On Using Active Learning and Self-Training when Mining Performance Discussions on Stack Overflow

Abundant data is the key to successful machine learning. However, supervised learning requires annotated data that are often hard to obtain. In a classification task with limited resources, Active Learning (AL) promises to guide annotators to examples that bring the most value for a classifier. AL can be successfully combined with self-training, i.e., extending a training set with the unlabelled examples for which a classifier is the most certain. We report our experiences on using AL in a systematic manner to train an SVM classifier for Stack Overflow posts discussing performance of software components. We show that the training examples deemed as the most valuable to the classifier are also the most difficult for humans to annotate. Despite carefully evolved annotation criteria, we report low inter-rater agreement, but we also propose mitigation strategies. Finally, based on one annotator's work, we show that self-training can improve the classification accuracy. We conclude the paper by discussing implication for future text miners aspiring to use AL and self-training.Comment: Preprint of paper accepted for the Proc. of the 21st International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering, 201

Crohn's Disease: An Economic Assessment of Biological Drugs in Italy

n/

The Evolution of AIFA Registries to Support Managed Entry Agreements for Orphan Medicinal Products in Italy

Italy has a well-established prominent system of national registries to support managed entry agreements (MEAs), monitoring innovative medicinal products (MPs) with clinical as well as economic uncertainties to ensure appropriate use and best value for money. The technological architecture of the registries is funded by pharmaceutical companies, but fully governed by the national medicines agency (AIFA). A desktop analysis was undertaken of data over a 15-year timeframe of all AIFA indication-based registries and associated EMA information. The characteristics of registries were evaluated, comparing orphan MPs vs. all MPs exploring cancer and non-cancer indications. OMP (orphan medicinal product) registries’ type vs. AIFA innovation status and EMA approval was reviewed. Of the 283 registries, 182 are appropriateness registries (35.2% relate to OMPs, with an almost equal split of cancer vs. non-cancer for OMPs and MPs), 35 include financial-based agreements [20% OMPs (2 non-cancer, 5 cancer)], and 60 registries are payment by result agreements [23.3% OMPs (4 non-cancer, 10 cancer)]. Most OMPs (53/88) came through the normal regulatory route. With the strengthening of the system for evaluation of innovation, fewer outcomes-based registries have been instigated. AIFA has overcome many of the challenges experienced with MEA through developing an integrated national web-based data collection system: the challenge that remains for AIFA is to move from using the system for individual patient decisions about treatment to reviewing the wealth of data it now holds to optimize healthcare

Hepatocellular Carcinoma: An Epidemiological and Management Survey-Based Analysis in Italy

n/

Perceived Competency in Grief Counseling: Implications for Counselor Education

Grief is regarded as a critical life event. Unresolved grief issues can interfere with quality of life and can result in emotional, behavioral, physical and cognitive symptoms, and if unresolved, can result in suicidal ideation. Counselors can be called upon and often do work with grief issues in clients, including U. S. Military veterans. This study examined whether 93 master’s level counselors specializing in rehabilitation counseling reported having been adequately trained to identify and work with clients who are having grief-related issues from loss or disability. Using the Grief Counseling Competency Scale (GCCS), participants showed a wide range of scores regarding personal competency related to grief. However, scores tended to be low when examining skills and knowledge relating to grief counseling. Implications for further research are discussed

Understanding the unfolding of stress regulation in infants

Early identification of problems with psychosocial stress regulation is important for supporting mental and physical health. However, we currently lack knowledge about when reliable individual differences in stress-responsive physiology emerge and which aspects of maternal behavior determine the unfolding of infants' stress responses. Knowledge of these processes is further limited by analytic approaches that do not account for multiple levels of within- and between-family effects. In a low-risk sample (n = 100 dyads), we observed infant cortisol and mother/infant behavior during regular play and stress sessions longitudinally from age 1 to 3, and used a three-level model to separately examine variability in infant cortisol trajectories within sessions, across years, and across infants. Stable individual differences in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis regulation were observed in the first 3 years of life. Infants of less sensitive and more intrusive mothers manifested stress sensitization, that is, elevated cortisol levels during and following stress exposure, a profile related to behavioral distress. These findings have important practical implications, suggesting that children at risk for long-term stress dysregulation may be identified in the earliest years of life

GMF: A Model Migration Case for the Transformation Tool Contest

Using a real-life evolution taken from the Graphical Modeling Framework, we invite submissions to explore ways in which model transformation and migration tools can be used to migrate models in response to metamodel adaptation.Comment: In Proceedings TTC 2011, arXiv:1111.440

Using an adoption–biological family design to examine associations between maternal trauma, maternal depressive symptoms, and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors

Maternal trauma is a complex risk factor that has been linked to adverse child outcomes, yet the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. This study, which included adoptive and biological families, examined the heritable and environmental mechanisms by which maternal trauma and associated depressive symptoms are linked to child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Path analyses were used to analyze data from 541 adoptive mother–adopted child (AM–AC) dyads and 126 biological mother–biological child (BM–BC) dyads; the two family types were linked through the same biological mother. Rearing mother’s trauma was associated with child internalizing and externalizing behaviors in AM–AC and BM–BC dyads, and this association was mediated by rearing mothers’ depressive symptoms, with the exception of biological child externalizing behavior, for which biological mother trauma had a direct influence only. Significant associations between maternal trauma and child behavior in dyads that share only environment (i.e., AM–AC dyads) suggest an environmental mechanism of influence for maternal trauma. Significant associations were also observed between maternal depressive symptoms and child internalizing and externalizing behavior in dyads that were only genetically related, with no shared environment (i.e., BM–AC dyads), suggesting a heritable pathway of influence via maternal depressive symptoms

Health technology assessment of pathogen reduction technologies applied to plasma for clinical use

Although existing clinical evidence shows that the transfusion of blood components is becoming increasingly safe, the risk of transmission of known and unknown pathogens, new pathogens or re-emerging pathogens still persists. Pathogen reduction technologies may offer a new approach to increase blood safety. The study is the output of collaboration between the Italian National Blood Centre and the Post-Graduate School of Health Economics and Management, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy. A large, multidisciplinary team was created and divided into six groups, each of which addressed one or more HTA domains.Plasma treated with amotosalen + UV light, riboflavin + UV light, methylene blue or a solvent/detergent process was compared to fresh-frozen plasma with regards to current use, technical features, effectiveness, safety, economic and organisational impact, and ethical, social and legal implications. The available evidence is not sufficient to state which of the techniques compared is superior in terms of efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness. Evidence on efficacy is only available for the solvent/detergent method, which proved to be non-inferior to untreated fresh-frozen plasma in the treatment of a wide range of congenital and acquired bleeding disorders. With regards to safety, the solvent/detergent technique apparently has the most favourable risk-benefit profile. Further research is needed to provide a comprehensive overview of the cost-effectiveness profile of the different pathogen-reduction techniques. The wide heterogeneity of results and the lack of comparative evidence are reasons why more comparative studies need to be performed

Two-year observations of the Jupiter polar regions by JIRAM on board Juno

We observed the evolution of Jupiter's polar cyclonic structures over two years between February 2017 and February 2019, using polar observations by the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper, JIRAM, on the Juno mission. Images and spectra were collected by the instrument in the 5‐μm wavelength range. The images were used to monitor the development of the cyclonic and anticyclonic structures at latitudes higher than 80° both in the northern and the southern hemispheres. Spectroscopic measurements were then used to monitor the abundances of the minor atmospheric constituents water vapor, ammonia, phosphine and germane in the polar regions, where the atmospheric optical depth is less than 1. Finally, we performed a comparative analysis with oceanic cyclones on Earth in an attempt to explain the spectral characteristics of the cyclonic structures we observe in Jupiter's polar atmosphere