The challenging task of summary evaluation: an overview

Evaluation is crucial in the research and development of automatic summarization applications, in order to determine the appropriateness of a summary based on different criteria, such as the content it contains, and the way it is presented. To perform an adequate evaluation is of great relevance to ensure that automatic summaries can be useful for the context and/or application they are generated for. To this end, researchers must be aware of the evaluation metrics, approaches, and datasets that are available, in order to decide which of them would be the most suitable to use, or to be able to propose new ones, overcoming the possible limitations that existing methods may present. In this article, a critical and historical analysis of evaluation metrics, methods, and datasets for automatic summarization systems is presented, where the strengths and weaknesses of evaluation efforts are discussed and the major challenges to solve are identified. Therefore, a clear up-to-date overview of the evolution and progress of summarization evaluation is provided, giving the reader useful insights into the past, present and latest trends in the automatic evaluation of summaries.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">This Is Not a Fish</Emphasis>: On the Scale and Politics of Infrastructure Design Studies

Interconnected workplace information technologies (information infrastructures) are distributed across user and system types, agendas, locales, and temporal rhythms. The term infrastructuring describes the design of information infrastructure not as a bounded phase but as a continuous collaborative and inherently political process. From the perspective of ethnographers, however, this conceptualization presents the practical challenge of dealing with the political work involved in infrastructuring and in its study. In this paper, I discuss the challenges of infrastructuring activities for ethnographic research. Based on a self-revealing account of my three-year ethnographic study of an oil company’s project to design a platform for subsea environmental monitoring in the Arctic region, I discuss how my framing of infrastructuring was the result of my process of constructing the ethnographic field in my research. I combined four mechanisms to scale my ethnographic method to investigate infrastructuring across heterogeneous dimensions. Drawing on my practical experience, I discuss how my process of constructing the field let me discover richer possibilities for understanding the politics involved in the study of infrastructuring.     

璀璨的石头

正古吉(Goudji)常说:"我在33岁的时候,出生于巴黎。"他1941年出生于苏联管辖下的格鲁吉亚,33岁移民法国开始其真正意义上的艺术创作,并于1998年被法国文化部授予"艺术大师"称号。1960年,古吉就读于格鲁吉亚第比利斯艺术学院,学习绘画。娶了法国妻子凯瑟琳后,古吉终于移民到了梦寐以求的法国。可是在这能做什么是个问题。妻子提议做首饰,他就做了,没想到初次做出来的饰品就引起了知名品牌纪梵希的注意。纪梵希当时约见古吉说:"你为我们品牌设计制作首饰吧。"     

Emergence of modern scientific discourse in the American continent: knowledge claims in the discovery of Erythronium/Vanadium in Mexico (1802–1832)

In the present paper, we study the discovery of the chemical element number 23, Erythronium/Vanadium (E/V), as an early example of the modern process of validating knowledge claims in México. We examined the published work between 1802 and 1832 of Andrés Manuel del Río (AMR) in the Royal Mining Seminar of México and contrasted the styles of argument and forms of certification between his teaching and experimental writings concerning his claim to the paternity of E/V discovery. We also analyze the respective papers of European authors that replicated, rediscovered and certified AMR’s finding. We use a combination of bibliometric, sociotechnical network and literary critical analysis in order to show that the certification of E/V spawned an emerging mode for producing and validating new knowledge in the American continent and particularly in México. In turn, this approach supports AMR’s claim to the discovery of E/V from the production process of the lead brown ore in Zimapán, México.

     

Neoformation of antioxidants in glycation model systems treated under subcritical water extraction conditions

In this work, the possibility of finding newly formed Maillard reaction products produced as a result of the subcritical water extraction (SWE) conditions is explored. Simplified powdered glycation model systems were prepared mixing amino acid (Lys, Arg or Ala) and glucose in a molar ratio 1:4. Samples constituted by glucose or amino acids alone were also prepared as controls. SWE was carried out at room temperature, 100 °C and 200 °C and 100 bar of pressure for 20 min. Different assays were performed in order to determine the extent of glycation by analyzing the decrease of free amino groups and/or the formation of Maillard reaction products (early, advanced and end products). Namely, formation of early colorless Maillard reaction products, Amadori compounds, was detected by ESI-MS; advanced glycation end products (AGEs) were detected by measuring the fluorescence intensity (λ_ex = 360 nm, λ_em = 460 nm) while end brown products were detected by reading the absorbance at 360 and 420 nm. Besides, the antioxidant capacity of the aqueous extracts was determined by using ABTS and ORAC_FL assays. Results obtained indicated the occurrence of the Maillard reaction under our specific extraction conditions. Early, advanced and end products were detected in the samples. Caramelization of sugar also occurred. As expected, the extent of the non-enzymatic browning depended on the intensity of the thermal treatment. Additionally, data on antioxidant activity suggested the formation of neoantioxidants. These compounds were predominantly formed at 200 °C. In conclusion, this report demonstrates the formation of antioxidant compounds in simplified glycation model systems under SWE conditions.     

Allergenicity of different apple cultivars assessed by means of skin prick test and sensitisation to recombinant allergens Mal d 1 and Mal d 3 in a group of Italian apple‐allergic patients

To evaluate differences in skin prick test response to apple cultivars in patients with apple allergy, 19 patients (10 adults and 9 children) underwent prick‐to‐prick skin prick test with eleven commercial and noncommercial apple cultivars, and evaluation of specific IgE to apple and recombinant apple allergens Mal d 1 and Mal d 3. The results show that different reactions might be evoked in a single patient by different apple cultivars and also separately for the peel and the pulp of a single cultivar. The cultivars were ranked according to their allergenicity level, being Jonathan, Jonagold, Golden Delicious and Fiesta the most allergenic when considering the pulp and Gala, Fiesta and Golden Delicious for the peel. Further investigations are needed to clarify if a single patient can be allergic only to well‐defined apple cultivars and which allergometric tests are necessary to ascertain this.     

Enzyme-Containing Paints Inhibit the Growth of Marine Microorganisms

A new strategy to prevent the biofouling of water-submerged surfaces is presented here. In particular, the authors showthat carbonic anydrase from Methanosarcina thermophila can be entrapped into polyacrylic paints, preserving enzyme activity. In addition, the authors also show that enzyme-containing paints inhibit the growth of marine microorganims, preventing biofouling.     

Inferring the role of microorganisms in water kefir fermentations

Water kefir is a slightly alcoholic, lactic and acetic beverage fermented by yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria that are associated with the polysaccharide of the water kefir grains. In this study, the three main metabolic products of microorganisms were evaluated during a traditional 192‐h water kefir fermentation and also after inoculating the microorganisms in fresh medium or sterilised broth from different fermentation stages. The first process to occur was alcoholic fermentation, carried out in particular by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After 24 h, lactic and acetic acid accumulation was generated by Lactobacillus hilgardii and Acetobacter tropicalis. By the end of fermentation, ethanol had been almost entirely consumed and oxidised to acetic acid, possibly by a dissimilatory route of Acetobacter species. An original hypothetical diagram is proposed for the carbon flux from sucrose, and the metabolic role of the main yeasts and bacteria is assigned for the distinct stages of water kefir fermentation.