We present an experiment where subjects were asked to listen to Swedish human-computer dialogue fragments where a synthetic voice makes an elliptical clarification after a user turn. The prosodic features of the synthetic voice were systematically varied, and subjects were asked to judge the computer’s actual intention. The results show that an early low F0 peak signals acceptance, that a late ...

Clarifications are often necessary for maintaining human-human as well as human-machine dialogue. However, clarification questions asked by Spoken Dialogue Systems (SDS) are very different from clarification questions asked in natural human interaction. While in human-human dialogues, speakers ask targeted questions using contextual information, SDS ask generic clarifications such as please rep...

BACKGROUND Prescription review by pharmacists prior to dispensing is an important step in an overall strategy for preventing medication errors. Contacts with prescribers may be required to clarify missing, unclear, or inconsistent information. While essential to reduce the likelihood of potential patient harm, clarification contacts are time-consuming for pharmacists and prescribers. The scope ...

Effects of acidity on cloud stability in pasteurized carrot juice were examined over the pH range of 3.5-6.2. Cloud sedimentation, particle diameter, and ζ potential were measured at each pH condition to quantify juice cloud stability and clarification during 3 days of storage. Acidification below pH 4.9 resulted in a less negative ζ potential, an increased particle size, and an unstable cloud,...

Regarding knowledge-based systems (KBS), the seminal paradigm—perfectly mimicking human experts—is gradually replaced by an increasing demand for enabling users to influence the reasoning process according to their domain knowledge. Therefore, we propose a novel KBS paradigm: Clarification KBS as a mash up type of consultation and justification interaction—intended to foster active user partici...

We examine clarification dialogue, a mechanism for refining user questions with follow-up questions, in the context of open domain Question Answering systems. We develop an algorithm for clarification dialogue recognition through the analysis of collected data on clarification dialogues and examine the importance of clarification dialogue recognition for question answering. The algorithm is eva...

Looking for ontology in a search engine, one can find so many different approaches that it can be difficult to understand which field of research the subject belongs to and how it can be useful. The term ontology is employed within philosophy, computer science, and information science with different meanings. To take advantage of what ontology theories have to offer, one should understand what ...