Overcoming statistical machine translation limitations: error analysis and proposed solutions for the Catalan–Spanish language pair

This work aims to improve an N-gram-based statistical machine translation system between the Catalan and Spanish languages, trained with an aligned Spanish–Catalan parallel corpus consisting of 1.7 million sentences taken from El Periódico newspaper. Starting from a linguistic error analysis above this baseline system, orthographic, morphological, lexical, semantic and syntactic problems are approached using a set of techniques. The proposed solutions include the development and application of additional statistical techniques, text pre- and post-processing tasks, and rules based on the use of grammatical categories, as well as lexical categorization. The performance of the improved system is clearly increased, as is shown in both human and automatic evaluations of the system, with a gain of about 1.1 points BLEU observed in the Spanish-to-Catalan direction of translation, and a gain of about 0.5 points in the reverse direction. The final system is freely available online as a linguistic resource.     

Phenolic compounds present in natural haze protein of Sauvignon white wine

Protein haze in white wines remains a problem for wineries. In addition to protein composition, many other factors have been identified that can participate in and even trigger the appearance of hazes. Phenolic compounds may be one of the non-protein factors involved in protein haze formation. The aim of this study was to identify and quantify the polyphenols present in the natural precipitate of a Sauvignon wine. The identification and quantification of polyphenols present in wine before and after natural precipitation and also in a natural precipitate were carried out by GC/MS and HPLC/ESI-TOF. The natural precipitate was also hydrolyzed in an acidic medium (Bate-Smith reaction). The results indicate that several phenolic compounds were present in the protein haze (tyrosol, trans-p-coumaric, trans-caffeic, vanillic, protocatechuic, syringic, gallic, ferulic, shikimic acids, (+)-catechin, ethyl coumaric acid ester and quercetin). Moreover, the detection of cyanidin after acid hydrolysis indicates the presence of procyanidins.     

Bioinspired Catechol‐Terminated Self‐Assembled Monolayers with Enhanced Adhesion Properties

The role of the catechol moiety in the adhesive properties of mussel proteins and related synthetic materials has been extensively studied in the last years but still remains elusive. Here, a simplified model approach is presented based on a self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) of upward‐facing catechols thiol‐bound to epitaxial gold substrates. The orientation of the catechol moieties is confirmed by spectroscopy, which also showed lack of significant amounts of interfering o‐quinones. Local force‐distance curves on the SAM measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) shows an average adhesion force of 45 nN, stronger than that of a reference polydopamine coating, along with higher reproducibility and less statistical dispersion. This is attributed to the superior chemical and topographical homogeneity of the SAM coating. Catechol‐terminated SAMs are also obtained on high‐roughness gold substrates that show the ability to assemble magnetic nanoparticles, despite their lack of enhanced adhesion at the molecular level. Finally, the influence of the catechol group on the formation and quality of the SAM is explored both theoretically (molecular dynamics simulations) and experimentally using direct‐write AFM lithography.     

Structural and electronic properties of poly(3-thiophen-3-yl-acrylic acid)

This work presents a combined theoretical and experimental study of poly(3-thiophene-3-yl acrylic acid), a new polythiophene derivative soluble in polar solvents. Quantum chemical calculations on small oligomers were performed to propose a structural model for this polymer. Specifically, the minimum energy conformations and the rotational profiles of the different isomeric derivatives constructed for a model system formed by two monomeric units were calculated. The resulting model, which shows head-to-tail polymer linkages and the acrylic acid side group arranged in trans-conformation, were used to predict the π-π^∗ lowest transition energy of an infinite polymer chain. On the other hand, the polymer was prepared by chemical oxidative coupling using anhydrous ferric chloride and subsequent alkaline hydrolysis. The synthetized material, which is soluble in aqueous base and acetone solutions, was characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR and UV-vis experiments. Both the structural information and electronic properties derived from such experiments are fully consistent with the theoretical model obtained using quantum mechanical calculations.     

New improved thermosets obtained from DGEBA and a hyperbranched poly(ester-amide)

The influence on the curing process of a commercial hydroxy-functionalized hyperbranched poly(ester-amide) (HBP) Hybrane^® S1200 on diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) was studied. By Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) the curing reaction was studied and the covalent incorporation of the modifier in the matrix was proved. By Thermomechanical Analysis (TMA) the reduction of the contraction after gelation on changing the S1200 proportion was observed. The incorporation of S1200 increased the glass transition temperature (T_g) and reduced the overall shrinkage, specially after gelation. The modified materials were more thermally degradable than neat DGEBA thermosets. Thermal expansion coefficient, Young's modulus, impact strength and microhardness were improved without compromising the thermomechanical characteristics. The water uptake behaviour was also evaluated.     

Uptake of diet resveratrol into the human low-density lipoprotein. Identification and quantification of resveratrol metabolites by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

In this paper, a sensitive, precise, and selective analytical method has been developed for the identification and quantification of resveratrol metabolites in human low-density lipoprotein (LDL) after moderate consumption of red wine, using high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray in tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). From different extraction procedures tested, solid-phase extraction was selected to minimize matrix effects reaching the highest sensitivity. Standard calibration curves prepared in human LDL for trans-resveratrol were linear over a range of 0.44-438.59 pmol/mL. The accuracy and interassay precision of this LC-MS/MS assay for resveratrol showed a coefficient of variation of <6.0%. The method allows detection and quantification limits for resveratrol in LDL at 0.15 and 0.44 pmol/mL, respectively. Results to date indicate that resveratrol metabolites were incorporated into LDL after a moderate intake of red wine. The metabolites identified in LDL were trans-resveratrol-3-O-glucuronide, cis-resveratrol-3-O-glucuronide, and cis-resveratrol-3-O-glucoside, as well as free trans-resveratrol. To our knowledge, it is the first time that a polyphenol from red wine, specifically resveratrol, has been identified in human LDL after moderate intake of red wine. Furthermore, these findings suggest that these compounds may deliver their antioxidant effect to LDL.     

A simple model to describe the thixotropic behavior of paints

A simple rheological model is proposed to describe the thixotropic behavior of paints since the classical hysteresis area, which is usually employed, is not enough to evaluate thixotropy. The model, which is based on the assumption that viscosity is a direct measure of the structural level of the paint, depends on two equations: the Cross–Carreau equation to describe the equilibrium viscosity and a second order kinetic equation to express the time dependence of viscosity. Two characteristic thixotropic times are distinguished: one for the net structure breakdown, which is defined as a power law function of shear rate, and another for the net structure buildup, which does not depend on the shear rate. The useful information provided by these two kinetic processes can be potentially used to improve both the quality and applicability of paints.