REX-J: Japanese referring expression corpus of situated dialogs

Identifying objects in conversation is a fundamental human capability necessary to achieve efficient collaboration on any real world task. Hence the deepening of our understanding of human referential behaviour is indispensable for the creation of systems that collaborate with humans in a meaningful way. We present the construction of REX-J, a multi-modal Japanese corpus of referring expressions in situated dialogs, based on the collaborative task of solving the Tangram puzzle. This corpus contains 24 dialogs with over 4?h of recordings and over 1,400 referring expressions. We outline the characteristics of the collected data and point out the important differences from previous corpora. The corpus records extra-linguistic information during the interaction (e.g. the position of pieces, the actions on the pieces) in synchronization with the participants’ utterances. This in turn allows us to discuss the importance of creating a unified model of linguistic and extra-linguistic information from a new perspective. Demonstrating the potential uses of this corpus, we present the analysis of a specific type of referring expression (“action-mentioning expression”) as well as the results of research into the generation of demonstrative pronouns. Furthermore, we discuss some perspectives on potential uses of this corpus as well as our planned future work, underlining how it is a valuable addition to the existing databases in the community for the study and modeling of referring expressions in situated dialog.     

Spectroscopic properties of Er doped and Er, Nd codoped fluoride glasses under simulated sunlight illumination

We investigated the fluorescence characteristics of Er codoped Nd doped ZBLAN glasses proposed for solar pumped fiber laser (SPFL) under simulated sunlight. Er is used as a sensitizer because it absorbs a part of the ultraviolet and visible light where is no absorption of Nd. Under simulated sunlight illumination, Er singly doped fluoride glass displayed four emission bands with peaks at 550, 848, 977 and 1533 nm attributed to the ⁴S_3/2-⁴I_15/2, ⁴S_3/2-⁴I_13/2, ⁴I_11/2-⁴I_15/2 and ⁴I_13/2-⁴I_15/2 electronic transitions of Er, respectively. The quantum efficiency measurement was carried out using an integrating sphere and under the simulated sunlight excitation showed a maximum of 73% for 0.5 mol.% of ErF₃ in ZBLAN glass. In Nd, Er codoped fluoride glass, the 1.05 μm emission of Nd was observed under 380 nm excitation what supposes the energy transfer from Er to Nd in ZBLAN glasses as Nd has no absorption at the wavelength. Er, Nd codoped fluoride glasses are promising as a sensitized laser media for solar pumped fiber lasers.     

AC Loss Evaluation of MgB2 Superconducting Windings Located in a Stator Core Slot with a Finite-Element Method

AC losses in stator windings of fully superconducting motors with an MgB₂ wire are numerically evaluated by means of a finite-element method using edge elements for a self-magnetic field. The physical properties of the MgB₂ wire for numerical calculations are obtained from the corresponding experiments with an existing wire. It is assumed that the voltage?Ccurrent characteristics of the MgB₂ wire are given by Bean??s critical-state model, in which the critical current density is independent of the local magnetic field. The influences of core slot size and turn number of windings on the AC losses are discussed quantitatively toward the optimum design of the stator winding with the MgB₂ wire.     

Characterization of Spaghetti Prepared Under Different Drying Conditions

Spaghetti dried at low (max. 50 °C), high (max. 70 °C), and very high (max. 85 °C) temperatures were characterized by their color, surface structure, rupture strength, texture analysis, and sauce retention capacity. The texture and sauce retention capacity were estimated for cooked spaghetti. The color of the spaghetti's methanol extracts, as evaluated through absorbance at 440 and 466 nm, did not depend on the drying temperature. A trend was observed in the surface texture of spaghetti, as estimated by atomic force microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry, where the surface was rougher when dried at higher temperatures than at low temperatures. Furthermore, the rupture strength was also higher for the spaghetti dried at higher temperatures. This result can be ascribed to the formation of stronger gluten networks, promoted by denaturation of gluten at the higher temperatures. However, the hardness of cooked spaghetti was not affected by the drying temperature, a result attributable to the action of water sorption to offset any differences in hardness among the spaghettis dried at the 3 different temperatures. The sauce retention capacity of cooked spaghetti was evaluated using a dextran solution as a simulated sauce, and by this method, the capacity of the spaghetti dried at a low temperature was shown to be significantly lower than that of the spaghetti dried at higher temperatures. This can be ascribed to the smoother surface of cooked spaghetti dried at the lower temperature and also to the leakage of amylose onto the surface during cooking.     

Measurement of Moisture Profiles in Pasta During Rehydration Based on Image Processing

A method using an image processing technique was developed to measure the moisture profile in pasta during its rehydration process. The method is based on the increase in sample color brightness with increasing moisture content. Compared to currently used methods, this method has the advantage that moisture contents around 0.1 kg-H₂O/kg-d.m. can be easily measured at a spatial resolution of 1.6 μm. The moisture profiles obtained by this method suggested that penetration of water into small holes and cracks on the pasta surface, water diffusion in the pasta, and structural relaxation of the protein matrix play important roles in the rehydration mechanism. It was also suggested that starch granule gelatinization prevented water migration into the interior portion of the pasta.     

A design method of optical bandpass filters

A design method of optical bandpass filters which are composed of several resonators consisting of dielectric layers is discussed. The relation between the loaded Q of a resonator and the thickness of each layer is calculated by treating equivalently each layer as a segment of transmission line and represented on a chart. It becomes possible to design an arbitrary value of loaded Q by using the chart. Thus, an optical bandpass filter of required bandwidth and rejection characteristic can be designed by finding out the optimum thickness of each layer of the resonator which is the component of the filter     

Tensile elongation of high‐fluid polypropylene/ethylene–propylene rubber blends: Dependence on molecular weight of the components and propylene content of the rubber

We studied tensile behavior of low‐molecular‐weight (MW) polypropylene (PP)/ethylene–propylene rubber (EPR; 70/30) blends from the viewpoint of the MWs of PP and EPR and the compatibility between PP and EPR. The value of the melt flow rate of PP varied from 30 to 700 g/10 min at 230°C. We studied the compatibility between PP and EPR by varying the propylene content in EPR (27 and 68 wt %). At the initial elongation stage, crazes were observed in all blends. When blends included EPR with 27 wt % propylene, the elongation at break of the low‐MW PP improved little. The blends with EPR and 68 wt % propylene content were elongated further beyond their yielding points. The elongation to rupture was increased with increasing MW of EPR. Molecular orientation of the low‐MW PP was manifested by IR dichroism measurements and X‐ray diffraction patterns. The blends of low‐MW PP and EPR could be elongated by the partial dissolution of EPR of high‐MW in the PP amorphous phase. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 46–56, 2002     

An extrusion method of tube with spiral inner fins by utilizing generation of spiral outer fins/grooves

This paper presents a new extrusion method for fabrication of a tube with spiral inner fins. The spiral fins are formed by utilizing the generation of spiral outer fins or grooves, which drive the metal to circumferentially move with twist deformation. The effect of the outer fins/grooves is examined for realizing the circumferential metal flow. The position of the mandrel has an ability to flexibly control the spiral angle. This method would drastically enhance the productivity and reduce the manufacturing cost, as the tube would be manufactured directly from a billet through only one process.