bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring adoption factors of innovations in arracacha crop: A case study in Cajamarca, Colombia
Authors: Navarro-Niño Diego Alberto , Moreno-Elcure Félix , Jaramillo-Barrios Camilo Ignacio , Garnica-Montaña Johanna Paola , Villamil-Carvajal Jorge Enrique
Published: May 2024

Currently, the demand for new arracacha (Arracacia xanthorrhiza Bancr.) varieties has increased in Colombia; however, yields are still below their potential. This is because farmers in the country still find it challenging to adopt innovations that allow them to improve both productivity and their income. Furthermore, there is limited information and scientific documentation on arracacha cultivation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of innovations for cultivating arracacha in the municipality of Cajamarca, Colombia, through a multivariate analysis. The research was carried out with 104 farmers, and surveys containing variables such as the productive activity dynamics and the profile of the farmer were applied. Two conglomerates (clusters) of adopters were created, and the innovation adoption index (INAI) was analyzed in eight categories, including 28 technologies. The factors that were most differentiated and significant were those related to the farm, such as management, organization and health indexes, as well as factors related to farmer characteristics, such as level of schooling.
Nuda vida y biopolítica en la sociedad neoliberal
Authors: Palma Cristian
Published: May 2024

Preguntarse por el valor de la vida en la sociedad de libre mercado implica situarla dentro de las redes biopolíticas de coordinación, producción y regulación de los procesos de la especie, en el triángulo de gobernabilidad en el cual interactúan la soberanía, las redes de expertos y el capital. Es necesario situar el desarrollo histórico de estos elementos en la configuración de formas de gobierno a través de la biopolítica, sin olvidar el lugar de la nuda vida como efecto y resistencia a esos sistemas de poder. El presente artículo se propone analizar, con un enfoque biopolítico y con conceptos también psicoanalíticos, ese desarrollo histórico de las relaciones entre soberanía y vida para vislumbrar posibilidades alternativas de afirmación de la vida ante la crisis del régimen actual de gobernabilidad.
El capitalismo contra la vida. Una lectura marxista-lacaniana del debate por la liberación de las patentes de las vacunas del covid-19
Authors: Danelinck Daniela
Published: May 2024

El presente trabajo propone una crítica inmanente y radical de la sociedad burguesa a través de uno de los debates más importantes de los dos primeros años de la pandemia: la “liberación de las patentes” de las vacunas contra el covid -19, que ha comprometido no solo a los gobiernos y los dueños de los medios de producción, sino también a científicos, economistas, políticos, militantes, activistas, periodistas, académicos. Desde una perspectiva marxista-lacaniana, se presenta el debate como una oportunidad para entender la situación desesperada en la que nos encontramos al comenzar la tercera década del siglo XXI.
Retorno al punto de partida
Authors: Muñoz López Aleyda
Published: May 2024

La pandemia actual de covid -19, que comenzó hacia finales del 2019, ha determinado cambios radicales en la vida cotidiana de la población mundial. El artículo recuerda nociones del psicoanálisis que podrían explicar algunos efectos subjetivos y sociales de esta situación de emergencia sanitaria y resalta el sesgo de retroceso cultural, en la secuencia de un bucle extraño del proceder humano.
Técnica y deshumanización
Authors: Báquiro Guerrero Sebastián Alberto
Published: May 2024

Este artículo discute las formas de la técnica que dependen de los desarrollos digitales, como las inteligencias artificiales, y el impacto de estos dentro de la sociedad, especialmente, por el intento de atrapar Verdades que, para la ciencia, estarían referidas a la Verdad sobre el sujeto. Esta objetivación del ser humano termina, guiada por el espíritu de optimización capitalista y por el circuito del discurso capitalista, en ansias de eliminar todo lo que no sea susceptible de ser matematizado.
El infinito en un junco (reseña)
Authors: Palacio Castañeda Jorge Alberto
Published: May 2024

Reseña:
ValleJo, Irene. El infinito en un junco. La invención de los libros en el mundo antiguo. Madrid: Siruela, 2019. 472 páginas.
Indicadores para estimar la sostenibilidad agrícola de la cuenca media del río Reventado, Cartago, Costa Rica
Authors: Ramírez Laura , Alvarado Alfredo , Pujol Rosendo , MacHugh Antonio , Brenes Luis Guillermo
Published: May 2024

El objetivo de este trabajo fue identificar indicadores para evaluar la sostenibilidad agrícola en la cuenca media del río Reventado. Se encontró una acumulación Ca, Mg y K en los terrenos y una disminución del porcentaje de saturación de acidez con los años de uso del suelo en agricultura, los suelos han mejorado su fertilidad con el tiempo por efecto antrópico. Se encontró una tendencia similar con el P disponible, cuyos niveles aumentaron aproximadamente en 2,3 mg.l-1.año-1, eventualmente podría reducirse la aplicación de este elemento, lo que haría más sostenible el sistema de producción. Los niveles de erosión, en la mayoría de las fincas, fueron moderados; el grosor del horizonte A y el P disponible disminuyeron al pasar de erosión leve, a moderada y a severa. El índice estructural y la capacidad de uso de las tierras indicaron en las Clases II y III, suelos moderadamente susceptibles a ser degradados, y en las clases mayores alta susceptibilidad a ser degradados. No se encontró diferencias significativas entre las clases de capacidad de uso de la tierra y la producción de los cultivos. La producción de papa y cebolla fue mayor en zonas con riego, donde la relación B/C mayor se encontró en Tierra Blanca, debido al manejo del sistema productivo. Los indicadores económicos y sociales evaluados fueron positivos para ambas regiones, no así los indicadores ambientales. La actividad agrícola aún se mantiene como una actividad rentable para los productores de la cuenca media del río Reventado.
Reconocimiento de nemátodos en pastos tropicales en las comunidades de Sucre y San Vicente, cantón de San Carlos
Authors: WingChing-Jones Rodolfo , Salazar-Figueroa Luis , Flores-Sánchez Lorena , Rojas-Bourrillón Augusto
Published: May 2024

Para determinar la presencia de nematodos fitoparásitos en pastos tropicales en la zona alta de San Carlos; se muestrearon 6 pastos de piso y 1 de corta, se recolectó muestras de raíces y de suelo en mayo y setiembre de 2003. El pasto Camerún (Pennisetum purpureum var Camerún) fue el único ejemplar de corta y Decumbens (Brachiaria decumbens), Estrella (Cynodom nlemfluensis), Tanner (Brachiaria radicans), San Juan (Setaria ancept), Guinea (Panicum maximun), y Kikuyo (Pennisetum clandestinum), los pastos de piso. Los nematodos identificados pertenecen a los géneros Pratylenchus sp, Helicotylenchus sp, Tylenchus sp, Psylenchus sp, Ditylenchus sp, Criconemella sp, Xiphinema sp, Trichodorus sp, Hemicycliophora sp, Meloidogyne sp, y a nematodos no fitoparásitos.
De flores, brotes y palmitos: alimentos olvidados
Authors: Gonzalez Arce Romano
Published: May 2024

Muchos de los alimentos que aprovecharon nuestros antepasados fueron relegados a alimentos subexplotados por los procesos de conquista o por la desaparición de sus hábitats naturales. Este trabajo exploró las razones de este cambio y el potencial nutricional, agronómico y comercial de un grupo de estos alimentos: las hortalizas subexplotadas. Se realizó a partir de fuentes documentales y entrevistas a personas, generalmente adultos mayores, de diferentes partes del país durante el 2003 y el 2005. Las principales razones que explican el desuso de estos alimentos son: la introducción de hortalizas foráneas, que redujo el estatus de las nativas; la destrucción del hábitat propio de las diferentes especies; la modificación de las técnicas agrícolas que facilitaban su crecimiento; y la urbanización progresiva que redujo el espacio para los solares tradicionales. Estas plantas, por ser nativas, están totalmente adaptadas al clima y suelos del país, por lo que iniciar procesos de domesticación no resulta difícil. Se requiere mayor investigación en biología, etnobotánica, agronomía, química, y nutrición antes de promover su consumo masivo. Pero son fuente de nutrimentos para las poblaciones rurales del país.
Método gravimétrico para determinar in situ la humedad volumétrica del suelo
Authors: Radulovich Ricardo
Published: May 2024

Se presenta un procedimiento simple, acompañado de la descripción del cilindro muestreador, para determinar por peso el contenido volumétrico de agua del suelo (Avol), directamente en el campo. Avol se determina muestreando y pesando cilindros con volumen conocido de suelo sin disturbar, comparando ese peso con el de una muestra similar con Avol ya conocido, el cual debe ser preestablecido como referencia para el mismo campo y profundidad. Se sugiere 2 tipos de referencia, que equivalen a diferentes aplicaciones: a) peso seco absoluto, que se establece de previo termogravimétricamente, cuyo uso permite conocer por diferencia en peso el Avol absoluto de una muestra; y, b) referencias relativas, que requieren preestablecer el peso de cilindros de referencia a niveles escogidos de humedad del suelo, permitiendo determinar por peso la diferencia en Avol entre la muestra y la referencia, que indica, respectivamente, cuánta agua se debe regar para llevar el suelo de vuelta a capacidad de campo o cuánta agua queda en el suelo para consumir antes de tener que regar. Se utilizó un cilindro de acero, para contener una muestra de suelo de 0,5 m de profundidad, para un volumen de 0,001 m3. Se determinó los valores de Avol para 3 suelos de Costa Rica. Estos valores no fueron significativamente diferentes de, y sí fueron significativamente correlacionados a, determinaciones termogravimétricas estándar de contenido de humedad convertidas a Avol.
Epidemiological and bacterial profile of childhood meningitis in Tunisia
Authors: Dhraief Sarra , Meftah Khaoula , Mhimdi Samar , Khiari Houyem , Aloui Firas , Borgi Aida , Haddad-Boubaker Sondes , Brik Amani , Menif Khaled , Kechrid Amel , Bouafsoun Aida , Smaoui Hanen
Published: May 2024

The worldwide burden of disease of bacterial meningitis remains high, despite the decreasing incidence following introduction of routine vaccination campaigns.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the epidemiological and bacteriological profile of paediatric bacterial meningitis (BM) in Tunisian children, during the period 2003–2019, following the implementation of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine (April 2011) and before 10-valent pneumoccocal conjugate vaccine (PCV10) introduction to the childhood immunization program.

All bacteriologically confirmed cases of BM admitted to children's hospital of Tunis were recorded (January 2003 to April 2019). Serogroups of Neisseria meningitidis (Nm) and serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) and H. influenzae (Hi) and antibiotic resistance were determined using conventional and molecular methods.

Among 388 cases, the most frequent species were Sp (51.3%), followed by Nm (27.5%) and Hi (16.8%). We observed a significant decrease in Hi BM rate during the conjugated Hib vaccine use period (P < 0.0001). The main pneumococcal serotypes were 14, 19F, 6B, 23F and 19A and the serotype coverage of PCV10, PCV13, PCV15 and PCV20 was 71.3 and 78.8%, 79.4 and 81.9% respectively. The most frequent Nm serogroup was B (83.1%). Most Hi strains were of serotype b (86.9%). High levels of resistance were found: Sp and Nm to penicillin (respectively 60.1 and 80%) and Hi to ampicillin (42.6%). All meningococcal and Hi isolates were susceptible to third-generation cephalosporins and 7.2% of pneumococcal strains had decreased susceptibility to these antibiotics.

The Hib conjugate vaccine decreased the rate of BM. Sp dominated the aetiology of BM in children in Tunisia. Conjugate vaccines introducing decreases not only BM cases but also antimicrobial resistance.
Development of an HPLC-UV method for the simultaneous determination of allantoin and D-panthenol in cosmetic products containing Aloe vera extracts
Authors: Ceylan Burhan , Kepekci Tekkeli S. Evrim
Published: May 2024

A simple, fast and selective analytical method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of allantoin and D-panthenol in cosmetic products containing Aloe vera extracts. The proposed method depends on reversed-phase liquid chromatography with isocratic flow profile of the mobile phase composed of acetonitrile–10 mM phosphoric acid (pH 2.5) (85:15, v/v), with a C18 column at 30 °C. The analytes were detected with UV–vis. detector at 210 nm. The injection volume was 20 μL. The linearity ranges were found to be 0.2–20 and 0.1–10 μg mL−1 for allantoin and D-panthenol, respectively. LOD values were found to be 0.07 μg mL−1 and 0.03 μg mL−1, LOQ values were found to be 0.2 and 0.1 μg mL−1 for allantoin and D-panthenol, respectively. No interference was observed from concomitants. The developed method was applied to the analysis of 10 different type cosmetic products. It is foreseen that the method will be able to be used in order to carry out routine analysis, quality control and standardization in cosmetic products containing allantoin and D-panthenol.
No lowering, only paradigms: A paradigm-based account of linking vowels in Hungarian
Authors: Rebrus Péter , Szigetvári Péter , Törkenczy Miklós
Published: May 2024

This paper analyses linking vowels of Hungarian in a paradigm-based approach. We argue that the quality of linking vowels is determined by such a complex interaction of phonological, morphological, and morphophonological factors on both stems and suffixes that attributing them to individual morphemes is not plausible. Instead in the model proposed here linking vowels emerge from the identification of initial and final substrings within and across paradigms.
Computational modelling of the key stages of placing bioresorbable polymeric coronary stent
Authors:   Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University, Rovovoy Eduard , Antonova Olga
Published: May 2024

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the main problems in the world in medicine. It ranks first in the list of causes of fatal accidents, in addition, more than a half of cases are a result of ischemic heart diseases. One of the most effective method of treatment is coronary stenting. The main purpose of the study is to outline bioresorbable polymeric coronary stent’s behaviour using computational modelling and to demonstrate benefits of application of polymer materials instead of standard metallic alloys. During the research the main stages of coronary stenting that are necessary for general understanding of process were analyzed: the strain after crimping, the shape of angioplasty balloon after deployment and the stress-strain state of vessel and atherosclerotic plaque after coronary stent deployment. PLLA (poly-L-lactic acid) was taken as a material for the research. It allows to create stent construction that will provide the required lumen of the vessel during rehabilitation. Moreover, with the progress of poly-L-lactic acid vasomotor function will restore thereby forming «golden section». The results showed the possibility of use of approaches that were given in this paper for examination of polymer material’s behaviour with coronary stenting. It can be concluded that polymer bioresorbable coronary stents in medicine are promising for further application for improvement of quality of invasive coronary operation.
Metalibrarians as Residents Beyond the Second Life: An Overview of Contradictory Concept on “The Metaverse”
Authors: Sağsan Mustafa
Published: May 2024

The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of metaverse in libraries and librarians. The new conceptions; such as virtual reality, augmented reality, second life, metaverse, metamodernism, metaliteracy, and metalibrarian, have been discussed in the context of real-world libraries and librarians in the article. The organization of the article has been divided into four sections, which are interconnected with libraries and librarians. The first section starts with virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies and underlines the important roles of the library and librarians. The second section continues the Second Life (SL), which is the pre-period of metaverse, and points out the importance of librarians and libraries. Finally, the fourth and last section focuses on the metaverse, as it is a new contradictory concept in the digital age, and discusses the metamodernism within the metaverse age by providing new roles and tasks for both libraries and librarians, which will be called “metalibrarian” thereafter. A systematic literature review has been used to position the role of metalibrarians among the other target groups such as educators, communicators, designers, et al. at the metamodernism age. As the existing literature indicates that metalibrarians have heavy duties on their shoulders to both design curricula for the metalibrary users, and manage information resources. Research has been proposed on the new roles, tasks, responsibilities, and competencies for metalibrarians to embrace the metaverse environment.
Study on lipid and fatty acid composition of \(\textit{Thelenota ananas}\) collected from Bai Dong Island, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Authors: Dang Thi Phuong Ly , Dang Thi Minh Tuyet , Dao Thi Kim Dung , Nguyen Thi Nga , Pham Minh Quan , Pham Quoc Long
Published: May 2024

The paper studies the lipid and fatty acid composition of the sea cucumber Thelenota ananas collected on Bai Dong Island, Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. The total lipid content of dry sample weight was relatively high (11.89%). The triacylglycerol TG has the highest concentration in total lipids with a ratio of up to 66.73%; the PL and PI classes do not have a significant difference with the proportions of 13.44 and 11.65% in total lipids. Two classes of sterol ST, hydrocarbon-wax HW and free fatty acid FFA account for a small proportion. The two main classes of phospholipids are PC and PE, with a ratio of 47.10% and 33.29% of total phospholipids. There are 36 fatty acids identified, of which total saturated fatty acids (SFA) account for 41.61%; Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) account for 32.15%, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) account for 25.63%; the main fatty acids are stearic acid (18:0) accounting for 13.15% of the total fatty acids; 16:1n-9 accounts for 14.87%, and 20:5n-3 EPA fatty acids account for 15.3% of the total fatty acids. Among the fatty acids, n-9 (omega 9) accounts for the highest proportion with 25.16%; n-3 fatty acids (omega 3) account for 18.43%; n-6 (omega 6), n-7 (omega 7) fatty acids account for 5.8 and 6.5%, respectively. In this study, the n3/n6 ratio of the sea cucumber sample Thelenota ananas was 3.18%, consistent with the evaluation standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) of n3/n6 ratio ≥ 0.1%. It is classified as a good foodstuff for human health; therefore, it can be considered a source of food that can be used to serve community health care needs.
Research on application of bromelain and alcalase for production of hydrolyzed powder from round scads (\(\textit{Decaterus punctatus}\))
Authors: Le Tat Thanh , Do Thi Thanh Trung , Do Ngoc Minh Giang , Pham Thu Hue , Huynh Thi Thu Hue
Published: May 2024

Round scad (Decaterus punctatus) is a species with high nutritional value and is used mainly as food for humans, and partly as food for aquatic animals. There are no processed products from scad fish in our country; thus, the value of scad fish products still needs to be higher. In this report, we have established the hydrolysis procedure by the enzyme mixture of bromelain and alcalase with the following conditions: the enzyme alcalase/bromelain ratio of 1/3; the enzyme and substrate ratio of 1%; hydrolysis temperature at 50oC; nature pH of fish; the incubated time of 6 h; the speed of 200 rpm; The hydrolyzed powder product is rich in protein (74.5%), and minerals (calcium, potassium, phosphorus, copper), thus has many potential applications in functional foods.
Pawłowa zachęta do życia poddanego Duchowi Świętemu
Authors: Klich Anna Emmanuela
Published: May 2024

The aim of this article is to show the specificity of Christian life as explained by St. Paul in the Letter to the Galatians (5:13–26). The first stage of the exegetical analysis is to determine the literary context of the pericope, allowing the fundamental reason for the difference in the lives of believers to be shown, namely, the gift of salvation. The second part of the article explains the relationship between the gift of freedom and the ability to live in love. The apostle points out that failure to accept the gift of salvation manifests itself in disorder in the sexual sphere, in lack of respect and forgiveness for other people, and even a broken relationship with God. The third part concerns the fruit of the believer’s docility to the Holy Spirit, which is a life in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self–control. Attention to His guidance makes believers capable of overcoming selfish tendencies.
A Historiographical Analysis of Al-Ma'mūn's Motives in the Miḥna
Authors: Aniq Ahmad Fathan
Published: May 2024

This article investigates historians’ perspectives on al-Maʾmūn’s motives in the Miḥna concerning the createdness of the Qurʾān (khalq al-Qur’ān). Two prevailing approaches are identified for comprehending the caliph’s motives. The first suggests that the Miḥna represents al-Maʾmūn’s attempt to maintain his political authority amid the increasing influence of the ulema (muḥaddithūn). The second posits the Miḥna as al-Ma'mūn’s initiative to impose his religious perspective on society. Using historiographical analysis, this article argues that the two approaches should not be viewed in isolation but can be integrated to comprehensively understand the caliph’s motives in the Miḥna.
Perbandingan Hasil Belajar Matematika Peserta Didik SMP Selama Pembelajaran Daring dan Pembelajaran Tatap Muka
Authors: Ramadina Luthfianisa , Lubab Ahmad , Nugrahenny Jo Estu
Published: May 2024

This research was conducted to find out whether there is a significant comparison to the mathematical learning outcomes of students of class VIII SMPN 3 Waru when doing face-to-face learning and online learning. The learning results used in this study are the PAS scores of class VIII learners in odd and even semesters of the 2019/2020 school year. The method used in this study was ex post facto correlation and used the Wilcoxon test with the help of the SPSS 25 software. Wilcoxon's statistical test results showed the 2-tailed Asymptotic Significance was worth 0,506. Because 0,506>0,05 then H_a rejected and H_0 accepted, it can be concluded that this study shows no significant difference in the mathematical learning outcomes of SMPN 3 Waru learners when doing face-to-face and online learning.
Kemampuan Pemahaman Konsep Matematis Siswa Kelas VII pada Materi Himpunan
Authors: Nuriah Sinta , Aripin Usman , Rohaeti Euis Eti
Published: May 2024

This research is motivated by the low ability to understand mathematical concepts of students. The purpose of this study is to analyze the ability to understand mathematical concepts on the set material. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method. The subjects of this study were 29 students of class VII-G MTs AL-Mukhtariyah Mande. Data collection techniques using written test techniques. Then the data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, namely mean (average) and percentage. The results showed there were 20.7% of students in the high category, 41.4% of students in the medium category, and 37.9% of students in the low category. Based on the results of the study, the researchers concluded that the ability to understand mathematical concepts of students in Class VII-G MTs Al-Mukhtariyah Mande is in the medium category.
Analisis Berpikir Fungsional Siswa SMP dalam Generalisasi Pola Ditinjau dari Gaya Kognitif
Authors: Taufik Abdul Rachman , Mayasari Dita , Natsir Irmawanty , Dadi Oswaldus
Published: May 2024

This study focuses on the functional thinking activities of students in solving the task of generalization of patterns in terms of cognitive style. The research subjects consisted of 2 junior high school students in grade VIII consisting of one student with a field-dependent cognitive style and one student with a field-independent cognitive style determined by using the GEFT instrument. An interview based on a pattern generalization test was used to collect data on students' functional thinking. The results showed that at the stage of identifying patterns, both subjects used symbol representation in identifying patterns. At the stage of determining the relationship between two quantities, Field Independent uses trial and error rules to determine the relationship between two quantities, while Field Dependent lists all terms to determine the relationship between two quantities. At the stage of determining the general rule, Field Independent identifies the regularity of the pattern from the results of the relationship between two quantities, while Field Dependent determines the general rule by identifying the difference between two adjacent terms and then summing with the term in question.
Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas en lactancia de mujeres lactantes usuarias de servicios de salud privados en México
Authors: Villa Soto A. , Sampieri Ramírez Clara Luz , Arrazate García M.C. , Varela Cardoso Miguel , Sáenz Méndez N.I. , Ortiz León M.C. , Montero Hilda , Zenteno Cuevas Roberto , Ruiz Espinosa G.E. , Nava Galindo N.G. , Vázquez Hernández S.
Published: May 2024

El contacto piel con piel y el inicio de la lactancia materna durante la primera hora de vida se asocia con la exclusividad y duración de la lactancia materna. En México no existen estudios revisados por pares acerca del conocimiento, actitud y práctica de la lactancia en madres atendidas en servicios de salud privados. Estudio transversal descriptivo que recopiló datos usando preguntas validadas. Las madres que refirieron contacto piel con piel con su recién nacido durante la primera hora de vida conformaron el grupo A, el resto el grupo B. La puntuación sobre conocimiento y práctica en lactancia se clasificó en adecuada y no adecuada. Se incluyeron 143 madres; el 46.2% conformó el grupo A y el 53.8% el grupo B. El 41.3% inició la lactancia materna en la primera hora de vida. El 80% tuvo conocimiento adecuado y el 60.8% una actitud positiva hacia la lactancia, no existieron diferencias entre los grupos. La actitud positiva hacia la lactancia y el contacto piel con piel se asociaron con el inicio de la lactancia materna durante la primera hora de vida. En el diseño de intervenciones para el fomento de la lactancia la actitud materna hacia la lactancia es clave.
Centering Humans in Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Alm Cecilia O.
Published: May 2024

AI systems are breaking into new domains and applications, and it is pivotal to center humans in contemporary AI systems and contemplate what this means. This discussion considers three perspectives or human roles in AI as users, contributors, and researchers-in-training, to illustrate this notion.
Communicating Unnamable Risks: Aligning Open World Situation Models Using Strategies from Creative Writing
Authors: Cardier Beth
Published: May 2024

How can a machine warn its human collaborator about an unexpected risk if the machine does not possess the explicit language required to name it? This research transfers techniques from creative writing into a conversational format that could enable a machine to convey a novel, open-world threat. Professional writers specialize in communicating unexpected conditions with inadequate language, using overlapping contextual and analogical inferences to adjust a reader’s situation model. This paper explores how a similar approach could be used in conversation by a machine to adapt its human collaborator’s situation model to include unexpected information. This method is necessarily bi-directional, as the process of refining unexpected meaning requires each side to check in with each other and incrementally adjust. A proposed method and example is presented, set five years hence, to envisage a new kind of capability in human-machine interaction. A near-term goal is to develop foundations for autonomous communication that can adapt across heterogeneous contexts, especially when a trusted outcome is critical. A larger goal is to make visible the level of communication above explicit communication, where language is collaboratively adapted.
Learning Subjective Knowledge with Designer-Like Thinking and Interactive Machine Teaching
Authors: Chuang Yaliang , Huang Poyang David
Published: May 2024

Aesthetics is a crucial aspect of design that plays a critical role in the creation process and customers' perception of outcomes. However, aesthetic expressions are highly subjective and nuanced. It often relies on designers' experiences and many trials and errors to get it right. Our research first investigated how designers and artists curated aesthetic materials and utilized them in their daily practice. Based on the result, we applied Langley's human-like learning framework to develop an interactive Style Agent system. It aims to learn designers' aesthetic expertise and utilize AI's capability to empower practitioner's creativity. In this paper, we used typographic posters as examples and conducted a preliminary evaluation of our prototype. The results showed that our system provided a modular structure for effortlessly annotating users' subjective perceptions and making the visualizations easy to interpret through performance. Overall, it acts as a facilitator to help enhance their own aesthetic awareness and empowers them to expand their design space.
Perception-Dominant Control Types for Human/Machine Systems
Authors: Goranson Ted
Published: May 2024

We explore a novel approach to complex domain modelling by emphasising primitives based on perception. The usual approach either focuses on actors or cognition associated with tokens that convey information. In related research, we have examined using effects and/or outcomes as primitives, and influences as the generator of those outcomes via categoric functors.
That approach (influences, effects) has advantages: it leverages what is known and supports the expanded logics we use, where we want to anticipate and engineer possible futures. But it has weaknesses when placed in a dynamic human-machine system where what is perceived or assumed matters more than what is known. The work reported here builds on previous advances in type specification and reasoning to ‘move the primitives forward’ more toward situation encounter and away from situation understanding.
The goal is in the context of shared human-machine systems where:
• reaction times are shorter than the traditional ingestion/comprehension/response loop can support;
• situations that are too complex or dynamic for current comprehension by any means;
• there simply is insufficient knowledge about governing situations for the comprehension model to support action; and/or,
• the many machine/human and system/system interfaces that are incapable of conveying the needed insights; that is, the communication channels choke the information or influence flows.
While the approach is motivated by the above unfriendly conditions, we expect significant benefits. We will explore these but engineer toward a federated decision paradigm where decisions by local human, machine or synthesis are not whole-situation-aware, but that collectively ‘swarm’ locally across the larger system to be more effective, ‘wiser’ than a convention paradigm may produce.
The supposed implementation strategy will be through extending an existing ‘playbooks as code’ project whose goals are to advise on local action by modelling and gaming complex system dynamics. A sponsoring context is ‘grey zone’ competition that avoids armed conflict, but that can segue to a mixed system course of action advisory. The general context is a costly ‘blue swan’ risk in large commercial and government enterprises.
The method will focus on patterns and relationships in synthetic categories used to model type transitions within topological models of system influence. One may say this is applied intuitionistic type theory, following mechanisms generally described by synthetic differential geometry. In this context, the motivating supposition of this study is that information-carrying influence channels are best modelled in our challenging domain as perceived types rather than understood types.
Credit Assignment: Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Human-like Learning Agents
Authors: Nguyen Thuy Ngoc , McDonald Chase , Gonzalez Cleotilde
Published: May 2024

Temporal credit assignment is the process of distributing delayed outcomes to each action in a sequence, which is essential for learning to adapt and make decisions in dynamic environments. While computational methods in reinforcement learning, such as temporal difference (TD), have shown success in tackling this issue, it remains unclear whether these mechanisms accurately reflect how humans handle feedback delays. Furthermore, cognitive science research has not fully explored the credit assignment problem in humans and cognitive models. Our study uses a cognitive model based on Instance-Based Learning Theory (IBLT) to investigate various credit assignment mechanisms, including equal credit, exponential credit, and TD credit, using the IBL decision mechanism in a goal-seeking navigation task with feedback delays and varying levels of decision complexity. We compare the performance and process measures of the different models with human decision-making in two experiments. Our findings indicate that the human learning process cannot be fully explained by any of the mechanisms. We also observe that decision complexity affects human behavior but not model behavior. By examining the similarities and differences between human and model behavior, we summarize the challenges and opportunities for developing learning agents that emulate human decisions in dynamic environments.
Exploiting Machine Learning Bias: Predicting Medical Denials
Authors: Russell Stephen , Montes Suros Fabio , Kumar Ashwin
Published: May 2024

For a large healthcare system, ignoring costs associated with managing the patient encounter denial process (staffing, contracts, etc.), total denial-related amounts can be more than $1B annually in gross charges. Being able to predict a denial before it occurs has the potential for tremendous savings. Using machine learning to predict denial has the potential to allow denial-preventing interventions. However, challenges of data imbalance make creating a single generalized model difficult. We employ two biased models in a hybrid voting scheme to achieve results that exceed the state-of-the art and allow for incremental predictions as the encounter progresses. The model had the added benefit of monitoring the human-driven denial process that affect the underlying distribution, on which the models’ bias is based.
Modeling Patterns for Neural-Symbolic Reasoning Using Energy-based Models
Authors: Dickens Charles , Pryor Connor , Getoor Lise
Published: May 2024

Neural-symbolic (NeSy) AI strives to empower machine learning and large language models with fast, reliable predictions that exhibit commonsense and trustworthy reasoning by seamlessly integrating neural and symbolic methods. With such a broad scope, several taxonomies have been proposed to categorize this integration, emphasizing knowledge representation, reasoning algorithms, and applications. We introduce a knowledge representation-agnostic taxonomy focusing on the neural-symbolic interface capturing methods that reason with probability, logic, and arithmetic constraints. Moreover, we derive expressions for gradients of a prominent class of learning losses and a formalization of reasoning and learning. Through a rigorous empirical analysis spanning three tasks, we show NeSy approaches reach up to a 37% improvement over neural baselines in a semi-supervised setting and a 19% improvement over GPT-4 on question-answering.
Domain-specific Embeddings for Question-Answering Systems: FAQs for Health Coaching
Authors: Martin Andreas , Pande Charuta , Schwander Sandro , Ajuwon Ademola J. , Pimmer Christoph
Published: May 2024

FAQs are widely used to respond to users’ knowledge needs within knowledge domains. While LLM might be a promising way to address user questions, they are still prone to hallucinations i.e., inaccurate or wrong responses, which, can, inter alia, lead to massive problems, including, but not limited to, ethical issues. As a part of the healthcare coach chatbot for young Nigerian HIV clients, the need to meet their information needs through FAQs is one of the main coaching requirements. In this paper, we explore if domain knowledge in HIV FAQs can be represented as text embeddings to retrieve similar questions matching user queries, thus improving the understanding of the chatbot and the satisfaction of the users. Specifically, we describe our approach to developing an FAQ chatbot for the domain of HIV. We used a predefined FAQ question-answer knowledge base in English and Pidgin co-created by HIV clients and experts from Nigeria and Switzerland. The results of the post-engagement survey show that the chatbot mostly understood the user’s questions and could identify relevant matching questions and retrieve an appropriate response.
ChEdBot: Designing a Domain-Specific Conversational Agent in a Simulational Learning Environment Using LLMs
Authors: Martin Andreas , Pande Charuta , Witschel Hans Friedrich , Mathez Judith
Published: May 2024

We propose conversational agents as a means to simulate expert interviews, integrated into a simulational learning environment: ChEdventure. Designing and developing conversational agents using the existing tools and frameworks requires technical knowledge and a considerable learning curve. Recently, LLMs are being leveraged for their adaptability to different domains and their ability to perform various tasks in a natural, human-like conversational style. In this work, we explore if LLMs can help educators easily create conversational agents for their individual teaching goals. We propose a generalized template-based approach using LLMs that can instantiate conversational agents as an integrable component of teaching and learning activities. We evaluate our approach using prototypes generated from this template and identify guidelines to improve the experience of educators.
Semantic Verification in Large Language Model-based Retrieval Augmented Generation
Authors: Martin Andreas , Witschel Hans Friedrich , Mandl Maximilian , Stockhecke Mona
Published: May 2024

This position paper presents a novel approach of semantic verification in Large Language Model-based Retrieval Augmented Generation (LLM-RAG) systems, focusing on the critical need for factually accurate information dissemination during public debates, especially prior to plebiscites e.g. in direct democracies, particularly in the context of Switzerland. Recognizing the unique challenges posed by the current generation of Large Language Models (LLMs) in maintaining factual integrity, this research proposes an innovative solution that integrates retrieval mechanisms with enhanced semantic verification processes. The paper outlines a comprehensive methodology following a Design Science Research approach, which includes defining user personas, designing conversational interfaces, and iteratively developing a hybrid dialogue system. Central to this system is a robust semantic verification framework that leverages a knowledge graph for fact-checking and validation, ensuring the correctness and consistency of information generated by LLMs. The paper discusses the significance of this research in the context of Swiss direct democracy, where informed decision-making is pivotal. By improving the accuracy and reliability of information provided to the public, the proposed system aims to support the democratic process, enabling citizens to make well-informed decisions on complex issues. The research contributes to advancing the field of natural language processing and information retrieval, demonstrating the potential of AI and LLMs in enhancing civic engagement and democratic participation.
LLMs Among Us: Generative AI Participating in Digital Discourse
Authors: Radivojevic Kristina , Clark Nicholas , Brenner Paul
Published: May 2024

The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has great potential to reshape the landscape of many social media platforms. While this can bring promising opportunities, it also raises many threats, such as biases and privacy concerns, and may contribute to the spread of propaganda by malicious actors. We developed the "LLMs Among Us" experimental framework on top of the Mastodon social media platform for bot and human participants to communicate without knowing the ratio or nature of bot and human participants. We built 10 personas with three different LLMs, GPT-4, Llama 2 Chat, and Claude. We conducted three rounds of the experiment and surveyed participants after each round to measure the ability of LLMs to pose as human participants without human detection. We found that participants correctly identified the nature of other users in the experiment only 42% of the time despite knowing the presence of both bots and humans. We also found that the choice of persona had substantially more impact on human perception than the choice of mainstream LLMs.
K-PERM: Personalized Response Generation Using Dynamic Knowledge Retrieval and Persona-Adaptive Queries
Authors: Raj Kanak , Roy Kaushik , Bonagiri Vamshi , Govil Priyanshul , Thirunarayan Krishnaprasad , Goswami Raxit , Gaur Manas
Published: May 2024

Personalizing conversational agents can enhance the quality of conversations and increase user engagement. However, they often lack external knowledge to appropriately tend to a user’s persona. This is crucial for practical applications like mental health support, nutrition planning, culturally sensitive conversations, or reducing toxic behavior in conversational agents. To enhance the relevance and comprehensiveness of personalized responses, we propose using a two-step approach that involves (1) selectively integrating user personas and (2) contextualizing the response by supplementing information from a background knowledge source. We develop K-PERM (Knowledge-guided PErsonalization with Reward Modulation), a dynamic conversational agent that combines these elements. K-PERM achieves state-of-the- art performance on the popular FoCus dataset, containing real-world personalized conversations concerning global landmarks.We show that using responses from K-PERM can improve performance in state-of-the-art LLMs (GPT 3.5) by 10.5%, highlighting the impact of K-PERM for personalizing chatbots.
Causal Event Graph-Guided Language-based Spatiotemporal Question Answering
Authors: Roy Kaushik , Oltramari Alessandro , Zi Yuxin , Shyalika Chathurangi , Narayanan Vignesh , Sheth Amit
Published: May 2024

Large Language Models have excelled at encoding and leveraging language patterns in large text-based corpora for various tasks, including spatiotemporal event-based question answering (QA). However, due to encoding a text-based projection of the world, they have also been shown to lack a full bodied understanding of such events, e.g., a sense of intuitive physics, and cause-and-effect relationships among events. In this work, we propose using causal event graphs (CEGs) to enhance language understanding of spatiotemporal events in language models, using a novel approach that also provides proofs for the model’s capture of the CEGs. A CEG consists of events denoted by nodes, and edges that denote cause and effect relationships among the events. We perform experimentation and evaluation of our approach for benchmark spatiotemporal QA tasks and show effective performance, both quantitative and qualitative, over state-of-the-art baseline methods.
Faithful Reasoning over Scientific Claims
Authors: Tan Neşet Özkan , Tandon Niket , Wadden David , Tafjord Oyvind , Gahegan Mark , Witbrock Michael
Published: May 2024

Claim verification in scientific domains requires models that faithfully incorporate relevant knowledge from the ever-growing, vast existing literature.
Unfaithful claim verifications can lead to misinformation such as those observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fact-checking systems often fail to capture the complex relationship between claims and evidence, especially with ambiguous claims and implicit assumptions. Relying only on current LLMs poses challenges due to hallucinations and information traceability issues. To address these challenges, our approach considers multiple viewpoints onto the scientific literature, enabling the assessment of contradictory arguments and implicit assumptions. Our proposed inference method adds faithful reasoning to large language models by distilling information from diverse, relevant scientific abstracts. This method provides a verdict label that can be weighted by the reputation of the scientific articles and an explanation that can be traced back to sources. Our findings demonstrate that humans not only perceive our explanation to be significantly superior to the off-the-shelf model, but they also evaluate it as faithfully enabling the tracing of evidence back to its original sources.
Retrieval-Augmented Generation and LLM Agents for Biomimicry Design Solutions
Authors: Toukmaji Christopher , Tee Allison
Published: May 2024

We present BIDARA, a Bio-Inspired Design And Research Assistant, to address the complexity of biomimicry -- the practice of designing modern-day engineering solutions inspired by biological phenomena. Large Language Models (LLMs) have been shown to act as sufficient general-purpose task solvers, but they often hallucinate and fail in regimes that require domain-specific and up-to-date knowledge. We integrate Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Reasoning-and-Action agents to aid LLMs in avoiding hallucination and utilizing updated knowledge during generation of biomimetic design solutions. We find that incorporating RAG increases the feasibility of the design solutions in both prompting and agent settings, and we use these findings to guide our ongoing work. To the extent of our knowledge, this is the first work that integrates and evaluates Retrieval-Augmented Generation within LLM-generated biomimetic design solutions.