ATMS-Based architecture for stylistics-aware text generation

This thesis is concerned with the effect of surface stylistic constraints (SSC) on syntactic and lexical choice within a unified generation architecture. Despite the fact that these issues have been investigated by researchers in the field, little work has been done with regard to system architectures that allow surface form constraints to influence earlier linguistic or even semantic decisions made throughout the NLG process. By SSC we mean those stylistic requirements that are known beforehand but cannot be tested until after the utterance or — in some lucky cases — until a proper linearised part of it has been generated. These include collocational constraints, text size limits, and poetic aspects such as rhyme and metre to name a few. This thesis introduces a new NLG architecture that can be sensitive to surface stylistic requirements. It brings together a well-founded linguistic theory that has been used in many successful NLG systems (Systemic Functional Linguistics, SFL) and an exist¬ ing AI search mechanism (the Assumption-based Truth Maintenance System, ATMS) which caches important search information and avoids work duplication. To this end, the thesis explores the logical relation between the grammar formalism and the search technique. It designs, based on that logical connection, an algorithm for the automatic translation of systemic grammar networks to ATMS dependency networks. The generator then uses the translated networks to generate natural language texts with a high paraphrasing power as a direct result of its ability to pursue multiple paths simultaneously. The thesis approaches the crucial notion of choice differently to previ¬ ous systems using SFL. It relaxes the choice process in that choosers are not obliged to deterministically choose a single alternative allowing SSC to influence the final lexical and syntactic decisions. The thesis also develops a situation-action framework for the specification of stylistic requirements independently of the micro-semantic input. The user or application can state what surface requirements they wish to impose and the ATMS-based generator then attempts to satisfy these constraints. Finally, a prototype ATMS-based generation system embodying the ideas presented in this thesis is implemented and evaluated. We examine the system's stylistic sensitivity by testing it on three different sets of stylistic requirements, namely: collocational, size, and poetic constraints

Access to Criminal Justice: Where Are the Prosecutors?

When the organized bar talks about “access to justice,” it tends to look exclusively at civil justice and to emphasize the need for lawyers in civil cases. This overlooks criminal justice and the essential role of lawyers in working to secure it. When the organized bar promotes criminal justice, it is typically circumspect about prosecutors’ responsibility. This essay argues that the bar should take a stronger role in elaborating prosecutorial norms, particularly in the context of miscarriages of justice both on the individual and systemic levels. When people are denied access to criminal justice, the bar should ask, “Where were the prosecutors?

The Functional Specialties: A Workshop on Applying Lonergan

These are the proceedings of the Praxis Program of the Advanced Seminar on Mission’s third annual summer workshop which was held in Trieste, Italy in July 2017. It focused on the application of Bernard Lonergan’s Functional Specialties to the work of the Seton Hall University faculty participants. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the Center for Vocation and Servant Leadership and the Center for Catholic Studies, and co-sponsored by Boston College, the Jacques Maritain Institute and the University of Trieste

Access to Criminal Justice: Where Are the Prosecutors?

When the organized bar talks about “access to justice,” it tends to look exclusively at civil justice and to emphasize the need for lawyers in civil cases. This overlooks criminal justice and the essential role of lawyers in working to secure it. When the organized bar promotes criminal justice, it is typically circumspect about prosecutors’ responsibility. This essay argues that the bar should take a stronger role in elaborating prosecutorial norms, particularly in the context of miscarriages of justice both on the individual and systemic levels. When people are denied access to criminal justice, the bar should ask, “Where were the prosecutors?

Supporting engineering design using knowledge based systems technology with a case study in electricity distribution network design

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis explores the architectural requirements of engineering design support systems based on knowledge based systems technology. The exploration is based on an understanding of the nature of designing as a professional activity and on the extent to which designers' competence can be modelled. Attention is focused on certain salient aspects of designers' competent behaviour. The theoretical study leads to the specification of requirements to be satisfied by a knowledge based system which will support designers in their professional setting and to the proposal of some knowledge based system components which will meet the requirements identified. The theoretical aspect of the thesis is complemented by a case study based on a designer of high voltage electricity distribution networks. The case study illustrates the theoretical component of the thesis and the methodological basis for the work. The practical realizability of the components of the knowledge based systems architecture proposed are demonstrated using the results of the analysis of the knowledge elicited in the case study without prejudicing the general applicability of the ideas. An object-oriented knowledge engineering software development environment is used to demonstrate how some components of the design situation represented can be implemented.Financial support provided by Brunel University

NaKtide Targeted to Adipocytes Ameliorates Western Diet Induced Obesity

Obesity has become a worldwide epidemic and is a major risk factor for metabolic syndrome. It is believed that cellular oxidant stress plays a key role in both the development and maintenance of obesity as well as its associated comorbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). We have previously reported that systemic administration of pNaKtide, which targets the Na/K-ATPase oxidant amplification loop was able to decrease oxidative stress and adiposity in mice fed a high fat and fructose supplemented western diet (WD). As adipocytes are believed to play an active role in the development of obesity and its related comorbidities, we examined whether lentiviral-mediated adipocyte-specific expression of NaKtide, the portion of pNaKtide derived from the α1 Na/K-ATPase N domain without the TAT leaders sequence used to make pNaKtide cell permeant, could have a similar ameliorative effect. To test this hypothesis, studies were first performed in isolated murine preadipocytes, 3T3-L1 cells; it was found that specific activation of Na/K-ATPase signaling (with the cardiotonic steroid ouabain which is specific to the Na/K-ATPase) significantly increased adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells in the presence of adipogenic medium, and pNaKtide administration attenuated oxidative stress and lipid accumulation. When administered through a lentiviral construct, NaKtide showed a similar decrease in oxidative stress. Complementary in vivo studies were performed as well. C57BL6 mice fed a WD activated adipocyte Na/K-ATPase signaling and increased adiposity, systemic oxidative stress and insulin resistance as well as induced development of NASH. Also of note, WD increased the plasma levels of leptin, IL-6 and TNFα along with decreased locomotor activity, expression of the D2 receptor and tyrosine hydroxylase in defined brain regions as well as markers of neurodegeneration including neuronal apoptosis. Selective adipocyte expression of NaKtide in these mice fed a WD attenuated all of these changes including the brain biochemical alterations and behavioral adaptations. These data suggest that adipocyte derived cytokines play an essential role in the development of obesity induced by a WD and that targeting the adipocyte Na/K-ATPase oxidant amplification loop (NKAL) may serve as an effective therapeutic strategy

In the Eye of the Colonizer: The White Racial Frame of Media Coverage on Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria emphasized the need for journalism. It also demonstrated potential biases present in journalism. At the time that Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, I had worked as News Editor for my school\u27s newspaper and interned at a business newspaper in Puerto Rico. The one thing consistently reiterated over and over again? Objective reporting. Nationally, there is a lot of conversation of what counts as fake news, a term made infamous by President Donald Trump. The implication in that conversation is that good media is unbiased media and therefore any media outlet that has bias is disregarded as fake news. This form of thinking reveals that what journalism wants all reporters to aspire to and all readers to expect is unbiased reporting. The biases journalists carry, especially when they are dangerously ignorant of such biases, influence the way they present information, impact the tone or tenor of a piece, and affect their word choice(s) (Feagin 2010, Ortega and Feagin 2013, Alamo-Pastrana and Hoynes 2018). Media, specifically news, has the ability to establish what is important; perhaps more importantly, the news media has the ability to advance racist stereotypes, which sustains power dynamics. The impact news media has on daily lives and their ability to influence perceptions of self and others is consistent: we read the news, we watch the news, the news is pushed to our phones, it invades social media. This space, one that engages with unacknowledged biases also creates an overabundance of news, while silencing and erasing the voices of those who are marginalized. I situate my thesis in this space, one of hyper-visibility and invisibility, of cacophony and silence. This project interrogates journalistic frames and narratives that explicitly and implicitly engage racialization and racist frames. A central goal is to illuminate the effects of such discourse and to theorize its affects and effects on the idea of Puerto Rico and its citizens