Writing with Scrivener: A Hopeful Tale of Disappearing Tools,Flatulence, and Word Processing Redemption

There is no writing without technology. Although we are highly aware of writing's mediated nature when asked to learn new writing technologies either as individuals or as a society, we most often ignore these technologies, allowing them to disappear from our consciousness. Not paying attention to our tools can, however, have dangerous consequences. It becomes easy to forget the political, economic, and random forces that influence our choice of technology. Using personal narrative, I explore this tangled relationship between the disappearance of our tools, tool standardization, tool (dis)abilities, and tool design. I tell the story of my four-year-old son's journey to literacy and my discovery of a new type of writing software called Scrivener. Reading the story of Scrivener's development empowered me: I came to see myself as an active participant in the creation of my writing technologies, and I learned to identify when the discomforts of technology should not be ignored. I use these narratives to argue for a posthumanist view of our relationship with technology, a view in which boundaries between humans and technology are blurred, and I offer suggestions on how to adopt a posthumanist perspective toward writing tools in our composition classrooms.     

A Posteriory Probability Decoding of Nonsystematically Encoded Block Codes

We consider the problem of symbol-by-symbol a posteriori probability (APP) decoding for information symbols of nonsystematically encoded block codes. This problem arises at soft concatenated decoding of generalized concatenated block codes. The well-known BCJR algorithm for efficient APP decoding is not able to solve the problem if it runs on the minimal code trellis of a block code. We introduce an extended trellis representation for block codes, which includes encoding information and thus makes it possible to apply the BCJR algorithm as well as trellis-based decoding in the dual code space. Complexity properties of the extended trellis are investigated.     

Particle swarm optimization and two solution representations for solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem

This paper presents two solution representations and the corresponding decoding methods for solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The first solution representation (SR-1) is a (n + 2m)-dimensional particle for CVRP with n customers and m vehicles. The decoding method for this representation starts with the transformation of particle into a priority list of customer to enter route and a priority matrix of vehicle to serve each customer. The vehicle routes are then constructed based on the customer priority list and vehicle priority matrix. The second representation (SR-2) is a 3m-dimensional particle. The decoding method for this representation starts with the transformation of particle into the vehicle orientation points and the vehicle coverage radius. The vehicle routes are constructed based on these points and radius. The proposed representations are applied using GLNPSO, a PSO algorithm with multiple social learning structures, and tested using some benchmark problems. The computational result shows that representation SR-2 is better than representation SR-1 and also competitive with other methods for solving CVRP.     

Interactive stories and exercises with dynamic feedback for improving reading comprehension skills in deaf children

Deaf children have significant difficulties in comprehending written text. This is mainly due to the hearing loss that prevents them from being exposed to oral language when they were an infant. However, it is also due to the type of educational intervention they are faced with, which accustoms them to decoding single words and isolated sentences, rather than entire texts. This paper presents an evolved version of a literacy web tool for deaf children based on stories and comprehension exercises. Two substantial improvements were made with the respect to the first version of our application. First, the text of the stories is now presented to children in the context of animated web pages. Second, intelligent dynamic feedback is given to the users when resolving the exercises. A preliminary evaluation study with deaf children, as the treatment group, and hearing children, as the control group, assessed the usability and effectiveness of the new system and its graphical interface.     

Of flags: Online queer identities, writing classrooms, and action horizons

In this article I argue that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer pedagogies have been too exclusively focused on identity. The problem with these identity-based pedagogies is that they cannot fully account for actual LGBT identities, due in part to a continued multiplication of these identities online. I use LGBT pride flags to illustrate the ways in which these identities have proliferated, presenting a theoretical limit for current understandings of queer and LGBT pedagogy. As an alternative, I introduce the notion of the action horizon, which forms a pedagogy that encourages students to imagine themselves as actors in the public sphere, shaping policies and confronting complex real-world problems. The various LGBT pride flags then serve as material in three examples—an online asynchronous discussion, writing in a computer classroom, and paper assignments—all of which prompt students to enact the action horizon. Despite the possibilities for real-world engagement offered by the action horizon, success with this pedagogy can be limited in terms of LGBT issues, and so I end with some consideration of the implications and limitations of this kind of teaching.     

一种用于时空体元编解码存储的低计算量优化方法

针对时空网格体对象的编解码占用存储空间大的问题,提出了一种用于时空体元编解码存储的低计算量优化方法。首先以十六叉树索引结构为基础,构建了时空网格体元编解码的数学模型,实现体元对象标识和时空位置索引,并借助3DGIS的自动编解码方法,实现了时空网格体元对象编解码存储表示的换算;其次,采用伽罗华有限域理论,构建了网格体元的二进制编码矩阵和存储的低计算量优化算法,实现了体元对象编解码存储过程中的优化计算;最后,以某矿山的矿床空间块体数据为例,对网格体元编解码模型、存储表示换算以及低计算量优化算法进了实际应用,并与八叉树索引结构的Morton码进行比较和分析,结果表明：该方法可有效降低30%的编解码存储计算量,提高了存储网格体元对象的时空效率。     

Shortcomings with using edge encodings to represent graph structures

There are various representations for encoding graph structures, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) and circuits, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Here we analyze edge encodings and show that they produce graphs with a node creation order connectivity bias (NCOCB). Additionally, depending on how input/output (I/O) nodes are handled, it can be difficult to generate ANNs with the correct number of I/O nodes. We compare two edge encoding languages, one which explicitly creates I/O nodes and one which connects to pre-existing I/O nodes with parameterized connection operators. Results from experiments show that these parameterized operators greatly improve the probability of creating and maintaining networks with the correct number of I/O nodes, remove the connectivity bias with I/O nodes and produce better ANNs. These results suggest that evolution with a representation which does not have the NCOCB will produce better performing ANNs. Finally we close with a discussion on which directions hold the most promise for future work in developing better representations for graph structures.

Multimodal Composition in a College ESL Class: New Tools, Traditional Norms

Research has noted that multimodal writing allows for better communication of knowledge and expression of personal identities through various modes of representation. Studies of multimodal composition have tended to examine separate modes, or have looked at connections between only a few selected available modes. Less attention has been devoted to multimodal composition from a holistic perspective. Drawing on the concept of synaesthetic semiosis [Kress, Gunther. (1998). Visual and verbal modes of representation in electronically mediated communication: The potentials of new forms of text. In Ilana Snyder (Ed.), Page to screen: Taking literacy into the electronic era (pp. 53-79). London: Routledge; Kress, Gunther, & Van Leeuwen, Theo. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge], the present study examines how ESL writers in a freshman composition class used available modes in multimodal argumentative essays posted on the World Wide Web. The findings indicate that word-dominated discourse was the primary factor in selecting available modes. Non-linguistic modes were primarily used to illustrate written essays. However, students also used non-linguistic modes to project cultural and national identities and to express emotional connections with their topics. The ways in which the students synthesized multiple meaning-making modes represented the social practices of learning multimodal genres in which they were engaged. The paper concludes with suggestions for pedagogy and research in multimodal composition.     

Literacy and Scientific Literacy: A Response to Fensham

Abstract

Fensham (2002) criticizes scientific literacy curricula designed by scientists and science educators as ‘inadequately clear and hopelessly unrealistic.’ There is, however, good reason to believe that other groups are as likely to produce inadequate curricula as scientists and science educators, since the process for producing a curriculum is at least as responsible for Fensham's impasse as are the participants. Fensham mentions, but does not explore, an analogy between literacy in its prototypical form—reading and writing—and scientific literacy. An analysis of literacy leads to several propositions, from which the analogy with scientific literacy can be drawn. Literacy in its prototypical form focuses on the tools of reading and writing. Striking parallels between the two forms of literacy provide strong support for considering scientific literacy in relation to its tools, that is, explaining and predicting, rather than to a body of knowledge.     

A particle swarm optimization for the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery

This paper proposes a formulation of the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (VRPSPD) and a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for solving it. The formulation is a generalization of three existing VRPSPD formulations. The main PSO algorithm is developed based on GLNPSO, a PSO algorithm with multiple social structures. A random key-based solution representation and decoding method is proposed for implementing PSO for VRPSPD. The solution representation for VRPSPD with n customers and m   vehicles is a (n+2m)$(n+2m)$-dimensional particle. The decoding method starts by transforming the particle to a priority list of customers to enter the route and a priority matrix of vehicles to serve each customer. The vehicle routes are constructed based on the customer priority list and vehicle priority matrix. The proposed algorithm is tested using three benchmark data sets available from the literature. The computational result shows that the proposed method is competitive with other published results for solving VRPSPD. Some new best known solutions of the benchmark problem are also found by the proposed method.     

Encoding, Decoding and Data Refinement

Data refinement is the systematic replacement of a data structure with another one in program development. Data refinement between program statements can on an abstract level be described as a commutativity property where the abstraction relationship between the data structures involved is represented by an abstract statement (a decoding). We generalise the traditional notion of data refinement by defining an encoding operator that describes the least (most abstract) data refinement with respect to a given abstraction. We investigate the categorical and algebraic properties of encoding and describe a number of special cases, which include traditional notions of data refinement. The dual operator of encoding is decoding, which we investigate and give an intuitive interpretation to. Finally we show a number of applications of encoding and decoding. Received May 1999 / Accepted in revised form November 2000     

Self-checking circuits and decoding algorithms for binary hamming and BCH codes and Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2 m )

We consider problems of detecting errors in combinational circuits and algorithms for the decoding of linear codes. We show that a totally self-checking combinatorial circuit for the decoding of a binary Hamming [n, k] code can be constructed if and only if n = 2 ^r ? 1, r = n?k. We introduce the notion of a totally self-checking combinational circuit detecting error clusters of size at most µ; for shortened Hamming [n,k] codes, we construct totally self-checking decoding combinational circuits detecting error clusters of size at most µ, 2 ≤ µ < n?k. We describe single-error protected and self-checking algorithms: the extended Euclidean algorithm and decoding algorithms for binary BCH codes and Reed-Solomon codes over GF(2 ^m ).     

Combination of linear regression classification and collaborative representation classification

Classification using the l ₂-norm-based representation is usually computationally efficient and is able to obtain high accuracy in the recognition of faces. Among l ₂-norm-based representation methods, linear regression classification (LRC) and collaborative representation classification (CRC) have been widely used. LRC and CRC produce residuals in very different ways, but they both use residuals to perform classification. Therefore, by combining the residuals of these two methods, better performance for face recognition can be achieved. In this paper, a simple weighted sum based fusion scheme is proposed to integrate LRC and CRC for more accurate recognition of faces. The rationale of the proposed method is analyzed. Face recognition experiments illustrate that the proposed method outperforms LRC and CRC.     

If You are an InfoSec Professional,You Must Also Be an InfoSec Writer — Part I

On occasion, I receive E-mails about writing articles for some InfoSec-related trade magazine. Recently I received some E-mail from Reed Elsevier folks who publish this fine security newsletter as well as Network Security, Computers & Security, and Information Security Technical Report. They were looking my recommendations for article writers. So, I thought I would address the topic of writing on security-related topics. This first part will be about writing in general and about writing security-related articles — actually a ‘requirement’ for all InfoSec and security-related professionals. Part II will be about becoming a writer of security-related books.     

梯形子模式非对称逆布局二值图像表示方法

虽然树形分层结构在图像表示和处理中有很多优点,但是它们都过分地强调分割的对称性和节点的对称性,因此不是最优的图像表示方法.借鉴Packing问题研究的方法,基于非对称逆布局模式表示模型(Non-symmetry An-ti-paeking pattern representation Model,NAM),提出了一个梯形子模式非对称逆布局二值图像表示方法,给出具体的编码算法和解码算法,并分析了算法的时空复杂度和表示的数据量.理论分析和试验结果表明,与流行的基于分层结构的线性四元树表示方法相比,梯形子模式非对称逆布局二值图像表示方法在子模式数量和数据量方面具有较大的优势.     

Expressions of disciplinarity and individuality in a multimodal genre

Recent research has illuminated some of the ways in which multilingual writers project multiple identities in their writing, conveying disciplinary allegiances as well as more personal expressions of individuality. Such work has focused on the writers’ uses of various verbal expressions, but has to this point overlooked the ways in which they manipulate the visual mode as a means for identity expression. The present study examines expressions of identity in a corpus of multimodal texts written by four multilingual graduate student writers. I consider how the writers’ uses of various verbal and visual expressions in their Microsoft PowerPoint presentation slides project both disciplinarity and individuality and how each individual's habitus has been influenced by both the discourses they have encountered and their personal reactions towards those discourses.     

Temporal XML: modeling, indexing, and query processing

In this paper we address the problem of modeling and implementing temporal data in XML. We propose a data model for tracking historical information in an XML document and for recovering the state of the document as of any given time. We study the temporal constraints imposed by the data model, and present algorithms for validating a temporal XML document against these constraints, along with methods for fixing inconsistent documents. In addition, we discuss different ways of mapping the abstract representation into a temporal XML document, and introduce TXPath, a temporal XML query language that extends XPath 2.0. In the second part of the paper, we present our approach for summarizing and indexing temporal XML documents. In particular we show that by indexing continuous paths, i.e., paths that are valid continuously during a certain interval in a temporal XML graph, we can dramatically increase query performance. To achieve this, we introduce a new class of summaries, denoted TSummary, that adds the time dimension to the well-known path summarization schemes. Within this framework, we present two new summaries: LCP and Interval summaries. The indexing scheme, denoted TempIndex, integrates these summaries with additional data structures. We give a query processing strategy based on TempIndex and a type of ancestor-descendant encoding, denoted temporal interval encoding. We present a persistent implementation of TempIndex, and a comparison against a system based on a non-temporal path index, and one based on DOM. Finally, we sketch a language for updates, and show that the cost of updating the index is compatible with real-world requirements.     

Rosen's modelling relations via categorical adjunctions

Rosen's modelling relations constitute a conceptual schema for the understanding of the bidirectional process of correspondence between natural systems and formal symbolic systems. The notion of formal systems used in this study refers to information structures constructed as algebraic rings of observable attributes of natural systems, in which the notion of observable signifies a physical attribute that, in principle, can be measured. Due to the fact that modelling relations are bidirectional by construction, they admit a precise categorical formulation in terms of the category-theoretic syntactic language of adjoint functors, representing the inverse processes of information encoding/decoding via adjunctions. As an application, we construct a topological modelling schema of complex systems. The crucial distinguishing requirement between simple and complex systems in this schema is reflected with respect to their rings of observables by the property of global commutativity. The global information structure representing the behaviour of a complex system is modelled functorially in terms of its spectrum functor. An exact modelling relation is obtained by means of a complex encoding/decoding adjunction restricted to an equivalence between the category of complex information structures and the category of sheaves over a base category of partial or local information carriers equipped with an appropriate topology.