BLEU is Not Suitable for the Evaluation of Text Simplification

BLEU is widely considered to be an informative metric for text-to-text generation, including Text Simplification (TS). TS includes both lexical and structural aspects. In this paper we show that BLEU is not suitable for the evaluation of sentence splitting, the major structural simplification operation. We manually compiled a sentence splitting gold standard corpus containing multiple structural paraphrases, and performed a correlation analysis with human judgments. We find low or no correlation between BLEU and the grammaticality and meaning preservation parameters where sentence splitting is involved. Moreover, BLEU often negatively correlates with simplicity, essentially penalizing simpler sentences.Comment: Accepted to EMNLP 2018 (Short papers

BayesCCE: a Bayesian framework for estimating cell-type composition from DNA methylation without the need for methylation reference.

We introduce a Bayesian semi-supervised method for estimating cell counts from DNA methylation by leveraging an easily obtainable prior knowledge on the cell-type composition distribution of the studied tissue. We show mathematically and empirically that alternative methods which attempt to infer cell counts without methylation reference only capture linear combinations of cell counts rather than provide one component per cell type. Our approach allows the construction of components such that each component corresponds to a single cell type, and provides a new opportunity to investigate cell compositions in genomic studies of tissues for which it was not possible before

“E farás uma janela para a arca”: língua, memória e cultura como uma ponte entre o leitor secular e a “biblioteca” judaica

A autora faz uma reflexão sobre a importância da construção de uma ponte que conecte a história e a cultura judaicas com o público secular na Israel do final do século XX,ressaltando que o antagonismo político e social entre o religioso e o secular afeta de modo determinante tanto os laços espirituais quanto os culturais. O estudo analisa as causas responsáveis pelo sentimento de marginalização do público secular, dissociado e alienado da experiência judaica. Na sequência, discute a questão da identidade em relação ao passado e ao presente, valorizando o passado como um patrimônio que sempre existe dentro do presente, explícita ou implicitamente, e afirmando que a Língua Hebraica é uma ponte entre os mundos do passado e os do presente, entre mundos internos e contextos externos, entre memórias comuns e esperanças compartilhadas. O texto apresenta adiante, segundo pesquisa no campo da História Judaica, a diversidadede percepção e significados do Judaísmo, de Deus, do conteúdo da revelação divina, diversidade que expressa aconstante controvérsia sobre a essência do Judaísmo e demonstra que o Judaísmo sempre foi uma força dinâmica e evolutiva, nunca uma realidade incontestável, imutável e única. “A window thou shall make to the Ark”: Language, memory and culture as bridge between secular reader and the Jewish library - Abstract: The author makes a reflection on the importance of building a bridge between Jewish history and culture and the secular public in late twentieth-century Israel, noting that the political and social antagonism between the religious and the secular determinant mode affects both the spiritual and cultural ties. The study analyzes the causes that generate feelings of marginalization in the secular public, dissociated and alienated from the Jewish experience. The author also discusses the issue of identity in relation to the past and the present, highlighting the past as a patrimony which always exists within this, explicitly or implicitly, and stating that Hebrew language is a bridge between the worlds of the past and present, between internal and external worlds, common contexts between memories and shared hopes. She also presents, according to research in the field of Jewish history, the diversity of perception and meanings of Judaism, God and the content of divine revelation, diversity that expresses the constant controversy about the essence of Judaism and demonstrates that Judaism has always been a dynamic and evolutionary force, never just an undeniable reality, immutable and unique

Judaísmo e democracia: o domínio privado e a responsabilidade pública

No presente artigo, discutem-se, sob uma perspectiva sociocultural, a interação e as dicotomias fundamentais entre Judaísmo e Democracia, especialmente na organização política do Estado de Israel. Enquanto a visão religiosa se baseia na eterna autoridade divina, na verdade absoluta, na imutabilidade de certas leis e na concessão de um status especial a certos grupos humanos (o PovoEscolhido, o crente ou a sagrada assembleia), a visão democrática se baseia no poder que emana do próprio homem, em verdades e leis que podem mudar de acordo com as necessidades e com a realidade de uma certa época e na defesa da igualdade humana, independentemente de etnicidade, religião, raça, sexo ou família. Dadas tais características divergentes, defende-se que os princípios democráticos devem ser salvaguardados pela legislação e universalmente aplicados, pois pertencem a todas as pessoasque vivem juntas num país, não apenas a um grupo ou outro. Valores religiosos particulares, por outro lado, que pertencem apenas a um grupo exclusivo, não devem ser aplicados a todos e, certamente, não devem ser impostos por lei. Judaism e Democracy – the private domain and public responsability - Abstract: In the present article we discuss, under a socio-cultural perspective, the interplay and the fundamental dichotomy between Judaism and Democracy, especially in the political organization of the State of Israel. While the religious view is based on eternal divine authority, on absolute truth, on the immutability of certain laws and on the concession of a special status to certain groups of people (the Chosen People, the faithful or the holy assembly), the democratic vision is based on power that emanates from the man, on truths and laws that may change according to the needs and the reality of a certain time and on the defense of human equality, regardless of ethnicity, religion, race, sex or family. Given these divergent characteristics, it is argued that democratic principles must be safeguarded by law and universally applied, because they belong to all persons that live together in a country, not just to one group or another. Moreover, particular religious values, that belong only to an exclusive group, should not be applied to all, and certainly should not be imposed by law