Natural Language Processing at the School of Information Studies for Africa

The lack of persons trained in computational linguistic methods is a severe obstacle to making the Internet and computers accessible to people all over the world in their own languages. The paper discusses the experiences of designing and teaching an introductory course in Natural Language Processing to graduate computer science students at Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, in order to initiate the education of computational linguists in the Horn of Africa region

Solitons, vortices and shell structure in ultracold atomic quantum systems

This dissertation deals with finite-size effects in a few different quantum many-body phenomena in ultracold atomic systems. The finite-sized systems were simulated numerically using both mean-field methods and methods beyond mean-field, e.g. quadratic configuration interaction and exact diagonalization. The thesis is based on five scientific papers:Paper I is about the finite-size effects in the dynamics of a few-body soliton-like state. The collapses and revivals of the solitary wavefront in the particle density is characterized both analytically and numerically in the limit of weak interactions.Paper II analyzes a scheme to renormalize the contact interaction when used for exact diagonalization in a two-dimensional space. By relating the coupling strength in the diagonalization using the two-particle system, for which regularized solutions exists, converged results are obtained.Paper III deals with the formation of quantized vortices when stirring a harmonically trapped finite-sized system with a quadrupole deformation. I the energy spectrum the avoided crossing is found to be described by either of two types of correlated states. The type of avoided crossing can be controlled by the inclusion of an extra quartic deformation. Hysteresis in the mean-field description is found to be related to the types of avoided crossings exhibited and the full many-body time-evolution is compared to mean-field results. Paper IV investigates vortices in rotating fermionic droplets with dipole-dipole interactions. The vortex structure is found to still be present after the interaction is made anisotropic by having the dipoles tilt. Paper V contains an investigation of the effects on shell structure in fermionic droplets with dipole-dipole interactions. For a anisotropic harmonic oscillator, by tilting the dipoles, the shell structure of an isotropic oscillator can be restored

Combustion and fuel characterisation of wheat distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) and possible combustion applications

The present transition to a sustainable global energy system requires that biomass is increasingly combusted for heat and power production. Agricultural fuels considered include alkali-rich fuels with high phosphorus content. One such fuel is wheat distiller’s dried grain with solubles (wheat DDGS) from wheat-based ethanol production. Further increases in ethanol production may saturate the current market for wheat DDGS as livestock feed, and fuel uses are therefore considered. Fuel properties of wheat DDGS have been determined. The ash content (5.4 ± 1.6 %wt d.s.) is similar to many agricultural fuels. In comparison to most other biomass fuels the sulphur content is high (0.538 ± 0.232 %wt d.s.), and so are the contents of nitrogen (5.1 ± 0.6 %wt d.s.), phosphorus (0.960. ± 0.073 %wt d.s.) and potassium (1.30 ± 0.35 %wt d.s.). To determine fuel-specific combustion properties, wheat DDGS and mixes between wheat DDGS and logging residues (LR 60 %wt d.s. and DDGS 40 %wt d.s.), and wheat straw (wheat straw 50 %wt d.s., DDGS 50 %wt d.s.) were pelletized and combusted in a bubbling fluidised bed combustor (5 kW) and in a pellets burner combustor (20 kW). Pure wheat DDGS powder was also combusted in a powder burner (150 kW). Wheat DDGS had a high bed agglomeration and slagging tendency compared to other biomass fuels, although these tendencies were significantly lower for the mixture with the Ca-rich LR, probably reflecting the higher first melting temperatures of K–Ca/Mg-phosphates compared to K-phosphates. Combustion and co-combustion of wheat DDGS resulted in relatively large emissions of fine particles (<1 μm) for all combustion appliances. For powder combustion PMtot was sixteen times higher than from softwood stem wood. While the Cl concentrations of the fine particles from the the mixture of LR and wheat DDGS in fluidised bed combustion were lower than from combustion of pure LR, the Cl- and P-concentrations were considerably higher from the wheat DDGS mixtures combusted in the other appliances at higher fuel particle temperature. The particles from powder combustion of wheat DDGS contained mainly K, P, Cl, Na and S, and as KPO3 (i.e. the main phase identified with XRD) is known to have a low melting temperature, this suggests that powder combustion of wheat DDGS should be used with caution. The high slagging and bed agglomeration tendency of wheat DDGS, and the high emissions of fine particles rich in K, P and Cl from combustion at high temperature, mean that it is best used mixed with other fuels, preferably with high Ca and Mg contents, and in equipment where fuel particle temperatures during combustion are moderate, i.e. fluidised beds and possibly grate combustors rather than powder combustors

Uncertainty Detection as Approximate Max-Margin Sequence Labelling

This paper reports experiments for the CoNLL 2010 shared task on learning to detect hedges and their scope in natural language text. We have addressed the experimental tasks as supervised linear maximum margin prediction problems. For sentence level hedge detection in the biological domain we use an L1-regularised binary support vector machine, while for sentence level weasel detection in the Wikipedia domain, we use an L2-regularised approach. We model the in-sentence uncertainty cue and scope detection task as an L2-regularised approximate maximum margin sequence labelling problem, using the BIO-encoding. In addition to surface level features, we use a variety of linguistic features based on a functional dependency analysis. A greedy forward selection strategy is used in exploring the large set of potential features. Our official results for Task 1 for the biological domain are 85.2 F1-score, for the Wikipedia set 55.4 F1-score. For Task 2, our official results are 2.1 for the entire task with a score of 62.5 for cue detection. After resolving errors and final bugs, our final results are for Task 1, biological: 86.0, Wikipedia: 58.2; Task 2, scopes: 39.6 and cues: 78.5

Effects of Wood Properties and Chipping Length on the Operational Efficiency of a 30 kW Electric Disc Chipper

The development of efficient woody biomass comminuting processes and systems is of great importance for establishing bio-refineries. Using hybrid systems, which store excess energy from a diesel engine during periods of low loading for use during peak loading times, may yield higher energy efficiency compared to direct diesel-powered comminuting systems. In order to design hybrid chippers, a series of data are required on the load variations, in order to estimate the amount of energy that needs to be stored, and the peak power required. As a consequence, a detailed knowledge of the effects of wood properties on the direct power consumption during chipping is relevant. Therefore, the objectives of this work were to study the effects of wood properties (size and density) of pine, spruce and birch trees from early thinnings in the north of Sweden on the specific power and energy demand and time consumption of a 30 kW electric chipper while producing chips of two sizes. The study has generated models that replicate the processes, which can be used when designing efficient hybrid systems. The butt area had a significant effect on the power requirements when chipping and, along with chip length, had a significant effect on the energy requirements. Butt area and chip length also had a significant effect on the chipping productivity. There were small effects caused by the OD densities and by different species. These findings agree with previous studies and can be used for designing future hybrid chippers

A holistic approach to preventing type 2 diabetes in Asian women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus: a feasibility study and pilot randomized controlled trial

BackgroundGestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) exposes women to future risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Previous studies focused on diet and physical activity, less emphasis was given to tackle intertwined risk factors such as sleep and stress. Knowledge remains scarce in multi-ethnic Asian communities. This study explored the: (1) feasibility of a holistic digital intervention on improving diet, physical activity (PA), sleep and stress of Asian women with a history of GDM, and (2) preliminary efficacy of the holistic intervention on women’s physical and mental well-being via a pilot randomized controlled trial.MethodsFemale volunteers with a history of GDM but without pre-existing diabetes were recruited from multi-ethnic Singaporean community. Each eligible woman was given a self-monitoring opportunity using Oura Ring that provided daily feedback on step counts, PA, sleep and bedtime heart rate. Intervention group additionally received personalized recommendations aimed to reinforce healthy behaviors holistically (diet, PA, sleep and stress). Dietary intake was evaluated by a research dietitian, while step counts, PA, sleep and bedtime heart rate were evaluated by health coaches based on Oura Ring data. Perceived physical and mental health and well-being were self-reported. Clinical outcomes included glycemic status determined by HbA1c and OGTT tests, body mass index, blood pressures and lipid profile.ResultsOf 196 women from the community, 72 women completed diabetes screening, 61 women were eligible and 56 women completed the study. The 56 completers had mean age of 35.8 ± 3.7 years, predominantly Chinese, majority had their first GDM diagnosed at least 2 years ago and had two GDM-affected pregnancies. After intervention period, more women in the Intervention group achieved at least 8,000 steps/day and had at least 6 hours of sleep per night. Noticeable reduction of added sugar in their food and beverages were observed after the dietary intervention. Changes in body weight and mental well-being were observed but group differences were not statistically significant.ConclusionsThe holistic approach appeared feasible for personalizing lifestyle recommendations to promote physical and mental well-being among women with a history of GDM. Larger studies with sufficient assessment timepoints and follow-up duration are warranted to improve the evaluation of intervention effects on clinical outcomes.Clinical trial registration numberhttps://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT05512871, NCT05512871

Colour rearrangements in B-meson decays

We present a new model, based on colour rearrangements, which at the same time can describe both hidden and open charm production in B-meson decays. The model is successfully compared to both inclusive decays, such as B to J/psi X and B to D_s X, as well as exclusive ones, such as B to J/psi K^(*) and B to D^(*) D^(*)K. It also gives a good description of the momentum distribution of direct J/psi's, especially in the low-momentum region, which earlier has been claimed as a possible signal for new exotic states.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Patientperspektiv på DBT – Upplevelser av behandlarrelationer och förändringar i självbild.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a psychiatric condition associated with severe functional impairments in areas including emotion regulation, impulse control and the maintenance of stable and balanced self-views as well as interpersonal relationships. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment program that has been shown effective in reducing suicidal behaviors in patients diagnosed with BPD. Nevertheless, the scarceness of studies examining treatment effects on long term aspects of the borderline personality, such as self-views, calls for further exploration. The present paper sought to examine the experiences of five former patients diagnosed with BPD who completed a DBT- program, in regard to relationships with therapists and changes in self-views. A subsidiary aim of the study was to identify factors that in participants’ experience had contributed to such changes. The results indicate that at post-treatment, participants experienced significant positive changes in self-views as well as in interpersonal functioning. Factors reported as contributing to change were motivation, relationships in and outside of treatment as well as skills acquired in DBT. A well-established theoretical approach to the development and maintaining of self-views, self- verification theory, is applied to discuss the processes by which change has occured

Initial specification of the evaluation tasks "Use cases to bridge validation and benchmarking" PROMISE Deliverable 2.1

Evaluation of multimedia and multilingual information access systems needs to be performed from a usage oriented perspective. This document outlines use cases from the three use case domains of the PROMISE project and gives some initial pointers to how their respective characteristics can be extrapolated to determine and guide evaluation activities, both with respect to benchmarking and to validation of the usage hypotheses. The use cases will be developed further during the course of the evaluation activities and workshops projected to occur in coming CLEF conferences

Structural and functional analysis of human thymidylate kinase isoforms

Thymidylate kinase (TMPK) phosphorylates deoxythymidine monophosphate (dTMP) and plays an important role in genome stability. Deficiency in TMPK activity due to genetic alterations of DTYMK, i.e., the gene coding for TMPK, causes severe microcephaly in humans. However, no defects were observed in other tissues, suggesting the existence of a compensatory enzyme for dTTP synthesis. In search for this compensatory enzyme we analyzed 6 isoforms of TMPK mRNA deposited in the GenBank. Of these, only isoform 1 has been characterized and represents the known human TMPK. Our results reveal that isoform 2, 3, 4 and 5 lack essential structural elements for substrate binding and, thus, they are considered as nonfunctional isoforms. Isoform 6, however, has intact catalytic centers, i.e., dTMP-binding, DRX motif, ATP-binding p-loop and lid region, which are the key structural elements of an active TMPK, suggesting that isoform 6 may function as TMPK. When isoform 6 was expressed and purified, it showed only minimal activity (<0.1%) as compared with isoform 1. A putative isoform 6 was detected in a cancer cell line, in addition to the dominant isoform 1. However, because of its low activity, isoform 6 is unlikely be able to compensate for the loss of TMPK activity caused by deletions and/or point mutations of the DTYMK gene. Thereby, future studies to identify and characterize the compensatory TMPK enzyme found in patients with DTYMK mutations may contribute to the understanding of dTTP synthesis and of the pathophysiological role of DTYMK mutations in neurodegenerative disorders