Identifying Web Tables - Supporting a Neglected Type of Content on the Web

The abundance of the data in the Internet facilitates the improvement of extraction and processing tools. The trend in the open data publishing encourages the adoption of structured formats like CSV and RDF. However, there is still a plethora of unstructured data on the Web which we assume contain semantics. For this reason, we propose an approach to derive semantics from web tables which are still the most popular publishing tool on the Web. The paper also discusses methods and services of unstructured data extraction and processing as well as machine learning techniques to enhance such a workflow. The eventual result is a framework to process, publish and visualize linked open data. The software enables tables extraction from various open data sources in the HTML format and an automatic export to the RDF format making the data linked. The paper also gives the evaluation of machine learning techniques in conjunction with string similarity functions to be applied in a tables recognition task.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Assessment of Genetic Diversity in Five Nicaraguan Populations of Cedrela odorata L. (Meliaceae) using RAPD Markers

The goal of this study was to assess the genetic diversity of Nicaraguan populations of Cedrela odorata using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Thus, genomic DNA was isolated from leaf samples collected from ninety-two trees belonging to five Nicaraguan natural populations of C. odorata. The mean number of alleles per locus, effective number of alleles per locus, percentage of polymorphic loci, genetic diversity (He ) of Nei and diversity index (Ho ) of Shannon were estimated for each population assuming that the populations were in HardyWeinberg equilibrium. Total genetic diversity was partitioned in intrapopulational and interpopulational diversity using Nei’s genetic differentiation (GST) and through an Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA). The ΦST matrix was used to construct a dendrogram by the neighbor-joining method. According to values of both He and Ho , Esquipulas (Deparment of Matagalpa) presented the lowest diversity level; while La Trinidad (Department of Estelí) showed the highest diversity level. Genetic differentiation was calculated obtaining a GST value of 13.36%. AMOVA also showed a similar differentiation value ΦST =13.81%). Neighbour-joining dendrogram clustered the five populations in two groups, where the group formed by La Trinidad and El Refugio (Department of Granada) presented the biggest differentiation. Correlation between genetic and geographical distances was not found

Reproducción del falso vampiro lanudo Chrotopterus auritus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) en un bosque tropical húmedo de la costa pacífica de Guatemala

We documented one female Chrotopterus auritus in a lactation state with her calf present in the ventral part of her body. The specimen was captured with a harp trap in a humid tropical forest of the Pacific coast of Guatemala, within private natural reserve Finca Patrocinio, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala on May 29th, 2017. There is little information about this species’ biology, especially within Guatemala, which reflects the importance of further studies on the wild behavior of this species.Documentamos una hembra de Chrotopterus auritus en estado de lactancia con su cría presente en la parte ventral de su cuerpo. El espécimen fue capturado con una trampa de arpa en un bosque tropical húmedo de la costa del Pacífico de Guatemala, dentro de la reserva natural privada Finca Patrocinio, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala el 29 de mayo de 2017. Hay poca información sobre la biología de esta especie, especialmente en Guatemala, lo que refleja la importancia de nuevos estudios sobre el comportamiento silvestre de esta especie

Fungal volatile organic compounds: emphasis on their plant growth-promoting

Fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) commonly formed bioactive interface between plants and countless of microorganisms on the above- and below-ground plant-fungus interactions. Fungal-plant interactions symbolize intriguingly biochemical complex and challenging scenarios that are discovered by metabolomic approaches. Remarkably secondary metabolites (SMs) played a significant role in the virulence and existence with plant-fungal pathogen interaction; only 25% of the fungal gene clusters have been functionally identified, even though these numbers are too low as compared with plant secondary metabolites. The current insights on fungal VOCs are conducted under lab environments and to apply small numbers of microbes; its molecules have significant effects on growth, development, and defense system of plants. Many fungal VOCs supported dynamic processes, leading to countless interactions between plants, antagonists, and mutualistic symbionts. The fundamental role of fungal VOCs at field level is required for better understanding, so more studies will offer further constructive scientific evidences that can show the cost-effectiveness of ecofriendly and ecologically produced fungal VOCs for crop welfare

Toward a Flexible Human-Agent Collaboration Framework with Mediating Domain Ontologies for the Semantic Web

Abstract. This paper introduces a human-agent interaction framework that allows human and computational mechanisms to interact in a seamless manner to collaboratively perform problem solving tasks in the Semantic Web. The framework is based on a combination of services supported by intermediate domain ontologies and flexible mapping mechanisms that map agent and human internal representations and external communication protocols. The framework is based on a solid conceptual foundation and can be extended to also incorporate other service-based computational mechanisms such as web services. The central focus of the framework is to encourage contribution by anyone or anything, that might possess useful information, knowledge or expertise for the successful completion of collaborative problem solving tasks. Yet, the problem solving participants are not required to go through a rigorous ontological commitment or have a common communication protocol in order to collaborate

Evaluación de la diversidad genética de cinco poblaciones nicaragüenses de Cedrela odorata L. (Meliaceae) usando marcadores RAPDs

El propósito de este estudio fue evaluar la diversidad genética de poblaciones nicaragüenses de Cedrela odorata usando marcadores RAPD (ADN polimórfico amplificado al azar). Así, se aisló ADN genómico de hojas recolectadas de noventa y dos árboles pertenecientes a cinco poblaciones naturales de C. odorata. Se estimó para cada población el número de alelos por locus, número efectivo de alelos por locus, porcentaje de loci polimórficos, diversidad genética de Nei (He) e índice de diversidad de Shannon (Ho) asumiendo equilibrio de Hardy-Weinberg. La diversidad genética total fue particionada en diversidad intrapoblacional e interpoblacional usando la diferenciación genética de Nei (GST) y el Análisis de Varianza Molecular (AMOVA). La matriz ΦST se usó para construir un dendrograma con el método de neighbor-joining. De acuerdo a los valores de He y Ho, la población de Esquipulas (Departamento de Matagalpa) presentó el nivel de diversidad genética más bajo; mientras que La Trinidad (Departamento de Estelí) mostró el nivel de diversidad más alto. La diferenciación genética fue calculada, obteniendo un GST=13.36%. El análisis de varianza molecular (AMOVA) también mostró un valor de diferenciación similar (ΦST=13.81%). El dendrograma neighbour-joining agrupó a las cinco poblaciones en dos grupos, donde el grupo formado por La Trinidad y El Refugio (departamento de Granada) presentó la diferenciación más grande. No se encontró correlación entre distancias genéticas y geográficas

Notes on Contemporary Table Recognition

Abstract. The shift of interest to web tables in HTML and PDF files, coupled with the incorporation of table analysis and conversion routines in commercial desktop document processing software, are likely to turn table recognition into more of a systems than an algorithmic issue. We illustrate the transition by some actual examples of web table conversion. We then suggest that the appropriate target format for table analysis, whether performed by conventional customized programs or by off-theshelf software, is a representation based on the abstract table introduced by X. Wang in 1996. We show that the Wang model is adequate for some useful tasks that prove elusive for less explicit representations, and outline our plans to develop a semi-automated table processing system to demonstrate this approach. Screen-snaphots of a prototype tool to allow table mark-up in the style of Wang are also presented.

Bringing Web Principles to Services: Ontology-Based Web Services

Researchers are beginning to realize the potential of web services that can use the web as a place for information publication and access as opposed to the traditional webservices paradigm that merely uses the web as a transport medium. Traditional web services can be difficult to discover, can have complex invocation APIs, and require strong coupling between communicating applications. In previous work, we presented ontology-based techniques in which users make service requests using free-form, naturallanguage-like specifications. This paper shows how we can use these ontological techniques to automatically create ontology-based web services that (1) are easy for software agents to discover because they are created based on machine-processable formalisms (ontologies), (2) have invocation APIs requiring only simple read and write operations, and (3) require no a priori agreements regarding types and data formats between communicating applications. Experiments with our prototype implementation in several domains show that our approach can effectively create web services with these characteristics. 1