Incorporating Prior Knowledge into Task Decomposition for Large-Scale Patent Classification

Abstract. With the adoption of min-max-modular support vector machines (SVMs) to solve large-scale patent classification problems, a novel, simple method for incorporating prior knowledge into task decomposition is proposed and investigated. Two kinds of prior knowledge described in patent texts are considered: time information, and hierarchical structure information. Through experiments using the NTCIR-5 Japanese patent database, patents are found to have time-varying features that considerably affect classification. The experimen-tal results demonstrate that applying min-max modular SVMs with the proposed method gives performance superior to that of conventional SVMs in terms of training time, generalization accuracy, and scalability.

The impact of metadata on the accuracy of automated patent classification

During the last decade, the advance of machine-learning tools and algorithms has resulted in tremendous progress in the automated classification of documents. However, many classifiers base their classification decisions solely on document text and ignore metadata (such as authors, publication date, and author affiliation). In this project, automated classifiers using the k-Nearest Neighbour algorithm were developed for the classification of patents into two different classification systems. Those using metadata (in this case inventor names, applicant names and International Patent Classification codes) were compared with those ignoring it. The use of metadata could significantly improve the classification of patents with one classification system, improving classification accuracy from 70.8% up to 75.4%, which was highly statistically significant. However, the results for the other classification system were inconclusive: while metadata could improve the quality of the classifier for some experiments (recall increased from 66.0% to 68.9%, which was a small but nonetheless significant improvement), experiments with different parameters showed that it could also lead to a deterioration of quality (recall dropping as low as 61.0%). The study shows that metadata can play an extremely useful role in the classification of patents. Nonetheless, it must not be used indiscriminately but only after careful evaluation of its usefulness

A case study of an expert mathematics teacher's interactive decision-making system using physiological and behavioral time series data

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to describe an expert teachers decision-making system during interactive instruction using teacher self-report information, classroom observation data, and physiological recordings. Timed recordings of instructional interaction variables using an adapted Stallings Observation System were combined with simultaneous skin voltage measurements in time series analyses to describe observable and physiological elements of an expert teachers decision-making process. The mean and standard deviation of observable decision-action rates on teacher-identified teaching days were higher than the rates on guiding days. Bivariate time series analysis of decision-action rates and physiological response rates showed a significant positive relationship between the teachers decision-action rate and her physiological response rate on one teaching day. The positive relationship between the teachers decision-action rate and her physiological response rate was found to be context-dependent and related to the teaching strategy being used. High decision-action rates during direct instruction were associated with high physiological response rates compared to lower decision-action rates and physiological response rates while monitoring independent seatwork during a test. Correlation analysis of physiological response rates with time revealed slight, but statistically significant negative trends for four of the five observation days. Major features of the teachers decision-making system included focusing attention on academic instruction with the use of routines for managing students and materials to perform teaching tasks; both proactive and reactive improvisational decisions; and physiological events characteristic of autonomic nervous system activity during instructional sequences of high teacher-student interactivity. Damasios Somatic Marker Hypothesis (Damasio, 1999) is offered as an explanation for the generation of specific characteristics of the expert teachers instruction, such as the high frequency of decision-actions and automaticity of appropriate decisions

Perceptions of Business School Students About Character Development and Ethical Reasoning

Character development in higher education is essential for enhancing ethical awareness and moral reasoning. However, inconsistent perspectives exist concerning the impact of ethics education on students\u27 ethical awareness and moral reasoning. This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of senior-level undergraduate business students on their own ethical belief systems and changes in ethical awareness. Astin\u27s student development theory on the environmental effects on learning formed the conceptual framework. The research questions explored how the 4-year undergraduate business school experience changed the students\u27 ability to recognize and evaluate ethical concerns in relation to the ethical aspects of coursework. Thirteen undergraduate seniors pursuing a business degree from a Catholic college were purposively selected. In-depth interviews were used to obtain data about ethical self-awareness, recognition of ethical issues, understanding ethical concepts, and assessing core values. The study followed Moustakas\u27 recommendation for phenomenological analysis, a modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method. Emergent themes included the meaning of moral character development, the perception of the college business curriculum in relation to students\u27 core values, and the approaches used to affect ethical situations. The findings suggest that the business curriculum increase the students\u27 exposure to ethical situations and introduce decision tools that could be useful in ethical dilemmas. Recommendations involve considering a pretest and posttest design and Astin\u27s entire inputs-environment-outcomes model as the theoretical framework. The implications for positive social change include the development of character education toward moral competencies and ethical decision-making skills of future business leaders

Physical Activity among Older American Indians and Alaska Natives

Introduction: Life style behaviors contribute to poor health among older Americans Indians/Alaska Native (AI/AN) in the United States, with low levels of physical activity (PA) particularly tied to the chronic disease profile of this population. Searched reviews of physical activity among AI/ANs are limited in assessing prevalence and correlates to PA among older adults \u3e 40 years. Methods: A literature search of reported physical activity studies among older AI/AN was assessed for prevalence and predictive factors associated with levels of physical activity. Results: Fourteen studies were included in this review that either specifically quantified the amount of physical activity among older adult AI/ANs or discussed factors that were associated with physical activity. Being younger, employed, male, perceiving social support are associated with higher levels of physical activity. Urban versus rural living shows varying effects, possibly due to different types of activities not represented on standard physical activity reporting tools. Discussion: There is a trend for physical activity levels among older AI/ANs to be less than the recommended levels. Reports of physical activity across a wide range of tribes and localities vary with measurement methods contributing to the unevenness in reporting. Conclusion: Findings may serve to guide physical activity research toward more localized and culturally relevant assessment and inform practice agendas among older AI/AN

Medida de similitud basada en saliencia

La proliferación en todos los ámbitos de la producción multimedia está dando lugar a la aparición de nuevos paradigmas de recuperación de información visual. Dentro de éstos, uno de los más significativos es el de los sistemas de recuperación de información visual, VIRS (Visual Information Retrieval Systems), en los que una de las tareas más representativas es la ordenación de una población de imágenes según su similitud con un ejemplo dado. En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta original para la evaluación de la similitud entre dos imágenes, basándose en la extensión del concepto de saliencia desde el espacio de imágenes al de características para establecer la relevancia de cada componente de dicho vector. Para ello se introducen metodologías para la cuantificación de la saliencia de valores individuales de características, para la combinación de estas cuantificaciones en procesos de comparación entre dos imágenes, y para, finalmente, establecer la mencionada ponderación de cada característica en atención a esta combinación. Se presentan igualmente los resultados de evaluar esta propuesta en una tarea de recuperación de imágenes por contenido en comparación con los obtenidos con la distancia euclídea. Esta comparación se realiza mediante la evaluación de ambos resultados por voluntarios

Displacement-based fluorescent microRNA biosensors : design principles and analytical metrics

One post-transcriptional mechanism that regulates the progression of cancer and other diseases involves small 22-23 nucleotide sequences called microRNA (miR). Early detection of small changes in concentration of these biomarkers holds potential to diagnose diseases at their earliest stages. Use of current nucleic-acid based biosensors, like molecular beacons, for in situ cellular and tissue analysis is hindered by false signals from nuclease degradation and off-analyte binding. For this reason, this work describes a new miR biosensor that was created to improve upon existing miR biosensors and overcome some of their weaknesses. The reporter+probe biosensor that was developed consists of two partially complementary strands of DNA that form a double-stranded complex. One strand, called the reporter, contains two dyes capable of energy transfer located on opposite ends of the strand. The other strand, called the probe, is partially complementary to the reporter and is fully complementary to the miR of interest. When the miR of interest is presented to the reporter-probe complex, the reporter is displaced and a probe-target complex is formed. The displaced reporter forms a hairpin conformation to bring the dyes together. This causes a quantifiable change in analytical signal dependent on miR concentration. In the first portion of this research, a reporter+probe biosensor was developed for miR let-7a. This biosensor showed improved defense against false positive signal generation from nuclease degradation when compared to a molecular beacon. The biosensor was shown to have low nM LODs for analyte let-7a. In the second part of this research, reporter+probe biosensors were developed for two miR analytes, miR-26a and miR-27a. It was discovered that there are numerous design parameters that need to be considered when making a reporter+probe biosensor for a given analyte. Among the discovered parameters, limiting the number of ‘non-ideal hairpin’ conformations that the reporter can sample maximizes the signal change upon analyte binding. Low nM LODs were found for miR-26a and miR-27a with their respective reporter+probe biosensors. In the third portion of this research, a miR-26a reporter from the previous study was used to test whether hexaethylene glycol spacer molecules could be used between the reporter nucleic acid sequence and the fluorescent dyes to allow FRET (Förster Resonance Energy Transfer) enhancement to occur. It was found that the hexaethylene glycol spacers did increase FRET enhancement, and that the 6-FAM|ATTO 633 dye pair was superior to Cy3|Cy5 for FRET enhancement. In the final stage of this research, directionality of the reporter+probe biosensor was studied to determine if it would increase specificity for the analyte by limiting off-analyte binding. It was found that taking into consideration where the off-analytes will bind to the probe allow for a more selective biosensor to be developed. In this study, the two reporter+probe biosensors were developed for miR-146a. Low pM LODs for miR-146a were obtained.Keywords: fluorescence, miRNA, biosensor, FRET, DNA, microRN

Resonance and frequency-locking phenomena in spatially extended phytoplankton-zooplankton system with additive noise and periodic forces

In this paper, we present a spatial version of phytoplankton-zooplankton model that includes some important factors such as external periodic forces, noise, and diffusion processes. The spatially extended phytoplankton-zooplankton system is from the original study by Scheffer [M Scheffer, Fish and nutrients interplay determines algal biomass: a minimal model, Oikos \textbf{62} (1991) 271-282]. Our results show that the spatially extended system exhibit a resonant patterns and frequency-locking phenomena. The system also shows that the noise and the external periodic forces play a constructive role in the Scheffer's model: first, the noise can enhance the oscillation of phytoplankton species' density and format a large clusters in the space when the noise intensity is within certain interval. Second, the external periodic forces can induce 4:1 and 1:1 frequency-locking and spatially homogeneous oscillation phenomena to appear. Finally, the resonant patterns are observed in the system when the spatial noises and external periodic forces are both turned on. Moreover, we found that the 4:1 frequency-locking transform into 1:1 frequency-locking when the noise intensity increased. In addition to elucidating our results outside the domain of Turing instability, we provide further analysis of Turing linear stability with the help of the numerical calculation by using the Maple software. Significantly, oscillations are enhanced in the system when the noise term presents. These results indicate that the oceanic plankton bloom may partly due to interplay between the stochastic factors and external forces instead of deterministic factors. These results also may help us to understand the effects arising from undeniable subject to random fluctuations in oceanic plankton bloom.Comment: Some typos errors are proof, and some strong relate references are adde

Machine Learning in Automated Text Categorization

The automated categorization (or classification) of texts into predefined categories has witnessed a booming interest in the last ten years, due to the increased availability of documents in digital form and the ensuing need to organize them. In the research community the dominant approach to this problem is based on machine learning techniques: a general inductive process automatically builds a classifier by learning, from a set of preclassified documents, the characteristics of the categories. The advantages of this approach over the knowledge engineering approach (consisting in the manual definition of a classifier by domain experts) are a very good effectiveness, considerable savings in terms of expert manpower, and straightforward portability to different domains. This survey discusses the main approaches to text categorization that fall within the machine learning paradigm. We will discuss in detail issues pertaining to three different problems, namely document representation, classifier construction, and classifier evaluation.Comment: Accepted for publication on ACM Computing Survey

Microfluidic Device for On-Chip Immunophenotyping and Cytogenetic Analysis of Rare Biological Cells

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.The role of circulating plasma cells (CPCs) and circulating leukemic cells (CLCs) as biomarkers for several blood cancers, such as multiple myeloma and leukemia, respectively, have recently been reported. These markers can be attractive due to the minimally invasive nature of their acquisition through a blood draw (i.e., liquid biopsy), negating the need for painful bone marrow biopsies. CPCs or CLCs can be used for cellular/molecular analyses as well, such as immunophenotyping or fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). FISH, which is typically carried out on slides involving complex workflows, becomes problematic when operating on CLCs or CPCs due to their relatively modest numbers. Here, we present a microfluidic device for characterizing CPCs and CLCs using immunofluorescence or FISH that have been enriched from peripheral blood using a different microfluidic device. The microfluidic possessed an array of cross-channels (2–4 µm in depth and width) that interconnected a series of input and output fluidic channels. Placing a cover plate over the device formed microtraps, the size of which was defined by the width and depth of the cross-channels. This microfluidic chip allowed for automation of immunofluorescence and FISH, requiring the use of small volumes of reagents, such as antibodies and probes, as compared to slide-based immunophenotyping and FISH. In addition, the device could secure FISH results in <4 h compared to 2–3 days for conventional FISH