An experiment for showing some kind of artificial understanding

In this paper we design an experiment which can be depicted as a simple scenario, a very limited 'world'. In this world, there are an actor that can pursue a project and an observer that is keeping its eyes on the actor. We try to show in the experiment that the observer can to some degree understand the actor based on its knowledge and some metaphors, i.e. understand what the actor is doing and why. As the conclusion of this experiment, we try to show some features of 'understanding'. These are (1) that 'understanding' has to be based on some preliminary knowledge; (2) that 'understanding' is a process of incremental learning; (3) that, as for symbolic systems, some metaphors are necessary for mapping real entities into concepts in mind.     

Another Perspective on Vocabulary Richness

This article examines the usefulness ofvocabulary richness for authorship attributionand tests the assumption that appropriatemeasures of vocabulary richness can capture anauthor's distinctive style or identity. Afterbriefly discussing perceived and actualvocabulary richness, I show that doubling andcombining texts affects some measures incomputationally predictable but conceptuallysurprising ways. I discuss some theoretical andempirical problems with some measures anddevelop simple methods to test how wellvocabulary richness distinguishes texts bydifferent authors. These methods show thatvocabulary richness is ineffective for largegroups of texts because of the extremevariability within and among them. I concludethat vocabulary richness is of marginal valuein stylistic and authorship studies because thebasic assumption that it constitutes awordprint for authors is false.     

Standing on Solid Ground

The new Editor in Chief of IEEE Micro introduces himself and the first issue of 2007. He thanks outgoing Editor in Chief Pradip Bose for his outstanding work on Micro during his tenure. He assesses the current state of the microarchitecture field, speculates on the future, and asks readers for their suggestions on topics the magazine should cover in coming issues.     

Lateral Walking-Induced Forces on Footbridges

In the last several years many cases of large amplitude horizontal vibrations of footbridges have been observed, due to dynamic interaction between the walkers and the footbridge, which may occur when some conditions on the bridge mass, frequency and damping, as well as on the crowd density are met. Such interaction is an intriguing phenomenon, as it is associated with the dynamics of a complex system made of a structure and a number of walkers, the dynamics of the latter being governed by physiology and psychology. Provided this complexity, in this paper a preliminary step is made toward the modeling of the interaction forces exerted by a crowd to a footbridge. The results of an experimental investigation of the lateral forces exerted by one walker to a fixed floor are presented, and used to calibrate a deterministic and stochastic lateral loading models of footbridges, to be used in the case in which no interaction takes place. The results presented are also the background data for more sophisticated dynamic models allowing for bridge-crowd interaction.     

Bioavailability and Toxicity of Metal Nutrients during Anaerobic Digestion

This paper investigates the effect of chelating agents on the bioavailability of Fe and Cu during anaerobic digestion. The results on metal speciation and methane production in anaerobic serum bottles showed that biomass was able to grow in the presence of citrate 1?mM and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) 1?mM, suggesting that the binding sites at the cell surface competed efficiently for the metals with the chelating agents added. The presence of free ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid 1?mM inhibited methanogenesis, and this seemed to be related to a loss in metal uptake capacity. Although the addition of soluble microbial products (SMP) did not change metal distribution in anaerobic systems, it caused an increase in the rate of methane production, and it is believed that direct uptake of Cu-SMP complexes was responsible for this increase. The best protection against Cu toxicity occurred when stoichiometric amounts of NTA, which should complex and solubilize most of the Cu, was added, and it is likely that NTA prevented lethal concentrations of Cu from being adsorbed onto the cell and hence internalized.     

Tedesko’s Philadelphia Skating Club: Refinement of an Idea

This paper presents new aspects of Anton Tedesko’s design for an important thin shell concrete roof. The study of this roof results from the examination of original engineering drawings and calculations which we present with the goal of promoting a greater understanding of the structural design of a major figure in the tradition of 20th century building.     

Structural Response of Nuclear Containment Shield Buildings with Construction Openings

Steam generator replacement at nuclear power plants requires large construction openings in nuclear containment structures. This study examines the effects of such openings placed in a 61?cm (2?ft) thick dome of a shield building. The dome is cast in two layers, and the limiting cases of the two layers acting as one and the lower layer carrying the entire load are considered. Without openings, the stresses due to dead load in the structure are very low when compared to the material strength. With openings, the loads are easily redistributed around the opening, and the maximum stresses for the conservative case are between three and four and one-half times larger than in the original structure with no openings. The extent of the affected area around the holes is relatively small. Smooth corners in the openings are necessary to avoid high local stress concentrations.     

Collaborative cross-checking to enhance resilience

Resilience, the ability to adapt or absorb disturbance, disruption, and change, may be increased by team processes in a complex, socio-technical system. In particular, collaborative cross-checking is a strategy where at least two individuals or groups with different perspectives examine the others’ assumptions and/or actions to assess validity or accuracy. With this strategy, erroneous assessments or actions can be detected quickly enough to mitigate or eliminate negative consequences. In this paper, we seek to add to the understanding of the elements that are needed in effective cross-checking and the limitations of the strategy. We define collaborative cross-checking, describe in detail three healthcare incidents where collaborative cross-checks played a key role, and discuss the implications of emerging patterns.     

How Advances in Search Combine Databases, Sentence Diagramming, and "Just the Facts"

Among the most studied subfields of natural language processing (NLP) are information retrieval (IR, aka search) and information extraction (IE). Yet, even though researchers have wanted to combine IR and IE for nearly a decade, we are only now starting to see commercial applications that put the notion into practice. The search market remains dominated by traditional IR technologies, as evidenced by the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Verity. (Granted, Google's page-rank algorithm departs from traditional IR algorithms by including link data, but the underlying index of terms is conventional.) Two forces are driving the need for advanced search technologies: (a) users are more knowledgeable and are demanding greater search engine precision; and (b) vendors must create new search products, particularly enterprise search applications. This issue's theme articles represent several of these advancements. In this article, the author detail how IE-in particular action-oriented event extraction-enables new search functionality