An introduction to crowdsourcing for language and multimedia technology research

Language and multimedia technology research often relies on large manually constructed datasets for training or evaluation of algorithms and systems. Constructing these datasets is often expensive with significant challenges in terms of recruitment of personnel to carry out the work. Crowdsourcing methods using scalable pools of workers available on-demand offers a flexible means of rapid low-cost construction of many of these datasets to support existing research requirements and potentially promote new research initiatives that would otherwise not be possible

Two quantum Ising algorithms for the shortest-vector problem

Quantum computers are expected to break today's public key cryptography within a few decades. New cryptosystems are being designed and standardized for the postquantum era, and a significant proportion of these rely on the hardness of problems like the shortest-vector problem to a quantum adversary. In this paper we describe two variants of a quantum Ising algorithm to solve this problem. One variant is spatially efficient, requiring only O ( N log 2 N ) qubits, where N is the lattice dimension, while the other variant is more robust to noise. Analysis of the algorithms' performance on a quantum annealer and in numerical simulations shows that the more qubit-efficient variant will outperform in the long run, while the other variant is more suitable for near-term implementation

Synergistic ultraviolet and visible light photo-activation enables intensified low-temperature methanol synthesis over copper/zinc oxide/alumina

Although photoexcitation has been employed to unlock the low-temperature equilibrium regimes of thermal catalysis, mechanism underlining potential interplay between electron excitations and surface chemical processes remains elusive. Here, we report an associative zinc oxide band-gap excitation and copper plasmonic excitation that can cooperatively promote methanol-production at the copper-zinc oxide interfacial perimeter of copper/zinc oxide/alumina (CZA) catalyst. Conversely, selective excitation of individual components only leads to the promotion of carbon monoxide production. Accompanied by the variation in surface copper oxidation state and local electronic structure of zinc, electrons originating from the zinc oxide excitation and copper plasmonic excitation serve to activate surface adsorbates, catalysing key elementary processes (namely formate conversion and hydrogen molecule activation), thus providing one explanation for the observed photothermal activity. These observations give valuable insights into the key elementary processes occurring on the surface of the CZA catalyst under light-heat dual activation

UK B.1.1.7 variant exhibits increased respiratory replication and shedding in nonhuman primates.

The continuing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for regular assessment to identify differences in viral replication, shedding and associated disease. In this study, African green monkeys were infected intranasally with either a contemporary D614G or the UK B.1.1.7 variant. Both variants caused mild respiratory disease with no significant differences in clinical presentation. Significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus were found in upper and lower respiratory tract samples and tissues from B.1.1.7 infected animals. Interestingly, D614G infected animals showed significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus in rectal swabs and gastrointestinal tract tissues. Our results indicate that B.1.1.7 infection in African green monkeys is associated with increased respiratory replication and shedding but no disease enhancement similar to human B.1.1.7 cases. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY: UK B.1.1.7 infection of African green monkeys exhibits increased respiratory replication and shedding but no disease enhancement

Controlling the Production of Acid Catalyzed Products of Furfural Hydrogenation by Pd/TiO2

We demonstrate a modified sol-immobilization procedure using (MeOH)x/(H2O)1-x solvent mixtures to prepare Pd/TiO2 catalysts that are able to reduce the formation of acid catalyzed products, e. g. ethers, for the hydrogenation of furfural. Transmission electron microscopy found a significant increase in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) deposition at the metal-support interface and temperature programmed reduction found a reduced uptake of hydrogen, compared to an established Pd/TiO2 preparation. We propose that the additional PVA hinders hydrogen spillover onto the TiO2 support and limits the formation of Brønsted acid sites, required to produce ethers. Elsewhere, the new preparation route was able to successfully anchor colloidal Pd to the TiO2 surface, without the need for acidification. This work demonstrates the potential for minimizing process steps as well as optimizing catalyst selectivity – both important objectives for sustainable chemistry

Quality Assessment in Crowdsourced Indigenous Language Transcription

The digital Bleek and Lloyd Collection is a rare collection that contains artwork, notebooks and dictionaries of the indigenous people of Southern Africa. The notebooks, in particular, contain stories that encode the language, culture and beliefs of these people, handwritten in now-extinct languages with a specialised notation system. Previous attempts have been made to convert the approximately 20000 pages of text to a machine-readable form using machine learning algorithms but, due to the complexity of the text, the recognition accuracy was low. In this paper, a crowdsourcing method is proposed to transcribe the manuscripts, where non-expert volunteers transcribe pages of the notebooks using an online tool. Experiments were conducted to determine the quality and consistency of transcriptions. The results show that volunteeers are able to produce reliable transcriptions of high quality. The inter-transcriber agreement is 80% for |Xam text and 95% for English text. When the |Xam text transcriptions produced by the volunteers are compared with a gold standard, the volunteers achieve an average accuracy of 64.75%, which exceeded that in previous work. Finally, the degree of transcription agreement correlates with the degree of transcription accuracy. This suggests that the quality of unseen data can be assessed based on the degree of agreement among transcribers

Directed aqueous-phase reforming of glycerol through tailored platinum nanoparticles

Sustainable technologies require both renewable feedstocks and catalysts that are able to direct their conversion to specific products. We establish a structure-activity relationship for the aqueous phase reforming of glycerol over 2% Pt/Al2O3 catalysts, whereby the reaction pathway can be controlled to produce either hydrogen or 1,2-propanediol as the main product. Using the colloidal synthesis method, the reduction temperature was altered to produce Pt nanoparticle catalysts supported on Al2O3 with varying Pt particle size. The catalytic activity of the samples for the APR of glycerol resulted in a higher conversion of glycerol (34%) for the larger Pt particle size of ∼3.5 nm, producing the liquid 1,2-propanediol as the major product with a yield of 12.5%, whereas smaller particles of ∼2.2 nm gave hydrogen as the main product (5.5% yield). This work demonstrates how the APR of glycerol can be tuned to yield both valuable liquid and gas products using tailored Pt nanoparticles

Operando XAFS investigation on the effect of ash deposition on three-way catalyst used in Gasoline Particulate Filters and the effect of the manufacturing process on the catalytic activity

Platinum group metals (PGM) such as palladium and rhodium based catalysts are currently being implemented in Gasoline Particulate Filter (GPF) autoexhaust aftertreatment systems. However, little is known about how the trapped particulate matter, such as the incombustible ash, interacts with the catalyst and so may affect its performance. This operando study follows the evolution of the Pd found in two different model GPF systems: one containing ash components extracted from a GPF and another from a catalyst washcoat prior to adhesion onto the GPF. We show that the catalytic activity of the two systems vary when compared with a 0 g ash containing GPF. Compared to the 0 g ash sample the 20 g ash containing sample had a higher CO light off temperature, in addition, an oscillation profile for CO, CO2 and O2 was observed, which is speculated to be a combination of CO oxidation, C deposition via a Boudouard Reaction and further partial oxidation of the deposited species to CO. During the ageing procedure the washcoat sample reduces NO at a lower temperature than the 0 g ash sample. However, post ageing the 0 g ash sample recovers and both samples reduce NO at 310 circleC. In comparison, the 20 g ash GPF sample maintains a higher NO reduction temperature of 410 circleC post ageing, implying that the combination of high temperature ageing and presence of ash has an irreversible negative effect on catalyst performance

Combined molnupiravir-nirmatrelvir treatment improves the inhibitory effect on SARS-CoV-2 in macaques

The periodic emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) with unpredictable clinical severity and ability to escape preexisting immunity emphasizes the continued need for antiviral interventions. Two small molecule inhibitors, molnupiravir (MK-4482), a nucleoside analog, and nirmatrelvir (PF-07321332), a 3C-like protease inhibitor, have recently been approved as monotherapy for use in high-risk patients with COVID-19. As preclinical data are only available for rodent and ferret models, here we assessed the efficacy of MK-4482 and PF-07321332 alone and in combination against infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta VOC in the rhesus macaque COVID-19 model. Macaques were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant and treated with vehicle, MK-4482, PF-07321332, or a combination of MK-4482 and PF-07321332. Clinical exams were performed at 1, 2, and 4 days postinfection to assess disease and virological parameters. Notably, use of MK-4482 and PF-07321332 in combination improved the individual inhibitory effect of both drugs, resulting in milder disease progression, stronger reduction of virus shedding from mucosal tissues of the upper respiratory tract, stronger reduction of viral replication in the lower respiratory tract, and reduced lung pathology. Our data strongly indicate superiority of combined MK-4482 and PF-07321332 treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections as demonstrated in the closest COVID-19 surrogate model of human infection