Validating simulated interaction for retrieval evaluation

A searcher’s interaction with a retrieval system consists of actions such as query formulation, search result list interaction and document interaction. The simulation of searcher interaction has recently gained momentum in the analysis and evaluation of interactive information retrieval (IIR). However, a key issue that has not yet been adequately addressed is the validity of such IIR simulations and whether they reliably predict the performance obtained by a searcher across the session. The aim of this paper is to determine the validity of the common interaction model (CIM) typically used for simulating multi-query sessions. We focus on search result interactions, i.e., inspecting snippets, examining documents and deciding when to stop examining the results of a single query, or when to stop the whole session. To this end, we run a series of simulations grounded by real world behavioral data to show how accurate and responsive the model is to various experimental conditions under which the data were produced. We then validate on a second real world data set derived under similar experimental conditions. We seek to predict cumulated gain across the session. We find that the interaction model with a query-level stopping strategy based on consecutive non-relevant snippets leads to the highest prediction accuracy, and lowest deviation from ground truth, around 9 to 15% depending on the experimental conditions. To our knowledge, the present study is the first validation effort of the CIM that shows that the model’s acceptance and use is justified within IIR evaluations. We also identify and discuss ways to further improve the CIM and its behavioral parameters for more accurate simulations

Ten Misconceptions from the History of Analysis and Their Debunking

The widespread idea that infinitesimals were "eliminated" by the "great triumvirate" of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers, who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum with a single number system. Such anachronistic distortions characterize the received interpretation of Stevin, Leibniz, d'Alembert, Cauchy, and others.Comment: 46 pages, 4 figures; Foundations of Science (2012). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1108.2885 and arXiv:1110.545

Non-technological barriers to the diffusion of energy-efficient HVAC&R solutions in the food retail sector

SuperSmart is an European Union (EU) project aiming at speeding up the uptake of energy-efficient re- frigeration, heating and cooling solutions for Europe\u2019s food retail sector, reducing its energy use, lowering its environmental footprint and increasing its economic benefits. The project pursues the removal of non- technological barriers to efficient heating & cooling in the European food retail sector and supports the introduction of a new EU Ecolabel for food retail stores. Non-technological barriers have been mapped and categorized by preliminary interviewing food re- tail sector stakeholders. While highlighting a general positive attitude towards energy efficiency of the sector stakeholders, the results of the survey reveal the need for specific actions focused on improving the knowledge level of technical staff, from the planning and design stage down to servicing and main- tenance. Raising awareness about available technology and financial support is also required. In general terms, barriers are always perceived as stronger when moving North to South, and West to East in Europe, thus emphasizing the need for homogenization of virtuous practices and attitudes throughout Europ

Where Minds Meet: The “Professionalization” of Cross-Strait Academic Exchange

In international relations, transnational academic exchange or, more generally, cultural ex-change is usually seen as a function of the quality of bilateral relations. As a variety of public diplomacy intended to win the “hearts and minds” of intellectuals in another country, the development of educational exchanges depends on the twists in foreign policy. Academic exchange across the Taiwan Strait commenced in the late 1980s, directly after the lifting of the travel ban, and had gathered momentum by the mid-1990s. It even accelerated further after the inauguration of the pro-independence Chen-government in Taiwan in 2000, creat-ing the “paradox” of the expansion of social contacts in times of frosty political relations. One possible explanation for this is that due to the rather unique situation in the Taiwan Strait people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and mainland China have been officially promoted as a substitute for official contacts. What is often neglected by analysts of cross-Strait relations, however, is the fact that academic exchange is also a response to the global pressure to internationalize higher education. Within this two-dimensional framework (in-ternational relations and the internationalization of higher education), cross-Strait academic exchange has been developing its own dynamic. The outcome has been an increasing amount of nonofficial communication and the growing “professionalization” (in the sense of the academic profession) of academic exchange.Taiwan, People’s Republic of China, academic exchange, international relations, public diplomacy, internationalization of higher education, cross-Strait relations

To re-use is to re-write: experiences with re-using IIR experiment software

Interactive Information Retrieval experiments have two main requirements. They need to follow a workflow that takes the participant through the individual steps of the experiment and they need to show the user an interface to interact with. Both of these aspects look like they should lend themselves to re-use. This paper analyses the experience of developing and re-using software for both of these aspects across a time period of approximately five years. The main conclusion is that re-use of workflow management software should be possible, but for software for interface creation the question of whether re-use is possible is still open