1,721,067 research outputs found
A novel Semantic Information Retrieval system based on a three-level model
No full textThis paper presents a methodology and a prototype for extracting and indexing knowledge from natural language documents. The underlying domain model relies on a conceptual level (described by means of a domain ontology), which represents the domain knowledge, and a lexical level (based on WordNet), which represents the domain vocabulary. A stochastic model (the ME-2L-HMM2, which mixes – in a novel way – HMM and maximum entropy models) stores the mapping between such levels, taking into account the linguistic context of words. Not only does such a context contain the surrounding words; it also contains morphologic and syntactic information extracted using natural language processing tools. The stochastic model is then used, during the document indexing phase, to disambiguate word meanings. The semantic information retrieval engine we developed supports simple keyword-based queries, as well as natural language-based queries. The engine is also able to extend the domain knowledge, discovering new and relevant concepts to add to the domain model. The validation tests indicate that the system is able to disambiguate and extract concepts with good accuracy. A comparison between our prototype and a classic search engine shows that the proposed approach is effective in providing better accuracy
The definition of a descriptive space of Italian prosodic forms: The CALLIOPE model
No full textCALLIOPE (Combined and Assessed List of Latent Influences On Prosodic Expressivity) is a model that aims at categorizing all prosodic forms. Following Cresti (2000), we will call sentences as Information Units (UI). Each UI has a surjective correspondence with a specific prosodic unit, and conveys a specific informative intention. With our model, we aim at providing a list of all possible factors that affect the prosody, and consequently the interpretation, of every UI. The CALLIOPE model defines a multidimensional “space”, where each “dimension” represents a characteristic influencing the vocal paralinguistic components of UIs. Each characteristic is actually a categorical variable, assuming values in a set of labels; for example, the dimension Emotion contains the labels sadness, joy, fear, etc
Multimodal Interaction for users with Autism in a 3D Educational Environment
No full textThe paper presents a new multimodal 3D education environment for children with autism. The new multimodal interaction system considers a combination of visual, voice, and textual modalities. In particular, it allows children with autism to access contents through easy iconic symbols designed to guide them into the innovative environment. For that purpose, it has been very important to consider and identify the classes and attributes necessary to correctly describe different users. In the architecture hierarchy three different user profiles have been considered and structured, following the ICF* model (an extension of the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health guidelines), and describing both static and dynamic properties. A specific iconic language has been used to enrich and to present the virtual environment. Simultaneous visual, audio, and cognitive stimuli have been carefully used: they could be potential barriers but also rich opportunities for persons with autism. It has not been only a matter of putting information in a virtual space; it has been necessary to design and develop new languages, metaphors, and codes of interaction, in order to reduce the distance between the user and the system. In this case, communication talks via images, sounds, and gestures have been fundamental. The approach of the project takes into account the user model, the user profiles, the personalization, and the experimentation
Acoustic and grammatical characterization of crisis-related babblings in Italian persons undergoing Courts-of-Law examinations
No full textThis work investigates babblings during crises in Italian persons undergoing Court-of-Law examinations. The analysis was conducted on an audio/textual corpus that extends the one provided by the DIKE project. We found that most of crises (more than 80%) were characterized by babblings. Thus, we tried to characterize babblings looking at low-level acoustic features –such as speech pauses, word durations, intensity/pitch contours, intensity/pitch mean values– and found interesting results. Then we analyzed words in babblings, highlighting semantic roles and grammatical typologies; and again we found interesting clues. We conclude that in stressful setting, as Court- of-Law examinations, during crises, babblings exhibit a precise behavior, in terms of both acoustic and grammatical features
Personalizing and making accessible innovative academic services using ICF*, an extended version of the WHO ICF model
No full textKaSPAR: a prosodic multimodal software for dyslexia
No full textIn this work we describe our roadmap to KaSPAR (Karaoke Speech-Prosody Analyzer and Recognizer), a software application dealing with the problematic of learning English as a foreign language, for Italian (or other transparent, romance languages) mother-tongue subjects with dyslexia. We aim at enriching the traditional learning-based methods, and leveraging a multi-sensorial and emotional approach. The basic idea is to invite subjects to imitate pronunciation and prosody of an English mother-tongue speaker with visual-auditory and real-time feedback, to stimulate the modulation and the control of their oral linguistic productions. The project uses knowledge coming from different fields of study, first of all, creating a link between learning English prosodic problems in dyslexics and the extraction of acoustic features, already known in the Music Information Retrieval field and MPEG-7 encoding. Analysis protocols, based on multidimensional analysis techniques of data, collected from sessions, will assess improvements of the subject’s speech abilities, and the impact on her/his specific issues
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