Semantic Interface Research Articles

Sequential linked data: The state of affairs

Sequences are among the most important data structures in computer science. In the Semantic Web, however, little attention has been given to Sequential Linked Data. In previous work, we have discussed the data models that Knowledge Graphs commonly use for representing sequences and showed how these models have an impact on query performance and that this impact is invariant to triplestore implementations. However, the specific list operations that the management of Sequential Linked Data requires beyond the simple retrieval of an entire list or a range of its elements – e.g. to add or remove elements from a list –, and their impact in the various list data models, remain unclear. Covering this knowledge gap would be a significant step towards the realization of a Semantic Web list Application Programming Interface (API) that standardizes list manipulation and generalizes beyond specific data models. In order to address these challenges towards the realization of such an API, we build on our previous work in understanding the effects of various sequential data models for Knowledge Graphs, extending our benchmark and proposing a set of read-write Semantic Web list operations in SPARQL, with insert, update and delete support. To do so, we identify five classic list-based computer science sequential data structures (linked list, double linked list, stack, queue, and array), from which we derive nine atomic read-write operations for Semantic Web lists. We propose a SPARQL implementation of these operations with five typical RDF data models and compare their performance by executing them against six increasing dataset sizes and four different triplestores. In light of our results, we discuss the feasibility of our devised API and reflect on the state of affairs of Sequential Linked Data.

Test-Oriented RESTful Service Discovery with Semantic Interface Compatibility

Web API/service technology has been attracting considerable attention and the REST (REpresentational State Transfer) architecture is now widely accepted as mainstream technology. Nonetheless, developing the means by which to discover RESTful Web APIs/services is crucial to the further development of this technology. Unfortunately, existing search engines for RESTful Web APIs/services provide only keyword-based or tag-based search functions. A failure to take into account the semantics and/or characteristics (e.g., their interface compatibility) greatly hampers the ability to find suitable APIs/services. In this study, we propose a novel approach to the discovery of RESTful Web API/services, referred to as Test-Oriented API Search with Semantic Interface Compatibility (TASSIC). This scheme involves expanding the terms of Web API/service documents based on DBpedia and WordNet. Unsuitable APIs/services are then filtered out using a systematic process, as follows: 1) calculation of semantic similarity between a set of candidate APIs/services and a user query, 2) analysis of interface compatibility between candidate APIs/services using the Hungarian Algorithm, 3) invocation of candidate APIs/services to verify functionality and availability, and 4) analysis of similarity between the actual response of the candidate services and the expected response specified in the user query. The proposed TASSIC increases the likelihood of matching APIs/services that are semantically equivalent or similar to user queries. Unit test and acceptance test are used to verify that a set of candidate APIs/services are actually available and that they actually meets user requirements. Experiment results demonstrate the efficacy of TASSIC, the accuracy of which is superior to that of existing methods.

The Done‐State Derived Stative: A Case Study in Building Complex Eventualities in Syntax

AbstractA basic question for theories of the syntax–semantics interface is whether the relationship between the form and meaning of complex aspectual expressions is mediated by the pieces that make up hierarchical syntax or whether complex forms and their meanings can pair directly, in templatic or constructional representations, for example. This paper examines the string I’m done writing chapter 3 with this issue in mind. The (be) done V‐ing structure does not seem to have been analyzed before, and I refer to it as the done state. The done state expresses a complex stative eventuality. Notably, the transitive object of the done state can hold a target state, an unexpected interpretation given the ‐ing verb (contrast I’ve been writing chapter 3). Apparent form–meaning mismatches of this type are regularly taken as evidence for listed, constructional mappings. I show, however, that the done state has the syntactic pieces of a stative passive of a present participle, and I argue that the done state is a previously unnoticed type of derived stative. The analysis provides a compositional account of the structure’s semantics and morphology. I further argue that the syntactic items that make up the done state have the same properties that they have elsewhere in the grammar; there is no need to postulate new grammatical objects. The predictable properties of the done state find explanation in models in which complex eventualities are built up out of the minimal units that make up complex phrases.

Joint Universal Syntactic and Semantic Parsing

While numerous attempts have been made to jointly parse syntax and semantics, high performance in one domain typically comes at the price of performance in the other. This trade-off contradicts the large body of research focusing on the rich interactions at the syntax–semantics interface. We explore multiple model architectures that allow us to exploit the rich syntactic and semantic annotations contained in the Universal Decompositional Semantics (UDS) dataset, jointly parsing Universal Dependencies and UDS to obtain state-of-the-art results in both formalisms. We analyze the behavior of a joint model of syntax and semantics, finding patterns supported by linguistic theory at the syntax–semantics interface. We then investigate to what degree joint modeling generalizes to a multilingual setting, where we find similar trends across 8 languages.

Mismatches at the syntax-semantics interface: The case of non-finite complementation in American Norwegian

AbstractNon-finite complementation strategies found in American Norwegian (AmNo) (made available by the Corpus of American Nordic Speech (CANS)) reveal unique and diverging patterns when compared to both standard and dialectal Norwegian and English. We argue in this paper that the majority of these divergent structures are the result of overextension (Rinke & Flores, 2014; Rinke et al., 2018; Putnam & Hoffman, 2021; Kupisch, 2014), where heritage language speakers produce structures that differ from both grammars in an attempt to generate forms that are distinct from the more dominant language. Our treatment of these nuanced structures in AmNo shows that this heritage grammar significantly restricts bare (ornaked) TPs (Situations) serving as non-finite complements. To avoid bare TP-complements, AmNo has developed two distinct, yet related strategies, (1) reducing non-finite complements tovPs (Events), or (2) incorporating an additional element, a preposition, to ensure that the non-finite complement functions as the object of a preposition. We analyze this latter strategy as an instance of the emergence of structural salience (Polinsky, 2018) in the syntax of AmNo and suggest that this variation is best understood as a syntax–semantics interface phenomenon.

Asynchronous Communication for Improved Data Transport in The Network

Currently there are two types of interaction in web systems mediated by synchronous and asynchronous communication, each of them with its programming and interaction paradigms. Although intuitively we can say that asynchronous communication is more efficient in data transport, there is not much research on this topic. We present a comparison of these two types of communication by requesting the same data from a server and receiving a client. The requests are through the traditional web forms and an experimental semantic interface, which only needs the data in plain text as a response from the server. The results found are of interest for the problem of excessive traffic on the network. This research can open new lines of investigation or generate new paradigms and programming models to improve communication between client and server.

A Pragma- Semantic Model for Ideology Identification in Political Media Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Methodology for the Socio- Cognitive Approach

The paper is a critical discourse analysis of political discourse. It relies on van Dijk’s socio- cognitive approach which employs miscellaneous linguistic methodologies as input to support the interdisciplinarity of the socio- cognitive base. The paper adopts an eclectic model that combines pragmatic and semantic concepts as a methodology for the socio- cognitive approach. The pragma- semantic interface has always produced better holistic, integrated, and objective linguistic inference. The eclectic model combines Sabet & Zhang’s (2015) pragmatic functions of vague expressions (on the pragmatic level) and the semantic macrostructures and the semantic microstructures (on the semantic level). Wodak (2007) emphasises the vitality of the pragmatics in any critical discussion that analyses indirect and inferred linguistic techniques and biased utterances in order to identify and evaluate political discourse . Since vague expressions overlap sometimes in performing pragmatic functions, the pragmatic component of the eclectic model is further supported by the semantic concepts of semantic macrostructure and semantic microstructure. The data is collected from the White House Press Releases (issued in 2014 when ISIS took hold of major Iraqi cities) on Iraq. Such discourse is globally interesting and can shape public opinion about the critical events and realities in Iraq at that time. The analysis has proved the workability of the pragmatic- semantic integration and the paper has come up with a set of concluding remarks. Keywords: critical discourse analysis; semantic macrostructure; semantic microstructure; van Dijk’s socio- cognitive; vagueness; White House Press Release

A Prototypical Model on Hakka Serial Verb Constructions

This research paper provides a meaning-based account to examining Hakka syntactic constructions that comprise multiple verbs in their scope. The investigation is based on an interdisciplinary approach from the interface of syntax and semantics. The paper is organized into two main parts. The first part of this paper claims that the prototypical construction of the serial verb construction is a syntactic configuration that contains two verbs in the same clause, indicating two interdependent subevents happening at close time intervals. In addition, the paper proposes that greater distance in structural and semantic interdependence between the two verbs forms a gradation deviating from the prototype. In this part, a prototype model, rather than a criterial attribute model, is adopted to define the Hakka serial verb construction (SVC). The second part of paper provides a typological study that classifies the Hakka SVCs into subtypes based on the syntactic structure and the semantic relationship of the component verbs. Syntactic tests are used to test the clausehood of the multi-verb constructions identified in this part.

The Syntactic Distribution of Object Experiencer Psych Verbs in Heritage Spanish

This paper contributes to our understanding of the grammatical architecture of heritage languages and, specifically, the role of lexical semantics, by examining the syntactic distribution of Spanish psych verbs. Object experiencer psych verbs in Spanish fall into two classes: Class II (e.g., molestar “to bother”) and Class III (e.g., encantar “to love”). Class II verbs allow numerous syntactic alternations, while Class III verbs are more restricted syntactically. The asymmetry under investigation here is attributed to a lexical semantic featural difference—Class II verbs can be [±change of state], while Class III verbs are always [−change of state]. Two groups of HSs, (intermediate (n = 21) and advanced (n = 18)), and a group of Spanish dominant bilinguals (n = 19) completed two judgment tasks, a standard proficiency measure, a vocabulary task, and a biographical questionnaire. Results reveal that the responses of both HS groups are consistent with the Spanish dominant bilinguals in nearly all conditions, indicating that HSs are highly sensitive to this syntactic distribution. These results also highlight the importance of considering the results of individual verbs in studies that focus on lexical semantics, as they not only help us understand aggregate trends, but also reveal, in this case, that even in cases of deviant underlying semantic representations, licensing restrictions at the syntax-lexical semantic interface remain intact, suggesting that this is an area of resilience in the Heritage Spanish grammar.

Semantic Integration of Raster Data for Earth Observation: An RDF Dataset of Territorial Unit Versions with their Land Cover

Semantic technologies are at the core of Earth Observation (EO) data integration, by providing an infrastructure based on RDF representation and ontologies. Because many EO data come in raster files, this paper addresses the integration of data calculated from rasters as a way of qualifying geographic units through their spatio-temporal features. We propose (i) a modular ontology that contributes to the semantic and homogeneous description of spatio-temporal data to qualify predefined areas; (ii) a Semantic Extraction, Transformation, and Load (ETL) process, allowing us to extract data from rasters and to link them to the corresponding spatio-temporal units and features; and (iii) a resulting dataset that is published as an RDF triplestore, exposed through a SPARQL endpoint, and exploited by a semantic interface. We illustrate the integration process with raster files providing the land cover of a specific French winery geographic area, its administrative units, and their land registers over different periods. The results have been evaluated with regards to three use-cases exploiting these EO data: integration of time series observations; EO process guidance; and data cross-comparison.

Karachay–Balkar relative clauses: Implications for a special type of genitive/nominative alternation

Taking reduced relative clauses as the basis of comparison, this study investigates Karachay–Balkar non-subject relative clauses with two different patterns. The subject in the modifier clause can bear the genitive case in the presence of agreement morphology on the head noun, or the nominative case in the absence of agreement morphology. Based on binding and adverbial placement tests, the current study suggests that (i) Karachay–Balkar relative clause patterns with genitive or nominative subjects are deficient in the absence of CP and TP; (ii) in the absence of TP, temporal interpretation is a secondary effect of AspP; (iii) the genitive subject moves into the DP domain to check the definiteness feature; (iv) the genitive pattern is preferred when the referents of the genitive construction and the head noun are shared by the speaker and the hearer; and (v) in the absence of the definiteness feature and CP/TP, the nominative case is licensed as the default case. This study shows that Karachay–Balkar relative clauses are reduced with respect to the absence of CP/TP. However, the size of the structure does not differ in genitive and nominative patterns, and the patterns are not in free variation as a syntax–semantic interface is at play.

Applied Objects and the Syntax–Semantics Interface

This paper investigates the syntax–semantics interface within the domain of the realization of applied objects in Bantu languages, and I argue that the syntactic structure and semantic contribution of a given argument-licensing functional head (here, the applicative) do not covary. Specifically, I show that in principle, both high and low applicatives can (and should) be available with any type of applicative and not tied to a specific semantics (such as transfer of possession) or thematic role, as proposed in earlier work. Furthermore, I reject the centrality of thematic roles as a component of grammar that determines the grammatical function of applied objects, and I propose instead a typology of Bantu applied objects based on their semantic and morphological properties. This approach makes several predictions about applied objects: (i) syntactic and semantic diagnostics for high and low applicatives need not pattern together, (ii) syntactic asymmetry (such as c-command) can arise for applied objects which pattern symmetrically with other diagnostics (such as passivization), and (iii) the type of an applied object does not universally capture symmetry properties cross-linguistically. The view put forward in this paper provides a framework that can better capture this type of variation with object symmetry in Bantu languages as well as language-internal facts about applied objects; more generally, this paper sheds light on the nature of the syntax–semantic interface by showing that the meaning of a functional head is not necessarily determined by its syntactic position.

A novel framework and concept-based semantic search Interface for abnormal crowd behaviour analysis in surveillance videos

Monitoring continuously captured surveillance videos is a challenging and time consuming task. To assist this issue, a new framework is introduced that applies anomaly detection, semantic annotation and provides a concept-based search interface. In particular, novel optical flow based features are used for abnormal crowd behaviour detection. Then, processed surveillance videos are annotated using a new semantic metadata model based on multimedia standards using Semantic Web technologies. In this way, globally inter-operable metadata about abnormal crowd behaviours are generated. Finally, for the first time, based on crowd behaviours, a novel concept-based semantic search interface is proposed. In the proposed interface, along with search results (video segments), statistical data about crowd behaviours are also presented. With extensive user studies, it is demonstrated that the proposed concept-based semantic search interface enables efficient search and analysis of abnormal crowd behaviours. Although there are existing works to achieve (a) crowd anomaly detection, (b) semantic annotation and (c) semantic search interface, none of the existing works combine these three system components in a novel framework like the one proposed in this paper. In each system component, we introduce contributions to the field as well as use the Semantic Web technologies to combine and standardize output of different system components; output of the anomaly detection is automatically annotated with metadata and stored to a semantic database. When continuous surveillance videos are processed, only the semantic database is updated. Finally, the user interface queries the updated database for searching/analyzing surveillance videos without changing any coding. Thus, the framework supports re-usability. This paper explains and evaluates different components of the framework.

Distributional Semantics and Linguistic Theory

Distributional semantics provides multidimensional, graded, empirically induced word representations that successfully capture many aspects of meaning in natural languages, as shown by a large body of research in computational linguistics; yet, its impact in theoretical linguistics has so far been limited. This review provides a critical discussion of the literature on distributional semantics, with an emphasis on methods and results that are relevant for theoretical linguistics, in three areas: semantic change, polysemy and composition, and the grammar–semantics interface (specifically, the interface of semantics with syntax and with derivational morphology). The goal of this review is to foster greater cross-fertilization of theoretical and computational approaches to language as a means to advance our collective knowledge of how it works.

The Role of the Lexicon in the Syntax–Semantics Interface

Evidence from the study of verbal argument alternations suggests that the syntactic structure of an event-denoting clause often reflects the structure of the event it denotes, in the sense that parts of the clause refer to aspects of the event. The patterns of such mappings between clause structure and event structure tend to be crosslinguistically uniform. Proffered explanations for these phenomena fall into two distinct theoretical currents. Lexicalists explain these phenomena in terms of the inherent paradigmatic structure of the lexicon, which leads verbs with similar meanings to have similar valence structures. Constructionists see these phenomena as evidence that the syntax itself conveys meaning that composes with the meaning contributed by the verb. The roots of this theoretical split are traced to differing perspectives on polysemy, and a partial synthesis of the two perspectives is proposed.

Semantics in generative grammar

AbstractI provide a critical survey of the role that semantics took in the several models of generative grammar, since the 1950s until the Minimalist Program. I distinguish four different periods. In the first section, I focus on the role of formal semantics in generative grammar until the 1970s. In Section 2 I present the period of linguistic wars, when the role of semantics in linguistic theory became a crucial topic of debate. In Section 3 I focus on the formulation of conditions on transformations and Binding Theory in the 1970s and 1980s, while in the last Section I discuss the role of semantics in the minimalist approach. In this section, I also propose a semantically-based model of generative grammar, which fully endorses minimalism and Chomsky’s later position concerning the primary role of the semantic interface in the Universal Grammar modelization (Strong Minimalist Thesis). In the Discussion, I point out some theoretical problems deriving from Chomsky’s internalist interpretation of model-theoretic semantics.

SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS INTERFACE ANALYSIS ON VERB TELICITY IN ENGLISH SENTENCE

As the core of a sentence, a verb can be analysed using syntax and semantic interface based on the verb situation type. One aspect in the verb situation is telicity which shows the process shown by the verb whether involve a bounded activity or unbounded activity with inherent endpoint. This paper analyzes the verbs telicity based on the verb classes proposed by Vendler (1967) namely achievement, accomplishment, activites and states. The aim of the analysis is to find the semantic feature of a verb using syntax and semantics interface. The data in form of sentences were taken from Hemingway’ short story The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. The analysis employs descriptive qualitative method using observation technique. The data was presented in both formal and informal method. The results show that ity can be analysed both syntactically and semantically. Accomplishment and achievement verbs are while activities and state verbs are a.

Methodological aspects of construction of methods of modeling and analytical processing of databases and knowledge management system of armament and military equipment

It is suggested to manage the development of weapons and military equipment in a single network environment of the relevant information and analytical system by coordinating the mechanisms of interaction of information resources, which reflect different descriptions of the armament and military equipment. Such interaction should be built on the basis of transdisciplinary integration procedures, which will ensure synchronization of activities of all participants of the process and semantic and temporal synchronization of all categories and concepts of information resources and digital assets. Formation of many concepts, as the structure of semantic units-concepts and formal model of subject knowledge is ensured by the use of ontological methods. The management of information processing processes is built on the use of taxonomies that reflect the properties of information processes. As a corporate high-performance information-analytical search platform, the core of which is a two-tier system of indexing information resources, the use of semantic control and ontological interface IT-TODOS is proposed. The main linguistic functions, tasks, word processing, data preparation to preserve the database structure, function monitoring and administration implemented in the linguistic subsystem. 
 The formation of the model of the problem of choice and its solution on the basis of ontology is carried out in the information-analytical system, which includes: ontological interface, modules of basic program integration, module of creation of digital document collection, indexing tools, polymic synonymic zone, module of interactive interaction multicriteria benchmarking and forecasting module.
 The approach presented in the article will allow for a powerful monitoring of the processes of development, operation and modernization of armament and military equipment by analyzing the content, aggregating and rating huge amounts of information contained in file electronic collections of text documents.

Semantic tracking and recommendation using fourfold similarity measure from large scale data using hadoop distributed framework in cloud

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a fourfold semantic similarity that results in more accuracy compared to the existing literature. The change detection in the URL and the recommendation of the source documents is facilitated by means of a framework in which the fourfold semantic similarity is implied. The latest trends in technology emerge with the continuous growth of resources on the collaborative web. This interactive and collaborative web pretense big challenges in recent technologies like cloud and big data.Design/methodology/approachThe enormous growth of resources should be accessed in a more efficient manner, and this requires clustering and classification techniques. The resources on the web are described in a more meaningful manner.FindingsIt can be descripted in the form of metadata that is constituted by resource description framework (RDF). Fourfold similarity is proposed compared to three-fold similarity proposed in the existing literature. The fourfold similarity includes the semantic annotation based on the named entity recognition in the user interface, domain-based concept matching and improvised score-based classification of domain-based concept matching based on ontology, sequence-based word sensing algorithm and RDF-based updating of triples. The aggregation of all these similarity measures including the components such as semantic user interface, semantic clustering, and sequence-based classification and semantic recommendation system with RDF updating in change detection.Research limitations/implicationsThe existing work suggests that linking resources semantically increases the retrieving and searching ability. Previous literature shows that keywords can be used to retrieve linked information from the article to determine the similarity between the documents using semantic analysis.Practical implicationsThese traditional systems also lack in scalability and efficiency issues. The proposed study is to design a model that pulls and prioritizes knowledge-based content from the Hadoop distributed framework. This study also proposes the Hadoop-based pruning system and recommendation system.Social implicationsThe pruning system gives an alert about the dynamic changes in the article (virtual document). The changes in the document are automatically updated in the RDF document. This helps in semantic matching and retrieval of the most relevant source with the virtual document.Originality/valueThe recommendation and detection of changes in the blogs are performed semantically using n-triples and automated data structures. User-focussed and choice-based crawling that is proposed in this system also assists the collaborative filtering. Consecutively collaborative filtering recommends the user focussed source documents. The entire clustering and retrieval system is deployed in multi-node Hadoop in the Amazon AWS environment and graphs are plotted and analyzed.

SEAweb: the small RNA Expression Atlas web application.

We present the Small RNA Expression Atlas (SEAweb), a web application that allows for the interactive querying, visualization and analysis of known and novel small RNAs across 10 organisms. It contains sRNA and pathogen expression information for over 4200 published samples with standardized search terms and ontologies. In addition, SEAweb allows for the interactive visualization and re-analysis of 879 differential expression and 514 classification comparisons. SEAweb's user model enables sRNA researchers to compare and re-analyze user-specific and published datasets, highlighting common and distinct sRNA expression patterns. We provide evidence for SEAweb's fidelity by (i) generating a set of 591 tissue specific miRNAs across 29 tissues, (ii) finding known and novel bacterial and viral infections across diseases and (iii) determining a Parkinson's disease-specific blood biomarker signature using novel data. We believe that SEAweb's simple semantic search interface, the flexible interactive reports and the user model with rich analysis capabilities will enable researchers to better understand the potential function and diagnostic value of sRNAs or pathogens across tissues, diseases and organisms.