Automatic coding of dialogue acts in collaboration protocols

Although protocol analysis can be an important tool for researchers to investigate the process of collaboration and communication, the use of this method of analysis can be time consuming. Hence, an automatic coding procedure for coding dialogue acts was developed. This procedure helps to determine the communicative function of messages in online discussions by recognizing discourse markers and cue phrases in the utterances. Five main communicative functions are distinguished: argumentative, responsive, informative, elicitative, and imperative. A total of 29 different dialogue acts are specified and recognized automatically in collaboration protocols. The reliability of the automatic coding procedure was determined by comparing automatically coded dialogue acts to hand-coded dialogue acts by a human rater. The validity of the automatic coding procedure was examined using three different types of analyses. First, an examination of group differences was used (dialogue acts used by female versus male students). Ideally, the coding procedure should be able to distinguish between groups who are likely to communicate differently. Second, to examine the validity of the automatic coding procedure through examination of experimental intervention, the results of the automatic coding procedure of students, with access to a tool that visualizes the degree of participation of each student, were compared to students who did not have access to this tool. Finally, the validity of the automatic coding procedure of dialogue acts was examined using correlation analyses. Results of the automatic coding procedure of dialogue acts of utterances (form) were related to results of a manual coding procedure of the collaborative activities to which the utterances refer (content). The analyses presented in this paper indicate promising results concerning the reliability and validity of the automatic coding procedure for dialogue acts. However, limitations of the procedure were also found and discussed.     

The Communicative Functions of Emoticons in Workplace E‐Mails: :‐)

CMC research presents emoticons as visual representations of writers' emotions. We argue that the emoticons in authentic workplace e‐mails do not primarily indicate writers' emotions. Rather, they provide information about how an utterance is supposed to be interpreted. We show that emoticons function as contextualization cues, which serve to organize interpersonal relations in written interaction. They serve 3 communicative functions. First, when following signatures, emoticons function as markers of a positive attitude. Second, when following utterances that are intended to be interpreted as humorous, they are joke/irony markers. Third, they are hedges: when following expressive speech acts (such as thanks, greetings, etc.) they function as strengtheners and when following directives (such as requests, corrections, etc.) they function as softeners.     

Multi-agent human–machine dialogue: issues in dialogue management and referring expression semantics

This paper presents an implemented model of dialogue management for simple dialogues involving multiple speakers. In our model, the user is one speaker, and the system ‘plays’ a number of other speakers. We present a number of principles governing dialogue management in such cases, which relate to turn-taking and the identification of the addressees of utterances. We also consider how to extend a syntactic and semantic treatment of first- and second-person personal pronouns, and of addressee terms, in order to deal with the multi-speaker scenario. We give some examples of our current system, and conclude by outlining some extensions of the system to include disagreements, interruptions, and private communication between subgroups of dialogue participants.     

Control of data processing systems by voice commands

Abstract

A spoken dialogue between a user and a computer system has to be governed by the system because of: (i) the limited capabilities of present word-recognition apparatus; and (ii) the limited possibilities of the system for ‘understanding’ its user. The user's part of the dialogue therefore needs to be unobtrusively controlled by the system by carefully phrased and timed prompts. Short pauses in these prompts enable the experienced user to make shortcuts through the dialogue, without forsaking complete explanations for the inexperienced user. The user is also able to control the system by utilizing other pauses in the system utterances for corrective words or protests in case of incorrect recognition.     

Closed-form solutions of singular KYP lemma: strongly passive systems,and fast lossless trajectories

In this paper, we deal with a special class of passive systems, which possess the characteristic property of having no finite spectral zeros. We call these systems strongly passive. It is well known that, for these systems, storage functions, i.e. solutions to the linear matrix inequality (LMI) arising from the Kalman–Yakubovich–Popov (KYP) lemma, cannot be obtained by the conventional approach of algebraic Riccati equations (AREs) and Hamiltonian matrices. In this paper, we first show that a strongly passive system always admits a unique storage function. We then provide a closed-form expression for this unique storage function. Using the closed-form formula of the unique storage function we characterise the ‘lossless’ trajectories of strongly passive systems and show that such systems admit impulsive lossless trajectories on the half-line; we call them fast lossless trajectories. This adds to the existing notion that such systems do not admit any ‘slow’ lossless trajectories.     

A Statistical Dialogue Analysis Model Based on Speech Acts for Dialogue Machine Translation

In some cases, to make a proper translation of an utterance in a dialogue, different pieces of contextual information are needed. Interpreting such utterances often requires dialogue analysis including speech acts and discourse analysis. In this paper, a statistical dialogue analysis model for Korean–English dialogue machine translation based on speech acts is proposed. The model uses syntactic patterns and n-grams of speech acts. The syntactic patterns include surface syntactic features which are related to the language-dependent expressions of speech acts. Speech-act n-grams are used to approximate the context of utterances. The key feature is the use of speech-act n-grams based on hierarchical recency. Experimental results with trigrams show that the proposed model achieves an accuracy of 66.87% for the top candidate and 82.35% for the top three candidates. It indicates that the proposed model based on hierarchical recency outperforms the model based on linear recency.     

限定领域口语对话系统中超出领域话语的对话行为识别

由于领域外话语具有内容短小、表达多样性、开放性及口语化等特点,限定领域口语对话系统中超出领域话语的对话行为识别是一个挑战。该文提出了一种结合外部无标签微博数据的随机森林对话行为识别方法。该文采用的微博数据无需根据应用领域特点专门收集和挑选,又与口语对话同样具有口语化和表达多样性的特点,其训练得到的词向量在超出领域话语出现超出词汇表字词时提供了有效的相似性扩展度量。随机森林模型具有较好的泛化能力,适合训练数据有限的分类任务。中文特定领域的口语对话语料库测试表明,该文提出的超出领域话语的对话行为识别方法取得了优于最大熵、卷积神经网络等短文本分类研究进展中的方法的效果。     

Homocores,cores and operational inefficiency in superadditive n-person games†

Defect in the core as a solution to n-person superadditive characteristic function games are examined and the process of achieving a ‘ reasonable- ’ core by changing the value of tho grand coalition is studied. A new unique solution concept, the ‘ homoeore ’, is proposed based on the ‘ homomollifier ’ notion interpreted as the result of implicit bargaining and weighted averages of coalitional worth. Thereby unreasonable cores are excluded but a core-like dominance property on the average is maintained. It also yields a measure of ‘ operational efficiency ’ where the game may be interpreted as an economic situation of decreasing marginal productivity     

Ranking multicritena fuzzy alternatives in the decision-maker's preference subspace

This paper offers a new procedure for ranking multicritena fuzzy alternatives when the decision-maker subscribes to the notion of ‘the larger, the better’. For each alternative a joint membership function captures possible interactions among ratings for each criterion. The ranking procedure first orthogonally projects the joint membership functions from the multicritena decision space to the one-dimensional preference subspace, and then the fuzzy projections are ranked in that subspace. A method for generating joint membership functions is introduced, and a numerical example is presented.     

Computation of recursive functionals using minimal initial segments

The following problem in the computation of partial recursive functionals is considered: Minimizing the length of initial segments of input functions containing all function values requested by a machine computing a partial recursive functional. A recursive functional F is constructed such that any algorithm for F has unbounded redundancy, i.e. it requests function values on inputs unboundedly larger than those on which the output of F depends. However, for any recursive functional F such that the length of the segment on which F depends is itself a recursive functional, a non-redundant machine for F can be effectively constructed. Also considered are machines on 0-1 sequences for which it is shown that a machine realizing a given level of significance in a universal test of randomness must have unbounded redundancy.     

The effect of code-mixing on accent identification accuracy

We investigate whether accent identification is more effective for English utterances embedded in a different language as part of a mixed code than for English utterances that are part of a monolingual dialogue. Our focus is on Xhosa and Zulu, two South African languages for which code-mixing with English is very common. In order to carry out our investigation, we extract English utterances from mixed-code Xhosa and Zulu speech corpora, as well as comparable utterances from an English-only corpus by Xhosa and Zulu mother-tongue speakers. Experiments using automatic accent identification systems show that identification is substantially more accurate for the utterances originating from the mixed-code speech. These findings are supported by a corresponding set of perceptual experiments in which human subjects were asked to identify the accents of recorded utterances. We conclude that accent identification is more successful for these utterances because accents are more pronounced for English embedded in mother-tongue speech than for English spoken as part of a monolingual dialogue by non-native speakers. Furthermore we find that this is true for human listeners as well as for automatic identification systems.     

The role of digital artefacts on the interactive whiteboard in supporting classroom dialogue

This paper explores how the interactive whiteboard (IWB) might be harnessed to support student learning through classroom dialogue. This powerful and increasingly prevalent technology opens up opportunities for learners to generate, modify, and evaluate new ideas, through multimodal interaction along with talk. Its use can thereby support rich new forms of dialogue that highlight differences between perspectives, and make ideas and reasoning processes more explicit. The emerging account builds upon Bahktin's conception of dialogue and Wegerif's notion of technology ‘opening up a dialogic space for reflection’, but foregrounds the role of mediating artefacts. Classroom dialogue in the context of IWB use is construed as being facilitated by teachers and learners constructing digitally represented knowledge artefacts together. These visible, dynamic, and constantly evolving resources constitute interim records of activity and act as supportive devices for learners' emerging thinking, rather than finished products of dialogue. This primarily theoretical account is illustrated with examples from case studies of UK classroom practice. Analysing lessons in sequence has illuminated how teachers can exploit the IWB through cumulative interaction with a succession of linked digital resources, and through archiving and revisiting earlier artefacts. The tool thereby helps to support the progression of dialogue over time, across settings and even across learner groups. In sum, the article reframes the notion of dialogue for this new context in which students are actively creating and directly manipulating digital artefacts, and offers some practical examples.     

分段提取函数型数据特征的算法研究

针对函数型数据分类算法中全局统计特征表达能力有限,且显著点特征易受噪声干扰等问题,提出一种基于统计深度方法的函数曲线特征分段提取算法。首先,利用数据平滑技术对离散观测的数据进行平滑化处理,同时引入函数型数据的一阶和二阶导函数;然后,分段计算函数本身及其低阶导函数的马氏积分深度值,在此基础上构造函数曲线特征向量;最后,给出三种选择调节参数的搜索方案,并进行分类研究。在UCR数据集上的实验表明,与当前其他曲线特征提取算法相比,所提算法能有效提取函数曲线特征,提高分类的准确性。     

Minimum attention control for linear systems

In this paper, we present a novel solution to the minimum attention control problem for linear systems. In minimum attention control, the objective is to minimise the ‘attention’ that a control task requires, given certain performance requirements. Here, we interpret ‘attention’ as the inverse of the interexecution time, i.e., the inverse of the time between two consecutive executions. Instrumental for our approach is a particular extension of the notion of a control Lyapunov function and the fact that we allow for only a finite number of possible interexecution times. By choosing this extended control Lyapunov function to be an ∞-norm-based function, the minimum attention control problem can be formulated as a linear program, which can be solved efficiently online. Furthermore, we provide a technique to construct a suitable ∞-norm-based (extended) control Lyapunov function. Finally, we illustrate the theory using a numerical example, which shows that minimum attention control outperforms an alternative ‘attention-aware’ control law available in the literature.     

限定领域口语对话系统中超出领域话语的协处理方法

领域外话语的开放性、口语化以及表达多样性,使得现有的限定领域口语对话系统不能很好地处理超出领域话语。该文提出了一种限定领域口语对话系统协处理方案,基于人工智能标记语言AIML,设计一套理解开放语义用户话语的理解模板,并对未匹配话语基于话语相似度进行理解模板分类,进而采用扩展有限状态自动机处理模式,结合对话流程上下文的状态及信息,实现理解模板到应答模板的转换,改变了单纯模板匹配方法在对话流程控制方面的相对缺失。中文手机导购领域的测试表明,该文所提出的协处理方法能有效地辅助口语对话系统完成限定领域完整对话流程,得到更好的用户满意度。
     

使用共指消解增强多轮任务型对话生成

指代是一种重要的语言现象,运用指代可以避免复杂的词语在句子中重复出现,使语句简洁连贯。在多轮口语对话中,使用代词指代实体可以提高沟通的效率,然而,对话中频繁出现的代词给计算机语言理解增加了难度,进而影响了机器生成回复的质量。该文提出通过消解代词提高对话生成质量,先通过端到端的共指消解模型识别出多轮对话中蕴含的表述同一实体的所有代词和名词短语,即指代簇(coreference clusters);然后使用两种不同的方法,利用指代簇信息增强对话模型: ①使用指代簇信息恢复问句的完整语义,以降低机器语言理解的难度; ②使用图卷积神经网络将指代簇信息编码融入对话生成模型,以提高机器理解对话的能力。该文所提的两个方法在RiSAWOZ公开数据集上进行了验证,实验结果表明,两个方法均可以显著提升对话生成的性能。     

Mobility‐Trees for Indoor Scenes Manipulation

In this work, we introduce the ‘mobility‐tree’ construct for high‐level functional representation of complex 3D indoor scenes. In recent years, digital indoor scenes are becoming increasingly popular, consisting of detailed geometry and complex functionalities. These scenes often consist of objects that reoccur in various poses and interrelate with each other. In this work we analyse the reoccurrence of objects in the scene and automatically detect their functional mobilities. ‘Mobility’ analysis denotes the motion capabilities (i.e. degree of freedom) of an object and its subpart which typically relates to their indoor functionalities. We compute an object's mobility by analysing its spatial arrangement, repetitions and relations with other objects and store it in a ‘mobility‐tree’. Repetitive motions in the scenes are grouped in ‘mobility‐groups’, for which we develop a set of sophisticated controllers facilitating semantical high‐level editing operations. We show applications of our mobility analysis to interactive scene manipulation and reorganization, and present results for a variety of indoor scenes.     

The effects of animations on verbal interaction in computer supported collaborative learning

Abstract This paper focuses on the interaction patterns of learners studying in pairs who were provided with multimedia learning material. In a previous article, we reported that learning scores were higher for dyads of an ‘animations’ condition than for dyads of a ‘static pictures’ condition. Results also showed that offering a persistent display of one snapshot of each animated sequence hindered collaborative learning. In the present paper, further analyses of verbal interactions within learning dyads were performed in order to have a better understanding of both the beneficial effect of animations and the detrimental effect of the presence of persistent snapshots of critical steps on collaborative learning. Results did not show any differences in terms of verbal categories between the two versions of the instructional material, that is, static versus animated pictures. Pairs who were provided with persistent snapshots of the multimedia sequences produced fewer utterances compared to participants without the snapshots. In addition, the persistent snapshots were detrimental both in terms of providing information about the learning content and in terms of producing utterances solely for the purpose of managing the interaction. In this study, evidence also showed that these two verbal categories were positively related to learning performances. Finally, mediation analyses revealed that the negative effect of persistent snapshots was mediated by the fact that peers of the snapshots condition produced less information providing and interaction management utterances. Results are interpreted using a psycholinguistic framework applied to computer‐supported collaborative learning (CSCL) literature and general guidelines are derived for the use of dynamic material and persistency tools in the design of CSCL environments.