Identifying thesis and conclusion statements in student essays to scaffold peer review

Peer-reviewing is a recommended instructional technique to encourage good writing. Peer reviewers, however, may fail to identify key elements of an essay, such as thesis and conclusion statements, especially in high school writing. Our system identifies thesis and conclusion statements, or their absence, in students' essays in order to scaffold reviewer reflection. We showed that computational linguistics and interactive machine learning have the potential to facilitate peer-review processes. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Nutrient adequacy during weight loss interventions: a randomized study in women comparing the dietary intake in a meal replacement group with a traditional food group

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Safe and effective weight control strategies are needed to stem the current obesity epidemic. The objective of this one-year study was to document and compare the macronutrient and micronutrient levels in the foods chosen by women following two different weight reduction interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ninety-six generally healthy overweight or obese women (ages 25–50 years; BMI 25–35 kg/m²) were randomized into a Traditional Food group (TFG) or a Meal Replacement Group (MRG) incorporating 1–2 meal replacement drinks or bars per day. Both groups had an energy-restricted goal of 5400 kJ/day. Dietary intake data was obtained using 3-Day Food records kept by the subjects at baseline, 6 months and one-year. For more uniform comparisons between groups, each diet intervention consisted of 18 small group sessions led by the same Registered Dietitian.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Weight loss for the 73% (n = 70) completing this one-year study was not significantly different between the groups, but was significantly different (p ≤ .05) within each group with a mean (± standard deviation) weight loss of -6.1 ± 6.7 kg (TFG, n = 35) vs -5.0 ± 4.9 kg (MRG, n = 35). Both groups had macronutrient (Carbohydrate:Protein:Fat) ratios that were within the ranges recommended (50:19:31, TFG vs 55:16:29, MRG). Their reported reduced energy intake was similar (5729 ± 1424 kJ, TFG vs 5993 ± 2016 kJ, MRG). There was an improved dietary intake pattern in both groups as indicated by decreased intake of saturated fat (≤ 10%), cholesterol (<200 mg/day), and sodium (< 2400 mg/day), with increased total servings/day of fruits and vegetables (4.0 ± 2.2, TFG vs 4.6 ± 3.2, MRG). However, the TFG had a significantly lower dietary intake of several vitamins and minerals compared to the MRG and was at greater risk for inadequate intake.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this one-year university-based intervention, both dietitian-led groups successfully lost weight while improving overall dietary adequacy. The group incorporating fortified meal replacements tended to have a more adequate essential nutrient intake compared to the group following a more traditional food group diet. This study supports the need to incorporate fortified foods and/or dietary supplements while following an energy-restricted diet for weight loss.</p

Hybrid Refining Approach of PrOnto Ontology

This paper presents a refinement of PrOnto ontology using a validation test based on legal experts’ annotation of privacy policies combined with an Open Knowledge Extraction (OKE) algorithm. To ensure robustness of the results while preserving an interdisciplinary approach, the integration of legal and technical knowledge has been carried out as follows. The set of privacy policies was first analysed by the legal experts to discover legal concepts and map the text into PrOnto. The mapping was then provided to computer scientists to perform the OKE analysis. Results were validated by the legal experts, who provided feedbacks and refinements (i.e. new classes and modules) of the ontology according to MeLOn methodology. Three iterations were performed on a set of (development) policies, and a final test using a new set of privacy policies. The results are 75,43% of detection of concepts in the policy texts and an increase of roughly 33% in the accuracy gain on the test set, using the new refined version of PrOnto enriched with SKOS-XL lexicon terms and definitions

Case-Based Interpretation of Best Medical Coding Practices — Application to Data Collection for Cancer Registries

International audienceCancer registries are important tools in the fight against cancer. At the heart of these registries is the data collection and coding process. Ruled by complex international standards and numerous best practices, operators are easily overwhelmed. In this paper, a system is presented to assist operators in the interpretation of best medical coding practices. By leveraging the arguments used by the coding experts to determine the best coding option, the proposed system is designed to answer the coding questions from operators and provide an answer associated with a partial explanation for the proposed solution

Rapid detection of SMARCB1 sequence variation using high resolution melting

Background : Rhabdoid tumors are rare cancers of early childhood arising in the kidney, central nervous system and other organs. The majority are caused by somatic inactivating mutations or deletions affecting the tumor suppressor locus SMARCB1 [OMIM 601607]. Germ-line SMARCB1 inactivation has been reported in association with rhabdoid tumor, epitheloid sarcoma and familial schwannomatosis, underscoring the importance of accurate mutation screening to ascertain recurrence and transmission risks. We describe a rapid and sensitive diagnostic screening method, using high resolution melting (HRM), for detecting sequence variations in SMARCB1. Methods : Amplicons, encompassing the nine coding exons of SMARCB1, flanking splice site sequences and the 5\u27 and 3\u27 UTR, were screened by both HRM and direct DNA sequencing to establish the reliability of HRM as a primary mutation screening tool. Reaction conditions were optimized with commercially available HRM mixes. Results : The false negative rate for detecting sequence variants by HRM in our sample series was zero. Nine amplicons out of a total of 140 (6.4%) showed variant melt profiles that were subsequently shown to be false positive. Overall nine distinct pathogenic SMARCB1 mutations were identified in a total of 19 possible rhabdoid tumors. Two tumors had two distinct mutations and two harbored SMARCB1 deletion. Other mutations were nonsense or frame-shifts. The detection sensitivity of the HRM screening method was influenced by both sequence context and specific nucleotide change and varied from 1: 4 to 1:1000 (variant to wild-type DNA). A novel method involving digital HRM, followed by re-sequencing, was used to confirm mutations in tumor specimens containing associated normal tissue. Conclusions : This is the first report describing SMARCB1 mutation screening using HRM. HRM is a rapid, sensitive and inexpensive screening technology that is likely to be widely adopted in diagnostic laboratories to facilitate whole gene mutation screening

Current quark mass dependence of nucleon magnetic moments and radii

A calculation of the current-quark-mass-dependence of nucleon static electromagnetic properties is necessary in order to use observational data as a means to place constraints on the variation of Nature's fundamental parameters. A Poincare' covariant Faddeev equation, which describes baryons as composites of confined-quarks and -nonpointlike-diquarks, is used to calculate this dependence The results indicate that, like observables dependent on the nucleons' magnetic moments, quantities sensitive to their magnetic and charge radii, such as the energy levels and transition frequencies in Hydrogen and Deuterium, might also provide a tool with which to place limits on the allowed variation in Nature's constants.Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables, 4 appendice

A multi-stage genome-wide association study of bladder cancer identifies multiple susceptibility loci.

We conducted a multi-stage, genome-wide association study of bladder cancer with a primary scan of 591,637 SNPs in 3,532 affected individuals (cases) and 5,120 controls of European descent from five studies followed by a replication strategy, which included 8,382 cases and 48,275 controls from 16 studies. In a combined analysis, we identified three new regions associated with bladder cancer on chromosomes 22q13.1, 19q12 and 2q37.1: rs1014971, (P = 8 × 10⁻¹²) maps to a non-genic region of chromosome 22q13.1, rs8102137 (P = 2 × 10⁻¹¹) on 19q12 maps to CCNE1 and rs11892031 (P = 1 × 10⁻⁷) maps to the UGT1A cluster on 2q37.1. We confirmed four previously identified genome-wide associations on chromosomes 3q28, 4p16.3, 8q24.21 and 8q24.3, validated previous candidate associations for the GSTM1 deletion (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹) and a tag SNP for NAT2 acetylation status (P = 4 × 10⁻¹¹), and found interactions with smoking in both regions. Our findings on common variants associated with bladder cancer risk should provide new insights into the mechanisms of carcinogenesis

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Online dispute resolution: an artificial intelligence perspective

Litigation in court is still the main dispute resolution mode. However, given the amount and characteristics of the new disputes, mostly arising out of electronic contracting, courts are becoming slower and outdated. Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) recently emerged as a set of tools and techniques, supported by technology, aimed at facilitating conflict resolution. In this paper we present a critical evaluation on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based techniques in ODR. In order to fulfill this goal, we analyze a set of commercial providers (in this case twenty four) and some research projects (in this circumstance six). Supported by the results so far achieved, a new approach to deal with the problem of ODR is proposed, in which we take on some of the problems identified in the current state of the art in linking ODR and AI.The work described in this paper is included in TIARAC - Telematics and Artificial Intelligence in Alternative Conflict Resolution Project (PTDC/JUR/71354/2006), which is a research project supported by FCT (Science & Technology Foundation), Portugal. The work of Davide Carneiro is also supported by a doctoral grant by FCT (SFRH/BD/64890/2009).Acknowledgments. The work described in this paper is included in TIARAC - Telematics and Artificial Intelligence in Alternative Conflict Resolution Project (PTDC/JUR/71354/2006), which is a research project supported by FCT (Science & Technology Foundation), Portugal. The work of Davide Carneiro is also supported by a doctoral grant by FCT (SFRH/BD/64890/2009)