OLGA : An Ontology and LSTM-based approach for generating Arithmetic Word Problems (AWPs) of transfer type

Machine generation of Arithmetic Word Problems (AWPs) is challenging as they express quantities and mathematical relationships and need to be consistent. ML-solvers require a large annotated training set of consistent problems with language variations. Exploiting domain-knowledge is needed for consistency checking whereas LSTM-based approaches are good for producing text with language variations. Combining these we propose a system, OLGA, to generate consistent word problems of TC (Transfer-Case) type, involving object transfers among agents. Though we provide a dataset of consistent 2-agent TC-problems for training, only about 36% of the outputs of an LSTM-based generator are found consistent. We use an extension of TC-Ontology, proposed by us previously, to determine the consistency of problems. Among the remaining 64%, about 40% have minor errors which we repair using the same ontology. To check consistency and for the repair process, we construct an instance-specific representation (ABox) of an auto-generated problem. We use a sentence classifier and BERT models for this task. The training set for these LMs is problem-texts where sentence-parts are annotated with ontology class-names. As three-agent problems are longer, the percentage of consistent problems generated by an LSTM-based approach drops further. Hence, we propose an ontology-based method that extends consistent 2-agent problems into consistent 3-agent problems. Overall, our approach generates a large number of consistent TC-type AWPs involving 2 or 3 agents. As ABox has all the information of a problem, any annotations can also be generated. Adopting the proposed approach to generate other types of AWPs is interesting future work

A randomized controlled study of nebulized 3% saline versus 0.9% saline with adrenaline in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis

Objective: The objective was to determine whether nebulized hypertonic (3%) saline with adrenaline is more effective than nebulized0.9% saline with adrenaline in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis. Materials and Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, controlledstudy 100 patients were randomly allocated into two groups (50 patients in each group). In Group A (normal saline group), 4 ml ofnormal saline (0.9%) and 1 ml of 1:1,000 adrenaline was given as nebulization with oxygen flow of 6-8 L/min. In Group B (hypertonicsaline group), 4 ml of hypertonic saline (3%) and 1 ml of 1:1,000 adrenaline was given as nebulization with oxygen flow of 6-8 L/min.The nebulization was given at an interval of 4 h, 6 times daily till the patient was ready for discharge. Results: The percentageimprovement in clinical severity scores after inhalation therapy was not significant in Group A on 1st-3rd day after admission (3.4%,2.1%, and 4%, respectively). In Group B, significant improvement was observed on these days (7.4%, 8.7%, and 9.9%, respectively,p<0.001). Furthermore, the improvement in clinical severity scores differed significantly on each of these days between the two groups.Using 3% saline decreased the hospitalization stay by 25%, from 3.4±1.7 days in Group A to 2.5±1.4 days in Group B (p<0.05).Conclusion: In the treatment of acute bronchiolitis, 3% saline nebulization with adrenaline decreases the length of hospitalization andsymptoms as compared to 0.9% saline nebulization

Impact of wavelength converters in wavelength routed all-optical networks

This paper attempts to study the impact of wavelength converters in WDM wavelength routed all-optical networks. A new heuristic approach for placement of wavelength converters to reduce blocking probabilities is explored. Multihop virtual topology is designed to minimize the number and overall cost of the converters. Blocking probabilities for Static Lightpath Establishment (SLE) and Dynamic Lightpath Establishment (DLE) are analyzed. In the case of SLE, arranging lightpaths in ascending order of their path length reduces blocking probability. Wavelength converters placed at nodes with high nodal degree further reduces the blocking probabilities. Simulation studies performed on 28-node USA long haul network, 20-node arbitrary mesh network, and 19-node EON (European Optical Network) validate the observations made earlier