Marrying Universal Dependencies and Universal Morphology

The Universal Dependencies (UD) and Universal Morphology (UniMorph) projects each present schemata for annotating the morphosyntactic details of language. Each project also provides corpora of annotated text in many languages - UD at the token level and UniMorph at the type level. As each corpus is built by different annotators, language-specific decisions hinder the goal of universal schemata. With compatibility of tags, each project's annotations could be used to validate the other's. Additionally, the availability of both type- and token-level resources would be a boon to tasks such as parsing and homograph disambiguation. To ease this interoperability, we present a deterministic mapping from Universal Dependencies v2 features into the UniMorph schema. We validate our approach by lookup in the UniMorph corpora and find a macro-average of 64.13% recall. We also note incompatibilities due to paucity of data on either side. Finally, we present a critical evaluation of the foundations, strengths, and weaknesses of the two annotation projects.Comment: UDW1

Toolkit for sustainable decision making in its deployment

A number of EU-communications have addressed the fact that slow and uncoordinated decision making for ITS deployment on urban, regional and national level is the most urgent problem to be solved in order to utilise the benefits ITS deployment can gain for a sustainable European transportation system. As lack on easy and efficient access to a wide spread ITS knowledge as well as decision making for the deployment is recognised as the key factors for slow down investment on ITS on administration level. The toolkit solution presented in this paper addresses one of the most important ITS deployment related challenges on European level: Support and speed up consistent decision making related to ITS deployment for road and public transport (timely, cost-effective, interoperable, positive impact to urban and interurban mobility, positive cost/benefit ratio). It is planned to implement that solution in the 2DECIDE project, which is funded by the European Commission

WhatsApp-propriate? A retrospective content analysis of WhatsApp use and potential breaches in confidentiality among a team of doctors at a district hospital, South Africa

Background. There has been a steady increase in the use of electronic media and instant messaging among healthcare professionals, where it has been almost universally adopted in the workplace. The use of WhatsApp and its perceived benefits in healthcare have been extensively studied; however, there are concerns regarding the potential for ethical breaches in confidentiality through shared electronic patient information.Objectives. To identify the usage characteristics and incidence of shared patient information with WhatsApp use in a team of medical doctors in an unobserved and unregulated setting.Methods. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional content analysis of WhatsApp messages (n=3 340) among a team of 20 doctors in a South African district hospital over 6 months. All messages found within this time period were allocated unique identifiers. The text and image messages were thematically grouped into four categories, i.e. clinical care, resource allocation, social and administrative. Messages that contained patient-identifying information were included in the analysis.Results. Of a total of 3 340 messages sent, 220 (6.6%) contained patient-identifying information. Of these, 109 (3.3%) contained non-anonymised patient information, while in 111 (3.3%) messages, the information was anonymised. The likelihood of sharing patient identifiers was proportionally much higher in shared images (odds ratio (OR) 5.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.2 - 8.2; p<0.0001) compared with text messages, and in messages that related to clinical care (OR 9.3; 95% CI 2.2 - 38.8; p=0.0023) compared with those sent for resource allocation, and social or administrative purposes.Conclusions. Non-anonymised patient identifiers were found in 3.3% of messages, constituting the potential for breaching patient confidentiality. While WhatsApp groups have significant utility in co-ordinating aspects of clinical care, resource allocation, as well as social and administrative functions, the safe use of WhatsApp should be promoted to ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained

Sustained, multifaceted improvements in mental well-being following psychedelic experiences in a prospective opportunity sample

In the last 15 years, psychedelic substances, such as LSD and psilocybin, have regained legitimacy in clinical research. In the general population as well as across various psychiatric populations, mental well-being has been found to significantly improve after a psychedelic experience. Mental well-being has large socioeconomic relevance, but it is a complex, multifaceted construct. In this naturalistic observational study, a comprehensive approach was taken to assessing well-being before and after a taking a psychedelic compound to induce a “psychedelic experience.” Fourteen measures of well-being related constructs were included in order to examine the breadth and specificity of change in well-being. This change was then analysed to examine clusters of measures changing together. Survey data was collected from volunteers that intended to take a psychedelic. Four key time points were analysed: 1 week before and 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 years after the experience (N = 654, N = 315, N = 212, and N = 64, respectively). Change on the included measures was found to cluster into three factors which we labelled: 1) “Being well”, 2) “Staying well,” and 3) “Spirituality.” Repeated Measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance revealed all but the spirituality factor to be improved in the weeks following the psychedelic experience. Additional Mixed model analyses revealed selective increases in Being Well and Staying Well (but not Spirituality) that remained statistically significant up to 2 years post-experience, albeit with high attrition rates. Post-hoc examination suggested that attrition was not due to differential acute experiences or mental-health changes in those who dropped out vs. those who did not. These findings suggest that psychedelics can have a broad, robust and sustained positive impact on mental well-being in those that have a prior intention to use a psychedelic compound. Public policy implications are discussed

Functional consequences of microRNA regulation by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 3D human bronchial epithelial cells

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of contaminants ubiquitous in the environment and result from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Many PAHs have been identified as procarcinogenic, and are metabolized to form DNA adducts; however, other mechanisms also may contribute to toxicity and help explain differences in toxicity across the wide class of compounds. This study examines the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in mediating toxicity by benzo[a]pyrene (BAP) and dibenzo[def,p]chrysene (DBC) in 3D human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC). miRNAs are short (≤22 nt), non-coding RNA molecules that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. Recent studies have identified dysregulation of miRNA expression in response to BAP, cigarette smoke, and pollution-related lung diseases and cancers. The 3D HBEC model provides a more accurate representation of the effects of PAH toxicity because it is metabolically competent, containing multiple cell types in a pseudostratified model that is more representative of in vivo exposure. This study aims to understand the functional consequences of miRNAs in HBEC after exposure to BAP and DBC, which have previously been found to function through unique mechanisms. Cells were exposed to 500 ug/ml BAP and 10 ug/ml DBC for 48 hrs and samples were collected for RNA isolation and parallel analysis of mRNA and miRNA by RNA sequencing using Illumina HiSeq 3000. Significant (q<0.05) differentially expressed miRNA and mRNA were analyzed in an anti-correlated fashion in Bioinformatics Resource Manager to identify miRNA-mRNA interactions and visualized as networks in Cytoscape to identify patterns of regulation reflecting a response to PAHs. DBC treatments showed more regulation of unique miRNA, with 53 significantly down- and 46 up-regulated miRNAs, compared to BAP’s 14 down- and 35 up-regulated miRNAs. These miRNAs targeted 546 up- and 654 down-regulated genes significant in the DBC dataset, and 176 up- and 750 down-regulated in the BAP. miRNAs uniquely up-regulated in BaP were linked with a more significant response in cell adhesion and developmental processes. In DBC, up-regulated miRNAs showed more significant response overall in regulation of cell cycle, translation, and apoptosis. Processes perturbed by down-regulated miRNA were less consistent, with BaP showing more effect for cytoskeletal and cell cycle processes, while DBC shows more response for cell adhesion and DNA damage. These data are the first to describe the role of miRNAs as regulators of PAH toxicity in primary human 3D HBEC and could represent important mechanisms associated with PAH-mediated lung disease and cancer in humans

Demystifying the use of corporate social responsibility terminology in the investment context

Orientation: Interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) is escalating in the 21st century. Globally, companies are increasingly attempting to enhance their reporting on sustainability concerns, given that terminology can noticeably affect the attitudes and behaviours of investors and other key stakeholders. Research purpose: A growing number of responsible investors incorporate sustainability considerations when making investment decisions. Therefore, it is important to determine the relevant CSR definitions and dimensions based on the breadth of existing research on CSR in the investment context. Motivation for the study: As investors incorporate companies’ reporting on a range of financial and sustainability performance metrics when making investment decisions, it is necessary to clarify sustainability-related terminology from an investor perspective. Research approach/design and method: A systematic literature review was performed to explore sustainability terminology in the investment context with a particular focus on CSR. Content and thematic analyses were conducted on 94 articles. Main findings: The findings confirm that although concepts such as sustainability and corporate citizenship have been used interchangeably with CSR by previous scholars, referral to CSR has remained relevant in the investment context. Eight key dimensions were identified to describe CSR in an investment context, namely, social concerns, stakeholders, economic factors, environment, action, voluntarism, ethics, and sustainability. Practical/managerial implications: The identification of context-specific CSR dimensions provides a foundation for developing CSR measurement tools for investors and corporate decision makers. Contribution/value-add: Eight core dimensions of CSR were identified and combined in a comprehensive, context-specific definition applicable to the investment context