All Purpose Textual Data Information Extraction, Visualization and Querying

abstract: Since the advent of the internet and even more after social media platforms, the explosive growth of textual data and its availability has made analysis a tedious task. Information extraction systems are available but are generally too specific and often only extract certain kinds of information they deem necessary and extraction worthy. Using data visualization theory and fast, interactive querying methods, leaving out information might not really be necessary. This thesis explores textual data visualization techniques, intuitive querying, and a novel approach to all-purpose textual information extraction to encode large text corpus to improve human understanding of the information present in textual data. This thesis presents a modified traversal algorithm on dependency parse output of text to extract all subject predicate object pairs from text while ensuring that no information is missed out. To support full scale, all-purpose information extraction from large text corpuses, a data preprocessing pipeline is recommended to be used before the extraction is run. The output format is designed specifically to fit on a node-edge-node model and form the building blocks of a network which makes understanding of the text and querying of information from corpus quick and intuitive. It attempts to reduce reading time and enhancing understanding of the text using interactive graph and timeline.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Software Engineering 201

Augmenting Public Deliberations through Stream Argument Analytics and Visualisations

Public deliberations are organised by governments and other large institutions to take the views of citizens around controversial issues. Increasing public demand and the associated burden on public funding make the quality of public deliberation events and their outcomes critical to modern democracies. This paper focuses on technology developed around streams of computational argument data intended to inform and improve deliberative communication in real time. Combining state-of-the-art speech recognition, argument mining, and analytics, we produce dynamic, interactive visualisations intended for non-experts, deployed incrementally in real time to deliberation participants via large screens, hand-held and personal computing devices. The goal is to bridge the gap between theoretical criteria on deliberation quality from the political sciences and objective analytics calculated automatically from computable argument data in actual public deliberations, presented as a set of visualisations which work on stream data and are simple, yet informative enough to make a positive impact on deliberative outcomes

Pursuing a Just Transition in the power sectors of Poland and South Africa: identifying barriers and drivers using System Dynamics

The energy sector is responsible for most of the CO2 globally emitted, thus its decarbonisation is fundamental to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals. The energy transition is a complex process involving different actors and intertwining technical, economic, and social challenges. In some countries, moving towards cleaner energy supply technologies will be particularly challenging, due to the strong reliance on fossil fuel-based systems. The just transition framework aims to provide guidance and support on how to pursue a technological transition that is also inclusive and sustainable. The concept of just transition originated in the 1970s in the USA and was later integrated into the agenda of environment and climate policies. The just transition approach encourages the collaboration among different actors for the development of a holistic strategy and the fair distribution of benefits and burdens during any major socio-economic transformation. A significant portion of the literature on just transition focuses on theoretical concepts, principles, and aspirations (i.e. elements of Procedural, Distributional, Recognitional, and Restorative Justice), without providing a roadmap for engaging the stakeholders, planning and enacting a just transition. There is a need to develop more case studies to distil procedural elements of just transitions in different political, economic, and social contexts. This research focuses on the power sectors of Poland and South Africa, both strongly dependent on domestic coal, investigates the obstacles and the enablers to just energy transition paths in the two countries, and makes recommendations on how to improve those processes. First, a literature review has been conducted to understand the main characteristics of the two power sectors: the information has been catalogued through the Sectorial System of Innovation, used in Transition Studies for a comprehensive description of an economic sector. Then, several stakeholders involved in the electricity systems of the countries have been interviewed: the interviews helped to understand the implications, as well as the main challenges, of a just transition approach applied to these two case studies. The information collected during the interviews has been coded to obtain one qualitative System Dynamic Model per country: the models depict the interactions between different elements of the systems, highlighting lock-in factors that hamper the transition and leverage points for possible policy interventions. The output of the study uncovers the similarities and differences between the two countries, which require different interventions to unlock a just transition in their power sectors. In South Africa, the discussion on just transition has been carried on for a while: the stakeholders can engage and dialogue through different platforms. The national economy has been negatively impacted by a power supply crisis for more than 10 years: due to the increasing cost of electricity from coal and as a result of the commitment made by signing the Paris Agreement, the new capacity should be made up of clean energy technologies. The South African utility company Eskom is unsustainable from any point of view, and there is a strong push for major changes in its business model: the challenge is that the country needs more qualified people to carry out the transition and a plan to finance it, while the advantage is that South Africa has great wind and solar power potential. In Poland, the discussion on just transition started more recently: the Polish authorities have a long time denied the need for a transition, slowing it down, also due to the influence of actors like the coal trade unions. The ruling style of the Government, as a legacy of the Communist era, is to manage decision-making with little consultations of the interested parties. Exception made for the positive case of some regions, the engagement of the stakeholders in the social dialogue has been limited so far. The main uncertainty in Poland comes from the lack of clear direction from the Government: however, as soon as a national plan – aligned with the EU goals – will be defined, the country will likely have access to more funding opportunities for supporting the implementation of a just transition for all. Economic factors like the cost of Carbon, the increasing cost of coal mining, and the inability of many coal power plants to self-sustain will drive future investments towards cleaner technologies.Incomin

Processes of change in academia – the impact of government and market

W tekście podjęto problematykę związaną z rozwojem uniwersytetów i szkolnictwa wyższego w wymiarze globalnym i na przykładzie Polski. Dla zobrazowania podjętego problemu skupiono się na: (1) idei autonomii i elitaryzmu uczelni w perspektywie historycznej i współczesnej, (2) ułudzie elitaryzmu wykształcenia i awansu społecznego jaki się jemu przypisuje, (3) micie elastyczności wykształcenia generowanego m.in. przez polityków. W tekście wskazano na główne procesy zachodzące w nauce: (1) z wiekami następowało znoszenie autonomii uniwersytetów, (2) usuwany jest “humanistyczny etos” uniwersytetów, (3) uniwersytety przekształcane są w “wyższe szkoły zawodowe”, (4) szkolnictwo wyższe rozwijane jest jako jeden z sektorów usług, (5) uniwersytety przekształcane są w instytucje odpowiedzialne za rynek pracy, (6) uniwersytety wpisywane są w “logikę działania wolnego rynku”, (7) wzrasta liczba wykształconych, (8) następuje fetyszyzacja wykształcenia, (9) podtrzymywany jest mit elastyczności wykształcenia i wielokierunkowości w kontekście ograniczonej chłonności rynku pracy, (10) rozwijane są systemy odpłatności za studia w szkolnictwie publicznym.The paper describes the problems associated with the development of universities and higher education on a global scale and based on the example of Poland. To illustrate the subject, the research focuses on: (1) the idea of university autonomy and elitism from a historical and contemporary perspective, (2) the delusion of elitism and social advancement of education which is attributed to it, (3) the myth of flexibility of education generated among others by politicians. The text indicates the main processes in academia: (1) centuries long removal of the autonomy of universities, (2) the ‘humanistic ethos’ of universities is also removed, (3) universities are transformed into ‘vocational colleges’, (4) higher education is developed as one of the service sectors, (5) universities are transformed into institutions responsible for the labour market, (6) universities are entered in the ‘logic of the free market’, (7), the number of the educated is increasing, (8) the fetishisation of education, (9) the myth of flexibility of education and the its multifunctionality in the context of limited absorption capacity of the labour

Successful Interventions: Identifying and Influencing Key Variables

This research paper was inspired by a desire to see the United States (U.S.) have continued success in the 21st century. The problem that spurred this research was the realization that the U.S. has an opportunistic, short-term, military centric, foreign policy strategy. I believe that in the 21st century, a steady state, balanced, long-term strategy will ensure continued success. This research paper posits that an already strong networked opposition, a repertoire of resistance, and physical infrastructure are both jointly necessary and sufficient for a successful intervention. To test for this pattern, I first explore a common variable attributed to determining the likelihood of success in interventions: Corruption. This is done by analyzing corruption in Afghanistan (2001-present), Vietnam (1955-1975), and the Baltics (1991-2014). This analysis, as well as table 1.1, illustrate the absence of a pattern: corruption is not an effective variable for decision makers to analyze during pre-intervention planning. Following the analysis of corruption, the research paper moves into the three key variables identified above. The first case study focuses on Poland (1979-1989) during the Solidarity Movement. The analysis of Poland illustrates high favorability, or advantageous marks, for the three key variables. This resulted in one of the best examples of successful U.S. political warfare during the Cold War. The next case study focuses on Cuba during the Bay of Pigs and Operation Mongoose. This analysis shows the reader the result of all three key variables being unfavorable, or disadvantageous, to the foreign actor: defeat. The final case study focuses on Ukraine (1991-2014). This is by far the most important case study as it illustrates the success of the Russian Federation due to two factors: the three key variables were favorable/advantageous and the Russian Federation, over time, influenced these variables to create a higher likelihood of success. This research paper also includes a limited section on recommendations for the U.S. in the 21st century as well as a reflection of shortcomings with this project

A Comparative Study of the Factors that Contribute to the Success of Non-Violent Revolutions

What enables some non-violent revolutions to succeed while others do not? Examining Poland\u27s nonviolent revolution of 1989 and Serbia\u27s Bulldozer Revolution in 2000 as case studies, this thesis analyzes the impact of certain factors on the success of non-violent protests. This thesis argues that states are more likely to achieve revolution through peaceful measures if these factors are present prior to revolution. In this research, I examine the impact of these factors in Poland in 1989 and in Serbia in 2000. Additionally, this comparative case study will generate hypotheses about the main factors explaining the outcomes that can be investigated in other cases

Visegrad Four cooperation during the migration crisis

Together with the unprecedented migration flow in Europe, 2015-2016 period marked the date of the increased visibility of the four Central European states, otherwise known as Visegrad Four group. The Visegrad Four earned its fame by staying united against the EU proposals on tackling the migration crisis and soon became the focus of many academic queries. Along such academic line, this research too focuses on the case of Visegrad cooperation during the migration crisis and attempts to challenge already existing theoretical model on international cooperation with this particular case study. The selected theoretical model developed by Blondin & Boin (2020) put forward eight factors based on the collective action and crisis management theories which, according to the authors, explain the reasons states decide to cooperate in times of crisis. This research employs the pattern-matching technique to compare between the expected patterns derived from the aforementioned theoretical model and observed patterns based on the case of the Visegrad Four. As a result of the pattern matching analysis, the study confirmed four factors such as repeated interaction, feasible solutions, a small number of actors, trusted leadership to be true in the case of the Visegrad Four cooperation, while crisis exposure was just partially confirmed and the remaining factors such as domestic politicization, interdependence, and coordination mechanism were disconfirmed