embodiments described herein can be utilized for passage justification scoring in a question answering ( qa ) system . the embodiments described herein provide passage justification scoring for a passage with respect to a question using neural networks , such that less labeled training data is required . neural networks , such as one or more convolutional neural networks and deep neural networks may be constructed from domain knowledge and trained using a relatively small amount of labeled training data along with a larger amount of unlabeled data . once trained , a number of features may be generated using known passage justification components and / or raw data from the question and / or passage , which features are used as input into the multi - layered neural network . output from lower - level networks may be used as concepts for input into higher - level networks to obtain higher level concepts . the concepts extracted from the neural networks may be used to construct passage justification models by applying machine learning techniques . as used herein , the term “ concept ” refers to an abstract idea or general notion that can be specified using a collection of names or labels , and a corresponding description . additionally , sample sentences describing the concept may be included in the description of the concept . concepts , such as , for example , “ to be or not to be ,” “ singular value decomposition ,” or “ new york yankees ” may be encoded in a web page ( e . g ., wikipedia ). as used herein the term “ query ” refers to a request for information from a data source . a query can typically be formed by specifying a concept or a set of concepts in a user interface directly or indirectly by stating a query in natural language from which concepts are then extracted . the term “ query ” and “ question ” are used interchangeably herein . referring now to fig1 , a high level view of a system 100 for passage justification scoring is generally shown in accordance with an embodiment . as shown in the embodiment of fig1 , a deep learning based passage justification component 102 receives a question focus 104 and a question 106 from which the question focus 104 is derived . the question focus 104 indicates some property or entity sought by the question . the deep learning based passage justification component 102 also receives a candidate answer 108 and associated passage 110 from which the candidate answer 108 is generated . the deep learning based passage justification component 102 processes these inputs and generates a confidence score for passage justification 112 . a detailed view of one embodiment of the system of fig1 will now be described with respect to fig2 . the system 200 of fig2 corresponds to the system 100 of fig1 . as shown in fig2 , the deep learning based passage justification component 102 includes an input generation feature 220 , a convolutional neural network 230 , a deep neural network 240 , and a learning component 250 including concepts extracted from the networks 230 and 240 . a sample convolutional neural network ( cnn ) 300 a is shown in fig3 a , and a sample deep neural network ( dnn ) 300 b is shown in fig3 b . the convolutional neural network 300 a includes a network of nodes and relations between the nodes that are depicted as edges . the deep neural network 300 b includes a network of nodes and node relationships that are depicted as edges . the nodes in fig3 a - 3b may represent features . it will be understood by one skilled in the art that variations on the components of fig2 may be provided . for example , the deep learning based passage justification component 102 may include the convolutional neural network 230 without the deep neural network 240 . likewise , the deep neural network 240 may be utilized in the deep learning based passage justification component 102 absent the convolutional neural network 230 . alternatively , the deep learning based passage justification component 102 may include multiple convolutional neural networks 230 and deep neural networks 240 stacked upon one another , such as cnn - dnn - . . . - cnn or cnn - dnn - . . . - cnn - dnn . the neural network ( s ) 230 and / or 240 may be created from domain knowledge and trained by learning component 250 to produce a number of features which can be used as input to a trained , multi - layered neural network , as described further herein . the input feature generation component 220 generates input features used in implementing the multi - layered neural network . based on the nature of application , the input features may be derived from existing passage justification components and / or from raw features from input data . non - limiting examples of existing passage justification components may include focus - answer type matching features ( e . g ., type coercion features ), question - passage term matching features ( e . g ., passage - term - match features ), and question - passage parse matching features ( e . g ., parse distance features ). other non - limiting examples of existing passage justification components may include question - passage dependency path matching features , question - passage relation matching features , and question - passage topic matching features ( e . g ., lsa features ). in addition , non - limiting examples of raw features from input data may include bag of words features for the question , bag of words features for the passage , typing features for the question , and typing features for the passage . other non - limiting examples of raw features from input data include topic features for the question , topic features for the passage , ngram features for the question , and ngram features for the passage . turning now to fig4 , a process for passage justification scoring will now be described in an embodiment . at block 402 , a multi - layered neural network ( e . g ., one or more of networks 230 and 240 ) are created from domain knowledge . at block 404 , the multi - layered neural network is trained using a mix of labeled data and unlabeled data . the mix contains proportionally greater amounts of unlabeled data than labeled data as the training data for the network . for example , positive data includes passages that contain the correct answer to justify the question , and negative data includes any passage that does not contain the correct answer and cannot justify the question . the labeled data and the unlabeled data may be generated using full supervision techniques with manually annotated data . training the multi - layered neural network may include using the labeled data with the multi - layered neural network to force the output of the network to match corresponding labels of the labeled data . training the network may also , or alternatively , include using the unlabeled data with the network to minimize data reconstruction errors at block 406 , the feature generation component 220 generates features from raw data from the information source and / or from existing passage justification components . the features may include the passage justification scores produced by existing passage justification components , and / or the raw features representing the input question , the question focus , the input passage , and the candidate answer contained in the input passage . the features are grouped based on their functions in the question answering task . for example , related typing features may be grouped together . other examples include relations associating parse matching features , term matching features , syntactic matching features , topic features , and bag of words features , to name a few . at block 408 , the features are input to the trained multi - layered neural network . in an embodiment , concepts are output by a lower level or layer of the multi - layered neural network , and these concepts are then input to a higher layer of the multi - layered neural network . the output of any of the layers of the multi - layered neural network can be used to create a passage justification model that scores the corresponding passage as justification for a candidate answer ( contained in the passage ) as being the correct answer for a given question . turning now to fig5 , a high - level block diagram of a question answering ( qa ) framework 500 where embodiments described herein can be utilized is generally shown . the qa framework 500 can be implemented on the deep learning - based passage justification system 102 of fig1 . the qa framework 500 can be implemented to generate an answer 504 ( and a confidence level associated with each answer ) to a given question 502 . in an embodiment , general principles implemented by the framework 500 to generate answers 504 to questions 502 include massive parallelism , the use of many experts , pervasive confidence estimation , and the integration of shallow and deep knowledge . in an embodiment , the qa framework 500 shown in fig5 is implemented by the watson ™ product from ibm . the qa framework 500 shown in fig5 defines various stages of analysis in a processing pipeline . in an embodiment , each stage admits multiple implementations that can produce alternative results . at each stage , alternatives can be independently pursued as part of a massively parallel computation . embodiments of the framework 500 don &# 39 ; t assume that any component perfectly understands the question 502 and can just look up the right answer 504 in a database . rather , many candidate answers can be proposed by searching many different resources , on the basis of different interpretations of the question ( e . g ., based on a category of the question .) a commitment to any one answer is deferred while more and more evidence is gathered and analyzed for each answer and each alternative path through the system . as shown in fig5 , the question and topic analysis 510 is performed and used in question decomposition 512 . hypotheses are generated by the hypothesis generation block 514 which uses input from the question decomposition 512 , as well as data obtained via a primary search 516 through the answer sources 506 and candidate answer generation 518 to generate several hypotheses . hypothesis and evidence scoring 526 is then performed for each hypothesis using evidence sources 508 and can include answer scoring 520 , evidence retrieval 522 and deep evidence scoring 524 . a synthesis 528 is performed of the results of the multiple hypothesis and evidence scorings 526 . input to the synthesis 528 can include answer scoring 520 , evidence retrieval 522 , and deep evidence scoring 524 . learned models 530 can then be applied to the results of the synthesis 528 to generate a final confidence merging and ranking 532 . a ranked list of answers 504 ( and a confidence level associated with each answer ) is then output . the qa framework 500 shown in fig5 can utilize embodiments of the deep learning - based passage justification scoring system 102 in combination with sources of information ( e . g ., answer sources 506 , question 502 , and candidate answer generation 518 ) that include raw features from input data , as well as existing passage justification components to create a learned model ( deep learning model ), which is part of 524 , and implemented as a multi - layered neural network . the multi - layered neural network generates concepts through lower level layers that are then input to higher level layers to generate higher level concepts . extracted concepts from the deep learning model are scored . referring now to fig6 , there is shown an embodiment of a processing system 600 for implementing the teachings herein . in this embodiment , the processing system 600 has one or more central processing units ( processors ) 601 a , 601 b , 601 c , etc . ( collectively or generically referred to as processor ( s ) 601 ). processors 601 , also referred to as processing circuits , are coupled to system memory 614 and various other components via a system bus 613 . read only memory ( rom ) 602 is coupled to system bus 613 and may include a basic input / output system ( bios ), which controls certain basic functions of the processing system 600 . the system memory 614 can include rom 602 and random access memory ( ram ) 610 , which is read - write memory coupled to system bus 613 for use by processors 601 . fig6 further depicts an input / output ( i / o ) adapter 607 and a network adapter 606 coupled to the system bus 613 . i / o adapter 607 may be a small computer system interface ( scsi ) adapter that communicates with a hard disk 603 and / or tape storage drive 605 or any other similar component . i / o adapter 607 , hard disk 603 , and tape storage drive 605 are collectively referred to herein as mass storage 604 . software 620 for execution on processing system 600 may be stored in mass storage 604 . the mass storage 604 is an example of a tangible storage medium readable by the processors 601 , where the software 620 is stored as instructions for execution by the processors 601 to perform a method , such as the process flow of fig4 . network adapter 606 interconnects system bus 613 with an outside network 616 enabling processing system 600 to communicate with other such systems . a screen ( e . g ., a display monitor ) 615 is connected to system bus 613 by display adapter 612 , which may include a graphics controller to improve the performance of graphics intensive applications and a video controller . in one embodiment , adapters 607 , 606 , and 612 may be connected to one or more i / o buses that are connected to system bus 613 via an intermediate bus bridge ( not shown ). suitable i / o buses for connecting peripheral devices such as hard disk controllers , network adapters , and graphics adapters typically include common protocols , such as the peripheral component interconnect ( pci ). additional input / output devices are shown as connected to system bus 613 via user interface adapter 608 and display adapter 612 . a keyboard 609 , mouse 640 , and speaker 611 can be interconnected to system bus 613 via user interface adapter 608 , which may include , for example , a super i / o chip integrating multiple device adapters into a single integrated circuit . thus , as configured in fig6 , processing system 600 includes processing capability in the form of processors 601 , and , storage capability including system memory 614 and mass storage 604 , input means such as keyboard 609 and mouse 640 , and output capability including speaker 611 and display 615 . in one embodiment , a portion of system memory 614 and mass storage 604 collectively store an operating system to coordinate the functions of the various components shown in fig6 . technical effects and benefits include the capability to perform passage justification scoring in a question answering system using neural networks , such that less labeled training data is required . neural networks , such as one or more convolutional neural networks and deep neural networks are constructed from domain knowledge and trained using a relatively small amount of labeled training data long with a larger amount of unlabeled data . once trained , a number of features may be generated using known passage justification components and / or raw input data and used as input into the multi - layered neural network . the output from lower - level networks may be used as concepts for input into the higher - level networks to obtain higher level concepts . the concepts extracted from the neural networks may be used to construct passage justification models by applying machine learning techniques . the present invention may be a system , a method , and / or a computer program product . the computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium ( or media ) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention . the computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device . the computer readable storage medium may be , for example , but is not limited to , an electronic storage device , a magnetic storage device , an optical storage device , an electromagnetic storage device , a semiconductor storage device , or any suitable combination of the foregoing . a non - exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following : a portable computer diskette , a hard disk , a random access memory ( ram ), a read - only memory ( rom ), an erasable programmable read - only memory ( eprom or flash memory ), a static random access memory ( sram ), a portable compact disc read - only memory ( cd - rom ), a digital versatile disk ( dvd ), a memory stick , a floppy disk , a mechanically encoded device such as punch - cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon , and any suitable combination of the foregoing . a computer readable storage medium , as used herein , is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se , such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves , electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media ( e . g ., light pulses passing through a fiber - optic cable ), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire . computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing / processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network , for example , the internet , a local area network , a wide area network and / or a wireless network . the network may comprise copper transmission cables , optical transmission fibers , wireless transmission , routers , firewalls , switches , gateway computers and / or edge servers . a network adapter card or network interface in each computing / processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing / processing device . computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions , instruction - set - architecture ( isa ) instructions , machine instructions , machine dependent instructions , microcode , firmware instructions , state - setting data , or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages , including an object oriented programming language such as smalltalk , c ++ or the like , and conventional procedural programming languages , such as the “ c ” programming language or similar programming languages . the computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user &# 39 ; s computer , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer , as a stand - alone software package , partly on the user &# 39 ; s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server . in the latter scenario , the remote computer may be connected to the user &# 39 ; s computer through any type of network , including a local area network ( lan ) or a wide area network ( wan ), or the connection may be made to an external computer ( for example , through the internet using an internet service provider ). in some embodiments , electronic circuitry including , for example , programmable logic circuitry , field - programmable gate arrays ( fpga ), or programmable logic arrays ( pla ) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry , in order to perform aspects of the present invention . aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods , apparatus ( systems ), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention . it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams , can be implemented by computer readable program instructions . these computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer , special purpose computer , or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine , such that the instructions , which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus , create means for implementing the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . these computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer , a programmable data processing apparatus , and / or other devices to function in a particular manner , such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function / act specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer , other programmable data processing apparatus , or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer , other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process , such that the instructions which execute on the computer , other programmable apparatus , or other device implement the functions / acts specified in the flowchart and / or block diagram block or blocks . the flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture , functionality , and operation of possible implementations of systems , methods , and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention . in this regard , each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module , segment , or portion of instructions , which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function ( s ). in some alternative implementations , the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures . for example , two blocks shown in succession may , in fact , be executed substantially concurrently , or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order , depending upon the functionality involved . it will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and / or flowchart illustration , can be implemented by special purpose hardware - based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions . the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention . as used herein , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ” and “ the ” are intended to include the plural forms as well , unless the context clearly indicates otherwise . it will be further understood that the terms “ comprises ” and / or “ comprising ,” when used in this specification , specify the presence of stated features , integers , steps , operations , elements , and / or components , but do not preclude the presence or addition of one more other features , integers , steps , operations , element components , and / or groups thereof . the corresponding structures , materials , acts , and equivalents of all means or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include any structure , material , or act for performing the function in combination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed . the description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description , but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed . many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . the embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and the practical application , and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .