Use of Weighted Finite State Transducers in Part of Speech Tagging

This paper addresses issues in part of speech disambiguation using finite-state transducers and presents two main contributions to the field. One of them is the use of finite-state machines for part of speech tagging. Linguistic and statistical information is represented in terms of weights on transitions in weighted finite-state transducers. Another contribution is the successful combination of techniques -- linguistic and statistical -- for word disambiguation, compounded with the notion of word classes.Comment: uses psfig, ipamac

Agriculture and The Challenge to Reduce Poverty in East Africa

The three East African (EA) countries Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have a population of about 95 million people and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 34.2 billion. In recent years efforts has been made among the three East African countries, towards forging economic and regional co-operation by establishing the East African Community (EAC). The premise for economic and regional co-operation has been underpinned for the need for a common market and boost regional trade. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to achieve one of the international development objectives of increasing growth to 7% a year that is required to reduce income poverty. One of the challenges that East African countries need to tackle in the face of globalisation is the ability to participate in international markets. East African countries have to make serious consideration with regards to changing the composition of their exports away from primary products to manufactured exports. Value addition to both agricultural and industrial products is vital to improving the EA economies. This paper examines the composition of East Africa’s economic structure. The aim is to analyse how the economic structure has changed over time, and to assess whether or not East African countries have transformed their agricultural sectors, and what the impact has been on poverty reduction in these economies.Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Suitability of granular carbon as an anode material for sediment microbial fuel cells

Purpose: Sediment-microbial fuel cells (S-MFC) are bio-electrochemical devices that are able to oxidize organic matter directly into harvestable electrical power. The flux of organic matter into the sediment is rather low, therefore other researchers have introduced plants for a continues supply of organic matter to the anode electrode. Until now only interconnected materials have been considered as anode materials in S-MFC. Here granular carbon materials were investigated for their suitability as anode material in sediment microbial fuel cells. Materials and methods: Laboratory microcosms with 8 different electrode materials (granules, felts and cloths) were examined with controlled organic matter addition under brackish conditions. Current density, organic matter removal and microbial community composition were monitored using 16S-rRNA gene PCR followed by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE). The main parameters investigated were the influence of the amount of electrode material applied to the sediment, the size of the granular material and the electrode configuration. Results and discussion: Felt material had an overall superior performance in terms of current density per amount of applied electrode material i.e. felt and granular anode obtained similar current densities (approx. 50–60 mA/m2) but felt materials required 29% less material to be applied. Yet, when growing plants, granular carbon is more suited because it is considered to restore, upon disturbance, the electrical connectivity within the anode compartment. Small granules (0.25–0.5 mm) gave the highest current density compared to larger granules (1-5 mm) of the same material. Granules with a rough surface had a better performance compared to smooth granules of the same size. The different granular materials lead to a selection of distinct microbial communities for each material, as shown by DGGE. Conclusions: Granular carbon is suited as anode material for sediment microbial fuel cells. This opens the perspective for application of MFC in cultivated areas. In a wider context, the application of granular carbon electrodes can also be an option for in-situ bioremediation of contaminated soils

PHARMACOGNOSTICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PHYLA NODIFLORA L. (VERBENACEAE): A VALUABLE MEDICINAL PLANT

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the pharmacognostical and histochemical characters of Phyla nodiflora L. (Verbenaceae)an important medicinal plant.Methods: Pharmacognostical characters such as macroscopic and anatomical characters of root, stem and leaf were studied. Physico-chemicalcharacteristics of crude drugs of aerial parts and root were determined. To localize various phytochemicals, histochemical studies were alsodetermined.Results: Pharmacognostical studies helped in the identification and authentication of the plant material. Physico-chemical properties suchas water soluble extractive value (21.44±0.009% w/w), alcohol soluble extractive (13.39±0.03% w/w), total ash (20.85±0.09% w/w), loss ondrying (15.68±0.05% w/w) were calculated. Histochemical study indicated the presence of alkaloids, lignin, starch, proteins, lipids, phenolics, andtannins in the plant parts examined.Conclusion: This study revealed the pharmacognostical properties and characteristics of P. nodiflora, an important medicinal plant. The presenceof alkaloids, lignin, starch, proteins, lipids, phenolics, and tannins in the plant parts can be attributed to the cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antiviral, andantifungal properties of P. nodiflora.Keywords: Phyla nodiflora, Microscopy, Pharmacognosy, Stomatal index, Histochemistry

Perspektif Saintifik, Estetik, dan Komersial Awetan Tumbuhan Untuk Pengayaan Koleksi Sekolah dan Peserta Didik di SMP IT Generasi Rabbani Kota Bengkulu

Perspektif saintifik, yaitu pendekatan menggunakan langkah-langkan serta kaidah ilmiah dalam proses pembelajaran. Sumber ilmu dan informasi bisa ditemukan dimana saja terutama di alam, berbagai sumber ilmu dan kreativitas pada tumbuhan dapat dijadikan prepektif saintifik bagi siswa. Tumbuhan memiliki teknik pengelolaan awetan sebgai sumber belajar serta kreativitas bagi siswa. Banyaknya tumbuhan berbunga di sekitar perkarangan menjadi potensi dalam membuat pemanfaatan produk kreatif dengan menggunakan awetan tumbuhan. Diharapkan dengan adanya pelatihan pemanfaatan tanaman perkarangan, hias dan budidaya menjadi produk kreatif bernilai seni dan ekonomis dapat meningkatkan keterampilan siswa dan peserta didik sebagai upaya alternatif peningkatan pendapatan. Tujuan pengabdian kegiatan pemanfaatan tumbuhan sekitar sekolah dalam pembuatan awetan tumbuhan untuk media kreativitas tumbuhan (botani). Kegiatan ini dapat diaplikasikan sebagai media pada materi keanekaragaman tumbuhan dan dimanfaatkan sebagai kegiatan wirausaha berbasis biologi

The Horsehead mane: Towards an observational benchmark for chemical models

After a discussion about the need for observational benchmark for chemical models, we explain 1) why the Horsehead western edge is well suited to serve as reference for models and 2) the steps we are taking toward this goal. We summarize abundances obtained to date and we show recent results

Chemical complexity in the Horsehead photodissociation region

The interstellar medium is known to be chemically complex. Organic molecules with up to 11 atoms have been detected in the interstellar medium, and are believed to be formed on the ices around dust grains. The ices can be released into the gas-phase either through thermal desorption, when a newly formed star heats the medium around it and completely evaporates the ices; or through non-thermal desorption mechanisms, such as photodesorption, when a single far-UV photon releases only a few molecules from the ices. The first one dominates in hot cores, hot corinos and strongly UV-illuminated PDRs, while the second one dominates in colder regions, such as low UV-field PDRs. This is the case of the Horsehead were dust temperatures are ~20-30K, and therefore offers a clean environment to investigate what is the role of photodesorption. We have carried-out an unbiased spectral line survey at 3, 2 and 1mm with the IRAM-30m telescope in the Horsehead nebula, with an unprecedented combination of bandwidth high spectral resolution and sensitivity. Two positions were observed: the warm PDR and a cold condensation shielded from the UV field (dense core), located just behind the PDR edge. We summarize our recently published results from this survey and present the first detection of the complex organic molecules HCOOH, CH2CO, CH3CHO and CH3CCH in a PDR. These species together with CH3CN present enhanced abundances in the PDR compared to the dense core. This suggests that photodesorption is an efficient mechanism to release complex molecules into the gas-phase in far-UV illuminated regions.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables, Accepted in Faraday discussions 16

A health promotion perspective on One Health

The One Health concept has acquired increasing attention due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue for a health promotion perspective that frames One Health in terms of positive health for people, animals, and ecosystems and includes a spiritual-cosmological dimension. This would enhance policy, research, and practice across disciplines and sectors for a more resilient and harmonious planet

A conditional glutamatergic synaptic vesicle marker for Drosophila

Glutamate is a principal neurotransmitter used extensively by the nervous systems of all vertebrate and invertebrate animals. It is primarily an excitatory neurotransmitter that has been implicated in nervous system development, as well as a myriad of brain functions from the simple transmission of information between neurons to more complex aspects of nervous system function including synaptic plasticity, learning, and memory. Identification of glutamatergic neurons and their sites of glutamate release are thus essential for understanding the mechanisms of neural circuit function and how information is processed to generate behavior. Here, we describe and characterize smFLAG-vGlut, a conditional marker of glutamatergic synaptic vesicles for the Drosophila model system. smFLAG-vGlut is validated for functionality, conditional expression, and specificity for glutamatergic neurons and synaptic vesicles. The utility of smFLAG-vGlut is demonstrated by glutamatergic neurotransmitter phenotyping of 26 different central complex neuron types of which nine were established to be glutamatergic. This illumination of glutamate neurotransmitter usage will enhance the modeling of central complex neural circuitry and thereby our understanding of information processing by this region of the fly brain. The use of smFLAG for glutamatergic neurotransmitter phenotyping and identification of glutamate release sites can be extended to any Drosophila neuron(s) represented by a binary transcription system driver