Coordination Of Research Activities Research Articles

Speech recognition in the French national project on man‐machine interface

Research and development activities in the field of automatic speech processing have been relatively important in France for the past 20 years. In 1981, the Ministry of Research created the GRECO‐PRC on Man‐Machine Communication with the role of promoting and coordinating research activities in the fields of vision, natural language, and speech. This paper gives an overview of this national project which presently groups more than 40 French laboratories. First, its role, objectives, and means of action will be briefly introduced and then a description of the ongoing projects in the different fields that have been selected will be presented: (1) design, recording, and exploitation of a database of spoken French, BDSON, to be used for fundamental studies in acoustic phonetics as well as for assessment of speech recognition and synthesis systems; (2) morphological database of speech including knowledge‐based techniques; (3) man‐machine dialogue using speech; and (4) use of prosody in automatic speech recognition. The results already obtained will be presented and the future of the project will be discussed.

Overview of Japanese efforts toward an advanced man‐machine interface through spoken language

An overview will be given of some recent efforts in Japan to promote and coordinate research activities toward the realization of an advanced man‐machine interface through spoken language. In the field of speech processing, a large‐scale national project was started in 1987 by a Grant‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (MESC) of Japan. It involves all the important academic groups as well as a number of experts from governmental organizations and private industries, and emphasizes the systematic coordination of research efforts through the use of common speech data, standardization of research tools, and shared research results. Another national project will start in 1989 to construct a database of the spoken dialects of Japanese. In the field of natural language processing, a separate project has also been carried out with the support of MESC. Efforts toward an integration of studies in the two areas, as well as toward closer cooperation between academic and industrial circles, have resulted in the establishment of a committee for academia—industry cooperation on the intelligent processing of linguistic information both in spoken and written forms under the auspices of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Some highlights of these activities will be given in the lecture.

Glasnost in the Arctic

The question of establishing an international body to coordinate research activities in the Arctic is an old one. Proposals have been formulated on several occasions during the last 3 decades, but they have never been implemented.At present, a few adhoc or semiprivate bodies are engaged in cooperative ventures of arctic research, and there are several bilateral programs between Arctic countries. Yet there is no northern equivalent to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) o f the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). The politically and strategically sensitive nature of the Arctic regions has been a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Recently, however, an international initiative spearheaded by the U.S. Arctic Research Commission led to promising developments regarding international scientific cooperation in the Arctic.

Sunday Creek—The CCOPE Operations Center

Abstract An operations center was designed for the Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment to facilitate the task of coordinating research activities. This paper describes the facilities of the center and the role of the operations team—consisting of a director and supporting instrument systems coordinators—in its development and daily use. Features of this center should be of interest to personnel planning large meteorological field experiments involving complex, integrated research operations.

A coordination and information center for a research-oriented computer communications network

A research-oriented computer communications network is being developed cooperatively within the computer science research community to provide file transfers, mail forwarding, access to remote databases, and other services to researchers in computer science. It is proposed to establish a central site as a coordination and information center to manage the network, to coordinate research activity in distributed systems, to arrange for new services, and to encourage acceptance of the network within the research community by carrying out tutorial activity.

The shrimp fishery of the South Atlantic United States: A regional management plan

Abstract Marine fishery resources often have been difficult to manage because no single agency has had effective control over utilization of the resources. Recently, in the United States a State-Federal program has been developed to provide better management of marine fishery resources. One product of this approach has been the development of a regional management plan which joins the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in a partnership to manage the South Atlantic shrimp fishery. The plan presented here describes a regional management system that will allow states to standardize their laws, regulations and enforcement practices; coordinate research and management activities; develop a regional catch and effort statistics program; and better evaluate the impact of management decisions both within states and regionally. The plan has five objectives which account for biological, economic, and institutional factors that affect the fishery. Present management regimes are described and a schematic model of a proposed regional system is given. In addition, two shrimp management models, which will be an integral part of that system, are presented. Capabilities of present and future management systems are described including the present structure of the South Atlantic States Regional Marine Fisheries Management Board. Major recommendations of the plan including their present status are given. A management action program summary concludes the report.

USER‐ORIENTED RESEARCH DESIGNS1

ABSTRACT: A user‐oriented research plan is presented herein. Its principal components are: (1) a mechanism for identifying social goals and translating them into research objectives; (2) procedures for setting priorities; (3) a program planning technique for designing projects to impact on important research objectives; (4) a mechanism for coordinating research activities of important research producers; (5) a structure for encouraging and establishing interdisciplinary team efforts when they are required; (6) a well‐coordinated technology transfer plan; and (7) an effective method for promoting and sustaining user‐researcher cooperation. Both basic and applied research designs are examined and criteria presented. The implementation of research plans is also discussed and various factors which play a role in implementation are outlined including: coordination, goal interpretation and priority setting, project Planning, Project review, interdisciplinary considerations and the user‐researcher interface.

British Beekeepers' Association : Research Committee

THE British Beekeepers' Association, recently re-organised has now established a series of committees to pursue further the numerous interests of its members. Among these is a research committee the primary function of which is to foster co-operation in research, and to co-ordinate research activities. It seeks also the establishment of a clearing house for information and for the results of contemporary research. The object of bee-keeping is commonly regarded as the production of honey, but the national interest is even better served by the pollinating activities of the foragers, a service which has been reliably valued in Great Britain alone at £4,000,000 a year. At the same time, the craft affords a fascinating hobby for amateurs whose activities, being spread throughout the country, are of greater national importance, for the reason indicated, than are those of the commercial honey producers. The amateur finds not merely a hobby which may be turned to profit, but also an interest in many branches of science. Nevertheless, methods of management are subject to many errors due to tradition and pseudo-science. To deal with such matters, co-operation is essential, because there are so many variables that the individual can seldom conduct an experiment on an adequate scale and is too frequently deceived by an element of chance. Most that is known in the craft has been the result of the enthusiasm of independent observers. The British Beekeepers' Association's Research Committee realizes the importance of amateurs, and is anxious to get into contact with them whether members of the Association or not. The Committee is also hoping to get into touch with those concerned in researches in other fields which are of interest to beekeepers. Communications should be sent to the chairman of the Research Committee, Mr. E. B. Wedmore, Totease House, Buxted, Sussex.