404 research outputs found
NERetrieve: Dataset for Next Generation Named Entity Recognition and Retrieval
Recognizing entities in texts is a central need in many information-seeking
scenarios, and indeed, Named Entity Recognition (NER) is arguably one of the
most successful examples of a widely adopted NLP task and corresponding NLP
technology. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) appear to provide
effective solutions (also) for NER tasks that were traditionally handled with
dedicated models, often matching or surpassing the abilities of the dedicated
models. Should NER be considered a solved problem? We argue to the contrary:
the capabilities provided by LLMs are not the end of NER research, but rather
an exciting beginning. They allow taking NER to the next level, tackling
increasingly more useful, and increasingly more challenging, variants. We
present three variants of the NER task, together with a dataset to support
them. The first is a move towards more fine-grained -- and intersectional --
entity types. The second is a move towards zero-shot recognition and extraction
of these fine-grained types based on entity-type labels. The third, and most
challenging, is the move from the recognition setup to a novel retrieval setup,
where the query is a zero-shot entity type, and the expected result is all the
sentences from a large, pre-indexed corpus that contain entities of these
types, and their corresponding spans. We show that all of these are far from
being solved. We provide a large, silver-annotated corpus of 4 million
paragraphs covering 500 entity types, to facilitate research towards all of
these three goals.Comment: Findings of EMNLP 202
Retrieving Texts based on Abstract Descriptions
While instruction-tuned Large Language Models (LLMs) excel at extracting
information from text, they are not suitable for locating texts conforming to a
given description in a large document collection (semantic retrieval).
Similarity search over embedding vectors does allow to perform retrieval by
query, but the similarity reflected in the embedding is ill-defined and
non-consistent, and is sub-optimal for many use cases. What, then, is a good
query representation for effective retrieval?
We identify the well defined and consistent task of retrieving sentences
based on abstract descriptions of their content. We demonstrate the inadequacy
of current text embeddings and propose an alternative model that significantly
improves when used in standard nearest neighbor search. The model is trained
using positive and negative pairs sourced through prompting a LLM. While it is
easy to source the training material from an LLM, the retrieval task cannot be
performed by the LLM directly. This demonstrates that data from LLMs can be
used not only for distilling more efficient specialized models than the
original LLM, but also for creating new capabilities not immediately possible
using the original model.Comment: A preprin
Thermal Stress Flow Analysis in Fabrication of Acetabular Shells Using SLM
Additive Manufacturing (AM), more popularly known as 3D Printing, is a process for producing functional artifacts by adding layers of materials from data generated directly from 3D solid CAD models. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is the formalized term for what used to be called Rapid Prototyping and what is commonly referred to as 3D Printing. The key to how AM works is that parts are made by adding layers of material; each layer corresponding to a thin cross-section of the part derived from the original CAD data. Although most AM machines produce parts using polymers, there are an increasing number of machines that can directly fabricate in metals. The majority of these machines fabricate from raw material in powder form using a directed energy beam to create a local melt zone. Total hip replacement is recommended for people who have medical issues related to excessive wear of the acetabular, osteoarthritis, accident or age. Researches have shown that large numbers of hip arthroplasties (where the articular surface of a musculoskeletal joint is replaced), hip remodelling, or realignment are carried out annually and will increase in the next few decades. Manufacturing of acetabular shells by using AM is a promising and emerging method that has a great potential to improve public health. Lost wax casting or investment casting is currently used to produce acetabular shells followed by lengthy and complex secondary processes such as machining and polishing. Living organs and medical models have intricate 3D shapes that are challenging to identity in X-ray CT images. These images are used for preparing treatment plans to improve the quality of the surgeries regarding waiting and surgery time per procedure and care regime. For instance, a limited number of hip replacement procedures can be carried out on each acetabulum due to a decrease of bone thickness. Rapid prototyping is a suitable treatment planning tool in complex cases to enhance the quality of surgical procedure and provide long-term stability that can be used to customize the shape and size of the acetabular shell. In this paper, to analyse the manufacturing of a prosthetic acetabular shell, built-up lines resulting from a thermal stress flow and process stopping during the selective laser melting (SLM) AM process, with regarding Gibbs free energy, interfacial energy, and equilibrium temperature will be discussed. Geometrical measurements showed 1.59% and 0.27% differences between the designed and manufactured prototype for inside and outside diameter respectively. Experimental results showed that thermal stress flow in outer surfaces are compressive, but for inner surfaces are tensile, so built-up lines in inner and outer surfaces appear as a groove and dent respectively. The results also indicate that SLM is an accurate and promising method for fabrication of acetabular cup
What is cultural fit? From cognition to behavior (and back)
How people fit into social groups is a core topic of investigation across multiple sociological subfields, including education, immigration, and organizations. In this chapter, we synthesize findings from these literatures to develop an overarching framework for conceptualizing and measuring the level of cultural fit and the dynamics of enculturation between individuals and social groups. We distinguish between the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of fitting in, which previous work has tended to either examine in isolation or to conflate. Reviewing the literature through this lens enables us to identify the strengths and limitations of unitary—that is, primarily cognitive or primarily behavioral—approaches to studying cultural fit. In contrast, we develop a theoretical framework that integrates the two perspectives and highlights the value of considering their interplay over time. We then identify promising theoretical pathways that can link the two dimensions of cultural fit. We conclude by discussing the implications of pursuing these conceptual routes for research methods and provide some illustrative examples of such work.Published version2021-09-3
Novel metered aerosol valve
The design and performance of a new valving mechanism for portable pressurized spraying devices is described, where
the propellant in the device is a safe gas (so-called compressed gas) propellant rather than the current liquefied gases all
of which are either volatile organic compounds or greenhouse gases. The valve sprays a fixed volume of liquid when the
spraying actuator is depressed, as is essential used medical sprays, such as pressurized metered dose inhalers and nasal
sprays, and also for automatic (wall-mounted) aerosol delivery systems for air-fresheners, insecticides and disinfectants.
For ‘compressed gas’ aerosol formats, there is no flash vaporization of propellant so that pumping liquid from a metering
chamber and atomization to form a spray must be achieved entirely by designing some means of using the pumping action
of the gas in the container to act upon the liquid in the metering chamber. The new design utilizes a loosely fitting
spherical piston element and a simple arrangement of a concentric housing and a moveable valve stem, such that liquid
flow paths between the different elements are automatically closed and opened in the correct time sequence when the
valve stem is depressed and released. Spraying data show excellent repeatability of liquid sprayed per pulse throughout
the lifetime of device and drop sizes that are acceptable for devices such as air-fresheners and nasal sprays. The valve has
only one additional component compared with liquefied gas metered valves and can be straightforwardly injection
moulded. As will be explained, previous attempts failed due to expense, complexity and unreliability.
Keywords
Aerosol valve, spray metering, insert, inhaler, air-freshene
Next generation of consumer aerosol valve design using inert gases
The current global consumer aerosol products such as deodorants, hairsprays, air-fresheners, polish, insecticide, disinfectant
are primarily utilised unfriendly environmental propellant of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for over three decades.
The advantages of the new innovative technology described in this paper are: (i) no butane or other liquefied
hydrocarbon gas; (ii) compressed air, nitrogen or other safe gas propellant; (iii) customer acceptable spray quality and
consistency during can lifetime; (iv) conventional cans and filling technology. Volatile organic compounds and greenhouse
gases must be avoided but there are no flashing propellants replacements that would provide the good atomisation and
spray reach. On the basis of the energy source for atomising, the only feasible source is inert gas (i.e. compressed air),
which improves atomisation by gas bubbles and turbulence inside the atomiser insert of the actuator. This research
concentrates on using ‘bubbly flow’ in the valve stem, with injection of compressed gas into the passing flow, thus also
generating turbulence. Using a vapour phase tap in conventional aerosol valves allows the propellant gas into the liquid
flow upstream of the valve. However, forcing bubbly flow through a valve is not ideal. The novel valves designed here,
using compressed gas, thus achieved the following objectives when the correct combination of gas and liquid inlets to the
valve, and the type and size of atomiser ‘insert’ were derived:
1. Produced a consistent flow rate and drop size of spray throughout the life of the can, compatible with the current
conventional aerosols that use LPG: a new ‘constancy’ parameter is defined and used to this end.
2. Obtained a discharge flow rate suited to the product to be sprayed; typically between 0.4 g/s and 2.5 g/s.
3. Attained the spray droplets size suited to the product to be sprayed; typically between 40 mm and 120 mm
Posttraumatic stress disorder and psychiatric comorbidity following the 2010 flood in Pakistan: Exposure characteristics, cognitive distortions, and emotional suppression
© 2014 Washington School of Psychiatry. This study investigated the extent of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric comorbidity among the 2010 flood victims in Pakistan and its relationship with disaster exposure characteristics, cognitive distortions, and emotional suppression. One hundred and thirty-one (F = 89, iM = 42) flood victims were assessed using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, the General Health Questionnaire-28, the Cognitive Distortion Scales, and the Courtauld Emotional Control Scale. The results showed that all victims met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and scored above the cut-off for psychiatric caseness. Partial least squares modelling showed that disaster exposure characteristics were significantly correlated with PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity. Disaster exposure characteristics were also significantly associated with cognitive distortions which in turn were also significantly associated with PTSD and psychiatric comorbidity. Cognitive distortions were also correlated with emotional suppression which, however, was not associated with PTSD or psychiatric comorbidity. To conclude, the flood victims reported PTSD and psychiatric comorbid symptoms which were related to their subjective exposure to the flood. Such exposure led to the development of dysfunctional thinking patterns which in turn influenced distress symptoms
Size-Change Termination, Monotonicity Constraints and Ranking Functions
Size-Change Termination (SCT) is a method of proving program termination
based on the impossibility of infinite descent. To this end we may use a
program abstraction in which transitions are described by monotonicity
constraints over (abstract) variables. When only constraints of the form x>y'
and x>=y' are allowed, we have size-change graphs. Both theory and practice are
now more evolved in this restricted framework then in the general framework of
monotonicity constraints. This paper shows that it is possible to extend and
adapt some theory from the domain of size-change graphs to the general case,
thus complementing previous work on monotonicity constraints. In particular, we
present precise decision procedures for termination; and we provide a procedure
to construct explicit global ranking functions from monotonicity constraints in
singly-exponential time, which is better than what has been published so far
even for size-change graphs.Comment: revised version of September 2
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