Validating simulated interaction for retrieval evaluation

A searcher’s interaction with a retrieval system consists of actions such as query formulation, search result list interaction and document interaction. The simulation of searcher interaction has recently gained momentum in the analysis and evaluation of interactive information retrieval (IIR). However, a key issue that has not yet been adequately addressed is the validity of such IIR simulations and whether they reliably predict the performance obtained by a searcher across the session. The aim of this paper is to determine the validity of the common interaction model (CIM) typically used for simulating multi-query sessions. We focus on search result interactions, i.e., inspecting snippets, examining documents and deciding when to stop examining the results of a single query, or when to stop the whole session. To this end, we run a series of simulations grounded by real world behavioral data to show how accurate and responsive the model is to various experimental conditions under which the data were produced. We then validate on a second real world data set derived under similar experimental conditions. We seek to predict cumulated gain across the session. We find that the interaction model with a query-level stopping strategy based on consecutive non-relevant snippets leads to the highest prediction accuracy, and lowest deviation from ground truth, around 9 to 15% depending on the experimental conditions. To our knowledge, the present study is the first validation effort of the CIM that shows that the model’s acceptance and use is justified within IIR evaluations. We also identify and discuss ways to further improve the CIM and its behavioral parameters for more accurate simulations

Heterologous boosting of nonrelated toxoid immunity during acute Puumala hantavirus infection

Persistence of immune memory in humans is a crucial yet poorly understood aspect of immunology. Here we have studied the effect of Puumala hantavirus infection on unrelated, pre-existing immune memory by studying T cell- and antibody responses against toxoid vaccine antigens of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in a cohort of 45 patients. We found that tetanus- and pertussis-specific IgG concentrations elevate during acute Puumala virus infection. Increase in vaccine IgG was associated with proliferation of heterologous T cells. Interestingly, increases in tetanus-specific IgG persisted a year after the infection while pertussis-specific IgG declined rapidly; a difference in IgG kinetics resembling the difference seen after vaccination against tetanus and pertussis. These results suggest that persistence of immune memory is facilitated by heterologous boosting of old memory during memory formation against newly encountered antigens. They also show that different toxoid antigens may be treated differently. Our study gives new insight into how immune memory formation may alter pre-existing immune memory, and also shows that heterologous immunity may have an impact on vaccination outcomes. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Targeted Query Expansions as a Method for Searching Mixed Quality Digitized Cultural Heritage Documents

Digitization of cultural heritage is a huge ongoing effort in many countries. In digitized historical documents, words may occur in different surface forms due to three types of variation - morphological variation, historical variation, and errors in optical character recognition (OCR). Because individual documents may differ significantly from each other regarding the level of such variations, digitized collections may contain documents of mixed quality. Such different types of documents may require different types of retrieval methods. We suggest using targeted query expansions (QE) to access documents in mixed-quality text collections. In QE the user-given search term is replaced by a set of expansion keys (search words); in targeted QE the selection of expansion terms is based on the type of surface level variation occurring in the particular text searched. We illustrate our approach in a highly inflectional compounding language, Finnish while the variation occur across all natural languages. We report a minimal-scale experiment based on the QE method and discuss the need to support targeted QEs in the search interface.ye

Historiataitojen opetus alakoulussa : esimerkkimenetelmänä pedagogisten liveroolipelien mahdollisuudet historian opetuksessa

Tässä tutkimuksessa tutkitaan historiataitojen opettamista alakoulussa sekä pedagogisten liveroolipelien käyttöä historian opetuksen menetelmänä. Tutkimuksen tarkoitus on selvittää, miten luokanopettajat näkevät historian oppiaineena ja miten he opettavat opetussuunnitelman edellyttämiä historiataitoja. Historiataitojen opettamiseen syvennytään tarkemmin tutkimalla opettajien kokemuksia pedagogisten liveroolipelien käytöstä historian opetuksen menetelmänä. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa muodostetaan kuva historiasta tieteenalana ja oppiaineena sekä sen roolista opetussuunnitelmassa. Lisäksi taustoitetaan opettajien pedagogisen ajattelun muodostumista sekä selvitetään, mitä tarkoitetaan pedagogisilla liveroolipeleillä. Historiataitojen opettamista alakoulussa selvitettiin kahdella ryhmähaastattelulla ja pedagogisia liveroolipelejä käsittelevä aineisto hankittiin kolmella yksilöhaastattelulla. Tutkimus on laadullinen. Aineistojen analyysissa sovelletaan sekä sisällönanalyysia että eksistentiaaliseen fenomenologiaan pohjautuvaa analyysia. Tutkimuksemme perusteella luokanopettajat hahmottavat historian sekä tieto- että taitoaineeksi. Taitojen opettaminen nähdään tärkeänä mutta haastavana tehtävänä. Haasteita luovat ajanpuute sekä tietomäärä. Erityisen hankalaksi koetaan historiataitojen arviointi. Opettajien kokemukset pedagogisten liveroolipelien käytöstä historian opetuksessa olivat pääosin positiiviset. Menetelmä koettiin innostavana sekä oppilaita motivoivana ja siten oppimistuloksia parantavana. Menetelmän varjopuolena koettiin olevan sen vaativuus ja työteliäisyys

Data from: Maternal effects in vulnerability to eye-parasites and correlations between behaviour and parasitism in juvenile Arctic charr

Hatchery-reared fish show high mortalities after release to the wild environment. Explanations for this include potentially predetermined genetics, behavioural and physiological acclimation to fish farm environments, and increased vulnerability to predation and parasitism in the wild. We studied vulnerability to Diplostomum spp. parasites (load of eye-flukes in the lenses), immune defence (relative spleen size) and anti-predator behaviours (approaches toward predator odour, freezing, and swimming activity) in hatchery-reared juvenile Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) using a nested mating design. Fish were exposed to eye-fluke larvae via the incoming water at the hatchery. Fish size was positively associated with parasite load, but we did not find any relationship between relative spleen size and parasitism. The offspring of different females showed significant variation in their parasite load within sires, implying a dam effect in the vulnerability to parasites. However, the family background did not have any effect on spleen size. In the mean sire level over dams, the fish from the bolder (actively swimming) families in the predator trials suffered higher loads of eye-flukes than those from more cautiously behaving families. Thus, the results indicate potentially maternally inherited differences in vulnerability to eye-fluke parasites, and that the vulnerability to parasites and behavioural activity are positively associated with each other at the sire level. This could lead to artificial and unintentional selection for increased vulnerability to both parasitism and predation if these traits are favoured in fish farm environments

Varusmiesten liikuntakoulutusta kehittämässä : harjoitteluinterventiotutkimuksen vaikutukset fyysiseen toimintakykyyn, liikunnan minäpystyvyyteen ja varusmiesten kokemukseen liikuntakoulutuksessa

Sotilas tarvitsee operatiivisessa työssään monipuolisesti fyysistä suorituskykyä ja nykyaikainen taistelukenttä edellyttääkin sotilailta sekä voimaa että kestävyyttä. Puolustusvoimien fyysisen koulutuksen tärkeimpänä tavoitteena on valmistaa sotilasta selviytymään omasta poikkeusolojen tehtävästään.nonPeerReviewe

Sperm pre-fertilization thermal environment shapes offspring phenotype and performance

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Kekäläinen et al_Data

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