Phonologically Informed Edit Distance Algorithms for Word Alignment with Low-Resource Languages

We present three methods for weighting edit distance algorithms based on linguistic information. These methods base their penalties on (i) phonological features, (ii) distributional character embeddings, or (iii) differences between cognate words. We also introduce a novel method for evaluating edit distance through the task of low-resource word alignment by using edit-distance neighbors in a high-resource pivot language to inform alignments from the low-resource language. At this task, the cognate-based scheme outperforms our other methods and the Levenshtein edit distance baseline, showing that NLP applications can benefit from information about cross-linguistic phonological patterns

The Value of Backyard Biodiversity in New Zealand

New Zealand's biodiversity consists of over 80,000 types of native plants, animals and fungi, a considerable number of which are indigenous and located on private property. To preserve and enhance native biodiversity and discourage activities that may deplete it, economic values can be calculated which can, in turn, guide the use of policy tools, such as incentives, that can be used. This can support behavioural changes by encouraging individual self-interest to coincide with social interest. In this project, we used the contingent valuation, choice modelling and well-being approaches to estimate native biodiversity values for Wellington residents. In this paper, we present a summary of our initial results.New Zealand, biodiversity, non-market valuation, well-being, native species, private landholders, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Coupling between Voltage Sensor Activation, Ca2+ Binding and Channel Opening in Large Conductance (BK) Potassium Channels

To determine how intracellular Ca2+ and membrane voltage regulate the gating of large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (BK) channels, we examined the steady-state and kinetic properties of mSlo1 ionic and gating currents in the presence and absence of Ca2+ over a wide range of voltage. The activation of unliganded mSlo1 channels can be accounted for by allosteric coupling between voltage sensor activation and the closed (C) to open (O) conformational change (Horrigan, F.T., and R.W. Aldrich. 1999. J. Gen. Physiol. 114:305–336; Horrigan, F.T., J. Cui, and R.W. Aldrich. 1999. J. Gen. Physiol. 114:277–304). In 0 Ca2+, the steady-state gating charge-voltage (QSS-V) relationship is shallower and shifted to more negative voltages than the conductance-voltage (GK-V) relationship. Calcium alters the relationship between Q-V and G-V, shifting both to more negative voltages such that they almost superimpose in 70 μM Ca2+. This change reflects a differential effect of Ca2+ on voltage sensor activation and channel opening. Ca2+ has only a small effect on the fast component of ON gating current, indicating that Ca2+ binding has little effect on voltage sensor activation when channels are closed. In contrast, open probability measured at very negative voltages (less than −80 mV) increases more than 1,000-fold in 70 μM Ca2+, demonstrating that Ca2+ increases the C-O equilibrium constant under conditions where voltage sensors are not activated. Thus, Ca2+ binding and voltage sensor activation act almost independently, to enhance channel opening. This dual-allosteric mechanism can reproduce the steady-state behavior of mSlo1 over a wide range of conditions, with the assumption that activation of individual Ca2+ sensors or voltage sensors additively affect the energy of the C-O transition and that a weak interaction between Ca2+ sensors and voltage sensors occurs independent of channel opening. By contrast, macroscopic IK kinetics indicate that Ca2+ and voltage dependencies of C-O transition rates are complex, leading us to propose that the C-O conformational change may be described by a complex energy landscape

The Medical Treatment of Depression, 1991-1996: Productive Inefficiency, Expected Outcome Variations, and Price Indexes

We examine the price of treating episodes of acute phase major depression over the 1991-1996 time period. We combine data from a large retrospective medical claims data base (MarketScanTM, from the MedStat Group) with clinical literature and expert clinical opinion elicited from a two-state Delphi procedure. This enables us to construct a variety of treatment price indexes that include variations over time in the proportion of off-frontier' production, as well as the corresponding variations in expected treatment outcomes. We also incorporate the fact that the no treatment option ( waiting list') frequently results in spontaneous remission of depressive symptoms. We find that in general the incremental cost of successfully treating an episode of acute phase major depression has generally fallen over the 1991-96 time period. Based on hedonic regression equations that account for the effects of changing patient mix, we find price reductions that range from about -1.66% to -2.13% per year. An implication of this is that, since expenditures on depression are thought to be increasing since at least 1991, the source of the spending increases is volume (quantity) increases, and not price increases.

Contribution of recent transgenic models and transcriptional profiling studies to our understanding of the mechanisms by which androgens control spermatogenesis

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The influence of buoyant convection on the nucleation of n-propanol in thermal diffusion cloud chambers

A two-dimensional numerical model has been applied to three thermal diffusion cloud chamber (TDCC) investigations of n-propanol in helium taken by two different research groups to provide a quantitative example of how the results in these chambers can be affected by buoyant convection. In the first set of TDCC data, corrections for buoyancy resolve an apparent discontinuity in critical supersaturation data and also yield nucleation rate data that tend to agree better with higher rate, expansion-based studies at the same temperature. In the second TDCC study, the nucleation of propanol was studied over an extended pressure range. When the model was applied to these data, the possible variation in supersaturation values due to convection induced by conditions at the chamber sidewall was found to be comparable in magnitude to the experimentally observed range and may be responsible for some of this observed pressure dependence. In the third TDCC study, the combination of an error in a transport property and buoyant convection appear responsible for a perceived pressure effect in the experimental data. After correcting for this transport property and for buoyancy, the results at higher temperatures agree quite closely with the predictions of classical nucleation theory