A Mention-Ranking Model for Abstract Anaphora Resolution

Resolving abstract anaphora is an important, but difficult task for text understanding. Yet, with recent advances in representation learning this task becomes a more tangible aim. A central property of abstract anaphora is that it establishes a relation between the anaphor embedded in the anaphoric sentence and its (typically non-nominal) antecedent. We propose a mention-ranking model that learns how abstract anaphors relate to their antecedents with an LSTM-Siamese Net. We overcome the lack of training data by generating artificial anaphoric sentence--antecedent pairs. Our model outperforms state-of-the-art results on shell noun resolution. We also report first benchmark results on an abstract anaphora subset of the ARRAU corpus. This corpus presents a greater challenge due to a mixture of nominal and pronominal anaphors and a greater range of confounders. We found model variants that outperform the baselines for nominal anaphors, without training on individual anaphor data, but still lag behind for pronominal anaphors. Our model selects syntactically plausible candidates and -- if disregarding syntax -- discriminates candidates using deeper features.Comment: In Proceedings of the 2017 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP). Copenhagen, Denmar

Wave and Particle Limit for Multiple Barrier Tunneling

The particle approach to one-dimensional potential scattering is applied to non relativistic tunnelling between two, three and four identical barriers. We demonstrate as expected that the infinite sum of particle contributions yield the plane wave results. In particular, the existence of resonance/transparency for twin tunnelling in the wave limit is immediately obvious. The known resonances for three and four barriers are also derived. The transition from the wave limit to the particle limit is exhibit numerically.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

A Closed Formula for the Barrier Transmission Coefficient in Quaternionic Quantum mechanics

In this paper, we analyze, by using a matrix approach, the dynamics of a non-relativistic particle in presence of a quaternionic potential barrier. The matrix method used to solve the quaternionic Schrodinger equation allows to obtain a closed formula for the transmission coefficient. Up to now, in quaternionic quantum mechanics, almost every discussion on the dynamics of non-relativistic particle was motived by or evolved from numerical studies. A closed formula for the transmission coefficient stimulates an analysis of qualitative differences between complex and quaternionic quantum mechanics, and, by using the stationary phase method, gives the possibility to discuss transmission times.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Barrier Paradox in the Klein Zone

We study the solutions for a one-dimensional electrostatic potential in the Dirac equation when the incoming wave packet exhibits the Klein paradox (pair production). With a barrier potential we demonstrate the existence of multiple reflections (and transmissions). The antiparticle solutions which are necessarily localized within the barrier region create new pairs with each reflection at the potential walls. Consequently we encounter a new paradox for the barrier because successive outgoing wave amplitudes grow geometrically.Comment: 10 page

Optics: general-purpose scintillator light response simulation code

We present the program optics that simulates the light response of an arbitrarily shaped scintillation particle detector. Predicted light responses of pure CsI polygonal detectors, plastic scintillator staves, cylindrical plastic target scintillators and a Plexiglas light-distribution plate are illustrated. We demonstrate how different bulk and surface optical properties of a scintillator lead to specific volume and temporal light collection probability distributions. High-statistics optics simulations are calibrated against the detector responses measured in a custom-made cosmic muon tomography apparatus. The presented code can also be used to track particles intersecting complex geometrical objects.Comment: RevTeX LaTeX, 37 pages in e-print format, 12 Postscript Figures and 1 Table, also available at http://pibeta.phys.virginia.edu/public_html/preprints/optics.p

Quantum Mechanics in Space--Time: the Feynman Path Amplitude Description of Physical Optics, de Broglie Matter Waves and Quark and Neutrino Flavour Oscillations

Feynman's laws of quantum dynamics are concisely stated, discussed in comparison with other formulations of quantum mechanics and applied to selected problems in the physical optics of photons and massive particles as well as flavour oscillations. The classical wave theory of light is derived from these laws for the case in which temporal variation of path amplitudes may be neglected, whereas specific experiments, sensitive to the temporal properties of path amplitudes, are suggested. The reflection coefficient of light from the surface of a transparent medium is found to be markedly different to that predicted by the classical Fresnel formula. Except for neutrino oscillations, good agreement is otherwise found with previous calculations of spatially dependent quantum interference effects.Comment: 89 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

STC1 interference on calcitonin family of receptors signaling during osteoblastogenesis via adenylate cyclase inhibition

Stanniocalcin 1 (STC1) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) are involved in bone formation/remodeling. Here we investigate the effects of STC1 on functional heterodimer complex CALCRL/RAMP1, expression and activity during osteoblastogenesis. STC1 did not modify CALCRL and ramp 1 gene expression during osteoblastogenesis when compared to controls. However, plasma membrane spatial distribution of CALCRL/RAMP1 was modified in 7-day pre-osteoblasts exposed to either CGRP or STC1, and both peptides induced CALCRL and RAMP1 assembly. CGRP, but not STC1 stimulated cAMP accumulation in 7-day osteoblasts and in CALCRL/RAMP1 transfected HEK293 cells. Furthermore, STC1 inhibited forskolin stimulated cAMP accumulation of HEK293 cells, but not in CALCRL/RAMP1 transfected HEK293 cells. However, STC1 inhibited cAMP accumulation in calcitonin receptor (CTR) HEK293 transfected cells stimulated by calcitonin. In conclusion, STC1 signals through inhibitory G-protein modulates CGRP receptor spatial localization during osteoblastogenesis and may function as a regulatory factor interacting with calcitonin peptide members during bone formation. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.CAPES/CNPq (VS PNPD fellowship program); FAPERGS/CNPq [008/2009 (FCRG)]; Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [PTDC/MAR/121279/2010, PEst-C/MAR/LA0015/2013, SFRH/BPD/89811/2012]; CNPq (SRT PhD fellowship program); CNPq (LAMM PhD fellowship program); CNPq (FCRG research productivity fellowship program); INCT Exitotoxicity and Neuroprotection (DOGS

The Natural History of Leber Congenital Amaurosis and Cone-Rod Dystrophy Associated with Variants in the GUCY2D Gene

OBJECTIVE: To describe the spectrum of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA) and cone-rod dystrophy (CORD) associated with the GUCY2D gene, and to identify potential clinical endpoints and optimal patient selection for future therapeutic trials. DESIGN: International multicenter retrospective cohort study. SUBJECTS: 82 patients with GUCY2D-associated CORD and LCA from 54 molecularly confirmed families. METHODS: Data were gathered by reviewing medical records for medical history, symptoms, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), ophthalmoscopy, visual fields, full-field electroretinography and retinal imaging (fundus photography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), fundus autofluorescence). MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Age of onset, annual decline of visual acuity, estimated visual impairment per age, genotype-phenotype correlations, anatomic characteristics on funduscopy, and multimodal imaging. RESULTS: Fourteen patients with autosomal recessive LCA and 68 with autosomal dominant CORD were included. The median follow-up time was 5.2 years (interquartile range (IQR), 2.6-8.8) for LCA, and 7.2 years (IQR, 2.2-14.2) for CORD. Generally, LCA presented in the first year of life. The BCVA in LCA ranged from no light perception to 1.00 logMAR, and remained relatively stable during follow-up. Imaging for LCA was limited, but showed little to no structural degeneration. In CORD, progressive vision loss started around the second decade of life. The annual decline rate of visual acuity was 0.022 logMAR (P A and the c.2512C>T GUCY2D variant (P = 0.798). At the age of 40 years the probability of being blind or severely visually impaired was 32%. The integrity of the ellipsoid zone (EZ) and external limiting membrane (ELM) on SD-OCT were correlated significantly with BCVA (Spearman's ρ = 0.744, P = 0.001 and ρ = 0.712, P < 0.001, respectively) in CORD. CONCLUSION: LCA due to variants in GUCY2D results in severe congenital visual impairment with relatively intact macular anatomy on funduscopy and available imaging, suggesting a long preservation of photoreceptors. Despite large variability, GUCY2D-associated CORD generally presented during adolescence with a progressive loss of vision and culminated in severe visual impairment during mid to late-adulthood. The integrity of the ELM and EZ may be suitable structural endpoints for therapeutic studies in GUCY2D-associated CORD

The Virtual Sociality of Rights: The Case of Women\u27s Rights are Human Rights

This essay traces the relationship between activists and academics involved in the campaign for women\u27s rights as human rights as a case study of the relationship between different classes of what I call knowledge professionals self-consciously acting in a transnational domain. The puzzle that animates this essay is the following: how was it that at the very moment at which a critique of rights and a reimagination of rights as rights talk proved to be such fertile ground for academic scholarship did the same rights prove to be an equally fertile ground for activist networking and lobbying activities? The paper answers this question with respect to the work of self-reflexivity in creating a virtual sociality of rights