On the Feasibility of Automated Detection of Allusive Text Reuse

The detection of allusive text reuse is particularly challenging due to the sparse evidence on which allusive references rely---commonly based on none or very few shared words. Arguably, lexical semantics can be resorted to since uncovering semantic relations between words has the potential to increase the support underlying the allusion and alleviate the lexical sparsity. A further obstacle is the lack of evaluation benchmark corpora, largely due to the highly interpretative character of the annotation process. In the present paper, we aim to elucidate the feasibility of automated allusion detection. We approach the matter from an Information Retrieval perspective in which referencing texts act as queries and referenced texts as relevant documents to be retrieved, and estimate the difficulty of benchmark corpus compilation by a novel inter-annotator agreement study on query segmentation. Furthermore, we investigate to what extent the integration of lexical semantic information derived from distributional models and ontologies can aid retrieving cases of allusive reuse. The results show that (i) despite low agreement scores, using manual queries considerably improves retrieval performance with respect to a windowing approach, and that (ii) retrieval performance can be moderately boosted with distributional semantics

Parallax measurements of cool brown dwarfs

Accurate parallax measurements allow us to determine physical properties of brown dwarfs, and help us to constrain evolutionary and atmospheric models, break the age-mass degeneracy and reveal unresolved binaries. We measured absolute trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions of 6 cool brown dwarfs using background galaxies to establish an absolute reference frame. We derive the absolute J-mag. The six T brown dwarfs in our sample have spectral types between T2.5 and T7.5 and magnitudes in J between 13.9 and 18.0, with photometric distances below 25 pc. The observations were taken in the J-band with the Omega-2000 camera on the 3.5 m telescope at Calar Alto, during a time period of 27 months, between March 2011 and June 2013. The number of epochs varied between 11 and 12 depending on the object. The reduction of the astrometric measurements was carried out with respect to the field stars. The relative parallax and proper motions were transformed into absolute measurements using the background galaxies in our fields. We obtained absolute parallaxes for our six brown dwarfs with a precision between 3 and 6 mas. We compared our results in a color-magnitude diagram with other brown dwarfs with determined parallax and with the BT-Settl 2012 atmospheric models. For four of the six targets we found a good agreement in luminosity with objects of similar spectral types. We obtained an improved accuracy in the parallaxes and proper motions in comparison to previous works. The object 2MASS J11061197+2754225 is more than 1 mag overluminous in all bands pointing to binarity or high order multiplicity.Comment: 9 pages, 15 figures. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 201

Córdoba: Homeless people and bank-owned property. Turning empty housing into homes: Exclusion and hopelessness, breach of civic rights and real estate ownership

En la ciudad de Córdoba (Andalucía) han proliferado casos de familias que, sin vivienda ni recursos para acceder a ella, han optado por el realojo en inmuebles desocupados propiedad de entidades financieras u otras grandes corporaciones. Estas acciones, que los medios más influyentes silencian o tergiversan, discurren al margen de la normalidad urbana pero denuncian una severa crisis habitacional vinculada, por un lado, a la exclusión social y el empobrecimiento; por otro, a la falta de alquiler social, la especulación inmobiliaria y al acaparamiento por parte de grandes corporaciones de miles de inmuebles vacíos. Ha sido estudiada en profundidad una muestra de estas familias, de sus situaciones sociodemográficas y sus motivaciones, de su estado formal en los inmuebles objeto de realojo y de unos procesos personales y colectivos que, vinculados a la plataforma 15M Stop Desahucios, transitan del desamparo y la desesperación al apoyo mutuo, la politización y el empoderamiento. Procesos en los que destaca la decidida actitud de algunos grupos de mujeres en defensa de “un techo” para sus hijas e hijos.A large number of families in Cordoba (Andalusia) are currently homeless. Lacking the financial needs to afford a roof over their heads, they have turned to occupying empty houses which are owned by financial entities or other major corporations. These measures – often ignored or manipulated by the major media outlets – are not what we consider the accepted urban norm, but they call attention to a serious crisis which affects the city´s living environment. Social exclusion and impoverishment are some of the reasons for this phenomenon, but also the lack of social housing rents, the rules of real estate speculation, and the hoarding of thousands of empty buildings by major corporations. We have carried out an exhaustive sample study of some of these families, their socio-demographic and motivational settings, the way they inhabit the disused buildings, and their personal and collective circumstances. In the framework of the 15M Stop Evictions Platform, they have striven to lend each other mutual support, turning to political activism as a means to remedy their situation. In particular, it is worth underlining the extraordinary resilience showed by some groups of women seeking to provide their daughters and sons with a proper home

Cultural heritage and touristic activities: critical approximation to the Fiesta de los Patios of Córdoba

La Fiesta de los Patios retrocede como celebración local de carácter comunitario y se afianza, particularmente tras su inclusión en el Listado UNESCO del PCI, como un producto turístico orientado a la atracción de visitantes. Esta turistización, que no obstante debe considerar un amplio conjunto de matices, no es casual: obedece a una meditada estrategia empresarial, con sólidos apoyos políticos y mediáticos, y encuentra entre la población acogidas dispares que van desde la conformidad o la resignación a las servidumbres del turismo como mal menor hasta expresiones de malestar y oposición crítica. El estudio de este caso, soportado en un dilatado trabajo de campo etnográfico, aporta al análisis patrimonialista antropológico base empírica para el debate sobre los usos de las declaraciones patrimoniales y sus efectos, la compleja y problemática relación entre actividades turísticas y salvaguardia del patrimonio inmaterial o las limitaciones de las políticas locales en su abordaje del binomio patrimonio/turismo. El texto incide en los fundamentos de la Fiesta de los Patios como expresión etnológica andaluza y como representación del patrimonio inmaterial de la Humanidad, en las principales contradicciones y efectos de su orientación hacia el turismo de masas y en determinadas interpretaciones y actuaciones políticas, esbozando una propuesta para su recuperación como celebración festiva.Since the Fiesta de Los Patios was included in the UNESCO’s List of ICH, it has gradually lost its communal and local character in order to become a mere product for the attraction of tourists. Many factors play a role in this touristification, none of them unpremeditated: This process is the result of an entrepreneurial strategy, supported both by politicians and the media, which evokes contradictory emotions among the citizens. Some wholly agree with the marketing strategy, while others tolerate it as a lesser evil. Some citizens, however, have expressed strong disagreement with a situation they view as unendurable. This case analysis, supported by exhaustive ethnographic fieldwork, aims to provide a solid empirical basis for anthropological patrimonial research, promoting a debate on the uses and the consequences of the declaration of World Heritage; we would also like to discuss the complex and problematic relationship between tourist activities and the safeguarding of a city`s intangible heritage, as well as the limitations of local policies faced with the dilemma of choosing between heritage and tourism. This study stresses the foundations of the Festival of the Patios as an Andalusian ethnological manifestation recognized as Intangible Heritage of Humanity; furthermore, it provides an analysis of the main contradictory effects caused by mass tourism, and of certain interpretations and political actions, outlining a proposal for the recovery of the Patios as a festive, unique celebration

Algunas cuestiones relativas a la eficacia y eficiencia del Sistema sanitario público en España

El presente trabajo trata sobre algunas cuestiones que inciden sobre la eficacia, la eficiencia y la equidad del Sistema Sanitario Público en España. El tema elegido es de por sí lo suficientemente amplio como para exceder lo que se puede entender como el ámbito usual de un trabajo de estas características. Por lo tanto, no se pretende tanto el dar una visión exhaustiva del tema planteado, como el de centrarse en los aspectos más relevantes

Ciclo de movilizaciones sociales, demandas urbanas y nuevos municipalismos. El caso de la Asamblea Ciudadana Ganemos en la ciudad de Córdoba, Andalucía

Ganemos Córdoba constituye una de las piezas políticas de un nuevo municipalismo andaluz “para el cambio”. Con anclajes inmediatos en el ciclo de movilizaciones sociales desencadenadas por el 15M, llegó a obtener unos apoyos electorales que la convirtieron en actor determinante para la constitución de un nuevo gobierno local de izquierda en esta capital andaluza tras un período municipal conservador. Ganemos, una agrupación de electores también formalizada como asociación autodenominada “asamblea ciudadana”, combina el apoyo crítico al equipo de gobierno, en el que por decisión de su asamblea no participa, con una intensa labor política con la que pretende erigirse en portavoz en el ayuntamiento de movimientos, colectivos y demandas de la sociedad civil. Se trata de una novedosa experiencia con similitudes y particularidades respecto de otras iniciativas municipalistas “de base ciudadana”, gobernantes o no, que han emergido en las últimas elecciones locales. A su estudio se dedica el presente trabajo, atendiendo a su origen, sus fundamentos políticos e ideológicos, su organización y funcionamiento y a la intervención de sus representantes en la institución municipal. También a los complejos equilibrios entre su dimensión crítica y activista y su presencia institucional en cierta medida comprometida con la gestión de la tercera ciudad más poblada de Andalucía.El análisis de textos y el trabajo de campo etnográfico, dentro en un seguimiento más amplio de la política local vinculado a varios proyectos de investigación en curso, constituyen la base metodológica de cuanto se expone y concluye.  Paraules claus: Ganemos Córdoba, nuevos municipalismos, ayuntamientos “del cambio”, política local, participación ciudadana.AbstractGanemos Córdoba is a new actor “for change” in Andalusian city politics. Rooted in the May 15th social movement, this group earned enough electoral support to make it a key actor in forming a new local leftist government in Córdoba, a Southern capital city that had experienced a period of conservative rule. Ganemos is an electoral group that calls itself a “citizen assembly.” It offers critical support to the city council team without participating directly in the city government (by decision of its assembly). Simultaneously, it aims to become the voice of civil society’s movements, groups and demands at City Hall. Ganemos offers a novel approach similar to that of other municipal citizen-based initiatives arising in the last local elections. I describe this political project, bearing in mind its origin, political and ideological foundations, organization, and influence on the city’s institutions. I also analyze the complex balance between the group’s critical activism and its institutional presence in managing Andalusia’s third largest city. My conclusions are drawn from text analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, within a broader view of local politics.Keywords: Ganemos Córdoba, new municipalism, city halls “for the change”, local policy, citizen participation

Confirming the least massive members of the Pleiades star cluster

We present optical photometry (i- and Z-band) and low-resolution spectroscopy (640-1015 nm) of very faint candidate members (J = 20.2-21.2 mag) of the Pleiades star cluster (120 Myr). The main goal is to address their cluster membership via photometric, astrometric, and spectroscopic studies, and to determine the properties of the least massive population of the cluster through the comparison of the data with younger and older spectral counterparts and state-of-the art model atmospheres. We confirm three bona-fide Pleiades members that have extremely red optical and infrared colors, effective temperatures of ~1150 K and ~1350 K, and masses in the interval 11-20 Mjup, and one additional likely member that shares the same motion as the cluster but does not appear to be as red as the other members with similar brightness. This latter object requires further near-infrared spectroscopy to fully address its membership in the Pleiades. The optical spectra of two bona-fide members were classified as L6-L7 and show features of KI, a tentative detection of CsI, hydrides and water vapor with an intensity similar to high-gravity dwarfs of related classification despite their young age. The properties of the Pleiades L6-L7 members clearly indicate that very red colors of L dwarfs are not a direct evidence of ages younger than ~100 Myr. We also report on the determination of the bolometric corrections for the coolest Pleiades members. These data can be used to interpret the observations of the atmospheres of exoplanets orbiting stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (17 pages