University of Strathclyde at TREC HARD

The motivation behind the University of Strathclyde's approach to this years HARD track was inspired from previous experiences by other participants, in particular research by [1], [3] and [4]. A running theme throughout these papers was the underlying hypothesis that a user's familiarity in a topic (i.e. their previous experience searching a subject), will form the basis for what type or style of document they will perceive as relevant. In other words, the user's context with regards to their previous search experience will determine what type of document(s) they wish to retrieve

A COMPREHENSIVE PIPELINE FOR CLASS COMPARISON AND CLASS PREDICTION IN CANCER RESEARCH

Personalized medicine is an emerging field that promises to bring radical changes in healthcare and may be defined as \u201ca medical model using molecular profiling technologies for tailoring the right therapeutic strategy for the right person at the right time, and determine the predisposition to disease at the population level and to deliver timely and stratified prevention\u201d. The sequencing of the human genome together with the development and implementation of new high throughput technologies has provided access to large \u2018omics\u2019 (e.g. genomics, proteomics) data, bringing a better understanding of cancer biology and enabling new approaches to diagnosis, drug development, and individualized therapy. \u2018Omics\u2019 data have the potential as cancer biomarkers but no consolidated guidelines have been established for discovery analyses. In the context of the EDERA project, funded by the Italian Association for Cancer Research, a structured pipeline was developed with innovative applications of existing bioinformatics methods including: 1) the combination of the results of two statistical tests (t and Anderson-Darling) to detect features with significant fold change or general distributional differences in class comparison; 2) the application of a bootstrap selection procedure together with machine learning techniques to guarantee result generalizability and study the interconnections among the selected features in class prediction. Such a pipeline was successfully applied to plasmatic microRNA, identifying five hemolysis related microRNAs and to Secondary ElectroSpray Ionization-Mass Spectrometry data, in which case eight mass spectrometry signals were found able to discriminate exhaled breath from breast cancer patients from that of healthy individuals

Volunteer Retention in Prosocial Venturing: The Role of Emotional Connectivity

This study develops an understanding of the role of emotional connectivity for volunteer retention in prosocial business venturing. By embedding it in organizational ambivalence theory, our analysis of four volunteer-dependent community ventures reveals two mechanisms through which entrepreneurs strengthen volunteers’ emotional connectivity. We first identify emotion-focused practices that form volunteers’ emotional attachment to the venture, and then demonstrate how duality-focused practices, in the form of managing inherent organizational duality, complement emotion-focused practices to foster volunteers’ emotional loyalty to the venture. Theorizing from our findings, we introduce a model of managing volunteers’ emotional connectivity, and conclude by discussing its implications for prosocial venture research on volunteerism and affective commitment

Lpa1-5525 : a new lpa1 mutant isolated in a mutagenized population by a novel non-disrupting screening method

Phytic acid, or myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate, is the main storage form of phosphorus in plants. It is localized in seeds, deposited as mixed salts of mineral cations in protein storage vacuoles; during germination, it is hydrolyzed by phytases to make available P together with all the other cations needed for seed germination. When seeds are used as food or feed, phytic acid and the bound cations are poorly bioavailable for human and monogastric livestock due to their lack of phytase activity. Therefore, reducing the amount of phytic acid is one strategy in breeding programs aimed to improve the nutritional properties of major crops. In this work, we present data on the isolation of a new maize (Zea mays L.) low phytic acid 1 (lpa1) mutant allele obtained by transposon tagging mutagenesis with the Ac element. We describe the generation of the mutagenized population and the screening to isolate new lpa1 mutants. In particular, we developed a fast, cheap and non-disrupting screening method based on the different density of lpa1 seed compared to the wild type. This assay allowed the isolation of the lpa1-5525 mutant characterized by a new mutation in the lpa1 locus associated with a lower amount of phytic phosphorus in the seeds in comparison with the wild type

Money management and entrepreneurial training in microfinance: impact on beneficiaries and institutions

This study uses a randomized control trial to evaluate the outcome of integrating money management and entrepreneurial training into a microcredit program in India. We find positive and significant effects on clients\u2019 financial management skills and entrepreneurship abilities, particularly for clients with higher human capital, or more diligent, or having an entrepreneurial idea, and an increase in initiative and self-confidence. Effects appear stronger for clients obliged to attend the training course or more interested in attending it. By considering missed or delayed repayments reduction we assess the benefits of the training provided and of extending it for the institution

The circum-galactic medium of quasars: CIV absorption systems

We investigate the properties of the circumgalactic gas in the halo of quasar host galaxies from CIV absorption line systems. Optical spectroscopy of closely aligned pairs of quasars (projected distance \leq 200 kpc) obtained at the Gran Telescopio Canarias is used to investigate the distribution of the absorbing gas for a sample of 18 quasars at z \sim 2. We found that the detected absorption systems of EW \geq 0.3Ang associated with the foreground QSO are revealed up to 200 kpc from the center of the host galaxy. The structure of the absorbing gas is rather patchy with a covering fraction of the gas that quickly decreases beyond 100 kpc. These results are in qualitative agreement with those found for the lower ionisation metal Mg II 2800 Ang.Comment: Very minor revision . Accepted for publication in MNRA

3rd KidRec workshop: What does good look like?

Today's children spend considerable time online, searching and receiving information from various websites and apps. While searching for information, e.g. for school or hobbies, children use search systems to locate resources and receive site recommendations that might be useful for them. The call for good, reliable, child-friendly systems has been made many times and the thesis that the algorithms of "adult" information systems are not necessarily suitable or fair for children is widely accepted. However, there is still no clear and balanced view on what makes one search/recommendation system for children good or better than other systems, nor on what content should be considered "good enough to be retrieved" or recommended. The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers and practitioners in education, child-development, computer science, and more who can address this questions while considering issues related to education, algorithms, ethics, privacy, evaluation

SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. Facing the pandemic together as citizens and cardiovascular practitioners

Despite their highbrow name, coronarvirus have proved eminently disruptive in recent years. Since the epidemic of severe respiratory distress syndrome (SARS) due to the SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MER S) due to the MER S-related coronavirus (MER S-CoV), several experts could expect the advent of additional epidemics due to coronaviruses. Yet, the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus-associated disease 2019 (COVID -2019) due to the infection from SARS-CoV-2 (also known as 2019-nCoV) has wreaked havoc worldwide (Figure 1). As Italian citizens and cardiovascular practitioners, we are now facing this storm, with a mix of incredulity, fear, boldness, and sense of duty

A metaphylactic treatment with double dose oxytetracycline reduces the risk of bovine respiratory disease in feedlot calves

El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar el efecto del tratamiento metafiláctico con oxitetraciclina (OTC), a simple y doble dosis, en bovinos con alto riesgo de padecer enfermedad respiratoria bovina (ERB). El estudio se realizó en un establecimiento de engorde a corral donde se utilizaron 2.754 terneros que fueron considerados de alto riesgo de padecer ERB. Se utilizó un diseño en bloque completamente al azar donde se consideró al animal como la unidad experimental y el corral (n=10) como bloque. Se formaron tres grupos experimentales: 1- control (CTL) el cual permaneció sin tratamiento, 2- recibió OTC 20 mg/kg SC (OTC20) y 3- recibió OTC 40 mg/kg SC (OTC40). El riesgo de ERB fue evaluado a través de una regresión logística. Los animales del grupo CTL tuvieron 2,85 y 7,14 veces más chances de enfermarse de ERB que los animales de los grupos OTC20 y OTC40 respectivamente (