A Nested Attention Neural Hybrid Model for Grammatical Error Correction

Grammatical error correction (GEC) systems strive to correct both global errors in word order and usage, and local errors in spelling and inflection. Further developing upon recent work on neural machine translation, we propose a new hybrid neural model with nested attention layers for GEC. Experiments show that the new model can effectively correct errors of both types by incorporating word and character-level information,and that the model significantly outperforms previous neural models for GEC as measured on the standard CoNLL-14 benchmark dataset. Further analysis also shows that the superiority of the proposed model can be largely attributed to the use of the nested attention mechanism, which has proven particularly effective in correcting local errors that involve small edits in orthography

Periodontitis-induced systemic inflammation exacerbates atherosclerosis partly via endothelial-mesenchymal transition in mice.

Growing evidence suggests close associations between periodontitis and atherosclerosis. To further understand the pathological relationships of these associations, we developed periodontitis with ligature placement around maxillary molars or ligature placement in conjunction with Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide injection at the ligature sites (ligature/P.g. LPS) in Apolipoprotein E knock out mice and studied the atherogenesis process in these animals. The mice were fed with high fat diet for 11 weeks and sacrificed for analyzing periodontitis, systemic inflammation, and atherosclerosis. Controls did not develop periodontitis or systemic inflammation and had minimal lipid deposition in the aortas, but mice receiving ligature or ligature/P.g. LPS showed severe periodontitis, systemic inflammation, and aortic plaque formation. The aortic plaque contained abundant macrophages and cells expressing both endothelial and mesenchymal cell markers. The severity of periodontitis was slightly higher in mice receiving ligature/P.g. LPS than ligature alone, and the magnitude of systemic inflammation and aortic plaque formation were also notably greater in the mice with ligature/P.g. LPS. These observations indicate that the development of atherosclerosis is due to systemic inflammation caused by severe periodontitis. In vitro, P.g. LPS enhanced the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines from macrophages and increased the adhesion of monocytes to endothelial cells by upregulating the expression of adhesion molecules from endothelial cells. Moreover, secretory proteins, such as TNF-α, from macrophages induced endothelial-mesenchymal transitions of the endothelial cells. Taken together, systemic inflammation induced by severe periodontitis might exacerbate atherosclerosis via, in part, causing aberrant functions of vascular endothelial cells and the activation of macrophages in mice

Network Structure, Topology and Dynamics in Generalized Models of Synchronization

We explore the interplay of network structure, topology, and dynamic interactions between nodes using the paradigm of distributed synchronization in a network of coupled oscillators. As the network evolves to a global steady state, interconnected oscillators synchronize in stages, revealing network's underlying community structure. Traditional models of synchronization assume that interactions between nodes are mediated by a conservative process, such as diffusion. However, social and biological processes are often non-conservative. We propose a new model of synchronization in a network of oscillators coupled via non-conservative processes. We study dynamics of synchronization of a synthetic and real-world networks and show that different synchronization models reveal different structures within the same network

Digital Twin for Variation Management: A General Framework and Identification of Industrial Challenges Related to the Implementation

Digital twins have gained a lot of interest in recent years. This paper presents a survey among researchers and engineers with expertise in variation management confirming the interest of digital twins in this area. The survey shows, however, a gap between future research interest in academia and industry, identifying a larger need in industry. This indicates that there are some barriers in the industry to overcome before the benefits of a digital twin for variation management and geometry assurance can be fully capitalized on in an industrial context. To identify those barriers and challenges, an extensive interview study with engineers from eight different companies in the manufacturing sectors was accomplished. The analysis identifies industrial challenges in the areas of system-level, simulation working process, management issues, and education. One of the main challenges is to keep the 3D models fully updated, including keeping track of changes during the product development process and also feedback changes during full production to the development engineers. This is a part of what is called the digital thread, which is also addressed in this paper

THE DIAMOND HEMESEP BLOOD PROCESSING UNIT: A REAL-TIME MICROFLUIDIC WHOLE BLOOD SEPARATION PROCESS

Recent advancements in the field of microfabrication and microfluidics have made possible the design of separation devices and clinical diagnostic kits that use relatively smaller volumes of sample material than existing technologies. Using this technology, as well as existing technologies in membrane and immunomagnetic separations, a novel blood processing unit based on microfluidics has been designed. This report will detail the operation and layout of a microfluidic chip that produces three outputs (serum, plasma and a white blood cell lysate) from a human whole blood input. Microfluidic technology has allowed for the design of several distinctive features that make the performance of the blood processing unit comparable to existing centrifuge technologies available clinically and in research laboratories. Among other features, the chip produces a stabilized white blood cell lysate and is designed to match the blueprint of existing 96-well plates. In addition to describing the on-board processes and features of the chip, this report will also discuss the components needed for operation of the chip as well as a process to manufacture the product. This product, known as the Diamond HemeSep blood processing unit, could offer more standardized, efficient blood separation technologies that would benefit health care providers, patients and researchers. Moreover, the product is predicted to have a healthy financial outlook: based on the target market of clinical laboratories performing preclinical and clinical trials involving numerous samples of blood, we expect to sell 1 million cartridges in the first year of production with sales growing to 1.7 million cartridges in the tenth and final year. The net present value (NPV) of the proposed project, based on a selling price of $25 a cartridge, is expected to be$51 million. For the current projections, Series A investors can expect returns of 45%

Ground-state properties of rare-earth nuclei in the Nilsson mean-field plus extended-pairing model

The Nilsson mean-field plus extended-pairing model for deformed nuclei is applied to describe the ground-state properties of selected rare-earth nuclei. Binding energies, even-odd mass differences, energies of the first pairing excitation states, and moments of inertia for the ground-state band of Er152-164, Yb154-166, and Hf156-168 are calculated systematically in the model employing both proton-proton and neutron-neutron pairing interactions. The pairing interaction strengths are determined as a function of the mass number in the isotopic chains. In comparison with the corresponding experimental data, it is shown that pairing interaction is crucial in elucidating the properties of both the ground state and the first pairing excitation state of these rare-earth nuclei. With model parameters determined by fitting the energies of these states, ground-state occupation probabilities of valence nucleon pairs with angular momentum J=0,1,12 for even-even Yb156-162 are calculated. It is inferred that the occupation probabilities of valence nucleon pairs with even angular momenta are much higher than those of valence nucleon pairs with odd angular momenta. The results clearly indicate that S, D, and G valence nucleon pairs dominate in the ground state of these nuclei

How Do Stressed Workers Make Travel Mode Choices That Are Good For Their Health, Safety, and Productivity?

It is well recognized in transportation and psychology research that commuting stress has consequences for commuters\u27 travel safety, home environment, and work performance. Little research has addressed questions involving the possible interdependence between work stress, family stress, and commuting stress: Do workers having many demands from work and family life get more stressed out from a stressful commute? Or do stressed workers try to cope with work and non-work stress by choosing more relaxing travel modes? This proposal integrates the perspectives from transportation, psychology, and health science by focusing on the relations between commuting stress, commuting mode choice, and consequences of such choice for commuters\u27 health. To fill the gaps in the transportation and psychology literature, our proposal addresses two key research questions:1) Under what life and work circumstances are commuting workers more likely to commute via car vs. public transit vs. bicycle vs. on foot? 2) What are the different implications of choosing different commuting modes for commuters’ mental and physical health and work outcomes? In Study 1, we used nationally representative census data and we devised a series of multinomial, logistic regression models to predict the probability of choosing each commute mode to address research question 1. In Study 2, we used cortisol and survey data collected daily over a workweek to address research question 2. Findings from this research shed light on possible intervention opportunities that help commuting workers cope with various sources of life stress while making more informed decisions on travel mode choice. We contend that commuting workers, their employers, and transportation agencies and planners can all take part in these interventions that can benefit commuting workers’ productivity and well-being, organizational bottom line as well as performance and safety of the transportation system

Pandemic Culture Wars: Partisan Asymmetries in the Moral Language of COVID-19 Discussions

Effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic required coordinated adoption of mitigation measures, like masking and quarantines, to curb virus's spread. However, political divisions that emerged early in the pandemic hindered consensus on the appropriate response. To better understand these divisions, our study examines a vast collection of COVID-19-related tweets. We focus on five contentious issues: coronavirus origins, lockdowns, masking, education, and vaccines. We describe a weakly supervised method to identify issue-relevant tweets and employ state-of-the-art computational methods to analyze moral language and infer political ideology. We explore how ideological divisions and moral language shape conversations about these issues. Our findings reveal ideological differences in issue salience and the dynamics of moral language. We find that conservatives use more negatively-valenced moral language than liberals, but moral language use by conservatives is less persistent and appears to be driven by dynamics of the news cycle. Furthermore, we find that political elites use moral rhetoric to a greater extent than non-elites across most issues. Examining the evolution and moralization on divisive issues can provide valuable insights into the dynamics of COVID-19 discussions and assist policymakers in better understanding the emergence of ideological divisions

FGF/FGFR Signaling Coordinates Skull Development by Modulating Magnitude of Morphological Integration: Evidence from Apert Syndrome Mouse Models

The fibroblast growth factor and receptor system (FGF/FGFR) mediates cell communication and pattern formation in many tissue types (e.g., osseous, nervous, vascular). In those craniosynostosis syndromes caused by FGFR1-3 mutations, alteration of signaling in the FGF/FGFR system leads to dysmorphology of the skull, brain and limbs, among other organs. Since this molecular pathway is widely expressed throughout head development, we explore whether and how two specific mutations on Fgfr2 causing Apert syndrome in humans affect the pattern and level of integration between the facial skeleton and the neurocranium using inbred Apert syndrome mouse models Fgfr2+/S252W and Fgfr2+/P253R and their non-mutant littermates at P0. Skull morphological integration (MI), which can reflect developmental interactions among traits by measuring the intensity of statistical associations among them, was assessed using data from microCT images of the skull of Apert syndrome mouse models and 3D geometric morphometric methods. Our results show that mutant Apert syndrome mice share the general pattern of MI with their non-mutant littermates, but the magnitude of integration between and within the facial skeleton and the neurocranium is increased, especially in Fgfr2+/S252W mice. This indicates that although Fgfr2 mutations do not disrupt skull MI, FGF/FGFR signaling is a covariance-generating process in skull development that acts as a global factor modulating the intensity of MI. As this pathway evolved early in vertebrate evolution, it may have played a significant role in establishing the patterns of skull MI and coordinating proper skull development

A Clinical Index for Disease Activity in Cats with Chronic Enteropathy

Background: There is a need for a clinically useful, quantitative index for measurement of disease activity in cats with chronic enteropathy (CE). Objective: To develop a numerical activity index that is of practical value to clinicians treating CE in cats. Animals: Eighty-two cats with CE. Methods: Retrospective case review of 59 cats diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Prospective validation study of 23 cats having either IBD or food-responsive enteropathy (FRE). Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify which combination of clinical and laboratory variables were best associated with intestinal inflammation of IBD. This combination of variables was expressed in a score that was used as an activity index for the prospective assessment of disease activity and of the effect of treatment in cats with IBD or FRE. Results: The combination of gastrointestinal signs, endoscopic abnormalities, serum total protein, serum alanine transaminase/alkaline phosphatase activity, and serum phosphorous concentration had the best correlation with histopathologic inflammation and comprise the feline chronic enteropathy activity index (FCEAI). Positive treatment responses in cats with CE were accompanied by significant (P \u3c .05) reductions in FCEAI scores after treatment. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: The FCEAI is a simple numerical measure of inflammatory activity in cats with CE. The scoring index can be reliably used in the initial assessment of disease severity for both IBD and FRE and as a measure of clinical response to treatment for these disorders