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Dr David M W Powers


A/Professor of Computer Science
Artificial Intelligence and Language Technology Laboratory
School of Informatics and Engineering
The Flinders University of South Australia

Research interests

Keywords: Machine Learning, Natural Language, Language Technology, Data Mining, Knowledge Discovery, Human Factors, User Interface, Information Retrieval, Technical Analysis, Evaluation, Validation, Bookmaker

Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science

David’s major research interests lie in the general area of Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science, taking Language, Learning and Logic as the cornerstones for a broad Cognitive Science perspective on Artificial Intelligence and its practical applications – with a particular focus on Medical Devices and Assistive Technologies for people with health problems or disabilities, and applications relating to information Retrieval/web-search, and Education..

Natural Language Learning/Computational Psycholinguistics

My principal research interest is Natural Language Learning (NLL), otherwise known as Machine Learning of Natural Language and Ontology (MLNL, MLNLO) or Computational Psycholinguistics or Computational Cognitive Linguistics. The focus is biologically plausible models, and while implementation techniques may very from neural networks to statistical models or grammar-like rule based systems, the emphasis is always that the model could be implemented using in a neurologically plausible way consistent with known neuroanatomy and neurophysiology. Related interest thus include Brain Imaging and Neuroscience as well as Cognitive Psychology.

Natural Language the Natural Way

The idea is that rather than trying to figure out the grammar of a natural human language like English, or trying to learn it from various linguists' ideas of how sentences should be parsed, we get the computers to learn it the same way a baby does - which includes embedding the computer in a real or simulated world so that it can learn about language and the world and the connections between them which give rise to meaning. Conversely, we seek to implement and formally test models and theories from Psycholinguistics and Cognitive Linguistics.

The Robot Baby and the Thinking Head

Current projects are grounded using a robot baby/doll, a building mapping robot, simulated robots and animated talking heads. Application projects focus on design and human factors evaluation of search interfaces, as well as techniques for improved parsing, semantic and ontological understanding and audio-visual speech recognition using lip-reading and expression/emotion recognition.

Commerical Applications of Language & Learning Technology

Other applications of Language Technology, Machine Learning and Data Mining I've worked on include Technical Analysis, Home Automation, Information Retrieval and Web Search and I collaborate with a number of companies (notably I2Net and YourAmigo), commercializing technology in these areas. The I2Net Orion product allows you to control your home and entertainment system hands-free by talking to it, and is marketed worldwide as Clipsal Homespeak as part of the Clipsal C-bus range.  YourAmigo is an acknowledged world leader in deep/dynamic web search, bringing to light pages that are missed by conventional search engines/spidering and boosting rankings and sales of client sites. YourAmigo has offices in several countries and websites in China, Japan, the US, the UK, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Australia.  Optimized customer sites include www.reebokstore.co.uk, www.samsungparts.com. www.flightcentre.com.au, www.improvementsdepot.com and www.readycomponents.com.

Formal Analysis, Validation and Evaluation Methodologies

Much of the recent research has focussed on the validation, evaluation and fusion of computational models including the development of the concepts of informedness and markedness as principled alternatives to accuracy, recall and precision – informedness is the probability that an informed decision was made, or equivalently the proportion of the time a correct decision is made using the available information. It is calculated using the Bookmaker Algorithm and can also be mapped to an information theoretic framework as information loss. Where information is used to make the wrong decision - that is the wrong decision is made more often than predicted by chance - Bookmaker returns a negative value interpretable as misinformedness. Markedness is the complementary concept of to what extent a potential marker is indeed marked by the target condition – it corresponds to DeltaP as used in Psychology.

Trading and Technical Analysis

My interest in machine learning and neural nets applied to technical analysis led to the development of the Bookmaker informedness methodology, but also derives from my activities as a private trader of shares, futures and other derivatives - I have been quite successful with the SFE's SPI contract. One of the tools I developed to assist me in my futures trading, ChartAnnotate, is quite spectacular with its rainbow marking of the standard deviations, and has started to attract considerable interest. It turns bar charts into distribution profiles similar to the Market Profiles introduced by Steidlmayer at the Chicago Board of Trade. Comparing these volume, tick or time distributions with a standard normal distribution gives an indication of the tendency of the market. For more information on this trading side of me, see my private home page.

Parallelism and Concurrent Logic Programming

A secondary focus is Logic Programming (LP) and Automated Reasoning (AR), with particular attention to Concurrency and Parallelism, and the application of LP/AR technology to Natural Language and Machine Learning, and their relationship to biological computing and the understanding of molecular processes.

Flinders University Websites

For up-to-date information on my research at Flinders see the Knowledge Discovery, Management and Visualization project summary. I am a member of four Areas of Strategic Research Investment at Flinders, Flinders Medical Devices And Technologies and the Centre for Neuroscience, Applied Cognitive Psychology and the Centre for Analysis of Educational Futures.

Publications and Curriculum Vitae

My publications include a monograph on Machine Learning of Natural Language, around a hundred papers, and a number of proceedings in the area of NLL/MLNL/MLNLO (which I coined as increasingly formal and complete designations for the field). In addition I have published a couple of dozen papers (available via html ) relating to Logic Programming and Parallelism, Unsupervised Learning and Language Technology. My tutorials and my ChartAnnotate software for technical analysis/trading of financial markets may be found on my private home page. A full CV is available.

Supervision and Collaboration

I supervise, and am happy to supervise, projects related to the NL, ML and CLP research mentioned here. Examples of projects I have supervised may be extracted from my publications list. My main collaborators at present are Sherry Randhawa and Nasser Asgari (Robotics), Kenneth Pope (Blind Signal Separation), Richard Clark and John Willoughby (EEG and ERP of Speech/Language). My two current postdocs are Martin Luerssen and Trent Lewis. I am always happy to collaborate and actively seeking to work with others with similar interests.  Some topup scholarships are available for Honours, Masters and PhD students qualified to work on my projects.

Related Sites

B Ward Powers

My father, Dr B. Ward Powers, director of Tyndale College, is a theologian and also a linguist and has written several books including a text book with an innovative modern approach to New Testament Greek (the topic of his Masters) and a comprehensive exposition of the Bible’s teaching on sex, marriage and divorce (the topic of his PhD). If it's not me you're after, maybe it's him!

Philip R.W. Powers/1M1 Records

My brother, Philip Powers, runs 1M1 - a CD business specializing in Film Music, Move Soundtracks and producing CDs for Australasian films.

Contact details

Brief CV

1979

B.Sc. in Computer Science and Pure Mathematics, U. Sydney, AUS

1989

Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UNSW, Sydney, AUS

1984-89

Lecturer in Computer Science, Macquarie U., Sydney, AUS

1989-92

Senior Research Fellow in Computational Logic, U. Kaiserslautern, FRG

1992

Visiting Research Fellow in Computational Linguistics, U. Tilburg, NL

1993

Visiting Professor in Artificial Intelligence, ENST/Telecom Paris, F

1994-

Associate Professor in Computer Science, Flinders U., Adelaide, AUS

1997

Visiting Professor, ENSSAT, Lannion F

Visiting Research Fellow, Computational Linguistics in Flanders, B

Current Administrative Responsibilities

Computer Science Representative, Faculty Research Committee

Deputy Chairman, Cognitive Science

Head, Artificial Intelligence and Language Technology Laboratory

Portfolios in Professional Associations

1992-

Editorial Board, SIGART, the ACM (Assoc. for Computer Machinery) Special Interest Group on ARTificial Intelligence

1992-1997

Editor-in-Chief, SIGART, the ACM (Assoc. for Computer Machinery) Special Interest Group on ARTificial Intelligence

1993-1997

President, SIGNLL, the ACL (Assoc. for Computational Linguistics) Special Interest Group on Natural Language Learning

1997-

International Advisory Committee, SIGNLL, the ACL (Assoc. for Computational Linguistics) Special Interest Group on Natural Language Learning

1997-8

Principal Organizer, ANLPF: the Australian Natural Language Processing Fortnight to be held around Australia in January 1998 and incorporating two international conferences (NeMLaP3 and CoNLL98).

1997-1999

Chair, Organizing and Advisory Committees, Loebner Prize the latest of which was held on 22nd January 1999 at Flinders University, and the penulatimate on 11th January 1998 at Sydney's PowerHouse Museum, and the next being scheduled for 28th January 2000 at Dartmouth College

1997-8

Chair, Organizing and Program Committees, NeMLaP3 conference on New Methods in Natural Language Processing being held from 11th to 17th January 1998 starting with tutorials in Sydney's Blue Mountains and the main conference at Macquarie University, Sydney.

1997-8

Chair, Organizing and Program Committees, CoNLL98 Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning being held from 22nd to 24th January 1998 at Flinders University, Adelaide.

... and member of other editorial boards, program committees and referee panels in the area of computational linguistics, cognitive science, computer architecture and computer science.