Tree Edit Distance Learning via Adaptive Symbol Embeddings

Metric learning has the aim to improve classification accuracy by learning a distance measure which brings data points from the same class closer together and pushes data points from different classes further apart. Recent research has demonstrated that metric learning approaches can also be applied to trees, such as molecular structures, abstract syntax trees of computer programs, or syntax trees of natural language, by learning the cost function of an edit distance, i.e. the costs of replacing, deleting, or inserting nodes in a tree. However, learning such costs directly may yield an edit distance which violates metric axioms, is challenging to interpret, and may not generalize well. In this contribution, we propose a novel metric learning approach for trees which we call embedding edit distance learning (BEDL) and which learns an edit distance indirectly by embedding the tree nodes as vectors, such that the Euclidean distance between those vectors supports class discrimination. We learn such embeddings by reducing the distance to prototypical trees from the same class and increasing the distance to prototypical trees from different classes. In our experiments, we show that BEDL improves upon the state-of-the-art in metric learning for trees on six benchmark data sets, ranging from computer science over biomedical data to a natural-language processing data set containing over 300,000 nodes.Comment: Paper at the International Conference of Machine Learning (2018), 2018-07-10 to 2018-07-15 in Stockholm, Swede

TARGET. D 7.1 - Project Management Plan

The Project Management Plan describes the management structure of TARGET as well as measures of quality management and information flow. This information is also part of the project handbook “Useful information” which all partners received in month 3 of the project. The compilation of useful information for the TARGET project has two main functions. Firstly, it acts as a reference source for all Consortium members, covering day-to-day activities and providing links to further information where required. Secondly, it aims to standardise various elements of the project e.g. project reports, deliverables, file naming conventions etc. through the use of agreed procedures and templates where relevant

Une arme miracle contre le chômage ?:Une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires

La revue Économie et Statistique vient de faire paraître un article de Bruno Crépon et Rozenn Desplatz qui propose une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires. Selon cette étude, ceux-ci auraient provoqué, de 1994 à 1997, une augmentation de 460 000 du nombre d’emplois dans l’économie française. Ce chiffre est nettement supérieur aux estimations antérieures 1. Il est maintenant évoqué dans le débat public pour justifier la poursuite de la politique de baisse des charges sociales, comme axe central de la politique de l’emploi. Compte tenu de la complexité de l’article, la plupart des commentateurs se contentent de citer le chiffre tel quel : « Les experts ont parlé ». Mais quelle est la fiabilité de ce résultat ? Par quels mécanismes, ces emplois ont-ils été créés ? La réduction des cotisations sociales est-elle une arme miracle contre le chômage ? [Premier paragraphe]Bruno Crépon et Rozenn Deslpatz, Une nouvelle évaluation des effets des allègements de charges sociales sur les bas salaires, Economie et Statistique, n°348, 2001, 0336-145

TMS for staging and predicting functional decline in frontotemporal dementia.

Abstract Objective To evaluate if transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) measures correlate with disease severity and predict functional decline in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) phenotypes. Methods Paired-pulse TMS was used to investigate the activity of different intracortical circuits in 171 FTD patients (122 bvFTD, 31 avPPA, 18 svPPA) and 74 healthy controls. Pearson's correlations were used to analyze the association between TMS measures and disease severity, while multiple regression analysis was used to identify the best clinical or neurophysiological measure to predict functional decline at 12 months. Results We observed significant strong correlations between TMS measures [short interval intracortical inhibition-facilitation (SICI-ICF) and long interval intracortical inhibition (LICI)], and disease severity (evaluated with the FTLD-CDR) (all r > 0.5, p SICI-ICF, short interval intracortical facilitation (SICF) and LICI were also significant predictors of functional decline, evaluated as the change in FTLD-CDR scores at 12 months (all p Conclusions The present study has shown that the dysfunction of inhibitory and facilitatory intracortical circuits, evaluated with TMS, correlates with disease severity and progression, accurately predicting functional decline at 12 months, better than any other investigated marker

Oral tolerance to cancer can be abrogated by T regulatory cell inhibition

Oral administration of tumour cells induces an immune hypo-responsiveness known as oral tolerance. We have previously shown that oral tolerance to a cancer is tumour antigen specific, non-cross-reactive and confers a tumour growth advantage. We investigated the utilisation of regulatory T cell (Treg) depletion on oral tolerance to a cancer and its ability to control tumour growth. Balb/C mice were gavage fed homogenised tumour tissue – JBS fibrosarcoma (to induce oral tolerance to a cancer), or PBS as control. Growth of subcutaneous JBS tumours were measured; splenic tissue excised and flow cytometry used to quantify and compare systemic Tregs and T effector (Teff) cell populations. Prior to and/or following tumour feeding, mice were intraperitoneally administered anti-CD25, to inactivate systemic Tregs, or given isotype antibody as a control. Mice which were orally tolerised prior to subcutaneous tumour induction, displayed significantly higher systemic Treg levels (14% vs 6%) and faster tumour growth rates than controls (p<0.05). Complete regression of tumours were only seen after Treg inactivation and occurred in all groups - this was not inhibited by tumour feeding. The cure rates for Treg inactivation were 60% during tolerisation, 75% during tumour growth and 100% during inactivation for both tolerisation and tumour growth. Depletion of Tregs gave rise to an increased number of Teff cells. Treg depletion post-tolerisation and post-tumour induction led to the complete regression of all tumours on tumour bearing mice. Oral administration of tumour tissue, confers a tumour growth advantage and is accompanied by an increase in systemic Treg levels. The administration of anti-CD25 Ab decreased Treg numbers and caused an increase in Teffs. Most notably Treg cell inhibition overcame established oral tolerance with consequent tumor regression, especially relevant to foregut cancers where oral tolerance is likely to be induced by the shedding of tumour tissue into the gut

High apex predator biomass on remote Pacific islands

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Coral Reefs 26 (2007): 47-51, doi:10.1007/s00338-006-0158-x.On coral reefs in Palmyra—a central Pacific atoll with limited fishing pressure—total fish biomass is 428 and 299% greater than on reefs in nearby Christmas and Fanning Islands. Large apex predators –groupers, sharks, snappers, and jacks larger than 50 cm in length- account for 56% of total fish biomass in Palmyra on average, but only 7% and 3% on Christmas and Fanning. These biomass proportions are remarkably similar to those previously reported for the remote and uninhabited Northwest Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) and densely populated Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI), although Palmyra’s reefs are dominated in biomass by sharks (44% of the total), whereas the NWHI by jacks (39%). Herbivorous fish biomass was also greater on Palmyra than on Christmas and Fanning (343% and 207%, respectively). These results and previous findings indicate that remote, uninhabited islands support high levels of consumers, and highlight the importance of healthy coral reef ecosystems as reference points for assessment of human impacts and establishment of restoration goals

Switch to maraviroc with darunavir/r, both QD, in patients with suppressed HIV-1 was well tolerated but virologically inferior to standard antiretroviral therapy: 48-Week results of a randomized trial

Objectives Primary study outcome was absence of treatment failure (virological failure, VF, or treatment interruption) per protocol at week 48. Methods Patients on 3-drug ART with stable HIV-1 RNA &lt;50 copies/mL and CCR5-tropic virus were randomized 1:1 to maraviroc with darunavir/ritonavir qd (study arm) or continue current ART (continuation arm).Results In June 2015, 115 patients were evaluable for the primary outcome (56 study, 59 continuation arm). The study was discontinued due to excess of VF in the study arm (7 cases, 12.5%, vs 0 in the continuation arm, p = 0.005). The proportion free of treatment failure was 73.2% in the study and 59.3% in the continuation arm. Two participants in the study and 10 in the continuation arm discontinued therapy due to adverse events (p = 0.030). At VF, no emergent drug resistance was detected. Co-receptor tropism switched to non-R5 in one patient. Patients with VF reported lower adherence and had lower plasma drug levels. Femoral bone mineral density was significantly improved in the study arm. Conclusion Switching to maraviroc with darunavir/ritonavir qd in virologically suppressed patients was associated with improved tolerability but was virologically inferior to 3-drug therap

Sisyphus Cooling of Electrically Trapped Polyatomic Molecules

The rich internal structure and long-range dipole-dipole interactions establish polar molecules as unique instruments for quantum-controlled applications and fundamental investigations. Their potential fully unfolds at ultracold temperatures, where a plethora of effects is predicted in many-body physics, quantum information science, ultracold chemistry, and physics beyond the standard model. These objectives have inspired the development of a wide range of methods to produce cold molecular ensembles. However, cooling polyatomic molecules to ultracold temperatures has until now seemed intractable. Here we report on the experimental realization of opto-electrical cooling, a paradigm-changing cooling and accumulation method for polar molecules. Its key attribute is the removal of a large fraction of a molecule's kinetic energy in each step of the cooling cycle via a Sisyphus effect, allowing cooling with only few dissipative decay processes. We demonstrate its potential by reducing the temperature of about 10^6 trapped CH_3F molecules by a factor of 13.5, with the phase-space density increased by a factor of 29 or a factor of 70 discounting trap losses. In contrast to other cooling mechanisms, our scheme proceeds in a trap, cools in all three dimensions, and works for a large variety of polar molecules. With no fundamental temperature limit anticipated down to the photon-recoil temperature in the nanokelvin range, our method eliminates the primary hurdle in producing ultracold polyatomic molecules. The low temperatures, large molecule numbers and long trapping times up to 27 s will allow an interaction-dominated regime to be attained, enabling collision studies and investigation of evaporative cooling toward a BEC of polyatomic molecules

Development of W–SiO2 and Nb–TiO2 solar absorber coatings for combined heat and power systems at intermediate operation temperatures

Two new absorber coatings for mid-temperature operation (300–350 1C) in collectors for solar thermal electricity plants are presented in this study. The absorbers consist of two cermet layers of either W–SiO2 or Nb–TiO2, deposited on a molybdenum infrared reflector and coated with an antireflection layer of silicon oxide. The optimization of the optical performance was made in two steps. First, the layer structure was optimized in model calculations. The optical constants used in this modelling were derived directly from sputtered films of the cermet constituents using reflectance and transmittance measure- ments. The absorber coatings were then sputter-deposited using parameters from the modelling. The results show good agreement between modelled and sputtered optical performance evaluated as solar absorptance and thermal emittance at 350 1C. The optimal values reached for W–SiO2 was 0.91 in combination with 0.08 and 0.93 in combination with 0.09 for Nb–TiO2. The materials characterization from XRD, AES and TEM shows that the composite coatings contain nano-metal inclusions, meaning that they are cermet coatings. Scratch tests show that the coatings adhere well to the substrate of stainless steel. Temperature testing at 350 1C in vacuum for up to 1500 h shows that both coatings are stable under such conditions. Only a slight change occurs during the first 72 h that decreases the emittance but does not change the solar absorptance. ERDA confirms that there is no detectable level of ion migration between layers, only a small decrease in hydrogen content was observed, which indicates outgassing.Digespo projec