2,195 research outputs found
Unsupervised Induction of Modern Standard Arabic Verb Classes
We exploit the resources in the Arabic Treebank (ATB) for the novel task of automatically creating lexical semantic verb classes for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Verbs are clustered into groups that share semantic elements of meaning as they exhibit similar syntactic behavior. The results of the clustering experiments are compared with a gold standard set of classes, which is approximated by using the noisy English translations provided in the ATB to create Levin-like classes for MSA. The quality of the clusters is found to be sensitive to the inclusion of information about lexical heads of the constituents in the syntactic frames, as well as parameters of the clustering algorithm. The best set of parameters yields an Fβ=1 score of 0.501, compared to a random baseline with an Fβ=1 score of 0.37
Namaste in the USA: The Growing Pains that Traditional Yoga Faces in America – An International Marketing Case Study
Yoga is a mind, body, and spiritual practice that originated nearly 5,000 years in India. It is known to relieve stress, enhance athletic performance, increase strength and flexibility as well as assist in achieving inner peace, focus, and improving mental wellness. In recent years, the practice of yoga has grown exponentially in the United States with about 37 million practitioners in 2016. However, the future growth of yoga in the U.S faces some critical challenges. American innovations in yoga techniques and the rise of the yoga accessories industry with deep linkages with consumerism, is drawing the practice away from its philosophical roots which emphasizes mental and spiritual benefits. A shortage of qualified instructors is exacerbating this problem. Further, the practice of yoga in the U.S seems to be mainly by females and concentrated largely in urban areas and East/West coast, thus, precluding its mass adoption. Also, although yoga has many health benefits across ages, and many schools have started adopting it, there has been some backlash due to its roots in Hinudism. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is also on the rise, in the U.S. which could have adverse impact on yoga which is clearly linked to India and Hinduism. This case study examines the practice and background of yoga and its rising popularity in the United States. It delves into the many challenges that yoga faces in becoming a part of mainstream health/wellness and fitness industry. Additionally, the case study poses critical marketing questions related to the scalability of its adoption in the United States…a challenge that the Brahmans, Rishis, and Yogis who created this practice thousands of years ago in India could never have foreseen
Single polaron properties of the breathing-mode Hamiltonian
We investigate numerically various properties of the one-dimensional (1D)
breathing-mode polaron. We use an extension of a variational scheme to compute
the energies and wave-functions of the two lowest-energy eigenstates for any
momentum, as well as a scheme to compute directly the polaron Greens function.
We contrast these results with results for the 1D Holstein polaron. In
particular, we find that the crossover from a large to a small polaron is
significantly sharper. Unlike for the Holstein model, at moderate and large
couplings the breathing-mode polaron dispersion has non-monotonic dependence on
the polaron momentum k. Neither of these aspects is revealed by a previous
study based on the self-consistent Born approximation
Momentum average approximation for models with electron-phonon coupling dependent on the phonon momentum
We generalize the momentum average (MA) approximation to study the properties
of models with momentum-dependent electron-phonon coupling. As in the case of
the application of the original MA to the Holstein model, the results are
analytical, numerically trivial to evaluate, exact for both zero bandwidth and
for zero electron-phonon coupling, and are accurate everywhere in parameter
space. Comparison with available numerical data confirms this accuracy. We then
show that further improvements can be obtained based on variational
considerations, using the one-dimensional breathing-mode Hamiltonian as a
specific example. For example, by using this variational MA, we obtain ground
state energies within at most 0.3% error of the numerical data.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure
Epidemiology of brain tumors in the United Arab Emirates: A National Registry Cross-sectional Study
© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Cancer is the third leading cause of death in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); brain cancer ranks 10th among the cancers, with 2.9% of the primary cancers originating from the nervous system. The epidemiology of brain cancers has not been explored. The unique population dynamics of UAE make it a fertile ground for analyzing the epidemiology of brain cancer. In this study, we aim to look at the frequency patterns and distribution of malignant primary brain tumors in the UAE. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out using data obtained from the Tawam Hospital Cancer Registry for the years 1984-2017. The sample size included 756 diagnosed cases of malignant primary brain tumors in the UAE. Using SPSS and Excel software, frequencies, mean ages, histological type frequencies, average annual crude incidence rates and average annual age adjusted incidence rates were analyzed. Results: The expatriate population had higher percentage of brain tumors (72%) than the locals. The mean age at diagnosis was 33.48 years (± 21.14 years) with a male to female ratio of 1.69. Diffuse astrocytic and oligodendroglial tumors were the most commonly diagnosed tumors overall. Older adults had more cases of lymphoma while embryonal and ependymal tumors were most commonly seen in younger age groups. The overall average annual crude incidence rate for 2013-2016 for all primary brain tumors was 0.56 per 100,000 population. Conclusion: This is the first cancer registry study in the UAE that describes histological types of primary brain tumors based on the WHO 2016 classification of brain tumors and highlights their incidence rates. Through this study, several patterns of incidence trends for brain tumors in the UAE, according to histological types, sex and age groups have been recognized. Comparative studies would help identify the influence of potential changes in lifestyle, environmental or occupational risk factors on primary brain tumors
Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Autism is a disorder of early childhood characterized by social impairment, communication abnormalities and stereotyped behaviors. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis deserves special attention, since it is the basis for emotions and social interactions that are affected in autism.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To assess basal and stimulated plasma cortisol, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels in autistic children and their relationship to disease characteristics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fifty autistic children were studied in comparison to 50 healthy age-, sex- and pubertal stage- matched children. All subjects were subjected to clinical evaluation and measurement of plasma cortisol (basal and stimulated) and ACTH. In addition, electroencephalography (EEG) and intelligence quotient (IQ) assessment were done for all autistic children.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixteen% of autistic patients had high ACTH, 10% had low basal cortisol and 10% did not show adequate cortisol response to ACTH stimulation. Autistic patients had lower basal (p = 0.032) and stimulated cortisol (p = 0.04) and higher ACTH (p = 0.01) than controls. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score correlated positively with ACTH (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and negatively with each of basal (r = -0.64, p = 0.04) and stimulated cortisol (r = -0.88, p < 0.001). Hormonal profile did not differ in relation to EEG abnormalities, IQ and self- aggressive symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The observed hormonal changes may be due to a dysfunction in the HPA axis in autistic individuals. Further studies are warranted regarding the role of HPA axis dysfunction in the pathogenesis of autism.</p
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