Nationality Classification Using Name Embeddings

Nationality identification unlocks important demographic information, with many applications in biomedical and sociological research. Existing name-based nationality classifiers use name substrings as features and are trained on small, unrepresentative sets of labeled names, typically extracted from Wikipedia. As a result, these methods achieve limited performance and cannot support fine-grained classification. We exploit the phenomena of homophily in communication patterns to learn name embeddings, a new representation that encodes gender, ethnicity, and nationality which is readily applicable to building classifiers and other systems. Through our analysis of 57M contact lists from a major Internet company, we are able to design a fine-grained nationality classifier covering 39 groups representing over 90% of the world population. In an evaluation against other published systems over 13 common classes, our F1 score (0.795) is substantial better than our closest competitor Ethnea (0.580). To the best of our knowledge, this is the most accurate, fine-grained nationality classifier available. As a social media application, we apply our classifiers to the followers of major Twitter celebrities over six different domains. We demonstrate stark differences in the ethnicities of the followers of Trump and Obama, and in the sports and entertainments favored by different groups. Finally, we identify an anomalous political figure whose presumably inflated following appears largely incapable of reading the language he posts in.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 4 table, accepted by CIKM 2017, Demo and free API: www.name-prism.co

Dynamic placement of the linker histone H1 associated with nucleosome arrangement and gene transcription in early Drosophila embryonic development

The linker histone H1 is critical to maintenance of higher-order chromatin structures and to gene expression regulation. However, H1 dynamics and its functions in embryonic development remain unresolved. Here, we profiled gene expression, nucleosome positions, and H1 locations in early Drosophila embryos. The results show that H1 binding is positively correlated with the stability of beads-on-a-string nucleosome organization likely through stabilizing nucleosome positioning and maintaining nucleosome spacing. Strikingly, nucleosomes with H1 placement deviating to the left or the right relative to the dyad shift to the left or the right, respectively, during early Drosophila embryonic development. H1 occupancy on genic nucleosomes is inversely correlated with nucleosome distance to the transcription start sites. This inverse correlation reduces as gene transcription levels decrease. Additionally, H1 occupancy is lower at the 5\u27 border of genic nucleosomes than that at the 3\u27 border. This asymmetrical pattern of H1 occupancy on genic nucleosomes diminishes as gene transcription levels decrease. These findings shed new lights into how H1 placement dynamics correlates with nucleosome positioning and gene transcription during early Drosophila embryonic development

Carbon dots-based dual-emission ratiometric fluorescence sensor for dopamine detection

The detection of Dopamine (DA) is significant for disease surveillance and prevention. However, the development of the precise and simple detection techniques is still at a preliminary stage due to their high tester requirements, time-consuming process, and low accuracy. In this work, we present a novel dual-emission ratiometric fluorescence sensing system based on a hybrid of carbon dots (CDs) and 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) to quickly monitor the DA concentration. Linked via amide bonds, the CDs and AMC offered dual-emissions with peaks located at 455 and 505 nm, respectively, under a single excitation wavelength of 300 nm. Attributed to the fluorescence of the CDs and AMC in the nanohybrid system can be quenched by DA, the concentration of DA could be quantitatively detected by monitoring the ratiometric ratio change in fluorescent intensity. More importantly, the CDs-AMC-based dual-emission ratiometric fluorescence sensing system demonstrated a remarkable linear relationship in the range of 0–33.6 μM to detection of DA, and a low detection limit of 5.67 nM. Additionally, this sensor successfully applied to the detection of DA in real samples. Therefore, the ratiometric fluorescence sensing system may become promising to find potential applications in biomedical dopamine detection

Preparation and Thermal Properties of Molecular-Bridged Expanded Graphite/Polyethylene Glycol Composite Phase Change Materials for Building Energy Conservation

Using phase change materials (PCMs) in building envelopes became a reliable method to improve indoor comfort and reduce buildings’ energy consumption. This research developed molecular-bridged expanded graphite (EG)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) composite PCMs (m-EPs) to conserve energy in buildings. The m-EPs were prepared through a vacuum absorption technique, and a titanate coupling agent was used to build a molecular bridge between EG and PEG. SEM, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), the leakage test, microcalorimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were conducted to characterize the morphology, pore structure, absorbability, and modifying effects of the m-EPs. The phase change temperature, latent heat, thermal stability, and thermal conductivity of the m-EPs were determined by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), TGA, and a thermal constants analyzer. Results showed that the maximum mass ratio of PEG to EG without leakage was 1:7, and a stable connection was established in the m-EPs after modification. Compared with the unmodified EPs, the supercooling degree of the m-EPs reduced by about 3 °C, but the latent heats and initial decomposition temperatures increased by approximately 10% and 20 °C, respectively, which indicated an improvement in the thermal energy storage efficiency. The thermal conductivities of the m-EPs were 10 times higher than those of the pristine PEGs, which ensured a rapid responding to building temperature fluctuations

Research on the Moisture Stability of Asphalt Mixtures with Three Solid Waste Fillers

Widespread interest has been drawn to the use of solid waste fillers as a partial replacement for natural fillers in high-performance asphalt mixtures in recent years. However, variations in the material properties of solid waste fillers remain a problem for the recycling method. To address this issue, the limestone powder in asphalt mixtures was replaced with three solid waste fillers, including steel slag powder, tailings powder and calcium carbide slag powder in this study. The chemical composition of the fillers was first characterized to assess the homogeneity of the material. Then, a dense-graded asphalt mixture (AC) and a stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixture were designed, produced and characterized for wet stability. The results show that the asphalt mixtures with solid waste fillers were superior to limestone powder (LP) asphalt mixtures in terms of resistance to water damage, and the steel slag powder showed the best improvement in moisture stability of the asphalt mixtures. The optimum substitution of solid waste filler for limestone filler was 25%. With the addition of anti-stripping agents, the moisture stability of the asphalt mixture with limestone filler was also greatly enhanced. On the contrary, a marginal enhancement was observed in the moisture stability of asphalt mixtures using solid waste fillers. Solid waste fillers can be used in asphalt mixtures and have a similar function as that of anti-stripping agents. In summary, the use of solid waste fillers to replace mineral fillers in asphalt mixtures is a reliable, value-added recycling option

Novel Graphene Oxide Nanohybrid Doped Methacrylic Acid Hydrogels for Enhanced Swelling Capability and Cationic Adsorbability

Novel versatile hydrogels were designed and composited based on covalent bond and noncovalent bond self-assembly of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) networks and nanohybrids doped with graphene oxide (GO). The structures and properties of the neat PMAA and the prepared PMAA/GO hydrogels were characterized and analyzed in detail, using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, swelling and cationic absorption, etc. The swelling results showed that the water penetration follows the non-Fick transport mechanism based on swelling kinetics and diffusion theory. The swelling capacity of PMAA and composited PMAA/GO hydrogels toward pH, Na+, Ga2+, and Fe3+ was investigated; the swelling ratio was tunable between 4.44 and 36.44. Taking methylene blue as an example, the adsorption capacity of PMAA/GO hydrogels was studied. Nanohybrid doped GO not only self-associated with PMAA via noncovalent bonding interactions and had a tunable swelling ratio, but also interacted with water molecules via electrostatic repulsion, offering a pH response of both the network and dye absorption. Increases in pH caused a rise in equilibrium swelling ratios and reduced the cumulative cationic dye removal

Function and Cryo-EM structures of broadly potent bispecific antibodies against multiple SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages

The SARS-CoV-2 variant, Omicron (B.1.1.529), rapidly swept the world since its emergence. Compared with previous variants, Omicron has a high number of mutations, especially those in its spike glycoprotein that drastically dampen or abolish the efficacy of currently available vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. Several major sublineages of Omicron involved, including BA.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4/BA.5, rapidly changing the global and regional landscape of the pandemic. Although vaccines are available, therapeutic antibodies remain critical for infected and especially hospitalized patients. To address this, we have designed and generated a panel of human/humanized therapeutic bispecific antibodies against Omicron and its sub-lineage variants, with activity spectrum against other lineages. Among these, the top clone CoV2–0213 has broadly potent activities against multiple SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Omicron lineages, including BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4/BA.5. We have solved the cryo-EM structure of the lead bi-specific antibody CoV-0213 and its major Fab arm MB.02. Three-dimensional structural analysis shows distinct epitope of antibody – spike receptor binding domain (RBD) interactions, and demonstrates that both Fab fragments of the same molecule of CoV2–0213 can target the same spike trimer simultaneously, further corroborating its mechanism of action. CoV2–0213 represents a unique and potent broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing bispecific antibody (nbsAb) against the currently circulating major Omicron variants (BA.1, BA.1.1, BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.3 and BA.4/BA.5), while maintaining activity against certain ancestral lineages (WT/WA-1, Delta), and to some degree other β-coronavirus species (SARS-CoV). CoV2–0213 is primarily human and ready for translational testing as a countermeasure against the ever-evolving pathogen