David Martin

Bio: David Martin is an academic researcher from Nuance Communications. The author has contributed to research in topics: Medicine & Semantic Web Stack. The author has an hindex of 32, co-authored 91 publications receiving 10340 citations. Previous affiliations of David Martin include SRI International & Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute.

Nuance Reasoning Framework: A Rule-Based System for Semantic Query Rewriting

Abstract: We present the Nuance Reasoning Framework (NRF), a rule-based framework for semantic query rewriting and reasoning that is being utilized by Nuance Communications Inc. in speech-enabled conversational virtual assistant solutions for numerous automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM). We focus on the semantic rewriting task performed by NRF, which bridges the conceptual mismatch between the natural language front-end of automotive virtual assistants and their back end databases, and personalizes the results to the driver. We also describe many of its powerful features such as rewriter arbitration, query mediation and more.

The Impact of Ethno-Religious Crisis on Location Decisions and Values of Residential Properties in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract: Location is among the main determinants of residential property value. It has been realised from the existing literature that location could either be tangible or intangible in nature. Tangible location factors include accessibility, transportation, closeness to central business districts etc. On the other hand, intangible location factors are those attributes of location that are invisible in nature. They include race, ethnic background, crime, safety, skin colour, native inclination, apartheid, cultural background, security, religious inclination, socioeconomic background, indigene ship and the like. This study is intended to examine the effect of these intangible location attributes on the values of residential properties in the study area. The data for this research was sourced through interviews, field survey and questionnaires. Tables and charts were employed in order to analyse the data for the research. Pictures were also taken in order to give pictorial information of what is on ground. In order to arrive at the required sample size for the research, stratified random sampling was adopted. The study area was divided into two clusters, that is, Jos North and Jos South. The outcome of the research revealed that areas that are classified as violent free neighbourhoods command high rental and sales value of land and landed properties. The research discovered that people prefer areas that are predominantly of their religious and ethnic extraction. As a result of that, the residential pattern of the study area was drastically altered. It can be concluded that intangible location attributes play a vital role in dictating the price of land and landed properties. Investors and real estate developers should take into consideration intangible attributes of location when determining the worth of land and landed property in the study area. Keywords: Intangible Location Attributes, Landed Property, Rental Value, Residential Property and Sales Value

Privacy enhancing technologies : 5th International Workshop, PET 2005, Cavtat, Croatia, May 30-June 1, 2005 : revised selected papers

Abstract: Privacy Vulnerabilities in Encrypted HTTP Streams.- An Analysis of Parallel Mixing with Attacker-Controlled Inputs.- Message Splitting Against the Partial Adversary.- Location Privacy for Cellular Systems Analysis and Solution.- Towards Modeling Wireless Location Privacy.- Failures in a Hybrid Content Blocking System.- Anonymity Preserving Techniques in Trust Negotiations.- Unmixing Mix Traffic.- Mix-Network with Stronger Security.- Covert Channels in IPv6.- Towards Privacy-Aware eLearning.- Anonymization of IP Traffic Monitoring Data: Attacks on Two Prefix-Preserving Anonymization Schemes and Some Proposed Remedies.- Privacy Issues in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.- High-Power Proxies for Enhancing RFID Privacy and Utility.- Integrating Utility into Face De-identification.- Privacy in India: Attitudes and Awareness.- Economics of Identity Management: A Supply-Side Perspective.

Nuance Reasoning Framework.

Abstract: In this paper, we report on an extensible reasoning framework developed at Nuance Communications that allows a variety of specialized reasoners to be used simultaneously. We report on the key design features of our reasoning framework, and provide a real world use case in the automotive domain.

DAML-S: semantic markup for web services

Abstract: The Semantic Web should enable greater access not only to content but also to services on the Web. Users and software agents should be able to discover, invoke, compose, and monitor Web resources offering particular services and having particular properties. As part of the DARPA Agent Markup Language program, we have begun to develop an ontology of services, called DAML-S, that will make these functionalities possible. In this paper we describe the overall structure of the ontology, the service profile for advertising services, and the process model for the detailed description of the operation of services. We also compare DAML-S with several industry efforts to define standards for characterizing services on the Web.

QoS-aware middleware for Web services composition

Abstract: The paradigmatic shift from a Web of manual interactions to a Web of programmatic interactions driven by Web services is creating unprecedented opportunities for the formation of online business-to-business (B2B) collaborations. In particular, the creation of value-added services by composition of existing ones is gaining a significant momentum. Since many available Web services provide overlapping or identical functionality, albeit with different quality of service (QoS), a choice needs to be made to determine which services are to participate in a given composite service. This paper presents a middleware platform which addresses the issue of selecting Web services for the purpose of their composition in a way that maximizes user satisfaction expressed as utility functions over QoS attributes, while satisfying the constraints set by the user and by the structure of the composite service. Two selection approaches are described and compared: one based on local (task-level) selection of services and the other based on global allocation of tasks to services using integer programming.

Semantic Matching of Web Services Capabilities

Abstract: The Web is moving from being a collection of pages toward a collection of services that interoperate through the Internet. The first step toward this interoperation is the location of other services that can help toward the solution of a problem. In this paper we claim that location of web services should be based on the semantic match between a declarative description of the service being sought, and a description of the service being offered. Furthermore, we claim that this match is outside the representation capabilities of registries such as UDDI and languages such as WSDL.We propose a solution based on DAML-S, a DAML-based language for service description, and we show how service capabilities are presented in the Profile section of a DAML-S description and how a semantic match between advertisements and requests is performed.

Developing Multi-Agent Systems with JADE

Abstract: JADE (Java Agent Development Framework) is a software framework to make easy the development of multi-agent applications in compliance with the FIPA specifications. JADE can then be considered a middle-ware that implements an efficient agent platform and supports the development of multi agent systems. JADE agent platform tries to keep high the performance of a distributed agent system implemented with the Java language. In particular, its communication architecture tries to offer flexible and efficient messaging, transparently choosing the best transport available and leveraging state-of-the-art distributed object technology embedded within Java runtime environment. JADE uses an agent model and Java implementation that allow good runtime efficiency, software reuse, agent mobility and the realization of different agent architectures.

Service oriented architectures: approaches, technologies and research issues

Abstract: Service-oriented architectures (SOA) is an emerging approach that addresses the requirements of loosely coupled, standards-based, and protocol- independent distributed computing. Typically business operations running in an SOA comprise a number of invocations of these different components, often in an event-driven or asynchronous fashion that reflects the underlying business process needs. To build an SOA a highly distributable communications and integration backbone is required. This functionality is provided by the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) that is an integration platform that utilizes Web services standards to support a wide variety of communications patterns over multiple transport protocols and deliver value-added capabilities for SOA applications. This paper reviews technologies and approaches that unify the principles and concepts of SOA with those of event-based programing. The paper also focuses on the ESB and describes a range of functions that are designed to offer a manageable, standards-based SOA backbone that extends middleware functionality throughout by connecting heterogeneous components and systems and offers integration services. Finally, the paper proposes an approach to extend the conventional SOA to cater for essential ESB requirements that include capabilities such as service orchestration, "intelligent" routing, provisioning, integrity and security of message as well as service management. The layers in this extended SOA, in short xSOA, are used to classify research issues and current research activities.