On Type-Aware Entity Retrieval

Today, the practice of returning entities from a knowledge base in response to search queries has become widespread. One of the distinctive characteristics of entities is that they are typed, i.e., assigned to some hierarchically organized type system (type taxonomy). The primary objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how entity type information can be utilized in entity retrieval. We perform this investigation in an idealized "oracle" setting, assuming that we know the distribution of target types of the relevant entities for a given query. We perform a thorough analysis of three main aspects: (i) the choice of type taxonomy, (ii) the representation of hierarchical type information, and (iii) the combination of type-based and term-based similarity in the retrieval model. Using a standard entity search test collection based on DBpedia, we find that type information proves most useful when using large type taxonomies that provide very specific types. We provide further insights on the extensional coverage of entities and on the utility of target types.Comment: Proceedings of the 3rd ACM International Conference on the Theory of Information Retrieval (ICTIR '17), 201

Phase-space characterization of complexity in quantum many-body dynamics

We propose a phase-space Wigner harmonics entropy measure for many-body quantum dynamical complexity. This measure, which reduces to the well known measure of complexity in classical systems and which is valid for both pure and mixed states in single-particle and many-body systems, takes into account the combined role of chaos and entanglement in the realm of quantum mechanics. The effectiveness of the measure is illustrated in the example of the Ising chain in a homogeneous tilted magnetic field. We provide numerical evidence that the multipartite entanglement generation leads to a linear increase of entropy until saturation in both integrable and chaotic regimes, so that in both cases the number of harmonics of the Wigner function grows exponentially with time. The entropy growth rate can be used to detect quantum phase transitions. The proposed entropy measure can also distinguish between integrable and chaotic many-body dynamics by means of the size of long term fluctuations which become smaller when quantum chaos sets in.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

The Medical Case for a Positron Emission Tomography and X-ray Computed Tomography Combined Service in Oman

The value of a positron emission tomography and X-ray computed tomography (PET/CT) combined service in terms of diagnostic accuracy, cost-effectiveness and impact on clinical decision-making is welldocumented in the literature. Its role in the management of patients presenting with cancer is shifting from early staging and restaging to the early assessment of the treatment response. Currently, the application of PET/CT has extended to non-oncological specialties—mainly neurology, cardiology and rheumatology. A further emerging application for PET/CT is the imaging of infection/inflammation. This article illustrates some of the PET/CT applications in both oncological and non-oncological disorders. In view of the absence of this modality in Oman, this article aims to increase the awareness of the importance of these imaging modalities and their significant impact on diagnosis and management in both oncological and non-oncological specialties for patients of all age groups as well as the decision-makers

Financial Data Governance

Finance is one of the most digitalized, globalized, and regulated sectors of the global economy. Traditionally technology intensive, the financial industry has been at the forefront of digital transformation, starting with the dematerialization of financial assets in the 1960s and culminating in the post–2008 global financial crisis era with the fintech movement. Now, finance is data: financial transactions are transfers of data; financial infrastructures, such as stock exchanges and payment systems, are data networks; financial institutions are data processors, gathering, analyzing, and trading the data generated by their customers. Financial regulation has adapted to this fast-paced evolution both by implementing new regimes and by adapting existing ones. Concomitantly, general data governance frameworks to protect a broad spectrum of interests, from individual privacy to national security, have emerged. Though these areas of law intersect, their relationship often remains unclear. This Article sheds new light in this critical area, focusing on key challenges and providing viable solutions to address them. First, we define financial data governance as a heterogenous system of rules and principles concerned with financial data, digital finance, and related digital infrastructure. To explain how legal and regulatory regimes interact with the digitalization of finance, we consider the key emerging financial data governance styles in the European Union, People’s Republic of China, India, and the United States. Second, we examine the challenges affecting financial data governance. While finance is inextricably linked to data governance, the coalescence of financial regulation, new regulatory frameworks for digital finance, and general data governance regimes is not always harmonious. Conflicts arising from the intersection of different uncoordinated regimes threaten to frustrate core policy objectives of stability, integrity, and security, as well as the functioning of the global financial system. Addressing this requires a reconceptualization of the financial data centralization paradigm, both by regulators and by the financial industry

Costing the scaling-up of human resources for health: lessons from Mozambique and Guinea Bissau

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>In the context of the current human resources for health (HRH) crisis, the need for comprehensive Human Resources Development Plans (HRDP) is acute, especially in resource-scarce sub-Saharan African countries. However, the financial implications of such plans rarely receive due consideration, despite the availability of much advice and examples in the literature on how to conduct HRDP costing. Global initiatives have also been launched recently to standardise costing methodologies and respective tools.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This paper reports on two separate experiences of HRDP costing in Mozambique and Guinea Bissau, with the objective to provide an insight into the practice of costing exercises in information-poor settings, as well as to contribute to the existing debate on HRH costing methodologies. The study adopts a case-study approach to analyse the methodologies developed in the two countries, their contexts, policy processes and actors involved.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From the analysis of the two cases, it emerged that the costing exercises represented an important driver of the HRDP elaboration, which lent credibility to the process, and provided a financial framework within which HRH policies could be discussed. In both cases, bottom-up and country-specific methods were designed to overcome the countries' lack of cost and financing data, as well as to interpret their financial systems. Such an approach also allowed the costing exercises to feed directly into the national planning and budgeting process.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The authors conclude that bottom-up and country-specific costing methodologies have the potential to serve adequately the multi-faceted purpose of the exercise. It is recognised that standardised tools and methodologies may help reduce local governments' dependency on foreign expertise to conduct the HRDP costing and facilitate regional and international comparisons. However, adopting pre-defined and insufficiently flexible tools may undermine the credibility of the costing exercise, and reduce the space for policy negotiation opportunities within the HRDP elaboration process.</p

Preliminary Assessment of Sorption Capacity on Solid CO2-Sorbents at Conditions for Sorption-Enhanced Processes

This work aims to assess solid sorbent capacity to operate CO2 capture under industrial conditions relevant to biogas/bio-syngas upgrading systems to green H2 and food-grade CO2 through Sorption-Enhanced Water Gas Shift (SEWGS) technologies. The pursued degree of innovation is the process intensification to remove CO2 in a more sustainable industrial practice reducing the CO2 footprint of a potential H2 production process. A lab-scale apparatus is appropriately designed and built to operate at relevant industrial scale conditions. The core of the system is a fixed-bed reactor equipped with mass flow meters/controllers and online gas analyzers. CO2 capture experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of pressure (1.0-1.4 MPa) on different commercial and synthesized solid sorbent materials (hydrotalcite-like compounds). The best sorbent is a commercial hydrotalcite impregnated with 20 wt% of K2CO3, with an average sorption capacity of 0.85 mmolCO2/gad at 1.4 MPa and 623 K. The explored conditions are compatible with an industrial operation where syngas is available at low-to-moderate pressure

Quantum-Classical Transitions in Complex Networks

The inherent properties of specific physical systems can be used as metaphors for investigation of the behavior of complex networks. This insight has already been put into practice in previous work, e.g., studying the network evolution in terms of phase transitions of quantum gases or representing distances among nodes as if they were particle energies. This paper shows that the emergence of different structures in complex networks, such as the scale-free and the winner-takes-all networks, can be represented in terms of a quantum-classical transition for quantum gases. In particular, we propose a model of fermionic networks that allows us to investigate the network evolution and its dependence on the system temperature. Simulations, performed in accordance with the cited model, clearly highlight the separation between classical random and winner-takes-all networks, in full correspondence with the separation between classical and quantum regions for quantum gases. We deem this model useful for the analysis of synthetic and real complex networks.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Common recognition topology of mex transporters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa revealed by molecular modelling

The secondary transporters of the resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) superfamily mediate multidrug resistance in Gram-negative bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Among these RND transporters, MexB, MexF, and MexY, with partly overlapping specificities, have been implicated in pathogenicity. Only the structure of the former has been resolved experimentally, which together with the lack of data about the functional dynamics of the full set of transporters, limited a systematic investigation of the molecular determinants defining their peculiar and shared features. In a previous work (Ramaswamy et al., Front. Microbiol., 2018, 9, 1144), we compared at an atomistic level the two main putative recognition sites (named access and deep binding pockets) of MexB and MexY. In this work, we expand the comparison by performing extended molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of these transporters and the pathologically relevant transporter MexF. We employed a more realistic model of the inner phospholipid membrane of P. aeruginosa and more accurate force-fields. To elucidate structure/dynamics-activity relationships we performed physico-chemical analyses and mapped the binding propensities of several organic probes on all transporters. Our data revealed the presence, also in MexF, of a few multifunctional sites at locations equivalent to the access and deep binding pockets detected in MexB. Furthermore, we report for the first time about the multidrug binding abilities of two out of five gates of the channels deputed to peripheral (early) recognition of substrates. Overall, our findings help to define a common “recognition topology” characterizing Mex transporters, which can be exploited to optimize transport and inhibition propensities of antimicrobial compounds