Knowledge-Based Translation of Natural Language into Symbolic Form

We consider the scenario of machines that receive human advice in natural language to revise their object-level knowledge for a domain of interest. Although techniques exist to translate such natural language advice into a symbolic form that is appropriate for machine reasoning, the translation process itself is typically pre-programmed and, thus, it is not amenable to dynamic and gradual improvement , nor can it be adjusted to the linguistic particularities of the advice giver. We seek to examine whether these limitations can be overcome through the use of a knowledge-based translation process. In this position paper we take a first step in this investigation by demonstrating how such meta-level translation knowledge can be engineered to support the interpretation of object-level advice. While, admittedly , our engineering of the meta-level knowledge amounts to pre-programming, it nonetheless pushes towards the automated acquisition of this meta-level knowledge through advice-taking by demonstrating a key prerequisite: that it can be expressed , and reasoned with, under the same syntax and semantics as the object-level knowledge

Life Cycle Assessment of solar-driven oxidation as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents

BACKGROUND: In this work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is utilized to estimate the environmental footprint of solar Fenton oxidation at pilot scale used as a polishing step of secondary-treated urban effluents. All inputs (e.g. natural resources, raw materials, etc.) and outputs (e.g. emissions, etc.) of the process were quantitatively defined and/or estimated. The system under study includes raw materials, energy, land use, chemicals, local transportation needs, and air-/waterborne emissions. RESULTS: The main environmental hotspots of this system were identified (i.e. energy consumption and use of chemicals). The environmental sustainability of this technology was found to be high, since its environmental footprint for the treatment of 1 m3 of wastewater was found to be only 8.7 kg CO2 m−3 , which is approx. 1.6% of the total CO2 emissions of the treatment of the daily effluents of a Cypriot resident. Nevertheless, alternative scenarios were investigated, in order to further enhance its overall environmental performance. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the majority of the environmental impacts of this process could be attributed to indirect emissions, tracing back to electricity generation, followed by emissions from the chemicals used. The most critical improvement identified herein, is the use of a renewable energy source.This work was funded by Nireas, International Water Research Center of the University of Cyprus (NEA YΠOΔOMH ΣTPATH/0308/09), which was co-funded by the European Regional Development 15 Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation. The authors are grateful to the manufacturer company of the solar pilot plant, S.K. Euromarket Ltd, for providing technical support

Assessing the quality of concrete – reinforcement interface in Self Compacting Concrete

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. This manuscript is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For further details please see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Research has shown that even self-compacting concrete (SCC) mixtures can exhibit the so-called “top-bar effect” which impacts bond and anchorage. Several instances of conflicting results have nevertheless been published regarding interfacial bond between self-compacting concrete and steel reinforcement. The scope of this paper is to present an experimental methodology for assessing the quality of the interface between self-compacting concrete and ribbed reinforcement. For this purpose, seven different self-compacting and four normally vibrated concrete (NVC) mixtures with diverse rheological characteristics were examined. Digital Image Analysis of cut sections containing reinforcing bars at different cast-heights was used as a diagnostic tool. The study illustrates that the quality of the interface is strongly affected by the viscosity of the SCC mixtures and by the slump values in NVC. Self-compacting concrete mixtures show greater inherent robustness and cohesion at the steel–concrete interface compared to conventionally vibrated concretes.Peer reviewe

Approaching “highly sensitive person” as a cultural concept of distress: a case-study using the cultural formulation interview in patients with bipolar disorder

BackgroundPsychiatric patients may refer to concepts neither medically accepted nor easily understood to describe their experiences when seeking medical care. These concepts may lie outside the clinician’s cultural references and consequently hinder the diagnostic consultation. In the fifth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the clinical instrument Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) was included. The CFI aims to facilitate the gathering and synthesis of culturally relevant clinical information. The notion of Cultural Concepts of Distress (CCD) was also introduced in DSM-5. The CCD include the subterms of the cultural syndrome, cultural explanation, and cultural idiom of distress. No previous study has used CFI for conceptualizing a cultural notion as a CCD. This study aimed to approach the cultural notion of being a highly sensitive person (HSP) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) by applying the CFI. The cultural notion of HSP has garnered great interest globally, although scientific evidence is limited. No direct correlation between BD and HSP was hypothesized before or during the study process.MethodsIn this case study, three patients with BD who reported being HSP were interviewed using the CFI. Furthermore, the applicability of the CCD was examined based on the outcomes of the CFI using an interpretive approach.ResultsAll three patients reported that the CFI facilitated the clinical consultation, and in one of the cases, it may also have increased the treatment engagement. Based on the synthesis of the CFI outcomes in these illustrative cases, HSP could be understood as a cultural syndrome, a cultural explanation, and a cultural idiom of distress.ConclusionBy applying a person-centered perspective, CFI was used for the conceptualization of a cultural notion as a CCD (i.e., HSP in our study). Moreover, the cases highlight the complexity of illness insight in BD as a medical phenomenon when patients’ illness perspectives are taken into consideration. Future studies need to further examine the clinical relevance of the CFI in the management of BD

Multifunctional enzyme engineering by computational design for lignocellulosic valorization

Biomass- acting enzymes are vital components of biorefinery processes that aim to convert complex, lignocellulosic biomass into fuels, chemicals and materials and therefore, much effort has focused on the improvement of their characteristics (activity, stability, cost of production, etc) as well as on the discovery and development of novel enzymes. Metagenomic approaches revealed that in the Bacteroidetes phylum functionally related genes are often organized in characteristic clusters, known as Polysaccharide Utilization Loci (PUL) reflecting that biomass- acting enzymes act in synergy and that enzyme proximity is important to target complex substrates. In this study we designed a tailored made multifunctional enzyme, combining enzymes isolated from a xylan PUL (1). Computational simulations were performed to define and optimize engineered versions of a multi-domain GH10 endo- xylanase by replacing carbohydrate binding module (CBM) and grafting two new catalytic domains: either a GH43 xylosidase or a CE1 carbohydrate-esterase activities also present in the same PUL. The multifunctional enzymes were then experimentally assessed, demonstrating that chimeric GH10-GH43 had both activities and thus represents a powerful biological tool for hemicellulose deconstruction. Bastien, G., et al. (2013). Mining for hemicellulases in the fungus-growing termite Pseudacanthotermes militaris using functional metagenomics. Biotechnology for biofuels 6(1): 7

Swedish version of mood spectrum self-report questionnaire: Psychometric properties of lifetime and last-week version

Background: Mood Spectrum Self Report (MOODS-SR) is an instrument that assesses mood spectrum symptomatology including subthreshold manifestations and temperamental features. There are different versions of the MOODS-SR for different time frames of symptom assessment: lifetime (MOODS-LT), last-month and last-week (MOODS-LW) versions. Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the MOODS-LT the MOODS-LW. Methods: The reliability of the MOODS-LT and MOODS-LW was evaluated in terms of internal consistency and partial correlations among domains and subdomains. The known-group validity was tested by comparing out-patients with bipolar disorder (n=27), unipolar depression (n=8) healthy controls (n=68). The convergent and divergent validity of MOODS-LW were evaluated using the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Young-Ziegler Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) in outpatients as well the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) in healthy controls. Results: Both MOODS-LT and MOOODS-LW showed high internal consistency with the Kuder-Richardson coefficient ranging from 0.823 to 0.985 as well as consistent correlations for all domains and subdomains. The last-week version correlated significantly with MADRS (r= 0.79) and YMRS (r=0.46) in outpatients and with GHQ-12 (r= 0.50 for depression domain, r= 0.29 for rhythmicity) in healthy controls. Conclusion: The Swedish version of the MOODS-LT showed similar psychometric properties to other translated versions. Regarding MOODSLW, this first published psychometric evaluation of the scale showed promising psychometric properties including good correlation to established symptom assessment scales. In healthy controls, the depression and rhythmicity domain scores of the last-week version correlated significantly with the occurrence of mild psychological distress

Predicting the impacts of chemical pollutants on animal groups

Wildlife are exposed to an increasing number and diversity of chemical pollutants.Chemical pollutants can elicit a range of sublethal effects on individual organisms, but research on how these contaminants affect social interactions and animal groups is severely lacking.It is imperative that perspectives from behavioural ecology and ecotoxicology are integrated, to increase our understanding of how contaminant effects on individuals might cascade to group-level processes.We present a conceptual framework for researchers and practitioners to guide the study of how chemical pollutants might affect the emergence, organisation, and function of animal social groups.Chemical pollution is among the fastest-growing agents of global change. Synthetic chemicals with diverse modes-of-action are being detected in the tissues of wildlife and pervade entire food webs. Although such pollutants can elicit a range of sublethal effects on individual organisms, research on how chemical pollutants affect animal groups is severely lacking. Here we synthesise research from two related, but largely segregated fields – ecotoxicology and behavioural ecology – to examine pathways by which chemical contaminants could disrupt processes that govern the emergence, self-organisation, and collective function of animal groups. Our review provides a roadmap for prioritising the study of chemical pollutants within the context of sociality and highlights important methodological advancements for future research