title: Applying Wikipedia to Interactive Information Retrieval

authors: Milne, David N.

subjects: Interactive Information Retrieval

abstract: There are many opportunities to improve the interactivity of information retrieval systems beyond the ubiquitous search box. One idea is to use knowledge bases—e.g. controlled vocabularies, classification schemes, thesauri and ontologies—to organize, describe and navigate the information space. These resources are popular in libraries and specialist collections, but have proven too expensive and narrow to be applied to everyday webscale search. Wikipedia has the potential to bring structured knowledge into more widespread use. This online, collaboratively generated encyclopaedia is one of the largest and most consulted reference works in existence. It is broader, deeper and more agile than the knowledge bases put forward to assist retrieval in the past. Rendering this resource machine-readable is a challenging task that has captured the interest of many researchers. Many see it as a key step required to break the knowledge acquisition bottleneck that crippled previous efforts. This thesis claims that the roadblock can be sidestepped: Wikipedia can be applied effectively to open-domain information retrieval with minimal natural language processing or information extraction. The key is to focus on gathering and applying human-readable rather than machine-readable knowledge. To demonstrate this claim, the thesis tackles three separate problems: extracting knowledge from Wikipedia; connecting it to textual documents; and applying it to the retrieval process. First, we demonstrate that a large thesaurus-like structure can be obtained directly from Wikipedia, and that accurate measures of semantic relatedness can be efficiently mined from it. Second, we show that Wikipedia provides the necessary features and training data for existing data mining techniques to accurately detect and disambiguate topics when they are mentioned in plain text. Third, we provide two systems and user studies that demonstrate the utility of the Wikipedia-derived knowledge base for interactive information retrieval.

text: Applying Wikipedia to Interactive Information Retrieval There are many opportunities to improve the interactivity of information retrieval systems beyond the ubiquitous search box. One idea is to use knowledge bases—e.g. controlled vocabularies, classification schemes, thesauri and ontologies—to organize, describe and navigate the information space. These resources are popular in libraries and specialist collections, but have proven too expensive and narrow to be applied to everyday webscale search. Wikipedia has the potential to bring structured knowledge into more widespread use. This online, collaboratively generated encyclopaedia is one of the largest and most consulted reference works in existence. It is broader, deeper and more agile than the knowledge bases put forward to assist retrieval in the past. Rendering this resource machine-readable is a challenging task that has captured the interest of many researchers. Many see it as a key step required to break the knowledge acquisition bottleneck that crippled previous efforts. This thesis claims that the roadblock can be sidestepped: Wikipedia can be applied effectively to open-domain information retrieval with minimal natural language processing or information extraction. The key is to focus on gathering and applying human-readable rather than machine-readable knowledge. To demonstrate this claim, the thesis tackles three separate problems: extracting knowledge from Wikipedia; connecting it to textual documents; and applying it to the retrieval process. First, we demonstrate that a large thesaurus-like structure can be obtained directly from Wikipedia, and that accurate measures of semantic relatedness can be efficiently mined from it. Second, we show that Wikipedia provides the necessary features and training data for existing data mining techniques to accurately detect and disambiguate topics when they are mentioned in plain text. Third, we provide two systems and user studies that demonstrate the utility of the Wikipedia-derived knowledge base for interactive information retrieval.

year: 2010

title: Identification and the role of hybridisation in Pittosporum

authors: Carrodus, Susan Kathleen

subjects: Pittosporum  turneri

abstract: Godley (1985) proposed that species which have separate juvenile and adult forms may be derived from hybridisation, and proposed that the rare, heteroblastic species P. turneri is a putative hybrid. This study aims to identify whether Pittosporum turneri is derived from hybridisation between a divaricating shrub (P. divaricatum) and a non-divaricating tree (P. colensoi), and to improve resolution of relationships among very closely related species within the genus Pittosporum. A combined approach was used to test the origin of P. turneri. Phylogenetic analysis of the maternally inherited trnT-trnL region of chloroplast DNA was undertaken to compare with a phylogeny based on the biparentally inherited internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) for all New Zealand Pittosporum species. Additionally, inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR's) and allozymes were used in an attempt to identify hybridisation between P. colensoi and P. divaricatum. A morphological study was undertaken to determine whether P. turneri is morphologicaly intermediate to the putative parents. Cross-pollination between the putative parents of P. turneri was also undertaken in the wild between female flowers of P. divaricatum and male flowers of P. colensoi to investigate whether hybridisation between these co-existing species is possible. 

The trnT-trnL region resolved several clades within the New Zealand Pittosporum previously unresolved by the ITS region alone. P. turneri has the same trT-trnL sequence as P. divaricatum, implicating P. divaricatum as the maternal parent. The profile of ISSR bands in P. turneri, exhibit additivity of bands found in P. colensoi and P. divaricatum, supporting a hybrid origin of P. turneri. Morphological analyses also show that P. turneri is intermediate to P. divaricatum and P. colensoi. The cross-pollination experiment was unsuccessful and no seedlings germinated, although four seeds appeared viable. It is proposed that P. turneri has a hybrid origin, however this finding needs to be supported by further work.

text: Identification and the role of hybridisation in Pittosporum Godley (1985) proposed that species which have separate juvenile and adult forms may be derived from hybridisation, and proposed that the rare, heteroblastic species P. turneri is a putative hybrid. This study aims to identify whether Pittosporum turneri is derived from hybridisation between a divaricating shrub (P. divaricatum) and a non-divaricating tree (P. colensoi), and to improve resolution of relationships among very closely related species within the genus Pittosporum. A combined approach was used to test the origin of P. turneri. Phylogenetic analysis of the maternally inherited trnT-trnL region of chloroplast DNA was undertaken to compare with a phylogeny based on the biparentally inherited internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) for all New Zealand Pittosporum species. Additionally, inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR's) and allozymes were used in an attempt to identify hybridisation between P. colensoi and P. divaricatum. A morphological study was undertaken to determine whether P. turneri is morphologicaly intermediate to the putative parents. Cross-pollination between the putative parents of P. turneri was also undertaken in the wild between female flowers of P. divaricatum and male flowers of P. colensoi to investigate whether hybridisation between these co-existing species is possible. 

The trnT-trnL region resolved several clades within the New Zealand Pittosporum previously unresolved by the ITS region alone. P. turneri has the same trT-trnL sequence as P. divaricatum, implicating P. divaricatum as the maternal parent. The profile of ISSR bands in P. turneri, exhibit additivity of bands found in P. colensoi and P. divaricatum, supporting a hybrid origin of P. turneri. Morphological analyses also show that P. turneri is intermediate to P. divaricatum and P. colensoi. The cross-pollination experiment was unsuccessful and no seedlings germinated, although four seeds appeared viable. It is proposed that P. turneri has a hybrid origin, however this finding needs to be supported by further work.

year: 2009

title: Students’ Social Interest and University Partnership with Local Indigenous People

authors: Theodorus, Edward

subjects: social interest

abstract: According to Alfred Adler, people will have a meaningful life if they contribute to the realisation of an ideal cooperating community. The psychological process of “contributing” is captured in the Adlerian concept of “social interest.” This study investigates students’ social interest in university partnership with local indigenous people. The partnership between the University of Waikato and local tribes of Tainui is a particular concern of this study, with Kīngitanga Day as the specific phenomenon. Mixed methods–descriptive statistics and thematic analysis–were employed to investigate students’ social interest. Data collection was done in three phases. From data analysis, I found eight primary themes of students’ social interest, namely knowledgeability, significance to self, identification, awareness of community context, gradation of sympathetic concern, willingness, action, and reflection. How the findings relate to the literature on social interest and university-community partnership is discussed. A new model of applied social interest is developed. This thesis ends with elaboration on limitations and recommendations for future research.

text: Students’ Social Interest and University Partnership with Local Indigenous People According to Alfred Adler, people will have a meaningful life if they contribute to the realisation of an ideal cooperating community. The psychological process of “contributing” is captured in the Adlerian concept of “social interest.” This study investigates students’ social interest in university partnership with local indigenous people. The partnership between the University of Waikato and local tribes of Tainui is a particular concern of this study, with Kīngitanga Day as the specific phenomenon. Mixed methods–descriptive statistics and thematic analysis–were employed to investigate students’ social interest. Data collection was done in three phases. From data analysis, I found eight primary themes of students’ social interest, namely knowledgeability, significance to self, identification, awareness of community context, gradation of sympathetic concern, willingness, action, and reflection. How the findings relate to the literature on social interest and university-community partnership is discussed. A new model of applied social interest is developed. This thesis ends with elaboration on limitations and recommendations for future research.

year: 2015