Grounding event references in news

Events are frequently discussed in natural language, and their accurate identification is central to language understanding. Yet they are diverse and complex in ontology and reference; computational processing hence proves challenging. News provides a shared basis for communication by reporting events. We perform several studies into news event reference. One annotation study characterises each news report in terms of its update and topic events, but finds that topic is better consider through explicit references to background events. In this context, we propose the event linking task which—analogous to named entity linking or disambiguation—models the grounding of references to notable events. It defines the disambiguation of an event reference as a link to the archival article that first reports it. When two references are linked to the same article, they need not be references to the same event. Event linking hopes to provide an intuitive approximation to coreference, erring on the side of over-generation in contrast with the literature. The task is also distinguished in considering event references from multiple perspectives over time. We diagnostically evaluate the task by first linking references to past, newsworthy events in news and opinion pieces to an archive of the Sydney Morning Herald. The intensive annotation results in only a small corpus of 229 distinct links. However, we observe that a number of hyperlinks targeting online news correspond to event links. We thus acquire two large corpora of hyperlinks at very low cost. From these we learn weights for temporal and term overlap features in a retrieval system. These noisy data lead to significant performance gains over a bag-of-words baseline. While our initial system can accurately predict many event links, most will require deep linguistic processing for their disambiguation

Advice on restrictive admittance of antibiotics in veterinary praxis

Op verzoek van de Directie van het RIVM heeft een Werkgroep van deskundigen op het gebied van de humane en veterinaire infectieziekten een advies opgesteld inzake inperking van het arsenaal van antimicrobiele geneesmiddelen voor veterinaire toepassing. Uitgangspunt was dat vermindering van het antibiotica gebruik bij dieren een vermindering van het risico van overdracht van resistente bacterien van dier naar mens tot gevolg zal hebben. Na ampele overweging is de Werkgroep tot de conclusie gekomen dat in het kader van de Diergeneesmiddelenwet een restrictief toelatingsbeleid voor bepaalde, voor de mens levensreddende, antibiotica is aan te bevelen. In principe kunnen de registratie autoriteiten kiezen uit twee mogelijkheden: a. geheel verbieden van bepaalde antibiotica; b. toelaten voor een beperkt indicatiegebied met strikte afspraken voor "post marketing surveillance" (PMS) van de resistentie-ontwikkeling door de farmaceutische industrie. Aangezien momenteel een veterinair antibioticabeleid ontbreekt en er ook geen PMS door de fabrikanten en importeurs van diergeneesmiddelen plaats vindt, is de Werkgroep van oordeel dat de eerste beleidsoptie de voorkeur verdient.Abstract not availableRIV

Die europäische Harmonisierung der Desinfektionsmittel - Testverfahren aus der Sicht eines Niederländers

Since 1970 we know in Europe that, by engaging in intensive dialog and constructive cooperation it is possible to achieve a generally acceptable test procedure, despite the many divergent approaches taken by the different countries. When in 1966 I began my career as a microbiologist, different procedures were used in all countries to test the efficacy of disinfectants. The results of such tests did not at all lend themselves to comparison. One of the most important requirements to be addressed to a future, generally acceptable procedure was naturally that the results should be reproducible. To that effect, it was necessary to standardize all aspects of the test since even the slightest discrepancy could give rise to markedly different results. On the other hand, each specified detail had to be scientifically corroborated to prove acceptable to all parties. 1990 marked a major breakthrough towards harmonization of European disinfection test procedures with the founding of the "Chemical Disinfection and Antiseptics" (TC 216) working group within the framework of the "European Committee for Standardization (CEN). This served as a basis for Phase 1 (basic evaluation of the disinfectant effect or suspension tests under different conditions) and Phase 2 tests (tests on different surfaces under practice-oriented conditions). The quantitative principle is now valid for both phases. Major investments were needed to bring about European harmonization. We Dutch, in particular, are well known for having our own opinions. But we, too, continued to engage in discussions and collaborations until we reached a consensus and learned to respect each other and even to become friends in some cases. Today, harmonization endeavors extend well beyond Europe: with its biocide program, the OECD pesticides working group is working towards the development of a global test procedure for disinfectants. So we have not, by any means, reached the end of the road: there is still much to be accomplished by our successors: I am confident that we shall succeed, because no one - neither the manufacturers nor the authorities - can negate the knowledge base on which the European standards are founded.Seit 1970 beweisen wir in Europa, dass es möglich ist, durch einen intensiven Dialog und konstruktive Zusammenarbeit aus vielen nationalen Vorgehensweisen zu einem allgemein akzeptierten Testverfahren zu kommen. Als ich 1966 meine Arbeit als Mikrobiologe begann, wurden die Desinfektionsmittel in jedem Land mit unterschiedlichen Testverfahren auf ihre Wirksamkeit getestet. Die Ergebnisse der Tests waren in keiner Weise vergleichbar. Eine der wichtigsten Forderungen an ein zukünftiges, allgemein akzeptiertes Verfahren war natürlich, dass die Ergebnisse stabil bleiben sollten bei Test -Wiederholungen. Dazu war es notwendig, das Testverfahren in jedem Detail zu standardisieren. Kleinste Abweichungen konnten zu deutlich anderen Ergebnissen führen. Jedes festgelegte Detail musste andererseits wissenschaftlich begründet sein, wenn alle es akzeptieren sollten. Ein großer Durchbruch für die europäische Abgleichung der Desinfektionsmitteltestung war 1990 die Gründung der Arbeitsgruppe "Chemische Desinfektion und Antiseptica" (TC 216) im Rahmen des "European Committee for Standardization (CEN)". Jetzt entstanden Tests für die Phase 1 (grundsätzliche Beurteilung der desinfizierenden Wirkung bzw. Suspensionstests unter unterschiedlichen Bedingungen) und Phase 2 (Test auf unterschiedlichen Oberflächen unter praxisnahen Bedingungen). Das quantitative Prinzip ist nun für beide Phasen gültig. Der Aufwand für die europäische Einigung war groß. Gerade wir Holländer sind ja bekannt dafür, ihre eigene Meinung zu haben. Aber auch wir haben solange diskutiert, so lange zusammen gearbeitet, bis wir zusammen gefunden haben, gelernt haben, uns gegenseitig zu respektieren, zum Teil sogar Freunde geworden sind. Heute gehen die Einigungsversuche weit über Europa hinaus: die Arbeitsgruppe für Pestizide der OECD arbeitet im Zusammenhang mit ihren Biozid-Programm daran, ein global einheitliches Testverfahren für Desinfektionsmittel zu erreichen. Wir sind also noch lange nicht am Ende angelangt, viel bleibt für unsere Nachfolger noch zu tun. Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass das gelingen wird, denn niemand - weder die Hersteller noch die Behörden - können das Wissen negieren, auf dem die europäischen Standards beruhen

Comparative study of the microbidical activity of alcohols under the conditions of the European Suspension Test

Abstract niet beschikbaarTo obtain quantitative data on the microbidical activity of ethanol, n-propanol and isopropanol under the conditions of the European Suspension Test, comparative tests were carried out in the concentration range of 20 to 80% v/v using the standard test organisms of this test methods (4 bacteria and 1 yeast) as well as a strain of Mycobacterium terrae and spores of Aspergillus niger. The results show that all alcohols rested are rapidly cidal against bacteria and yeasts, inducing the norm reduction of 5 log cycles within 2 minutes. Propanols, especially n-propanol, are slightly more active than ethanol, reaching the above reduction already at concentrations of 30% v/v. Spores of A.niger are less susceptible. At the usual concentration of 70% v/v only ethanol causes within 5 minutes the desired reduction of 5 log ; with n-propanol and isopropanol the reduction is limited to approximately 4 and 2 log reduction respectively.HIGB/VV

Comparative testing sporocidal activity of disinfectants

Om na te gaan of de gevoeligheid van sporen van Bacillus cereus ATCC 9139 - het standaard toetsorganisme bij het onderzoek naar de sporocide eigenschappen van desinfectantia - voldoende representatief zijn voor sporevormende bacterien in het algemeen, is vergelijkend onderzoek gedaan met sporensuspensies van 4 Bacillus stammen en 4 Clostridium stammen. De sporocide werking van een zestal desinfectantia werd onderzocht in de Europese variant van de Standaard Suspensie Test. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat sporen van Bacillus in het algemeen resistenter zijn tegen desinfectantia dan sporen van Clostridium. De onderlinge verschillen zijn echter zo groot dat op grond van werkzaamheid tegen de sporen van het standaard toetsorganisme niet mag worden geconcludeerd dat een middel in dezelfde concentratie en inwerkingstijd een universele sporocide werking uitoefent.Abstract not availableHI

The occurrence and resistance against some antimicrobial agents of P.aeruginosa in hospital and domestic wastewater

In het afvalwater van een viertal ziekenhuizen werd Pseudomonas aeruginosa aangetroffen in aantallen varierend van 3,2x10-2 tot 6,6x10-4 cfu/ml. Dit was aanzienlijk hoger dan in huishoudelijk afvalwater (DGMH/BWS / Vennekens-CapkovaJ

[Resistance against antibiotics in routine isolates of bacteria in seven regional Public Health Laboratories.]

In 1990-1992 seven regional Public Health Laboratories sent the results of all their routine determinations of antibiotic susceptibility to the RIVM. Each year data from approximately 125000 isolates were collected on floppy disks. During the investigation no striking changes in the level of resistance occurred. Although regional differences in the level of resistance were observed, these may have been due to differences in the methods applied. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, enterococci and coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most frequently isolated bacteria. Resistance of Echerichia coli to amoxycillin, doxycycline and trimethoprim was between 20 and 35%. The new cephalosporins, quinolones and aminoglycosides were still active aginst virtually all Enterobacteriaceae. Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus against beta-lactamase-stable beta-lactam antibiotics was rare (a few percent at most). Resistance was most frequent in enterococci and coagulase-negative staphylococci. The number of isolates for each species or group of species and the percentages of resistance have been compared with the results of other investigations. Our results were similar to those of a similar British survey, whereas in the US resistant bacteria were found more frequently. Also in many other European countries the level of resistance appeared higher.GH