bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Maintenance of Sex and David Lack’s Principle
Authors: Dagg Joachim L.
Published: January 2016

Combining George C. Williams’ idea that evolutionary constraints prevent asexual mutants from arising more frequently in low fecundity organisms, like mammals and birds, with an earlier one by David Lack that the brood size of these organisms has an optimum, and producing larger broods reduces their fitness, leads to a novel hypothesis about the maintenance of sex in them. All else equal, the eggs of an asexual mutant female should simply start developing without fertilisation, and there is no reason to assume that they would stop doing so after the optimal number of offspring has been produced. Without a way to control their reproductive output, asexual mutants should over-reproduce and suffer a cost of doing so. Experimental studies suggest that the cost of enlarged broods could limit the advantage of asexual mutants considerably. Moreover, research discovered that increased reproductive effort reduces immune functions of low fecundity organisms. This offers a surprising synthesis between Williams’ constraint and Hamilton’s parasite hypothesis on maintaining sex in low fecundity organisms: Compromised immune functions of asexual hosts may render them susceptible rather than adaptation on the side of parasites to overcome host resistance.
Restoration of sub‐alpine shrub‐encroached grasslands through pastoral practices: effects on vegetation structure and botanical composition
Authors: Pittarello Marco , Probo Massimiliano , Lonati Michele , Lombardi Giampiero
Published: January 2016

Aims

To reverse shrub encroachment and restore grassland vegetation, two pastoral practices were implemented over shrub‐encroached areas: the arrangement of temporary night camp areas (TNCA) and the strategic placement of mineral mix supplements (MMS) for cattle. The aim was to assess the effects produced on (1) vegetation structure and (2) botanical composition of both pastoral practices in order to identify their potential to reverse shrub encroachment and restore semi‐natural grassland vegetation.

Location

Shrub‐encroached sites in Val Troncea Natural Park, southwest Italian Alps.

Methods

We measured the effects produced by both practices on vegetation cover and height, cover of species belonging to different vegetation units, biodiversity indices (species richness and Shannon diversity index), forage pastoral value, and average indicator value for soil nutrient content from 2011 to 2014 along permanent linear transects. Data were analysed with GLMMs, multiple response permutational procedure (MRPP) and principal response curve (PRC).

Results

Both practices were effective in reducing shrub cover and increasing average height of the herbaceous layer, but within TNCA a marked increase in herbaceous cover was also evident. Moreover, the arrangement of TNCA increased the cover of meso‐eutrophic grassland and fringe and tall herb species and decreased the cover of boreal‐like shrubland and woodland species. The main effect produced by the placement of MMS on botanical composition was an increase in cover of fringe and tall herb species. Plant biodiversity was enhanced by the arrangement of TNCA but not by the placement of MMS, and the implementation of both practices increased forage pastoral value and average indicator value for soil nutrient content.

Conclusions

The arrangement of TNCA was the most effective pastoral practice to reverse shrub encroachment, restore semi‐natural meso‐eutrophic grassland vegetation and increase plant diversity, herbage mass and forage quality.
Downstream activation of NF-κB in the EDA-A1/EDAR signalling in Sjögren's syndrome and its regulation by the ubiquitin-editing enzyme A20
Authors: Sisto M , Barca A , Lofrumento D D , Lisi S
Published: January 2016

Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease and the second most common chronic systemic rheumatic disorder. Prevalence of primary SS in the general population has been estimated to be approximately 1–3%, whereas secondary SS has been observed in 10–20% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and scleroderma. Despite this, its exact aetiology and pathogenesis are largely unexplored. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signalling mechanisms provide central controls in SS, but how these pathways intersect the pathological features of this disease is unclear. The ubiquitin-editing enzyme A20 (tumour necrosis factor-α-induced protein 3, TNFAIP3) serves as a critical inhibitor on NF-κB signalling. In humans, polymorphisms in the A20 gene or a deregulated expression of A20 are often associated with several inflammatory disorders, including SS. Because A20 controls the ectodysplasin-A1 (EDA-A1)/ectodysplasin receptor (EDAR) signalling negatively, and the deletion of A20 results in excessive EDA1-induced NF-κB signalling, this work investigates the expression levels of EDA-A1 and EDAR in SS human salivary glands epithelial cells (SGEC) and evaluates the hypothesis that SS SGEC-specific deregulation of A20 results in excessive EDA1-induced NF-κB signalling in SS. Our approach, which combines the use of siRNA-mediated gene silencing and quantitative pathway analysis, was used to elucidate the role of the A20 target gene in intracellular EDA-A1/EDAR/NF-κB pathway in SS SGEC, holding significant promise for compound selection in drug discovery.
Cognitive effects of adjunctive perampanel for partial‐onset seizures: A randomized trial
Authors: Meador Kimford J. , Yang Haichen , Piña‐Garza Jesus Eric , Laurenza Antonio , Kumar Dinesh , Wesnes Keith A.
Published: January 2016

Objective

Assess cognitive effects of adjunctive perampanel in adolescents.

Methods

In this double‐blind study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier:NCT01161524), patients aged 12 to <18 years with partial‐onset seizures despite receiving 1–3 antiepileptic drugs were randomized (2:1) to perampanel or placebo. Perampanel was increased weekly in 2‐mg increments to 8–12 mg/day (6‐week titration; 13‐week maintenance). Changes in neuropsychological outcomes were assessed at end of maintenance: Cognitive Drug Research (CDR) System Global Cognition Score (primary end point), fiveCDRSystem domain T‐scores (secondary end points), letter fluency, category fluency, and Lafayette Grooved Pegboard Test (LGPT).

Results

One hundred thirty‐three patients were randomized. In the full analysis set, there were no differences of perampanel (n = 79) vs. placebo (n = 44) inCDRSystem Global Cognition Score (least squares mean change, −0.6 vs. 1.6; p = 0.145), Quality of Working Memory (1.1 vs. 2.0; p = 0.579), or Power of Attention (−6.9 vs. −2.7; p = 0.219). There were small differences with perampanel vs. placebo in otherCDRSystem domains: improvements in Quality of Episodic Memory (3.0 vs. −1.2; p = 0.012), and worsening in Continuity of Attention (−3.3 vs. 1.6; p = 0.013) and Speed of Memory (0.3 vs. 7.0; p = 0.032). Letter fluency, category fluency, andLGPTwere not significantly different between groups. The most frequent adverse events with perampanel were dizziness (30.6%) and somnolence (15.3%).

Significance

Perampanel did not differ from placebo in the global cognitive score, two of five subdomains, and four other cognitive measures. Perampanel was worse on two and better on one subdomain.
Functional polymer‐dependent 3D culture accelerates the differentiation of HepaRG cells into mature hepatocytes
Authors: Higuchi Yichiro , Kawai Kenji , Kanaki Tatsuro , Yamazaki Hiroshi , Chesné Christophe , Guguen‐Guillouzo Christiane , Suemizu Hiroshi
Published: January 2016

Aim

The hepatoma‐derived cell line HepaRG is regarded as an in vitro model of drug metabolism because fully differentiated HepaRG cells demonstrate functional metabolic responses comparable to those of primary human hepatocytes. Recently, it was demonstrated that the 3D culture of HepaRG cells enhanced their metabolic functions and toxicological responses. We approached the mechanisms underlying these enhancement effects.

Methods

We compared 2D‐cultured HepaRG cells with 3D‐cultured HepaRG spheroids in the gene expression patterns and the metabolic functions. In the present study, we performed 3D culture of HepaRG cells using functional polymers (FP). To reveal the in vivo differentiation ability, we transplanted the 3D‐cultured HepaRG spheroids into TK‐NOG mice.

Results

A comparison between 2D and 3D cultures revealed that 3D‐cultured HepaRG spheroids demonstrated reductions in bile duct marker expression, accelerated expression of cytochrome P450 3A4, and increases in the ratio of albumin‐expressing hepatocytes. Furthermore, catalytic activities of cytochrome P450 3A4 were modified by omeprazole and rifampicin in the 3D‐cultured HepaRG spheroids. Transplantation analysis revealed that 3D‐cultured HepaRG spheroids formed hepatocyte‐like colonies rather than cholangiocytes in vivo.

Conclusion

Our results indicated that the enhancement of hepatic functions in 3D‐cultured HepaRG cells was induced by selective hepatocyte differentiation and accelerated hepatocyte maturation. HepaRG spheroids reproduced the metabolic responses of human hepatocytes. Therefore, FP‐dependent 3D‐cultured HepaRG cells may serve as an excellent in vitro model for evaluating the hepatic metabolism and toxicity.
Study of Textural, Chemical, Color and Sensory Properties of Organic Blueberries Harvested in Two Distinct Years: A Chemometric Approach
Authors: Vilela Alice , Gonçalves Berta , Ribeiro Carlos , Fonseca Ana teresa , Correia Sofia , Fernandes Hortense , Ferreira Sónia , Bacelar Eunice , Silva Ana Paula
Published: January 2016

In Portugal, two groups of blueberry plants are of interest: the Northern and the Southern Highbush Blueberry. The short season and short shelf life of blueberries yields excess fruit, and those harvests not destined for the fresh market are frozen or processed, sometimes leading to economic losses for the producers. From a technological point of view, fruit characterization is performed on the basis of physical, chemical properties as well as organoleptic properties (texture, flavor, color/pigmentation). These properties are directly correlated with fruit utilization. Thus, in this work, chemometric tools, such as texture, soluble solids (SS), titratable acidity (TA), fruit surface color and a trained sensory panel, for the exploration of textural, chemical, color and sensory characteristics of four blueberry cultivars harvested in two different years were applied.

Surface color, maximum force, SS, TA and SS/TA ratio varied among cultivars and years and, in general, all the fruits presented in 2013 had lower values for SS and TA when compared with those collected in 2011.

After analyzing all the parameters and independently of their origin, Duke and Palmetto seem to be more suitable for fresh market consumption since the attribute crispness did not change significantly between the 2 years, while Camellia, a cultivar where the attribute crispness, seems to be weather dependent, and Legacy a cultivar with less odor and flavor, seems to be more suitable for processing into products such juice and jam.

Practical Applications

Blueberry is a product of interest due to their nutritional and health benefits. Recently, scientists have determined that is the “blueberry‐like flavor intensity” the eating quality that has a much higher correlation to consumer acceptance than the traditional measures of sweetness, acidity or sugar/acid. Ripeness and maturity are the key factors that influence the taste of a fruit. Ripening processes play a key role in flavor development and can affect the chemical and sensory characteristics (acidity, sweetness) of fruits. Thus, with this study we can understand the influence of the harvest year in the textural and sensory attributes of blueberry fruits that can help to determine the optimal use of fruit.
Timing of extreme drought modifies reproductive output in semi‐natural grassland
Authors: Zeiter Michaela , Schärrer Sara , Zweifel Roman , Newbery David M. , Stampfli Andreas
Published: January 2016

Questions

Do extreme dry spells in late summer or in spring affect abundance and species composition of the reproductive shoots and the seed rain in the next annual crop? Are drought effects on reproductive shoots related to the rooting depths of species?

Location

Species‐rich semi‐natural grassland at Negrentino, Switzerland.

Methods

In plots under automated rain‐out shelters, rainwater was added to simulate normal conditions and compare them with two experimentally effected long dry spells, in late summer (2004) and in the following spring (2005). For 28 plots, numbers of reproductive shoots per species were counted in 1‐m2 areas and seed rain was estimated using nine sticky traps of 102 cm2 after dry spells.

Results

The two extreme dry spells in late summer and spring were similar in length and their probability of recurrence. They independently reduced the subsequent reproductive output of the community, while their seasonal timing modified its species composition. Compared to drought in spring, drought in late summer reduced soil moisture more and reduced the number of reproductive shoots of more species. The negative effects of summer drought decreased with species’ rooting depth. The shallow‐rooted graminoids showed a consistent susceptibility to summer drought, while legumes and other forbs showed more varied responses to both droughts. Spring drought strongly reduced density (–53%) and species richness (–43%) of the community seed rain, while summer drought had only a marginally significant impact on seed density of graminoids (–44%). Reductions in seed number per shoot vs reproductive shoot density distinguished the impacts of drought with respect to its seasonal timing.

Conclusion

The essentially negative impact of drought in different seasons on reproductive output suggests that more frequent dry spells could contribute to local plant diversity loss by aggravating seed deficiency in species‐rich grassland.
Post‐translational methylations of the archaeal Mre11:Rad50 complex throughout the DNA damage response
Authors: Kish Adrienne , Gaillard Jean‐Charles , Armengaud Jean , Elie Christiane
Published: January 2016

The Mre11:Rad50 complex is central to DNA double strand break repair in the Archaea and Eukarya, and acts through mechanical and nuclease activities regulated by conformational changes induced by ATP binding and hydrolysis. Despite the widespread use of Mre11 and Rad50 from hyperthermophilic archaea for structural studies, little is known in the regulation of these proteins in the Archaea. Using purification and mass spectrometry approaches allowing nearly full sequence coverage of both proteins from the species Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, we show for the first time post‐translational methylation of the archaeal Mre11:Rad50 complex. Under basal growth conditions, extensive lysine methylations were identified in Mre11 and Rad50 dynamic domains, as well as methylation of a few aspartates and glutamates, including a key Mre11 aspartate involved in nuclease activity. Upon γ‐irradiation induced DNA damage, additional methylated residues were identified in Rad50, notably methylation of Walker B aspartate and glutamate residues involved in ATP hydrolysis. These findings strongly suggest a key role for post‐translational methylation in the regulation of the archaeal Mre11:Rad50 complex and in the DNA damage response.
Characterization of the interaction between Oidium heveae and Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Mei Shuangshuang , Hou Shuguo , Cui Haitao , Feng Feng , Rong Wei
Published: January 2016

Oidium heveae, an obligate biotrophic pathogen of rubber trees (Hevea brasiliensis), causes significant yield losses of rubber worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interplay between O. heveae and rubber trees remain largely unknown. In this study, we isolated an O. heveae strain, named HN1106, from cultivated H. brasiliensis in Hainan, China. We found that O. heveae HN1106 triggers the hypersensitive response in a manner that depends on the effector‐triggered immunity proteins EDS1 (Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1) and PAD4 (Phytoalexin Deficient 4) and on salicylic acid (SA) in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. However, SA‐independent resistance also appears to limit O. heveae infection of Arabidopsis, because the pathogen does not produce conidiospores on npr1 (nonexpressor of pr1), sid2 (SA induction deficient 2) and NahG plants, which show disruptions in SA signalling. Furthermore, we found that the callose synthase PMR4 (Powdery Mildew Resistant 4) prevents O. heveae HN1106 penetration into leaves in the early stages of infection. To elucidate the potential mechanism of resistance of Arabidopsis to O. heveae HN1106, we inoculated 47 different Arabidopsis accessions with the pathogen, and analysed the plant disease symptoms and O. heveae HN1106 hyphal growth and conidiospore formation on the leaves. We found that the accession Lag2‐2 showed significant susceptibility to O. heveae HN1106. Overall, this study provides a basis for future research aimed at combatting powdery mildew caused by O. heveae in rubber trees.
XacFhaB adhesin, an important Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri virulence factor, is recognized as a pathogen‐associated molecular pattern
Authors: Garavaglia Betiana S. , Zimaro Tamara , Abriata Luciano A. , Ottado Jorgelina , Gottig Natalia
Published: January 2016

Adhesion to host tissue is one of the key steps of the bacterial pathogenic process. Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri possesses a non‐fimbrial adhesin protein, XacFhaB, required for bacterial attachment, which we have previously demonstrated to be an important virulence factor for the development of citrus canker. XacFhaB is a 4753‐residue‐long protein with a predicted β‐helical fold structure, involved in bacterial aggregation, biofilm formation and adhesion to the host. In this work, to further characterize this protein and considering its large size, XacFhaB was dissected into three regions based on bioinformatic and structural analyses for functional studies. First, the capacity of these protein regions to aggregate bacterial cells was analysed. Two of these regions were able to form bacterial aggregates, with the most amino‐terminal region being dispensable for this activity. Moreover, XacFhaB shows features resembling pathogen‐associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which are recognized by plants. As PAMPs activate plant basal immune responses, the role of the three XacFhaB regions as elicitors of these responses was investigated. All adhesin regions were able to induce basal immune responses in host and non‐host plants, with a stronger activation by the carboxyl‐terminal region. Furthermore, pre‐infiltration of citrus leaves with XacFhaB regions impaired X. citri ssp. citri growth, confirming the induction of defence responses and restraint of citrus canker. This work reveals that adhesins from plant pathogens trigger plant defence responses, opening up new pathways for the development of protective strategies for disease control.
Impact of pre‐eclampsia in extremely premature infants: Population‐based study
Authors: Tokumasu Hironobu , Tokumasu Satoko , Kawakami Koji
Published: January 2016

Background

The relationship between chorioamnionitis (CAM) and neonatal mortality has been extensively investigated, but that of maternal pre‐eclampsia and neonatal mortality is unclear. We investigated neonatal mortality and morbidity of maternal pre‐eclampsia and clinical CAM in extremely premature infants using data from a population‐based cohort study.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed data obtained from the Neonatal Research Network in Japan, a population‐based cohort study (n = 18 900) conducted to clarify the clinical characteristics and morbidity of very low‐birthweight infants. Patients were divided into four diagnosis‐based groups for comparative analysis: sole pre‐eclampsia; sole clinical CAM; concurrent pre‐eclampsia and clinical CAM; and non‐diagnosis (of pre‐eclampsia and clinical CAM).

Results

Mortality was higher in the pre‐eclampsia groups compared with the groups without (18.3%, 84/459 vs 14.0%, 567/4059; OR, 1.38; 95%CI: 1.07–1.78). In contrast, mortality was not affected by presence of clinical CAM (with, 13.7% 182/1328 vs without, 15.0% 469/3190; OR, 0.92; 95%CI: 0.77–1.11). With regard to small for gestational age, the mortality rate increased by two–three‐fold as gestational week decreased. The complication survival rate in the whole group was 35% (1135/3218).

Conclusions

Maternal pre‐eclampsia is associated with poor prognosis in extremely premature infants. We also need to deliberate on the trade‐off between the advantages of early rescue from pre‐eclampsia and risk of prematurity.
Set Estimation from Reflected Brownian Motion
Authors: Cholaquidis Alejandro , Fraiman Ricardo , Lugosi Gábor , Pateiro-López Beatriz
Published: January 2016

We study the problem of estimating a compact set S⊂Rd from a trajectory of a reflected Brownian motion in S with reflections on the boundary of S. We establish consistency and rates of convergence for various estimators of S and its boundary. This problem has relevant applications in ecology in estimating the home range of an animal on the basis of tracking data. There are a variety of studies on the habitat of animals that employ the notion of home range. The paper offers theoretical foundations for a new methodology that, under fairly unrestrictive shape assumptions, allows us to find flexible regions close to reality. The theoretical findings are illustrated on simulated and real data examples.
Out of Africa: biogeographic history of the open‐habitat chats (Aves, Muscicapidae: Saxicolinae) across arid areas of the old world
Authors: Alaei Kakhki Niloofar , Aliabadian Mansour , Schweizer Manuel
Published: January 2016

Arid and semi‐arid areas constitute a prominent feature of the earth today, especially in Asia and Africa. Their formation started in the middle Miocene with increased stepwise aridification since the Pliocene. This aridification had strong ecological and evolutionary consequences and not only led to fragmentation of moist‐adapted biota, but also fostered the evolution of arid‐adapted taxa from mesic ancestors and triggered speciation within arid areas. The open‐habitat chats, a clade within Saxicolinae (Aves, Muscicapidae), constitute one of the most significant arid‐adapted passerine groups of Africa and Eurasia. Here, we present a temporal and spatial framework for the diversification of open‐habitat chats, using probabilistic approaches for the reconstruction of their biogeographic history based on a time‐calibrated multilocus molecular phylogenetic hypothesis. The diversification of open‐habitat chats was initiated in the late Miocene at around 7.4 Ma, most likely in sub‐Saharan Africa. Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa acted as centres of diversification and biogeographic expansion. From the latter area, the Arabo‐Sindic region and subsequently further parts of Eurasia and North Africa were colonized. The colonization history out of sub‐Saharan Africa contrasts with that of several other songbird clades, where a biogeographic expansion from Eurasia or northern Africa to southern Africa was prevalent. Habitat fragmentation through forest expansions during intermittent wetter periods in Africa influenced diversification in several clades. However, phases of increased aridity, with hyperarid regions acting as drivers of vicariance, seem to have also been important in radiations of the Arabo‐Sindic region and the Horn of Africa during the Pleistocene. Different processes such as colonization of new areas followed by vicariance or speciation across ecotones might have played a role throughout the radiation of open‐habitat chats.
Molecular phylogeography of white‐lipped tree viper (Trimeresurus; Viperidae)
Authors: Zhu Fei , Liu Qin , Che Jing , Zhang Liang , Chen Xin , Yan Fang , Murphy Robert , Guo Cong , Guo Peng
Published: January 2016

The white‐lipped tree viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) is one of the most common venomous snakes with medicine importance in South East Asia. To explore the genetic diversity, population structure and evolutionary history of Trimeresurus albolabris, we collected 98 samples from 27 localities covering its entire distribution. Two mitochondrial gene fragments (cyt‐b and ND‐4) and two nuclear genes (RAG‐1 and NT‐3) were sequenced and analysed. Bayesian inference and maximum‐likelihood methods were employed to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among populations based on the two mitochondrial fragments, and the median‐joining networks were depicted using nuclear genes. Divergence date and ancestral area were estimated, and the population demographic history was inferred. Both phylogenetic analyses consistently uncovered that Trimeresurus albolabris was monophyletics, with five geographically structured lineages. Divergence date and ancestral area estimation indicated that T. albolabris originated in northern Thailand and eastern Myanmar at c. 7.15 Ma. Population dynamics analyses showed the southern China lineage has experienced population expansion and contraction, but the others have not. Both the interglacial expansion and the highly heterogeneous habitats resulting from the uplift of the Plateau played a joint role in shaping the present distribution and population structure. The evolutionary history of T. albolabris can be explained by a pattern of two direction dispersal: first from North to South, and then from West to East.
Direct observation of intersystem crossing in a thermally activated delayed fluorescence copper complex in the solid state
Authors: Bergmann Larissa , Hedley Gordon J. , Baumann Thomas , Bräse Stefan , Samuel Ifor D. W.
Published: January 2016

An intersystem crossing time of 27 ps is measured in a copper complex that shows thermally activated delayed fluorescence.
Hybrid bilayer plasmonic metasurface efficiently manipulates visible light
Authors: Qin Fei , Ding Lu , Zhang Lei , Monticone Francesco , Chum Chan Choy , Deng Jie , Mei Shengtao , Li Ying , Teng Jinghua , Hong Minghui , Zhang Shuang , Alù Andrea , Qiu Cheng-Wei
Published: January 2016

Two highly coupled plasmonic metasurfaces exhibit much higher conversion efficiency and extinction ratio than individual ones.
Efficient luminescent solar cells based on tailored mixed-cation perovskites
Authors: Bi Dongqin , Tress Wolfgang , Dar M. Ibrahim , Gao Peng , Luo Jingshan , Renevier Clémentine , Schenk Kurt , Abate Antonio , Giordano Fabrizio , Correa Baena Juan-Pablo , Decoppet Jean-David , Zakeeruddin Shaik Mohammed , Nazeeruddin Mohammad Khaja , Grätzel Michael , Hagfeldt Anders
Published: January 2016

Researchers developed a perovskite solar cell with high power-conversion efficiency (>20%) and intense electroluminescence yield (0.5%).
On the Phenomenological Approach to Grammar
Authors: Shyrokov Volodymyr , Shevchenko Igor
Published: January 2016

On the Phenomenological Approach to GrammarPhenomenological foundations for grammar description of the natural language are under considerations. The picture of language world based on the factorization of communication and cognitivity is proposed. The problem of observability-unobservability in linguistics is discussed. The concept of the states of language units is formulated both with its interpretation in the formal definition of the noun's case. System analysis of the complexity in cognitive processes is considered.
The Slavic Translation Lexicography Theory and Practice: on the Material of the Stable Word Units
Authors: Лучик [Luchyk] Алла [Alla]
Published: January 2016

The Slavic Translation Lexicography Theory and Practice: on the Material of the Stable Word UnitsThe paper deals with the idea of the need for the dictionaries of stable units in each of the Slavic language. The register of the lexicographical works must include the word equivalents, phraseological units terminological units. For a new type of the dictionary the principles its arrangement are established. It is proved that such work will open new horizons for the further theoretical observations on the properties of the language system as well as its practical mastering. The dictionaries of the stable units will be of particular importance to the field of Slavic translation.
Multilingualism and Dictionaries
Authors: Sosnowski Wojciech Paweł , Koseska-Toszewa Violetta
Published: January 2016

Multilingualism and DictionariesThe Russian-Bulgarian-Polish dictionary that we (Wojciech Sosnowski, Violetta Koseska-Toszewa and Anna Kisiel) are currently developing has no precedent as far as its theoretical foundations and its structure are concerned. The dictionary offers a unique combination of three Slavic languages that belong to three different groups: a West Slavic language (Polish), a South Slavic language (Bulgarian) and an East Slavic language (Russian). The dictionary describes semantic and syntactic equivalents of words between the languages. When completed, the dictionary will contain around 30,000 entries. The principle we build the dictionary on is that every language should be given equal status. Many of our data come from the Parallel Polish-Bulgarian-Russian corpus developed by us as part of the CLARIN-PL initiative. In the print version, the entries come in the order of the Cyrillic alphabet and they are not numbered (except for homonyms, which are disambiguated with Roman numbers). We selected the lemmas for the dictionary on the basis of their frequency in the corpus. Our dictionary is the first dictionary to include forms of address and most recent neologisms in the three languages. Faithful to the recent developments in contrastive linguistics, we begin with a form from the dictionary’s primary language and we define it in Polish. Subsequently, based on this definition, we try to find an equivalent in the second and the third language. Therefore, the meaning comes first and only then we look for the form (i.e. the equivalent) that corresponds to this meaning. This principle, outlined in Gramatyka konfrontatywna języków polskiego i bułgarskiego (GKBP), allows us to treat data from multiple languages as equal. In the dictionary, we draw attention to the correct choice of equivalents in translation; we also provide categorisers that indicate the meaning of verbal tenses and aspects. The definitions of states, events and their different configurations follow those outlined in the net model of verbal tense and aspect. The transitive vs. intransitive categorisers are vital for the languages in question, since they belong to two different types: synthetic (Bulgarian) and analytic (Polish and Russian). We predict that the equal status of every language in the dictionary will facilitate easier and faster development of an electronic version in the future.
On the Benefits of Foreign Language Learning Based on Parallel Language Corpus
Authors: Satoła-Staśkowiak Joanna
Published: January 2016

On the Benefits of Foreign Language Learning Based on Parallel Language CorpusA recently observed strong interest in language corpora, which can be defined as a collection of texts in an electronic format, as well as my work within the European Project Clarin on ‘The Parallel Polish-Bulgarian-Russian Corpus’ became the reason for writing the text concerning the use of the parallel language corpus for learning a foreign language. The article discusses the benefits resulting from the use of such a corpus in learning a foreign language, describes selected corpus language tools supporting the learning process as well as indicates some threats arising from the wrong use of the corpus.
Contrastive Analysis of Metatext. Expressing Polish "niemniej" in Bulgarian
Authors: Kisiel Anna Katarzyna
Published: January 2016

Contrastive Analysis of Metatext. Expressing Polish niemniej in BulgarianThe author discusses possible ways of expressing meanings of Polish niemniej, tym niemniej and niemniej jednak in Bulgarian. A confrontative analysis of the equivalents gives grounds for a reflection on how to conduct a cross-linguistic examination of metatext. Two important questions are raised: whether it is methodologically justified to compare objects non-identical such as units and compositions, lexical and grammatical means, and what exactly equivalence within metatext class means. It is expected that analysis of metatext in Polish and Bulgarian will allow to discover mechanisms of creating metatextual units.
Force Dynamics of Verb Complementation
Authors: Woźny Jacek
Published: January 2016

Force Dynamics of Verb ComplementationThe concepts of motion and force are both extensively discussed in cognitive linguistics literature. But they are discussed separately. The first usually in the context of ‘motion situations’ (Talmy, Slobin, Zlatev), the other as part of the Force Dynamics framework, which was developed by Talmy. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to argue that the concepts of force and motion should not be isolated but considered as two inseparable parts of force-motion events. The second goal is to prove that the modified Force Dynamics (force-motion) framework can be used for precise characterization of the verb complementation patterns. To this end, a random sample of 50 sentences containing the verb ‘went’ is analyzed, demonstrating the differences between the categories of intensive and intransitive complementation with respect to the linguistically coded parameters of force and motion.
Culturemes and Non-Equivalent Lexis in Dictionaries
Authors: Jaskot Maciej Paweł , Ganoshenko Iurii
Published: January 2016

Culturemes and Non-Equivalent Lexis in DictionariesThe article raises the question of the need to improve the structural diversity and operational capabilities of the modern dictionary (bi- or multilingual) to avoid lacunes in the transmission of culturemes and non-equivalent words into another language. Without it the dictionary is incomplete and languages are unequal. The article deals with various options of asymmetry reflection of the culturemes in the context of social and ethno-psychic reality of a native-speaking community. The specifics of lexicographical transmission is observed in order to emphasize the need of further investigation of the linguistic map of the world.
Empirical Verification of the Polish Formula of Text Difficulty
Authors: Charzyńska Edyta , Dębowski Łukasz Jerzy
Published: January 2016

Empirical Verification of the Polish Formula of Text DifficultyThe aim of the study was to verify the accuracy of the formula for assessing the difficulty of texts written in Polish (Pisarek 1969). The study involved 1,309 persons aged between 15 and 84. 15 texts were used, each approximately 300 words long, representing different subjects and varied difficulty level. Text comprehension was checked with multiple choice tests, the cloze procedure and open-ended questions. Significant correlations between the difficulty of a text and its comprehension were found (rmc(15) = -0.529, p = 0.043; ropen = -0.519, p = 0.047; rcloze = -0.656, p = 0.008). The results confirmed relative accuracy and usefulness of Pisarek's readability formula. The discussion includes proposed ways of improving the current form of the formula.
Ways of Conceptualising Male and Female Genitalia in Spanish and Polish: a Contrastive Study
Authors: Popek-Bernat Katarzyna
Published: January 2016

Ways of Conceptualising Male and Female Genitalia in Spanish and Polish: a Contrastive StudyThe article deals with the reconstruction of the ways of conceptualising male and female genitalia encoded in Spanish and Polish lexicon. In order to carry out our investigation we propose a 5-stage analytical procedure based on the ideas developed previously by Pragglejaz Group in 2007 and by the investigators from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in 2009. We pretend to demonstrate that the metalexicographic analysis applied to cognitive studies enables us to observe some interesting linguistic trends which reflect sociocultural attitudes towards, among others, erotic issues.
The System of Register Labels in plWordNet
Authors: Maziarz Marek , Piasecki Maciej , Szpakowicz Stan
Published: January 2016

The System of Register Labels in plWordNetStylistic registers influence word usage. Both traditional dictionaries and wordnets assign lexical units to registers, and there is a wide range of solutions. A system of register labels can be flat or hierarchical, with few labels or many, homogeneous or decomposed into sets of elementary features. We review the register label systems in lexicography, and then discuss our model, designed for plWordNet, a large wordnet for Polish. There follows a detailed comparative analysis of several register systems in Polish lexical resources. We also present the practical effect of the adoption of our flat, small and homogeneous system: a relatively high consistency of register assignment in plWordNet, as measured by inter-annotator agreement on a manageable sample. Large-scale conclusions for the whole plWordNet remain to be made once the annotation has been completed, but the experience half-way through this labour-intensive exercise is very encouraging.
On Semantic Annotation in Clarin-PL Parallel Corpora
Authors: Koseska-Toszewa Violetta , Roszko Roman
Published: January 2016

On Semantic Annotation in Clarin-PL Parallel CorporaIn the article, the authors present a proposal for semantic annotation in Clarin-PL parallel corpora: Polish-Bulgarian-Russian and Polish-Lithuanian ones. Semantic annotation of quantification is a novum in developing sentence level semantics in multilingual parallel corpora. This is why our semantic annotation is manual. The authors hope it will be interesting to IT specialists working on automatic processing of the given natural languages. Semantic annotation defined the way it is defined here will make contrastive studies of natural languages more efficient, which in turn will help verify the results of those studies, and will certainly improve human and machine translations.
Towards an event annotated corpus of Polish
Authors: Marcińczuk Michał , Oleksy Marcin , Bernaś Tomasz , Kocoń Jan , Wolski Michał
Published: January 2016

Towards an event annotated corpus of PolishThe paper presents a typology of events built on the basis of TimeML specification adapted to Polish language. Some changes were introduced to the definition of the event categories and a motivation for event categorization was formulated. The event annotation task is presented on two levels – ontology level (language independent) and text mentions (language dependant). The various types of event mentions in Polish text are discussed. A procedure for annotation of event mentions in Polish texts is presented and evaluated. In the evaluation a randomly selected set of documents from the Corpus of Wrocław University of Technology (called KPWr) was annotated by two linguists and the annotator agreement was calculated. The evaluation was done in two iterations. After the first evaluation we revised and improved the annotation procedure. The second evaluation showed a significant improvement of the agreement between annotators. The current work was focused on annotation and categorisation of event mentions in text. The future work will be focused on description of event with a set of attributes, arguments and relations.
Word Sense Disambiguation Based on Large Scale Polish CLARIN Heterogeneous Lexical Resources
Authors: Kędzia Paweł , Piasecki Maciej , Orlińska Marlena
Published: January 2016

Word Sense Disambiguation Based on Large Scale Polish CLARIN Heterogeneous Lexical ResourcesLexical resources can be applied in many different Natural Language Engineering tasks, but the most fundamental task is the recognition of word senses used in text contexts. The problem is difficult, not yet fully solved and different lexical resources provided varied support for it. Polish CLARIN lexical semantic resources are based on the plWordNet — a very large wordnet for Polish — as a central structure which is a basis for linking together several resources of different types. In this paper, several Word Sense Disambiguation (henceforth WSD) methods developed for Polish that utilise plWordNet are discussed. Textual sense descriptions in the traditional lexicon can be compared with text contexts using Lesk’s algorithm in order to find best matching senses. In the case of a wordnet, lexico-semantic relations provide the main description of word senses. Thus, first, we adapted and applied to Polish a WSD method based on the Page Rank. According to it, text words are mapped on their senses in the plWordNet graph and Page Rank algorithm is run to find senses with the highest scores. The method presents results lower but comparable to those reported for English. The error analysis showed that the main problems are: fine grained sense distinctions in plWordNet and limited number of connections between words of different parts of speech. In the second approach plWordNet expanded with the mapping onto the SUMO ontology concepts was used. Two scenarios for WSD were investigated: two step disambiguation and disambiguation based on combined networks of plWordNet and SUMO. In the former scenario, words are first assigned SUMO concepts and next plWordNet senses are disambiguated. In latter, plWordNet and SUMO are combined in one large network used next for the disambiguation of senses. The additional knowledge sources used in WSD improved the performance. The obtained results and potential further lines of developments were discussed.
Temporal Expressions in Polish Corpus KPWr
Authors: Kocoń Jan , Marcińczuk Michał , Oleksy Marcin , Bernaś Tomasz , Wolski Michał
Published: January 2016

Temporal Expressions in Polish Corpus KPWrThis article presents the result of the recent research in the interpretation of Polish expressions that refer to time. These expressions are the source of information when something happens, how often something occurs or how long something lasts. Temporal information, which can be extracted from text automatically, plays significant role in many information extraction systems, such as question answering, discourse analysis, event recognition and many more. We prepared PLIMEX — a broad description of Polish temporal expressions with annotation guidelines, based on the state-of-the-art solutions for English, mainly TimeML specification. We also adapted the solution to capture the local semantics of temporal expressions, called LTIMEX. Temporal description also supports further event identification and extends event description model, focusing at anchoring events in time, ordering events and reasoning about the persistence of events. We prepared the specification, which is designed to address these issues and we annotated all documents in Polish Corpus of Wroclaw University of Technology (KPWr) using our annotation guidelines.
Semantic Interpretation of Phraseological Units in Ukrainian-Polish Electronic Phraseological Dictionary
Authors: Tymoshuk Roman , Vilchynska KHrystyna , Shyrokov Volodymyr , Nadutenko Maksym
Published: January 2016

Semantic Interpretation of Phraseological Units in Ukrainian-Polish Electronic Phraseological DictionaryWhen compiling bi- and multilingual phraseological lexicons it is necessary to address such theoretical issues as the formulation linguistically grounded principles of selection of phraseological units and their translation, semantic interpretation based on differentiation of pictures of the world of the linguistic systems, comprehensive combination of elements of the structure and presentation of various linguistic ambiguities, rational form of dictionary entries and building of user-friendly interface in electronic dictionary systems, etc. The article addresses the principles of Ukrainian-Polish electronic phraseological dictionary, which is one of the first attempts of complex and systematic presentation of Ukrainian and Polish phraseology. The main attention is paid to the lexicographic representation of phraseological units, their semantic characterization and selection problem idiomatic equivalents.
Extraction and Presentation of Bilingual Correspondences from Slovak-Bulgarian Parallel Corpus
Authors: Garabík Radovan , Dimitrova Ludmila
Published: January 2016

Extraction and Presentation of Bilingual Correspondences from Slovak-Bulgarian Parallel CorpusIn this paper the results of the automatic extraction and presentation of bilingual correspondences from Slovak-Bulgarian Parallel corpus are described. The equivalent phrases are extracted from sentence and word level automatically aligned corpus, filtered, indexed and presented in a dictionary-like interface. The bilingual dictionary database contains 80 thousand phrase pairs consisting of approximately 350 thousand words (per each language). Counting unique word forms, the size is 31 thousand in the Slovak part of the dictionary, 26 thousand in the Bulgarian part.
Digital Corpora and their Applications in Semantic Studies and Lexicography
Authors: Dimitrova Ludmila , Koseska–Toszewa Violetta
Published: January 2016

Digital Corpora and their Applications in Semantic Studies and LexicographyThe paper describes the first Bulgarian-Polish digital resources — parallel and comparable corpora, and their applications in the semantic studies and lexicography for creation of Bulgarian-Polish digital dictionary, a significant part of these bilingual resources. Some examples show how valuable the links between the bilingual aligned corpus and the digital dictionary are. The first Bulgarian-Polish digital resources are the main result of collaborative work between the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS) and the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (ISS-PAS), established for the first time in 2006.
Web-based Digital Lexicographic Bilingual Resources
Authors: Dutsova Ralitsa
Published: January 2016

Web-based Digital Lexicographic Bilingual ResourcesThe paper presents briefly a web-based system for creation and management of bilingual resources with Bulgarian as one of the paired language. This is useful and easy to use tool for collection and management of a large amount of different linguistic knowledge. The system uses two sets of natural language data: bilingual dictionary and aligned text corpora
Electronic Dictionary as a Tool for Integration of Additional Learning Content
Authors: Kovacheva Stefka
Published: January 2016

Electronic Dictionary as a Tool for Integration of Additional Learning ContentThis article discusses electronic dictionary as an element of the „Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage under the protection of UNESCO” database developed in IMI (BAS), that will be used to integrate additional learning content. The electronic dictionary is described as an easily accessible book of reference, offering information to the shape, meaning, usage and the origin of words in connection to the cultural-historical heritage sites in Bulgaria, protected by UNESCO. The dictionary targets 9–11 year old students from Bulgarian schools, who study the subjects “Man and Society” in 4th grade and “History and Civilization” in 5th grade.
English Language Error Analysis of the Written Texts Produced by Ukrainian Learners: Data Collection
Authors: Kotsyuk Lessia Mykolayivna
Published: January 2016

English Language Error Analysis of the Written Texts Produced by Ukrainian Learners: Data CollectionRecently, the studies of second language acquisition have tended to focus on learners errors as they help to predict the difficulties involved in acquiring a second language. Thus, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encountered by the students and pay special attention and devote emphasis to them. The research goals of the article are to define what error analysis is and how it is important in L2 teaching process, to state the significance of corpus studies in identifying of different types of errors and mistakes, to provide the results of error analysis of the corpus of written texts produced by Ukrainian learners. In this article, major types of errors in English as a second language for Ukrainian students are mentioned.