Abstract: An eye mask for use to wake up and/or to go to sleep provides ease of cleaning or replacement without damaging electrical or optical components; different user selectable sunrise and sunset illumination modes respectively having blue-shifted and red-shifted spectra simulating natural sunrises and sunsets to assimilate the sleep/wake cycle to the natural rhythms of day and night; sunset and/or sunrise illumination modes that oscillate with fixed period or sequentially changing periods that correspond to brainwave frequencies that respectively facilitate going to sleep and/or waking and synergistically co-operate with corresponding sunset or sunrise light fields to help the user to fall into restful sleep or to awake refreshed and alert; and audio tone programming of illumination mode and treatment time and/or duration of therapy by a remote tone control generator.

Abstract: Techniques disclose validating user-provided text feedback for topical relevance relative to a question asked. A form with at least a first field is received. The first field includes unstructured text content provided as feedback in response to a question. The unstructured text content of the first field is evaluated to identify an answer type. A measure of relevance of the unstructured text content relative to the question is determined based on the evaluation.

Abstract: A system and computer implemented method for managing perspective data is disclosed. The method may include collecting a first lot of perspective data for an item. The method may include introducing a variant feature to the item to constitute a modified item. The method may include collecting a second lot of perspective data for the modified item. The method may also include evaluating the first and second lots of perspective data to ascertain a sentiment fluctuation based on information relevant to the variant feature.

Abstract: System, method, and computer program product to determine that a question received by a deep question answering system is speculative, generate, by one or more predictive algorithms, a set of candidate answers, compute a score for each candidate answer in the set of candidate answers, and return a first candidate answer, of the set of candidate answers, as responsive to the speculative question received by the deep question answering system.

Abstract: Techniques for generating answers to speculative questions are provided. It is determined that a question received by a deep question answering system is speculative, based at least in part on identifying a future tense in the question. A set of candidate answers is generated by one or more predictive algorithms, where each of the one or more predictive algorithms are used to generate at least one estimated future value for an attribute of the question. A score is computed for each candidate answer in the set of candidate answers, and a first candidate answer, of the set of candidate answers, is returned as responsive to the speculative question received by the deep question answering system.

Abstract: Mechanisms are provided to implement an echolocation functionality within a virtual environment. The mechanisms receive graphical information for a virtual environment, and analyzes the graphical information to detect a virtual object present in the virtual environment. One or more characteristics of the detected virtual object are identified, which may include a relative location of the virtual object to a virtual representation of a user in the virtual environment. Echo data is generated that defines characteristics of an audio output that represents the virtual object in a manner emulating an echo of a sound emitted from the virtual representation of the user in the virtual environment. Output of the audio output by the one or more audio output devices is controlled based on the generated echo data.

Abstract: A method, computer system, and computer program product for determining qualities of user favorable photographs are provided. The embodiment may include receiving a plurality of photographs from an electronic device. The embodiment may also include parsing each photograph. The embodiment may further include calculating a favorability value of each photograph. The embodiment may also include determining whether the favorability value of each photograph exceeds a favorability threshold value. The embodiment may further include organizing the received photographs into one or more clusters based on features of each photograph. The embodiment may also include generating a classification model for each cluster.

Abstract: A method, computer system, and computer program product for cognitively coaching a user to take favorable photographs are provided. The embodiment may include determining characteristics of favorable photographs from a favorable photo database using image analysis techniques. The embodiment may also include identifying subjects in a current camera frame. The embodiment may further include identifying characteristics of a photograph from a current camera frame. The embodiment may also include determining similarities or differences between the favorable photographs and the current camera frame. The embodiment may further include generating directions that map a current state of similar characteristics to the favorable photographs.

Abstract: While a virtual reality environment is being presented to a user, at least a first sound in a real world environment in which the user physically is located can be detected. a nature of the first sound can be determined. Based on the nature of the first sound, a second sound that matches a theme of the virtual reality environment can be selected. The first sound can be masked by presenting the second sound to the user in the virtual reality environment.

Abstract: System, method, and computer program product to determine that a question received by a deep question answering system is speculative, generate, by one or more predictive algorithms, a set of candidate answers, compute a score for each candidate answer in the set of candidate answers, and return a first candidate answer, of the set of candidate answers, as responsive to the speculative question received by the deep question answering system.

Abstract: Embodiments herein include a NLP application used to coach a participant who violates a social norm during a conversation. For example, the NLP application can evaluate the textual representation of the conversation to determine if the participant is exhibiting a characteristic of autism or other medical disorder which violates a social norm, and if so, inform the participant. Once a characteristic of autism is identified, a coaching application may output text that informs the participant what particular characteristic he is exhibiting—e.g., the participant is ignoring an attempt by another participant to change the topic of the conversation. In addition to providing notice, in one embodiment, the coaching application suggests a corrective action to the participant. For example, if the participant fails to provide an appropriate response to an emotional statement, the coaching action may suggest a sympathetic statement.

Abstract: An eye mask for use to wake up and/or to go to sleep provides ease of cleaning or replacement without damaging electrical or optical components; different user selectable sunrise and sunset illumination modes respectively having blue-shifted and red-shifted spectra simulating natural sunrises and sunsets to assimilate the sleep/wake cycle to the natural rhythms of day and night; sunset and/or sunrise illumination modes that oscillate with fixed period or sequentially changing periods that correspond to brainwave frequencies that respectively facilitate going to sleep and/or waking and synergistically co-operate with corresponding sunset or sunrise light fields to help the user to fall into restful sleep or to awake refreshed and alert; and audio tone programming of illumination mode and treatment time and/or duration of therapy by a remote tone control generator.

Abstract: Mechanisms are provided to implement an echolocation functionality within a virtual environment. The mechanisms receive graphical information for a virtual environment, and analyzes the graphical information to detect a virtual object present in the virtual environment. One or more characteristics of the detected virtual object are identified, which may include a relative location of the virtual object to a virtual representation of a user in the virtual environment. Echo data is generated that defines characteristics of an audio output that represents the virtual object in a manner emulating an echo of a sound emitted from the virtual representation of the user in the virtual environment. Output of the audio output by the one or more audio output devices is controlled based on the generated echo data.

Abstract: A method, computer program product, and system for a cognitive dialoguing avatar, the method including identifying a user, a target entity, and a user goal, initiating communication with the target entity, evaluating cognitively a question from a dialog with the target entity, determining cognitively an answer to the question by evaluating stored user information to progress to the user goal, communicating the determined answer to the target entity.

Abstract: A system, a method, and a computer program product for managing answer feasibility in a Question and Answering (QA) system. A set of candidate situations is established. The set of candidate situations corresponds to a first set of answers. A QA system establishes the set of candidate situations by analyzing a corpus. The first set of answers will answer a question. The QA system identifies a subset of the set of candidate situations. The subset of candidate situations corresponds to a portion of contextual data. The portion of contextual data is from a set of contextual data. The set of contextual data relates to the question. The question-answering system determines a set of answer feasibility factors. The set of answer feasibility factors is determined using the subset of candidate situations. The set of answer feasibility factors indicates the feasibility of the answers in the first set of answers.

Abstract: A system, a method, and a computer program product for managing answer feasibility in a Question and Answering (QA) system. A set of candidate situations is established. The set of candidate situations corresponds to a first set of answers. A QA system establishes the set of candidate situations by analyzing a corpus. The first set of answers will answer a question. The QA system identifies a subset of the set of candidate situations. The subset of candidate situations corresponds to a portion of contextual data. The portion of contextual data is from a set of contextual data. The set of contextual data relates to the question. The question-answering system determines a set of answer feasibility factors. The set of answer feasibility factors is determined using the subset of candidate situations. The set of answer feasibility factors indicates the feasibility of the answers in the first set of answers.

Abstract: Embodiments herein include a NLP application used to coach a participant who violates a social norm during a conversation. For example, the NLP application can evaluate the textual representation of the conversation to determine if the participant is exhibiting a characteristic of autism or other medical disorder which violates a social norm, and if so, inform the participant. Once a characteristic of autism is identified, a coaching application may output text that informs the participant what particular characteristic he is exhibiting—e.g., the participant is ignoring an attempt by another participant to change the topic of the conversation. In addition to providing notice, in one embodiment, the coaching application suggests a corrective action to the participant. For example, if the participant fails to provide an appropriate response to an emotional statement, the coaching action may suggest a sympathetic statement.

Abstract: In some NLP systems, queries are compared to different data sources stored in a corpus to provide an answer to the query. However, the best data sources for answering the query may not currently be contained within the corpus or the data sources in the corpus may contain stale data that provides an inaccurate answer. When receiving a query, the NLP system may evaluate the query to identify a data source that is likely to contain an answer to the query. If the data source is not currently contained within the corpus, the NLP system may ingest the data source. If the data source is already within the corpus, however, the NLP may determine a time-sensitivity value associated with at least some portion of the query. This value may then be used to determine whether the data source should be re-ingested—e.g., the information contained in the corpus is stale.

Abstract: In some NLP systems, queries are compared to different data sources stored in a corpus to provide an answer to the query. However, the best data sources for answering the query may not currently be contained within the corpus or the data sources in the corpus may contain stale data that provides an inaccurate answer. When receiving a query, the NLP system may evaluate the query to identify a data source that is likely to contain an answer to the query. If the data source is not currently contained within the corpus, the NLP system may ingest the data source. If the data source is already within the corpus, however, the NLP may determine a time-sensitivity value associated with at least some portion of the query. This value may then be used to determine whether the data source should be re-ingested—e.g., the information contained in the corpus is stale.

Abstract: Techniques disclose validating user-provided text feedback for topical relevance relative to a question asked. A form with at least a first field is received. The first field includes unstructured text content provided as feedback in response to a question. The unstructured text content of the first field is evaluated to identify an answer type. A measure of relevance of the unstructured text content relative to the question is determined based on the evaluation.