Using triangulation to identify word senses

Word sense disambiguation is the task of determining which sense of a word is intended from its context. Previous methods have found the lack of training data and the restrictiveness of dictionaries' choices of senses to be major stumbling blocks. A robust novel algorithm is presented that uses multiple dictionaries, the Internet, clustering and triangulation to attempt to discern the most useful senses of a given word and learn how they can be disambiguated. The algorithm is explained, and some promising sample results are given

Owners, traders and providers of capital: the multiple faces of institutional investors

We draw on a series of in-depth interviews with senior fund managers and senior company executives to explore how different and often-contradictory conceptualizations of institutional investors, their role in the corporate governance process, and their interactions with corporate management, are reflected in the attitudes and perceptions of the actors concerned. We find that while conceptualizations in terms of agency and ownership dominate both academic and popular discourses, the actors conceptualize institutional investors more as financial traders and, from the management perspective, politically powerful resource providers.corporate governance, institutional investors, power, resource dependence,shareholder value.

Surgical force detection probe

The development progress of a precision electro-mechanical instrument which allows the detection and documentation of the forces and moment applied to human tissue during surgery (under actual operation room conditions), is reported. The pen-shaped prototype probe which measures 1/2 inch in diameter and 7 inches in length was fabricated using an aerodynamic balance. The aerodynamic balance, a standard wind tunnel force and moment sensing transducer, measures the forces and the moments transmitted through the surgeon's hand to the human tissue during surgery. The prototype probe which was fabricated as a development tool was tested successfully. The final version of the surgical force detection probe will be designed based on additional laboratory tests in order to establish the full scale loads. It is expected that the final product will require a simplified aerodynamic balance with two or three force components and one moment component with lighter full scale loads. A signal conditioner was fabricated to process and display the outputs from the prototype probe. This unit will be interfaced with a PC-based data system to provide automatic data acquisition, data processing, and graphics display. The expected overall accuracy of the probe is better than one percent full scale

The corporate-fund manager interface: objectives, information and valuation

Fund managers are the primary investment decision-makers in the stock market, and corporate executives are their primary sources of information. Meetings between the two are therefore central to stock market investment decisions but are surprisingly under-researched. There is little in the academic literature concerning their aims, content and outcomes. We report findings from interview research conducted with chief financial officers (CFOs) and investor relations managers from FTSE 100 companies and with chief investment officers (CIOs) and fund managers (FMs) from large institutional investors. Of particular interest we note that FMs place great reliance on discounted cash flow valuation models (despite informational asymmetry in favour of CFOs). This leads the former to seek to control encounters with the latter and to place great store on the clarity and consistency of corporate messages, ultimately relying on them for purposes other than estimating fundamental value. We consider some of the consequences of this usage.valuation, institutional shareholders, investor relations

Dishing the dirt: sediments reveal a famous early human cave site was also home to hyenas and wolves

Denisova Cave in Siberia\u27s Altai Mountains is one of the world\u27s most important archaeological sites. It is famous for preserving evidence of three early human groups: Neanderthals, early Homo sapiens, and a third group known as the Denisovans. Fossil bones, stone tools and ancient DNA gathered from the cave have told a story that is extremely significant for understanding the early chapters of human evolution in Asia, going back 300,000 years. But our new analysis of the cave\u27s dirt floor reveals that it was also frequented by hyenas, wolves, and even bears for much of its history

Simvastatin inhibits L-type Ca2+-channel activity through impairment of mitochondrial function

© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. Plasma membrane ion channels and mitochondrial electron transport complexes (mETC) are recognized "off targets" for certain drugs. Simvastatin is one such drug, a lipophilic statin used to treat hypercholesterolemia, but which is also associated with adverse effects like myopathy and increased risk of glucose intolerance. Such myopathy is thought to arise through adverse actions of simvastatin on skeletal muscle mETC and mitochondrial respiration. In this study, we investigated whether the glucose intolerance associated with simvastatin is also mediated via adverse effects on mETC in pancreatic beta-cells because mitochondrial respiration underlies insulin secretion from these cells, an effect in part mediated by promotion of Ca2+ influx via opening of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs). We used murine pancreatic beta-cells to investigate these ideas. Mitochondrial membrane potential, oxygen consumption, and ATP-sensitive-K+- channel activity were monitored as markers of mETC activity, respiration, and cellular ATP/ADP ratio respectively; Ca2+ channel activity and Ca2+ influx were also measured. In intact beta-cells, simvastatin inhibited oxidative respiration (IC50 approximately 3 mM) and mETC (1 0.1 mM reversed activation of VGCCs by glucose but had no significant effect in the sugar s absence. The VGCC effects were mimicked by rotenone which also decreased respiration and ATP/ADP. This study demonstrates modulation of beta-cell VGCC activity by mitochondrial respiration and their sensitivity to mETC inhibitors. This reveals a novel outcome for the action of drugs like simvastatin for which mETC is an "off target"

The Use of App-based Follow-up of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices

There has been a steady rise in the number of patients treated with cardiac implantable electrical devices. Remote monitoring and remote follow-up have proven superior to conventional care in the follow-up of these patients and represent the new standard of care. With the widespread availability of smartphones and with more people using them for health queries, app-based remote care offers a promising new digital health solution promoting the shift of follow-up to exception-based assessments. It focuses on patients’ enablement and has shown promising results, but also highlights the need to increase the system’s automaticity to achieve acceptable follow-up adherence rates. MyCareLink Heart is a fully automated app-based system that represents the next generation of app-based monitoring and is currently being evaluated in an international study with promising initial results

The UK myotonic dystrophy patient registry: facilitating and accelerating clinical research

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most frequent muscular dystrophy worldwide with complex, multi-systemic, and progressively worsening symptoms. There is currently no treatment for this inherited disorder and research can be challenging due to the rarity and variability of the disease. The UK Myotonic Dystrophy Patient Registry is a patient self-enrolling online database collecting clinical and genetic information. For this cross-sectional “snapshot” analysis, 556 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of DM1 registered between May 2012 and July 2016 were included. An almost even distribution was seen between genders and a broad range of ages was present from 8 months to 78 years, with the largest proportion between 30 and 59 years. The two most frequent symptoms were fatigue and myotonia, reported by 79 and 78% of patients, respectively. The severity of myotonia correlated with the severity of fatigue as well as mobility impairment, and dysphagia occurred mostly in patients also reporting myotonia. Men reported significantly more frequent severe myotonia, whereas severe fatigue was more frequently reported by women. Cardiac abnormalities were diagnosed in 48% of patients and more than one-third of them needed a cardiac implant. Fifteen percent of patients used a non-invasive ventilation and cataracts were removed in 26% of patients, 65% of which before the age of 50 years. The registry’s primary aim was to facilitate and accelerate clinical research. However, these data also allow us to formulate questions for hypothesis-driven research that may lead to improvements in care and treatment

Nanomagnetic properties of the meteorite cloudy zone.

Meteorites contain a record of their thermal and magnetic history, written in the intergrowths of iron-rich and nickel-rich phases that formed during slow cooling. Of intense interest from a magnetic perspective is the "cloudy zone," a nanoscale intergrowth containing tetrataenite-a naturally occurring hard ferromagnetic mineral that has potential applications as a sustainable alternative to rare-earth permanent magnets. Here we use a combination of high-resolution electron diffraction, electron tomography, atom probe tomography (APT), and micromagnetic simulations to reveal the 3D architecture of the cloudy zone with subnanometer spatial resolution and model the mechanism of remanence acquisition during slow cooling on the meteorite parent body. Isolated islands of tetrataenite are embedded in a matrix of an ordered superstructure. The islands are arranged in clusters of three crystallographic variants, which control how magnetic information is encoded into the nanostructure. The cloudy zone acquires paleomagnetic remanence via a sequence of magnetic domain state transformations (vortex to two domain to single domain), driven by Fe-Ni ordering at 320 °C. Rather than remanence being recorded at different times at different positions throughout the cloudy zone, each subregion of the cloudy zone records a coherent snapshot of the magnetic field that was present at 320 °C. Only the coarse and intermediate regions of the cloudy zone are found to be suitable for paleomagnetic applications. The fine regions, on the other hand, have properties similar to those of rare-earth permanent magnets, providing potential routes to synthetic tetrataenite-based magnetic materials.European Research Counci