Unsophisticated Way Research Articles

Manual-Based Improvement Method for the ASTER Global Water Body Data Base

A water body detection technique is an essential part of digital elevation model (DEM) generation to delineate land–water boundaries and to set flattened elevations. The initial tile-based water body data that are created during production of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER) GDEM, as a by-product, are incorporated into ASTER GDEM V3 to improve the quality. At the same time as ASTER GDEM V3, the Global Water Body Data Base (ASTWBD) Version 1 is also released to the public. The ASTWBD generation consists of two parts: separation from land area, and classification into three categories: sea, lake, and river. Sea water bodies have zero elevation. Lake water bodies have flattened elevations. River water bodies have a gradual step-down from upstream to downstream with a step of one meter. The separation process from land area is carried out automatically using an algorithm, except for sea-ice removal, to delineate the real seashore lines in the high latitude areas; almost all of the water bodies are created through this process. The classification process into three categories, i.e., sea, river, and lake, is carried out, and incorporated into ASTER GDEM V3. For inland water bodies, it is not possible to perfectly detect all water bodies using reflectance and spectral index, which are the only available parameters for optical sensors. The only way available to identify the undetected inland water bodies is to manually copy them with visual inspection from the earth’s surface images, like Landsat images. GeoCover2000 images are the main part of the object images. Color–Land ASTER MosaicS (CLAMS) images are used to cover the deficiency of the GeoCover2000 images. This kind of time-consuming, unsophisticated way is inevitable as it is a manual-based method to improve the quality of the ASTWBD. This paper describes the manual-based improvement method; specifically, how deficient water body images are efficiently copied as rasterized images from the earth’s surface images to obtain a more complete global water body data set.

Being one of us. Group identification, joint actions, and collective intentionality

ABSTRACTWithin social psychology, group identification refers to a mental process that leads an individual to conceive of herself as a group member. This phenomenon has recently attracted a great deal of attention in the debate about shared agency. In this debate, group identification is appealing to many because it appears to explain important forms of intentionally shared actions in a cognitively unsophisticated way. This paper argues that, unless important issues about group identification are not illuminated, the heuristic function ascribed to this notion for an understanding of shared agency remains dubious at best and unfulfilled at worst. This paper offers such a clarification by distinguishing and describing two different mental processes that constitute group identification: adoption of the group perspective and transformation in self-understanding. It is claimed that the latter process consists in the production of what Ruth Millikan labels “Pushmi-Pullyu representations” and that it is developmentally prior with respect to the ability of adopting the group perspective.

The individual's experience as it applies to the community: An examination of six dream narrations dealing with the Islamic understanding of Death

El artículo versa sobre la manera islámica de comprender la muerte a partir del análisis de la narración de seis sueños. El Islam clásico concedía especial importancia a los sueños, que desempeñan un papel esencial en el desciframiento del enigma de la muerte y del morir, a partir de narraciones de sueños que tratan de sucesos cotidianos descritos de una manera sencilla, se traslucen cuestiones de la mayor importancia acerca del proceso de la muerte y del más allá. Aunque cada sueño se refiere a un caso individual, el mensaje se dirige a toda la comunidad. Este artículo trata la naturaleza edificante de los mensajes transmitidos por estas narraciones y al mismo tiempo muestra cómo de anécdotas privadas se hace un medio para transmitir el espíritu de la comunidad y establecer o definir al mismo tiempo ese espíritu comunitario.

Noisy rumor spreading and plurality consensus

Error-correcting codes are efficient methods for handling noisy communication channels in the context of technological networks. However, such elaborate methods differ a lot from the unsophisticated way biological entities are supposed to communicate. Yet, it has been recently shown by Feinerman et al. (PODC 2014) that complex coordination tasks such as rumor spreading and majority consensus can plausibly be achieved in biological systems subject to noisy communication channels, where every message transferred through a channel remains intact with small probability frac{1}{2}+epsilon , without using coding techniques. This result is a considerable step towards a better understanding of the way biological entities may cooperate. It has nevertheless been established only in the case of 2-valued opinions: rumor spreading aims at broadcasting a single-bit opinion to all nodes, and majority consensus aims at leading all nodes to adopt the single-bit opinion that was initially present in the system with (relative) majority. In this paper, we extend this previous work to k-valued opinions, for any constant kge 2. Our extension requires to address a series of important issues, some conceptual, others technical. We had to entirely revisit the notion of noise, for handling channels carrying k-valued messages. In fact, we precisely characterize the type of noise patterns for which plurality consensus is solvable. Also, a key result employed in the bivalued case by Feinerman et al. is an estimate of the probability of observing the most frequent opinion from observing the mode of a small sample. We generalize this result to the multivalued case by providing a new analytical proof for the bivalued case that is amenable to be extended, by induction, and that is of independent interest.

Cry and silence: Stories of child abuse in Mwanza (Tanzania)

This article examines practices and ideologies which underlie the care and the protection of children in Tanzania. In doing so, it questions the way in which certain categories -such as ‘childhood’ and ‘abuse’- are defined from a Western point of view and then exported by NGOs. The humanitarian discourse claim to cast models, values and "universal" rights on an international scale. This entails that the circumstances related to them can be misunderstood and it promotes an unsophisticated way to approach problematic issues -such as child abuse and neglect- as well. The article focuses on the activities of an organization that deals with abused and neglected children in Mwanza and on the life stories of two little girls, whom I name Allison and Amina. The paper follows practices and conversations which characterized the take responsibility the child in order to bring out situations in which the social actors are experiencing changes in their environment as well as new types of relationships, on which local ways of life collide with ideologies, values and practice introduced by aid workers and Western organizations.

The personal construct and language: Toward a rehabilitation of Kelly’s “inner outlook”

The core consideration with which George Kelly is concerned is distilled in his suggestion that the psychology of personal constructs represents an attempt to catch a glimpse of the person going about the business of being human. Whatever the business of being human is for Kelly, he is clear that he wishes to understand that business from the perspective of those who are going about it. To use Kelly’s words, he wants to take the perspective of the “inward outlook” and in so doing move away from the “outward inlook,” providing a radical rethink of the psychology that was contemporary of his time. This article will suggest that the unsophisticated way that Kelly dealt with language has implications for the theoretical carriage of this “inner outlook” and opens up Personal Construct Psychology to elaboration in the direction of a more sophisticated account of language. This article will culminate in a suggestion that Personal Construct Psychology make a more tight hermeneutic turn to Hermeneutic Constructivism.

Brackish water treatment using desalinating device for domestic purpose

The cheapest and also the most unsophisticated way to attain potable water from the brackish water normally available at the taps is reverse osmosis process. Today there is strong need for appropriately treated wastewater to protect the environment and to ensure that freshwater is available for all applications. Semi permeable membranes allow the passage of water or other small molecules through them but block the passage of large solute Molecules. As a consequence of osmosis, the concentration on the solution side decreases, because the amount of liquid on this side increases considerably over the passage of time. The study involved testing the performance of the Reverse Osmosis treatment plant. Conventional tests (temp, pH, TDS, turbidity, alkalinity, hardness, chlorine residual), and special tests (Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr, F, TOC) were conducted at different sampling locations within the distribution system, over a period of about eight months to evaluate the quality of drinking water. Samples were also collected after different stages of treatment from the main R.O. treatment plant, to determine the nature of treatment provided. The main objective of the research paper is to present fundamental model for brackish water desalination system for domestic purpose and their preliminary findings using prospective design.

Locke's Resemblance Theses

Locke asserts that Ideas of primary Qualities of Bodies, are Resemblances of them, and their Patterns do really exist in the Bodies themselves; But the Ideas, produced in us by these Secondary Qualities, have no resemblance of them at all. On an unsophisticated way of taking his words, he means that ideas of primary qualities are like the qualities they represent and ideas of secondary qualities are unlike the qualities they represent.2 I will show that if we take his assertions in this unsophisticated way, our reward will be a straightforward and satisfying interpretation of the central arguments of his chapter on primary and secondary qualities. With these arguments, Locke attempts to justify his assertions about resemblance. Some may be skeptical, thinking that the assertions, interpreted literally, are either too absurd or too obvious to have reasons supporting them. I take this skepticism to rest on deep foundations of charity, so half of the paper will be devoted to undermining these foundations by giving a sympathetic and historical exposition of Locke's positive thesis that primary qualities resemble the ideas that represent them. I criticize rival interpretations of Lockean resemblance, say what it means to believe that ideas resemble qualities, explain the plausibility of the belief in Locke's environment,

Benign Strictures of Bile Ducts

This book is written by three surgeons from the Moscow Medical Institute and has been translated from Russian into English. The book presents an encyclopedic review of the subject of benign strictures of the bile ducts. The writing throughout is somewhat wordy and nonobjective. The book begins in a rather unsophisticated way with a review of the terminology and classification of various types of bile duct strictures. These have been classified by the authors according to their etiology and by the level of the ductal lesion, degree of narrowing, extent of the stricture, and clinical course of the patient. Benign posttraumatic strictures, strictures of previous biliary anastomoses, secondary inflammatory strictures from other lesions, and primary sclerosing cholangitis are all covered. Several chapters are devoted to the causes of strictures, their clinical manifestations, methods of diagnosis, preparing the patient for surgery, principles of surgery for bile duct strictures, operative techniques of

Robert J. Flaherty (1884-1951)

Robert J. Flaherty is probably best remembered for his first film, Nanook of the North. Less well known are his experiences as an arctic prospector-explorer on the Mackenzie expeditions and the exploration of the remote Belcher Islands. ... His love for a primitive, unsophisticated way of life developed early, and as a young man, Flaherty persued a career as explorer, prospector, and railroader. He worked in a Michigan copper mine and for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, and he prospected for marble on Vancouver Island and for iron ore at Lake Huron and the Mattagami River. It was while his father was employed by Mackenzie and Mann in Toronto that Flaherty met Sir William Mackenzie. ... It was Mackenzie's judgment of men and his receptiveness to new ideas that helped start Flaherty on his career as a filmmaker. ... from the Inuit ... Flaherty learned of the Belcher islands. Their descriptions led him to believe he would find mineral deposits there. He reported his findings to Mackenzie, who excitedly asked him to make a second expedition. Flaherty set out on this 19-month-long expedition in 1911. ... During the summer of 1912 he made a cross-section of an area of over 30 million hectares. Upon returning to Lower Canada, he again reported his findings to Mackenzie. Although at the time his survey results were thought to be mineralogically unimportant and economically unfeasible to work, their significance was later realized. Mackenzie, impressed by the Inuit tales, insisted Flaherty should go to the Belcher Islands by proper ship. ... Early in 1914 Flaherty began filming Inuit women, igloo building, conjuring dances, sledging, and seal hunting. ... In 1920 Flaherty met Captain Thierry Mallet of Revillon Freres, who agreed to finance a filmmaking expedition to the company's sub-arctic fur trading post, Port Harrison on Cape Dufferin. Departing in August 1920, he travelled up the Innusuk River with a group of Inuit who had agreed to participate in the project. He filmed under the harshest of circumstances for man, camera, and film, journeying as far as 960 km to shoot a bear-hunting scene. He returned home in August 1921. Nanook of the North (1920-1921) was the beginning of Flaherty's filmmaking career. His passion to communicate his experiences resulted in other films, in all of which a recurrent theme occurs: through their struggle with nature, human beings are purified, cleansed, and achieve maturity and dignity. ... His achievements under incredibly severe hardships assure his place not only in the history of Canada, but of the world. As an arctic explorer, Flaherty's contributions were significant. Today, untold wealth is mined in Ungava and the Belchers. As a filmmaker, Flaherty's contributions were monumental, creating a documentary film tradition that continues to engage audiences and to influence filmmakers.

On Reading Others' Letters

“My mother taught me that reading others' letters isn't nice.” Those, or something like them, were the words of Krister Stendahl when he once tried to open the eyes of his audience to some of the hermeneutical problems which pertain to the fact that Christians read Paul's letters as if they were addressed to themselves rather than to their original recipients. The following reflections deal with these problems, and they are meant as a humble tribute to my first teacher in New Testament exegesis. I begin by recalling a few facts that are intriguing once one puts them together. This will lead me to the suggestion that, when he wrote his letters, Paul had a wider usage in mind than we usually assume. Against such a background I shall discuss, in a rather unsophisticated way, some conditions that may apply to a rereading of the Pauline letters and some possible consequences for so-called historical exegesis.

Clues for Bidding Strategists

This article examines how bidding decisions are being tackled in practice. It appears very likely that in the future, these decisions will have to be made on a sounder, more structured, quantitative basis. The article suggests a formal, yet mathematically unsophisticated way of handling the bidding problem and considers how such an approach can help the decision maker. Such an approach is a valuable addition to the experience, judgment, intuition and common sense of the bidding strategist.

On Comparison as a Practical Activity

THE WARY WRITER COVERS HIMSELF IN ADVANCE AS BEST HE CAN against the most obvious lines of criticism. Let me say, therefore, that this article is not intended to break, or even blunt, a lance in the methodology debate of comparative politics, nor is it put forward as a contribution in its own right to the science of comparative politics. The intention is much simpler. I want to argue that there are practical forms of comparison which the political scientist can use when in a less than scientific mood and that useful ends can be served by such practical activity. What is offered here, then, is a series of personal reflections and no more. To prevent the appearance of scholarly intent, scholarly reference to the literature has been avoided. A plausible argument to forestall the critic, but probably sensible, is that the case for an unsophisticated approach to comparative politics should be presented in an unsophisticated way. Put another way, it may be that to be practical one should sometimes be naive.

On the asymptotic null distribution of the F‐statistic for testing a partial null hypothesis in a randomized PBIB design with m associate classes under the Neyman model

AbstractIn the paper [11], the authors have shown that the familiar central F‐distribution can be considered as an asymptotically approximate distribution, in a heuristic sense, of the null distribution of the F‐statistic for testing a partial null hypothesis in a randomized PBIB design with m associate classes under the Neyman model. This result is the most general among those given in previous related papers [6, 7, 8, 9, 11]. The term “asymptotically approximate distribution” has been used, however, in a rather heuristic and unsophisticated way and the rigorous formulation of the notion of asymptotically approximate distribution has not yet been attempted. The purposes of the present article are to give a satisfactory formulation of the asymptotically approximate distribution based on Ikeda's theory of the asymptotic equivalence of probability distributions [2, 5] and to show that the familiar centrals F‐distribution is “an asymptotically approximate distribution”, in the sense just defined, of the F‐statistic for testing a partial null hypothesis in the analysis of a PBIB design with m associate classes, even under the Neyman model when it is randomized. The tedious calculations of the previous paper [11] are eliminated and the rather rigid uniformity conditions are weakened in the present article. The present work throws some light on the asymptotic nature of the power function of the F‐statistic under consideration; this will be presented in a forthcoming paper based on [4].