Achieving good performance in bytecoded language interpreters is difficult without sacrificing both simplicity and portability. This is due to the complexity of dynamic translation ("just-in-time compilation") of bytecodes into native code, which is the mechanism employed universally by highperformance interpreters. We demonstrate that a few simple techniques make it possible to create highly-portable dynamic translators that can attain as much as 70% the performance of optimized C for certain numerical computations. Translators based on such techniques can offer respectable performance without sacrificing either the simplicity or portability of much slower "pure" bytecode interpreters. Keywords: bytecode interpretation, threaded code, inlining, dynamic translation, just-in-time compilation. 1 Introduction Bytecoded languages such as Smalltalk [Gol83], Caml [Ler97] and Java [Arn96, Lin97] offer significant engineering advantages over more conventional languages: higher levels of abst...

Kohonen's Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is one of the most popular artificial neural network algorithms. Word category maps are SOMs that have been organized according to word similarities, measured by the similarity of the short contexts of the words. Conceptually interrelated words tend to fall into the same or neighboring map nodes. Nodes may thus be viewed as word categories. Although no a priori information about classes is given, during the self-organizing process a model of the word classes emerges. The central topic of the thesis is the use of the SOM in natural language processing. The approach based on the word category maps is compared with the methods that are widely used in artificial intelligence research. Modeling gradience, conceptual change, and subjectivity of natural language interpretation are considered. The main application area is information retrieval and textual data mining for which a specific SOM-based method called the WEBSOM has been developed. The WEBSOM metho...

In electronic commerce, systems development is based on two fundamental types of models, business models and process models. A business model is concerned with value exchanges among business partners, while a process model focuses on operational and procedural aspects of business communication. Thus, a business model defines the what in an e-commerce system, while a process model defines the how. Business process design can be facilitated and improved by a method for systematically moving from a business model to a process model. Such a method would provide support for traceability, evaluation of design alternatives, and seamless transition from analysis to realization. This work proposes a unified framework that can be used as a basis to analyze, to interpret and to understand different concepts associated at different stages in e-Commerce system development. In this thesis we illustrate how UN/CEFACT’s recommended metamodels for business and process design can be analyzed, extended and then integrated for the final solutions based on the proposed unified framework. Also as an application of the framework, we demonstrate how process-modeling tasks can be facilitated in reaching e-Commerce system design. The proposed methodology, called BP 3 stands for Business Process Patterns Perspective. The BP 3 methodology uses natural language interface to capture different business requirements from the designers. It is based on defined process patterns, and the final solution will be generated by applying the captured business requirements by means of a set of production rules to complete the inter-process communication among these patterns.

We propose a theoretical framework for modeling communication between agents that have different conceptual models of their current context. We describe how the emergence of subjective models of the world can be simulated and what the role of language and communication in that process is. We consider, in particular, the role of unsupervised learning in the formation of agents ' conceptual models, the relative subjectivity of these models, and the communication and learning processes that lead into intersubjective sharing of concepts. We also discuss some implications of the subjectivity of conceptual learning in the area of economics. 1

Approaches to MT have been heavily influenced by changing trends in the philosophy of language and mind. Because of the artificial hiatus which followed the publication of the ALPAC Report, MT research in the 1970s and early 1980s has had to catch up with major developments that have Occurred in linguistic and philosophical thinking; currently, MT seems to be uncritically loyal to a paradigm of thought about language which is rapidly losing most of its adherents i departments of linguistics and philosophy. I argue, both in theoretical terms and by reference to empirical research on a particular translation problem, that the PopperJan "fallible rationalist" view of mental processes which is winning acceptance as a more sophisticated alternative to Chomskyan "determin- istic rationalism" should lead MT researchers to redefine their goals and to adopt certain currently -neglected techniques in trying to achieve those goals.

Abstract. This paper presents a method for creating interlingual wordto-word or phrase-to-phrase mappings between any two languages using the self-organizing map algorithm. The method can be used as a component in a statistical machine translation system. The conceptual space created by the self-organizing map serves as a kind of interlingual representation. The specific problems of machine translation are discussed in some detail. The proposed method serves in alleviating two problems. The main problem addressed here is the fact that different languages divide the conceptual space differently. The approach can also help in dealing with lexical ambiguity. 1

In this review and tutorial article, new developments towards extended use of information and communications technologies in science are discussed. The focus is in human and social sciences, specifically in linguistics and economics. Some challenging epistemological issues are handled in detail including the subjective and intersubjective nature of human knowing and how it influences scientific practices. Examples related to the use of data and text mining in human and social sciences are provided. Also the use of social simulation is considered in some detail. The article is concluded by a discussion on some potential practical implications for future scientific practices. Dans cet aperçu, et ce tutorial, de nouveaux développements pour l’utilisation étendue des technologies d’information et de communication dans les sciences sont discutées. L’accent est mis les sciences humaines et sociales, en particulier la linguistique et l’économie. Certains défis épistémologiques sont traités dans le détail, y compris le caractère subjectif et intersubjectif de la connaissance humaine et comment elle influence les pratiques scientifiques. Exemples liés à l’utilisation des données et de text mining dans les sciences humaines et sociales sont fournis. De plus, l’utilisation de la simulation sociale est considérée en détail. Une discussion sur un certain nombre d’implications pratiques possibles pour l’avenir de pratiques scientifiques conclu l’article. 1

“Our language can be seen as an ancient city: a maze of little streets and squares, of old and new houses, and of houses with additions from various periods; and this surrounded by a multitude of new boroughs with straight regular streets and uniform houses ” (Wittgenstein, 1958 § 18).

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