Parsing Arabic using induced probabilistic context free grammar

The importance of the parsing task for NLP applications is well understood. However developing parsers remains difficult because of the complexity of the Arabic language. Most parsers are based on syntactic grammars that describe the syntactic structures of a language. The development of these grammars is laborious and time consuming. In this paper we present our method for building an Arabic parser based on an induced grammar, PCFG grammar. We first induce the PCFG grammar from an Arabic Treebank. Then, we implement the parser that assigns syntactic structure to each input sentence. The parser is tested on sentences extracted from the treebank (1650 sentences).We calculate the precision, recall and f-measure. Our experimental results showed the efficiency of the proposed parser for parsing modern standard Arabic sentences (Precision: 83.59 %, Recall: 82.98 % and F-measure: 83.23 %).     

Nanoparticules Mass Effect of ZnO on the Properties of Poly(4-Chloroaniline)/Zinc Oxide Nanocomposites

4-Chloroaniline (4ClAni) in the presence of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were prepared by chemical oxidative polymerization in hydrochloric acid solution using Ammonium persulfate as oxidant. The effects of amount of ZnO nanoparticles (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 g, respectively) on the properties of products were investigated. The obtained nanocomposites was characterized using XRD, IR, UV–visible, and XPS which confirmed the incorporation of the nanoparticle ZnO in the P(4ClAni) matrix and the maximum interaction occurs for 2 g ZnO loading. The TGA analysis was used to confirm the thermal stability and number of water molecules in each nanocomposites chain unit. Although the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles reduces the electric conductivity of the P(4ClAni), the resulting nanocomposites still keep high conductivities, ranging between 2.19 × 10^?2 and 5.92 × 10^?4 S cm^?1. Good electrochemical response has been observed for samples of amounts ZnO less than 2 g; the observed redox processes indicate that the polymerization on ZnO nanoparticles produces electroactive polymers. The P(4ClAni) layer adhered well to the ZnO nanoparticles and can be used as practical applications.     

On the mechanism of the methanol synthesis involving a catalyst based on zirconia support

The nature of the pivotal intermediate during the synthesis of methanol from CO₂/H₂, in the presence of ZnO/ZrO₂ aerogel catalyst is envisaged. The kinetic studies performed using in situ FTIR spectroscopy of the species formed on the surface of the catalyst in the absence and in the presence of hydrogen show that the initial reactive adsorbed species formed from C0₂ gas is the unidentate carbonate species. Its hydrogenation into the formate species is much faster than the hydrogenation of the formate species into methoxyl species. The comparison is based on a quantitative measurement of the rate constant of the hydrogenation of the various species. The results explain that during the C0₂/H₂ reaction only formate and methoxyl species are observed.     

The bond and flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete elements strengthened with near surface mounted prestressing steel (PS) bars

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to study the performance of prestressing steel (PS) bars as reinforcements in the reinforced concrete (RC) elements strengthened by the near-surface mounted method (NSM). The work includes two parts. In the first part, direct pull-out tests are performed in order to study the bond performance between PS reinforcement and concrete. The influences of groove sizes and PS surface conditions (smooth and sand coated) are evaluated. The results show that the sand coated PS (PS-Sc) reinforcement has the best adhesion behavior compared with the smooth bar, and its pull-out force is increased by 48%. For this reason, the PS-Sc bars are used in the second part of this work as NSM reinforcement to strengthen RC beams subjected to bending forces. Then, four-point bending tests are carried out to understand the flexural behavior of strengthened RC beams with PS-Sc reinforcements of different lengths and ratios. The obtained results demonstrate that the use of NSM-PS-Sc bars strengthening technique leads to important enhancement in the load carrying capacity of the RC beams. The first crack load and ultimate load of the strengthened RC beams attain 71.41 and 65.67%, respectively, which are higher than those of the control beam. Furthermore, the experimental values show a good agreement with the analytical values in both the ultimate deflection and the ultimate load. This proves that the NSM-PS-Sc bars studied in this work are promising reinforcement of the RC beams.     

Hybrid chaos optimization and affine scaling search algorithm for solving linear programming problems

In this study, we addressed Single Objective Linear Programming (SOLP). This article proposed a new combination of Chaos Optimization Algorithm (COA) with Affine Scaling Search (AFS) to be used as a Hybrid COA and AFS algorithm (Chaos AFS) for solving SOLP. The potential of COA as an emerging optimization algorithm to improve efficiency and effectiveness of AFS is investigated. Chaos AFS method is so-called numerical search algorithm that searches through the domain of decision variables of SOLP to obtain final feasible solution. An initial solution point, obtained from COA, will be used as starting solution point in AFS algorithm to improve the performance of AFS algorithm. The result shows that Hybrid COA and AFS for solving SOLP problems significantly improves the results of objective value compared to pure AFS and reduces the number of iteration steps compared to simplex and pure AFS.     

Towards a core ontology for robotics and automation

In this paper, we present the current results of the newly formed IEEE-RAS Working Group, named Ontologies for Robotics and Automation. In particular, we introduce a core ontology that encompasses a set of terms commonly used in Robotics and Automation along with the methodology we have adopted. Our work uses ISO/FDIS 8373 standard developed by the ISO/TC184/SC2 Working Group as a reference. This standard defines, in natural language, some generic terms which are common in Robotics and Automation such as robot, robotic device, etc. Furthermore, we discuss the ontology development process employed along with the problems and decisions taken.     

Modified method for transformer magnetizing characteristic computation and point-on-wave control switching for inrush current mitigation

This paper proposes a new model for the low-frequency transient analysis of a transformer, with a modified equation for calculation of the flux-current characteristic representing the saturation inductance of the transformer. The model is based on the V-I (voltage-current) no-load curves and uses the no-load reactive power losses. To validate the model, it was used to simulate the no-load magnetizing current in steady-state condition, as well as the transient inrush current at network frequency. Evaluation was done both by comparing the simulation results obtained with the proposed model and those available in the relevant literature, and by practical measurements. The experimental results presented in this paper were obtained via a laboratory setup and a data acquisition system based on the dSPACE board 1104. Moreover, a control switching to mitigate the transient inrush current in a transformer was developed and applied experimentally in the laboratory and also in the simulations. This control strategy was performed by taking into account the residual flux at the opening instant of the related circuit breaker. A comparative study was carried out showing the validity of the proposed model and the mitigation technique.     

Comparative Study of Fatty Acid Composition,Total Phenolics,and Antioxidant Capacity in Rapeseed Mutant Lines

There is limited variability within rapeseed germplasm in Morocco. Induced mutation was recently used to generate novel genetic variability and develop mutant lines combining desirable traits. In this context, nine promising advanced rapeseed M₂ mutant lines and the wild-type variety “INRA-CZH2” were evaluated for their seed oil content, fatty acid composition, total phenolic content (TPC), and free-radical scavenging activity (FRSA) by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) methods. The results showed significant variability among all mutants in seed oil content (38.14–42.04%) and fatty acids (SAFA = 5.49–10.99%, MUFA = 50.33–71.62%, PUFA = 22.89–8.68%). The mutant H2M-5 exhibited the highest fraction of MUFA and the lowest proportion of SAFA and PUFA, while the mutant H2M-4 showed the highest SAFA and PUFA amounts and the lowest MUFA level. TPC varied from 2.16 to 4.35 mg GAE/100 g. The highest amount was found in the mutant H2M-1, which is about twice that of other mutants and the wild-type variety. FRSA differed significantly among the samples, and the variations observed for DPPH and ABTS methods were 40.5–59.28% and 40.31–59.86%, respectively. FRSA was positively correlated to TPC in the sampled oils (r = 0.801 and 0.802, P < 0.01). This is the first report emphasizing the biochemical potential of rapeseed varieties and novel mutants in Morocco. H2M-1, H2M-4, and H2M-5 were proposed for the Rapeseed National Breeding Program, as they showed higher levels in some biochemical traits of interest.     

Zinc-Blende MnTe Under Pressure: Structural,Mechanical, and Optical Properties from Ab Initio Calculation

We present first-principles studies of structural, mechanical, and optical properties of zinc blende MnTe using the pseudopotential plane-wave method within the local density approximation. The effect of hydrostatic pressure on investigated properties has been examined and discussed. At zero pressure, our results are found to agree reasonably well with those reported in the literature. The generalized elastic stability criteria showed that the material of interest is mechanically stable in all the studied pressure ranges. Applied pressure is found to shift all optical spectra under consideration, giving new optical parameters.