INFORMATION FILTERING OF ON-LINE NEWS USING DYNAMIC ABSTRACT GENERATION

With the information explosion from the Internet, there is a need to efficiently determine the relevance of information. This paper discusses an approach to information filtering using dynamic abstract generation techniques. Different abstract generation techniques such as the location method, indicative-phrases, keyword frequency, and title-keyword method are incorporated into a retrieval interface for on-line news articles. During news retrieval, abstract generation, an extract containing a set of verbatim sentences from the news article will be automatically produced. This will form an indicative abstract from which the prospective reader can then decide whether to read the full-length news article. In this way, a reader can filter out irrelevant news articles without having to review the entire article.     

OBSERVATIONS ON SOME TECHNIQUES FOR THE MICROBIOLOGICAL TESTING OF BUTTER

Details of the techniques used in a survey of butter quality are described and the storage of butter samples in deep freeze is examined. Comparisons of results from several laboratories are discussed and the different methods used in the isolation and identification of various organisms assessed. Techniques used for microbiological testing of butter are listed. ( Editor's summary )     

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR): A critical overview on the most promising applications of molecular scissors in oral medicine

The scientific community is continuously working to translate the novel biomedical techniques into effective medical treatments. CRISPR-Cas 9 system (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-9), commonly known as the “molecular scissor”, represents a recently developed biotechnology able to improve the quality and the efficacy of traditional treatments, related to several human diseases, such as chronic diseases, neurodegenerative pathologies and, interestingly, oral diseases. Of course, dental medicine has notably increased the use of biotechnologies to ensure modern and conservative approaches: in this landscape, the use of CRISPR-Cas-9 system may speed and personalize the traditional therapies, ensuring a good predictability of clinical results. The aim of this critical overview is to provide evidence on CRISPR efficacy, taking into specific account its applications in oral medicine.     

BIOFILM FORMATION BY SALMONELLA SPP. ON CANTALOUPE MELONS**

The ability of two strains of Salmonella to form biofilms on whole cantaloupe melons was investigated. Ten microliters of bacterial suspensions was spot‐inoculated onto cantaloupe melon rinds in pre‐marked areas, and the cantaloupe melons were held at either 10 or 20C. Biofilm formation was monitored using scanning electron microscopy on excised portions of the cantaloupe melon rind at 2, 24, 48, 72 and 144 h postinoculation. Micrographs indicated that biofilm formation occurred rapidly following introduction of cells (2 h at 20C) onto the cantaloupe melon rind. A fibrillar material was visible after just 2 h at 20C, and cells were embedded in extracellular polymeric material after 24 h at either temperature. These results indicate that a human pathogen is capable of forming a biofilm on plant tissue and that biofilm formation may be responsible for the increased recalcitrance of bacteria to aqueous sanitizers.     

擎天半岛

擎天半岛位于香港九龙新填海区。这是将来九龙区发展的中心地带,香港政府除了在该区发展住宅外,更会有商业、酒店、艺术文化中心。这个楼盘表达了香港作为国际性大都会的一面。整个楼盘由5幢73～81层的高层建筑组成,以260m的高度成为亚洲最高的纯住宅建筑,在全球排名第三,并且可360°俯瞰维多利亚海港的湛蓝海景。梁志天为其设计了3个示范单位,下面介绍其中的一个。     

LOW‐INCOME HOMEOWNERSHIP: DOES IT NECESSARILY MEAN SACRIFICING NEIGHBORHOOD QUALITY TO BUY A HOME?

ABSTRACT: Questions have been raised about the wisdom of low‐income homeownership policies for many reasons. One potential reason to be skeptical: low‐income homebuyers perhaps may be constrained to purchase homes in disadvantaged neighborhoods. This is a potential problem because home purchases in such neighborhoods: (1) may limit appreciation; (2) may reduce quality of life for adults; and (3) may militate against reputed advantages of homeownership for children. Our study examines the neighborhood conditions of a group of 126 low‐income homebuyers who purchased their first home with assistance from the Home Ownership Program (HOP) operated by the Denver Housing Authority. Our approach is distinguished by its use of a comprehensive set of objective and subjective indicators measuring the neighborhood quality of pre‐move and post‐move neighborhoods. Do low‐income homebuyers sacrifice neighborhood quality to buy their homes? Our results suggest that the answer to this question is more complex than it might at first appear. On the one hand, HOP homebuyers purchased in a wide variety of city and suburban neighborhoods. Nonetheless, a variety of neighborhood quality indicators suggest that these neighborhoods, on average, were indeed inferior to those of Denver homeowners overall and to those in the same ethnic group. However, our analyses also revealed that their post‐move neighborhoods were superior to the ones they lived in prior to homeownership. Moreover, very few HOP destination neighborhoods evinced severe physical, environmental, infrastructural, or socioeconomic problems, as measured by a wide variety of objective indicators or by the homebuyers' own perceptions. Indeed, only 10% of HOP homebuyers perceived that their new neighborhoods were worse than their prior ones, and only 8% held pessimistic expectations about their new neighborhoods' quality of life. Finally, we found that Black homebuyers fared less well than their Latino counterparts, on average, in both objective and subjective measures.