Determining the polarity of postings for discussion search

When performing discussion search it might be desirable to consider non-topical measures like the number of positive and negative replies to a posting, for instance as one possible indicator for the trustworthiness of a comment. Systems like POLAR are able to integrate such values into the retrieval function. To automatically detect the polarity of postings, they need to be classified into positive and negative ones w.r.t.\ the comment or document they are annotating. We present a machine learning approach for polarity detection which is based on Support Vector Machines. We discuss and identify appropriate term and context features. Experiments with ZDNet News show that an accuracy of around 79\%-80\% can be achieved for automatically classifying comments according to their polarity

Combined Effects of Knowledge About Others' Opinions and Anticipation of Group Discussion on Confirmatory Information Search

There is conclusive evidence that information search processes are typically biased in favor of the information seeker’s own opinion (confirmation bias). Less is known about how knowledge about others’ opinions affects this confirmatory information search. In the present study, the authors manipulated feedback about others’ opinions and anticipation of group interaction. As predicted, the effect of knowledge about others’ opinions on confirmatory information search depended on whether participants anticipated interacting with these others. Specifically, minority members anticipating a group discussion exhibited a particularly strong confirmation bias, whereas minority members who did not anticipate a discussion predominantly sought information opposing their opinion. For participants not anticipating group interaction, confidence about the correctness of one’s decision mediated the impact of knowledge about others’ opinions on confirmatory information search. Results are discussed with regard to the debiasing effect of preference heterogeneity on confirmatory information search in groups

Formalized proof, computation, and the construction problem in algebraic geometry

An informal discussion of how the construction problem in algebraic geometry motivates the search for formal proof methods. Also includes a brief discussion of my own progress up to now, which concerns the formalization of category theory within a ZFC-like environment

Interactive Search and Exploration in Online Discussion Forums Using Multimodal Embeddings

In this paper we present a novel interactive multimodal learning system, which facilitates search and exploration in large networks of social multimedia users. It allows the analyst to identify and select users of interest, and to find similar users in an interactive learning setting. Our approach is based on novel multimodal representations of users, words and concepts, which we simultaneously learn by deploying a general-purpose neural embedding model. We show these representations to be useful not only for categorizing users, but also for automatically generating user and community profiles. Inspired by traditional summarization approaches, we create the profiles by selecting diverse and representative content from all available modalities, i.e. the text, image and user modality. The usefulness of the approach is evaluated using artificial actors, which simulate user behavior in a relevance feedback scenario. Multiple experiments were conducted in order to evaluate the quality of our multimodal representations, to compare different embedding strategies, and to determine the importance of different modalities. We demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed approach on two different multimedia collections originating from the violent online extremism forum Stormfront and the microblogging platform Twitter, which are particularly interesting due to the high semantic level of the discussions they feature

Higgs Search : Present and Future

In this talk I review theoretical bounds on mass of the Higgs scalar in the Standard Model(SM) and then summarise current experimental limits from the LEP experiments. Following this I discuss the search strategies for the SM Higgs at LEP 200 and the TeV energy \eplem\ colliders which are under discussion. This will be followed by a summary of the Higgs search potential of the pp supercolliders such as SSC/LHC. I then close with a brief discussion of a `Dark Higgs' whose dominant decay modes are into invisible channels.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, available on request. Latex, needs equation.sty, added at the end of manuscript. BU-TH-93/

Information Flow and Influence during Collective Search, Discussion, and Choice

If decision-relevant information is distributed among team members, the group is inclined to focus on shared information and to neglect unshared information, resulting often in suboptimal decisions. This classical finding is robust in experimental settings, in which the distribution of information is created artificially by an experimenter. The current paper looks at information sharing effects when access to information is not restricted, and decision makers are very familiar with the decision task. We analyzed archival search and discussion data obtained from business executives completing a personnel selection exercise. Information popularity in the population from which groups were composed predicted number of group members accessing items during information searches and whether the group discussed the items. The number of group members who accessed an item predicted whether information was repeated during discussion, and repetition predicted which items were included on an executive summary. Moreover, cognitively central group members were more influential than cognitively peripheral members. One implication is that collective decision making amplifies what is commonly known at the expense of disseminating what is not.Information Sharing, Cognitive Centrality, Group Decision Making, Collective Choice, Archival Data

Assessing the Effectiveness and Usability of Personalized Internet Search through a Longitudinal Evaluation

This paper discusses a longitudinal user evaluation of Prospector, a personalized Internet meta-search engine capable of personalized re-ranking of search results. Twenty-one participants used Prospector as their primary search engine for 12 days, agreed to have their interaction with the system logged, and completed three questionnaires. The data logs show that the personalization provided by Prospector is successful: participants preferred re-ranked results that appeared higher up. However, the questionnaire results indicated that people would prefer to use Google instead (their search engine of choice). Users would, nevertheless, consider employing a personalized search engine to perform searches with terms that require disambiguation and/or contextualization. We conclude the paper with a discussion on the merit of combining system- and user-centered evaluation for the case of personalized systems

Towards a new approach to quantum gravity phenomenology

The idea that quantum gravity manifestations would be associated with a violation of Lorentz invariance is very strongly bounded and faces serious theoretical challenges. This leads us to consider an alternative line of thought for such phenomenological search. We discuss the underlying viewpoint and briefly mention its possible connections with current theoretical ideas. We also outline the challenges that the experimental search of the effects would seem to entail.Comment: 13 pages, no figures. Discussion added, same conclusion