Link Prediction for Social Networks using Representation Learning and Heuristic-based Features

The exponential growth in scale and relevance of social networks enable them to provide expansive insights. Predicting missing links in social networks efficiently can help in various modern-day business applications ranging from generating recommendations to influence analysis. Several categories of solutions exist for the same. Here, we explore various feature extraction techniques to generate representations of nodes and edges in a social network that allow us to predict missing links. We compare the results of using ten feature extraction techniques categorized across Structural embeddings, Neighborhood-based embeddings, Graph Neural Networks, and Graph Heuristics, followed by modeling with ensemble classifiers and custom Neural Networks. Further, we propose combining heuristic-based features and learned representations that demonstrate improved performance for the link prediction task on social network datasets. Using this method to generate accurate recommendations for many applications is a matter of further study that appears very promising. The code for all the experiments has been made public.Comment: Accepted to the MAISoN Workshop at IJCAI 202

Medical students perception of ultrasound and computed tomography sessions in gross anatomy curriculum: a study in an Indian medical college

Background: Integration of Ultrasonography (USG) and Computed Tomography (CT) sessions into medical curriculum has been started and numerous studies show that they could be useful in anatomy teaching as an adjunct to traditional ways including didactic lectures, cadaveric material or 3D models. Information regarding the benefit and feasibility of integrating radiology sessions into Indian medical curriculum is still lacking.Methods: We introduced didactic and practical sessions of USG and CT focusing on Liver morphology into first year anatomy course and found out student’ perception by Likert- scale type questionnaire at the end. We collected opinions once again from the same cohort during their clinical rotations as junior doctors regarding the effectiveness of radiological sessions at very beginning of their career.Results: The first year students stated that radiology sessions were very interesting (97%) and effective (95%) to improve their anatomy understanding, 93% indicated it will make them more confident while taking practical examinations, 97% indicated such sessions should be incorporated in current anatomy curriculum. Majority of junior doctors (88% of responders) accepted the importance of early exposure to practical radiology in medical curriculum and recommended to include practical USG and CT sessions in anatomy course.Conclusions: This study was first to experiment the impact of practical radiology sessions in anatomy and collect feedback from both first year students and junior doctors in an Indian medical college. Our study shows it is possible and beneficial to include structured ultrasonography and CT sessions to the present MBBS curriculum in conjunction with traditional teaching methods

Effect of breed and season on rabbit production under subtropical climate

[EN] The productive and reproductive performances of New Zealand White and Soviet Chinchilla breeds of rabbit were studied in the sub-tropical climate of Tripura, India. Data from 317 litters were collected and studied. The only signifi cant differences between the two breeds involved the number of services per conception and the inter-kindling interval which were signifi cantly (P<0.01) higher in the New Zealand White than in the Soviet Chinchilla breed. Neither breed nor gender had any signifi cant effect on individual body weight at weaning (42 d) or at day of slaughter (90 d). The season of kindling exerted a highly signifi cant (P<0.01) effect on the service period, kindling interval, and individual weight at weaning and at slaughtering age. Winter (November-March) was the most favourable season for kindling, whereas summer (April-June) proved to be the most unfavourable season in terms of both productive and reproductive effi ciency. The season of kindling did not affect age at the fi rst fertile service, age at fi rst kindling, the gestation period or the litter size at birth.Ghosh, S.; Das, A.; Bujarbaruah, K.; Das, A.; Dhiman, K.; Singh, N. (2010). Effect of breed and season on rabbit production under subtropical climate. World Rabbit Science. 16(1). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.63816

Intra-species sequence variability in 28s rRNA gene of Oesophagostomum venulosum isolated from goats of West Bengal, India

AbstractObjectiveTo identify genotypes of Oesophagostmum venulosum (O. venulosum) prevailing in West Bengal, India by comparing variation of nucleotide sequences among 28S rRNA.MethodsPCR amplification of partial segment of 28 S rRNA sequence and analysis of sequence amplified product by single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP).ResultsTwo distinct conformers among male and female parasites were identified by PCR-SSCP analysis. Sequence analysis among conformers revealed the presence of five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in codon 64, 66, 86, 125 and 146. Secondary RNA prediction structure showed that out of 5 SNPs, 4 occurred at interior loop of RNA which confirmed evolutionary changes among isolates prevailing in this region.ConclusionsSNPs occured in different isolates of O. venulosum might influence critical changes in rRNA folding pattern which influence evolutionary changes among isolates

Effect of fuel characteristics on synthesis of calcium hydroxyapatite by solution combustion route

The effect of fuel characteristics on the processing of nano sized calcium hydroxyapatite (HA) fine powders by the solution combustion technique is reported. Urea, glycine and glucose were used as fuels in this study. By using different combinations of urea and glycine fuels and occasional addition of small amounts of highly water-soluble glucose, the flame temperature (T (f)) of the process as well as product characteristics could be controlled easily. The powders obtained by this modified solution combustion technique were characterized by XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, FESEM-EDX, particle size analyser (PSD) and specific surface area (SSA) measurements. The particle size of phase pure HA powder was found to be 1) urea and glycine precursor batches were investigated separately

Rectangular ZnO porous nano-plate assembly with excellent acetone sensing performance and catalytic activity

The controlled synthesis of a hierarchically assembled porous rectangular ZnO plate (2.5-3.5 mm length, 1.5-2.5 mm width and 100-150 nm thickness) from bulk ZnO without using any organic substrates, such as solvents/surfactants/structure-directing agents, is presented. The synthesized ZnO plates are single crystalline with exposed (10 (1) over bar0) facets on the flat surface, porous and formed through the calcination of a hydrozincite Zn-5(CO3)(2)(OH)(6)] intermediate. A gas sensor based on the synthesized porous ZnO architecture exhibited high sensitivity towards acetone even in low concentration (S = 3.4 in 1 ppm acetone) with good selectivity. The ZnO nanostructured material as a heterogeneous catalyst also showed excellent catalytic activity for the synthesis of 5-substituted-1H-tetrazoles (yield = 94%). Both the activities are superior than those of other reported ZnO based acetone sensors and heterogeneous catalysts. We believe that the improved properties of the synthesized ZnO nanostructure is due to the exposed (10 (1) over bar0) facets, and its porous and assembled structure, which provides a reasonably large accessible surface area, and facilitates diffusion and mass transport of gas or substrate molecules