Recognizing metaphors and identifying the source-target mappings is an important task as metaphorical text poses a big challenge for machine reading. To address this problem, we automatically acquire a metaphor knowledge base and an isA knowledge base from billions of web pages. Using the knowledge bases, we develop an inference mechanism to recognize and explain the metaphors in the text. To o...

In this paper the use of model building for natural language understanding in practical systems is investigated. After outlining several interpretation tasks where model construction would be useful, we perform experiments using two state-of-the-art model builders on the interpretation of imperatives in discourse. The results are acceptable for small discourses and small domains, but don’t scal...

. cross-cultural understanding dates back to the discovery of the third world, its peoples, and its religions. along this, the place of studying other peoples came in view. demography and orientalism were two disciplines which first aimed at studying other peoples regardless of their beliefs. after some thirty years, emphasis was laid on their beliefs, too. today after disproof of the anticipat...

Most current conceptualisation of knowledge transfer emerges from the premise of occidental heritage. This paper examines the dialectical procedure, underpinning the unification of knowledge as an entity, and discusses dimensions of knowledge and knowledge transfer from the practitioner’s perspective. The study asks why, if knowledge is vital for business success and competitive advantage, the ...