Dependency-based translation equivalents for factored machine translation

Abstract. One of the major concerns of the machine translation practitioners is to create good translation models: correctly extracted translation equivalents and a reduced size of the translation table are the most important evaluation criteria. This paper presents a method for extracting translation examples using the dependency linkage of both the source and target sentence. To decompose the source/target sentence into fragments, we identified two types of dependency link-structures -super-links and chains -and used these structures to set the translation example borders. The option for the dependency-linked ngrams approach is based on the assumption that a decomposition of the sentence in coherent segments, with complete syntactical structure and which accounts for extra-phrasal syntactic dependency would guarantee "better" translation examples and would make a better use of the storage space. The performance of the dependency-based approach is measured with the BLEU-NIST score and in comparison with a baseline system

Chitosan: A Good Candidate for Sustained Release Ocular Drug Delivery Systems

This chapter focuses on the eye, one of the most important organs of humans. Current data on pathophysiology of the human eye are presented in direct correlation with a range of therapeutic products, with a well-known and widely used material, namely chitosan. Applications of chitosan biopolymer are described in the development of innovative, modern, therapeutic devices and solutions. Thus, chitosan is a good excipient either for classic drop-type ocular systems, as well as for complex drug systems such as nanostructures (nanoparticles, nanomicelles and nanosuspensions), liposomes, microemulsions, microspheres, in situ hydrogels and inserts or implants. A number of disadvantages for ocular administration of the drugs are thus overcome

Effects of a high-intensity progressive-cycle program on quality of life and motor symptomatology in a Parkinson's disease population: a pilot randomized controlled trial

The benefits of aerobic exercise in persons with Parkinson's disease (PD) have been widely studied. Recent studies support the use of high-intensity aerobic exercise to improve oxidative stress values and functional performance in PD patients. The aim of this study is ascertain whether high-intensity aerobic training with lower extremity cycle ergometers and balance training can improve motor symptoms and quality of life in a PD population of Hoehn and Yahr disability score 1–3. The intervention took place in rehabilitation centers in secondary care. A pilot randomized controlled trial was carried out with 14 outpatients participated in the 8-week study. They were composed of a control group (CG; n = 7) that followed a balance protocol and an experimental group (EG; n = 7) that performed high-intensity (70% heart rate reserve) aerobic workout using a lower extremity cycle ergometer and a balance protocol once a week. The primary outcome measures included the 8-Foot Up-and-Go test, 6-Minute Walk test, 2-Minute Step test, Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), Movement Disorder Society—Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and Tinetti test. Significant improvements in the PDQ39 (F1.23 = 3.102; sig = 0.036), the MDS-UPDRS III (F1.23 = 4.723; sig = 0.033), and MDS-UPDRS Total (F1.23 = 4.117; sig = 0.047) were observed in the EG as against the CG. After taking into account the number of subjects in each group, the results suggest that the PD population can withstand high-intensity aerobic workouts with a lower extremity cycle ergometer. This exercise is a beneficial therapy for them because it reduces motor symptoms of the disease and furthermore increases and improves patient's quality of life

¿El tratamiento con ejercicios de Pilates de alta intensidad es beneficioso para las personas con enfermedad de Parkinson?

Aim: to compare the effects of a therapeutic physical exercise programme based on mat Pilates method carried out at two intensities in a population with Parkinson´s disease. Method: 32 participants with Parkinson's disease were randomly assigned to the low-intensity Mat-Pilates group (n=16) and to the high-intensity Mat-Pilates group (n=16) with both interventions lasting 12 weeks. Lower limb strength (30 Second-Chair-Stand-test), gait speed (Timed-Up and Go), and feasibility were assessed. Results: A total of 29 participants attended 80% of the intervention sessions. The participation rate was 91.14% and 70.05% in the low intensity and high intensity groups, respectively. This research shows that after the intervention there was a significant increase in lower limb strength (low-intensity 8.31% vs high-intensity 34.25%) and gait speed (low-intensity 12.12% vs high-intensity 19.35%) for both groups, although the improvement in the high-intensity group was statistically greater than the low-intensity group. Conclusions: The Pilates method is evidenced as a comprehensive rehabilitation strategy in the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease. Furthermore, an exercise regime based on the Pilates method at high intensity seems to lead to significant improvements in lower limb strength and an improvement in gait speed for this type of patient. Keywords: Physical therapy, Neurodegenerative disorders, Older adults, Therapeutic exercise, Pilates Method, Parkinson´s diseaseObjetivo: comparar los efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico terapéutico basado en el método Mat Pilates realizado a dos intensidades en una población con enfermedad de Parkinson. Método: 32 participantes con enfermedad de Parkinson fueron asignados aleatoriamente al grupo de Mat-Pilates de baja intensidad (n=16) y al grupo de Mat-Pilates de alta intensidad (n=16), ambas intervenciones con una duración de 12 semanas. Se evaluaron la fuerza de las extremidades inferiores (30 Second-Silla-Stand-test), la velocidad de la marcha (Timed-Up and Go) y la factibilidad. Resultados: Un total de 29 participantes asistieron al 80% de las sesiones de intervención. La tasa de participación fue del 91,14% y 70,05% en los grupos de baja y alta intensidad, respectivamente. Esta investigación muestra que después de la intervención hubo un aumento significativo en la fuerza de los miembros inferiores (baja intensidad 8,31% vs alta intensidad 34,25%) y la velocidad de la marcha (baja intensidad 12,12% vs alta intensidad 19,35%) para ambos grupos, aunque la mejora en el grupo de alta intensidad fue estadísticamente mayor que en el grupo de baja intensidad. Con-clusiones: El método Pilates se evidencia como una estrategia de rehabilitación integral en el tratamiento de pacientes con enferme-dad de Parkinson. Además, un régimen de ejercicios basado en el método Pilates de alta intensidad parece conducir a mejoras signifi-cativas en la fuerza de los miembros inferiores y una mejora en la velocidad de la marcha para este tipo de pacientes

Do the lower body strength assessment tests in the Spanish navy really measure what they purport to measure?

The main objective of this research was to analyse the efficacy of lower body strength assessment tests in the Armed Forces Physical Assessment System. Secondly, it was to determine what relationship exists between the physical evaluation system of the Spanish Armed forces and standardized evaluation protocols (Gold standard). A total of 905 students enrolled in the military/civil bachelor’s degree (813 male and 92 female) participated in this study. The influence of the sex of the participants was studied through the student’s t-test for independent data, and the degree of association between variables was defined by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The results present moderate correlations (r = 0.67, r = 0.66; p < 0.001) between the vertical jump test used by the Army and the power or elastic force tests commonly used in practice and in research. The results obtained reflect a moderate relationship between the gold standard tests and the tests used by the Army, which suggests that the tests currently used to assess lower body strength should be adapted to more objective measurement tools which would allow a better comparison between samples from different armed forces

CoRoLa Starts Blooming – An update on the Reference Corpus of Contemporary Romanian Language

This article reports on the on-going CoRoLa project, aiming at creating a reference corpus of contemporary Romanian (from 1945 onwards), opened for online free exploitation by researchers in linguistics and language processing, teachers of Romanian, students. We invest serious efforts in persuading large publishing houses and other owners of IPR on relevant language data to join us and contribute the project with selections of their text and speech repositories. The CoRoLa project is coordinated by two Computer Science institutes of the Romanian Academy, but enjoys cooperation of and consulting from professional linguists from other institutes of the Romanian Academy. We foresee a written component of the corpus of more than 500 million word forms, and a speech component of about 300 hours of recordings. The entire collection of texts (covering all functional styles of the language) will be pre-processed and annotated at several levels, and also documented with standardized metadata. The pre-processing includes cleaning the data and harmonising the diacritics, sentence splitting and tokenization. Annotation will include morpho-lexical tagging and lemmatization in the first stage, followed by syntactic, semantic and discourse annotation in a later stage

Evaluation, Language, and Untranslatables

The issue of translatability is pressing in international evaluation, in global transfer of evaluative instruments, in comparative performance management, and in culturally responsive evaluation. Terms that are never fully understood, digested, or accepted may continue to influence issues, problems, and social interactions in and around and after evaluations. Their meanings can be imposed or reinvented. Untranslatable terms are not just lost in translation but may produce overflows that do not go away. The purpose of this article is to increase attention to the issue of translatability in evaluation by means of specific exemplars. We provide a short dictionary of such exemplars delivered by evaluators, consultants, and teachers who work across a variety of contexts. We conclude with a few recommendations: highlight frictions in translatability by deliberately circulating and discussing words of relevance that appear to be foreign; increase the language skills of evaluators; and make research on frictions in translation an articulate part of the agenda for research on evaluation.Peer reviewe

Extensive analysis of native and non-native Centaurea solstitialis L. populations across the world shows no traces of polyploidization

Centaurea solstitialis L. (yellow starthistle, Asteraceae) is a Eurasian native plant introduced as an exotic into North and South America, and Australia, where it is regarded as a noxious invasive. Changes in ploidy level have been found to be responsible for numerous plant biological invasions, as they are involved in trait shifts critical to invasive success, like increased growth rate and biomass, longer life-span, or polycarpy. C. solstitialis had been reported to be diploid (2n = 2x = 16 chromosomes), however, actual data are scarce and sometimes contradictory. We determined for the first time the absolute nuclear DNA content by flow cytometry and estimated ploidy level in 52 natural populations of C. solstitialis across its native and non-native ranges, around the world. All the C. solstitialis populations screened were found to be homogeneously diploid (average 2C value of 1.72 pg, SD = ±0.06 pg), with no significant variation in DNA content between invasive and non-invasive genotypes. We did not find any meaningful difference among the extensive number of native and non-native C. solstitialis populations sampled around the globe, indicating that the species invasive success is not due to changes in genome size or ploidy level

Patient Preferences for Multiple Myeloma Treatments : A Multinational Qualitative Study

Background: Investigational and marketed drugs for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) are associated with a range of characteristics and uncertainties regarding long term side-effects and efficacy. This raises questions about what matters most to patients living with this disease. This study aimed to understand which characteristics MM patients find most important, and hence should be included as attributes and levels in a subsequent quantitative preference survey among MM patients. Methods: This qualitative study involved: (i) a scoping literature review, (ii) discussions with MM patients (n = 24) in Belgium, Finland, Romania, and Spain using Nominal Group Technique, (iii) a qualitative thematic analysis including multi-stakeholder discussions. Results: MM patients voiced significant expectations and hopes that treatments would extend their lives and reduce their cancer signs and symptoms. Participants however raised concerns about life-threatening side-effects that could cause permanent organ damage. Bone fractures and debilitating neuropathic effects (such as chronic tingling sensations) were highlighted as major issues reducing patients' independence and mobility. Patients discussed the negative impact of the following symptoms and side-effects on their daily activities: thinking problems, increased susceptibility to infections, reduced energy, pain, emotional problems, and vision problems. MM patients were concerned with uncertainties regarding the durability of positive treatment outcomes, and the cause, severity, and duration of their symptoms and side-effects. Patients feared short-term positive treatment responses complicated by permanent, severe side-effects and symptoms. Conclusions: This study gained an in-depth understanding of the treatment and disease-related characteristics and types of attribute levels (severity, duration) that are most important to MM patients. Results from this study argue in favor of MM drug development and individual treatment decision-making that focuses not only on extending patients' lives but also on addressing those symptoms and side-effects that significantly impact MM patients' quality of life. This study underscores a need for transparent communication toward MM patients about MM treatment outcomes and uncertainties regarding their long-term efficacy and safety. Finally, this study may help drug developers and decision-makers understand which treatment outcomes and uncertainties are most important to MM patients and therefore should be incorporated in MM drug development, evaluation, and clinical practice.Peer reviewe

Awareness, mobilisation and dissemination actions

The central objective of the Metanet4u project is to contribute to the establishment of a pan-European digital platform that makes available language resources and services, encompassing both datasets and software tools, for speech and language processing, and supports a new generation of exchange facilities for them.Peer ReviewedPreprint2.