2,930 research outputs found
Automatic domain ontology extraction for context-sensitive opinion mining
Automated analysis of the sentiments presented in online consumer feedbacks can facilitate both organizationsā business strategy development and individual consumersā comparison shopping. Nevertheless, existing opinion mining methods either adopt a context-free sentiment classification approach or rely on a large number of manually annotated training examples to perform context sensitive sentiment classification. Guided by the design science research methodology, we illustrate the design, development, and evaluation of a novel fuzzy domain ontology based contextsensitive opinion mining system. Our novel ontology extraction mechanism underpinned by a variant of Kullback-Leibler divergence can automatically acquire contextual sentiment knowledge across various product domains to improve the sentiment analysis processes. Evaluated based on a benchmark dataset and real consumer reviews collected from Amazon.com, our system shows remarkable performance improvement over the context-free baseline
Non-coding RNAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: What is the function?
New sequencing technologies and high-resolution microarray analysis have revealed genome-wide pervasive transcription in many eukaryotes, generating a large number of RNAs of no coding capacity. The focus of current debate is whether many of these non-coding RNAs are functional, and if so, what their function is. In this review, we describe recent discoveries in the field of non-coding RNAs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Newly identified non-coding RNAs in this budding yeast, their functions in gene regulation and possible mechanisms of action are discussed
Neurocomputing systems for auditory processing
This thesis studies neural computation models and neuromorphic implementations of the auditory pathway with applications to cochlear implants and artiļ¬cial auditory sensory and processing systems.
Very low power analogue computation is addressed through the design of micropower analogue building blocks and an auditory preprocessing module targeted at cochlear implants. The analogue building blocks have been fabricated
and tested in a standard Complementary Metal Oxide Silicon (CMOS) process.
The auditory pre-processing module design is based on the cochlea signal processing mechanisms and low power microelectronic design methodologies. Compared to existing preprocessing techniques used in cochlear implants, the proposed design has a wider dynamic range and lower power consumption. Furthermore, it provides the phase coding as well as the place coding information that are necessary for enhanced functionality in future cochlear implants.
The thesis presents neural computation based approaches to a number of signal-processing problems encountered in cochlear implants. Techniques that can improve the performance of existing devices are also presented. Neural network based models for loudness mapping and pattern recognition based channel selection strategies are described. Compared with stateāofātheāart commercial cochlear implants, the thesis results show that the proposed channel selection model produces superior speech sound qualities; and the proposed loudness mapping model consumes substantially smaller amounts of memory.
Aside from the applications in cochlear implants, this thesis describes a biologically plausible computational model of the auditory pathways to the superior colliculus based on current neurophysiological ļ¬ndings. The model encapsulates interaural time difference, interaural spectral difference, monaural pathway and auditory space map tuning in the inferior colliculus. A biologically plausible Hebbian-like learning rule is proposed for auditory space neural map tuning, and a reinforcement learning method is used for map alignment with other sensory space maps through activity independent cues.
The validity of the proposed auditory pathway model has been veriļ¬ed by simulation using synthetic data. Further, a complete biologically inspired auditory simulation system is implemented in software. The system incorporates models of the external ear, the cochlea, as well as the proposed auditory pathway model. The proposed implementation can mimic the biological auditory sensory system to generate an auditory space map from 3āD sounds. A large amount of real 3-D sound signals including broadband White noise, click noise and speech are used in the simulation experiments. The eļ¬ect of the auditory space map developmental plasticity is examined by simulating early auditory space map formation and auditory space map alignment with a distorted visual sensory map. Detailed simulation methods, procedures and results are presented
Lithologic Mapping of HED Terrains on Vesta using Dawn Framing Camera Color Data
The surface composition of Vesta, the most massive intact basaltic object in
the asteroid belt, is interesting because it provides us with an insight into
magmatic differentiation of planetesimals that eventually coalesced to form the
terrestrial planets. The distribution of lithologic and compositional units on
the surface of Vesta provides important constraints on its petrologic
evolution, impact history and its relationship with Vestoids and
howardite-eucrite-diogenite (HED) meteorites. Using color parameters (band tilt
and band curvature) originally developed for analyzing lunar data, we have
identified and mapped HED terrains on Vesta in Dawn Framing Camera (FC) color
data. The average color spectrum of Vesta is identical to that of howardite
regions, suggesting an extensive mixing of surface regolith due to impact
gardening over the course of solar system history. Our results confirm the
hemispherical dichotomy (east-west and north-south) in albedo/color/composition
that has been observed by earlier studies. The presence of diogenite-rich
material in the southern hemisphere suggests that it was excavated during the
formation of the Rheasilvia and Veneneia basins. Our lithologic mapping of HED
regions provides direct evidence for magmatic evolution of Vesta with diogenite
units in Rheasilvia forming the lower crust of a differentiated object.Comment: Accepted for Meteoritics and Planetary Science special issue for
Composition of Vesta/Dawn Missio
k-Regret Minimizing Set: Efficient Algorithms and Hardness
We study the k-regret minimizing query (k-RMS), which is a useful operator for supporting multi-criteria decision-making. Given two integers k and r, a k-RMS returns r tuples from the database which minimize the k-regret ratio, defined as one minus the worst ratio between the k-th maximum utility score among all tuples in the database and the maximum utility score of the r tuples returned. A solution set contains only r tuples, enjoying the benefits of both top-k queries and skyline queries. Proposed in 2012, the query has been studied extensively in recent years. In this paper, we advance the theory and the practice of k-RMS in the following aspects. First, we develop efficient algorithms for k-RMS (and its decision version) when the dimensionality is 2. The running time of our algorithms outperforms those of previous ones. Second, we show that k-RMS is NP-hard even when the dimensionality is 3. This provides a complete characterization of the complexity of k-RMS, and answers an open question in previous studies. In addition, we present approximation algorithms for the problem when the dimensionality is 3 or larger
Global mapping of RNA homodimers in living cells
RNA homodimerization is important for various physiological processes, including the assembly of membraneless organelles, RNA subcellular localization, and packaging of viral genomes. However, understanding RNA dimerization has been hampered by the lack of systematic in vivo detection methods. Here, we show that CLASH, PARIS, and other RNA proximity ligation methods detect RNA homodimers transcriptome-wide as āoverlappingā chimeric reads that contain more than one copy of the same sequence. Analyzing published proximity ligation data sets, we show that RNA:RNA homodimers mediated by direct base-pairing are rare across the human transcriptome, but highly enriched in specific transcripts, including U8 snoRNA, U2 snRNA, and a subset of tRNAs. Mutations in the homodimerization domain of U8 snoRNA impede dimerization in vitro and disrupt zebrafish development in vivo, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved role of this domain. Analysis of virus-infected cells reveals homodimerization of SARS-CoV-2 and Zika genomes, mediated by specific palindromic sequences located within protein-coding regions of N gene in SARS-CoV-2 and NS2A gene in Zika. We speculate that regions of viral genomes involved in homodimerization may constitute effective targets for antiviral therapies
Ceres' opposition effect observed by the Dawn framing camera
The surface reflectance of planetary regoliths may increase dramatically
towards zero phase angle, a phenomenon known as the opposition effect (OE). Two
physical processes that are thought to be the dominant contributors to the
brightness surge are shadow hiding (SH) and coherent backscatter (CB). The
occurrence of shadow hiding in planetary regoliths is self-evident, but it has
proved difficult to unambiguously demonstrate CB from remote sensing
observations. One prediction of CB theory is the wavelength dependence of the
OE angular width. The Dawn spacecraft observed the OE on the surface of dwarf
planet Ceres. We characterize the OE over the resolved surface, including the
bright Cerealia Facula, and to find evidence for SH and/or CB. We analyze
images of the Dawn framing camera by means of photometric modeling of the phase
curve. We find that the OE of most of the investigated surface has very similar
characteristics, with an enhancement factor of 1.4 and a FWHM of 3{\deg} (broad
OE). A notable exception are the fresh ejecta of the Azacca crater, which
display a very narrow brightness enhancement that is restricted to phase angles
{\deg} (narrow OE); suggestively, this is in the range in which CB is
thought to dominate. We do not find a wavelength dependence for the width of
the broad OE, and lack the data to investigate the dependence for the narrow
OE. The prediction of a wavelength-dependent CB width is rather ambiguous. The
zero-phase observations allow us to determine Ceres' visible geometric albedo
as . A comparison with other asteroids suggests that
Ceres' broad OE is typical for an asteroid of its spectral type, with
characteristics that are primarily linked to surface albedo. Our analysis
suggests that CB may occur on the dark surface of Ceres in a highly localized
fashion.Comment: Credit: Schr\"oder et al, A&A in press, 2018, reproduced with
permission, \copyright ES
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