The Themes of Texts: Automatic Co-occurrence Analysis for Semantic Map** (ACASM)

Abstract

ACASM is an automated procedure of text analysis that enables a large amount of data to be processed in an efficient, reliable, and valid way. ACASM is based on the view of meaning as a matter of sign transitions. In the case of texts, sign transitions consist of syntagmatic associations, namely co-occurrences between words within the same contextual units (e.g., a paragraph of the text). ACASM detects co-occurrences by means of a multidimensional procedure of analysis, applied to the corpus under investigation. The first part of this chapter describes the ACASM rationale and procedure. The second part reviews studies that have analyzed reliability and validity of the method as well as studies that have applied it.

Annex

Excerpt from the corpus used for exemplificative analysis in the paper. The excerpt consists of five articles taken from The Guardian newspaper during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Case of mystery Sars-like illness found outside China for the first time; WHO working with Thai officials after woman who travelled from China hospitalized with new strain of coronavirus. Health authorities have confirmed that a woman travelling from China to Thailand has been infected with a new strain of the coronavirus, marking the first time the mystery illness has been detected outside China. The World Health Organization said it was working with Thai officials after the case was linked to an outbreak in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan that has killed at least one person. The woman was hospitalized on 8 January. Altogether, 41 people have been infected by the disease, which was first reported by Chinese authorities on New Year’s Eve, and have symptoms including fever, breathing difficulties, and pneumonia. The first fatality was recorded on Saturday, when a 61-year-old man died from the illness. Seven patients have been discharged and six remain in critical condition, according to the Wuhan municipal health commission. Most of the cases were of workers, handlers, or frequent visitors to one food market in Wuhan city, but authorities have not yet pinpointed the origin of the disease, raising fears of more cases. “It is vital that investigations continue to identify the source of infection,” said a WHO spokesman, Tarik Jasarevic. The woman hospitalized in Thailand “reported a history of visiting local markets in Wuhan on a regular basis prior to the onset of illness on 5 January 2020. However, she did not report visiting the Huanan South China Seafood Market,” he said in an emailed statement. This is in line with reporting from China, where they indicated that most—but not all—of the cases were vendors, operators or visitors to the Huanan (seafood) market. The most worrying situation from a public health perspective would be if the disease could be passed between people. Preliminary investigations have found “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission,” Jasarevic said. There have also not been any infections reported among healthcare workers, who would be among the most vulnerable if the virus can jump directly between people. Chinese authorities are monitoring 763 people who had close contacts with people who fell ill. So far no related cases have been found. “However, the mode(s) of transmission has not yet been determined and human to human transmission is always a concern when patients have respiratory symptoms. This requires further investigation,” Jasarevic added. There have been no new cases reported by China since 3 January, although the case identified in Thailand raised concerns about the disease spreading. The WHO said in a statement that it was not unexpected, and it had already called for active monitoring and preparation in other countries; China has also shared genetic sequencing for the disease, making it faster to identify cases. “WHO is working closely with countries to help them prepare for the rapid detection and response to cases or clusters,” it said, without specifying which countries. Residents and observers are particularly wary of an outbreak in China after the Sars outbreak in 2002 and 2003, which spread to at least 37 countries and killed more than 800 people. Initial efforts by officials to cover up the epidemic are believed to have worsened its impact. Chinese authorities have said there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission and that those who had had contact with patients, including health workers, had not contracted the virus. But ahead of China’s spring festival, when China celebrates lunar new year and millions of people travel across the country to return home, authorities have cautioned residents to be on the lookout for symptoms such as fever, difficulty breathing, or body aches. Coronaviruses come from the same family of viruses that circulate among animals and have given rise to outbreaks such as Sara and Mers. Authorities believe it is linked to a seafood market in Wuhan that also sells wild animals. The Bei**g Center for Disease Control and Prevention has said the risk posed by the outbreak depends on “whether and how well it spreads between people, the severity of resulting illness,” and medical and other countermeasures available to contain the virus.

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Coronavirus: Australia’s top health official says there is ‘no current need’ to enhance airport screening; Sars-like virus has infected nearly 50 people in China, killing two, with cases also detected in Japan and Thailand. Australia’s top health official says there is “no current need” to enhance existing airport screening measures to target an unknown Sars-like virus that has infected nearly 50 people in China and killed two since it was reported on New Year’s Eve. Australia’s chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, said authorities in Australia were “watching developments very closely” but had not issued a travel warning. “There is no current need for any travel advisory in Australia, which is consistent with recommendations from the World Health Organization,” he said in a statement on Saturday evening. The outbreak of the previously unknown coronavirus has been linked to a fish market at Wuhan, the capital of China’s central Hubei province. The Wuhan South China Seafood City market, which also sells chickens, bats, marmots, and other animals, has been closed since 1 January. Laboratory tests performed in China found the virus was not Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) or Mers (Middle East respiratory syndrome). Most of the cases were detected within days of the market being closed but Chinese authorities reported that four new patients had been diagnosed with viral pneumonia on Thursday. Three major airports in the USA have announced they will screen passengers arriving from Wuhan and screening has also been increased in airports in Thailand, which has reported two cases of the mystery virus, as well as airports in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, and the Philippines. A case has also been detected in Japan. One of the cases in Thailand was detected by the thermal surveillance equipment at Bangkok airport. Murphy said the four new cases reported this week were “of concern.” “While there is no clear evidence of human to human transmission, the identification of recent cases several days after the closure of the fish market, initially identified as the likely source, raises this as a possibility,” he said. “Importantly, however, there have been no cases of infection in the several hundred healthcare workers who have been exposed to the patients in China.” Murphy said Australia already had mechanisms in place to screen for unwell travellers, including laws requiring that airlines report passengers who are showing signs of an infectious disease, such as fever, sweats, or chills. Planes that report unwell passengers are met on arrival and assessed by biosecurity officers. The Australian Medical Association said it was also monitoring the situation. “The AMA is in regular contact with the chief medical officer and we will obviously seek further briefings should the current level of advice change,” the AMA president, Dr Tony Bartone, said. Doctors in Australia have been advised to ask anyone presenting with pneumonia-type symptoms if they have recently travelled to Wuhan. Alerts issued by the New South Wales and Victorian health departments urged doctors to “consider novel coronavirus infection in patients with fever and respiratory symptoms and travel to Wuhan City, China in the 14 days before illness onset.”

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Animal trade in spotlight as China seeks source of coronavirus; Authorities believe new strain of coronavirus came from a market in Wuhan where wildlife was sold illegally. Officials in China are searching to uncover the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, amid heightened scrutiny of the country’s poorly regulated animal trade. Authorities believe the new strain of coronavirus came from a seafood market in Wuhan where wildlife was sold illegally. The World Health Organization has stated that an animal appears most likely to be the primary source, with experts suggesting it may have been carried by bats, badgers, rats, or snakes. The virus is from the same family of viruses as Sars, which was passed to humans from bats by the masked pam civets, and Mers, which was carried from bats to humans by camels. Ian Jones, professor of virology at Reading University, said it was likely that the Wuhan virus had also been transmitted in the same way—passed from bats to humans through an intermediate host. “Something in the local area will have picked up this virus and it’s this something that would have been on sale in the wet market,” said Jones. Though the 2002–03 Sars outbreak, which killed nearly 800 people, prompted efforts to regulate the wildlife trade in China, the tradition of eating endangered wild animals, or using wildlife to produce medicines, remains popular. Conservationists and health experts warn that such animals are being sold in unhygienic and cramped markets, allowing viruses to thrive. Media reports suggest that about 50 wild animals, including endangered pangolins, were on sale at the market in Wuhan before it was closed at the end of last year. Photographs taken before its closure show snakes, porcupines, and foxes crammed into cages. The sister of a vendor infected by the virus told China Business Journal, a state-owned paper, that snakes, ducks, and wild rabbits were common at the market. “The animal welfare part of this is obvious, but much more hidden is this stashing and mixing of all these species together in a very small area, with secretions and urine mixed up together,” Christian Walzer, executive director of the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told Reuters. The environment creates a perfect system to spread viruses, he said: “You couldn’t do it any better if you tried.” Research published on Wednesday in the Journal of Medical Virology, which used analysis of the protein codes favored by the new coronavirus, suggested it may have been snakes at the market that passed the virus to humans. Some argue that the virus is more likely to have been passed on by a mammal. “In my view it’s very unlikely to be a snake because the jump from a reptile to a person is evolutionarily quite a long way,” said Jones, who added that while snake handling is common in the region, he is not aware of any individuals contracting this kind of virus after direct handling of snakes. Badgers and rats were both cited as possible sources by Chinese government medical adviser Zhong Nanshan. The sale of live poultry has been banned in Wuhan, where all outbound public transport has also been suspended. Identifying the origin of the virus would not only enable officials to prevent its circulation, but could also allow scientists to understand if the virus has further evolved after infecting people. On Wednesday, China’s national health commission vice-minister Li Bin told reporters there was evidence of respiratory transmission of the virus from patient to patient. Among those infected are 15 medical staff.

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China’s biggest box office weekend scrapped amid coronavirus crisis; Cancellations mean lucrative films including The Rescue and Detective Chinatown 3 also cannot be seen in UK and US. China’s biggest film weekend of the year has been derailed by the crisis over the coronavirus outbreak grip** the country, with a knock-on effect of wrecking a major effort by the Chinese film industry to penetrate the international box office. The lunar new year holiday (this year, 25 January) is traditionally a high season for movie distributors and cinema chains as people gather and enjoy leisure activities such as watching movies during the week-long holiday. But the coronavirus outbreak, which has prompted a lockdown of central China’s Wuhan city, as well as in neighboring Huanggang, has led film companies to cancel their releases. These include a film about China’s national female volleyball team titled Leap, starring Gong Li, while Detective Chinatown 3, the third episode of a popular comedy whose first two installments were commercially successful, will not open on 25 January, as had been planned. A statement by the makers of Lost in Russia said its premiere date would be rescheduled because there were risks of the virus spreading in enclosed areas such as cinemas. The team behind kids’ animation Boonie Bears: The Wild Life posted a statement on microblogging site Weibo saying: “For the ‘Boonie Bears,’ nothing is more important than the safety of your family and children!” The swathe of cancellations has meant that plans to release overseas also have to be scrapped, as regulations state that Chinese-produced films must be released in the home market first. CMC, the studio behind big-budget action drama The Rescue, have issued a statement that the international release of the film has been “postponed until further notice” to “avoid exposing our audiences to any unnecessary health risks.” The Rescue was due to open in more than 30 venues in the UK, and more than 70 cities in the USA and Canada. Plans for Detective Chinatown 3 were even bigger, with 47 venues in the UK and 150 in North America. China’s film box office raked in 64.2bn yuan ($9.3bn) in 2019, according to the country’s film administration, making it the second-largest market for movie makers after the USA. The virus and its impact on the film industry have driven down the share prices of related companies in recent days. Wanda Film Holding Co, the studio behind Detective Chinatown 3, dropped 21% in the four-trading-day week, declining as much as 7% on Thursday alone. Alibaba Pictures, which participated in the distribution of Leap and Detective Chinatown 3, fell 13%.

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Coronavirus: what airport measures are in place to detect sick passengers? Three US airports introduce screening, following action already taken in several Asian countries. International airports are step** up screening for passengers exhibiting symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus that has infected nearly 50 people in China and caused two deaths there. Three major US airports—San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and John F Kennedy International Airport in New York (JFK)—have announced they will screen travellers arriving from Wuhan. Passengers will be examined for symptoms of the pneumonia-like virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said, with an additional 100 health workers deployed at the airports. “Investigations into this novel coronavirus are ongoing and we are monitoring and responding to this evolving situation,” said Martin Cetron, the head of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.

“On arrival to the United States, travellers from Wuhan may undergo health screening, including having their temperature taken and filling out a symptom questionnaire,” CDC said on its website. Travellers with additional symptoms such as fever, cough, or difficulty breathing will have an additional health assessment. Wuhan Tianhe International Airport said that a temperature checkpoint would be installed at the entrance of its main terminal and all passengers would be checked. Those found to have fevers would be placed under quarantine. Authorities in Hong Kong have also stepped up detection measures, including temperature checkpoints for inbound travellers. Thailand has been monitoring incoming passengers at four airports receiving daily flights from Wuhan, including Bangkok, Phuket, Don Mueang, and Chiang Mai, since 3 January. Two people have died in Thailand from the virus. One was detected at Bangkok airport by thermal surveillance equipment. Airports in Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea are also screening passengers from Wuhan, authorities said. Indonesian authorities said they have stepped up screening at all points of entry in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The Philippines is scanning all passengers at seaports and airports and those with fever will be interviewed for any history of illness and whether they have travelled to Wuhan, the country’s health secretary, Francisco Duque, said. In Australia, the New South Wales and Victorian governments both issued alerts to health professionals about the virus, urging doctors to “consider novel coronavirus infection in patients with fever and respiratory symptoms and travel to Wuhan City, China in the 14 days before illness onset.” The country’s chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, said there was “no current need for any travel advice in Australia.” “It is important to note that the new coronavirus was acquired in one seafood market in Wuhan, China, which has been closed, with no new cases reported in the last week,” Murphy said. “There is no clear evidence of human to human transmission at this time.” Murphy added that Australia was following WHO recommendations and had mechanisms in place to screen and respond to unwell travellers at airports and other points of entry to the country.