size of structural databases grows, the need for efficiently searching these databases arises. Thanks to previous and ongoing research, searching by attribute-value and by text has become commonplace in these databases. However, searching by topological or physical structure, especially for large databases and especially for approximate matches, is still an art.

In this dissertation, efficient search techniques are presented for retrieving trees from a database that are similar to a given query tree. Rooted ordered labeled trees, rooted unordered labeled trees and free trees are considered. Ordered labeled trees are trees in which each node has a label …

Statistical Pronouncements Iii, Jmasm Editors

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

No abstract provided.

Synchronizing Keyframe Facial Animation To Multiple Text-To-Speech Engines And Natural Voice With Fast Response Time, William H. Pechter

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This thesis aims to create an automated lip-synchronization system for real-time applications. Specifically, the system is required to be fast, consist of a limited number of keyframes with small memory requirements, and create fluid and believable animations that synchronize with text-to-speech engines as well as raw voice data. The algorithms utilize traditional keyframe animation and a novel method of keyframe selection. Additionally, phoneme-to-keyframe mapping, synchronization, and simple blending rules are employed. The algorithms provide blending between keyframe images, borrow information from neighboring phonemes, accentuate phonemes b, p and m, differentiate between keyframes for phonemes with allophonic variations, and provide prosodromic …

Enhancing Expressiveness Of Speech Through Animated Avatars For Instant Messaging And Mobile Phones, Joseph E. Pechter

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This thesis aims to create a chat program that allows users to communicate via an animated avatar that provides believable lip-synchronization and expressive emotion. Currently many avatars do not attempt to do lip-synchronization. Those that do are not well synchronized and have little or no emotional expression. Most avatars with lip synch use realistic looking 3D models or stylized rendering of complex models. This work utilizes images rendered in a cartoon style and lip-synchronization rules based on traditional animation. The cartoon style, as opposed to a more realistic look, makes the mouth motion more believable and the characters more appealing. …

Meteor-S Web Service Annotation Framework, Abhijit A. Patil, Swapna A. Oundhakar, Amit P. Sheth, Kunal Verma

Kno.e.sis Publications

The World Wide Web is emerging not only as an infrastructure for data, but also for a broader variety of resources that are increasingly being made available as Web services. Relevant current standards like UDDI, WSDL, and SOAP are in their fledgling years and form the basis of making Web services a workable and broadly adopted technology. However, realizing the fuller scope of the promise of Web services and associated service oriented architecture will requite further technological advances in the areas of service interoperation, service discovery, service composition, and process orchestration. Semantics, especially as supported by the use of ontologies, …

Statistical Pronouncements Iii, Shlomo S. Sawilowsky

Theoretical and Behavioral Foundations of Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

2004 - The Ninth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Ninth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 16, 2004. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Sally Ride Lecture At Uni March 25, 2004, University Of Northern Iowa.

Joy Cole Corning Distinguished Leadership Lecture Series

Sally Ride is an American Astronaut and physicist. She joined NASA in 1978 and in 1983 became the first American women and the third woman to fly in space.

Automated Agent Ontology Creation For Distributed Databases, Austin A. Bartolo

Theses and Dissertations

In distributed database environments, the combination of resources from multiple sources requiring different interfaces is a universal problem. The current solution requires an expert to generate an ontology, or mapping, which contains all interconnections between the various fields in the databases. This research proposes the application of software agents in automating the ontology creation for distributed database environments with minimal communication. The automatic creation of a domain ontology alleviates the need for experts to manually map one database to other databases in the environment. Using several combined comparison methods, these agents communicate and negotiate similarities between information sources and retain …

Phoneme-Based Transliteration Of Foreign Names For Oov Problem, Wei Gao, Kam-Fai Wong, Wai Lam

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A proper noun dictionary is never complete rendering name translation from English to Chinese ineffective. One way to solve this problem is not to rely on a dictionary alone but to adopt automatic translation according to pronunciation similarities, i.e. to map phonemes comprising an English name to the phonetic representations of the corresponding Chinese name. This process is called transliteration. We present a statistical transliteration method. An efficient algorithm for aligning phoneme chunks is described. Unlike rule-based approaches, our method is data-driven. Compared to source-channel based statistical approaches, we adopt a direct transliteration model, i.e. the direction of probabilistic estimation …

Natural Xml For Data Binding, Processing, And Persistence, George K. Thiruvathukal, Konstantin Läufer

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The article explains what you need to do to incorporate XML directly into your computational science application. The exploration involves the use of a standard parser to automatically build object trees entirely from application-specific classes. This discussion very much focuses on object-oriented programming languages such as Java and Python, but it can work for non-object-oriented languages as well. The ideas in the article provide a glimpse into the Natural XML research project.

Intelligent Query Answering Through Rule Learning And Generalization, James M. Carsten

Theses and Dissertations

The Department of Defense (DoD) relies heavily on information systems to complete a myriad of tasks, from day-to-day personnel actions to mission critical imagery retrieval, intelligence analysis, and mission planning. The astronomical growth in size and performance of data storage systems leads to problems in processing the amount of data returned on any given query. Typical relational database systems return a set of unordered records. This approach is acceptable in small information systems, but in large systems, such as military image retrieval systems with more than 1 million records, it requires considerable time (often hours to days) to sort through …

Private Lands Conservation In Papua New Guinea, Sonja Klopf, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Books, Reports, and Studies

35 p. ; 28 cm

Using Symbolic Knowledge In The Umls To Disambiguate Words In Small Datasets With A Naive Bayes Classifier, Gondy Leroy, Thomas C. Rindflesch

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Current approaches to word sense disambiguation use and combine various machine-learning techniques. Most refer to characteristics of the ambiguous word and surrounding words and are based on hundreds of examples. Unfortunately, developing large training sets is time-consuming. We investigate the use of symbolic knowledge to augment machine-learning techniques for small datasets. UMLS semantic types assigned to concepts found in the sentence and relationships between these semantic types form the knowledge base. A naïve Bayes classifier was trained for 15 words with 100 examples for each. The most frequent sense of a word served as the baseline. The effect of increasingly …

Is Mathematics Education Taking A Step Backward?, Frances Kuwahara Chinn

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

This paper considers the recent history of mathematics teaching.

Humanistic Mathematics: Personal Evaluation And Excavations, Stephen I. Brown

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploiting Syntactic, Semantic And Lexical Regularities In Language Modeling Via Directed Markov Random Fields, Shaojun Wang, Shaomin Wang, Russell Greiner, Dale Schuurmans, Li Cheng

Kno.e.sis Publications

No abstract provided.