LDC Arabic Treebanks and Associated Corpora: Data Divisions Manual

The Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) has developed hundreds of data corpora for natural language processing (NLP) research. Among these are a number of annotated treebank corpora for Arabic. Typically, these corpora consist of a single collection of annotated documents. NLP research, however, usually requires multiple data sets for the purposes of training models, developing techniques, and final evaluation. Therefore it becomes necessary to divide the corpora used into the required data sets (divisions). This document details a set of rules that have been defined to enable consistent divisions for old and new Arabic treebanks (ATB) and related corpora.Comment: 14 pages; one cove

USING VIDEO MODELING DELIVERED THROUGH IPODS TO TEACH VOCATIONAL TASKS TO YOUNG ADULTS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS (ASD)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using video modeling delivered through a Portable media player (video iPod) as a means of teaching three job-related tasks to four young adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in a community-based employment setting. The videos used in the study were enhanced by adding written instructions to a blank white screen prior to the step being modeled. Videos for two of the individuals were further enhanced with voiceovers of the written instructions. The effectiveness of the video modeling was evaluated using a multiple probe across tasks design. Results indicated that the introduction of the video iPod was associated with immediate and substantial gains in the percentage of steps the young adults were able to complete correctly. All of the participants demonstrated maintenance of the acquired tasks. In addition, all four of the young adults were able to use the video iPod independently to access and watch the videos. Social validity data indicated that using an iPod was a socially acceptable and appropriate way to deliver a video modeling intervention in some vocational settings

Experiencing Citizenship in a Globalizing World: The Impact of Off-Campus Programs

College serves as a critical time in the lives of young adults in the formulation of their identification with citizenship, of their sense of belonging or affiliation. In an era of increasing globalization, this psychological dimension of citizenship requires further research and elaboration. This project seeks to determine if and how the academic and off-campus choices students make in college impact their worldview, their loyalties and sense of responsibility toward others. How far do students\u27 allegiances extend and what experiences in college help to create these bonds and commitments? This study asks whether international experience via study abroad is a necessary ingredient for students to begin to re-imagine the boundaries of their social communities and their responsibilities as global citizens, or whether these processes can occur through more locally or nationally-oriented service learning, volunteer, or internship experiences. This project combines several strands of scholarship including cosmopolitanism (particularly its more contemporary, relational extrapolations and usefulness to understanding the underpinnings of citizen responsibility today) and political socialization (focusing on the expansion of one\u27s in-group and the formation of multiple loyalties), viewed through the lens of the Millennial Generation. The study involves a detailed survey of undergraduate upperclassmen enrolled at Syracuse University\u27s Maxwell School and provides a model for cosmopolitan learning

Nitrous Oxide Emissions

End of project reportNitrous oxide (N2O) is one of the three most important greenhouse gases (GHG). Nitrous oxide emissions currently account for approximately one third of GHG emissions from agriculture in Ireland. Emissions of N2O arise naturally from soil sources and from the application of nitrogen (N) in the form of N fertilizers and N in dung and urine deposition by grazing animals at pasture. Nitrous oxide emission measurements were conducted at three different scales. Firstly, a large-scale field experiment was undertaken to compare emission rates from a pasture receiving three different rates of N fertilizer application and to identify the effects of controlling variables over a two-year period. Variation in emission rates was large both within and between years. Two contrasting climatic years were identified. The cooler and wetter conditions in year 1 gave rise to considerably lower emission levels than the warmer and drier year 2. However, in both years, peak emissions were associated with fertilizer N applications coincident with rainfall events in the summer months. A small-plot study was conducted to identify the individual and combined effects of fertilizer, dung and urine applications to grassland. Treatment effects were however, difficult to obtain due to the overriding effects of environmental variables. Thirdly, through the use of a small-scale mini-lysimeter study, the diurnal nature of N2O emission rates was identified for two distinct periods during the year. The occurrence of a diurnal pattern has important implications for the identification of a measurement period during the day which is representative of the true daily flux. The research presented aims to identify the nature and magnitude of N2O emissions and the factors which affect emission rates from a grassland in Ireland. Further work is required to integrate the effects of different soil types and contrasting climatic regimes across soil types on N2O emissions.Environmental Protection Agenc

Monitoring of nitrogen leaching on a dairy farm during four drainage seasons

peer-reviewedThe authors acknowledge funding from the Environmental Protection Agency and Teagasc under the 2000–2006 RTDI programme.The effect of four commonly used dairy farm management systems (treatments), on nitrogen leaching to 1 m was studied over a 4-year period from October 2001 to April 2005. The treatments were (i) grazed plots receiving dirty water, (ii) 2-cut silage plots receiving slurry, (iii) grazed plots and (iv) 1-cut silage plots receiving slurry. All plots had fertiliser N applied; the soil was free-draining overlying fissured limestone. Mean 4-year N input (kg/ha) was 319 and mean annual stocking density was ~2.38 LU/ha. The annual average and weekly NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations in drainage water were analysed for all years, using a repeated measures analysis. For the annual NO3-N data, there was an interaction between treatment and year (P < 0.001). There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in NO3-N concentrations between the treatments in all years except the third. For the NH4-N data there was no interaction between treatment and year or main effect of treatment but there were differences between years (P < 0.01). Mean weekly concentrations were analysed separately for each year. For NO3-N, in all years but the third, there was an interaction between treatment and week (P < 0.001); this occurred with NH4-N, in all 4 years. Dirty water was significantly higher than grazed-fertiliser only and 1-cut silage in NO3-N concentrations in 2001–02; in 2002–03, dirty water and 2-cut silage were significantly higher than the other treatments; while in 2004–05, dirty water and grazed-fertiliser only were significantly higher than the other two treatments. The overall 4-year mean NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations were 8.2 and 0.297 mg/L, respectively.Environmental Protection Agenc

THE POLITICS OF KANT’S AESTHETICS: HANNAH ARENDT, JACQUES RANCIÈRE, AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF COMMON SENSE

This thesis focuses on the political significance of Kant’s aesthetics, as it is taken up in the political thought o f Hannah Arendt and Jacques Rancière. While both Arendt and Rancière model their notions of political community on Kant’s notion of sensus communis, or aesthetic common sense, I point to important differences in their respective appropriations of Kant. Whereas Arendt draws out of Kant’s work on aesthetic judgment a politics of adherence to common sense (consensus), Rancière looks to Kant’s concepts of disinterest and disconnection to develop a politics of “dissensus”, aimed at reconfiguring common sense along more egalitarian lines. I argue that Rancière’s ability to account, not just for the aesthetic partitioning of communities, but also for their radical transformation or re­ partitioning through dissensus, makes him better able than Arendt to account for the introduction o f political subjects rendered invisible and audible by historically cemented forms of common sense