Grouping business news stories based on salience of named entities

In news aggregation systems focused on broad news domains, certain stories may appear in multiple articles. Depending on the relative importance of the story, the number of versions can reach dozens or hundreds within a day. The text in these versions may be nearly identical or quite different. Linking multiple versions of a story into a single group brings several important benefits to the end-user—reducing the cognitive load on the reader, as well as signaling the relative importance of the story. We present a grouping algorithm, and explore several vector-based representations of input documents: from a baseline using keywords, to a method using salience—a measure of importance of named entities in the text. We demonstrate that features beyond keywords yield substantial improvements, verified on a manually-annotated corpus of business news stories.Peer reviewe

Occurrence of primary lymphocytic hypophysitis in two horses and presence of scattered T-lymphocytes in the normal equine pituitary gland

The postmortem examination of a 14-year-old Appaloosa gelding with clinically diagnosed pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction showed a unique finding of moderate multifocal lymphocytic hypophysitis (LH). The pituitary glands of 24 horses submitted for postmortem examination were examined grossly and examined histologically for the presence of lymphocytes. Of these 23 horses, 1 additional case suffered from moderate LH. The 2 cases with LH tested negative for Equid herpesvirus 1 and 4 by polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry (IHC), and no viral particles were observed by electron microscopy in 1 case examined. The cause of LH remains unknown, but based on the T-lymphocytic nature of the inflammation and the human literature, an immune-mediated origin is hypothesized. In addition, the review of 24 cases revealed that 10 horses had few and small multifocal lymphocytic infiltrates within the pituitary gland; the remaining 12 horses showed no evident lymphocytes when examined by hematoxylin and eosin. IHC for CD3 showed the presence of a small number of individual T-lymphocytes scattered through the gland in all examined horses, which appears therefore to be a normal feature of the pituitary gland in horses

Seasonal forecasts of wind power generation

The energy sector is highly dependent on climate variability for electricity generation, maintenance activities and demand. In recent years, a few climate services have appeared that provide tailored information for the energy sector. In particular, seasonal climate predictions of wind speed have proven useful to the wind power industry. However, most of the service users are ultimately interested in forecasts of electricity generation instead of wind. Although power generation depends on many factors other than wind conditions, the capacity factor is a suitable indicator to quantify the impact of wind variability on production. In this paper a methodology to produce seasonal predictions of capacity factor for a range of turbine classes is proposed for the first time. The strengths and weaknesses of the method are discussed and the forecast quality is evaluated for an application example over Europe.This work was funded by the H2020 project S2S4E (GA 776787), the COPERNICUS service contract CLIM4ENERGY (C3S_441_Lot2_CEA), and the projects INDECIS and MEDSCOPE cofunded by the H2020 ERA-net ERA4CS. The research leading to these results has also received funding from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICINN) as part of the CLINSA project (CGL2017-85791-R). We acknowledge NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division to provide wind speed records from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory. Cabauw data have been retrieved from CESAR database and Dr. Fred Bosveld (KNMI). Thanks to Elena Kozlova (University of Exeter) for sharing CVO data. The BMWi (Bundesministerium fuer Wirtschaft und Energie) and the PTJ (Projekttraeger Juelich) provided the FINO1 mast data. We also thank Hans Verhoef (ECN) and Dr. Frank Beyrich (DWD) for sharing Ijmuiden and Lindenberg data, respectively. We acknowledge the providers of the NWTC M2 mast data [26]. Thanks to WASA (Wind Atlas for South Africa) for providing WM01 tall tower data. Long-term mean wind speed data at hub heights was obtained from DTU Wind Energy Global Wind Atlas, funded by Danish Energy Agency EUDP 11-II, Globalt Vind Atlas J.nr. 64011-0347. Authors want to thank Pierre-Antoine Bretonnière for technical support with the datasets.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Meningeal carcinomatosis and spinal cord infiltration caused by a locally invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma in a cat

A 12-year-old domestic shorthair cat was presented with acute non-painful hindlimb proprioceptive ataxia localising to T3–L3 spinal cord segments. MRI revealed paravertebral muscular hyperintensity on T2-weighted images at the level of T7–T8 vertebrae. The cat improved on conservative management but deteriorated 3 months later. Repeated MRI showed meningeal enhancement at the same level and hyperintensity of the paravertebral musculature extending to the right thoracic wall and pleural space on short tau inversion recovery images. Thoracic CT showed mineralised lesions of the right lung, restricted pleural effusion and expansile bone lesions affecting multiple ribs. The cat had been treated for pyothorax 5 years earlier but manifested no current respiratory signs. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination showed lymphocytic pleocytosis but no neoplastic cells. Biopsy of the affected muscles and cytology of the lung and pleural lesions suggested a malignant epithelial cell tumour. Post-mortem examination confirmed a pulmonary adenocarcinoma locally infiltrating the thoracic wall, T7–T8 vertebrae and the spinal cord white matter. Meningeal carcinomatosis was detected with neoplastic cells invading the ventral median fissure of the spinal cord. No metastases were observed in other organs, indicating that neoplastic cells reached the spinal cord by direct extension

ArchAIDE-Archaeological Automatic Interpretation and Documentation of cEramics

The goals of H2020 project "ArchAIDE: are to support the classification and interpretation work of archaeologists with innovative computer-based tools, able to provide the user with features for the semi-automatic description and matching of potsherds over the huge existing ceramic catalogues. Pottery classification is of fundamental importance for the comprehension and dating of the archaeological contexts, and for understanding production, trade flows and social interactions, but it requires complex skills and it is a very time consuming activity, both for researchers and professionals. The aim of ArchAIDE is to support the work of archaeologists, in order to meet real user needs and generate economic benefits, reducing time and costs. This would create societal benefits from cultural heritage, improving access, re-use and exploitation of the digital cultural heritage in a sustainable way. These objectives will be achieved through the development of: - an as-automatic-as-possible procedure to transform the paper catalogues in a digital description, to be used as a data pool for search and retrieval process; - a tool (mainly designed for mobile devices) that will support archaeologists in recognizing and classifying potsherds during excavation and post-excavation analysis, through an easy-to-use interface and efficient algorithms for characterisation, search and retrieval of the visual/geometrical correspondences; - an automatic procedure to derive a complete potsherds identity card by transforming the data collected into a formatted electronic document, printable or visual; - a web-based real-time data visualisation to improve access to archaeological heritage and generate new understanding; - an open archive to allow the archival and re-use of archaeological data, transforming them into common heritage and permitting economic sustainability. Those tools will be tested and assessed on real-cases scenarios, paving the way to future exploitation

UNEP-SETAC guideline on global land use impact assessment on biodiversity and ecosystem services in LCA

Purpose: As a consequence of the multi-functionality of land, the impact assessment of land use in Life Cycle Impact Assessment requires the modelling of several impact pathways covering biodiversity and ecosystem services. To provide consistency amongst these separate impact pathways, general principles for their modelling are provided in this paper. These are refinements to the principles that have already been proposed in publications by the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative. In particular, this paper addresses the calculation of land use interventions and land use impacts, the issue of impact reversibility, the spatial and temporal distribution of such impacts and the assessment of absolute or relative ecosystem quality changes. Based on this, we propose a guideline to build methods for land use impact assessment in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Results: Recommendations are given for the development of new characterization models and for which a series of key elements should explicitly be stated, such as the modelled land use impact pathways, the land use/cover typology covered, the level of biogeographical differentiation used for the characterization factors, the reference land use situation used and if relative or absolute quality changes are used to calculate land use impacts. Moreover, for an application of the characterisation factors (CFs) in an LCA study, data collection should be transparent with respect to the data input required from the land use inventory and the regeneration times. Indications on how generic CFs can be used for the background system as well as how spatial-based CFs can be calculated for the foreground system in a specific LCA study and how land use change is to be allocated should be detailed. Finally, it becomes necessary to justify the modelling period for which land use impacts of land transformation and occupation are calculated and how uncertainty is accounted for. Discussion The presented guideline is based on a number of assumptions: Discrete land use types are sufficient for an assessment of land use impacts; ecosystem quality remains constant over time of occupation; time and area of occupation are substitutable; transformation time is negligible; regeneration is linear and independent from land use history and landscape configuration; biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services are independent; the ecological impact is linearly increasing with the intervention; and there is no interaction between land use and other drivers such as climate change. These assumptions might influence the results of land use Life Cycle Impact Assessment and need to be critically reflected. Conclusions and recommendations In this and the other papers of the special issue, we presented the principles and recommendations for the calculation of land use impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services on a global scale. In the framework of LCA, they are mainly used for the assessment of land use impacts in the background system. The main areas for further development are the link to regional ecological models running in the foreground system, relative weighting of the ecosystem services midpoints and indirect land use.JRC.H.8 - Sustainability Assessmen

Enantio- and diastereocontrol in intermolecular cyclopropanation reaction of styrene catalyzed by dirhodium(II) complexes with bulky ortho-metalated aryl phosphines

Enantiomerically pure dirhodium(II) complexes with ortho-metalated p-substituted aryl phosphines have been shown to be enantio- and diastereoselective in the cyclopropanation of styrene by ethyl diazoacetate. Enantioselectivities up to 91% and diastereoselectivities up to 90% are observed for ethyl cis-2-phenylcyclopropanecarboxylate.Estevan Estevan, Francisco, [email protected] ; Lahuerta Peña, Pascual, [email protected] ; Lloret Fillol, Julio, [email protected] ; Sanau Torrecilla, Mercedes, [email protected] ; Ubeda Picot, M Angeles, [email protected] ; Vila Gomez, Jaume Llorenc, [email protected]

Remote effects of acute kidney injury in a porcine model

Background: Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is a common and serious disease with no specific treatment. An episode of AKI may affect organs distant to the kidney, further increasing the morbidity associated with AKI. The mechanism of organ cross-talk after AKI is unclear. The renal and immune systems of pigs and humans are alike. Using a preclinical animal (porcine) model, we test the hypothesis that early effects of AKI on distant organs is by immune cell infiltration leading to inflammatory cytokine production, extravasation and edema. Study Design: In 29 pigs exposed to either sham-surgery or renal ischemia-reperfusion (control, n=12; AKI, n=17) we assessed remote organ (liver, lung, brain) effects in the short-(from 2 to 48h reperfusion) and longer-term (5 weeks later) using immunofluorescence (for leucocyte infiltration, apoptosis), a cytokine array, tissue elemental analysis (electrolytes), blood hematology and chemistry (e.g. liver enzymes) and PCR (for inflammatory markers). Results: AKI elicited significant, short-term (~24h) increments in enzymes indicative of acute liver damage (e.g. AST:ALT ratio; P=0.02) and influenced tissue biochemistry in some remote organs (e.g. lung tissue [Ca++] increased; P=0.04). These effects largely resolved after 48h and no further histopathology, edema, apoptosis or immune cell infiltration was noted in liver, lung or hippocampus in the short- and longer-term. Conclusions: AKI has subtle biochemical effects on remote organs in the short-term including a transient increment in markers of acute liver damage. These effects resolved by 48h and no further remote organ histopathology, apoptosis, edema or immune cell infiltration was noted

Alfven wave heating in partially ionized thin threads of solar prominences

There is observational evidence of the presence of small-amplitude transverse magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves with a wide range of frequencies in the threads of solar prominences. It is believed that the waves are driven at the photosphere and propagate along the magnetic field lines up to prominences suspended in the corona. The dissipation of MHD wave energy in the partially ionized prominence plasma is a heating mechanism whose relevance needs to be explored. Here we consider a simple 1D model for a non-uniform thin thread and investigate the heating associated with dissipation of Alfven waves. The model assumes an ad hoc density profile and a uniform pressure, while the temperature and ionization degree are self-consistently computed considering either LTE or non-LTE approximations for the hydrogen ionization. A broadband driver for Alfven waves is placed at one end of the magnetic field line, representing photospheric excitation. The Alfvenic perturbations along the thread are obtained by solving the linearized MHD equations for a partially ionized plasma in the single-fluid approximation.We find that wave heating in the partially ionized part of the thread is significant enough to compensate for energy losses due to radiative cooling. A greater amount of heating is found in the LTE case because the ionization degree for core prominence temperatures is lower than that in the non-LTE approximation. This results in a greater level of dissipation due to ambipolar diffusion in the LTE case. Conversely, in the hot coronal part of the model, the plasma is fully ionized and wave heating is negligible. The results of this simple model suggest that MHD wave heating can be relevant for the energy balance in prominences. Further studies based on more elaborate models are required