Oregon University System

質問応答は，自然言語処理における重要な研究テーマの一つである．近年の深層学習技術の発達と言語資源の充実により，質問応答技術は飛躍的な発展を遂げている．しかし，これらの研究は英語を対象としたものがほとんどであり，現状，日本語での質問応答に関する研究はあまり活発には行われていない．この背景を受けて，我々は日本語での質問応答研究を促進するため，日本語のクイズを題材とした質問応答のコンペティション「AI 王」を企画し，これまでに計 3 回実施してきた．本論文では，日本語の質問応答技術における現在の到達点と課題を明らかにすることを目標として，使用したクイズ問題と提出された質問応答システム，さらに比較対象として大規模言語モデルを用いた分析を行い，その結果を報告する．

O advento da Constituição Federal de 1988 impôs a releitura do direito de família à luz da dignidade da pessoa humana: trata-se do fenômeno da constitucionalização do direito de família, segundo o qual as famílias passaram a ser tuteladas visando o alcance da plenitude de seus membros, de modo que não cabe ao Estado dizer o que é, ou não, família; se há a vivência do afeto e a busca pela felicidade entre os sujeitos de determinada unidade doméstica, estes vivem em família. Ocorre que recentemente o Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) e o Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) proferiram decisões negando reconhecimento e tutela às famílias paralelas, que são aquelas uniões estáveis formadas por sujeito que já vive em outra família matrimonial ou em outra união estável com terceira pessoa. Cuida-se de entendimento problemático, em que ao realizar seletividade afetiva os tribunais ignoraram realidades jurídicas claramente perceptíveis, decidindo segundo um negacionismo jurídico, e, com isso, violando preceitos constitucionais que se fundamentam na tutela da dignidade humana. A análise documental das decisões referidas serão o centro da presente investigação, servindo de ponto de partida para pesquisa bibliográfica, com objetivo de demonstrar que os tribunais foram na contramão da concepção constitucional de família, como instrumento de busca pela felicidade e de realização pessoal de seus membros. Palavras-Chave: Constitucionalização do Direito de Família. Famílias paralelas. Negacionismo Jurídico. Seletividade afetiva. Abstract: The advent of the 1988 Federal Constitution imposed the re-reading of family law in the light of human dignity: it is about the phenomenon of the constitutionalization of family law, according to which families began to be protected in order to achieve the fullness of its members, so that it is not for the State to say what is, or is not, family; if there is the experience of affection and the pursuit of happiness among the subjects of a particular domestic unit, they live in a family. Recently, the Supreme Federal Court of Brazil (STF) and the Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) decided to deny recognition and protection to parallel families, which are those stable unions formed by a subject who already lives in another marital family or in another stable union with a third person. This is a problematic understanding, in which by performing affective selectivity the courts ignored clearly perceptible juridic realities, deciding according to a juridic denialism, and thus violating constitutional precepts that are based on the protection of human dignity. The documental analysis of the referred decisions will be the center of the present investigation, serving as a starting point for bibliographical research, with the purpose of demonstrating that the courts decided contrary to constitutional conception of family as an instrument of the search for happiness and personal realization of its members. Keywords: Constitutionalization of Family Law. Parallel families. Juridic negationism. Affective selectivity.

Schistosoma mansoni, a snail‐borne, blood fluke that infects humans, was introduced into the Americas from Africa during the Trans‐Atlantic slave trade. As this parasite shows strong specificity to the snail intermediate host, we expected that adaptation to South American Biomphalaria spp. snails would result in population bottlenecks and strong signatures of selection. We scored 475,081 single nucleotide variants in 143 S. mansoni from the Americas (Brazil, Guadeloupe and Puerto Rico) and Africa (Cameroon, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda), and used these data to ask: (i) Was there a population bottleneck during colonization? (ii) Can we identify signatures of selection associated with colonization? (iii) What were the source populations for colonizing parasites? We found a 2.4‐ to 2.9‐fold reduction in diversity and much slower decay in linkage disequilibrium (LD) in parasites from East to West Africa. However, we observed similar nuclear diversity and LD in West Africa and Brazil, suggesting no strong bottlenecks and limited barriers to colonization. We identified five genome regions showing selection in the Americas, compared with three in West Africa and none in East Africa, which we speculate may reflect adaptation during colonization. Finally, we infer that unsampled populations from central African regions between Benin and Angola, with contributions from Niger, are probably the major source(s) for Brazilian S. mansoni. The absence of a bottleneck suggests that this is a rare case of a serendipitous invasion, where S. mansoni parasites were pre‐adapted to the Americas and able to establish with relative ease.

Children's social networks are filled with real and imagined relationship partners, and advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated a host of possible relationships with virtual characters. However, little is known about how children conceptualize virtual characters, and how they might be viewed as friendship partners. These studies were designed to develop a paradigm for investigating children's concepts of virtual characters. In Study 1, items were developed that could be used in a task with children. Adults (N = 144) attributed a range of properties (biological, psychological, and social) to four child agents: a real child, a child on a video chat program, an AI child, and a doll. Items that captured adult concepts were used in a task with children (N = 30; aged 5 to 8 years old). This task was designed to: (a) control for idiosyncratic features of the four child agents, (b) enable the expression of uncertainty, and (c) assess concepts of reciprocal relationships. In Study 1, adults did not differentiate between the AI child and the doll on the social property; however, a subset of adults favored the AI child over the doll for sharing secrets. In Study 2, a subset of children indicated a preference for the doll over the AI child on opportunities for reciprocal love and companionship. These findings suggest that virtual characters afford select social opportunities that may differ between adults and children, raising further questions as to the design goals for virtual characters and the functions they serve in our day-to-day lives.

Abstract In the ocean surface layer and cell culture, the polyamine transport protein PotD of SAR11 bacteria is often one of the most abundant proteins detected. Polyamines are organic cations produced by all living organisms and are thought to be an important component of dissolved organic matter (DOM) produced in planktonic ecosystems. We hypothesized that SAR11 cells transport and metabolize multiple polyamines and use them as sources of carbon and nitrogen. Metabolic footprinting and fingerprinting were used to measure the uptake of five polyamine compounds (putrescine, cadaverine, agmatine, norspermidine, and spermidine) in two SAR11 strains that represent the majority of SAR11 cells in the surface ocean environment, Ca. Pelagibacter st. HTCC7211 and C. P. ubique st. HTCC1062. Both strains transported all five polyamines and concentrated them to micromolar or millimolar intracellular concentrations. Both strains could use most of the polyamines to meet their nitrogen requirements, but we did not find evidence of use as carbon sources. We propose potABCD transports cadaverine, agmatine, and norspermidine, in addition to its usual substrates of spermidine and putrescine, and that spermidine synthase, speE, is reversible, catalyzing the breakdown of spermidine and norspermidine, in addition to its usual biosynthetic role. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that enzyme multifunctionality enables streamlined cells in planktonic ecosystems to increase the range of DOM compounds they oxidize.ImportanceGenome streamlining in SAR11 bacterioplankton has resulted in a small repertoire of genes, yet paradoxically they consume a substantial fraction of primary production in the oceans. Enzyme multifunctionality is hypothesized to be an adaptation that increases the range of organic compounds oxidized by cells in environments where selection favors genome minimization. We provide experimental support for this hypothesis by demonstrating that SAR11 cells use multiple polyamine compounds and propose that a small set of multifunctional genes catalyze this metabolism. We also report polyamine uptake rates can exceed metabolism, resulting in high intracellular concentrations of these nitrogen-rich compounds and an increase in cell size. Increases in cytoplasmic solute concentrations during transient episodes of high nutrient exposure has previously been observed in SAR11 cells and may be a feature of their strategy for maximizing the share of labile DOM acquired when in competition with other cell types.

In this chapter, an argument is made for the importance of enabling secondary school students to build models for analyzing complex systems problems, to increase understanding of the myriad nonlinear feedback systems they will encounter as professionals and citizens. Secondary school students in some schools in the USA have been building such models for over 20 years. A sequence of natural resource depletion models is presented to demonstrate the types of system models secondary school students can and have built. Advantages such activities have for enhancing the mathematical analysis of problems normally outside the reach of the secondary school curriculum are discussed. It is argued that the time is ripe for secondary school students to experience instruction which, using current technologies, can provide a wealth of applications rich, real-world, relevant problems.

Extension professionals are being challenged to innovate their work, yet day-to-day responsibilities do not always allow time or space for creativity and innovation. In early 2016, Ohio State University Extension held its inaugural Innovate Extension event, a hackathon-style gathering focused on creative collaboration during which teams competed for grant funds by developing an idea, plan, and pitch over the course of a day. Turnout exceeded expectations, and participants gave high marks to the experience. Due to the event's success, additional Innovate Extension events have been hosted at North Dakota State University, Utah State University, and Oregon State University. This article provides highlights and outcomes.

Based on the author's experiences developing and implementing a multi‐week hybrid course design institute, this chapter outlines the components of training—both andragogical and technological—most helpful for faculty who are planning to teach a hybrid course.