H-COAL: Human Correction of AI-Generated Labels for Biomedical Named Entity Recognition

With the rapid advancement of machine learning models for NLP tasks, collecting high-fidelity labels from AI models is a realistic possibility. Firms now make AI available to customers via predictions as a service (PaaS). This includes PaaS products for healthcare. It is unclear whether these labels can be used for training a local model without expensive annotation checking by in-house experts. In this work, we propose a new framework for Human Correction of AI-Generated Labels (H-COAL). By ranking AI-generated outputs, one can selectively correct labels and approach gold standard performance (100% human labeling) with significantly less human effort. We show that correcting 5% of labels can close the AI-human performance gap by up to 64% relative improvement, and correcting 20% of labels can close the performance gap by up to 86% relative improvement.Comment: Presented at Conference on Information Systems and Technology (CIST) 202

Characterization of wastewater subsurface drip emitters and design approaches concerning system application uniformity

Subsurface drip distribution is an important on-site wastewater treatment technique which is widely used with various soil types and restricted site conditions. It can distribute pretreated wastewater uniformly into soil. Some recent field applications showed low application uniformities, which was reflected in overloading of the field near the supply manifold while low emitter discharge rates occurred at the end of lateral. Designers are seeking appropriate operation pressures and drip zone configurations to improve system application uniformity. This research was conducted to test some popular wastewater drip products in both lab and field-scale experiments. The first goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of five subsurface drip products under eight operational pressures ranging from 0 to 310 kPa (45 psi). After evaluation of each group of 60 emitters, results showed that Netafim Bioline pressure compensating (PC) emitters exhibited a uniformity coefficient (UC) of 95% with a coefficient of variance (Cv) of 4.9%. The average UC of Geoflow Wasteflow products is 94.4% and Cv value is 6.8%. Flow rate and pressure relationships (Q-H curves) were developed for each drip emitter tested. By analyzing low and normal operational pressure ranges, Q-H curves were fitted to the data and resulted in R2 values ranging from 1.000 to 0.414. Geoflow pressure compensating products possess the features of non-pressure compensating emitters under low pressure head. Netafim PC products are characterized as pressure compensating over the full range of operational pressures and emit water with nominal uniformity during low pressure range. To evaluate drip zone configurations with respect to distribution uniformity, a field-scale experiment was set up and three drip tubing products were tested in different dosing and operation schemes. Three factors of wastewater drip system design were tested. System operation pressure (138 kPa/20 psi and 276 kPa/40 psi); different pressure control components (pressure regulator/recirculation valve) and schemes (continuous flushing/intermittent flushing); and supply line length (7.6 m/25 ft, 15.2 m/50 ft, and 30.4 m/100 ft) were evaluated to compare their influence on water application uniformity. It was concluded that, for Geoflow PC and NPC products, among all three factors, system operational pressure has the greatest effect on drip system application uniformity; supply line length has the least influence. For Netafim PC tubing, pressure control scheme has the greatest effect on drip system application uniformity; supply line length has the least influence. The optimal combination of the three factors could save more than 10 minutes of dosing time to meet the required dosing application uniformity. An engineering computation example on system fill time was presented and compared to experimental results to demonstrate the possible gap between typical design processes and real field application

A Guide to Publication in Educational Technology

This guide provides journal information to over 40 journals that are appropriate for the publication of articles in educational technology. Also, it discusses the process of planning and writing a journal article, submitting to journals, the peer reviewing process, and steps toward publishing in academic journals within the field of educational technology. Furthermore, the guide provides tips to getting published and offers helpful suggestions

The roles of SMYD4 in epigenetic regulation of cardiac development in zebrafish

SMYD4 belongs to a family of lysine methyltransferases. We analyzed the role of smyd4 in zebrafish development by generating a smyd4 mutant zebrafish line (smyd4L544Efs*1) using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology. The maternal and zygotic smyd4L544Efs*1 mutants demonstrated severe cardiac malformations, including defects in left-right patterning and looping and hypoplastic ventricles, suggesting that smyd4 was critical for heart development. Importantly, we identified two rare SMYD4 genetic variants in a 208-patient cohort with congenital heart defects. Both biochemical and functional analyses indicated that SMYD4(G345D) was pathogenic. Our data suggested that smyd4 functions as a histone methyltransferase and, by interacting with HDAC1, also serves as a potential modulator for histone acetylation. Transcriptome and bioinformatics analyses of smyd4L544Efs*1 and wild-type developing hearts suggested that smyd4 is a key epigenetic regulator involved in regulating endoplasmic reticulum-mediated protein processing and several important metabolic pathways in developing zebrafish hearts

Accuracy of serological tests for COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of serological tests for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19).MethodsPubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Library were searched from January 1 2020 to September 2 2022. We included studies that measured the sensitivity, specificity or both qualities of a COVID-19 serological test and a reference standard of a viral culture or reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). The risk of bias was assessed by using quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies 2 (QUADAS-2). The primary outcomes included overall sensitivity and specificity, as stratified by the methods of serological testing [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), lateral flow immunoassays (LFIAs) or chemiluminescent immunoassays (CLIAs)] and immunoglobulin classes (IgG, IgM, or both). Secondary outcomes were stratum-specific sensitivity and specificity within the subgroups, as defined by study or participant characteristics, which included the time from the onset of symptoms, testing via commercial kits or an in-house assay, antigen target, clinical setting, serological kit as the index test and the type of specimen for the RT–PCR reference test.ResultsEight thousand seven hundred and eighty-five references were identified and 169 studies included. Overall, we judged the risk of bias to be high in 47.9 % (81/169) of the studies, and a low risk of applicability concerns was found in 100% (169/169) of the studies. For each method of testing, the pooled sensitivity of the ELISAs ranged from 81 to 82%, with sensitivities ranging from 69 to 70% for the LFIAs and 77% to 79% for the CLIAs. Among the evaluated tests, IgG (80–81%)-based tests exhibited better sensitivities than IgM-based tests (66–68%). IgG/IgM-based CLIA had the highest sensitivity [87% (86–88%)]. All of the tests displayed high specificity (97–98%). Heterogeneity was observed in all of the analyses. The detection of nucleocapsid protein (77–80%) as the antigen target was found to offer higher sensitivity results than surface protein detection (66–68%). Sensitivity was higher in the in-house assays (78–79%) than in the commercial kits (47–48%).ConclusionAmong the evaluated tests, ELISA and CLIA tests performed better in terms of sensitivity than did the LFIA. IgG-based tests had higher sensitivity than IgM-based tests, and combined IgG/IgM test-based CLIA tests had the best overall diagnostic test accuracy. The type of sample, serological kit and timing of use of the specific tests were associated with the diagnostic accuracy. Due to the limitations of the serological tests, other techniques should be quickly approved to provide guidance for the correct diagnosis of COVID-19

La enseñanza de la fraseología y su didáctica en la clase de español en China: el caso de la locución

Las locuciones ocupan un lugar muy importante en la lengua española, por lo que es necesario prestarle más atención de cara a su enseñanza-aprendizaje en el aula de idiomas. En esta ocasión, nuestra investigación se centra en el alumno sinohablante, el cual tiene serias dificultades para comprender este aspecto lingüístico, a pesar de que la lengua china también posee unidades fraseólogicas (UFs) caracterizadas por la idiomaticidad y la fijación, así como por tener un significado que no resulta de la suma de los significados de cada uno de sus componentes. En nuestro trabajo, estructurado en cuatro bloques, consideramos en el primero de ellos la opinión de los expertos en Fraseología en cuanto a la clasificación de las locuciones; posteriormente, elaboramos un análisis de estas desde el punto de vista sintáctico, semántico, morfológico, pragmático y lexicográfico y exponemos las diferencias y semejanzas que poseen las locuciones con respecto al resto de UFs. Asimismo, nos ha parecido imprescindible realizar un estudio comparativo de las UFs en las lenguas china y española, con fines didácticos. El segundo bloque está dedicado al método de ELE Español Moderno, que es el más utilizado en las universidades y centros de Secundaria de China, con el fin de evaluar cómo aparecen tratadas las locuciones. Es un estudio exhaustivo que va acompañado de tablas ilustrativas y de estadísticas. En el tercer bloque abordamos los distintos tipos, características y funciones de las locuciones, y su presencia en el citado método. Todo ello, va acompañado de abundantes ejemplos obtenidos de este manual de enseñanza. Las conclusiones, presentadas en el último bloque, nos han llevado a confirmar nuestra hipótesis: Español Moderno necesita un mejor tratamiento de las locuciones, ya que la ausencia de información acerca de estas UFs no ayuda al alumno sinohablante a su comprensión. Igualmente, este método requiere una revisión, al haber detectado una cantidad considerable de errores e imprecisiones en la identificación de las locuciones

Chinese Word Segmentation at Peking University

Word segmentation is the first step in Chinese information processing, and the performance of the segmenter, therefore, has a direct and great influence on the processing steps that follow. Different segmenters will give different results when handling issues like word boundary. And we will present in this paper that there is no need for an absolute definition of word boundary for all segmenters, and that different results of segmentation shall be acceptable if they can help to reach a correct syntactic analysis in the end

Two phase tillage: quick method for crop production in saline soils

High soil salinity restricts crop growth in saline soil area. The traditional way for crop production in that area is to reclaim by water engineering method, i.e. irrigation. However in coastal saline area around Bohai Sea due to fresh water shortage, low elevation and high groundwater table, it is difficult to reclaim the saline soils by that method. In this paper we introduce a method for crop production in saline soils based on the local climate, soil salt dynamics and the characteristics of crop growth. The key technology is to form two phases in soil profile, i.e. to form a 5 cm straw layer below 20 30 cm of soil surface. The role of the straw layer is to keep the salt moving up to root zone or soil surface. Results show that when winter wheat started to grow in early spring, the surface soil salinity is 2.8 and 17 ms/dm in treatment and CK respectively. At the same stage, 80% of seedlings was died in CK and almost no died in treatment. Finally the seeds yield was 6270 kg/ha and 1290 kg/ha in treatment and CK respectively.vokMyynti MTT tietopalvelu

Fast identification of the antibacterial in Aspergillus species

Background and Purpose: Aspergillus genus biosynthesize a large number of metabolites with wide-ranging bioactivities, but how to target the active compounds quickly and accurately? In this work, we provide a strategy to fast identify bioactive metabolites in fungi with similar morphology but different antimicrobial activities. Materials and Methods: Combined with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) profiles and bioactivity screening of fungal extracts, three Aspergillus sp. strains YSN038, YSN052 and YSN064 were studied. The bacteria Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Kocuria rhizophila, Escherichia coli and Ralstonia solanacearum were used for antibiotic assay. Results: Three strains showed the similar morphology, but the crude extracts of YSN038 and YSN064 displayed antibacterial activities against B. pumilus, B. subtilis, S. aureus and K. rhizophila, whereas YSN052 had not. The compound contributed to antibacterial activity in vitro was rapidly identified, isolated and characterized. Compound 3 connected with specific HPLC peak should be the antibiotic substance by analysis of HPLC profiles, and was confirmed after the following antimicrobial tests. The compound was elucidated as butyrolactone I based on nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) data, and showed various biological activities. Conclusions: Our study has significant scope on targeting antibacterial metabolites. The described method could also be used as a rapid and cost-effective tool for screening other bioactivity products. As such, this article could offer a fast approach to isolate drug-lead compounds from microorganisms