Introduction to 'Interfaces' 9

‘ ‘ Introduction to Grains , Phases , and Interfaces —

SMITH’S seminal 1948 paper, ‘‘Grains, Phases, and Interfaces—an Interpretation of Microstructure,’’ has influenced scientists for six decades and continues to be a base upon which modern materials research is built. Because the current fashion is to measure a paper’s impact on the scientific community through its citations, I’ll begin by noting that as of January 2010, this paper has been cited...

Natural language interfaces to databases - an introduction

This paper is an introduction to natural language interfaces to databases (Nlidbs). A brief overview of the history of Nlidbs is rst given. Some advantages and disadvantages of Nlidbs are then discussed, comparing Nlidbs to formal query languages, form-based interfaces, and graphical interfaces. An introduction to some of the linguistic problems Nlidbs have to confront follows, for the beneet o...

Natural Language Interfaces to Databases - An Introduction

This paper is an introduction to natural language interfaces to databases (Nlidbs). A brief overview of the history of Nlidbs is first given. Some advantages and disadvantages of Nlidbs are then discussed, comparing Nlidbs to formal query languages, form-based interfaces, and graphical interfaces. An introduction to some of the linguistic problems Nlidbs have to confront follows, for the benefi...

Speech Interfaces: Session Introduction

II CURRENT TECHNOLOGY The speech interface is the natural one for the human user and is beginning to be used in a limited way in many applications. Some of these applications are experimental; still others have achieved the status of cost-effective utility. A brief summary of the current state-of-the-art of speech input and output are presented. The two papers in the session represent specific ...

An Introduction to Sociolinguistics