Exploratory Search on Mobile Devices

The goal of this thesis is to provide a general framework (MobEx) for exploratory search especially on mobile devices. The central part is the design, implementation, and evaluation of several core modules for on-demand unsupervised information extraction well suited for exploratory search on mobile devices and creating the MobEx framework. These core processing elements, combined with a multitouch - able user interface specially designed for two families of mobile devices, i.e. smartphones and tablets, have been finally implemented in a research prototype. The initial information request, in form of a query topic description, is issued online by a user to the system. The system then retrieves web snippets by using standard search engines. These snippets are passed through a chain of NLP components which perform an ondemand or ad-hoc interactive Query Disambiguation, Named Entity Recognition, and Relation Extraction task. By on-demand or ad-hoc we mean the components are capable to perform their operations on an unrestricted open domain within special time constraints. The result of the whole process is a topic graph containing the detected associated topics as nodes and the extracted relation ships as labelled edges between the nodes. The Topic Graph is presented to the user in different ways depending on the size of the device she is using. Various evaluations have been conducted that help us to understand the potentials and limitations of the framework and the prototype

Controlling the imagination :how do teachers and managers of adult language literacy and numeracy define achieve and maintain quality

Controlling the Imagination is an exploration of the tensions embedded in the notion of quality when it is\ud used in relation to the teaching and managing of Adult Language, Literacy and Numeracy, with specific\ud relation to 'Skills for Life' — New Labour's policy attempt, instigated in 1999, to improve the basic\ud skills of adults living in England. The thesis offers an analysis that charts the development of discourses\ud around quality from the vague and attractive transcendental quality of the 18th C artisan to its object like\ud textualisation in the Common Inspection Framework. Through critical discourse analysis and interview\ud data with teachers and managers in further and adult education colleges graded as good or outstanding\ud in their most recent ALI / OfSTED inspection, the text traces the contours along which practitioners\ud experience the tension between quality-as-professional-aspiration in contrast to quality-as-demanded by\ud policy. This axis, wrenched apart in several directions, is further complicated by the tension between\ud quality-as-abstract and quality as embodied in day-to-day experience. I argue that practitioners talk\ud about quality in ways that journey through these competing and contrasting meanings. In considering the\ud implications of these ideas about quality, the thesis explores the research, policy and practice nexus.\ud Research can inform policy and practice, but it can also lead to uncomfortable and unsettling conclusions\ud that to some extent also unframe professional practice.\ud Key concepts: quality, adult literacy, professionalism, policy, Skills for Life, basic skills, research and practice, further\ud education,\u

“The Whole World Needs Housing” : The Formation of Common Notions through Expansive Learning in the Spanish Mortgage Movement la Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca

Since the beginning of the housing crisis in Spain in 2008, la Plataforma por Afectados de la Hipoteca (PAH) has grown to become one of the most dynamic and powerful social movements in the country. In my Master’s thesis, I use theories from political economy, Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and a minor reading of the work of political philosopher Benedict de Spinoza, to look at the path two people who were “affected by mortgage” took from emotional and financial distress towards collective and transformative agency. Instead of leap-frogging from the personal crisis of our informants to the point of empowerment, I utilise the concept of expansive learning to dwell on the different stages in the process. Through the Spinozan concept of affects and contemporary neuropsychological theories of emotion, I distinguish between different instances of emotion and affect that the informants express as they reflect over how they chose to challenge the banks demanding that they give up their homes. Through collectively processing the hierarchies associated with debt and money, and by expanding the object of their activities from merely overcoming an untenable situation with their mortgage to a wider, shared framework of mutual aid, the informants show how expansive learning in the context of PAH appears as a joyful sensation of an increased capacity to act upon the world together with others. In this framework, expansive learning can, following Spinoza, be understood as a formation of common notions, as people who are dispossessed or risk dispossession encounter each other to find shared ground in their experiences and move from lonely, sad, and passive affects to a joyful and active feeling of collective power. To understand this process, I use thematic analysis together with a theory of affect and emotion to show how phases in the cycle of learning can be understood as successive transitions towards a joyful capacity to act upon the world together with others. Finally, I look at how the intrusion of global financial actors has imposed a serious threat and challenge to this local process of empowerment

Rural Pupils Making their Way through the Norwegian Education System: Enablements, Constraints and Agency in a Northern Norwegian Context

This thesis focuses on pupils’ agency and their experiences with and reflections on educational choices. The theoretical framework draws on Margaret Archer’s morphogenetic approach as it examines parts of the educational situational logics, as well as her Three-Stage Model in which structural and cultural properties shape agents’ situations. The thesis thus explores constraints and enablements pupils face, and courses of actions that are produced through their reflexive deliberations. The thesis is based on semistructured interviews at two points in time with eighteen pupils in one rural and one urban municipality; it is supplemented by the researcher’s previous experiences and contextual knowledge. This thesis argues that rural pupils are constrained by rural demography, the centralized education system, the assimilation/colonisation of the Sámi people and a spatially and ethnically unaware curriculum. Local opportunities’ structures, to some extent, enable rural pupils. In addition, their decision-making capabilities enable them to navigate within existing structures. In Archer’s theory, spatial contexts are not entirely explicit; the way spatial constraints and enablements are actualised in specific structural contexts can be further developed. Theoretically, this thesis engages with spatial contexts in addressing structural constraints and enablements. It emphasises space within Archer’s theoretical framework, as spatial properties produce unequal conditions for education.Avhandlinga setter søkelys på elevers aktørskap og deres erfaringer med, og refleksjoner omkring valg av utdanning. Det teoretiske rammeverket bygger på Margaret Archers morfogenetiske tilnærming. Rammeverket benyttes for å undersøke enkelte aspekter ved utdanningens situasjonslogikk. I tillegg gjøres det bruk av Archers Trestegs-modell som muliggjør en analyse av hvordan strukturelle og kulturelle egenskaper påvirker situasjonen til aktører. Avhandlinga undersøker dermed hvordan elevene refleksivt overveier egne handlinger i lys av strukturelle muligheter og begrensinger. Avhandlinga er basert på semistrukturerte intervju, utført på to tidspunkt, med atten elever i en rural og en urban kommune. I tillegg benyttes forskerens egne erfaringer og kontekstuelle kjennskap. Avhandlinga antyder at rurale elever er begrensa av rural demografi, det sentraliserte utdanningssystemet, koloniseringa av Sápmi, og en læreplan som tar mindre hensyn til rom/sted og etnisitet. Lokale mulighetsstrukturer gir, til en viss grad elever i distrikta handlingsrom. I tillegg benytter de seg av egne beslutnings egenskaper, noe som gjør dem til i stand til å navigere de eksisterende strukturene. Archers teori har i liten grad tatt for seg kontekstuelle betingelser; hvordan muligheter og begrensinger blir aktualisert i spesifikke strukturelle kontekster kan derfor videreutvikles. På et teoretisk plan befatter denne avhandlinga seg med kontekst ved å adressere strukturelle begrensinger og muligheter. Ettersom romlige egenskaper produserer ulike betingelser for utdanning, fremhever avhandlinga romlige/stedlige aspekter i Archers teoretiske rammeverk

Automatic production and integration of knowledge to the support of the decision and planning activities in medical-clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

El concepto de procedimiento médico se refiere al conjunto de actividades seguidas por los profesionales de la salud para solucionar o mitigar el problema de salud que afecta a un paciente. La toma de decisiones dentro del procedimiento médico ha sido, por largo tiempo, uno de las áreas más interesantes de investigación en la informática médica y el contexto de investigación de esta tesis. La motivación para desarrollar este trabajo de investigación se basa en tres aspectos fundamentales: no hay modelos de conocimiento para todas las actividades médico-clínicas que puedan ser inducidas a partir de datos médicos, no hay soluciones de aprendizaje inductivo para todas las actividades de la asistencia médica y no hay un modelo integral que formalice el concepto de procedimiento médico. Por tanto, nuestro objetivo principal es desarrollar un modelo computable basado en conocimiento que integre todas las actividades de decisión y planificación para el diagnóstico, tratamiento y pronóstico médico-clínicos. Para alcanzar el objetivo principal, en primer lugar, explicamos el problema de investigación. En segundo lugar, describimos los antecedentes del problema de investigación desde los contextos médico e informático. En tercer lugar, explicamos el desarrollo de la propuesta de investigación, basada en cuatro contribuciones principales: un nuevo modelo, basado en datos y conocimiento, para la actividad de planificación en el diagnóstico y tratamiento médico-clínicos; una novedosa metodología de aprendizaje inductivo para la actividad de planificación en el diagnóstico y tratamiento médico-clínico; una novedosa metodología de aprendizaje inductivo para la actividad de decisión en el pronóstico médico-clínico, y finalmente, un nuevo modelo computable, basado en datos y conocimiento, que integra las actividades de decisión y planificación para el diagnóstico, tratamiento y pronóstico médico-clínicos.The concept of medical procedure refers to the set of activities carried out by the health care professionals to solve or mitigate the health problems that affect a patient. Decisions making within a medical procedure has been, for a long time, one of the most interesting research areas in medical informatics and the research context of this thesis. The motivation to develop this research work is based on three main aspects: Nowadays there are not knowledge models for all the medical-clinical activities that can be induced from medical data, there are not inductive learning solutions for all the medical-clinical activities, and there is not an integral model that formalizes the concept of medical procedure. Therefore, our main objective is to develop a computable model based in knowledge that integrates all the decision and planning activities for the medical-clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. To achieve this main objective: first, we explain the research problem. Second, we describe the background of the work from both the medical and the informatics contexts. Third, we explain the development of the research proposal based on four main contributions: a novel knowledge representation model, based in data, to the planning activity in medical-clinical diagnosis and treatment; a novel inductive learning methodology to the planning activity in diagnosis and medical-clinical treatment; a novel inductive learning methodology to the decision activity in medical-clinical prognosis, and finally, a novel computable model, based on data and knowledge, which integrates the decision and planning activities of medical-clinical diagnosis, treatment and prognosis