An Integrated Framework for Treebanks and Multilayer Annotations

Treebank formats and associated software tools are proliferating rapidly, with little consideration for interoperability. We survey a wide variety of treebank structures and operations, and show how they can be mapped onto the annotation graph model, and leading to an integrated framework encompassing tree and non-tree annotations alike. This development opens up new possibilities for managing and exploiting multilayer annotations.Comment: 8 page

Flow transitions in two-dimensional foams

For sufficiently slow rates of strain, flowing foam can exhibit inhomogeneous flows. The nature of these flows is an area of active study in both two-dimensional model foams and three dimensional foam. Recent work in three-dimensional foam has identified three distinct regimes of flow [S. Rodts, J. C. Baudez, and P. Coussot, Europhys. Lett. {\bf 69}, 636 (2005)]. Two of these regimes are identified with continuum behavior (full flow and shear-banding), and the third regime is identified as a discrete regime exhibiting extreme localization. In this paper, the discrete regime is studied in more detail using a model two dimensional foam: a bubble raft. We characterize the behavior of the bubble raft subjected to a constant rate of strain as a function of time, system size, and applied rate of strain. We observe localized flow that is consistent with the coexistence of a power-law fluid with rigid body rotation. As a function of applied rate of strain, there is a transition from a continuum description of the flow to discrete flow when the thickness of the flow region is approximately 10 bubbles. This occurs at an applied rotation rate of approximately $0.07 {\rm s^{-1}}$

Changes in American Megachurches: Tracing Eight Years of Growth and Innovation in the Nation’s Largest-Attendance Congregations

The report focuses on developing patterns of megachurches observed across three national surveys done in 2000, 2005 and 2008 in a partnership between the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Hartford Seminary and Leadership Network

Designing Tax Policy: Constraints and Objectives in an Open Economy

This paper is a non-technical discussion by an economist and lawyer, each with long international experience in taxation, of the constraints and objectives that in principle and practice shape tax policy design. After discussing the main factors traditionally taken into account by those charged with designing tax policy in any country – such as revenue, the costs of taxation, equity and fairness, administrability, and the effects of taxation on growth and other non-fiscal objectives – several additional important considerations associated with ‘globalization’ are then discussed with special attention to income taxes. The paper concludes with a brief reflection on how the ‘new world tax order’ in which countries must now develop their tax systems may perhaps develop over time

A Forecast for Large Scale Structure Constraints on Horndeski Gravity with Line Intensity Mapping

We consider the potential for line intensity mapping (LIM) of the rotational CO(1-0), CO(2-1) and CO(3-2) transitions to detect deviations from General Relativity from $0 < z < 3$ within the framework of a very general class of modified gravity models, called Horndeski theories. Our forecast assumes a multi-tracer analysis separately obtaining information from the matter power spectrum and the first two multipoles of the redshift space distortion power spectrum. To achieve $\pm 0.1$ level constraints on the slope of the kinetic gravity braiding and Planck mass evolution parameters, a mm-wave LIM experiment would need to accumulate $\approx 10^8-10^9$ spectrometer hours, feasible with instruments that could be deployed in the 2030s. Such a measurement would constrain large portions of the remaining parameter space available to Scalar-Tensor modified gravity theories. Our modeling code is publicly available.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures; to be submitted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Variability in oxidative degradation of charcoal: influence of production variables and environmental exposure

&lt;p&gt;Charcoal is a key component of the Black Carbon (BC) continuum, where BC is characterized as a recalcitrant, fire-derived, polyaromatic material. Charcoal is an important source of palaeoenvironmental data, and of great interest as a potential carbon sink, due to its high apparent environmental stability. However, at least some forms of charcoal are clearly susceptible to environmental alteration and degradation over relatively short timescales. Although these processes have importance for the role of charcoal in global biogeochemistry, they remain poorly understood.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Here we present results of an investigation into the susceptibility of a range of charcoal samples to oxidative degradation in acidified potassium dichromate. The study examines both freshly-produced charcoal, and charcoal exposed to environmental conditions for up to 50,000 years. We compare the proportion of carbon present in different forms between the samples, specifically with respect to the relative chemical resistance of these forms. This was undertaken in order to improve understanding of the post-depositional diagenetic changes affecting charcoal within environmental deposits.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A wide range in chemical compositions are apparent both within and between the sample groups. In freshly-produced charcoal, material produced at 300 °C contains carbon with more labile forms than charcoal produced at &#x2265;400 °C, signifying a key chemical change over the 300–400 °C temperature range. Charcoal exposed to environmental depositional conditions is frequently composed of a highly carboxylated aromatic structure and contains a range of carbon fractions of varying oxidative resistance. These findings suggest that a significant number of the environmental charcoals have undergone post-depositional diagenetic alteration. Further, the data highlight the potential for the use of controlled progressive oxidative degradation as a method to characterize chemical differences between individual charcoal samples.&lt;/p&gt

Isotopes in pyrogenic carbon: a review

Pyrogenic carbon (PC; also known as biochar, charcoal, black carbon and soot) derived from natural and anthropogenic burning plays a major, but poorly quantified, role in the global carbon cycle. Isotopes provide a fundamental fingerprint of the source of PC and a powerful tracer of interactions between PC and the environment. Radiocarbon and stable carbon isotope techniques have been widely applied to studies of PC in aerosols, soils, sediments and archaeological sequences, with the use of other isotopes currently less developed. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge regarding (i) techniques for isolating PC for isotope analysis and (ii) processes controlling the carbon (&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C and &lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C), nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen and sulfur isotope composition of PC during formation and after deposition. It also reviews the current and potential future applications of isotope based studies to better understand the role of PC in the modern environment and to the development of records of past environmental change

How to get to Australia … more than 50,000 years ago

[Extract] Over just the past few years, new archaeological findings have revealed the lives of early Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory’s Kakadu potentially as early as 65,000 years ago, from the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia by about 50,000 years ago, and the Flinders Ranges of South Australia by around 49,000 years ago. But how was it even possible for people to get to Australia in the first place? And how many people must have made it to Australia to explain the diversity of Aboriginal people today? In a study published in Quaternary Science Reviews this week, we use new environmental reconstructions, voyage simulations, and genetic population estimates to show for the first time that colonisation of Australia by 50,000 years ago was achieved by a globally significant phase of purposeful and coordinated marine voyaging