A comparison of parsing technologies for the biomedical domain

This paper reports on a number of experiments which are designed to investigate the extent to which current nlp resources are able to syntactically and semantically analyse biomedical text. We address two tasks: parsing a real corpus with a hand-built widecoverage grammar, producing both syntactic analyses and logical forms; and automatically computing the interpretation of compound nouns where the head is a nominalisation (e.g., hospital arrival means an arrival at hospital, while patient arrival means an arrival of a patient). For the former task we demonstrate that exible and yet constrained `preprocessing ' techniques are crucial to success: these enable us to use part-of-speech tags to overcome inadequate lexical coverage, and to `package up' complex technical expressions prior to parsing so that they are blocked from creating misleading amounts of syntactic complexity. We argue that the xml-processing paradigm is ideally suited for automatically preparing the corpus for parsing. For the latter task, we compute interpretations of the compounds by exploiting surface cues and meaning paraphrases, which in turn are extracted from the parsed corpus. This provides an empirical setting in which we can compare the utility of a comparatively deep parser vs. a shallow one, exploring the trade-o between resolving attachment ambiguities on the one hand and generating errors in the parses on the other. We demonstrate that a model of the meaning of compound nominalisations is achievable with the aid of current broad-coverage parsers

BAM: Benchmarking Argument Mining on Scientific Documents

In this paper, we present BAM, a unified Benchmark for Argument Mining (AM). We propose a method to homogenize both the evaluation process and the data to provide a common view in order to ultimately produce comparable results. Built as a four stage and end-to-end pipeline, the benchmark allows for the direct inclusion of additional argument miners to be evaluated. First, our system pre-processes a ground truth set used both for training and testing. Then, the benchmark calculates a total of four measures to assess different aspects of the mining process. To showcase an initial implementation of our approach, we apply our procedure and evaluate a set of systems on a corpus of scientific publications. With the obtained comparable results we can homogeneously assess the current state of AM in this domain

Applying Cost-Benefit to Past Decisions: Was Environmental Protection Ever a Good Idea?

In this Article, however, we do not mount a critique from outside the technique of cost-benefit analysis. Instead, we examine an argument that proponents of cost-benefit analysis have offered as a linchpin of the case for cost-benefit: that this technique is neither anti- nor pro-regulatory, but rather a neutral tool for evaluating public policy. In making this argument, these proponents have often invoked the use of cost-benefit analysis to support previous regulatory decisions (their favorite example involves the phase down of lead in gasoline, which we shall shortly discuss) as a sign that this technique can be used to support as well as to undermine protective regulation. As we demonstrate, however, cost-benefit analysis would have stood as an obstacle to early regulatory successes. Before turning to the various case studies illustrating this point, we first take a brief look at previous efforts to undertake retrospective cost-benefit analyses of important regulatory achievements

Ecologic: Nanotechnology, Environmental Assurance Bonding, and Symmetric Humility

To date, the turn toward market-based regulatory tools in the environmental, health, and safety context has tended to focus on taxes, tradable permits, and information disclosure rules, with comparatively little attention devoted to environmental assurance bonds. This paper argues that environmental assurance bonding offers a particularly attractive regulatory approach for contexts – such as the present state of nanoscale science and engineering – in which both the risk and the benefit sides of the regulatory equation are characterized by great uncertainty. Historical examples and existing scholarly analyses of environmental assurance bonding are reviewed, and the resulting lessons are situated within the larger debate over economic cost-benefit balancing and precautionary approaches to environmental law and policy. In particular, the paper argues that environmental assurance bonding displays the virtue of symmetric humility, paying due heed to the dynamism and complexity both of sociolegal systems such as markets and of biophysical systems such as aquatic ecosystems

Use of Network Analysis Technique for Prioritizing Project Portfolio: A Case Study

Network analysis is widely used in the context of exploring social phenomena that involve disciplines such as economics, marketing and psychology. This work proposes the use of network analysis from an optics perspective as a strategic analytical intelligence tool, where it discusses its use as a support tool when prioritizing project portfolios. The research was defined through a case study carried out in a Brazilian bank, in which a specific scenario of the need to prioritize demands within the existing portfolio was considered, covering the period from 2018 to the first quarter of 2019. To study these scenarios, 2-mode networks were analyzed to visualize the context and measures of centrality degree, proximity and intermediation were also used to provide analytical intelligence in identifying the best options for negotiation and prioritization. It was concluded, through the information provided by the use of network analysis, that complex scenarios and difficulties for prioritization can be predictively diagnosed, as well as the centrality measures allow the identification of the best options for prioritization and selection and the view of the impacted areas to be involved in the negotiation. The use of network analysis technique as a support tool for decision making in the prioritization of projects portfolio is very promising and becomes potential as a new efficient option to be considered, evaluating its ability to provide analytical intelligence and insights predictive of the prioritization scenarios

Managing the Regulatory State: The Experience of the Bush Administration

This Article traces the history of Presidential management of the regulatory state up to the administration of President George W. Bush. It focuses on the latter\u27s implementation of smarter regulation, an approach to regulation based on unfunded mandates on the private sector implemented through the Office of Management and Budget, an organization within the Executive Office of the President. It finds cost-benefit analysis an essential, yet often neglected, tool for implementing efficient and effective regulations. It concludes the policies promoted under President Bush\u27s OMB have effectively cut costs by streamlining the rule-making process and discouraging adopting new federal rules, but cautions there is still a sea of overlapping regulations and conflict over turf among agencies causing the administrative state to steadily rise in cost

The Ends and Means of Pollution Control: Toward a Positive Theory of Environmental Law

An understanding of environmental law’s means and ends makes it possible to understand the field as a whole, both in terms of the overall structure of statutes and relationships between means and ends. This analysis of means and ends yields a host of valuable insights and significant research questions. It also provides an important foundation for evaluating proposed regulatory reforms. A reasonably complete theory, at a minimum, should also explain key features of the enforcement regime and the allocation of authority among governments. The theory of means and ends articulated here constitutes a very substantial step forward in constructing a positive theory of environmental law as a whole