title: Bill Gates is not a parking meter: Philosophical quality control in automated ontology building

authors: Legg, Catherine

subjects: ontology

abstract: The somewhat old-fashioned concept of philosophical categories is revived and put to work in automated ontology building. We describe a project harvesting knowledge from Wikipedia’s category network in which the principled ontological structure of Cyc was leveraged to furnish an extra layer of accuracy-checking over and above more usual corrections which draw on automated measures of semantic relatedness.

text: Bill Gates is not a parking meter: Philosophical quality control in automated ontology building The somewhat old-fashioned concept of philosophical categories is revived and put to work in automated ontology building. We describe a project harvesting knowledge from Wikipedia’s category network in which the principled ontological structure of Cyc was leveraged to furnish an extra layer of accuracy-checking over and above more usual corrections which draw on automated measures of semantic relatedness.

year: 2012

title: Delivery of a coated bioactive from a rumen controlled-release device

authors: Syzov, Vladyslav

subjects: Eudragit E100

abstract: Ruminants possess a unique digestive system. Using the high metabolic potential of the symbiotic microflora of the rumen, ruminants are capable of digesting plant material and obtaining nutrients and energy from this process. Because of the ruminal fermentation, the most bioactives are not stable in the harsh ruminal environment. Therefore there is a need to improve the bioavailability of a bioactive by protecting it from the ruminal digestion. The formulation of protected bioactive can be delivered in the rumen in a controlled manner and over a long period of time.

In this project the degree of rumen protection was estimated using model substrates (sugar pellets and granules). These materials were coated with the pH-sensitive polymer Eudragit E. The model bioactive (phloridizin) was coated using the coating methodology adopted from exploratory studies with model substrates. The bioavailability of protected (coated) phloridizin was assessed by administering directly into the abomasum of fistulated cows.

Formulation of protected phloridizin was used to demonstrate the feasibility of bioactive controlled delivery based on ART ( Active Rumen Technology ). This technology uses an elevated gas pressure created by a hydrogen-producing cell to drive a plunger which extrudes bioactive formulation from an intraruminal controlled-release device.

Four groups of devices filled with formulation containing different amounts of protected phloridizin were tested. The bioactive was released in a controlled manner over several days. The formulation release profiles were reproducible suggesting that in principle the technology can be further developed to use in a commercial sense or for research purposes. The limitations of the technology, including formulation issues and gas diffusion through barrel walls, were identified.

text: Delivery of a coated bioactive from a rumen controlled-release device Ruminants possess a unique digestive system. Using the high metabolic potential of the symbiotic microflora of the rumen, ruminants are capable of digesting plant material and obtaining nutrients and energy from this process. Because of the ruminal fermentation, the most bioactives are not stable in the harsh ruminal environment. Therefore there is a need to improve the bioavailability of a bioactive by protecting it from the ruminal digestion. The formulation of protected bioactive can be delivered in the rumen in a controlled manner and over a long period of time.

In this project the degree of rumen protection was estimated using model substrates (sugar pellets and granules). These materials were coated with the pH-sensitive polymer Eudragit E. The model bioactive (phloridizin) was coated using the coating methodology adopted from exploratory studies with model substrates. The bioavailability of protected (coated) phloridizin was assessed by administering directly into the abomasum of fistulated cows.

Formulation of protected phloridizin was used to demonstrate the feasibility of bioactive controlled delivery based on ART ( Active Rumen Technology ). This technology uses an elevated gas pressure created by a hydrogen-producing cell to drive a plunger which extrudes bioactive formulation from an intraruminal controlled-release device.

Four groups of devices filled with formulation containing different amounts of protected phloridizin were tested. The bioactive was released in a controlled manner over several days. The formulation release profiles were reproducible suggesting that in principle the technology can be further developed to use in a commercial sense or for research purposes. The limitations of the technology, including formulation issues and gas diffusion through barrel walls, were identified.

year: 2008

title: Ideology is theft: Thoughts on the legitimacy of a Maori psychology

authors: Tamatea, Armon J.

subjects: Maori

abstract: ‘War, in fact, can be seen as a process of achieving equilibrium among unequal technologies’ (McLuhan, 1964) 
We are at war. As Western science and its accompanying technology expands the frontiers of knowledge at an ever-increasing rate, ‘indigenous’ perspectives of knowledge are exiled into the borderlands of special interest groups and localized research programmes. Mainstream scientific thought lays claim to objective interpretations of experience at the expense of alternative realities offered by emerging theories of knowledge. Furthermore, as localized worldviews (i.e., those derived from ancestral knowledge bases and pre-industrial or non-scientific premises) challenge existing paradigms, the inevitable interactions threaten to undermine the fidelity of this knowledge. One such arena where this ideological conflict is apparent is the growing field of Maori psychology.

text: Ideology is theft: Thoughts on the legitimacy of a Maori psychology ‘War, in fact, can be seen as a process of achieving equilibrium among unequal technologies’ (McLuhan, 1964) 
We are at war. As Western science and its accompanying technology expands the frontiers of knowledge at an ever-increasing rate, ‘indigenous’ perspectives of knowledge are exiled into the borderlands of special interest groups and localized research programmes. Mainstream scientific thought lays claim to objective interpretations of experience at the expense of alternative realities offered by emerging theories of knowledge. Furthermore, as localized worldviews (i.e., those derived from ancestral knowledge bases and pre-industrial or non-scientific premises) challenge existing paradigms, the inevitable interactions threaten to undermine the fidelity of this knowledge. One such arena where this ideological conflict is apparent is the growing field of Maori psychology.

year: 2008