15 research outputs found
Author Profiling Tracks at FIRE
[EN] Benchmarking activities are vital for fostering research and addressing new challenging problems. During the last 10 years of the FIRE initiative we have been involved in the organization of more than ten tracks, with the aim of the creation of new resources in several languages that were made available to the research community. This allowed to compare the new several approaches on the same datasets. In this chapter we will focus on the description of three author profiling tracks, on their data creation as well as the results analysis.The work on the author profiling data in Arabic was made possible by NPRP Grant #9-175-1-033 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authorsRosso, P.; Rangel Pardo, FM. (2020). Author Profiling Tracks at FIRE. SN Computer Science. 1:1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-020-0073-1S1111Al Sukhni E, Alequr Q. 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In: 17th international conference on intelligent text processing and computational linguistics, CICLing. Springer; 2016. LNCS. arXiv:1705.10754Rangel F, Rosso P, Potthast M, Stein B. Overview of the 5th author profiling task at PAN 2017: gender and language variety identification in Twitter. In: Working notes papers of the CLEF 2017 evaluation labs, CLEF and CEUR-WS.org, CEUR workshop proceedings; 2017.Rangel F, Rosso P, Charfi A, Zaghouani W, Ghanem B, Sánchez-Junquera J. Overview of the track on author profiling and deception detection in Arabic. In: Metha P, Rosso P, Majumder P, Mitra M (Eds) Working notes of the forum for information retrieval evaluation (FIRE 2019). CEUR workshop proceedings. CEUR-WS.org, Kolkata, India, December 12–15; 2019.Rangel F, Paolo R, Zaghouani W, Charfi A. Fine-grained analysis of language varieties and demographics. Nat Lang Eng; 2020. (In Press).Rosso P, Rangel F, Hernández-Farías I, Cagnina L, Zaghouani W, Charfi A. A survey on author profiling, deception, and irony detection for the Arabic language. Lang Ling Compass. 2018;12:4.Sadat F, Kazemi F, Farzindar A. Automatic identification of Arabic language varieties and dialects in social media. In: Proceedings of SocialNLP; 2014. p 22.Schler J, Koppel M, Argamon S, Pennebaker JW. Effects of age and gender on blogging. In: AAAI spring symposium: computational approaches to analyzing weblogs, AAAI; 2006. pp 199–205.Schwartz HA, Eichstaedt JC, Kern ML, Dziurzynski L, Ramones SM, Agrawal M, Shah A, Kosinski M, Stillwell D, Seligman ME, et al. Personality, gender, and age in the language of social media: the open-vocabulary approach. PLoS One. 2013;8–9:773–91.Sequiera R, Choudhury M, Gupta P, Rosso P, Kumar S, Banerjee S, Kumar-Naskar S, Bandyopadhyay S, Chittaranjan G, Das A, Chakma K. Overview of fire-2015 shared task on mixed script information retrieval. 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Fabbisogni energetici per edifici caratterizzanti il terziario in Italia: aspetti termici ed illuminotecnici
Il presente lavoro verte sull'individuazione di benchmark di fabbisogno energetico per edifici di riferimento con destinazione d'uso non-residenziale. In particolare, si intende fornire profili tipo di domanda energetica per l'illuminazione artificiale, al fine di valutarne l'effetto sui profili di fabbisogno di energia per la climatizzazione estiva ed invernale, nonché di individuare le variabili che maggiormente incidono sulla loro determinazione. Per giungere a questi risultati, ci si avvale dell'uso di programmi informatici di simulazione dinamica riconosciuti ed impiegati a livello scientifico, in ambito europeo ed extraeuropeo (Energy Plus). La ricerca viene condotta sotto vari aspetti: architettonico, energetico e ambientale. Il primo obiettivo, partendo dalle indicazioni bibliografiche, legislative e normative, è quello di caratterizzare in modo univoco gli edifici di riferimento per le varie destinazioni d'uso oggetto di analisi: edifici per l'istruzione, ed edifici terziari. Gli edifici di riferimento intendono costituire archetipi rappresentativi del patrimonio edilizio italiano. Il secondo obiettivo è di tipo energetico: si intende definire profili tipo di domanda energetica per l'illuminazione artificiale degli ambienti. Si intendono inoltre valutare contestualmente i fabbisogni energetici netti per il riscaldamento e il raffrescamento degli ambienti. L'obiettivo finale è riuscire a determinare le migliori soluzioni progettuali per la minimizzazione del fabbisogno di energia connesso all'illuminazione, in relazione alle destinazioni d'uso dei differenti edifici, nonché le variabili che più incidono per indirizzare al meglio le attenzioni progettuali in caso di nuova realizzazione. Il presente lavoro, dopo un primo inquadramento generale in cui si delinea quello che è lo stato dell'arte della valutazione dei fabbisogni energetici e della ricerca scientifica in materia di illuminazione artificiale di ambienti non residenziali, passa poi ad indagare il significato di archetipo e a definire degli archetipi edilizi per il patrimonio immobiliare costruito a destinazione d'uso scolastica e terziaria. Successivamente vengono descritti i modelli di calcolo impiegati e sono dettagliati i dati di input impiegati per la loro definizione. Sono infine esplicati i risultati ottenuti, con individuazione dei valori di benchmark energetico per gli archetipi edilizi scolastici e terziari, e con l'analisi di quelle che sono le grandezze maggiormente influenti sul fabbisogno energetico per illuminazion
An assessment of Human-Wildlife Interaction in the Indus Valley, Ladakh, Trans-Himalaya
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Avaliação da atividade antitumoral do extrato bruto e supercrítico de Cordia verbenacea
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Biológicas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica, Florianópolis, 2010O câncer está entre as causas mais freqüentes de morte no mundo. É considerado um importante problema de saúde pública em países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, sendo a segunda causa de morte no Brasil e no mundo, superado somente pelas doenças do sistema cardiovascular. Apesar disto até o momento não existe uma terapia efetiva para o tratamento de todos os tipos de câncer além de que a maioria dos quimioterápicos em uso apresentam elevada toxicidade. Esforços vêm sendo dirigidos no sentido de desenvolver fármacos antitumorais tão ou mais eficazes do que os quimioterápicos já disponíveis, porém com menor toxicidade e potencial para desenvolver resistência terapêutica. Muitos dos medicamentos utilizados atualmente resultaram da purificação de produtos naturais, principalmente vegetais. Neste contexto, o presente projeto objetivou avaliar o potencial antitumoral de Cordia verbenacea planta medicinal brasileira, vulgarmente conhecida como erva baleeira que é popularmente utilizada em Santa Catarina para tratamento de tumores e inflamações. Para se atingir tal objetivo foram realizados experimentos para avaliar a atividade citotóxica e antiproliferativa in vitro e antitumoral in vivo. Para tanto, realizou-se os ensaios de viabilidade celular (MTT) em células de tumor ascítico de Ehrlich (TAE) e MCF-7, proliferação celular (incorporação de [3H] timidina) e capacidade pró-poptótica (Brometo de etídio/Laranja de acridina (BE/LA)) em células TAE. Além disso, verificou-se o possível efeito dos extratos sobre o DNA plasmidial (atividade nucleásica) assim como a capacidade protetora do extrato sobre o DNA (com a geração de espécies reativas de oxigênio com Fe-EDTA). Foi avaliada a expressão da COX-2 através de Wertern blot em células MCF-7. A determinação da atividade antitumoral in vivo foi realizada em camundongos Balb/c inoculados com o TAE e tratados com extrato bruto (EB) e supercrítico (ESC) nas concentrações de 37,5; 75 e 150 mg/Kg. Nos ensaios do MTT e incorporação de timidina triciada os resultados demonstraram que o EB e ESC reduziram de maneira significativa a viabilidade e proliferação celular. A coloração com BE/LA revelou que o provável tipo de morte celular induzida pelos tratamentos trata-se de apoptose, uma vez que a grande maioria das células adquiriram uma coloração laranja-avermelhada, característica de células apoptóticas. Os extratos mostraram-se ineficazes no teste de ativação nucleásica. O ESC foi capaz de reduzir significativamente a expressão da COX-2 em células MCF-7. Os ensaios in vivo demonstram que tanto EB quanto ESC apresentaram efeitos antitumorais, sendo os melhores resultados observados para a dose de 150 mg/Kg. O tratamento com os extratos também causou importante inibição do crescimento tumoral nos camundongos, principalmente o ESC. EB e ESC elevaram a proporção de células inviáveis/viáveis em mais de duas vezes quando comparado ao controle negativo. EB e ESC aumentaram o tempo médio de sobrevida e a concentração de GSH. De acordo com os resultados podemos concluir que ESC apresentou atividade antitumoral mais potente que o extrato bruto. Os resultados obtidos foram favoráveis à validação da utilidade de C. verbenacea como potencial agente antitumoral. Além disso, foi considerado que o método de extração supercrítica pode aprimorar a atividade antitumoral de C. verbenacea, como demonstrado com os resultados apresentados acima, uma vez que estes efeitos provavelmente se devam à presença de ?-humuleno e ?-cariofileno presente nos extratos, especialmente no extrato supercrítico. Também a partir dos resultados obtidos podemos supor que um possível mecanismo de ação antitumoral dos extratos possa ser a redução da expressão da COX-2, o que poderia levar a um bloqueio da sobrevivência celular e indução da apoptose
The Politics of the Idea of Partnership: From contemporary aid policy to local health governance in practice in Zambia
This thesis explores the idea of partnership in contemporary aid policy and practice. Drawing on a multi-disciplinary body of literature that is broadly ‘constructivist’ in orientation, and using the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the health Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) and the health sector in Zambia as case studies, the research uniquely explores how (and why) the idea of partnership is a pervasive feature in aid policy, and how this relates to and shapes local practice, including the practice of politics that this enjoins.
Drawing on textual analysis of policy documents and on qualitative field research conducted in Zambia between November 2008 and July 2009, the thesis provides a number of important and novel insights. Firstly, it shows how the idea of partnership began its contemporary life in the socio-political relations of aid institutions and in the context of an aid crisis in the 1990s. Secondly, it shows how the idea travelled ideationally and geographically, through an elite network of aid agency actors (cf. Mosse, 2007), eventually becoming an expected and symbolic motif of aid policy. Thirdly, the thesis suggests why partnership remains a pervasive policy idea; featuring in SWAp and Global Fund policy because it symbolically conceals the existence of different perspectives about the right relations of health and developmental governance. Fourthly, and at the same time, the thesis shows how partnership is dominantly constructed in aid policy in a depoliticised way – as a technical and economic way to organise action – due to the prevailing power of donor governments and aid agencies in the socio-political processes that produce aid policy and the context of inequality in which aid is governed. Finally, the thesis shows how the depoliticisation of policy is ‘unravelled’ in the health sector in Zambia as partnership is translated, in and through the politics of collaboration, contestation, and compromise (Mosse, 2007, p.2, 2005a p.645; Rossi, 2006; Bending and Rosendo, 2006). This shapes, contorts and constrains local health governance in diverse and unexpected ways
Gene expression studies of lytic infection and chromosomal integration of human herpesvirus 6.
Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) was discovered in 1986 in patients with lymphoproliferative diseases and it has a predominant tropism for CD4+ T cells in vitro and in vivo. The virus can be divided into two variants: HHV-6A and 6B, based on the differences in biological properties and DNA sequences. HHV-6B has been shown to be the causative agent of exanthem subitum while HHV-6A has no clear association with any disease yet. The genome for both variants has been defined and each encodes just over 100 open readings frames (ORFs). However, there is limited knowledge regarding the functions and transcription kinetics of most ORFs. This thesis discusses the development of DNA microarrays for HHV-6 and the application of the arrays to characterise HHV-6B gene expression in the SupT1 cell line. The expression pattern of individual viral genes over a 60h time course (<1 replication cycle) was profiled. Viral genes were further classified into three kinetic groups: immediately-early (IE), early (E), and late (L), according to their transcriptional activity in the absence of de novo protein synthesis or DNA replication. In addition, HHV-6 presents an atypical stage in the herpesvirus life cycle in which the viral genome is integrated into host chromosomes. The prevalence of HHV-6 integration was estimated to be between 0.21% to 3%. An individual harbouring integrated HHV-6 was previously identified. The molecular biology and gene expression of this integrated HHV-6 DNA were characterised. Expression of viral genes belonging to all three kinetic classes (IE, E, and L) was detected in vitro and ex vivo. The data strongly suggest that the chromosomal HHV-6 sequence is transcriptionally active and the implications of this are discussed
COVID-19 research in South Asia: a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles
Background: With the surge in the number of infected individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was also a surge observed in the number of publications discussing its epidemiology, characteristics, path-o-phys-i-ol-o-gy, diagnosis, prevention and treatment. This bibliometric analysis focuses on the papers published on COVID-19 in South Asia. Methods: We searched articles in the Scopus database from December 2019 to October, 2022. After manual screening, a list of the 100 most-cited articles was obtained, which was analyzed for various factors, including the type of article, citation count, author’s affiliation, country of origin, funding bodies, etc.Results: The majority of the top 100 articles (n=79) in South Asia were published during 2020. India was affiliated with the highest number of articles (n=68), followed by Bangladesh (n=18) and Pakistan (n=12). However, 7 articles were authored by a researcher in Bangladesh. Female authors were under represented (32.38%), with no female author in lists of authors with 4 or more articles. The average number of citations for each of the top 100 most-cited articles was 180.8. Original articles constituted the major portion of the publications (82%), followed by letters (11%) and reviews (4%). Half of the publications belonged to the field of medicine (n=49), while others were contributed by science, psychology, social sciences, and biochemistry and allied sciences (n=8). Vaccine trials were under-represented. Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh was affiliated with the maximum number of articles. Most articles were published in Science of The Total Environment (n=8) while Indian Council of Medical Research (n=4) was the top funding body.Conclusion: These findings highlight that South Asia has a great potential to conduct research addressing its challenging health problems. But lack of funds hinders conducting trials of new medications and vaccines. Thus, there is need for allocation of sufficient funds for research and clinical trials by governments and the private sector to enhance the research productivity of this region
