Cross-Language Question Re-Ranking

We study how to find relevant questions in community forums when the language of the new questions is different from that of the existing questions in the forum. In particular, we explore the Arabic-English language pair. We compare a kernel-based system with a feed-forward neural network in a scenario where a large parallel corpus is available for training a machine translation system, bilingual dictionaries, and cross-language word embeddings. We observe that both approaches degrade the performance of the system when working on the translated text, especially the kernel-based system, which depends heavily on a syntactic kernel. We address this issue using a cross-language tree kernel, which compares the original Arabic tree to the English trees of the related questions. We show that this kernel almost closes the performance gap with respect to the monolingual system. On the neural network side, we use the parallel corpus to train cross-language embeddings, which we then use to represent the Arabic input and the English related questions in the same space. The results also improve to close to those of the monolingual neural network. Overall, the kernel system shows a better performance compared to the neural network in all cases.Comment: SIGIR-2017; Community Question Answering; Cross-language Approaches; Question Retrieval; Kernel-based Methods; Neural Networks; Distributed Representation

Miao and Yao linguistic studies; selected articles in Chinese, translated by Chang Yu-hung and Chu Kwo-ray

Linguistic Series VII. Data Paper: Number 88. Total number of pages: 282 p

Style of volcanism and extensional tectonics in the eastern Basin and Range Province: Northern Mohave County, Arizona

The west-dipping Cyclopic-Salt Spring Wash-Lakeside Mine fault system marks the easternmost boundary of the extensional allochthon in the Basin and Range Province and the eastern limit of exposure of mid-Tertiary igneous rocks at the latitude of Lake Mead. The upper plate of this fault system is exposed only in the northern White Hills, Mohave County, Arizona. The upper plate contains east-tilted mid-Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks, cut by down-to-the-west normal faults; Mafic volcanic rocks were erupted from three coeval Miocene volcanic centers. Three distinct types of mafic magma suggest similar degrees of partial melting of different K-rich sources. Each magma type evolved by fractionation in conjunction with periodic recharge by new batch melts. The volcanic section is correlated with Miocene volcanic sections in the Eldorado and Black Mountains on the basis of stratigraphic position, geochemistry and petrography

Effects of cloud-top processes on convection in the cloud-topped boundary layer

Spring 1994.Also issued as author's thesis (M.S.) -- Colorado State University, 1994.Includes bibliographical references.Cloud-top processes-s studies in this paper include cloud-top radiative cooling and entrainment (entrainment mixing warming and evaporative cooling due to the mixing). We have studied how they drive and/or regulate convection in the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer (STBL) analytically, numerically, and through analysis of observational data and data from large-eddy simulations (LES). An analytical second-order bulk boundary-layer model has been built in an attempt to parameterize the planerary boundary layer (PBL) for large-scale models, as well as to understand the complex physics of entrainment in a relatively simple framework. Cloud­top processes are parameterized in terms of "bulk" properties, and are related to the con­vection inside the PBL by the matching conditions developed. The model is able to deter­mine the fractional cloudiness, and relaxes the "well mixed" assumption. The vertical structures of the mean state and the turbulent fluxes are determined analytically. Several aspects of this simple model's formulation are evaluated using results from LES. For the further analysis of cloud-top processes methods which can be used to evaluate the radiative cooling, and entrainment warming of individual parcels are systematically discussed. These methods are applied to study an LES-generated STBL field, as well as a set of tethered balloon data observed during FIRE. By applying these methods to the LES-generated STBL, some parameters used in the earlier analytical second-order bulk boundary-layer model are further investigated. Moreover. as a case study, the relative importance of radiative cooling and evaporative cooling is investigated based on the LES data. The effects of cloud-top processes on mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) are studied both analytically and numerically by means of a two-dimensional nonlinear Boussinesq model. It is found that strong cloud-top cooling can generate closed MCC. Nonlinear processes. which are shown as mesoscale advection and interactions between convection and the basic state, are essen­tial for generating and maintaining mesoscale convection. A conceptual model is constructed to suggest a mechanism for the formation of closed MCC. This model appears to be applicable to the atmosphere.Sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grants NAG1-893 and NAG1-1137 and the Office of Naval Research under contract N00014-89-J-1364

Numerical analysis of deformation in the upper part of subduction zones

The stresses and deformation in an accretionary prism, and the crystalline basement behind and beneath it, have been modelled using finite element analysis, assuming a visco-elastic Maxwell rheology for the rocks involved. A new method for finding the effect of lateral variations in density and body forces on the deformation in such models has been developed, so that the balance between weight and basal shear in the accretionary orism, and the associated displacement and stress distributions, could be modelled. Analysis shows that there is an equilibrium basal stress that supports the weight of the accreted sediments. Above this stress the accretionary prism is built higher, and below it subsides and spreads up the basal slope. The average value for this stress was found to be 12 MPa for the Middle America subduction zone and 5 MPa for the central Aleutians. Models of these two subduction zones show important differences in surface displacement and stress distribution, due to the slope and extent of the overriding basement rocks. In the island arc model, it was concluded that the igneous crust extended beneath the Aleutian terrace to the edge of the inner trench slope, while in the case of the Middle America subduction zone the continental basement is cut back at depth and parts of it are underlain by accreted sediments. Displacement boundary conditions were applied to the basal thrust to investigate the effects of coupling and decoupling on it, and in this way the repeat time for earthquakes, at a depth of c. 15 km in the Middle America subduction zone, was predicted to be c. 250 yr, or less. Finally, the results for a simple accretionary wedge, applied to the mechanics of a thrust sheet, show that the basal gradient is an important controlling factor, and that gravitational forces alone cannot cause thrust motion up a basal slope, unless the thrust wedge is supported (at the end lower down the basal slope) by stresses which are lithostatic or greater

Artistry and effectiveness in language use: The evaluation of ways of speaking among the Berba of Benin.

This study is about artful speech and the politics of language use among the Berba, a small ethnic group of northern Benin. Despite their integration into a nation state, Berba can still be regarded as an essentially segmentary society. One of the most remarkable features of Berba culture is their highly developed verbal art, not only as regards the wide range of speech genres, but also the sophistication by which local critics assess generic properties and discuss notions of quality and verbal skill. In the investigation I examine three speech genres, namely political language, storytelling and proverb speaking. The thesis addresses two central issues: firstly, similarities and intersections in terms of generic properties and evaluative criteria, and, secondly, inspired by theories of the ethnography of speaking, genre and evaluative criteria in the dynamics of political language use. The discussion in the four central chapters (2-5) makes the following points on the basis of data presented; in the indigenous theory of political language, the key parameters in order to achieve rhetorical success are thoughtfulness, clarity and indirectness. This can directly be linked to the guiding principles of Berba local politics, which is oriented towards consensus building and conflict management, and hence promotes an ideal of persuasive argumentation (thoughtfulness, clarity) and a reconciliatory mode of speech (indirectness). As a comparative investigation reveals, the same properties are valued in the traditions of storytelling and proverb speaking, although for different reasons. While clear diction is indispensable in order to achieve rhetorical success in a storytelling event, it is allusive wording and metaphorical disguise (though with an explicative intent) which is esteemed in proverb speaking. In chapter 6 the example of a political debate brings together the different strands of investigation and illustrates how a number of speech strategies, centred around thoughtfulness, clarity and indirectness, co-occur during the speech event. In terms of the politics of language use observation of cross-generic interrelations substantiates the idea that a speaker, who has acquired verbal competence in one genre or domain of speaking, may usefully draw on the same skills in order to succeed in another