Transcription enhancement of a digitised multi-lingual pamphlet collection: a case study and guide for similar projects

UCL Library Services holds an extensive collection of over 9,000 Jewish pamphlets, many of these extremely rare. Over the past five years, UCL has embarked on a project to widen access to this collection through an extensive programme of cataloguing, conservation and digitisation. With the cataloguing complete and the most fragile items conserved, the focus is now on making these texts available to global audiences via UCL Digital Collections website. The pamphlets were ranked for rarity, significance and fragility and the highest-scoring selected for digitisation. Unique identifiers allocated at the point of cataloguing were used to track individual pamphlets through the stages of the project. This guide details the text-enhancement methods used, highlighting particular issues relating to Hebrew scripts and early-printed texts. Initial attempts to enable images of these pamphlets to be searched digitally relied on the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) embedded within the software used to create the PDF files. Whilst satisfactory for texts chiefly in Roman script, it provided no reliable means to search the extensive corpus of texts in Hebrew. Generous advice offered by the National Library of Israel led to our adoption of ABBYY FineReader software as a means of enhancing the transcriptions embedded within the PDF files. Following image capture, JPEG files were used to create multi-page PDF files of each pamphlet. Pre-processing in ABBYY FineReader consisted of: setting the language and colour mode; detecting page orientation; selecting and refining areas of the text to be read; reading the text to produce a transcription. The resultant files were stored in folders according to language of text. The software highlighted spelling errors and doubtful readings. A verification tool allowed transcribers to correct these as required. However, some erroneous or doubtful readings were nevertheless genuine words and not highlighted; it was therefore essential to proofread the text, particularly for early-printed scripts. Transcribers maintained logs of common errors; additionally, problems with Hebrew vocalisations, cursive and Gothic scripts were noted. During initial quality checks of the transcriptions, many text searches were unsuccessful due to previously unidentified spacings occurring within words. This was generally linked to the font size being too small. Maintaining logs of font sizes used led to the adoption of a minimum of Arial 8 or Times New Roman 10 in transcribed text. The methodology was revised to include the preliminary quality-checking of one page. We concluded that it was difficult to develop a standardised procedure applicable to all texts given the variance in language, script and typography. However, we concluded that the font Arial gave the most successful accuracy ratings for Hebrew script, minimum text size 17, minimum title size 25. ABBYY file preparation took a minimum of 1.5 hours per pamphlet; transcription correction took an average of 10.4 minutes per page; the final quality check took 30 minutes per pamphlet. On average, the work on each pamphlet took a minimum of 6 hours to complete. As a result of the project, average accuracy ratings improved from 60% to 89%, the greatest improvement being for pre-1800 and Hebrew script publications. We are therefore inclined to focus future transcription-enhancement activity on these types of publication for the remainder of our Jewish Pamphlet Collections

Comments on Supercurrent Multiplets, Supersymmetric Field Theories and Supergravity

We analyze various supersymmetry multiplets containing the supercurrent and the energy-momentum tensor. The most widely known such multiplet, the Ferrara-Zumino (FZ) multiplet, is not always well-defined. This can happen once Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) terms are present or when the Kahler form of the target space is not exact. We present a new multiplet S which always exists. This understanding of the supersymmetry current allows us to obtain new results about the possible IR behavior of supersymmetric theories. Next, we discuss the coupling of rigid supersymmetric theories to supergravity. When the theory has an FZ-multiplet or it has a global R-symmetry the standard formalism can be used. But when this is not the case such simple gauging is impossible. Then, we must gauge the current S. The resulting theory has, in addition to the graviton and the gravitino, another massless chiral superfield Phi which is essential for the consistency of the theory. Some of the moduli of various string models play the role of Phi. Our general considerations, which are based on the consistency of supergravity, show that such moduli cannot be easily lifted thus leading to constraints on gravity/string models.Comment: 27 pages. v2: references added and minor changes. v3: minor changes. v4: minor clarification

On correlation functions of operators dual to classical spinning string states

We explore how to compute, classically at strong coupling, correlation functions of local operators corresponding to classical spinning string states. The picture we obtain is of `fattened' Witten diagrams, the evaluation of which turns out to be surprisingly subtle and requires a modification of the naive classical action due to a necessary projection onto appropriate wave functions. We examine string solutions which compute the simplest case of a two-point function and reproduce the right scaling with the anomalous dimensions corresponding to the energies of the associated spinning string solutions. We also describe, under some simplifying assumptions, how the spacetime dependence of a conformal three-point correlation function arises in this setup.Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures; v2: references and comments added

Quantum anti-Zeno effect without wave function reduction

We study the measurement-induced enhancement of the spontaneous decay (called quantum anti-Zeno effect) for a two-level subsystem, where measurements are treated as couplings between the excited state and an auxiliary state rather than the von Neumann's wave function reduction. The photon radiated in a fast decay of the atom, from the auxiliary state to the excited state, triggers a quasi-measurement, as opposed to a projection measurement. Our use of the term "quasi-measurement" refers to a "coupling-based measurement". Such frequent quasi-measurements result in an exponential decay of the survival probability of atomic initial state with a photon emission following each quasi-measurement. Our calculations show that the effective decay rate is of the same form as the one based on projection measurements. What is more important, the survival probability of the atomic initial state which is obtained by tracing over all the photon states is equivalent to the survival probability of the atomic initial state with a photon emission following each quasi-measurement to the order under consideration. That is because the contributions from those states with photon number less than the number of quasi-measurements originate from higher-order processes.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Role of the mesoamygdaloid dopamine projection in emotional learning

Amygdala dopamine is crucially involved in the acquisition of Pavlovian associations, as measured via conditioned approach to the location of the unconditioned stimulus (US). However, learning begins before skeletomotor output, so this study assessed whether amygdala dopamine is also involved in earlier 'emotional' learning. A variant of the conditioned reinforcement (CR) procedure was validated where training was restricted to curtail the development of selective conditioned approach to the US location, and effects of amygdala dopamine manipulations before training or later CR testing assessed. Experiment 1a presented a light paired (CS+ group) or unpaired (CS- group) with a US. There were 1, 2 or 10 sessions, 4 trials per session. Then, the US was removed, and two novel levers presented. One lever (CR+) presented the light, and lever pressing was recorded. Experiment 1b also included a tone stimulus. Experiment 2 applied intra-amygdala R(+) 7-OH-DPAT (10 nmol/1.0 A mu l/side) before two training sessions (Experiment 2a) or a CR session (Experiment 2b). For Experiments 1a and 1b, the CS+ group preferred the CR+ lever across all sessions. Conditioned alcove approach during 1 or 2 training sessions or associated CR tests was low and nonspecific. In Experiment 2a, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT before training greatly diminished lever pressing during a subsequent CR test, preferentially on the CR+ lever. For Experiment 2b, R(+) 7-OH-DPAT infusions before the CR test also reduced lever pressing. Manipulations of amygdala dopamine impact the earliest stage of learning in which emotional reactions may be most prevalent

A low-carbohydrate diet may prevent end-stage renal failure in type 2 diabetes. A case report

An obese patient with type 2 diabetes whose diet was changed from the recommended high-carbohydrate, low-fat type to a low-carbohydrate diet showed a significant reduction in bodyweight, improved glycemic control and a reversal of a six year long decline of renal function. The reversal of the renal function was likely caused by both improved glycemic control and elimination of the patient's obesity. Insulin treatment in type 2 diabetes patients usually leads to weight increase which may cause further injury to the kidney. Although other unknown metabolic mechanisms cannot be excluded, it is likely that the obesity caused by the combination of high-carbohydrate diet and insulin in this case contributed to the patient's deteriorating kidney function. In such patients, where control of bodyweight and hyperglycemia is vital, a trial with a low-carbohydrate diet may be appropriate to avoid the risk of adding obesity-associated renal failure to already failing kidneys

No association between polymorphisms of WNT2 and schizophrenia in a Korean population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Wingless-type MMTV integration site family member 2 (WNT2) has a potentially important role in neuronal development; however, there has yet to be an investigation into the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of <it>WNT2 </it>and schizophrenia. This study aimed to determine whether certain SNPs of <it>WNT2 </it>were associated with schizophrenia in a Korean population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>e genotyped 7 selected SNPs in the <it>WNT2 </it>gene region (approximately 46 Kb) using direct sequencing in 288 patients with schizophrenia and 305 healthy controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the SNPs examined, one SNP showed a weak association with schizophrenia (p = 0.017 in the recessive model). However, this association did not remain statistically significant after Bonferroni correction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study does not support a major role for <it>WNT2 </it>in schizophrenia. This could be due to the size of the population. Therefore, additional studies would be needed to definitively rule out the gene's minor effects.</p

Photonic quantum technologies

The first quantum technology, which harnesses uniquely quantum mechanical effects for its core operation, has arrived in the form of commercially available quantum key distribution systems that achieve enhanced security by encoding information in photons such that information gained by an eavesdropper can be detected. Anticipated future quantum technologies include large-scale secure networks, enhanced measurement and lithography, and quantum information processors, promising exponentially greater computation power for particular tasks. Photonics is destined for a central role in such technologies owing to the need for high-speed transmission and the outstanding low-noise properties of photons. These technologies may use single photons or quantum states of bright laser beams, or both, and will undoubtably apply and drive state-of-the-art developments in photonics