Automatic Query Refining Based on Eye-Tracking Feedback

This paper presents a new method named AQueReBET, which automatically refines a query set by an information seeker searching on the web. A revelation of the intention of an information seeker who is running a search can bring a significant improvement to the search process, and to browsing as well. It is practically impossible to acquire such intention by the explicit indication (feedback) due to the fact that web browsing takes place in real time. Therefore the intention must be determined in some other way. We hypothesize that it can be approximated by means of the implicit feedback preferably in the form of data from an eye tracker and mouse. We propose a method which automatically refines a seeker’s search query and thus we can offer documents with higher relevance, decrease the number of query reformulations and increase the seeker’s satisfaction. The query refinement is based on an analysis of gaze data from an eye tracker and also on groupization. In the proposed method, we calculate word-level importance based on term frequency, term uniqueness (tf-idf) and total fixation duration within the subdocument (word's snippet in search results)

Phytochelatin synthesis in response to Hg uptake in aquatic plants near a chlor-alkali plant

The effects of mercury (Hg) released from a chlor-alkali plant factory in aquatic plants along the Ebro River basin (NE Spain) were analysed considering the phytochelatins (PCs) and their isoforms content in these plants. These compounds were analyzed using HPLC with amperometric detection, and the macrophytes species Ceratophyllum demersum and Myriopyllum spicatum were collected in two sampling campaings, autumn and spring, respectively. To correlate the PC content in macrophytes with the Hg contamination, analysis of total Hg (THg) content in plants and suspended particulate matter, as well as the dissolved-bioavailable fraction of Hg in water measured by the diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) technique were done. The results confirm the presence of PC2-Ala in extracts of C. demersum and PC2-desGly in M. spicatum, and the concentration of these thiol compounds depends clearly on the distance between the hot spot and the downstream sites: the higher the levels are, the closer the hot spot is. Since most of the Hg is hypothesized to be associated with SPM and transported downstream, our results of the DGT suggest that trace amounts of Hg in water can be released as free metal ions yielding a certain accumulation in plants (reaching the ppb level) that are enough for activation of induction of PCs. A few PCs species have been determined, at different seasons, indicating that they can be used as good indicators of the presence of bioavailable Hg in aquatic media throughout the year

Phytochelatin synthesis in response to Hg uptake in aquatic plants near a chlor-alkali plant

The effects of mercury (Hg) released from a chlor-alkali plant factory in aquatic plants along the Ebro River basin (NE Spain) were analysed considering the phytochelatins (PCs) and their isoforms content in these plants. These compounds were analyzed using HPLC with amperometric detection, and the macrophytes species Ceratophyllum demersum and Myriopyllum spicatum were collected in two sampling campaings, autumn and spring, respectively. To correlate the PC content in macrophytes with the Hg contamination, analysis of total Hg (THg) content in plants and suspended particulate matter, as well as the dissolved-bioavailable fraction of Hg in water measured by the diffusive gradient in thin film (DGT) technique were done. The results confirm the presence of PC2-Ala in extracts of C. demersum and PC2-desGly in M. spicatum, and the concentration of these thiol compounds depends clearly on the distance between the hot spot and the downstream sites: the higher the levels are, the closer the hot spot is. Since most of the Hg is hypothesized to be associated with SPM and transported downstream, our results of the DGT suggest that trace amounts of Hg in water can be released as free metal ions yielding a certain accumulation in plants (reaching the ppb level) that are enough for activation of induction of PCs. A few PCs species have been determined, at different seasons, indicating that they can be used as good indicators of the presence of bioavailable Hg in aquatic media throughout the year