This paper describes a question answering system for NTCIR12 QALab-2. The task that we participated in is the Japanese task about National Center Test and Mock exams. Our method consists of two stages; a scoring method and answer selection methods for four question types. The scoring is to detect the evidence for the next process, namely answer selection, from textbooks. We also focus on confli...

When eliciting opinions from a group of experts, traditional devices used to promote honest reporting assume that there is an observable future outcome. In practice, however, this assumption is not always reasonable. In this paper, we propose a scoring method built on strictly proper scoring rules to induce honest reporting without assuming observable outcomes. Our method provides scores based ...

Automatic assessment of articulation and prosody is an important aid for speech theraphy and language education. In this paper, we focus on speech theraphy for hearing-impairment and propose methods for automatic articulation and prosody scoring. The pronunciation problems of the hearing-impaired are briefly discussed. Three methods are developed for automatic pronunciation scoring for the hear...

Multiple attribute decision making (MADM) methods are very much essential in all fields of engineering, management and other areas where limited alternatives exist and the decision maker has to select the best alternative. Different methods are available in the literature to tackle the MADM problems. The MADM problems are classified as scoring methods, compromising methods and concordance metho...

BACKGROUND In order to identify novel chemical classes of β-secretase (BACE-1) inhibitors, an alternative scoring protocol, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), was proposed to summarize most of the information from the original scoring functions and re-rank the results from the virtual screening against BACE-1. METHOD Given a training set (50 BACE-1 inhibitors and 9950 inactive diverse compou...

OBJECTIVE To analyze the effectiveness of the Marshall scoring system to evaluate the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). METHODS We performed a prospective, observational study in 39 patients with AP evaluated by the Marshall scoring system and the Ranson criteria (admission and 48 hours). We assessed the progression of the disease for seven days and compared the data of the two criteria. ...

Conventional Automated Essay Scoring (AES) measures may cause severe problems when directly applied in scoring Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) transcription as they are error sensitive and unsuitable for the characteristic of ASR transcription. Therefore, we introduce a framework of Finite State Transducer (FST) to avoid the shortcomings. Compared with the Latent Semantic Analysis with Suppo...

CONTEXT Constructed-response tasks, which range from short-answer tests to essay questions, are included in assessments of medical knowledge because they allow educators to measure students' ability to think, reason, solve complex problems, communicate and collaborate through their use of writing. However, constructed-response tasks are also costly to administer and challenging to score because...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the sacroiliac (SI) joints and the spine is increasingly important in the assessment of inflammatory activity and structural damage in clinical trials with patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We investigated inter-reader reliability and sensitivity to change of several scoring systems to assess disease activity and change in disease activity in patient...