DEBRA: On the Unsupervised Learning of Concept Hierarchies from (Literary) Text

With this work, we introduce a novel method for the unsupervised learning of conceptual hierarchies, or concept maps as they are sometimes called, which is aimed specifically for use with literary texts, as such distinguishing itself from the majority of research literature on the topic which is primarily focused on building ontologies from a vast array of different types of data sources, both structured and unstructured, to support various forms of AI, in particular, the Semantic Web as envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee. We first elaborate on mutually informing disciplines of philosophy and computer science, or more specifically the relationship between metaphysics, epistemology, ontology, computing and AI, followed by a technically in-depth discussion of DEBRA, our dependency tree based concept hierarchy constructor, which as its name alludes to, constructs a conceptual map in the form of a directed graph which illustrates the concepts, their respective relations, and the implied ontological structure of the concepts as encoded in the text, decoded with standard Python NLP libraries such as spaCy and NLTK. With this work we hope to both augment the Knowledge Representation literature with opportunities for intellectual advancement in AI with more intuitive, less analytical, and well-known forms of knowledge representation from the cognitive science community, as well as open up new areas of research between Computer Science and the Humanities with respect to the application of the latest in NLP tools and techniques upon literature of cultural significance, shedding light on existing methods of computation with respect to documents in semantic space that effectively allows for, at the very least, the comparison and evolution of texts through time, using vector space math.

Effect of hemovigilance education on nursing students’knowledge:the application of a conceptual map

Objective:Given the importance of having knowledge on the hemovigilance process in nursing care,the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of the hemovigilance education on nursing students’knowledge using a conceptual map.The current research was a semi-experimental study.Methods:The samples consisted of 60 nursing students who were selected based on the inclusion criteria using the census sampling method.Thereafter,these participants were randomly assigned into the two groups:experimental and control groups.The required data were collected before,immediately after,and 1 month after the education using the hemovigilance knowledge questionnaire.Accordingly,the validity of this questionnaire was confirmed,and its reliability using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was reported as 0.83.The education process was conducted during a 4-week period.Thereafter,the collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by SPSS v25.Results:The results reveal that a significant difference existed between the knowledge scores of students in the experimental group compared with that of the control group during different times(including before,immediately after,and 1 month after the education)(P<0.0001).Of note,hemovigilance education had a significant effect on the students’knowledge(P<0.0001).Conclusions:Due to the effect of the hemovigilance education on the students’knowledge and by applying the conceptual map in the easy transfer of the educational concepts,it is recommended that the results of the present study be used to strengthen the theoretical and clinical education of nursing students.

A preliminary study on exploratory search behavior of undergraduate students in China

Purpose: This study attempts to investigate how a user's search behavior changes in the exploratory search process in order to understand the characteristics of the user's search behavior and build a behavioral model.Design/methodology/approach: Forty-two matriculated full-time senior college students with a female-to-male ratio of 1 to 1 who majored in medical science in Jilin University participated in our experiment. The task of the experiment was to search for information about 'the influence of environmental pollution on daily life' in order to write a report about this topic. The research methods include concept map, query log analysis and questionnaire survey.Findings: The results indicate that exploratory search can significantly change the knowledge structure of searchers. As searchers were moving through different stages of the exploratory search process, they experienced cognitive changes, and their search behaviors were characterized by quick browsing, careful browsing and focused searching.Research limitations: The study used only one search topic, and there is no comparision or control group. Although we took search habits, personal thinking habits, personality characteristics and professional background into account, a more detailed study to analyze the effects of these factors on exploratory search behavior is needed in our further research.Practical implications: This study can serve as a reference for other researchers engaged in the same effort to construct the supporting system of exploratory search.Originality/value: Three methods are used to investigate the behavior characteristics during exploratory search.

Establishing research priorities in prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in urban areas:a collaborative process

Background:In 2015,following a call for proposals from the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases(TDR),six scoping reviews on the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases in urban areas were conducted.Those reviews provided a clear picture of the available knowledge and highlighted knowledge gaps,as well as needs and opportunities for future research.Based on the research findings of the scoping reviews,a concept mapping exercise was undertaken to produce a list of priority research needs to be addressed.Methods:Members of the six research teams responsible for the“VEctor boRne DiseAses Scoping reviews”(VERDAS)consortium’s scoping reviews met for 2 days with decision-makers from Colombia,Brazil,Peru,Pan-American Health Organization,and World Health Organization.A total of 11 researchers and seven decision-makers(from ministries of health,city and regional vector control departments,and vector control programs)completed the concept mapping,answering the question:“In view of the knowledge synthesis and your own expertise,what do we still need to know about vector-borne diseases and other infectious diseases of poverty in urban areas?”Participants rated each statement on two scales from 1 to 5,one relative to‘priority’and the other to‘policy relevance’,and grouped statements into clusters based on their own individual criteria and expertise.Results:The final map consisted of 12 clusters.Participants considered those entitled“Equity”,“Technology”,and“Surveillance”to have the highest priority.The cluster considered the most important concerns equity issues,confirming that these issues are rarely addressed in research on vector-borne diseases.On the other hand,the“Population mobility”and“Collaboration”clusters were considered to be the lowest priority but remained identified by participants as research priorities.The average policy relevance scores for each of the 12 clusters were roughly the same as the priority scores for all clusters.Some issues were not addressed during the brain-storming.This is the case for governance and for access and quality of care.Conclusions:Based on this work,and adopting a participatory approach,the concept mapping exercise conducted collaboratively with researchers from these teams and high-level decision-makers identified research themes for which studies should be carried out as a priority.