Conceptual search – ESI, litigation and the issue of language

Across the globe, legal, business and technical practitioners charged with managing information are continually challenged by rapid-fire evolution and growth in the legal and technology fields. In the United States, new compliance requirements, amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) and corresponding case law, along with technical advances, have made litigation support one of the most exciting professions in the legal arena. In the UK, revisions to the Practice Direction to CPR Rule 31 require parties in civil litigation to consider the impacts associated with electronic documents. One emerging technology trends—both aiding and complicating the management of electronically stored information (ESI) in litigation in the US, EU and UK alike—is the notion of “conceptual search.” This paper focuses on the evolution of conceptual search technology, and predictions of where this science will take legal professionals and technical information managers in coming years and a look at the advantages conceptual search can provide in dealing with the issue of language. This paper will focus primarily and the latent semantic analysis approach to conceptual search and why this approach is advantageous when searching ESI regardless of the language used in the documents, even to the extent of allowing for cross language searching and accurate searching of documents that contain co-mingle foreign terms with the native language

The Photograph in Theory

This article gives an account of an ethnographic project which relied on the use of photography: the project involved taking photographs, asking for responses to them, and then analysing both photos and responses. Anything that plays a central role in an ethnographic project requires theoretical consideration. So, as the account of the project proceeds, the photos are considered from different theoretical viewpoints; and an emerging and subsequently recurring theme is the tension between what a photo shows and what a photo means. Discussion of this tension develops into a more general critique of the ways photos are theorised in social science. I conclude that the photograph in social science theory is at present a sad phenomenon, and that in order to remedy this situation, we should seek help from outside social science.Xx

Quasi-Biennial variations in helioseismic frequencies: Can the source of the variation be localized?

We investigate the spherical harmonic degree (l) dependence of the "seismic" quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) observed in low-degree solar p-mode frequencies, using Sun-as-a-star Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON) data. The amplitude of the seismic QBO is modulated by the 11-yr solar cycle, with the amplitude of the signal being largest at solar maximum. The amplitude of the signal is noticeably larger for the l=2 and 3 modes than for the l=0 and 1 modes. The seismic QBO shows some frequency dependence but this dependence is not as strong as observed in the 11-yr solar cycle. These results are consistent with the seismic QBO having its origins in shallow layers of the interior (one possibility being the bottom of the shear layer extending 5per cent below the solar surface). Under this scenario the magnetic flux responsible for the seismic QBO is brought to the surface (where its influence on the p modes is stronger) by buoyant flux from the 11-yr cycle, the strong component of which is observed at predominantly low-latitudes. As the l=2 and 3 modes are much more sensitive to equatorial latitudes than the l=0 and 1 modes the influence of the 11-yr cycle on the seismic QBO is more visible in l=2 and 3 mode frequencies. Our results imply that close to solar maximum the main influence of the seismic QBO occurs at low latitudes (<45 degrees), which is where the strong component of the 11-yr solar cycle resides. To isolate the latitudinal dependence of the seismic QBO from the 11-yr solar cycle we must consider epochs when the 11-yr solar cycle is weak. However, away from solar maximum, the amplitude of the seismic QBO is weak making the latitudinal dependence hard to constrain.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Solar cycle variations of large frequency separations of acoustic modes: Implications for asteroseismology

We have studied solar cycle changes in the large frequency separations that can be observed in Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON) data. The large frequency separation is often one of the first outputs from asteroseismic studies because it can help constrain stellar properties like mass and radius. We have used three methods for estimating the large separations: use of individual p-mode frequencies, computation of the autocorrelation of frequency-power spectra, and computation of the power spectrum of the power spectrum. The values of the large separations obtained by the different methods are offset from each other and have differing sensitivities to the realization noise. A simple model was used to predict solar cycle variations in the large separations, indicating that the variations are due to the well-known solar cycle changes to mode frequency. However, this model is only valid over a restricted frequency range. We discuss the implications of these results for asteroseismology.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS, references updated, corrections following proof

Taking it Personally: Third-Party Forgiveness, Close Relationships, and the Standing to Forgive

This paper challenges a common dogma of the literature on forgiveness: that only victims have the standing to forgive. Attacks on third-party forgiveness generally come in two forms. One form of attack suggests that it follows from the nature of forgiveness that third-party forgiveness is impossible. Another form of attack suggests that although third-party forgiveness is possible, it is always improper or morally inappropriate for third parties to forgive. I argue against both of these claims; third-party forgiveness is possible, and in some cases it is morally appropriate for third parties to forgive (or refuse to forgive) wrongdoers for wrongs done to victims. I also propose an explanation of third parties’ standing to forgive: third parties have the standing to forgive when it is appropriate for them to take wrongs done to victims ‘personally’. While appropriately ‘taking a wrong personally’ does not require seeing oneself as a victim, it typically does require being in some form of personal relationship with victims. Thus, while the standing to forgive is not grounded exclusively in having been wronged, the prerogative to forgive is normally limited to victims and their loved ones. And once we recognize the importance of third-party forgiveness in our moral lives and the norms that govern it, we can more easily adjudicate between competing accounts of the nature of forgiveness.

Data Challenges in High-Performance Risk Analytics

Risk Analytics is important to quantify, manage and analyse risks from the manufacturing to the financial setting. In this paper, the data challenges in the three stages of the high-performance risk analytics pipeline, namely risk modelling, portfolio risk management and dynamic financial analysis is presented

Coping with the Fallout for Preference-receiving Countries from EU Sugar Reform

Developing countries can produce sugar at much lower cost than it can be produced in the EU, yet reform of the EU sugar policy will result in both winners and losers among them. Reform will benefit competitive sugar exporters currently excluded from the EU market. It will adversely affect those developing countries that currently benefit from preferential import access to the EU's high-priced sugar market, while diminishing the benefits received by those least-developed countries to which duty-free and quota-free access has been promised after July 2009. This article identifies the countries likely to lose and the extent of their potential losses. It examines alternative proposals that have been put forward to assist these countries to adjust to the adverse effects of EU sugar policy reform and contributes to the debate by putting forward a further proposal.ACP countries, development, EBA initiative, EU sugar reform, trade preferences, International Relations/Trade,

Reform of the EU Sugar Regime: Impacts on Sugar Production in Ireland

The EU Common Market Organisation has remained largely unchanged since its inception nearly 40 years ago. Reform has become inevitable due to changes to other sectors in the Common Agriculture Policy and pressure arising from international commitments. The current system provides sufficient support for all Member States to produce sugar, regardless of their efficiency. The proposed reform will therefore affect the least efficient producing regions most strongly. This paper examines the case of Ireland in light of the competitive position of its sugar sector in the EU context. Calculation of the likely impact on sugar beet gross margins and farm income suggest that many producers will want to exit sugar beet production. In light of this, the implications and possible strategies for growers and Irish Sugar are discussed.EU sugar policy, Irish agriculture, farm income