Tactile reasoning and adaptive architecture for intelligence sense-making

Visual analytics is the science of analytical facilitated by interactive visual interfaces [1]. Visual analytics combines automated analysis techniques with interactive visualizations to facilitate reasoning and making sense of large and complex data sets [2]. A key component of visual analytics is information visualisation, which is the communication of abstract data through visual representations that simplify, aggregate and reveal important relationships [3]. However, information visualisation is just one part of the equation that is visual analytics. The ability to manipulate the data directly and to query and initiate analytic processes through that manipulation with the resulting information is the other major component of visual analytics [1]. Together, interaction, visualisation, and analytics, combine to create powerful tools for supporting the analysis and reasoning with large, mix‐format, multi‐source data sets. We are interested in the application of tactile reasoning to visual analytics. We define tactile reasoning as an interaction technique that supports the analytical reasoning process by the direct manipulation of information objects in a graphical user interface (GUI). In a study by Maglio et al [4] they found that participants using scrabble pieces (individual alphabets on tiles) generated more words when they were allowed to manipulate the scrabble pieces than when they are not allowed to interact with the pieces. The act of tactile manipulation of the scrabble pieces, i.e. the ability to rearrange them, allowed the participants to form words that they could not form without interaction. Tactile reasoning, we therefore hypothesise, enables individuals to see patterns in visually presented data sets they might otherwise not see through the manipulation, rearrangement and other interaction with the information objects. In this paper we describe the concept of tactile reasoning in the context of visual analytics, and the adaptive architecture needed to support it during real‐time manipulation. We conduct our investigation through a lab prototype – INVISQUE – Interactive Visual Search and Query Environment [4,5]. INVISQUE provides an information visualisation interface coupled with a “reasoning workspace” that facilitates tactile reasoning. INVISQUE was funded by JISC to provide an alternative interface to improve information search and retrieval and sense‐making in electronic library resource discovery systems such as the Emerald and ISI electronic journal databases. We have developed an adaptive architecture which underlies INVISQUE and supports the sense‐making by providing the system with the capability to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances

Vignette 08: Connection to Place: Indigenous Leadership in səlilwət (Burrard Inlet)

Since time out of mind, Tsleil-Waututh have used and occupied Burrard Inlet and surrounding watersheds. Generations of Tsleil-Waututh people were brought up with the teaching, “When the tide went out, the table was set.” About 90% of our diet was once derived from Burrard Inlet and the Fraser River, but today the Inlet is unable to support our needs. Cumulative effects of colonial settlement and development have eroded the ecological health, integrity, and diversity of the Inlet. Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN) has a goal to restore the health of the Inlet so that we, and future generations of Tsleil-Waututh People, can once again harvest wild marine resources and continue to practice our cultural and ceremonial activities in a clean and healthy environment. The return of herring and orcas shows us that the Inlet is coming back, but there is more work to be done, and we need to do the work together

Capacity Development Processes within a Social Movement: Päkehä Treaty Workers' Movement

This article considers capacity development processes within the movement of non?indigenous people who support indigenous sovereignty in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Based on action research by a movement member, it explores if and how learning contributes to the overall capacity development of the movement. The research focused on learning with regard to the relationship?based practice of working with Mäori activists. It highlights the unintentional, informal and embedded nature of this learning. While individuals were engaged in ongoing learning, there was limited sharing of learning within the movement. In exploring the reasons for this, the complexity of facilitating capacity development with regard to relationship?based practice becomes evident. Capacity development through learning within this social movement was largely unintentional. Two intentional processes are identified as being important means of facilitating capacity development within a social movement: the informal process of intergenerational questioning and the structured process of action research

The role of shared social identity in mutual support among refugees of conflict: An ethnographic study of Syrian refugees in Jordan

In the midst of an unprecedented refugee crisis and the shortfall of aid organization resources, a shift toward utilizing the capacity for collective resilience in refugee communities could be helpful. This paper explores experiences of psychosocial social support among a community of Syrian urban refugees in Jordan, especially the kind of support that helps them deal with secondary stressors. We were specifically interested in the role of shared social identity as a basis of support and the sources of such shared identity. We conducted an 8-month ethnography that included observations and semi-structured interviews with 13 refugees. We found many examples of support among refugees, on both personal and collective levels. Some of this support was based on sharing the identity of “refugee” that stemmed from a sense of common fate. This is similar to the process identified in the literature on disasters. Psychological membership in the refugee group is stigmatic, but it can also lead to positive outcomes in line with the social cure perspective. However, we also found examples of support that were value-based or based on pre-existing interpersonal networks. Implications of the findings for models of group processes in stressful situations and the practical question of refugee support are discussed

Microplastics in marine sediments near Rothera Research Station, Antarctica

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Microplastics in marine sediments near Rothera Research Station, Antarctica journaltitle: Marine Pollution Bulletin articlelink: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.05.068 content_type: article copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Forms of fiscal governance in the Euro Area - what role for the delegation approach?

The Euro Area has relied on a rules-based or contracts approach to instil fiscal discipline among the member states, mainly through the supra-national Stability and Growth Pact, and more recently through the requirement to have fiscal rules also at the national level. On the other hand, the alternative delegation approach, which emphasises strong procedural rules governing the budgetary process, has been largely ignored in the Euro Area’s fiscal governance framework. We use composite indices to measure the quality of both the rules-based and delegation approaches in all the 19 Euro Area countries. The results show that despite the common rules-based requirements, there are notable differences in the quality of the national fiscal frameworks among the member states. Furthermore, characteristics of the delegation approach remain important in various countries. Using a two-way fixed effects panel data model, we find empirical evidence for a significant positive impact of both fiscal governance approaches on the budget balance for the EA countries during 2006-2018. At a more disaggregated level, our findings give support to the strengthening of medium-term budgetary frameworks and to more centralised decision-making during the budget approval stage. Moreover, we also find that reforms to budget institutions during the period under review have mainly involved fiscal rules and independent fiscal councils, and being supra-nationally mandated, rather than nationally-driven, this seems to have affected their effectiveness to achieve fiscal discipline. Our findings thus suggest a reconsideration of the centrally-mandated, common EA requirements for national fiscal frameworks, which involve a one-size-fits-all, rules-based approach.peer-reviewe