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.     

Kinetic analysis of bile salt passage across a dialysis membrane in the presence of cereal soluble dietary fibre polymers

The kinetics of passage of a model bile salt and complete porcine bile across a dialysis membrane, in the presence and absence of two cereal-derived soluble dietary fibre polysaccharides, were studied as a model for passage across the unstirred water layer that lines the small intestine. A first-order kinetic analysis allowed rate coefficients to be derived which quantified the effectiveness of barley mixed linkage β-glucan and wheat arabinoxylan in retarding the transport of bile. For both, a model bile salt and complete porcine bile, rate coefficients decreased with both concentration and viscosity. A combination of viscosity and molecular interaction effects is suggested to control the effect of the two polysaccharides on the transport of bile.     

The nuclear freeze resolution: A question of empowerment.

The American Psychological Association has done little to empower the nuclear freeze resolution (NFR) adopted in 1982. The general debate on the issues of advocacy, competency, and ethics should be suspended so that the issues associated specifically with the NFR can be resolved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A spoken dialog system for the Dutch public transport information service

In the Netherlands there is a nationwide premium rate telephone number that can be dialed to obtain information about various forms of public transport. In 1996 this number was called more than twelve million times. Human operators managed to handle only about nine million of these calls. In order to answer more of these calls, a spoken dialog system was developed to automate part of this service. The automation component concerns information about journeys between two train stations.The starting point of our research was an existing German information system. This system was ported to Dutch. A bootstrapping method was used to collect the data, which in turn were used to improve the system itself.     

Cardiac side-effects of two selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in middle-aged and elderly depressed patients

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the 'new' drugs of first choice for the treatment of depression in the older patient. Systematic studies on the effects of SSRIs on cardiac function are scarce, despite the high prevalence of cardiac disorders in the older depressed patient. This is a study which systematically assessed cardiac function by echocardiography in middle-aged and elderly depressed patients treated with SSRI. In a double-blind randomized trial, 20 patients were assigned to receive fluvoxamine 100 mg/day [DOSAGE ERROR CORRECTED] or fluoxetine 20 mg/day [DOSAGE ERROR CORRECTED] for 6 weeks. Cardiac function was assessed by left ventricle ejection fraction, aortic flow integral and early or passive/late or active mitral inflow, and electrocardiography. Neither SSRI significantly affected cardiac function. Compared with patients without a history of myocardial infarction and/or hypertension, patients with such a history showed a significant improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction. Despite our small study sample, these data indicate that both fluoxetine and fluvoxamine do not affect cardiac function adversely.     

Decreased half-life time of plasma von Willebrand factor collagen binding activity in essential thrombocythaemia: normalization after cytoreduction of the increased platelet count

Patients with essential thrombocythaemia (ET) exhibit a decrease of large von Willebrand factor (VWF) multimers in plasma, which is inversely related to the platelet count. In the present study we investigated whether the decrease of large VWF multimers in plasma with increasing platelet counts is the consequence of increased turnover of large VWF multimers in vivo. To that end we measured the half-life times of endogenously released VWF:Ag and VWF:CBA (collagen binding activity) after intravenous administration of desmopressin (DDAVP) to nine ET patients and nine control subjects (N). In addition, the half-life times of VWF:Ag and VWF:CBA were also measured in four ET patients after cytoreduction of the increased platelet count to normal or nearly normal values. Estimated half-life times of VWF:Ag did not differ between ET patients and normals (11.0+/-4.0 h v 12.4+/-2.5 h, P>0.05). Estimated half-life times of VWF:CBA were significantly lower in ET patients as compared with normal individuals (6.1+/-2.0 h v 8.4+/-2.5 h, P<0.05). After cytoreduction of the increased platelet count to (nearly) normal values in all four ET patients the half-life time of VWF:CBA significantly (P=0.014) increased from 5.2+/-1.2 h to 8.7+/-2.0 h. Our data suggest that platelets may play a role in the homeostasis of circulating von Willebrand factor, which may compromise normal haemostasis at fairly increased platelet counts.