Large-scale Generative Query Autocompletion

Query Autocompletion (QAC) systems are interactive tools that assist a searcher in entering a query given a partial query prefix. Existing QAC research -- with a number of notable exceptions --relies upon large existing query logs from which to extract historical queries. These queries are then ordered by some ranking algorithm as candidate completions, given the query prefix. Given the numerous search environments (e.g. enterprises, personal or secured data repositories) in which large query logs are unavailable, the need for synthetic -- or generative -- QAC systems will become increasingly important. Generative QAC systems may be used to augment traditional query-based approaches, and/or entirely replace them in certain privacy sensitive applications. Even in commercial Web search engines, a significant proportion (up to 15%) of queries issued daily have never been seen previously, meaning there will always be opportunity to assist users in formulating queries which have not occurred historically. In this paper, we describe a system that can construct generative QAC suggestions within a user-acceptable timeframe (~58ms), and report on a series of experiments over three publicly available, large-scale question sets that investigate different aspects of the system's performance

Modelling Causal Factors of Unintentional Electromagnetic Emanations Compromising Information Technology Equipment Security †

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Information technology equipment (ITE) processing sensitive information can have its security compromised by unintentional electromagnetic radiation. Appropriately assessing likelihood of a potential compromise relies on radio frequency (RF) engineering expertise—specifically, requiring knowledge of the associated causal factors and their interrelationships. Several factors that can cause unintentional electromagnetic emanations that can lead to the compromise of ITE have been found in the literature. This paper confirms the list of causal factors reported in previous work, categorizes the factors as belonging to threat, vulnerability, or impact, and develops an interpretive structural model of the vulnerability factors. A participatory modelling approach was used consisting of focus groups of RF engineers. The resulting hierarchical structural model shows the relationships between factors and illustrates their relative significance. The paper concludes that the resulting model can motivate a deeper understanding of the structural relationship of the factors that can be incorporated in the RF engineers’ assessment process. Areas of future work are suggested.Peer reviewe

The impact of result diversification on search behaviour and performance

Result diversification aims to provide searchers with a broader view of a given topic while attempting to maximise the chances of retrieving relevant material. Diversifying results also aims to reduce search bias by increasing the coverage over different aspects of the topic. As such, searchers should learn more about the given topic in general. Despite diversification algorithms being introduced over two decades ago, little research has explicitly examined their impact on search behaviour and performance in the context of Interactive Information Retrieval (IIR). In this paper, we explore the impact of diversification when searchers undertake complex search tasks that require learning about different aspects of a topic (aspectual retrieval). We hypothesise that by diversifying search results, searchers will be exposed to a greater number of aspects. In turn, this will maximise their coverage of the topic (and thus reduce possible search bias). As a consequence, diversification should lead to performance benefits, regardless of the task, but how does diversification affect search behaviours and search satisfaction? Based on Information Foraging Theory (IFT), we infer two hypotheses regarding search behaviours due to diversification, namely that (i) it will lead to searchers examining fewer documents per query, and (ii) it will also mean searchers will issue more queries overall. To this end, we performed a within-subjects user study using the TREC AQUAINT collection with 51 participants, examining the differences in search performance and behaviour when using (i) a non-diversified system (BM25) versus (ii) a diversified system (BM25+xQuAD) when the search task is either (a) ad-hoc or (b) aspectual. Our results show a number of notable findings in terms of search behaviour: participants on the diversified system issued more queries and examined fewer documents per query when performing the aspectual search task. Furthermore, we showed that when using the diversified system, participants were: more successful in marking relevant documents, and obtained a greater awareness of the topics (i.e. identified relevant documents containing more novel aspects). These findings show that search behaviour is influenced by diversification and task complexity. They also motivate further research into complex search tasks such as aspectual retrieval -- and how diversity can play an important role in improving the search experience, by providing greater coverage of a topic and mitigating potential bias in search results

Modelling search and stopping in interactive information retrieval

Searching for information when using a computerised retrieval system is a complex and inherently interactive process. Individuals during a search session may issue multiple queries, and examine a varying number of result summaries and documents per query. Searchers must also decide when to stop assessing content for relevance - or decide when to stop their search session altogether. Despite being such a fundamental activity, only a limited number of studies have explored stopping behaviours in detail, with a majority reporting that searchers stop because they decide that what they have found feels "good enough". Notwithstanding the limited exploration of stopping during search, the phenomenon is central to the study of Information Retrieval, playing a role in the models and measures that we employ. However, the current de facto assumption considers that searchers will examine k documents - examining up to a fixed depth. In this thesis, we examine searcher stopping behaviours under a number of different search contexts. We conduct and report on two user studies, examining how result summary lengths and a variation of search tasks and goals affect such behaviours. Interaction data from these studies are then used to ground extensive simulations of interaction, exploring a number of different stopping heuristics (operationalised as twelve stopping strategies). We consider how well the proposed strategies perform and match up with real-world stopping behaviours. As part of our contribution, we also propose the Complex Searcher Model, a high-level conceptual searcher model that encodes stopping behaviours at different points throughout the search process. Within the Complex Searcher Model, we also propose a new results page stopping decision point. From this new stopping decision point, searchers can obtain an impression of the page before deciding to enter or abandon it. Results presented and discussed demonstrate that searchers employ a range of different stopping strategies, with no strategy standing out in terms of performance and approximations offered. Stopping behaviours are clearly not fixed, but are rather adaptive in nature. This complex picture reinforces the idea that modelling stopping behaviour is difficult. However, simplistic stopping strategies do offer good performance and approximations, such as the frustration-based stopping strategy. This strategy considers a searcher's tolerance to non-relevance. We also find that combination strategies - such as those combining a searcher's satisfaction with finding relevant material, and their frustration towards observing non-relevant material - also consistently offer good approximations and performance. In addition, we also demonstrate that the inclusion of the additional stopping decision point within the Complex Searcher Model provides significant improvements to performance over our baseline implementation. It also offers improvements to the approximations of real-world searcher stopping behaviours. This work motivates a revision of how we currently model the search process and demonstrates that different stopping heuristics need to be considered within the models and measures that we use in Information Retrieval. Measures should be reformed according to the stopping behaviours of searchers. A number of potential avenues for future exploration can also be considered, such as modelling the stopping behaviours of searchers individually (rather than as a population), and to explore and consider a wider variety of different stopping heuristics under different search contexts. Despite the inherently difficult task that understanding and modelling the stopping behaviours of searchers represents, potential benefits of further exploration in this area will undoubtedly aid the searchers of future retrieval systems - with further work bringing about improved interfaces and experiences

Electrochemical Characterization of Precious Metal Braze Alloys Using Potentiodynamic Polarization

This study aimed to characterize the electrochemical behavior of six precious metal braze alloys by performing potentiodynamic polarization tests (ParStat 2273) based on ASTM Specifications G5 and G59. To determine the extent to which the alloys will contribute to galvanic corrosion in a marine environment (3.5 wt% NaCl), corrosion analysis software was used to produce fitted Tafel lines to determine the open circuit potential, Voc, for each alloy. The Voc values for the alloys were found to be -66.58 mV for Gold ABA, 13.01 mV for Nicoro®, -39.00 mV for Nioro®, 23.4 mV for Palniro-1®, -47.91 mV for Palniro-7®, and -205.16 mV for Silver ABA. These values were compared to industry-standard base materials typically used in brazing processes to determine their compatibility as galvanic couples. Differences in Voc greater than 250 mV within the couple are considered unsuitable for joining without additional galvanic protection. To provide coupling recommendations, 95% confidence intervals were made to estimate each alloy’s Voc

A contemporary reinterpretation of Jorn Utzon’s material and technological innovations

Standardisation and the use of repetitive production processes was a key determinant of achievable forms in the industrial paradigm, impressively displayed in the Sydney Opera House. Today, complex non-repetitive, yet readily achievable, forms can be designed using computational design techniques that explicitly embedstructural, and fabrication logic from the beginning and which later enable the direct generation of instruction code for their accurate and efficient production viaComputer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines.This paper builds on the thesis that Utzon's approach - the consideration of technology as an integral part of the design process - can give rise to novel structures which take advantage of the new technological situation. Furthering earlier research by the authors, a method for constructing a hybrid grid shellstructure combining timber and pre-cast concrete elements is proposed. The method is tested through the realisation of a pavilion in relation to the UtzonSymposium in Sydney in March 2014. The previous research shows how a grid shell structure of discrete concrete components can be produced with lasercut amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (PET) templates. The casting method minimises the material use for templates in relation to customisation. This paperconcerns realisation of a hybrid construction through integration of customised plywood components. Furthermore, the concrete construction is improved.Precision is improved through stabilisation of the template and modification of the geometry. Stability of the construction is achieved through new joint solutions. Reinforcement and joints are treated as a single element, thereby simplifying both production and assembly. In previous case studies scaffolding was amajor task, and this aspect is minimised with the method described here

Pinus contorta invasions increase wildfire fuel loads and may create a positive feedback with fire

Invasive plant species that have the potential to alter fire regimes have significant impacts on native ecosystems. Concern that pine invasions in the Southern Hemisphere will increase fire activity and severity and subsequently promote further pine invasion prompted us to examine the potential for feedbacks between Pinus contorta invasions and fire in Patagonia and New Zealand. We determined how fuel loads and fire effects were altered by P. contorta invasion. We also examined post-fire plant communities across invasion gradients at a subset of sites to assess how invasion alters the post-fire vegetation trajectory. We found that fuel loads and soil heating during simulated fire increase with increasing P. contorta invasion age or density at all sites. However, P. contorta density did not always increase post-fire. In the largest fire, P. contorta density only increased significantly post-fire where the pre-fire P. contorta density was above an invasion threshold. Below this threshold, P. contorta did not dominate after fire and plant communities responded to fire in a similar manner as uninvaded communities. The positive feedback observed at high densities is caused by the accumulation of fuel that in turn results in greater soil heating during fires and high P. contorta density post-fire. Therefore, a positive feedback may form between P. contorta invasions and fire, but only above an invasion density threshold. These results suggest that management of pine invasions before they reach the invasion density threshold is important for reducing fire risk and preventing a transition to an alternate ecosystem state dominated by pines and novel understory plant communities.Fil: Taylor, Kimberley. State University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: Maxwell, Bruce. State University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: McWethy, David. State University of Montana; Estados UnidosFil: Pauchard, Aníbal. Universidad de Concepción; Chile. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Nuñez, Martin Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universidad Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Whitlock, Cathy. State University of Montana; Estados Unido

Driven to distraction : examining the influence of distractors on search behaviours, performance and experience

Advertisements, sponsored links, clickbait, in-house recommendations and similar elements pervasively shroud featured content. Such elements vie for people's attention, potentially distracting people from their task at hand. The effects of such "distractors" is likely to increase people's cognitive workload and reduce their performance as they need to work harder to discern the relevant from non-relevant. In this paper, we investigate how people of varying cognitive abilities (measured using Perceptual Speed and Cognitive Failure instruments) are affected by these different types of distractions when completing search tasks. We performed a crowdsourced within-subjects user study, where 102 participants completed four search tasks using our news search engine over four different interface conditions: (i) one with no additional distractors; (ii) one with advertisements; (iii) one with sponsored links; and (iv) one with in-house recommendations. Our results highlight a number of important trends and findings. Participants perceived the interface condition without distractors as significantly better across numerous dimensions. Participants reported higher satisfaction, lower workload, higher topic recall, and found it easier to concentrate. Behaviourally, participants issued queries faster and clicked results earlier when compared to the interfaces with distractors. When using the interfaces with distractors, one in ten participants clicked on a distractor—and despite engaging with a distractor for less than twenty seconds, their task time increased by approximately two minutes. We found that the effects were magnified depending on cognitive abilities—with a greater impact of distractors on participants with lower perceptual speed, and for those with a higher propensity of cognitive failures. Distractors—regardless of their type—have negative consequences on a user’s search experience and performance. As a consequence, interfaces containing visually distracting elements are creating poorer search experiences due to the "distractor tax" being placed on people's limited attention

TGFβ and CCN2/CTGF mediate actin related gene expression by differential E2F1/CREB activation

BACKGROUND: CCN2/CTGF is an established effector of TGFβ driven responses in diabetic nephropathy. We have identified an interaction between CCN2 and TGFβ leading to altered phenotypic differentiation and inhibited cellular migration. Here we determine the gene expression profile associated with this phenotype and define a transcriptional basis for differential actin related gene expression and cytoskeletal function. RESULTS: From a panel of genes regulated by TGFβ and CCN2, we used co-inertia analysis to identify and then experimentally verify a subset of transcription factors, E2F1 and CREB, that regulate an expression fingerprint implicated in altered actin dynamics and cell hypertrophy. Importantly, actin related genes containing E2F1 and CREB binding sites, stratified by expression profile within the dataset. Further analysis of actin and cytoskeletal related genes from patients with diabetic nephropathy suggests recapitulation of this programme during the development of renal disease. The Rho family member Cdc42 was also found uniquely to be activated in cells treated with TGFβ and CCN2; Cdc42 interacting genes were differentially regulated in diabetic nephropathy. CONCLUSIONS: TGFβ and CCN2 attenuate CREB and augment E2F1 transcriptional activation with the likely effect of altering actin cytoskeletal and cell growth/hypertrophic gene activity with implications for cell dysfunction in diabetic kidney disease. The cytoskeletal regulator Cdc42 may play a role in this signalling response