Word Embedding based Correlation Model for Question/Answer Matching

With the development of community based question answering (Q&A) services, a large scale of Q&A archives have been accumulated and are an important information and knowledge resource on the web. Question and answer matching has been attached much importance to for its ability to reuse knowledge stored in these systems: it can be useful in enhancing user experience with recurrent questions. In this paper, we try to improve the matching accuracy by overcoming the lexical gap between question and answer pairs. A Word Embedding based Correlation (WEC) model is proposed by integrating advantages of both the translation model and word embedding, given a random pair of words, WEC can score their co-occurrence probability in Q&A pairs and it can also leverage the continuity and smoothness of continuous space word representation to deal with new pairs of words that are rare in the training parallel text. An experimental study on Yahoo! Answers dataset and Baidu Zhidao dataset shows this new method's promising potential.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Future growth pattern projections under shared socioeconomic pathways: a municipal city bottom-up aggregated study based on a localised scenario and population projections for China

Precise multi-scenario projections of future economic outputs based on localised interpretations of global scenarios and major growth drivers are important for understanding long-term economic changes. However, few studies have focussed on localised interpretations, and many assume regional uniformity or use key parameters that are recursive or extrapolated by mathematical methods. This study provides a more intuitive and robust economic framework for projecting regional economic growth based on a neoclassical economic model and shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) scenarios. A non-uniform version of SSP2 (the middle-of-the-road scenario) was developed, and more detailed population projections for China were adopted using municipal-level data for 340 districts and parameter settings based on China’s recent development. The results show that China’s GDP will vary substantially across SSPs by 2050. Per capita GDP ranges from 19,300 USD under SSP3 (fragmentation) to 41,100 USD under SSP5 (conventional development). Per capita GDP under SSP1 (sustainability) is slightly higher than under SSP2, but lower on average than under SSP5. However, SSP1 is a better choice overall because environmental quality and equity are higher. Per capita GDP growth will generally be higher in relatively low-income regions by 2050, and the upper-middle-income provinces will become China’s new engine for economic growth

Effects of water volume of drip irrigation on soil bacterial communities and its association with soil properties in jujube cultivation

IntroductionJujube is one of an important crop in Xinjiang, China, a area suffered by water scarcity and DI has been proven as a suitable mode for jujube cultivation. Soil bacterial community play a vital role in biogeochemical cycles to support the crop growth, and water content is considered as one of the important factors for them. However, limited research has explored the optimum irrigation strategies, such as water volume of DI, to maximize the benefits of jujube cultivation by regulating the soil bacterial communities.MethodsTherefore, in this study, we conducted DI experiments on jujube fields in Xinjiang with three different water volume levels, and measured the soil properties and bacterial communities of the flowering and fruit setting (FFS) and end of growth (EG) stages.Results and discussionSignificant lower jujube yield and soil available nutrients were observed in samples with low water amount. In addition, we discovered significant effects of the water amount of DI and jujube growth stages on soil bacterial communities. Based on the compare of samples among different growth stages and water amounts some growth stage related bacterial genera (Mycobacterium, Bradyrhizobium, and Bacillus) and water amount-related bacterial phyla (Chloroflexi, Nitrospirota, and Myxococcota) were recognized. Moreover, according to the results of null model, soil bacterial communities were governed by stochastic and deterministic processes under middle and low water volumes of DI, respectively. Finally, we deduced that middle water amount (600 mm) could be the optimal condition of DI for jujube cultivation because the higher jujube yield, deterministic assembly, and stronger correlations between soil properties and bacterial community under this condition. Our findings provide guidance for promoting the application of DI in jujube cultivation, and further research is needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of soil bacterial community to promote the jujube yield

Nanostructure, osteopontin, and mechanical properties of calcitic avian eggshell

Avian (and formerly dinosaur) eggshells form a hard, protective biomineralized chamber for embryonic growth—an evolutionary strategy that has existed for hundreds of millions of years. We show in the calcitic chicken eggshell how the mineral and organic phases organize hierarchically across different length scales and how variation in nanostructure across the shell thicknessmodifies its hardness, elastic modulus, and dissolution properties.We also show that the nanostructure changes during egg incubation, weakening the shell for chick hatching. Nanostructure and increased hardness were reproduced in synthetic calcite crystals grown in the presence of the prominent eggshell protein osteopontin. These results demonstrate the contribution of nanostructure to avian eggshell formation, mechanical properties, and dissolution.This work was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (no. MOP-142330) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; no. RGPIN-2016-05031) to M.D.M., an NSERC (no. RGPIN-2016-04410) Discovery grant to M.T.H., a Spanish Government grant (CGL2015-64683-P) to A.B.R.-N., an Emmy Noether research grant from the German Research Foundation (no. WO1712/3-1) to S.E.W., and an NSF grant (NSF BMAT; no. 1507736) to J.J.G. M.D.M. is a member of the Fonds de Recherche Quebec–Sante Network for Oral and Bone Health Research and the McGill Centre for Bone and Periodontal Researc

Superconductivity tuned by the iron vacancy order in Kx_{\bf x}Fe2−y_{\bf 2-y}Se2_2

Combining in-depth neutron diffraction and systematic bulk studies, we discover that the $\sqrt{5}\times\sqrt{5}$ Fe vacancy order with its associated block antiferromagnetic order is the ground state, with varying occupancy ratio of the iron 16i and vacancy 4d sites, across the phase-diagram of K$_{\bf x}$Fe$_{\bf 2-y}$Se$_2$. The orthorhombic order with one of the four Fe sites vacant appears only at intermediate temperature as a competing phase. The material experiences an insulator to metal crossover when the $\sqrt{5}\times\sqrt{5}$ order has highly developed. Superconductivity occurs in such a metallic phase

Nanostructure of Mouse Otoconia

Mammalian otoconia of the inner ear vestibular apparatus are calcium carbonate-containing mineralized structures critical in maintaining balance and detecting linear acceleration. The mineral phase of otoconia is calcite, which coherently diffracts X-rays much like a single-crystal. Otoconia contain osteopontin (OPN), a mineral-binding protein influencing mineralization processes in bones, teeth and avian eggshells, for example, and in pathologic mineral deposits. Here we describe mineral nanostructure and the distribution of OPN in mouse otoconia. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy of intact and cleaved mouse otoconia revealed an internal nanostructure (∼50 nm). Transmission electron microscopy and electron tomography of focused ion beam-prepared sections of otoconia confirmed this mineral nanostructure, and identified even smaller (∼10 nm) nanograin dimensions. X-ray diffraction of mature otoconia (8-day-old mice) showed crystallite size in a similar range (73 nm and smaller). Raman and X-ray absorption spectroscopy – both methods being sensitive to the detection of crystalline and amorphous forms in the sample – showed no evidence of amorphous calcium carbonate in these mature otoconia. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy combined with colloidal-gold immunolabeling for OPN revealed that this protein was located at the surface of the otoconia, correlating with a site where surface nanostructure was observed. OPN addition to calcite growing in vitro produced similar surface nanostructure. Finally, these findings provide details on the composition and nanostructure of mammalian otoconia, and suggest that while OPN may influence surface rounding and surface nanostructure in otoconia, other incorporated proteins (also possibly including OPN) likely participate in creating internal nanostructure