Collecting Reliable Human Judgements on Machine-Generated Language: The Case of the QG-STEC Data

Question generation (QG) is the problem of automatically generating questions from inputs such as declarative sentences. The Shared Evaluation Task Challenge (QG-STEC) Task B that took place in 2010 evaluated several state-of-the-art QG systems. However, analysis of the evaluation results was affected by low inter-rater reliability. We adapted Nonaka & Takeuchi’s knowledge creation cycle to the task of improving the evaluation annotation guidelines with a preliminary test showing clearly improved inter-rater reliability

The Asymmetric Rotor. IX. The Heavy Water Bands at 2787 cm^–1 and 5373 cm^–1

The combination band (110) of the two stretching fundamentals of D2O is reported and analyzed to yield nu0=5373.2 cm^–1 and the excited state moments of inertia 1.910, 3.931, and 5.929×10^–40 g cm^2. The same method of analysis applied to the unsymmetrical fundamental band (100) envelope gives nu0=2787.5 cm^–1 and the excited state moments 1.881, 3.876, and 5.843×10^–40 g cm^2

Limitation of Trypanosoma brucei parasitaemia results from a combination of density-dependent parasite differentiation and parasite killing by the host immune response

In the bloodstream of its mammalian host, the "slender" form of Trypanosoma brucei replicates extracellularly, producing a parasitaemia. At high density, the level of parasitaemia is limited at a sublethal level by differentiation to the non-replicative "stumpy" form and by the host immune response. Here, we derive continuous time equations to model the time-course, cell types and level of trypanosome parasitaemia, and compare the best fits with experimental data. The best fits that were obtained favour a model in which both density-dependent trypanosome differentiation and host immune response have a role in limiting the increase of parasites, much poorer fits being obtained when differentiation and immune response are considered independently of one another. Best fits also favour a model in which the slender-to-stumpy differentiation progresses in a manner that is essentially independent of the cell cycle. Finally, these models also make the prediction that the density-dependent trypanosome differentiation mechanism can give rise to oscillations in parasitaemia level. These oscillations are independent of the immune system and are not due to antigenic variation

Masking failures of multidimensional sensors (extended abstract)

When a computer monitors a physical process, the computer uses sensors to determine the values of the physical variables that represent the state of the process. A sensor can sometimes fail, however, and in the worst case report a value completely unrelated to the true physical value. The work described is motivated by a methodology for transforming a process control program that can not tolerate sensor failure into one that can. In this methodology, a reliable abstract sensor is created by combining information from several real sensors that measure the same physical value. To be useful, an abstract sensor must deliver reasonably accurate information at reasonable computational cost. Sensors are considered that deliver multidimensional values (e.g., location or velocity in three dimensions, or both temperature and pressure). Geometric techniques are used to derive upper bounds on abstract sensor accuracy and to develop efficient algorithms for implementing abstract sensors

Working with student expectations of tutor support in distance education: testing an expectations‐led quality assurance model

Action research studies in the United Kingdom with Open University students have shown that students come to distance education courses with variable expectations of the levels of service and support they will receive from their tutors. It has been further suggested that a specific expectations-led quality assurance process that enables the sharing of these expectations before a course starts could be of mutual benefit to the student and the tutor, as well as generally improving the overall quality of tutor support provided by the distance learning organisation. This process, it is argued, would be appreciated by the students, have beneficial effects on student satisfaction with tutor support, reducing student drop-out and increasing course completion rates. Could such a process that asks tutors to collect student expectations before a course begins be instituted effectively into a distance learning organisation and how would students and tutors respond to it? This paper reports on a large-scale project carried out by Oscail (the Irish National Distance Education Centre) aimed at developing and testing how students and tutors valued being involved in just such an Open and Distance Learning expectations-led quality assurance process. In the study reported here, all 96 tutors on an Oscail B.A. distance learning programme were asked two weeks before their course began to circulate the student expectations questionnaire to the 950 students on their tutorial lists. Tutors were asked to collect the questionnaires, reflect on the expectations of the students and consider how their tutorial practice and student support might change as a result of the exercise. Tutor and student views on the effectiveness of the exercise were also gathered through questionnaires and focus group meetings. The findings suggested that the majority of students and tutors involved in the study did see the value of the process and that it did help tutors (especially newly appointed ones) consider and respond to the type of support students hoped to receive. The practice of issuing student expectation questionnaires has now been embedded in Oscail introductory courses

IMPACT OF DOMESTIC FOOD PROGRAMS ON NUTRIENT INTAKE OF LOW-INCOME PERSONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Survival rates of captive-bred Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii in a hunted migratory population

Asian Houbara Chlamydotis macqueenii numbers are declining owing to unsustainable levels of hunting and poaching, with the main conservation response being population reinforcement through the release of captive-bred birds. We assessed the contribution of captive breeding to the species’ conservation by examining the fates of 65 captive-bred birds fitted with satellite transmitters and released during spring (March–May) and autumn (August) into breeding habitat in Uzbekistan. Of the released birds, 58.5% survived to October, the month favoured by Emirati hunters in Uzbekistan, but only 10.8% of those released survived the winter to return as sub-adults next spring. To mitigate and compensate the loss of wild adults to hunting, the number of released birds needs to be an order of magnitude higher than hunting quotas (with a release of between 1640-1920 required for a hypothetical quota of 200), indicating that releases may be costly and do not remove the need for a biologically determined sustainable hunting quota

Participation and Performance in Education in Sub-Saharan Africa with special reference to Kenya: Improving Policy and Practice

This paper explores aspects of exclusion from education and how patterns of participation have been changing using national data sets. The first part of the analysis uses administrative data from countries in Sub Saharan Africa to chart enrolments by grade over the last decade and explore how enrolment has been changing in terms of grade, gender, and age. After establishing key issues that are raised by the data across eight countries the paper develops a detailed case study of changes in participation and performance in Kenya using data from the Kenya National Examinations Council. The study shows that the aspirations of Education for All remain far from being met in many countries and many of those who enrol in Grade 1 fail to complete primary or lower secondary school. Progress has been patchy and it remains the case that over enrolment in the lower Grades is common (with more enrolled than there are children in the relevant age group as a result of over-aged entry and progression), and less than half the age group progressing through lower secondary school. Gender equity in enrolments is being approached in the eight countries included in the analysis but patterns differ and are contextually located. In all the countries many of those enrolled remain seriously over-age, and urban rural differences persist in enrolment status. The detailed case study of data from Kenya complements the cross national analysis. It shows how uneven growth in participation has been after the announcement of free primary education, and how strongly patterns vary by county. Strikingly it confirms that older children score on average much lower on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) than younger children, and that this is likely to exclude older candidates from the best secondary schools. This is a source of considerable inequity since over-age status is associated with poverty