The central task of future-oriented computational linguistics is the development of cognitive machines which humans can freely speak to in their natural language. This will involve the development of a functional theory of language, an objective method of verification, and a wide range of practical applications. Natural communication requires not only verbal processing, but also non-verbal perception and action. Therefore, the content of this book is organized as a theory of language for the construction of talking robots with a focus on the mechanics of natural language communication in both the listener and the speaker.

The study of linguistics has been forever changed by the advent of the computer. Not only does the machine permit the processing of enormous quantities of text thereby securing a better empirical foundation for conclusions-but also, since it is a modelling device, the machine allows the implementation of theories of grammar and other kinds of language processing. Models can have very unexpected properties both good and bad-and it is only through extensive tests that the value of a model can be properly assessed. The computer revolution has been going on for many years, and its importance for linguistics was recognized early on, but the more recent spread of personal workstations has made it a reality that can no longer be ignored by anyone in the subject. The present essay, in particular, could never have been written without the aid of the computer. I know personally from conversations and consultations with the author over many months how the book has changed. If he did not have at his command a powerful typesetting program, he would not have been able to see how his writing looked and exactly how it had to be revised and amplified. Even more significant for the evolution of the linguistic theory is the easy testing of examples made possible by the implementation of the parser and the computer-held lexicon. Indeed, the rule set and lexicon grew substantially after the successes of the early implementations created the desire to incorporate more linguistic phenomena.

The central task of a future-oriented computational linguistics is the development of cognitive machines which humans can freely talk with in their respective natural language. In the long run, this task will ensure the development of a functional theory of language, an objective method of verification, and a wide range of practical applications. Natural communication requires not only verbal processing, but also non-verbal perception and action. Therefore the content of this textbook is organized as a theory of language for the construction of talking robots. The main topic is the mechanism of natural language communication in both the speaker and the hearer. The content is divided into four parts: Theory of Language, Theory of Grammar, Morphology and Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics. The book contains more than 700 exercises for reviewing key ideas and important problems. In the Second Edition, changes are most noticeable in Chapters 22-24, which have been completely rewritten. They present a declarative outline for programming the semantic and pragmatic interpretation of natural language communication. The presentation is now simpler and more comprehensive. It is defined as a formal fragment and includes a new control structure, an analysis of spatio-temporal infer-encing, and an analysis of internal matching based on the notion of a task analysis. Examples and explanations which were contained in the old versions of Chapters 22-24 have been moved to the new Appendix. A schematic summary and a conclusion have been added as well.

The ideal of using human language to control machines requires a practical theory of natural language communication that includes grammatical analysis of language signs, plus a model of the cognitive agent, with interfaces for recognition and action, an internal database, and an algorithm for reading content in and out. This book offers a functional framework for theoretical analysis of natural language communication and for practical applications of natural language processing.

In the last decades information modelling and knowledge bases have become hot topics not only in academic communities related to information systems and computer science, but also in business areas where information technology is applied. This book includes papers submitted to the 17th European-Japanese Conference on Information Modelling and Knowledge Bases (EJC 2007). The EJC conferences constitute a world-wide research forum for the exchange of scientific results and experiences achieved in computer science and other related disciplines using innovative methods and progressive approaches. I.

The workshop series on Text, Speech and Dialogue originated in 1998 with the ?rst TSD1998 held in Brno, Czech Republic. This year’s TSD2000, already the third in the series, returns to Brno and to its organizers from the Faculty of Informatics at the Masaryk University. As shown by the ever growing interest in TSD series, this annual workshop developed into the prime meeting of speech and language researchers from both sides of the former Iron Curtain, which provides a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the current activities in all aspects of language communication and to witness the amazing vitality of researchers from the former East Block countries. Thanks need to be extended to all who continue to make the TSD workshop series such a success: ?rst, to the authors themselves, without whom TSD2000 would not exist; next, to all organizations that support TSD2000, among them the International Speech Communication Association, the Faculty of Informatics at the Masaryk University in Brno and the Faculty of Applied Sciences, West Bohemia University in Plzen; ? and last but not least,to the organizers and members of the Program Committee who spentmuch effort to make TSD2000 success and who reviewed 131 contributions submitted from all corners of the world and accepted 75 out of them for presentation at the workshop. This book is evidence of the success of all involved.

Volume 19 of Group III (Crystal and Solid State Physics) deals with the magnetic properties of metals, alloys and metallic compounds. The amount of information available in this field is so substantial that several subvolumes are needed to cover it all. The first subvolumes treat the intrinsic magnetic properties, i. e. those magnetic properties which depend only on the chemical composition and the crystal structure. So far, subvolumes III/19a, III/19b and III/19c have appeared. Data on the properties that depend on the preparation of the samples measured, as for instance, thin films or amorphous alloys and the magnetic alloys used in technical applications, are being compiled in the last subvolumes of III/19. In the first of these, subvolume III/19g, magnetic properties are given for several major types of crystalline and amorphous thin magnetic films that are supported by a substrate and for which a more or less coherent group of data is available. The properties of sputtered metallic amorphous films containing 3d transition elements will be dealt with in the following subvolume.