The Narrator: NLG for digital storytelling

We present the Narrator, an NLG component used for the generation of narratives in a digital storytelling system. We describe how the Narrator works and show some examples of generated stories

An annotated checklist of the Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the Guianas

A checklist of the Scarabaeoidea (except Passalidae) of the Guianas (Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) is presented for the first time. Both recorded and potential species are included, the latter defined as being recorded from Brazil north of the Amazon/Rio Negro main channel or from Venezuela east of the Orinoco main channel. The checklist contains a total of 930 species and subspecies, with 265 validly recorded from Guyana (eight new country records), 388 from Suriname (146 new country records), 531 from French Guiana (four new country records) and 177 additional species recorded from contiguous areas of neighboring Brazil and Venezuela. Valid names as well as selected synonyms are provided. Multiple notes on presently recognized subspecies, nomenclatural problems, doubtful type localities, historical misidentifications, etc. are included. An extensive reference list is provided

The automatic generation of narratives

We present the Narrator, a Natural Language Generation component used in a digital storytelling system. The system takes as input a formal representation of a story plot, in the form of a causal network relating the actions of the characters to their motives and their consequences. Based on this input, the Narrator generates a narrative in Dutch, by carrying out tasks such as constructing a Document Plan, performing aggregation and ellipsis and the generation of appropriate referring expressions. We describe how these tasks are performed and illustrate the process with examples, showing how this results in the generation of coherent and well-formed narrative texts

Generating ellipsis using discourse structures

This article describes an effort to generate elliptic sentences, using Dependency Trees connected by Discourse Relations as input. We contend that the process of syntactic aggregation should be performed in the Surface Realization stage of the language generation process, and that Dependency Trees with Rhetorical Relations are excellent input for a generation system that has to generate ellipsis. We also propose a taxonomy of the most common Dutch cue words, grouped according to the kind of discourse relations they signal

Infants at very high risk of cerebral palsy:a challenging population

In general, developmental course of newborns is hard to predict. Risk factors, such as brain lesions or atypical movements, assist prediction of neurodevelopmental disorders, including cerebral palsy (CP). CP is the most common physical disability in paediatrics, causing limited mobility, often due to spasticity. In the present PhD-thesis, effects of early intervention in infants at very high risk of CP are studied. Typical infant physiotherapy (TIP) has been compared with a new developed intervention method: COPing with and CAring for infants with special needs - a family centred programme. Interventions have been studied in two different projects: the VIP-project (2003-2005) and the LEARN2MOVE 0-2-project (2008-2015). After applying one of the two mentioned intervention methods, child and family outcome in the two groups was similar. Detailed analysis of the contents of the interventions, indicated several positive associations between specific COPCA-elements and outcome: with child outcome in the VIP-project and with family outcome in the LEARN2MOVE 0-2-project. Analyses of the contents of intervention showed increasing family involvement over the years in the TIP-intervention. To be able to study outcome of intervention studies adequately, appropriate measurements are needed. Therefore, some suggestions have been provided for specific motor measurements for infants at high risk of CP. With the results of this thesis, we hope to improve care for infants at very high risk of CP and their families

Structural characterization of ion translocation by the chimeric potassium uptake system KdpFABC

We elucidated a unique transport mechanism by a protein complex that can transport potassium with high affinity and selectivity against a steep gradient. Potassium regulation is vital for bacterial cells. A shortage of potassium leads to a failure of metabolic processes. In this thesis we explored the KdpFABC complex located in the membrane, which is synthesized when the external potassium concentration is very low, and acts as an emergency potassium uptake system. This complex consists of two main subunits, the transporter KdpB which consumes energy and the ion uptake channel KdpA. Uptake channels provide selectivity and affinity and transporters mediate transport against the gradient. Usually, transporters and uptake channels can function independently. Therefore, our main question was how these units teamed-up. We found a unique tunnel between KdpA and KdpB that mediated movement of potassium between the two units. Furthermore, we found a lipid between KdpA and KdpB, that was identified as a cardiolipin, which was shown to be important for the function of the complex. When the bacterial cell returns to a potassium rich environment, there is a need for KdpFABC to be repressed. We found that upon modification of a specific residue, two distinctive inhibitory conformations of the complex could be obtained. One of these conformations irreversibly locks the complex. Altogether, the analysis presented in this thesis provide a deep understanding of the KdpFABC complex, and can be used to better understand surviving mechanisms of bacterial cells

Infants at very high risk of cerebral palsy:a challenging population

In general, developmental course of newborns is hard to predict. Risk factors, such as brain lesions or atypical movements, assist prediction of neurodevelopmental disorders, including cerebral palsy (CP). CP is the most common physical disability in paediatrics, causing limited mobility, often due to spasticity. In the present PhD-thesis, effects of early intervention in infants at very high risk of CP are studied. Typical infant physiotherapy (TIP) has been compared with a new developed intervention method: COPing with and CAring for infants with special needs - a family centred programme. Interventions have been studied in two different projects: the VIP-project (2003-2005) and the LEARN2MOVE 0-2-project (2008-2015). After applying one of the two mentioned intervention methods, child and family outcome in the two groups was similar. Detailed analysis of the contents of the interventions, indicated several positive associations between specific COPCA-elements and outcome: with child outcome in the VIP-project and with family outcome in the LEARN2MOVE 0-2-project. Analyses of the contents of intervention showed increasing family involvement over the years in the TIP-intervention. To be able to study outcome of intervention studies adequately, appropriate measurements are needed. Therefore, some suggestions have been provided for specific motor measurements for infants at high risk of CP. With the results of this thesis, we hope to improve care for infants at very high risk of CP and their families

\u3ci\u3eCyclocephala kuijteni\u3c/i\u3e (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), a new species from Suriname

Cyclocephala kuijteni, new species (Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae: Cyclocephalini), is described from Suriname. It is illustrated together with its aedeagus, and the characteristics differentiating it from the most similar species C. castanea (Olivier), C. hardyi Endrödi and C. pygidialis Joly are briefly discussed. The New World genus Cyclocephala Dejean, 1821 contains about 360 described species, with most representatives occurring in the Neotropics (Ratcliffe and Cave 2015). While investigating the scarabaeoid fauna of Suriname with my son Auke, we collected a large number of Cyclocephala specimens with a so-called mothing sheet, including a single male specimen I was unable to identify. The general shape of this specimen resembles C. cas­tanea (Olivier, 1789), which is widespread in the Guiana Shield (Hielkema and Hielkema 2019) and common in Suriname (personal observation), but it is notably smaller and much darker with a differently shaped aedeagus. Cyclocephala hardyi Endrödi, 1975, a species known from Guyana and Brazil (Hielkema and Hielkema 2019), is externally rather similar to C. castanea. Joly (2000) discusses the morphological differences between these two species and describes the closely related C. pygidialis from Venezuela. Externally, the newly found speci­men is easily distinguished from these three species by its very dark appearance, while its aedeagus most closely resembles that of C. hardyi. All these species share a notably enlarged pronotum. This paper serves to describe this previously unknown species