Simple and Effective Multi-Paragraph Reading Comprehension

We consider the problem of adapting neural paragraph-level question answering models to the case where entire documents are given as input. Our proposed solution trains models to produce well calibrated confidence scores for their results on individual paragraphs. We sample multiple paragraphs from the documents during training, and use a shared-normalization training objective that encourages the model to produce globally correct output. We combine this method with a state-of-the-art pipeline for training models on document QA data. Experiments demonstrate strong performance on several document QA datasets. Overall, we are able to achieve a score of 71.3 F1 on the web portion of TriviaQA, a large improvement from the 56.7 F1 of the previous best system.Comment: 11 pages, updated a referenc

Trends and patterns in antibiotic prescribing among out-of-hours primary care providers in England, 2010–14

Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat, increasing morbidity and mortality. In England, publicly funded clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) commission out-of-hours (OOH) primary care services outside daytime hours. OOH consultations represent 1% of in-hours general practice (GP) consultations. Antibiotic prescriptions increased 32% in non-GP community services between 2010 and 2013. We describe OOH antibiotic prescribing patterns and trends between 2010 and 2014. Methods: We: estimated the proportion of CCGs with OOH data available; described and compared antibiotic prescribing by volume of prescribed items, seasonality and trends in GP and OOH, using linear regression; and compared the proportion of broad-spectrum to total antibiotic prescriptions in OOHs with their respective CCGs in terms of seasonality and trends, using binomial regression. Results: Data were available for 143 of 211 (68%) CCGs. OOH antibiotic prescription volume represented 4.5%-5.4% of GP prescription volume and was stable over time ( P  =   0.37). The proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions increased in OOH when it increased in the CCG they operated in (regression coefficient 0.98; 95% CI 0.96-0.99). Compared with GP, the proportion of broad-spectrum antibiotic prescriptions in OOH was higher but decreased both in GP and OOH (-0.57%, 95% CI - 0.54% to - 0.6% and -0.76%, 95% CI - 0.59% to - 0.93% per year, respectively). Conclusions: OOH proportionally prescribed more antibiotics than GPs although we could not comment on prescribing appropriateness. OOH prescribing volume was stable over time, and followed GP seasonal patterns. OOH antibiotic prescribing reflected the CCGs they operated in but with relatively more broad-spectrum antibiotics than in-hours GP. Understanding factors influencing prescribing in OOH will enable the development of tailored interventions promoting optimal prescribing in this setting

Wettability and Structural Evolution of Gold over a Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube: An Atomistic Investigation

Gold nanostructures with high surface area-to-volume ratio depict many applications for the design and development of advanced materials for the nanoelectronic, catalyst, optoelectronic, antibacterial properties, and so forth. For extensive applications, gold nanostructures can be synthesized by the deposition over various substrates, such as carbon nanotubes, graphite, silica, and so forth. In the present study, a thin molten gold film has been deposited over a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) to observe the wettability and phase transitions using molecular dynamics simulation. At high temperature (<i>T</i> = 2000 K), the gold film over a SWCNT depicts poor wettability and evolves into a globule. However, during cooling from 2000 to 10 K, the gold globule depicts phase transition from liquid to face-centered cubic crystalline structure. At the interface between gold and SWCNT, gold atoms organized both on- and off-positions over the hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms of SWCNT. In the case of on-position, the gold atom was positioned in the middle of the hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms. The off-position gold atom was situated just above the C–C bond of the SWCNT. Solvent-accessible surface areas (<i>S</i>), solid volume (<i>V</i>), dimensionless aspect ratio (κ = <i>S</i>³/<i>V</i>²), contact angle, adaptive common neighbor analysis, and radial density distribution function have been used for the analysis of wetting and structural evolution of gold over the SWCNT. The present theoretical investigation will enhance our understanding related to the solid-state physical phenomena for the development of various types of metallic nanostructures

Ultrafast THz probing of nonlocal orbital current in transverse multilayer metallic heterostructures

THz generation from femtosecond photoexcited spintronic heterostructures has recently become a versatile tool for investigating ultrafast spin-transport and transient charge-current in a non-contact and non-invasive manner. The same from the orbital effects is still in the primitive stage. Here, we experimentally demonstrate orbital-to-charge current conversion in metallic heterostructures, consisting of a ferromagnetic layer adjacent to either a light or a heavy metal layer, through detection of the emitted THz pulses. Temperature-dependent experiments help to disentangle the orbital and spin components that are manifested in the respective Hall-conductivities, contributing to THz emission. NiFe/Nb shows the strongest inverse orbital Hall effect with an experimentally extracted value of effective Hall-conductivity, \sigma_SOH^int^eff ~ 280 {\Omega}^(-1){cm}^(-1), while CoFeB/Pt shows maximum contribution from the inverse spin Hall effect. In addition, we observe nearly ten-fold enhancement in the THz emission due to pronounced orbital-transport in W-insertion heavy metal layer in CoFeB/W/Ta heterostructure as compared to the CoFeB/Ta bilayer counterpart

Optical and Terahertz Response of Carbon Nanostructures

In the last three decades or so, we have witnessed an extraordinary progress in the research and technology of carbon-based nanomaterials. Among the peculiar highlights are the discoveries of fullerene, the carbon nanotubes and the magnificent simple scotch tape exfoliated graphene. The unique photophysical properties of these different allotropic forms of the nanocarbon have opened up vast application possibilities in many fields of science and technology, with particular emphasis on optoelectronics and photonics. A prerequisite for many of these applications is a thorough understanding of the nature of the elementary and coupled excitations and also various dynamical processes involving them. Here, we present an overview of the recent excitement with the carbon nanostructures, in particular, the quantum dots, nanotubes and graphene. We discuss some of their very interesting properties investigated through optical and THz spectroscopic tools. At optical frequencies, the light emitting properties, the nonlinearities and ultrafast response have been presented, while, the low-energy response has been considered in terms of studies obtained by using THz time-domain spectroscopy. Finally, we conclude with some of the future prospects on the photophysics of carbon nanosystems in realistic applications

Regulation of CpBV gene expressions in <i>P</i>. <i>xylostella</i> during parasitism of <i>C</i>. <i>plutellae</i>.

Regulation of gene expression was calculated by ratios of expression levels (FPKM values from Illumina HiSeq) at early (one days after parasitization: P1) and late (7 days after parasitization: P7) parasitic stages. (A) Early and late up-regulated genes. Shaded areas indicate top 10 up-regulated genes in each category. (B) Validation of expression levels obtained from Illumina HiSeq data (FPKM values) with relative transcripts levels obtained from RT-qPCR. Lines on spots represent linear regressions. ‘Combined’ indicate both early and late up-regulated genes.</p

Molecular docking, X-ray crystallography, Hirshfeld surface and computational studies of <i>N</i>-((2,3-dichlorophenyl)(ethoxy)methyl)-2-methoxy-4-nitrobenzenamine

In this study, we report the synthesis, characterization and theoretical study of an organic compound namely N-((2,3-dichlorophenyl)(ethoxy)methyl)-2-methoxy-4-nitrobenzenamine (L) as potential drug candidate against SARS-CoV-2 main protease. Structural and Hirshfeld surface analysis was carried out on the organic compound (L). The potential application was also assessed through molecular docking and 3-D visualizations of intermolecular interactions with two very important crucial proteins of SARS-CoV-2 (MPro-7C6U & 7C6S). Molecular docking calculations exhibited high binding energy and inhibition constant of −7.4 kcal/mol and 2.413 µM with SARS-CoV-2 MPro. Besides this, an ADMET prediction was also studied. This study provides an alternative and viable therapeutic agent for SARS-CoV-2 virus.</p

Persistent expression of <i>Cotesia plutellae</i> bracovirus genes in parasitized host, <i>Plutella xylostella</i>

<div><p>Cotesia plutellae (= vestalis) bracovirus (CpBV) is symbiotic to an endoparasitoid wasp, <i>C</i>. <i>plutellae</i>, and plays crucial roles in parasitism against the diamondback moth, <i>Plutella xylostella</i>. CpBV virion genome consists of 35 circular DNAs encoding 157 putative open reading frames (ORFs). This study re-annotated 157 ORFs with update genome database and analyzed their gene expressions at early and late parasitic stages. Re-annotation has established 15 different viral gene families, to which 83 ORFs are assigned with remaining 74 hypothetical genes. Among 157 ORFs, 147 genes were expressed at early or late parasitic stages, among which 141 genes were expressed in both parasitic stages, indicating persistent nature of gene expression. Relative frequencies of different viral circles present in the ovarian lumen did not explain the expression variation of the viral ORFs. Furthermore, expression level of each viral gene was varied during parasitism along with host development. Highly up-regulated CpBV genes at early parasitic stage included BEN (<u>B</u>ANP, <u>E</u>₅R and <u>N</u>AC₁), ELP (EP1-like protein), IkB (inhibitor kB), P494 (protein 494 kDa) family genes, while those at late stage were mostly hypothetical genes. Along with the viral gene expression, 362 host genes exhibited more than two fold changes in expression levels at early parasitic stage compared to nonparasitized host. At late stage, more number (1,858) of host genes was regulated. These results suggest that persistent expression of most CpBV genes may be necessary to regulate host physiological processes during <i>C</i>. <i>plutellae</i> parasitism.</p></div

Design and molecular docking studies of {N¹-[2-(amino)ethyl]ethane-1,2-diamine}-[tris(oxido)]-molybdenum(VI) complex as a potential antivirus drug: from synthesis to structure

The aim of this study was to synthesize and examine the molecular docking of a Mo(VI) complex [Mo(dien)O3] (1), {N1-[2-(amino)ethyl]ethane-1,2-diamine}-[tris(oxido)]-molybdenum(VI) as a potential antivirus drug against the SARS-CoV-2, HIV and polio viruses. [Mo(dien)O3] (1) was fully characterized, including single crystal x-ray crystallography. The complex was crystallized in the orthorhombic crystal system with Pbcm space group and has distorted octahedral coordination geometry. DFT calculations have been explored for structure-property relationships. The Hirshfeld surface analysis and 2D fingerprint plots were also performed to investigate intermolecular interactions in the crystal structure. Antibacterial activities of 1 were also studied. In order to have insight into the potential application of 1 as an effective antivirus agent, we have examined the molecular docking of 1 with SARS-CoV-2 Mpro (PDB ID: 7N0I), HIV virus (PDB ID: 6MCF) , Polio virus (PDB ID: 1HXS), and DNA duplex dodecamer (PDB ID: 1BNA). The molecular docking results reveal that 1 with Mpro of SARS-CoV-2, HIV-1 RNA and Polio virus resulted in binding energies (ΔG) of −9.9 kcal/mol, −8.8 kcal/mol and −8.4 kcal/mol with good inhibition constant (Ki) of 6.539 µM, 5.113 µM and 4.237 µM, respectively. Overall, in silico molecular docking predicts potential antivirus effects of 1 against the virus of SARS CoV-2, HIV, and Polio.</p

A revised annotation of 157 CpBV ORFs from 35 circles (C1-C35).

<p>Their sequences are obtained from GenBank with accession numbers of HQ009524-HQ009558.</p