Peer to peer English/Chinese cross-language information retrieval

Peer to peer systems have been widely used in the internet. However, most of the peer to peer information systems are still missing some of the important features, for example cross-language IR (Information Retrieval) and collection selection / fusion features. Cross-language IR is the state-of-art research area in IR research community. It has not been used in any real world IR systems yet. Cross-language IR has the ability to issue a query in one language and receive documents in other languages. In typical peer to peer environment, users are from multiple countries. Their collections are definitely in multiple languages. Cross-language IR can help users to find documents more easily. E.g. many Chinese researchers will search research papers in both Chinese and English. With Cross-language IR, they can do one query in Chinese and get documents in two languages. The Out Of Vocabulary (OOV) problem is one of the key research areas in crosslanguage information retrieval. In recent years, web mining was shown to be one of the effective approaches to solving this problem. However, how to extract Multiword Lexical Units (MLUs) from the web content and how to select the correct translations from the extracted candidate MLUs are still two difficult problems in web mining based automated translation approaches. Discovering resource descriptions and merging results obtained from remote search engines are two key issues in distributed information retrieval studies. In uncooperative environments, query-based sampling and normalized-score based merging strategies are well-known approaches to solve such problems. However, such approaches only consider the content of the remote database but do not consider the retrieval performance of the remote search engine. This thesis presents research on building a peer to peer IR system with crosslanguage IR and advance collection profiling technique for fusion features. Particularly, this thesis first presents a new Chinese term measurement and new Chinese MLU extraction process that works well on small corpora. An approach to selection of MLUs in a more accurate manner is also presented. After that, this thesis proposes a collection profiling strategy which can discover not only collection content but also retrieval performance of the remote search engine. Based on collection profiling, a web-based query classification method and two collection fusion approaches are developed and presented in this thesis. Our experiments show that the proposed strategies are effective in merging results in uncooperative peer to peer environments. Here, an uncooperative environment is defined as each peer in the system is autonomous. Peer like to share documents but they do not share collection statistics. This environment is a typical peer to peer IR environment. Finally, all those approaches are grouped together to build up a secure peer to peer multilingual IR system that cooperates through X.509 and email system.

汉语婴儿对早期词汇的理解与表达

Whether Mandarin is a verb-friendly language for young word learners or not is a hotly debated issue. Researches on children's word learning were either naturalistic study or experimental study, and they were from cross-cultural perspective. This study tries to examine the noun/verb proportion in Mandarin infants, from a longitudinal perspective; it also examines how Mandarin infants understand their first nouns and verbs using both naturalistic study and experimental study. The results of this research are: 1） According to the results of CDI test, Mandarin infants of 18 month old could say more verbs than nouns significantly; while 24 month-olds could say more nouns than verbs significantly. 2） According to the results of CDI test, Mandarin infants’ verb/noun proportion was higher in 18 month old than in 24 month old. This means that the relative advantage of verb learning may be easier to show up in infants younger than 2 years old. 3） The total vocabulary of 18 month-olds was positively correlated with the Mean Length of Utterances(MLU) of 24 month-olds. The MLU of 24 month olds was positively correlated with the verbs of 18 month-olds. 4） Only 24 month-old could succeed in our IPLP study and showed “true” understanding to their familiar words. 14- and 18- month-olds watch the target side and non-target side randomly. 5） According to the results of IPLP study, the infants could understand nouns better than verbs. Both female and male infants understood nouns better than verbs, but females seemed to have stronger tendency to watch the object-same side in both noun and verb condition. 6） According to the results of parents’ reports, all the infants in 3 age groups could understand verbs as well as nouns, and they are quite familiar with those words. However, IPLP study results showed that these infants understood nouns better than verbs. 7） In IPLP study, less than 50% of the Mandarin infants watch the target side of verbs longer than the non-target side (action-same response). However, the AS responses appear more frequently in verb condition than in noun condition among 24-month-olds.

Effets de la croissance des capacités respiratoires sur la longueur des énoncés et sur la diversité lexicale

Brown (1973) a proposé la « longueur moyenne des énoncés » (LME) comme indice standard du développement langagier. La LME se calcule selon le nombre moyen de morphèmes dans 100 énoncés de parole spontanée. L’hypothèse sous-jacente à cet indice est que la complexité syntaxique croît avec le nombre de morphèmes dans les énoncés. Selon Brown, l’indice permet d’estimer le développement d’une « compétence grammaticale » jusqu’à environ quatre morphèmes. Certains auteurs ont toutefois critiqué le manque de fiabilité de la LME et la limite de quatre morphèmes. Des rapports démontrent des variations de la LME avec l’âge, ce qui suggère que des facteurs comme la croissance des capacités respiratoires peuvent influencer l’indice de Brown. La présente étude fait état de ces problèmes et examine comment la LME et certaines mesures de diversité lexicale varient selon le développement des capacités respiratoires. On a calculé la LME et la diversité lexicale dans la parole spontanée de 50 locuteurs mâles âgés de 5 à 27 ans. On a également mesuré, au moyen d’un pneumotachographe, la capacité vitale (CV) des locuteurs. Les résultats démontrent que la LME et des mesures de diversité lexicale corrèlent fortement avec la croissance de la CV. Ainsi, la croissance des fonctions respiratoires contraint le développement morphosyntaxique et lexical. Notre discussion fait valoir la nécessité de réévaluer l’indice de la LME et la conception « linguistique » du développement langagier comme une compétence mentale qui émerge séparément de la croissance des structures de performance.

Adquisición y desarrollo del lenguaje en un niño bilingüe familiar castellano-frances.

Contribuir al actual conocimiento sobre la adquisición y desarrollo del lenguaje en el niño. Mejorar el conocimiento del proceso de adquisición y desarrollo de la lengua castellana y francesa. Mejorar el conocimiento de las estrategias usadas por el niño bilingüe en la adquisición del lenguaje hasta la separación de los dos códigos. Averiguar la influencia de algunos factores extralingüísticos durante el proceso de adquisición y desarrollo del lenguaje. La muestra está formada por un solo caso 'n=1', varón, de contexto familiar bilingüe, padre castellano hablante y madre francófona. La investigación ha realizado el seguimiento longitudinal de la evolución del lenguaje del sujeto desde los 15 meses hasta los 30 meses de edad. La investigación se fundamenta en las grabaciones realizadas al sujeto de la muestra, las grabaciones se realizaron con un intervalo de 14-21 días durante 15 meses (correspondientes a la edad de 15-30 meses del sujeto). Se transcribieron las grabaciones según el modelo a cuatro bandas de Vila y Siguan, a continuación se clasificaron las producciones verbales y se calculó el 'MLU' (nivel de evolución morfoestructural) según el modelo de Brown. Bibliografía. Grabaciones magnetofónicas. Existen dos estadios en relación a la evolución de la morfología y las estructuras lingüísticas de los sujetos bilingües. Aparecen 'equivalentes' desde el mismo inicio del lenguaje. El medio más próximo 'familiar' determina la orientación lingüística del bilingüe, en cuanto que acelera o retrasa la aparición de algunos equivalentes.

L'adquisició del catalá en una nena monolingüe dels 2 anys i 3 mesos als 3 anys i dos mesos. 'La adquisición del catalán en una niña monolingüe desde los 2 años y 3 meses hasta los 3 años y 2 meses'.

Establecer un orden en las flexiones catalanas que posibilite la comparación con otros estudios. La muestra la compone un solo individuo, niña de 2 años y 3 meses (al empezar la investigación, tres años y tres meses al terminarla), de ámbito socio-cultural medio, lengua materna catalana (residente en Badalona). La investigación lineal (12 meses) se articula alrededor de la bibliografía consultada y de las grabaciones (18 sesiones de 30-45 minutos) y análisis mediante el MLU de Brown, del lenguaje del sujeto de la muestra. Grabaciones magnetofónicas (18 grabaciones de 30, 45 minutos cada una). Bibliografía. MLU de Brown adaptado al catalán por Vilá (pero con las normas de cálculo de Brown). La adquisición de las flexiones es el resultado de un nivel determinado de complejidad cognitiva y lingüística, pero no se discierne en qué medida intervienen ambos factores. Para conocer cómo influyen los aspectos semánticos, sintácticos, pragmáticos y fonológicos en la adquisición del lenguaje son necesarios estudios transversales en niños bilingües.

Concepci?? de les formes verbals en nens de dos a tres anys : dimensions internes de l'acci??. 'Concepci??n de las formas verbales en ni??os de dos a tres a??os : dimensiones internas de la acci??n'

Analizar el uso que hace el ni??o de las formas verbales, nociones implicadas como el tiempo, referencias gramaticales a la persona y el aspecto verbal. 2 ni??os y una ni??a de edades comprendidas entre los 2 y 3 a??os. El autor graba a los ni??os por separado durante media hora cada mes. Recoge la informaci??n no verbal y verbal de los adultos y de los ni??os. Para cada registro elabora un listado de todos los enunciados diferentes producidos, enunciados emitidos y repeticiones. Analiza la adquisici??n de diversas flexiones: g??nero, n??mero, art??culo y verbo. Plantea la siguiente hip??tesis: el ni??o utiliza las flexiones verbales para marcar el aspecto de la acci??n, antes que expresar relaciones temporales. Magnetoscopio. Filmadora. ??ndice evolutivo del desarrollo del lenguaje (MLU, LPU) adaptados al catal??n y castellano por Vil??. An??lisis descriptivo. Distribuci??n de frecuencias. An??lisis cualitativo. Los ni??os utilizan como primeras formas verbales el participio, pret??rito perfecto y pret??rito indefinido, pero lo utilizan m??s como adjetivo que como acci??n. Los verbos imperfectos aparecen junto con los gerundios. Se confirma la hip??tesis. Los ni??os y las ni??as que aprenden a hablar catal??n y castellano adquieren las diferentes formas verbales antes que los ni??os y las ni??as de habla ingl??s.

Retard de llenguatge i adquisició de la morfologia. 'Retardo de lenguaje y adquisición de la morfología'.

Buscar elementos para caracterizar el retardo del lenguaje como trastorno específico del desarrollo, tanto el aspecto de diagnóstico como el de evolución y pronóstico. 2 niños con retardo simple del lenguaje y 2 con retardo severo del lenguaje o disfasia. En la parte teórica expone las aportaciones de diferentes autores sobre la adquisición del lenguaje. Hace una revisión de los trastornos del desarrollo del lenguaje. Da una definición operativa de nociones como retardo simple del lenguaje, retardo severo del lenguaje, disfasia, audiomadurez. En el estudio empírico, realiza un estudio longitudinal sobre la adquisición del artículo, el plural del nombre y el tiempo del verbo. Elabora una evaluación psicológica de los mismos sujetos en la adolescencia. Compara los resultados obtenidos con otros niños con adquisición del lenguaje normal. Observación. Magnetófono. Pruebas ad-hoc. Test de inteligencia Wais. Estudio longitudinal. Investigación comparada. El orden de adquisición de las nociones estudiadas no difiere en los dos grupos. Las nociones morfológicas aparecen en los niños con retraso simple y retraso severo con un MLU superior al que presentan los niños normales en el momento de su adquisición. En la adolescencia los sujetos presentan un nivel intelectual dentro de la normalidad. Todos han conseguido el graduado escolar, excepto uno con retardo severo. Todos, excepto uno con retardo ligero, necesitan refuerzo escolar a lo largo de toda la escolaridad. Todos presentan una adecuada adaptación personal y social.

Milling performance of north European hull-less barleys and characterization of resultant millstreams

Four hull-less barley samples were milled on a Buhler MLU 202 laboratory mill and individual and combined milling fractions were characterized. The best milling performance was obtained when the samples were conditioned to 14.3% moisture. Yields were 37-48% for straight-run flour, 47-56% for shorts, and 5-8% for bran. The beta-glucan contents of the straight-run white flours were 1.6-2.1%, of which approximate to49% was water-extractable. The arabinoxylan contents were 1.2-1.5%, of which approximate to17% was water-extractable. Shorts and bran fractions contained more beta-glucan (4.2-5.8% and 3.0-4.7%, respectively) and arabinoxylan (6.1-7.7% and 8.1-11.8%, respectively) than the white flours. For those fractions, beta-glucan extractability was high (58.5 and 52.3%, respectively), whereas arabinoxylan extractability was very low (approximate to6.5 and 2.0%, respectively). The straight-run white flours had low alpha-amylase, beta-glucanase, and endoxylanase activities. The highest alpha-amylase activity was found in the shorts fractions and the highest beta-glucanase and endoxylanase activities were generally found in the bran fractions. Endoxylanase inhibitor activities were low in the white flours and highest in the shorts fractions. High flavanoid, tocopherol, and tocotrienol contents were found in bran and shorts fractions.

The geo-historical legacies of urban security governance and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

In 2004, the discourse of ‘legacy’ was woven into the constitutional fabric of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Bidding for Olympic events is now premised on procuring post-event legacies that will resonate through local communities and host countries long after the flame is extinguished. Given vast expenditures in security, policing, and emergency management operations at major sporting events, it is notable that the IOC and its official partners have disproportionately under-represented security and policing legacies. This paper addresses research into security and policing legacies of major events by turning much needed empirical attention towards institutional level geographies of security and policing – particularly on legacies of policing and militarisation in Olympic host cities. Accordingly, the paper traces the institutional trajectory of the Military Liaison Unit (MLU) in the Vancouver Police Department who were heavily involved in coordinating the joint civilian–military effort throughout the lifecycle of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Theoretically, the paper furthers Stephen Graham’s (2010) New Military Urbanism that considers the circulation of military expertise between neo-colonial frontiers of military intervention with Western urban spaces. In doing so, this paper unpacks an empirically guided temporal approach that discerns key drivers of militarisation as localised, empirical-based ‘trajectories’ of development of security and policing institutions, which are linked to, and circumscribed by, critical juncture episodes in the context of mega event security. The paper traces processes of the MLU to explain how conditions underpinning the civil–military divide in urban policing, as a series of jurisdictional, institutional, and by extension, geographical configurations have continued, changed or been abandoned in the context of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. As such, this paper contributes to much needed debate on the controversies and opportunities inherent in security legacies and major events, which implicate the wider securitisation and militarisation of Western cities.

Limites e contribuições do uso da EME para pesquisas de cunho qualitativo na aquisição do PB

The main objective of this paper is to answer the following question: how can we draw a parallel, during the analysis of the data, between children who are at different moments in the language acquisition process or who belong to different populations (children that are monolingual, bilingual, with language disorders, etc.)? In order to answer this question, we are discussing the advantages and limitations of adopting a measure like MLU, from English Mean Length of Utterance, or EME as it was named in Brazil, proposed by Roger Brown (1973). We intend to verify the effective contribution of these measures to the studies in the area and propose an adaptation in the studies that use a qualitative approach. Firstly, we recall the study of the criteria proposed by Brown (1973), Scliar-Cabral (1976), Parker & Brorson (2005), Parisse & Le Normand (2006), and Araújo (2007), and by scholars of Brazilian Portuguese morphology, like Câmara Jr (2009), Monteiro (2002), and Kehdi (1990), among others. Secondly, from a dialogic-discursive point of view (BAKHTIN, 2006; BAKHTIN/ VOLOSHINOV, 1992, 1981), we provide as an example the research on the plural in the language acquisition process (HILÁRIO, 2010, 2011b, 2012). The reflections made indicate that EME may be a useful measure for the researches on language acquisition. Nevertheless, adaptations should be done and its inherent problems should be taken into account, especially if other factors are considered – like the age, the number of types/occurrences, the maximum limit of items per utterance etc. – although it is not the only parameter of analysis. Considering that EME may vary according to the conditions of production and may not reflect the qualitative changes in the children’s discourse, other factors should be analyzed, like the context of the discourse, the participants involved etc.

The geo-historical legacies of urban security governance and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

In 2004, the discourse of ‘legacy’ was woven into the constitutional fabric of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Bidding for Olympic events is now premised on procuring post-event legacies that will resonate through local communities and host countries long after the flame is extinguished. Given vast expenditures in security, policing, and emergency management operations at major sporting events, it is notable that the IOC and its official partners have disproportionately under-represented security and policing legacies. This paper addresses research into security and policing legacies of major events by turning much needed empirical attention towards institutional level geographies of security and policing – particularly on legacies of policing and militarisation in Olympic host cities. Accordingly, the paper traces the institutional trajectory of the Military Liaison Unit (MLU) in the Vancouver Police Department who were heavily involved in coordinating the joint civilian–military effort throughout the lifecycle of the Vancouver 2010 inter Games. Theoretically, the paper furthers Stephen Graham’s (2010) New Military Urbanism that considers the circulation of military expertise between neo-colonial frontiers of military intervention with Western urban spaces. In doing so, this paper unpacks an empirically guided temporal approach that discerns key drivers of militarisation as localised, empirical-based ‘trajectories’ of development of security and policing institutions, which are linked to, and circumscribed by, critical juncture episodes in the context of mega event security. The paper traces processes of the MLU to explain how conditions underpinning the civil–military divide in urban policing, as a series of jurisdictional, institutional, and by extension, geographical configurations have continued, changed or been abandoned in the context of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. As such, this paper contributes to much needed debate on the controversies and opportunities inherent in security legacies and major events, which implicate the wider securitisation and militarisation of Western cities.