Human language technology and communicative disabilities: requirements and possibilities for the future

For some years now, the Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) has been active in promoting the development of human language technology (HLT) applications for speakers of Dutch with communicative disabilities. The reason is that HLT products and services may enable them to improve their communication skills and verbal autonomy. We sought to identify a minimum common set of HLT resources that is required to develop tools for a wide range of communication disabilities. In order to reach this goal, we investigated the specific needs of communicatively disabled people and related these needs to the underlying HLT software components. By analysing the availability and quality of these essential HLT resources, we were able to identify which of the crucial elements need further research and development to become usable for developing applications for communicatively disabled speakers of Dutch. The results obtained in the current survey can be used to inform policy institutions on how they can stimulate the development of HLT resources for this target group. In the current survey results were obtained for Dutch, but a similar approach can also be applied to other languages.     

Electronic nose and GC–MS analysis of volatile compounds in Tuber magnatum Pico: Evaluation of different storage conditions

The characteristic aromatic composition of white truffles (Tuber magnatum Pico) determines its culinary and commercial value. However modifications of truffle organoleptic proprieties occur during preservation. A study of headspace of white truffles by using Electronic nose (E-nose), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and sensory analyses was performed. Truffles were stored at different conditions for 7 days: +4 and +8 °C wrapped in blotting paper or covered by rice or none of the above. Headspace E-nose measurements and sensory analyses were performed each day. Statistical multivariate analysis of the data showed the capability of E-nose to predict sensorial analysis scores and to monitor aroma profile changes during storage. Truffle’s volatile molecules were also extracted by headspace solid phase microextraction technique and separated and identified by GC–MS. Partial Components Analysis of data was performed. E-nose and GC–MS results were in agreement and showed that truffle storage in paper at +8 °C seemed to be the best storage condition.     

Modeling multi-rate DSP specification semantics for formal transformational design in HOL

The CATHEDRAL Silicon Compilers synthesize hardware for DSP algorithms specified in Silage, a high level applicative language. In order to optimize the results of the silicon compilation in terms of chip-area and/or throughput, the user often massages the specification applying transformations to the Silage code. To guarantee that the transformations preserve the behavior of the specified algorithm, the formal semantics of the specification language had to be defined. The semantics has been used to prove in HOL the correctness of the transformations and to prove properties of the specification. We are currently building a system where a menu of useful andcorrectness preserving transformations will be available to the user. In this system the user could choose appropriate transformations from the menu taking advantage of his creativity and expertise to interactively guide the silicon compiler, without the risk of introducing inconsistencies. This article describes the formalmulti-rate semantics of a substantial subset of Silage and illustrates some formally verified transformations.     

Probing Ambiguous Base‐Pairs by Genetic Transformation with XNA Templates

The templating potential of anhydrohexitol oligonucleotides bearing ambiguous bases was studied in vivo, by using a selection screen for mosaic heteroduplex plasmids in Escherichia coli. 1,5‐Anhydro‐2,3‐dideoxy‐2‐(5‐nitroindazol‐1‐yl)‐D ‐arabino‐hexitol showed the greatest ambiguity among the three nucleosides tested. At most two successive ambiguous bases could be tolerated on hexitol templates read in bacterial cells. Hexitol nucleosides bearing simplified heterocycles thus stand as promising monomers for generating random DNA sequences in vivo from defined synthetic oligonucleotides.     

Occurrence of cocaine in the air of the World’s cities: An emerging problem? A new tool to investigate the social incidence of drugs?

The occurrence of illicit substances in the air was investigated in various world locations and ambient conditions. The analytical procedure optimized for cocaine, methadone and cocaethylene, based upon soxhlet extraction with organic solvent, clean-up through column chromatography, gas chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric detection, allowed the detection of the three compounds at levels as low as ~ 1 pg m^− 3 in air samples of ~ 500 m³. Apart from Algiers, Algeria, and Pan?evo, Serbia, cocaine was found in all cities investigated and its concentration ranged from picograms to nanograms/cubic meter (e.g., Rome, Italy, 22 ÷ 97 pg m^− 3; Santiago, Chile, 2.2 ÷ 3.3 ng m^− 3). By contrast, the concentrations of methadone and cocaethylene in the air were always lower than the limit-of-detection allowed by the method. The procedure adopted was unsuitable for measuring cannabinoids and allowed only the identification of cannabinol. It was also poor in limit-of-detection with regards to heroin (35 pg m^− 3), however this compound could be identified in airborne particulates in Oporto, Portugal. Atmospheric concentrations of cocaine appeared to correlate to drug prevalence in the Italian regions investigated.     

Gene therapy for articular cartilage repair

Articular cartilage serves as the gliding surface of joints. It is susceptible to damage from trauma and from degenerative diseases. Restoration of damaged articular cartilage may be achievable through the use of cell-regulatory molecules that augment the reparative activities of the cells, inhibit the cells' degradative activities, or both. A variety of such molecules have been identified. These include insulin-like growth factor I, fibroblast growth factor 2, bone morphogenetic proteins 2, 4, and 7, and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist. It is now possible to transfer the genes encoding such molecules into articular cartilage and synovial lining cells. Although preliminary, data from in-vitro and in-vivo studies suggest that gene therapy can deliver such potentially therapeutic agents to protect existing cartilage and to build new cartilage.     

Building design‐time and run‐time knowledge for QoS‐based component assembly

Modern software systems are required to dynamically adapt to changing workloads, scenarios, and objectives and to achieve a certain Quality of Service (QoS). Guaranteeing QoS requirements is not trivial, as run‐time uncertainty might invalidate the design‐time rationale, where software components have been selected by means of off‐line analysis. In this work, we propose a QoS‐based feedback approach that makes a combined use of design‐time predictions and run‐time measurements to manage QoS data over time and support software architects while selecting software components that best fit QoS requirements. We illustrate the feasibility and efficacy of the approach on a case study, where the quantitative evaluation shows how the analysis effectively identifies the sources of QoS violations and indicates possible solutions to achieve QoS requirements.