Extracting lexical and phrasal paraphrases: a review of the literature

Recent advances in natural language processing have increased the popularity of paraphrase extraction. Most of the attention, however, has been focused on the extraction methods only without taking the resource factor into the consideration. Unknowingly, there is a strong relationship between them and the resource factor also plays an equally important role in paraphrase extraction. In addition, almost all of the previous studies have been focused on corpus-based methods that extract paraphrases from corpora based solely on syntactic similarity. Despite the popularity of corpus-based methods, a considerable amount of research has consistently shown that these methods are vulnerable to several types of erroneous paraphrases. For these reasons, it is necessary to evaluate whether the trend is moving in a positive direction. This paper reviews the major research on paraphrase extraction methods in detail. It begins by exploring the definition of paraphrase from different perspectives to provide a better understanding of the concept of paraphrase extraction. It then studies the characteristics and potential uses of different types of paraphrase resources. After that, it divides paraphrase extraction methods into four main categories: heuristic-based, knowledge-based, corpus-based and hybrid-based and summarizes their strengths and weaknesses. This paper concludes with some potential open research issues for future directions.     

Feature extraction and ML techniques for static gesture recognition

The main objective of this study is to explore the utility of a neural network-based approach in hand gesture recognition. The proposed system presents two recognition algorithms to recognize a set of six specific static hand gestures, namely open, close, cut, paste, maximize, and minimize. The hand gesture image is passed through three stages: preprocessing, feature extraction, and classification. In the first method, the hand contour is used as a feature that treats scaling and translation of problems (in some cases). However, the complex moment algorithm is used to describe the hand gesture and to treat the rotation problem in addition to scaling and translation. The back-propagation learning algorithm is employed in the multilayer neural network classifier. The second method proposed in this article achieves better recognition rate than the first method.     

Chlorophyll and plankton of the Gulf coastal waters of Saudi Arabia bordering a desalination plant

As on land, plants are the real producers in the sea, and on them depend all marine living resources and the basic sustainability of ecosystems. Primary production is performed by chlorophyll-bearing plants ranging from the tiny phytoplankton to the giant kelps through the process ofphotosynthesis. Zooplankton play an important role as secondary producers, and together with phytoplankton they support the vast assemblages of marine food chain with all their diversity and complexity. Data on chlorophyll pigments, phytoplankton and zooplankton are regarded as a sound basis for environmental appraisal of ecosystems. This paper presents a set of data collected from the Saudi Arabian coastal waters near the desalination plants in AI-Jubail. Materials were collected from six different sites covering the intake and discharge zones during cruises carried out in 1997-1998. Analyses of chlorophyll pigments were made using the spectrophotometric method. Plankton samples were collected using a Nansen plankton net with a mesh size of 75 μ and analyzed following standard procedures. Chlorophyll a, b, c and phaeophytin are the most commonly occurring pigments in seawater. Their concentrations showed wide fluctuation. The phytoplankton community was composed of 35 genera representing the Diatoms, Dinoflagellates and blue- green algae. Zooplankton were composed ofProtozoa, Coelenterata, Ctenophora, Aschelminthes, Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata and Chordata. Arthropoda, represented by Cladocera, Copepoda and Crustacean larvae, formed the largest group followed by Chordata. The distribution of phyto- and zooplankton was examined and discussed on a seasonal, annual and inter-annual basis. In terms of species, overall species composition was not affected by plant discharge. The study brings out a greater understanding of the changes experienced by biotic communities as a result of impingement, entrainment and entrapment consequent to water passage through the plant structures. The study reflects the ecological relationships that the phytoplankton and the zooplankton of the region possess with respect to intake and discharge. Further, the study has brought to light a very redeeming feature of the ecosystem to sustain its productivity and planktonic abundance. It was observed that seawater temperature, conductivity and total suspended solids did not act as limiting factors. Besides throwing much light on the little known biological aspects of desalination sites, the data provided constitute a significant addition to the knowledge base of marine living resources in an industrial zone of Gulf coastal waters.     

Investigations on the Three Commercial Species of Rosaceae

Physico-chemical properties of the seed oils of three species of Rosaceae family, namely Prunus armeniaca (apricot), Prunus cerasifera (prune), and Prunus persica (peach) have been determined. Fatty acid composition of the oils and amino acids composition of seed cake proteins have also been determined and their utility in every day life has been discussed.     

Wear of graphite anodes during electrolysis of add sulphate solutions

Graphite electrodes were prepared by mixing calcined coke and coal tar pitch. They were pressed under 250 kg cm^–2 and heat treated up to 2800° C. Rectangles measuring 70 mm x 40 mm x 8 mm were anodically polarized under galvanostatic and potentiostatic conditions. Electrolyses were conducted at 10–50 mA cm^–2 for periods ranging from 10–120 hours in Na₂SO₄ solutions acidified with sulphuric acid to various pH values. The wear of graphite anodes increased with decreasing bath temperature, increasing acid concentration, decreasing pH of the electrolyte and increasing current density. A model is suggested which assumes that corrosion takes place via the formation of a lamellar crystal compound with the formula (C ₈ ⁰ O)(OH)₃HSO ₄ ^– ·2H₂SO₄.The compound is unstable at higher temperatures when corrosion is effected by oxidation of graphite by atomic oxygen. The formation of the carbon ions was found to be a necessary precondition for the formation of the complex.     

Diffusion of saturated hydrocarbons in low density polyethylene (LDPE) films

The diffusion coefficients at zero penetrant concentration, D₀, of n-heptane, n-heptane, n-octane, n-decane, and 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (TMP) in LDPE were obtained in the range of 25–50°C, using the desorption method. The dependence of D₀ on the size and shape of the penetrant is reported. It was found that D₀ decreases with increasing penetrant molecule size. The activation energies of diffusion in the temperature range of 25–50°C increase with increasing penetrant molecule size and are independent of temperature. The results are interpreted in terms of the free volume theory and semiquantitative estimates of the free volume parameters are reported.     

Chaos based Zero-steganography algorithm

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Conventional steganography focuses on invisibility and undetectability, as the main concern is to make the algorithms immune to steganalysis. Zero-steg-anography...     

Determination of residual organic matter in extracted oil sands using a low temperature ashing method

The application of a low temperature ashing method for estimating total residual organic matter (toluene insolubles) in oil sands is described. A linear correlation exists between organic carbon content and loss on ignition at 400 ± 10 °C of solvent extracted oil sands. The ratio between total organic carbon and the weight loss on ignition (CT/LOl) owing to the removal of residual organic matter is much lower than that obtained for toluene soluble bitumen fractions, indicating very different chemical composition for the residual organic matter. The measured carbon content of the residual organic matter in oil sands suggests that this material could be a mixture of various fractions contained in resins, asphaltenes, asphaltic acids and humic acids.     

Effect of scraped-surface tube cooler temperatures on the physical properties of palm oil margarine

The effects of scraped-surface tube cooler temperatures on the isothermal solid fat content (SFC) of palm oil margarine during processing and on margarine consistency (yield value, g/cm²), SFC, and polymorphic changes in storage were studied. SFC was measured in the mixing tank after leaving the tube cooler and the pin worker. The SFC at the tube cooler exit was proportional to the amount of cooling; a higher SFC was produced by more extreme cooling treatment. The SFC of all margarines were reduced in the pin worker, and the reduction was related to the initial SFC profile of palm oil. Margarine samples were stored at 28°C for 28 d and tested daily. Margarine processed at 25°C in the tube cooler had the highest consistency and the least change in SFC, but by the second week crystals had transformed into the β form. Uniform product consistency and SFC were observed in margarines processed at 20 and 15°C. These margarines retained the β′ crystal form for 3 and 4 wk, respectively. The best palm oil margarine was obtained with a tube cooler temperature of 15°C and a residence time of 1.8 min.