Integrated content presentation for multilingual and multimedia information access

For multilingual and multimedia information retrieval from multiple potentially distributed collections generating the output in the form of standard ranked lists may often mean that a user has to explore the contents of many lists before finding sufficient relevant or linguistically accessible material to satisfy their information need. In some situations delivering an integrated multilingual multimedia presentation could enable the user to explore a topic allowing them to select from among a range of available content based on suitably chosen displayed metadata. A presentation of this type has similarities with the outputs of existing adaptive hypermedia systems. However, such systems are generated based on “closed” content with sophisticated user and domain models. Extending them to “open” domain information retrieval applications would raise many issues. We present an outline exploration of what will form a challenging new direction for research in multilingual information access

Interplay of dust alignment, grain growth and magnetic fields in polarization: lessons from the emission-to-extinction ratio

Polarized extinction and emission from dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) are hard to interpret, as they have a complex dependence on dust optical properties, grain alignment and magnetic field orientation. This is particularly true in molecular clouds. The data available today are not yet used to their full potential. The combination of emission and extinction, in particular, provides information not available from either of them alone. We combine data from the scientific literature on polarized dust extinction with Planck data on polarized emission and we use them to constrain the possible variations in dust and environmental conditions inside molecular clouds, and especially translucent lines of sight, taking into account magnetic field orientation. We focus on the dependence between \lambda_max -- the wavelength of maximum polarization in extinction -- and other observables such as the extinction polarization, the emission polarization and the ratio of the two. We set out to reproduce these correlations using Monte-Carlo simulations where the relevant quantities in a dust model -- grain alignment, size distribution and magnetic field orientation -- vary to mimic the diverse conditions expected inside molecular clouds. None of the quantities chosen can explain the observational data on its own: the best results are obtained when all quantities vary significantly across and within clouds. However, some of the data -- most notably the stars with low emission-to-extinction polarization ratio -- are not reproduced by our simulation. Our results suggest not only that dust evolution is necessary to explain polarization in molecular clouds, but that a simple change in size distribution is not sufficient to explain the data, and point the way for future and more sophisticated models

Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations - the CRU TS3.10 Dataset

This paper describes the construction of an updated gridded climate dataset (referred to as CRU TS3.10) from monthly observations at meteorological stations across the world's land areas. Station anomalies (from 1961 to 1990 means) were interpolated into 0.5° latitude/longitude grid cells covering the global land surface (excluding Antarctica), and combined with an existing climatology to obtain absolute monthly values. The dataset includes six mostly independent climate variables (mean temperature, diurnal temperature range, precipitation, wet-day frequency, vapour pressure and cloud cover). Maximum and minimum temperatures have been arithmetically derived from these. Secondary variables (frost day frequency and potential evapotranspiration) have been estimated from the six primary variables using well-known formulae. Time series for hemispheric averages and 20 large sub-continental scale regions were calculated (for mean, maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation totals) and compared to a number of similar gridded products. The new dataset compares very favourably, with the major deviations mostly in regions and/or time periods with sparser observational data. CRU TS3.10 includes diagnostics associated with each interpolated value that indicates the number of stations used in the interpolation, allowing determination of the reliability of values in an objective way. This gridded product will be publicly available, including the input station series (http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/ and http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/data/cru/)

Macadamia Integrated Pest Management: IPM of Insects and Mites Attacking Macadamia Nuts in Hawaii

This publication provides an introduction to macadamia pest management and provides information on insect pests of the macadamia in Hawaii

Applying digital content management to support localisation

The retrieval and presentation of digital content such as that on the World Wide Web (WWW) is a substantial area of research. While recent years have seen huge expansion in the size of web-based archives that can be searched efficiently by commercial search engines, the presentation of potentially relevant content is still limited to ranked document lists represented by simple text snippets or image keyframe surrogates. There is expanding interest in techniques to personalise the presentation of content to improve the richness and effectiveness of the user experience. One of the most significant challenges to achieving this is the increasingly multilingual nature of this data, and the need to provide suitably localised responses to users based on this content. The Digital Content Management (DCM) track of the Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL) is seeking to develop technologies to support advanced personalised access and presentation of information by combining elements from the existing research areas of Adaptive Hypermedia and Information Retrieval. The combination of these technologies is intended to produce significant improvements in the way users access information. We review key features of these technologies and introduce early ideas for how these technologies can support localisation and localised content before concluding with some impressions of future directions in DCM

Men and Boys and the Ethical Demand for Social Justice, 20 Wash. & Lee J. Civil Rts. & Soc. Just. 507 (2014)

This essay makes what some might consider a bold and novel assertion. Relying on fact-based analysis of present day social conditions, it argues that the female-oppression-male-culprit paradigm is antiquated and injurious to both men and women. It claims that existing conceptions of American society in which the vast majority of the nation\u27s men and boys are victimless and empowered, and the core of the nation\u27s women and girls are victims and disempowered, cannot be fundamentally or morally justified. It will demonstrate that today\u27s regimented imperative for addressing gender discrimination and social injustice by allocating legal rights and entitlements exclusively to women and girls, without consideration of men and boys, degrades human dignity and reinforces gender discrimination and social injustice. It explicates how the urgency created by expanding economic woes and social afflictions affecting men and boys, as well as women and girls, renders it necessary for today\u27s political leaders to advance legislation that addresses the needs of all Americans regardless of their gender. It claims that systemic abuse of the government\u27s privilege to do otherwise has so obscured elements of gender discrimination and social injustice relative to men, married women, and mothers, that the survivability of the traditional American family appears compromised. This essay does not seek to compare the welfare of women to that of men, insinuate that the two groups are in competition, or claim that one group is more deserving than the other group. Nor is it the intent of this essay to propose a specific policy revision, or, more broadly, return men to the position of absolute power that led to the generations-long repression of women and disrespect for female dignity. Put succinctly, this essay is not a challenge to the overall meritocracy of feminist jurisprudence or the women\u27s movement. Rather, this essay is a contribution to the emerging men\u27s movement, a philosophical incursion into our conceptual mapping relative to social justice and male oppression. This essay situates its discussion along a jurisprudential presupposition that the advancement of women and girls is, and should remain, a meritorious component of political government. The discussion is presented in two parts. Part II highlights degrees to which men and boys are vulnerable to exploitation, alienation, and systemic injustice-matters that are also worthy of governmental attention, but widely neglected. In so doing, it explores the manner by which the ignominy of male culture and presumptions about female oppression facilitate discrimination against males in education, employment, criminal justice administration, media, and family planning; and infringe upon the liberty and expectation interest of women who are in consortium with men and boys, such as married women and mothers. Part III explores potential causes of and solutions to cultural inclinations to neglect male oppression despite widespread evidence of its occurrence. In doing so, it challenges contemporary notions of fairness and conceptions about equality, and their influence on the distribution of legal rights. It argues for a rights-distribution model to addressing social injustice based on an abiding respect for human dignity rather than notions of fairness