37 research outputs found

    Smart subtitles for vocabulary learning

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    Language learners often use subtitled videos to help them learn. However, standard subtitles are geared more towards comprehension than vocabulary learning, as translations are nonliteral and are provided only for phrases, not vocabulary. This paper presents Smart Subtitles, which are interactive subtitles tailored towards vocabulary learning. Smart Subtitles can be automatically generated from common video sources such as subtitled DVDs. They provide features such as vocabulary definitions on hover, and dialog-based video navigation. In our pilot study with intermediate learners studying Chinese, participants correctly defined over twice as many new words in a post-viewing vocabulary test when they used Smart Subtitles, compared to dual Chinese-English subtitles. Learners spent the same amount of time watching clips with each tool, and enjoyed viewing videos with Smart Subtitles as much as with dual subtitles. Learners understood videos equally well using either tool, as indicated by self-assessments and independent evaluations of their summaries

    Semi-automatic enrichment of crowdsourced synonymy networks: the WISIGOTH system applied to Wiktionary

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    International audienceSemantic lexical resources are a mainstay of various Natural Language Processing applications. However, comprehensive and reliable resources are rare and not often freely available. Handcrafted resources are too costly for being a general solution while automatically-built resources need to be validated by experts or at least thoroughly evaluated. We propose in this paper a picture of the current situation with regard to lexical resources, their building and their evaluation. We give an in-depth description of Wiktionary, a freely available and collaboratively built multilingual dictionary. Wiktionary is presented here as a promising raw resource for NLP. We propose a semi-automatic approach based on random walks for enriching Wiktionary synonymy network that uses both endogenous and exogenous data. We take advantage of the wiki infrastructure to propose a validation "by crowds". Finally, we present an implementation called WISIGOTH, which supports our approach

    Novel Sulfated Polysaccharides Disrupt Cathelicidins, Inhibit RAGE and Reduce Cutaneous Inflammation in a Mouse Model of Rosacea

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    Rosacea is a common disfiguring skin disease of primarily Caucasians characterized by central erythema of the face, with telangiectatic blood vessels, papules and pustules, and can produce skin thickening, especially on the nose of men, creating rhinophyma. Rosacea can also produce dry, itchy eyes with irritation of the lids, keratitis and corneal scarring. The cause of rosacea has been proposed as over-production of the cationic cathelicidin peptide LL-37.We tested a new class of non-anticoagulant sulfated anionic polysaccharides, semi-synthetic glycosaminoglycan ethers (SAGEs) on key elements of the pathogenic pathway leading to rosacea. SAGEs were anti-inflammatory at ng/ml, including inhibition of polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) proteases, P-selectin, and interaction of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) with four representative ligands. SAGEs bound LL-37 and inhibited interleukin-8 production induced by LL-37 in cultured human keratinocytes. When mixed with LL-37 before injection, SAGEs prevented the erythema and PMN infiltration produced by direct intradermal injection of LL-37 into mouse skin. Topical application of a 1% (w/w) SAGE emollient to overlying injected skin also reduced erythema and PMN infiltration from intradermal LL-37.Anionic polysaccharides, exemplified by SAGEs, offer potential as novel mechanism-based therapies for rosacea and by extension other LL-37-mediated and RAGE-ligand driven skin diseases

    Typing relations in distributional thesauri

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    HIGH-EFFICIENCY FRESNEL ACOUSTIC LENSES

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    ABSTRACT Acoustic Fresnel lenses have emerged in recent years as an alternative t o the conventional spherical lenses for focusing sound waves in appllcations such as acoustic microscopy. Fresnel lenses offer the advantage of near-planar geometry and, therefore, ease of fabrication compared t o spherical lenses. The Fresnel acoustic lenses reported so far, however, have the disadvantage of low efficiency; only about 40% o f the input signal is directed towards the focus. In this work the design and fabrication of "binary" acoustic Fresnel lenses that offer much higher efficiencies will be described. These lenses, while being still nearly planar, have multiple phase levels t o achieve phase shifts other than 0 and 180 degrees as used in conventional, two phase Fresnel lenses. Acoustic Fresnel lenses were fabricated at frequencies of about 1 MHz and 170 MHz. Measurements of the focusing efficiency and point spread function have been performed to characterize the operation o f these lenses. Focusing efficiencies in excess of 8096 have been achieved with these lenses The measurements compare well t o theoretical simulations. I NTRO D U CTI 0 N Scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) has been shown to be a useful tool for imaging samples and characterizing mechanical properties of materials.1 The acoustic lens is perhaps the most important part o f a SAM because imaging with good resolution requires a diffraction limited focus. These lenses typically have diameters of a few hundred microns at UHF frequencies and mechanical grinding and polishing are the standard processes used in the fabrication of these lenses. These techniques are time consuming and expensive and alternative methods are desirable t o manufacture high quality lenses at low cost. One proposed scheme is t o use an isotropic etching technique in crystalline silicon for fabricating spherical lenses.2 Although this is a batch processing technique that has potential for low cost manufacturing, it requires precision process control which may be difficult t o achieve and which would increase the cost o f manufacturing. Another method for fabrication of lenses was demonstrated by Yamada, In this method near-planar Fresnel lenses were fabricated in quartz substrates using conventional microfabrication processes. where N is the number of phase levels. These lenses are fabricated using subsequent masking and etching steps. 2" phase levels may be achieved for n masking steps. For example, only 3 masks are needed t o realize 8 phase levels with an efficiency o f 95% The radius o f the kth phase step is given by7 where zo is the focal length and h is the wavelength. The step size between subsequent phase levels is given by7 1993 ULTRASONICS SYMPOSIUM -57

    The global burden of headache in children and adolescents - developing a questionnaire and methodology for a global study

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    Background: Burden of headache has been assessed in adults in countries worldwide, and is high, but data for children and adolescents are sparse. The objectives of this study were o develop a questionnaire and methodology for the global estimation of burden of headache in children and adolescents, to test these in use and to present preliminary data
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