D-Bees: A Novel Method Inspired by Bee Colony Optimization for Solving Word Sense Disambiguation

Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is a problem in the field of computational linguistics given as finding the intended sense of a word (or a set of words) when it is activated within a certain context. WSD was recently addressed as a combinatorial optimization problem in which the goal is to find a sequence of senses that maximize the semantic relatedness among the target words. In this article, a novel algorithm for solving the WSD problem called D-Bees is proposed which is inspired by bee colony optimization (BCO)where artificial bee agents collaborate to solve the problem. The D-Bees algorithm is evaluated on a standard dataset (SemEval 2007 coarse-grained English all-words task corpus)and is compared to simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and two ant colony optimization techniques (ACO). It will be observed that the BCO and ACO approaches are on par

Universal Gr\"obner Bases for Binary Linear Codes

Each linear code can be described by a code ideal given as the sum of a toric ideal and a non-prime ideal. In this way, several concepts from the theory of toric ideals can be translated into the setting of code ideals. It will be shown that after adjusting some of these concepts, the same inclusion relationship between the set of circuits, the universal Gr\"obner basis and the Graver basis holds. Furthermore, in the case of binary linear codes, the universal Gr\"obner basis will consist of all binomials which correspond to codewords that satisfy the Singleton bound and a particular rank condition. This will give rise to a new class of binary linear codes denoted as Singleton codes.Comment: Accepted for publication in IJPA

Graver Bases and Universal Gr\"obner Bases for Linear Codes

Two correspondences have been provided that associate any linear code over a finite field with a binomial ideal. In this paper, algorithms for computing their Graver bases and universal Gr\"obner bases are given. To this end, a connection between these binomial ideals and toric ideals will be established.Comment: 18 page

Ethylene supports colonization of plant roots by the mutualistic fungus Piriformospora indica

The mutualistic basidiomycete Piriformospora indica colonizes roots of mono- and dicotyledonous plants, and thereby improves plant health and yield. Given the capability of P. indica to colonize a broad range of hosts, it must be anticipated that the fungus has evolved efficient strategies to overcome plant immunity and to establish a proper environment for nutrient acquisition and reproduction. Global gene expression studies in barley identified various ethylene synthesis and signaling components that were differentially regulated in P. indica-colonized roots. Based on these findings we examined the impact of ethylene in the symbiotic association. The data presented here suggest that P. indica induces ethylene synthesis in barley and Arabidopsis roots during colonization. Moreover, impaired ethylene signaling resulted in reduced root colonization, Arabidopsis mutants exhibiting constitutive ethylene signaling, -synthesis or ethylene-related defense were hyper-susceptible to P. indica. Our data suggest that ethylene signaling is required for symbiotic root colonization by P. indica

Genetic Contribution to Alcohol Dependence: Investigation of a Heterogeneous German Sample of Individuals with Alcohol Dependence, Chronic Alcoholic Pancreatitis, and Alcohol-Related Cirrhosis

The present study investigated the genetic contribution to alcohol dependence (AD) using genome-wide association data from three German samples. These comprised patients with: (i) AD; (ii) chronic alcoholic pancreatitis (ACP); and (iii) alcohol-related liver cirrhosis (ALC). Single marker, gene-based, and pathway analyses were conducted. A significant association was detected for the ADH1B locus in a gene-based approach (puncorrected = 1.2 × 10−6; pcorrected = 0.020). This was driven by the AD subsample. No association with ADH1B was found in the combined ACP + ALC sample. On first inspection, this seems surprising, since ADH1B is a robustly replicated risk gene for AD and may therefore be expected to be associated also with subgroups of AD patients. The negative finding in the ACP + ALC sample, however, may reflect genetic stratification as well as random fluctuation of allele frequencies in the cases and controls, demonstrating the importance of large samples in which the phenotype is well assessed