2,724 research outputs found
Key Phrase Extraction of Lightly Filtered Broadcast News
This paper explores the impact of light filtering on automatic key phrase
extraction (AKE) applied to Broadcast News (BN). Key phrases are words and
expressions that best characterize the content of a document. Key phrases are
often used to index the document or as features in further processing. This
makes improvements in AKE accuracy particularly important. We hypothesized that
filtering out marginally relevant sentences from a document would improve AKE
accuracy. Our experiments confirmed this hypothesis. Elimination of as little
as 10% of the document sentences lead to a 2% improvement in AKE precision and
recall. AKE is built over MAUI toolkit that follows a supervised learning
approach. We trained and tested our AKE method on a gold standard made of 8 BN
programs containing 110 manually annotated news stories. The experiments were
conducted within a Multimedia Monitoring Solution (MMS) system for TV and radio
news/programs, running daily, and monitoring 12 TV and 4 radio channels.Comment: In 15th International Conference on Text, Speech and Dialogue (TSD
2012
Clinical correlation between N-terminal pro-b-type natriuretic peptide and angiographic coronary atherosclerosis
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the clinical correlation between angiographic coronary atherosclerosis and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide along with other known correlated factors. METHODS: In total, 153 patients with a diagnostic hypothesis of stable angina, unstable angina or acute myocardial infarction were classified as group A (patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries) or group B (patients with angiographic coronary atherosclerosis). The two groups were analyzed with respect to the following factors: gender, age, body mass index, abdominal circumference, smoking, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, early family history of atherosclerosis, statin use, the presence of metabolic syndrome, clinical presentation and biochemical factors, including cholesterol, creatinine and fibrinogen plasma concentrations, monocyte counts and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. RESULTS: Univariate analyses comparing the two groups revealed that group B patients more frequently had diabetes, used statins and had systolic dysfunction, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels ≥250 pg/mL, fibrinogen levels >;500 mg/dL and ≥501 monocytes/mm3 compared with group A patients (
Assessing the contribution of ECa and NDVI in the delineation of management zones in a vineyard
Precision fertilization implies the need to identify the variability of soil fertility, which
is costly and time-consuming. Remotely measured data can be a solution. Using this strategy, a
study was conducted, in a vineyard, to delineate different management zones using two indicators:
apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). To
understand the contribution of each indicator, three scenarios were used for zone definition: (1) using
only NDVI, (2) only ECa, or (3) using a combination of the two. Then the differences in soil fertility
between these zones were assessed using simple statistical methods. The results indicate that the
most beneficial strategy is the combined use of the two indicators, as it allowed the definition of three
distinct zones regarding important soil variables and crop nutrients, such as soil total nitrogen, Mg2+
cation, exchange acidity, and effective cation exchange capacity, and some relevant cation ratios. This
strategy also allowed the identification of an ionic unbalance in the soil chemistry, due to an excess
of Mg2+, that was harming crop health, as reported by NDVI. This also impacted ECa and NDVI
relationship, which was negative in this study. Overall, the results demonstrate the advantages of
using remotely sensed data, mainly more than one type of sensing data, and suggest a high potential
for differential crop fertilization and soil management in the study areainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Epidemiology, biochemistry and evolution of Trypanosoma cruzi lineages based on ribosomal RNA sequences
Universidade de São PauloInstituto Oswaldo CruzUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP)UNIFESPSciEL
First in situ observations of soft bottom megafauna from the Cascais Canyon head
We report the first in situ observations of soft bottom megafauna from the Cascais Canyon head. Observations were collected opportunistically during three technical dives with the ROV Luso between 460-805 m at two locations distanced 1,230 m. The habitats were clas-sified as upper bathyal fine mud. The soft bottom fauna was dominated by burrows of Nephrops norvegicus reaching up to 2.9 burrows/m2, a common habitat along the Portu-guese continental margin. To our knowledge, densities are the highest ever reported for depths below 300 m. The ichthyofauna at the upper Cascais Canyon is a mixture of lower shelf and upper bathyal species, including Phycis blennoides, Scyliorhynus canicula, Coe-lorhynchus labiatus/occa and Chimaera monstrosa. Bait release attracted Myxine glutinosa. Surveys in other geological settings of the Cascays Canyon are required to understand more comprehensively the diversity of its sessile and vagile biodiversity
Second-derivative spectrophotometry for the analysis of simvastatin in polymeric nanocapsules
Conventional spectrophotometry methods are very susceptible to the presence of interferences in complex mixtures such as nanoparticules, requiring prior treatment or extraction of the analyte, and not always providing an adequate response. Derivative spectrophotometry method is capable to eliminate its interference; it is an alternative method for drugs determination in complex matrices. This work investigated the utility of derivate spectrophotometry in assay of simvastatin in polymeric nanocapsules (SIVNC). Shimadzu® UV-1650 double-beam spectrophotometer with 1.0 cm quartz cells was used in this study. The second-order derivative spectrum was obtained employing Δλ=20,000 nm and scaling factor=9.0. The determinations were made at 239 nm (2D239) by zero-crossing method. 2D239 method was validated employing the parameters: specificity, linearity, robustness, precision and accuracy. Results: The specificity test showed there was no interference of constituents commonly found in SIVNC formulation in 2D239. The standard curve showed a correlation coefficient of 0.994. The robustness was evaluated by small changes in the conditions of sample analysis and however, no significant changes were observed regarding drug quantitation. The precision was demonstrated by relative standard deviation (RSD) of intra-day (RSD=1.61-3.76) and inter-day studies (RSD=2.32). The recovery test resulted in an average of 100.66%, which confirmed the accuracy of the method. The procedure was simple and rapid; therefore this technique offers an alternative for determination of SIVNC without interferences
Stromal vascular fraction obtained from subcutaneous adipose tissue: ex-obese and older population as main clinical targets
Introduction
Human adipose tissue contains a heterogeneous and synergistic mixture of cells called stromal vascular fraction (SVF) with highly proliferative and angiogenic properties, conferring promising applicability in the field of regenerative medicine. This study aims to investigate if age, body mass index (BMI), history of obesity and massive weight loss, and harvest site are related to SVF cell marker expression.
Methods
A total of 26 samples of subcutaneous adipose tissue were harvested from patients admitted to the Plastic and Reconstructive department in University Hospital Center of São João, Porto, Portugal, for body contouring surgery. The percentage of cells expressing CD31, CD34, CD45, CD73, CD90, and CD105 was assessed and compared with patient's age, BMI, history of obesity and massive weight loss (ex-obese group), and harvest site. Results
In the ex-obese group, a significantly higher number of cells expressing CD90 (PÂ =Â 0.002) was found. BMI, harvest site, and age appear to have no association with SVF subpopulations
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