Towards Better Understanding Researcher Strategies in Cross-Lingual Event Analytics

With an increasing amount of information on globally important events, there is a growing demand for efficient analytics of multilingual event-centric information. Such analytics is particularly challenging due to the large amount of content, the event dynamics and the language barrier. Although memory institutions increasingly collect event-centric Web content in different languages, very little is known about the strategies of researchers who conduct analytics of such content. In this paper we present researchers' strategies for the content, method and feature selection in the context of cross-lingual event-centric analytics observed in two case studies on multilingual Wikipedia. We discuss the influence factors for these strategies, the findings enabled by the adopted methods along with the current limitations and provide recommendations for services supporting researchers in cross-lingual event-centric analytics.Comment: In Proceedings of the International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries 201

L'equity crowdfunding, una possibile soluzione al credit crunch. Analisi della piattaforma inglese Seedrs.

Il crowdfunding è una nuova forma di finanziamento, nata per combattere il fenomeno del credit crunch, consistente in un processo di raccolta fondi di tipo collettivo realizzato tramite portali online, per sostenere una serie di progetti o iniziative. Il crowdfunding, che può essere tradotto letteralmente in italiano come “finanziamento della folla” consente ai singoli soggetti di richiedere finanziamenti ad un pubblico indistinto di persone (“crowd=folla”). Il fenomeno è divenuto oggetto di discussione a seguito dell’emanazione del Decreto Legge 18 ottobre 2012 n.179 (Decreto Crescita bis) convertito in Legge n.221 del 17 dicembre 2012, e successivamente con il Regolamento Consob di cui alla delibera n.18592 del 26 giugno 2013, che hanno consentito all’Italia di essere il primo Paese in Europa a regolamentare il modello equity-crowdfunding. Nella prima parte dell’elaborato si procederà innanzitutto ad una descrizione generale del fenomeno, della sua nascita e dei diversi modelli che si sono affermati: donation-based, reward-based, lending-based e equity-based; inoltre si cercherà di individuare e descrivere sia i benefici e i rischi di cui devono essere a conoscenza gli investitori e le imprese che fanno ricorso alle piattaforme di crowdfunding, sia i numeri raccolti fino ad oggi dall’industria mondiale del crowdfunding. Il secondo capitolo rappresenta il focus centrale dell’elaborato dove la disciplina viene scomposta in primaria (Decreto Crescita bis) e secondaria (Regolamento Consob), per poi procedere ad una analisi da un punto di vista legislativo, mettendo in evidenza le critiche alla normativa e le possibili soluzioni o modifiche che potrebbero migliorare o rendere più semplici le procedure necessarie. Infine è risultato interessante condurre un’analisi comparativa con le normative di altri stati europei e degli Stati Uniti, paese con il quale si è deciso di procedere ad un confronto più approfondito per il suo primato nel numero di transazioni di crowdfunding. Nel terzo capitolo l’obiettivo è quello di comprendere, da un punto di vista quantitativo, lo sviluppo del crowdfunding in Italia; partendo da un’analisi delle principali tappe che lo hanno portato a guadagnarsi un così grande successo, si arriverà a capire nel dettaglio quella che è, ad oggi, la composizione del mercato italiano del crowdfunding. Il capitolo terminerà con una breve descrizione delle principali campagne di crowdfunding di successo che sono state condotte in questi ultimi anni e con un’elencazione delle piattaforme di crowdfunding, raggruppate per modello, attualmente presenti sul web italiano. Ai fini di una corretta comprensione dell’equity crowdfunding non si può prescindere dallo studio di un caso specifico, ed è per questo l’elaborato terminerà con un capitolo interamente dedicato all’analisi sul funzionamento del portale inglese Seedrs. Partendo da una descrizione generale della campagna intercontinentale Skins, ci si propone di analizzare le peculiarità e le modalità operative di Seedrs, con particolare attenzione all’iter che le imprese devono seguire per la pubblicazione di un progetto e alle fasi che invece caratterizzano il percorso dell’investitore per aderire ad un’offerta pubblicata sul portale. Seedrs infatti, oltre ad essere uno dei maggiori portali equity-based presenti nel Regno Unito, vanta un primato a livello mondiale; infatti è il primo e unico portale che, assieme alla piattaforma neo-zelandese Equitise, ospita la prima campagna intercontinentale di equity crowdfunding in Europa e Oceania, la campagna Skins. Il capitolo termina con una panoramica delle principali campagne di crowdfunding che sono state finanziate con successo attraverso Seedrs

Intercultural Feminist Practices in Italy: Challenging Stereotyped and Othering Images of Migrant Women

Feminist postcolonial authors criticised the tendency of mainstream western feminism to represent 'third world' women as necessarily less emancipated than western women and to describe their cultural practices in an othering way, without holding their own culture up to the same scrutiny. From this idea stems a paternalistic and patronising attitude that locates western women in a “position to liberate their less fortunate sisters, especially those in the 'Third World'”. (hooks, 2000: 45). In light of these reflections, this article investigates to what extent selected women’s intercultural associations in Italy have been able to counter dominant discourses that see migrant women as necessarily needy and deprived or as a sign of cultural difference. The research confronts the associations' mission statements with the practices and relationships that emerged from the interviews. It focuses first on power sharing within the associations and the relevance of patronizing attitudes on the part of Italian-born women. Secondly the article explores how associations addressed the notion of cultural difference by focusing on the specific issues of Islamic veiling practices and female genital mutilations. Finally it investigates the possible value of cross-cultural comparisons on practices detrimental to women in the promotion of intercultural feminist practices

Contracting in the Computer Industry

It is the responsibility of the lawyer to upgrade contracting procedures in order to meet the needs of the computer user. Simply incorporating by reference the proposals, correspondence, and communications between the parties would do much to improve the legal position of the purchaser. Moreover, by establishing firm standards that would govern delivery dates, warranties, and software performance, satisfaction of the parties’ reasonable expectations would be aided greatly. The key is to draft a contract that views the procurement process from the user’s perspective. In this Article, Richard L. Bernacchi discusses the special problems of computer contracts. Although data processing systems have assumed an integral role in an increasing number of businesses, lawyers have only recently begun to confront the problems created by this new technology. Bernacchi acknowledges that the technological complexity of data processing and the absence of agreed upon definitions for the technological terms within the industry have thus far overwhelmed lawyers. These problems are surmountable, however, and Bernacchi outlines several steps that will enable lawyers to control and direct computer contracting. Beginning with the premise that a computer hardware or software system purchaser expects to receive a complete system designed to meet his needs, the lawyer should incorporate into the contract by reference all proposals and correspondence concerning the purposes for which the computer system is being purchased. He should also establish standards to govern delivery dates, and specify individual steps in the delivery process, tying compensation to the performance of each step. In addition, the lawyer should provide for remedies in case of breach to ensure that the nonbreaching party can meet his immediate needs without resort to the courts

Will photosynthesis of maize (Zea mays) in the US corn belt increase in future [CO2] rich atmospheres? An analysis of diurnal courses of [CO2] uptake under Free-Air Concentration Enrichmnent (FACE).

published or submitted for publicatio

This Edge of the "Valley"

In February 2016 an elementary school kid from the vicinity of Ferrara (Italy) submitted, jointly with his teacher, an application to the “Accademia della Crusca”, the oldest linguistics academy in the world, to propose including the new word “petaloso”, which literally means “petal-y”, in the Italian language. The official reply from the academy, explains that «a new word does not enter the vocabulary when someone invents it, even if it is a “beautiful” and useful word. For it to enter a vocabulary, in fact, the new word must not be known and used only by those who invented it, but it’s necessary that many people use it and many people understand it.» And continues: «That's how it works: it's not the scholars, the ones who make dictionaries, who decide which new words are beautiful or ugly, useful or useless. When a new word is on everyone's (or many's) lips, then the scholar understands that that word has become a word like the others and puts it in the vocabulary.» Such news had all the perfect ingredients to not pass unobserved in online media and, after being bounced around in a few newspaper websites, it quickly spiralled up, when the Italian prime minister retweeted the hashtag #petaloso.In February 2016 an elementary school kid from the vicinity of Ferrara (Italy) submitted, jointly with his teacher, an application to the “Accademia della Crusca”, the oldest linguistics academy in the world, to propose including the new word “petaloso”, which literally means “petal-y”, in the Italian language. The official reply from the academy, explains that «a new word does not enter the vocabulary when someone invents it, even if it is a “beautiful” and useful word. For it to enter a vocabulary, in fact, the new word must not be known and used only by those who invented it, but it’s necessary that many people use it and many people understand it.» And continues: «That's how it works: it's not the scholars, the ones who make dictionaries, who decide which new words are beautiful or ugly, useful or useless. When a new word is on everyone's (or many's) lips, then the scholar understands that that word has become a word like the others and puts it in the vocabulary.» Such news had all the perfect ingredients to not pass unobserved in online media and, after being bounced around in a few newspaper websites, it quickly spiralled up, when the Italian prime minister retweeted the hashtag #petaloso

Characterizing Carbamazepine Usage at Mission Health

Introduction: Carbamazepine is an anticonvulsant that is FDA-approved to treat bipolar I disorder, epilepsy, glossopharangeal neuralgia, and trigeminal neuralgia, and also has expansive non-labeled indications. On January 12, 2007, the FDA released an alert stating that carbamazepine can cause dangerous, or even fatal, skin reactions (Stevens Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis), most commonly in patients with a particular human leukocyte antigen (HLA) allele variation HLA-B*1502. This allele occurs almost exclusively in patients with Han Chinese ancestry, but also is found in South Asian Indians. Toxic reactions may occur up to 3-6 months after starting carbamazepine. Genetic tests for HLA-B*1502 are available, but Mission Neurology and Mission Hospital currently do not administer these tests prior to carbamazepine use. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to characterize the use of carbamazepine at Mission Neurology; and with Mission Neurology physicians, develop and evaluate different approaches to minimize use of carbamazepine in at risk populations. Especially of interest is the frequency in which Asian patients have received carbamazepine as outpatients (Mission Neurology Clinic) and as inpatients at Mission Hospital. Methods: An electronic chart review of patients who received carbamazepine at Mission Neurology outpatient clinic and inpatient at Mission Hospital (including ED) between 2008 and 2014 was conducted. The initial search query included the following clinical and demographic variables to characterize carbamazepine use: date of visit, date prescribed carbamazepine, clinic location, primary health insurance plan, race or ethnicity, sex, age, ICD9 diagnosis code, allergies, other medications, and ICD9 codes associated with adverse drug events. Results: The reviewed medical records from Mission Neurology revealed that a total of 180 patients were prescribed carbamazepine, with 165 Caucasian, 2 American Indian, 1 Asian, 1 African American, and 11 patients of unknown ancestry. At Mission Hospital a total of 2,407 individual patients were administered carbamazepine as an in-patient. Of those patients, 1,823 were Caucasian, 105 African American, 17 American Indian, 4 Pacific Islander, 4 Asian, and 449 patients were of unknown ancestry. Between 2008 and 2014 at Mission Hospital, there were 72 incidences of erythema multiforme rash, SJS, or TEN, in 62 unique patients. Conclusion: This data demonstrates that at-risk patients, due to their ancestry, have received carbamazepine at Mission Health between 2008 and 2014. This data supports the consideration of a policy change to require testing before carbamazepine is administered to at-risk patients or to use an alternate drug in these patients.Doctor of Pharmac