Assessing the Value of Brief Automated Biographies

New systems have been introduced that support the visualisation and sharing of personal digital data, but relatively little work has been done to establish how such systems support reminiscence and personal reflection. In this paper, we explore Intel’s Museum of Me, a tool that collates and presents Facebook data in the form of a virtual museum, by asking how such an automated biography might support personal reflection and a process of life review. We supported users in their creation of personal virtual museums and interviewed them about their experiences, using a theoretical framework that highlighted the importance of personal narratives and life review in identity formation and psychological well-being. Our participants enjoyed the experience and welcomed the opportunity for reminiscence, but considered their resulting videos to be rather shallow representations of self, reflective of some of the more trivial exchanges and relationships that can come to dominate social media. We argue that social media in its current form is not well suited to support a meaningful life-review process

Tectonic implications of garnet-bearing mantle xenoliths exhumed by Quaternary magmatism in the Hangay dome, central Mongolia

Garnet-bearing mantle xenoliths have been recovered from Quaternary alkali basalts, both within and peripheral to the Hangay dome of central Mongolia. Microfabric analysis and thermobaromery, combining empirical thermobarometers and the self-consistent dataset of THERMOCALC, indicate that garnet websterites from the Shavaryn-Tsaram volcanic centre at the dome core were formed in the spinel-lherzolite upper mantle at pressures of 17–18 kbars and temperatures of 1,070–1,090°C, whereas garnet lherzolites were derived from greater depths (18–20 kbars). Garnet lherzolites from the Baga Togo Uul vents near the dome edge were formed at 18–22 kbars under significantly cooler conditions (960–1,000°C). These xenoliths reveal reaction coronas of (1) orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and spinel mantling garnets; (2) spongy rims of olivine replacing orthopyroxene and (3) low-Na, low-Al clinopyroxene replacing primary clinopyroxene. Trace-element abundances indicate that clinopyroxene from these coronas is in chemical equilibrium with the host magma. The thermobarometric and textural data suggest that lherzolite xenoliths from both sites were derived from depths of 60–70 km and entrained in magma at 1,200–1,300°C. The average rate of ascent, as determined by olivine zoning, lies in the range 0.2–0.3 m s?1. The contrast in thermal profiles of the upper mantle between the two sites is consistent with a mantle plume beneath the Hangay dome with elevated thermal conditions beneath the core of the dome being comparable to estimates of the Pleistocene geotherm beneath the Baikal rift

Contributing to Current Challenges in Identity and Access Management with Visual Analytics

Part 4: Security Protocol PracticesInternational audienceEnterprises have embraced identity and access management (IAM) systems as central point to manage digital identities and to grant or remove access to information. However, as IAM systems continue to grow, technical and organizational challenges arise. Domain experts have an incomparable amount of knowledge about an organization’s specific settings and issues. Thus, especially for organizational IAM challenges to be solved, leveraging the knowledge of internal and external experts is a promising path. Applying Visual Analytics (VA) as an interactive tool set to utilize the expert knowledge can help to solve upcoming challenges. Within this work, the central IAM challenges with need for expert integration are identified by conducting a literature review of academic publications and analyzing the practitioners’ point of view. Based on this, we propose an architecture for combining IAM and VA. A prototypical implementation of this architecture showcases the increased understanding and ways of solving the identified IAM challenges

Two contrasting Phanerozoic orogenic systems revealed by hafnium isotope data

Two fundamentally different orogenic systems have existed on Earth throughout the Phanerozoic. Circum-Pacific accretionary orogens are the external orogenic system formed around the Pacific rim, where oceanic lithosphere semicontinuously subducts beneath continental lithosphere. In contrast, the internal orogenic system is found in Europe and Asia as the collage of collisional mountain belts, formed during the collision between continental crustal fragments. External orogenic systems form at the boundary of large underlying mantle convection cells, whereas internal orogens form within one supercell. Here we present a compilation of hafnium isotope data from zircon minerals collected from orogens worldwide. We find that the range of hafnium isotope signatures for the external orogenic system narrows and trends towards more radiogenic compositions since 550 Myr ago. By contrast, the range of signatures from the internal orogenic system broadens since 550 Myr ago. We suggest that for the external system, the lower crust and lithospheric mantle beneath the overriding continent is removed during subduction and replaced by newly formed crust, which generates the radiogenic hafnium signature when remelted. For the internal orogenic system, the lower crust and lithospheric mantle is instead eventually replaced by more continental lithosphere from a collided continental fragment. Our suggested model provides a simple basis for unravelling the global geodynamic evolution of the ancient Earth