Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effective questions in referential visual dialogue

An interesting challenge for situated dialogue systems is referential visual dialog: by asking questions, the system has to identify the referent to which the user refers to. Task success is the standard metric used to evaluate these systems. However, it does not consider how effective each question is, that is how much each question contributes to the goal. We propose a new metric, that measures question effectiveness. As a preliminary study, we report the new metric for state of the art publicly available models on GuessWhat? Surprisingly, successful dialogues do not have a higher percentage of effective questions than failed dialogues. This suggests that a system with high task success is not necessarily one that generates good questions.
Agent-Based Dynamic Collaboration Support in a Smart Office Space

For the past 15 years, in computer-supported collaborative learning applications, conversational agents have been used to structure group interactions in online chat-based environments. A series of experimental studies has provided an empirical foundation for the design of chat-based conversational agents that significantly improve learning over no-support control conditions and static-support control conditions. In this demo, we expand upon this foundation, bringing conversational agents to structure group interaction into physical spaces, with the specific goal of facilitating collaboration and learning in workplace scenarios.
On Application of Bayesian Parametric and Non-parametric Methods for User Cohorting in Product Search

In this paper, we study the applicability of Bayesian Parametric and Non-parametric methods for user clustering in an E-commerce search setting. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that presents a comparative study of various Bayesian clustering methods in the context of product search. Specifically, we cluster users based on their topical patterns from their respective product search queries. To evaluate the quality of the clusters formed, we perform a collaborative query recommendation task. Our findings indicate that simple parametric model like Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) outperforms more sophisticated non-parametric methods like Distance Dependent Chinese Restaurant Process and Dirichlet Process-based clustering in both tasks.
Development of an in vivo screening assay for estrogenic chemicals using juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

In this study, the Organisation for EconomicCooperationand Development (OECD) Test Guideline 204 was adapted for the development of an in vivo screen for detecting estrogenic activity using juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The influence of feeding ration and the effect of reference estrogenic chemicals on somatic growth, gonadosomatic index, hepa‐tosomatic index, and plasma vitellogenin concentrations were evaluated over 21 d. A feeding ration of 4% body weight per day resulted in temporal increases in body weight, hepatosomatic index, and plasma vitellogenin concentration in both males and females. A feeding ration of 1% did not induce any changes in the measured endpoints and was adopted for the subsequent estrogen exposures. Exposure of juvenile female fish to 17β‐estradiol and 4‐tert‐nonylphenol produced concentration‐dependent inductions of plasma vitellogenin that were optimal after 14 d, with lowest observed effect concentrations of 8.9 ng/L and 16 μg/L, respectively. Methoxychlor also induced synthesis of plasma vitellogenin with a 14‐d lowest observed effect concentration of 9.8 μg/L. Higher concentrations of methoxychlor were toxic to fish. Increases in the hepatosomatic index occurred on day 14 in fish exposed to 244 ng/L 17β‐estradiol and 53μg/L 4‐tert‐nonylphenol. None of the compounds tested caused detectable changes in the gonadosomatic index. Vitellogenin induction in juvenile trout was sensitive to estrogenic chemicals, occurred rapidly, and the response was highly consistent between experiments (coefficient of variation = 4.5% for the 17β‐estradiol positive control). The 14‐d juvenile fish assay offers a sensitive and robust in vivo screening method for estrogen‐active substances.
PublishInCovid19 at the FinSBD-2 Task: Sentence and List Extraction in Noisy PDF Text Using a Hybrid Deep Learning and Rule-Based Approach

This paper describes the approach that we employed to tackle the FinSBD-2 shared task in IJCAI-2020. FinSBD-2 comprises of two sub-tasks: 1) extraction of boundaries of sentences, lists and items from noisy PDF (ﬁnancial documents) text and 2) organisation of lists and items in a visual hierarchy. We solve these subtasks in two phases. In the ﬁrst phase, we pre-process the data to embed relevant visual cues and form non-recursive and non-hierarchical tags. We then formulate the boundary prediction problem as a sequence labelling task and evaluate two neural architectures, namely BiLSTM-CRF and BERT. In the second phase, we identify the recursive relation among different items as well as their hierarchical visual layout. A rule-based method is used to achieve desired recursiveness and hierarchy in tags predicted from the ﬁrst phase. The rules are based on visual cues like left-indentation and bullet-style of items. Our combined ﬁnal approach achieved an F1-score of 0.937 on subtask-1 and 0.844 on subtask-2 for the English test set. We were ranked ﬁrst overall in terms of MEAN F1-score.
Eimeria spp. de codornas japonesas (Coturnix japonica): novas características e ferramentas de diagnóstico

The Japanese quail Coturnix japonica originated from North Africa, Europe and Asia, is used worldwide as an experimental animal and model for aviculture. The current paper characterizes Eimeria bateri, Eimeria tsunodai and Eimeria uzura recovered from C. japonica. Based on the fact that quails have a global distribution, as are their coccidia, the findings of this study should provide the means for diagnosis of those Eimeria spp. in other regions and continents. Eimeria bateri showed the greatest intensity of infection and shed oocysts from the fourth day after infection; in contrast, E. tsunodai and E. uzura shed oocysts from the fifth day after infection. The three species shared a high degree of similarity and were all polymorphic. Yet, the application of line regressions, histograms and ANOVA provided means for the identification of these species. Finally, the algorithm was very efficient since verified that resultant values were not superimposed.
Phylloplane microflora of citrus and their role in management of citrus canker.

Four species of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. polymyxa, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Serratia marcescens) and 3 species of fungi (Aspergillus terreus, Trichoderma viride and Trichoderma harzianum) isolated from the phylloplane of lemon cv. Assam lemon, inhibited in vitro growth of Xanthomonas campestris pv. citri, the incitant of citrus canker. When the antagonists were tested for their efficacy in the control of citrus canker by applying them over crop foliage of Assam lemon, they also reduced citrus canker incidence under field conditions. B. subtilis was the most effective antagonist exhibiting max. (14.7 mm) inhibition of the pathogen and reducing the disease incidence by 61.9%.
On the Utility of Audiovisual Dialog Technologies and Signal Analytics for Real-time Remote Monitoring of Depression Biomarkers

We investigate the utility of audiovisual dialog systems combined with speech and video analytics for real-time remote monitoring of depression at scale in uncontrolled environment settings. We collected audiovisual conversational data from participants who interacted with a cloud-based multimodal dialog system, and automatically extracted a large set of speech and vision metrics based on the rich existing literature of laboratory studies. We report on the efficacy of various audio and video metrics in differentiating people with mild, moderate and severe depression, and discuss the implications of these results for the deployment of such technologies in real-world neurological diagnosis and monitoring applications.
Phylogeographic study of the California vole, Microtus californicus

Abstract Many vertebrate taxa show genetic differentiation between populations in northern and southern California. This genetic pattern may reflect a common environmental history for these species. For example, a previous study of the California vole (Microtus californicus) showed morphological divergence between populations in northern and southern California and decreased fertility in crosses between the populations. To investigate phylogeographic differences in this species, we assessed variation in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA throughout much of its distribution from Oregon to Baja California. We generated molecular data (mitochondrial cytochrome b and nuclear acid phosphatase V intron [AP5]) for 178 individuals. Examination of these data suggests 2 phylogeographic groups that are largely discordant with the boundaries of 17 currently recognized subspecies. Estimates of pairwise genetic divergence between these groups for cytochrome b are as high as 4.46% uncorrected p. Sequence data for AP5 also indicate a division between populations of M. californicus in northern and southern California. Examination of data from the mitochondrial and nuclear markers together suggests limited gene flow between clades. These data are concordant with other studies that suggest that mountain ranges in California were important in within- and possibly between-species divergence and subsequent contact. The general distribution of each clade, combined with a geographic information system analysis of known capture sites, suggests that clade divergence may be correlated with ecological differences. Our study creates a new framework for reevaluating morphological and ecological diversity in this species, and with more diverse markers, possibly the recognition of 2 species of California voles.
Evaluation of broad spectrum sources of resistance to Fusarium verticillioides and advanced maize breeding lines

The fungus Fusarium verticillioides is commonly associated with maize production in temperate regions of the world, producing ear rot and grain contamination by fumonisins. Genetic resistance is the best preventive action against fumonisin contamination, although at present no commercial maize hybrids are completely resistant. Several studies of the relationship between Fusarium and other species producing ear rot suggest that these fungal species interact in similar ways with the host plant. Consequently, host plant resistance to one pathogen could be associated with resistance to another. The aim of this study was to introduce sources of resistance to Fusarium spp. into maize inbred lines and to evaluate ear rot severity and fumonisin B1 contamination in advanced breeding lines and hybrids after artificial and natural infection with F. verticillioides. Two inbred lines (CO430 and MP420) with resistance to kernel infection by Fusarium graminearum and Aspergillus flavus, respectively, were crossed and bac.
DESIGN OF CONVERTER FOR NON CHAOTIC OPERATION OF SOLAR PV SYSTEM

The paper presents a new design approach for the parameters of the dc-dc boost converter to address the non linear dynamics and issue of chaos in the process of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) in solar energy systems. The operational requirements of dc-dc converters employed in MPPT applications differ widely from their conventional voltage regulation applications. The emphasis augurs to minimize the voltage and current ripples and explore a fresh direction to arrive at the appropriate values of the inductor and capacitor. The approach entails standard test conditions and involves perturb and observe algorithm to articulate the theory. The methodology attempts to uphold the system stability with a view to identify the pathways to bifurcations and eventual transition to chaos. The MATLAB based simulation results adequately validated through a prototype strives to keep the operating point of the MPPT system in the stable operating region and improve their performance necessities such as fast tracking of MPP, reduced oscillations around MPP, reduced current rating for the switch, higher conversion efficiency and higher voltage gains. The experimental results forge to validate the formulation and evince a fresh scope for the effective use of solar power in the real world applications.
A new species of Physokermes Targioni Tozzetti (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae) from Greece

During surveys of scale insects in Greece, a new species of Physokermes (Coccidae: Coccoidea: Hemiptera), P. hellenicus Kozár & Gounari, sp. n. , was collected on the conifer Abies cephalonica (Pinaceae). The adult male, adult female, third-instar female, second-instar male and female, and the first-instar nymphs are described. This is the first time a third-instar female has been found in the Kermesidae. A key is provided to identify the adult females of western Palaearctic species of Physokermes.
Initiating political corporate social responsibility: publicized scapegoats as catalysts of collective ac tion between multinational corporations and fringe stakeholders

Since the much-publicized Nike scandal of 1997 conc er ing working conditions in the sweatshops of Indonesia, several similar cases have hit the headl ines. Each time, these corporate scandals feature asymmetric struggles between giant corporations and fri ge stakeholders – workers, local residents and communities – the very existence of whom the sc andal reveals. These corporate scandals have received little attention in the two developing the oretical frameworks that propose to explain the relationships between multi-national corporations ( MNCs) operating in emergent countries and their fringe stakeholders: the research streams of stakeh old r politics and political corporate social responsibility (political CSR). Our objective in th is article is to investigate the role played by cor porate scandals and scapegoating processes for counterbala ncing, at least for a while, the asymmetric relationship between MNCs and fringe stakeholders. The ideas of the anthropologist René Girard occupy a central place in our reasoning. We follow Girard’s thoughts, which emphasize that scapegoating processes explain how conflicts may be regulated when political institutions and cultural systems are weak and encounter difficulties in medi ating conflicting relationships. We view scandals, media lynchings and corporate scapegoats as essenti al lements in political processes between MNCs and their fringe stakeholders. Our contributions fo r organizational scholars are threefold. First, we contribute to the perspectives of stakeholder polit ics and political CSR by revealing the processes through which publicized scapegoating helps catalys e collective action between an MNC and its fringe stakeholders. We identify three main processes: con vergence on a single corporate target, publicizatio n of deviant behaviour, and organizational contagion. Our second contribution concerns the moderation of the agentic vision proposed by stakeholder polit ics and political CSR. We argue that the emergence of fringe stakeholders on the agendas of MNCs hinge s on complex processes comprising strategic actions and spontaneous unanticipated organizationa l dy mics. Lastly, we delineate future works for organizational scholars working on political CSR by highlighting the importance of organizing public spaces for dialogue and deliberation.
Developing a How-to Tip Machine Comprehension Dataset and its Evaluation in Machine Comprehension by BERT

In the field of factoid question answering (QA), it is known that the state-of-the-art technology has achieved an accuracy comparable to that of humans in a certain benchmark challenge. On the other hand, in the area of non-factoid QA, there is still a limited number of datasets for training QA models, i.e., machine comprehension models. Considering such a situation within the field of the non-factoid QA, this paper aims to develop a dataset for training Japanese how-to tip QA models. This paper applies one of the state-of-the-art machine comprehension models to the Japanese how-to tip QA dataset. The trained how-to tip QA model is also compared with a factoid QA model trained with a Japanese factoid QA dataset. Evaluation results revealed that the how-to tip machine comprehension performance was almost comparative with that of the factoid machine comprehension even with the training data size reduced to around 4% of the factoid machine comprehension. Thus, the how-to tip machine comprehension task requires much less training data compared with the factoid machine comprehension task.
Text Embellishment using Attention Based Encoder-Decoder Model

Text embellishment is a natural language generation problem that aims to enhance the lexical and syntactic complexity of a text. i.e., for a given sentence, the goal is to generate a sentence that is lexically and syntactically complex while retaining the same semantic information and meaning. In contrast to text simpliﬁcation (Wang et al., 2016), text embel-lishment is considered to be a more complex problem as it requires linguistic expertise, and therefore are difﬁcult to be shared across different platforms and domain. In this paper, we have explored this problem through the light of neural machine translation and text simpli-ﬁcation. Instead of using a standard sequential encoder-decoder network, we propose to improve text embellishment with the Trans-former model. The proposed model yields superior performance in terms of lexical and syntactic embellishment and demonstrates broad applicability and effectiveness. We also introduce a language and domain agnostic evaluation set up speciﬁcally for the task of embel-lishment that can be used to test different em-bellishment algorithms.
Identifying the Medical Lethality of Suicide Attempts Using Network Analysis and Deep Learning: Nationwide Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young and middle-aged people. However, little is understood about the behaviors leading up to actual suicide attempts and whether these behaviors are specific to the nature of suicide attempts. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to examine the clusters of behaviors antecedent to suicide attempts to determine if they could be used to assess the potential lethality of the attempt. To accomplish this goal, we developed a deep learning model using the relationships among behaviors antecedent to suicide attempts and the attempts themselves. METHODS This study used data from the Korea National Suicide Survey. We identified 1112 individuals who attempted suicide and completed a psychiatric evaluation in the emergency room. The 15-item Beck Suicide Intent Scale (SIS) was used for assessing antecedent behaviors, and the medical outcomes of the suicide attempts were measured by assessing lethality with the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS; lethal suicide attempt >3 and nonlethal attempt ≤3). RESULTS Using scores from the SIS, individuals who had lethal and nonlethal attempts comprised two different network nodes with the edges representing the relationships among nodes. Among the antecedent behaviors, the conception of a method’s lethality predicted suicidal behaviors with severe medical outcomes. The vectorized relationship values among the elements of antecedent behaviors in our deep learning model (E-GONet) increased performances, such as F1 and area under the precision-recall gain curve (AUPRG), for identifying lethal attempts (up to 3% for F1 and 32% for AUPRG), as compared with other models (mean F1: 0.81 for E-GONet, 0.78 for linear regression, and 0.80 for random forest; mean AUPRG: 0.73 for E-GONet, 0.41 for linear regression, and 0.69 for random forest). CONCLUSIONS The relationships among behaviors antecedent to suicide attempts can be used to understand the suicidal intent of individuals and help identify the lethality of potential suicide attempts. Such a model may be useful in prioritizing cases for preventive intervention.
To Develop Strain Specific Molecular Marker for Easy and Proper Identification of Fungal Species Based on Molecular Characters: A Review

The sequencing of fungal genomes is advancing at breakneck-speed, producing voluminous amounts of data. Within the next five years, it is possible that over a couple thousand genomes, representing every major fungal family will be completed and available to the scientific community. In order for this data to have a truly transformative effect on mycological and other research, however, several factors need to be addressed. These include; (1) the establishment of user friendly platforms for examining, sorting, and sifting through the genomes, (2) integration, or at least cross-communication, between the various databases that house the genomic data, and (3) investment in community resources that can act as repositories for and provide materials to researchers, i.e. strains, clones, plasmids, etc. The frameworks for some these needs, e.g. the materials available from the Fungal Genetics Stock Center (FGSC, University of Missouri), are already established and should be reinforced, whereas for others, e.g. data accessibility, the sooner that a plan can be implemented the better. The Fungal Kingdom is considered to contribute greater than 15% of the species richness found in the major groups of organisms . This study is a reflection of the usefulness of sequence analysis of the 28S ribosomal RNA gene in identifying fungal as well as determining fungal diversity. Various techniques that are based on utilizing the 28S rRNA have been discussed. Of critical importance is the manner in which massively parallel sequencing was exploited to correct the under representation of fungal species in compilations of fungal hat were drawn using traditional methods of surveying fungal species from ecosystems.
BepiColombo – MEPS Commissioning Activities and T6 Ion Thruster Performance During Early Mission Operations

BepiColombo is an ESA cornerstone mission to Mercury in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). A key element of the mission is the transit from Earth to Mercury using electric propulsion. While not the first deep space mission to use electric propulsion, it is the first such mission to another planet. The MTM Electric Propulsion System (MEPS) is based around T6 gridded ion thrusters mounted on thruster pointing mechanisms, together with power processing units, flow control units, xenon storage tanks and a pressure regulation system. The MEPS was put through an extensive commissioning process after launch during which each functional unit was thoroughly and systematically checked out. Following commissioning BepiColombo embarked on the first thrust arc, from mid-December 2018 to mid-February 2019, during which the thrusters were operated in pairs. Performance during early flight operations, covering commissioning and the first thrust manoeuvre, is described. Performance predictions, made prior to launch, have been validated using in-flight performance data. It is concluded that the MEPS is performing as expected in line with the BepiColombo mission
Size matters sometimes: wall height and the structure of subtidal benthic invertebrate assemblages in south‐eastern Australia and Mediterranean Spain

Aim Variation in the structure of shallow subtidal invertebrate assemblages was examined over three spatial scales; within reef, between reef and between continents. We sought to provide a context from which to examine and interpret ecological processes between continents. In addition, we predicted that variation in pattern would increase as the scale of examination increased.