title: Extracting text from PostScript

authors: Nevill-Manning, Craig G.

subjects: computer science

abstract: We show how to extract plain text from PostScript files. A textual scan is inadequate because PostScript interpreters can generate characters on the page that do not appear in the source file. Furthermore, word and line breaks are implicit in the graphical rendition, and must be inferred from the positioning of word fragments. We present a robust technique for extracting text and recognizing words and paragraphs. The method uses a standard PostScript interpreter but redefines several PostScript operators, and simple heuristics are employed to locate word and line breaks. The scheme has been used to create a full-text index, and plain-text versions, of 40,000 technical reports (34 Gbyte of PostScript). Other text-extraction systems are reviewed: none offer the same combination of robustness and simplicity.

text: Extracting text from PostScript We show how to extract plain text from PostScript files. A textual scan is inadequate because PostScript interpreters can generate characters on the page that do not appear in the source file. Furthermore, word and line breaks are implicit in the graphical rendition, and must be inferred from the positioning of word fragments. We present a robust technique for extracting text and recognizing words and paragraphs. The method uses a standard PostScript interpreter but redefines several PostScript operators, and simple heuristics are employed to locate word and line breaks. The scheme has been used to create a full-text index, and plain-text versions, of 40,000 technical reports (34 Gbyte of PostScript). Other text-extraction systems are reviewed: none offer the same combination of robustness and simplicity.

year: 1997-04

title: Constitutional implications of ‘The Hobbit’ legislation

authors: Wilson, Margaret

abstract: In October 2010 an amendment to the Employment Relations Act 2000 was passed under urgency. This amendment redefined the employment status of workers in the film industry. This article addresses the constitutional implications of this process, contrasting the stated need for urgency in relation to the need to necessary to preserve jobs on the „Hobbit‟ film production, with the costs in terms of removing the opportunity for consultation with the workers affected, altering their employment status and their capacity to negotiate their remuneration and conditions of work.

text: Constitutional implications of ‘The Hobbit’ legislation In October 2010 an amendment to the Employment Relations Act 2000 was passed under urgency. This amendment redefined the employment status of workers in the film industry. This article addresses the constitutional implications of this process, contrasting the stated need for urgency in relation to the need to necessary to preserve jobs on the „Hobbit‟ film production, with the costs in terms of removing the opportunity for consultation with the workers affected, altering their employment status and their capacity to negotiate their remuneration and conditions of work.

year: 2011

title: Just take a second to breathe: Empowering youth through mindfulness at Atawhai 2019

authors: McAllister, Suzanne Maree

subjects: Mindfulness

abstract: This research was an evaluation of The Kindness Institute’s 2019 Atawhai programme. It examined the effects that exposure to mindfulness-based skills, Māori cultural practices, mentoring, and the creative arts had on a cohort of marginalised youth. Specifically, the research aimed to determine (1) if learning mindfulness-based skills helped the youth to positively deal with challenges, (2) what effect learning mindfulness-based skills has on their positive and negative emotions and (3) were youth empowered to share the skills they learned within their homes, families and communities to enable a wider benefit from the mindfulness-based skills. Participants included 12 youth who attended the Atawhai programme during 2019. They all completed shortened versions of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI), The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) and Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) at seven stages over a nine-month period from March 2019 to December 2019. Self-report debrief questionnaires and researcher observations were recorded during the October 2019 residential intensive of 5 days. Inferential statistics (repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc paired t-tests) indicated a statistically significant increase in positive emotions (p<0.01) with a large effect 1.07 over the duration of the evaluation period from March 2019 to December 2019; the October 2019 intensive, p<0.01, d=1.37; and the April 2019 intensive, p<0.01, d=1.89. Statistically significant decreases in anxiety (p<0.01) with a large effect d=1.99 were indicated over the duration of the evaluation period from March 2019 to December 2019; the October 2019 intensive, p=0.07, d=0.57; and the April 2019 intensive, p≤0.01, d=1.19. Self-report measures indicated the youth; found the mindfulness-based skills beneficial, preferred a particular skill over others, and found their mentors supportive in helping them incorporate the skills into their daily lives. Youth reported they had continued their mindfulness-based practice outside Atawhai and were regularly sharing the skills within their homes, families and communities including their schools. These findings suggest the Atawhai programme has a profound and significant positive effect on the wellbeing of the young people it serves.

text: Just take a second to breathe: Empowering youth through mindfulness at Atawhai 2019 This research was an evaluation of The Kindness Institute’s 2019 Atawhai programme. It examined the effects that exposure to mindfulness-based skills, Māori cultural practices, mentoring, and the creative arts had on a cohort of marginalised youth. Specifically, the research aimed to determine (1) if learning mindfulness-based skills helped the youth to positively deal with challenges, (2) what effect learning mindfulness-based skills has on their positive and negative emotions and (3) were youth empowered to share the skills they learned within their homes, families and communities to enable a wider benefit from the mindfulness-based skills. Participants included 12 youth who attended the Atawhai programme during 2019. They all completed shortened versions of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Adolescent Self-Regulatory Inventory (ASRI), The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) and Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) at seven stages over a nine-month period from March 2019 to December 2019. Self-report debrief questionnaires and researcher observations were recorded during the October 2019 residential intensive of 5 days. Inferential statistics (repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc paired t-tests) indicated a statistically significant increase in positive emotions (p<0.01) with a large effect 1.07 over the duration of the evaluation period from March 2019 to December 2019; the October 2019 intensive, p<0.01, d=1.37; and the April 2019 intensive, p<0.01, d=1.89. Statistically significant decreases in anxiety (p<0.01) with a large effect d=1.99 were indicated over the duration of the evaluation period from March 2019 to December 2019; the October 2019 intensive, p=0.07, d=0.57; and the April 2019 intensive, p≤0.01, d=1.19. Self-report measures indicated the youth; found the mindfulness-based skills beneficial, preferred a particular skill over others, and found their mentors supportive in helping them incorporate the skills into their daily lives. Youth reported they had continued their mindfulness-based practice outside Atawhai and were regularly sharing the skills within their homes, families and communities including their schools. These findings suggest the Atawhai programme has a profound and significant positive effect on the wellbeing of the young people it serves.

year: 2020