An evaluation resource for geographic information retrieval

In this paper we present an evaluation resource for geographic information retrieval developed within the Cross Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF). The GeoCLEF track is dedicated to the evaluation of geographic information retrieval systems. The resource encompasses more than 600,000 documents, 75 topics so far, and more than 100,000 relevance judgments for these topics. Geographic information retrieval requires an evaluation resource which represents realistic information needs and which is geographically challenging. Some experimental results and analysis are reported

Granite paleoweathering: A case-study under the tertiary deposit of Xinzo de Limia

[Resumen] Se estudia una paleoalteración desarrollada sobre granito y situada bajo un espesor de 120 m. de sedimentos en la cuenca terciaria de Xinzo de Limia (Ourense). El cambio minera16gico más significativo es la transformaci6n de las plagioclasas en caolinita. Se detectan también pequeñas proporciones de esmectitas. El estudio geoquímico revela una clara lixiviaci6n de bases, como lo pone de manifiesto la disminución de todos los índices de alteración (Indices de Parker, Reiche y pH de abrasi6n). El proceso de meteorización dominante es la monosialitización, con una cierta tendencia bisialítica en las primeras fases de la alteración.[Abstract] A granite paleoweathering located under 120 m of tertiary sediments at Xinzo de Limia (Galicia, NW Spain) is studied. The transformation ofplagioclase in kaolinite is the most important mineralogical change ocurred during the process. Minor proportions of smectite- are detected too. The geochemistry study reveales an evident lixiviation of bases, so the different weathering rates decrease as the process progresses (Parker and Reiche indexes and abrasion-pH). The dominant process of weathering is the monosialitization (PEDRO, 1979) although the first phases show a bisialitic trend

GeoCLEF 2007: the CLEF 2007 cross-language geographic information retrieval track overview

GeoCLEF ran as a regular track for the second time within the Cross Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF) 2007. The purpose of GeoCLEF is to test and evaluate cross-language geographic information retrieval (GIR): retrieval for topics with a geographic specification. GeoCLEF 2007 consisted of two sub tasks. A search task ran for the third time and a query classification task was organized for the first. For the GeoCLEF 2007 search task, twenty-five search topics were defined by the organizing groups for searching English, German, Portuguese and Spanish document collections. All topics were translated into English, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish and German. Several topics in 2007 were geographically challenging. Thirteen groups submitted 108 runs. The groups used a variety of approaches. For the classification task, a query log from a search engine was provided and the groups needed to identify the queries with a geographic scope and the geographic components within the local queries

Challenges to evaluation of multilingual geographic information retrieval in GeoCLEF

This is the third year of the evaluation of geographic information retrieval (GeoCLEF) within the Cross-Language Evaluation Forum (CLEF). GeoCLEF 2006 presented topics and documents in four languages (English, German, Portuguese and Spanish). After two years of evaluation we are beginning to understand the challenges to both Geographic Information Retrieval from text and of evaluation of the results of geographic information retrieval. This poster enumerates some of these challenges to evaluation and comments on the limitations encountered in the first two evaluations

GeoCLEF 2006: the CLEF 2006 Ccross-language geographic information retrieval track overview

After being a pilot track in 2005, GeoCLEF advanced to be a regular track within CLEF 2006. The purpose of GeoCLEF is to test and evaluate cross-language geographic information retrieval (GIR): retrieval for topics with a geographic specification. For GeoCLEF 2006, twenty-five search topics were defined by the organizing groups for searching English, German, Portuguese and Spanish document collections. Topics were translated into English, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese. Several topics in 2006 were significantly more geographically challenging than in 2005. Seventeen groups submitted 149 runs (up from eleven groups and 117 runs in GeoCLEF 2005). The groups used a variety of approaches, including geographic bounding boxes, named entity extraction and external knowledge bases (geographic thesauri and ontologies and gazetteers)

Stereochemical course of the hydrolysis reaction catalyzed by chitinases Al and D from Bacillus circulans WL-12

AbstractChitinases A1 and D were purified from the periplasmic proteins produced by Escherichia coli HB101 harbouring recombinant plasmids carrying respectively the chiA and chiD genes of Bacillus circulans WL-12. HPLC analysis indicated that during the hydrolysis of chitotriose, both chitinases initially produce N-acetylglucosamine and only one anomer of chitobiose. 1H NMR spectroscopy of the hydrolysis of chitotetraitol showed that this anomer corresponds to β-chitobiose, demonstrating that chitinases Al and D act by a molecular mechanism that retains the anomeric configuration. This mechanism is similar to that of lysozymes although both chitinases belong to a family of proteins sharing no demonstrable amino acid sequence similarity with lysozymes

Monopole-driven shell evolution below the doubly magic nucleus Sn 132 explored with the long-lived isomer in Pd 126

A new isomer with a half-life of 23.0(8) ms has been identified at 2406 keV in Pd126 and is proposed to have a spin and parity of 10+ with a maximally aligned configuration comprising two neutron holes in the 1h11/2 orbit. In addition to an internal-decay branch through a hindered electric octupole transition, β decay from the long-lived isomer was observed to populate excited states at high spins in Ag126. The smaller energy difference between the 10+ and 7- isomers in Pd126 than in the heavier N=80 isotones can be interpreted as being ascribed to the monopole shift of the 1h11/2 neutron orbit. The effects of the monopole interaction on the evolution of single-neutron energies below Sn132 are discussed in terms of the central and tensor forces

Clinical utility of diagnostic markers for malignant pleural mesothelioma

Malignant mesothelioma has a very dismal prognosis with very few patients surviving one year after diagnosis. Early multimodal treatment, however, is expected to improve the outcome. Today, there is a strong need to have disease markers which could be used for screening, diagnosing, and/or monitoring tumour response to treatment. Old markers such as hyaluronic acid, various cytokeratin fragments (CYFRA 21.1, TPA) and other cancer antigens (CA 15.3, CA 125 or CA 19.9 or CEA) are not sensitive or specific enough and cannot be used in practice. More recently new molecules, such as soluble mesothelin and osteopontin, have been proposed for diagnostic purposes. Soluble mesothelin has a good specificity but has a suboptimal sensitivity being negative in all sarcomatoid and in up to one half of epithelioid mesothelioma. On the contrary osteopontin has an inadequate specificity. Combining different markers together does not lead to an improvement in diagnostic accuracy. Neither marker can be used for screening purposes, the main limitation being the very low incidence of the disease in the at-risk, asbestos exposed population. Mesothelin is also a promising marker for monitoring response to treatment but published data is still insufficient to make recommendations. There is still a strong need for research is this area both in order to discover new markers as well as to correct the positioning of each existing molecule (alone or in combination) is the evaluation of the patients with a mesothelioma