Dynamic affinity-based classification of multi-class imbalanced data with one-versus-one decomposition: a fuzzy rough set approach

Although the relevance problem in recommender systems, which typically refers to the similarity between the preference of the user and the items the system recommends, has been well studied, the issue of making recommendations in right orders has barely been mentioned before. The order defines the way in which items should be better consumed in relation to each other. The analysis of real-world data sets demonstrates strong item consumption patterns in the degree of order. In this paper, we propose a novel method to tackle the right-order recommendation problem based on a graph structure that incorporates the item consumption orders. The proposed method can combine relevance and order effects in recommendations. We attempt to recommend the relevant items in the consecutive steps within a user session so that the user’s selected items in the consecutive steps can be stringed together in a right order. The experimental evaluation conducted on three real-world data sets shows that the recommendation accuracy is improved by considering item consumption orders compared with the baseline recommendation methods. In addition, the study on right-order recommendation contributes to the exploration on recommendation appropriateness besides relevance.     

Repurposing the Pummerer Rearrangement: Determination of Methionine Sulfoxides in Peptides

The reversible oxidation of methionine residues in proteins has emerged as a biologically important post-translational modification. However, detection and quantitation of methionine sulfoxide in proteins is difficult. Our aim is to develop a method for specifically derivatizing methionine sulfoxide residues. We report a Pummerer rearrangement of methionine sulfoxide treated sequentially with trimethylsilyl chloride and then 2-mercaptoimidazole or pyridine-2-thiol to produce a dithioacetal product. This derivative is stable to standard mass spectrometry conditions, and its formation identified oxidized methionine residues. The scope and requirements of dithioacetal formation are reported for methionine sulfoxide and model substrates. The reaction intermediates have been investigated by computational techniques and by ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. These provide evidence for an α-chlorinated intermediate. The derivatization allows for detection and quantitation of methionine sulfoxide in proteins by mass spectrometry and potentially by immunochemical methods.     

Depressive symptoms in early marriage: Predictions from relationship confidence and negative marital interaction.

The authors proposed a model of depressive symptoms in early marriage in which relationship confidence, defined as perceived couple-level efficacy to manage conflicts and maintain a healthy relationship, mediates the effect of negative marital interactions on depressive symptoms. The model was tested in a sample of 139 couples assessed prior to marriage and 1 year later. As predicted, relationship confidence demonstrated simple negative associations with negative marital interaction and depressive symptoms for all participants. Longitudinal path analyses supported the mediational model for women only. In women but not men, negative marital interaction indirectly had an impact on depressive symptoms through the mediator of relationship confidence. Findings suggest that relationship confidence may be important to understanding links between marital distress and depressive symptoms, especially in women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preview benefit and parafoveal-on-foveal effects from word n + 2.

Using the gaze-contingent boundary paradigm with the boundary placed after word n, the experiment manipulated preview of word n + 2 for fixations on word n. There was no preview benefit for 1st-pass reading on word n + 2, replicating the results of K. Rayner, B. J. Juhasz, and S. J. Brown (2007), but there was a preview benefit on the 3-letter word n + 1, that is, after the boundary but before word n + 2. Additionally, both word n + 1 and word n + 2 exhibited parafoveal-on-foveal effects on word n. Thus, during a fixation on word n and given a short word n + 1, some information is extracted from word n + 2, supporting the hypothesis of distributed processing in the perceptual span. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of CGRP in different models of mouse ear inflammation

The anti-inflammatory activity of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) has been studied in cutaneous inflammation induced by croton oil (CO), arachidonic acid (AA), tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA) or cantharidin (CA). Our results show that mouse ear inflammation induced by CO, AA or TPA is decreased by topical administration of CGRP, whereas that induced by CA is not affected. The dose-response and temporal analysis of CGRP effect show that the maximal activity is present at the dose of 30 pmol/ear and when administered 30 min after the irritating agent. Moreover, pretreatment with capsaicin is able to mimic the anti-inflammatory effect of exogenous CGRP, while simultaneous administration of CGRP and capsaicin produces a reduced response. Our results suggest that CGRP released from sensory.     

Characterizing nicotine withdrawal in pregnant cigarette smokers.

Maternal smoking is a leading preventable cause of poor pregnancy outcomes and infant morbidity and mortality. Whereas pregnancy has been thought of as a "window of opportunity" when women are more motivated to change health behaviors such as smoking, only 20% of pregnant women quit smoking upon learning they are pregnant and remain abstinent at the end of the pregnancy. Greater understanding of possible obstacles to smoking during pregnancy, such as nicotine withdrawal, is needed. The symptoms of nicotine withdrawal have been well characterized in nonpregnant smokers, but there has been only 1 report conducted during pregnancy, and that was a retrospective study. The aim of the present study was to characterize nicotine withdrawal and craving in pregnant cigarette smokers. These data were collected as part of prospective clinical trials assessing the efficacy of voucher-based incentives to promote abstinence from cigarette smoking during pregnancy and postpartum. The authors examined results from the Minnesota Nicotine Withdrawal Scale (J. R. Hughes & D. K. Hatsukami, 1998) in 27 abstainers (reported no or very low levels of smoking, which was confirmed biochemically) and 21 smokers (smoked at >80% of their baseline smoking level) during the first 5 days of a cessation attempt. Abstainers reported more impatience, anger, and difficulty concentrating than did smokers. The results also suggest that pregnant smokers generally may have elevated baseline levels of withdrawal, which need to be considered in the design and analysis of future studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High-maintenance interaction: Inefficient social coordination impairs self-regulation.

Tasks requiring interpersonal coordination permeate all spheres of life. Although social coordination is sometimes efficient and effortless (low maintenance), at other times it is inefficient and effortful (high maintenance). Across 5 studies, participants experienced either a high- or a low-maintenance interaction with a confederate before engaging in an individual-level task requiring self-regulation. Self-regulation was operationalized with measures of (a) preferences for a challenging task with high reward potential over an easy task with low reward potential (Study 1) and (b) task performance (anagram performance in Study 1, Graduate Record Exam performance in Studies 2 and 3, physical stamina in Study 4, and fine motor control in Study 5). Results uniformly supported the hypothesis that experiencing high-maintenance interaction impairs one's self-regulatory success on subsequent, unrelated tasks. These effects were not mediated through participants' conscious processes and emerged even with a nonconscious manipulation of high-maintenance interaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergroup relations and group solidarity: Effects of group identification and social beliefs on depersonalized attraction.

An intergroup extension of M. A. Hogg's (1992, 1993) social attraction hypothesis is proposed. Netball teams were investigated with measures assessing the relationship between (a) objective status; (b) "social beliefs" about intergroup status, stability, legitimacy, and permeability; (c) group identification, self-categorization, and prototypicality; (d) interpersonal relations and similarity; (e) depersonalized social attraction; and (f) true personal attraction. As predicted, group-membership based social attraction was directly influenced by self-categorization; indirectly influenced, through self-categorization, by intergroup status and stability beliefs; and uninfluenced by interpersonal relations. Social attraction (related to prototypicality and group identification) was relatively independent of personal attraction (related to similarity and interpersonal variables). Legitimacy, permeability, and the empirical co-occurrence of social and personal attraction in cohesive groups are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Liquefaction of coal using supercritical fluid mixtures

Powhatan No. 5 and Bruceton coals were liquefied for 15–60 min at 653 K and 30 MPa in supercritical aqueous mixtures containing 10–20 wt% tetrahydroquinoline (THQ), quinoline or tetralin. The THQ-water mixtures produced the highest conversion to tetrahydrofuran (THF) soluble products (up to 74%). Tetralin-water, quinoline-water and pure water solvents gave increasingly lower yields of THF solubles. Addition of hydrogen to the quinoline-water solvent mixture increased yields slightly, but not to the level obtained using the THQ-water mixture.The yields of THF solubles in all instances depended upon the concentration of solvent in the mixture, with the 10 wt% THQ and 10 wt% tetralin (in water) giving higher yields than either 0 or 20 wt% concentrations. The nitrogen-containing solvents were chemically bonded to the THF-soluble product, as observed by g.p.c.