Avoiding Alignment-based Conservativity Violations through Dialogue

A number of ontology matching techniques have been proposed that rely on full disclosure of their ontological models prior to the construction of the alignment. However, within open and opportunistic environments, such approaches may not always be pragmatic or even acceptable (due to privacy concerns). Several studies have focussed on collaborative, decentralised approaches to ontology alignment, where agents negotiate the acceptability of correspondences (i.e. mappings between corresponding entities in different ontologies) acquired from past encounters, or try to ascertain novel correspondences on the fly. However, such approaches can lead to logical flaws that may undermine their utility. In this paper, we extend a dialogical approach to correspondence negotiation, whereby agents not only exchange details of possible correspondences, but also identify potential violations to the so-called conservativity principle, where novel but undesirable entailments between named concepts in one of the input ontologies emerge. We present a formal model of the dialogue, and show how \conservativity violations can be repaired (using an existing correspondence repair system) during the dialogue through the exchange of repairs. We then illustrate how agents negotiate over possible correspondences and repairs by means of a walkthrough example

Sex of muscle stem cells does not influence potency for cardiac cell therapy

We have previously shown that populations of skeletal muscle-derived stem cells (MDSCs) exhibit sexbased differences for skeletal muscle and bone repair, with female cells demonstrating superior engrafting abilities to males in skeletal muscle while male cells differentiating more robustly toward the osteogenic and chondrogenic lineages. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the therapeutic capacity of MDSCs transplanted into myocardium is influenced by sex of donor MDSCs or recipient. Male and female MDSCs isolated from the skeletal muscle of 3-week-old mice were transplanted into recipient male or female dystrophin-deficient (mdx) hearts or into the hearts of male SCID mice following acute myocardial infarction. In the mdx model, no difference was seen in engraftment or blood vessel formation based on donor cell or recipient sex. In the infarction model, MDSC-transplanted hearts showed higher postinfarction angiogenesis, less myocardial scar formation, and improved cardiac function compared to vehicle controls. However, sex of donor MDSCs had no significant effects on engraftment, angiogenesis, and cardiac function. VEGF expression, a potent angiogenic factor, was similar between male and female MDSCs. Our results suggest that donor MDSC or recipient sex has no significant effect on the efficiency of MDSC-triggered myocardial engraftment or regeneration following cardiac injury. The ability of the MDSCs to improve cardiac regeneration and repair through promotion of angiogenesis without differentiation into the cardiac lineage may have contributed to the lack of sex difference observed in these models. Copyright © 2009 Cognizant Comm. Corp

Can HRCT be used as a marker of airway remodelling in children with difficult asthma?

BACKGROUND: Whole airway wall thickening on high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is reported to parallel thickening of the bronchial epithelial reticular basement membrane (RBM) in adult asthmatics. A similar relationship in children with difficult asthma (DA), in whom RBM thickening is a known feature, may allow the use of HRCT as a non-invasive marker of airway remodelling. We evaluated this relationship in children with DA. METHODS: 27 children (median age 10.5 [range 4.1-16.7] years) with DA, underwent endobronchial biopsy from the right lower lobe and HRCT less than 4 months apart. HRCTs were assessed for bronchial wall thickening (BWT) of the right lower lobe using semi-quantitative and quantitative scoring techniques. The semi-quantitative score (grade 0-4) was an overall assessment of BWT of all clearly identifiable airways in HRCT scans. The quantitative score (BWT %; defined as [airway outer diameter - airway lumen diameter]/airway outer diameter x100) was the average score of all airways visible and calculated using electronic endpoint callipers. RBM thickness in endobronchial biopsies was measured using image analysis. 23/27 subjects performed spirometry and the relationships between RBM thickness and BWT with airflow obstruction evaluated. RESULTS: Median RBM thickness in endobronchial biopsies was 6.7(range 4.6-10.0) microm. Median qualitative score for BWT of the right lower lobe was 1(range 0-1.5) and quantitative score was 54.3 (range 48.2-65.6)%. There was no relationship between RBM thickness and BWT in the right lower lobe using either scoring technique. No relationship was found between FEV1 and BWT or RBM thickness. CONCLUSION: Although a relationship between RBM thickness and BWT on HRCT has been found in adults with asthma, this relationship does not appear to hold true in children with D

"‘We just want to be treated with respect!’: Using restorative approaches and the dramatic arts to build positive relationships between the police and young people"

This article explores the application of an ambitious arts-based restorative intervention that has been applied in a direct response to perceived issues with procedural justice, legitimacy and community relations between police and young people. The research focuses on a series of Youth Forums that took place in the West of England, employed as an attempt to improve strained relationships between both parties. It reports on detailed ethnographic research of the Forum processes and procedures presenting this primary evidence in light of the existing literature on police legitimacy and procedural justice in police-youth encounters. The findings suggest that community-based arts programmes can be a powerful and effective tool for challenging entrenched views with the potential to improve future encounters between police and young people; and that the relevance and effectiveness of arts-based interventions can be increased by combining with restorative justice principles

Impaired neonatal macrophage phagocytosis is not explained by overproduction of prostaglandin E2

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neonates and young infants manifest increased susceptibility to bacterial, viral and fungal lung infections. Previous work has identified a role for eicosanoids in mediating host defense functions of macrophages. This study examines the relationship between alveolar macrophage (AM) host defense and production of lipid mediators during the neonatal period compared to adult AMs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>AMs were harvested from young (day 7 and day 14) and adult (~10 week) rats. The functionality of these cells was assessed by examining their ability to phagocytose opsonized targets, produce cytokines, eicosanoids and intracellular cAMP measured by enzyme immunoassays, and gene expression of proteins, enzymes and receptors essential for eicosanoid generation and phagocytosis measured by real time RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AMs from young animals (day 7 and 14) were defective in their ability to phagocytose opsonized targets and produce tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- α. In addition, young AMs produce more prostaglandin (PG) E₂, a suppressor of host defense, and less leukotriene (LT) B₄, a promoter of host defense. Young AMs express higher levels of enzymes responsible for the production of PGE₂and LTB₄; however, there was no change in the expression of E prostanoid (EP) receptors or LT receptors. Despite the similar EP profiles, young AMs are more responsive to PGE₂as evidenced by their increased production of the important second messenger, cyclic AMP. In addition, young AMs express higher levels of PDE3B and lower levels of PDE4C compared to adult AMs. However, even though the young AMs produced a skewed eicosanoid profile, neither the inhibition of PGE₂by aspirin nor the addition of exogenous LTB₄rescued the defective opsonized phagocytosis. Examination of a receptor responsible for mediating opsonized phagocytosis showed a significant decrease in the gene expression levels of the Fcgamma receptor in young (day 7) AMs compared to adult AMs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that elevated production of PGE₂and decreased production of LTB₄do not contribute to impaired opsonized macrophage phagocytosis and highlight an important difference between young and adult AMs.</p

How many is enough? Determining optimal count totals for ecological and palaeoecological studies of testate amoebae

Testate amoebae are increasingly used in ecological and palaeoecological studies of wetlands. To characterise the amoeba community a certain number of individuals need to be counted under the microscope. To date, most studies have aimed for 150 individuals, but that sample size is not based on adequate evidence. When testate amoeba concentrations are low, it can be difficult or impossible to reach this total. The impacts of lower count totals have never been seriously scrutinised. We investigated the impact of count size on number of taxa identified, quantitative inferences of environmental variables and the strength of the links between amoebae and environmental data in the context of predicting depth to water table. Low counts were simulated by random selection of individuals from four existing datasets. Results show progressively diminishing returns by all criteria as count size increases from low numbers to counts of 150. A higher count is required to identify all taxa than to adequately characterise the community for transfer function inference. We suggest that in most cases, it will be a more efficient use of time to count a greater number of samples to a lower count. While a count of 50 individuals may be sufficient for some samples from some sites we recommend that counts of 100 individuals should be sufficient for most samples. Counts need only be increased to 150 or more where the aim is to identify relatively minor, but still potentially ecologically relevant community changes. This approach will help reduce lack of replication and low resolution, which are common limitations in testate amoeba-based palaeoecological and ecological studies

Risk measures for direct real estate investments with non-normal or unknown return distributions

The volatility of returns is probably the most widely used risk measure for real estate. This is rather surprising since a number of studies have cast doubts on the view that volatility can capture the manifold risks attached to properties and corresponds to the risk attitude of investors. A central issue in this discussion is the statistical properties of real estate returns—in contrast to neoclassical capital market theory they are mostly non-normal and often unknown, which render many statistical measures useless. Based on a literature review and an analysis of data from Germany we provide evidence that volatility alone is inappropriate for measuring the risk of direct real estate. We use a unique data sample by IPD, which includes the total returns of 939 properties across different usage types (56% office, 20% retail, 8% others and 16% residential properties) from 1996 to 2009, the German IPD Index, and the German Property Index. The analysis of the distributional characteristics shows that German real estate returns in this period were not normally distributed and that a logistic distribution would have been a better fit. This is in line with most of the current literature on this subject and leads to the question which indicators are more appropriate to measure real estate risks. We suggest that a combination of quantitative and qualitative risk measures more adequately captures real estate risks and conforms better with investor attitudes to risk. Furthermore, we present criteria for the purpose of risk classification