TNO/UT at TREC-9: How different are Web documents?

Although at first sight, the web track might seem a copy of the ad hoc track, we discovered that some small adjustments had to be made to our systems to run the web evaluation. As we expected, the basic language model based IR model worked effectively on this data. Blind feedback methods however, seem less effective on web data. We also experimented with rescoring the documents based on several algorithms that exploit link information. These methods yielded no positive result

Analysis of rotational coupling in collisions of Li+ with Ne leading to double excitation of Ne \ud

Electron angular distributions due to autoionization of Ne, doubly excited to the (2p43s2)1D state in collisions with Li+ in the energy range 1.2-2.2 keV, are measured in coincidence with Li+ scattered into a well defined direction ( Phi =0 degrees , Theta cm=10.8 degrees ). The experimental findings are analysed with the help of a collision model proposed earlier. In this model the initial excitation occurs by radial diabatic coupling to a molecular Sigma -state at small distances, followed by rotational coupling to Pi - and Delta -states at intermediate distances in the second half of the collision. The energy splitting between the Sigma -, Pi - and Delta -states is described by a model function. By adapting two parameters of this model function, the experimental findings can be reproduced within the experimental error in numerical calculations involving the relevant set of coupled differential equations. \u

Multimedia search without visual analysis: the value of linguistic and contextual information

This paper addresses the focus of this special issue by analyzing the potential contribution of linguistic content and other non-image aspects to the processing of audiovisual data. It summarizes the various ways in which linguistic content analysis contributes to enhancing the semantic annotation of multimedia content, and, as a consequence, to improving the effectiveness of conceptual media access tools. A number of techniques are presented, including the time-alignment of textual resources, audio and speech processing, content reduction and reasoning tools, and the exploitation of surface features

Complex coacervate-based wet adhesives:from fundamental understanding to applications

Adhesives are used everywhere, except in wet environments. Challenges in wetenvironments are, for example, that water can hinder contact with the surfaceor swell the glue. Looking at aquatic animals, researchers have found an interestingmaterial system for underwater adhesives: complex coacervates. Complexcoacervates are a mixture of oppositely charged chains, water and salt. When allthese components are mixed, the oppositely charged chains undergo an associativephase separation resulting in a polymer rich phase and a polymer dilute phase.In this thesis we have studied complex coacervates starting with numerical simulationsin order to model the behaviour of these materials. Then, two systematicstudies provide more insight into the effect of charge density or hydrophobic interactionson the behaviour and adhesion performance of these materials. Lastly,by drying a complex coacervate into a powder, the possibility of an application asa biomedical adhesive is explored

RECVID as a Re-Usable Test-Collection for Video Retrieval

TRECVID has been running as a video retrieval benchmarking platform for a number of years now. Some progress seems to be made in the area of video retrieval, but also it has been shown that many of the differences in scores between tested approaches are nonsignificant. This paper studies the reliability of the TRECVID search collections for measuring video retrieval effectiveness and investigates how useful the collections are for re-use