Victor Raskin

Script theory revis(it)ed: joke similarity and joke representation model

The article proposes a general theory of verbal humor, focusing on verbal jokes äs its most representative subset. The theory is an extension and revision ofRaskins script-based semantic theory of humor and of Attardos five-level joke representation model. After distinguishing the parameters of the various degrees of similarity among the joke examples, six knowledge resources informing thejoke, namely script oppositions, logicalmechanisms, situationst targets, narrative strategies, and language, are put forward. A hierarchical organization for the six knowledge resources is then discovered on the basis of the asymmetrical binary relations, of the proposed and modified content l tooldichotomy, and, especially, ofthe hypothesized perceptions ofthe relative degrees of similarity. It is also argued that the emerging joke representation model is neutral to the process ofjoke production. The proposed hierarchy enables the concepts of joke variants and invariants, introduced previously by Attardo, to be firmed up, generalized, and äug· mented into a full-fledged taxonomy indexed with regard to the shared knowledge resource values (for example, two jokes may be variants on, that ist sharing, the same script oppositions and logical mechanisms). The resulting general theory of verbal humor is discussed in the light of its relations with various academic disciplines and areas ofresearch äs well äs with the script-based semantic theory of humor, special theories of humor, and incongruity-based theories.

Ontology in information security: a useful theoretical foundation and methodological tool

The paper introduces and advocates an ontological semantic approach to information security. Both the approach and its resources, the ontology and lexicons, are borrowed from the field of natural language processing and adjusted to the needs of the new domain. The approach pursues the ultimate dual goals of inclusion of natural language data sources as an integral part of the overall data sources in information security applications, and formal specification of the information security community know-how for the support of routine and time-efficient measures to prevent and counteract computer attacks. As the first order of the day, the approach is seen by the information security community as a powerful means to organize and unify the terminology and nomenclature of the field.

Natural language processing for information assurance and security: an overview and implementations

This research paper explores a promising interface between natural language processing (NLP) and information assurance and security (IAS). More specificall~ it is devoted to possible applications to, and further dedicated development of, the accumulated considerable resources in NLP for, IAS. The expected and partially accomplished result is in harnessing the weird, illogical ways natural languages encode meaning, the very ways that defy all the usual combinatorial approaches to mathematical--and computational--complexity and make NLP so hard, to enhance information security. The paper is of a mixed theoretical and empirical nature. Of the four possible venues of applications, (i) memorizing randomly generated passwords with the help of automatically generated funny jingles, (ii) natural language watermarking, (iii) using the available machine translation (MT) systems for (additional) encryption of text messages, and (iv) downgrading, or sanitizing classified information in networks, two venues, (i) and (iv), have been at least partially implemented and the remaining two (ii) and (iii) are being implemented to the proof-of-concept level. We must make it very clear, however, that we have done very little experimentation or evaluation at this point, though we are moving quickly in that direction. The merits of the paper, if any, are in its venture to make considerable progress achieved recently in NLE especially in knowledge representation and meaning analysis, useful for IAS needs. The NLP approach adopted here, ontological semantics, has been developed by two of the coauthors; watermarking is based on the pioneering research by another coauthor and his associates; most of the implementation of the password memorization software has been done by the fourth coauthor. All the four of us have agonized whether we should report this research now or wait till we have fully implemented all or at least some of the systems we are developing. At the end of the day, we have reached a consensus that it is important, even at this early stage, to review for the information security community what NLP can do for it and to invite feedback and further efforts and ideas on what seems likely to become a new paradigm in information security. To the body of the paper, we Mikhail J. Atallah, Craig J. McDonough, Victor Raskin Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS, www.cerias.purdue.edu) Purdue University W. Lafayette, IN 47907 mja, raskin, mcdonoug@cerias.purdue.edu Sergei Nirenburg Computing Research Laboratory, New Mexico State University Las Cruces, NM 88003 sergei@crl.nmsu.edu have added two self-contained deliberately reference-free appendices on NLP and ontological semantics, respectively, primarily for the benefit of those IAS readers, who are interested in expanding their understanding of those fields and further exploring their possible fruitful interactions with IAS.

Formation of the photosynthetic apparatus during greening of cadmium-poisoned barley leaves

The effect of cadmium on the formation of the photosynthetic apparatus of greening barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Triangel) leaves has been investigated. Cadmium treatment of dark-grown leaves strongly reduced the extent of chlorophyll accumulation during greening. Low-temperature fluorescence emission showed, however, that neither the synthesis nor photoconversion of protochlorophyllide was inhibited, although a blue shift of the main fluorescence emission from 685 to 668 mm was found. Chlorophyll fluorescence lifetime was followed by measuring the phase-shift angle of modulated emission. Whereas this parameter normally decreases rapidly during greening, this change proceeded noticeably slower with increasing severity according to cadmium concentration. Cadmium also decreased the variable part of fluorescence induction. These results suggest that the cadmium in greening leaves, rather than interfering with chlorophyll biosynthesis, acts mainly by disturbing the integration of chlorophyll molecules into the stable complexes required for normal functional photoysnthetic activity.

Toward an empirical verification of the General Theory of Verbal Humor

The present study derives hypotheses from the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH) and tests them on a sample of 534 subjects. Subjects are presented with three sets of jokes, each consisting of an anchor joke and comparison jokes in which variations in one and only one of the six Knowledge Resources (KR), script Opposition (SO), logical mechanism (LM), Situation (SI) target (TA), narrative strategy (NS), andlanguage (LA) occurred. Subjects rated the degree of similarity between the anchor joke and the six comparison jokes. The results support the hypothesis that the extent to which the similarity judgment is affected depends on the type of the KR manipulated. Also, there generally is a decreasing trend in similarity between the KRs LA and SO. Whereas there was a significant difference between all consecutive KRs, as predicted by the hierarchy postulated by the GTVH, SI and LM were not in the right order. Possible explanations for thisfact are discussed. This article presents and discusses a study which empirically Supports some of the Claims of the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH). After introducing the theory, the article will present the hypotheses derived from the theory that were tested and finally the results of the investigation.

The effect of copper on chlorophyll organization during greening of barley leaves

The effect of copper on chlorophyll organization and function during greening of barley was examined, using chlorophyll fluorescence and photoacoustic techniques. Copper was found to inhibit pigment accumulation and to retard chlorophyll integration into the photosystems, as evident from low temperature (77 K) fluorescence spectra. Resolution of the minimal fluorescence (F0) into active and inactive parts, indicated a higher inactive fraction with copper treatment. This was attributed to chlorophyll molecules which failed to integrate normally, a conclusion supported by the longer fluorescence lifetime observed in copper treated plants. A lower ratio of chlorophyll a to b and fluorescence induction transients, showing accelerated Photosystem II closure, both indicate that copper treatment resulted in a larger light-harvesting antenna. Another effect of copper treatment was the suppression of oxygen evolution, indicating a decrease in photosynthetic capacity. We suggest that the non-integrated chlorophyll fraction sensitizes photodamage in the membrane, contributing to disruption of electron flow and pigment accumulation.

Ontological semantics, formal ontology, and ambiguity

Ontological semantics is a theory of meaning in natural languageand an approach to natural language processing (NLP) which uses anontology as the central resource for extracting and representingmeaning of natural language texts, reasoning about knowledgederived from texts as well as generating natural language textsbased on representations of their meaning. Ontological semanticsdirectly supports such applications as machine translation ofnatural languages, information extraction, text summarization,question answering, advice giving, collaborative work of networksof human and software agents, etc. Ontological semantics paysserious attention to its theoretical foundations by explicating itspremises; therefore, formal ontology and its relations withontological semantics are important. Besides a general briefdiscussion of these relations, the paper focuses on the importanttheoretical and practical issue of the distinction between ontologyand natural language. It is argued that this crucial distinctionlies not in the (inaccurately) presumed nonambiguity of the one andthe well-established ambiguity of the other but rather in theconstructed and overtly defined nature of ontological concepts andlabels on which no human background knowledge can operateunintentionally to introduce ambiguity, as opposed to pervasiveuncontrolled and uncontrollable ambiguity in natural language. Theemphasis on this distinction, we argue, will provide bettertheoretical support for the central tenets of formal ontology byfreeing it from the Wittgensteinian and Rortyan retreats from theanalytical paradigm; it also reinforces the methodology of NLP bymaintaining a productive demarcation between thelanguage-independent nature of ontology and language-specificnature of the lexicons, a demarcation that has paid off well inconsecutive implementations of ontological semantics and theirapplications in practical computer systems.

A natural language exchange model for enabling human, agent, robot and machine interaction

Models of communications in heterogeneous systems support exchange between agents of different types. A key component is making the heterogeneous agents appear indistinguishable to and from each other in terms of language, to normalize communication. A goal is to act as an open system, where the agents can come and exit as needed by the requirements of the overall goal of the system. The main goal of this research is the creation of a communicative model to support interaction, organization and collective intelligence features between a heterogeneous set of agents as machines, robots, software agents, and humans, all working in a cooperative organization. Communication appears as a natural language interface between all agents to enable clear, indistinguishable communication between all within the organization.

An Applied Ontological Semantic Microtheory of Adjective Meaning for Natural Language Processing

This paper is devoted to determining and representing adjectival meaning. The results form a microtheory in the Mikrokosmos project on computational ontological semantics. Mikrokosmos microtheories cover the meaning of lexical categories in several languages, the ontological model used as metalanguage for language description and syntax–semantics mapping as well as the actual process of text analysis and generation. This paper presents a critical analysis of the body of knowledge on adjectives amassed to date in linguistics and presents a detailed, practically tested methodology and heuristics for the acquisition of adjectival lexical entries for computational applications. The work is based on the set of over 6,000 English and about 1,500 Spanish adjectives obtained from task- oriented corpora.

Ontological semantic technology for detecting insider threat and social engineering

This paper describes a computational system for detecting unintentional inferences in casual unsolicited and unrestricted verbal output of individuals, potentially responsible for leaked classified information to people with unauthorized access. Uses of the system for cases of insider threat and/or social engineering are discussed. Brief introductions to Ontological Semantic Technology and Natural Language Information Assurance and Security are included.