294 research outputs found

    Spartan Daily April 21, 2011

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    Volume 136, Issue 42https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1149/thumbnail.jp

    Designing and evaluating a behaviour change intervention that introduces modification of time perceptions as a solution to promote sustainable behaviours

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    This research presents the design and evaluation of an intervention that introduces modification of time perceptions as one of the solutions to promote sustainable behaviours. It is demonstrated in this thesis that unnecessary energy use is often caused by temporal tensions, defined as the relation between actions to be performed and available time. This research proposes that it is possible to deliberately reduce temporal tensions, and this can motivate people to behave more sustainably. Persuasive technology and human-computer interaction provided the tools needed to manipulate time perceptions and therefore bring about changes in the specific behaviours that result in unnecessary energy usage. Previous studies indicate that behaviours play an important role in energy consumption. From the different domains of energy use that could be examined, cooking was chosen to be the platform where the studies on behaviour change and energy use would take place. How behaviours influence energy use motivated the design of empirical studies to understand behaviours related to domestic energy use and identify what are the determinants of these behaviours. Each determinant was related to a strategy to be included on a behaviour change intervention. A wider survey was developed to understand students acceptance of a set of proposed energy saving techniques, and resulted in a vast volume of information about user preferences and intentions to perform the suggested energy saving behaviours for cooking. It emerged that participants rushed into the cooking tasks without much deliberation, consequently not following preparation procedures and thus using more energy. Information gathered during the first studies also showed that participants behaviours were partially motivated by the need to speed up the cooking process in order to reduce boredom when they were waiting for the food to cook, consequently resulting in extra energy usage. The knowledge gathered from the preceding steps and a literature review informed the design of strategies to modify the non-sustainable behaviours and promote energy saving. A user-centred design process involving an idea generation session and scenario analysis was used to provide a set of strategies to be embedded in an intervention, containing the specific methods to tackle the correspondent determinants of behaviours. The specific needs of the cooking activity indicated that an electronic intervention was an adequate platform to be implemented and tested. Two high resolution working prototypes of the electronic interventions were developed as mobile phone applications. The final study comprised the evaluation of the proposed interventions in improving aspects of the cooking activity, the acceptance of the interventions and effectiveness in promoting energy saving

    The classification and management of limestone pavements - an endangered habitat

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    This thesis describes an in-depth study of limestone pavements across North West England and North Wales. The aim was to combine elements of geodiversity and biodiversity in order to create a holistic limestone pavement classification to inform future management. A field-based research protocol was used to assess a stratified random sample (46 pavements), accounting for approximately 10% of the limestone pavements in the geographical area. Detailed analyses of key elements are presented, along with important issues that continue to pose threats to this Annex One Priority Habitat. This research resulted in a comprehensive classification, using TWINSPAN analysis and Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling, identifying six distinct holistic functional groups. The prime factors driving limestone pavement morphology, and hence the classification, were established to be lithology, proximity to structural fault, altitude and human intervention, particularly in terms of grazing intensity. Three upland, open limestone pavement classes were formed. Of these, the richest in terms of geodiversity and biodiversity was the group with the thickest bedding planes and hence the deepest grikes, typically greater than 1m. The class that was most species-poor was "at the highest altitude (above 450m), formed on the thin limestones of the Yoredales. These were characterised by shallow, wide grikes. The third upland limestone pavement group had mid-range grikes, generally 0.5-1m in depth, and small clints. Two wooded classes were identified. One was a lowland 'classic' wooded limestone pavement group with deep, narrow grikes and shallow soils. Indicator species included Juniperus communis and Taxus baccata. The second wooded group was situated proximal to a major structural fault. In this group the pavement dip ranged between 10°-40° with well-runnelled clints that were heavily moss-covered. The sixth group was low altitude, proximal to the coast, characterised by low moss growth, un-vegetated clints and the presence of Ulex europaeus. Conservation management was identified as key to the quality of the limestone pavement habitat and this thesis identifies best management practises and links these to the holistic limestone pavement classification. Finally, as a sample case study, this thesis presents mollusc species and diversity from eleven of the Yorkshire limestone pavements. Analysis establishes significant links between geodiversity and mollusc populations, with key drivers for mollusc communities echoing those of plant species on limestone pavement.Funded by the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the University of Chester

    Script acquisition : a crowdsourcing and text mining approach

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    According to Grice’s (1975) theory of pragmatics, people tend to omit basic information when participating in a conversation (or writing a narrative) under the assumption that left out details are already known or can be inferred from commonsense knowledge by the hearer (or reader). Writing and understanding of texts makes particular use of a specific kind of common-sense knowledge, referred to as script knowledge. Schank and Abelson (1977) proposed Scripts as a model of human knowledge represented in memory that stores the frequent habitual activities, called scenarios, (e.g. eating in a fast food restaurant, etc.), and the different courses of action in those routines. This thesis addresses measures to provide a sound empirical basis for high-quality script models. We work on three key areas related to script modeling: script knowledge acquisition, script induction and script identification in text. We extend the existing repository of script knowledge bases in two different ways. First, we crowdsource a corpus of 40 scenarios with 100 event sequence descriptions (ESDs) each, thus going beyond the size of previous script collections. Second, the corpus is enriched with partial alignments of ESDs, done by human annotators. The crowdsourced partial alignments are used as prior knowledge to guide the semi-supervised script-induction algorithm proposed in this dissertation. We further present a semi-supervised clustering approach to induce script structure from crowdsourced descriptions of event sequences by grouping event descriptions into paraphrase sets and inducing their temporal order. The proposed semi-supervised clustering model better handles order variation in scripts and extends script representation formalism, Temporal Script graphs, by incorporating "arbitrary order" equivalence classes in order to allow for the flexible event order inherent in scripts. In the third part of this dissertation, we introduce the task of scenario detection, in which we identify references to scripts in narrative texts. We curate a benchmark dataset of annotated narrative texts, with segments labeled according to the scripts they instantiate. The dataset is the first of its kind. The analysis of the annotation shows that one can identify scenario references in text with reasonable reliability. Subsequently, we proposes a benchmark model that automatically segments and identifies text fragments referring to given scenarios. The proposed model achieved promising results, and therefore opens up research on script parsing and wide coverage script acquisition.Gemäß der Grice’schen (1975) Pragmatiktheorie neigen Menschen dazu, grundlegende Informationen auszulassen, wenn sie an einem Gespräch teilnehmen (oder eine Geschichte schreiben). Dies geschieht unter der Annahme, dass die ausgelassenen Details bereits bekannt sind, oder vom Hörer (oder Leser) aus Weltwissen erschlossen werden können. Besonders beim Schreiben und Verstehen von Text wird Verwendung einer spezifischen Art von solchem Weltwissen gemacht, welches auch Skriptwissen genannt wird. Schank und Abelson (1977) erdachten Skripte als ein Modell menschlichen Wissens, welches im menschlichen Gedächtnis gespeichert ist und häufige Alltags-Aktivitäten sowie deren typischen Ablauf beinhaltet. Solche Skript-Aktivitäten werden auch als Szenarios bezeichnet und umfassen zum Beispiel Im Restaurant Essen etc. Diese Dissertation widmet sich der Bereitstellung einer soliden empirischen Grundlage zur Akquisition qualitativ hochwertigen Skriptwissens. Wir betrachten drei zentrale Aspekte im Bereich der Skriptmodellierung: Akquisition ition von Skriptwissen, Skript-Induktion und Skriptidentifizierung in Text. Wir erweitern das bereits bestehende Repertoire und Skript-Datensätzen in 2 Bereichen. Erstens benutzen wir Crowdsourcing zur Erstellung eines Korpus, das 40 Szenarien mit jeweils 100 Ereignissequenzbeschreibungen (Event Sequence Descriptions, ESDs) beinhaltet, und welches somit größer als bestehende Skript- Datensätze ist. Zweitens erweitern wir das Korpus mit partiellen ESD-Alignierungen, die von Hand annotiert werden. Die partiellen Alignierungen werden dann als Vorwissen für einen halbüberwachten Algorithmus zur Skriptinduktion benutzt, der im Rahmen dieser Dissertation vorgestellt wird. Wir präsentieren außerdem einen halbüberwachten Clusteringansatz zur Induktion von Skripten, basierend auf Ereignissequenzen, die via Crowdsourcing gesammelt wurden. Hierbei werden einzelne Ereignisbeschreibungen gruppiert, um Paraphrasenmengen und der deren temporale Ordnung abzuleiten. Der vorgestellte Clusteringalgorithmus ist im Stande, Variationen in der typischen Reihenfolge in Skripte besser abzubilden und erweitert damit einen Formalismus zur Skriptrepräsentation, temporale Skriptgraphen. Dies wird dadurch bewerkstelligt, dass Equivalenzklassen von Beschreibungen mit "arbiträrer Reihenfolge" genutzt werden, die es erlauben, eine flexible Ereignisordnung abzubilden, die inhärent bei Skripten vorhanden ist. Im dritten Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit führen wir den Task der SzenarioIdentifikation ein, also der automatischen Identifikation von Skriptreferenzen in narrativen Texten. Wir erstellen einen Benchmark-Datensatz mit annotierten narrativen Texten, in denen einzelne Segmente im Bezug auf das Skript, welches sie instantiieren, markiert wurden. Dieser Datensatz ist der erste seiner Art. Eine Analyse der Annotation zeigt, dass Referenzen zu Szenarien im Text mit annehmbarer Akkuratheit vorhergesagt werden können. Zusätzlich stellen wir ein Benchmark-Modell vor, welches Textfragmente automatisch erstellt und deren Szenario identifiziert. Das vorgestellte Modell erreicht erfolgversprechende Resultate und öffnet damit einen Forschungszweig im Bereich des Skript-Parsens und der Skript-Akquisition im großen Stil

    Motivos C-terminais do HIV-1 gp41 como Possíveis Determinantes da Patogênese Viral

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    Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the etiological agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a pandemic with high economic and social costs. The envelope glycoprotein (env) of the virus mediates the infectious process by binding to and entering the host cell, one of the main target components of studies since its discovery. Its endodomain or C-terminal tail (CTT) participates in late replicative cycle processes, such as intracellular trafficking, activation, and cell death, which occurs because it interacts with multiple cellular factors through motifs or signal sequences present throughout its structure. Although these interactions have not been fully understood at specific levels, studies over more than three decades leave no doubt that this domain plays a fundamental role in the biology of the virus and probably the development of the disease. This review describes the studies carried out to date that demonstrate the importance of the CTT, focusing on the motifs responsible for its interactions and its possible roles in the pathogenicity of the infection.El virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana tipo 1 (VIH-1) es el agente etiológico del síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida (SIDA), una pandemia con altos costos económicos y sociales. La glicoproteína de la envoltura (env) del virus media el proceso infeccioso al unirse a la célula huésped y entrar en ella, uno de los principales componentes objetivo de los estudios desde su descubrimiento. Su endodominio o cola C-terminal (CTT) participa en procesos tardíos del ciclo replicativo, como tráfico intracelular, activación y muerte celular, lo que ocurre porque interactúa con múltiples factores celulares a través de motivos o secuencias señal presentes en toda su estructura. Aunque estas interacciones no se han entendido completamente a niveles específicos, los estudios durante más de tres décadas no dejan dudas de que este campo juega un papel fundamental en la biología del virus y probablemente en el desarrollo de la enfermedad. Esta revisión describe los estudios realizados hasta la fecha que demuestran la importancia de la CTT, centrándose en los motivos responsables de sus interacciones y sus posibles roles en la patogenicidad de la infección.O vírus da imunodeficiência humana tipo 1 (HIV-1) é o agente etiológico da síndrome da imunodeficiência adquirida (AUXILIA), uma pandemia com elevados custos económicos e sociais. A glicoproteína do envelope (env) do vírus media o processo infeccioso ligando-se e entrando na célula hospedeira, um dos principais componentes alvo dos estudos desde sua descoberta. Seu endo domínio ou cauda C-terminal (CTT) participa de processos do ciclo replicativo tardio, como tráfego intracelular, ativação e morte celular, que ocorre porque interage com múltiplos fatores celulares por meio de motivos ou sequências-sinal presentes em toda a sua estrutura. Embora essas interações não tenham sido totalmente compreendidas em níveis específicos, estudos ao longo de mais de três décadas não deixam dúvidas de que esse domínio desempenha um papel fundamental na biologia do vírus e provavelmente no desenvolvimento da doença. Esta revisão descreve os estudos realiza- dos até o momento que demonstram a importância da CTT, com foco nos motivos responsáveis por suas interações e seus possíveis papéis na patogenicidade da infecção

    Milestones 1939

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    1939 yearbook of Ward-Belmont College.https://repository.belmont.edu/wbyearbooks/1025/thumbnail.jp

    The Murray Ledger and Times, July 19, 2008

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    The State of Play on International Piracy and Anti-Counterfeiting Strategies

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    Panning for gold: An annotated bibliography of treasures in Auckland Libraries’ special collections of children’s literature from 1880-1889

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    The catalogue entries for much of the items housed within Auckland Libraries special collections of children’s literature contain many gaps and limitations. In order to illustrate these limitations this project has focused on the collection’s holdings of items dated from 1880-1889. As the collections are arranged in date order I was able to examine the selection of items in a systematic fashion with the help of special collections staff, working through the items as they appeared on the shelf, annotating each item and noting discrepancies with and gaps in the catalogued information as I went. It is hoped that this project will not only assist library staff in updating the records for the items contained herein, and act as a guide to researchers wishing to learn about and access the collection, but also highlight issues of access to and cataloguing of rare books for the profession. Addressing the issues of subject headings, publication dates, and call numbers, as well as the cataloguing issues across the wider collections would of course require further work, but would be of great benefit to the library, its staff, and its patrons

    The Murray Ledger and Times, October 26, 1995

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