Combination of Multiple Bipartite Ranking for Web Content Quality Evaluation

Web content quality estimation is crucial to various web content processing applications. Our previous work applied Bagging + C4.5 to achive the best results on the ECML/PKDD Discovery Challenge 2010, which is the comibination of many point-wise rankinig models. In this paper, we combine multiple pair-wise bipartite ranking learner to solve the multi-partite ranking problems for the web quality estimation. In encoding stage, we present the ternary encoding and the binary coding extending each rank value to $L - 1$ (L is the number of the different ranking value). For the decoding, we discuss the combination of multiple ranking results from multiple bipartite ranking models with the predefined weighting and the adaptive weighting. The experiments on ECML/PKDD 2010 Discovery Challenge datasets show that \textit{binary coding} + \textit{predefined weighting} yields the highest performance in all four combinations and furthermore it is better than the best results reported in ECML/PKDD 2010 Discovery Challenge competition.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 2 table

The O-antigen epitope governs susceptibility to colistin in Salmonella enterica

Some serovars of Salmonella, namely, those belonging to group D, appear to show a degree of intrinsic resistance to colistin. This observed intrinsic colistin resistance is of concern since this last-resort drug might no longer be effective for treating severe human infections with the most common Salmonella serovar, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Here, we show that the O-antigen epitope in group D Salmonella governs the levels of colistin susceptibility. Using whole-genome sequencing, we also revealed that increased colistin susceptibility in a group D Salmonella veterinary isolate was due to a defect in the O-antigen polymerase protein, Rfc. In summary, we show that two different mechanisms that influence the presence and composition of O antigens affect colistin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica.Group D and group B Salmonella enterica serovars differ in their susceptibility to colistin with the former frequently intrinsically resistant (MIC > 2 μg/ml); however, the mechanism has not been described. Here, we show that the O-antigen epitope in group D Salmonella governs the levels of colistin susceptibility. Substitution of the rfbJ gene in a group B Salmonella with the rfbSE genes from a group D Salmonella conferred a decrease in susceptibility to colistin. The presence of dideoxyhexose, abequose, and the deoxymannose, tyvelose, differentiate the Salmonella group B and group D O antigens, respectively. We hypothesize that the subtle difference between abequose and tyvelose hinders the colistin molecule from reaching its target. Whole-genome sequencing also revealed that increased colistin susceptibility in a group D Salmonella veterinary isolate was due to a defect in the O-antigen polymerase protein, Rfc. This study shows that two different mechanisms that influence the presence and composition of O antigens affect colistin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica

Genome-Wide Association Study on Root Traits Under Different Growing Environments in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Plant roots are critical for water and nutrient acquisition, environmental adaptation, and yield formation. Herein, 196 wheat accessions from the Huang-Huai Wheat Region of China were collected to investigate six root traits at seedling stage under three growing environments [indoor hydroponic culture (IHC), outdoor hydroponic culture (OHC), and outdoor pot culture (OPC)] and the root dry weight (RDW) under OPC at four growth stages and four yield traits in four environments. Additionally, a genome-wide association study was performed with a Wheat 660K SNP Array. The results showed that the root traits varied most under OPC, followed by those under both OHC and IHC, and root elongation under hydroponic culture was faster than that under pot culture. Root traits under OHC might help predict those under OPC. Moreover, root traits were significantly negatively correlated with grain yield (GY) and grains per spike (GPS), positively correlated with thousand-kernel weight (TKW), and weakly correlated with number of spikes per area (SPA). Twelve stable chromosomal regions associated with the root traits were detected on chromosomes 1D, 2A, 4A, 4B, 5B, 6D, and unmapped markers. Among them, a stable chromosomal interval from 737.85 to 742.00 Mb on chromosome 4A, which regulated total root length (TRL), was identified under three growing environments. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) blocks were used to identify 27 genes related to root development. Three genes TraesCS4A02G484200, TraesCS4A02G484800, TraesCS4A02G493800, and TraesCS4A02G493900, are involved in cell elongation and differentiation and expressed at high levels in root tissues. Another vital co-localization interval on chromosome 5B (397.72–410.88 Mb) was associated with not only RDW under OHC and OPC but also TKW

Efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation for improving postoperative quality of recovery in elderly patients undergoing lower limb major arthroplasty: a randomized controlled substudy

BackgroundPrevious studies have demonstrated improvements in motor, behavioral, and emotional areas following transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), but no published studies have reported the efficacy of tDCS on postoperative recovery quality in patients undergoing lower limb major arthroplasty. We hypothesized that tDCS might improve postoperative recovery quality in elderly patients undergoing lower limb major arthroplasty.MethodsNinety-six patients (≥65 years) undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total knee arthroplasty (TKA) were randomized to receive 2 mA tDCS for 20 min active-tDCS or sham-tDCS. The primary outcome was the 15-item quality of recovery (QoR-15) score on postoperative day one (Т2). Secondary outcomes included the QoR-15 scores at the 2nd hour (T1), the 1st month (Т3), and the 3rd month (Т4) postoperatively, numeric rating scale scores, and fatigue severity scale scores.ResultsNinety-six elderly patients (mean age, 71 years; 68.7% woman) were analyzed. Higher QoR-15 scores were found in the active-tDCS group at T2 (123.0 [114.3, 127.0] vs. 109.0 [99.3, 115.3]; median difference, 13.0; 95% CI, 8.0 to 17.0; p < 0.001). QoR-15 scores in the active-tDCS group were higher at T1 (p < 0.001), T3 (p = 0.001), and T4 (p = 0.001). The pain scores in the active-tDCS group were lower (p < 0.001 at motion; p < 0.001 at rest). The fatigue degree scores were lower in the active-tDCS group at T1 and T2 (p < 0.001 for each).ConclusiontDCS may help improve the quality of early recovery in elderly patients undergoing lower limb major arthroplasty.Clinical trial registrationThe trial was registered at the China Clinical Trial Center (ChiCTR2200057777, https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.html?proj=162744)

Convergence of the 26S proteasome and the REVOLUTA pathways in regulating inflorescence and floral meristem functions in Arabidopsis

The 26S proteasome is a large multisubunit proteolytic complex, regulating growth and development in eukaryotes by selective removal of short-lived regulatory proteins. Here, it is shown that the 26S proteasome and the transcription factor gene REVOLUTA (REV) act together in maintaining inflorescence and floral meristem (IM and FM) functions. The characterization of a newly identified Arabidopsis mutant, designated ae4 (asymmetric leaves1/2 enhancer4), which carries a mutation in the gene encoding the 26S proteasome subunit, RPN2a, is reported. ae4 and rev have minor defects in phyllotaxy structure and meristem initiation, respectively, whereas ae4 rev demonstrated strong developmental defects. Compared with the rev single mutant, an increased percentage of ae4 rev plants exhibited abnormal vegetative shoot apical and axillary meristems. After flowering, ae4 rev first gave rise to a few normal-looking flowers, and then flowers with reduced numbers of all types of floral organs. In late reproductive development, instead of flowers, the ae4 rev IM produced numerous filamentous structures, which contained cells seen only in the floral organs, and then carpelloid organs. In situ hybridization revealed that expression of the WUSCHEL and CLAVATA3 genes was severely down-regulated or absent in the late appearing ae4 rev primordia, but the genes were strongly expressed in top-layer cells of inflorescence tips. Double mutant plants combining rev with other 26S proteasome subunit mutants, rpn1a and rpn9a, resembled ae4 rev, suggesting that the 26S proteasome might act as a whole in regulating IM and FM functions

A detection method for granary storage states based on a support vector machine and domain knowledge

Automatic detection of granary storage states is an important technology to ensure national food security. In view of distribution characteristics of bottom pressure, this study theoretically explored a relationship between detected value of bottom pressure of granaries and granary storage states through the technologies, such as integrated learning and nonlinear regression. On this basis, this research built layout models of single-ring pressure sensors on the bottom of granaries and proposed a detection method for granary storage states based on domain knowledge of statistics of bottom pressure in granaries. The experiment demonstrates that the detection method for granary storage states based on a support vector machine (SVM) and domain knowledge shows high detection accuracy and low requirements for sensor performance and low detection cost. Therefore, it can meet the needs of remote online detection of granary storage states usually used