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Sample records for coding action semantic

  1. Potential role of monkey inferior parietal neurons coding action semantic equivalences as precursors of parts of speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yamazaki, Yumiko; Yokochi, Hiroko; Tanaka, Michio; Okanoya, Kazuo; Iriki, Atsushi

    2010-01-01

    The anterior portion of the inferior parietal cortex possesses comprehensive representations of actions embedded in behavioural contexts. Mirror neurons, which respond to both self-executed and observed actions, exist in this brain region in addition to those originally found in the premotor cortex. We found that parietal mirror neurons responded differentially to identical actions embedded in different contexts. Another type of parietal mirror neuron represents an inverse and complementary property of responding equally to dissimilar actions made by itself and others for an identical purpose. Here, we propose a hypothesis that these sets of inferior parietal neurons constitute a neural basis for encoding the semantic equivalence of various actions across different agents and contexts. The neurons have mirror neuron properties, and they encoded generalization of agents, differentiation of outcomes, and categorization of actions that led to common functions. By integrating the activities of these mirror neurons with various codings, we further suggest that in the ancestral primates' brains, these various representations of meaningful action led to the gradual establishment of equivalence relations among the different types of actions, by sharing common action semantics. Such differential codings of the components of actions might represent precursors to the parts of protolanguage, such as gestural communication, which are shared among various members of a society. Finally, we suggest that the inferior parietal cortex serves as an interface between this action semantics system and other higher semantic systems, through common structures of action representation that mimic language syntax.

  2. A Denotational Semantics for Communicating Unstructured Code

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Jähnig

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available An important property of programming language semantics is that they should be compositional. However, unstructured low-level code contains goto-like commands making it hard to define a semantics that is compositional. In this paper, we follow the ideas of Saabas and Uustalu to structure low-level code. This gives us the possibility to define a compositional denotational semantics based on least fixed points to allow for the use of inductive verification methods. We capture the semantics of communication using finite traces similar to the denotations of CSP. In addition, we examine properties of this semantics and give an example that demonstrates reasoning about communication and jumps. With this semantics, we lay the foundations for a proof calculus that captures both, the semantics of unstructured low-level code and communication.

  3. A Semantic Analysis Method for Scientific and Engineering Code

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stewart, Mark E. M.

    1998-01-01

    This paper develops a procedure to statically analyze aspects of the meaning or semantics of scientific and engineering code. The analysis involves adding semantic declarations to a user's code and parsing this semantic knowledge with the original code using multiple expert parsers. These semantic parsers are designed to recognize formulae in different disciplines including physical and mathematical formulae and geometrical position in a numerical scheme. In practice, a user would submit code with semantic declarations of primitive variables to the analysis procedure, and its semantic parsers would automatically recognize and document some static, semantic concepts and locate some program semantic errors. A prototype implementation of this analysis procedure is demonstrated. Further, the relationship between the fundamental algebraic manipulations of equations and the parsing of expressions is explained. This ability to locate some semantic errors and document semantic concepts in scientific and engineering code should reduce the time, risk, and effort of developing and using these codes.

  4. Action representation: crosstalk between semantics and pragmatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prinz, Wolfgang

    2014-03-01

    Marc Jeannerod pioneered a representational approach to movement and action. In his approach, motor representations provide both, declarative knowledge about action and procedural knowledge for action (action semantics and action pragmatics, respectively). Recent evidence from language comprehension and action simulation supports the claim that action pragmatics and action semantics draw on common representational resources, thus challenging the traditional divide between declarative and procedural action knowledge. To account for these observations, three kinds of theoretical frameworks are discussed: (i) semantics is grounded in pragmatics, (ii) pragmatics is anchored in semantics, and (iii) pragmatics is part and parcel of semantics. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Two-Level Semantics and Code Generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielson, Flemming; Nielson, Hanne Riis

    1988-01-01

    A two-level denotational metalanguage that is suitable for defining the semantics of Pascal-like languages is presented. The two levels allow for an explicit distinction between computations taking place at compile-time and computations taking place at run-time. While this distinction is perhaps...... not absolutely necessary for describing the input-output semantics of programming languages, it is necessary when issues such as data flow analysis and code generation are considered. For an example stack-machine, the authors show how to generate code for the run-time computations and still perform the compile...

  6. Training Of Manual Actions Improves Language Understanding of Semantically-Related Action Sentences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matteo eLocatelli

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Conceptual knowledge accessed by language may involve the re-activation of the associated primary sensory-motor processes. Whether these embodied representations are indeed constitutive to conceptual knowledge is hotly debated, particularly since direct evidence that sensory-motor expertise can improve conceptual processing is scarce.In this study, we sought for this crucial piece of evidence, by training naive healthy subjects to perform complex manual actions and by measuring, before and after training, their performance in a semantic language task. 19 participants engaged in 3 weeks of motor training. Each participant was trained in 3 complex manual actions (e.g. origami. Before and after the training period, each subject underwent a series of manual dexterity tests and a semantic language task. The latter consisted of a sentence-picture semantic congruency judgment task, with 6 target congruent sentence-picture pairs (semantically related to the trained manual actions, 6 non-target congruent pairs (semantically unrelated, and 12 filler incongruent pairs.Manual action training induced a significant improvement in all manual dexterity tests, demonstrating the successful acquisition of sensory-motor expertise. In the semantic language task, the reaction times to both target and non-target congruent sentence-image pairs decreased after action training, indicating a more efficient conceptual-semantic processing. Noteworthy, the reaction times for target pairs decreased more than those for non-target pairs, as indicated by the 2x2 interaction. These results were confirmed when controlling for the potential bias of increased frequency of use of target lexical items during manual training.The results of the present study suggest that sensory-motor expertise gained by training of specific manual actions can lead to an improvement of cognitive-linguistic skills related to the specific conceptual-semantic domain associated to the trained actions.

  7. SCC: Semantic Context Cascade for Efficient Action Detection

    KAUST Repository

    Heilbron, Fabian Caba

    2017-11-09

    Despite the recent advances in large-scale video analysis, action detection remains as one of the most challenging unsolved problems in computer vision. This snag is in part due to the large volume of data that needs to be analyzed to detect actions in videos. Existing approaches have mitigated the computational cost, but still, these methods lack rich high-level semantics that helps them to localize the actions quickly. In this paper, we introduce a Semantic Cascade Context (SCC) model that aims to detect action in long video sequences. By embracing semantic priors associated with human activities, SCC produces high-quality class-specific action proposals and prune unrelated activities in a cascade fashion. Experimental results in ActivityNet unveils that SCC achieves state-of-the-art performance for action detection while operating at real time.

  8. Action Algebras and Model Algebras in Denotational Semantics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guedes, Luiz Carlos Castro; Haeusler, Edward Hermann

    This article describes some results concerning the conceptual separation of model dependent and language inherent aspects in a denotational semantics of a programming language. Before going into the technical explanation, the authors wish to relate a story that illustrates how correctly and precisely posed questions can influence the direction of research. By means of his questions, Professor Mosses aided the PhD research of one of the authors of this article and taught the other, who at the time was a novice supervisor, the real meaning of careful PhD supervision. The student’s research had been partially developed towards the implementation of programming languages through denotational semantics specification, and the student had developed a prototype [12] that compared relatively well to some industrial compilers of the PASCAL language. During a visit to the BRICS lab in Aarhus, the student’s supervisor gave Professor Mosses a draft of an article describing the prototype and its implementation experiments. The next day, Professor Mosses asked the supervisor, “Why is the generated code so efficient when compared to that generated by an industrial compiler?” and “You claim that the efficiency is simply a consequence of the Object- Orientation mechanisms used by the prototype programming language (C++); this should be better investigated. Pay more attention to the class of programs that might have this good comparison profile.” As a result of these aptly chosen questions and comments, the student and supervisor made great strides in the subsequent research; the advice provided by Professor Mosses made them perceive that the code generated for certain semantic domains was efficient because it mapped to the “right aspect” of the language semantics. (Certain functional types, used to represent mappings such as Stores and Environments, were pushed to the level of the object language (as in gcc). This had the side-effect of generating code for arrays in

  9. On fuzzy semantic similarity measure for DNA coding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Muneer; Jung, Low Tang; Bhuiyan, Md Al-Amin

    2016-02-01

    A coding measure scheme numerically translates the DNA sequence to a time domain signal for protein coding regions identification. A number of coding measure schemes based on numerology, geometry, fixed mapping, statistical characteristics and chemical attributes of nucleotides have been proposed in recent decades. Such coding measure schemes lack the biologically meaningful aspects of nucleotide data and hence do not significantly discriminate coding regions from non-coding regions. This paper presents a novel fuzzy semantic similarity measure (FSSM) coding scheme centering on FSSM codons׳ clustering and genetic code context of nucleotides. Certain natural characteristics of nucleotides i.e. appearance as a unique combination of triplets, preserving special structure and occurrence, and ability to own and share density distributions in codons have been exploited in FSSM. The nucleotides׳ fuzzy behaviors, semantic similarities and defuzzification based on the center of gravity of nucleotides revealed a strong correlation between nucleotides in codons. The proposed FSSM coding scheme attains a significant enhancement in coding regions identification i.e. 36-133% as compared to other existing coding measure schemes tested over more than 250 benchmarked and randomly taken DNA datasets of different organisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Comparing Syntactic and Semantics Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goltz, Ursula; Gorrieri, Roberto; Rensink, Arend

    The semantic definition of action refinement on labelled configuration structures is compared with the notion of syntactic substitution, which can be used as another notion of action refinement in a process algebraic setting. The comparison is done by studying a process algebra equipped with

  11. On Syntactic and Semantic Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goltz, Ursula; Gorrieri, Roberto; Rensink, Arend

    1992-01-01

    The semantic definition of action refinement on labelled event structures is compared with the notion of syntactic substitution,which can be used as another notion of action refiment in a process algebraic setting. This is done by studying a process algebra equipped with the ACP sequential

  12. On Syntactic and Semantic Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hagiya, M.; Goltz, U.; Mitchell, J.C.; Gorrieri, R.; Rensink, Arend

    1994-01-01

    The semantic definition of action refinement on labelled event structures is compared with the notion of syntactic substitution, which can be used as another notion of action refinement in a process algebraic setting. This is done by studying a process algebra equipped with the ACP sequential

  13. Semantic and phonological coding in poor and normal readers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vellutino, F R; Scanlon, D M; Spearing, D

    1995-02-01

    Three studies were conducted evaluating semantic and phonological coding deficits as alternative explanations of reading disability. In the first study, poor and normal readers in second and sixth grade were compared on various tests evaluating semantic development as well as on tests evaluating rapid naming and pseudoword decoding as independent measures of phonological coding ability. In a second study, the same subjects were given verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks using high and low meaning words as verbal stimuli and Chinese ideographs as visual stimuli. On the semantic tasks, poor readers performed below the level of the normal readers only at the sixth grade level, but, on the rapid naming and pseudoword learning tasks, they performed below the normal readers at the second as well as at the sixth grade level. On both the verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks, performance in poor readers approximated that of normal readers when the word stimuli were high in meaning but not when they were low in meaning. These patterns were essentially replicated in a third study that used some of the same semantic and phonological measures used in the first experiment, and verbal memory and visual-verbal learning tasks that employed word lists and visual stimuli (novel alphabetic characters) that more closely approximated those used in learning to read. It was concluded that semantic coding deficits are an unlikely cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers at the beginning stages of reading skills acquisition, but accrue as a consequence of prolonged reading difficulties in older readers. It was also concluded that phonological coding deficits are a probable cause of reading difficulties in most poor readers.

  14. SCC: Semantic Context Cascade for Efficient Action Detection

    KAUST Repository

    Heilbron, Fabian Caba; Barrios, Wayner; Escorcia, Victor; Ghanem, Bernard

    2017-01-01

    in videos. Existing approaches have mitigated the computational cost, but still, these methods lack rich high-level semantics that helps them to localize the actions quickly. In this paper, we introduce a Semantic Cascade Context (SCC) model that aims

  15. Phonological, visual, and semantic coding strategies and children's short-term picture memory span.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, Lucy A; Messer, David; Luger-Klein, Scarlett; Crane, Laura

    2012-01-01

    Three experiments addressed controversies in the previous literature on the development of phonological and other forms of short-term memory coding in children, using assessments of picture memory span that ruled out potentially confounding effects of verbal input and output. Picture materials were varied in terms of phonological similarity, visual similarity, semantic similarity, and word length. Older children (6/8-year-olds), but not younger children (4/5-year-olds), demonstrated robust and consistent phonological similarity and word length effects, indicating that they were using phonological coding strategies. This confirmed findings initially reported by Conrad (1971), but subsequently questioned by other authors. However, in contrast to some previous research, little evidence was found for a distinct visual coding stage at 4 years, casting doubt on assumptions that this is a developmental stage that consistently precedes phonological coding. There was some evidence for a dual visual and phonological coding stage prior to exclusive use of phonological coding at around 5-6 years. Evidence for semantic similarity effects was limited, suggesting that semantic coding is not a key method by which young children recall lists of pictures.

  16. Grasp it loudly! Supporting actions with semantically congruent spoken action words.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raphaël Fargier

    Full Text Available Evidence for cross-talk between motor and language brain structures has accumulated over the past several years. However, while a significant amount of research has focused on the interaction between language perception and action, little attention has been paid to the potential impact of language production on overt motor behaviour. The aim of the present study was to test whether verbalizing during a grasp-to-displace action would affect motor behaviour and, if so, whether this effect would depend on the semantic content of the pronounced word (Experiment I. Furthermore, we sought to test the stability of such effects in a different group of participants and investigate at which stage of the motor act language intervenes (Experiment II. For this, participants were asked to reach, grasp and displace an object while overtly pronouncing verbal descriptions of the action ("grasp" and "put down" or unrelated words (e.g. "butterfly" and "pigeon". Fine-grained analyses of several kinematic parameters such as velocity peaks revealed that when participants produced action-related words their movements became faster compared to conditions in which they did not verbalize or in which they produced words that were not related to the action. These effects likely result from the functional interaction between semantic retrieval of the words and the planning and programming of the action. Therefore, links between (action language and motor structures are significant to the point that language can refine overt motor behaviour.

  17. Brain and behavioural correlates of action semantic deficits in autism.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel Louise Moseley

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Action-perception circuits comprising neurons in the motor system have been proposed as main building blocks of higher cognition; accordingly, motor dysfunction should entail cognitive deficits. Autism spectrum conditions (ASC are marked by motor impairments but the implications of such motor dysfunction for higher cognition remain unclear. We here used word reading and semantic judgement tasks to interrogate action-related motor cognition and its corresponding fMRI brain activation in high-functioning adults with ASC. These participants exhibited hypoactivity of motor cortex in language processing relative to typically developing (TD controls. Crucially, we also found a deficit in semantic processing of action-related words, which, intriguingly, significantly correlated with their underactivation of motor cortex to these items. Furthermore, the word-induced hypoactivity in the motor system also predicted the severity of ASC as expressed by the number of autistic symptoms measured by the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (Baron-Cohen et al, 2001. These significant correlations between word-induced activation of the motor system and a newly discovered semantic deficit in a condition known to be characterised by motor impairments, along with the correlation of such activation with general autistic traits confirm critical predictions of causal theories explaining cognitive and semantic deficits in ASC, in part, to dysfunctional action-perception circuits and resultant reduction of motor system activation.

  18. Preferential semantics for action specification in first-order modal action logic

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Broersen, Jan; Wieringa, Roelf J.

    In this paper we investigate preferential semantics for declarative specifications in a First Order Modal Action Logic. We address some well known problems: the frame problem, the qualification problem and the ramification problem. We incorporate the assumptions that are inherent to both the frame

  19. Semantic enrichment of medical forms - semi-automated coding of ODM-elements via web services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breil, Bernhard; Watermann, Andreas; Haas, Peter; Dziuballe, Philipp; Dugas, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Semantic interoperability is an unsolved problem which occurs while working with medical forms from different information systems or institutions. Standards like ODM or CDA assure structural homogenization but in order to compare elements from different data models it is necessary to use semantic concepts and codes on an item level of those structures. We developed and implemented a web-based tool which enables a domain expert to perform semi-automated coding of ODM-files. For each item it is possible to inquire web services which result in unique concept codes without leaving the context of the document. Although it was not feasible to perform a totally automated coding we have implemented a dialog based method to perform an efficient coding of all data elements in the context of the whole document. The proportion of codable items was comparable to results from previous studies.

  20. Sensory and semantic activations evoked by action attributes of manipulable objects: Evidence from ERPs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chia-lin; Huang, Hsu-Wen; Federmeier, Kara D.; Buxbaum, Laurel J.

    2018-01-01

    “Two route” theories of object-related action processing posit different temporal activation profiles of grasp-to-move actions (rapidly evoked based on object structure) versus skilled use actions (more slowly activated based on semantic knowledge). We capitalized on the exquisite temporal resolution and multidimensionality of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to directly test this hypothesis. Participants viewed manipulable objects (e.g., calculator) preceded by objects sharing either “grasp”, “use”, or no action attributes (e.g., bar of soap, keyboard, earring, respectively), as well as by action-unrelated but taxonomically-related objects (e.g., abacus); participants judged whether the two objects were related. The results showed more positive responses to “grasp-to-move” primed objects than “skilled use” primed objects or unprimed objects starting in the P1 (0–150 ms) time window and continuing onto the subsequent N1 and P2 components (150–300 ms), suggesting that only “grasp-to-move”, but not “skilled use”, actions may facilitate visual attention to object attributes. Furthermore, reliably reduced N400s (300–500 ms), an index of semantic processing, were observed to taxonomically primed and “skilled use” primed objects relative to unprimed objects, suggesting that “skilled use” action attributes are a component of distributed, multimodal semantic representations of objects. Together, our findings provide evidence supporting two-route theories by demonstrating that “grasp-to-move” and “skilled use” actions impact different aspects of object processing and highlight the relationship of “skilled use” information to other aspects of semantic memory. PMID:29183777

  1. Evolvix BEST Names for semantic reproducibility across code2brain interfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loewe, Laurence; Scheuer, Katherine S; Keel, Seth A; Vyas, Vaibhav; Liblit, Ben; Hanlon, Bret; Ferris, Michael C; Yin, John; Dutra, Inês; Pietsch, Anthony; Javid, Christine G; Moog, Cecilia L; Meyer, Jocelyn; Dresel, Jerdon; McLoone, Brian; Loberger, Sonya; Movaghar, Arezoo; Gilchrist-Scott, Morgaine; Sabri, Yazeed; Sescleifer, Dave; Pereda-Zorrilla, Ivan; Zietlow, Andrew; Smith, Rodrigo; Pietenpol, Samantha; Goldfinger, Jacob; Atzen, Sarah L; Freiberg, Erika; Waters, Noah P; Nusbaum, Claire; Nolan, Erik; Hotz, Alyssa; Kliman, Richard M; Mentewab, Ayalew; Fregien, Nathan; Loewe, Martha

    2017-01-01

    Names in programming are vital for understanding the meaning of code and big data. We define code2brain (C2B) interfaces as maps in compilers and brains between meaning and naming syntax, which help to understand executable code. While working toward an Evolvix syntax for general-purpose programming that makes accurate modeling easy for biologists, we observed how names affect C2B quality. To protect learning and coding investments, C2B interfaces require long-term backward compatibility and semantic reproducibility (accurate reproduction of computational meaning from coder-brains to reader-brains by code alone). Semantic reproducibility is often assumed until confusing synonyms degrade modeling in biology to deciphering exercises. We highlight empirical naming priorities from diverse individuals and roles of names in different modes of computing to show how naming easily becomes impossibly difficult. We present the Evolvix BEST (Brief, Explicit, Summarizing, Technical) Names concept for reducing naming priority conflicts, test it on a real challenge by naming subfolders for the Project Organization Stabilizing Tool system, and provide naming questionnaires designed to facilitate C2B debugging by improving names used as keywords in a stabilizing programming language. Our experiences inspired us to develop Evolvix using a flipped programming language design approach with some unexpected features and BEST Names at its core. © 2016 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences.

  2. Is prospective memory enhanced by cue-action semantic relatedness and enactment at encoding?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Antonina; Ellis, Judi; Freeman, Jayne

    2012-09-01

    Benefits and costs on prospective memory performance, of enactment at encoding and a semantic association between a cue-action word pair, were investigated in two experiments. Findings revealed superior performance for both younger and older adults following enactment, in contrast to verbal encoding, and when cue-action semantic relatedness was high. Although younger adults outperformed older adults, age did not moderate benefits of cue-action relatedness or enactment. Findings from a second experiment revealed that the inclusion of an instruction to perform a prospective memory task led to increments in response latency to items from the ongoing activity in which that task was embedded, relative to latencies when the ongoing task only was performed. However, this task interference 'cost' did not differ as a function of either cue-action relatedness or enactment. We argue that the high number of cue-action pairs employed here influenced meta-cognitive consciousness, hence determining attention allocation, in all experimental conditions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Feature activation during word recognition: action, visual, and associative-semantic priming effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kevin J.Y. Lam

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available Embodied theories of language postulate that language meaning is stored in modality-specific brain areas generally involved in perception and action in the real world. However, the temporal dynamics of the interaction between modality-specific information and lexical-semantic processing remain unclear. We investigated the relative timing at which two types of modality-specific information (action-based and visual-form information contribute to lexical-semantic comprehension. To this end, we applied a behavioral priming paradigm in which prime and target words were related with respect to (1 action features, (2 visual features, or (3 semantically associative information. Using a Go/No-Go lexical decision task, priming effects were measured across four different inter-stimulus intervals (ISI = 100 ms, 250 ms, 400 ms, and 1,000 ms to determine the relative time course of the different features . Notably, action priming effects were found in ISIs of 100 ms, 250 ms, and 1,000 ms whereas a visual priming effect was seen only in the ISI of 1,000 ms. Importantly, our data suggest that features follow different time courses of activation during word recognition. In this regard, feature activation is dynamic, measurable in specific time windows but not in others. Thus the current study (1 demonstrates how multiple ISIs can be used within an experiment to help chart the time course of feature activation and (2 provides new evidence for embodied theories of language.

  4. Action semantics: A unifying conceptual framework for the selective use of multimodal and modality-specific object knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Elk, Michiel; van Schie, Hein; Bekkering, Harold

    2014-06-01

    Our capacity to use tools and objects is often considered one of the hallmarks of the human species. Many objects greatly extend our bodily capabilities to act in the physical world, such as when using a hammer or a saw. In addition, humans have the remarkable capability to use objects in a flexible fashion and to combine multiple objects in complex actions. We prepare coffee, cook dinner and drive our car. In this review we propose that humans have developed declarative and procedural knowledge, i.e. action semantics that enables us to use objects in a meaningful way. A state-of-the-art review of research on object use is provided, involving behavioral, developmental, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies. We show that research in each of these domains is characterized by similar discussions regarding (1) the role of object affordances, (2) the relation between goals and means in object use and (3) the functional and neural organization of action semantics. We propose a novel conceptual framework of action semantics to address these issues and to integrate the previous findings. We argue that action semantics entails both multimodal object representations and modality-specific sub-systems, involving manipulation knowledge, functional knowledge and representations of the sensory and proprioceptive consequences of object use. Furthermore, we argue that action semantics are hierarchically organized and selectively activated and used depending on the action intention of the actor and the current task context. Our framework presents an integrative account of multiple findings and perspectives on object use that may guide future studies in this interdisciplinary domain. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Blahut-Arimoto algorithm and code design for action-dependent source coding problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trillingsgaard, Kasper Fløe; Simeone, Osvaldo; Popovski, Petar

    2013-01-01

    The source coding problem with action-dependent side information at the decoder has recently been introduced to model data acquisition in resource-constrained systems. In this paper, an efficient Blahut-Arimoto-type algorithm for the numerical computation of the rate-distortion-cost function...... for this problem is proposed. Moreover, a simplified two-stage code structure based on multiplexing is put forth, whereby the first stage encodes the actions and the second stage is composed of an array of classical Wyner-Ziv codes, one for each action. Leveraging this structure, specific coding/decoding...... strategies are designed based on LDGM codes and message passing. Through numerical examples, the proposed code design is shown to achieve performance close to the rate-distortion-cost function....

  6. A Semantics for Distributed Execution of Statemate

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fränzle, Martin; Niehaus, Jürgen; Metzner, Alexander

    2003-01-01

    We present a semantics for the statechart variant implemented in the Statemate product of i-Logix. Our semantics enables distributed code generation for Statemate models in the context of rapid prototyping for embedded control applications. We argue that it seems impossible to efficiently generate......, the changes made regarding the interaction of distributed model parts are similar to the interaction between the model and its environment in the original semantics, thus giving designers a familiar execution model. The semantics has been implemented in Grace, a framework for rapid prototyping code generation...... distributed code using the original Statemate semantics. The new, distributed semantics has the advantages that, first, it enables the generation of efficient distributed code, second, it preserves many aspects of the original semantics for those parts of a model that are not distributed, and third...

  7. Radioactive action code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1988-01-01

    A new coding system, 'Hazrad', for buildings and transportation containers for alerting emergency services personnel to the presence of radioactive materials has been developed in the United Kingdom. The hazards of materials in the buildings or transport container, together with the recommended emergency action, are represented by a number of codes which are marked on the building or container and interpreted from a chart carried as a pocket-size guide. Buildings would be marked with the familiar yellow 'radioactive' trefoil, the written information 'Radioactive materials' and a list of isotopes. Under this the 'Hazrad' code would be written - three symbols to denote the relative radioactive risk (low, medium or high), the biological risk (also low, medium or high) and the third showing the type of radiation emitted, alpha, beta or gamma. The response cards indicate appropriate measures to take, eg for a high biological risk, Bio3, the wearing of a gas-tight protection suit is advised. The code and its uses are explained. (U.K.)

  8. Semantic framework for mapping object-oriented model to semantic web languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ježek, Petr; Mouček, Roman

    2015-01-01

    The article deals with and discusses two main approaches in building semantic structures for electrophysiological metadata. It is the use of conventional data structures, repositories, and programming languages on one hand and the use of formal representations of ontologies, known from knowledge representation, such as description logics or semantic web languages on the other hand. Although knowledge engineering offers languages supporting richer semantic means of expression and technological advanced approaches, conventional data structures and repositories are still popular among developers, administrators and users because of their simplicity, overall intelligibility, and lower demands on technical equipment. The choice of conventional data resources and repositories, however, raises the question of how and where to add semantics that cannot be naturally expressed using them. As one of the possible solutions, this semantics can be added into the structures of the programming language that accesses and processes the underlying data. To support this idea we introduced a software prototype that enables its users to add semantically richer expressions into a Java object-oriented code. This approach does not burden users with additional demands on programming environment since reflective Java annotations were used as an entry for these expressions. Moreover, additional semantics need not to be written by the programmer directly to the code, but it can be collected from non-programmers using a graphic user interface. The mapping that allows the transformation of the semantically enriched Java code into the Semantic Web language OWL was proposed and implemented in a library named the Semantic Framework. This approach was validated by the integration of the Semantic Framework in the EEG/ERP Portal and by the subsequent registration of the EEG/ERP Portal in the Neuroscience Information Framework.

  9. Mining Repair Actions for Guiding Automated Program Fixing

    OpenAIRE

    Martinez , Matias; Monperrus , Martin

    2012-01-01

    Automated program fixing consists of generating source code in order to fix bugs in an automated manner. Our intuition is that automated program fixing can imitate human-based program fixing. Hence, we present a method to mine repair actions from software repositories. A repair action is a small semantic modification on code such as adding a method call. We then decorate repair actions with a probability distribution also learnt from software repositories. Our probabilistic repair models enab...

  10. Differential cognitive processing of Kanji and Kana words: do orthographic and semantic codes function in parallel in word matching task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawakami, A; Hatta, T; Kogure, T

    2001-12-01

    Relative engagements of the orthographic and semantic codes in Kanji and Hiragana word recognition were investigated. In Exp. 1, subjects judged whether the pairs of Kanji words (prime and target) presented sequentially were physically identical to each other in the word condition. In the sentence condition, subjects decided whether the target word was valid for the prime sentence presented in advance. The results showed that the response times to the target swords orthographically similar (to the prime) were significantly slower than to semantically related target words in the word condition and that this was also the case in the sentence condition. In Exp. 2, subjects judged whether the target word written in Hiragana was physically identical to the prime word in the word condition. In the sentence condition, subjects decided if the target word was valid for the previously presented prime sentence. Analysis indicated that response times to orthographically similar words were slower than to semantically related words in the word condition but not in the sentence condition wherein the response times to the semantically and orthographically similar words were largely the same. Based on these results, differential contributions of orthographic and semantic codes in cognitive processing of Japanese Kanji and Hiragana words was discussed.

  11. Geospatial Semantics and the Semantic Web

    CERN Document Server

    Ashish, Naveen

    2011-01-01

    The availability of geographic and geospatial information and services, especially on the open Web has become abundant in the last several years with the proliferation of online maps, geo-coding services, geospatial Web services and geospatially enabled applications. The need for geospatial reasoning has significantly increased in many everyday applications including personal digital assistants, Web search applications, local aware mobile services, specialized systems for emergency response, medical triaging, intelligence analysis and more. Geospatial Semantics and the Semantic Web: Foundation

  12. Nouns, verbs, objects, actions, and abstractions: local fMRI activity indexes semantics, not lexical categories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moseley, Rachel L; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2014-05-01

    Noun/verb dissociations in the literature defy interpretation due to the confound between lexical category and semantic meaning; nouns and verbs typically describe concrete objects and actions. Abstract words, pertaining to neither, are a critical test case: dissociations along lexical-grammatical lines would support models purporting lexical category as the principle governing brain organisation, whilst semantic models predict dissociation between concrete words but not abstract items. During fMRI scanning, participants read orthogonalised word categories of nouns and verbs, with or without concrete, sensorimotor meaning. Analysis of inferior frontal/insula, precentral and central areas revealed an interaction between lexical class and semantic factors with clear category differences between concrete nouns and verbs but not abstract ones. Though the brain stores the combinatorial and lexical-grammatical properties of words, our data show that topographical differences in brain activation, especially in the motor system and inferior frontal cortex, are driven by semantics and not by lexical class. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Phonological, visual, and semantic coding strategies and children's short-term picture memory span

    OpenAIRE

    Henry, L.; Messer, D. J.; Luger-Klein, S.; Crane, L.

    2012-01-01

    Three experiments addressed controversies in the previous literature on the development of phonological and other forms of short-term memory coding in children, using assessments of picture memory span that ruled out potentially confounding effects of verbal input and output. Picture materials were varied in terms of phonological similarity, visual similarity, semantic similarity, and word length. Older children (6/8-year-olds), but not younger children (4/5-year-olds), demonstrated robust an...

  14. OntoADR a semantic resource describing adverse drug reactions to support searching, coding, and information retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souvignet, Julien; Declerck, Gunnar; Asfari, Hadyl; Jaulent, Marie-Christine; Bousquet, Cédric

    2016-10-01

    Efficient searching and coding in databases that use terminological resources requires that they support efficient data retrieval. The Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities (MedDRA) is a reference terminology for several countries and organizations to code adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for pharmacovigilance. Ontologies that are available in the medical domain provide several advantages such as reasoning to improve data retrieval. The field of pharmacovigilance does not yet benefit from a fully operational ontology to formally represent the MedDRA terms. Our objective was to build a semantic resource based on formal description logic to improve MedDRA term retrieval and aid the generation of on-demand custom groupings by appropriately and efficiently selecting terms: OntoADR. The method consists of the following steps: (1) mapping between MedDRA terms and SNOMED-CT, (2) generation of semantic definitions using semi-automatic methods, (3) storage of the resource and (4) manual curation by pharmacovigilance experts. We built a semantic resource for ADRs enabling a new type of semantics-based term search. OntoADR adds new search capabilities relative to previous approaches, overcoming the usual limitations of computation using lightweight description logic, such as the intractability of unions or negation queries, bringing it closer to user needs. Our automated approach for defining MedDRA terms enabled the association of at least one defining relationship with 67% of preferred terms. The curation work performed on our sample showed an error level of 14% for this automated approach. We tested OntoADR in practice, which allowed us to build custom groupings for several medical topics of interest. The methods we describe in this article could be adapted and extended to other terminologies which do not benefit from a formal semantic representation, thus enabling better data retrieval performance. Our custom groupings of MedDRA terms were used while performing signal

  15. Semantic memory in object use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silveri, Maria Caterina; Ciccarelli, Nicoletta

    2009-10-01

    We studied five patients with semantic memory disorders, four with semantic dementia and one with herpes simplex virus encephalitis, to investigate the involvement of semantic conceptual knowledge in object use. Comparisons between patients who had semantic deficits of different severity, as well as the follow-up, showed that the ability to use objects was largely preserved when the deficit was mild but progressively decayed as the deficit became more severe. Naming was generally more impaired than object use. Production tasks (pantomime execution and actual object use) and comprehension tasks (pantomime recognition and action recognition) as well as functional knowledge about objects were impaired when the semantic deficit was severe. Semantic and unrelated errors were produced during object use, but actions were always fluent and patients performed normally on a novel tools task in which the semantic demand was minimal. Patients with severe semantic deficits scored borderline on ideational apraxia tasks. Our data indicate that functional semantic knowledge is crucial for using objects in a conventional way and suggest that non-semantic factors, mainly non-declarative components of memory, might compensate to some extent for semantic disorders and guarantee some residual ability to use very common objects independently of semantic knowledge.

  16. Semantic transparency, semantic opacity, states of affairs, mental states and speech acts

    OpenAIRE

    Reboul , Anne

    2001-01-01

    There are two well-known views of linguistic communication: the code model and its counterpart, the hypothesis of the semantic transparency. If both of these views were correct, then there would be only one possible type of mishap in communication, that due to noise in the communication channel. However, none of these views is correct. I will sketch a quick history of pragmatics relative both to the code model and to the hypothesis of semantic transparency. As we will see, the most recent pra...

  17. Flexible recruitment of semantic richness: Context modulates body-object interaction effects in lexical-semantic processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cody eTousignant

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Body-object interaction (BOI is a semantic richness variable that measures the perceived ease with which the human body can physically interact with a word’s referent. Lexical and semantic processing is facilitated when words are associated with relatively more bodily experience (high BOI words, e.g., belt. To date, BOI effects have been examined in only one semantic decision context (is it imageable?. It has been argued that semantic processing is dynamic and can be modulated by context. We examined these influences by testing how task knowledge modulated BOI effects. We presented the same stimuli (high- and low-BOI entity words and a set of action words in each of four action/entity semantic categorization tasks (SCTs. Task framing was manipulated: participants were told about one (actions or entities or both (actions and entities categories of words in the decision task. Facilitatory BOI effects were observed when participants knew that ‘entity’ was part of the decision category, regardless of whether the high- and low-BOI entity words appeared on the affirmative or negative side of the decision. That BOI information was only useful when participants had expectations that object words would be presented suggests a strong role for the decision context in lexical-semantic processing, and supports a dynamic view of conceptual knowledge.

  18. Somatotopic Semantic Priming and Prediction in the Motor System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grisoni, Luigi; Dreyer, Felix R.; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2016-01-01

    The recognition of action-related sounds and words activates motor regions, reflecting the semantic grounding of these symbols in action information; in addition, motor cortex exerts causal influences on sound perception and language comprehension. However, proponents of classic symbolic theories still dispute the role of modality-preferential systems such as the motor cortex in the semantic processing of meaningful stimuli. To clarify whether the motor system carries semantic processes, we investigated neurophysiological indexes of semantic relationships between action-related sounds and words. Event-related potentials revealed that action-related words produced significantly larger stimulus-evoked (Mismatch Negativity-like) and predictive brain responses (Readiness Potentials) when presented in body-part-incongruent sound contexts (e.g., “kiss” in footstep sound context; “kick” in whistle context) than in body-part-congruent contexts, a pattern reminiscent of neurophysiological correlates of semantic priming. Cortical generators of the semantic relatedness effect were localized in areas traditionally associated with semantic memory, including left inferior frontal cortex and temporal pole, and, crucially, in motor areas, where body-part congruency of action sound–word relationships was indexed by a somatotopic pattern of activation. As our results show neurophysiological manifestations of action-semantic priming in the motor cortex, they prove semantic processing in the motor system and thus in a modality-preferential system of the human brain. PMID:26908635

  19. Semantic representations in the temporal pole predict false memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chadwick, Martin J; Anjum, Raeesa S; Kumaran, Dharshan; Schacter, Daniel L; Spiers, Hugo J; Hassabis, Demis

    2016-09-06

    Recent advances in neuroscience have given us unprecedented insight into the neural mechanisms of false memory, showing that artificial memories can be inserted into the memory cells of the hippocampus in a way that is indistinguishable from true memories. However, this alone is not enough to explain how false memories can arise naturally in the course of our daily lives. Cognitive psychology has demonstrated that many instances of false memory, both in the laboratory and the real world, can be attributed to semantic interference. Whereas previous studies have found that a diverse set of regions show some involvement in semantic false memory, none have revealed the nature of the semantic representations underpinning the phenomenon. Here we use fMRI with representational similarity analysis to search for a neural code consistent with semantic false memory. We find clear evidence that false memories emerge from a similarity-based neural code in the temporal pole, a region that has been called the "semantic hub" of the brain. We further show that each individual has a partially unique semantic code within the temporal pole, and this unique code can predict idiosyncratic patterns of memory errors. Finally, we show that the same neural code can also predict variation in true-memory performance, consistent with an adaptive perspective on false memory. Taken together, our findings reveal the underlying structure of neural representations of semantic knowledge, and how this semantic structure can both enhance and distort our memories.

  20. Semantic representations in the temporal pole predict false memories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chadwick, Martin J.; Anjum, Raeesa S.; Kumaran, Dharshan; Schacter, Daniel L.; Spiers, Hugo J.; Hassabis, Demis

    2016-01-01

    Recent advances in neuroscience have given us unprecedented insight into the neural mechanisms of false memory, showing that artificial memories can be inserted into the memory cells of the hippocampus in a way that is indistinguishable from true memories. However, this alone is not enough to explain how false memories can arise naturally in the course of our daily lives. Cognitive psychology has demonstrated that many instances of false memory, both in the laboratory and the real world, can be attributed to semantic interference. Whereas previous studies have found that a diverse set of regions show some involvement in semantic false memory, none have revealed the nature of the semantic representations underpinning the phenomenon. Here we use fMRI with representational similarity analysis to search for a neural code consistent with semantic false memory. We find clear evidence that false memories emerge from a similarity-based neural code in the temporal pole, a region that has been called the “semantic hub” of the brain. We further show that each individual has a partially unique semantic code within the temporal pole, and this unique code can predict idiosyncratic patterns of memory errors. Finally, we show that the same neural code can also predict variation in true-memory performance, consistent with an adaptive perspective on false memory. Taken together, our findings reveal the underlying structure of neural representations of semantic knowledge, and how this semantic structure can both enhance and distort our memories. PMID:27551087

  1. Latent semantics of action verbs reflect phonetic parameters of intensity and emotional content

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Michael Kai

    2015-01-01

    already in toddlers, this study explores whether articulatory and acoustic parameters may likewise differentiate the latent semantics of action verbs. Selecting 3 X 20 emotion, face, and hand related verbs known to activate premotor areas in the brain, their mutual cosine similarities were computed using...... latent semantic analysis LSA, and the resulting adjacency matrices were compared based on two different large scale text corpora; HAWIK and TASA. Applying hierarchical clustering to identify common structures across the two text corpora, the verbs largely divide into combined mouth and hand movements...... versus emotional expressions. Transforming the verbs into their constituent phonemes, and projecting them into an articulatory space framed by tongue height and formant frequencies, the clustered small and large size movements appear differentiated by front versus back vowels corresponding to increasing...

  2. The structure of affective action representations: temporal binding of affective response codes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eder, Andreas B; Müsseler, Jochen; Hommel, Bernhard

    2012-01-01

    Two experiments examined the hypothesis that preparing an action with a specific affective connotation involves the binding of this action to an affective code reflecting this connotation. This integration into an action plan should lead to a temporary occupation of the affective code, which should impair the concurrent representation of affectively congruent events, such as the planning of another action with the same valence. This hypothesis was tested with a dual-task setup that required a speeded choice between approach- and avoidance-type lever movements after having planned and before having executed an evaluative button press. In line with the code-occupation hypothesis, slower lever movements were observed when the lever movement was affectively compatible with the prepared evaluative button press than when the two actions were affectively incompatible. Lever movements related to approach and avoidance and evaluative button presses thus seem to share a code that represents affective meaning. A model of affective action control that is based on the theory of event coding is discussed.

  3. LAIR: A Language for Automated Semantics-Aware Text Sanitization based on Frame Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hedegaard, Steffen; Houen, Søren; Simonsen, Jakob Grue

    2009-01-01

    We present \\lair{}: A domain-specific language that enables users to specify actions to be taken upon meeting specific semantic frames in a text, in particular to rephrase and redact the textual content. While \\lair{} presupposes superficial knowledge of frames and frame semantics, it requires on...... with automated redaction of web pages for subjectively undesirable content; initial experiments suggest that using a small language based on semantic recognition of undesirable terms can be highly useful as a supplement to traditional methods of text sanitization.......We present \\lair{}: A domain-specific language that enables users to specify actions to be taken upon meeting specific semantic frames in a text, in particular to rephrase and redact the textual content. While \\lair{} presupposes superficial knowledge of frames and frame semantics, it requires only...... limited prior programming experience. It neither contain scripting or I/O primitives, nor does it contain general loop constructions and is not Turing-complete. We have implemented a \\lair{} compiler and integrated it in a pipeline for automated redaction of web pages. We detail our experience...

  4. The code system of record of technique-tactical actions of badminton players

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liubieva V.A.

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Software, used by the Russian specialists and International federation of badminton (IBF, are analysed. The results of semantic interpretation and classification of technique - tactical technique - tactical actions of badminton players are presented. On the basis of this classification the special system of record of game which allows operatively to fix all actions of players of single digit in the process of competition activity is worked out and approved. Systematization of technical actions as classification assists creation of the effective going near the estimation of competition activity of players and planning of training process.

  5. Standardized Semantic Markup for Reference Terminologies, Thesauri and Coding Systems: Benefits for distributed E-Health Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoelzer, Simon; Schweiger, Ralf K; Liu, Raymond; Rudolf, Dirk; Rieger, Joerg; Dudeck, Joachim

    2005-01-01

    With the introduction of the ICD-10 as the standard for diagnosis, the development of an electronic representation of its complete content, inherent semantics and coding rules is necessary. Our concept refers to current efforts of the CEN/TC 251 to establish a European standard for hierarchical classification systems in healthcare. We have developed an electronic representation of the ICD-10 with the extensible Markup Language (XML) that facilitates the integration in current information systems or coding software taking into account different languages and versions. In this context, XML offers a complete framework of related technologies and standard tools for processing that helps to develop interoperable applications.

  6. Fine-coarse semantic processing in schizophrenia: a reversed pattern of hemispheric dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeev-Wolf, Maor; Goldstein, Abraham; Levkovitz, Yechiel; Faust, Miriam

    2014-04-01

    Left lateralization for language processing is a feature of neurotypical brains. In individuals with schizophrenia, lack of left lateralization is associated with the language impairments manifested in this population. Beeman׳s fine-coarse semantic coding model asserts left hemisphere specialization in fine (i.e., conventionalized) semantic coding and right hemisphere specialization in coarse (i.e., non-conventionalized) semantic coding. Applying this model to schizophrenia would suggest that language impairments in this population are a result of greater reliance on coarse semantic coding. We investigated this hypothesis and examined whether a reversed pattern of hemispheric involvement in fine-coarse semantic coding along the time course of activation could be detected in individuals with schizophrenia. Seventeen individuals with schizophrenia and 30 neurotypical participants were presented with two word expressions of four types: literal, conventional metaphoric, unrelated (exemplars of fine semantic coding) and novel metaphoric (an exemplar of coarse semantic coding). Expressions were separated by either a short (250 ms) or long (750 ms) delay. Findings indicate that whereas during novel metaphor processing, controls displayed a left hemisphere advantage at 250 ms delay and right hemisphere advantage at 750 ms, individuals with schizophrenia displayed the opposite. For conventional metaphoric and unrelated expressions, controls showed left hemisphere advantage across times, while individuals with schizophrenia showed a right hemisphere advantage. Furthermore, whereas individuals with schizophrenia were less accurate than control at judging literal, conventional metaphoric and unrelated expressions they were more accurate when judging novel metaphors. Results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display a reversed pattern of lateralization for semantic coding which causes them to rely more heavily on coarse semantic coding. Thus, for individuals with

  7. The Semantic Web Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Shadbolt, Nigel; Berners-Lee, Tim; Hall, Wendy

    2006-01-01

    The original Scientific American article on the Semantic Web appeared in 2001. It described the evolution of a Web that consisted largely of documents for humans to read to one that included data and information for computers to manipulate. The Semantic Web is a Web of actionable information--information derived from data through a semantic theory for interpreting the symbols.This simple idea, however, remains largely unrealized. Shopbots and auction bots abound on the Web, but these are esse...

  8. Semantic graphs and associative memories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pomi, Andrés; Mizraji, Eduardo

    2004-12-01

    Graphs have been increasingly utilized in the characterization of complex networks from diverse origins, including different kinds of semantic networks. Human memories are associative and are known to support complex semantic nets; these nets are represented by graphs. However, it is not known how the brain can sustain these semantic graphs. The vision of cognitive brain activities, shown by modern functional imaging techniques, assigns renewed value to classical distributed associative memory models. Here we show that these neural network models, also known as correlation matrix memories, naturally support a graph representation of the stored semantic structure. We demonstrate that the adjacency matrix of this graph of associations is just the memory coded with the standard basis of the concept vector space, and that the spectrum of the graph is a code invariant of the memory. As long as the assumptions of the model remain valid this result provides a practical method to predict and modify the evolution of the cognitive dynamics. Also, it could provide us with a way to comprehend how individual brains that map the external reality, almost surely with different particular vector representations, are nevertheless able to communicate and share a common knowledge of the world. We finish presenting adaptive association graphs, an extension of the model that makes use of the tensor product, which provides a solution to the known problem of branching in semantic nets.

  9. Code-specific learning rules improve action selection by populations of spiking neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friedrich, Johannes; Urbanczik, Robert; Senn, Walter

    2014-08-01

    Population coding is widely regarded as a key mechanism for achieving reliable behavioral decisions. We previously introduced reinforcement learning for population-based decision making by spiking neurons. Here we generalize population reinforcement learning to spike-based plasticity rules that take account of the postsynaptic neural code. We consider spike/no-spike, spike count and spike latency codes. The multi-valued and continuous-valued features in the postsynaptic code allow for a generalization of binary decision making to multi-valued decision making and continuous-valued action selection. We show that code-specific learning rules speed up learning both for the discrete classification and the continuous regression tasks. The suggested learning rules also speed up with increasing population size as opposed to standard reinforcement learning rules. Continuous action selection is further shown to explain realistic learning speeds in the Morris water maze. Finally, we introduce the concept of action perturbation as opposed to the classical weight- or node-perturbation as an exploration mechanism underlying reinforcement learning. Exploration in the action space greatly increases the speed of learning as compared to exploration in the neuron or weight space.

  10. Context effects in embodied lexical-semantic processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wessel O Van Dam

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available The embodied view of language comprehension proposes that the meaning of words is grounded in perception and action rather than represented in abstract amodal symbols. Support for embodied theories of language processing comes from behavioural studies showing that understanding a sentence about an action can modulate congruent and incongruent physical responses, suggesting motor involvement during comprehension of sentences referring to bodily movement. Additionally, several neuroimaging studies have provided evidence that comprehending single words denoting manipulable objects elicits specific responses in the neural motor system. An interesting question that remains is whether action semantic knowledge is directly activated as motor simulations in the brain, or rather modulated by the semantic context in which action words are encountered. In the current paper we investigated the nature of conceptual representations using a go/no-go lexical decision task. Specifically, target words were either presented in a semantic context that emphasized dominant action features (features related to the functional use of an object or non-dominant action features. The response latencies in a lexical decision task reveal that participants were faster to respond to words denoting objects for which the functional use was congruent with the prepared movement. This facilitation effect, however, was only apparent when the semantic context emphasized corresponding motor properties. These findings suggest that motor involvement during comprehension of sentences is not automatic. Rather, the results suggest that conceptual processing is a context-dependent process that incorporates motor-related knowledge in a flexible manner.

  11. Neural correlates of concreteness in semantic categorization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pexman, Penny M; Hargreaves, Ian S; Edwards, Jodi D; Henry, Luke C; Goodyear, Bradley G

    2007-08-01

    In some contexts, concrete words (CARROT) are recognized and remembered more readily than abstract words (TRUTH). This concreteness effect has historically been explained by two theories of semantic representation: dual-coding [Paivio, A. Dual coding theory: Retrospect and current status. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 45, 255-287, 1991] and context-availability [Schwanenflugel, P. J. Why are abstract concepts hard to understand? In P. J. Schwanenflugel (Ed.), The psychology of word meanings (pp. 223-250). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1991]. Past efforts to adjudicate between these theories using functional magnetic resonance imaging have produced mixed results. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, we reexamined this issue with a semantic categorization task that allowed for uniform semantic judgments of concrete and abstract words. The participants were 20 healthy adults. Functional analyses contrasted activation associated with concrete and abstract meanings of ambiguous and unambiguous words. Results showed that for both ambiguous and unambiguous words, abstract meanings were associated with more widespread cortical activation than concrete meanings in numerous regions associated with semantic processing, including temporal, parietal, and frontal cortices. These results are inconsistent with both dual-coding and context-availability theories, as these theories propose that the representations of abstract concepts are relatively impoverished. Our results suggest, instead, that semantic retrieval of abstract concepts involves a network of association areas. We argue that this finding is compatible with a theory of semantic representation such as Barsalou's [Barsalou, L. W. Perceptual symbol systems. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 22, 577-660, 1999] perceptual symbol systems, whereby concrete and abstract concepts are represented by similar mechanisms but with differences in focal content.

  12. Long non-coding RNAs: Mechanism of action and functional utility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shakil Ahmad Bhat

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Recent RNA sequencing studies have revealed that most of the human genome is transcribed, but very little of the total transcriptomes has the ability to encode proteins. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs are non-coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides. Members of the non-coding genome include microRNA (miRNA, small regulatory RNAs and other short RNAs. Most of long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs are poorly annotated. Recent recognition about lncRNAs highlights their effects in many biological and pathological processes. LncRNAs are dysfunctional in a variety of human diseases varying from cancerous to non-cancerous diseases. Characterization of these lncRNA genes and their modes of action may allow their use for diagnosis, monitoring of progression and targeted therapies in various diseases. In this review, we summarize the functional perspectives as well as the mechanism of action of lncRNAs. Keywords: LncRNA, X-chromosome inactivation, Genome imprinting, Transcription regulation, Cancer, Immunity

  13. On initial Brain Activity Mapping of episodic and semantic memory code in the hippocampus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsien, Joe Z; Li, Meng; Osan, Remus; Chen, Guifen; Lin, Longian; Wang, Phillip Lei; Frey, Sabine; Frey, Julietta; Zhu, Dajiang; Liu, Tianming; Zhao, Fang; Kuang, Hui

    2013-10-01

    It has been widely recognized that the understanding of the brain code would require large-scale recording and decoding of brain activity patterns. In 2007 with support from Georgia Research Alliance, we have launched the Brain Decoding Project Initiative with the basic idea which is now similarly advocated by BRAIN project or Brain Activity Map proposal. As the planning of the BRAIN project is currently underway, we share our insights and lessons from our efforts in mapping real-time episodic memory traces in the hippocampus of freely behaving mice. We show that appropriate large-scale statistical methods are essential to decipher and measure real-time memory traces and neural dynamics. We also provide an example of how the carefully designed, sometime thinking-outside-the-box, behavioral paradigms can be highly instrumental to the unraveling of memory-coding cell assembly organizing principle in the hippocampus. Our observations to date have led us to conclude that the specific-to-general categorical and combinatorial feature-coding cell assembly mechanism represents an emergent property for enabling the neural networks to generate and organize not only episodic memory, but also semantic knowledge and imagination. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Semantic-Based RFID Data Management

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Virgilio, Roberto; di Sciascio, Eugenio; Ruta, Michele; Scioscia, Floriano; Torlone, Riccardo

    Traditional Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) applications have been focused on replacing bar codes in supply chain management. Leveraging a ubiquitous computing architecture, the chapter presents a framework allowing both quick decentralized on-line item discovery and centralized off-line massive business logic analysis, according to needs and requirements of supply chain actors. A semantic-based environment, where tagged objects become resources exposing to an RFID reader not a trivial identification code but a semantic annotation, enables tagged objects to describe themselves on the fly without depending on a centralized infrastructure. On the other hand, facing on data management issues, a proposal is formulated for an effective off-line multidimensional analysis of huge amounts of RFID data generated and stored along the supply chain.

  15. Hybrid Action Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rönnkö, M.; Ravn, Anders Peter; Sere, K.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we investigate the use of action systems with differential actions in the specifcation of hybrid systems. As the main contribution we generalize the definition of a differential action, allowing the use of arbitrary relations over model variables and their time......-derivatives in modelling continuous-time dynamics. The generalized differential action has an intuitively appealing predicate transformer semantics, which we show to be both conjunctive and monotonic. In addition, we show that differential actions blend smoothly with conventional actions in action systems, even under...... parallel composition. Moreover, as the strength of the action system formalism is the support for stepwise development by refinement, we investigate refinement involving a differential action. We show that, due to the predicate transformer semantics, standard action refinement techniques apply also...

  16. Differential Equations as Actions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ronkko, Mauno; Ravn, Anders P.

    1997-01-01

    We extend a conventional action system with a primitive action consisting of a differential equation and an evolution invariant. The semantics is given by a predicate transformer. The weakest liberal precondition is chosen, because it is not always desirable that steps corresponding to differential...... actions shall terminate. It is shown that the proposed differential action has a semantics which corresponds to a discrete approximation when the discrete step size goes to zero. The extension gives action systems the power to model real-time clocks and continuous evolutions within hybrid systems....

  17. Argument structure and the representation of abstract semantics.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javier Rodríguez-Ferreiro

    Full Text Available According to the dual coding theory, differences in the ease of retrieval between concrete and abstract words are related to the exclusive dependence of abstract semantics on linguistic information. Argument structure can be considered a measure of the complexity of the linguistic contexts that accompany a verb. If the retrieval of abstract verbs relies more on the linguistic codes they are associated to, we could expect a larger effect of argument structure for the processing of abstract verbs. In this study, sets of length- and frequency-matched verbs including 40 intransitive verbs, 40 transitive verbs taking simple complements, and 40 transitive verbs taking sentential complements were presented in separate lexical and grammatical decision tasks. Half of the verbs were concrete and half were abstract. Similar results were obtained in the two tasks, with significant effects of imageability and transitivity. However, the interaction between these two variables was not significant. These results conflict with hypotheses assuming a stronger reliance of abstract semantics on linguistic codes. In contrast, our data are in line with theories that link the ease of retrieval with availability and robustness of semantic information.

  18. Argument structure and the representation of abstract semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez-Ferreiro, Javier; Andreu, Llorenç; Sanz-Torrent, Mònica

    2014-01-01

    According to the dual coding theory, differences in the ease of retrieval between concrete and abstract words are related to the exclusive dependence of abstract semantics on linguistic information. Argument structure can be considered a measure of the complexity of the linguistic contexts that accompany a verb. If the retrieval of abstract verbs relies more on the linguistic codes they are associated to, we could expect a larger effect of argument structure for the processing of abstract verbs. In this study, sets of length- and frequency-matched verbs including 40 intransitive verbs, 40 transitive verbs taking simple complements, and 40 transitive verbs taking sentential complements were presented in separate lexical and grammatical decision tasks. Half of the verbs were concrete and half were abstract. Similar results were obtained in the two tasks, with significant effects of imageability and transitivity. However, the interaction between these two variables was not significant. These results conflict with hypotheses assuming a stronger reliance of abstract semantics on linguistic codes. In contrast, our data are in line with theories that link the ease of retrieval with availability and robustness of semantic information.

  19. Knowledge-Base Semantic Gap Analysis for the Vulnerability Detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Raymond; Seki, Keisuke; Sakamoto, Ryusuke; Hisada, Masayuki

    Web security became an alert in internet computing. To cope with ever-rising security complexity, semantic analysis is proposed to fill-in the gap that the current approaches fail to commit. Conventional methods limit their focus to the physical source codes instead of the abstraction of semantics. It bypasses new types of vulnerability and causes tremendous business loss.

  20. Semantic embodiment, disembodiment or misembodiment? In search of meaning in modules and neuron circuits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2013-10-01

    "Embodied" proposals claim that the meaning of at least some words, concepts and constructions is grounded in knowledge about actions and objects. An alternative "disembodied" position locates semantics in a symbolic system functionally detached from sensorimotor modules. This latter view is not tenable theoretically and has been empirically falsified by neuroscience research. A minimally-embodied approach now claims that action-perception systems may "color", but not represent, meaning; however, such minimal embodiment (misembodiment?) still fails to explain why action and perception systems exert causal effects on the processing of symbols from specific semantic classes. Action perception theory (APT) offers neurobiological mechanisms for "embodied" referential, affective and action semantics along with "disembodied" mechanisms of semantic abstraction, generalization and symbol combination, which draw upon multimodal brain systems. In this sense, APT suggests integrative-neuromechanistic explanations of why both sensorimotor and multimodal areas of the human brain differentially contribute to specific facets of meaning and concepts. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Action Type Deontic Logic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bentzen, Martin Mose

    2014-01-01

    A new deontic logic, Action Type Deontic Logic, is presented. To motivate this logic, a number of benchmark cases are shown, representing inferences a deontic logic should validate. Some of the benchmark cases are singled out for further comments and some formal approaches to deontic reasoning...... are evaluated with respect to the benchmark cases. After that follows an informal introduction to the ideas behind the formal semantics, focussing on the distinction between action types and action tokens. Then the syntax and semantics of Action Type Deontic Logic is presented and it is shown to meet...

  2. Towards measuring the semantic capacity of a physical medium demonstrated with elementary cellular automata.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dittrich, Peter

    2018-02-01

    The organic code concept and its operationalization by molecular codes have been introduced to study the semiotic nature of living systems. This contribution develops further the idea that the semantic capacity of a physical medium can be measured by assessing its ability to implement a code as a contingent mapping. For demonstration and evaluation, the approach is applied to a formal medium: elementary cellular automata (ECA). The semantic capacity is measured by counting the number of ways codes can be implemented. Additionally, a link to information theory is established by taking multivariate mutual information for quantifying contingency. It is shown how ECAs differ in their semantic capacities, how this is related to various ECA classifications, and how this depends on how a meaning is defined. Interestingly, if the meaning should persist for a certain while, the highest semantic capacity is found in CAs with apparently simple behavior, i.e., the fixed-point and two-cycle class. Synergy as a predictor for a CA's ability to implement codes can only be used if context implementing codes are common. For large context spaces with sparse coding contexts synergy is a weak predictor. Concluding, the approach presented here can distinguish CA-like systems with respect to their ability to implement contingent mappings. Applying this to physical systems appears straight forward and might lead to a novel physical property indicating how suitable a physical medium is to implement a semiotic system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Semantic Context Detection Using Audio Event Fusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cheng Wen-Huang

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Semantic-level content analysis is a crucial issue in achieving efficient content retrieval and management. We propose a hierarchical approach that models audio events over a time series in order to accomplish semantic context detection. Two levels of modeling, audio event and semantic context modeling, are devised to bridge the gap between physical audio features and semantic concepts. In this work, hidden Markov models (HMMs are used to model four representative audio events, that is, gunshot, explosion, engine, and car braking, in action movies. At the semantic context level, generative (ergodic hidden Markov model and discriminative (support vector machine (SVM approaches are investigated to fuse the characteristics and correlations among audio events, which provide cues for detecting gunplay and car-chasing scenes. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and provide a preliminary framework for information mining by using audio characteristics.

  4. Semantics by levels: An example for an image language

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fasciano, M.; Levialdi, S.; Tortora, G.

    1984-01-01

    Ambiguities in formal language constructs may decrease both the understanding and the coding efficiency of a program. Within an image language, two semantic levels have been detected, corresponding to the lower level (pixel-based) and to the higher level (image-based). Denotational semantics has been used to define both levels within PIXAL (an image language) in order to enable the reader to visualize a concrete application of the semantic levels and their implications in a programming environment. This paper presents the semantics of different levels of conceptualization in the abstract formal description of an image language. The disambiguation of the meaning of special purpose constructs that imply either the elementary (pixels) level or the high image (array) level is naturally obtained by means of such semantic clauses. Perhaps non Von architectures on which hierarchical computations may be performed could also benefit from the use of semantic clauses to explicit the different levels where such computations are executed

  5. Freedom and enforcement in action a study in formal action theory

    CERN Document Server

    Czelakowski, Janusz

    2015-01-01

    Action theory is the object of growing attention in a variety of scientific disciplines, and this is the first volume to offer a synthetic view of the range of approaches possible in the topic. The volume focuses on the nexus of formal action theory with a startlingly diverse set of subjects, which range from logic, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and automata theory to jurisprudence, deontology, and economics. It covers semantic, mathematical and logical aspects of action, showing how the problem of action breaks the boundaries of traditional branches of logic located in syntactics and semantics and now lies on lies on the borderline between logical pragmatics and praxeology.   The chapters here focus on specialized tasks in formal action theory, beginning with a thorough description and formalization of the language of action, and moving through material on the differing models of action theory to focus on probabilistic models, the relations of formal action theory to deontic logic, and its key appl...

  6. Semantics-Based Compiling: A Case Study in Type-Directed Partial Evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier; Vestergaard, René

    1996-01-01

    in the style of denotational semantics; – the output of the generated compiler is effectively three-address code, in the fashion and efficiency of the Dragon Book; – the generated compiler processes several hundred lines of source code per second. The source language considered in this case study is imperative......, block-structured, higher-order, call-by-value, allows subtyping, and obeys stack discipline. It is bigger than what is usually reported in the literature on semantics-based compiling and partial evaluation. Our compiling technique uses the first Futamura projection, i.e., we compile programs...... by specializing a definitional interpreter with respect to the program. Specialization is carried out using type-directed partial evaluation, which is a mild version of partial evaluation akin to lambda-calculus normalization. Our definitional interpreter follows the format of denotational semantics, with a clear...

  7. Acoustic and semantic interference effects in words and pictures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhawan, M; Pellegrino, J W

    1977-05-01

    Interference effects for pictures and words were investigated using a probe-recall task. Word stimuli showed acoustic interference effects for items at the end of the list and semantic interference effects for items at the beginning of the list, similar to results of Kintsch and Buschke (1969). Picture stimuli showed large semantic interference effects at all list positions with smaller acoustic interference effects. The results were related to latency data on picture-word processing and interpreted in terms of the differential order, probability, and/or speed of access to acoustic and semantic levels of processing. A levels of processing explanation of picture-word retention differences was related to dual coding theory. Both theoretical positions converge on an explanation of picture-word retention differences as a function of the relative capacity for semantic or associative processing.

  8. Adaptable Value-Set Analysis for Low-Level Code

    OpenAIRE

    Brauer, Jörg; Hansen, René Rydhof; Kowalewski, Stefan; Larsen, Kim G.; Olesen, Mads Chr.

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents a framework for binary code analysis that uses only SAT-based algorithms. Within the framework, incremental SAT solving is used to perform a form of weakly relational value-set analysis in a novel way, connecting the expressiveness of the value sets to computational complexity. Another key feature of our framework is that it translates the semantics of binary code into an intermediate representation. This allows for a straightforward translation of the program semantics in...

  9. The semantic basis of taste-shape associations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Velasco

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Previous research shows that people systematically match tastes with shapes. Here, we assess the extent to which matched taste and shape stimuli share a common semantic space and whether semantically congruent versus incongruent taste/shape associations can influence the speed with which people respond to both shapes and taste words. In Experiment 1, semantic differentiation was used to assess the semantic space of both taste words and shapes. The results suggest a common semantic space containing two principal components (seemingly, intensity and hedonics and two principal clusters, one including round shapes and the taste word “sweet,” and the other including angular shapes and the taste words “salty,” “sour,” and “bitter.” The former cluster appears more positively-valenced whilst less potent than the latter. In Experiment 2, two speeded classification tasks assessed whether congruent versus incongruent mappings of stimuli and responses (e.g., sweet with round versus sweet with angular would influence the speed of participants’ responding, to both shapes and taste words. The results revealed an overall effect of congruence with congruent trials yielding faster responses than their incongruent counterparts. These results are consistent with previous evidence suggesting a close relation (or crossmodal correspondence between tastes and shape curvature that may derive from common semantic coding, perhaps along the intensity and hedonic dimensions.

  10. Definition of Business Rules Using Business Vocabulary and Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roman Hypský

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper discusses the definition of business rules using business vocabulary and semantics. At the beginning business rules, business vocabulary and semantics of business rules are specified. There is also outlined the current state of research on this topic. Then the definition and formalization of business rules using semantics and business vocabulary is described. Based on these proposed procedures was created a tool that implements and simulate these processes. The main advantage of this tool is “Business Rules Layer”, which implements business rules into the system but is separated from this system. Source code of the rules and the system are not mixed together. Finally, the results are evaluated and future development is suggested.

  11. The Food Code in the Yakut Culture: Semantics and Functions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabysheva, Luiza Lvovna

    2016-01-01

    The relevance of researching the issue of a specific cultural meaning for a word in a folklore text is based on its being insufficiently studied and due to the importance for solving the problem of the folklore language semantic features. Yakut nominations for dairy products, which are the key words in the language of the Sakha people's folklore,…

  12. Life, Information, Entropy, and Time: Vehicles for Semantic Inheritance

    OpenAIRE

    Crofts, Antony R.

    2007-01-01

    Attempts to understand how information content can be included in an accounting of the energy flux of the biosphere have led to the conclusion that, in information transmission, one component, the semantic content, or “the meaning of the message,” adds no thermodynamic burden over and above costs arising from coding, transmission and translation. In biology, semantic content has two major roles. For all life forms, the message of the genotype encoded in DNA specifies the phenotype, and hence ...

  13. Reliability in content analysis: The case of semantic feature norms classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolognesi, Marianna; Pilgram, Roosmaryn; van den Heerik, Romy

    2017-12-01

    Semantic feature norms (e.g., STIMULUS: car → RESPONSE: ) are commonly used in cognitive psychology to look into salient aspects of given concepts. Semantic features are typically collected in experimental settings and then manually annotated by the researchers into feature types (e.g., perceptual features, taxonomic features, etc.) by means of content analyses-that is, by using taxonomies of feature types and having independent coders perform the annotation task. However, the ways in which such content analyses are typically performed and reported are not consistent across the literature. This constitutes a serious methodological problem that might undermine the theoretical claims based on such annotations. In this study, we first offer a review of some of the released datasets of annotated semantic feature norms and the related taxonomies used for content analysis. We then provide theoretical and methodological insights in relation to the content analysis methodology. Finally, we apply content analysis to a new dataset of semantic features and show how the method should be applied in order to deliver reliable annotations and replicable coding schemes. We tackle the following issues: (1) taxonomy structure, (2) the description of categories, (3) coder training, and (4) sustainability of the coding scheme-that is, comparison of the annotations provided by trained versus novice coders. The outcomes of the project are threefold: We provide methodological guidelines for semantic feature classification; we provide a revised and adapted taxonomy that can (arguably) be applied to both concrete and abstract concepts; and we provide a dataset of annotated semantic feature norms.

  14. Semantic Blogging : Spreading the Semantic Web Meme

    OpenAIRE

    Cayzer, Steve

    2004-01-01

    This paper is about semantic blogging, an application of the semantic web to blogging. The semantic web promises to make the web more useful by endowing metadata with machine processable semantics. Blogging is a lightweight web publishing paradigm which provides a very low barrier to entry, useful syndication and aggregation behaviour, a simple to understand structure and decentralized construction of a rich information network. Semantic blogging builds upon the success and clear network valu...

  15. PSG: Peer-to-Peer semantic grid framework architecture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amira Soliman

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The grid vision, of sharing diverse resources in a flexible, coordinated and secure manner, strongly depends on metadata. Currently, grid metadata is generated and used in an ad-hoc fashion, much of it buried in the grid middleware code libraries and database schemas. This ad-hoc expression and use of metadata causes chronic dependency on human intervention during the operation of grid machinery. Therefore, the Semantic Grid is emerged as an extension of the grid in which rich resource metadata is exposed and handled explicitly, and shared and managed via grid protocols. The layering of an explicit semantic infrastructure over the grid infrastructure potentially leads to increase interoperability and flexibility. In this paper, we present PSG framework architecture that offers semantic-based grid services. PSG architecture allows the explicit use of semantics and defining the associated grid services. PSG architecture is originated from the integration of Peer-to-Peer (P2P computing with semantics and agents. Ontologies are used in annotating each grid component, developing users/nodes profiles and organizing framework agents. While, P2P is responsible for organizing and coordinating the grid nodes and resources.

  16. Biomedical semantics in the Semantic Web.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Splendiani, Andrea; Burger, Albert; Paschke, Adrian; Romano, Paolo; Marshall, M Scott

    2011-03-07

    The Semantic Web offers an ideal platform for representing and linking biomedical information, which is a prerequisite for the development and application of analytical tools to address problems in data-intensive areas such as systems biology and translational medicine. As for any new paradigm, the adoption of the Semantic Web offers opportunities and poses questions and challenges to the life sciences scientific community: which technologies in the Semantic Web stack will be more beneficial for the life sciences? Is biomedical information too complex to benefit from simple interlinked representations? What are the implications of adopting a new paradigm for knowledge representation? What are the incentives for the adoption of the Semantic Web, and who are the facilitators? Is there going to be a Semantic Web revolution in the life sciences?We report here a few reflections on these questions, following discussions at the SWAT4LS (Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Sciences) workshop series, of which this Journal of Biomedical Semantics special issue presents selected papers from the 2009 edition, held in Amsterdam on November 20th.

  17. The Varieties of Programming Language Semantics (and Their Uses)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mosses, Peter David

    2001-01-01

    ; and regular expressions are extensively used for searching and transforming text. In contrast, formal semantic descriptions are widely regarded as being of interest only to theoreticians. This paper surveys the main frameworks available for describing the dynamic semantics of programming languages......Formal descriptions of syntax are quite popular: regular and context-free grammars have become accepted as useful for documenting the syntax of programming languages, as well as for generating efficient parsers; attribute grammars allow parsing to be linked with typechecking and code generation...

  18. Preserved musical semantic memory in semantic dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinstein, Jessica; Koenig, Phyllis; Gunawardena, Delani; McMillan, Corey; Bonner, Michael; Grossman, Murray

    2011-02-01

    To understand the scope of semantic impairment in semantic dementia. Case study. Academic medical center. A man with semantic dementia, as demonstrated by clinical, neuropsychological, and imaging studies. Music performance and magnetic resonance imaging results. Despite profoundly impaired semantic memory for words and objects due to left temporal lobe atrophy, this semiprofessional musician was creative and expressive in demonstrating preserved musical knowledge. Long-term representations of words and objects in semantic memory may be dissociated from meaningful knowledge in other domains, such as music.

  19. Emotional Actions Are Coded Via Two Mechanisms: With And Without Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joanna eWincenciak

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Accurate perception of an individual’s identity and emotion derived from their actions and behavior is essential for successful social functioning. Here we determined the role of identity in the representation of emotional whole-body actions using visual adaptation paradigms. Participants adapted to actors performing different whole-body actions in a happy and sad fashion. Following adaptation subsequent neutral actions appeared to convey the opposite emotion. We demonstrate two different emotional action aftereffects showing distinctive adaptation characteristics. For one short-lived aftereffect, adaptation to the emotion expressed by an individual resulted in biases in the perception of the expression of emotion by other individuals, indicating an identity-independent representation of emotional actions. A second, longer lasting, aftereffect was observed where adaptation to the emotion expressed by an individual resulted in longer-term biases in the perception of the expressions of emotion only by the same individual; this indicated an additional identity-dependent representation of emotional actions. Together, the presence of these two aftereffects indicates the existence of two mechanisms for coding emotional actions, only one of which takes into account the actor’s identity. The results that we observe might parallel processing of emotion from face and voice.

  20. Word meaning in the ventral visual path: a perceptual to conceptual gradient of semantic coding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borghesani, Valentina; Pedregosa, Fabian; Buiatti, Marco; Amadon, Alexis; Eger, Evelyn; Piazza, Manuela

    2016-12-01

    The meaning of words referring to concrete items is thought of as a multidimensional representation that includes both perceptual (e.g., average size, prototypical color) and conceptual (e.g., taxonomic class) dimensions. Are these different dimensions coded in different brain regions? In healthy human subjects, we tested the presence of a mapping between the implied real object size (a perceptual dimension) and the taxonomic categories at different levels of specificity (conceptual dimensions) of a series of words, and the patterns of brain activity recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging in six areas along the ventral occipito-temporal cortical path. Combining multivariate pattern classification and representational similarity analysis, we found that the real object size implied by a word appears to be primarily encoded in early visual regions, while the taxonomic category and sub-categorical cluster in more anterior temporal regions. This anteroposterior gradient of information content indicates that different areas along the ventral stream encode complementary dimensions of the semantic space. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. The influence of rTMS over prefrontal and motor areas in a morphological task: grammatical vs. semantic effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerfo, Emanuele Lo; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Torriero, Sara; Salerno, Silvia; Koch, Giacomo; Caltagirone, Carlo

    2008-01-31

    We investigated the differential role of two frontal regions in the processing of grammatical and semantic knowledge. Given the documented specificity of the prefrontal cortex for the grammatical class of verbs, and of the primary motor cortex for the semantic class of action words, we sought to investigate whether the prefrontal cortex is also sensitive to semantic effects, and whether the motor cortex is also sensitive to grammatical class effects. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to suppress the excitability of a portion of left prefontal cortex (first experiment) and of the motor area (second experiment). In the first experiment we found that rTMS applied to the left prefrontal cortex delays the processing of action verbs' retrieval, but is not critical for retrieval of state verbs and state nouns. In the second experiment we found that rTMS applied to the left motor cortex delays the processing of action words, both name and verbs, while it is not critical for the processing of state words. These results support the notion that left prefrontal and motor cortex are involved in the process of action word retrieval. Left prefrontal cortex subserves processing of both grammatical and semantic information, whereas motor cortex contributes to the processing of semantic representation of action words without any involvement in the representation of grammatical categories.

  2. Semantic Advertising

    OpenAIRE

    Zamanzadeh, Ben; Ashish, Naveen; Ramakrishnan, Cartic; Zimmerman, John

    2013-01-01

    We present the concept of Semantic Advertising which we see as the future of online advertising. Semantic Advertising is online advertising powered by semantic technology which essentially enables us to represent and reason with concepts and the meaning of things. This paper aims to 1) Define semantic advertising, 2) Place it in the context of broader and more widely used concepts such as the Semantic Web and Semantic Search, 3) Provide a survey of work in related areas such as context matchi...

  3. Using semantic memory to boost 'episodic' recall in a case of developmental amnesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandt, Karen R; Gardiner, John M; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh; Baddeley, Alan D; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2006-07-17

    We report two experiments that investigated factors that might boost 'episodic' recall for Jon, a developmental amnesic whose episodic memory is gravely impaired but whose semantic memory seems relatively normal. Experiment 1 showed that Jon's recall improved following a semantic study task compared with a non-semantic study task, as well as following four repeated study trials compared with only one. Experiment 2 additionally revealed that Jon's recall improved after acting compared with reading action phrases at study, but only if the phrases were well integrated semantically. The results provide some support for the hypothesis that Jon's 'episodic' recall depends on the extent to which he is able to retrieve events using semantic memory.

  4. Flavours of XChange, a Rule-Based Reactive Language for the (Semantic) Web

    OpenAIRE

    Bailey, James; Bry, François; Eckert, Michael; Patrânjan, Paula Lavinia

    2005-01-01

    This article introduces XChange, a rule-based reactive language for the Web. Stressing application scenarios, it first argues that high-level reactive languages are needed for bothWeb and SemanticWeb applications. Then, it discusses technologies and paradigms relevant to high-level reactive languages for the (Semantic) Web. Finally, it presents the Event-Condition-Action rules of XChange.

  5. Molecular codes in biological and chemical reaction networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dennis Görlich

    Full Text Available Shannon's theory of communication has been very successfully applied for the analysis of biological information. However, the theory neglects semantic and pragmatic aspects and thus cannot directly be applied to distinguish between (bio- chemical systems able to process "meaningful" information from those that do not. Here, we present a formal method to assess a system's semantic capacity by analyzing a reaction network's capability to implement molecular codes. We analyzed models of chemical systems (martian atmosphere chemistry and various combustion chemistries, biochemical systems (gene expression, gene translation, and phosphorylation signaling cascades, an artificial chemistry, and random reaction networks. Our study suggests that different chemical systems possess different semantic capacities. No semantic capacity was found in the model of the martian atmosphere chemistry, the studied combustion chemistries, and highly connected random networks, i.e. with these chemistries molecular codes cannot be implemented. High semantic capacity was found in the studied biochemical systems and in random reaction networks where the number of second order reactions is twice the number of species. We conclude that our approach can be applied to evaluate the information processing capabilities of a chemical system and may thus be a useful tool to understand the origin and evolution of meaningful information, e.g. in the context of the origin of life.

  6. Semantator: annotating clinical narratives with semantic web ontologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Dezhao; Chute, Christopher G; Tao, Cui

    2012-01-01

    To facilitate clinical research, clinical data needs to be stored in a machine processable and understandable way. Manual annotating clinical data is time consuming. Automatic approaches (e.g., Natural Language Processing systems) have been adopted to convert such data into structured formats; however, the quality of such automatically extracted data may not always be satisfying. In this paper, we propose Semantator, a semi-automatic tool for document annotation with Semantic Web ontologies. With a loaded free text document and an ontology, Semantator supports the creation/deletion of ontology instances for any document fragment, linking/disconnecting instances with the properties in the ontology, and also enables automatic annotation by connecting to the NCBO annotator and cTAKES. By representing annotations in Semantic Web standards, Semantator supports reasoning based upon the underlying semantics of the owl:disjointWith and owl:equivalentClass predicates. We present discussions based on user experiences of using Semantator.

  7. Semantic Models of Sentences with Verbs of Motion in Standard Language and in Scientific Language Used in Biology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vita Banionytė

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The semantic models of sentences with verbs of motion in German standard language and in scientific language used in biology are analyzed in the article. In its theoretic part it is affirmed that the article is based on the semantic theory of the sentence. This theory, in its turn, is grounded on the correlation of semantic predicative classes and semantic roles. The combination of semantic predicative classes and semantic roles is expressed by the main semantic formula – proposition. In its practical part the differences between the semantic models of standard and scientific language used in biology are explained. While modelling sentences with verbs of motion, two groups of semantic models of sentences are singled out: that of action (Handlung and process (Vorgang. The analysis shows that the semantic models of sentences with semantic action predicatives dominate in the text of standard language while the semantic models of sentences with semantic process predicatives dominate in the texts of scientific language used in biology. The differences how the doer and direction are expressed in standard and in scientific language are clearly seen and the semantic cases (Agens, Patiens, Direktiv1 help to determine that. It is observed that in scientific texts of high level of specialization (biology science in contrast to popular scientific literature models of sentences with moving verbs are usually seldom found. They are substituted by denominative constructions. In conclusions it is shown that this analysis can be important in methodics, especially planning material for teaching professional-scientific language.

  8. Grasping Ideas with the Motor System: Semantic Somatotopy in Idiom Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hauk, Olaf; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2009-01-01

    Single words and sentences referring to bodily actions activate the motor cortex. However, this semantic grounding of concrete language does not address the critical question whether the sensory–motor system contributes to the processing of abstract meaning and thought. We examined functional magnetic resonance imaging activation to idioms and literal sentences including arm- and leg-related action words. A common left fronto-temporal network was engaged in sentence reading, with idioms yielding relatively stronger activity in (pre)frontal and middle temporal cortex. Crucially, somatotopic activation along the motor strip, in central and precentral cortex, was elicited by idiomatic and literal sentences, reflecting the body part reference of the words embedded in the sentences. Semantic somatotopy was most pronounced after sentence ending, thus reflecting sentence-level processing rather than that of single words. These results indicate that semantic representations grounded in the sensory–motor system play a role in the composition of sentence-level meaning, even in the case of idioms. PMID:19068489

  9. Neural correlates of pantomiming familiar and unfamiliar tools: action semantics versus mechanical problem solving?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vingerhoets, Guy; Vandekerckhove, Elisabeth; Honoré, Pieterjan; Vandemaele, Pieter; Achten, Eric

    2011-06-01

    This study aims to reveal the neural correlates of planning and executing tool use pantomimes and explores the brain's response to pantomiming the use of unfamiliar tools. Sixteen right-handed volunteers planned and executed pantomimes of equally graspable familiar and unfamiliar tools while undergoing fMRI. During the planning of these pantomimes, we found bilateral temporo-occipital and predominantly left hemispheric frontal and parietal activation. The execution of the pantomimes produced additional activation in frontal and sensorimotor regions. In the left posterior parietal region both familiar and unfamiliar tool pantomimes elicit peak activity in the anterior portion of the lateral bank of the intraparietal sulcus--A region associated with the representation of action goals. The cerebral activation during these pantomimes is remarkably similar for familiar and unfamiliar tools, and direct comparisons revealed only few differences. First, the left cuneus is significantly active during the planning of pantomimes of unfamiliar tools, reflecting increased visual processing of the novel objects. Second, executing (but not planning) familiar tool pantomimes showed significant activation on the convex portion of the inferior parietal lobule, a region believed to serve as a repository for skilled object-related gestures. Given the striking similarity in brain activation while pantomiming familiar and unfamiliar tools, we argue that normal subjects use both action semantics and function from structure inferences simultaneously and interactively to give rise to flexible object-to-goal directed behavior. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  10. Semantic content-based recommendations using semantic graphs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Weisen; Kraines, Steven B

    2010-01-01

    Recommender systems (RSs) can be useful for suggesting items that might be of interest to specific users. Most existing content-based recommendation (CBR) systems are designed to recommend items based on text content, and the items in these systems are usually described with keywords. However, similarity evaluations based on keywords suffer from the ambiguity of natural languages. We present a semantic CBR method that uses Semantic Web technologies to recommend items that are more similar semantically with the items that the user prefers. We use semantic graphs to represent the items and we calculate the similarity scores for each pair of semantic graphs using an inverse graph frequency algorithm. The items having higher similarity scores to the items that are known to be preferred by the user are recommended.

  11. Cognitive semantic networks: emotional verbs throw a tantrum but don't bite

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Michael Kai; Hansen, Lars Kai

    2012-01-01

    Neuroimaging studies have over the past decades established that language is grounded in sensorimotor areas of the brain. The same neuronal circuits seem involved whether we literally pick up a ball or in a phrase refer to grasping an idea. However recent findings have demonstrated that not only ...... semantic analysis, multidimensional scaling, hierarchical clustering and network graph analysis to quantify their interaction and identify parameters of force and spatial differentiation which we propose cognitively relate emotions to sensorimotor action schemas....... leg, hand and face related but also emotional action verbs activate premotor systems in the brain. Hypothesizing that the force and spatial parameters which define action based language might also be reflected in the latent semantics of words, we select motor and emotion related verbs and apply latent...

  12. The processing of actions and action-words in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papeo, Liuba; Cecchetto, Cinzia; Mazzon, Giulia; Granello, Giulia; Cattaruzza, Tatiana; Verriello, Lorenzo; Eleopra, Roberto; Rumiati, Raffaella I

    2015-03-01

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with prime consequences on the motor function and concomitant cognitive changes, most frequently in the domain of executive functions. Moreover, poorer performance with action-verbs versus object-nouns has been reported in ALS patients, raising the hypothesis that the motor dysfunction deteriorates the semantic representation of actions. Using action-verbs and manipulable-object nouns sharing semantic relationship with the same motor representations, the verb-noun difference was assessed in a group of 21 ALS-patients with severely impaired motor behavior, and compared with a normal sample's performance. ALS-group performed better on nouns than verbs, both in production (action and object naming) and comprehension (word-picture matching). This observation implies that the interpretation of the verb-noun difference in ALS cannot be accounted by the relatedness of verbs to motor representations, but has to consider the role of other semantic and/or morpho-phonological dimensions that distinctively define the two grammatical classes. Moreover, this difference in the ALS-group was not greater than the noun-verb difference in the normal sample. The mental representation of actions also involves an executive-control component to organize, in logical/temporal order, the individual motor events (or sub-goals) that form a purposeful action. We assessed this ability with action sequencing tasks, requiring participants to re-construct a purposeful action from the scrambled presentation of its constitutive motor events, shown in the form of photographs or short sentences. In those tasks, ALS-group's performance was significantly poorer than controls'. Thus, the executive dysfunction manifested in the sequencing deficit -but not the selective verb deficit- appears as a consistent feature of the cognitive profile associated with ALS. We suggest that ALS can offer a valuable model to study the relationship between

  13. Does semantic impairment explain surface dyslexia? VLSM evidence for a double dissociation between regularization errors in reading and semantic errors in picture naming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Pillay

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The correlation between semantic deficits and exception word regularization errors ("surface dyslexia" in semantic dementia has been taken as strong evidence for involvement of semantic codes in exception word pronunciation. Rare cases with semantic deficits but no exception word reading deficit have been explained as due to individual differences in reading strategy, but this account is hotly debated. Semantic dementia is a diffuse process that always includes semantic impairment, making lesion localization difficult and independent assessment of semantic deficits and reading errors impossible. We addressed this problem using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping in 38 patients with left hemisphere stroke. Patients were all right-handed, native English speakers and at least 6 months from stroke onset. Patients performed an oral reading task that included 80 exception words (words with inconsistent orthographic-phonologic correspondence, e.g., pint, plaid, glove. Regularization errors were defined as plausible but incorrect pronunciations based on application of spelling-sound correspondence rules (e.g., 'plaid' pronounced as "played". Two additional tests examined explicit semantic knowledge and retrieval. The first measured semantic substitution errors during naming of 80 standard line drawings of objects. This error type is generally presumed to arise at the level of concept selection. The second test (semantic matching required patients to match a printed sample word (e.g., bus with one of two alternative choice words (e.g., car, taxi on the basis of greater similarity of meaning. Lesions were labeled on high-resolution T1 MRI volumes using a semi-automated segmentation method, followed by diffeomorphic registration to a template. VLSM used an ANCOVA approach to remove variance due to age, education, and total lesion volume. Regularization errors during reading were correlated with damage in the posterior half of the middle temporal gyrus and

  14. Body-part specific interactions of action verb processing with motor behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klepp, Anne; Niccolai, Valentina; Sieksmeyer, Jan; Arnzen, Stephanie; Indefrey, Peter; Schnitzler, Alfons; Biermann-Ruben, Katja

    2017-06-15

    The interaction of action-related language processing with actual movement is an indicator of the functional role of motor cortical involvement in language understanding. This paper describes two experiments using single action verb stimuli. Motor responses were performed with the hand or the foot. To test the double dissociation of language-motor facilitation effects within subjects, Experiments 1 and 2 used a priming procedure where both hand and foot reactions had to be performed in response to different geometrical shapes, which were preceded by action verbs. In Experiment 1, the semantics of the verbs could be ignored whereas Experiment 2 included semantic decisions. Only Experiment 2 revealed a clear double dissociation in reaction times: reactions were facilitated when preceded by verbs describing actions with the matching effector. In Experiment 1, by contrast, there was an interaction between verb-response congruence and a semantic variable related to motor features of the verbs. Thus, the double dissociation paradigm of semantic motor priming was effective, corroborating the role of the motor system in action-related language processing. Importantly, this effect was body part specific. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. EquiFACS: The Equine Facial Action Coding System.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jen Wathan

    Full Text Available Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS and consistently code behavioural sequences was high--and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats. EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices.

  16. Geospatial semantic web

    CERN Document Server

    Zhang, Chuanrong; Li, Weidong

    2015-01-01

    This book covers key issues related to Geospatial Semantic Web, including geospatial web services for spatial data interoperability; geospatial ontology for semantic interoperability; ontology creation, sharing, and integration; querying knowledge and information from heterogeneous data source; interfaces for Geospatial Semantic Web, VGI (Volunteered Geographic Information) and Geospatial Semantic Web; challenges of Geospatial Semantic Web; and development of Geospatial Semantic Web applications. This book also describes state-of-the-art technologies that attempt to solve these problems such as WFS, WMS, RDF, OWL, and GeoSPARQL, and demonstrates how to use the Geospatial Semantic Web technologies to solve practical real-world problems such as spatial data interoperability.

  17. N400 ERPs for actions: Building meaning in context

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucia eAmoruso

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Converging neuroscientific evidence suggests the existence of close links between language and sensorimotor cognition. Accordingly, during the comprehension of meaningful actions, our brain would recruit semantic-related operations similar to those associated with the processing of language information. Consistent with this view, electrophysiological findings show that the N400 component, traditionally linked to the semantic processing of linguistic material, can also be elicited by action-related material. This review outlines recent data from N400 studies that examine the understanding of action events. We focus on three specific domains, including everyday action comprehension, co-speech gesture integration, and the semantics involved in motor planning and execution. Based on the reviewed findings, we suggest that both negativities (the N400 and the action-N400 reflect a common neurocognitive mechanism involved in the construction of meaning through the expectancies created by previous experiences and current contextual information. To shed light on how this process is instantiated in the brain, a testable contextual fronto-temporo-parietal model is proposed.

  18. Semantic Multimedia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S. Staab; A. Scherp; R. Arndt; R. Troncy (Raphael); M. Grzegorzek; C. Saathoff; S. Schenk; L. Hardman (Lynda)

    2008-01-01

    htmlabstractMultimedia constitutes an interesting field of application for Semantic Web and Semantic Web reasoning, as the access and management of multimedia content and context depends strongly on the semantic descriptions of both. At the same time, multimedia resources constitute complex objects,

  19. The semantic structure of gratitude

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Smirnov, Alexander V.

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In the modern social and economic environment of Russia, gratitude might be considered an ambiguous phenomenon. It can have different meaning for a person in different contexts and can manifest itself differently as well (that is, as an expression of sincere feelings or as an element of corruption. In this respect it is topical to investigate the system of meanings and relationships that define the semantic space of gratitude. The goal of the study was the investigation and description of the content and structure of the semantic space of the gratitude phenomenon as well as the determination of male, female, age, and ethnic peculiarities of the expression of gratitude. The objective was achieved by using the semantic differential designed by the authors to investigate attitudes toward gratitude. This investigation was carried out with the participation of 184 respondents (Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Jews living in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Israel, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom and identifying themselves as representatives of one of these nationalities. The structural components of gratitude were singled out by means of exploratory factor analysis of the empirical data from the designed semantic differential. Gender, age, and ethnic differences were differentiated by means of Student’s t-test. Gratitude can be represented by material and nonmaterial forms as well as by actions in response to help given. The empirical data allowed us to design the ethnically nonspecified semantic structure of gratitude. During the elaboration of the differential, semantic universals of gratitude, which constitute its psychosemantic content, were distinguished. Peculiarities of attitudes toward gratitude by those in different age and gender groups were revealed. Differences in the degree of manifestation of components of the psychosemantic structure of gratitude related to ethnic characteristics were not discovered

  20. A study of actions in operative notes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yan; Pakhomov, Serguei; Burkart, Nora E; Ryan, James O; Melton, Genevieve B

    2012-01-01

    Operative notes contain rich information about techniques, instruments, and materials used in procedures. To assist development of effective information extraction (IE) techniques for operative notes, we investigated the sublanguage used to describe actions within the operative report 'procedure description' section. Deep parsing results of 362,310 operative notes with an expanded Stanford parser using the SPECIALIST Lexicon resulted in 200 verbs (92% coverage) including 147 action verbs. Nominal action predicates for each action verb were gathered from WordNet, SPECIALIST Lexicon, New Oxford American Dictionary and Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Coverage gaps were seen in existing lexical, domain, and semantic resources (Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, SPECIALIST Lexicon, WordNet and FrameNet). Our findings demonstrate the need to construct surgical domain-specific semantic resources for IE from operative notes.

  1. Varieties of semantic 'access' deficit in Wernicke's aphasia and semantic aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Hannah E; Robson, Holly; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2015-12-01

    Comprehension deficits are common in stroke aphasia, including in cases with (i) semantic aphasia, characterized by poor executive control of semantic processing across verbal and non-verbal modalities; and (ii) Wernicke's aphasia, associated with poor auditory-verbal comprehension and repetition, plus fluent speech with jargon. However, the varieties of these comprehension problems, and their underlying causes, are not well understood. Both patient groups exhibit some type of semantic 'access' deficit, as opposed to the 'storage' deficits observed in semantic dementia. Nevertheless, existing descriptions suggest that these patients might have different varieties of 'access' impairment-related to difficulty resolving competition (in semantic aphasia) versus initial activation of concepts from sensory inputs (in Wernicke's aphasia). We used a case series design to compare patients with Wernicke's aphasia and those with semantic aphasia on Warrington's paradigmatic assessment of semantic 'access' deficits. In these verbal and non-verbal matching tasks, a small set of semantically-related items are repeatedly presented over several cycles so that the target on one trial becomes a distractor on another (building up interference and eliciting semantic 'blocking' effects). Patients with Wernicke's aphasia and semantic aphasia were distinguished according to lesion location in the temporal cortex, but in each group, some individuals had additional prefrontal damage. Both of these aspects of lesion variability-one that mapped onto classical 'syndromes' and one that did not-predicted aspects of the semantic 'access' deficit. Both semantic aphasia and Wernicke's aphasia cases showed multimodal semantic impairment, although as expected, the Wernicke's aphasia group showed greater deficits on auditory-verbal than picture judgements. Distribution of damage in the temporal lobe was crucial for predicting the initially 'beneficial' effects of stimulus repetition: cases with

  2. Development of a computer code system for selecting off-site protective action in radiological accidents based on the multiobjective optimization method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishigami, Tsutomu; Oyama, Kazuo

    1989-09-01

    This report presents a new method to support selection of off-site protective action in nuclear reactor accidents, and provides a user's manual of a computer code system, PRASMA, developed using the method. The PRASMA code system gives several candidates of protective action zones of evacuation, sheltering and no action based on the multiobjective optimization method, which requires objective functions and decision variables. We have assigned population risks of fatality, injury and cost as the objective functions, and distance from a nuclear power plant characterizing the above three protective action zones as the decision variables. (author)

  3. Citizen Action Can Help the Code Adoption Process for Radon-Resistant New Construction: Decatur, Alabama

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adopting a code requiring radon-resistant new construction (RRNC) in Decatur, Alabama, took months of effort by four people. Their actions demonstrate the influence that passionate residents can have on reversing a city council’s direction.

  4. Generative Semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, Margaret

    The first section of this paper deals with the attempts within the framework of transformational grammar to make semantics a systematic part of linguistic description, and outlines the characteristics of the generative semantics position. The second section takes a critical look at generative semantics in its later manifestations, and makes a case…

  5. Relationship Structures and Semantic Type Assignments of the UMLS Enriched Semantic Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Li; Halper, Michael; Perl, Yehoshua; Geller, James; Cimino, James J.

    2005-01-01

    Objective: The Enriched Semantic Network (ESN) was introduced as an extension of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Semantic Network (SN). Its multiple subsumption configuration and concomitant multiple inheritance make the ESN's relationship structures and semantic type assignments different from those of the SN. A technique for deriving the relationship structures of the ESN's semantic types and an automated technique for deriving the ESN's semantic type assignments from those of the SN are presented. Design: The technique to derive the ESN's relationship structures finds all newly inherited relationships in the ESN. All such relationships are audited for semantic validity, and the blocking mechanism is used to block invalid relationships. The mapping technique to derive the ESN's semantic type assignments uses current SN semantic type assignments and preserves nonredundant categorizations, while preventing new redundant categorizations. Results: Among the 426 newly inherited relationships, 326 are deemed valid. Seven blockings are applied to avoid inheritance of the 100 invalid relationships. Sixteen semantic types have different relationship structures in the ESN as compared to those in the SN. The mapping of semantic type assignments from the SN to the ESN avoids the generation of 26,950 redundant categorizations. The resulting ESN contains 138 semantic types, 149 IS-A links, 7,303 relationships, and 1,013,876 semantic type assignments. Conclusion: The ESN's multiple inheritance provides more complete relationship structures than in the SN. The ESN's semantic type assignments avoid the existing redundant categorizations appearing in the SN and prevent new ones that might arise due to multiple parents. Compared to the SN, the ESN provides a more accurate unifying semantic abstraction of the UMLS Metathesaurus. PMID:16049233

  6. Trust estimation of the semantic web using semantic web clustering

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirgahi, Hossein; Mohsenzadeh, Mehran; Haj Seyyed Javadi, Hamid

    2017-05-01

    Development of semantic web and social network is undeniable in the Internet world these days. Widespread nature of semantic web has been very challenging to assess the trust in this field. In recent years, extensive researches have been done to estimate the trust of semantic web. Since trust of semantic web is a multidimensional problem, in this paper, we used parameters of social network authority, the value of pages links authority and semantic authority to assess the trust. Due to the large space of semantic network, we considered the problem scope to the clusters of semantic subnetworks and obtained the trust of each cluster elements as local and calculated the trust of outside resources according to their local trusts and trust of clusters to each other. According to the experimental result, the proposed method shows more than 79% Fscore that is about 11.9% in average more than Eigen, Tidal and centralised trust methods. Mean of error in this proposed method is 12.936, that is 9.75% in average less than Eigen and Tidal trust methods.

  7. From perceptual to lexico-semantic analysis--cortical plasticity enabling new levels of processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schlaffke, Lara; Rüther, Naima N; Heba, Stefanie; Haag, Lauren M; Schultz, Thomas; Rosengarth, Katharina; Tegenthoff, Martin; Bellebaum, Christian; Schmidt-Wilcke, Tobias

    2015-11-01

    Certain kinds of stimuli can be processed on multiple levels. While the neural correlates of different levels of processing (LOPs) have been investigated to some extent, most of the studies involve skills and/or knowledge already present when performing the task. In this study we specifically sought to identify neural correlates of an evolving skill that allows the transition from perceptual to a lexico-semantic stimulus analysis. Eighteen participants were trained to decode 12 letters of Morse code that were presented acoustically inside and outside of the scanner environment. Morse code was presented in trains of three letters while brain activity was assessed with fMRI. Participants either attended to the stimulus length (perceptual analysis), or evaluated its meaning distinguishing words from nonwords (lexico-semantic analysis). Perceptual and lexico-semantic analyses shared a mutual network comprising the left premotor cortex, the supplementary motor area (SMA) and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL). Perceptual analysis was associated with a strong brain activation in the SMA and the superior temporal gyrus bilaterally (STG), which remained unaltered from pre and post training. In the lexico-semantic analysis post learning, study participants showed additional activation in the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and in the left occipitotemporal cortex (OTC), regions known to be critically involved in lexical processing. Our data provide evidence for cortical plasticity evolving with a learning process enabling the transition from perceptual to lexico-semantic stimulus analysis. Importantly, the activation pattern remains task-related LOP and is thus the result of a decision process as to which LOP to engage in. © 2015 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Semantic Desktop

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sauermann, Leo; Kiesel, Malte; Schumacher, Kinga; Bernardi, Ansgar

    In diesem Beitrag wird gezeigt, wie der Arbeitsplatz der Zukunft aussehen könnte und wo das Semantic Web neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet. Dazu werden Ansätze aus dem Bereich Semantic Web, Knowledge Representation, Desktop-Anwendungen und Visualisierung vorgestellt, die es uns ermöglichen, die bestehenden Daten eines Benutzers neu zu interpretieren und zu verwenden. Dabei bringt die Kombination von Semantic Web und Desktop Computern besondere Vorteile - ein Paradigma, das unter dem Titel Semantic Desktop bekannt ist. Die beschriebenen Möglichkeiten der Applikationsintegration sind aber nicht auf den Desktop beschränkt, sondern können genauso in Web-Anwendungen Verwendung finden.

  9. Modulation of the semantic system by word imageability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabsevitz, D S; Medler, D A; Seidenberg, M; Binder, J R

    2005-08-01

    A prevailing neurobiological theory of semantic memory proposes that part of our knowledge about concrete, highly imageable concepts is stored in the form of sensory-motor representations. While this theory predicts differential activation of the semantic system by concrete and abstract words, previous functional imaging studies employing this contrast have provided relatively little supporting evidence. We acquired event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data while participants performed a semantic similarity judgment task on a large number of concrete and abstract noun triads. Task difficulty was manipulated by varying the degree to which the words in the triad were similar in meaning. Concrete nouns, relative to abstract nouns, produced greater activation in a bilateral network of multimodal and heteromodal association areas, including ventral and medial temporal, posterior-inferior parietal, dorsal prefrontal, and posterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, abstract nouns produced greater activation almost exclusively in the left hemisphere in superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex. Increasing task difficulty modulated activation mainly in attention, working memory, and response monitoring systems, with almost no effect on areas that were modulated by imageability. These data provide critical support for the hypothesis that concrete, imageable concepts activate perceptually based representations not available to abstract concepts. In contrast, processing abstract concepts makes greater demands on left perisylvian phonological and lexical retrieval systems. The findings are compatible with dual coding theory and less consistent with single-code models of conceptual representation. The lack of overlap between imageability and task difficulty effects suggests that once the neural representation of a concept is activated, further maintenance and manipulation of that information in working memory does not further increase neural activation in

  10. Semantic heterogeneity: comparing new semantic web approaches with those of digital libraries

    OpenAIRE

    Krause, Jürgen

    2008-01-01

    To demonstrate that newer developments in the semantic web community, particularly those based on ontologies (simple knowledge organization system and others) mitigate common arguments from the digital library (DL) community against participation in the Semantic web. The approach is a semantic web discussion focusing on the weak structure of the Web and the lack of consideration given to the semantic content during indexing. The points criticised by the semantic web and ontology approaches ar...

  11. Action and perception in literacy: A common-code for spelling and reading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houghton, George

    2018-01-01

    There is strong evidence that reading and spelling in alphabetical scripts depend on a shared representation (common-coding). However, computational models usually treat the two skills separately, producing a wide variety of proposals as to how the identity and position of letters is represented. This article treats reading and spelling in terms of the common-coding hypothesis for perception-action coupling. Empirical evidence for common representations in spelling-reading is reviewed. A novel version of the Start-End Competitive Queuing (SE-CQ) spelling model is introduced, and tested against the distribution of positional errors in Letter Position Dysgraphia, data from intralist intrusion errors in spelling to dictation, and dysgraphia because of nonperipheral neglect. It is argued that no other current model is equally capable of explaining this range of data. To pursue the common-coding hypothesis, the representation used in SE-CQ is applied, without modification, to the coding of letter identity and position for reading and lexical access, and a lexical matching rule for the representation is proposed (Start End Position Code model, SE-PC). Simulations show the model's compatibility with benchmark findings from form priming, its ability to account for positional effects in letter identification priming and the positional distribution of perseverative intrusion errors. The model supports the view that spelling and reading use a common orthographic description, providing a well-defined account of the major features of this representation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Programming the semantic web

    CERN Document Server

    Segaran, Toby; Taylor, Jamie

    2009-01-01

    With this book, the promise of the Semantic Web -- in which machines can find, share, and combine data on the Web -- is not just a technical possibility, but a practical reality Programming the Semantic Web demonstrates several ways to implement semantic web applications, using current and emerging standards and technologies. You'll learn how to incorporate existing data sources into semantically aware applications and publish rich semantic data. Each chapter walks you through a single piece of semantic technology and explains how you can use it to solve real problems. Whether you're writing

  13. Assigning clinical codes with data-driven concept representation on Dutch clinical free text.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scheurwegs, Elyne; Luyckx, Kim; Luyten, Léon; Goethals, Bart; Daelemans, Walter

    2017-05-01

    Clinical codes are used for public reporting purposes, are fundamental to determining public financing for hospitals, and form the basis for reimbursement claims to insurance providers. They are assigned to a patient stay to reflect the diagnosis and performed procedures during that stay. This paper aims to enrich algorithms for automated clinical coding by taking a data-driven approach and by using unsupervised and semi-supervised techniques for the extraction of multi-word expressions that convey a generalisable medical meaning (referred to as concepts). Several methods for extracting concepts from text are compared, two of which are constructed from a large unannotated corpus of clinical free text. A distributional semantic model (i.c. the word2vec skip-gram model) is used to generalize over concepts and retrieve relations between them. These methods are validated on three sets of patient stay data, in the disease areas of urology, cardiology, and gastroenterology. The datasets are in Dutch, which introduces a limitation on available concept definitions from expert-based ontologies (e.g. UMLS). The results show that when expert-based knowledge in ontologies is unavailable, concepts derived from raw clinical texts are a reliable alternative. Both concepts derived from raw clinical texts perform and concepts derived from expert-created dictionaries outperform a bag-of-words approach in clinical code assignment. Adding features based on tokens that appear in a semantically similar context has a positive influence for predicting diagnostic codes. Furthermore, the experiments indicate that a distributional semantics model can find relations between semantically related concepts in texts but also introduces erroneous and redundant relations, which can undermine clinical coding performance. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Semantic metrics

    OpenAIRE

    Hu, Bo; Kalfoglou, Yannis; Dupplaw, David; Alani, Harith; Lewis, Paul; Shadbolt, Nigel

    2006-01-01

    In the context of the Semantic Web, many ontology-related operations, e.g. ontology ranking, segmentation, alignment, articulation, reuse, evaluation, can be boiled down to one fundamental operation: computing the similarity and/or dissimilarity among ontological entities, and in some cases among ontologies themselves. In this paper, we review standard metrics for computing distance measures and we propose a series of semantic metrics. We give a formal account of semantic metrics drawn from a...

  15. Location-coding account versus affordance-activation account in handle-to-hand correspondence effects: Evidence of Simon-like effects based on the coding of action direction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pellicano, Antonello; Koch, Iring; Binkofski, Ferdinand

    2017-09-01

    An increasing number of studies have shown a close link between perception and action, which is supposed to be responsible for the automatic activation of actions compatible with objects' properties, such as the orientation of their graspable parts. It has been observed that left and right hand responses to objects (e.g., cups) are faster and more accurate if the handle orientation corresponds to the response location than when it does not. Two alternative explanations have been proposed for this handle-to-hand correspondence effect : location coding and affordance activation. The aim of the present study was to provide disambiguating evidence on the origin of this effect by employing object sets for which the visually salient portion was separated from, and opposite to the graspable 1, and vice versa. Seven experiments were conducted employing both single objects and object pairs as visual stimuli to enhance the contextual information about objects' graspability and usability. Notwithstanding these manipulations intended to favor affordance activation, results fully supported the location-coding account displaying significant Simon-like effects that involved the orientation of the visually salient portion of the object stimulus and the location of the response. Crucially, we provided evidence of Simon-like effects based on higher-level cognitive, iconic representations of action directions rather than based on lower-level spatial coding of the pure position of protruding portions of the visual stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  16. Inquisitive semantics and pragmatics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groenendijk, J.; Roelofsen, F.; Larrazabal, J.M.; Zubeldia, L.

    2009-01-01

    This paper starts with an informal introduction to inquisitive semantics. After that, we present a formal definition of the semantics, and introduce the basic semantic notions of inquisitiveness and informativeness, in terms of wich we define the semantic categories of questions, assertions, and

  17. Personal semantics: at the crossroads of semantic and episodic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renoult, Louis; Davidson, Patrick S R; Palombo, Daniela J; Moscovitch, Morris; Levine, Brian

    2012-11-01

    Declarative memory is usually described as consisting of two systems: semantic and episodic memory. Between these two poles, however, may lie a third entity: personal semantics (PS). PS concerns knowledge of one's past. Although typically assumed to be an aspect of semantic memory, it is essentially absent from existing models of knowledge. Furthermore, like episodic memory (EM), PS is idiosyncratically personal (i.e., not culturally-shared). We show that, depending on how it is operationalized, the neural correlates of PS can look more similar to semantic memory, more similar to EM, or dissimilar to both. We consider three different perspectives to better integrate PS into existing models of declarative memory and suggest experimental strategies for disentangling PS from semantic and episodic memory. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Supervised Convolutional Sparse Coding

    KAUST Repository

    Affara, Lama Ahmed

    2018-04-08

    Convolutional Sparse Coding (CSC) is a well-established image representation model especially suited for image restoration tasks. In this work, we extend the applicability of this model by proposing a supervised approach to convolutional sparse coding, which aims at learning discriminative dictionaries instead of purely reconstructive ones. We incorporate a supervised regularization term into the traditional unsupervised CSC objective to encourage the final dictionary elements to be discriminative. Experimental results show that using supervised convolutional learning results in two key advantages. First, we learn more semantically relevant filters in the dictionary and second, we achieve improved image reconstruction on unseen data.

  19. SSWAP: A Simple Semantic Web Architecture and Protocol for semantic web services.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gessler, Damian D G; Schiltz, Gary S; May, Greg D; Avraham, Shulamit; Town, Christopher D; Grant, David; Nelson, Rex T

    2009-09-23

    SSWAP (Simple Semantic Web Architecture and Protocol; pronounced "swap") is an architecture, protocol, and platform for using reasoning to semantically integrate heterogeneous disparate data and services on the web. SSWAP was developed as a hybrid semantic web services technology to overcome limitations found in both pure web service technologies and pure semantic web technologies. There are currently over 2400 resources published in SSWAP. Approximately two dozen are custom-written services for QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) and mapping data for legumes and grasses (grains). The remaining are wrappers to Nucleic Acids Research Database and Web Server entries. As an architecture, SSWAP establishes how clients (users of data, services, and ontologies), providers (suppliers of data, services, and ontologies), and discovery servers (semantic search engines) interact to allow for the description, querying, discovery, invocation, and response of semantic web services. As a protocol, SSWAP provides the vocabulary and semantics to allow clients, providers, and discovery servers to engage in semantic web services. The protocol is based on the W3C-sanctioned first-order description logic language OWL DL. As an open source platform, a discovery server running at http://sswap.info (as in to "swap info") uses the description logic reasoner Pellet to integrate semantic resources. The platform hosts an interactive guide to the protocol at http://sswap.info/protocol.jsp, developer tools at http://sswap.info/developer.jsp, and a portal to third-party ontologies at http://sswapmeet.sswap.info (a "swap meet"). SSWAP addresses the three basic requirements of a semantic web services architecture (i.e., a common syntax, shared semantic, and semantic discovery) while addressing three technology limitations common in distributed service systems: i.e., i) the fatal mutability of traditional interfaces, ii) the rigidity and fragility of static subsumption hierarchies, and iii) the

  20. Fine-grained semantic categorization across the abstract and concrete domains.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Ghio

    Full Text Available A consolidated approach to the study of the mental representation of word meanings has consisted in contrasting different domains of knowledge, broadly reflecting the abstract-concrete dichotomy. More fine-grained semantic distinctions have emerged in neuropsychological and cognitive neuroscience work, reflecting semantic category specificity, but almost exclusively within the concrete domain. Theoretical advances, particularly within the area of embodied cognition, have more recently put forward the idea that distributed neural representations tied to the kinds of experience maintained with the concepts' referents might distinguish conceptual meanings with a high degree of specificity, including those within the abstract domain. Here we report the results of two psycholinguistic rating studies incorporating such theoretical advances with two main objectives: first, to provide empirical evidence of fine-grained distinctions within both the abstract and the concrete semantic domains with respect to relevant psycholinguistic dimensions; second, to develop a carefully controlled linguistic stimulus set that may be used for auditory as well as visual neuroimaging studies focusing on the parametrization of the semantic space beyond the abstract-concrete dichotomy. Ninety-six participants rated a set of 210 sentences across pre-selected concrete (mouth, hand, or leg action-related and abstract (mental state-, emotion-, mathematics-related categories, with respect either to different semantic domain-related scales (rating study 1, or to concreteness, familiarity, and context availability (rating study 2. Inferential statistics and correspondence analyses highlighted distinguishing semantic and psycholinguistic traits for each of the pre-selected categories, indicating that a simple abstract-concrete dichotomy is not sufficient to account for the entire semantic variability within either domains.

  1. SemanticOrganizer: A Customizable Semantic Repository for Distributed NASA Project Teams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Richard M.; Berrios, Daniel C.; Carvalho, Robert E.; Hall, David R.; Rich, Stephen J.; Sturken, Ian B.; Swanson, Keith J.; Wolfe, Shawn R.

    2004-01-01

    SemanticOrganizer is a collaborative knowledge management system designed to support distributed NASA projects, including diverse teams of scientists, engineers, and accident investigators. The system provides a customizable, semantically structured information repository that stores work products relevant to multiple projects of differing types. SemanticOrganizer is one of the earliest and largest semantic web applications deployed at NASA to date, and has been used in diverse contexts ranging from the investigation of Space Shuttle Columbia's accident to the search for life on other planets. Although the underlying repository employs a single unified ontology, access control and ontology customization mechanisms make the repository contents appear different for each project team. This paper describes SemanticOrganizer, its customization facilities, and a sampling of its applications. The paper also summarizes some key lessons learned from building and fielding a successful semantic web application across a wide-ranging set of domains with diverse users.

  2. Varieties of semantic ‘access’ deficit in Wernicke’s aphasia and semantic aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    Comprehension deficits are common in stroke aphasia, including in cases with (i) semantic aphasia, characterized by poor executive control of semantic processing across verbal and non-verbal modalities; and (ii) Wernicke’s aphasia, associated with poor auditory–verbal comprehension and repetition, plus fluent speech with jargon. However, the varieties of these comprehension problems, and their underlying causes, are not well understood. Both patient groups exhibit some type of semantic ‘access’ deficit, as opposed to the ‘storage’ deficits observed in semantic dementia. Nevertheless, existing descriptions suggest that these patients might have different varieties of ‘access’ impairment—related to difficulty resolving competition (in semantic aphasia) versus initial activation of concepts from sensory inputs (in Wernicke’s aphasia). We used a case series design to compare patients with Wernicke’s aphasia and those with semantic aphasia on Warrington’s paradigmatic assessment of semantic ‘access’ deficits. In these verbal and non-verbal matching tasks, a small set of semantically-related items are repeatedly presented over several cycles so that the target on one trial becomes a distractor on another (building up interference and eliciting semantic ‘blocking’ effects). Patients with Wernicke’s aphasia and semantic aphasia were distinguished according to lesion location in the temporal cortex, but in each group, some individuals had additional prefrontal damage. Both of these aspects of lesion variability—one that mapped onto classical ‘syndromes’ and one that did not—predicted aspects of the semantic ‘access’ deficit. Both semantic aphasia and Wernicke’s aphasia cases showed multimodal semantic impairment, although as expected, the Wernicke’s aphasia group showed greater deficits on auditory-verbal than picture judgements. Distribution of damage in the temporal lobe was crucial for predicting the initially

  3. Getting connected: Both associative and semantic links structure semantic memory for newly learned persons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiese, Holger; Schweinberger, Stefan R

    2015-01-01

    The present study examined whether semantic memory for newly learned people is structured by visual co-occurrence, shared semantics, or both. Participants were trained with pairs of simultaneously presented (i.e., co-occurring) preexperimentally unfamiliar faces, which either did or did not share additionally provided semantic information (occupation, place of living, etc.). Semantic information could also be shared between faces that did not co-occur. A subsequent priming experiment revealed faster responses for both co-occurrence/no shared semantics and no co-occurrence/shared semantics conditions, than for an unrelated condition. Strikingly, priming was strongest in the co-occurrence/shared semantics condition, suggesting additive effects of these factors. Additional analysis of event-related brain potentials yielded priming in the N400 component only for combined effects of visual co-occurrence and shared semantics, with more positive amplitudes in this than in the unrelated condition. Overall, these findings suggest that both semantic relatedness and visual co-occurrence are important when novel information is integrated into person-related semantic memory.

  4. Word-embeddings Italian semantic spaces: A semantic model for psycholinguistic research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marelli Marco

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Distributional semantics has been for long a source of successful models in psycholinguistics, permitting to obtain semantic estimates for a large number of words in an automatic and fast way. However, resources in this respect remain scarce or limitedly accessible for languages different from English. The present paper describes WEISS (Word-Embeddings Italian Semantic Space, a distributional semantic model based on Italian. WEISS includes models of semantic representations that are trained adopting state-of-the-art word-embeddings methods, applying neural networks to induce distributed representations for lexical meanings. The resource is evaluated against two test sets, demonstrating that WEISS obtains a better performance with respect to a baseline encoding word associations. Moreover, an extensive qualitative analysis of the WEISS output provides examples of the model potentialities in capturing several semantic phenomena. Two variants of WEISS are released and made easily accessible via web through the SNAUT graphic interface.

  5. Semantically Interoperable XML Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergara-Niedermayr, Cristobal; Wang, Fusheng; Pan, Tony; Kurc, Tahsin; Saltz, Joel

    2013-09-01

    XML is ubiquitously used as an information exchange platform for web-based applications in healthcare, life sciences, and many other domains. Proliferating XML data are now managed through latest native XML database technologies. XML data sources conforming to common XML schemas could be shared and integrated with syntactic interoperability. Semantic interoperability can be achieved through semantic annotations of data models using common data elements linked to concepts from ontologies. In this paper, we present a framework and software system to support the development of semantic interoperable XML based data sources that can be shared through a Grid infrastructure. We also present our work on supporting semantic validated XML data through semantic annotations for XML Schema, semantic validation and semantic authoring of XML data. We demonstrate the use of the system for a biomedical database of medical image annotations and markups.

  6. Semantically Interoperable XML Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vergara-Niedermayr, Cristobal; Wang, Fusheng; Pan, Tony; Kurc, Tahsin; Saltz, Joel

    2013-01-01

    XML is ubiquitously used as an information exchange platform for web-based applications in healthcare, life sciences, and many other domains. Proliferating XML data are now managed through latest native XML database technologies. XML data sources conforming to common XML schemas could be shared and integrated with syntactic interoperability. Semantic interoperability can be achieved through semantic annotations of data models using common data elements linked to concepts from ontologies. In this paper, we present a framework and software system to support the development of semantic interoperable XML based data sources that can be shared through a Grid infrastructure. We also present our work on supporting semantic validated XML data through semantic annotations for XML Schema, semantic validation and semantic authoring of XML data. We demonstrate the use of the system for a biomedical database of medical image annotations and markups. PMID:25298789

  7. Semantics of Kinship Terms in Tamil from the Semantic Typology Point of View

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Анна Александровна Смирнитская

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article the author examines the lexical-semantic group “kinship terms” in Tamil, applying the attainments of modern semantic typology and the theory of semantic derivation. The kinship terms describing nuclear and extended family are explored. The “semantic shift” relation between two different meanings is established if such relation is realized by synchronous polysemy in one lexeme, semantic derivation, diachronic semantic change, cognates or some other means. The starting point of the study is the typological data from the DatSemShift catalogue of semantic shifts in languages of the world developed by a group of researchers under the guidance of Anna A. Zalizniak in the Institute of Linguistics, RAS. We verify the presence of semantic shifts described in the Database in Tamil. Also, we propose new semantic shifts specific only for this language. We confirm the presence of semantic relation of the studied type among the meanings with English “labels”: father - parents, girl - daughter, to deliver (a child - parents, - child, old woman - wife, owner - wife and others. The data also allows the assumption that the same relation exists between the meanings: old - grandfather, earth - mother, son - courage, unripe - son and others. The meanings of this field are the sources of semantic movements to abstract notions, lexicon of posession, forms of address and others; in addition many inner semantic relations inside this field are revealed. The meanings covering the nuclear part of the kinship system participate in universal semantic shifts described in the DatSemShift catalogue, while the meanings from collateral branches of this bifurcative kinship system (uncle, aunt turn out to be incomparable with kinship terms from indo-european lineal systems. Their meanings can be included in the DatSemShift catalogue only with an indication of system specifics. The information about semantic shifts can be useful for

  8. Toward semantic interoperability in home health care: formally representing OASIS items for integration into a concept-oriented terminology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jeungok; Jenkins, Melinda L; Cimino, James J; White, Thomas M; Bakken, Suzanne

    2005-01-01

    The authors aimed to (1) formally represent OASIS-B1 concepts using the Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC) semantic structure; (2) demonstrate integration of OASIS-B1 concepts into a concept-oriented terminology, the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED); (3) examine potential hierarchical structures within LOINC among OASIS-B1 and other nursing terms; and (4) illustrate a Web-based implementation for OASIS-B1 data entry using Dialogix, a software tool with a set of functions that supports complex data entry. Two hundred nine OASIS-B1 items were dissected into the six elements of the LOINC semantic structure and then integrated into the MED hierarchy. Each OASIS-B1 term was matched to LOINC-coded nursing terms, Home Health Care Classification, the Omaha System, and the Sign and Symptom Check-List for Persons with HIV, and the extent of the match was judged based on a scale of 0 (no match) to 4 (exact match). OASIS-B1 terms were implemented as a Web-based survey using Dialogix. Of 209 terms, 204 were successfully dissected into the elements of the LOINC semantics structure and integrated into the MED with minor revisions of MED semantics. One hundred fifty-one OASIS-B1 terms were mapped to one or more of the LOINC-coded nursing terms. The LOINC semantic structure offers a standard way to add home health care data to a comprehensive patient record to facilitate data sharing for monitoring outcomes across sites and to further terminology management, decision support, and accurate information retrieval for evidence-based practice. The cross-mapping results support the possibility of a hierarchical structure of the OASIS-B1 concepts within nursing terminologies in the LOINC database.

  9. Semantic Role Labeling

    CERN Document Server

    Palmer, Martha; Xue, Nianwen

    2011-01-01

    This book is aimed at providing an overview of several aspects of semantic role labeling. Chapter 1 begins with linguistic background on the definition of semantic roles and the controversies surrounding them. Chapter 2 describes how the theories have led to structured lexicons such as FrameNet, VerbNet and the PropBank Frame Files that in turn provide the basis for large scale semantic annotation of corpora. This data has facilitated the development of automatic semantic role labeling systems based on supervised machine learning techniques. Chapter 3 presents the general principles of applyin

  10. Electrophysiological evidence for the action of a center-surround mechanism on semantic processing in the left hemisphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diana eDeacon

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Physiological evidence was sought for a center-surround attentional mechanism (CSM, which has been proposed to assist in the retrieval of weakly activated items from semantic memory. The CSM operates by facilitating strongly related items in the center of the weakly activated area of semantic memory, and inhibiting less strongly related items in its surround. In this study weak activation was created by having subjects acquire the meanings of new words to a recall criterion of only 50%. Subjects who attained this approximate criterion level of performance were subsequently included in a semantic priming task, during which ERPs were recorded. Primes were newly learned rare words, and targets were either synonyms, nonsynonymously related words, or unrelated words. All stimuli were presented to the RVF/LH (right visual field/left hemisphere or the LVF/RH (left visual field/right hemisphere. Under RVF/LH stimulation the newly learned word primes produced facilitation on N400 for synonym targets, and inhibition for related targets. No differences were observed under LVF/RH stimulation. The LH thus, supports a CSM, whereby a synonym in the center of attention focused on the newly learned word is facilitated, whereas a related word in the surround is inhibited. The data are consistent with the view of this laboratory that semantic memory is subserved by a spreading activation system in the LH. Also consistent with our view, there was no evidence of spreading activation in the RH. The findings are discussed in the context of additional recent theories of semantic memory. Finally, the adult right hemisphere may require more learning than the LH in order to demonstrate evidence of meaning acquisition.

  11. Representations for Semantic Learning Webs: Semantic Web Technology in Learning Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dzbor, M.; Stutt, A.; Motta, E.; Collins, T.

    2007-01-01

    Recent work on applying semantic technologies to learning has concentrated on providing novel means of accessing and making use of learning objects. However, this is unnecessarily limiting: semantic technologies will make it possible to develop a range of educational Semantic Web services, such as interpretation, structure-visualization, support…

  12. UML 2 Semantics and Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Lano, Kevin

    2009-01-01

    A coherent and integrated account of the leading UML 2 semantics work and the practical applications of UML semantics development With contributions from leading experts in the field, the book begins with an introduction to UML and goes on to offer in-depth and up-to-date coverage of: The role of semantics Considerations and rationale for a UML system model Definition of the UML system model UML descriptive semantics Axiomatic semantics of UML class diagrams The object constraint language Axiomatic semantics of state machines A coalgebraic semantic framework for reasoning about interaction des

  13. Exploring the role of the posterior middle temporal gyrus in semantic cognition: Integration of anterior temporal lobe with executive processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davey, James; Thompson, Hannah E; Hallam, Glyn; Karapanagiotidis, Theodoros; Murphy, Charlotte; De Caso, Irene; Krieger-Redwood, Katya; Bernhardt, Boris C; Smallwood, Jonathan; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2016-08-15

    Making sense of the world around us depends upon selectively retrieving information relevant to our current goal or context. However, it is unclear whether selective semantic retrieval relies exclusively on general control mechanisms recruited in demanding non-semantic tasks, or instead on systems specialised for the control of meaning. One hypothesis is that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) is important in the controlled retrieval of semantic (not non-semantic) information; however this view remains controversial since a parallel literature links this site to event and relational semantics. In a functional neuroimaging study, we demonstrated that an area of pMTG implicated in semantic control by a recent meta-analysis was activated in a conjunction of (i) semantic association over size judgements and (ii) action over colour feature matching. Under these circumstances the same region showed functional coupling with the inferior frontal gyrus - another crucial site for semantic control. Structural and functional connectivity analyses demonstrated that this site is at the nexus of networks recruited in automatic semantic processing (the default mode network) and executively demanding tasks (the multiple-demand network). Moreover, in both task and task-free contexts, pMTG exhibited functional properties that were more similar to ventral parts of inferior frontal cortex, implicated in controlled semantic retrieval, than more dorsal inferior frontal sulcus, implicated in domain-general control. Finally, the pMTG region was functionally correlated at rest with other regions implicated in control-demanding semantic tasks, including inferior frontal gyrus and intraparietal sulcus. We suggest that pMTG may play a crucial role within a large-scale network that allows the integration of automatic retrieval in the default mode network with executively-demanding goal-oriented cognition, and that this could support our ability to understand actions and non

  14. Simplifying the Reuse and Interoperability of Geoscience Data Sets and Models with Semantic Metadata that is Human-Readable and Machine-actionable

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peckham, S. D.

    2017-12-01

    Standardized, deep descriptions of digital resources (e.g. data sets, computational models, software tools and publications) make it possible to develop user-friendly software systems that assist scientists with the discovery and appropriate use of these resources. Semantic metadata makes it possible for machines to take actions on behalf of humans, such as automatically identifying the resources needed to solve a given problem, retrieving them and then automatically connecting them (despite their heterogeneity) into a functioning workflow. Standardized model metadata also helps model users to understand the important details that underpin computational models and to compare the capabilities of different models. These details include simplifying assumptions on the physics, governing equations and the numerical methods used to solve them, discretization of space (the grid) and time (the time-stepping scheme), state variables (input or output), model configuration parameters. This kind of metadata provides a "deep description" of a computational model that goes well beyond other types of metadata (e.g. author, purpose, scientific domain, programming language, digital rights, provenance, execution) and captures the science that underpins a model. A carefully constructed, unambiguous and rules-based schema to address this problem, called the Geoscience Standard Names ontology will be presented that utilizes Semantic Web best practices and technologies. It has also been designed to work across science domains and to be readable by both humans and machines.

  15. Symbolic Game Semantics for Model Checking Program Families

    OpenAIRE

    Dimovski, Aleksandar

    2016-01-01

    Program families can produce a (potentially huge) number of related programs from a common code base. Many such programs are safety critical. However, most verification techniques are designed to work on the level of single programs, and thus are too costly to apply to the entire program family. In this paper, we propose an efficient game semantics based approach for verifying open program families, i.e. program families with free (undefined) identifiers. We use symbolic representation of alg...

  16. The structure of semantic person memory: evidence from semantic priming in person recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiese, Holger

    2011-11-01

    This paper reviews research on the structure of semantic person memory as examined with semantic priming. In this experimental paradigm, a familiarity decision on a target face or written name is usually faster when it is preceded by a related as compared to an unrelated prime. This effect has been shown to be relatively short lived and susceptible to interfering items. Moreover, semantic priming can cross stimulus domains, such that a written name can prime a target face and vice versa. However, it remains controversial whether representations of people are stored in associative networks based on co-occurrence, or in more abstract semantic categories. In line with prominent cognitive models of face recognition, which explain semantic priming by shared semantic information between prime and target, recent research demonstrated that priming could be obtained from purely categorically related, non-associated prime/target pairs. Although strategic processes, such as expectancy and retrospective matching likely contribute, there is also evidence for a non-strategic contribution to priming, presumably related to spreading activation. Finally, a semantic priming effect has been demonstrated in the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component, which may reflect facilitated access to semantic information. It is concluded that categorical relatedness is one organizing principle of semantic person memory. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  17. Meinongian Semantics and Artificial Intelligence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William J. Rapaport

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available This essay describes computational semantic networks for a philosophical audience and surveys several approaches to semantic-network semantics. In particular, propositional semantic networks (exemplified by SNePS are discussed; it is argued that only a fully intensional, Meinongian semantics is appropriate for them; and several Meinongian systems are presented.

  18. ADEpedia: a scalable and standardized knowledge base of Adverse Drug Events using semantic web technology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Guoqian; Solbrig, Harold R; Chute, Christopher G

    2011-01-01

    A source of semantically coded Adverse Drug Event (ADE) data can be useful for identifying common phenotypes related to ADEs. We proposed a comprehensive framework for building a standardized ADE knowledge base (called ADEpedia) through combining ontology-based approach with semantic web technology. The framework comprises four primary modules: 1) an XML2RDF transformation module; 2) a data normalization module based on NCBO Open Biomedical Annotator; 3) a RDF store based persistence module; and 4) a front-end module based on a Semantic Wiki for the review and curation. A prototype is successfully implemented to demonstrate the capability of the system to integrate multiple drug data and ontology resources and open web services for the ADE data standardization. A preliminary evaluation is performed to demonstrate the usefulness of the system, including the performance of the NCBO annotator. In conclusion, the semantic web technology provides a highly scalable framework for ADE data source integration and standard query service.

  19. Verbal and non-verbal semantic impairment: From fluent primary progressive aphasia to semantic dementia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mirna Lie Hosogi Senaha

    Full Text Available Abstract Selective disturbances of semantic memory have attracted the interest of many investigators and the question of the existence of single or multiple semantic systems remains a very controversial theme in the literature. Objectives: To discuss the question of multiple semantic systems based on a longitudinal study of a patient who presented semantic dementia from fluent primary progressive aphasia. Methods: A 66 year-old woman with selective impairment of semantic memory was examined on two occasions, undergoing neuropsychological and language evaluations, the results of which were compared to those of three paired control individuals. Results: In the first evaluation, physical examination was normal and the score on the Mini-Mental State Examination was 26. Language evaluation revealed fluent speech, anomia, disturbance in word comprehension, preservation of the syntactic and phonological aspects of the language, besides surface dyslexia and dysgraphia. Autobiographical and episodic memories were relatively preserved. In semantic memory tests, the following dissociation was found: disturbance of verbal semantic memory with preservation of non-verbal semantic memory. Magnetic resonance of the brain revealed marked atrophy of the left anterior temporal lobe. After 14 months, the difficulties in verbal semantic memory had become more severe and the semantic disturbance, limited initially to the linguistic sphere, had worsened to involve non-verbal domains. Conclusions: Given the dissociation found in the first examination, we believe there is sufficient clinical evidence to refute the existence of a unitary semantic system.

  20. Montague semantics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, T.M.V.

    2012-01-01

    Montague semantics is a theory of natural language semantics and of its relation with syntax. It was originally developed by the logician Richard Montague (1930-1971) and subsequently modified and extended by linguists, philosophers, and logicians. The most important features of the theory are its

  1. On an emotional node: modeling sentiment in graphs of action verbs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Michael Kai; Hansen, Lars Kai

    2012-01-01

    Neuroimaging studies have over the past decades established that language is grounded in sensorimotor areas of the brain. Not only action verbs related to face and hand motion but also emotional expressions activate premotor systems in the brain. Hypothesizing that patterns of neural activation...... might be reflected in the latent semantics of words, we apply hierarchical clustering and network graph analysis to quantify the interaction of emotion and motion related action verbs based on two large-scale text corpora. Comparing the word topologies to neural networks we suggest that the co......-activation of associated word forms in the brain resemble the latent semantics of action verbs, which may in turn reflect parameters of force and spatial differentiation underlying action based language....

  2. Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Evelyne; Keysers, Christian; Umiltà, M Alessandra; Fogassi, Leonardo; Gallese, Vittorio; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

    2002-08-02

    Many object-related actions can be recognized by their sound. We found neurons in monkey premotor cortex that discharge when the animal performs a specific action and when it hears the related sound. Most of the neurons also discharge when the monkey observes the same action. These audiovisual mirror neurons code actions independently of whether these actions are performed, heard, or seen. This discovery in the monkey homolog of Broca's area might shed light on the origin of language: audiovisual mirror neurons code abstract contents-the meaning of actions-and have the auditory access typical of human language to these contents.

  3. The role of orthography in the semantic activation of neighbors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hino, Yasushi; Lupker, Stephen J; Taylor, Tamsen E

    2012-09-01

    There is now considerable evidence that a letter string can activate semantic information appropriate to its orthographic neighbors (e.g., Forster & Hector's, 2002, TURPLE effect). This phenomenon is the focus of the present research. Using Japanese words, we examined whether semantic activation of neighbors is driven directly by orthographic similarity alone or whether there is also a role for phonological similarity. In Experiment 1, using a relatedness judgment task in which a Kanji word-Katakana word pair was presented on each trial, an inhibitory effect was observed when the initial Kanji word was related to an orthographic and phonological neighbor of the Katakana word target but not when the initial Kanji word was related to a phonological but not orthographic neighbor of the Katakana word target. This result suggests that phonology plays little, if any, role in the activation of neighbors' semantics when reading familiar words. In Experiment 2, the targets were transcribed into Hiragana, a script they are typically not written in, requiring readers to engage in phonological coding. In that experiment, inhibitory effects were observed in both conditions. This result indicates that phonologically mediated semantic activation of neighbors will emerge when phonological processing is necessary in order to understand a written word (e.g., when that word is transcribed into an unfamiliar script). PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

  4. From Data to Semantic Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciano Floridi

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract: There is no consensus yet on the definition of semantic information. This paper contributes to the current debate by criticising and revising the Standard Definition of semantic Information (SDI as meaningful data, in favour of the Dretske-Grice approach: meaningful and well-formed data constitute semantic information only if they also qualify as contingently truthful. After a brief introduction, SDI is criticised for providing necessary but insufficient conditions for the definition of semantic information. SDI is incorrect because truth-values do not supervene on semantic information, and misinformation (that is, false semantic information is not a type of semantic information, but pseudo-information, that is not semantic information at all. This is shown by arguing that none of the reasons for interpreting misinformation as a type of semantic information is convincing, whilst there are compelling reasons to treat it as pseudo-information. As a consequence, SDI is revised to include a necessary truth-condition. The last section summarises the main results of the paper and indicates the important implications of the revised definition for the analysis of the deflationary theories of truth, the standard definition of knowledge and the classic, quantitative theory of semantic information.

  5. Foundations of semantic web technologies

    CERN Document Server

    Hitzler, Pascal; Rudolph, Sebastian

    2009-01-01

    The Quest for Semantics Building Models Calculating with Knowledge Exchanging Information Semanic Web Technologies RESOURCE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE (RDF)Simple Ontologies in RDF and RDF SchemaIntroduction to RDF Syntax for RDF Advanced Features Simple Ontologies in RDF Schema Encoding of Special Data Structures An ExampleRDF Formal Semantics Why Semantics? Model-Theoretic Semantics for RDF(S) Syntactic Reasoning with Deduction Rules The Semantic Limits of RDF(S)WEB ONTOLOGY LANGUAGE (OWL) Ontologies in OWL OWL Syntax and Intuitive Semantics OWL Species The Forthcoming OWL 2 StandardOWL Formal Sem

  6. Changes in Vision: Teachers Engaging in Action Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warren, Susan; Doorn, Dan; Green, James

    2008-01-01

    This investigation explored the effects of action research on teachers in a graduate education program. Mixed methods were utilized, combining a semantic differential study of student attitudes with qualitative analysis of students' perceptions of their experience as action researchers. Results indicate that participants perceived themselves as…

  7. The left IPL represents stored hand-postures for object use and action prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michiel evan Elk

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Action semantics enables us to plan actions with objects and to predict others’ object-directed actions as well. Previous studies have suggested that action semantics are represented in a fronto-parietal action network that has also been implicated to play a role in action observation. In the present fMRI study it was investigated how activity within this network changes as a function of the predictability of an action involving multiple objects and requiring the use of action semantics. Participants performed an action prediction task in which they were required to anticipate the use of a centrally presented object that could be moved to an associated target object (e.g. hammer - nail. The availability of actor information (i.e. presenting a hand grasping the central object and the number of possible target objects (i.e. 0, 1 or 2 target objects were independently manipulated, resulting in different levels of predictability. It was found that making an action prediction based on actor information resulted in an increased activation in the extrastriate body area (EBA and the fronto-parietal action observation network (AON. Predicting actions involving a target object resulted in increased activation in the bilateral IPL and frontal motor areas. Within the AON, activity in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL and the left premotor cortex (PMC increased as a function of the level of action predictability. Together these findings suggest that the left IPL represents stored hand-postures that can be used for planning object-directed actions and for predicting other’s actions as well.

  8. The word processing deficit in semantic dementia: all categories are equal, but some categories are more equal than others.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulvermüller, Friedemann; Cooper-Pye, Elisa; Dine, Clare; Hauk, Olaf; Nestor, Peter J; Patterson, Karalyn

    2010-09-01

    It has been claimed that semantic dementia (SD), the temporal variant of fronto-temporal dementia, is characterized by an across-the-board deficit affecting all types of conceptual knowledge. We here confirm this generalized deficit but also report differential degrees of impairment in processing specific semantic word categories in a case series of SD patients (N = 11). Within the domain of words with strong visually grounded meaning, the patients' lexical decision accuracy was more impaired for color-related than for form-related words. Likewise, within the domain of action verbs, the patients' performance was worse for words referring to face movements and speech acts than for words semantically linked to actions performed with the hand and arm. Psycholinguistic properties were matched between the stimulus groups entering these contrasts; an explanation for the differential degrees of impairment must therefore involve semantic features of the words in the different conditions. Furthermore, this specific pattern of deficits cannot be captured by classic category distinctions such as nouns versus verbs or living versus nonliving things. Evidence from previous neuroimaging research indicates that color- and face/speech-related words, respectively, draw most heavily on anterior-temporal and inferior-frontal areas, the structures most affected in SD. Our account combines (a) the notion of an anterior-temporal amodal semantic "hub" to explain the profound across-the-board deficit in SD word processing, with (b) a semantic topography model of category-specific circuits whose cortical distributions reflect semantic features of the words and concepts represented.

  9. Basic semantics of product sounds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Özcan Vieira, E.; Van Egmond, R.

    2012-01-01

    Product experience is a result of sensory and semantic experiences with product properties. In this paper, we focus on the semantic attributes of product sounds and explore the basic components for product sound related semantics using a semantic differential paradigmand factor analysis. With two

  10. Retrieval from semantic memory.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Noordman-Vonk, Wietske

    1977-01-01

    The present study has been concerned with the retrieval of semantic information. Retrieving semantic information is a fundamental process in almost any kind of cognitive behavior. The introduction presented the main experimental paradigms and results found in the literature on semantic memory as

  11. Towards Universal Semantic Tagging

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Abzianidze, Lasha; Bos, Johan

    2017-01-01

    The paper proposes the task of universal semantic tagging---tagging word tokens with language-neutral, semantically informative tags. We argue that the task, with its independent nature, contributes to better semantic analysis for wide-coverage multilingual text. We present the initial version of

  12. Process-oriented semantic web search

    CERN Document Server

    Tran, DT

    2011-01-01

    The book is composed of two main parts. The first part is a general study of Semantic Web Search. The second part specifically focuses on the use of semantics throughout the search process, compiling a big picture of Process-oriented Semantic Web Search from different pieces of work that target specific aspects of the process.In particular, this book provides a rigorous account of the concepts and technologies proposed for searching resources and semantic data on the Semantic Web. To collate the various approaches and to better understand what the notion of Semantic Web Search entails, this bo

  13. Semantic SenseLab: Implementing the vision of the Semantic Web in neuroscience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samwald, Matthias; Chen, Huajun; Ruttenberg, Alan; Lim, Ernest; Marenco, Luis; Miller, Perry; Shepherd, Gordon; Cheung, Kei-Hoi

    2010-01-01

    Integrative neuroscience research needs a scalable informatics framework that enables semantic integration of diverse types of neuroscience data. This paper describes the use of the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and other Semantic Web technologies for the representation and integration of molecular-level data provided by several of SenseLab suite of neuroscience databases. Based on the original database structure, we semi-automatically translated the databases into OWL ontologies with manual addition of semantic enrichment. The SenseLab ontologies are extensively linked to other biomedical Semantic Web resources, including the Subcellular Anatomy Ontology, Brain Architecture Management System, the Gene Ontology, BIRNLex and UniProt. The SenseLab ontologies have also been mapped to the Basic Formal Ontology and Relation Ontology, which helps ease interoperability with many other existing and future biomedical ontologies for the Semantic Web. In addition, approaches to representing contradictory research statements are described. The SenseLab ontologies are designed for use on the Semantic Web that enables their integration into a growing collection of biomedical information resources. We demonstrate that our approach can yield significant potential benefits and that the Semantic Web is rapidly becoming mature enough to realize its anticipated promises. The ontologies are available online at http://neuroweb.med.yale.edu/senselab/. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Semantic processing of unattended parafoveal words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Pace, E; Longoni, A M; Zoccolotti, P

    1991-08-01

    The influence that a context word presented either foveally or parafoveally, may exert on the processing of a subsequent target word was studied in a semantic decision task. Fourteen subjects participated in the experiment. They were presented with word-nonword pairs (prime). One member of the pair (which the subjects had to attend to) appeared centrally, the other parafoveally. The prime was followed by a target at two inter-stimulus intervals (ISI; 200 and 2000 msec). The word stimulus of the pair could be semantically related or unrelated to the target. The subjects' task was to classify the target as animal or not animal by pressing one of two buttons as quickly as possible. When the target word was semantically associated with the foveal (attended) word the reaction times were faster for both ISIs; when it was associated with the parafoveal (unattended) word in the prime pair, there were facilitatory effects only in the short ISI condition. A second experiment was run in order to evaluate the possibility that the obtained results were due to identification of the parafoveal stimulus. The same prime-target pairs of experiment 1 (without the target stimuli) were used. The prime-target pairs were presented to fourteen subjects who were requested to name the foveal (attended) stimulus and subsequently, if possible, the parafoveal (unattended) one. Even in this condition, percentage of identification of the unattended word was only 15%, suggesting that previous findings were not due to identification of unattended stimuli. Results are discussed in relation to Posner and Snyder's (1975) dual coding theory.

  15. Considering the role of semantic memory in episodic future thinking: evidence from semantic dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irish, Muireann; Addis, Donna Rose; Hodges, John R; Piguet, Olivier

    2012-07-01

    Semantic dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative condition characterized by the profound and amodal loss of semantic memory in the context of relatively preserved episodic memory. In contrast, patients with Alzheimer's disease typically display impairments in episodic memory, but with semantic deficits of a much lesser magnitude than in semantic dementia. Our understanding of episodic memory retrieval in these cohorts has greatly increased over the last decade, however, we know relatively little regarding the ability of these patients to imagine and describe possible future events, and whether episodic future thinking is mediated by divergent neural substrates contingent on dementia subtype. Here, we explored episodic future thinking in patients with semantic dementia (n=11) and Alzheimer's disease (n=11), in comparison with healthy control participants (n=10). Participants completed a battery of tests designed to probe episodic and semantic thinking across past and future conditions, as well as standardized tests of episodic and semantic memory. Further, all participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Despite their relatively intact episodic retrieval for recent past events, the semantic dementia cohort showed significant impairments for episodic future thinking. In contrast, the group with Alzheimer's disease showed parallel deficits across past and future episodic conditions. Voxel-based morphometry analyses confirmed that atrophy in the left inferior temporal gyrus and bilateral temporal poles, regions strongly implicated in semantic memory, correlated significantly with deficits in episodic future thinking in semantic dementia. Conversely, episodic future thinking performance in Alzheimer's disease correlated with atrophy in regions associated with episodic memory, namely the posterior cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus and frontal pole. These distinct neuroanatomical substrates contingent on dementia group were further qualified by correlational

  16. Mechanisms underlying selecting objects for action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melanie eWulff

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available We assessed the factors which affect the selection of objects for action, focusing on the role of action knowledge and its modulation by distracters. 14 neuropsychological patients and 10 healthy aged-matched controls selected pairs of objects commonly used together among distracters in two contexts: with real objects and with pictures of the same objects presented sequentially on a computer screen. Across both tasks, semantically related distracters led to slower responses and more errors than unrelated distracters and the object actively used for action was selected prior to the object that would be passively held during the action. We identified a sub-group of patients (N=6 whose accuracy was 2SD below the controls performances in the real object task. Interestingly, these impaired patients were more affected by the presence of unrelated distracters during both tasks than intact patients and healthy controls. Note the impaired had lesions to left parietal, right anterior temporal and bilateral pre-motor regions. We conclude that: (1 motor procedures guide object selection for action, (2 semantic knowledge affects action-based selection, (3 impaired action decision is associated with the inability to ignore distracting information and (4 lesions to either the dorsal or ventral visual stream can lead to deficits in making action decisions. Overall, the data indicate that impairments in everyday tasks can be evaluated using a simulated computer task. The implications for rehabilitation are discussed.

  17. High Performance Descriptive Semantic Analysis of Semantic Graph Databases

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Joslyn, Cliff A.; Adolf, Robert D.; al-Saffar, Sinan; Feo, John T.; Haglin, David J.; Mackey, Greg E.; Mizell, David W.

    2011-06-02

    As semantic graph database technology grows to address components ranging from extant large triple stores to SPARQL endpoints over SQL-structured relational databases, it will become increasingly important to be able to understand their inherent semantic structure, whether codified in explicit ontologies or not. Our group is researching novel methods for what we call descriptive semantic analysis of RDF triplestores, to serve purposes of analysis, interpretation, visualization, and optimization. But data size and computational complexity makes it increasingly necessary to bring high performance computational resources to bear on this task. Our research group built a novel high performance hybrid system comprising computational capability for semantic graph database processing utilizing the large multi-threaded architecture of the Cray XMT platform, conventional servers, and large data stores. In this paper we describe that architecture and our methods, and present the results of our analyses of basic properties, connected components, namespace interaction, and typed paths such for the Billion Triple Challenge 2010 dataset.

  18. The Interaction between Interoceptive and Action States within a Framework of Predictive Coding

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    Marshall, Amanda C.; Gentsch, Antje; Schütz-Bosbach, Simone

    2018-01-01

    The notion of predictive coding assumes that perception is an iterative process between prior knowledge and sensory feedback. To date, this perspective has been primarily applied to exteroceptive perception as well as action and its associated phenomenological experiences such as agency. More recently, this predictive, inferential framework has been theoretically extended to interoception. This idea postulates that subjective feeling states are generated by top–down inferences made about internal and external causes of interoceptive afferents. While the processing of motor signals for action control and the emergence of selfhood have been studied extensively, the contributions of interoceptive input and especially the potential interaction of motor and interoceptive signals remain largely unaddressed. Here, we argue for a specific functional relation between motor and interoceptive awareness. Specifically, we implicate interoceptive predictions in the generation of subjective motor-related feeling states. Furthermore, we propose a distinction between reflexive and pre-reflexive modes of agentic action control and suggest that interoceptive input may affect each differently. Finally, we advocate the necessity of continuous interoceptive input for conscious forms of agentic action control. We conclude by discussing further research contributions that would allow for a fuller understanding of the interaction between agency and interoceptive awareness. PMID:29515495

  19. Only time will tell - why temporal information is essential for our neuroscientific understanding of semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hauk, Olaf

    2016-08-01

    Theoretical developments about the nature of semantic representations and processes should be accompanied by a discussion of how these theories can be validated on the basis of empirical data. Here, I elaborate on the link between theory and empirical research, highlighting the need for temporal information in order to distinguish fundamental aspects of semantics. The generic point that fast cognitive processes demand fast measurement techniques has been made many times before, although arguably more often in the psychophysiological community than in the metabolic neuroimaging community. Many reviews on the neuroscience of semantics mostly or even exclusively focus on metabolic neuroimaging data. Following an analysis of semantics in terms of the representations and processes involved, I argue that fundamental theoretical debates about the neuroscience of semantics can only be concluded on the basis of data with sufficient temporal resolution. Any "semantic effect" may result from a conflation of long-term memory representations, retrieval and working memory processes, mental imagery, and episodic memory. This poses challenges for all neuroimaging modalities, but especially for those with low temporal resolution. It also throws doubt on the usefulness of contrasts between meaningful and meaningless stimuli, which may differ on a number of semantic and non-semantic dimensions. I will discuss the consequences of this analysis for research on the role of convergence zones or hubs and distributed modal brain networks, top-down modulation of task and context as well as interactivity between levels of the processing hierarchy, for example in the framework of predictive coding.

  20. Time Travel: The Role of Temporality in Enabling Semantic Waves in Secondary School Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matruglio, Erika; Maton, Karl; Martin, J. R.

    2013-01-01

    Based on the theoretical understandings from Legitimation Code Theory (Maton, 2013) and Systemic Functional Linguistics (Martin, 2013) underpinning the research discussed in this special issue, this paper focuses on classroom pedagogy to illustrate an important strategy for making semantic waves in History teaching, namely "temporal shifting". We…

  1. Neuronal codes for visual perception and memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo

    2016-03-01

    In this review, I describe and contrast the representation of stimuli in visual cortical areas and in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). While cortex is characterized by a distributed and implicit coding that is optimal for recognition and storage of semantic information, the MTL shows a much sparser and explicit coding of specific concepts that is ideal for episodic memory. I will describe the main characteristics of the coding in the MTL by the so-called concept cells and will then propose a model of the formation and recall of episodic memory based on partially overlapping assemblies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. A Defense of Semantic Minimalism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Su

    2012-01-01

    Semantic Minimalism is a position about the semantic content of declarative sentences, i.e., the content that is determined entirely by syntax. It is defined by the following two points: "Point 1": The semantic content is a complete/truth-conditional proposition. "Point 2": The semantic content is useful to a theory of…

  3. Subliminal semantic priming in speech.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jérôme Daltrozzo

    Full Text Available Numerous studies have reported subliminal repetition and semantic priming in the visual modality. We transferred this paradigm to the auditory modality. Prime awareness was manipulated by a reduction of sound intensity level. Uncategorized prime words (according to a post-test were followed by semantically related, unrelated, or repeated target words (presented without intensity reduction and participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT. Participants with slower reaction times in the LDT showed semantic priming (faster reaction times for semantically related compared to unrelated targets and negative repetition priming (slower reaction times for repeated compared to semantically related targets. This is the first report of semantic priming in the auditory modality without conscious categorization of the prime.

  4. Open semantic analysis: The case of word level semantics in Danish

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Finn Årup; Hansen, Lars Kai

    2017-01-01

    The present research is motivated by the need for accessible and efficient tools for automated semantic analysis in Danish. We are interested in tools that are completely open, so they can be used by a critical public, in public administration, non-governmental organizations and businesses. We...... describe data-driven models for Danish semantic relatedness, word intrusion and sentiment prediction. Open Danish corpora were assembled and unsupervised learning implemented for explicit semantic analysis and with Gensim’s Word2vec model. We evaluate the performance of the two models on three different...... annotated word datasets. We test the semantic representations’ alignment with single word sentiment using supervised learning. We find that logistic regression and large random forests perform well with Word2vec features....

  5. Order recall in verbal short-term memory: The role of semantic networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poirier, Marie; Saint-Aubin, Jean; Mair, Ali; Tehan, Gerry; Tolan, Anne

    2015-04-01

    In their recent article, Acheson, MacDonald, and Postle (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 37:44-59, 2011) made an important but controversial suggestion: They hypothesized that (a) semantic information has an effect on order information in short-term memory (STM) and (b) order recall in STM is based on the level of activation of items within the relevant lexico-semantic long-term memory (LTM) network. However, verbal STM research has typically led to the conclusion that factors such as semantic category have a large effect on the number of correctly recalled items, but little or no impact on order recall (Poirier & Saint-Aubin, Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 48A:384-404, 1995; Saint-Aubin, Ouellette, & Poirier, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 12:171-177, 2005; Tse, Memory 17:874-891, 2009). Moreover, most formal models of short-term order memory currently suggest a separate mechanism for order coding-that is, one that is separate from item representation and not associated with LTM lexico-semantic networks. Both of the experiments reported here tested the predictions that we derived from Acheson et al. The findings show that, as predicted, manipulations aiming to affect the activation of item representations significantly impacted order memory.

  6. Applied Semantic Web Technologies

    CERN Document Server

    Sugumaran, Vijayan

    2011-01-01

    The rapid advancement of semantic web technologies, along with the fact that they are at various levels of maturity, has left many practitioners confused about the current state of these technologies. Focusing on the most mature technologies, Applied Semantic Web Technologies integrates theory with case studies to illustrate the history, current state, and future direction of the semantic web. It maintains an emphasis on real-world applications and examines the technical and practical issues related to the use of semantic technologies in intelligent information management. The book starts with

  7. Semantic and functional relationships among objects increase the capacity of visual working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donnell, Ryan E; Clement, Andrew; Brockmole, James R

    2018-04-12

    Visual working memory (VWM) has a limited capacity of approximately 3-4 visual objects. Current theories of VWM propose that a limited pool of resources can be flexibly allocated to objects, allowing them to be represented at varying levels of precision. Factors that influence the allocation of these resources, such as the complexity and perceptual grouping of objects, can thus affect the capacity of VWM. We sought to identify whether semantic and functional relationships between objects could influence the grouping of objects, thereby increasing the functional capacity of VWM. Observers viewed arrays of 8 to-be-remembered objects arranged into 4 pairs. We manipulated both the semantic association and functional interaction between the objects, then probed participants' memory for the arrays. When objects were semantically related, participants' memory for the arrays improved. Participants' memory further improved when semantically related objects were positioned to interact with each other. However, when we increased the spacing between the objects in each pair, the benefits of functional but not semantic relatedness were eliminated. These findings suggest that action-relevant properties of objects can increase the functional capacity of VWM, but only when objects are positioned to directly interact with each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  8. Preexisting semantic representation improves working memory performance in the visuospatial domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudner, Mary; Orfanidou, Eleni; Cardin, Velia; Capek, Cheryl M; Woll, Bencie; Rönnberg, Jerker

    2016-05-01

    Working memory (WM) for spoken language improves when the to-be-remembered items correspond to preexisting representations in long-term memory. We investigated whether this effect generalizes to the visuospatial domain by administering a visual n-back WM task to deaf signers and hearing signers, as well as to hearing nonsigners. Four different kinds of stimuli were presented: British Sign Language (BSL; familiar to the signers), Swedish Sign Language (SSL; unfamiliar), nonsigns, and nonlinguistic manual actions. The hearing signers performed better with BSL than with SSL, demonstrating a facilitatory effect of preexisting semantic representation. The deaf signers also performed better with BSL than with SSL, but only when WM load was high. No effect of preexisting phonological representation was detected. The deaf signers performed better than the hearing nonsigners with all sign-based materials, but this effect did not generalize to nonlinguistic manual actions. We argue that deaf signers, who are highly reliant on visual information for communication, develop expertise in processing sign-based items, even when those items do not have preexisting semantic or phonological representations. Preexisting semantic representation, however, enhances the quality of the gesture-based representations temporarily maintained in WM by this group, thereby releasing WM resources to deal with increased load. Hearing signers, on the other hand, may make strategic use of their speech-based representations for mnemonic purposes. The overall pattern of results is in line with flexible-resource models of WM.

  9. Changes of right-hemispheric activation after constraint-induced, intensive language action therapy in chronic aphasia: fMRI evidence from auditory semantic processing1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohr, Bettina; Difrancesco, Stephanie; Harrington, Karen; Evans, Samuel; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2014-01-01

    The role of the two hemispheres in the neurorehabilitation of language is still under dispute. This study explored the changes in language-evoked brain activation over a 2-week treatment interval with intensive constraint induced aphasia therapy (CIAT), which is also called intensive language action therapy (ILAT). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activation in perilesional left hemispheric and in homotopic right hemispheric areas during passive listening to high and low-ambiguity sentences and non-speech control stimuli in chronic non-fluent aphasia patients. All patients demonstrated significant clinical improvements of language functions after therapy. In an event-related fMRI experiment, a significant increase of BOLD signal was manifest in right inferior frontal and temporal areas. This activation increase was stronger for highly ambiguous sentences than for unambiguous ones. These results suggest that the known language improvements brought about by intensive constraint-induced language action therapy at least in part relies on circuits within the right-hemispheric homologs of left-perisylvian language areas, which are most strongly activated in the processing of semantically complex language. PMID:25452721

  10. Adventures in semantic publishing: exemplar semantic enhancements of a research article.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Shotton

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Scientific innovation depends on finding, integrating, and re-using the products of previous research. Here we explore how recent developments in Web technology, particularly those related to the publication of data and metadata, might assist that process by providing semantic enhancements to journal articles within the mainstream process of scholarly journal publishing. We exemplify this by describing semantic enhancements we have made to a recent biomedical research article taken from PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, providing enrichment to its content and increased access to datasets within it. These semantic enhancements include provision of live DOIs and hyperlinks; semantic markup of textual terms, with links to relevant third-party information resources; interactive figures; a re-orderable reference list; a document summary containing a study summary, a tag cloud, and a citation analysis; and two novel types of semantic enrichment: the first, a Supporting Claims Tooltip to permit "Citations in Context", and the second, Tag Trees that bring together semantically related terms. In addition, we have published downloadable spreadsheets containing data from within tables and figures, have enriched these with provenance information, and have demonstrated various types of data fusion (mashups with results from other research articles and with Google Maps. We have also published machine-readable RDF metadata both about the article and about the references it cites, for which we developed a Citation Typing Ontology, CiTO (http://purl.org/net/cito/. The enhanced article, which is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000228.x001, presents a compelling existence proof of the possibilities of semantic publication. We hope the showcase of examples and ideas it contains, described in this paper, will excite the imaginations of researchers and publishers, stimulating them to explore the possibilities of semantic publishing for their own

  11. Pascal Semantics by a Combination of Denotational Semantics and High-level Petri Nets

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Kurt; Schmidt, Erik Meineche

    1986-01-01

    This paper describes the formal semantics of a subset of PASCAL, by means of a semantic model based on a combination of denotational semantics and high-level Petri nets. It is our intention that the paper can be used as part of the written material for an introductory course in computer science....

  12. The Two-Level Theory of verb meaning: An approach to integrating the semantics of action with the mirror neuron system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kemmerer, David; Gonzalez-Castillo, Javier

    2010-01-01

    Verbs have two separate levels of meaning. One level reflects the uniqueness of every verb and is called the "root". The other level consists of a more austere representation that is shared by all the verbs in a given class and is called the "event structure template". We explore the following hypotheses about how, with specific reference to the motor features of action verbs, these two distinct levels of semantic representation might correspond to two distinct levels of the mirror neuron system. Hypothesis 1: Root-level motor features of verb meaning are partially subserved by somatotopically mapped mirror neurons in the left primary motor and/or premotor cortices. Hypothesis 2: Template-level motor features of verb meaning are partially subserved by representationally more schematic mirror neurons in Brodmann area 44 of the left inferior frontal gyrus. Evidence has been accumulating in support of the general neuroanatomical claims made by these two hypotheses-namely, that each level of verb meaning is associated with the designated cortical areas. However, as yet no studies have satisfied all the criteria necessary to support the more specific neurobiological claims made by the two hypotheses-namely, that each level of verb meaning is associated with mirror neurons in the pertinent brain regions. This would require demonstrating that within those regions the same neuronal populations are engaged during (a) the linguistic processing of particular motor features of verb meaning, (b) the execution of actions with the corresponding motor features, and (c) the observation of actions with the corresponding motor features. 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. The Effectiveness of Colourful Semantics on Narrative Skills in Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Sri Lanka

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hettiarachchi, Shyamani

    2016-01-01

    Background: Children diagnosed with intellectual difficulties experience difficulties with narrative skills, due to limited syntactic knowledge. The Colourful Semantics approach with thematic roles and a colour coding system may encourage syntactic development in children experiencing intellectual disabilities. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness…

  14. Auditing the Assignments of Top-Level Semantic Types in the UMLS Semantic Network to UMLS Concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Zhe; Perl, Yehoshua; Elhanan, Gai; Chen, Yan; Geller, James; Bian, Jiang

    2017-11-01

    The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) is an important terminological system. By the policy of its curators, each concept of the UMLS should be assigned the most specific Semantic Types (STs) in the UMLS Semantic Network (SN). Hence, the Semantic Types of most UMLS concepts are assigned at or near the bottom (leaves) of the UMLS Semantic Network. While most ST assignments are correct, some errors do occur. Therefore, Quality Assurance efforts of UMLS curators for ST assignments should concentrate on automatically detected sets of UMLS concepts with higher error rates than random sets. In this paper, we investigate the assignments of top-level semantic types in the UMLS semantic network to concepts, identify potential erroneous assignments, define four categories of errors, and thus provide assistance to curators of the UMLS to avoid these assignments errors. Human experts analyzed samples of concepts assigned 10 of the top-level semantic types and categorized the erroneous ST assignments into these four logical categories. Two thirds of the concepts assigned these 10 top-level semantic types are erroneous. Our results demonstrate that reviewing top-level semantic type assignments to concepts provides an effective way for UMLS quality assurance, comparing to reviewing a random selection of semantic type assignments.

  15. Reactive Kripke semantics

    CERN Document Server

    Gabbay, Dov M

    2013-01-01

    This text offers an extension to the traditional Kripke semantics for non-classical logics by adding the notion of reactivity. Reactive Kripke models change their accessibility relation as we progress in the evaluation process of formulas in the model. This feature makes the reactive Kripke semantics strictly stronger and more applicable than the traditional one. Here we investigate the properties and axiomatisations of this new and most effective semantics, and we offer a wide landscape of applications of the idea of reactivity. Applied topics include reactive automata, reactive grammars, rea

  16. Semantics, contrastive linguistics and parallel corpora

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Violetta Koseska

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Semantics, contrastive linguistics and parallel corpora In view of the ambiguity of the term “semantics”, the author shows the differences between the traditional lexical semantics and the contemporary semantics in the light of various semantic schools. She examines semantics differently in connection with contrastive studies where the description must necessary go from the meaning towards the linguistic form, whereas in traditional contrastive studies the description proceeded from the form towards the meaning. This requirement regarding theoretical contrastive studies necessitates construction of a semantic interlanguage, rather than only singling out universal semantic categories expressed with various language means. Such studies can be strongly supported by parallel corpora. However, in order to make them useful for linguists in manual and computer translations, as well as in the development of dictionaries, including online ones, we need not only formal, often automatic, annotation of texts, but also semantic annotation - which is unfortunately manual. In the article we focus on semantic annotation concerning time, aspect and quantification of names and predicates in the whole semantic structure of the sentence on the example of the “Polish-Bulgarian-Russian parallel corpus”.

  17. Semantic web for dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Pollock, Jeffrey T

    2009-01-01

    Semantic Web technology is already changing how we interact with data on the Web. By connecting random information on the Internet in new ways, Web 3.0, as it is sometimes called, represents an exciting online evolution. Whether you're a consumer doing research online, a business owner who wants to offer your customers the most useful Web site, or an IT manager eager to understand Semantic Web solutions, Semantic Web For Dummies is the place to start! It will help you:Know how the typical Internet user will recognize the effects of the Semantic WebExplore all the benefits the data Web offers t

  18. Streamlining geospatial metadata in the Semantic Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fugazza, Cristiano; Pepe, Monica; Oggioni, Alessandro; Tagliolato, Paolo; Carrara, Paola

    2016-04-01

    In the geospatial realm, data annotation and discovery rely on a number of ad-hoc formats and protocols. These have been created to enable domain-specific use cases generalized search is not feasible for. Metadata are at the heart of the discovery process and nevertheless they are often neglected or encoded in formats that either are not aimed at efficient retrieval of resources or are plainly outdated. Particularly, the quantum leap represented by the Linked Open Data (LOD) movement did not induce so far a consistent, interlinked baseline in the geospatial domain. In a nutshell, datasets, scientific literature related to them, and ultimately the researchers behind these products are only loosely connected; the corresponding metadata intelligible only to humans, duplicated on different systems, seldom consistently. Instead, our workflow for metadata management envisages i) editing via customizable web- based forms, ii) encoding of records in any XML application profile, iii) translation into RDF (involving the semantic lift of metadata records), and finally iv) storage of the metadata as RDF and back-translation into the original XML format with added semantics-aware features. Phase iii) hinges on relating resource metadata to RDF data structures that represent keywords from code lists and controlled vocabularies, toponyms, researchers, institutes, and virtually any description one can retrieve (or directly publish) in the LOD Cloud. In the context of a distributed Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) built on free and open-source software, we detail phases iii) and iv) of our workflow for the semantics-aware management of geospatial metadata.

  19. Word add-in for ontology recognition: semantic enrichment of scientific literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naim Oscar

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In the current era of scientific research, efficient communication of information is paramount. As such, the nature of scholarly and scientific communication is changing; cyberinfrastructure is now absolutely necessary and new media are allowing information and knowledge to be more interactive and immediate. One approach to making knowledge more accessible is the addition of machine-readable semantic data to scholarly articles. Results The Word add-in presented here will assist authors in this effort by automatically recognizing and highlighting words or phrases that are likely information-rich, allowing authors to associate semantic data with those words or phrases, and to embed that data in the document as XML. The add-in and source code are publicly available at http://www.codeplex.com/UCSDBioLit. Conclusions The Word add-in for ontology term recognition makes it possible for an author to add semantic data to a document as it is being written and it encodes these data using XML tags that are effectively a standard in life sciences literature. Allowing authors to mark-up their own work will help increase the amount and quality of machine-readable literature metadata.

  20. Word add-in for ontology recognition: semantic enrichment of scientific literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fink, J Lynn; Fernicola, Pablo; Chandran, Rahul; Parastatidis, Savas; Wade, Alex; Naim, Oscar; Quinn, Gregory B; Bourne, Philip E

    2010-02-24

    In the current era of scientific research, efficient communication of information is paramount. As such, the nature of scholarly and scientific communication is changing; cyberinfrastructure is now absolutely necessary and new media are allowing information and knowledge to be more interactive and immediate. One approach to making knowledge more accessible is the addition of machine-readable semantic data to scholarly articles. The Word add-in presented here will assist authors in this effort by automatically recognizing and highlighting words or phrases that are likely information-rich, allowing authors to associate semantic data with those words or phrases, and to embed that data in the document as XML. The add-in and source code are publicly available at http://www.codeplex.com/UCSDBioLit. The Word add-in for ontology term recognition makes it possible for an author to add semantic data to a document as it is being written and it encodes these data using XML tags that are effectively a standard in life sciences literature. Allowing authors to mark-up their own work will help increase the amount and quality of machine-readable literature metadata.

  1. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Hannah E; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A; Barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-01-03

    Semantic cognition, as described by the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers et al., , Neuropsychologia, 76, 220), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal 'hub' in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task-appropriate behaviour. Executive-semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive regions such as frontal and parietal cortex, are thought to allow the generation of non-dominant aspects of knowledge when these are appropriate for the task or context. Semantic aphasia (SA) patients have executive-semantic deficits, and these are correlated with general executive impairment. If the CSC proposal is correct, patients with executive impairment should not only exhibit impaired semantic cognition, but should also show characteristics that align with those observed in SA. This possibility remains largely untested, as patients selected on the basis that they show executive impairment (i.e., with 'dysexecutive syndrome') have not been extensively tested on tasks tapping semantic control and have not been previously compared with SA cases. We explored conceptual processing in 12 patients showing symptoms consistent with dysexecutive syndrome (DYS) and 24 SA patients, using a range of multimodal semantic assessments which manipulated control demands. Patients with executive impairments, despite not being selected to show semantic impairments, nevertheless showed parallel patterns to SA cases. They showed strong effects of distractor strength, cues and miscues, and probe-target distance, plus minimal effects of word frequency on comprehension (unlike semantic dementia patients with degradation of conceptual knowledge). This supports a component process account of semantic cognition in which retrieval is shaped by control processes, and confirms that deficits in SA patients reflect

  2. Putting semantics into the semantic web: how well can it capture biology?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kazic, Toni

    2006-01-01

    Could the Semantic Web work for computations of biological interest in the way it's intended to work for movie reviews and commercial transactions? It would be wonderful if it could, so it's worth looking to see if its infrastructure is adequate to the job. The technologies of the Semantic Web make several crucial assumptions. I examine those assumptions; argue that they create significant problems; and suggest some alternative ways of achieving the Semantic Web's goals for biology.

  3. Towards Compatible and Interderivable Semantic Specifications for the Scheme Programming Language, Part I: Denotational Semantics, Natural Semantics, and Abstract Machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier

    2008-01-01

    We derive two big-step abstract machines, a natural semantics, and the valuation function of a denotational semantics based on the small-step abstract machine for Core Scheme presented by Clinger at PLDI'98. Starting from a functional implementation of this small-step abstract machine, (1) we fuse...... its transition function with its driver loop, obtaining the functional implementation of a big-step abstract machine; (2) we adjust this big-step abstract machine so that it is in defunctionalized form, obtaining the functional implementation of a second big-step abstract machine; (3) we...... refunctionalize this adjusted abstract machine, obtaining the functional implementation of a natural semantics in continuation style; and (4) we closure-unconvert this natural semantics, obtaining a compositional continuation-passing evaluation function which we identify as the functional implementation...

  4. Temporal Representation in Semantic Graphs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Levandoski, J J; Abdulla, G M

    2007-08-07

    A wide range of knowledge discovery and analysis applications, ranging from business to biological, make use of semantic graphs when modeling relationships and concepts. Most of the semantic graphs used in these applications are assumed to be static pieces of information, meaning temporal evolution of concepts and relationships are not taken into account. Guided by the need for more advanced semantic graph queries involving temporal concepts, this paper surveys the existing work involving temporal representations in semantic graphs.

  5. Flow Logics and Operational Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielson, Flemming; Nielson, Hanne Riis

    1998-01-01

    Flow logic is a “fast prototyping” approach to program analysis that shows great promise of being able to deal with a wide variety of languages and calculi for computation. However, seemingly innocent choices in the flow logic as well as in the operational semantics may inhibit proving the analys...... correct. Our main conclusion is that environment based semantics is more flexible than either substitution based semantics or semantics making use of structural congruences (like alpha-renaming)....

  6. Semantic Versus Syntactic Cutting Planes

    OpenAIRE

    Filmus, Yuval; Hrubeš, Pavel; Lauria, Massimo

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we compare the strength of the semantic and syntactic version of the cutting planes proof system. First, we show that the lower bound technique of Pudlák applies also to semantic cutting planes: the proof system has feasible interpolation via monotone real circuits, which gives an exponential lower bound on lengths of semantic cutting planes refutations. Second, we show that semantic refutations are stronger than syntactic ones. In particular, we give a formula for whic...

  7. Predicting Protein Function via Semantic Integration of Multiple Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Guoxian; Fu, Guangyuan; Wang, Jun; Zhu, Hailong

    2016-01-01

    Determining the biological functions of proteins is one of the key challenges in the post-genomic era. The rapidly accumulated large volumes of proteomic and genomic data drives to develop computational models for automatically predicting protein function in large scale. Recent approaches focus on integrating multiple heterogeneous data sources and they often get better results than methods that use single data source alone. In this paper, we investigate how to integrate multiple biological data sources with the biological knowledge, i.e., Gene Ontology (GO), for protein function prediction. We propose a method, called SimNet, to Semantically integrate multiple functional association Networks derived from heterogenous data sources. SimNet firstly utilizes GO annotations of proteins to capture the semantic similarity between proteins and introduces a semantic kernel based on the similarity. Next, SimNet constructs a composite network, obtained as a weighted summation of individual networks, and aligns the network with the kernel to get the weights assigned to individual networks. Then, it applies a network-based classifier on the composite network to predict protein function. Experiment results on heterogenous proteomic data sources of Yeast, Human, Mouse, and Fly show that, SimNet not only achieves better (or comparable) results than other related competitive approaches, but also takes much less time. The Matlab codes of SimNet are available at https://sites.google.com/site/guoxian85/simnet.

  8. Semantic word category processing in semantic dementia and posterior cortical atrophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shebani, Zubaida; Patterson, Karalyn; Nestor, Peter J; Diaz-de-Grenu, Lara Z; Dawson, Kate; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2017-08-01

    There is general agreement that perisylvian language cortex plays a major role in lexical and semantic processing; but the contribution of additional, more widespread, brain areas in the processing of different semantic word categories remains controversial. We investigated word processing in two groups of patients whose neurodegenerative diseases preferentially affect specific parts of the brain, to determine whether their performance would vary as a function of semantic categories proposed to recruit those brain regions. Cohorts with (i) Semantic Dementia (SD), who have anterior temporal-lobe atrophy, and (ii) Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), who have predominantly parieto-occipital atrophy, performed a lexical decision test on words from five different lexico-semantic categories: colour (e.g., yellow), form (oval), number (seven), spatial prepositions (under) and function words (also). Sets of pseudo-word foils matched the target words in length and bi-/tri-gram frequency. Word-frequency was matched between the two visual word categories (colour and form) and across the three other categories (number, prepositions, and function words). Age-matched healthy individuals served as controls. Although broad word processing deficits were apparent in both patient groups, the deficit was strongest for colour words in SD and for spatial prepositions in PCA. The patterns of performance on the lexical decision task demonstrate (a) general lexicosemantic processing deficits in both groups, though more prominent in SD than in PCA, and (b) differential involvement of anterior-temporal and posterior-parietal cortex in the processing of specific semantic categories of words. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  9. Bilingual processing of ASL-English code-blends: The consequences of accessing two lexical representations simultaneously

    OpenAIRE

    Emmorey, Karen; Petrich, Jennifer; Gollan, Tamar H.

    2012-01-01

    Bilinguals who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) and English often produce code-blends - simultaneously articulating a sign and a word while conversing with other ASL-English bilinguals. To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying code-blend processing, we compared picture-naming times (Experiment 1) and semantic categorization times (Experiment 2) for code-blends versus ASL signs and English words produced alone. In production, code-blending did not slow lexical retrieval for...

  10. Publishing high-quality climate data on the semantic web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woolf, Andrew; Haller, Armin; Lefort, Laurent; Taylor, Kerry

    2013-04-01

    The effort over more than a decade to establish the semantic web [Berners-Lee et. al., 2001] has received a major boost in recent years through the Open Government movement. Governments around the world are seeking technical solutions to enable more open and transparent access to Public Sector Information (PSI) they hold. Existing technical protocols and data standards tend to be domain specific, and so limit the ability to publish and integrate data across domains (health, environment, statistics, education, etc.). The web provides a domain-neutral platform for information publishing, and has proven itself beyond expectations for publishing and linking human-readable electronic documents. Extending the web pattern to data (often called Web 3.0) offers enormous potential. The semantic web applies the basic web principles to data [Berners-Lee, 2006]: using URIs as identifiers (for data objects and real-world 'things', instead of documents) making the URIs actionable by providing useful information via HTTP using a common exchange standard (serialised RDF for data instead of HTML for documents) establishing typed links between information objects to enable linking and integration Leading examples of 'linked data' for publishing PSI may be found in both the UK (http://data.gov.uk/linked-data) and US (http://www.data.gov/page/semantic-web). The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is Australia's national meteorological agency, and has a new mandate to establish a national environmental information infrastructure (under the National Plan for Environmental Information, NPEI [BoM, 2012a]). While the initial approach is based on the existing best practice Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) architecture, linked-data is being explored as a technological alternative that shows great promise for the future. We report here the first trial of government linked-data in Australia under data.gov.au. In this initial pilot study, we have taken BoM's new high-quality reference surface

  11. SemantEco: a semantically powered modular architecture for integrating distributed environmental and ecological data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patton, Evan W.; Seyed, Patrice; Wang, Ping; Fu, Linyun; Dein, F. Joshua; Bristol, R. Sky; McGuinness, Deborah L.

    2014-01-01

    We aim to inform the development of decision support tools for resource managers who need to examine large complex ecosystems and make recommendations in the face of many tradeoffs and conflicting drivers. We take a semantic technology approach, leveraging background ontologies and the growing body of linked open data. In previous work, we designed and implemented a semantically enabled environmental monitoring framework called SemantEco and used it to build a water quality portal named SemantAqua. Our previous system included foundational ontologies to support environmental regulation violations and relevant human health effects. In this work, we discuss SemantEco’s new architecture that supports modular extensions and makes it easier to support additional domains. Our enhanced framework includes foundational ontologies to support modeling of wildlife observation and wildlife health impacts, thereby enabling deeper and broader support for more holistically examining the effects of environmental pollution on ecosystems. We conclude with a discussion of how, through the application of semantic technologies, modular designs will make it easier for resource managers to bring in new sources of data to support more complex use cases.

  12. Semantic Web Primer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Antoniou, Grigoris; Harmelen, Frank van

    2004-01-01

    The development of the Semantic Web, with machine-readable content, has the potential to revolutionize the World Wide Web and its use. A Semantic Web Primer provides an introduction and guide to this still emerging field, describing its key ideas, languages, and technologies. Suitable for use as a

  13. Wernicke's Aphasia Reflects a Combination of Acoustic-Phonological and Semantic Control Deficits: A Case-Series Comparison of Wernicke's Aphasia, Semantic Dementia and Semantic Aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Sage, Karen; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2012-01-01

    Wernicke's aphasia (WA) is the classical neurological model of comprehension impairment and, as a result, the posterior temporal lobe is assumed to be critical to semantic cognition. This conclusion is potentially confused by (a) the existence of patient groups with semantic impairment following damage to other brain regions (semantic dementia and…

  14. COTARD SYNDROME IN SEMANTIC DEMENTIA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendez, Mario F.; Ramírez-Bermúdez, Jesús

    2011-01-01

    Background Semantic dementia is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of meaning of words or concepts. semantic dementia can offer potential insights into the mechanisms of content-specific delusions. Objective The authors present a rare case of semantic dementia with Cotard syndrome, a delusion characterized by nihilism or self-negation. Method The semantic deficits and other features of semantic dementia were evaluated in relation to the patient's Cotard syndrome. Results Mrs. A developed the delusional belief that she was wasting and dying. This occurred after she lost knowledge for her somatic discomforts and sensations and for the organs that were the source of these sensations. Her nihilistic beliefs appeared to emerge from her misunderstanding of her somatic sensations. Conclusion This unique patient suggests that a mechanism for Cotard syndrome is difficulty interpreting the nature and source of internal pains and sensations. We propose that loss of semantic knowledge about one's own body may lead to the delusion of nihilism or death. PMID:22054629

  15. Hierarchical Semantic Model of Geovideo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    XIE Xiao

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The public security incidents were getting increasingly challenging with regard to their new features, including multi-scale mobility, multistage dynamic evolution, as well as spatiotemporal concurrency and uncertainty in the complex urban environment. However, the existing video models, which were used/designed for independent archive or local analysis of surveillance video, have seriously inhibited emergency response to the urgent requirements.Aiming at the explicit representation of change mechanism in video, the paper proposed a novel hierarchical geovideo semantic model using UML. This model was characterized by the hierarchical representation of both data structure and semantics based on the change-oriented three domains (feature domain, process domain and event domain instead of overall semantic description of video streaming; combining both geographical semantics and video content semantics, in support of global semantic association between multiple geovideo data. The public security incidents by video surveillance are inspected as an example to illustrate the validity of this model.

  16. Mapping the Structure of Semantic Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morais, Ana Sofia; Olsson, Henrik; Schooler, Lael J.

    2013-01-01

    Aggregating snippets from the semantic memories of many individuals may not yield a good map of an individual's semantic memory. The authors analyze the structure of semantic networks that they sampled from individuals through a new snowball sampling paradigm during approximately 6 weeks of 1-hr daily sessions. The semantic networks of individuals…

  17. Causality in the semantics of Esterel : revisited

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mousavi, M.R.; Klin, B.; Sobocinski, P.

    2010-01-01

    We re-examine the challenges concerning causality in the semantics of Esterel and show that they pertain to the known issues in the semantics of Structured Operational Semantics with negative premises. We show that the solutions offered for the semantics of SOS also provide answers to the semantic

  18. Are Cortical Motor Maps Based on Body Parts or Coordinated Actions? Implications for Embodied Semantics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandino, Leonardo; Iacoboni, Marco

    2010-01-01

    The embodied cognition approach to the study of the mind proposes that higher order mental processes such as concept formation and language are essentially based on perceptual and motor processes. Contrary to the classical approach in cognitive science, in which concepts are viewed as amodal, arbitrary symbols, embodied semantics argues that…

  19. Semantic Representatives of the Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena N. Tsay

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In the article concept as one of the principle notions of cognitive linguistics is investigated. Considering concept as culture phenomenon, having language realization and ethnocultural peculiarities, the description of the concept “happiness” is presented. Lexical and semantic paradigm of the concept of happiness correlates with a great number of lexical and semantic variants. In the work semantic representatives of the concept of happiness, covering supreme spiritual values are revealed and semantic interpretation of their functioning in the Biblical discourse is given.

  20. System semantics of explanatory dictionaries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Volodymyr Shyrokov

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available System semantics of explanatory dictionaries Some semantic properties of the language to be followed from the structure of lexicographical systems of big explanatory dictionaries are considered. The hyperchains and hypercycles are determined as the definite kind of automorphisms of the lexicographical system of explanatory dictionary. Some semantic consequencies following from the principles of lexicographic closure and lexicographic completeness are investigated using the hyperchains and hypercycles formalism. The connection between the hypercyle properties of the lexicographical system semantics and Goedel’s incompleteness theorem is discussed.

  1. Life, Information, Entropy, and Time: Vehicles for Semantic Inheritance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crofts, Antony R

    2007-01-01

    Attempts to understand how information content can be included in an accounting of the energy flux of the biosphere have led to the conclusion that, in information transmission, one component, the semantic content, or "the meaning of the message," adds no thermodynamic burden over and above costs arising from coding, transmission and translation. In biology, semantic content has two major roles. For all life forms, the message of the genotype encoded in DNA specifies the phenotype, and hence the organism that is tested against the real world through the mechanisms of Darwinian evolution. For human beings, communication through language and similar abstractions provides an additional supra-phenotypic vehicle for semantic inheritance, which supports the cultural heritages around which civilizations revolve. The following three postulates provide the basis for discussion of a number of themes that demonstrate some important consequences. (i) Information transmission through either pathway has thermodynamic components associated with data storage and transmission. (ii) The semantic content adds no additional thermodynamic cost. (iii) For all semantic exchange, meaning is accessible only through translation and interpretation, and has a value only in context. (1) For both pathways of semantic inheritance, translational and copying machineries are imperfect. As a consequence both pathways are subject to mutation and to evolutionary pressure by selection. Recognition of semantic content as a common component allows an understanding of the relationship between genes and memes, and a reformulation of Universal Darwinism. (2) The emergent properties of life are dependent on a processing of semantic content. The translational steps allow amplification in complexity through combinatorial possibilities in space and time. Amplification depends on the increased potential for complexity opened by 3D interaction specificity of proteins, and on the selection of useful variants by

  2. Cross border semantic interoperability for clinical research: the EHR4CR semantic resources and services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel, Christel; Ouagne, David; Sadou, Eric; Forsberg, Kerstin; Gilchrist, Mark Mc; Zapletal, Eric; Paris, Nicolas; Hussain, Sajjad; Jaulent, Marie-Christine; MD, Dipka Kalra

    2016-01-01

    With the development of platforms enabling the use of routinely collected clinical data in the context of international clinical research, scalable solutions for cross border semantic interoperability need to be developed. Within the context of the IMI EHR4CR project, we first defined the requirements and evaluation criteria of the EHR4CR semantic interoperability platform and then developed the semantic resources and supportive services and tooling to assist hospital sites in standardizing their data for allowing the execution of the project use cases. The experience gained from the evaluation of the EHR4CR platform accessing to semantically equivalent data elements across 11 European participating EHR systems from 5 countries demonstrated how far the mediation model and mapping efforts met the expected requirements of the project. Developers of semantic interoperability platforms are beginning to address a core set of requirements in order to reach the goal of developing cross border semantic integration of data. PMID:27570649

  3. Semantic Search of Web Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hao, Ke

    2013-01-01

    This dissertation addresses semantic search of Web services using natural language processing. We first survey various existing approaches, focusing on the fact that the expensive costs of current semantic annotation frameworks result in limited use of semantic search for large scale applications. We then propose a vector space model based service…

  4. The code of light: al-ghazali and al-suhrawardi

    OpenAIRE

    Gediminaitė, Barbora

    2017-01-01

    The Code of Light: Al-Ghazali and Al-Suhrawardi The Bachelor’s thesis The Code of Light in Islam: al-Ghazali and al-Suhrawardi presents a comparative study of light. The study analyses the philosophical systems of al-Ghazali and al-Suhrawardi through the reconstruction of the image of light and its operation principles. The main subject of the thesis are the attributes of light. The main problem of the research is the semantics and contextuality of light in Islamic theology and philosophy. Th...

  5. Amodal Semantic Representations Depend on both Anterior Temporal Lobes: Evidence from Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pobric, Gorana; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Ralph, Matthew A. Lambon

    2010-01-01

    The key question of how the brain codes the meaning of words and pictures is the focus of vigorous debate. Is there a "semantic hub" in the temporal poles where these different inputs converge to form amodal conceptual representations? Alternatively, are there distinct neural circuits that underpin our comprehension of pictures and words?…

  6. Secret Codes: The Hidden Curriculum of Semantic Web Technologies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Richard; Carmichael, Patrick

    2012-01-01

    There is a long tradition in education of examination of the hidden curriculum, those elements which are implicit or tacit to the formal goals of education. This article draws upon that tradition to open up for investigation the hidden curriculum and assumptions about students and knowledge that are embedded in the coding undertaken to facilitate…

  7. Congruence from the Operator's Point of View: Compositionality Requirements on Process Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maciej Gazda

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available One of the basic sanity properties of a behavioural semantics is that it constitutes a congruence with respect to standard process operators. This issue has been traditionally addressed by the development of rule formats for transition system specifications that define process algebras. In this paper we suggest a novel, orthogonal approach. Namely, we focus on a number of process operators, and for each of them attempt to find the widest possible class of congruences. To this end, we impose restrictions on sublanguages of Hennessy-Milner logic, so that a semantics whose modal characterization satisfies a given criterion is guaranteed to be a congruence with respect to the operator in question. We investigate action prefix, alternative composition, two restriction operators, and parallel composition.

  8. Semantic dementia without surface dyslexia in Spanish: unimpaired reading with impaired semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Maximiliano A; Martínez-Cuitiño, Macarena

    2012-01-01

    Surface dyslexia has been attributed to an overreliance on the sub-lexical route for reading. Typically, surface dyslexic patients commit regularisation errors when reading irregular words. Also, semantic dementia has often been associated with surface dyslexia, leading to some explanations of the reading impairment that stress the role of semantics in irregular word reading. Nevertheless, some patients have been reported with unimpaired ability to read irregular words, even though they show severe comprehension impairment. We present the case of M.B., the first Spanish-speaking semantic dementia patient to be reported who shows unimpaired reading of non-words, regular words, and - most strikingly - irregular loan words. M.B. has severely impaired comprehension of the same words he reads correctly (whether regular or irregular). We argue that M.B.'s pattern of performance shows that irregular words can be correctly read even with impaired semantic knowledge corresponding to those words.

  9. KaBOB: ontology-based semantic integration of biomedical databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Livingston, Kevin M; Bada, Michael; Baumgartner, William A; Hunter, Lawrence E

    2015-04-23

    The ability to query many independent biological databases using a common ontology-based semantic model would facilitate deeper integration and more effective utilization of these diverse and rapidly growing resources. Despite ongoing work moving toward shared data formats and linked identifiers, significant problems persist in semantic data integration in order to establish shared identity and shared meaning across heterogeneous biomedical data sources. We present five processes for semantic data integration that, when applied collectively, solve seven key problems. These processes include making explicit the differences between biomedical concepts and database records, aggregating sets of identifiers denoting the same biomedical concepts across data sources, and using declaratively represented forward-chaining rules to take information that is variably represented in source databases and integrating it into a consistent biomedical representation. We demonstrate these processes and solutions by presenting KaBOB (the Knowledge Base Of Biomedicine), a knowledge base of semantically integrated data from 18 prominent biomedical databases using common representations grounded in Open Biomedical Ontologies. An instance of KaBOB with data about humans and seven major model organisms can be built using on the order of 500 million RDF triples. All source code for building KaBOB is available under an open-source license. KaBOB is an integrated knowledge base of biomedical data representationally based in prominent, actively maintained Open Biomedical Ontologies, thus enabling queries of the underlying data in terms of biomedical concepts (e.g., genes and gene products, interactions and processes) rather than features of source-specific data schemas or file formats. KaBOB resolves many of the issues that routinely plague biomedical researchers intending to work with data from multiple data sources and provides a platform for ongoing data integration and development and for

  10. A generalized notion of semantic independence

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fränzle, Martin; Stengel, Bernhard von; Wittmüss, Arne

    1995-01-01

    For programs represented semantically as relations, a concept of semantic independence is defined that is more general than previously stated notions. It allows for shared input variables and irrelevant interference due to nondeterminism.......For programs represented semantically as relations, a concept of semantic independence is defined that is more general than previously stated notions. It allows for shared input variables and irrelevant interference due to nondeterminism....

  11. Comparing Refinements for Failure and Bisimulation Semantics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eshuis, H.; Fokkinga, M.M.

    2002-01-01

    Refinement in bisimulation semantics is defined differently from refinement in failure semantics: in bisimulation semantics refinement is based on simulations between labelled transition systems, whereas in failure semantics refinement is based on inclusions between failure systems. There exist

  12. Semantics-based Automated Web Testing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hai-Feng Guo

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available We present TAO, a software testing tool performing automated test and oracle generation based on a semantic approach. TAO entangles grammar-based test generation with automated semantics evaluation using a denotational semantics framework. We show how TAO can be incorporated with the Selenium automation tool for automated web testing, and how TAO can be further extended to support automated delta debugging, where a failing web test script can be systematically reduced based on grammar-directed strategies. A real-life parking website is adopted throughout the paper to demonstrate the effectivity of our semantics-based web testing approach.

  13. Benchmarking semantic web technology

    CERN Document Server

    García-Castro, R

    2009-01-01

    This book addresses the problem of benchmarking Semantic Web Technologies; first, from a methodological point of view, proposing a general methodology to follow in benchmarking activities over Semantic Web Technologies and, second, from a practical point of view, presenting two international benchmarking activities that involved benchmarking the interoperability of Semantic Web technologies using RDF(S) as the interchange language in one activity and OWL in the other.The book presents in detail how the different resources needed for these interoperability benchmarking activities were defined:

  14. Embedding Metadata and Other Semantics in Word Processing Documents

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Sefton

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a technique for embedding document metadata, and potentially other semantic references inline in word processing documents, which the authors have implemented with the help of a software development team. Several assumptions underly the approach; It must be available across computing platforms and work with both Microsoft Word (because of its user base and OpenOffice.org (because of its free availability. Further the application needs to be acceptable to and usable by users, so the initial implementation covers only small number of features, which will only be extended after user-testing. Within these constraints the system provides a mechanism for encoding not only simple metadata, but for inferring hierarchical relationships between metadata elements from a ‘flat’ word processing file.The paper includes links to open source code implementing the techniques as part of a broader suite of tools for academic writing. This addresses tools and software, semantic web and data curation, integrating curation into research workflows and will provide a platform for integrating work on ontologies, vocabularies and folksonomies into word processing tools.

  15. Semantic Web and Contextual Information: Semantic Network Analysis of Online Journalistic Texts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Yon Soo

    This study examines why contextual information is important to actualize the idea of semantic web, based on a case study of a socio-political issue in South Korea. For this study, semantic network analyses were conducted regarding English-language based 62 blog posts and 101 news stories on the web. The results indicated the differences of the meaning structures between blog posts and professional journalism as well as between conservative journalism and progressive journalism. From the results, this study ascertains empirical validity of current concerns about the practical application of the new web technology, and discusses how the semantic web should be developed.

  16. Direct Exploration of the Role of the Ventral Anterior Temporal Lobe in Semantic Memory: Cortical Stimulation and Local Field Potential Evidence From Subdural Grid Electrodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimotake, Akihiro; Matsumoto, Riki; Ueno, Taiji; Kunieda, Takeharu; Saito, Satoru; Hoffman, Paul; Kikuchi, Takayuki; Fukuyama, Hidenao; Miyamoto, Susumu; Takahashi, Ryosuke; Ikeda, Akio; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

    2015-10-01

    Semantic memory is a crucial higher cortical function that codes the meaning of objects and words, and when impaired after neurological damage, patients are left with significant disability. Investigations of semantic dementia have implicated the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) region, in general, as crucial for multimodal semantic memory. The potentially crucial role of the ventral ATL subregion has been emphasized by recent functional neuroimaging studies, but the necessity of this precise area has not been selectively tested. The implantation of subdural electrode grids over this subregion, for the presurgical assessment of patients with partial epilepsy or brain tumor, offers the dual yet rare opportunities to record cortical local field potentials while participants complete semantic tasks and to stimulate the functionally identified regions in the same participants to evaluate the necessity of these areas in semantic processing. Across 6 patients, and utilizing a variety of semantic assessments, we evaluated and confirmed that the anterior fusiform/inferior temporal gyrus is crucial in multimodal, receptive, and expressive, semantic processing. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

  17. Lexically Allusive Content of Semantic Frames (Based on the Works of John Fowles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Akatova

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The semantic frame is a cognitive model, some mental structure that unites the world map and the thesaurus of a person, the hierarchy of meanings and values of the linguistic model of the world. Conceptual-cognitive content of a semantic frame includes three constituents: the reader, the author, and culture. The postmodernistic metatext, a vivid example of which is the metatext of John Fowles, is made of lexical-semantic frames, filled with allusions, general cultural precedent phenomena, cross-references, leitmotif lexemes. The frames of "freedom" and "game" exemplify integrated leitmotif of enclosed space, sea, theater, meta-theatre, god, god's imitations, magician (wizard, and fool. The application of a semantic frames method for the analysis of lexical-allusive elements in the works of John Fowles (The Aristos, The Magus, The Ebony Tower, Daniel Martin, French Lieutenant's Woman, A Maggot, Wormholes allowed to identify the net of allusive inclusions and arrange them into lexical-semantic frames, which helped to decode linguocultural metatext of the society and the individual (author. The interpretation of linguistic and cultural items in the text has lead to distinguishing the dominant frame of the metatext, that is "freedom". It is stated that creativity is freedom in action, responsibility is the condition for complete freedom, the path from the Fool to the Magician is the way from blindness of the stereotypes in the society to the intrinsic vision of internal freedom and unifying meaning of existence.

  18. Event-related potentials to event-related words: grammatical class and semantic attributes in the representation of knowledge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Horacio A; Kousta, Stavroula-Thaleia; Otten, Leun J; Vigliocco, Gabriella

    2010-05-21

    A number of recent studies have provided contradictory evidence on the question of whether grammatical class plays a role in the neural representation of lexical knowledge. Most of the previous studies comparing the processing of nouns and verbs, however, confounded word meaning and grammatical class by comparing verbs referring to actions with nouns referring to objects. Here, we recorded electrical brain activity from native Italian speakers reading single words all referring to events (e.g., corsa [the run]; correre [to run]), thus avoiding confounding nouns and verbs with objects and actions. We manipulated grammatical class (noun versus verb) as well as semantic attributes (motor versus sensory events). Activity between 300 and 450ms was more negative for nouns than verbs, and for sensory than motor words, over posterior scalp sites. These grammatical class and semantic effects were not dissociable in terms of latency, duration, or scalp distribution. In a later time window (450-110ms) and at frontal regions, grammatical class and semantic effects interacted; motor verbs were more positive than the other three word categories. We suggest that the lack of a temporal and topographical dissociation between grammatical class and semantic effects in the time range of the N400 component is compatible with an account in which both effects reflect the same underlying process related to meaning retrieval, and we link the later effect with working memory operations associated to the experimental task. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Semantic Keys and Reading

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zev bar-Lev

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Semantic Keys are elements (word-parts of written language that give an iconic, general representation of the whole word’s meaning. In written Sino-Japanese the “radical” or semantic components play this role. For example, the character meaning ‘woman, female’ is the Semantic Key of the character for Ma ‘Mama’ (alongside the phonetic component Ma, which means ‘horse’ as a separate character. The theory of semantic Keys in both graphic and phonemic aspects is called qTheory or nanosemantics. The most innovative aspect of the present article is the hypothesis that, in languages using alphabetic writing systems, the role of Semantic Key is played by consonants, more specifically the first consonant. Thus, L meaning ‘LIFT’ is the Semantic Key of English Lift, Ladle, Lofty, aLps, eLevator, oLympus; Spanish Leva, Lecantarse, aLto, Lengua; Arabic aLLah, and Hebrew① ªeL-ºaL ‘upto-above’ (the Israeli airline, Polish Lot ‘flight’ (the Polish airline; Hebrew ªeL, ªeLohim ‘God’, and haLLeluyah ‘praise-ye God’ (using Parallels, ‘Lift up God’. Evidence for the universality of the theory is shown by many examples drawn from various languages, including Indo-European Semitic, Chinese and Japanese. The theory reveals hundreds of relationships within and between languages, related and unrelated, that have been “Hiding in Plain Sight”, to mention just one example: the Parallel between Spanish Pan ‘bread’ and Mandarin Fan ‘rice’.

  20. Interpreting semantic clustering effects in free recall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manning, Jeremy R; Kahana, Michael J

    2012-07-01

    The order in which participants choose to recall words from a studied list of randomly selected words provides insights into how memories of the words are represented, organised, and retrieved. One pervasive finding is that when a pair of semantically related words (e.g., "cat" and "dog") is embedded in the studied list, the related words are often recalled successively. This tendency to successively recall semantically related words is termed semantic clustering (Bousfield, 1953; Bousfield & Sedgewick, 1944; Cofer, Bruce, & Reicher, 1966). Measuring semantic clustering effects requires making assumptions about which words participants consider to be similar in meaning. However, it is often difficult to gain insights into individual participants' internal semantic models, and for this reason researchers typically rely on standardised semantic similarity metrics. Here we use simulations to gain insights into the expected magnitudes of semantic clustering effects given systematic differences between participants' internal similarity models and the similarity metric used to quantify the degree of semantic clustering. Our results provide a number of useful insights into the interpretation of semantic clustering effects in free recall.

  1. Snapshots for Semantic Maps

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Nielsen, Curtis W; Ricks, Bob; Goodrich, Michael A; Bruemmer, David; Few, Doug; Walton, Miles

    2004-01-01

    .... Semantic maps are a relatively new approach to information presentation. Semantic maps provide more detail about an environment than typical maps because they are augmented by icons or symbols that provide meaning for places or objects of interest...

  2. Towards Compatible and Interderivable Semantic Specifications for the Scheme Programming Language, Part I: Denotational Semantics, Natural Semantics, and Abstract Machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier

    2009-01-01

    We derive two big-step abstract machines, a natural semantics, and the valuation function of a denotational semantics based on the small-step abstract machine for Core Scheme presented by Clinger at PLDI'98. Starting from a functional implementation of this small-step abstract machine, (1) we fus...

  3. Examining lateralized semantic access using pictures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lovseth, Kyle; Atchley, Ruth Ann

    2010-03-01

    A divided visual field (DVF) experiment examined the semantic processing strategies employed by the cerebral hemispheres to determine if strategies observed with written word stimuli generalize to other media for communicating semantic information. We employed picture stimuli and vary the degree of semantic relatedness between the picture pairs. Participants made an on-line semantic relatedness judgment in response to sequentially presented pictures. We found that when pictures are presented to the right hemisphere responses are generally more accurate than the left hemisphere for semantic relatedness judgments for picture pairs. Furthermore, consistent with earlier DVF studies employing words, we conclude that the RH is better at accessing or maintaining access to information that has a weak or more remote semantic relationship. We also found evidence of faster access for pictures presented to the LH in the strongly-related condition. Overall, these results are consistent with earlier DVF word studies that argue that the cerebral hemispheres each play an important and separable role during semantic retrieval. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. A Denotational Semantics for Logic Programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frandsen, Gudmund Skovbjerg

    A fully abstract denotational semantics for logic programming has not been constructed yet. In this paper we present a denotational semantics that is almost fully abstract. We take the meaning of a logic program to be an element in a Plotkin power domain of substitutions. In this way our result...... shows that standard domain constructions suffice, when giving a semantics for logic programming. Using the well-known fixpoint semantics of logic programming we have to consider two different fixpoints in order to obtain information about both successful and failed computations. In contrast, our...... semantics is uniform in that the (single) meaning of a logic program contains information about both successful, failed and infinite computations. Finally, based on the full abstractness result, we argue that the detail level of substitutions is needed in any denotational semantics for logic programming....

  5. WEATHER FORECAST DATA SEMANTIC ANALYSIS IN F-LOGIC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Meštrović

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the semantic analysis problem in a spoken dialog system developed for the domain of weather forecasts. The main goal of semantic analysis is to extract the meaning from the spoken utterances and to transform it into a domain database format. In this work a semantic database for the domain of weather forecasts is represented using the F-logic formalism. Semantic knowledge is captured through semantic categories a semantic dictionary using phrases and output templates. Procedures for semantic analysis of Croatian weather data combine parsing techniques for Croatian language and slot filling approach. Semantic analysis is conducted in three phases. In the first phase the main semantic category for the input utterance is determined. The lattices are used for hierarchical semantic relation representation and main category derivation. In the second phase semantic units are analyzed and knowledge slots in the database are filled. Since some slot values of input data are missing in the third phase, incomplete data is updated with missing values. All rules for semantic analysis are defined in the F-logic and implemented using the FLORA-2 system. The results of semantic analysis evaluation in terms of frame and slot error rates are presented.

  6. CASL The Common Algebraic Specification Language Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haxthausen, Anne

    1998-01-01

    This is version 1.0 of the CASL Language Summary, annotated by the CoFI Semantics Task Group with the semantics of constructs. This is the first complete but possibly imperfect version of the semantics. It was compiled prior to the CoFI workshop at Cachan in November 1998.......This is version 1.0 of the CASL Language Summary, annotated by the CoFI Semantics Task Group with the semantics of constructs. This is the first complete but possibly imperfect version of the semantics. It was compiled prior to the CoFI workshop at Cachan in November 1998....

  7. Semantic Web status model

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Gerber, AJ

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Semantic Web application areas are experiencing intensified interest due to the rapid growth in the use of the Web, together with the innovation and renovation of information content technologies. The Semantic Web is regarded as an integrator across...

  8. Semantic Memory in the Clinical Progression of Alzheimer Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tchakoute, Christophe T; Sainani, Kristin L; Henderson, Victor W

    2017-09-01

    Semantic memory measures may be useful in tracking and predicting progression of Alzheimer disease. We investigated relationships among semantic memory tasks and their 1-year predictive value in women with Alzheimer disease. We conducted secondary analyses of a randomized clinical trial of raloxifene in 42 women with late-onset mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease. We assessed semantic memory with tests of oral confrontation naming, category fluency, semantic recognition and semantic naming, and semantic density in written narrative discourse. We measured global cognition (Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale, cognitive subscale), dementia severity (Clinical Dementia Rating sum of boxes), and daily function (Activities of Daily Living Inventory) at baseline and 1 year. At baseline and 1 year, most semantic memory scores correlated highly or moderately with each other and with global cognition, dementia severity, and daily function. Semantic memory task performance at 1 year had worsened one-third to one-half standard deviation. Factor analysis of baseline test scores distinguished processes in semantic and lexical retrieval (semantic recognition, semantic naming, confrontation naming) from processes in lexical search (semantic density, category fluency). The semantic-lexical retrieval factor predicted global cognition at 1 year. Considered separately, baseline confrontation naming and category fluency predicted dementia severity, while semantic recognition and a composite of semantic recognition and semantic naming predicted global cognition. No individual semantic memory test predicted daily function. Semantic-lexical retrieval and lexical search may represent distinct aspects of semantic memory. Semantic memory processes are sensitive to cognitive decline and dementia severity in Alzheimer disease.

  9. Inter-deriving Semantic Artifacts for Object-Oriented Programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier; Johannsen, Jacob

    2008-01-01

    .e., big-step operational semantics) specified in Abadi and Cardelli's monograph. This abstract machine therefore embodies the soundness of Abadi and Cardelli's reduction semantics and natural semantics relative to each other. To move closer to actual implementations, which use environments rather than......We present a new abstract machine for Abadi and Cardelli's untyped calculus of objects. What is special about this semantic artifact (i.e., man-made construct) is that is mechanically corresponds to both the reduction semantics (i.e., small-step operational semantics) and the natural semantics (i...... actual substitutions, we then represent object methods as closures and in the same inter-derivational spirit, we present three new semantic artifacts: a reduction semantics for a version of Abadi and Cardelli's untyped calculus of objects with explicit substitutions, an environment-based abstract machine...

  10. Quality of semantic standards

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Folmer, Erwin Johan Albert

    2012-01-01

    Little scientific literature addresses the issue of quality of semantic standards, albeit a problem with high economic and social impact. Our problem survey, including 34 semantic Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs), gives evidence that quality of standards can be improved, but for improvement a

  11. Morphological Cues for Lexical Semantics

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Light, Marc

    1996-01-01

    Most natural language processing tasks require lexical semantic information such as verbal argument structure and selectional restrictions, corresponding nominal semantic class, verbal aspectual class...

  12. Semantic attributes based texture generation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Huifang; Gan, Yanhai; Qi, Lin; Dong, Junyu; Madessa, Amanuel Hirpa

    2018-04-01

    Semantic attributes are commonly used for texture description. They can be used to describe the information of a texture, such as patterns, textons, distributions, brightness, and so on. Generally speaking, semantic attributes are more concrete descriptors than perceptual features. Therefore, it is practical to generate texture images from semantic attributes. In this paper, we propose to generate high-quality texture images from semantic attributes. Over the last two decades, several works have been done on texture synthesis and generation. Most of them focusing on example-based texture synthesis and procedural texture generation. Semantic attributes based texture generation still deserves more devotion. Gan et al. proposed a useful joint model for perception driven texture generation. However, perceptual features are nonobjective spatial statistics used by humans to distinguish different textures in pre-attentive situations. To give more describing information about texture appearance, semantic attributes which are more in line with human description habits are desired. In this paper, we use sigmoid cross entropy loss in an auxiliary model to provide enough information for a generator. Consequently, the discriminator is released from the relatively intractable mission of figuring out the joint distribution of condition vectors and samples. To demonstrate the validity of our method, we compare our method to Gan et al.'s method on generating textures by designing experiments on PTD and DTD. All experimental results show that our model can generate textures from semantic attributes.

  13. Language networks associated with computerized semantic indices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pakhomov, Serguei V S; Jones, David T; Knopman, David S

    2015-01-01

    Tests of generative semantic verbal fluency are widely used to study organization and representation of concepts in the human brain. Previous studies demonstrated that clustering and switching behavior during verbal fluency tasks is supported by multiple brain mechanisms associated with semantic memory and executive control. Previous work relied on manual assessments of semantic relatedness between words and grouping of words into semantic clusters. We investigated a computational linguistic approach to measuring the strength of semantic relatedness between words based on latent semantic analysis of word co-occurrences in a subset of a large online encyclopedia. We computed semantic clustering indices and compared them to brain network connectivity measures obtained with task-free fMRI in a sample consisting of healthy participants and those differentially affected by cognitive impairment. We found that semantic clustering indices were associated with brain network connectivity in distinct areas including fronto-temporal, fronto-parietal and fusiform gyrus regions. This study shows that computerized semantic indices complement traditional assessments of verbal fluency to provide a more complete account of the relationship between brain and verbal behavior involved organization and retrieval of lexical information from memory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Newly-acquired words are more phonologically robust in verbal short-term memory when they have associated semantic representations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savill, Nicola; Ellis, Andrew W; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2017-04-01

    Verbal short-term memory (STM) is a crucial cognitive function central to language learning, comprehension and reasoning, yet the processes that underlie this capacity are not fully understood. In particular, although STM primarily draws on a phonological code, interactions between long-term phonological and semantic representations might help to stabilise the phonological trace for words ("semantic binding hypothesis"). This idea was first proposed to explain the frequent phoneme recombination errors made by patients with semantic dementia when recalling words that are no longer fully understood. However, converging evidence in support of semantic binding is scant: it is unusual for studies of healthy participants to examine serial recall at the phoneme level and also it is difficult to separate the contribution of phonological-lexical knowledge from effects of word meaning. We used a new method to disentangle these influences in healthy individuals by training new 'words' with or without associated semantic information. We examined phonological coherence in immediate serial recall (ISR), both immediately and the day after training. Trained items were more likely to be recalled than novel nonwords, confirming the importance of phonological-lexical knowledge, and items with semantic associations were also produced more accurately than those with no meaning, at both time points. For semantically-trained items, there were fewer phoneme ordering and identity errors, and consequently more complete target items were produced in both correct and incorrect list positions. These data show that lexical-semantic knowledge improves the robustness of verbal STM at the sub-item level, even when the effect of phonological familiarity is taken into account. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. On the Existence of Semantic Working Memory: Evidence for Direct Semantic Maintenance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shivde, Geeta; Anderson, Michael C.

    2011-01-01

    Despite widespread acknowledgment of the importance of online semantic maintenance, there has been astonishingly little work that clearly establishes this construct. We review the extant work relevant to short-term retention of meaning and show that, although consistent with semantic working memory, most data can be accommodated in other ways.…

  16. Semantics-Driven Migration of Java Programs: a Practical Experience

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Artyom O. Aleksyuk

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of the study is to demonstrate the feasibility of automated code migration to a new set of programming libraries. Code migration is a common task in modern software projects. For example, it may arise when a project should be ported to a more secure or feature-rich library, a new platform or a new version of an already used library. The developed method and tool are based on the previously created by the authors a formalism for describing libraries semantics. The formalism specifies a library behaviour by using a system of extended finite state machines (EFSM. This paper outlines the metamodel designed to specify library descriptions and proposes an easy to use domainspecific language (DSL, which can be used to define models for particular libraries. The mentioned metamodel directly forms the code migration procedure. A process of migration is split into five steps, and each step is also described in the paper. The procedure uses an algorithm based on the breadth- first search extended for the needs of the migration task. Models and algorithms were implemented in the prototype of an automated code migration tool. The prototype was tested by both artificial code examples and a real-world open source project. The article describes the experiments performed, the difficulties that have arisen in the process of migration of test samples, and how they are solved in the proposed procedure. The results of experiments indicate that code migration can be successfully automated. 

  17. Semantic Coherence Facilitates Distributional Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ouyang, Long; Boroditsky, Lera; Frank, Michael C

    2017-04-01

    Computational models have shown that purely statistical knowledge about words' linguistic contexts is sufficient to learn many properties of words, including syntactic and semantic category. For example, models can infer that "postman" and "mailman" are semantically similar because they have quantitatively similar patterns of association with other words (e.g., they both tend to occur with words like "deliver," "truck," "package"). In contrast to these computational results, artificial language learning experiments suggest that distributional statistics alone do not facilitate learning of linguistic categories. However, experiments in this paradigm expose participants to entirely novel words, whereas real language learners encounter input that contains some known words that are semantically organized. In three experiments, we show that (a) the presence of familiar semantic reference points facilitates distributional learning and (b) this effect crucially depends both on the presence of known words and the adherence of these known words to some semantic organization. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  18. Semantic Query Processing : Estimating Relational Purity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kalo, Jan-Christoph; Lofi, C.; Maseli, René Pascal; Balke, Wolf-Tilo; Leyer, M.

    2017-01-01

    The use of semantic information found in structured knowledge bases has become an integral part of the processing pipeline of modern intelligent in-
    formation systems. However, such semantic information is frequently insuffi-cient to capture the rich semantics demanded by the applications, and

  19. Pragmatics for formal semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier

    2011-01-01

    This tech talk describes how to write and how to inter-derive formal semantics for sequential programming languages. The progress reported here is (1) concrete guidelines to write each formal semantics to alleviate their proof obligations, and (2) simple calculational tools to obtain a formal...

  20. A reasonable Semantic Web

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hitzler, Pascal; Van Harmelen, Frank

    2010-01-01

    The realization of Semantic Web reasoning is central to substantiating the Semantic Web vision. However, current mainstream research on this topic faces serious challenges, which forces us to question established lines of research and to rethink the underlying approaches. We argue that reasoning for

  1. Episodic memory, semantic memory, and amnesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Squire, L R; Zola, S M

    1998-01-01

    Episodic memory and semantic memory are two types of declarative memory. There have been two principal views about how this distinction might be reflected in the organization of memory functions in the brain. One view, that episodic memory and semantic memory are both dependent on the integrity of medial temporal lobe and midline diencephalic structures, predicts that amnesic patients with medial temporal lobe/diencephalic damage should be proportionately impaired in both episodic and semantic memory. An alternative view is that the capacity for semantic memory is spared, or partially spared, in amnesia relative to episodic memory ability. This article reviews two kinds of relevant data: 1) case studies where amnesia has occurred early in childhood, before much of an individual's semantic knowledge has been acquired, and 2) experimental studies with amnesic patients of fact and event learning, remembering and knowing, and remote memory. The data provide no compelling support for the view that episodic and semantic memory are affected differently in medial temporal lobe/diencephalic amnesia. However, episodic and semantic memory may be dissociable in those amnesic patients who additionally have severe frontal lobe damage.

  2. Supporting open collaboration in science through explicit and linked semantic description of processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gil, Yolanda; Michel, Felix; Ratnakar, Varun; Read, Jordan S.; Hauder, Matheus; Duffy, Christopher; Hanson, Paul C.; Dugan, Hilary

    2015-01-01

    The Web was originally developed to support collaboration in science. Although scientists benefit from many forms of collaboration on the Web (e.g., blogs, wikis, forums, code sharing, etc.), most collaborative projects are coordinated over email, phone calls, and in-person meetings. Our goal is to develop a collaborative infrastructure for scientists to work on complex science questions that require multi-disciplinary contributions to gather and analyze data, that cannot occur without significant coordination to synthesize findings, and that grow organically to accommodate new contributors as needed as the work evolves over time. Our approach is to develop an organic data science framework based on a task-centered organization of the collaboration, includes principles from social sciences for successful on-line communities, and exposes an open science process. Our approach is implemented as an extension of a semantic wiki platform, and captures formal representations of task decomposition structures, relations between tasks and users, and other properties of tasks, data, and other relevant science objects. All these entities are captured through the semantic wiki user interface, represented as semantic web objects, and exported as linked data.

  3. Gricean Semantics and Vague Speaker-Meaning

    OpenAIRE

    Schiffer, Stephen

    2017-01-01

    Presentations of Gricean semantics, including Stephen Neale’s in “Silent Reference,” totally ignore vagueness, even though virtually every utterance is vague. I ask how Gricean semantics might be adjusted to accommodate vague speaker-meaning. My answer is that it can’t accommodate it: the Gricean program collapses in the face of vague speaker-meaning. The Gricean might, however, fi nd some solace in knowing that every other extant meta-semantic and semantic program is in the same boat.

  4. Modeling the Interaction Between Semantic Agents and Semantic Web Services Using MDA Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kardas, Geylani; Göknil, Arda; Dikenelli, Oguz; Topaloglu, N. Yasemin

    2007-01-01

    In this paper, we present our metamodeling approach for integrating semantic web services and semantic web enabled agents under Model Driven Architecture (MDA) view which defines a conceptual framework to realize model driven development. We believe that agents must have well designed environment

  5. A Model for Semantic IS Standards

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Folmer, Erwin Johan Albert; Oude Luttighuis, Paul; van Hillegersberg, Jos

    2011-01-01

    We argue that, in order to suggest improvements of any kind to semantic information system (IS) standards, better understanding of the conceptual structure of semantic IS standard is required. This study develops a model for semantic IS standard, based on literature and expert knowledge. The model

  6. Reason, Action, and Weakness of the Will. A Semantic Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomás Barrero

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper develops some of Austin’s ideas on excuses, stressing their “dimensional” character and relating it to Searle’s distinction between intention-in-action and previous intention, in order to show that the original speech-act shaped distinction between weakness of the will and moral weakness can be embedded in a quite different theoretical framework such as Davidson’s, while Austin’s dimensional classification of actions cannot. Finally, the article analyzes how Grice’s critique of Davidson’s views on akrasia is more faithful to Austin and more radical in its conclusions concerning the justificatory aspect of reasons and the rational features of action.

  7. IntelliGO: a new vector-based semantic similarity measure including annotation origin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Devignes Marie-Dominique

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The Gene Ontology (GO is a well known controlled vocabulary describing the biological process, molecular function and cellular component aspects of gene annotation. It has become a widely used knowledge source in bioinformatics for annotating genes and measuring their semantic similarity. These measures generally involve the GO graph structure, the information content of GO aspects, or a combination of both. However, only a few of the semantic similarity measures described so far can handle GO annotations differently according to their origin (i.e. their evidence codes. Results We present here a new semantic similarity measure called IntelliGO which integrates several complementary properties in a novel vector space model. The coefficients associated with each GO term that annotates a given gene or protein include its information content as well as a customized value for each type of GO evidence code. The generalized cosine similarity measure, used for calculating the dot product between two vectors, has been rigorously adapted to the context of the GO graph. The IntelliGO similarity measure is tested on two benchmark datasets consisting of KEGG pathways and Pfam domains grouped as clans, considering the GO biological process and molecular function terms, respectively, for a total of 683 yeast and human genes and involving more than 67,900 pair-wise comparisons. The ability of the IntelliGO similarity measure to express the biological cohesion of sets of genes compares favourably to four existing similarity measures. For inter-set comparison, it consistently discriminates between distinct sets of genes. Furthermore, the IntelliGO similarity measure allows the influence of weights assigned to evidence codes to be checked. Finally, the results obtained with a complementary reference technique give intermediate but correct correlation values with the sequence similarity, Pfam, and Enzyme classifications when compared to

  8. [Learning virtual routes: what does verbal coding do in working memory?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gyselinck, Valérie; Grison, Élise; Gras, Doriane

    2015-03-01

    Two experiments were run to complete our understanding of the role of verbal and visuospatial encoding in the construction of a spatial model from visual input. In experiment 1 a dual task paradigm was applied to young adults who learned a route in a virtual environment and then performed a series of nonverbal tasks to assess spatial knowledge. Results indicated that landmark knowledge as asserted by the visual recognition of landmarks was not impaired by any of the concurrent task. Route knowledge, assessed by recognition of directions, was impaired both by a tapping task and a concurrent articulation task. Interestingly, the pattern was modulated when no landmarks were available to perform the direction task. A second experiment was designed to explore the role of verbal coding on the construction of landmark and route knowledge. A lexical-decision task was used as a verbal-semantic dual task, and a tone decision task as a nonsemantic auditory task. Results show that these new concurrent tasks impaired differently landmark knowledge and route knowledge. Results can be interpreted as showing that the coding of route knowledge could be grounded on both a coding of the sequence of events and on a semantic coding of information. These findings also point on some limits of Baddeley's working memory model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Semantic-based surveillance video retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Weiming; Xie, Dan; Fu, Zhouyu; Zeng, Wenrong; Maybank, Steve

    2007-04-01

    Visual surveillance produces large amounts of video data. Effective indexing and retrieval from surveillance video databases are very important. Although there are many ways to represent the content of video clips in current video retrieval algorithms, there still exists a semantic gap between users and retrieval systems. Visual surveillance systems supply a platform for investigating semantic-based video retrieval. In this paper, a semantic-based video retrieval framework for visual surveillance is proposed. A cluster-based tracking algorithm is developed to acquire motion trajectories. The trajectories are then clustered hierarchically using the spatial and temporal information, to learn activity models. A hierarchical structure of semantic indexing and retrieval of object activities, where each individual activity automatically inherits all the semantic descriptions of the activity model to which it belongs, is proposed for accessing video clips and individual objects at the semantic level. The proposed retrieval framework supports various queries including queries by keywords, multiple object queries, and queries by sketch. For multiple object queries, succession and simultaneity restrictions, together with depth and breadth first orders, are considered. For sketch-based queries, a method for matching trajectories drawn by users to spatial trajectories is proposed. The effectiveness and efficiency of our framework are tested in a crowded traffic scene.

  10. Two Equals One: Two Human Actions During Social Interaction Are Grouped as One Unit in Working Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Xiaowei; Gao, Zaifeng; Shen, Mowei

    2017-09-01

    Every day, people perceive other people performing interactive actions. Retaining these actions of human agents in working memory (WM) plays a pivotal role in a normal social life. However, whether the semantic knowledge embedded in the interactive actions has a pervasive impact on the storage of the actions in WM remains unknown. In the current study, we investigated two opposing hypotheses: (a) that WM stores the interactions individually (the individual-storage hypothesis) and (b) that WM stores the interactions as chunks (the chunk-storage hypothesis). We required participants to memorize a set of individual actions while ignoring the underlying social interactions. We found that although the social-interaction aspect was task irrelevant, the interactive actions were stored in WM as chunks that were not affected by memory load (Experiments 1 and 2); however, inverting the human actions vertically abolished this chunking effect (Experiment 3). These results suggest that WM automatically and efficiently used semantic knowledge about interactive actions to store them and support the chunk-storage hypothesis.

  11. A Computational Unification of Scientific Law:. Spelling out a Universal Semantics for Physical Reality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marcer, Peter J.; Rowlands, Peter

    2013-09-01

    The principal criteria Cn (n = 1 to 23) and grammatical production rules are set out of a universal computational rewrite language spelling out a semantic description of an emergent, self-organizing architecture for the cosmos. These language productions already predicate: (1) Einstein's conservation law of energy, momentum and mass and, subsequently, (2) with respect to gauge invariant relativistic space time (both Lorentz special & Einstein general); (3) Standard Model elementary particle physics; (4) the periodic table of the elements & chemical valence; and (5) the molecular biological basis of the DNA / RNA genetic code; so enabling the Cybernetic Machine specialist Groups Mission Statement premise;** (6) that natural semantic language thinking at the higher level of the self-organized emergent chemical molecular complexity of the human brain (only surpassed by that of the cosmos itself!) would be realized (7) by this same universal semantic language via (8) an architecture of a conscious human brain/mind and self which, it predicates consists of its neural / glia and microtubule substrates respectively, so as to endow it with; (9) the intelligent semantic capability to be able to specify, symbolize, spell out and understand the cosmos that conceived it; and (10) provide a quantum physical explanation of consciousness and of how (11) the dichotomy between first person subjectivity and third person objectivity or `hard problem' is resolved.

  12. Semantic models for adaptive interactive systems

    CERN Document Server

    Hussein, Tim; Lukosch, Stephan; Ziegler, Jürgen; Calvary, Gaëlle

    2013-01-01

    Providing insights into methodologies for designing adaptive systems based on semantic data, and introducing semantic models that can be used for building interactive systems, this book showcases many of the applications made possible by the use of semantic models.Ontologies may enhance the functional coverage of an interactive system as well as its visualization and interaction capabilities in various ways. Semantic models can also contribute to bridging gaps; for example, between user models, context-aware interfaces, and model-driven UI generation. There is considerable potential for using

  13. Some Novel Techniques in Operational Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mosses, Peter David

    2003-01-01

    Several novel techniques for use in operational semantics are presented. They were developed in connection with a modular vatriant of the conventional Structural Operational Semantics framework, but can also be exploited when modularity is of no great concern. Gives a simple introduction to the m......Several novel techniques for use in operational semantics are presented. They were developed in connection with a modular vatriant of the conventional Structural Operational Semantics framework, but can also be exploited when modularity is of no great concern. Gives a simple introduction...

  14. Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) in the Semantic Web: A Multi-Dimensional Review

    OpenAIRE

    Zeng, Marcia Lei; Mayr, Philipp

    2018-01-01

    Since the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) specification and its SKOS eXtension for Labels (SKOS-XL) became formal W3C recommendations in 2009 a significant number of conventional knowledge organization systems (KOS) (including thesauri, classification schemes, name authorities, and lists of codes and terms, produced before the arrival of the ontology-wave) have made their journeys to join the Semantic Web mainstream. This paper uses "LOD KOS" as an umbrella term to refer to all of...

  15. The Influence of Concreteness of Concepts on the Integration of Novel Words into the Semantic Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Jinfeng; Liu, Wenjuan; Yang, Yufang

    2017-01-01

    On the basis of previous studies revealing a processing advantage of concrete words over abstract words, the current study aimed to further explore the influence of concreteness on the integration of novel words into semantic memory with the event related potential (ERP) technique. In the experiment during the learning phase participants read two-sentence contexts and inferred the meaning of novel words. The novel words were two-character non-words in Chinese language. Their meaning was either a concrete or abstract known concept which could be inferred from the contexts. During the testing phase participants performed a lexical decision task in which the learned novel words served as primes for either their corresponding concepts, semantically related or unrelated targets. For the concrete novel words, the semantically related words belonged to the same semantic categories with their corresponding concepts. For the abstract novel words, the semantically related words were synonyms of their corresponding concepts. The unrelated targets were real words which were concrete or abstract for the concrete or abstract novel words respectively. The ERP results showed that the corresponding concepts and the semantically related words elicited smaller N400s than the unrelated words. The N400 effect was not modulated by the concreteness of the concepts. In addition, the concrete corresponding concepts elicited a smaller late positive component (LPC) than the concrete unrelated words. This LPC effect was absent for the abstract words. The results indicate that although both concrete and abstract novel words can be acquired and linked to their related words in the semantic network after a short learning phase, the concrete novel words are learned better. Our findings support the (extended) dual coding theory and broaden our understanding of adult word learning and changes in concept organization.

  16. The Influence of Concreteness of Concepts on the Integration of Novel Words into the Semantic Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jinfeng Ding

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of previous studies revealing a processing advantage of concrete words over abstract words, the current study aimed to further explore the influence of concreteness on the integration of novel words into semantic memory with the event related potential (ERP technique. In the experiment during the learning phase participants read two-sentence contexts and inferred the meaning of novel words. The novel words were two-character non-words in Chinese language. Their meaning was either a concrete or abstract known concept which could be inferred from the contexts. During the testing phase participants performed a lexical decision task in which the learned novel words served as primes for either their corresponding concepts, semantically related or unrelated targets. For the concrete novel words, the semantically related words belonged to the same semantic categories with their corresponding concepts. For the abstract novel words, the semantically related words were synonyms of their corresponding concepts. The unrelated targets were real words which were concrete or abstract for the concrete or abstract novel words respectively. The ERP results showed that the corresponding concepts and the semantically related words elicited smaller N400s than the unrelated words. The N400 effect was not modulated by the concreteness of the concepts. In addition, the concrete corresponding concepts elicited a smaller late positive component (LPC than the concrete unrelated words. This LPC effect was absent for the abstract words. The results indicate that although both concrete and abstract novel words can be acquired and linked to their related words in the semantic network after a short learning phase, the concrete novel words are learned better. Our findings support the (extended dual coding theory and broaden our understanding of adult word learning and changes in concept organization.

  17. The neural substrates of semantic memory deficits in early Alzheimer's disease: Clues from semantic priming effects and FDG-PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giffard, B.; Laisney, M.; Mezenge, F.; De la Sayette, V.; Eustache, F.; Desgranges, B.

    2008-01-01

    The neural substrates responsible for semantic dysfunction during the early stages of AD have yet to be clearly identified. After a brief overview of the literature on normal and pathological semantic memory, we describe a new approach, designed to provide fresh insights into semantic deficits in AD. We mapped the correlations between resting-state brain glucose utilisation measured by FDG-PET and semantic priming scores in a group of 17 AD patients. The priming task, which yields a particularly pure measurement of semantic memory, was composed of related pairs of words sharing an attribute relationship (e.g. tiger-stripe). The priming scores correlated positively with the metabolism of the superior temporal areas on both sides, especially the right side, and this correlation was shown to be specific to the semantic priming effect.This pattern of results is discussed in the light of recent theoretical models of semantic memory, and suggests that a dysfunction of the right superior temporal cortex may contribute to early semantic deficits, characterised by the loss of specific features of concepts in AD. (authors)

  18. Social Semantics for an Effective Enterprise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berndt, Sarah; Doane, Mike

    2012-01-01

    An evolution of the Semantic Web, the Social Semantic Web (s2w), facilitates knowledge sharing with "useful information based on human contributions, which gets better as more people participate." The s2w reaches beyond the search box to move us from a collection of hyperlinked facts, to meaningful, real time context. When focused through the lens of Enterprise Search, the Social Semantic Web facilitates the fluid transition of meaningful business information from the source to the user. It is the confluence of human thought and computer processing structured with the iterative application of taxonomies, folksonomies, ontologies, and metadata schemas. The importance and nuances of human interaction are often deemphasized when focusing on automatic generation of semantic markup, which results in dissatisfied users and unrealized return on investment. Users consistently qualify the value of information sets through the act of selection, making them the de facto stakeholders of the Social Semantic Web. Employers are the ultimate beneficiaries of s2w utilization with a better informed, more decisive workforce; one not achieved with an IT miracle technology, but by improved human-computer interactions. Johnson Space Center Taxonomist Sarah Berndt and Mike Doane, principal owner of Term Management, LLC discuss the planning, development, and maintenance stages for components of a semantic system while emphasizing the necessity of a Social Semantic Web for the Enterprise. Identification of risks and variables associated with layering the successful implementation of a semantic system are also modeled.

  19. Transparent ICD and DRG coding using information technology: linking and associating information sources with the eXtensible Markup Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoelzer, Simon; Schweiger, Ralf K; Dudeck, Joachim

    2003-01-01

    With the introduction of ICD-10 as the standard for diagnostics, it becomes necessary to develop an electronic representation of its complete content, inherent semantics, and coding rules. The authors' design relates to the current efforts by the CEN/TC 251 to establish a European standard for hierarchical classification systems in health care. The authors have developed an electronic representation of ICD-10 with the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) that facilitates integration into current information systems and coding software, taking different languages and versions into account. In this context, XML provides a complete processing framework of related technologies and standard tools that helps develop interoperable applications. XML provides semantic markup. It allows domain-specific definition of tags and hierarchical document structure. The idea of linking and thus combining information from different sources is a valuable feature of XML. In addition, XML topic maps are used to describe relationships between different sources, or "semantically associated" parts of these sources. The issue of achieving a standardized medical vocabulary becomes more and more important with the stepwise implementation of diagnostically related groups, for example. The aim of the authors' work is to provide a transparent and open infrastructure that can be used to support clinical coding and to develop further software applications. The authors are assuming that a comprehensive representation of the content, structure, inherent semantics, and layout of medical classification systems can be achieved through a document-oriented approach.

  20. A survey of the effective factors in students’ adherence to university dress code policy, using the theory of reasoned action

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN KAVEH

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Recognizing the determinants of behavior plays a major role in identification and application of effective strategies for encouraging individuals to follow the intended pattern of behavior. The present study aimed to analyze the university students’ behaviors regarding the amenability to dress code, using the theory of reasoned action (TRA. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 472 students were selected through multi-stage random sampling. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by specialists. Besides, its reliability was confirmed by conducting a pilot study revealing Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of 0.93 for attitude, 0.83 for subjective norms, 0.94 for behavioral intention and 0.77 for behavior. The data were entered into the SPSS statistical software and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney, correlation and regression analysis. Results: Based on the students’ self-reports, conformity of clothes to the university’s dress code was below the expected level in 28.87% of the female students and 28.55% of the male ones. The mean scores of attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral intention to comply with dress code policy were 28.78±10.08, 28.51±8.25 and 11.12±3.84, respectively. The students of different colleges were different from each other concerning TRA constructs. Yet, subjective norms played a more critical role in explaining the variance of dress code behavior among the students. Conclusion: Theory of reasoned action explained the students’ dress code behaviors relatively well. The study results suggest paying attention to appropriate approaches in educational, cultural activities, including promotion of student-teacher communication.

  1. A survey of the effective factors in students' adherence to university dress code policy, using the theory of reasoned action.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaveh, Mohammad Hossein; Moradi, Leila; Hesampour, Maryam; Hasan Zadeh, Jafar

    2015-07-01

    Recognizing the determinants of behavior plays a major role in identification and application of effective strategies for encouraging individuals to follow the intended pattern of behavior. The present study aimed to analyze the university students' behaviors regarding the amenability to dress code, using the theory of reasoned action (TRA). In this cross sectional study, 472 students were selected through multi-stage random sampling. The data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by specialists. Besides, its reliability was confirmed by conducting a pilot study revealing Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.93 for attitude, 0.83 for subjective norms, 0.94 for behavioral intention and 0.77 for behavior. The data were entered into the SPSS statistical software and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney, correlation and regression analysis). Based on the students' self-reports, conformity of clothes to the university's dress code was below the expected level in 28.87% of the female students and 28.55% of the male ones. The mean scores of attitude, subjective norms, and behavioral intention to comply with dress code policy were 28.78±10.08, 28.51±8.25 and 11.12±3.84, respectively. The students of different colleges were different from each other concerning TRA constructs. Yet, subjective norms played a more critical role in explaining the variance of dress code behavior among the students. Theory of reasoned action explained the students' dress code behaviors relatively well. The study results suggest paying attention to appropriate approaches in educational, cultural activities, including promotion of student-teacher communication.

  2. SEMANTIC WEB MINING: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

    OpenAIRE

    Karan Singh*, Anil kumar, Arun Kumar Yadav

    2016-01-01

    The combination of the two fast evolving scientific research areas “Semantic Web” and “Web Mining” are well-known as “Semantic Web Mining” in computer science. These two areas cover way for the mining of related and meaningful information from the web, by this means giving growth to the term “Semantic Web Mining”. The “Semantic Web” makes mining easy and “Web Mining” can construct new structure of Web. Web Mining applies Data Mining technique on web content, Structure and Usage. This paper gi...

  3. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction

    OpenAIRE

    Thompson, Hannah E; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A.; Barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    Semantic cognition, as described by the Controlled Semantic Cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers, Patterson, Jefferies, & Lambon Ralph, 2015), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal ‘hub’ in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task- appropriate behaviour. Executive-semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive...

  4. Psychologizing the Semantics of Fiction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John Woods

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available Psychologiser la sémantique de la fictionLes théoriciens sémantistes de la fiction cherchent typiquement à expliquer nos relations sémantiques au fictionnel dans le contexte plus général des théories de la référence, privilégiant une explication de la sémantique sur le psychologique. Dans cet article, nous défendons une dépendance inverse. Par l’éclaircissement de nos relations psychologiques au fictionnel, nous trouverons un guide pour savoir comment développer une sémantique de la fiction. S’ensuivra une esquisse de la sémantique.Semantic theorists of fiction typically look for an account of our semantic relations to the fictional within general-purpose theories of reference, privileging an explanation of the semantic over the psychological. In this paper, we counsel a reverse dependency. In sorting out our psychological relations to the fictional, there is useful guidance about how to proceed with the semantics of fiction. A sketch of the semantics follows.

  5. Jigsaw Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul J. E. Dekker

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In the last decade the enterprise of formal semantics has been under attack from several philosophical and linguistic perspectives, and it has certainly suffered from its own scattered state, which hosts quite a variety of paradigms which may seem to be incompatible. It will not do to try and answer the arguments of the critics, because the arguments are often well-taken. The negative conclusions, however, I believe are not. The only adequate reply seems to be a constructive one, which puts several pieces of formal semantics, in particular dynamic semantics, together again. In this paper I will try and sketch an overview of tasks, techniques, and results, which serves to at least suggest that it is possible to develop a coherent overall picture of undeniably important and structural phenomena in the interpretation of natural language. The idea is that the concept of meanings as truth conditions after all provides an excellent start for an integrated study of the meaning and use of natural language, and that an extended notion of goal directed pragmatics naturally complements this picture. None of the results reported here are really new, but we think it is important to re-collect them.ReferencesAsher, Nicholas & Lascarides, Alex. 1998. ‘Questions in Dialogue’. Linguistics and Philosophy 23: 237–309.http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1005364332007Borg, Emma. 2007. ‘Minimalism versus contextualism in semantics’. In Gerhard Preyer & Georg Peter (eds. ‘Context-Sensitivity and Semantic Minimalism’, pp. 339–359. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Cappelen, Herman & Lepore, Ernest. 1997. ‘On an Alleged Connection between Indirect Quotation and Semantic Theory’. Mind and Language 12: pp. 278–296.Cappelen, Herman & Lepore, Ernie. 2005. Insensitive Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470755792Dekker, Paul. 2002. ‘Meaning and Use of Indefinite Expressions’. Journal of Logic, Language and Information 11: pp. 141–194

  6. Motor cognition-motor semantics: action perception theory of cognition and communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pulvermüller, Friedemann; Moseley, Rachel L; Egorova, Natalia; Shebani, Zubaida; Boulenger, Véronique

    2014-03-01

    A new perspective on cognition views cortical cell assemblies linking together knowledge about actions and perceptions not only as the vehicles of integrated action and perception processing but, furthermore, as a brain basis for a wide range of higher cortical functions, including attention, meaning and concepts, sequences, goals and intentions, and even communicative social interaction. This article explains mechanisms relevant to mechanistic action perception theory, points to concrete neuronal circuits in brains along with artificial neuronal network simulations, and summarizes recent brain imaging and other experimental data documenting the role of action perception circuits in cognition, language and communication. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Semantic tagging of and semantic enhancements to systematics papers: ZooKeys working examples

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Penev, L.; Agosti, D.; Georgiev, T.; Catapano, T.; Miller, J.; Blagoderov, V.; Roberts, D.; Smith, V.S.; Brake, I.; Ryrcroft, S.; Scott, B.; Johnson, N.F.; Morris, R.A.; Sautter, G.; Chavan, V.; Robertson, T.; Remsen, D.; Stoev, P.; Parr, C.; Knapp, S.; Kress, W.J.; Thompson, F.C.; Erwin, T.

    2010-01-01

    The concept of semantic tagging and its potential for semantic enhancements to taxonomic papers is outlined and illustrated by four exemplar papers published in the present issue of ZooKeys. The four papers were created in different ways: (i) written in Microsoft Word and submitted as non-tagged

  8. Topics in Semantics-based Program Manipulation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grobauer, Bernt

    four articles in the field of semantics-based techniques for program manipulation: three articles are about partial evaluation, a method for program specialization; the fourth article treats an approach to automatic cost analysis. Partial evaluation optimizes programs by specializing them with respect...... article in this dissertation describes how the second Futamura projection can be achieved for type-directed partial evaluation (TDPE), a relatively recent approach to partial evaluation: We derive an ML implementation of the second Futamura projection for TDPE. Due to the differences between ‘traditional...... denotational semantics—allows us to relate various possible semantics to each other both conceptually and formally. We thus are able to explain goal-directed evaluation using an intuitive list-based semantics, while using a continuation semantics for semantics-based compilation through partial evaluation...

  9. Inter-deriving Semantic Artifacts for Object-Oriented Programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier; Johannsen, Jacob

    2008-01-01

    We present a new abstract machine for Abadi and Cardelli's untyped calculus of objects. What is special about this semantic artifact (i.e., man-made construct) is that is mechanically corresponds to both the reduction semantics (i.e., small-step operational semantics) and the natural semantics (i...... actual substitutions, we then represent object methods as closures and in the same inter-derivational spirit, we present three new semantic artifacts: a reduction semantics for a version of Abadi and Cardelli's untyped calculus of objects with explicit substitutions, an environment-based abstract machine...

  10. The contribution of executive control to semantic cognition: Convergent evidence from semantic aphasia and executive dysfunction

    OpenAIRE

    Thompson, Hannah; Almaghyuli, Azizah; Noonan, Krist A.; barak, Ohr; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-01-01

    Semantic cognition, as described by the controlled semantic cognition (CSC) framework (Rogers et al., 2015, Neuropsychologia, 76, 220), involves two key components: activation of coherent, generalizable concepts within a heteromodal ‘hub’ in combination with modality-specific features (spokes), and a constraining mechanism that manipulates and gates this knowledge to generate time- and task-appropriate behaviour. Executive–semantic goal representations, largely supported by executive regions ...

  11. Survey of semantic modeling techniques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, C.L.

    1975-07-01

    The analysis of the semantics of programing languages was attempted with numerous modeling techniques. By providing a brief survey of these techniques together with an analysis of their applicability for answering semantic issues, this report attempts to illuminate the state-of-the-art in this area. The intent is to be illustrative rather than thorough in the coverage of semantic models. A bibliography is included for the reader who is interested in pursuing this area of research in more detail.

  12. Semantic multimedia analysis and processing

    CERN Document Server

    Spyrou, Evaggelos; Mylonas, Phivos

    2014-01-01

    Broad in scope, Semantic Multimedia Analysis and Processing provides a complete reference of techniques, algorithms, and solutions for the design and the implementation of contemporary multimedia systems. Offering a balanced, global look at the latest advances in semantic indexing, retrieval, analysis, and processing of multimedia, the book features the contributions of renowned researchers from around the world. Its contents are based on four fundamental thematic pillars: 1) information and content retrieval, 2) semantic knowledge exploitation paradigms, 3) multimedia personalization, and 4)

  13. Frontal lobe damage impairs process and content in semantic memory: evidence from category-specific effects in progressive non-fluent aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reilly, Jamie; Rodriguez, Amy D; Peelle, Jonathan E; Grossman, Murray

    2011-06-01

    Portions of left inferior frontal cortex have been linked to semantic memory both in terms of the content of conceptual representation (e.g., motor aspects in an embodied semantics framework) and the cognitive processes used to access these representations (e.g., response selection). Progressive non-fluent aphasia (PNFA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by progressive atrophy of left inferior frontal cortex. PNFA can, therefore, provide a lesion model for examining the impact of frontal lobe damage on semantic processing and content. In the current study we examined picture naming in a cohort of PNFA patients across a variety of semantic categories. An embodied approach to semantic memory holds that sensorimotor features such as self-initiated action may assume differential importance for the representation of manufactured artifacts (e.g., naming hand tools). Embodiment theories might therefore predict that patients with frontal damage would be differentially impaired on manufactured artifacts relative to natural kinds, and this prediction was borne out. We also examined patterns of naming errors across a wide range of semantic categories and found that naming error distributions were heterogeneous. Although PNFA patients performed worse overall on naming manufactured artifacts, there was no reliable relationship between anomia and manipulability across semantic categories. These results add to a growing body of research arguing against a purely sensorimotor account of semantic memory, suggesting instead a more nuanced balance of process and content in how the brain represents conceptual knowledge. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

  14. Neural correlates underlying musical semantic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groussard, M; Viader, F; Landeau, B; Desgranges, B; Eustache, F; Platel, H

    2009-07-01

    Numerous functional imaging studies have examined the neural basis of semantic memory mainly using verbal and visuospatial materials. Musical material also allows an original way to explore semantic memory processes. We used PET imaging to determine the neural substrates that underlie musical semantic memory using different tasks and stimuli. The results of three PET studies revealed a greater involvement of the anterior part of the temporal lobe. Concerning clinical observations and our neuroimaging data, the musical lexicon (and most widely musical semantic memory) appears to be sustained by a temporo-prefrontal cerebral network involving right and left cerebral regions.

  15. Formal Development of the HRP Prover - Part 1: Syntax and Semantics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sivertsen, Terje

    1996-01-01

    This report describes the formal development of a new version of the HRP Prover. The new version of the tool will have functionality almost identical to the current version, but is developed in accordance to established principles for applying algebraic specification in formal software development. The development project provides results of relevance to the formal development of a wide range of language-oriented tools, including programming language compilers, as well as to the automatic generation of code from specifications. Since the overall scope of this report is the analysis of algebraic specifications, emphasis is given to topics related to what is usually understood as the ''front end'' of compilers. This includes lexical and syntax analysis of the specifications, static semantics through type checking, and dynamic semantics through evaluation. All the different phases are specified in algebraic specification and supported by the current version of the HRP Prover. In subsequent work, the completed parts of the new version will complement the tool support in the development. The work presented will be followed up by formal specification of theorem proving and transformation, as well as code generation into conventional programming languages. The new version of the HRP Prover is incrementally developed in coherence with the specifications produced in these activities. At the same time, the development of the tool demonstrates the efficient use of the methodology through real application on an increasingly important class of software. (author)

  16. Scandinavian Semantics and the Human Body

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Levisen, Carsten

    2015-01-01

    , it is demonstrated that Scandinavian and English systems differ significantly in some aspects of the way in which the construe the human body with words. The study ventures an innovative combination of methods, pairing the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach to linguistic and conceptual analysis......This paper presents an ethnolinguistic analysis of how the space between the head and the body is construed in Scandinavian semantic systems vis-a-vis the semantic system of English. With an extensive case study of neck-related meanings in Danish, and with cross-Scandinavian reference...... with empirical evidence from the Evolution of Semantic Systems (EoSS) project. This combination of empirical and interpretative tools helps to integrate evidence from semantics and semiotics, pinning out in great detail the intricacies of the meanings of particular body words. The paper concludes that body words...

  17. Inter-deriving Semantic Artifacts for Object-Oriented Programming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier; Johannsen, Jacob

    2010-01-01

    We present a new abstract machine for Abadi and Cardelli's untyped non-imperative calculus of objects.  This abstract machine mechanically corresponds to both the reduction semantics (i.e., small-step operational semantics) and the natural semantics (i.e., big-step operational semantics) specified...

  18. CASL - The CoFI Algebraic Specification Language - Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haxthausen, Anne

    1999-01-01

    This is version 1.0 of the CASL Language Summary, annotated by the CoFI Semantics Task Group with the semantics of constructs. This is the second complete but possibly imperfect version of the semantics. It was compiled prior to the CoFI workshop in Amsterdam in March 1999.......This is version 1.0 of the CASL Language Summary, annotated by the CoFI Semantics Task Group with the semantics of constructs. This is the second complete but possibly imperfect version of the semantics. It was compiled prior to the CoFI workshop in Amsterdam in March 1999....

  19. Using semantic analysis to improve speech recognition performance

    OpenAIRE

    Erdoğan, Hakan; Erdogan, Hakan; Sarıkaya, Ruhi; Sarikaya, Ruhi; Chen, Stanley F.; Gao, Yuqing; Picheny, Michael

    2005-01-01

    Although syntactic structure has been used in recent work in language modeling, there has not been much effort in using semantic analysis for language models. In this study, we propose three new language modeling techniques that use semantic analysis for spoken dialog systems. We call these methods concept sequence modeling, two-level semantic-lexical modeling, and joint semantic-lexical modeling. These models combine lexical information with varying amounts of semantic information, using ann...

  20. Co-clustering for Weblogs in Semantic Space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zong, Yu; Xu, Guandong; Dolog, Peter

    2010-01-01

    Web clustering is an approach for aggregating web objects into various groups according to underlying relationships among them. Finding co-clusters of web objects in semantic space is an interesting topic in the context of web usage mining, which is able to capture the underlying user navigational...... interest and content preference simultaneously. In this paper we will present a novel web co-clustering algorithm named Co-Clustering in Semantic space (COCS) to simultaneously partition web users and pages via a latent semantic analysis approach. In COCS, we first, train the latent semantic space...... of weblog data by using Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) model, and then, project all weblog data objects into this semantic space with probability distribution to capture the relationship among web pages and web users, at last, propose a clustering algorithm to generate the co...

  1. Discovery and Selection of Semantic Web Services

    CERN Document Server

    Wang, Xia

    2013-01-01

    For advanced web search engines to be able not only to search for semantically related information dispersed over different web pages, but also for semantic services providing certain functionalities, discovering semantic services is the key issue. Addressing four problems of current solution, this book presents the following contributions. A novel service model independent of semantic service description models is proposed, which clearly defines all elements necessary for service discovery and selection. It takes service selection as its gist and improves efficiency. Corresponding selection algorithms and their implementation as components of the extended Semantically Enabled Service-oriented Architecture in the Web Service Modeling Environment are detailed. Many applications of semantic web services, e.g. discovery, composition and mediation, can benefit from a general approach for building application ontologies. With application ontologies thus built, services are discovered in the same way as with single...

  2. Code Cactus; Code Cactus

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fajeau, M; Nguyen, L T; Saunier, J [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay, 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (France)

    1966-09-01

    This code handles the following problems: -1) Analysis of thermal experiments on a water loop at high or low pressure; steady state or transient behavior; -2) Analysis of thermal and hydrodynamic behavior of water-cooled and moderated reactors, at either high or low pressure, with boiling permitted; fuel elements are assumed to be flat plates: - Flowrate in parallel channels coupled or not by conduction across plates, with conditions of pressure drops or flowrate, variable or not with respect to time is given; the power can be coupled to reactor kinetics calculation or supplied by the code user. The code, containing a schematic representation of safety rod behavior, is a one dimensional, multi-channel code, and has as its complement (FLID), a one-channel, two-dimensional code. (authors) [French] Ce code permet de traiter les problemes ci-dessous: 1. Depouillement d'essais thermiques sur boucle a eau, haute ou basse pression, en regime permanent ou transitoire; 2. Etudes thermiques et hydrauliques de reacteurs a eau, a plaques, a haute ou basse pression, ebullition permise: - repartition entre canaux paralleles, couples on non par conduction a travers plaques, pour des conditions de debit ou de pertes de charge imposees, variables ou non dans le temps; - la puissance peut etre couplee a la neutronique et une representation schematique des actions de securite est prevue. Ce code (Cactus) a une dimension d'espace et plusieurs canaux, a pour complement Flid qui traite l'etude d'un seul canal a deux dimensions. (auteurs)

  3. The Semantics of Plurals: A Defense of Singularism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Florio, Salvatore

    2010-01-01

    In this dissertation, I defend "semantic singularism", which is the view that syntactically plural terms, such as "they" or "Russell and Whitehead", are semantically singular. A semantically singular term is a term that denotes a single entity. Semantic singularism is to be distinguished from "syntactic singularism", according to which…

  4. A code to compute the action-angle transformation for a particle in an abritrary potential well

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berg, J.S.; Warnock, R.L.

    1995-01-01

    For a Vlasov treatment of longitudinal stability under an arbitrary wake field, with the solution of the Haiessinski equation as the unperturbed distribution, it is important to have the action-angle transformation for the distorted potential well in a convenient form. The authors have written a code that gives the transformation q,p → J, φ, with q(J,φ) as a Fourier series in φ, the Fourier coefficients and the Hamiltonian H(J) being spline functions of J in C 2 (having continuous second derivatives)

  5. Coupling ontology driven semantic representation with multilingual natural language generation for tuning international terminologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rassinoux, Anne-Marie; Baud, Robert H; Rodrigues, Jean-Marie; Lovis, Christian; Geissbühler, Antoine

    2007-01-01

    The importance of clinical communication between providers, consumers and others, as well as the requisite for computer interoperability, strengthens the need for sharing common accepted terminologies. Under the directives of the World Health Organization (WHO), an approach is currently being conducted in Australia to adopt a standardized terminology for medical procedures that is intended to become an international reference. In order to achieve such a standard, a collaborative approach is adopted, in line with the successful experiment conducted for the development of the new French coding system CCAM. Different coding centres are involved in setting up a semantic representation of each term using a formal ontological structure expressed through a logic-based representation language. From this language-independent representation, multilingual natural language generation (NLG) is performed to produce noun phrases in various languages that are further compared for consistency with the original terms. Outcomes are presented for the assessment of the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) and its translation into Portuguese. The initial results clearly emphasize the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of the proposed method for handling both a different classification and an additional language. NLG tools, based on ontology driven semantic representation, facilitate the discovery of ambiguous and inconsistent terms, and, as such, should be promoted for establishing coherent international terminologies.

  6. Towards a Reactive Semantic Execution Environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komazec, Srdjan; Facca, Federico Michele

    Managing complex and distributed software systems built on top of the service-oriented paradigm has never been more challenging. While Semantic Web Service technologies offer a promising set of languages and tools as a foundation to resolve the heterogeneity and scalability issues, they are still failing to provide an autonomic execution environment. In this paper we present an approach based on Semantic Web Services to enable the monitoring and self-management of a Semantic Execution Environment (SEE), a brokerage system for Semantic Web Services. Our approach is founded on the event-triggered reactivity paradigm in order to facilitate environment control, thus contributing to its autonomicity, robustness and flexibility.

  7. Semantic Observation Integration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Werner Kuhn

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Although the integration of sensor-based information into analysis and decision making has been a research topic for many years, semantic interoperability has not yet been reached. The advent of user-generated content for the geospatial domain, Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI, makes it even more difficult to establish semantic integration. This paper proposes a novel approach to integrating conventional sensor information and VGI, which is exploited in the context of detecting forest fires. In contrast to common logic-based semantic descriptions, we present a formal system using algebraic specifications to unambiguously describe the processing steps from natural phenomena to value-added information. A generic ontology of observations is extended and profiled for forest fire detection in order to illustrate how the sensing process, and transformations between heterogeneous sensing systems, can be represented as mathematical functions and grouped into abstract data types. We discuss the required ontological commitments and a possible generalization.

  8. Insensitive Enough Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard Vallée

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available According to some philosophers, sentences like (1 “It is raining” and (2 “John is ready” are context sensitive sentences even if they do not contain indexicals or demonstratives. That view initiated a context sensitivity frenzy. Cappelen and Lepore (2005 summarize the frenzy by the slogan “Every sentence is context sensitive” (Insensitive Semantics, p. 6, note 5. They suggest a view they call Minimalism according to which the truth conditions of utterances of sentences like (1/(2 are exactly what Convention T gives you. I will distinguish different propositions, and refocus semantics on sentences. As distinct from what the protagonists in the ongoing debate think, I argue that the content or truth conditions of utterances of both context sensitive sentences and sentences like (1/(2 are not interesting from a semantic point of view, and that the problem sentences like (1/(2 raises is not about context sensitivity or context insensitivity of sentences, but relevance of the content of utterances.

  9. The Problem of Naturalizing Semantics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, Arthur

    2000-01-01

    Investigates conceptual barriers prevalent in the works of both proponents and opponents of semantic naturalism. Searches for a tenable definition of naturalism according to which one can be a realist, a non-reductionist, and a naturalist about semantic content. (Author/VWL)

  10. Compiling Dictionaries Using Semantic Domains*

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronald Moe

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available

    Abstract: The task of providing dictionaries for all the world's languages is prodigious, re-quiring efficient techniques. The text corpus method cannot be used for minority languages lacking texts. To meet the need, the author has constructed a list of 1 600 semantic domains, which he has successfully used to collect words. In a workshop setting, a group of speakers can collect as many as 17 000 words in ten days. This method results in a classified word list that can be efficiently expanded into a full dictionary. The method works because the mental lexicon is a giant web or-ganized around key concepts. A semantic domain can be defined as an important concept together with the words directly related to it by lexical relations. A person can utilize the mental web to quickly jump from word to word within a domain. The author is developing a template for each domain to aid in collecting words and in de-scribing their semantics. Investigating semantics within the context of a domain yields many in-sights. The method permits the production of both alphabetically and semantically organized dic-tionaries. The list of domains is intended to be universal in scope and applicability. Perhaps due to universals of human experience and universals of linguistic competence, there are striking simi-larities in various lists of semantic domains developed for languages around the world. Using a standardized list of domains to classify multiple dictionaries opens up possibilities for cross-lin-guistic research into semantic and lexical universals.

    Keywords: SEMANTIC DOMAINS, SEMANTIC FIELDS, SEMANTIC CATEGORIES, LEX-ICAL RELATIONS, SEMANTIC PRIMITIVES, DOMAIN TEMPLATES, MENTAL LEXICON, SEMANTIC UNIVERSALS, MINORITY LANGUAGES, LEXICOGRAPHY

    Opsomming: Samestelling van woordeboeke deur gebruikmaking van se-mantiese domeine. Die taak van die voorsiening van woordeboeke aan al die tale van die wêreld is geweldig en vereis doeltreffende tegnieke. Die

  11. Semantic Business Process Modeling

    OpenAIRE

    Markovic, Ivan

    2010-01-01

    This book presents a process-oriented business modeling framework based on semantic technologies. The framework consists of modeling languages, methods, and tools that allow for semantic modeling of business motivation, business policies and rules, and business processes. Quality of the proposed modeling framework is evaluated based on the modeling content of SAP Solution Composer and several real-world business scenarios.

  12. Concreteness effects in semantic processing: ERP evidence supporting dual-coding theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kounios, J; Holcomb, P J

    1994-07-01

    Dual-coding theory argues that processing advantages for concrete over abstract (verbal) stimuli result from the operation of 2 systems (i.e., imaginal and verbal) for concrete stimuli, rather than just 1 (for abstract stimuli). These verbal and imaginal systems have been linked with the left and right hemispheres of the brain, respectively. Context-availability theory argues that concreteness effects result from processing differences in a single system. The merits of these theories were investigated by examining the topographic distribution of event-related brain potentials in 2 experiments (lexical decision and concrete-abstract classification). The results were most consistent with dual-coding theory. In particular, different scalp distributions of an N400-like negativity were elicited by concrete and abstract words.

  13. Semantic annotation in biomedicine: the current landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jovanović, Jelena; Bagheri, Ebrahim

    2017-09-22

    The abundance and unstructured nature of biomedical texts, be it clinical or research content, impose significant challenges for the effective and efficient use of information and knowledge stored in such texts. Annotation of biomedical documents with machine intelligible semantics facilitates advanced, semantics-based text management, curation, indexing, and search. This paper focuses on annotation of biomedical entity mentions with concepts from relevant biomedical knowledge bases such as UMLS. As a result, the meaning of those mentions is unambiguously and explicitly defined, and thus made readily available for automated processing. This process is widely known as semantic annotation, and the tools that perform it are known as semantic annotators.Over the last dozen years, the biomedical research community has invested significant efforts in the development of biomedical semantic annotation technology. Aiming to establish grounds for further developments in this area, we review a selected set of state of the art biomedical semantic annotators, focusing particularly on general purpose annotators, that is, semantic annotation tools that can be customized to work with texts from any area of biomedicine. We also examine potential directions for further improvements of today's annotators which could make them even more capable of meeting the needs of real-world applications. To motivate and encourage further developments in this area, along the suggested and/or related directions, we review existing and potential practical applications and benefits of semantic annotators.

  14. A piece of the action: modulation of sensory-motor regions by action idioms and metaphors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desai, Rutvik H; Conant, Lisa L; Binder, Jeffrey R; Park, Haeil; Seidenberg, Mark S

    2013-12-01

    The idea that the conceptual system draws on sensory and motor systems has received considerable experimental support in recent years. Whether the tight coupling between sensory-motor and conceptual systems is modulated by factors such as context or task demands is a matter of controversy. Here, we tested the context sensitivity of this coupling by using action verbs in three different types of sentences in an fMRI study: literal action, apt but non-idiomatic action metaphors, and action idioms. Abstract sentences served as a baseline. The result showed involvement of sensory-motor areas for literal and metaphoric action sentences, but not for idiomatic ones. A trend of increasing sensory-motor activation from abstract to idiomatic to metaphoric to literal sentences was seen. These results support a gradual abstraction process whereby the reliance on sensory-motor systems is reduced as the abstractness of meaning as well as conventionalization is increased, highlighting the context sensitive nature of semantic processing. © 2013.

  15. Long non-coding RNAs: Mechanism of action and functional utility

    OpenAIRE

    Bhat, Shakil Ahmad; Ahmad, Syed Mudasir; Mumtaz, Peerzada Tajamul; Malik, Abrar Ahad; Dar, Mashooq Ahmad; Urwat, Uneeb; Shah, Riaz Ahmad; Ganai, Nazir Ahmad

    2016-01-01

    Recent RNA sequencing studies have revealed that most of the human genome is transcribed, but very little of the total transcriptomes has the ability to encode proteins. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides. Members of the non-coding genome include microRNA (miRNA), small regulatory RNAs and other short RNAs. Most of long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) are poorly annotated. Recent recognition about lncRNAs highlights their effects in many biological ...

  16. Scientific Datasets: Discovery and Aggregation for Semantic Interpretation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez, L. A.; Scott, S.; Khalsa, S. J. S.; Duerr, R.

    2015-12-01

    One of the biggest challenges that interdisciplinary researchers face is finding suitable datasets in order to advance their science; this problem remains consistent across multiple disciplines. A surprising number of scientists, when asked what tool they use for data discovery, reply "Google", which is an acceptable solution in some cases but not even Google can find -or cares to compile- all the data that's relevant for science and particularly geo sciences. If a dataset is not discoverable through a well known search provider it will remain dark data to the scientific world.For the past year, BCube, an EarthCube Building Block project, has been developing, testing and deploying a technology stack capable of data discovery at web-scale using the ultimate dataset: The Internet. This stack has 2 principal components, a web-scale crawling infrastructure and a semantic aggregator. The web-crawler is a modified version of Apache Nutch (the originator of Hadoop and other big data technologies) that has been improved and tailored for data and data service discovery. The second component is semantic aggregation, carried out by a python-based workflow that extracts valuable metadata and stores it in the form of triples through the use semantic technologies.While implementing the BCube stack we have run into several challenges such as a) scaling the project to cover big portions of the Internet at a reasonable cost, b) making sense of very diverse and non-homogeneous data, and lastly, c) extracting facts about these datasets using semantic technologies in order to make them usable for the geosciences community. Despite all these challenges we have proven that we can discover and characterize data that otherwise would have remained in the dark corners of the Internet. Having all this data indexed and 'triplelized' will enable scientists to access a trove of information relevant to their work in a more natural way. An important characteristic of the BCube stack is that all

  17. When Meaning Is Not Enough: Distributional and Semantic Cues to Word Categorization in Child Directed Speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feijoo, Sara; Muñoz, Carmen; Amadó, Anna; Serrat, Elisabet

    2017-01-01

    One of the most important tasks in first language development is assigning words to their grammatical category. The Semantic Bootstrapping Hypothesis postulates that, in order to accomplish this task, children are guided by a neat correspondence between semantic and grammatical categories, since nouns typically refer to objects and verbs to actions. It is this correspondence that guides children's initial word categorization. Other approaches, on the other hand, suggest that children might make use of distributional cues and word contexts to accomplish the word categorization task. According to such approaches, the Semantic Bootstrapping assumption offers an important limitation, as it might not be true that all the nouns that children hear refer to specific objects or people. In order to explore that, we carried out two studies based on analyses of children's linguistic input. We analyzed child-directed speech addressed to four children under the age of 2;6, taken from the CHILDES database. The corpora were selected from the Manchester corpus. The corpora from the four selected children contained a total of 10,681 word types and 364,196 word tokens. In our first study, discriminant analyses were performed using semantic cues alone. The results show that many of the nouns found in parents' speech do not relate to specific objects and that semantic information alone might not be sufficient for successful word categorization. Given that there must be an additional source of information which, alongside with semantics, might assist young learners in word categorization, our second study explores the availability of both distributional and semantic cues in child-directed speech. Our results confirm that this combination might yield better results for word categorization. These results are in line with theories that suggest the need for an integration of multiple cues from different sources in language development.

  18. Understanding of action-related and abstract verbs in comparison: a behavioral and TMS study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Innocenti, Alessandro; De Stefani, Elisa; Sestito, Mariateresa; Gentilucci, Maurizio

    2014-02-01

    Does the comprehension of both action-related and abstract verbs rely on motor simulation? In a behavioral experiment, in which a semantic task was used, response times to hand-action-related verbs were briefer than those to abstract verbs and both decreased with repetition of presentation. In a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) experiment, single-pulse stimulation was randomly delivered over hand motor area of the left primary motor cortex to measure cortical-spinal excitability at 300 or 500 ms after verb presentation. Two blocks of trials were run. In each block, the same verbs were randomly presented. In the first block, stimulation induced an increase in motor evoked potentials only when TMS was applied 300 ms after action-related verb presentation. In the second block, no modulation of motor cortex was found according to type of verb and stimulation-delay. These results confirm that motor simulation can be used to understand action rather than abstract verbs. Moreover, they suggest that with repetition, the semantic processing for action verbs does not require activation of primary motor cortex anymore.

  19. Exploiting semantic linkages among multiple sources for semantic information retrieval

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, JianQiang; Yang, Ji-Jiang; Liu, Chunchen; Zhao, Yu; Liu, Bo; Shi, Yuliang

    2014-07-01

    The vision of the Semantic Web is to build a global Web of machine-readable data to be consumed by intelligent applications. As the first step to make this vision come true, the initiative of linked open data has fostered many novel applications aimed at improving data accessibility in the public Web. Comparably, the enterprise environment is so different from the public Web that most potentially usable business information originates in an unstructured form (typically in free text), which poses a challenge for the adoption of semantic technologies in the enterprise environment. Considering that the business information in a company is highly specific and centred around a set of commonly used concepts, this paper describes a pilot study to migrate the concept of linked data into the development of a domain-specific application, i.e. the vehicle repair support system. The set of commonly used concepts, including the part name of a car and the phenomenon term on the car repairing, are employed to build the linkage between data and documents distributed among different sources, leading to the fusion of documents and data across source boundaries. Then, we describe the approaches of semantic information retrieval to consume these linkages for value creation for companies. The experiments on two real-world data sets show that the proposed approaches outperform the best baseline 6.3-10.8% and 6.4-11.1% in terms of top five and top 10 precisions, respectively. We believe that our pilot study can serve as an important reference for the development of similar semantic applications in an enterprise environment.

  20. Building a knowledge base of severe adverse drug events based on AERS reporting data using semantic web technologies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Guoqian; Wang, Liwei; Liu, Hongfang; Solbrig, Harold R; Chute, Christopher G

    2013-01-01

    A semantically coded knowledge base of adverse drug events (ADEs) with severity information is critical for clinical decision support systems and translational research applications. However it remains challenging to measure and identify the severity information of ADEs. The objective of the study is to develop and evaluate a semantic web based approach for building a knowledge base of severe ADEs based on the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) reporting data. We utilized a normalized AERS reporting dataset and extracted putative drug-ADE pairs and their associated outcome codes in the domain of cardiac disorders. We validated the drug-ADE associations using ADE datasets from SIDe Effect Resource (SIDER) and the UMLS. We leveraged the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Event (CTCAE) grading system and classified the ADEs into the CTCAE in the Web Ontology Language (OWL). We identified and validated 2,444 unique Drug-ADE pairs in the domain of cardiac disorders, of which 760 pairs are in Grade 5, 775 pairs in Grade 4 and 2,196 pairs in Grade 3.

  1. Auditing Consistency and Usefulness of LOINC Use among Three Large Institutions - Using Version Spaces for Grouping LOINC Codes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, M.C.; Vreeman, D.J.; Huff, S.M.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives We wanted to develop a method for evaluating the consistency and usefulness of LOINC code use across different institutions, and to evaluate the degree of interoperability that can be attained when using LOINC codes for laboratory data exchange. Our specific goals were to: 1) Determine if any contradictory knowledge exists in LOINC. 2) Determine how many LOINC codes were used in a truly interoperable fashion between systems. 3) Provide suggestions for improving the semantic interoperability of LOINC. Methods We collected Extensional Definitions (EDs) of LOINC usage from three institutions. The version space approach was used to divide LOINC codes into small sets, which made auditing of LOINC use across the institutions feasible. We then compared pairings of LOINC codes from the three institutions for consistency and usefulness. Results The number of LOINC codes evaluated were 1,917, 1,267 and 1,693 as obtained from ARUP, Intermountain and Regenstrief respectively. There were 2,022, 2,030, and 2,301 version spaces among ARUP & Intermountain, Intermountain & Regenstrief and ARUP & Regenstrief respectively. Using the EDs as the gold standard, there were 104, 109 and 112 pairs containing contradictory knowledge and there were 1,165, 765 and 1,121 semantically interoperable pairs. The interoperable pairs were classified into three levels: 1) Level I – No loss of meaning, complete information was exchanged by identical codes. 2) Level II – No loss of meaning, but processing of data was needed to make the data completely comparable. 3) Level III – Some loss of meaning. For example, tests with a specific ‘method’ could be rolled-up with tests that were ‘methodless’. Conclusions There are variations in the way LOINC is used for data exchange that result in some data not being truly interoperable across different enterprises. To improve its semantic interoperability, we need to detect and correct any contradictory knowledge within LOINC and add

  2. A survey of compiler development aids. [concerning lexical, syntax, and semantic analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckles, B. P.; Hodges, B. C.; Hsia, P.

    1977-01-01

    A theoretical background was established for the compilation process by dividing it into five phases and explaining the concepts and algorithms that underpin each. The five selected phases were lexical analysis, syntax analysis, semantic analysis, optimization, and code generation. Graph theoretical optimization techniques were presented, and approaches to code generation were described for both one-pass and multipass compilation environments. Following the initial tutorial sections, more than 20 tools that were developed to aid in the process of writing compilers were surveyed. Eight of the more recent compiler development aids were selected for special attention - SIMCMP/STAGE2, LANG-PAK, COGENT, XPL, AED, CWIC, LIS, and JOCIT. The impact of compiler development aids were assessed some of their shortcomings and some of the areas of research currently in progress were inspected.

  3. An explicit semantic relatedness measure based on random walk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HU Sihui

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The semantic relatedness calculation of open domain knowledge network is a significant issue.In this paper,pheromone strategy is drawn from the thought of ant colony algorithm and is integrated into the random walk which is taken as the basic framework of calculating the semantic relatedness degree.The pheromone distribution is taken as a criterion of determining the tightness degree of semantic relatedness.A method of calculating semantic relatedness degree based on random walk is proposed and the exploration process of calculating the semantic relatedness degree is presented in a dominant way.The method mainly contains Path Select Model(PSM and Semantic Relatedness Computing Model(SRCM.PSM is used to simulate the path selection of ants and pheromone release.SRCM is used to calculate the semantic relatedness by utilizing the information returned by ants.The result indicates that the method could complete semantic relatedness calculation in linear complexity and extend the feasible strategy of semantic relatedness calculation.

  4. The neural substrates of semantic memory deficits in early Alzheimer's disease: Clues from semantic priming effects and FDG-PET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Giffard, B.; Laisney, M.; Mezenge, F.; De la Sayette, V.; Eustache, F.; Desgranges, B. [Univ Caen Basse Normandie, INSERM, U923, Unite Rech, EPHE, Lab Neuropsychol, CHU Cote Nacre, GIP Cyceron, F-14033 Caen (France)

    2008-07-01

    The neural substrates responsible for semantic dysfunction during the early stages of AD have yet to be clearly identified. After a brief overview of the literature on normal and pathological semantic memory, we describe a new approach, designed to provide fresh insights into semantic deficits in AD. We mapped the correlations between resting-state brain glucose utilisation measured by FDG-PET and semantic priming scores in a group of 17 AD patients. The priming task, which yields a particularly pure measurement of semantic memory, was composed of related pairs of words sharing an attribute relationship (e.g. tiger-stripe). The priming scores correlated positively with the metabolism of the superior temporal areas on both sides, especially the right side, and this correlation was shown to be specific to the semantic priming effect.This pattern of results is discussed in the light of recent theoretical models of semantic memory, and suggests that a dysfunction of the right superior temporal cortex may contribute to early semantic deficits, characterised by the loss of specific features of concepts in AD. (authors)

  5. A Generalization of Inquisitive Semantics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Punčochář, Vít

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 45, č. 4 (2016), s. 399-428 ISSN 0022-3611 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA13-21076S Institutional support: RVO:67985955 Keywords : Intuitionistic logic * Superintuitionistic logics * Inquisitive logic * Topological semantics * Kripke semantics * Disjunction Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

  6. The Role of Executive Function in the Semantic Comprehension Deficits of Stroke Aphasia and Semantic Dementia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Curtiss Chapman

    2015-05-01

    Results from 5 SD patients and 4 SA patients in our ongoing study suggest similar patterns of impairment on both semantic and executive function tasks for both patient groups. Both showed multi-modal semantic deficits via poor performance on at least 3 out of 5 semantic tasks tapping different modalities. Also, SA and SD patients showed no difference in consistency across semantic tasks (see Fig. 1a & b. Both groups also showed consistently poor performance on trail-making and verbal Stroop tasks compared to controls (see Figs. 1c & 1d. SD patients seem to be less impaired on both span measures (word span range: 2.17 – 4.43; digit span: 3.17 – 5.5 than SA patients (word span range: 1.63 – 3.75; digit span: 1.17 – 4.17, and performance was variable for both groups on non-verbal Stroop and picture-word interference. SD patients found many executive tasks too difficult to understand, which may be the reason for limited prior data for them on EF tasks.. These findings suggest that the use of syndrome categories like semantic dementia and comprehension-impaired stroke aphasia are not useful in distinguishing between storage and access deficits. Patients classified as having SD seem as likely as SA patients to have certain kinds of executive deficits and SA patients may be as likely as SD patients to show consistency across semantic tasks. The results imply that some other behavioral or neuroanatomical basis rather than syndrome classification should be used to address the hypothesized separation of storage vs. control aspects of semantic memory.

  7. Workspaces in the Semantic Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolfe, Shawn R.; Keller, RIchard M.

    2005-01-01

    Due to the recency and relatively limited adoption of Semantic Web technologies. practical issues related to technology scaling have received less attention than foundational issues. Nonetheless, these issues must be addressed if the Semantic Web is to realize its full potential. In particular, we concentrate on the lack of scoping methods that reduce the size of semantic information spaces so they are more efficient to work with and more relevant to an agent's needs. We provide some intuition to motivate the need for such reduced information spaces, called workspaces, give a formal definition, and suggest possible methods of deriving them.

  8. Semantic e-Learning: Next Generation of e-Learning?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konstantinos, Markellos; Penelope, Markellou; Giannis, Koutsonikos; Aglaia, Liopa-Tsakalidi

    Semantic e-learning aspires to be the next generation of e-learning, since the understanding of learning materials and knowledge semantics allows their advanced representation, manipulation, sharing, exchange and reuse and ultimately promote efficient online experiences for users. In this context, the paper firstly explores some fundamental Semantic Web technologies and then discusses current and potential applications of these technologies in e-learning domain, namely, Semantic portals, Semantic search, personalization, recommendation systems, social software and Web 2.0 tools. Finally, it highlights future research directions and open issues of the field.

  9. GRIMHX verification and validation action matrix summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trumble, E.F.

    1991-12-01

    WSRC-RP-90-026, Certification Plan for Reactor Analysis Computer Codes, describes a series of action items to be completed for certification of reactor analysis computer codes used in Technical Specifications development and for other safety and production support calculations. Validation and verification of the code is an integral part of this process. This document identifies the work performed and documentation generated to satisfy these action items for the Reactor Physics computer code GRIMHX. Each action item is discussed with the justification for its completion. Specific details of the work performed are not included in this document but are found in the references. The publication of this document signals the validation and verification effort for the GRIMHX code is completed

  10. Explaining Semantic Short-Term Memory Deficits: Evidence for the Critical Role of Semantic Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffman, Paul; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2011-01-01

    Patients with apparently selective short-term memory (STM) deficits for semantic information have played an important role in developing multi-store theories of STM and challenge the idea that verbal STM is supported by maintaining activation in the language system. We propose that semantic STM deficits are not as selective as previously thought…

  11. The Semantics of "Violence"

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Levisen, Carsten

    This paper presents a semantic analysis of “violence” – a word around which Anglo-internationaldiscourses revolve. Many ethnolinguistic communities around the world are currently adapting thisEnglish lexical concept into their linguistic systems, and, presumably also, the view of the worldembodied...... by the “violence” concept.Based on semantic fieldwork in Port Vila, the creolophone capital of Vanuatu in the SouthPacific, the paper investigates the discursive introduction of “violence” into a community which,until recently, lived by other concepts. I compare and contrast the traditional Bislama concepts...... kilimand faetem with the newly imported English word vaeolens (violence). My study provides newevidence for how cognitive and semantic change co-occur in the context of postcolonial linguisticcommunities, and my paper addresses an important, ongoing controversy related to the notion of“Anglocentric bias...

  12. A Machine Learning Based Analytical Framework for Semantic Annotation Requirements

    OpenAIRE

    Hamed Hassanzadeh; MohammadReza Keyvanpour

    2011-01-01

    The Semantic Web is an extension of the current web in which information is given well-defined meaning. The perspective of Semantic Web is to promote the quality and intelligence of the current web by changing its contents into machine understandable form. Therefore, semantic level information is one of the cornerstones of the Semantic Web. The process of adding semantic metadata to web resources is called Semantic Annotation. There are many obstacles against the Semantic Annotation, such as ...

  13. Effects of perceptual and semantic cues on ERP modulations associated with prospective memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cousens, Ross; Cutmore, Timothy; Wang, Ya; Wilson, Jennifer; Chan, Raymond C K; Shum, David H K

    2015-10-01

    Prospective memory involves the formation and execution of intended actions and is essential for autonomous living. In this study (N=32), the effect of the nature of PM cues (semantic versus perceptual) on established event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in PM tasks (N300 and prospective positivity) was investigated. PM cues defined by their perceptual features clearly elicited the N300 and prospective positivity whereas PM cues defined by semantic relatedness elicited prospective positivity. This calls into question the view that the N300 is a marker of general processes underlying detection of PM cues, but supports existing research showing that prospective positivity represents general post-retrieval processes that follow detection of PM cues. Continued refinement of ERP paradigms for understanding the neural correlates of PM is needed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. What do information reuse and automated processing require in engineering design? Semantic process

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ossi Nykänen

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterize, analyze, and demonstrate machine-understandable semantic process for validating, integrating, and processing technical design information. This establishes both a vision and tools for information reuse and semi-automatic processing in engineering design projects, including virtual machine laboratory applications with generated components.Design/methodology/approach: The process model has been developed iteratively in terms of action research, constrained by the existing technical design practices and assumptions (design documents, expert feedback, available technologies (pre-studies and experiments with scripting and pipeline tools, benchmarking with other process models and methods (notably the RUP and DITA, and formal requirements (computability and the critical information paths for the generated applications. In practice, the work includes both quantitative and qualitative components.Findings: Technical design processes may be greatly enhanced in terms of semantic process thinking, by enriching design information, and automating information validation and transformation tasks. Contemporary design information, however, is mainly intended for human consumption, and needs to be explicitly enriched with the currently missing data and interfaces. In practice, this may require acknowledging the role of technical information or knowledge engineer, to lead the development of the semantic design information process in a design organization. There is also a trade-off between machine-readability and system complexity that needs to be studied further, both empirically and in theory.Research limitations/implications: The conceptualization of the semantic process is essentially an abstraction based on the idea of progressive design. While this effectively allows implementing semantic processes with, e.g., pipeline technologies, the abstraction is valid only when technical design is organized into

  15. Effects of relative embodiment in lexical and semantic processing of verbs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, David M; Kwan, Rachel; Pexman, Penny M; Siakaluk, Paul D

    2014-06-01

    Research examining semantic richness effects in visual word recognition has shown that multiple dimensions of meaning are activated in the process of word recognition (e.g., Yap et al., 2012). This research has, however, been limited to nouns. In the present research we extended the semantic richness approach to verb stimuli in order to investigate how verb meanings are represented. We characterized a dimension of relative embodiment for verbs, based on the bodily sense described by Borghi and Cimatti (2010), and collected ratings on that dimension for 687 English verbs. The relative embodiment ratings revealed that bodily experience was judged to be more important to the meanings of some verbs (e.g., dance, breathe) than to others (e.g., evaporate, expect). We then tested the effects of relative embodiment and imageability on verb processing in lexical decision (Experiment 1), action picture naming (Experiment 2), and syntactic classification (Experiment 3). In all three experiments results showed facilitatory effects of relative embodiment, but not imageability: latencies were faster for relatively more embodied verbs, even after several other lexical variables were controlled. The results suggest that relative embodiment is an important aspect of verb meaning, and that the semantic richness approach holds promise as a strategy for investigating other aspects of verb meaning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Integration of nursing assessment concepts into the medical entities dictionary using the LOINC semantic structure as a terminology model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cieslowski, B J; Wajngurt, D; Cimino, J J; Bakken, S

    2001-01-01

    Recent investigations have tested the applicability of various terminology models for the representing nursing concepts including those related to nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, and standardized nursing assessments as a prerequisite for building a reference terminology that supports the nursing domain. We used the semantic structure of Clinical LOINC (Logical Observations, Identifiers, Names, and Codes) as a reference terminology model to support the integration of standardized assessment terms from two nursing terminologies into the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED), the concept-oriented, metadata dictionary at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Although the LOINC semantic structure was used previously to represent laboratory terms in the MED, selected hierarchies and semantic slots required revisions in order to incorporate the nursing assessment concepts. This project was an initial step in integrating nursing assessment concepts into the MED in a manner consistent with evolving standards for reference terminology models. Moreover, the revisions provide the foundation for adding other types of standardized assessments to the MED.

  17. Detailed semantic analyses of human error incidents occurring at domestic nuclear power plants to fiscal year 2000

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsuge, Tadashi; Hirotsu, Yuko; Takano, Kenichi; Ebisu, Mitsuhiro; Tsumura, Joji

    2003-01-01

    Analysing and evaluating observed cases of human error incidents with the emphasis on human factors and behavior involved was essential for preventing recurrence of those. CRIEPI has been conducting detailed and structures analyses of all incidents reported during last 35 year based on J-HPES, from the beginning of the first Tokai nuclear power operation till fiscal year of 2000, in which total 212 human error cases are identified. Results obtained by the analyses have been stored into the J-HPES data-base. This summarized the semantic analyses on all case-studies stored in the above data-base to grasp the practical and concrete contents and trend of more frequently observed human errors (as are called trigger actions here), causal factors and preventive measures. These semantic analyses have been executed by classifying all those items into some categories that could be considered as having almost the same meaning using the KJ method. Followings are obtained typical results by above analyses: (1) Trigger action-Those could be classified into categories of operation or categories of maintenance. Operational timing errors' and 'operational quantitative errors' were major actions in trigger actions of operation, those occupied about 20% among all actions. At trigger actions of maintenance, 'maintenance quantitative error' were major actions, those occupied quarter among all actions; (2) Causal factor- 'Human internal status' were major factors, as in concrete factors, those occupied 'improper persistence' and 'lack of knowledge'; (3) Preventive measure-Most frequent measures got were job management changes in procedural software improvements, which was from 70% to 80%. As for preventive measures of operation, software improvements have been implemented on 'organization and work practices' and 'individual consciousness'. Concerning preventive measures of maintenance, improvements have been implemented on 'organization and work practices'. (author)

  18. Integration of Neuroimaging and Microarray Datasets  through Mapping and Model-Theoretic Semantic Decomposition of Unstructured Phenotypes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Spiro P. Pantazatos

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available An approach towards heterogeneous neuroscience dataset integration is proposed that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP and a knowledge-based phenotype organizer system (PhenOS to link ontology-anchored terms to underlying data from each database, and then maps these terms based on a computable model of disease (SNOMED CT®. The approach was implemented using sample datasets from fMRIDC, GEO, The Whole Brain Atlas and Neuronames, and allowed for complex queries such as “List all disorders with a finding site of brain region X, and then find the semantically related references in all participating databases based on the ontological model of the disease or its anatomical and morphological attributes”. Precision of the NLP-derived coding of the unstructured phenotypes in each dataset was 88% (n = 50, and precision of the semantic mapping between these terms across datasets was 98% (n = 100. To our knowledge, this is the first example of the use of both semantic decomposition of disease relationships and hierarchical information found in ontologies to integrate heterogeneous phenotypes across clinical and molecular datasets.

  19. On the Semantics of Focus

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kess, Joseph F.

    1975-01-01

    This article discusses the semantics of the notion of focus, insofar as it relates to Filipino languages. The evolution of this notion is reviewed, and an alternative explanation of it is given, stressing the fact that grammar and semantics should be kept separate in a discussion of focus. (CLK)

  20. Information Interaction as a Mechanism of Semantic Gap Elimination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victor Y. Tsvetkov

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The article studies semantic gap as an objective phenomenon, shows that semantic gap occurs both in parallel computing and in other areas. Semantic description of the content is revealed as a set of different descriptions. Causes of semantic gap are described. The content of information exchange is explained in the article. Information interaction in the semantic field is interpreted as a mechanism to lessen the gap

  1. On the (un)suitability of semantic categories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rijkhoff, Jan

    2009-01-01

    Since Greenberg’s groundbreaking publication on universals of grammar, typologists have used semantic categories to investigate (constraints on) morphological and syntactic variation in the world’s languages and this tradition has been continued in the WALS project. It is argued here that the emp......Since Greenberg’s groundbreaking publication on universals of grammar, typologists have used semantic categories to investigate (constraints on) morphological and syntactic variation in the world’s languages and this tradition has been continued in the WALS project. It is argued here...... that the employment of semantic categories has some serious drawbacks, however, suggesting that semantic categories, just like formal categories, cannot be equated across languages in morphosyntactic typology. Whereas formal categories are too narrow in that they do not cover all structural variants attested across...... languages, semantic categories can be too wide, including too many structural variants. Furthermore, it appears that in some major typological studies semantic categories have been confused with formal categories. A possible solution is pointed out: typologists first need to make sure that the forms...

  2. An Operational Semantics for Trust Policies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krukow, Karl

    2006-01-01

    In the trust-structure framework for trust management, principals specify their trusting relationships in terms of trust policies. In their paper on trust structures, Carbone et al. present a language for such policies, and provide a suitable denotational semantics. The semantics ensures that for......In the trust-structure framework for trust management, principals specify their trusting relationships in terms of trust policies. In their paper on trust structures, Carbone et al. present a language for such policies, and provide a suitable denotational semantics. The semantics ensures...... that for any collection of policies, there is always a unique global trust-state, compatible with all the policies, specifying everyone's degree of trust in everyone else. However, as the authors themselves point out, the language lacks an operational model: the global trust-state is a well......-defined mathematical object, but it is not clear how principals can actually compute it. This becomes even more apparent when one considers the intended application environment: vast numbers of autonomous principals, distributed and possibly mobile. We provide a compositional operational semantics for a language...

  3. The lateralization of motor cortex activation to action words

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olaf eHauk

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available What determines the laterality of activation in motor cortex for words whose meaning is related to bodily actions? It has been suggested that the neuronal representation of the meaning of action-words is shaped by individual experience. However, core language functions are left-lateralized in the majority of both right- and left-handers. It is still an open question to what degree connections between left-hemispheric core language areas and right-hemispheric motor areas can play a role in semantics. We investigated laterality of brain activation using fMRI in right- and left-handed participants in response to visually presented hand-related action-words, namely uni- and bi-manual actions (such as "throw" and "clap". These stimulus groups were matched with respect to general (hand-action-relatedness, but differed with respect to whether they are usually performed with the dominant hand or both hands. We may expect generally more left-hemispheric motor-cortex activation for hand-related words in both handedness groups, with possibly more bilateral activation for bimanual words as well as left-handers. In our study, both participant groups activated motor cortex bilaterally for bi-manual words. Interestingly, both groups also showed a left-lateralized activation pattern to uni-manual words. We argue that this reflects the effect of left-hemispheric language dominance on the formation of semantic brain circuits on the basis of Hebbian correlation learning.

  4. The semantic similarity ensemble

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrea Ballatore

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Computational measures of semantic similarity between geographic terms provide valuable support across geographic information retrieval, data mining, and information integration. To date, a wide variety of approaches to geo-semantic similarity have been devised. A judgment of similarity is not intrinsically right or wrong, but obtains a certain degree of cognitive plausibility, depending on how closely it mimics human behavior. Thus selecting the most appropriate measure for a specific task is a significant challenge. To address this issue, we make an analogy between computational similarity measures and soliciting domain expert opinions, which incorporate a subjective set of beliefs, perceptions, hypotheses, and epistemic biases. Following this analogy, we define the semantic similarity ensemble (SSE as a composition of different similarity measures, acting as a panel of experts having to reach a decision on the semantic similarity of a set of geographic terms. The approach is evaluated in comparison to human judgments, and results indicate that an SSE performs better than the average of its parts. Although the best member tends to outperform the ensemble, all ensembles outperform the average performance of each ensemble's member. Hence, in contexts where the best measure is unknown, the ensemble provides a more cognitively plausible approach.

  5. ERPs, semantic processing and age.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miyamoto, T; Katayama, J; Koyama, T

    1998-06-01

    ERPs (N400, LPC and CNV) were elicited in two sets of subjects grouped according to age (young vs. elderly) using a word-pair category matching paradigm. Each prime consisted of a Japanese noun (constructed from two to four characters of the Hiragana) followed by one Chinese character (Kanji) as the target, this latter representing one of five semantic categories. There were two equally probable target conditions: match or mismatch. Each target was preceded by a prime, either belonging to, or not belonging to, the same semantic category. The subjects were required to respond with a specified button press to the given target according to the condition. We found RTs to be longer in the elderly subjects and under the mismatch condition. N400 amplitude was reduced in the elderly subjects under the mismatch condition and there was no difference between match and mismatch response, which were similar in amplitude to that under match condition for the young subjects. In addition, the CNV amplitudes were larger in the elderly subjects. These results suggested that functional changes in semantic processing through aging (larger semantic networks and diffuse semantic activation) were the cause of this N400 reduction, attributing a subsidiary role to attentional disturbance. We also discuss the importance of taking age-related changes into consideration in clinical studies.

  6. Semantic interpretation of search engine resultant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nasution, M. K. M.

    2018-01-01

    In semantic, logical language can be interpreted in various forms, but the certainty of meaning is included in the uncertainty, which directly always influences the role of technology. One results of this uncertainty applies to search engines as user interfaces with information spaces such as the Web. Therefore, the behaviour of search engine results should be interpreted with certainty through semantic formulation as interpretation. Behaviour formulation shows there are various interpretations that can be done semantically either temporary, inclusion, or repeat.

  7. Behavior Modification Through Covert Semantic Desensitization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hekmat, Hamid; Vanian, Daniel

    1971-01-01

    Results support the hypothesized relationship between meaning and phobia. Semantic desensitization techniques based on counter conditioning of meaning were significantly effective in altering the semantic value of the word from unpleasantness to neutrality. (Author)

  8. Semantic processing of EHR data for clinical research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Hong; Depraetere, Kristof; De Roo, Jos; Mels, Giovanni; De Vloed, Boris; Twagirumukiza, Marc; Colaert, Dirk

    2015-12-01

    There is a growing need to semantically process and integrate clinical data from different sources for clinical research. This paper presents an approach to integrate EHRs from heterogeneous resources and generate integrated data in different data formats or semantics to support various clinical research applications. The proposed approach builds semantic data virtualization layers on top of data sources, which generate data in the requested semantics or formats on demand. This approach avoids upfront dumping to and synchronizing of the data with various representations. Data from different EHR systems are first mapped to RDF data with source semantics, and then converted to representations with harmonized domain semantics where domain ontologies and terminologies are used to improve reusability. It is also possible to further convert data to application semantics and store the converted results in clinical research databases, e.g. i2b2, OMOP, to support different clinical research settings. Semantic conversions between different representations are explicitly expressed using N3 rules and executed by an N3 Reasoner (EYE), which can also generate proofs of the conversion processes. The solution presented in this paper has been applied to real-world applications that process large scale EHR data. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Semantic acquisition games harnessing manpower for creating semantics

    CERN Document Server

    Šimko, Jakub

    2014-01-01

    A comprehensive and extensive review of state-of-the-art in semantics acquisition game (SAG) design A set of design patterns for SAG designers A set of case studies (real SAG projects) demonstrating the use of SAG design patterns

  10. Semantic transparency affects morphological priming . . . eventually.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyer, Vera; Kornishova, Dana

    2018-05-01

    Semantic transparency has been in the focus of psycholinguistic research for decades, with the controversy about the time course of the application of morpho-semantic information during the processing of morphologically complex words not yet resolved. This study reports two masked priming studies with English - ness and Russian - ost' nominalisations, investigating how semantic transparency modulates native speakers' morphological priming effects at short and long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). In both languages, we found increased morphological priming for nominalisations at the transparent end of the scale (e.g. paleness - pale) in comparison to items at the opaque end of the scale (e.g. business - busy) but only at longer prime durations. The present findings are in line with models that posit an initial phase of morpho-orthographic (semantically blind) decomposition.

  11. Semantic computing and language knowledge bases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lei; Wang, Houfeng; Yu, Shiwen

    2017-09-01

    As the proposition of the next-generation Web - semantic Web, semantic computing has been drawing more and more attention within the circle and the industries. A lot of research has been conducted on the theory and methodology of the subject, and potential applications have also been investigated and proposed in many fields. The progress of semantic computing made so far cannot be detached from its supporting pivot - language resources, for instance, language knowledge bases. This paper proposes three perspectives of semantic computing from a macro view and describes the current status of affairs about the construction of language knowledge bases and the related research and applications that have been carried out on the basis of these resources via a case study in the Institute of Computational Linguistics at Peking University.

  12. Extracting Semantic Information from Visual Data: A Survey

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Liu

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The traditional environment maps built by mobile robots include both metric ones and topological ones. These maps are navigation-oriented and not adequate for service robots to interact with or serve human users who normally rely on the conceptual knowledge or semantic contents of the environment. Therefore, the construction of semantic maps becomes necessary for building an effective human-robot interface for service robots. This paper reviews recent research and development in the field of visual-based semantic mapping. The main focus is placed on how to extract semantic information from visual data in terms of feature extraction, object/place recognition and semantic representation methods.

  13. Semantic web for integrated network analysis in biomedicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Huajun; Ding, Li; Wu, Zhaohui; Yu, Tong; Dhanapalan, Lavanya; Chen, Jake Y

    2009-03-01

    The Semantic Web technology enables integration of heterogeneous data on the World Wide Web by making the semantics of data explicit through formal ontologies. In this article, we survey the feasibility and state of the art of utilizing the Semantic Web technology to represent, integrate and analyze the knowledge in various biomedical networks. We introduce a new conceptual framework, semantic graph mining, to enable researchers to integrate graph mining with ontology reasoning in network data analysis. Through four case studies, we demonstrate how semantic graph mining can be applied to the analysis of disease-causal genes, Gene Ontology category cross-talks, drug efficacy analysis and herb-drug interactions analysis.

  14. A neural network model of semantic memory linking feature-based object representation and words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuppini, C; Magosso, E; Ursino, M

    2009-06-01

    Recent theories in cognitive neuroscience suggest that semantic memory is a distributed process, which involves many cortical areas and is based on a multimodal representation of objects. The aim of this work is to extend a previous model of object representation to realize a semantic memory, in which sensory-motor representations of objects are linked with words. The model assumes that each object is described as a collection of features, coded in different cortical areas via a topological organization. Features in different objects are segmented via gamma-band synchronization of neural oscillators. The feature areas are further connected with a lexical area, devoted to the representation of words. Synapses among the feature areas, and among the lexical area and the feature areas are trained via a time-dependent Hebbian rule, during a period in which individual objects are presented together with the corresponding words. Simulation results demonstrate that, during the retrieval phase, the network can deal with the simultaneous presence of objects (from sensory-motor inputs) and words (from acoustic inputs), can correctly associate objects with words and segment objects even in the presence of incomplete information. Moreover, the network can realize some semantic links among words representing objects with shared features. These results support the idea that semantic memory can be described as an integrated process, whose content is retrieved by the co-activation of different multimodal regions. In perspective, extended versions of this model may be used to test conceptual theories, and to provide a quantitative assessment of existing data (for instance concerning patients with neural deficits).

  15. Intuitions and Competence in Formal Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Stokhof

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In formal semantics intuition plays a key role, in two ways. Intuitions about semantic properties of expressions are the primary data, and intuitions of the semanticists are the main access to these data. The paper investigates how this dual role is related to the concept of competence and the role that this concept plays in semantics. And it inquires whether the self-reflexive role of intuitions has consequences for the methodology of semantics as an empirical discipline.ReferencesBaggio, Giosuè, van Lambalgen, Michiel & Hagoort, Peter. 2008. ‘Computing and recomputing discourse models: an ERP study of the semantics of temporal connectives’. Journal of Memory and Language 59, no. 1: 36–53.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2008.02.005Chierchia, Gennaro & McConnell-Ginet, Sally. 2000. Meaning and Grammar. second ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Cresswell, Max J. 1978. ‘Semantic competence’. In F. Guenthner & M. Guenther-Reutter (eds. ‘Meaning and Translation’, 9–27. Duckworth, London. de Swart, Henriëtte. 1998. Introduction to Natural Language Semantics. Stanford: CSLI.Dowty, David, Wall, Robert & Peters, Stanley. 1981. Introduction to Montague Semantics. Dordrecht: Reidel.Heim, Irene & Kratzer, Angelika. 1998. Semantics in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.Larson, Richard & Segal, Gabriel. 1995. Knowledge of Meaning. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Lewis, David K. 1975. ‘Languages and Language’. In Keith Gunderson (ed. ‘Language, Mind and Knowledge’, 3–35. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Montague, Richard. 1970. ‘Universal Grammar’. Theoria 36: 373–98.http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-2567.1970.tb00434.xPartee, Barbara H. 1979. ‘Semantics – Mathematics or Psychology?’ In Rainer Bäuerle, Urs Egli & Arnim von Stechow (eds. ‘Semantics from Different Points of View’, 1–14. Berlin: Springer.Partee, Barbara H. 1980.

  16. Ontology Based Resolution of Semantic Conflicts in Information Integration

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LU Han; LI Qing-zhong

    2004-01-01

    Semantic conflict is the conflict caused by using different ways in heterogeneous systems to express the same entity in reality.This prevents information integration from accomplishing semantic coherence.Since ontology helps to solve semantic problems, this area has become a hot topic in information integration.In this paper, we introduce semantic conflict into information integration of heterogeneous applications.We discuss the origins and categories of the conflict, and present an ontology-based schema mapping approach to eliminate semantic conflicts.

  17. A logical correspondence between natural semantics and abstract machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simmons, Robert J.; Zerny, Ian

    2013-01-01

    We present a logical correspondence between natural semantics and abstract machines. This correspondence enables the mechanical and fully-correct construction of an abstract machine from a natural semantics. Our logical correspondence mirrors the Reynolds functional correspondence, but we...... manipulate semantic specifications encoded in a logical framework instead of manipulating functional programs. Natural semantics and abstract machines are instances of substructural operational semantics. As a byproduct, using a substructural logical framework, we bring concurrent and stateful models...

  18. Recognition during recall failure: Semantic feature matching as a mechanism for recognition of semantic cues when recall fails.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleary, Anne M; Ryals, Anthony J; Wagner, Samantha R

    2016-01-01

    Research suggests that a feature-matching process underlies cue familiarity-detection when cued recall with graphemic cues fails. When a test cue (e.g., potchbork) overlaps in graphemic features with multiple unrecalled studied items (e.g., patchwork, pitchfork, pocketbook, pullcork), higher cue familiarity ratings are given during recall failure of all of the targets than when the cue overlaps in graphemic features with only one studied target and that target fails to be recalled (e.g., patchwork). The present study used semantic feature production norms (McRae et al., Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 37, 547-559, 2005) to examine whether the same holds true when the cues are semantic in nature (e.g., jaguar is used to cue cheetah). Indeed, test cues (e.g., cedar) that overlapped in semantic features (e.g., a_tree, has_bark, etc.) with four unretrieved studied items (e.g., birch, oak, pine, willow) received higher cue familiarity ratings during recall failure than test cues that overlapped in semantic features with only two (also unretrieved) studied items (e.g., birch, oak), which in turn received higher familiarity ratings during recall failure than cues that did not overlap in semantic features with any studied items. These findings suggest that the feature-matching theory of recognition during recall failure can accommodate recognition of semantic cues during recall failure, providing a potential mechanism for conceptually-based forms of cue recognition during target retrieval failure. They also provide converging evidence for the existence of the semantic features envisaged in feature-based models of semantic knowledge representation and for those more concretely specified by the production norms of McRae et al. (Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 37, 547-559, 2005).

  19. “Pre-semantic” cognition revisited: Critical differences between semantic aphasia and semantic dementia

    OpenAIRE

    Jefferies, Elizabeth; Rogers, Timothy T.; Hopper, Samantha; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2010-01-01

    Patients with semantic dementia show a specific pattern of impairment on both verbal and non-verbal "pre-semantic" tasks, e.g., reading aloud, past tense generation, spelling to dictation, lexical decision, object decision, colour decision and delayed picture copying. All seven tasks are characterised by poorer performance for items that are atypical of the domain and "regularisation errors" (irregular/atypical items are produced as if they were domain-typical). The emergence of this pattern ...

  20. Russian nominal semantics and morphology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nørgård-Sørensen, Jens

    The principal idea behind this book is that lexis and grammar make up a single coherent structure. It is shown that the grammatical patterns of the different classes of Russian nominals are closely interconnected. They can be described as reflecting a limited set of semantic distinctions which ar...... or weaker, of Russian. Students will see a pattern in what is traditionally described as disparate subsystems, and linguists may be inspired to consider the theoretical points concerning language as a coherent system, determining usage.......The principal idea behind this book is that lexis and grammar make up a single coherent structure. It is shown that the grammatical patterns of the different classes of Russian nominals are closely interconnected. They can be described as reflecting a limited set of semantic distinctions which...... are also rooted in the lexical-semantic classification of Russian nouns. The presentation focuses on semantics, both lexical and grammatical, and not least the connection between these two levels of content. The principal theoretical impact is the insight that grammar and lexis should not be seen...

  1. Care episode retrieval: distributional semantic models for information retrieval in the clinical domain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moen, Hans; Ginter, Filip; Marsi, Erwin; Peltonen, Laura-Maria; Salakoski, Tapio; Salanterä, Sanna

    2015-01-01

    Patients' health related information is stored in electronic health records (EHRs) by health service providers. These records include sequential documentation of care episodes in the form of clinical notes. EHRs are used throughout the health care sector by professionals, administrators and patients, primarily for clinical purposes, but also for secondary purposes such as decision support and research. The vast amounts of information in EHR systems complicate information management and increase the risk of information overload. Therefore, clinicians and researchers need new tools to manage the information stored in the EHRs. A common use case is, given a--possibly unfinished--care episode, to retrieve the most similar care episodes among the records. This paper presents several methods for information retrieval, focusing on care episode retrieval, based on textual similarity, where similarity is measured through domain-specific modelling of the distributional semantics of words. Models include variants of random indexing and the semantic neural network model word2vec. Two novel methods are introduced that utilize the ICD-10 codes attached to care episodes to better induce domain-specificity in the semantic model. We report on experimental evaluation of care episode retrieval that circumvents the lack of human judgements regarding episode relevance. Results suggest that several of the methods proposed outperform a state-of-the art search engine (Lucene) on the retrieval task.

  2. Semantic Web Services Challenge, Results from the First Year. Series: Semantic Web And Beyond, Volume 8.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petrie, C.; Margaria, T.; Lausen, H.; Zaremba, M.

    Explores trade-offs among existing approaches. Reveals strengths and weaknesses of proposed approaches, as well as which aspects of the problem are not yet covered. Introduces software engineering approach to evaluating semantic web services. Service-Oriented Computing is one of the most promising software engineering trends because of the potential to reduce the programming effort for future distributed industrial systems. However, only a small part of this potential rests on the standardization of tools offered by the web services stack. The larger part of this potential rests upon the development of sufficient semantics to automate service orchestration. Currently there are many different approaches to semantic web service descriptions and many frameworks built around them. A common understanding, evaluation scheme, and test bed to compare and classify these frameworks in terms of their capabilities and shortcomings, is necessary to make progress in developing the full potential of Service-Oriented Computing. The Semantic Web Services Challenge is an open source initiative that provides a public evaluation and certification of multiple frameworks on common industrially-relevant problem sets. This edited volume reports on the first results in developing common understanding of the various technologies intended to facilitate the automation of mediation, choreography and discovery for Web Services using semantic annotations. Semantic Web Services Challenge: Results from the First Year is designed for a professional audience composed of practitioners and researchers in industry. Professionals can use this book to evaluate SWS technology for their potential practical use. The book is also suitable for advanced-level students in computer science.

  3. Semantic web data warehousing for caGrid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCusker, James P; Phillips, Joshua A; González Beltrán, Alejandra; Finkelstein, Anthony; Krauthammer, Michael

    2009-10-01

    The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is developing caGrid as a means for sharing cancer-related data and services. As more data sets become available on caGrid, we need effective ways of accessing and integrating this information. Although the data models exposed on caGrid are semantically well annotated, it is currently up to the caGrid client to infer relationships between the different models and their classes. In this paper, we present a Semantic Web-based data warehouse (Corvus) for creating relationships among caGrid models. This is accomplished through the transformation of semantically-annotated caBIG Unified Modeling Language (UML) information models into Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontologies that preserve those semantics. We demonstrate the validity of the approach by Semantic Extraction, Transformation and Loading (SETL) of data from two caGrid data sources, caTissue and caArray, as well as alignment and query of those sources in Corvus. We argue that semantic integration is necessary for integration of data from distributed web services and that Corvus is a useful way of accomplishing this. Our approach is generalizable and of broad utility to researchers facing similar integration challenges.

  4. Usage of semantic representations in recognition memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nishiyama, Ryoji; Hirano, Tetsuji; Ukita, Jun

    2017-11-01

    Meanings of words facilitate false acceptance as well as correct rejection of lures in recognition memory tests, depending on the experimental context. This suggests that semantic representations are both directly and indirectly (i.e., mediated by perceptual representations) used in remembering. Studies using memory conjunction errors (MCEs) paradigms, in which the lures consist of component parts of studied words, have reported semantic facilitation of rejection of the lures. However, attending to components of the lures could potentially cause this. Therefore, we investigated whether semantic overlap of lures facilitates MCEs using Japanese Kanji words in which a whole-word image is more concerned in reading. Experiments demonstrated semantic facilitation of MCEs in a delayed recognition test (Experiment 1), and in immediate recognition tests in which participants were prevented from using phonological or orthographic representations (Experiment 2), and the salient effect on individuals with high semantic memory capacities (Experiment 3). Additionally, analysis of the receiver operating characteristic suggested that this effect is attributed to familiarity-based memory judgement and phantom recollection. These findings indicate that semantic representations can be directly used in remembering, even when perceptual representations of studied words are available.

  5. Ontology Matching with Semantic Verification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jean-Mary, Yves R; Shironoshita, E Patrick; Kabuka, Mansur R

    2009-09-01

    ASMOV (Automated Semantic Matching of Ontologies with Verification) is a novel algorithm that uses lexical and structural characteristics of two ontologies to iteratively calculate a similarity measure between them, derives an alignment, and then verifies it to ensure that it does not contain semantic inconsistencies. In this paper, we describe the ASMOV algorithm, and then present experimental results that measure its accuracy using the OAEI 2008 tests, and that evaluate its use with two different thesauri: WordNet, and the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). These results show the increased accuracy obtained by combining lexical, structural and extensional matchers with semantic verification, and demonstrate the advantage of using a domain-specific thesaurus for the alignment of specialized ontologies.

  6. Quantification and Negation in Event Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucas Champollion

    2010-12-01

    and Meaning’, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 6042, 203–212. Berlin, Germany: Springer.Carlson, Gregory N. 1977. Reference to Kinds in English. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.Carlson, Gregory N. 1984. ‘Thematic roles and their role in semantic interpretation’. Linguistics 22: 259–279.http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ling.1984.22.3.259Champollion, Lucas. 2010. Parts of a whole: Distributivity as a bridge between aspect and measurement. Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.Champollion, Lucas, Tauberer, Josh & Romero, Maribel. 2007. ‘The Penn Lambda Calculator: Pedagogical software for natural language semantics’. In Tracy Holloway King & Emily Bender (eds. ‘Proceedings of the Grammar Engineering Across Frameworks(GEAF 2007 Workshop’, Stanford, CA: CSLI Online Publications.Condoravdi, Cleo. 2002. ‘Punctual until as a scalar NPI’. In Sharon Inkelas & Kristin Hanson (eds. ‘The nature of the word’, 631–654. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Csirmaz, Aniko. 2006. ‘Aspect, Negation and Quantifiers’. In Liliane Haegeman, Joan Maling, James McCloskey & Katalin E. Kiss (eds. ‘Event Structure And The Left Periphery’, Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, vol. 68, 225–253. SpringerNetherlands.Davidson, Donald. 1967. ‘The logical form of action sentences’. In Nicholas Rescher (ed. ‘The logic of decision and action’, 81–95. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.de Swart, Henriëtte. 1996. ‘Meaning and use of not . . . until’. Journal of Semantics 13: 221–263.http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jos/13.3.221de Swart, Henriëtte & Molendijk, Arie. 1999. ‘Negation and the temporal structure of narrative discourse’. Journal of Semantics 16: 1–42.http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jos/16.1.1Dowty, David R. 1979. Word meaning and Montague grammar. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Reidel.Eckardt, Regine. 2010. ‘A Logic for Easy Linking Semantics’. In Maria Aloni, Harald Bastiaanse, Tikitu de

  7. Graph-based Operational Semantics of a Lazy Functional Languages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rose, Kristoffer Høgsbro

    1992-01-01

    Presents Graph Operational Semantics (GOS): a semantic specification formalism based on structural operational semantics and term graph rewriting. Demonstrates the method by specifying the dynamic ...

  8. Semantic Learning Service Personalized

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yibo Chen

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available To provide users with more suitable and personalized service, personalization is widely used in various fields. Current e-Learning systems search for learning resources using information search technology, based on the keywords that selected or inputted by the user. Due to lack of semantic analysis for keywords and exploring the user contexts, the system cannot provide a good learning experiment. In this paper, we defined the concept and characteristic of the personalized learning service, and proposed a semantic learning service personalized framework. Moreover, we made full use of semantic technology, using ontologies to represent the learning contents and user profile, mining and utilizing the friendship and membership of the social relationship to construct the user social relationship profile, and improved the collaboration filtering algorithm to recommend personalized learning resources for users. The results of the empirical evaluation show that the approach is effectiveness in augmenting recommendation.

  9. A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akira Utsumi

    Full Text Available A number of studies on network analysis have focused on language networks based on free word association, which reflects human lexical knowledge, and have demonstrated the small-world and scale-free properties in the word association network. Nevertheless, there have been very few attempts at applying network analysis to distributional semantic models, despite the fact that these models have been studied extensively as computational or cognitive models of human lexical knowledge. In this paper, we analyze three network properties, namely, small-world, scale-free, and hierarchical properties, of semantic networks created by distributional semantic models. We demonstrate that the created networks generally exhibit the same properties as word association networks. In particular, we show that the distribution of the number of connections in these networks follows the truncated power law, which is also observed in an association network. This indicates that distributional semantic models can provide a plausible model of lexical knowledge. Additionally, the observed differences in the network properties of various implementations of distributional semantic models are consistently explained or predicted by considering the intrinsic semantic features of a word-context matrix and the functions of matrix weighting and smoothing. Furthermore, to simulate a semantic network with the observed network properties, we propose a new growing network model based on the model of Steyvers and Tenenbaum. The idea underlying the proposed model is that both preferential and random attachments are required to reflect different types of semantic relations in network growth process. We demonstrate that this model provides a better explanation of network behaviors generated by distributional semantic models.

  10. Categorizing words through semantic memory navigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borge-Holthoefer, J.; Arenas, A.

    2010-03-01

    Semantic memory is the cognitive system devoted to storage and retrieval of conceptual knowledge. Empirical data indicate that semantic memory is organized in a network structure. Everyday experience shows that word search and retrieval processes provide fluent and coherent speech, i.e. are efficient. This implies either that semantic memory encodes, besides thousands of words, different kind of links for different relationships (introducing greater complexity and storage costs), or that the structure evolves facilitating the differentiation between long-lasting semantic relations from incidental, phenomenological ones. Assuming the latter possibility, we explore a mechanism to disentangle the underlying semantic backbone which comprises conceptual structure (extraction of categorical relations between pairs of words), from the rest of information present in the structure. To this end, we first present and characterize an empirical data set modeled as a network, then we simulate a stochastic cognitive navigation on this topology. We schematize this latter process as uncorrelated random walks from node to node, which converge to a feature vectors network. By doing so we both introduce a novel mechanism for information retrieval, and point at the problem of category formation in close connection to linguistic and non-linguistic experience.

  11. The Influence of Semantic Neighbours on Visual Word Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yates, Mark

    2012-01-01

    Although it is assumed that semantics is a critical component of visual word recognition, there is still much that we do not understand. One recent way of studying semantic processing has been in terms of semantic neighbourhood (SN) density, and this research has shown that semantic neighbours facilitate lexical decisions. However, it is not clear…

  12. Psycholinguistic measures for German verb pairs: Semantic transparency, semantic relatedness, verb family size, and age of reading acquisition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smolka, Eva; Eulitz, Carsten

    2018-06-18

    A central issue in visual and spoken word recognition is the lexical representation of complex words-in particular, whether the lexical representation of complex words depends on semantic transparency: Is a complex verb like understand lexically represented as a whole word or via its base stand, given that its meaning is not transparent from the meanings of its parts? To study this issue, a number of stimulus characteristics are of interest that are not yet available in public databases of German. This article provides semantic association ratings, lexical paraphrases, and vector-based similarity measures for German verbs, measuring (a) the semantic transparency between 1,259 complex verbs and their bases, (b) the semantic relatedness between 1,109 verb pairs with 432 different bases, and (c) the vector-based similarity measures of 846 verb pairs. Additionally, we include the verb regularity of all verbs and two counts of verb family size for 184 base verbs, as well as estimates of age of acquisition and age of reading for 200 verbs. Together with lemma and type frequencies from public lexical databases, all measures can be downloaded along with this article. Statistical analyses indicate that verb family size, morphological complexity, frequency, and verb regularity affect the semantic transparency and relatedness ratings as well as the age of acquisition estimates, indicating that these are relevant variables in psycholinguistic experiments. Although lexical paraphrases, vector-based similarity measures, and semantic association ratings may deliver complementary information, the interrater reliability of the semantic association ratings for each verb pair provides valuable information when selecting stimuli for psycholinguistic experiments.

  13. The role of the left anterior temporal lobe in semantic composition vs. semantic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerlund, Masha; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2014-05-01

    The left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) is robustly implicated in semantic processing by a growing body of literature. However, these results have emerged from two distinct bodies of work, addressing two different processing levels. On the one hand, the LATL has been characterized as a 'semantic hub׳ that binds features of concepts across a distributed network, based on results from semantic dementia and hemodynamic findings on the categorization of specific compared to basic exemplars. On the other, the LATL has been implicated in combinatorial operations in language, as shown by increased activity in this region associated with the processing of sentences and of basic phrases. The present work aimed to reconcile these two literatures by independently manipulating combination and concept specificity within a minimal MEG paradigm. Participants viewed simple nouns that denoted either low specificity (fish) or high specificity categories (trout) presented in either combinatorial (spotted fish/trout) or non-combinatorial contexts (xhsl fish/trout). By combining these paradigms from the two literatures, we directly compared the engagement of the LATL in semantic memory vs. semantic composition. Our results indicate that although noun specificity subtly modulates the LATL activity elicited by single nouns, it most robustly affects the size of the composition effect when these nouns are adjectivally modified, with low specificity nouns eliciting a much larger effect. We conclude that these findings are compatible with an account in which the specificity and composition effects arise from a shared mechanism of meaning specification. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Semantic matchmaking with nonmonotonic description logics

    CERN Document Server

    Grimm, S

    2009-01-01

    Semantic web has grown into a mature field of research. Its methods find innovative applications on and off the World Wide Web. Its underlying technologies have significant impact on adjacent fields of research and on industrial applications. This new book series reports on the state-of-the-art in foundations, methods, and applications of semantic web and its underlying technologies. It is a central forum for the communication of recent developments and comprises research monographs, textbooks and edited volumes on all topics related to the semantic web. In this first volume several non-monoto

  15. Change management for semantic web services

    CERN Document Server

    Liu, Xumin; Bouguettaya, Athman

    2011-01-01

    Change Management for Semantic Web Services provides a thorough analysis of change management in the lifecycle of services for databases and workflows, including changes that occur at the individual service level or at the aggregate composed service level. This book describes taxonomy of changes that are expected in semantic service oriented environments. The process of change management consists of detecting, propagating, and reacting to changes. Change Management for Semantic Web Services is one of the first books that discuss the development of a theoretical foundation for managing changes

  16. Preserved cumulative semantic interference despite amnesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gary Michael Oppenheim

    2015-05-01

    As predicted by Oppenheim et al’s (2010 implicit incremental learning account, WRP’s BCN RTs demonstrated strong (and significant repetition priming and semantic blocking effects (Figure 1. Similar to typical results from neurally intact undergraduates, WRP took longer to name pictures presented in semantically homogeneous blocks than in heterogeneous blocks, an effect that increased with each cycle. This result challenges accounts that ascribe cumulative semantic interference in this task to explicit memory mechanisms, instead suggesting that the effect has the sort of implicit learning bases that are typically spared in hippocampal amnesia.

  17. When the Wedding March becomes sad: Semantic memory impairment for music in the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macoir, Joël; Berubé-Lalancette, Sarah; Wilson, Maximiliano A; Laforce, Robert; Hudon, Carol; Gravel, Pierre; Potvin, Olivier; Duchesne, Simon; Monetta, Laura

    2016-12-01

    Music can induce particular emotions and activate semantic knowledge. In the semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), semantic memory is impaired as a result of anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy. Semantics is responsible for the encoding and retrieval of factual knowledge about music, including associative and emotional attributes. In the present study, we report the performance of two individuals with svPPA in three experiments. NG with bilateral ATL atrophy and ND with atrophy largely restricted to the left ATL. Experiment 1 assessed the recognition of musical excerpts and both patients were unimpaired. Experiment 2 studied the emotions conveyed by music and only NG showed impaired performance. Experiment 3 tested the association of semantic concepts to musical excerpts and both patients were impaired. These results suggest that the right ATL seems essential for the recognition of emotions conveyed by music and that the left ATL is involved in binding music to semantics. They are in line with the notion that the ATLs are devoted to the binding of different modality-specific properties and suggest that they are also differentially involved in the processing of factual and emotional knowledge associated with music.

  18. Chemical Entity Semantic Specification: Knowledge representation for efficient semantic cheminformatics and facile data integration

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-01

    Background Over the past several centuries, chemistry has permeated virtually every facet of human lifestyle, enriching fields as diverse as medicine, agriculture, manufacturing, warfare, and electronics, among numerous others. Unfortunately, application-specific, incompatible chemical information formats and representation strategies have emerged as a result of such diverse adoption of chemistry. Although a number of efforts have been dedicated to unifying the computational representation of chemical information, disparities between the various chemical databases still persist and stand in the way of cross-domain, interdisciplinary investigations. Through a common syntax and formal semantics, Semantic Web technology offers the ability to accurately represent, integrate, reason about and query across diverse chemical information. Results Here we specify and implement the Chemical Entity Semantic Specification (CHESS) for the representation of polyatomic chemical entities, their substructures, bonds, atoms, and reactions using Semantic Web technologies. CHESS provides means to capture aspects of their corresponding chemical descriptors, connectivity, functional composition, and geometric structure while specifying mechanisms for data provenance. We demonstrate that using our readily extensible specification, it is possible to efficiently integrate multiple disparate chemical data sources, while retaining appropriate correspondence of chemical descriptors, with very little additional effort. We demonstrate the impact of some of our representational decisions on the performance of chemically-aware knowledgebase searching and rudimentary reaction candidate selection. Finally, we provide access to the tools necessary to carry out chemical entity encoding in CHESS, along with a sample knowledgebase. Conclusions By harnessing the power of Semantic Web technologies with CHESS, it is possible to provide a means of facile cross-domain chemical knowledge integration with full

  19. Action Research of a Color-Coded, Onset-Rime Decoding Intervention: Examining the Effects with First Grade Students Identified as at Risk

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wall, Candace A.; Rafferty, Lisa A.; Camizzi, Mariya A.; Max, Caroline A.; Van Blargan, David M.

    2016-01-01

    Many students who struggle to obtain the alphabetic principle are at risk for being identified as having a reading disability and would benefit from additional explicit phonics instruction as a remedial measure. In this action research case study, the research team conducted two experiments to investigate the effects of a color-coded, onset-rime,…

  20. Activation of semantic information at the sublexical level during handwriting production: Evidence from inhibition effects of Chinese semantic radicals in the picture-word interference paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xuqian; Liao, Yuanlan; Chen, Xianzhe

    2017-08-01

    Using a non-alphabetic language (e.g., Chinese), the present study tested a novel view that semantic information at the sublexical level should be activated during handwriting production. Over 80% of Chinese characters are phonograms, in which semantic radicals represent category information (e.g., 'chair,' 'peach,' 'orange' are related to plants) while phonetic radicals represent phonetic information (e.g., 'wolf,' 'brightness,' 'male,' are all pronounced /lang/). Under different semantic category conditions at the lexical level (semantically related in Experiment 1; semantically unrelated in Experiment 2), the orthographic relatedness and semantic relatedness of semantic radicals in the picture name and its distractor were manipulated under different SOAs (i.e., stimulus onset asynchrony, the interval between the onset of the picture and the onset of the interference word). Two questions were addressed: (1) Is it possible that semantic information could be activated in the sublexical level conditions? (2) How are semantic and orthographic information dynamically accessed in word production? Results showed that both orthographic and semantic information were activated under the present picture-word interference paradigm, dynamically under different SOAs, which supported our view that discussions on semantic processes in the writing modality should be extended to the sublexical level. The current findings provide possibility for building new orthography-phonology-semantics models in writing. © 2017 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  1. Cloud based automated framework for semantic rich ontology construction and similarity computation for E-health applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. MuthamilSelvan

    Full Text Available Ontology structure, a core of semantic web is an excellent tool for knowledge representation and semantic visualization. Moreover, knowledge reuse is made possible through similarity measure estimation between two ontologies, threshold estimation and use of simple if-then rules for checking relevancy and irrelevancy measures. Reduced semantic representations of the ontology provide reduced knowledge visualization which is critical especially for e-health data processing and analysis. This usually occurs due to the presence of implicit knowledge and polymorphic objects and can be made semantically rich through the construction by resolving this implicit knowledge occurring in the form of non-dominant words and conditional dependence actions. This paper presents the working of the automated framework for the construction of semantic rich ontology structures and store in the repository. This construction uses dyadic deontic logic based Graph Derivation Representation in order to construct semantically rich ontologies. Moreover, in order to retrieve a set of relevant documents in response to the cloud user document, the degree of similarity between two ontologies is estimated using the traditional cosine similarity measure and simple if-then rules are used to determine the number of relevant documents and obtain such document's metadata for further processing. These working modules will be extremely beneficial to the authenticated cloud users for document retrieval, information extraction and domain dictionary construction which are especially used for e-health applications. The proposed framework is implemented using diabetes dataset and the effectiveness of the experimental results is high when compared to other Graph Derivation Representation methods. The graphical results shown in the paper is an added visualization for viewing the performance of the proposed framework. Keywords: Ontology, Implicit knowledge, Conditional dependence, Graph

  2. Rulemaking efforts on codes and standards

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Millman, G.C.

    1992-01-01

    Section 50.55a of the NRC regulations provides a mechanism for incorporating national codes and standards into the regulatory process. It incorporates by reference ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME B and PV Code) Section 3 rules for construction and Section 11 rules for inservice inspection and inservice testing. The regulation is periodically amended to update these references. The rulemaking process, as applied to Section 50.55a amendments, is overviewed to familiarize users with associated internal activities of the NRC staff and the manner in which public comments are integrated into the process. The four ongoing rulemaking actions that would individually amend Section 50.55a are summarized. Two of the actions would directly impact requirements for inservice testing. Benefits accrued with NRC endorsement of the ASME B and PV Code, and possible future endorsement of the ASME Operations and Maintenance Code (ASME OM Code), are identified. Emphasis is placed on the need for code writing committees to be especially sensitive to user feedback on code rules incorporated into the regulatory process to ensure that the rules are complete, technically accurate, clear, practical, and enforceable

  3. The surplus value of semantic annotations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marx, M.

    2010-01-01

    We compare the costs of semantic annotation of textual documents to its benefits for information processing tasks. Semantic annotation can improve the performance of retrieval tasks and facilitates an improved search experience through faceted search, focused retrieval, better document summaries,

  4. The MMI Semantic Framework: Rosetta Stones for Earth Sciences

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rueda, C.; Bermudez, L. E.; Graybeal, J.; Alexander, P.

    2009-12-01

    Semantic interoperability—the exchange of meaning among computer systems—is needed to successfully share data in Ocean Science and across all Earth sciences. The best approach toward semantic interoperability requires a designed framework, and operationally tested tools and infrastructure within that framework. Currently available technologies make a scientific semantic framework feasible, but its development requires sustainable architectural vision and development processes. This presentation outlines the MMI Semantic Framework, including recent progress on it and its client applications. The MMI Semantic Framework consists of tools, infrastructure, and operational and community procedures and best practices, to meet short-term and long-term semantic interoperability goals. The design and prioritization of the semantic framework capabilities are based on real-world scenarios in Earth observation systems. We describe some key uses cases, as well as the associated requirements for building the overall infrastructure, which is realized through the MMI Ontology Registry and Repository. This system includes support for community creation and sharing of semantic content, ontology registration, version management, and seamless integration of user-friendly tools and application programming interfaces. The presentation describes the architectural components for semantic mediation, registry and repository for vocabularies, ontology, and term mappings. We show how the technologies and approaches in the framework can address community needs for managing and exchanging semantic information. We will demonstrate how different types of users and client applications exploit the tools and services for data aggregation, visualization, archiving, and integration. Specific examples from OOSTethys (http://www.oostethys.org) and the Ocean Observatories Initiative Cyberinfrastructure (http://www.oceanobservatories.org) will be cited. Finally, we show how semantic augmentation of web

  5. Semantic error patterns on the Boston Naming Test in normal aging, amnestic mild cognitive impairment, and mild Alzheimer's disease: is there semantic disruption?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balthazar, Marcio Luiz Figueredo; Cendes, Fernando; Damasceno, Benito Pereira

    2008-11-01

    Naming difficulty is common in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the nature of this problem is not well established. The authors investigated the presence of semantic breakdown and the pattern of general and semantic errors in patients with mild AD, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), and normal controls by examining their spontaneous answers on the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and verifying whether they needed or were benefited by semantic and phonemic cues. The errors in spontaneous answers were classified in four mutually exclusive categories (semantic errors, visual paragnosia, phonological errors, and omission errors), and the semantic errors were further subclassified as coordinate, superordinate, and circumlocutory. Patients with aMCI performed normally on the BNT and needed fewer semantic and phonemic cues than patients with mild AD. After semantic cues, subjects with aMCI and control subjects gave more correct answers than patients with mild AD, but after phonemic cues, there was no difference between the three groups, suggesting that the low performance of patients with AD cannot be completely explained by semantic breakdown. Patterns of spontaneous naming errors and subtypes of semantic errors were similar in the three groups, with decreasing error frequency from coordinate to superordinate to circumlocutory subtypes.

  6. Concealed semantic and episodic autobiographical memory electrified

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giorgio eGanis

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Electrophysiology-based concealed information tests (CIT try to determine whether somebody possesses concealed information about a probe item by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs between this item and comparison items (irrelevants. Although the broader field is sometimes referred to as memory detection, little attention has been paid to the precise type of underlying memory involved. This study begins addressing this issue by examining the key distinction between semantic and episodic memory in the autobiographical domain within a CIT paradigm. This study also addressed the issue of whether multiple repetitions of the items over the course of the session habituate the brain responses. Participants were tested in a 3-stimulus CIT with semantic autobiographical probes (their own date of birth and episodic autobiographical probes (a secret date learned just before the study. Results dissociated these two memory conditions on several ERP components. Semantic probes elicited a smaller frontal N2 than episodic probes, consistent with the idea that the frontal N2 decreases with greater pre-existing semantic knowledge about the item. Likewise, semantic probes elicited a smaller central N400 than episodic probes. Semantic probes also elicited a larger P3b than episodic probes because of their richer meaning. In contrast, episodic probes elicited a larger late positive component (LPC than semantic probes, because of the recent episodic memory associated with them. All these ERPs showed a difference between probes and irrelevants in both memory conditions, except for the N400, which showed a difference only in the semantic condition. Finally, although repetition affected the ERPs, it did not reduce the difference between probes and irrelevants. Thus, the type of memory associated with a probe has both theoretical and practical importance for CIT research.

  7. Developing Visualization Techniques for Semantics-based Information Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Richard M.; Hall, David R.

    2003-01-01

    Information systems incorporating complex network structured information spaces with a semantic underpinning - such as hypermedia networks, semantic networks, topic maps, and concept maps - are being deployed to solve some of NASA s critical information management problems. This paper describes some of the human interaction and navigation problems associated with complex semantic information spaces and describes a set of new visual interface approaches to address these problems. A key strategy is to leverage semantic knowledge represented within these information spaces to construct abstractions and views that will be meaningful to the human user. Human-computer interaction methodologies will guide the development and evaluation of these approaches, which will benefit deployed NASA systems and also apply to information systems based on the emerging Semantic Web.

  8. Episodic Memory, Semantic Memory, and Fluency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaefer, Carl F.

    1980-01-01

    Suggests that creating a second-language semantic network can be conceived as developing a plan for retrieving second-language word forms. Characteristics of linguistic performance which will promote fluency are discussed in light of the distinction between episodic and semantic memory. (AMH)

  9. Quality model for semantic IS standards

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Folmer, Erwin Johan Albert

    2011-01-01

    Semantic IS (Information Systems) standards are essential for achieving interoperability between organizations. However a recent survey suggests that not the full benefits of standards are achieved, due to the quality issues. This paper presents a quality model for semantic IS standards, that should

  10. Semantique et psychologie (Semantics and Psychology)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Ny, Jean-Francois

    1975-01-01

    Semantic activities constitute a sub-class of psychological activities; from this point of departure the article discusses such topics as: idiosyncrasies, meaning and causality, internal determinants, neo-associationism, componential theories, noun- and verb-formation, sentences and propositions, semantics and cognition, mnemesic compontents, and…

  11. Adding Recursive Constructs to Bialgebraic Semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klin, Bartek

    2004-01-01

    This paper aims at fitting a general class of recursive equations into the framework of ‘well-behaved' structural operational semantics, formalized as bialgebraic semantics by Turi and Plotkin. Rather than interpreting recursive constructs by means of operational rules, separate recursive equatio...

  12. Standardized mappings--a framework to combine different semantic mappers into a standardized web-API.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neuhaus, Philipp; Doods, Justin; Dugas, Martin

    2015-01-01

    Automatic coding of medical terms is an important, but highly complicated and laborious task. To compare and evaluate different strategies a framework with a standardized web-interface was created. Two UMLS mapping strategies are compared to demonstrate the interface. The framework is a Java Spring application running on a Tomcat application server. It accepts different parameters and returns results in JSON format. To demonstrate the framework, a list of medical data items was mapped by two different methods: similarity search in a large table of terminology codes versus search in a manually curated repository. These mappings were reviewed by a specialist. The evaluation shows that the framework is flexible (due to standardized interfaces like HTTP and JSON), performant and reliable. Accuracy of automatically assigned codes is limited (up to 40%). Combining different semantic mappers into a standardized Web-API is feasible. This framework can be easily enhanced due to its modular design.

  13. Preserved semantic priming effect in alexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimura, M; Goodglass, H; Milberg, W

    1996-09-01

    BH, a left-handed patient with alexia and nonfluent aphasia, was presented with a lexical-decision task in which words and pronounceable pseudowords were preceded by semantically related or unrelated picture primes (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, BH was given an explicit reading task using the word lists from Experiment 1. Performance on Experiment 2 disclosed severe reading deficits in both oral reading and semantic matching of the words to pictures. However, in Experiment 1, BH demonstrated a significant semantic priming effect, responding more accurately and more quickly to words preceded by related primes than by unrelated primes. The present results suggest that even in a patient with severe alexia, implicit access to semantic information can be preserved in the absence of explicit identification. The possibility of categorical gradient in implicit activation (living vs. nonliving) in BH was also discussed, which, however, needs to be clarified in the further investigation.

  14. Enabling Semantic Queries Against the Spatial Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    PENG, X.

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available The spatial database based upon the object-relational database management system (ORDBMS has the merits of a clear data model, good operability and high query efficiency. That is why it has been widely used in spatial data organization and management. However, it cannot express the semantic relationships among geospatial objects, making the query results difficult to meet the user's requirement well. Therefore, this paper represents an attempt to combine the Semantic Web technology with the spatial database so as to make up for the traditional database's disadvantages. In this way, on the one hand, users can take advantages of ORDBMS to store and manage spatial data; on the other hand, if the spatial database is released in the form of Semantic Web, the users could describe a query more concisely with the cognitive pattern which is similar to that of daily life. As a consequence, this methodology enables the benefits of both Semantic Web and the object-relational database (ORDB available. The paper discusses systematically the semantic enriched spatial database's architecture, key technologies and implementation. Subsequently, we demonstrate the function of spatial semantic queries via a practical prototype system. The query results indicate that the method used in this study is feasible.

  15. Semantics by analogy for illustrative volume visualization☆

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gerl, Moritz; Rautek, Peter; Isenberg, Tobias; Gröller, Eduard

    2012-01-01

    We present an interactive graphical approach for the explicit specification of semantics for volume visualization. This explicit and graphical specification of semantics for volumetric features allows us to visually assign meaning to both input and output parameters of the visualization mapping. This is in contrast to the implicit way of specifying semantics using transfer functions. In particular, we demonstrate how to realize a dynamic specification of semantics which allows to flexibly explore a wide range of mappings. Our approach is based on three concepts. First, we use semantic shader augmentation to automatically add rule-based rendering functionality to static visualization mappings in a shader program, while preserving the visual abstraction that the initial shader encodes. With this technique we extend recent developments that define a mapping between data attributes and visual attributes with rules, which are evaluated using fuzzy logic. Second, we let users define the semantics by analogy through brushing on renderings of the data attributes of interest. Third, the rules are specified graphically in an interface that provides visual clues for potential modifications. Together, the presented methods offer a high degree of freedom in the specification and exploration of rule-based mappings and avoid the limitations of a linguistic rule formulation. PMID:23576827

  16. Semantic guidance of eye movements in real-world scenes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwang, Alex D; Wang, Hsueh-Cheng; Pomplun, Marc

    2011-05-25

    The perception of objects in our visual world is influenced by not only their low-level visual features such as shape and color, but also their high-level features such as meaning and semantic relations among them. While it has been shown that low-level features in real-world scenes guide eye movements during scene inspection and search, the influence of semantic similarity among scene objects on eye movements in such situations has not been investigated. Here we study guidance of eye movements by semantic similarity among objects during real-world scene inspection and search. By selecting scenes from the LabelMe object-annotated image database and applying latent semantic analysis (LSA) to the object labels, we generated semantic saliency maps of real-world scenes based on the semantic similarity of scene objects to the currently fixated object or the search target. An ROC analysis of these maps as predictors of subjects' gaze transitions between objects during scene inspection revealed a preference for transitions to objects that were semantically similar to the currently inspected one. Furthermore, during the course of a scene search, subjects' eye movements were progressively guided toward objects that were semantically similar to the search target. These findings demonstrate substantial semantic guidance of eye movements in real-world scenes and show its importance for understanding real-world attentional control. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Semantic amnesia without dementia: documentation of a case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rusconi, M L; Zago, S; Basso, A

    1997-06-01

    We described the case of a patient affected by a progressive semantic memory disorder associated with prevalent temporal lobe atrophy. This deficit seems to be "pure" in the sense that it has not been found to overlap with other cognitive deficits (intellectual, linguistic, perceptual, visuo-spatial etc.) for a long time. Furthermore, despite his impaired semantic knowledge, the autobiographical memory of the patient was largely intact. This case therefore represents a form of "semantic amnesia" without dementia, and supports the hypothesis that there is a partial distinction between "semantic" and "episodic" memory.

  18. Towards Semantic Interpretation of Movement Behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Baglioni, M.; Macedo, J.; Renso, C.; Trasarti, R.; Wachowicz, M.

    2009-01-01

    In this paper we aim at providing a model for the conceptual representation and deductive reasoning of trajectory patterns obtained from mining raw trajectories. This has been achieved by means of a semantic enrichment process, where raw trajectories are enhanced with semantic information and

  19. Semantic Tagging with Deep Residual Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bjerva, Johannes; Plank, Barbara; Bos, Johan

    2016-01-01

    We propose a novel semantic tagging task, semtagging, tailored for the purpose of multilingual semantic parsing, and present the first tagger using deep residual networks (ResNets). Our tagger uses both word and character representations and includes a novel residual bypass architecture. We evaluate

  20. Semantics and expressiveness of ordered SOS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mousavi, M.R.; Phillips, I.C.C.; Reniers, M.A.; Ulidowski, I.

    2009-01-01

    Structured Operational Semantics (SOS) is a popular method for defining semantics by means of transition rules. An important feature of SOS rules is negative premises, which are crucial in the definitions of such phenomena as priority mechanisms and time-outs. However, the inclusion of negative

  1. Semantic search during divergent thinking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hass, Richard W

    2017-09-01

    Divergent thinking, as a method of examining creative cognition, has not been adequately analyzed in the context of modern cognitive theories. This article casts divergent thinking responding in the context of theories of memory search. First, it was argued that divergent thinking tasks are similar to semantic fluency tasks, but are more constrained, and less well structured. Next, response time distributions from 54 participants were analyzed for temporal and semantic clustering. Participants responded to two prompts from the alternative uses test: uses for a brick and uses for a bottle, for two minutes each. Participants' cumulative response curves were negatively accelerating, in line with theories of search of associative memory. However, results of analyses of semantic and temporal clustering suggested that clustering is less evident in alternative uses responding compared to semantic fluency tasks. This suggests either that divergent thinking responding does not involve an exhaustive search through a clustered memory trace, but rather that the process is more exploratory, yielding fewer overall responses that tend to drift away from close associates of the divergent thinking prompt. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Auto-Generated Semantic Processing Services

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davis, Rodney; Hupf, Greg

    2009-01-01

    Auto-Generated Semantic Processing (AGSP) Services is a suite of software tools for automated generation of other computer programs, denoted cross-platform semantic adapters, that support interoperability of computer-based communication systems that utilize a variety of both new and legacy communication software running in a variety of operating- system/computer-hardware combinations. AGSP has numerous potential uses in military, space-exploration, and other government applications as well as in commercial telecommunications. The cross-platform semantic adapters take advantage of common features of computer- based communication systems to enforce semantics, messaging protocols, and standards of processing of streams of binary data to ensure integrity of data and consistency of meaning among interoperating systems. The auto-generation aspect of AGSP Services reduces development time and effort by emphasizing specification and minimizing implementation: In effect, the design, building, and debugging of software for effecting conversions among complex communication protocols, custom device mappings, and unique data-manipulation algorithms is replaced with metadata specifications that map to an abstract platform-independent communications model. AGSP Services is modular and has been shown to be easily integrable into new and legacy NASA flight and ground communication systems.

  3. Musical and verbal semantic memory: two distinct neural networks?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groussard, M; Viader, F; Hubert, V; Landeau, B; Abbas, A; Desgranges, B; Eustache, F; Platel, H

    2010-02-01

    Semantic memory has been investigated in numerous neuroimaging and clinical studies, most of which have used verbal or visual, but only very seldom, musical material. Clinical studies have suggested that there is a relative neural independence between verbal and musical semantic memory. In the present study, "musical semantic memory" is defined as memory for "well-known" melodies without any knowledge of the spatial or temporal circumstances of learning, while "verbal semantic memory" corresponds to general knowledge about concepts, again without any knowledge of the spatial or temporal circumstances of learning. Our aim was to compare the neural substrates of musical and verbal semantic memory by administering the same type of task in each modality. We used high-resolution PET H(2)O(15) to observe 11 young subjects performing two main tasks: (1) a musical semantic memory task, where the subjects heard the first part of familiar melodies and had to decide whether the second part they heard matched the first, and (2) a verbal semantic memory task with the same design, but where the material consisted of well-known expressions or proverbs. The musical semantic memory condition activated the superior temporal area and inferior and middle frontal areas in the left hemisphere and the inferior frontal area in the right hemisphere. The verbal semantic memory condition activated the middle temporal region in the left hemisphere and the cerebellum in the right hemisphere. We found that the verbal and musical semantic processes activated a common network extending throughout the left temporal neocortex. In addition, there was a material-dependent topographical preference within this network, with predominantly anterior activation during musical tasks and predominantly posterior activation during semantic verbal tasks. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Electrocortical N400 Effects of Semantic Satiation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Ströberg

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Semantic satiation is characterised by the subjective and temporary loss of meaning after high repetition of a prime word. To study the nature of this effect, previous electroencephalography (EEG research recorded the N400, an ERP component that is sensitive to violations of semantic context. The N400 is characterised by a relative negativity to words that are unrelated vs. related to the semantic context. The semantic satiation hypothesis predicts that the N400 should decrease with high repetition. However, previous findings have been inconsistent. Because of these inconsistent findings and the shortcomings of previous research, we used a modified design that minimises confounding effects from non-semantic processes. We recorded 64-channel EEG and analysed the N400 in a semantic priming task in which the primes were repeated 3 or 30 times. Critically, we separated low and high repetition trials and excluded response trials. Further, we varied the physical features (letter case and format of consecutive primes to minimise confounding effects from perceptual habituation. For centrofrontal electrodes, the N400 was reduced after 30 repetitions (vs. 3 repetitions. Explorative source reconstructions suggested that activity decreased after 30 repetitions in bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, the right posterior section of the superior and middle temporal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, bilateral lateral occipital cortex, and bilateral lateral orbitofrontal cortex. These areas overlap broadly with those typically involved in the N400, namely middle temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus. The results support the semantic rather than the perceptual nature of the satiation effect.

  5. Evolution of semantic systems

    CERN Document Server

    Küppers, Bernd-Olaf; Artmann, Stefan

    2013-01-01

    Complex systems in nature and society make use of information for the development of their internal organization and the control of their functional mechanisms. Alongside technical aspects of storing, transmitting and processing information, the various semantic aspects of information, such as meaning, sense, reference and function, play a decisive part in the analysis of such systems.With the aim of fostering a better understanding of semantic systems from an evolutionary and multidisciplinary perspective, this volume collects contributions by philosophers and natural scientists, linguists, i

  6. Discovering EEG resting state alterations of semantic dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grieder, Matthias; Koenig, Thomas; Kinoshita, Toshihiko; Utsunomiya, Keita; Wahlund, Lars-Olof; Dierks, Thomas; Nishida, Keiichiro

    2016-05-01

    Diagnosis of semantic dementia relies on cost-intensive MRI or PET, although resting EEG markers of other dementias have been reported. Yet the view still holds that resting EEG in patients with semantic dementia is normal. However, studies using increasingly sophisticated EEG analysis methods have demonstrated that slightest alterations of functional brain states can be detected. We analyzed the common four resting EEG microstates (A, B, C, and D) of 8 patients with semantic dementia in comparison with 8 healthy controls and 8 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Topographical differences between the groups were found in microstate classes B and C, while microstate classes A and D were comparable. The data showed that the semantic dementia group had a peculiar microstate E, but the commonly found microstate C was lacking. Furthermore, the presence of microstate E was significantly correlated with lower MMSE and language scores. Alterations in resting EEG can be found in semantic dementia. Topographical shifts in microstate C might be related to semantic memory deficits. This is the first study that discovered resting state EEG abnormality in semantic dementia. The notion that resting EEG in this dementia subtype is normal has to be revised. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. LEARNING SEMANTICS-ENHANCED LANGUAGE MODELS APPLIED TO UNSUEPRVISED WSD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    VERSPOOR, KARIN [Los Alamos National Laboratory; LIN, SHOU-DE [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2007-01-29

    An N-gram language model aims at capturing statistical syntactic word order information from corpora. Although the concept of language models has been applied extensively to handle a variety of NLP problems with reasonable success, the standard model does not incorporate semantic information, and consequently limits its applicability to semantic problems such as word sense disambiguation. We propose a framework that integrates semantic information into the language model schema, allowing a system to exploit both syntactic and semantic information to address NLP problems. Furthermore, acknowledging the limited availability of semantically annotated data, we discuss how the proposed model can be learned without annotated training examples. Finally, we report on a case study showing how the semantics-enhanced language model can be applied to unsupervised word sense disambiguation with promising results.

  8. The Universality of Semantic Prototypes in Spanish Lexical Availability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marjana Šifrar Kalan

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the words with highest index of availability on the basis of semantic fluency tests. The conceptual stability of highly available words in various semantic categories enables them to be classified as semantic prototypes according to the theory of prototype. The aim of this article is to compare the semantic prototypes in nine semantic categories from different lexical availability studies: those carried out in Spanish as a mother tongue and Spanish as a foreign language (with Slovene, Finnish, Turkish, Chinese students and students of various other mother tongues who studied Spanish in Madrid and Salamanca. The informants who come from different countries and cultures and speak different first languages demonstrate that human beings share the same or similar categorization and universality of semantic prototypes.

  9. NASA and The Semantic Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashish, Naveen

    2005-01-01

    We provide an overview of several ongoing NASA endeavors based on concepts, systems, and technology from the Semantic Web arena. Indeed NASA has been one of the early adopters of Semantic Web Technology and we describe ongoing and completed R&D efforts for several applications ranging from collaborative systems to airspace information management to enterprise search to scientific information gathering and discovery systems at NASA.

  10. Principal semantic components of language and the measurement of meaning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samsonovich, Alexei V; Samsonovic, Alexei V; Ascoli, Giorgio A

    2010-06-11

    Metric systems for semantics, or semantic cognitive maps, are allocations of words or other representations in a metric space based on their meaning. Existing methods for semantic mapping, such as Latent Semantic Analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation, are based on paradigms involving dissimilarity metrics. They typically do not take into account relations of antonymy and yield a large number of domain-specific semantic dimensions. Here, using a novel self-organization approach, we construct a low-dimensional, context-independent semantic map of natural language that represents simultaneously synonymy and antonymy. Emergent semantics of the map principal components are clearly identifiable: the first three correspond to the meanings of "good/bad" (valence), "calm/excited" (arousal), and "open/closed" (freedom), respectively. The semantic map is sufficiently robust to allow the automated extraction of synonyms and antonyms not originally in the dictionaries used to construct the map and to predict connotation from their coordinates. The map geometric characteristics include a limited number ( approximately 4) of statistically significant dimensions, a bimodal distribution of the first component, increasing kurtosis of subsequent (unimodal) components, and a U-shaped maximum-spread planar projection. Both the semantic content and the main geometric features of the map are consistent between dictionaries (Microsoft Word and Princeton's WordNet), among Western languages (English, French, German, and Spanish), and with previously established psychometric measures. By defining the semantics of its dimensions, the constructed map provides a foundational metric system for the quantitative analysis of word meaning. Language can be viewed as a cumulative product of human experiences. Therefore, the extracted principal semantic dimensions may be useful to characterize the general semantic dimensions of the content of mental states. This is a fundamental step toward a

  11. Principal semantic components of language and the measurement of meaning.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexei V Samsonovich

    Full Text Available Metric systems for semantics, or semantic cognitive maps, are allocations of words or other representations in a metric space based on their meaning. Existing methods for semantic mapping, such as Latent Semantic Analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation, are based on paradigms involving dissimilarity metrics. They typically do not take into account relations of antonymy and yield a large number of domain-specific semantic dimensions. Here, using a novel self-organization approach, we construct a low-dimensional, context-independent semantic map of natural language that represents simultaneously synonymy and antonymy. Emergent semantics of the map principal components are clearly identifiable: the first three correspond to the meanings of "good/bad" (valence, "calm/excited" (arousal, and "open/closed" (freedom, respectively. The semantic map is sufficiently robust to allow the automated extraction of synonyms and antonyms not originally in the dictionaries used to construct the map and to predict connotation from their coordinates. The map geometric characteristics include a limited number ( approximately 4 of statistically significant dimensions, a bimodal distribution of the first component, increasing kurtosis of subsequent (unimodal components, and a U-shaped maximum-spread planar projection. Both the semantic content and the main geometric features of the map are consistent between dictionaries (Microsoft Word and Princeton's WordNet, among Western languages (English, French, German, and Spanish, and with previously established psychometric measures. By defining the semantics of its dimensions, the constructed map provides a foundational metric system for the quantitative analysis of word meaning. Language can be viewed as a cumulative product of human experiences. Therefore, the extracted principal semantic dimensions may be useful to characterize the general semantic dimensions of the content of mental states. This is a fundamental step

  12. Ontological semantics in modified categorial grammar

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Szymczak, Bartlomiej Antoni

    2009-01-01

    Categorial Grammar is a well established tool for describing natural language semantics. In the current paper we discuss some of its drawbacks and how it could be extended to overcome them. We use the extended version for deriving ontological semantics from text. A proof-of-concept implementation...

  13. Rewriting Logic Semantics of a Plan Execution Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dowek, Gilles; Munoz, Cesar A.; Rocha, Camilo

    2009-01-01

    The Plan Execution Interchange Language (PLEXIL) is a synchronous language developed by NASA to support autonomous spacecraft operations. In this paper, we propose a rewriting logic semantics of PLEXIL in Maude, a high-performance logical engine. The rewriting logic semantics is by itself a formal interpreter of the language and can be used as a semantic benchmark for the implementation of PLEXIL executives. The implementation in Maude has the additional benefit of making available to PLEXIL designers and developers all the formal analysis and verification tools provided by Maude. The formalization of the PLEXIL semantics in rewriting logic poses an interesting challenge due to the synchronous nature of the language and the prioritized rules defining its semantics. To overcome this difficulty, we propose a general procedure for simulating synchronous set relations in rewriting logic that is sound and, for deterministic relations, complete. We also report on the finding of two issues at the design level of the original PLEXIL semantics that were identified with the help of the executable specification in Maude.

  14. Automaticity Revisited: When Print Doesn't Activate Semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa Magdalena Labuschagne

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available It is widely accepted that the presentation of a printed word automatically triggers processing that ends with full semantic activation. This processing, among other characteristics, is held to occur without intention, and cannot be stopped. The results of the present experiment show that this account is problematic in the context of a variant of the Stroop paradigm. Subjects named the print color of words that were either neutral or semantically related to color. When the letters were all colored, all spatially cued, and the spaces between letters were filled with characters from the top of the keyboard (i.e., 4, #, 5, %, 6, and *, color naming yielded a semantically based Stroop effect and a semantically based negative priming effect. In contrast, the same items yielded neither a semantic Stroop effect nor a negative priming effect when a single target letter was uniquely colored and spatially cued. These findings undermine the widespread view that lexical-semantic activation in word reading is automatic in the sense that it occurs without intention and cannot be derailed.

  15. The semantic sphere of juvenile offenders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oshevsky D.S.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The article presents the results of a preliminary empirical study aimed to identify features of the semantic sphere of adolescents who have committed illegal, including aggressive acts. The study included 50 male juveniles aged of 16 - 17 years. The first group consisted of adolescents convicted of aggressive and violent crimes; the second – of property socially dangerous acts (SDA. It is shown that evaluation of such adolescents is generally categorical and polar, the semantic field is subdifferentiable, less hierarchic, and has not enough realistic structure of meanings. Developed structure of motives and meanings is the basis of voluntary regulation of socially significant behavior. Thus, assessing the semantic sphere of juvenile offenders we can highlight its characteristics as risk factors of unlawful behavior, as well as the resource side, that will contribute to addressing issues of prevention and correction of unlawful behavior. Key words: juvenile offenders, semantic field of juvenile offenders, unlawful behavior.

  16. High-performance analysis of filtered semantic graphs

    OpenAIRE

    Buluç, A; Fox, A; Gilbert, JR; Kamil, S; Lugowski, A; Oliker, L; Williams, S

    2012-01-01

    High performance is a crucial consideration when executing a complex analytic query on a massive semantic graph. In a semantic graph, vertices and edges carry \\attributes" of various types. Analytic queries on semantic graphs typically depend on the values of these attributes; thus, the computation must either view the graph through a filter that passes only those individual vertices and edges of interest, or else must first materialize a subgraph or subgraphs consisting of only the vertices ...

  17. An Algebraic Specification of the Semantic Web

    OpenAIRE

    Ksystra, Katerina; Triantafyllou, Nikolaos; Stefaneas, Petros; Frangos, Panayiotis

    2011-01-01

    We present a formal specification of the Semantic Web, as an extension of the World Wide Web using the well known algebraic specification language CafeOBJ. Our approach allows the description of the key elements of the Semantic Web technologies, in order to give a better understanding of the system, without getting involved with their implementation details that might not yet be standardized. This specification is part of our work in progress concerning the modeling the Social Semantic Web.

  18. Remote semantic memory is impoverished in hippocampal amnesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klooster, Nathaniel B; Duff, Melissa C

    2015-12-01

    The necessity of the hippocampus for acquiring new semantic concepts is a topic of considerable debate. However, it is generally accepted that any role the hippocampus plays in semantic memory is time limited and that previously acquired information becomes independent of the hippocampus over time. This view, along with intact naming and word-definition matching performance in amnesia, has led to the notion that remote semantic memory is intact in patients with hippocampal amnesia. Motivated by perspectives of word learning as a protracted process where additional features and senses of a word are added over time, and by recent discoveries about the time course of hippocampal contributions to on-line relational processing, reconsolidation, and the flexible integration of information, we revisit the notion that remote semantic memory is intact in amnesia. Using measures of semantic richness and vocabulary depth from psycholinguistics and first and second language-learning studies, we examined how much information is associated with previously acquired, highly familiar words in a group of patients with bilateral hippocampal damage and amnesia. Relative to healthy demographically matched comparison participants and a group of brain-damaged comparison participants, the patients with hippocampal amnesia performed significantly worse on both productive and receptive measures of vocabulary depth and semantic richness. These findings suggest that remote semantic memory is impoverished in patients with hippocampal amnesia and that the hippocampus may play a role in the maintenance and updating of semantic memory beyond its initial acquisition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Semantic Priming for Coordinate Distant Concepts in Alzheimer's Disease Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perri, R.; Zannino, G. D.; Caltagirone, C.; Carlesimo, G. A.

    2011-01-01

    Semantic priming paradigms have been used to investigate semantic knowledge in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). While priming effects produced by prime-target pairs with associative relatedness reflect processes at both lexical and semantic levels, priming effects produced by words that are semantically related but not associated should…

  20. Semantic Document Model to Enhance Data and Knowledge Interoperability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nešić, Saša

    To enable document data and knowledge to be efficiently shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries, desktop documents should be completely open and queryable resources, whose data and knowledge are represented in a form understandable to both humans and machines. At the same time, these are the requirements that desktop documents need to satisfy in order to contribute to the visions of the Semantic Web. With the aim of achieving this goal, we have developed the Semantic Document Model (SDM), which turns desktop documents into Semantic Documents as uniquely identified and semantically annotated composite resources, that can be instantiated into human-readable (HR) and machine-processable (MP) forms. In this paper, we present the SDM along with an RDF and ontology-based solution for the MP document instance. Moreover, on top of the proposed model, we have built the Semantic Document Management System (SDMS), which provides a set of services that exploit the model. As an application example that takes advantage of SDMS services, we have extended MS Office with a set of tools that enables users to transform MS Office documents (e.g., MS Word and MS PowerPoint) into Semantic Documents, and to search local and distant semantic document repositories for document content units (CUs) over Semantic Web protocols.

  1. Semantic Convergence in the Bilingual Lexicon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ameel, Eef; Malt, Barbara C.; Storms, Gert; Van Assche, Fons

    2009-01-01

    Bilinguals' lexical mappings for their two languages have been found to converge toward a common naming pattern. The present paper investigates in more detail how semantic convergence is manifested in bilingual lexical knowledge. We examined how semantic convergence affects the centers and boundaries of lexical categories for common household…

  2. A study of expertise effects for products with contradictory semantics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Ching-Yi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In the design studies, researchers often use the semantic differential method with bipolar adjectives, such as “modern vs. classical” or “simple vs. complex” when investigating the semantics projected by product forms. However, in design practice, some design examples clearly exhibit the simultaneous use of contradictory meanings in product semantics. For example, retro car evokes nostalgia by borrowing characteristics from classical cars. At the same time it exhibits a modern style. However, most studies measure the product semantics mostly by using subjective measurement. There is lack objective measurement for that. In this research, we examined the results of applying the semantic differential method to measure contradiction in product semantics. The results showed that the distributions of semantic differential ratings for the stimuli with contradictory meanings have higher standard deviations. The sensitivity of semantic recognition may depend on participant expertise. The design experts are trained to be good at visual thinking that could easily identify the contradiction semantics between products. In general, successful embedding of contradictory meanings into product forms are based on simple, typical, and rational forms that can display complex, novel, and perceptual images by adding supplementary elements.

  3. Certification plan for safety and PRA codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toffer, H.; Crowe, R.D.; Ades, M.J.

    1990-05-01

    A certification plan for computer codes used in Safety Analyses and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for the operation of the Savannah River Site (SRS) reactors has been prepared. An action matrix, checklists, and a time schedule have been included in the plan. These items identify what is required to achieve certification of the codes. A list of Safety Analysis and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (SA ampersand PRA) computer codes covered by the certification plan has been assembled. A description of each of the codes was provided in Reference 4. The action matrix for the configuration control plan identifies code specific requirements that need to be met to achieve the certification plan's objectives. The checklist covers the specific procedures that are required to support the configuration control effort and supplement the software life cycle procedures based on QAP 20-1 (Reference 7). A qualification checklist for users establishes the minimum prerequisites and training for achieving levels of proficiency in using configuration controlled codes for critical parameter calculations

  4. Integrating Statistical Machine Learning in a Semantic Sensor Web for Proactive Monitoring and Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jude Adekunle Adeleke

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Proactive monitoring and control of our natural and built environments is important in various application scenarios. Semantic Sensor Web technologies have been well researched and used for environmental monitoring applications to expose sensor data for analysis in order to provide responsive actions in situations of interest. While these applications provide quick response to situations, to minimize their unwanted effects, research efforts are still necessary to provide techniques that can anticipate the future to support proactive control, such that unwanted situations can be averted altogether. This study integrates a statistical machine learning based predictive model in a Semantic Sensor Web using stream reasoning. The approach is evaluated in an indoor air quality monitoring case study. A sliding window approach that employs the Multilayer Perceptron model to predict short term PM 2 . 5 pollution situations is integrated into the proactive monitoring and control framework. Results show that the proposed approach can effectively predict short term PM 2 . 5 pollution situations: precision of up to 0.86 and sensitivity of up to 0.85 is achieved over half hour prediction horizons, making it possible for the system to warn occupants or even to autonomously avert the predicted pollution situations within the context of Semantic Sensor Web.

  5. Integrating Statistical Machine Learning in a Semantic Sensor Web for Proactive Monitoring and Control.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adeleke, Jude Adekunle; Moodley, Deshendran; Rens, Gavin; Adewumi, Aderemi Oluyinka

    2017-04-09

    Proactive monitoring and control of our natural and built environments is important in various application scenarios. Semantic Sensor Web technologies have been well researched and used for environmental monitoring applications to expose sensor data for analysis in order to provide responsive actions in situations of interest. While these applications provide quick response to situations, to minimize their unwanted effects, research efforts are still necessary to provide techniques that can anticipate the future to support proactive control, such that unwanted situations can be averted altogether. This study integrates a statistical machine learning based predictive model in a Semantic Sensor Web using stream reasoning. The approach is evaluated in an indoor air quality monitoring case study. A sliding window approach that employs the Multilayer Perceptron model to predict short term PM 2 . 5 pollution situations is integrated into the proactive monitoring and control framework. Results show that the proposed approach can effectively predict short term PM 2 . 5 pollution situations: precision of up to 0.86 and sensitivity of up to 0.85 is achieved over half hour prediction horizons, making it possible for the system to warn occupants or even to autonomously avert the predicted pollution situations within the context of Semantic Sensor Web.

  6. Fast Distributed Dynamics of Semantic Networks via Social Media

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Facundo Carrillo

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the dynamics of semantic organization using social media, a collective expression of human thought. We propose a novel, time-dependent semantic similarity measure (TSS, based on the social network Twitter. We show that TSS is consistent with static measures of similarity but provides high temporal resolution for the identification of real-world events and induced changes in the distributed structure of semantic relationships across the entire lexicon. Using TSS, we measured the evolution of a concept and its movement along the semantic neighborhood, driven by specific news/events. Finally, we showed that particular events may trigger a temporary reorganization of elements in the semantic network.

  7. Semantic Congruence Accelerates the Onset of the Neural Signals of Successful Memory Encoding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Packard, Pau A; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Bunzeck, Nico; Nicolás, Berta; de Diego-Balaguer, Ruth; Fuentemilla, Lluís

    2017-01-11

    As the stream of experience unfolds, our memory system rapidly transforms current inputs into long-lasting meaningful memories. A putative neural mechanism that strongly influences how input elements are transformed into meaningful memory codes relies on the ability to integrate them with existing structures of knowledge or schemas. However, it is not yet clear whether schema-related integration neural mechanisms occur during online encoding. In the current investigation, we examined the encoding-dependent nature of this phenomenon in humans. We showed that actively integrating words with congruent semantic information provided by a category cue enhances memory for words and increases false recall. The memory effect of such active integration with congruent information was robust, even with an interference task occurring right after each encoding word list. In addition, via electroencephalography, we show in 2 separate studies that the onset of the neural signals of successful encoding appeared early (∼400 ms) during the encoding of congruent words. That the neural signals of successful encoding of congruent and incongruent information followed similarly ∼200 ms later suggests that this earlier neural response contributed to memory formation. We propose that the encoding of events that are congruent with readily available contextual semantics can trigger an accelerated onset of the neural mechanisms, supporting the integration of semantic information with the event input. This faster onset would result in a long-lasting and meaningful memory trace for the event but, at the same time, make it difficult to distinguish it from plausible but never encoded events (i.e., related false memories). Conceptual or schema congruence has a strong influence on long-term memory. However, the question of whether schema-related integration neural mechanisms occur during online encoding has yet to be clarified. We investigated the neural mechanisms reflecting how the active

  8. Semantic-Web Technology: Applications at NASA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ashish, Naveen

    2004-01-01

    We provide a description of work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on building system based on semantic-web concepts and technologies. NASA has been one of the early adopters of semantic-web technologies for practical applications. Indeed there are several ongoing 0 endeavors on building semantics based systems for use in diverse NASA domains ranging from collaborative scientific activity to accident and mishap investigation to enterprise search to scientific information gathering and integration to aviation safety decision support We provide a brief overview of many applications and ongoing work with the goal of informing the external community of these NASA endeavors.

  9. Semantic Web Requirements through Web Mining Techniques

    OpenAIRE

    Hassanzadeh, Hamed; Keyvanpour, Mohammad Reza

    2012-01-01

    In recent years, Semantic web has become a topic of active research in several fields of computer science and has applied in a wide range of domains such as bioinformatics, life sciences, and knowledge management. The two fast-developing research areas semantic web and web mining can complement each other and their different techniques can be used jointly or separately to solve the issues in both areas. In addition, since shifting from current web to semantic web mainly depends on the enhance...

  10. Inferentializing Semantics

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Peregrin, Jaroslav

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 39, č. 3 (2010), s. 255-274 ISSN 0022-3611 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA401/07/0904 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z90090514 Keywords : inference * proof theory * model theory * inferentialism * semantics Subject RIV: AA - Philosophy ; Religion

  11. Using the LOINC Semantic Structure to Integrate Community-based Survey Items into a Concept-based Enterprise Data Dictionary to Support Comparative Effectiveness Research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Co, Manuel C; Boden-Albala, Bernadette; Quarles, Leigh; Wilcox, Adam; Bakken, Suzanne

    2012-01-01

    In designing informatics infrastructure to support comparative effectiveness research (CER), it is necessary to implement approaches for integrating heterogeneous data sources such as clinical data typically stored in clinical data warehouses and those that are normally stored in separate research databases. One strategy to support this integration is the use of a concept-oriented data dictionary with a set of semantic terminology models. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the use of the semantic structure of Clinical LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes) in integrating community-based survey items into the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) to support the integration of survey data with clinical data for CER studies.

  12. The Semantic Web in Teacher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Czerkawski, Betül Özkan

    2014-01-01

    The Semantic Web enables increased collaboration among computers and people by organizing unstructured data on the World Wide Web. Rather than a separate body, the Semantic Web is a functional extension of the current Web made possible by defining relationships among websites and other online content. When explicitly defined, these relationships…

  13. Semantic eScience for Ecosystem Understanding and Monitoring: The Jefferson Project Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGuinness, D. L.; Pinheiro da Silva, P.; Patton, E. W.; Chastain, K.

    2014-12-01

    Monitoring and understanding ecosystems such as lakes and their watersheds is becoming increasingly important. Accelerated eutrophication threatens our drinking water sources. Many believe that the use of nutrients (e.g., road salts, fertilizers, etc.) near these sources may have negative impacts on animal and plant populations and water quality although it is unclear how to best balance broad community needs. The Jefferson Project is a joint effort between RPI, IBM and the Fund for Lake George aimed at creating an instrumented water ecosystem along with an appropriate cyberinfrastructure that can serve as a global model for ecosystem monitoring, exploration, understanding, and prediction. One goal is to help communities understand the potential impacts of actions such as road salting strategies so that they can make appropriate informed recommendations that serve broad community needs. Our semantic eScience team is creating a semantic infrastructure to support data integration and analysis to help trained scientists as well as the general public to better understand the lake today, and explore potential future scenarios. We are leveraging our RPI Tetherless World Semantic Web methodology that provides an agile process for describing use cases, identification of appropriate background ontologies and technologies, implementation, and evaluation. IBM is providing a state-of-the-art sensor network infrastructure along with a collection of tools to share, maintain, analyze and visualize the network data. In the context of this sensor infrastructure, we will discuss our semantic approach's contributions in three knowledge representation and reasoning areas: (a) human interventions on the deployment and maintenance of local sensor networks including the scientific knowledge to decide how and where sensors are deployed; (b) integration, interpretation and management of data coming from external sources used to complement the project's models; and (c) knowledge about

  14. An Educational Tool for Browsing the Semantic Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoo, Sujin; Kim, Younghwan; Park, Seongbin

    2013-01-01

    The Semantic Web is an extension of the current Web where information is represented in a machine processable way. It is not separate from the current Web and one of the confusions that novice users might have is where the Semantic Web is. In fact, users can easily encounter RDF documents that are components of the Semantic Web while they navigate…

  15. Approximate semantic matching of music classes on the internet

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aleksovski, Zharko; Kate, Warner Ten; Van Harmelen, Frank

    2006-01-01

    We address the problem of semantic matching, which concerns the search for semantic agreement between heterogeneous concept hierarchies. We propose a new approximation method to discover and assess the "strength" (preciseness) of a semantic match between concepts from two such concept hierarchies.

  16. A layered semantics for a parallel object-oriented language

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.H.M. America (Pierre); J.J.M.M. Rutten (Jan)

    1990-01-01

    textabstractWe develop a denotational semantics for POOL, a parallel object-oriented programming language. The main contribution of this semantics is an accurate mathematical model of the most important concept in object-oriented programming: the object. This is achieved by structuring the semantics

  17. Learning semantic and visual similarity for endomicroscopy video retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andre, Barbara; Vercauteren, Tom; Buchner, Anna M; Wallace, Michael B; Ayache, Nicholas

    2012-06-01

    Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is a valuable computer vision technique which is increasingly being applied in the medical community for diagnosis support. However, traditional CBIR systems only deliver visual outputs, i.e., images having a similar appearance to the query, which is not directly interpretable by the physicians. Our objective is to provide a system for endomicroscopy video retrieval which delivers both visual and semantic outputs that are consistent with each other. In a previous study, we developed an adapted bag-of-visual-words method for endomicroscopy retrieval, called "Dense-Sift," that computes a visual signature for each video. In this paper, we present a novel approach to complement visual similarity learning with semantic knowledge extraction, in the field of in vivo endomicroscopy. We first leverage a semantic ground truth based on eight binary concepts, in order to transform these visual signatures into semantic signatures that reflect how much the presence of each semantic concept is expressed by the visual words describing the videos. Using cross-validation, we demonstrate that, in terms of semantic detection, our intuitive Fisher-based method transforming visual-word histograms into semantic estimations outperforms support vector machine (SVM) methods with statistical significance. In a second step, we propose to improve retrieval relevance by learning an adjusted similarity distance from a perceived similarity ground truth. As a result, our distance learning method allows to statistically improve the correlation with the perceived similarity. We also demonstrate that, in terms of perceived similarity, the recall performance of the semantic signatures is close to that of visual signatures and significantly better than those of several state-of-the-art CBIR methods. The semantic signatures are thus able to communicate high-level medical knowledge while being consistent with the low-level visual signatures and much shorter than them

  18. Building a semantic search engine with games and crowdsourcing

    OpenAIRE

    Wieser, Christoph

    2014-01-01

    Semantic search engines aim at improving conventional search with semantic information, or meta-data, on the data searched for and/or on the searchers. So far, approaches to semantic search exploit characteristics of the searchers like age, education, or spoken language for selecting and/or ranking search results. Such data allow to build up a semantic search engine as an extension of a conventional search engine. The crawlers of well established search engines like Google, Yahoo! or Bing ...

  19. Semantic Business Intelligence - a New Generation of Business Intelligence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dinu AIRINEI

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Business Intelligence Solutions represents applications used by companies to manage process and analyze data to provide substantiated decision. In the context of Semantic Web develop-ment trend is to integrate semantic unstructured data, making business intelligence solutions to be redesigned in such a manner that can analyze, process and synthesize, in addition to traditional data and data integrated with semantic another form and structure. This invariably leads appearance of new BI solution, called Semantic Business Intelligence.

  20. Les Champs semantiques de l'action a travers le vocabulaire fondamental (Semantic Fields and Verbs in the Dictionary of Basic Vocabulary).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pons-Ridler, Suzanne

    1986-01-01

    The verbs in Gougenheim's Basic Dictionary are regrouped according to three classifications (synonyms, antonyms, and association) and organized according to semantic fields. Exercises designed to emphasize these relationships are suggested. (MSE)

  1. The Semantic Web: opportunities and challenges for next-generation Web applications

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Recently there has been a growing interest in the investigation and development of the next generation web - the Semantic Web. While most of the current forms of web content are designed to be presented to humans, but are barely understandable by computers, the content of the Semantic Web is structured in a semantic way so that it is meaningful to computers as well as to humans. In this paper, we report a survey of recent research on the Semantic Web. In particular, we present the opportunities that this revolution will bring to us: web-services, agent-based distributed computing, semantics-based web search engines, and semantics-based digital libraries. We also discuss the technical and cultural challenges of realizing the Semantic Web: the development of ontologies, formal semantics of Semantic Web languages, and trust and proof models. We hope that this will shed some light on the direction of future work on this field.

  2. QR codes for dummies

    CERN Document Server

    Waters, Joe

    2012-01-01

    Find out how to effectively create, use, and track QR codes QR (Quick Response) codes are popping up everywhere, and businesses are reaping the rewards. Get in on the action with the no-nonsense advice in this streamlined, portable guide. You'll find out how to get started, plan your strategy, and actually create the codes. Then you'll learn to link codes to mobile-friendly content, track your results, and develop ways to give your customers value that will keep them coming back. It's all presented in the straightforward style you've come to know and love, with a dash of humor thrown

  3. Recall from Semantic and Episodic Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillund, Gary; Perlmutter, Marion

    Although research in episodic recall memory, comparing younger and older adults, favors the younger adults, findings in semantic memory research are less consistent. To examine age differences in semantic and episodic memory recall, 72 young adults (mean age, 20.8) and 72 older adults (mean age 71) completed three memory tests under varied…

  4. Social Networking on the Semantic Web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finin, Tim; Ding, Li; Zhou, Lina; Joshi, Anupam

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: Aims to investigate the way that the semantic web is being used to represent and process social network information. Design/methodology/approach: The Swoogle semantic web search engine was used to construct several large data sets of Resource Description Framework (RDF) documents with social network information that were encoded using the…

  5. Integration of nursing assessment concepts into the medical entities dictionary using the LOINC semantic structure as a terminology model.

    OpenAIRE

    Cieslowski, B. J.; Wajngurt, D.; Cimino, J. J.; Bakken, S.

    2001-01-01

    Recent investigations have tested the applicability of various terminology models for the representing nursing concepts including those related to nursing diagnoses, nursing interventions, and standardized nursing assessments as a prerequisite for building a reference terminology that supports the nursing domain. We used the semantic structure of Clinical LOINC (Logical Observations, Identifiers, Names, and Codes) as a reference terminology model to support the integration of standardized ass...

  6. Relaxation as a Factor in Semantic Desensitization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bechtel, James E.; McNamara, J. Regis

    1975-01-01

    Relaxation and semantic desensitization were used to alleviate the fear of phobic females. Results showed that semantic desensitization, alone or in combination with relaxation, failed to modify the evaluative meanings evoked by the feared object. (SE)

  7. Grammaticalization and Semantic Maps: Evidence from Artificial Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remi van Trijp

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Semantic maps have offered linguists an appealing and empirically rooted methodology for describing recurrent structural patterns in language development and the multifunctionality of grammatical categories. Although some researchers argue that semantic maps are universal and given, others provide evidence that there are no fixed or universal maps. This paper takes the position that semantic maps are a useful way to visualize the grammatical evolution of a language (particularly the evolution of semantic structuring but that this grammatical evolution is a consequence of distributed processes whereby language users shape and reshape their language. So it is a challenge to find out what these processes are and whether they indeed generate the kind of semantic maps observed for human languages. This work takes a design stance towards the question of the emergence of linguistic structure and investigates how grammar can be formed in populations of autonomous artificial ?agents? that play ?language games? with each other about situations they perceive through a sensori-motor embodiment. The experiments reported here investigate whether semantic maps for case markers could emerge through grammaticalization processes without the need for a universal conceptual space.

  8. Semi-Supervised Learning to Identify UMLS Semantic Relations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Yuan; Uzuner, Ozlem

    2014-01-01

    The UMLS Semantic Network is constructed by experts and requires periodic expert review to update. We propose and implement a semi-supervised approach for automatically identifying UMLS semantic relations from narrative text in PubMed. Our method analyzes biomedical narrative text to collect semantic entity pairs, and extracts multiple semantic, syntactic and orthographic features for the collected pairs. We experiment with seeded k-means clustering with various distance metrics. We create and annotate a ground truth corpus according to the top two levels of the UMLS semantic relation hierarchy. We evaluate our system on this corpus and characterize the learning curves of different clustering configuration. Using KL divergence consistently performs the best on the held-out test data. With full seeding, we obtain macro-averaged F-measures above 70% for clustering the top level UMLS relations (2-way), and above 50% for clustering the second level relations (7-way).

  9. Arabic web pages clustering and annotation using semantic class features

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanan M. Alghamdi

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available To effectively manage the great amount of data on Arabic web pages and to enable the classification of relevant information are very important research problems. Studies on sentiment text mining have been very limited in the Arabic language because they need to involve deep semantic processing. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to retrieve machine-understandable data with the help of a Web content mining technique to detect covert knowledge within these data. We propose an approach to achieve clustering with semantic similarities. This approach comprises integrating k-means document clustering with semantic feature extraction and document vectorization to group Arabic web pages according to semantic similarities and then show the semantic annotation. The document vectorization helps to transform text documents into a semantic class probability distribution or semantic class density. To reach semantic similarities, the approach extracts the semantic class features and integrates them into the similarity weighting schema. The quality of the clustering result has evaluated the use of the purity and the mean intra-cluster distance (MICD evaluation measures. We have evaluated the proposed approach on a set of common Arabic news web pages. We have acquired favorable clustering results that are effective in minimizing the MICD, expanding the purity and lowering the runtime.

  10. Semantic categorization: A comparison between deaf and hearing children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ormel, E.A.; Gijsel, M.A.R.; Hermans, D.; Bosman, A.M.T.; Knoors, H.E.T.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

    2010-01-01

    Learning to read is a major obstacle for children who are deaf. The otherwise significant role of phonology is often limited as a result of hearing loss. However, semantic knowledge may facilitate reading comprehension. One important aspect of semantic knowledge concerns semantic categorization. In

  11. Learning With Social Semantic Technologies - Exploiting Latest Tools

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gisela Granitzer

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Even though it was only about three years ago that Social Software became a trend, it has become a common practice to utilize Social Software in learning institutions. It brought about a lot of advantages, but also challenges. Amounts of distributed and often unstructured user generated content make it difficult to meaningfully process and find relevant information. According to the estimate of the authors, the solution lies in underpinning Social Software with structure resulting in Social Semantic Software. In this contribution we introduce the central concepts Social Software, Semantic Web and Social Semantic Web and show how Social Semantic Technologies might be utilized in the higher education context.

  12. Are Some Semantic Changes Predictable?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schousboe, Steen

    2010-01-01

      Historical linguistics is traditionally concerned with phonology and syntax. With the exception of grammaticalization - the development of auxiliary verbs, the syntactic rather than localistic use of prepositions, etc. - semantic change has usually not been described as a result of regular...... developments, but only as specific meaning changes in individual words. This paper will suggest some regularities in semantic change, regularities which, like sound laws, have predictive power and can be tested against recorded languages....

  13. Semantic Interoperability in Heterogeneous IoT Infrastructure for Healthcare

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sohail Jabbar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Interoperability remains a significant burden to the developers of Internet of Things’ Systems. This is due to the fact that the IoT devices are highly heterogeneous in terms of underlying communication protocols, data formats, and technologies. Secondly due to lack of worldwide acceptable standards, interoperability tools remain limited. In this paper, we proposed an IoT based Semantic Interoperability Model (IoT-SIM to provide Semantic Interoperability among heterogeneous IoT devices in healthcare domain. Physicians communicate their patients with heterogeneous IoT devices to monitor their current health status. Information between physician and patient is semantically annotated and communicated in a meaningful way. A lightweight model for semantic annotation of data using heterogeneous devices in IoT is proposed to provide annotations for data. Resource Description Framework (RDF is a semantic web framework that is used to relate things using triples to make it semantically meaningful. RDF annotated patients’ data has made it semantically interoperable. SPARQL query is used to extract records from RDF graph. For simulation of system, we used Tableau, Gruff-6.2.0, and Mysql tools.

  14. Categorical model of structural operational semantics for imperative language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William Steingartner

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Definition of programming languages consists of the formal definition of syntax and semantics. One of the most popular semantic methods used in various stages of software engineering is structural operational semantics. It describes program behavior in the form of state changes after execution of elementary steps of program. This feature makes structural operational semantics useful for implementation of programming languages and also for verification purposes. In our paper we present a new approach to structural operational semantics. We model behavior of programs in category of states, where objects are states, an abstraction of computer memory and morphisms model state changes, execution of a program in elementary steps. The advantage of using categorical model is its exact mathematical structure with many useful proved properties and its graphical illustration of program behavior as a path, i.e. a composition of morphisms. Our approach is able to accentuate dynamics of structural operational semantics. For simplicity, we assume that data are intuitively typed. Visualization and facility of our model is  not only  a  new model of structural operational semantics of imperative programming languages but it can also serve for education purposes.

  15. Connecting: the Semantic HCI Textbook and Cross-Institutional Learning Analytics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan Dix

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Open education materials related to the author's HCI textbook were released in 2013 as a MOOC, published on interactiondesign. org, and used for flipped classroom teaching. Work is in progress to link these free open educational resources including substantial video and quizzes (some tutor-only together with the (paid-for but open-to-all book, to create a 'semantic textbook'. The author is also interested in the way learning-analytics can be used to create actionable insights, at the appropriate time for the academic. Bringing these together offers the potential for analytics using rich relationships across different educators and institutions use of the same material.

  16. Personal semantics: Is it distinct from episodic and semantic memory? An electrophysiological study of memory for autobiographical facts and repeated events in honor of Shlomo Bentin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renoult, Louis; Tanguay, Annick; Beaudry, Myriam; Tavakoli, Paniz; Rabipour, Sheida; Campbell, Kenneth; Moscovitch, Morris; Levine, Brian; Davidson, Patrick S R

    2016-03-01

    Declarative memory is thought to consist of two independent systems: episodic and semantic. Episodic memory represents personal and contextually unique events, while semantic memory represents culturally-shared, acontextual factual knowledge. Personal semantics refers to aspects of declarative memory that appear to fall somewhere in between the extremes of episodic and semantic. Examples include autobiographical knowledge and memories of repeated personal events. These two aspects of personal semantics have been studied little and rarely compared to both semantic and episodic memory. We recorded the event-related potentials (ERPs) of 27 healthy participants while they verified the veracity of sentences probing four types of questions: general (i.e., semantic) facts, autobiographical facts, repeated events, and unique (i.e., episodic) events. Behavioral results showed equivalent reaction times in all 4 conditions. True sentences were verified faster than false sentences, except for unique events for which no significant difference was observed. Electrophysiological results showed that the N400 (which is classically associated with retrieval from semantic memory) was maximal for general facts and the LPC (which is classically associated with retrieval from episodic memory) was maximal for unique events. For both ERP components, the two personal semantic conditions (i.e., autobiographical facts and repeated events) systematically differed from semantic memory. In addition, N400 amplitudes also differentiated autobiographical facts from unique events. Autobiographical facts and repeated events did not differ significantly from each other but their corresponding scalp distributions differed from those associated with general facts. Our results suggest that the neural correlates of personal semantics can be distinguished from those of semantic and episodic memory, and may provide clues as to how unique events are transformed to semantic memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier

  17. Concealed semantic and episodic autobiographical memory electrified.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganis, Giorgio; Schendan, Haline E

    2012-01-01

    Electrophysiology-based concealed information tests (CIT) try to determine whether somebody possesses concealed information about a crime-related item (probe) by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs) between this item and comparison items (irrelevants). Although the broader field is sometimes referred to as "memory detection," little attention has been paid to the precise type of underlying memory involved. This study begins addressing this issue by examining the key distinction between semantic and episodic memory in the autobiographical domain within a CIT paradigm. This study also addresses the issue of whether multiple repetitions of the items over the course of the session habituate the brain responses. Participants were tested in a 3-stimulus CIT with semantic autobiographical probes (their own date of birth) and episodic autobiographical probes (a secret date learned just before the study). Results dissociated these two memory conditions on several ERP components. Semantic probes elicited a smaller frontal N2 than episodic probes, consistent with the idea that the frontal N2 decreases with greater pre-existing knowledge about the item. Likewise, semantic probes elicited a smaller central N400 than episodic probes. Semantic probes also elicited a larger P3b than episodic probes because of their richer meaning. In contrast, episodic probes elicited a larger late positive complex (LPC) than semantic probes, because of the recent episodic memory associated with them. All these ERPs showed a difference between probes and irrelevants in both memory conditions, except for the N400, which showed a difference only in the semantic condition. Finally, although repetition affected the ERPs, it did not reduce the difference between probes and irrelevants. These findings show that the type of memory associated with a probe has both theoretical and practical importance for CIT research.

  18. Concealed semantic and episodic autobiographical memory electrified

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganis, Giorgio; Schendan, Haline E.

    2013-01-01

    Electrophysiology-based concealed information tests (CIT) try to determine whether somebody possesses concealed information about a crime-related item (probe) by comparing event-related potentials (ERPs) between this item and comparison items (irrelevants). Although the broader field is sometimes referred to as “memory detection,” little attention has been paid to the precise type of underlying memory involved. This study begins addressing this issue by examining the key distinction between semantic and episodic memory in the autobiographical domain within a CIT paradigm. This study also addresses the issue of whether multiple repetitions of the items over the course of the session habituate the brain responses. Participants were tested in a 3-stimulus CIT with semantic autobiographical probes (their own date of birth) and episodic autobiographical probes (a secret date learned just before the study). Results dissociated these two memory conditions on several ERP components. Semantic probes elicited a smaller frontal N2 than episodic probes, consistent with the idea that the frontal N2 decreases with greater pre-existing knowledge about the item. Likewise, semantic probes elicited a smaller central N400 than episodic probes. Semantic probes also elicited a larger P3b than episodic probes because of their richer meaning. In contrast, episodic probes elicited a larger late positive complex (LPC) than semantic probes, because of the recent episodic memory associated with them. All these ERPs showed a difference between probes and irrelevants in both memory conditions, except for the N400, which showed a difference only in the semantic condition. Finally, although repetition affected the ERPs, it did not reduce the difference between probes and irrelevants. These findings show that the type of memory associated with a probe has both theoretical and practical importance for CIT research. PMID:23355816

  19. Building a Semantic Framework for eScience

    Science.gov (United States)

    Movva, S.; Ramachandran, R.; Maskey, M.; Li, X.

    2009-12-01

    The e-Science vision focuses on the use of advanced computing technologies to support scientists. Recent research efforts in this area have focused primarily on “enabling” use of infrastructure resources for both data and computational access especially in Geosciences. One of the existing gaps in the existing e-Science efforts has been the failure to incorporate stable semantic technologies within the design process itself. In this presentation, we describe our effort in designing a framework for e-Science built using Service Oriented Architecture. Our framework provides users capabilities to create science workflows and mine distributed data. Our e-Science framework is being designed around a mass market tool to promote reusability across many projects. Semantics is an integral part of this framework and our design goal is to leverage the latest stable semantic technologies. The use of these stable semantic technologies will provide the users of our framework the useful features such as: allow search engines to find their content with RDFa tags; create RDF triple data store for their content; create RDF end points to share with others; and semantically mash their content with other online content available as RDF end point.

  20. Towards Compatible and Interderivable Semantic Specifications for the Scheme Programming Language, Part II: Reduction Semantics and Abstract Machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Biernacka, Malgorzata; Danvy, Olivier

    2009-01-01

    We present a context-sensitive reduction semantics for a lambmda-calculus with explicit substitutions and we show that the functional implementation of this small-step semantics mechanically corresponds to that of the abstract machine for Core Scheme presented by Clinger at PLDI'98, including fir...

  1. Patterns of Semantic Memory Impairment in Mild Cognitive Impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sven Joubert

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Although the semantic memory impairment has been largely documented in Alzheimer's disease, little is known about semantic memory in the preclinical phase of the disease (Mild Cognitive Impairment. The purpose of this study was to document the nature of semantic breakdown using a battery of tests assessing different aspects of conceptual knowledge: knowledge about common objects, famous people and famous public events. Results indicate that all domains of semantic memory were impaired in MCI individuals but knowledge about famous people and famous events was affected to a greater extent than knowledge about objects. This pattern of results suggests that conceptual entities with distinctive and unique properties may be more prone to semantic breakdown in MCI. In summary, results of this study support the view that genuine semantic deficits are present in MCI. It could be useful to investigate the etiological outcome of patients failing or succeeding at such tests.

  2. Semantic Neighborhood Effects for Abstract versus Concrete Words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Danguecan, Ashley N; Buchanan, Lori

    2016-01-01

    Studies show that semantic effects may be task-specific, and thus, that semantic representations are flexible and dynamic. Such findings are critical to the development of a comprehensive theory of semantic processing in visual word recognition, which should arguably account for how semantic effects may vary by task. It has been suggested that semantic effects are more directly examined using tasks that explicitly require meaning processing relative to those for which meaning processing is not necessary (e.g., lexical decision task). The purpose of the present study was to chart the processing of concrete versus abstract words in the context of a global co-occurrence variable, semantic neighborhood density (SND), by comparing word recognition response times (RTs) across four tasks varying in explicit semantic demands: standard lexical decision task (with non-pronounceable non-words), go/no-go lexical decision task (with pronounceable non-words), progressive demasking task, and sentence relatedness task. The same experimental stimulus set was used across experiments and consisted of 44 concrete and 44 abstract words, with half of these being low SND, and half being high SND. In this way, concreteness and SND were manipulated in a factorial design using a number of visual word recognition tasks. A consistent RT pattern emerged across tasks, in which SND effects were found for abstract (but not necessarily concrete) words. Ultimately, these findings highlight the importance of studying interactive effects in word recognition, and suggest that linguistic associative information is particularly important for abstract words.

  3. SPARK: Adapting Keyword Query to Semantic Search

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Qi; Wang, Chong; Xiong, Miao; Wang, Haofen; Yu, Yong

    Semantic search promises to provide more accurate result than present-day keyword search. However, progress with semantic search has been delayed due to the complexity of its query languages. In this paper, we explore a novel approach of adapting keywords to querying the semantic web: the approach automatically translates keyword queries into formal logic queries so that end users can use familiar keywords to perform semantic search. A prototype system named 'SPARK' has been implemented in light of this approach. Given a keyword query, SPARK outputs a ranked list of SPARQL queries as the translation result. The translation in SPARK consists of three major steps: term mapping, query graph construction and query ranking. Specifically, a probabilistic query ranking model is proposed to select the most likely SPARQL query. In the experiment, SPARK achieved an encouraging translation result.

  4. Action simulation: time course and representational mechanisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Springer, Anne; Parkinson, Jim; Prinz, Wolfgang

    2013-01-01

    The notion of action simulation refers to the ability to re-enact foreign actions (i.e., actions observed in other individuals). Simulating others' actions implies a mirroring of their activities, based on one's own sensorimotor competencies. Here, we discuss theoretical and experimental approaches to action simulation and the study of its representational underpinnings. One focus of our discussion is on the timing of internal simulation and its relation to the timing of external action, and a paradigm that requires participants to predict the future course of actions that are temporarily occluded from view. We address transitions between perceptual mechanisms (referring to action representation before and after occlusion) and simulation mechanisms (referring to action representation during occlusion). Findings suggest that action simulation runs in real-time; acting on newly created action representations rather than relying on continuous visual extrapolations. A further focus of our discussion pertains to the functional characteristics of the mechanisms involved in predicting other people's actions. We propose that two processes are engaged, dynamic updating and static matching, which may draw on both semantic and motor information. In a concluding section, we discuss these findings in the context of broader theoretical issues related to action and event representation, arguing that a detailed functional analysis of action simulation in cognitive, neural, and computational terms may help to further advance our understanding of action cognition and motor control. PMID:23847563

  5. Self-referential processing is distinct from semantic elaboration: evidence from long-term memory effects in a patient with amnesia and semantic impairments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sui, Jie; Humphreys, Glyn W

    2013-11-01

    We report data demonstrating that self-referential encoding facilitates memory performance in the absence of effects of semantic elaboration in a severely amnesic patient also suffering semantic problems. In Part 1, the patient, GA, was trained to associate items with the self or a familiar other during the encoding phase of a memory task (self-ownership decisions in Experiment 1 and self-evaluation decisions in Experiment 2). Tests of memory showed a consistent self-reference advantage, relative to a condition where the reference was another person in both experiments. The pattern of the self-reference advantage was similar to that in healthy controls. In Part 2 we demonstrate that GA showed minimal effects of semantic elaboration on memory for items he semantically classified, compared with items subject to physical size decisions; in contrast, healthy controls demonstrated enhanced memory performance after semantic relative to physical encoding. The results indicate that self-referential encoding, not semantic elaboration, improves memory in amnesia. Self-referential processing may provide a unique scaffold to help improve learning in amnesic cases. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. PERMUTATION-BASED POLYMORPHIC STEGO-WATERMARKS FOR PROGRAM CODES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denys Samoilenko

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: One of the most actual trends in program code protection is code marking. The problem consists in creation of some digital “watermarks” which allow distinguishing different copies of the same program codes. Such marks could be useful for authority protection, for code copies numbering, for program propagation monitoring, for information security proposes in client-server communication processes. Methods: We used the methods of digital steganography adopted for program codes as text objects. The same-shape symbols method was transformed to same-semantic element method due to codes features which makes them different from ordinary texts. We use dynamic principle of marks forming making codes similar to be polymorphic. Results: We examined the combinatorial capacity of permutations possible in program codes. As a result it was shown that the set of 5-7 polymorphic variables is suitable for the most modern network applications. Marks creation and restoration algorithms where proposed and discussed. The main algorithm is based on full and partial permutations in variables names and its declaration order. Algorithm for partial permutation enumeration was optimized for calculation complexity. PHP code fragments which realize the algorithms were listed. Discussion: Methodic proposed in the work allows distinguishing of each client-server connection. In a case if a clone of some network resource was found the methodic could give information about included marks and thereby data on IP, date and time, authentication information of client copied the resource. Usage of polymorphic stego-watermarks should improve information security indexes in network communications.

  7. Designing learning management system interoperability in semantic web

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anistyasari, Y.; Sarno, R.; Rochmawati, N.

    2018-01-01

    The extensive adoption of learning management system (LMS) has set the focus on the interoperability requirement. Interoperability is the ability of different computer systems, applications or services to communicate, share and exchange data, information, and knowledge in a precise, effective and consistent way. Semantic web technology and the use of ontologies are able to provide the required computational semantics and interoperability for the automation of tasks in LMS. The purpose of this study is to design learning management system interoperability in the semantic web which currently has not been investigated deeply. Moodle is utilized to design the interoperability. Several database tables of Moodle are enhanced and some features are added. The semantic web interoperability is provided by exploited ontology in content materials. The ontology is further utilized as a searching tool to match user’s queries and available courses. It is concluded that LMS interoperability in Semantic Web is possible to be performed.

  8. Semantic web implications for technologies and business practices

    CERN Document Server

    2016-01-01

    This book examines recent developments in semantic systems that can respond to situations and environments and events. The contributors to this book cover how to design, implement, and utilize disruptive technologies from the semantic and Web 3.0 arena. The editor and the contributors discuss two fundamental sets of disruptive technologies: the development of semantic technologies including description logics, ontologies, and agent frameworks; and the development of semantic information rendering including graphical forms of displays of high-density time-sensitive data to improve situational awareness. Beyond practical illustrations of emerging technologies, the goal of this book is to help readers learn about managing information resources in new ways and reinforcing the learning as they read on.   ·         Examines the contrast of competing paradigms and approaches to problem solving and decision-making using technology tools and techniques ·         Covers how to use semantic principle...

  9. Semantics by analogy for illustrative volume visualization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gerl, Moritz; Rautek, Peter; Isenberg, Tobias; Groeller, Eduard

    We present an interactive graphical approach for the explicit specification of semantics for volume visualization. This explicit and graphical specification of semantics for volumetric features allows us to visually assign meaning to both input and output parameters of the visualization mapping.

  10. Semantic Web Without SPARQL.pdf

    OpenAIRE

    Szekely, Pedro

    2016-01-01

    Discuss the creation of large Semantic Web applications with billions of triples. Instead of using a traditional SPARQL endpoint, our toolchain is a pure JSON toolchain using JSON-LD and ElasticSearch to support queries. The toolchain is familiar to all developers, does not require knowledge of Semantic Web technologies, and performance is 10X better than using SPARQL endpoints. The presentation illustrates the approach in the context of an application to fight human trafficking, using data f...

  11. Efficient computation of argumentation semantics

    CERN Document Server

    Liao, Beishui

    2013-01-01

    Efficient Computation of Argumentation Semantics addresses argumentation semantics and systems, introducing readers to cutting-edge decomposition methods that drive increasingly efficient logic computation in AI and intelligent systems. Such complex and distributed systems are increasingly used in the automation and transportation systems field, and particularly autonomous systems, as well as more generic intelligent computation research. The Series in Intelligent Systems publishes titles that cover state-of-the-art knowledge and the latest advances in research and development in intelligen

  12. Semantic Web Development

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Berners-Lee, Tim; Swick, Ralph

    2006-01-01

    ...) project between 2002 and 2005 provided key steps in the research in the Semantic Web technology, and also played an essential role in delivering the technology to industry and government in the form...

  13. Phonological learning in semantic dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jefferies, Elizabeth; Bott, Samantha; Ehsan, Sheeba; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

    2011-04-01

    Patients with semantic dementia (SD) have anterior temporal lobe (ATL) atrophy that gives rise to a highly selective deterioration of semantic knowledge. Despite pronounced anomia and poor comprehension of words and pictures, SD patients have well-formed, fluent speech and normal digit span. Given the intimate connection between phonological STM and word learning revealed by both neuropsychological and developmental studies, SD patients might be expected to show good acquisition of new phonological forms, even though their ability to map these onto meanings is impaired. In contradiction of these predictions, a limited amount of previous research has found poor learning of new phonological forms in SD. In a series of experiments, we examined whether SD patient, GE, could learn novel phonological sequences and, if so, under which circumstances. GE showed normal benefits of phonological knowledge in STM (i.e., normal phonotactic frequency and phonological similarity effects) but reduced support from semantic memory (i.e., poor immediate serial recall for semantically degraded words, characterised by frequent item errors). Next, we demonstrated normal learning of serial order information for repeated lists of single-digit number words using the Hebb paradigm: these items were well-understood allowing them to be repeated without frequent item errors. In contrast, patient GE showed little learning of nonsense syllable sequences using the same Hebb paradigm. Detailed analysis revealed that both GE and the controls showed a tendency to learn their own errors as opposed to the target items. Finally, we showed normal learning of phonological sequences for GE when he was prevented from repeating his errors. These findings confirm that the ATL atrophy in SD disrupts phonological processing for semantically degraded words but leaves the phonological architecture intact. Consequently, when item errors are minimised, phonological STM can support the acquisition of new phoneme

  14. TRECVid Semantic Indexing of Video: A 6-year Retrospective

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Awad, G.; Snoek, C.G.M.; Smeaton, A.F.; Quénot, G.

    2016-01-01

    Semantic indexing, or assigning semantic tags to video samples, is a key component for content-based access to video documents and collections. The Semantic Indexing task has been run at TRECVid from 2010 to 2015 with the support of NIST and the Quaero project. As with the previous High-Level

  15. Auditory Distraction in Semantic Memory: A Process-Based Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, John E.; Hughes, Robert W.; Jones, Dylan M.

    2008-01-01

    Five experiments demonstrate auditory-semantic distraction in tests of memory for semantic category-exemplars. The effects of irrelevant sound on category-exemplar recall are shown to be functionally distinct from those found in the context of serial short-term memory by showing sensitivity to: The lexical-semantic, rather than acoustic,…

  16. The Role of Simple Semantics in the Process of Artificial Grammar Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

    2017-10-01

    This study investigated the effect of semantic information on artificial grammar learning (AGL). Recursive grammars of different complexity levels (regular language, mirror language, copy language) were investigated in a series of AGL experiments. In the with-semantics condition, participants acquired semantic information prior to the AGL experiment; in the without-semantics control condition, participants did not receive semantic information. It was hypothesized that semantics would generally facilitate grammar acquisition and that the learning benefit in the with-semantics conditions would increase with increasing grammar complexity. Experiment 1 showed learning effects for all grammars but no performance difference between conditions. Experiment 2 replicated the absence of a semantic benefit for all grammars even though semantic information was more prominent during grammar acquisition as compared to Experiment 1. Thus, we did not find evidence for the idea that semantics facilitates grammar acquisition, which seems to support the view of an independent syntactic processing component.

  17. Meaningful Memory in Acute Anorexia Nervosa Patients-Comparing Recall, Learning, and Recognition of Semantically Related and Semantically Unrelated Word Stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Terhoeven, Valentin; Kallen, Ursula; Ingenerf, Katrin; Aschenbrenner, Steffen; Weisbrod, Matthias; Herzog, Wolfgang; Brockmeyer, Timo; Friederich, Hans-Christoph; Nikendei, Christoph

    2017-03-01

    It is unclear whether observed memory impairment in anorexia nervosa (AN) depends on the semantic structure (categorized words) of material to be encoded. We aimed to investigate the processing of semantically related information in AN. Memory performance was assessed in a recall, learning, and recognition test in 27 adult women with AN (19 restricting, 8 binge-eating/purging subtype; average disease duration: 9.32 years) and 30 healthy controls using an extended version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, applying semantically related and unrelated word stimuli. Short-term memory (immediate recall, learning), regardless of semantics of the words, was significantly worse in AN patients, whereas long-term memory (delayed recall, recognition) did not differ between AN patients and controls. Semantics of stimuli do not have a better effect on memory recall in AN compared to CO. Impaired short-term versus long-term memory is discussed in relation to dysfunctional working memory in AN. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

  18. Is the motor system necessary for processing action and abstract emotion words? Evidence from focal brain lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felix R. Dreyer

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging and neuropsychological experiments suggest that modality-preferential cortices, including motor- and somatosensory areas contribute to the semantic processing of action related concrete words. In contrast, a possible role of modality-preferential – including sensorimotor – areas in processing abstract meaning remains under debate. However, recent fMRI studies indicate an involvement of the left sensorimotor cortex in the processing of abstract-emotional words (e.g. love. But are these areas indeed necessary for processing action-related and abstract words? The current study now investigates word processing in two patients suffering from focal brain lesion in the left frontocentral motor system. A speeded lexical decision task (LDT on meticulously matched word groups showed that the recognition of nouns from different semantic categories – related to food, animals, tools and abstract-emotional concepts – was differentially affected. Whereas patient HS with a lesion in dorsolateral central sensorimotor cortex next to the hand area showed a category-specific deficit in recognizing tool words, patient CA suffering from lesion centered in the left SMA was primarily impaired in abstract-emotional word processing. These results point to a causal role of the motor cortex in the semantic processing of both action-related object concepts and abstract-emotional concepts and therefore suggest that the motor areas previously found active in action-related and abstract word processing can serve a meaning-specific necessary role in word recognition. The category-specific nature of the observed dissociations is difficult to reconcile with the idea that sensorimotor systems are somehow peripheral or ‘epiphenomenal’ to meaning and concept processing. Rather, our results are consistent with the claim that cognition is grounded in action and perception and based on distributed action perception circuits reaching into sensorimotor areas.

  19. Semantic Technologies for Nuclear Knowledge Modelling and Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beraha, D.; Gladyshev, M.

    2016-01-01

    Full text: The IAEA has been engaged in working with Member States to preserve and enhance nuclear knowledge, and in supporting wide dissemination of safety related technical and technological information enhancing nuclear safety. The knowledge organization systems (ontologies, taxonomies, thesauri, etc.) provide one of the means to model and structure a given knowledge domain. The significance of knowledge organization systems (KOS) has been greatly enhanced by the evolution of the semantic technologies, enabling machines to “understand” the concepts described in a KOS, and to use them in a variety of applications. Over recent years semantic technologies have emerged as efficient means to improve access to information and knowledge. The Semantic Web Standards play an important role in creating an infrastructure of interoperable data sources based on principles of Linked Data. The status of utilizing semantic technologies in the nuclear domain is shortly reviewed, noting that such technologies are in their early stage of adoption, and considering some aspects which are specific to nuclear knowledge management. Several areas are described where semantic technologies are already deployed, and other areas are indicated where applications based on semantic technologies will have a strong impact on nuclear knowledge management in the near future. (author

  20. Towards the multilingual semantic web principles, methods and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Buitelaar, Paul

    2014-01-01

    To date, the relation between multilingualism and the Semantic Web has not yet received enough attention in the research community. One major challenge for the Semantic Web community is to develop architectures, frameworks and systems that can help in overcoming national and language barriers, facilitating equal access to information produced in different cultures and languages. As such, this volume aims at documenting the state-of-the-art with regard to the vision of a Multilingual Semantic Web, in which semantic information will be accessible in and across multiple languages. The Multiling

  1. VALIDITY OF THE CONNECTION INTER-LEXICAL A-SEMANTICS IN THE COGNITIVE MODEL OF PROCESSING PRAXIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. G. Gómez

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Rothia Gonzalez et al. (1991, 1997 postulated a cognitive model of praxis on which changes were proposed (Cubelli et al., 2000, including the removal of the direct path between both input praxicon and output. Was suggested that to validate an inter-lexical a-semantics path (Cubelli et al., 2000 would enough to find a patientwith preserved ability for imitate familiar gestures, but with disturbances in the ability to access to the meaning of familiar gestures and alterations in ability for imitate unfamiliar gestures. The aim of this work is present two patients whose patterns ofperformance on praxis supports the existence of a pathway inter-lexical a-semantic. We evaluated two patients with Alzheimer type dementia unlikely with a battery of cognitive assessment of apraxia (Politis 2003. Both patients show alterations in test of Imitation of unfamiliar gestures and on tasks which assess semantic action objecttool watching and naming by function, with good performance on the task of imitating familiar gestures. Based on cognitive models of praxis Rothia Gonzalez et al. (1991, 1997 and Cubelli et al. (2000 is require a direct connection between both input praxicon and output to explain the performance of these patients. Of thus, the performance pattern showing both patients confirms existence of a pathway.Interlexical asemantics

  2. Recommendations based on semantically enriched museum collections

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wang, Y.; Stash, N.; Aroyo, L.M.; Gorgels, P.; Rutledge, L.W.; Schreiber, G.

    2008-01-01

    This article presents the CHIP demonstrator1 for providing personalized access to digital museum collections. It consists of three main components: Art Recommender, Tour Wizard, and Mobile Tour Guide. Based on the semantically enriched Rijksmuseum Amsterdam2 collection, we show how Semantic Web

  3. Designing equivalent semantic models for process creation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    P.H.M. America (Pierre); J.W. de Bakker (Jaco)

    1986-01-01

    textabstractOperational and denotational semantic models are designed for languages with process creation, and the relationships between the two semantics are investigated. The presentation is organized in four sections dealing with a uniform and static, a uniform and dynamic, a nonuniform and

  4. Constraint-Based Abstract Semantics for Temporal Logic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Banda, Gourinath; Gallagher, John Patrick

    2010-01-01

    Abstract interpretation provides a practical approach to verifying properties of infinite-state systems. We apply the framework of abstract interpretation to derive an abstract semantic function for the modal mu-calculus, which is the basis for abstract model checking. The abstract semantic funct...

  5. Semantic Categorization: A Comparison between Deaf and Hearing Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ormel, Ellen A.; Gijsel, Martine A. R.; Hermans, Daan; Bosman, Anna M. T.; Knoors, Harry; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2010-01-01

    Learning to read is a major obstacle for children who are deaf. The otherwise significant role of phonology is often limited as a result of hearing loss. However, semantic knowledge may facilitate reading comprehension. One important aspect of semantic knowledge concerns semantic categorization. In the present study, the quality of the semantic…

  6. A Semantic Analysis of the Language of Advertising | Emodi | African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A Semantic Analysis of the Language of Advertising. ... After a brief introduction to semantics and advertising language, the paper is focused on the linguistic realizations in English advertising from the semantic ... AJOL African Journals Online.

  7. On a syntactic-semantic model with the locative case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonić Ivana

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The topic of this paper is a syntactic-semantic model whose distinctive element is the locative case with the preposition U (IN and the relevant feature (+ human being. This model is realized in three different variants - with the intransitive (A or transitive verb (B, where the nominative in the function of subject and the locative indicate different (B1 or the same (B2 referents. Furthermore, the verb belongs to a semantic class which denotes emerging, stimulation, duration, fading away, diminishing or change in the intensity, in principle, of any phenomenon, and concretely in this model such verbs appear in the collocational link with the nouns implying man's psychological, physiological or mental states, feelings or mood. With an adequate analytic procedure, all the three variants of this model are approached from the syntactic-semantic and pragmatic perspective. The paper points to the causative semantics of these structures, reduced to the metalinguistic formula 'make that X V', which confirms that the semantics of these verb-noun collocational links, syntactically speaking, condenses a complex two-member sentential structure represented by the semantically deficient verb (= causative component in the basic, matrix structure, and the complement clause with the conjunction DA (THAT and the basic verb. And precisely from this semantic feature there follows that the notion in the locative case semantically, actually, represents the BEARER of a physiological, physiological or mental state, feeling, mood, so that it represents the GRAMMATICAL SUBJECT of the corresponding basic subordinated predication whose exponent, actually, is the grammatical subject in the structure with the intransitive verb (or with the syntactically-semantically intransitive verb structure, that is the object in the structure with the transitive verb. Two possible semantic interpretations of this model are presented: the one related to the referential pointing to the

  8. Exploring and linking biomedical resources through multidimensional semantic spaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berlanga, Rafael; Jiménez-Ruiz, Ernesto; Nebot, Victoria

    2012-01-25

    The semantic integration of biomedical resources is still a challenging issue which is required for effective information processing and data analysis. The availability of comprehensive knowledge resources such as biomedical ontologies and integrated thesauri greatly facilitates this integration effort by means of semantic annotation, which allows disparate data formats and contents to be expressed under a common semantic space. In this paper, we propose a multidimensional representation for such a semantic space, where dimensions regard the different perspectives in biomedical research (e.g., population, disease, anatomy and protein/genes). This paper presents a novel method for building multidimensional semantic spaces from semantically annotated biomedical data collections. This method consists of two main processes: knowledge and data normalization. The former one arranges the concepts provided by a reference knowledge resource (e.g., biomedical ontologies and thesauri) into a set of hierarchical dimensions for analysis purposes. The latter one reduces the annotation set associated to each collection item into a set of points of the multidimensional space. Additionally, we have developed a visual tool, called 3D-Browser, which implements OLAP-like operators over the generated multidimensional space. The method and the tool have been tested and evaluated in the context of the Health-e-Child (HeC) project. Automatic semantic annotation was applied to tag three collections of abstracts taken from PubMed, one for each target disease of the project, the Uniprot database, and the HeC patient record database. We adopted the UMLS Meta-thesaurus 2010AA as the reference knowledge resource. Current knowledge resources and semantic-aware technology make possible the integration of biomedical resources. Such an integration is performed through semantic annotation of the intended biomedical data resources. This paper shows how these annotations can be exploited for

  9. Semantic Dysfunction in Women With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

    OpenAIRE

    Niznikiewicz, Margaret A.; Shenton, Martha E.; Voglmaier, Martina; Nestor, Paul G.; Dickey, Chandlee C.; Frumin, Melissa; Seidman, Larry J.; Allen, Christopher G.; McCarley, Robert W.

    2002-01-01

    Objective: This study examined whether early or late processes in semantic networks were abnormal in women with a diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder. The N400 component of the EEG event-related potentials was used as a probe of semantic processes. Method: Word pairs were presented with short and long stimulus-onset asynchronies to investigate, respectively, early and late semantic processes in 16 women with schizotypal personality disorder and 15 normal female comparison subjects. ...

  10. Unsure When to Stop? Ask Your Semantic Neighbors

    OpenAIRE

    Gonçalves, Ivo; Silva, Sara; Fonseca, Carlos M.; Castelli, Mauro

    2017-01-01

    In iterative supervised learning algorithms it is common to reach a point in the search where no further induction seems to be possible with the available data. If the search is continued beyond this point, the risk of overfitting increases significantly. Following the recent developments in inductive semantic stochastic methods, this paper studies the feasibility of using information gathered from the semantic neighborhood to decide when to stop the search. Two semantic stopping criteria are...

  11. The Semantic Web and Educational Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maddux, Cleborne D., Ed.

    2008-01-01

    The "Semantic Web" is an idea proposed by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the "World Wide Web." The topic has been generating a great deal of interest and enthusiasm, and there is a rapidly growing body of literature dealing with it. This article attempts to explain how the Semantic Web would work, and explores short-term and long-term…

  12. A Walk in the Semantic Park

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Danvy, Olivier; Johannsen, Jacob; Zerny, Ian

    2011-01-01

    To celebrate the 20th anniversary of PEPM, we are inviting you to a walk in the semantic park and to inter-derive reduction-based and reduction-free negational normalization functions.......To celebrate the 20th anniversary of PEPM, we are inviting you to a walk in the semantic park and to inter-derive reduction-based and reduction-free negational normalization functions....

  13. Knowledge represented using RDF semantic network in the concept of semantic web

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lukasova, A., E-mail: alena.lukasova@osu.cz; Vajgl, M., E-mail: marek.vajgl@osu.cz; Zacek, M., E-mail: martin.zacek@osu.cz [Department of Informatics and Computers, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava 30. dubna 22, 701 03 Ostrava, Czech Republic http://prf.osu.eu/kip/ (Czech Republic)

    2016-06-08

    The RDF(S) model has been declared as the basic model to capture knowledge of the semantic web. It provides a common and flexible way to decompose composed knowledge to elementary statements, which can be represented by RDF triples or by RDF graph vectors. From the logical point of view, elements of knowledge can be expressed using at most binary predicates, which can be converted to RDF-triples or graph vectors. However, it is not able to capture implicit knowledge representable by logical formulas. This contribution shows how existing approaches (semantic networks and clausal form logic) can be combined together with RDF to obtain RDF-compatible system with ability to represent implicit knowledge and inference over knowledge base.

  14. Knowledge represented using RDF semantic network in the concept of semantic web

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lukasova, A.; Vajgl, M.; Zacek, M.

    2016-01-01

    The RDF(S) model has been declared as the basic model to capture knowledge of the semantic web. It provides a common and flexible way to decompose composed knowledge to elementary statements, which can be represented by RDF triples or by RDF graph vectors. From the logical point of view, elements of knowledge can be expressed using at most binary predicates, which can be converted to RDF-triples or graph vectors. However, it is not able to capture implicit knowledge representable by logical formulas. This contribution shows how existing approaches (semantic networks and clausal form logic) can be combined together with RDF to obtain RDF-compatible system with ability to represent implicit knowledge and inference over knowledge base.

  15. Semantic processing in deaf and hard-of-hearing children: Large N400 mismatch effects in brain responses, despite poor semantic ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petter Kallioinen

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Difficulties in auditory and phonological processing affect semantic processing in speech comprehension of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH children. However, little is known about brain responses of semantic processing in this group. We investigated event-related potentials (ERPs in DHH children with cochlear implants (CI and/or hearing aids (HA, and in normally hearing controls (NH. We used a semantic priming task with spoken word primes followed by picture targets. In both DHH children and controls, response differences between matching and mismatching targets revealed a typical N400-effect associated with semantic processing. Children with CI had the largest mismatch response despite poor semantic abilities overall, children with CI also had the largest ERP differentiation between mismatch types, with small effects of within-category mismatches (target from same category as prime and large effects between-category mismatches (were target is from a different category than prime. NH and HA children had similar responses to both mismatch types. While the large and differentiated ERP responses in the CI group were unexpected and should be interpreted with caution, the results could reflect less precision in semantic processing among children with CI, or a stronger reliance on predictive processing.

  16. A developer's guide to the semantic web

    CERN Document Server

    Yu, Liyang

    2014-01-01

    The Semantic Web represents a vision for how to make the huge amount of information on the Web automatically processable by machines on a large scale. For this purpose, a whole suite of standards, technologies and related tools have been specified and developed over the last couple of years and they have now become the foundation for numerous new applications. A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web helps the reader to learn the core standards, key components and underlying concepts. It provides in-depth coverage of both the what-is and how-to aspects of the Semantic Web. From Yu's presentat

  17. Semantics of the VDM Real-Time Dialect

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lausdahl, Kenneth; Coleman, Joey; Larsen, Peter Gorm

    All formally defined languages need to be given an unambiguous semantics such that the meaning of all models expressed using the language is clear. In this technical report a semantic model is provided for the Real-Time dialect of the Vienna Development Method (VDM). This builds upon both...... the formal semantics provided for the ISO standard VDM Specification Language, and on other work on the core of the VDM-RT notation. Although none of the VDM dialects are executable in general, the primary focus of the work presented here is on the executable subset. This focus is result of parallel work...

  18. A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web

    CERN Document Server

    Yu, Liyang

    2011-01-01

    The Semantic Web represents a vision for how to make the huge amount of information on the Web automatically processable by machines on a large scale. For this purpose, a whole suite of standards, technologies and related tools have been specified and developed over the last couple of years, and they have now become the foundation for numerous new applications. A Developer's Guide to the Semantic Web helps the reader to learn the core standards, key components, and underlying concepts. It provides in-depth coverage of both the what-is and how-to aspects of the Semantic Web. From Yu's presentat

  19. Reflect: a practical approach to web semantics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    O'Donoghue, S.I.; Horn, Heiko; Pafilisa, E.

    2010-01-01

    To date, adding semantic capabilities to web content usually requires considerable server-side re-engineering, thus only a tiny fraction of all web content currently has semantic annotations. Recently, we announced Reflect (http://reflect.ws), a free service that takes a more practical approach......: Reflect uses augmented browsing to allow end-users to add systematic semantic annotations to any web-page in real-time, typically within seconds. In this paper we describe the tagging process in detail and show how further entity types can be added to Reflect; we also describe how publishers and content...... web technologies....

  20. [Electrophysiological bases of semantic processing of objects].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahlaoui, Karima; Baccino, Thierry; Joanette, Yves; Magnié, Marie-Noële

    2007-02-01

    How pictures and words are stored and processed in the human brain constitute a long-standing question in cognitive psychology. Behavioral studies have yielded a large amount of data addressing this issue. Generally speaking, these data show that there are some interactions between the semantic processing of pictures and words. However, behavioral methods can provide only limited insight into certain findings. Fortunately, Event-Related Potential (ERP) provides on-line cues about the temporal nature of cognitive processes and contributes to the exploration of their neural substrates. ERPs have been used in order to better understand semantic processing of words and pictures. The main objective of this article is to offer an overview of the electrophysiologic bases of semantic processing of words and pictures. Studies presented in this article showed that the processing of words is associated with an N 400 component, whereas pictures elicited both N 300 and N 400 components. Topographical analysis of the N 400 distribution over the scalp is compatible with the idea that both image-mediated concrete words and pictures access an amodal semantic system. However, given the distinctive N 300 patterns, observed only during picture processing, it appears that picture and word processing rely upon distinct neuronal networks, even if they end up activating more or less similar semantic representations.

  1. Type-specific proactive interference in patients with semantic and phonological STM deficits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Lara; Olson, Andrew; Humphreys, Glyn

    2014-01-01

    Prior neuropsychological evidence suggests that semantic and phonological components of short-term memory (STM) are functionally and neurologically distinct. The current paper examines proactive interference (PI) from semantic and phonological information in two STM-impaired patients, DS (semantic STM deficit) and AK (phonological STM deficit). In Experiment 1 probe recognition tasks with open and closed sets of stimuli were used. Phonological PI was assessed using nonword items, and semantic and phonological PI was assessed using words. In Experiment 2 phonological and semantic PI was elicited by an item recognition probe test with stimuli that bore phonological and semantic relations to the probes. The data suggested heightened phonological PI for the semantic STM patient, and exaggerated effects of semantic PI in the phonological STM case. The findings are consistent with an account of extremely rapid decay of activated type-specific representations in cases of severely impaired phonological and semantic STM.

  2. Contextually guided very-high-resolution imagery classification with semantic segments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Wenzhi; Du, Shihong; Wang, Qiao; Emery, William J.

    2017-10-01

    Contextual information, revealing relationships and dependencies between image objects, is one of the most important information for the successful interpretation of very-high-resolution (VHR) remote sensing imagery. Over the last decade, geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) technique has been widely used to first divide images into homogeneous parts, and then to assign semantic labels according to the properties of image segments. However, due to the complexity and heterogeneity of VHR images, segments without semantic labels (i.e., semantic-free segments) generated with low-level features often fail to represent geographic entities (such as building roofs usually be partitioned into chimney/antenna/shadow parts). As a result, it is hard to capture contextual information across geographic entities when using semantic-free segments. In contrast to low-level features, "deep" features can be used to build robust segments with accurate labels (i.e., semantic segments) in order to represent geographic entities at higher levels. Based on these semantic segments, semantic graphs can be constructed to capture contextual information in VHR images. In this paper, semantic segments were first explored with convolutional neural networks (CNN) and a conditional random field (CRF) model was then applied to model the contextual information between semantic segments. Experimental results on two challenging VHR datasets (i.e., the Vaihingen and Beijing scenes) indicate that the proposed method is an improvement over existing image classification techniques in classification performance (overall accuracy ranges from 82% to 96%).

  3. Semantic similarity measure in biomedical domain leverage web search engine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Chi-Huang; Hsieh, Sheau-Ling; Weng, Yung-Ching; Chang, Wen-Yung; Lai, Feipei

    2010-01-01

    Semantic similarity measure plays an essential role in Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing. In this paper we propose a page-count-based semantic similarity measure and apply it in biomedical domains. Previous researches in semantic web related applications have deployed various semantic similarity measures. Despite the usefulness of the measurements in those applications, measuring semantic similarity between two terms remains a challenge task. The proposed method exploits page counts returned by the Web Search Engine. We define various similarity scores for two given terms P and Q, using the page counts for querying P, Q and P AND Q. Moreover, we propose a novel approach to compute semantic similarity using lexico-syntactic patterns with page counts. These different similarity scores are integrated adapting support vector machines, to leverage the robustness of semantic similarity measures. Experimental results on two datasets achieve correlation coefficients of 0.798 on the dataset provided by A. Hliaoutakis, 0.705 on the dataset provide by T. Pedersen with physician scores and 0.496 on the dataset provided by T. Pedersen et al. with expert scores.

  4. Intelligence related upper alpha desynchronization in a semantic memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doppelmayr, M; Klimesch, W; Hödlmoser, K; Sauseng, P; Gruber, W

    2005-07-30

    Recent evidence shows that event-related (upper) alpha desynchronization (ERD) is related to cognitive performance. Several studies observed a positive, some a negative relationship. The latter finding, interpreted in terms of the neural efficiency hypothesis, suggests that good performance is associated with a more 'efficient', smaller extent of cortical activation. Other studies found that ERD increases with semantic processing demands and that this increase is larger for good performers. Studies supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis used tasks that do not specifically require semantic processing. Thus, we assume that the lack of semantic processing demands may at least in part be responsible for the reduced ERD. In the present study we measured ERD during a difficult verbal-semantic task. The findings demonstrate that during semantic processing, more intelligent (as compared to less intelligent) subjects exhibited a significantly larger upper alpha ERD over the left hemisphere. We conclude that more intelligent subjects exhibit a more extensive activation in a semantic processing system and suggest that divergent findings regarding the neural efficiency hypotheses are due to task specific differences in semantic processing demands.

  5. SemVisM: semantic visualizer for medical image

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landaeta, Luis; La Cruz, Alexandra; Baranya, Alexander; Vidal, María.-Esther

    2015-01-01

    SemVisM is a toolbox that combines medical informatics and computer graphics tools for reducing the semantic gap between low-level features and high-level semantic concepts/terms in the images. This paper presents a novel strategy for visualizing medical data annotated semantically, combining rendering techniques, and segmentation algorithms. SemVisM comprises two main components: i) AMORE (A Modest vOlume REgister) to handle input data (RAW, DAT or DICOM) and to initially annotate the images using terms defined on medical ontologies (e.g., MesH, FMA or RadLex), and ii) VOLPROB (VOlume PRObability Builder) for generating the annotated volumetric data containing the classified voxels that belong to a particular tissue. SemVisM is built on top of the semantic visualizer ANISE.1

  6. Practical solutions to implementing "Born Semantic" data systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leadbetter, A.; Buck, J. J. H.; Stacey, P.

    2015-12-01

    The concept of data being "Born Semantic" has been proposed in recent years as a Semantic Web analogue to the idea of data being "born digital"[1], [2]. Within the "Born Semantic" concept, data are captured digitally and at a point close to the time of creation are annotated with markup terms from semantic web resources (controlled vocabularies, thesauri or ontologies). This allows heterogeneous data to be more easily ingested and amalgamated in near real-time due to the standards compliant annotation of the data. In taking the "Born Semantic" proposal from concept to operation, a number of difficulties have been encountered. For example, although there are recognised methods such as Header, Dictionary, Triples [3] for the compression, publication and dissemination of large volumes of triples these systems are not practical to deploy in the field on low-powered (both electrically and computationally) devices. Similarly, it is not practical for instruments to output fully formed semantically annotated data files if they are designed to be plugged into a modular system and the data to be centrally logged in the field as is the case on Argo floats and oceanographic gliders where internal bandwidth becomes an issue [2]. In light of these issues, this presentation will concentrate on pragmatic solutions being developed to the problem of generating Linked Data in near real-time systems. Specific examples from the European Commission SenseOCEAN project where Linked Data systems are being developed for autonomous underwater platforms, and from work being undertaken in the streaming of data from the Irish Galway Bay Cable Observatory initiative will be highlighted. Further, developments of a set of tools for the LogStash-ElasticSearch software ecosystem to allow the storing and retrieval of Linked Data will be introduced. References[1] A. Leadbetter & J. Fredericks, We have "born digital" - now what about "born semantic"?, European Geophysical Union General Assembly, 2014

  7. Semantic memory impairment in the earliest phases of Alzheimer's disease

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vogel, Asmus; Gade, Anders; Stokholm, Jette

    2005-01-01

    The presence and the nature of semantic memory dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been widely debated. This study aimed to determine the frequency of impaired semantic test performances in mild AD and to study whether incipient semantic impairments could be identified in predementia AD....... Five short neuropsychological tests sensitive to semantic memory and easily applicable in routine practice were administered to 102 patients with mild AD (Mini-Mental State Examination score above 19), 22 predementia AD patients and 58 healthy subjects. 'Category fluency' and 'naming of famous faces......' were the most frequently impaired tests in both patient groups. The study demonstrated that impairments on semantically related tests are common in mild AD and may exist prior to the clinical diagnosis. The results imply that assessment of semantic memory is relevant in the evaluation of patients...

  8. Detecting Damaged Building Regions Based on Semantic Scene Change from Multi-Temporal High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jihui Tu

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The detection of damaged building regions is crucial to emergency response actions and rescue work after a disaster. Change detection methods using multi-temporal remote sensing images are widely used for this purpose. Differing from traditional methods based on change detection for damaged building regions, semantic scene change can provide a new point of view since it can indicate the land-use variation at the semantic level. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for detecting damaged building regions based on semantic scene change in a visual Bag-of-Words model. Pre- and post-disaster scene change in building regions are represented by a uniform visual codebook frequency. The scene change of damaged and non-damaged building regions is discriminated using the Support Vector Machine (SVM classifier. An evaluation of experimental results, for a selected study site of the Longtou hill town of Yunnan, China, which was heavily damaged in the Ludian earthquake of 14 March 2013, shows that this method is feasible and effective for detecting damaged building regions. For the experiments, WorldView-2 optical imagery and aerial imagery is used.

  9. Experience of Developing a Meta-Semantic Search Engine

    OpenAIRE

    Mukhopadhyay, Debajyoti; Sharma, Manoj; Joshi, Gajanan; Pagare, Trupti; Palwe, Adarsha

    2013-01-01

    Thinking of todays web search scenario which is mainly keyword based, leads to the need of effective and meaningful search provided by Semantic Web. Existing search engines are vulnerable to provide relevant answers to users query due to their dependency on simple data available in web pages. On other hand, semantic search engines provide efficient and relevant results as the semantic web manages information with well defined meaning using ontology. A Meta-Search engine is a search tool that ...

  10. The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Wendy S; Taylor, Randolph S; Gutiérrez, Marisela; Liaño, Mary K; Manzanera, Diana G; Penalver, Renee M

    2018-05-19

    Two experiments investigated how well bilinguals utilise long-standing semantic associations to encode and retrieve semantic clusters in verbal episodic memory. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word and picture sets. Word recall was equivalent in L1 and L2, picture recall was better in L1 than in L2, and the picture superiority effect was stronger in L1 than in L2. Semantic clustering in word and picture recall was equivalent in L1 and L2. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) and English-speaking monolinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word sequences that contained semantically related pairs. Data were analyzed using a multinomial processing tree approach, the pair-clustering model. Cluster formation was more likely for semantically organised than for randomly ordered word sequences. Probabilities of cluster formation, cluster retrieval, and retrieval of unclustered items did not differ across languages or language groups. Language proficiency has little if any impact on the utilisation of long-standing semantic associations, which are language-general.

  11. Semantic Indexing of Medical Learning Objects: Medical Students' Usage of a Semantic Network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tix, Nadine; Gießler, Paul; Ohnesorge-Radtke, Ursula; Spreckelsen, Cord

    2015-11-11

    The Semantically Annotated Media (SAM) project aims to provide a flexible platform for searching, browsing, and indexing medical learning objects (MLOs) based on a semantic network derived from established classification systems. Primarily, SAM supports the Aachen emedia skills lab, but SAM is ready for indexing distributed content and the Simple Knowledge Organizing System standard provides a means for easily upgrading or even exchanging SAM's semantic network. There is a lack of research addressing the usability of MLO indexes or search portals like SAM and the user behavior with such platforms. The purpose of this study was to assess the usability of SAM by investigating characteristic user behavior of medical students accessing MLOs via SAM. In this study, we chose a mixed-methods approach. Lean usability testing was combined with usability inspection by having the participants complete four typical usage scenarios before filling out a questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on the IsoMetrics usability inventory. Direct user interaction with SAM (mouse clicks and pages accessed) was logged. The study analyzed the typical usage patterns and habits of students using a semantic network for accessing MLOs. Four scenarios capturing characteristics of typical tasks to be solved by using SAM yielded high ratings of usability items and showed good results concerning the consistency of indexing by different users. Long-tail phenomena emerge as they are typical for a collaborative Web 2.0 platform. Suitable but nonetheless rarely used keywords were assigned to MLOs by some users. It is possible to develop a Web-based tool with high usability and acceptance for indexing and retrieval of MLOs. SAM can be applied to indexing multicentered repositories of MLOs collaboratively.

  12. Engineering Object-Oriented Semantics Using Graph Transformations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kastenberg, H.; Kleppe, A.G.; Rensink, Arend

    In this paper we describe the application of the theory of graph transformations to the practise of language design. We have defined the semantics of a small but realistic object-oriented language (called TAAL) by mapping the language constructs to graphs and their operational semantics to graph

  13. A Semantics for Modular General Logic Programs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Etalle, Sandro

    1998-01-01

    Modular programs are built as a combination of separate modules, which may be developed and verified separately. Therefore, in order to reason over such programs, compositionality plays a crucial role: the semantics of the whole program must be obtainable as a simple function from the semantics of

  14. A semantics for modular general logic programs

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Etalle, S.

    1998-01-01

    Modular programs are built as a combination of separate modules, which may be developed and verified separately. Therefore, in order to reason over such programs, compositionality plays a crucial role: the semantics of the whole program must be obtainable as a simple function from the semantics of

  15. Towards a semantic web connecting knowledge in academic research

    CERN Document Server

    Cope, Bill; Magee, Liam

    2011-01-01

    This book addresses the question of how knowledge is currently documented, and may soon be documented in the context of what it calls 'semantic publishing'. This takes two forms: a more narrowly and technically defined 'semantic web'; as well as a broader notion of semantic publishing. This book examines the ways in which knowledge is represented in journal articles and books. By contrast, it goes on to explore the potential impacts of semantic publishing on academic research and authorship. It sets this in the context of changing knowledge ecologies: the way research is done; the way knowledg

  16. Propagating semantic information in biochemical network models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schulz Marvin

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To enable automatic searches, alignments, and model combination, the elements of systems biology models need to be compared and matched across models. Elements can be identified by machine-readable biological annotations, but assigning such annotations and matching non-annotated elements is tedious work and calls for automation. Results A new method called "semantic propagation" allows the comparison of model elements based not only on their own annotations, but also on annotations of surrounding elements in the network. One may either propagate feature vectors, describing the annotations of individual elements, or quantitative similarities between elements from different models. Based on semantic propagation, we align partially annotated models and find annotations for non-annotated model elements. Conclusions Semantic propagation and model alignment are included in the open-source library semanticSBML, available on sourceforge. Online services for model alignment and for annotation prediction can be used at http://www.semanticsbml.org.

  17. Semantic-JSON: a lightweight web service interface for Semantic Web contents integrating multiple life science databases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Norio; Ishii, Manabu; Takahashi, Satoshi; Mochizuki, Yoshiki; Matsushima, Akihiro; Toyoda, Tetsuro

    2011-07-01

    Global cloud frameworks for bioinformatics research databases become huge and heterogeneous; solutions face various diametric challenges comprising cross-integration, retrieval, security and openness. To address this, as of March 2011 organizations including RIKEN published 192 mammalian, plant and protein life sciences databases having 8.2 million data records, integrated as Linked Open or Private Data (LOD/LPD) using SciNetS.org, the Scientists' Networking System. The huge quantity of linked data this database integration framework covers is based on the Semantic Web, where researchers collaborate by managing metadata across public and private databases in a secured data space. This outstripped the data query capacity of existing interface tools like SPARQL. Actual research also requires specialized tools for data analysis using raw original data. To solve these challenges, in December 2009 we developed the lightweight Semantic-JSON interface to access each fragment of linked and raw life sciences data securely under the control of programming languages popularly used by bioinformaticians such as Perl and Ruby. Researchers successfully used the interface across 28 million semantic relationships for biological applications including genome design, sequence processing, inference over phenotype databases, full-text search indexing and human-readable contents like ontology and LOD tree viewers. Semantic-JSON services of SciNetS.org are provided at http://semanticjson.org.

  18. Semantics for Communicating Actors with Interdependent Real-Time Deadlines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knoll, Istvan; Ravn, Anders Peter; Skou, Arne

    2009-01-01

    on the results, these tools must use consistent semantics for the model. Yet, a monolithic semantic model is just as complex as the entity it describes. In order to circumvent this issue, we define a three level semantics giving independent definitions of the functionality of actors, the temporal properties...... of communications, and finally imposing deadlines on the timing of dependent actors. With this approach the semantics is used directly in developing a simulator supporting the nondeterminism of the abstract semantics such that e.g. potential race conditions can be detected. The layers are also planned to underpin...... independent specialized verification tools. The verification task for timed, hybrid systems can thus be divided into the continuous, discrete, and timing domains with automated translation to specialized tools, and this promises better scalability than simulation or model checking of one complex model....

  19. A SEMantic and EPisodic Memory Test (SEMEP) Developed within the Embodied Cognition Framework: Application to Normal Aging, Alzheimer's Disease and Semantic Dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vallet, Guillaume T; Hudon, Carol; Bier, Nathalie; Macoir, Joël; Versace, Rémy; Simard, Martine

    2017-01-01

    Embodiment has highlighted the importance of sensory-motor components in cognition. Perception and memory are thus very tightly bound together, and episodic and semantic memories should rely on the same grounded memory traces. Reduced perception should then directly reduce the ability to encode and retrieve an episodic memory, as in normal aging. Multimodal integration deficits, as in Alzheimer's disease, should lead to more severe episodic memory impairment. The present study introduces a new memory test developed to take into account these assumptions. The SEMEP (SEMantic-Episodic) memory test proposes to assess conjointly semantic and episodic knowledge across multiple tasks: semantic matching, naming, free recall, and recognition. The performance of young adults is compared to healthy elderly adults (HE), patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and patients with semantic dementia (SD). The results show specific patterns of performance between the groups. HE commit memory errors only for presented but not to be remembered items. AD patients present the worst episodic memory performance associated with intrusion errors (recall or recognition of items never presented). They were the only group to not benefit from a visual isolation (addition of a yellow background), a method known to increase the distinctiveness of the memory traces. Finally, SD patients suffer from the most severe semantic impairment. To conclude, confusion errors are common across all the elderly groups, whereas AD was the only group to exhibit regular intrusion errors and SD patients to show severe semantic impairment.

  20. A SEMantic and EPisodic Memory Test (SEMEP Developed within the Embodied Cognition Framework: Application to Normal Aging, Alzheimer's Disease and Semantic Dementia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillaume T. Vallet

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Embodiment has highlighted the importance of sensory-motor components in cognition. Perception and memory are thus very tightly bound together, and episodic and semantic memories should rely on the same grounded memory traces. Reduced perception should then directly reduce the ability to encode and retrieve an episodic memory, as in normal aging. Multimodal integration deficits, as in Alzheimer's disease, should lead to more severe episodic memory impairment. The present study introduces a new memory test developed to take into account these assumptions. The SEMEP (SEMantic-Episodic memory test proposes to assess conjointly semantic and episodic knowledge across multiple tasks: semantic matching, naming, free recall, and recognition. The performance of young adults is compared to healthy elderly adults (HE, patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, and patients with semantic dementia (SD. The results show specific patterns of performance between the groups. HE commit memory errors only for presented but not to be remembered items. AD patients present the worst episodic memory performance associated with intrusion errors (recall or recognition of items never presented. They were the only group to not benefit from a visual isolation (addition of a yellow background, a method known to increase the distinctiveness of the memory traces. Finally, SD patients suffer from the most severe semantic impairment. To conclude, confusion errors are common across all the elderly groups, whereas AD was the only group to exhibit regular intrusion errors and SD patients to show severe semantic impairment.