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Dynamic intimate contact social networks and epidemic interventions
This article discusses dynamic intimate contact social networks and epidemic interventions. Abstract: Sexually transmitted diseases and infections are, by definition, transferred among intimate social settings. Although the circumstances under which these social settings are established and maintained may vary, the common prerequisite remains an intimate level of social atmosphere. For this reason, the development of sexually transmitted disease mathematical and computational models must utilize dynamic and evolving social network simulation. This paper presents DynSNIC (Dynamic Social Network of Intimate Contacts), a computational simulator created to embody the intimate dynamic and evolving social networks related to the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and infections. DynSNIC's utilization by health professionals will facilitate evaluation of targeted intervention strategies and public health policies. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc132993/
The Effect of an Enhanced Channel Assignment Algorithm on an IEEE 802.11 WLAN
This article discusses the effect of an enhanced channel assignment algorithm on an IEEE 802.11 WLAN. Abstract: In this paper, a channel-assignment algorithm at the Access Points (APs) of a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) is proposed in order to maximize Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) at the user level. We start with an initial channel assignment based on minimizing the total interference between APs. Based on this assignment, we calculate the SIR for each user. Then, another channel assignment is performed based on maximizing the SIR at the users. The algorithm can be applied to any WLAN, irrespective of the users' and load distributions. Simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm is capable of significantly increasing the SIR over the WLAN, which in turn improves throughput. Finally, several scenarios were constructed using OPNET simulation tool to validate our results. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30846/
Effects of Call Arrival Rate and Mobility on Network Throughput in Multi-Cell CDMA
This presentation discusses call arrival rate and mobility. The effect of call arrival rate on the capacity of a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) cellular network is evaluated. First the inter-cell and intra-cell interferences of every cell on every other cell are calculated for a given network topology. Then the capacity region for the number of simultaneous calls in every cell is defined for specified system parameters. This region is used to evaluate the new call blocking and handoff call blocking probabilities. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc81376/
Effects of Interference on Capacity in Multi-Cell CDMA Networks
This article discusses the effects of interference on capacity in multi-cell CDMA networks. Abstract: An overwhelming number of models in the literature use average interference for calculation of capacity of a CDMA network. In this paper, we calculate the actual per-user interference and analyze the effect of user-distribution on the capacity of a CDMA network. We show that even though the capacity obtained using average interference is a good approximation to the capacity calculated using actual interference for a uniform user distributions, the deviation can be tremendously large for non-uniform user distributions. We also present an analytical model for approximating the user distributions using 2-dimensional Gaussian distributions by determining the means and the standard deviations of the distributions for every cell. This allows us to calculate the inter-cell interference and the reverse-link capacity of the network. We compare their model with simulation results and show that it is fast and accurate enough to be used efficiently in the planning process of large CDMA networks. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30826/
Efficient Energy Saving Scheme for On-Chip Caches
This paper discusses efficient energy saving scheme for on-chip caches. Abstract: With the reduction in feature size the static power component, such as the leakage power, dominates the dynamic power consumption in the on-chip caches. It has been observed that all cache lines need not be kept alive at all times. Only a very few lines during a given window of time need to be actively powered from the footprint, i.e., they are accessed during that time. Earlier research has addressed the issue of how to determine the set of active lines and how long to keep them active (powered). Circuit techniques have also been developed to keep a cache line in low leakage state i.e., Drowsy State when the line is not being accessed or used. Such a cache is called drowsy cache. These circuit techniques try to achieve maximum reduction in the leakage power without losing the information content and with minimal performance penalty associated with power transitions. These techniques when used with optimal switching scheme, which decides when and what lines to drowse, results in maximum reduction in energy consumed. In this paper, the authors study the cache access pattern to evaluate them and arrive at an optimal scheme to implement the drowsy cache. The authors achieve energy reduction on the average of 88% of maximum gain achievable through the underlying circuit technique. The authors also compare the performance of their scheme with the earlier proposed schemes and show that the authors can achieve up to 6% of higher saving in cache energy for the benchmarks studied (with an average on 4% for all benchmarks with equal weights) without any additional performance penalty. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc94293/
An Efficient Non-Preemptive Real-Time Scheduling
This paper discusses non-preemptive, real-time scheduling. Abstract: Traditional real-time systems are designed using preemptive scheduling and worst-case execution time estimates to guarantee the execution of high priority tasks. There is, however, an interest in exploring non-preemptive scheduling models for real-time systems, particularly for soft real-time multimedia applications. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm that uses multiple scheduling strategies. The goal of this research is to improve the success rate of the well-known Earliest Deadline First (EDF) approach even when the load on the system is very high. The approach, known as group-EDF (gEDF) is based on (dynamic) grouping of tasks with deadlines that are very close to each other, and using Shortest Job First (SJF) technique to schedule tasks within the group. We present results comparing gEDF and EDF using randomly generated tasks with varying execution times, release times, deadlines and tolerance to missing deadlines, under varying workloads. We believe that the grouping of tasks with similar deadlines and utilizing information other than deadlines (such as execution times, priorities or resource availability) for scheduling tasks within a group can lead to new and more efficient real-time scheduling algorithms. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30819/
Energy-Aware Routing and Hybrid Synchronization in Sensor Networks
This presentation discusses the research of sensor synchronization, sensor grid routing, and voice over internet protocol (VoIP). digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30939/
Enhanced Channel Assignment and Load Distribution in IEEE 802.11 WLANs
This paper discusses enhanced channel assignment and load distribution in IEEE 802.11 WLANs. Abstract: An algorithm to reduce congestion and balance users' load in IEEE 802.11b/g wireless local area networks (WLANs) is presented, which takes into account overlapping channel interference between access points (APs) and the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) experienced by the users. After finding the best channel assignment at the APs, the algorithm then finds the most congested access point (MCAP). It reexamines the users' association with APS by minimizing the congestion at the MCAP. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of significantly reducing the overall congestion in the WLAN while mitigating channel interference. Our algorithm has also been shown to be scalable and it performs well for networks of different topologies. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30838/
Enhancing the Undergraduate Research Experience in a Senior Design Context
This paper discusses enhancing the undergraduate research experience in a senior design context. Abstract: This paper presents an instructional framework developed by the authors that engages senior students in a 5-credit Research and Development course incorporating project development, implementation, entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, teamwork, and communication. The paper discusses the development and accomplishments of the course over the past four years in the context of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) - an initiative at the University of Houston intended to encourage the development and enhancement of undergraduate research skills. The philosophy behind the course is to provide training and real world, small-scale project experience through the completion of a full-project lifecycle from conceptualization to prototype. Brief discussion of those projects that resulted in provisional patents, refereed journal publications, and conference presentations will be given. Some of the features of the course, such as University and industry guest speaker series and final project evaluation by the department's Industrial Advisory Board, leading professionals, faculty, technical staff and peers will be examined. The paper concludes by outlining a set of short term and long term goals for the future direction of the course. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115192/
An Evaluation Exercise for Romanian Word Sense Disambiguation
This paper discusses an evaluation exercise for Romanian word sense disambiguation. Abstract: This paper presents the task definition, resources, participating systems, and comparative results for a Romanian Word Sense Disambiguation task, which was organized as part of the SENSEVAL-3 evaluation exercise. Five teams with a total of seven systems were drawn to this task. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30954/
An Evaluation Exercise for Word Alignment
This paper discusses an evaluation exercise for word alignment. Abstract: This paper presents the task definition, resources, participating systems, and comparative results for the shared task on word alignment, which was organized as part of the HLT/NAACL 2003 Workshop on Building and Using Parallel Texts. The shared task included Romanian-English and English-French sub-tasks, and drew the participation of seven teams from around the world. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30946/
Evaluation Results of an E and ET Education Forum
This article discusses evaluation results of an Engineering (E) and Engineering Technology (ET) education forum. Abstract: Under a two-year Department of Education FIPSE grant, the College of Technology at the University of Houston hosted a two-day forum in spring 2010 to explore a variety of issues related to E and ET education. A central focus to these discussions revolved around whether E and ET exist as separate fields or whether there was value in thinking about them as part of a continuum. The CDIO (conceive-design-implement-operate) model was used as a framework for thinking about these two knowledge areas as facets of an overarching engineering profession, where the majority of E and ET graduates flow to the middle of CDIO and engage in "design-implement" tasks within three to five years after graduation. Several implications of a continuum-based framework for engineering education were debated within the context of two alternative curricular approaches. The first approach envisions a two-year curriculum in which E and ET students enroll in a set of common technical core courses. At the end of the second year, students would make a well-educated decision to become either engineering or engineering technology majors, subsequently completing a BS degree. The second approach mimics the educational models in medicine, nursing, or law. A professional engineering degree would require a prerequisite four-year baccalaureate degree. This approach renders a BS in an ET area (e.g., mechanical engineering technology) a natural choice. This article reports on the results of the forum. A total of 45 forum participants representing E and ET programs from 35 institutions and 23 states expressed a wide range of views. Some did not agree with the premise of the continuum model or that any changes to engineering education were needed. A significant number viewed one or both alternative curricular approaches as intriguing possibilities. However, even among those who regarded the alternatives favorably, many acknowledged that while they personally would support attempts to implement alternatives at their campuses, contextual and institutional factors posed significant obstacles to change. Participants were also given an opportunity to interact with local industry representatives to gain insight into what employers think about some of these topics. Evaluation results from observations and follow-up surveys suggest that, at least in the immediate future, any potential changes are likely to take the form of positive but small incremental changes in general awareness and attitudes regarding the correct placement of engineering technology within the engineering profession, the correct placement of engineering technology graduates in industry, and the opportunities for creating collaborative efforts between the two disciplines resulting in potential institutional savings and an increase in the pipeline of individuals entering the engineering profession. The project continues in its second year, focusing on the design of a true 2 + 2 transfer program from junior colleges to E and ET. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc122182/
Exploiting Agreement and Disagreement of Human Annotators for Word Sense Disambiguation
This paper discusses word sense disambiguation. Abstract: It is generally agreed that the success of a Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) system depends, in large, on having enough sense annotated data available at hand, and a well-motivated sense inventory into which the disambiguations are made. The authors report a Web-based approach to (1) constructing large sense tagged corpora by exploiting agreement of Web users who contribute word sense annotation, and (2) deriving a coarse-grained sense inventory from a fine-grained inventory by exploiting disagreements of independent contributors about word senses. The authors investigate the quantity and quality of the sense tagged data collected with this approach over the past year. The authors present and evaluate an automatic clustering algorithm able to derive sense clusters that compare well with manually constructed clusters. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30948/
Explorations in Automatic Book Summarization
This paper discusses explorations in automatic book summarization. Abstract: Most of the text summarization research carried out to date has been concerned with the summarization of short documents (e.g., news stories, technical reports), and very little work if any has been done on the summarization of very long documents. In this paper, we try to address this gap and explore the problem of book summarization. We introduce a new data set specifically designed for the evaluation of systems for book summarization, and describe summarization techniques that explicitly account for the length of the documents. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30989/
eXtended WordNet: progress report
This paper discusses eXtended WordNet. Abstract: eXtended WordNet (XWN), a morphologically and semantically enhanced version of the WordNet dictionary, is currently build at SMU. There are several phases in the XWN project. This paper focuses on the semantic disambiguation stage of this project, and the preprocessing required by this stage. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83309/
FALCON: Boosting Knowledge for Answer Engines
This paper discusses FALCON. Abstract: This paper presents the features of FALCON, an answer engine that integrates different forms of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic knowledge for the goal of achieving better performance. The answer engine handles question reformulations, finds the expected answer type from a large hierarchy that incorporates the WordNet semantic net and extracts answers after performing unifications on the semantic forms of the question and its candidate answers. To rule out erroneous answers, it provides justification option, implemented as an abductive proof. In TREC-9, FALCON generated a score of 58% for short answers and 76% for long answers. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83296/
Finding Semantic Associations on Express Lane
This paper introduces a new codification scheme for efficient computation of measures in semantic networks. The scheme is particularly useful for fast computation of semantic associations between words and implementation of an informational retrieval operator for efficient search in semantic spaces. Other applications may also be possible. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30956/
Flexible Allocation of Capacity in Multi-Cell CDMA Networks
This presentation discusses flexible allocation of capacity in multi-cell CDMA networks. The effect of reverse power levels on the capacity of a code-division multiple-access (CDMA) cellular network is evaluated. The inter-cell and intra-cell interferences of every cell on every other cell are first calculated for a given network topology. Based on this, the nominal power of users is increased by a factor the authors call the Power Compensation Factor (PCF) which enables small cells to overcome the excessive interference from adjacent large cells. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc81377/
Framework for Design Validation of Security Architectures
This technical report discusses a framework for design validation of security architectures. Abstract: New security architectures are difficult to prototype and test. They require interactions between hardware, operating systems, and applications, making them hard to simulate and monitor. The authors have designed and prototyped a testing framework using a virtualization platform which emulates the behavior of new hardware security architecture in the virtual CPU, and performs a wide range of hardware and software attacks on the system under test. The authors' testing framework significantly speeds up development of the testing environment and infrastructure, and provides APIs for launching attacks and monitoring the effects of an attack on the hardware and software layers, which is especially convenient during the design and validation phases for new hardware-software architectural solutions. The authors have used this testing framework to test the trust chain of the SP architecture as an example. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc130192/
Global versus Local Call Admission Control in CDMA Cellular Networks
This presentation discusses interference model impacts on capacity, global call admission controls, local call admission controls, and the differences in global versus local call admission controls. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30931/
Global versus Local Call Admission Control in CDMA Cellular Networks
This paper discusses global versus local call admission control. Abstract: We design and implement global and local CAC algorithms for CDMA networks, and compare their network throughput for various mobility scenarios. The global CAC algorithms is inherently optimized and uses global information in making every call admission decision; it yields the best possible performance but has an intensive computational complexity. The design of the local CAC algorithm uses global information but its implementation in each cell uses only local information; it only requires the number of calls currently active in that cell and thus is very simple to implement. We show that our optimized local CAC algorithm achieves almost the same performance as our global CAC algorithm for a given call arrival rate profile. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30816/
Graph-based Ranking Algorithms for Sentence Extraction, Applied to Text Summarization
Abstract: This paper presents an innovative unsupervised method for automatic sentence extraction using graph-based ranking algorithms. We evaluate the method in the context of a text summarization task, and show that the results obtained compare favorably with previously published results on established benchmarks. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30957/
Grid-based Coordinated Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks
This paper discusses grid-based coordinated routing in wireless sensor networks. Abstract: This work explores grid-based coordinated routing in wireless sensor networks and compares the energy available in the network over time for different grid sizes. A test area is divided into square-shaped grids of certain length. Fully charged battery powered nodes are randomly placed in the area with fixed source and sink nodes. One node per grid is elected as the coordinator which does the actual routing. The source node starts flooding the network with every coordinator joining in the routing. Once the flooding reaches the sink node, information is sent back to the source by finding the back route to the source. This process is continued until a node (coordinator) along that route runs out of energy. New coordinators are elected to replace the depleted ones. The source node refloods the network so that the sink can find a new back route to send information. This entire process continues until the network is partitioned and the connectivity between the source and the sink nodes is lost. We explore the quality of service of wireless sensor networks, how the coordinator nodes are elected, and the size of the grid area that will minimize the total energy consumption and extend the lifetime of the network. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30839/
How to Hide Secrets from Operating System: Architecture Level Support for Dynamic Address Trace Obfuscation
This technical report addresses how to hide secrets from an operating system. Abstract: The adversary model for digital rights management is much more powerful than for the traditional security scenarios. The adversary has complete control of the computing node - supervisory privileges, physical as well as architectural object observational capabilities. In essence, this makes the operating system (or any other layer around the architecture) itself the adversary. The repercussions of this observation are severe. It creates a need to "keep secrets" from the operating system. We argue for the need to keep secrets from the OS in hardware. This concept is demonstrated through architectural support for the obfuscation of dynamic address traces on the memory bus. The objective is to leak as little information about the executed program sequence as possible. This is done by handing over many of the virtual memory management responsibilities from the operating system to an architecturally isolated hardware black-box (VM black-box). The authors provide a detailed design for the VM blackbox and some microarchitecture level simulation derived performance data. We also describe a compiler directed prefetch scheme that uses both instruction and data prefetches to obfuscate the address traces on the address bus between on-chip L2 cache and memory. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc94282/
Hybrid Approach for Energy-Aware Synchronization
This book chapter discusses a time synchronization scheme for wireless sensor networks that aims to save sensor battery power while maintaining network connectivity for as long as possible. It focuses on aspects of wireless sensor networks. These include designing a hybrid method between reference broadcast synchronization (RBS) and timing-sync protocol for sensor networks (TPSN) to reduce the number of transmissions required to synchronize an entire network, extending single-hop synchronization methods to operate in large multi-hop networks, verifying that the hybrid methods operate as desired by simulating against RBS and TPSN, and maintaining network connectivity and coverage. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30852/
Hybrid Energy-Aware Synchronization Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks
This paper discusses hybrid energy-aware synchronization algorithm in wireless sensor networks. Abstract: We present a time synchronization scheme for wireless sensor networks that aims to conserve sensor battery power while maintaining network connectivity for as long as possible. The proposed method creates a hierarchical tree by flooding the sensor network from a designated source point. It then uses a hybrid algorithm derived from the Timing-sync Protocol for Sensor Networks (TSPN) and the Reference Broadcast Synchronization Method (RBS) to periodically synchronize sensor clocks by minimizing the number of required transmissions. In multi-hop ad-hoc networks, a depleted sensor will drop information from all other sensors that route data through it, decreasing the physical area being monitored by the network. It is therefore imperative that time synchronization schemes are aware of the number of sensors being used at any given time. The proposed method uses several techniques and thresholds to maintain network connectivity. A new source point is chosen when the current one's battery power reaches a designated energy threshold. The network is also re-flooded whenever the number of used sensors drops below another threshold. We implement and show that their scheme can provide significant power savings over both TPSN and RBS; the power reduction is even more drastic in large multi-hop sensor networks. The method also improves upon these algorithms by maintaining a large area of coverage even when some sensors lose power. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30840/
Impact of Interference Model on Capacity in CDMA Cellular Networks
This paper discusses an impact of interference model on capacity in CDMA cellular networks. Abstract: An overwhelming number of models in the literature use average interference for calculation of capacity of a CDMA network. In this paper, we calculate the actual per-user interference and analyze the effect of user-distribution on the capacity of a CDMA network. We show that even though the capacity obtained using average interference is a good approximation to the capacity calculated using actual interference for a uniform user distribution, the deviation can be tremendously large for non-uniform user distributions. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30817/
Impact of Interference Model on Capacity in CDMA Cellular Networks
This presentation introduces code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, average and actual interference models, optimized capacity, and the 2D Gaussian user model. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30932/
Improving the search on the Internet by using WordNet and lexical operators
This article discusses improving the search on the internet by using WordNet and lexical operators. Abstract: This paper presents a natural language interface system to an Internet search engine that provides the following improvements: (1) accepts natural language (English) questions, (2) expands the query, based on a word sense disambiguation method, and (3) uses a new lexical operator to post-process the documents retrieved for extracting only the part of a document that is relevant to a query. The system was tested on 100 queries of which 50 were adopted from the TIPSTER topics collection, provided at the 6th Text Retrieval Conference (TREC-6) and 50 were selected from among the queries submitted by users to an existing Web search engine. The results obtained demonstrate a substantial increase in both the precision and the percentage of queries answered correctly, while the amount of text presented to the user is reduced in comparison with the current Internet search engine technology. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83306/
Indoor Propagation Modeling at 2.4 GHZ for IEEE 802.11 Networks
This paper discusses indoor propagation modeling. Abstract: The purpose of this study is to characterize the indoor channel for 802.11 wireless local area networks at 2.4 GHz frequency. This work presents a channel model based on measurements conducted in commonly found scenarios in buildings. These scenarios include closed corridor, open corridor, classroom, and computer lab. Path loss equations are determined using log-distance path loss model and log-normal shadowing. The Chi-square test statistic values for each access point are calculated to prove that the observed fading is a normal distribution at 5% significance level. A numerical analysis of measurements in each scenario was conducted and the study determined equations that describe path loss for each scenario. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30827/
Instance Based Learning with Automatic Feature Selection Applied to Word Sense Disambiguation
This paper discusses instance based learning with automatic feature selection applied to word sense disambiguation. Abstract We describe an algorithm for Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) that relies on a lazy learner improved with automatic feature selection. The algorithm was implemented in a system that achieves excellent performance on the set of data released during the SENSEVAL-2 competition. We present the results obtained and discuss the performance of various features in the context of supervised learning algorithms for WSD. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30943/
Integrating Knowledge for Subjectivity Sense Labeling
This paper discusses integrating knowledge for subjectivity sense labeling. Abstract: This paper introduces an integrative approach to automatic word sense subjectivity annotation. We use features that exploit the hierarchical structure and domain information in lexical resources such as WordNet, as well as other types of features that measure the similarity of glosses and the overlap among sets of semantically related words. Integrated in a machine learning framework, the entire set of features is found to give better results than any individual type of feature. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31013/
Intra-Class Competitive Assignments in CS2: A One-Year Study
This paper discusses intra-class competitive assignments in CS2. Abstract: The widespread goals of student retention, introducing larger programming projects, and fostering collaboration among students in computer science courses has led to the inclusion of group projects in many curricula, with task division and collaboration as motivation for students to complete assignments. This paper presents a study in a first-year programming assignment with similar goals, but with methods adopting the contrarian view - having students directly compete with one another in a tournament of their respective software agents. This paper presents the results of a year-long experiment in an intra-class competitive assignment in the second C++ programming course at the University of North Texas in Denton. Metrics of student performance on the assignment, correlation with course grade, student surveys of the project, and retention statistics are presented. Results demonstrating overwhelmingly positive response and high levels of effort among students are submitted, along with remarks on application to student recruiting, retention, and curriculum design. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30828/
Investigations in Unsupervised Back-of-the-Book Indexing
This paper discusses investigations in unsupervised back-of-the-book indexing. Abstract: This paper describes our experiments with unsupervised methods for back-of-the-book index construction. Through comparative evaluations performed on a gold standard data set of 29 books and their corresponding indexes, the authors draw conclusions as to what are the most accurate unsupervised methods for automatic index construction. We show that if the right sequence of methods and heuristics is used, the performance of an unsupervised back-of-the-book index construction system can be raised with up to 250% relative increase in F-measure as compared to the performance of a system based on the traditional tf*idf weighting scheme. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30990/
An Iterative Approach to Word Sense Disambiguation
This paper discusses an iterative approach to Word Sense Disambiguation. Abstract: In this paper, we present an iterative algorithm for Word Sense Disambiguation. It combines two sources of information: WordNet and a semantic tagged corpus, for the purpose of identifying the correct sense of the words in a given text. It differs from other standard approaches in that the disambiguation process is performed in an iterative manner: starting from free text, a set of disambiguated words is built, using various methods; new words are sense tagged based on their relation to the already disambiguated words, and then added to the set. This iterative process allows us to identify, in the original text, a set of words which can be disambiguated with high precision; 55% of the verbs and nouns are disambiguated with an accuracy of 92%. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83304/
A Language Independent Algorithm for Single and Multiple Document Summarization
This paper discusses a language independent algorithm for single and multiple document summarization. Abstract: This paper describes a method for language independent extractive summarization that relies on iterative graph-based ranking algorithms. Through evaluations performed on a single document summarization task for English and Portuguese, we show that the method performs equally well regardless of the language. Moreover, we show how a meta-summarizer relying on a layered application of techniques for single-document summarization can be turned into an effective method for multi-document summarization. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30965/
Language Independent Extractive Summarization
This paper discusses language independent extractive summarization. Abstract: We demonstrate TextRank - a system for unsupervised extractive summarization that relies on the application of iterative graph-based ranking algorithms to graphs encoding the cohesive structure of a text. An important characteristic of the system is that it does not rely on any language-specific knowledge resources or any manually constructed training data, and thus it is highly portable to new languages or domains. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30967/
Laser Machining of Structural Ceramics: An Integrated Experimental and Numerical Approach for Surface Finish
This poster received 1st place in the 2013 Graduate Exhibition in the Engineering category. Abstract: High energy lasers emerged as an innovative and potential industrial tool to fabricate complex shapes on structural ceramics which is otherwise difficult using conventional machining techniques. However, obtaining a desired surface finish at higher material removal rate during laser machining of structural ceramics is still a critical issue. In this situation, the better understanding of various physical phenomena such as heat transfer, fluid flow, recoil pressure, Marangoni convection, and surface tension and its influence on the evolution of typical surface topography during laser machining could be more helpful. In light of this, this study was attempted to present the state of the art of laser machining of alumina using an integrated experimental and computational approach. A multistep computational model based on COMSOL™ Multiphysics was developed to study the effect of various physical phenomena on the generation of surface topography for various laser machining conditions. Furthermore, this process model can be used as a handy tool for the process engineers to configure the process variables (laser power, scanning speed, pulse rate, size of overlap) to obtain the specified quality characteristics. The surface topography of laser machined alumina was measured by an optical profilometer and the results were compared with the computationally predicted topographic parameters with reasonably close agreement. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc152429/
LASSO: A Tool for Surfing the Answer Net
This paper discusses LASSO, a tool for surfing the answer net. Abstract: This paper presents the architecture, operation and results obtained with the LASSO system developed in the Natural Language Processing Laboratory at SMU. The system relies on a combination of syntactic and semantic techniques, and lightweight abductive inference to find answers. The search for the answer is based on a novel form of indexing called paragraph indexing. A score of 55.5% for short answers and 64.5% for long answers was achieved. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc83331/
Learning Multilingual Subjective Language via Cross-Lingual Projections
This paper discusses learning multilingual subjective language via cross-lingual projections. Abstract: This paper explores methods for generating subjectivity analysis resources in a new language by leveraging on the tools and resources available in English. Given a bridge between English and the selected target language (e.g., a bilingual dictionary or a parallel corpus), the methods can be used to rapidly create tools for subjectivity analysis in the new language. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30991/
Learning to Identify Educational Materials
This paper discusses learning to identify educational materials. Abstract: In this paper, we explore the task of automatically identifying educational materials, by classifying documents with respect to their educative value. Through experiments carried out on a data set of manually annotated documents, we show that the generally accepted notion of a learning object's "educativeness" is indeed a property that can be reliably assigned through automatic classification. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31014/
Learning to Identify Emotions in Text
This paper discusses learning to identify emotions in text. Abstract: This paper describes experiments concerned with the automatic analysis of emotions in text. We describe the construction of a large data set annotated for six basic emotions: Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy, Sadness, and Surprise, and we propose and evaluate several knowledge-based and corpus-based methods for the automatic identification of these emotions in text. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31005/
Letter Level Learning for Language Independent Diacritics Restoration
This paper discusses letter level learning for language independent diacritics restoration. Abstract: This paper presents a method for diacritics restoration based on learning mechanisms that act at letter level. The method requires no additional tagging tools or resources other than raw text, which makes it independent of the language, and particularly appealing for languages for which there are few resources available. The algorithm was evaluated on four different languages, namely Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian, and an average accuracy of over 98% was observed. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30944/
The Lie Detector: Explorations in the Automatic Recognition of Deceptive Language
This paper discusses explorations in the automatic recognition of deceptive language. Abstract: In this paper, we present initial experiments in the recognition of deceptive language. We introduce three data sets of true and lying texts collected for this purpose, and the authors show that automatic classification is a viable technique to distinguish between truth and falsehood as expressed in language. We also introduce a method for class-based feature analysis, which sheds some light on the features that are characteristic for deceptive text. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31019/
Linguistic Ethnography: Identifying Dominant Word Classes in Text
In this paper, the authors propose a method for "linguistic ethnography" - a general mechanism for characterizing texts with respect to the dominance of certain classes of words. Using humor as a case study, the authors explore the automatic learning of salient word classes, including semantic classes (e.g., person, animal), psycholinguistic classes (e.g., tentative, cause), and affective load (e.g., anger, happiness). The authors measure the reliability of the derived word classes and their associated dominance scores by showing significant correlation across different corpora. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31015/
Linguistically Motivated Features for Enhanced Back-of-the-Book Indexing
In this paper, the authors present a supervised method for back-of-the-book index construction. The authors introduce a novel set of features that goes beyond the typical frequency-based analysis, including features based on discourse comprehension, syntactic patterns, and information drawn from an online encyclopedia. In experiments carried out on a book collection, the method was found to lead to an improvement of roughly 140% as compared to an existing state-of-the-art supervised method. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31006/
Linking Educational Materials to Encyclopedic Knowledge
This paper describes a system that automatically links study materials to encyclopedic knowledge, and shows how the availability of such knowledge within easy reach of the learner can improve both the quality of the knowledge acquired and the time needed to obtain such knowledge. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30992/
A Logic Programming Framework for Semantic Interpretation with WordNet and PageRank
This paper describes applications of Logic Programming to Natural Language processing in combination with graph-algorithms and statistical methods. Google's PageRank and similar fast-converging recursive graph algorithms have provided practical means to statistically rank vertices of large graphs like the World Wide Web. By combining a fast Java-based PageRank implementation with a Prolog base inferential layer, running on top of an optimized WordNet graph, the authors describe applications to word sense disambiguation and evaluate their accuracy in comparison with human annotated corpus data. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30952/
Making Computers Laugh: Investigations in Automatic Humor Recognition
This paper discusses investigations in automatic humor recognition. This Humor is one of the most interesting and puzzling aspects of human behavior. Despite the attention it has received in fields such as philosophy, linguistics, and psychology, there have been only few attempts to create computational models for humor recognition or generation. In this paper, the authors bring empirical evidence that computational approaches can be successfully applied to the task of humor recognition. Through experiments performed on very large data sets, the authors show that automatic classification techniques can be effectively used to distinguish between humorous and non-humorous texts, with significant improvements observed over apriori known baselines. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30968/
Making Sense Out of the Web
This paper discusses the main lines of research in deriving efficient Word Sense Disambiguation. In the past few years, we have witnessed a tremendous growth of the World Wide Web, both in terms of number of Web pages accessible online - resulting in what represents today the largest publicly available corpus, and in terms of number of Web users - who now these two main dimensions - pages and users - has opened the doors to a realm of new approaches to data-hungry and knowledge-hungry language processing applications. Among these, Word Sense Disambiguation is one of the applications that has the potential of benefiting the most from the large amounts of Web-based data and from the availability of inexpensive Web user supervision. In this paper, the author discusses the main lines of research in deriving efficient Word Sense Disambiguation methods that exploit: (1) the Web as a corpus - which represents a view of the Web seen as an enormous collection of Web pages; and (2) the Web as collective mind - where the Web is regarded as a large group of Web users who can contribute their knowledge to the process of identifying word meanings. digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30958/