National Language Technology Platform (NLTP) : The Final Stage

The final stage and the demo of the National Language Technology Platform (NLTP) developed within the CEF action of the same name is present- ed in this paper. The action aims at combining the most advanced language technology tools and solutions in a new state-of-the-art, artificial-intelligence- driven, web-based national platform for language technology oriented primarily towards users from public administrations of partner states. The Platform com- bines into a single framework the CAT tools, the TMs usage and management, the terminology management, several different MT engines and other language technology modules.peer-reviewe

Characterization of the Proteostasis Roles of Glycerol Accumulation, Protein Degradation and Protein Synthesis during Osmotic Stress in C. elegans

Exposure of C. elegans to hypertonic stress-induced water loss causes rapid and widespread cellular protein damage. Survival in hypertonic environments depends critically on the ability of worm cells to detect and degrade misfolded and aggregated proteins. Acclimation of C. elegans to mild hypertonic stress suppresses protein damage and increases survival under more extreme hypertonic conditions. Suppression of protein damage in acclimated worms could be due to 1) accumulation of the chemical chaperone glycerol, 2) upregulation of protein degradation activity, and/or 3) increases in molecular chaperoning capacity of the cell. Glycerol and other chemical chaperones are widely thought to protect proteins from hypertonicity-induced damage. However, protein damage is unaffected by gene mutations that inhibit glycerol accumulation or that cause dramatic constitutive elevation of glycerol levels. Pharmacological or RNAi inhibition of proteasome and lyosome function and measurements of cellular protein degradation activity demonstrated that upregulation of protein degradation mechanisms plays no role in acclimation. Thus, changes in molecular chaperone capacity must be responsible for suppressing protein damage in acclimated worms. Transcriptional changes in chaperone expression have not been detected in C. elegans exposed to hypertonic stress. However, acclimation to mild hypertonicity inhibits protein synthesis 50–70%, which is expected to increase chaperone availability for coping with damage to existing proteins. Consistent with this idea, we found that RNAi silencing of essential translational components or acute exposure to cycloheximide results in a 50–80% suppression of hypertonicity-induced aggregation of polyglutamine-YFP (Q35::YFP). Dietary changes that increase protein production also increase Q35::YFP aggregation 70–180%. Our results demonstrate directly for the first time that inhibition of protein translation protects extant proteins from damage brought about by an environmental stressor, demonstrate important differences in aging- versus stress-induced protein damage, and challenge the widely held view that chemical chaperones are accumulated during hypertonic stress to protect protein structure/function

The Best of Both Worlds: A Framework for Combining Degradation Prediction with High Performance Super-Resolution Networks

To date, the best-performing blind super-resolution (SR) techniques follow one of two paradigms: (A) train standard SR networks on synthetic low-resolution–high-resolution (LR–HR) pairs or (B) predict the degradations of an LR image and then use these to inform a customised SR network. Despite significant progress, subscribers to the former miss out on useful degradation information and followers of the latter rely on weaker SR networks, which are significantly outperformed by the latest architectural advancements. In this work, we present a framework for combining any blind SR prediction mechanism with any deep SR network. We show that a single lightweight metadata insertion block together with a degradation prediction mechanism can allow non-blind SR architectures to rival or outperform state-of-the-art dedicated blind SR networks. We implement various contrastive and iterative degradation prediction schemes and show they are readily compatible with high-performance SR networks such as RCAN and HAN within our framework. Furthermore, we demonstrate our framework’s robustness by successfully performing blind SR on images degraded with blurring, noise and compression. This represents the first explicit combined blind prediction and SR of images degraded with such a complex pipeline, acting as a baseline for further advancements

Securitisation from Below: The Relationship between immigration and foreign policy in South Africa's Approach to the Zimbabwe Crisis

The political and economic debacle in Zimbabwe has led to a large-scale influx of Zimbabweans into neighbouring South Africa. This article argues that there is a complex and significant link between the domestic response to this immigration influx and South Africa’s foreign policy towards Zimbabwe. South Africa’s foreign and security policy elite preferred to use an immigration approach of benign neglect as a tool to promote its ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach towards the Zimbabwean regime, treating the influx as a ‘non-problem’. But increased xenophobic violence, vigilantism and protests in townships and informal settlements against Zimbabwean and other African immigrants, culminating in widespread riots across the country in 2008, contributed to a change not only in immigration policy but also in the mediation efforts towards the Zimbabwean parties. I argue that this foreign policy change was pushed by a process of ‘securitisation from below’, where the understanding of Zimbabwean immigrants as a security threat were promoted not by traditional security elites but by South Africa’s marginalised urban poor

Investigation of radionuclides and anthropic tracer migration in groundwater at the Chernobyl site

International audienceFollowing the reactor 4 explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP), at least 1019 Bq of radionuclides (RN) were released in the environment. In order to protect workers and prevent further atmospheric RN dispersion in the area adjacent to the ChNPP, contaminated wastes including fuel particles, topsoil layer and forest remains were buried in approximately 800 shallow trenches in the sand formation in the Red Forest waste dump site [1]. No containment measures were taken, and since then RN have leaked to the unsaturated zone and to the groundwater. Since 1999, migration of RN in the vicinity of the trench 22 at Red Forest site has been investigated within the frame of the EPIC program carried out by IRSN in collaboration with UIAR and IGS [2, 3]. A plume of 90Sr was shown downgradient from the trench 22 with activites reaching 3750 Bq/L [2]. In 2008, further studies were initiated through the TRASSE research group, based on a collaboration between IRSN and CNRS. These programs aim at combining groundwater dating with RN migration monitoring studies in order to constrain RN transport models [3]. Groundwater residence time was investigated based on 3H/He and CFC. Both tracers led to ages ranging from modern (1-3 y) at 2 m depth below the groundwater table to significantly higher apparent ages of 50-60 y at 27 m below the groundwater table [3]. 36Cl/Cl ratios 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than the theoretical natural ratio are measured in groundwater. Similarly, SF6 shows concentrations as high as 1200 pptv while natural concentrations are in the order of 6-7 pptv. Based on apparent groundwater ages, both contaminations are linked to the Chernobyl explosion. Hence those tracers show excellent potential to constrain conservative and reactive transport, respectively. In contrast, 238U/235U ratio down gradient from trench 22 remains similar to the natural ratio. This suggests that either most of the U contained in the trench is in a non soluble form, associated with U-Zr matrix fuel particles [5] and/or that migration of U is limited due to redox processes and/or microbial activity. The above described experience of post-Chernobyl studies shows that a combined analysis of radionuclides, natural and anthropogenic tracers provides an efficient research tool to better understand and quantify contaminant transport processes in the geo-sphere. Similar approaches can be applied to the study transport of RN in the subsurface, issued from both, diffuse (contaminated watersheds) and point (damaged NPP and fuel storage units) radioactive sources produced by the Fukushima accident. References [1] Dzhepo S. P., Skalskyy A., 2002, In Chernobyl disaster and groundwater, Shestopalov, V., Ed. A.A. Balkema: Lisse, pp 25-70. [2] Dewiere L., Bugai D. et al., 2004, J. Environ. Radioactiv., 74, (1-3), 139-150. [3] Van Meir N., Bugaï, et al., 2009, in: Oughton, D.H., Kashparov, V. (Eds.), Radioactive Particles in the Environment. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., pp.197-208. [4] Le Gal La Salle C., Aquilina L., et al., 2012, Appl. Geochem., 27 1304-1319. [5] Kashparov V.A., Ahamdach N., et. al., 2004, J. Environ. Radioactiv., 72, 335-353

Rate of Chiari I Malformation in Children of Mothers with Depression with and without Prenatal SSRI Exposure

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are frequently prescribed to pregnant women. Therefore, research on in utero exposure to SSRIs can be helpful in informing patients and clinicians. The aim of this retrospective two-cohort study was to determine whether there is a statistically significant increase in Chiari I malformations (CIM) in children exposed to SSRIs during pregnancy. A total of 33 children whose mothers received a diagnosis of depression and took SSRIs during pregnancy (SSRI-exposed cohort) were matched to 66 children with no history of maternal depression and no SSRI exposure. In addition, 30 children whose mothers received a diagnosis of depression, but did not receive antidepressants during pregnancy (history of maternal depression cohort), were matched to 60 children with no history of maternal depression and no SSRI exposure. Main outcome was presence/absence of CIM on MRI scans at 1 and/or 2 years of age. Scans were reviewed by two independent neuroradiologists who were blind to exposure status. The SSRI-exposed children were significantly more likely to be classified as CIM than comparison children with no history of maternal depression and no SSRI exposure (18% vs 2%, p=0.003, OR estimate 10.32, 95% Wald confidence limits 2.04–102.46). Duration of SSRI exposure, SSRI exposure at conception, and family history of depression increased the risk. The history of maternal depression cohort did not differ from comparison children with no history of maternal depression and no SSRI exposure in occurrence of CIM (7% vs 5%, p=0.75, OR estimate 1.44, 95% Wald confidence limits 0.23–7.85). Replication is needed, as is additional research to clarify whether SSRIs directly impact risk for CIM or whether this relationship is mediated by severity of depressive symptoms during pregnancy. We would discourage clinicians from altering their prescribing practices until such research is available

A highly virulent variant of HIV-1 circulating in the Netherlands

We discovered a highly virulent variant of subtype-B HIV-1 in the Netherlands. One hundred nine individuals with this variant had a 0.54 to 0.74 log10 increase (i.e., a ~3.5-fold to 5.5-fold increase) in viral load compared with, and exhibited CD4 cell decline twice as fast as, 6604 individuals with other subtype-B strains. Without treatment, advanced HIV-CD4 cell counts below 350 cells per cubic millimeter, with long-term clinical consequences-is expected to be reached, on average, 9 months after diagnosis for individuals in their thirties with this variant. Age, sex, suspected mode of transmission, and place of birth for the aforementioned 109 individuals were typical for HIV-positive people in the Netherlands, which suggests that the increased virulence is attributable to the viral strain. Genetic sequence analysis suggests that this variant arose in the 1990s from de novo mutation, not recombination, with increased transmissibility and an unfamiliar molecular mechanism of virulence