A retrieval evaluation methodology for incomplete relevance assessments

In this paper we a propose an extended methodology for laboratory based Information Retrieval evaluation under in complete relevance assessments. This new protocol aims to identify potential uncertainty during system comparison that may result from incompleteness. We demonstrate how this methodology can lead towards a finer grained analysis of systems. This is advantageous, because the detection of uncertainty during the evaluation process can guide and direct researchers when evaluating new systems over existing and future test collections

Intra-assessor consistency in question answering

In this paper we investigate the consistency of answer assessment in a complex question answering task examining features of assessor consistency, types of answers and question type

Selective inhibition of phosphodiesterases 4, 5 and 9 induces HSP20 phosphorylation and attenuates amyloid beta 1-42 mediated cytotoxicity

Phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors are currently under evaluation as agents that may facilitate the improvement of cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer's disease. Our aim was to determine whether inhibitors of PDEs 4,5 and 9 could alleviate the cytotoxic effects of amyloid beta 1–42 (Aβ1-42) via a mechanism involving the small heatshock protein HSP20. We show that inhibition of PDEs 4,5 and 9 but not 3 induces the phosphorylation of HSP20 which, in turn, increases the co-localisation between the chaperone and Aβ1-42 to significantly decrease the toxic effect of the peptide. We conclude that inhibition of PDE9 is most effective to combat Aβ1-42 cytotoxicity in our cell model

Contextual information and assessor characteristics in complex question answering

The ciqa track investigates the role of interaction in answering complex questions: questions that relate two or more entities by some specified relationship. In our submission to the first ciqa track we were interested in the interplay between groups of variables: variables describing the question creators, the questions asked and the presentation of answers to the questions. We used two interaction forms - html questionnaires completed before answer assessment - to gain contextual information from the answer assessors to better understand what factors influence assessors when judging retrieved answers to complex questions. Our results indicate the importance of understanding the assessor's personal relationship to the question - their existing topical knowledge for example - and also the presentation of the answers - contextual information about the answer to aid in the assessment of the answer

University of Strathclyde at TREC HARD

The motivation behind the University of Strathclyde's approach to this years HARD track was inspired from previous experiences by other participants, in particular research by [1], [3] and [4]. A running theme throughout these papers was the underlying hypothesis that a user's familiarity in a topic (i.e. their previous experience searching a subject), will form the basis for what type or style of document they will perceive as relevant. In other words, the user's context with regards to their previous search experience will determine what type of document(s) they wish to retrieve

The Inclusive Semileptonic Decay Lepton Spectrum from B→Xeν‾B \to X e \overline{\nu}

In this talk, we review the QCD calculation of the lepton spectrum from inclusive semileptonic $B$ decay. We compare this prediction to that of the ACCMM model. This latter work was done in collaboration with Csaba Csaki.Comment: MIT-CTP-2333, uses LATEX. Invited Talk, Presented at WHEPP-3 Workshop in Madras,India, January, 199

Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict

Announcing a new series Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflictwww.palgrave.comThis book series explores the relationship between cultural heritage and conflict. The key themes of the series are the heritage and memory of war and conflict, contested heritage, and competing memories. The series editors seek books that analyze the dynamics of the past from the perspective of tangible and intangible remnants, spaces, and traces as well as heritage appropriations and restitutions, significations, musealizations and mediatizations in the present. Books in the series should address topics such as the politics of heritage and conflict, identity and trauma, mourning and reconciliation, nationalism and ethnicity, diaspora and intergenerational memories, painful heritage and terrorscapes, as well as the mediated re-enactments of conflicted pasts.Dr. Ihab Saloul is assistant professor of cultural studies, and academic coordinator ofHeritage and Memory Studiesat University of Amsterdam. Saloul’s interests include cultural memory and identity politics, narrative theory and visual analysis, conflict and trauma, Diaspora and migration as well as contemporary cultural thought in the Middle East.Prof. Rob van der Laarse is research director of the Amsterdam School for Heritage and Memory Studies (ASHMS) at the University of Amsterdam. Van der Laarse’s research focuses on (early) modern European elite and intellectual cultures, cultural landscape, heritage and identity politics, and the cultural roots and postwar memory of the Holocaust.Dr. Britt Baillieis affiliated lecturer of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and a Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria. Baillie's interest include the politicization of cultural heritage, heritage and the city, memory and identity, religious uses and space, theories of destruction, heritage as commons, contested heritage and the nature of urban space.SERIES EDITORS: Ihab Saloul, Rob van de Laarse, and Britt BaillieFor more information onPalgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflictor to submit a proposal please contact Brigitte Shull, Publisher (Literature), [email protected]

Revised classification of the soils of Belize

The soil classification of Belize is revised and updated, starting from the system devised for 'Land in British Honduras' by A. C. S. Wright and his colleagues in the 1950s, the only previous country-wide survey of soils and land resources. The revised classification is a three-tiered system consisting of soil suites, subsuites and series. The suites are based on rock type, and the subsuites on soil profile characteristics. The main groups of soils, the soil suites, and the soil subsuites are described separately at progressively increasing levels of detail. There are insufficient data to describe soil series as yet, but guidelines for the definition and naming of new series are indicated. The classes of the revised system are correlated with all of the soil classifications previously used in Belize, and with the two main international systems of soil classification. Important chemical features of the-main soil groups are summarized and compared. The comparisons vindicate the revised classification

Regulation of endothelial-specific transgene expression by the LacI repressor protein in vivo

Genetically modified mice have played an important part in elucidating gene function in vivo. However, conclusions from transgenic studies may be compromised by complications arising from the site of transgene integration into the genome and, in inducible systems, the non-innocuous nature of inducer molecules. The aim of the present study was to use the vascular system to validate a technique based on the bacterial lac operon system, in which transgene expression can be repressed and de-repressed by an innocuous lactose analogue, IPTG. We have modified an endothelium specific promoter (TIE2) with synthetic LacO sequences and made transgenic mouse lines with this modified promoter driving expression of mutant forms of connexin40 and an independently translated reporter, EGFP. We show that tissue specificity of this modified promoter is retained in the vasculature of transgenic mice in spite of the presence of LacO sequences, and that transgene expression is uniform throughout the endothelium of a range of adult systemic and cerebral arteries and arterioles. Moreover, transgene expression can be consistently down-regulated by crossing the transgenic mice with mice expressing an inhibitor protein LacI(R), and in one transgenic line, transgene expression could be de-repressed rapidly by the innocuous inducer, IPTG. We conclude that the modified bacterial lac operon system can be used successfully to validate transgenic phenotypes through a simple breeding schedule with mice homozygous for the LacI(R) protein.CEH and KIM acknowledge funding support from NH&MRC Project Grant #471421