Internship report: improving asymmetric term extraction from bilingual text

Estudi elaborat a partir d’una estada a Xerox Research Centre Europe a Grenoble, França,entre juny i desembre del 2006. El projecte tradueïx termes tècnics anglesos a noruec. És asimètric perquè no tenim recursos lingüístics per a la llengua noruega, però solament per a l'anglès. S’ha desenvolupat i posat en pràctica mètodes que comprovaven contigüitat ("local reordering" i permutació selectiva) per a millorar el funcionament d’una eina anterior. Contigüitat és quan una paraula es traduïx en paraules múltiples, aquestes paraules han de ser adjacents en l'oració. A més, s’ha construït una taula de les operacions de recerca per als termes tècnics i s’ha integrat aquesta taula en un programa de demostració.

Generating trees for permutations avoiding generalized patterns

We construct generating trees with with one, two, and three labels for some classes of permutations avoiding generalized patterns of length 3 and 4. These trees are built by adding at each level an entry to the right end of the permutation, which allows us to incorporate the adjacency condition about some entries in an occurrence of a generalized pattern. We use these trees to find functional equations for the generating functions enumerating these classes of permutations with respect to different parameters. In several cases we solve them using the kernel method and some ideas of Bousquet-Mélou [2]. We obtain refinements of known enumerative results and find new ones.

Schistosoma mansoni antigenic extracts obtained by different extraction procedures

Solubilization of Schistosoma mansoni antigens was obtained by agitation of adult worms in a 3M KCl solution. The protein contents of the KCl extrats varied from 0.35 to 0.96 mg/ml. Sera from 97 patients with hepatointestinal shistosomiasis and viable eggs in stools from a Brazilian endemic area were studied by immunoelectroomophoresis and Ouchterlony immunodiffusion methods with the KCl extract and with another antigen, obtained by homogenization of adult schistosomes in saline. The rate of positiveness of immunoprecipitation deterctions by immunoelectroomophoresis with the KCl extract was 53.5%. A correlation was verified between methods of detection and extration procedures, resulting in a better association of the extract obtained by agitation in 3M KCl and immunoelectroomophoresis.

Dance movement patterns recognition

"Es tracta d'un projecte dividit en dues parts independents però complementàries, realitzades per autors diferents. Aquest document conté originàriament altre material i/o programari només consultable a la Biblioteca de Ciència i Tecnologia"

Differentiation of the sibling species Biomphalaria occidentalis and Biomphalaria tenagophila by the electrophoretic patterns of their hemoglobin

A simple and rapid method for differentialing the sibling species Biomphalaria tenagophila and Biomphalaria occidentalis by agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) is described. Snail hemolymph is used as the test sample and the red colaration of the hemoglobin fraction permits visualization of the migration patterns without resorting to specific stains. Moreover, hemolymph samples may be obtained without killing the snail, thus permitting its use for other studies for breeding.

The biophysical perspective of a middle income economy: material flows in Mexico

We analyse natural resource use dynamics in the Mexican economy during the last three decades. Despite low and uneven economic growth, the extraction and use of materials in the Mexican economy has continuously increased during the last 30 years. In this period, population growth rather than economic growth was the main driving force for biophysical growth. In addition, fundamental changes have taken place in the primary sectors, in manufacturing, and in household consumption and these are reflected in an increasing emphasis on the use of fossil fuels and construction materials. Mexico’s economy has been strongly influenced by international trade since the country commenced competing in international markets. In the 1970s, Mexico mainly exported primary resources. This pattern has changed and manufactured goods now have a much greater importance due to a boom in assembling industries. In contrast with other Latin American countries, Mexico has achieved a diversification of production, moving towards technology-intensive products and a better mix in its export portfolio. However, crude oil exports still represent the single most important export good. Mexico’s material consumption is still well below the OECD average but is growing fast and the current resource use patterns may well present serious social and environmental problems to the medium and long term sustainability of Mexico’s economy and community. Information on natural resource use and resource productivity could provide valuable guidance for economic policy planning in Mexico.

Patterns of oxygen consumption during establishment of cephalocaudal polarity in the early chick embryo.

Oxygen uptake was studied during the establishment of cephalocaudal polarity in the very early chick embryo, i.e., 10 hr before (stage VI) and at laying (stage X). Oxygen fluxes in minute regions of the intact blastoderms were measured in vitro by scanning microspectrophotometry in the presence or absence of glucose. The oxygen consumption of the whole blastoderm remained constant (6 nmol O2 X hr-1) throughout the period studied, although the number of cells increased more than twofold. The regional oxygen fluxes varied from 0.41 to 1.13 nmol O2 X hr-1 X mm-2 at stage VI and from 0.42 to 0.70 nmol O2 X hr-1 X mm-2 at stage X. At stage VI, the oxygen flux in the center of the blastoderm was significantly higher than that in its periphery. This pattern remained evident when the values were corrected for cell number or for cytoplasmic volume. At stage X, there was a tendency for the oxygen fluxes to decrease from the posterior to the anterior regions of the area pellucida. Thus the pattern of oxidative metabolism in the late uterine embryos seems to change from radial to bilateral. This change of symmetry probably reflects the process of formation of the embryonic axis. In addition, the fact that the oxygen uptake was similar in the presence or absence of glucose suggests that early chick embryos metabolize essentially intracellular stores.

In situ evaluation of single-cell lysis by cytosol extraction observation through fluorescence decay and dielectrophoretic trapping time

We present a new method for lysis of single cells in continuous flow, where cells are sequentially trapped, lysed and released in an automatic process. Using optimized frequencies, dielectrophoretic trapping allows exposing cells in a reproducible way to high electrical fields for long durations, thereby giving good control on the lysis parameters. In situ evaluation of cytosol extraction on single cells has been studied for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells through out-diffusion of fluorescent molecules for different voltage amplitudes. A diffusion model is proposed to correlate this out-diffusion to the total area of the created pores, which is dependent on the potential drop across the cell membrane and enables evaluation of the total pore area in the membrane. The dielectrophoretic trapping is no longer effective after lysis because of the reduced conductivity inside the cells, leading to cell release. The trapping time is linked to the time required for cytosol extraction and can thus provide additional validation of the effective cytosol extraction for non-fluorescent cells. Furthermore, the application of one single voltage for both trapping and lysis provides a fully automatic process including cell trapping, lysis, and release, allowing operating the device in continuous flow without human intervention.

Economic development and changes in car ownership patterns

The contributions of this paper are twofold: On the one hand, the paper analyses the factors determining the growth in car ownership in Spain over the last two decades, and, on the other, the paper provides empirical evidence for a controversial methodological issue. From a methodological point of view, the paper compares the two alternative decision mechanisms used for modelling car ownership: ordered-response versus unordered-response mechanisms. A discrete choice model is estimated at three points in time: 1980, 1990 and 2000. The study concludes that on the basis of forecasting performance, the multinomial logit model and the ordered probit model are almost undistinguishable. As for the empirical results, it can be emphasised that income elasticity is not constant and declines as car ownership increases. Besides, households living in rural areas are less sensitive than those living in urban areas. Car ownership is also sensitive to the quality of public transport for those living in the largest cities. The results also confirmed the existence of a generation effect, which will vanish around the year 2020, a weak life-cycle effect, and a positive effect of employment on the number of cars per household. Finally, the change in the estimated coefficients over time reflects an increase in mobility needs and, consequently, an increase in car ownership.

Patterns of serologic response to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in brazilians with different clinical forms of HIV infection

In order to investigate the IgG HIV-1 antibodies rectivity to structural components of the virus, 85 sera from infected Brazilians, comprising the total spectrum of HIV infection, were analysed by Western blot assay. The sera were confirmed as being positive to HIV with enzyme linked immuno assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF). Although the sera from patients reacted less intensively to the gag polypeptide of 55KDa, no distinctive antigen reaction patterns were observed between sera patients with different clinical forms. Because of the higher frequency of reactivity to the gag p24 in AIDS patients, the patterns of anti-HIV IgG responses are similar to those observed in their African counterparts.

First use of multiple substances: Identification of meaningful patterns

Context: Understanding the process through which adolescents and young adults are trying legal and illegal substances is a crucial point for the development of tailored prevention and treatment programs. However, patterns of substance first use can be very complex when multiple substances are considered, requiring reduction into a few meaningful number of categories. Data: We used data from a survey on adolescent and young adult health conducted in 2002 in Switzerland. Answers from 2212 subjects aged 19 and 20 were included. The first consumption ever of 10 substances (tobacco, cannabis, medicine to get high, sniff (volatile substances, and inhalants), ecstasy, GHB, LSD, cocaine, methadone, and heroin) was considered for a grand total of 516 different patterns. Methods: In a first step, automatic clustering was used to decrease the number of patterns to 50. Then, two groups of substance use experts, three social field workers, and three toxicologists and health professionals, were asked to reduce them into a maximum of 10 meaningful categories. Results: Classifications obtained through our methodology are of practical interest by revealing associations invisible to purely automatic algorithms. The article includes a detailed analysis of both final classifications, and a discussion on the advantages and limitations of our approach.

Discordances between phylogenetic and morphological patterns in alpine leaf beetles attest to an intricate biogeographic history of lineages in postglacial Europe.

Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods have moulded the evolutionary history of European cold-adapted organisms. The role of the different mountain massifs has, however, not been accurately investigated in the case of high-altitude insect species. Here, we focus on three closely related species of non-flying leaf beetles of the genus Oreina (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), which are often found in sympatry within the mountain ranges of Europe. After showing that the species concept as currently applied does not match barcoding results, we show, based on more than 700 sequences from one nuclear and three mitochondrial genes, the role of biogeography in shaping the phylogenetic hypothesis. Dating the phylogeny using an insect molecular clock, we show that the earliest lineages diverged more than 1 Mya and that the main shift in diversification rate occurred between 0.36 and 0.18 Mya. By using a probabilistic approach on the parsimony-based dispersal/vicariance framework (MP-DIVA) as well as a direct likelihood method of state change optimization, we show that the Alps acted as a cross-roads with multiple events of dispersal to and reinvasion from neighbouring mountains. However, the relative importance of vicariance vs. dispersal events on the process of rapid diversification remains difficult to evaluate because of a bias towards overestimation of vicariance in the DIVA algorithm. Parallels are drawn with recent studies of cold-adapted species, although our study reveals novel patterns in diversity and genetic links between European mountains, and highlights the importance of neglected regions, such as the Jura and the Balkanic range.