Financial information extraction using pre-defined and user-definable templates in the Lolita system

Financial operators have today access to an extremely large amount of data, both quantitative and qualitative, real-time or historical and can use this information to support their decision-making process. Quantitative data are largely processed by automatic computer programs, often based on artificial intelligence techniques, that produce quantitative analysis, such as historical price analysis or technical analysis of price behaviour. Differently, little progress has been made in the processing of qualitative data, which mainly consists of financial news articles from financial newspapers or on-line news providers. As a result the financial market players are overloaded with qualitative information which is potentially extremely useful but, due to the lack of time, is often ignored. The goal of this work is to reduce the qualitative data-overload of the financial operators. The research involves the identification of the information in the source financial articles which is relevant for the financial operators' investment decision making process and to implement the associated templates in the LOLITA system. The system should process a large number of source articles and extract specific templates according to the relevant information located in the source articles. The project also involves the design and implementation in LOLITA of a user- definable template interface for allowing the users to easily design new templates using sentences in natural language. This allows user-defined information extraction from source texts. This differs from most of existing information extraction systems which require the developers to code the templates directly in the system. The results of the research have shown that the system performed well in the extraction of financial templates from source articles which would allow the financial operator to reduce his qualitative data-overload. The results have also shown that the user-definable template interface is a viable approach to user-defined information extraction. A trade-off has been identified between the ease of use of the user-definable template interface and the loss of performance compared to hand- coded templates

La (mancata) tutela dei diritti fondamentali frav sfide del costituzionalismo (inter)nazionale e disordine delle fonti del diritto

This paper aims at providing an overview of the nearly seventy years of challenges which have been coming along with (inter)national constitutionalism since its beginnings. Most of all, it aims at drawing attention to their peculiar relevance with regard to both the ever growing disorder of (national and international) legal sources and the wide and larger uncertainty in the forms to protecting fundamental rights and preserving fundamental goods (§ 5). In particular, after a few remarks on its (failed) achievements (§ 2), two sorts of challenges of the (inter)national constitutionalism will be distinguished: (i) the (earlier) challenges which even before the conclusion of the second world war had marked its beginnings and the slowly progressive assessment of its ultimate principles (§ 3); and (ii) the (new) challenges which at the conclusion of the cold war, in the contest of a new geopolitical disorder, have started to undermining its hardly achieved results as well as the basic values of its legal and political project (§ 4)

Retinal-binding proteins mirror prokaryotic dynamics in multipond solar salterns

Microbial opsin (i.e. retinal-binding protein) dynamics has been studied along a salinity gradient in Santa Pola solar salterns (Alicante, Spain) by using culture-independent approaches and statistical analyses. Five ponds of salinities ranging from 18% to above 40% were sampled nine times along a year. Forty-three opsin-like sequences were retrieved by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and clustered into 18 different phylogroups, indicating that their diversity was higher than expected according to previous data. Moreover, the statistical correlation between environmental factors controlling microbial community structure and dynamics of environmental rhodopsin proteins indicated almost identical temporal fluctuations between the opsin-related sequences and their corresponding putative ‘producers’ in nature. Although most sequences were related to others previously detected in hypersaline environments, some pond-specific opsins putatively belonged to previously uncharacterized hosts. Furthermore, we propose that subtle changes in the bacteriorhodopsin ‘retinal proton binding pocket’, which is key in the photocycle function, could be the molecular basis behind a fine ‘photocycle-tuning’ mechanism to avoid inter/intraspecies light-competition in hypersaline environments.This work was supported by project CGL2012-39627-C03-01 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which was also co-funded with FEDER support from the European Union

Review of Power Converter Topologies for Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Frequency domain impedance of Li-ion batteries contains valuable information about the state of charge (SOC) and state of health (SOH). Normally, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is performed during the relaxation of battery cells. However, performing EIS during the batteries operation has been achieved through switching power converters. This paper reviews the power converter topologies for both online and offline Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) characterization of batteries. The information that can be extracted from EIS Nyquist plots are discussed. Comparative analysis between converter topologies is presented. Finally, challenges are identified and new converter topologies are proposed for further consideration in online/offline EIS characterization

European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Consensus Report on Downstaging, Bridging and Immunotherapy in Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Liver transplantation offers the best chance of cure for most patients with non-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although not all patients with HCC are eligible for liver transplantation at diagnosis, some can be downstaged using locoregional treatments such as ablation and transarterial chemoembolization. These aforementioned treatments are being applied as bridging therapies to keep patients within transplant criteria and to avoid them from dropping out of the waiting list while awaiting a liver transplant. Moreover, immunotherapy might have great potential to support downstaging and bridging therapies. To address the contemporary status of downstaging, bridging, and immunotherapy in liver transplantation for HCC, European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT) convened a dedicated working group comprised of experts in the treatment of HCC to review literature and to develop guidelines pertaining to this cause that were subsequently discussed and voted during the Transplant Learning Journey (TLJ) 3.0 Consensus Conference that took place in person in Prague. The findings and recommendations of the working group on Downstaging, Bridging and Immunotherapy in Liver Transplantation for Hepatocellular Carcinoma are presented in this article.</p

Physeal fracture of radius and perilunate dislocation of carpo: a case report

A relevância do relato de caso em questão está em sua raridade de acometimento durante a infância (período em que se observa um sinal clássico em uma das radiografias solicitadas). Trata-se de uma luxação perilunar em punho direito, associada à fratura fisária do rádio em criança de onze anos, após acidente com laço. Foi feita a redução fechada e colocação de tala gessada no membro, o qual também apresentava áreas de sofrimento da pele causadas pela corda. O quadro clínico do paciente evoluiu com dor, edema e diminuição da perfusão. Nesse momento, foi encaminhado para o centro cirúrgico onde foi realizada redução aberta com incisão dorsal em S, fixação da luxação e fasciotomia. Após o ato cirúrgico, paciente evoluiu bem. Atualmente, após algumas sessões de fisioterapia, tem movimento quase total de flexão e extensão do punho, restando apenas limitação no desvio ulnar e radial. As crianças do século XXI se mostram muito ativas em vista disso têm aumentado os casos de fratura e luxação na pediatria, tanto pelo aumento do impacto quanto pela exposição a possíveis mecanismos de lesão.The relevance of this case report is its rarity of involvement during childhood (the period in which there is a classic sign in one of the required x-rays). This is a case of perilunate dislocation in right wrist associated with physeal fracture of radius in an eleven-year-old child, after a rope accident. The closed reduction and placement of a plaster splint were performed, which also presented areas of skin suffering caused by the rope. The patient’s medical condition evolved for pain, edema, and decreased perfusion. At that time, he was transferred to a surgical center where it was performed an open reduction with a dorsal incision in S, dislocation fixation and fasciotomy. After the surgical procedure, the patient’s medical condition developed well. Currently, after some physical therapy sessions, he has almost total movement of flexion and extension of his wrist, there is the only limitation in ulnar and radial deviation. Children of the 21st century are very active, and there has been an increase in the cases of fracture and dislocation, in pediatrics, both by increasing impact and exposure to possible mechanisms of injury

Fleets of robots for environmentally-safe pest control in agriculture

Feeding the growing global population requires an annual increase in food production. This requirement suggests an increase in the use of pesticides, which represents an unsustainable chemical load for the environment. To reduce pesticide input and preserve the environment while maintaining the necessary level of food production, the efficiency of relevant processes must be drastically improved. Within this context, this research strived to design, develop, test and assess a new generation of automatic and robotic systems for effective weed and pest control aimed at diminishing the use of agricultural chemical inputs, increasing crop quality and improving the health and safety of production operators. To achieve this overall objective, a fleet of heterogeneous ground and aerial robots was developed and equipped with innovative sensors, enhanced end-effectors and improved decision control algorithms to cover a large variety of agricultural situations. This article describes the scientific and technical objectives, challenges and outcomes achieved in three common crops