Combining independent modules to solve multiple-choice synonym and analogy problems

Existing statistical approaches to natural language problems are very coarse approximations to the true complexity of language processing. As such, no single technique will be best for all problem instances. Many researchers are examining ensemble methods that combine the output of successful, separately developed modules to create more accurate solutions. This paper examines three merging rules for combining probability distributions: the well known mixture rule, the logarithmic rule, and a novel product rule. These rules were applied with state-of-the-art results to two problems commonly used to assess human mastery of lexical semantics -- synonym questions and analogy questions. All three merging rules result in ensembles that are more accurate than any of their component modules. The differences among the three rules are not statistically significant, but it is suggestive that the popular mixture rule is not the best rule for either of the two problems

Application of Bioinformatics Methodologies in the Fields of Skin Biology and Dermatology

Bioinformatics is a research field that uses computer‐based tools to investigate life sciences questions employing “big data” results from large‐scale DNA sequencing, whole genomes, transcriptomes, metabolomes, populations, and biological systems, which can only be comprehensively viewed in silico. The epidermis was among the earliest targets of bioinformatics studies because it represents one of the most accessible targets for research. An additional advantage of working with the epidermis is that the sample can even be recovered using tape stripping, an easy, noninvasive protocol. Consequently, bioinformatics methods in the fields of skin biology and dermatology generated a fairly large volume of bioinformatics data, which led us to originate the term “skinomics.” Skinomics data are directed toward epidermal differentiation, malignancies, inflammation, allergens, and irritants, the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light, wound healing, the microbiome, stem cells, etc. Cultures of cutaneous cell types, keratinocytes, fibroblasts, melanocytes, etc., as well as skin from human volunteers and from animal models, have been extensively experimented on. Here, we review the development of the skinomics, its methodology, current achievements, and future potentials

Bird mortality on powerlines in the Altai Republic and Altai Kray of Russia in 2022

In October of 2022, 419 km of 6-10kV powerlines were inspected in the Altai Republic and Altai Kray of Russia. The most favorable situation was found in Ulagan District of the Altai Republic. In other districts – Ust-Kan (Altai Republic), Uglovskiy, Solonesh, Rubtsovsk and Petropavlovsk (Altai Kray), numerous violations were observed. In total, 211 dead birds were found killed by electrocution. Nine out of them belong to species enlisted in the Red Data Book of Russia including one Saker Falcon enlisted as Primarily Valuable Species. Along this work we revealed the most dangerous lines required immediate retrofitting with Bird Protection Devices (BPDs) or renovation of already existing ones. The highest priority status was assigned to 6 powerlines or parts of them with a total length of 60 km, that got in total 401 unsafe utility poles. Those line were the cause of death of all Red-listed individuals and caused maximum damage to wildlife expressed in financial equivalent. The total damage to wildlife from all powerlines inspected was equal to 4 463 840 rubles (around $58 735 / €54 000) without approximation on previous season. A scheme of bird-dangerous parts of powerlines / single poles with coordinates was developed for all inspected lines

Eliciting Predictions and Recommendations for Decision Making YILING CHEN, Harvard University

When making a decision, a decision maker selects one of several possible actions and hopes to achieve a desirable outcome. To make a better decision, the decision maker often asks experts for advice. In this article, we consider two methods of acquiring advice for decision making. We begin with a method where one or more experts predict the effect of each action and the decision maker then selects an action based on the predictions. We characterize strictly proper decision making, where experts have an incentive to accurately reveal their beliefs about the outcome of each action. However, strictly proper decision making requires the decision maker use a completely mixed strategy to choose an action. To address this limitation, we consider a second method where the decision maker asks a single expert to recommend an action. We show that it is possible to elicit the decision maker’s most preferred action for a broad class of preferences of the decision maker, including when the decision maker is an expected value maximizer

Автори

In the packaged food industry, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an informal requirement for which firms account through sustainability reporting. CSR behaviors are often reported and analyzed using the Triple Bottom Line (3BL) framework, which categorizes them as affecting people, planet, or profit. 3BL is useful in determining which of these categories is most elaborated upon by the firm, but has a limited scope and many documented criticisms. This paper aims to address the aforementioned insufficiencies by augmenting the 3BL framework with two important attributes of CSR practices: (1) the presence of change in core firm behavior of the firm itself or of others in the supply chain, and (2) whether the behavior qualifies as being outside of the firm's normal business practice or is something that they might have done anyway. We qualitatively analyze CSR behaviors described in sustainability reports and interviews from major players in the packaged food industry and categorize them using these attributes as a supplement to 3BL. This enables us to separate the behaviors from their framing and analyze them more critically. Our results demonstrate how the visible CSR efforts of a firm can be misleading at first glance. Using only 3BL, we find that the CSR focus of firms in this industry is people. We then discover that the codes focusing on people (as opposed to planet or profit) require the least amount of real structural change from a firm or its supply chain partners, and thus arguably, the least amount of effort. We also find that behaviors that focus on planet require the most effort within the firm itself, but for behaviors involving supply chain partners, effort is required for behaviors in all three categories. Finally, we find that CSR behavior that is related to planet tends to go beyond normal business practice

Злокачественная гипертермия (синдром Икара): новый взгляд на старую проблему

In the lecture shot history of research of etiology and pathogenesis of more dramatic complication of general anaesthesia – malignant hyperthermia - are presented. Importance of the interdisciplinary approach to working out of methods of preventive maintenance and treatment of it pharmacogenetics conditions in practice of the anaesthesiologist is underlined.В лекции освещена краткая история изучения вопросов этиологии и патогенеза одного из наиболее драматических осложнений общей анестезии – злокачественной гипертермии (синдрома Икара). Подчеркнута важность междисциплинарного подхода к разработке методов профилактики и лечения этого фармакогенетического состояния в практике невролога и анестезиолога

The Role of Nondrug Treatment Methods in the Management of Epilepsy

The review is devoted to the issue of nondrug epilepsy treatment in the adult population in Russia and abroad. The conducted literature review allowed us to reveal the basic nondrug epilepsy treatment options. However, not all of these options have a sufficient evidence base, and some of them are not always safe. Particularly, methods with low level of evidence include acupuncture and aromatherapy. Further studies are needed to explore the methods aimed to eliminate the epileptic system dominant through the development of a new, more powerful dominant. One of the methods, which can influence the pathogenesis of epilepsy, is physical activity for patients with epilepsy, since epileptiform activity on the EEG is reported to disappear during exercises. The positive results of the application of art therapy (music therapy) are also described in the modern literature. Tеmpo-rhythm correction methods hold a specific place in neurorehabilitation. There are considerable amount of studies concerning the application of tempo-rhythmic methods in neurology and psychiatry. It can be concluded that these methods are relevant worldwide and can be used in diagnostics and correction of neurological and psychiatric diseases (such as schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy)

Состояние системного гуморального иммунитета у лиц с хроническим генерализованным пародонтитом на фоне паразитарной инвазии = Consistent humoral immunity condition in patients with chronic generalized periodontitis on the background of parasitic invasion

The article reveals the results of the immunity humoral chain investigation in patients with the chronic generalized periodontitis (CGP), severity level I-II, in combination with parasitosis.The purpose of the investigation is to verify the role and place of humoral immunity in CGP pathology in patients with parasitosis.Materials and methods. Immunologic investigations were conducted among 540 patients with the chronic generalized periodontitis, severity level I-II, on the background of parasitic invasions (gisrdiasis, enterobiasis, toxocarosis) – (principle groups). The experimental group consisted of 90 CGP patients, severity level I-II, without parasitic invasions. The control group consisted of 30 people without the parodontium pathology and the chronic pathology of other organs and systems, who were considered practically healthy during the investigation.Humoral immunity condition in CGP patients was estimated by the content level of antibodies against etiological inflectional agents in the blood serum and the common antigenic determinant (CAD) of microbes, antimicrobial IgG- antibodies affinity, by the content of IgА. IgМ, IgЕ, CIC, complement activity.Results and conclusions. It is noted that increasing of IgE, CIC and complement levels in blood are the peculiarity of immune structures in the organism of CGP patients with parasitosis, compared with CGP patients without parasitosis. While investigating the qualitative characteristics of the produced antimicrobial antibodies, it was found that in CGP patients, I-II severity level, with parasitosis the antibodies affinity was significantly lower than in CGP patients without parasitosis. Weak antibody immune response to the microbial factor and low produced antimicrobial antibodies affinity, apparently, explain the impossibility for the patient to neutralize and eliminate the bacteria, populating the periodontal pockets, as well as to maintain normal mouth cavity biocenosis. The obtained data also explain, why in CGP patients with parasitosis the degree of microbial colonization of periodontal pockets and species composition of microbial associations is higher than in patients without parasitosis.Savel’eva N. N., Schnaider S. A. Состояние системного гуморального иммунитета у лиц с хроническим генерализованным пародонтитом на фоне паразитарной инвазии = Consistent humoral immunity condition in patients with chronic generalized periodontitis on the background of parasitic invasion. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2015;5(11):217-226. ISSN 2391-8306. DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.33865http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/2015%3B5%2811%29%3A217-226https://pbn.nauka.gov.pl/works/669376Formerly Journal of Health Sciences. ISSN 1429-9623 / 2300-665X. Archives 2011–2014http://journal.rsw.edu.pl/index.php/JHS/issue/archive Deklaracja.Specyfika i zawartość merytoryczna czasopisma nie ulega zmianie.Zgodnie z informacją MNiSW z dnia 2 czerwca 2014 r., że w roku 2014 nie będzie przeprowadzana ocena czasopism naukowych; czasopismo o zmienionym tytule otrzymuje tyle samo punktów co na wykazie czasopism naukowych z dnia 31 grudnia 2014 r.The journal has had 5 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland parametric evaluation. Part B item 1089. (31.12.2014).© The Author (s) 2015;This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland and Radom University in Radom, PolandOpen Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,provided the original author(s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercialuse, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.Received: 25.09.2015. Revised 25.10.2015. Accepted: 10.11.2015. УДК: 616-097+612.118.223+612.017.1UDC: 616-097+612.118.223+612.017.1 СОСТОЯНИЕ СИСТЕМНОГО ГУМОРАЛЬНОГО ИММУНИТЕТА У ЛИЦ С ХРОНИЧЕСКИМ ГЕНЕРАЛИЗОВАННЫМ ПАРОДОНТИТОМ НА ФОНЕ ПАРАЗИТАРНОЙ ИНВАЗИИ CONSISTENT HUMORAL IMMUNITY CONDITION IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC GENERALIZED PERIODONTITIS ON THE BACKGROUND OF PARASITIC INVASION Савельева Н. Н.1, Шнайдер С. А.2Savel’eva N. N.1, Schnaider S. A.2 1Кафедра стоматологии Харьковского национального медицинского университета2ГУ «Институт стоматологии Национальной академии медицинских наук Украины» 1Kharkiv National Medical University2SE “The Institute of Stomatology of the National academy of medical science of Ukraine” РефератВ статье изложены результаты изучения гуморального звена иммунитета больных хроническим генерализованным пародонтитом (ХГП) I-II степени тяжести сочетающегося с паразитозами.Целью исследования является выяснение роли и места гуморального иммунитета в патологии ХГП у лиц с паразитозами.Иммунологические исследования были проведены у 540 больных с хроническим генерализованным пародонтитом I- II ст. тяжести на фоне паразитарных инвазий (лямблиоз, энтеробиоз, токсокароз) – (основные группы). Группу сравнения составляли 90 больных ХГП I- II ст. тяжести без паразитарной инвазии. Контрольную группу составили 30 человек без патологии пародонта и хронической патологии других органов и систем, которые в период обследования считались практически здоровыми.О состоянии гуморального иммунитета больных ХГП судили по уровню содержания в сыворотке крови антител к этиологическим инфекционным агентам и общей антигенной детерминанте (ОАД) микробов, аффинности противомикробных IgG- антител, по содержанию IgА. IgМ, IgЕ, ЦИК, активности комплемента.Отмечено, что повышение уровня в крови IgЕ, ЦИК и комплемента является особенностью иммунных построек в организме больных ХГП с паразитозами, по сравнению с больными ХГП без паразитозов. При изучении качественных характеристик продуцируемых антимикробных антител установлено, что у больных ХГП I-II степени тяжести с паразитозами аффинность антител достоверно ниже, чем у больных ХГП без паразитозов. Малая антительная реакция иммунной системы на микробный фактор и низкая аффинность продуцируемых антимикробных антител, по-видимому, и объясняют неэффективность организма больного нейтрализовать и элиминировать микробы, заселяющие пародонтальные карманы, а также поддерживать нормальный биоценоз ротовой полости. Полученные данные также объясняют, почему у больных ХГП с паразитозами, степень микробной колонизации пародонтальных карманов и видовой состав микробов в ассоциациях выше, чем у больных без паразитозов. Ключевые слова: хронический генерализованный пародонтит, секреторный IgA, IgА, IgМ, IgЕ, системный иммунитет, антитела, комплемент, ЦИК, паразитозы.    Savel’eva N.N.1, Schnaider S.A.21Kharkiv National Medical  University2SE “The Institute of Stomatology of the National academy of medical science of Ukraine”CONSISTENT HUMORAL IMMUNITY CONDITION IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC GENERALIZED PERIODONTITIS ON THE BACKGROUND OF PARASITIC INVASION The article reveals the results of the immunity humoral chain investigation in patients with the chronic generalized periodontitis (CGP), severity level I-II, in combination with parasitosis.The purpose of the investigation is to verify the role and place of humoral immunity in CGP pathology in patients with parasitosis.Materials and methods. Immunologic investigations were conducted among 540 patients with the chronic generalized periodontitis, severity level I-II, on the background of parasitic invasions (gisrdiasis, enterobiasis, toxocarosis) – (principle groups). The experimental group consisted of 90 CGP patients, severity level I-II, without parasitic invasions. The control group consisted of 30 people without the parodontium pathology and the chronic pathology of other organs and systems, who were considered practically healthy during the investigation.Humoral immunity condition in CGP patients was estimated by the content level of antibodies against etiological inflectional agents in the blood serum and the common antigenic determinant (CAD) of microbes, antimicrobial IgG- antibodies affinity, by the content of IgА. IgМ, IgЕ, CIC, complement activity.Results and conclusions. It is noted that increasing of IgE, CIC and complement levels in blood are the peculiarity of immune structures in the organism of CGP patients with parasitosis, compared with CGP patients without parasitosis. While investigating the qualitative characteristics of the produced antimicrobial antibodies, it was found that in CGP patients, I-II severity level, with parasitosis the antibodies affinity was significantly lower than in CGP patients without parasitosis. Weak antibody immune response to the microbial factor and low produced antimicrobial antibodies affinity, apparently, explain the impossibility for the patient to neutralize and eliminate the bacteria, populating the periodontal pockets, as well as to maintain normal mouth cavity biocenosis. The obtained data also explain, why in CGP patients with parasitosis the degree of microbial colonization of periodontal pockets and species composition of microbial associations is higher than in patients without parasitosis. Key words: chronic generalized periodontitis, sectorial IgA, IgА, IgМ, IgЕ, consistent immunity, antibodies, complement, CIC, parasitosis