Zero-Shot Learning for Semantic Utterance Classification

We propose a novel zero-shot learning method for semantic utterance classification (SUC). It learns a classifier $f: X \to Y$ for problems where none of the semantic categories $Y$ are present in the training set. The framework uncovers the link between categories and utterances using a semantic space. We show that this semantic space can be learned by deep neural networks trained on large amounts of search engine query log data. More precisely, we propose a novel method that can learn discriminative semantic features without supervision. It uses the zero-shot learning framework to guide the learning of the semantic features. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the zero-shot semantic learning algorithm on the SUC dataset collected by (Tur, 2012). Furthermore, we achieve state-of-the-art results by combining the semantic features with a supervised method

Influence of birth cohort, age and period on suicide mortality rate in Turkey, 1983-2013

Objective: This study is designed to evaluate the potential effects of age, period and cohort (APC) on trends in suicide between 1983 and 2013 in Turkey. Methods: Mortality data were obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute. The data were grouped into seven age groups, four periods and ten birth cohorts. A nonlinear regression model was estimated for both sexes. The effects of age, period and cohort were parameterized using natural spline smoothing functions. Results: There were 61,795 deaths recorded as suicides during the investigated time period, where 64.5% occurred in males (n = 39,862) and 35.5% in females (n = 21,933). There is an upward trend in mortality by age until the end of the study period for males and females. Age effect is decreased until the forties, kept decreasing during the middle ages, and sharply increased after the sixties. The death rates for females declined from 1999 until the end of the study period. For males, the death rates increased until the end of the study period. Conclusion: If the current trends continue, it can be expected that these effects will continue to reduce female mortality and increase male mortality. Future studies on suicide, strongly focused on specific factors attributed to period effects, are needed in Turkey. © National Institute of Public Health, Prague 2019

CD28 between tolerance and autoimmunity: The side effects of animal models [version 1; referees: 2 approved]

Regulation of immune responses is critical for ensuring pathogen clearance and for preventing reaction against self-antigens. Failure or breakdown of immunological tolerance results in autoimmunity. CD28 is an important co-stimulatory receptor expressed on T cells that, upon specific ligand binding, delivers signals essential for full T-cell activation and for the development and homeostasis of suppressive regulatory T cells. Many in vivo mouse models have been used for understanding the role of CD28 in the maintenance of immune homeostasis, thus leading to the development of CD28 signaling modulators that have been approved for the treatment of some autoimmune diseases. Despite all of this progress, a deeper understanding of the differences between the mouse and human receptor is required to allow a safe translation of pre-clinical studies in efficient therapies. In this review, we discuss the role of CD28 in tolerance and autoimmunity and the clinical efficacy of drugs that block or enhance CD28 signaling, by highlighting the success and failure of pre-clinical studies, when translated to humans

Pre-evaluation for the chemical substitution in a textile mill in Turkey

Kirlilik önleme çalışmalarında temel yaklaşımlardan birisi, kirletici özellikteki maddelerin daha az kirletici olanlar ile değiştirilmesidir. Bu çerçevede, biyolojik olarak kolay parçalanan maddelerin zor parçalananlara oranla uzun vadede daha az ekolojik problemlere neden olacağından hareketle, üretimde kullanılan kimyasal maddelerin biyodegradasyon özellikleri göz önüne alınması gereken önemli bilgilerden birisidir. Tekstil kimyasallarının toksik ve biyodegradasyon özellikleri konusunda yayınlanmış sınırlı sayıda çalışma bulunmaktadır. Kimyasalların biyodegradasyon potansiyellerini belirleme aşamasında, söz konusu kimyasala uygun yöntem seçilmesi önem arz etmektedir. Bu çalışmada, problemli kimyasalların ve alternatiflerinin biyodegradasyon potansiyellerini belirlemek amacıyla, OECD 302b (Zahn-Wellens) test metodu seçilmiştir. Testler, Türkiye’deki bir tekstil fabrikasında uygulanmakta olan reçetelerde kullanılan 2 adet kompleks yapıcı kimyasal madde (A ve B) ve kullanılma potansiyeli olan 1 adet kompleks yapıcı kimyasal maddenin (B*) biyodegradasyon potansiyellerini hem tek başlarına bulunmaları halinde var olan değerlerini doğrulamak, hem de birlikte kullanılmaları durumunda etkileşimlerini tespit etmek ve böylece, kimyasal değişikliğine karar verme aşamasında kullanmak amacıyla uygulanmıştır. Bu amaca yönelik olarak, kompleks oluşturan maddelerin farklı kombinasyonları ile kesikli reaktör deneyleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. Deneysel bulgular faktör analizi yöntemi ile istatistiksel analize tabi tutularak biyodegradasyon (bağlı değişken olarak) ve kompleks yapıcı madde konsantrasyonu (bağımsız değişken) arasındaki ilişki belirlenmiştir. Bu analizler, STATGRAPHIC istatistiksel yazılım programı kullanılarak yapılmıştır. Mümkün olabilecek kimyasal değişimine yönelik ön değerlendirme yapma amacıyla, doğrusal çoklu regresyon yöntemi ile matematiksel model oluşturulmuştur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Biyodegradasyon, doğrusal çoklu regresyon modeli, kimyasal değişimi, kirlilik önleme, kompleks yapıcı madde, tekstil endüstrisi.Substitution of less-pollutant chemicals for more-pollutant ones is a main focus for pollution prevention. In this respect, knowledge of the biodegradability of chemicals is one of the most important factors to be considered.  In this study, to measure the biodegradability potential of the problematic chemicals (complexing agents A and B) used in a Turkish Textile Mill and their alternatives (complexing agent B*), OECD 302b (Zahn-Wellens) tests were conducted. Experiments were performed at different combinations of complexing agents using unacclimatized activated sludge bacteria as seed. The biodegradability tests results obtained for the combination of complexing agents A and B revealed that the biodegradability of complexing agent B (46-67%, depending on its concentration) is higher than that of complexing agent A (15-21%, depending on its concentration), when they are present alone. When they are together, the biodegradability varies between 36 and 45% depending on their existence levels.  From these findings, the negative effect of having complexing agent A besides complexing agent B was apparent. The experimental results were also analyzed statistically by using factor analysis in order to clarify the relationship among the biodegradability and complexing agents. The following linear multiple regression model of the type was considered:  Y = B1X1 + B2X2 + B12X12 + B11X11 + B22X22 Where; Y: Biodegradability of mixture of complexing agents A and B or A and B* (%); B1: Coefficient for the effect of complexing agent A; B2: Coefficient for the effect of complexing agent B or B*; B12: Coefficient for combined effects of complexing agents A & B or A & B*; B11: Coefficient for quadratic effect of complexing agent A; B22: Coefficient for quadratic effect of complexing agent B or B*; X1: Complexing agent A (mL/L); X2: Complexing agent B or B* (mL/L); X12 : Interaction term of X1 and X2 ; X11 : Quadratic term of complexing agent A; X22: Quadratic term of complexing agent B or B*. The form of the model obtained for the combination of complexing agents A and B is as follows; Y = -19.2502 X1 + 24.6749 X2 - 3.59036 X12 + 16.3031 X11 - 2.20622 X22 The biodegradability test results for combination of complexing agents A and B* revealed that the biodegradability of complexing agent B* is higher than that of B with a biodegradability varying between 79 and 89%, depending on the concentration. When together with the complexing agent A, the biodegradability varies between 58 and 69%. The model obtained is as follows; Y = -20.0037 X1 + 34.1467 X2 - 3.05722 X12 + 16.707 X11 - 3.20648 X22 The effects of complexing agent B and B* on the biodegradability is found to be both in the positive direction. That is, complexing agents B and B* strongly enhance the biodegradability characteristic of the mixes.  When the complexing agents A and B, or A and B* (i.e. the term of X12) are present together, the total effect is inhibitory. According to the results of the models, there is an increase in the coefficient magnitude for the term X2 while using the complexing agent B* as compared to using the complexing agent B. This means that individual effect of complexing agent B* is higher than the individual effect of complexing agent B on biodegradability. According to the mix cases, the models show that there is also a small increase observed on term of X12 while using the complexing agent B*. The mix of complexing agent A and B has negative effects on biodegradability as understood from the negative sign of the coefficient. For the case of the complexing agent A and B* mix, this effect is again negative but it has a less magnitude value than mix of complexing agent A and B. By all things considered, complexing agent B* has better biodegradability characteristic than B. This behavior of B* is proven either by biodegradability tests of individual and mix concentrations and mathematical models set up by all experimental results. So, based on the results obtained in this study, if the mill considered to start using of this new chemical B* in the production line, a possible enhancement on biodegradability in wastewater would be achieved by the mill. Keywords: Biodegradability, linear multiple regression model, chemical substitution, pollution prevention, complexing agent, textile industry

A chemical substitution study for a wet processing textile mill in

a b s t r a c t Wet processing textile industry has many different processing stages (dyeing, sizing, de-sizing, scouring, softening, etc.). Many chemicals currently used in the wet processing textile industry affect the amount and the type of waste produced and their influence on the aquatic life of the receiving stream. One of the critical steps in pollution prevention studies is auditing the use of chemicals and making the necessary chemical substitutions. This chemical substitution study was conducted on one of the major textile factories in Turkey with a capacity of 20,000 tons of denim fabric per year. During this study, chemical consumption level, receipts applied, environmentally problematic and alternative chemicals were examined. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for the Textiles Industry was accepted as main reference document and also related case studies were examined. According to the study, over 70% reduction in sulphide, which is very toxic to aquatic life, was achieved by replacing sulphur dyestuff with low sulphide content. By replacing an alternative complexing agent, the mill not only prevented the 3100 kg/month COD load to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), but also obtained more biodegradable wastewater generated during production. On the other hand, some of the chemical substitution options were on progress or dropped

Role Recognition for Meeting Participants: an Approach Based on Lexical Information and Social Network Analysis

This paper presents experiments on the automatic recognition of roles in meetings. The proposed approach combines two sources of information: the lexical choices made by people playing different roles on one hand, and the Social Networks describing the interactions between the meeting participants on the other hand. Both sources lead to role recognition results significantly higher than chance when used separately, but the best results are obtained with their combination. Preliminary experiments obtained over a corpus of 138 meeting recordings (over 45 hours of material) show that around 70% of the time is labeled correctly in terms of role

A genomic snapshot of demographic and cultural dynamism in Upper Mesopotamia during the Neolithic Transition

Upper Mesopotamia played a key role in the Neolithic Transition in Southwest Asia through marked innovations in symbolism, technology, and foodways. We present thirteen ancient genomes (c.8500-7500 calBCE) from Pre-Pottery Neolithic Çayönü in the Tigris basin together with bioarchaeological and material culture data. Our findings reveal that Çayönü was a genetically diverse population, carrying a mixed ancestry from western and eastern Fertile Crescent, and that the community received immigrants. Our results further suggest that the community was organised along biological family lines. We document bodily interventions such as head-shaping and cauterization among the individuals examined, reflecting Çayönü's cultural ingenuity. Finally, we identify Upper Mesopotamia as the likely source of eastern gene flow into Neolithic Anatolia, in line with material culture evidence. We hypothesise that Upper Mesopotamia's cultural dynamism during the Neolithic Transition was the product not only of its fertile lands but also of its interregional demographic connections

Higher Dimensional Cylindrical or Kasner Type Electrovacuum Solutions

We consider a D dimensional Kasner type diagonal spacetime where metric functions depend only on a single coordinate and electromagnetic field shares the symmetries of spacetime. These solutions can describe static cylindrical or cosmological Einstein-Maxwell vacuum spacetimes. We mainly focus on electrovacuum solutions and four different types of solutions are obtained in which one of them has no four dimensional counterpart. We also consider the properties of the general solution corresponding to the exterior field of a charged line mass and discuss its several properties. Although it resembles the same form with four dimensional one, there is a difference on the range of the solutions for fixed signs of the parameters. General magnetic field vacuum solution are also briefly discussed, which reduces to Bonnor-Melvin magnetic universe for a special choice of the parameters. The Kasner forms of the general solution are also presented for the cylindrical or cosmological cases.Comment: 16 pages, Revtex. Text and references are extended, Published versio

Deletion and Functional Analysis of Hepatitis B Virus X Protein: Evidence for an Effect on Cell Cycle Regulators

Background/Aims: The hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is a viral trans-activator that plays a crucial role in pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) via an unknown mechanism. The role of HBx in modulating cell proliferation and programmed cell death is replete with controversies. Thus, the goal of this study was to elucidate the effect of HBx and its deletion mutants on cell cycle progression in human hepatoma cells. Methods: Huh7 cells transfected with either full-length or truncated HBx were tested for their mitogenic potential based on their effect on the expression of key cell cycle-related proteins (p27, cyclin D1, p21, and p53) and pro-apoptotic proteins such as cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and Bax. Western blotting and immunofluorescence techniques were applied to detect changes in the expression levels and intracellular localization, respectively, of the investigated proteins. Also, Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect changes in RNA levels. Results: An increased anchorage-independent growth of cells transfected with HBx-WT and its deletion mutants was observed. The cell cycle regulatory molecules were differentially modulated by full-length HBx (1-154) and its different N- and C-terminal truncated forms (HBx (31-154), HBx (61-154), HBx (1-94), and HBx (61-124)). An enhanced modulation of p27, p21, and cyclin D1 was associated with HBx (1-154), whereas p53 expression was significantly inhibited by HBx (61-124). Similarly, the expression of cleaved PARP and Bax was efficiently suppressed by HBx (1-94) and HBx (61-154). Conclusion: The HBx-WT and its mutants play a critical role in the pathogenesis and progression of HCC by modulating cell cycle regulatory proteins