Tootfinder

US, Germany agree to deliver 5 Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine: https://benborges.xyz/2025/07/21/us-germany-agree-to-deliver.html

Optimizing ASR for Catalan-Spanish Code-Switching: A Comparative Analysis of Methodologies
Carlos Mena, Pol Serra, Jacobo Romero, Abir Messaoudi, Jose Giraldo, Carme Armentano-Oller, Rodolfo Zevallos, Ivan Meza, Javier Hernando
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13875

Optimizing ASR for Catalan-Spanish Code-Switching: A Comparative Analysis of Methodologies
Code-switching (CS), the alternating use of two or more languages, challenges automatic speech recognition (ASR) due to scarce training data and linguistic similarities. The lack of dedicated CS datasets limits ASR performance, as most models rely on monolingual or mixed-language corpora that fail to reflect real-world CS patterns. This issue is critical in multilingual societies where CS occurs in informal and formal settings. A key example is Catalan-Spanish CS, widely used in media and parli…

Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions
Katherine B. Coffman, Scott Kostyshak, Perihan O. Saygin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13798 https://…

Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions
We use a controlled experiment to study how information acquisition impacts candidate evaluations. We provide evaluators with group-level information on performance and the opportunity to acquire additional, individual-level performance information before making a final evaluation. We find that, on average, evaluators under-acquire individual-level information, leading to more stereotypical evaluations of candidates. Consistent with stereotyping, we find that (irrelevant) group-level comparison…

Data Work in Memory Institutions: Why and How Information Professionals Use Wikidata
Riya Sinha, Amelia Acker, Hanlin Li
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.13388 https://

Data Work in Memory Institutions: Why and How Information Professionals Use Wikidata
Wikidata, an open structured database and a sibling project to Wikipedia, has recently become an important platform for information professionals to share structured metadata from their memory institutions, organizations that maintain public knowledge and cultural heritage materials. While studies have investigated why and how peer producers contribute to Wikidata, the institutional motivations and practices of these organizations are less understood. Given Wikidata's potential role in linking …

This seems a good petition to sign for YP https://www.ourparty.org.uk/#openletter

Sign the open letter: it's time for the people to take the reins.
Your Party is too important to fall at the first hurdle. If you agree that the founding conference should be organised by a democratically elected body, sign your name.

I agree, really think twice or just don't... Also think about US government accessing your personal data if they want....
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/19/for-privacy-and-security-think-twice-before-granting-ai-acces…

For privacy and security, think twice before granting AI access to your personal data | TechCrunch
AI chatbots, assistants and agents are increasingly asking for gross levels of access to your personal data under the guise of needing your information to make them work.

Efficient black hole seed formation in low metallicity and dense stellar clusters with implications for JWST sources
M. C. Vergara, A. Askar, F. Flammini Dotti, D. R. G. Schleicher, A. Escala, R. Spurzem, M. Giersz, J. Hurley, M. Arca Sedda, N. Neumayer
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14260

Efficient black hole seed formation in low metallicity and dense stellar clusters with implications for JWST sources
Recent observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) reveal young massive clusters (YMCs) as key building blocks of early galaxies. They are not only important constituents of galaxies, but also potential birthplaces of very massive stars (VMSs) and black hole (BH) seeds. We explore stellar dynamics in extremely dense clusters with initial half-mass densities of $ρ_h \gtrsim 10^8M_\odot{\rm pc}^{-3}$ at very low metallicity, comparable to some of the densest clusters seen by JWST. Us…

Wow, it's finally Friday, and don't leave for the weekend until you've checked out today's Metacurity for the top infosec news you should know, including
--Apple sent a new round of spyware notifications to affected users,
--Akira is exploiting critical flaw in SonicWall,
--Vietnamese government warns of National Credit Information Center hack,
--UK ICO warns that kids are hacking their schools,
--Opposition to EU Chat Control scanning of encrypte…

Apple sent a new round of spyware notifications to affected users
Akira is exploiting critical flaw in SonicWall, Vietnamese government warns of National Credit Information Center hack, UK ICO warns that kids are hacking their schools, Opposition to EU Chat Control scanning of encrypted messages grows, New infostealer dubbed ModStealer stays invisible, much more

I have to agree with Hofmann, LSD really lets you connect with nature in a way that’s unlike anything else. It’s not just seeing trees or animals differently, it’s like the walls between you and the world around you come down, and you feel everything’s alive and connected.
That experience makes it impossible to ignore how fragile and important all of this is, the plants, animals, the earth itself, and us too. It’s a reminder that we’re part of something bigger, and that caring for natu…

BIM Informed Visual SLAM for Construction Monitoring
Asier Bikandi, Miguel Fernandez-Cortizas, Muhammad Shaheer, Ali Tourani, Holger Voos, Jose Luis Sanchez-Lopez
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.13972

BIM Informed Visual SLAM for Construction Monitoring
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is a key tool for monitoring construction sites, where aligning the evolving as-built state with the as-planned design enables early error detection and reduces costly rework. LiDAR-based SLAM achieves high geometric precision, but its sensors are typically large and power-demanding, limiting their use on portable platforms. Visual SLAM offers a practical alternative with lightweight cameras already embedded in most mobile devices. however, visually …