This paper describes our Complex Cross-Lingual Question Answering (CCLQA) system based on the technologies used in our past NTCIR systems for QAC and CLQA. We implemented a new rule-based English question analyzer to extract English query terms, which are translated into Japanese by translation dictionaries. For DEFINITION, BIOGRAPHY, and EVENT questions, we reused our definition module for QAC...

OBJECTIVES The MBCs of three commonly used hospital biocides [containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), chlorhexidine gluconate and triclosan] were determined for clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus, which were also screened for genes encoding Qac efflux pumps. METHODS MBCs were determined by broth microdilution for 94 clinical isolates of S. aureus, including 38 hospital-acquir...

AIMS To develop an anti-microbial filter media using an attached quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) and evaluate its performance under conditions relevant to household drinking water treatment in developing countries. METHODS AND RESULTS Silica sand was coated with dimethyloctadecyl [3-(trimethoxysilyl) propyl] ammonium chloride via covalent silane chemistry. Filter columns packed with coated...

For surface disinfection in hospitals and nursing homes, preparations containing aldehydes such as formaldehyde, glutaral, or glyoxal, as well as quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), are being used. Occupational allergic contact dermatitis (OACD), including airborne dermatitis, caused by these compounds is a well-known problem in nurses and hospital cleaners (1–6). For diagnostic purposes, onl...

A set of pilot filters packed with Zeolite filter media treated with a quaternary ammonium chloride (QAC) were evaluated to verify the proof of concept of their combined antimicrobial capabilities. Escherichia coli was removed and inactivated the most (2.83 log), followed by MS-2 (2.75 log), Klebsiella terriena (2.21 log), PRD-1 (1.95 log), Chlorella vulgaris (1.92 log), and Cryptosporidium par...

In this paper, we give an overview of our questionanswering system for the NTCIR-3 QAC. Our system is based on an information-retrieval technique and an information-extraction technique by pattern matching. The system has three main stages: question analysis, passage retrieval, and answer extraction. In the passage-retrieval stage, two types of retrieval method are applied sequentially to narro...

Objective. To study the sensitivity to chemical disinfectants against Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from HIV-infected individuals and patients with monotuberculosis in comparison reference strain of terrae.
 Materials methods. The 12 M. strains HIV-associated (n = 6) chlorine-containing quaternary ammonium compound (QAC) was studied. terrae used as a reference. Seedings microbial sus...

In this paper, we describe RitsQA: Ritsumeikan question answering system. In our QA system, input query sentence is firstly analyzed using question patterns consist of description of NE elements, POS of words and surface expressions. Then, query type and some clue words, which are used for document retrieval, are determined. For answer extraction, our system uses word distance between answer ca...

The objective of this investigation was to identify the lineages of MRSA and MSSA with reduced susceptibility to chlorhexidine in Kuwaiti hospitals. 121 clinical MRSA and 56 MSSA isolates were included in this study. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for a selection of agents including chlorhexidine and resistance genes were amplified and sequenced. PFGE, spa typing, and MLST w...