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

Antarctic intermediate water circulation in the South Atlantic over the past 25,000years

Antarctic Intermediate Water is an essential limb of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation that redistributes heat and nutrients within the Atlantic Ocean. Existing reconstructions have yielded conflicting results on the history of Antarctic Intermediate Water penetration into the Atlantic across the most recent glacial termination. In this study we present leachate, foraminiferal, and detrital neodymium isotope data from three intermediate-depth cores collected from the southern Brazil margin in the South Atlantic covering the past 25kyr. These results reveal that strong chemical leaching following decarbonation does not extract past seawater neodymium composition in this location. The new foraminiferal records reveal no changes in seawater Nd isotopes during abrupt Northern Hemisphere cold events at these sites. We therefore conclude that there is no evidence for greater incursion of Antarctic Intermediate Water into the South Atlantic during either the Younger Dryas or Heinrich Stadial 1. We do, however, observe more radiogenic Nd isotope values in the intermediate-depth South Atlantic during the mid-Holocene. This radiogenic excursion coincides with evidence for a southward shift in the Southern Hemisphere westerlies that may have resulted in a greater entrainment of radiogenic Pacific-sourced water during intermediate water production in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Our intermediate-depth records show similar values to a deglacial foraminiferal Nd isotope record from the deep South Atlantic during the Younger Dryas but are clearly distinct during the Last Glacial Maximum and Heinrich Stadial 1, demonstrating that the South Atlantic remained chemically stratified during Heinrich Stadial 1.Natural Environment Research Council (Grant IDs: NE/K005235/1, NE/F006047/1), National Science Foundation (Grant ID: OCE -1335191), Rutherford Memorial Scholarship, DFG Research Center/Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean in the Earth System”, FAPESP (Grant ID: 2012/17517-3), CAPES (Grant IDs: 1976/2014, 564/2015

Abyssal origin for the early Holocene pulse of unradiogenic neodymium isotopes in Atlantic seawater

The neodymium isotopic composition of authigenic phases of deep-sea sediment cores can be interpreted as reflecting past changes in water-mass mixing proportions if end-member water-mass compositions are constrained through time. Here we present three new records spanning 2480 to 4360 m depth in the North Atlantic Ocean that show seawater Nd isotope values in the early to mid-Holocene that are more radiogenic than values from the abyssal northwest Atlantic. This finding indicates that that the end-member composition of North Atlantic Deep Water was more stable within its core than it was at abyssal depths. The spatial distribution of the unradiogenic neodymium isotope values observed in the North Atlantic suggests a bottom source, and therefore that they were unlikely to have been due to the production of intermediate-depth Labrador Sea Water. We infer that the unradiogenic authigenic Nd isotope values were most likely derived from a pulse of poorly chemically weathered detrital material that was deposited into the Labrador Sea following Laurentide ice sheet retreat in the early Holocene. This unradiogenic sediment released neodymium into the bottom waters, yielding an unradiogenic seawater signal that was advected southward at abyssal depths and attenuated as it vertically mixed upward in the water column to shallower depths. The southward dispersion of these unradiogenic seawater values traces deep-water advection. However, the exact values observed at the most abyssal sites cannot be interpreted as proportionate to the strength of deep-water production without improved constraints on end-member changes.Radiocarbon dates on Ocean Drilling Program Sites 925E and 929B were funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) radiocarbon grant 1752.1013 and Nd isotope analyses were funded by NERC grants NE/K005235/1 and NE/F006047/1 to Piotrowski

BPS States on M5-brane in Large C-field Background

We extensively study BPS solutions of the low energy effective theory of M5-brane in large C-field background. This provides us an opportunity to explore the interactions turned on by C-field background through the Nambu-Poisson structure. The BPS states considered in this paper include the M-waves, the self-dual string (M2 ending on M5), tilted M5-brane, holomorphic embedding of M5-brane and the intersection of two M5-branes along a 3-brane.Comment: 25 pages, reference adde

Worldvolume Superalgebra Of BLG Theory With Nambu-Poisson Structure

Recently it was proposed that the Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson theory with Nambu-Poisson structure describes an M5-brane in a three-form flux background. In this paper we investigate the superalgebra associated with this theory. We derive the central charges corresponding to M5-brane solitons in 3-form backgrounds. We also show that double dimensional reduction of the superalgebra gives rise to the Poisson bracket terms of a non-commutative D4-brane superalgebra. We provide interpretations of the D4-brane charges in terms of spacetime intersections.Comment: 23 pages; references added, section 4 clarification

Eurasian Arctic greening reveals teleconnections and the potential for novel ecosystems

Arctic warming has been linked to observed increases in tundra shrub cover and growth in recent decades on the basis of significant relationships between deciduous shrub growth/biomass and temperature. These vegetation trends have been linked to Arctic sea ice decline and thus to the sea ice/albedo feedback known as Arctic amplification. However, the interactions between climate, sea ice and tundra vegetation remain poorly understood. Here we reveal a 50- year growth response over a >100,000 km2 area to a rise in summer temperature for alder (Alnus) and willow (Salix), the most abundant shrub genera respectively at and north of the continental treeline. We demonstrate that whereas plant productivity is related to sea ice in late spring, the growing season peak responds to persistent synoptic-scale air masses over West Siberia associated with Fennoscandian weather systems through the Rossby wave train. Substrate is important for biomass accumulation, yet a strong correlation between growth and temperature encompasses all observed soil types. Vegetation is especially responsive to temperature in early summer. These results have significant implications for modelling present and future Low Arctic vegetation responses to climate change, and emphasize the potential for structurally novel ecosystems to emerge fromwithin the tundra zone.Vertaisarviointia edeltävä käsikirjoitu

From correlation functions to scattering amplitudes

We study the correlators of half-BPS protected operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, in the limit where the positions of the adjacent operators become light-like separated. We compute the loop corrections by means of Lagrangian insertions. The divergences resulting from the light-cone limit are regularized by changing the dimension of the integration measure over the insertion points. Switching from coordinates to dual momenta, we show that the logarithm of the correlator is identical with twice the logarithm of the matching MHV gluon scattering amplitude. We present a number of examples of this new relation, at one and two loops.Comment: typos corrected, references adde

A mediation approach to understanding socio-economic inequalities in maternal health-seeking behaviours in Egypt.

BACKGROUND: The levels and origins of socio-economic inequalities in health-seeking behaviours in Egypt are poorly understood. This paper assesses the levels of health-seeking behaviours related to maternal care (antenatal care [ANC] and facility delivery) and their accumulation during pregnancy and childbirth. Secondly, it explores the mechanisms underlying the association between socio-economic position (SEP) and maternal health-seeking behaviours. Thirdly, it examines the effectiveness of targeting of free public ANC and delivery care. METHODS: Data from the 2008 Demographic and Health Survey were used to capture two latent constructs of SEP: individual socio-cultural capital and household-level economic capital. These variables were entered into an adjusted mediation model, predicting twelve dimensions of maternal health-seeking; including any ANC, private ANC, first ANC visit in first trimester, regular ANC (four or more visits during pregnancy), facility delivery, and private delivery. ANC and delivery care costs were examined separately by provider type (public or private). RESULTS: While 74.2% of women with a birth in the 5-year recall period obtained any ANC and 72.4% delivered in a facility, only 48.8% obtained the complete maternal care package (timely and regular facility-based ANC as well as facility delivery) for their most recent live birth. Both socio-cultural capital and economic capital were independently positively associated with receiving any ANC and delivering in a facility. The strongest direct effect of socio-cultural capital was seen in models predicting private provider use of both ANC and delivery. Despite substantial proportions of women using public providers reporting receipt of free care (ANC: 38%, delivery: 24%), this free-of-charge public care was not effectively targeted to women with lowest economic resources. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-cultural capital is the primary mechanism leading to inequalities in maternal health-seeking in Egypt. Future studies should therefore examine the objective and perceived quality of care from different types of providers. Improvements in the targeting of free public care could help reduce the existing SEP-based inequalities in maternal care coverage in the short term