Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Asynchronous online teaching

About the book: This book is written for those teaching languages to adults in blended contexts in higher, further and adult education where a mix of delivery modes and tools may be in use. The edited volume offers a comprehensive overview of the key issues faced and of the developmental issues that may arise for teachers themselves and for those responsible for their professional development. The book examines the impact of different learning environments (online, face-to-face, telephone) on pedagogic practice and language learner support and recognises the particular socio-cultural, psycho-linguistic and cognitive issues that have to be taken into account when working with diverse adult language learners in blended settings. Research in the field underpins the chapters to better inform and develop good practice. The editors and contributors have all worked on the production and teaching presentations of Open University (OU) courses in French, German, Spanish, Welsh, Italian, Chinese and English. Many of them have also been responsible for the professional development of teaching teams working in varied blended models. The authors draw on pioneering and innovative work carried out in the fifteen years since the inception of language courses at the Open University, where blended models have been modified and become more complex over the years. The ideas they present are therefore well-formed, tested and have been approached reflectively

Data from: A spatially integrated framework for assessing socioecological drivers of carnivore decline

Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation are key threats to the long-term persistence of carnivores, which are also susceptible to direct persecution by people. Integrating natural and social science methods to examine how habitat configuration/quality and human–predator relations may interact in space and time to effect carnivore populations within human-dominated landscapes will help prioritise conservation investment and action effectively. We propose a socioecological modelling framework to evaluate drivers of carnivore decline in landscapes where predators and people coexist. By collecting social and ecological data at the same spatial scale, candidate models can be used to quantify and tease apart the relative importance of different threats. We apply our methodological framework to an empirical case study, the threatened güiña (Leopardus guigna) in the temperate forest ecoregion of southern Chile, to illustrate its use. Existing literature suggests that the species is declining due to habitat loss, fragmentation and persecution in response to livestock predation. Data used in modelling were derived from four seasons of camera-trap surveys, remote-sensed images and household questionnaires. Occupancy dynamics were explained by habitat configuration/quality covariates rather than by human–predator relations. Güiñas can tolerate a high degree of habitat loss (>80% within a home range). They are primarily impacted by fragmentation and land subdivision (larger farms being divided into smaller ones). Ten per cent of surveyed farmers (N = 233) reported illegally killing the species over the past decade. Synthesis and applications. By integrating ecological and social data, collected at the same spatial scale, within a single modelling framework, our study demonstrates the value of an interdisciplinary approach to assessing the potential threats to a carnivore. It has allowed us to tease apart effectively the relative importance of different potential extinction pressures for the güiña (Leopardus guigna), make informed conservation recommendations and prioritise where future interventions should be targeted. We have identified that human-dominated landscapes with large intensive farms can be of conservation value, as long as an appropriate network of habitat patches is maintained within the matrix. Conservation efforts to secure the long-term persistence of the species should focus on reducing habitat fragmentation rather than human persecution

RRT_Ngalvez_JAPP

RRT data. First line are the headings. Second column are the RRT results (0 no; 1 yes). Following columns are the identification of the covariables

OccupancyData_Covars_NGalvez_JAPP

Detection/ non-detection data of occupancy models plus covariates. First lines are the headings. Each line represents a sampling unit that includes the sampling occasions (e.g. 1-1 first season first sampling occasion) followed by the covariates described in the paper

El aprendizaje autónomo de lenguas en tándem : principios, estrategias y experiencias de integración

Recopilación de artículos dirigidos a profesores de lenguas, asesores lingüísticos y a aquellos que deseen organizar y apoyar el aprendizaje autónomo de lenguas en tándem. Se recogen las principales claves teóricas de dicho modelo de aprendizaje, incluyendo consideraciones sobre los principios que lo rigen, las estrategias que le son de aplicación y la eficacia de su uso. Se proporcionan consejos prácticos que pueden servir de ayuda a los interesados en acercarse a las características de este método, ya sea desde una perspectiva investigadora o con el deseo de organizar experiencias de aprendizaje autónomo similares.AsturiasBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín 5 -3 Planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Application of a 5-tiered scheme for standardized classification of 2,360 unique mismatch repair gene variants in the InSiGHT locus-specific database.

The clinical classification of hereditary sequence variants identified in disease-related genes directly affects clinical management of patients and their relatives. The International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumours (InSiGHT) undertook a collaborative effort to develop, test and apply a standardized classification scheme to constitutional variants in the Lynch syndrome-associated genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 and PMS2. Unpublished data submission was encouraged to assist in variant classification and was recognized through microattribution. The scheme was refined by multidisciplinary expert committee review of the clinical and functional data available for variants, applied to 2,360 sequence alterations, and disseminated online. Assessment using validated criteria altered classifications for 66% of 12,006 database entries. Clinical recommendations based on transparent evaluation are now possible for 1,370 variants that were not obviously protein truncating from nomenclature. This large-scale endeavor will facilitate the consistent management of families suspected to have Lynch syndrome and demonstrates the value of multidisciplinary collaboration in the curation and classification of variants in public locus-specific databases