Semantic Equivalence of e-Commerce Queries

Search query variation poses a challenge in e-commerce search, as equivalent search intents can be expressed through different queries with surface-level differences. This paper introduces a framework to recognize and leverage query equivalence to enhance searcher and business outcomes. The proposed approach addresses three key problems: mapping queries to vector representations of search intent, identifying nearest neighbor queries expressing equivalent or similar intent, and optimizing for user or business objectives. The framework utilizes both surface similarity and behavioral similarity to determine query equivalence. Surface similarity involves canonicalizing queries based on word inflection, word order, compounding, and noise words. Behavioral similarity leverages historical search behavior to generate vector representations of query intent. An offline process is used to train a sentence similarity model, while an online nearest neighbor approach supports processing of unseen queries. Experimental evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, outperforming popular sentence transformer models and achieving a Pearson correlation of 0.85 for query similarity. The results highlight the potential of leveraging historical behavior data and training models to recognize and utilize query equivalence in e-commerce search, leading to improved user experiences and business outcomes. Further advancements and benchmark datasets are encouraged to facilitate the development of solutions for this critical problem in the e-commerce domain.Comment: The 6th Workshop on e-Commerce and NL

Personalized Ranking in eCommerce Search

We address the problem of personalization in the context of eCommerce search. Specifically, we develop personalization ranking features that use in-session context to augment a generic ranker optimized for conversion and relevance. We use a combination of latent features learned from item co-clicks in historic sessions and content-based features that use item title and price. Personalization in search has been discussed extensively in the existing literature. The novelty of our work is combining and comparing content-based and content-agnostic features and showing that they complement each other to result in a significant improvement of the ranker. Moreover, our technique does not require an explicit re-ranking step, does not rely on learning user profiles from long term search behavior, and does not involve complex modeling of query-item-user features. Our approach captures item co-click propensity using lightweight item embeddings. We experimentally show that our technique significantly outperforms a generic ranker in terms of Mean Reciprocal Rank (MRR). We also provide anecdotal evidence for the semantic similarity captured by the item embeddings on the eBay search engine.Comment: Under Revie

An unusual coalition of medullary nephrocalcinosis with a novel genotypic variant of Alport syndrome type-1

Alport’s syndrome is a type of inherited disorder of the basement membrane characterized by a spectrum of phenotypes ranging from progressive renal injury to varied extrarenal manifestations comprising auditory and ocular abnormalities. Here in, we present a 3-year-old child born out of nonconsanguineous marriage who presented with fever, intermittent microscopic haematuria, and recurrent gross haematuria, proteinuria with normal auditory brainstem response and ocular slit lamp examination findings. Renal biopsy yielded normal light microscopy and immunofluorescence study whereas minimal changes in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) collagen were detected on electron microscopy, suggesting possibilities of Alport’s syndrome. Ultrasonographic renal imaging yielded the presence of bilateral medullary nephrocalcinosis. Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors along with angiotensin receptor blockers were used to curb the disease progression. A final clinical exome sequencing corroborated the phenotype with a diagnosis of Alport’s syndrome type-1 linked to a novel pathogenic variant c.1892dup (p.Gly632ArgfsTer2) showing hemizygous single base pair insertion/duplication in COL4A5 gene. To the best of our knowledge, this unusual association of Alport’s syndrome with medullary nephrocalcinosis has not been reported worldwide in any previous medical literature making this report a primi one

Partial purification and characterization of an antimicrobial activity from the wood extract of mangrove plant Ceriops decandra

The development of resistance towards the antibiotics in use today has been a source of growing concern in the modern healthcare system around the world. To counter this major threat, there is an urgent need for discovery of new antimicrobials. Many plants, like mangroves, possess highly diversified list of natural phytochemicals which are known to have wide range of bioactivities. These phytochemicals can be good sources for the discovery of new drugs. In this study, we report the partial phytochemical characterization and antimicrobial activities of a semi-purified fraction isolated from the wood tissue of Ceriops decandra, a mangrove plant. This fraction named CD-3PM was chromatographically separated from C. decandra wood extract and was subjected to different spectral analyses to determine its partial chemical nature. The structural investigation indicates the presence of two diterpenoids, i) 3β, 13β-Dihydroxy-8-abietaen-7-one and ii) 3β-Hydroxy-8,13-abietadien-7-one in the CD-3PM fraction. The antimicrobial potential of this fraction was evaluated by microdilution-MTT assay against several organisms. Among the nine microorganisms found to be sensitive to the CD-3PM fraction, six organisms are reported to be pathogenic in nature. The CD-3PM fraction with broad spectrum antimicrobial efficacy revealed the presence of two diterpenoids and possesses potential applications in drug discovery process and food processing industries

Ultrafast 2D IR anisotropy of water reveals reorientation during hydrogen-bond switching

Rearrangements of the hydrogen bond network of liquid water are believed to involve rapid and concerted hydrogen bond switching events, during which a hydrogen bond donor molecule undergoes large angle molecular reorientation as it exchanges hydrogen bonding partners. To test this picture of hydrogen bond dynamics, we have performed ultrafast 2D IR spectral anisotropy measurements on the OH stretching vibration of HOD in D[subscript 2]O to directly track the reorientation of water molecules as they change hydrogen bonding environments. Interpretation of the experimental data is assisted by modeling drawn from molecular dynamics simulations, and we quantify the degree of molecular rotation on changing local hydrogen bonding environment using restricted rotation models. From the inertial 2D anisotropy decay, we find that water molecules initiating from a strained configuration and relaxing to a stable configuration are characterized by a distribution of angles, with an average reorientation half-angle of 10°, implying an average reorientation for a full switch of ≥20°. These results provide evidence that water hydrogen bond network connectivity switches through concerted motions involving large angle molecular reorientation.United States. Dept. of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-99ER14988)Petroleum Research Fund (Grant 46098-AC6)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship Progra

Evaluation of pharmacology teaching-learning methods in a government medical college

Background: Pharmacology is a major subject in medical science and always changing, so according to it pharmacologists also need to reform their teaching method. Students’ opinion in this evaluation of teaching is a good option.Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted in Burdwan Medical College on 230 students of two batches.Results: One forty eight students thought that the subject was interesting. Twenty eight percent students opined that Pharmacology class was not interesting. Students found interest mostly in prescription writing, drug interaction and therapeutic problems in practical section. Though 53.4% found pharmacy was less interest. They suggested some reforms in teaching, 61.3% voted for introduction of audio-visual aid and 74.3% response on clinical demonstration in hospital ward. According to 82.6% students, there should be more problem solving exercise during teaching pharmacology; giving hand-out before everyday class, class in clinical setting and more emphasis on clinical pharmacology were also needed. MCQ exam only (31%) and written viva both (51%) were good ways of evaluation according to them.Conclusions: This study helps in knowing students’ opinion and preferences in curriculum to make it more interesting and aids to modify the undergraduate Pharmacology teaching pattern

Socio-economics: a propensity of self-medication among OPD patients of a teaching hospital

Background: Use of over the counter (OTC) drug is very much common in India. Not only medical professionals or educated urban population but also it is common in rural area and low educated person. This study was done to assess the extent of knowledge and practices of OTC drugs among OPD patients of a tertiary care hospital.Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 1680 Medicine OPD (outpatient department) patients.Results: Among the participants, 62% patients taking OTC drugs at least once in their life. Most common symptoms for self-medication were fever (89%), cough and cold (78%), headache (67%), pain (53%), diarrhea (10%), vomiting (10%), indigestion (20%). Antipyretics (65%), analgesics (35%) among NSAIDs which were common used as OTC drugs. Others drugs were antacids (50%), cough and cold preparations (50%), Vitamins (30%), antiemetics (5%).Conclusions: Awareness is necessary to use drugs rationally with proper prescription and know about harmful effects of OTC drugs