CGoDial: A Large-Scale Benchmark for Chinese Goal-oriented Dialog Evaluation

Practical dialog systems need to deal with various knowledge sources, noisy user expressions, and the shortage of annotated data. To better solve the above problems, we propose CGoDial, new challenging and comprehensive Chinese benchmark for multi-domain Goal-oriented Dialog evaluation. It contains 96,763 dialog sessions and 574,949 dialog turns totally, covering three datasets with different knowledge sources: 1) a slot-based dialog (SBD) dataset with table-formed knowledge, 2) a flow-based dialog (FBD) dataset with tree-formed knowledge, and a retrieval-based dialog (RBD) dataset with candidate-formed knowledge. To bridge the gap between academic benchmarks and spoken dialog scenarios, we either collect data from real conversations or add spoken features to existing datasets via crowd-sourcing. The proposed experimental settings include the combinations of training with either the entire training set or a few-shot training set, and testing with either the standard test set or a hard test subset, which can assess model capabilities in terms of general prediction, fast adaptability and reliable robustness.Comment: EMNLP 202

Run or Die in the Evolution of New MicroRNAs-Testing the Red Queen Hypothesis on De Novo New Genes.

The Red Queen hypothesis depicts evolution as the continual struggle to adapt. According to this hypothesis, new genes, especially those originating from nongenic sequences (i.e., de novo genes), are eliminated unless they evolve continually in adaptation to a changing environment. Here, we analyze two Drosophila de novo miRNAs that are expressed in a testis-specific manner with very high rates of evolution in their DNA sequence. We knocked out these miRNAs in two sibling species and investigated their contributions to different fitness components. We observed that the fitness contributions of miR-975 in Drosophila simulans seem positive, in contrast to its neutral contributions in D. melanogaster, whereas miR-983 appears to have negative contributions in both species, as the fitness of the knockout mutant increases. As predicted by the Red Queen hypothesis, the fitness difference of these de novo miRNAs indicates their different fates

On the possibility of death of new genes – evidence from the deletion of de novo microRNAs

Abstract Background New genes are constantly formed, sometimes from non-genic sequences, creating what is referred to as de novo genes. Since the total number of genes remains relatively steady, gene deaths likely balance out new births. In metazoan genomes, microRNAs (miRs) genes, small and non-coding, account for the bulk of functional de novo genes and are particularly suited to the investigation of gene death. Results In this study, we discover a Drosophila-specific de novo miRNA (mir-977) that may be facing impending death. Strikingly, after this testis-specific gene is deleted from D. melanogaster, most components of male fitness increase, rather than decrease as had been expected. These components include male viability, fertility and males’ ability to repress female re-mating. Given that mir-977 has a negative fitness effect in D. melanogaster, this de novo gene with an adaptive history for over 60 Myrs may be facing elimination. In some other species where mir-977 is not found, gene death may have already happened. Conclusion The surprising result suggests that de novo genes, constantly rising and falling during evolution, may often be transiently adaptive and then purged from the genome

Association between low serum magnesium level and major adverse cardiac events in patients treated with drug-eluting stents for acute myocardial infarction.

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the association of serum magnesium (Mg) levels and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation. BACKGROUND: Mg depletion plays a key role in the pathphysiologic features of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, thrombosis, arrhythmias and coronary artery disease. Whether the depletion is related to the long-term prognosis of DES implantation is not known. METHODS: From 2008 to 2011, we enrolled 414 consecutive patients <50 years old who underwent DES implantation for acute coronary syndrome. Serum Mg level was analyzed and patients were followed up for a median of 24 months (interquartile range 14-32 months) for the occurrence of MACEs defined as death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and any revascularization. RESULTS: For patients with unstable angina, no significant association between serum Mg level and MACEs was found in the multivariate model. For patients with myocardial infarction, after adjusting for age, positive family history, smoking status, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes at baseline, the risk was 8.11-fold higher for patients with quartile 1 than 4 Mg level (95% confidence interval 1.7-38.75; P<0.01). In addition, when tested as a continuous variable, serum magnesium was a significant predictor for MACEs of acute myocardial infarction (HR [per 0.1 mM increase], 0.35 [95% CI, 0.19-0.63], p< 0.01), after adjustment for other confounders. CONCLUSIONS: Low serum level of Mg may be an important predictor of MACEs with DES implantation for acute myocardial infarction. Further research into the effectiveness of Mg supplementation for these patients is warranted

Analysis of Confinement in Dual Spherical-Tapered Ended Fiber Optical Trap

In dual-fiber optical traps, two counter-propagating laser beams emitted from opposing laser fibers trap and manipulate particles. We describe the operation and performance of a dual-fiber optical trap created using spherical-tapered ended fiber pigtailed to 1436 nm laser diodes. Compared with the dual flat ended fiber optical trap, the dual spherical-tapered ended fiber optical trap increased the axial stiffness from 0.44 pN/µm to 0.99 pN/µm, and increased the lateral stiffness from 1.68 pN/µm to 1.76 pN/µm. The dual-fiber optical trap fabricated by spherical-tapered ended fiber enhanced the trapping efficiency of the optical trap. It expanded the application range and reliability of the dual-fiber optical trap. Additionally, we integrated the dual-fiber optical trap into an optical chip, thereby improving the stability of the system

Analysis of Confinement in Dual Spherical-Tapered Ended Fiber Optical Trap

In dual-fiber optical traps, two counter-propagating laser beams emitted from opposing laser fibers trap and manipulate particles. We describe the operation and performance of a dual-fiber optical trap created using spherical-tapered ended fiber pigtailed to 1436 nm laser diodes. Compared with the dual flat ended fiber optical trap, the dual spherical-tapered ended fiber optical trap increased the axial stiffness from 0.44 pN/&micro;m to 0.99 pN/&micro;m, and increased the lateral stiffness from 1.68 pN/&micro;m to 1.76 pN/&micro;m. The dual-fiber optical trap fabricated by spherical-tapered ended fiber enhanced the trapping efficiency of the optical trap. It expanded the application range and reliability of the dual-fiber optical trap. Additionally, we integrated the dual-fiber optical trap into an optical chip, thereby improving the stability of the system

Additional file 1: of On the possibility of death of new genes – evidence from the deletion of de novo microRNAs

Figure S1. Independent deletion confirms male fertility increase due to mir-977 deletion. Figure S2. Lifecycle of new gene. Table S1. mir-977 expression in Drosophila species. Table S2. Expression variation of mir-977 in testes across 5 lines of D. melanogaster. Table S3. Male fertility of mir-977 KO. Table S4. Stimulating ovulation and sperm quality of mir-977 KO. Table S5. Meiotic drive of mir-977 KO. Table S6. Viability of mir-977 KO. Table S7. Mating success of mir-977 KO. Table S8. Primers used in this study. Table S9. TALEN pairs design for mir-977. (PPTX 277 kb

Face Mask Identification Using Spatial and Frequency Features in Depth Image from Time-of-Flight Camera

Face masks can effectively prevent the spread of viruses. It is necessary to determine the wearing condition of masks in various locations, such as traffic stations, hospitals, and other places with a risk of infection. Therefore, achieving fast and accurate identification in different application scenarios is an urgent problem to be solved. Contactless mask recognition can avoid the waste of human resources and the risk of exposure. We propose a novel method for face mask recognition, which is demonstrated using the spatial and frequency features from the 3D information. A ToF camera with a simple system and robust data are used to capture the depth images. The facial contour of the depth image is extracted accurately by the designed method, which can reduce the dimension of the depth data to improve the recognition speed. Additionally, the classification process is further divided into two parts. The wearing condition of the mask is first identified by features extracted from the facial contour. The types of masks are then classified by new features extracted from the spatial and frequency curves. With appropriate thresholds and a voting method, the total recall accuracy of the proposed algorithm can achieve 96.21%. Especially, the recall accuracy for images without mask can reach 99.21%

Additional file 3: of On the possibility of death of new genes – evidence from the deletion of de novo microRNAs

Raw data of male fitness components for mir-977 KO. Detail components: male fertility (related to Fig. 3a and Additional file 1: Figure S1b), stimulating ovulation (related to Fig. 3a), sperm quality (related to Fig. 3a), meiotic drive (related to Fig. 3b). (XLSX 12 kb