A framework for hypothesis generation and knowledge discovery in medical domain literature

The vast amount of information in medical domain and health sciences collected in databases such as MEDLINE is growing rapidly. There has been increased interest in discovering the so-called new public knowledge from such databases. Swanson proposed an approach, called the ABC model, for mining Undiscovered Public Knowledge (UPK) in medical literature. Since its introduction, several attempts have been made in adopting and using the ABC model. Extensibility would be a key feature making it easier to develop future extensions. Noting the increased interest in using the model, we investigate properties of a desired framework which can be easily extended and enhanced. The exploratory nature of UPK discovery requires that the data mining tools be interactive and flexible. Also, the large amount of data to be processed needs to be handled efficiently. We identify three basic requirements: flexibility, extensibility, and interactivity, and show they can be realized by taking advantage of the pipes and filters architecture. The efficiency of our framework is due to allowing concurrent execution of multiple threads, provided as an additional benefit of our architectural design. We have designed and implemented a running prototype, ExaminMED, which provides various features such as possibility of choosing filters, adding or removing terms, and comparing and combining the results of various searches. The proposed framework has essential ingredients as an effective tool for UPK discovery

Second language social networks and communication-related acculturative stress: the role of interconnectedness

Although a substantial amount of cross-cultural psychology research has investigated acculturative stress in general, little attention has been devoted specifically to communication-related acculturative stress (CRAS). In line with the view that cross-cultural adaptation and second language (L2) learning are social and interpersonal phenomena, the present study examines the hypothesis that migrants’ L2 social network size and interconnectedness predict CRAS. The main idea underlying this hypothesis is that L2 social networks play an important role in fostering social and cultural aspects of communicative competence. Specifically, higher interconnectedness may reflect greater access to unmodified natural cultural representations and L2 communication practices, thus fostering communicative competence through observational learning. As such, structural aspects of migrants’ L2 social networks may be protective against acculturative stress arising from chronic communication difficulties. Results from a study of first generation migrant students (N = 100) support this idea by showing that both inclusiveness and density of the participants’ L2 network account for unique variance in CRAS but not in general acculturative stress. These results support the idea that research on cross-cultural adaptation would benefit from disentangling the various facets of acculturative stress and that the structure of migrants’ L2 network matters for language related outcomes. Finally, this study contributes to an emerging body of work that attempts to integrate cultural/cross-cultural research on acculturation and research on intercultural communication and second language learning

Second language social networks and communication-related acculturative stress: The role of interconnectedness

Although a substantial amount of cross-cultural psychology research has investigated acculturative stress in general, little attention has been devoted specifically to communication-related acculturative stress. In line with the view that cross-cultural adaptation and second language (L2) learning are social and interpersonal phenomena, the present study examines the hypothesis that migrants' L2 social network size and interconnectedness predict communication-related acculturative stress. The main idea underlying this hypothesis is that L2 social networks play an important role in fostering social and cultural aspects of communicative competence. Specifically, higher interconnectedness may reflect greater access to unmodified natural cultural representations and L2 communication practices, thus fostering communicative competence through observational learning. As such, structural aspects of migrants' L2 social networks may be protective against acculturative stress arising from chronic communication difficulties. Results from a study of first generation migrant students (N=100) support this idea by showing that both inclusiveness and density of the participants' L2 network account for unique variance in communication-related acculturative stress but not in general acculturative stress. These results support the idea that research on cross-cultural adaptation would benefit from disentangling the various facets of acculturative stress and that the structure of migrants' L2 network matters for language related outcomes. Finally, this study contributes to an emerging body of work that attempts to integrate cultural/cross-cultural research on acculturation and research on intercultural communication and second language learning