Knowledge Update

New York, Jan 13 (IANS) It is very likely that you have a namesake who is very distinct from your personality. To disambiguate you two, a new method has been developed that can tell you from your namesake.

This ambiguity often occurs in bibliographic, law enforcement and other areas.

Computer scientists from the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) have developed a novel machine-learning method to provide better solutions to this perplexing problem. 

"We can teach the computer to recognise names and disambiguate information accumulated from a variety of sources -- Facebook, Twitter and blog posts, public records and other documents -- by collecting features such as Facebook friends and keywords from people's posts using the identical algorithm," explained Mohammad al Hasan, Associate Professor, IUPUI. 

The new method, unlike the existing methods, can perform non-exhaustive classification so that it can tell whom a new record, which appears in streaming data, belongs to.

"Our method grows and changes when new persons appear, enabling us to recognise the ever-growing number of individuals whose records were not previously encountered. While working in non-exhaustive setting, our model automatically detects such names and adjusts the model parameters accordingly," added Hasan.

The researchers trained computers by using records of different individuals with that name to build a model that distinguishes between individuals with that name, even individuals about whom information had not been included in the training data previously provided to the computer.

The researchers focused on three types of "features" -- bits of information with some degree of predictive power to define a specific individual.

"Relational or association features to reveal persons with whom an individual is associated; text features, such as keywords in documents; and venue features to determine memberships or events with which an individual is currently or was formerly associated," the study noted.

The study was published in proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management.

​London, Jan 13 (IANS) Spending hours in front of digital screen may be harmful for adolescents. However, but moderate use may not harm but increase their well-being, researchers say.

"Digital screens are now an inextricable part of modern childhood. Our findings suggest that adolescents' moderate screen use has no detectable link to well-being and levels of engagement above these points are modestly correlated with well-being," said lead researcher Andrew Przybylski, psychological scientist at the University of Oxford.

The findings showed that as a result of a digital "sweet spot" between low and high technology use, moderate screen time can increase teenagers' well-being.

This sweet spot benefits teenagers' well-being by providing opportunities to develop social connections and skills, the researchers said.

For the study, the researchers examined data measuring screen time and well-being collected from 120,115 teenagers, with an average of 15 year olds. 

Nearly all of the participating adolescents reported spending time using at least one type of digital technology on a daily basis.

The also reported spending more time engaging in digital activities on weekend days than on weekdays and that they spent more time using smartphones in overall compared with watching TV.

Using statistical methods to determine the tipping point for each type of activity, the researchers found that on weekdays, teenagers' well-being peaked at about 1 hour and 40 minutes of video-game play, about 1 hour 57 minutes of smartphone use, about 3 hours and 41 minutes of watching videos, and about 4 hours and 17 minutes of using computers.

However, above these tipping points, screen time turned potentially harmful and was associated with decreased well-being.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Science.

​Washington, Jan 13 (IANS) The moon is at least 4.51 billion years old -- or 40-140 million years older than previously thought, says new research based on an analysis of minerals from the moon called zircons.

These minerals were brought back to Earth by the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and have now been studied by researchers from University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).

The moon's age has been a hotly debated topic, even though scientists have tried to settle the question over many years and using a wide range of scientific techniques.

"We have finally pinned down a minimum age for the moon. It's time we knew its age and now we do," said Melanie Barboni, research geochemist in UCLA's department of earth, planetary and space sciences.

The moon was formed by a violent, head-on collision between the early Earth and a "planetary embryo" called Theia.

The new research would mean that the moon formed "only" about 60 million years after the birth of the solar system -- an important point because it would provide critical information for astronomers and planetary scientists who seek to understand the early evolution of the Earth and our solar system.

While scientists cannot know what occurred before the collision with Theia, these findings are important because they will help scientists continue to piece together major events that followed it.

Barboni was able to analyse eight zircons in pristine condition. "Zircons are nature's best clocks. They are the best mineral in preserving geological history and revealing where they originated," added said Kevin McKeegan, a co-author of the study.

The Earth's collision with Theia created a liquefied moon, which then solidified. Scientists believe most of the moon's surface was covered with magma right after its formation. 

"Melanie was very clever in figuring out the moon's real age dates back to its pre-history before it solidified, not to its solidification," said Edward Young, a UCLA professor of geochemistry and cosmochemistry in a paper published in the journal Science Advances.

Previous studies concluded the moon's age based on moon rocks that had been contaminated by multiple collisions. 

​New York, Jan 13 (IANS) Consuming blue maize may help prevent metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of conditions that includes high blood pressure and blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist and abnormal cholesterol, a study conducted in rat models has found.

Physical inactivity, genetic profile and a diet with inadequate energy intake are other factors that drive metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome also raises an individual's risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, the researchers said.

The natural antioxidants present in blue maize may help protect against metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes as well as cancer, said Rosa Isela Guzman-Geronimoa from the University of Veracruz in Mexico.

In the study, the rats were fed on a high-sugar and high-cholesterol diet for 12 weeks. They were given blue maize extracts during a period of 4 weeks.

The rats showed significant improvement in systolic blood pressure, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and triglyceride levels compared to those not given the extract.

The findings may raise interest in using blue maize as a component of functional foods and nutraceuticals, the researchers said.

Anti-obesity food materials are always in demand and this study brings out not only the importance of blue maize in controlling adipocity, but also the potential role of cholesterol in the development of obesity, the researchers stated.

The study was published in the Journal of Medicinal Food.

​New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) If you are still using simple and weak passwords to protect your accounts, be warned that some day all your sensitive information may be leaked.

A research conducted by Russia-based software security company Kaspersky Lab has shown that people across the globe still put their online safety at risk by making bad

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) Twitter is shutting down its Dashboard feature that offers businesses a set of tools to track tweets, access analytics and more.

Launched in June 2016, Dashboard will be completely shut down on February 3, 2017. However, Twitter has no transition plan for how businesses will access similar features

New York, Jan 12 (IANS) To give publishers additional control and flexibility over their broadcasts, Facebook has rolled out a feature enabling users to go live through a web browser to Pages.

​Toronto, Jan 12 (IANS) Your new year resolution of hitting the gym to indulge in some weight lifting exercises may not only help you tone those muscles, but also lower the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as Type 2 diabetes, researchers say. The findings showed that resistance-based interval training exercise - a simple leg exercises, involving weights -- improved blood vessel function of individuals with and without diabetes. "Individuals with Type 2 diabetes are up to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than those without," said Jonathan Little, Assistant Professor at University of British Columbia (UBC) - Okanagan Campus in Canada. "After completion of just one bout of exercise, we saw an improvement in blood vessel function, an indicator of heart health and heart attack risk," Little added. In the study, the team compared the effect of two types of interval training -- resistance (leg press, extensions and lifts) and cardiovascular (stationary bicycle) exercises -- on blood vessel function on 35 participants assigned into three groups -- people with Type 2 diabetes, non-exercisers, and regular exercisers without diabetes. "All exercisers showed greater blood vessel function improvement after the resistance-based interval training. However, this was most prominent in the Type 2 diabetes group," noted Monique Francois, graduate student at UBC. The exercise regimen could also prove to be a cost-effective tool to help people manage their disease, the researchers said. The study was published in American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) Sounding an alarm bell for those who take unnecessary stress at workplace or at home, researchers have now linked chronic psychosocial stress with an heightened risk of developing heart disease and stroke. According to the team from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, heightened activity in the amygdala -- a region of the brain involved in stress -- can lead to cardiovascular disease in humans apart from established causes like smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes. Previous research has also shown that the amygdala is more active in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression but before this study, no research had identified the region of the brain that links stress to the risk of heart attack and stroke. "Our results provide a unique insight into how stress may lead to cardiovascular disease. This raises the possibility that reducing stress could produce benefits that extend beyond an improved sense of psychological wellbeing," said lead author Dr Ahmed Tawakol from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Eventually, chronic stress could be treated as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is routinely screened for and effectively managed like other major risk factors, Dr Tawakol added in a paper published in the prestigious journal The Lancet. In the study, 293 patients were given a combined PET/CT scan to record their brain, bone marrow and spleen activity and inflammation of their arteries. The patients were then tracked for an average of 3.7 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease. In this time, 22 patients had cardiovascular events including heart attack, angina, heart failure, stroke and peripheral arterial disease. Those with higher amygdala activity had a greater risk of subsequent cardiovascular disease and developed problems sooner than those with lower activity. The researchers also found that the heightened activity in the amygdala was linked to increased bone marrow activity and inflammation in the arteries, suggesting this may cause the increased cardiovascular risk. Although more research is needed to confirm that stress causes this chain of events as the study was relatively small, these findings could eventually lead to new ways to target and treat stress-related cardiovascular risk, the researchers noted. "These clinical data establish a connection between stress and cardiovascular disease, thus identifying chronic stress as a true risk factor for acute cardiovascular syndromes," wrote Dr Ilze Bot, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, Leiden University, The Netherlands, in a linked comment.

​New York, Jan 12 (IANS) Regular intake of a "western diet" -- consisting of foods that are high on sugar and fat levels -- is behind an alarming rise of conditions such as overeating and obesity, researchers warned. However, according to the study, the increased "peripheral endocannabinoid signalling" in the western food is the key factor that triggers an anxiety in the people to eat more. The endocannabinoid system -- located throughout the mammalian body, including the brain and all peripheral organs -- helps in many aspects inside our body with major functions related to intake of food, balancing the energy and reward. Endocannabinoids are the signalling molecules present inside this system. The findings showed blocking the actions of these endocannabinoids can lead to normalisation of food intake and meal patterns, thus help in the treatment or cure of overeating and obesity. "Our research shows that targeting cannabinoid receptors in the periphery with pharmacological inhibitors that do not reach the brain holds promise as a safe therapeutic approach for the treatment of overeating and diet-induced obesity," said lead author Nicholas V. DiPatrizio, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Riverside. "This therapeutic approach to targeting the periphery has substantial advantages over traditional drugs that interact with the brain and cause psychiatric side-effects," DiPatrizio added. Using a mouse model, the team fed a group of mice on a western diet for 60 days and another who was kept on a low fat or sugar diet. The results revealed that the mice group on the western diet displayed 'hyperphagia' with increased weight. These also had the tendency to intake larger amount of food with the habit of consuming more calories at a higher pace. "These hyperphagic responses to western diet were met with greatly elevated levels of endocannabinoids in the small intestine and circulation," DiPatrizio said, adding that further research is necessary to identify whether similar mechanisms drive obesity in humans. The study appears in the journal Physiology and Behavior.