Crowd-Sourcing Fuzzy and Faceted Classification for Concept Search

Searching for concepts in science and technology is often a difficult task. To facilitate concept search, different types of human-generated metadata have been created to define the content of scientific and technical disclosures. Classification schemes such as the International Patent Classification (IPC) and MEDLINE's MeSH are structured and controlled, but require trained experts and central management to restrict ambiguity (Mork, 2013). While unstructured tags of folksonomies can be processed to produce a degree of structure (Kalendar, 2010; Karampinas, 2012; Sarasua, 2012; Bragg, 2013) the freedom enjoyed by the crowd typically results in less precision (Stock 2007). Existing classification schemes suffer from inflexibility and ambiguity. Since humans understand language, inference, implication, abstraction and hence concepts better than computers, we propose to harness the collective wisdom of the crowd. To do so, we propose a novel classification scheme that is sufficiently intuitive for the crowd to use, yet powerful enough to facilitate search by analogy, and flexible enough to deal with ambiguity. The system will enhance existing classification information. Linking up with the semantic web and computer intelligence, a Citizen Science effort (Good, 2013) would support innovation by improving the quality of granted patents, reducing duplicitous research, and stimulating problem-oriented solution design. A prototype of our design is in preparation. A crowd-sourced fuzzy and faceted classification scheme will allow for better concept search and improved access to prior art in science and technology

Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration associated with lymphoepithelial carcinoma of the tonsil

Background: Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD) is a classical tumor-associated, immune-mediated disease typically associated with gynecological malignancies, small-cell lung-cancer or lymphoma. Case presentation: Here we present the case of a 38-year old male with an over 12 months rapidly progressive cerebellar syndrome. Extensive diagnostic workup revealed selective hypermetabolism of the right tonsil in whole-body PET. Histological examination after tonsillectomy demonstrated a lymphoepithelial carcinoma of the tonsil and the tongue base strongly suggesting a paraneoplastic cause of the cerebellar syndrome. To the best of our knowledge this is the first case of an association of a lymphoepithelial carcinoma, a rare pharyngeal tumor, with PCD. Conclusions: In cases of classical paraneoplastic syndromes an extensive search for neoplasms should be performed including whole-body PET to detect tumors early in the course of the disease

On de-Sitter geometry in crater statistics

The cumulative size-frequency distributions of impact craters on planetary bodies in the solar system appear to approximate a universal inverse square power-law for small crater radii. In this article, we show how this distribution can be understood easily in terms of geometrical statistics, using a de-Sitter geometry of the configuration space of circles on the Euclidean plane and on the unit sphere. The effect of crater overlap is also considered.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted by MNRAS. Version 2: title modified, appendix added, some small change

Adapting workflows to intelligent environments

Intelligent environments aim at supporting the user in executing her everyday tasks, e.g. by guiding her through a maintenance or cooking procedure. This requires a machine processable representation of the tasks for which workflows have proven an efficient means. The increasing number of available sensors in intelligent environments can facilitate the execution of workflows. The sensors can help to recognize when a user has finished a step in the workflow and thus to automatically proceed to the next step. This can heavily reduce the amount of required user interaction. However, manually specifying the conditions for triggering the next step in a workflow is very cumbersome and almost impossible for environments which are not known at design time. In this paper, we present a novel approach for learning and adapting these conditions from observation. We show that the learned conditions can even outperform the quality as conditions manually specified by workflow experts. Thus, the presented approach is very well suited for automatically adapting workflows in intelligent environments and can in that way increase the efficiency of the workflow execution

The Impact of Vitamin E and Other Fat-Soluble Vitamins on Alzheimer´s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly population, currently affecting 46 million people worldwide. Histopathologically, the disease is characterized by the occurrence of extracellular amyloid plaques composed of aggregated amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles containing the microtubule-associated protein tau. Aβ peptides are derived from the sequential processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by enzymes called secretases, which are strongly influenced by the lipid environment. Several vitamins have been reported to be reduced in the plasma/serum of AD-affected individuals indicating they have an impact on AD pathogenesis. In this review we focus on vitamin E and the other lipophilic vitamins A, D, and K, and summarize the current knowledge about their status in AD patients, their impact on cognitive functions and AD risk, as well as their influence on the molecular mechanisms of AD. The vitamins might affect the generation and clearance of Aβ both by direct effects and indirectly by altering the cellular lipid homeostasis. Additionally, vitamins A, D, E, and K are reported to influence further mechanisms discussed to be involved in AD pathogenesis, e.g., Aβ-aggregation, Aβ-induced neurotoxicity, oxidative stress, and inflammatory processes, as summarized in this article

Quasi-homogenous photocatalysis of quantum-sized Fe-doped TiO2_{2} in optically transparent aqueous dispersions

In this study, the preparation of anatase TiO2 nanocrystals via a facile non-aqueous sol–gel route and their characterization are reported. The 3–4 nm particles are readily dispersable in aqueous media and show excellent photoreactivity in terms of rhodamine B degradation. The catalytic performance can be further increased considerably by doping with iron and UV-light irradiation as a pre-treatment. The effect of surface ligands (blocked adsorption sites, surface defects etc.) on the photoreactivity was thoroughly probed using thermogravimetric analysis combined with mass spectrometry. Photoelectrochemical characterization of thin-film electrodes made from the same TiO2 nanocrystals showed the opposite trend to the catalytic experiments, that is, a strong decrease in photocurrent and quantum efficiency upon doping due to introduction of shallow defect states

A política fiscal brasileira após a crise do Subprime de 2008

Esta monografia inicialmente buscou abordar como a crise internacional de 2008 afetou a economia mundial; mas, principalmente a economia brasileira. O objetivo central deste trabalho foi investigar como as medidas adotadas pelas políticas fiscais, em reação a crise de 2008, afetaram as receitas, as despesas e não obstante os resultados primários, dentre outras variáveis macroeconômicas no Brasil, no período de 2008 a 2016. O tema deste trabalho é de suma relevância para compreender importantes alterações no cenário econômico do país. Além de ser muito atual, o período que foi investigado marca uma fase muito importante para economia brasileira; pois, aponta as causas de uma inflexão no resultado primário após vários anos de resultados superavitários. Demonstra também como a política fiscal foi utilizada como mecanismo anticíclico na atividade econômica, em face de sua capacidade de alterar o produto. Para realização deste trabalho utilizou-se referências de diversas obras, de diferentes autores, que abordaram sobre o tema deste trabalho, ou algum outro assunto que esteja associado ao conteúdo do mesmo, em livros e artigos sobre economia. Também foram utilizados artigos publicados em periódicos acadêmicos, dados e relatórios de órgãos oficiais como IBGE, Secretaria do Tesouro Nacional e, outros, sobre indicadores econômicos como PIB, RACMF, RPGC e etc. No fim, percebe-se que, diante dos resultados da economia brasileira, houve um esgotamento do sistema econômico brasileiro que exige crescimento significativo para não comprometer as contas públicas e, conclui-se que, os últimos governos tentaram casar o crescimento econômico com a redução das desigualdades no país.This monograph initially sought to address how the international crisis of 2008 affected the world economy, but mainly the Brazilian economy. The main objective of this study was to investigate how fiscal policy measures, in response to the 2008 crisis, affected revenues, expenditures, and nonetheless, primary outcomes, among other macroeconomic variables in Brazil, from 2008 to 2016 The theme of this work is of great relevance to understand important changes in the economic scenario of the country. In addition to being very current, the period under investigation marks a very important phase for the Brazilian economy, as it points to the causes of an inflection in the primary result after several years of surplus results. It also shows how fiscal policy was used as a countercyclical mechanism in economic activity, due to its ability to change the product. In order to carry out this work, references were made to several works by different authors that dealt with the subject of this work, or some other subject that is associated with its content, in economics books and articles. Articles published in academic journals, data and reports of official agencies such as IBGE, National Treasury Secretariat, etc., on economic indicators such as GDP, RACMF, RPGC, etc. were also used. In the end, one notices that, given the results of the Brazilian economy, there is a depletion of the Brazilian economic system that requires significant growth in order not to compromise the public accounts and, it is concluded, that the last governments tried to marry economic growth by reducing inequalities in the country