Explainable Semantic Retrieval Using Dual Encoder Large Language Models

Semantic matching utilizing large language models (LLMs) to convert text or images into embeddings and scoring them can outperform keyword matching in various ways by matching on meaning rather than word equality. However, semantic matching lacks explainability. This disclosure describes dual-encoder LLM techniques to confer explainability to LLM-based semantic matches within information retrieval systems. Semantic meanings are attached to abstract mathematical embeddings to generate gravitational fields that enable dynamic, high-quality information retrieval as measured by precision/recall, query-understanding, concept-matching, speed, scalability, etc. while providing justifications and user-visible corroborations of search results. Information retrieval is also improved in diversity, personalization, and efficiency, with high query throughput at low latency

Four Sistine Ethiopians? The 1481 Ethiopian Embassy and the Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican

As proposed by several scholars, among the many modern on-lookers depicted on the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, foreign diplomats are also portrayed: e.g., the Portuguese ambassador and the Florentine emissaries. In the present paper it is suggested that portraits of four of the six members of the momentous Ethiopian delegation – which was headed by Antonio, chaplain of aṣe Ǝskǝndǝr, and arrived at Rome in the first half of November 1481 – may be identified in two scenes, i.e. the Temptation of Moses by Sandro Botticelli and the Crossing of the Red Sea by Biagio d’Antonio Tucci. The paper focuses on the relationship between the visual representation of these four men – Antonio being most probably included – and two contemporary literary works: the treatise by Paride de Grassi on the ambassadors to the Roman curia and the writing by Andreas Trapezuntius on the Roman political situation at the end of 1481 respectively. Such  topics as the genuflexion of the Ethiopians and the content of Sixtus IV with the Ethiopian embassy are dealt with. The importance of the suggested identifications for the problematic chronology of the frescoes is also discussed, and so a few other aspects of the two narrative scenes

Thorny Geopolitical Problems in the Palace G Archives. The Ebla Southern Horizon, Part One: the Middle Orontes Basin

The analysis of 169 attestations of the Middle Orontes toponyms Neʾayu, Tunep and Ḥamāt mentioned in the Palace G Ebla texts leads to a discussion of, among others, the following topics: personal and divine names; ritual activities, divine paraphernalia and religious landscape; political events concerning inter alia Ḥamāt, Armi and Nabu; size, inner articulation and borders of the kingdom of Ebla (with the Middle Orontes as frontier); Ib-rí-um’s family; military leaders; various economic matters (juridical texts dealing with agricultural land; mules wintering along the Orontes; drainage activities possibly around the Matkh Lake; Mari merchants in a kārum at Tunep; cutting and trade of timber); speculations on the 3rd Mill. name of the Orontes.L’analyse de 169 attestations des trois toponymes du moyen Oronte Neʾayu, Tunep et Ḥamāt mentionnés dans les textes d’Ebla du Palais G permet une discussion notamment sur les sujets suivants : anthroponymes et théonymes ; activités rituelles, paraphernalia divins et paysages religieux ; événements politiques concernant inter alia Ḥamāt, Armi et Nabu ; taille, organisation interne et frontières du royaume d’Ebla (avec le moyen Oronte comme frontière) ; la famille d’Ib-rí-um ; les chefs militaires ; activités économiques diverses (textes juridiques traitant de la terre agricole ; mules hivernant le long de l’Oronte ; activités plausibles de drainage autour du lac Matkh ; marchands de Mari dans un kārum à Tunep ; débitage et commerce du bois) ; spéculations sur le nom de l’Oronte au IIIe millénaire.ملخص – إن تحليل 169 شهادة عن تسميات العاصي الأوسط المذكورة في نصوص إيبلا، التي عثر عليها في القصر G, والتي تخص مدن ني أيو وتونيب وحماة، يسمح بمناقشة عدة مواضيع خصوصاً التالية: أسماء الأشخاص والآلهة والأنشطة الخيرية, والأدوات الإلهية والمشاهد الدينية والأحداث السياسية، المتعلقة بجملة أمور تتعلق بحماة وأرمي ونَبو,، كالحجم والتنظيم الداخلي وحدود مملكة حماة (مع العاصي الأوسط كحدود), وقبيلة إب-رأ-أومأ والقادة العسكريين والنصوص القانونية, التي تتطرق للأراضي الزراعية, والبغال, التي تمضي فصل الشتاء على طول نهر العاصي, وأنشطة الصرف الممكنة حول بحيرة المطخ وتجار ماري, في كروم تونيب, وقطع وتجارة الأخشاب والبحث عن اسم نهر العاصي في الألفية الثالثة

On the Savéant's Concerted/Stepwise Model. The Electroreduction of Halogenated Naphthalene Derivatives as a Case Study

The electroreduction of 1-Br-2-naphthol is shown to be a not-additive process with respect to the results obtained with two structurally related chiral [1,1′-Binaphthalene]-2,2′-diol, 6,6′-dibromo and 1,1′-Binaphthalene,6,6′-dibromo-2,2′-dimethoxy compounds. The 1-Br-2-naphtol reduction is accompanied by the carbon bromine dissociation, eventually producing a film due to a fast radical-radical cross reaction. The film formation is not observed in the BINOL-like chiral halogen-derivatives

Cross-Linked Hyaluronan Derivatives in the Delivery of Phycocyanin

An easy and viable crosslinking technology, based on the “click-chemistry” reaction copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition (click-crosslinking), was applied to graft copolymers of medium molecular weight (i.e., 270 kDa) hyaluronic acid (HA) grafted with ferulic acid (FA) residues bearing clickable propargyl groups, as well as caffeic acid derivatives bearing azidoterminated oligo(ethylene glycol) side chains. The obtained crosslinked materials were characterized from the point of view of their structure and aggregation liability to form hydrogels in a water environment. The most promising materials showed interesting loading capability regarding the antioxidant agent phycocyanin (PC). Two novel materials complexes (namely HA(270)-FA-TEGECCL- 20/PC and HA(270)-FA-HEGEC-CL-20/PC) were obtained with a drug-to-material ratio of 1:2 (w/w). Zeta potential measurements of the new complexes (−1.23 mV for HA(270)-FA-TEGECCL- 20/PC and −1.73 mV for HA(270)-FA-HEGEC-CL-20/PC) showed alterations compared to the zeta potential values of the materials on their own, suggesting the achievement of drug–material interactions. According to the in vitro dissolution studies carried out in different conditions, novel drug delivery systems (DDSs) were obtained with a variety of characteristics depending on the desired route of administration and, consequently, on the pH of the surrounding environment, thanks to the complexation of phycocyanin with these two new crosslinked materials. Both complexes showed excellent potential for providing a controlled/prolonged release of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). They also increased the amount of drug that reach the target location, enabling pH-dependent release. Importantly, as demonstrated by the DPPH free radical scavenging assay, the complexation process, involving freezing and freeze-drying, showed no adverse effects on the antioxidant activity of phycocyanin. This activity was preserved in the two novel materials and followed a concentration-dependent pattern similar to pure PC

Design and optimization of solid lipid nanoparticles loaded with Triamcinolone Acetonide

Principles of quality by design and design of experiments are acquiring more importance in the discovery and application of new drug carriers, such as solid lipid nanoparticles. In this work, an optimized synthesis of solid lipid nanoparticles loaded with Triamcinolone Acetonide is presented using an approach that involves Stearic Acid as a lipid, soy PC as an ionic surfactant, and Tween 80 as a nonionic surfactant. The constructed circumscribed Central Composite Design considers the lipid and nonionic surfactant quantities and the sonication amplitude in order to optimize particle size and Zeta potential, both measured by means of Dynamic Light Scattering, while the separation of unentrapped drug from the optimized Triamcinolone Acetonide-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles formulation is performed by Size Exclusion Chromatography and, subsequently, the encapsulation efficiency is determined by HPLC-DAD. The proposed optimized formulation—with the goal of maximizing Zeta potential and minimizing particle size—has shown good accordance with predicted values of Zeta potential and dimensions, as well as a high value of encapsulated Triamcinolone Acetonide. Experimental values obtained from the optimized synthesis reports a dimension of 683 ± 5 nm, which differs by 3% from the predicted value, and a Zeta potential of −38.0 ± 7.6 mV (12% difference from the predicted value). © 2023 by the authors

On the integration of Poisson homogeneous spaces

We study a reduction procedure for describing the symplectic groupoid of a Poisson homogeneous space obtained by quotient of a coisotropic subgroup. We perform it as a reduction of the Lu-Weinstein symplectic groupoid integrating Poisson Lie groups, that is suitable even for the non complete case.Comment: 22 pages, minor change