MarCol: A Market-Based Recommender System

Collaborative information-filtering systems maintain user judgments on the relevance of data items.These systems recommend relevant information to other users on the basis of similarity between user profiles or recommended items. This market-based collaborative information-filtering system employs a pricing mechanism to motivate users to provide judgments. Results show that the model increases feedback and improves recommendation quality. MarCol uses Google as the underlying search engine. It stores all user logs, including queries and judgments.     

Anomaly detection in polarimetric radar images

An unsupervised anomaly detection algorithm for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images, making use of polarized data, is developed. The processing contains several stages, including calibration of the images, extraction of information parameters and speckle filtering, detection of candidate pixels and application of a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) morphology operator. The developed algorithm is independent of the anomaly's radar cross section (RCS); it depends only on the physical structure of the observed objects. The proposed processing is non-iterative, adaptive and semi-automatic. Performance evaluation shows improved performance of the algorithm over the common alternatives.     

Local spectrum analysis of field propagation in an anisotropic medium. Part II. Time-dependent fields

In Part I of this two-part investigation [J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 22, 1200 (2005)], we presented a theory for phase-space propagation of time-harmonic electromagnetic fields in an anisotropic medium characterized by a generic wave-number profile. In this Part II, these investigations are extended to transient fields, setting a general analytical framework for local analysis and modeling of radiation from time-dependent extended-source distributions. In this formulation the field is expressed as a superposition of pulsed-beam propagators that emanate from all space-time points in the source domain and in all directions. Using time-dependent quadratic-Lorentzian windows, we represent the field by a phase-space spectral distribution in which the propagating elements are pulsed beams, which are formulated by a transient plane-wave spectrum over the extended-source plane. By applying saddle-point asymptotics, we extract the beam phenomenology in the anisotropic environment resulting from short-pulsed processing. Finally, the general results are applied to the special case of uniaxial crystal and compared with a reference solution.     

Transient nucleate boiling of liquid nitrogen with a stepwise change of heat flux

Results of experimental and theoretical investigations of unsteady nucleate boiling of liquid nitrogen are presented. A strip of niobium foil placed along the axis of a tube served simultaneously as a heater and as a resistance thermometer. Noted deviations from correlations for the steady nucleate boiling are explained by a new methematical model, which considers the process of transient nucleate boiling as stochastic.     

Rapid nuclear translocation and increased activity of cyclin-dependent kinase 6 after T cell activation

To elucidate the roles of cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (cdk6) in T cells, we examined its intracellular localization, kinase activity, and associated proteins in the Jurkat T lymphoblastoid cell line. Jurkat cells had a high level of cdk6, which was associated with cyclin D3, but not cyclin D2, the member of the cyclin D family. When stimulated by a combination of PHA and anti-CD28 mAb, cdk6 activity was up-regulated, as measured by an in vitro kinase assay using recombinant, truncated retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene protein (Rb protein) as substrate. Activation was most prominent when cells were stimulated with the combination of PHA and anti-CD28, although significant increases were detected after stimulation with PHA alone. The combination also resulted in maximal activation of c-Jun kinase and IL-2 production. Costimulation resulted in a rapid translocation of cdk6 to the nucleus, as demonstrated by both confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and biochemical fractionation techniques. Cdk6 activation and nuclear translocation were also observed after stimulation of Jurkat cells using the anti-CD28 Ab in combination with a mAb to CD3 (OKT3). Furthermore, nuclear translocation was observed in normal human T lymphocytes isolated from peripheral blood and stimulated in vitro with PHA. Two potential endogenous cdk6 substrates (with apparent molecular masses of 75-80 and 55-60 kDa), which were immunoprecipitated with cdk6 and phosphorylated in the in vitro kinase assay, were also identified. These data demonstrate the rapid activation and intracellular translocation of cdk6, implicating this kinase in early signal transduction events in T cells.     

A research methodology for evaluating location aware experiences

Research field trials of fully functional prototypes of location-based games are an effective way to test game designs and develop an understanding of what makes games compelling. They may also expose emergent behaviors or facets of the game which were not predicted in the design. Experiments are a good way to explore these emergent behaviors in a rigorous way. We describe an emergence-driven research methodology that formalizes this process of using emergent phenomena from research field trials to drive experiments. We also describe a range of techniques that can be used to evaluate location aware experiences.     

Elevated burnout predicts the onset of musculoskeletal pain among apparently healthy employees.

Musculoskeletal (MS) pain is highly prevalent in the working population, often resulting in chronic disability. Burnout represents accumulated exposure to work-related stresses and therefore could predict the incidence of MS pain. We investigated prospectively the extent to which changes in the levels of burnout over time predict new cases of MS pain. Participants were 1,704 apparently healthy employed men and women who underwent periodic health examination at three points of time (T1, T2, and T3), over a period of about three years. We used the T1 to T2 changes in the levels of burnout, depressive symptoms, and anxiety to predict the onset of new cases of MS pain between T2 and T3, while controlling for possible confounders. Logistic regression results indicated that the T1–T2 change in burnout levels was associated with a 2.09-fold increased risk of MS pain (95% confidence interval = 1.07–4.10). No support was found for the possibility of reverse causation; that is, that MS pain predicts subsequent elevations of burnout levels. It was concluded that burnout might be a risk factor in the development of MS pain in apparently healthy individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Insight and competence to consent to psychiatric hospitalization

The effect of chronic ethanol consumption (2 months) on atrial contractility and the myocardial phosphoinositide signaling system was examined in rat heart. Two months of ethanol consumption was not associated with changes in heart weight-to-body weight ratios; however, developed twitch tension was significantly lower in the ethanol atria compared with the control atria. Cytosolic and membrane-associated phospholipase C activity in atrial and ventricular tissue was measured and ethanol consumption was only associated with changes in ventricular cytosolic phospholipase C activity. When examining alpha(1)-adrenergic stimulated phosphoinositide turnover in [3H]inositol radiolabeled left atria, no differences in phenylephrine (10 microM)-stimulated inositol monophosphate, inositol bisphosphate, inositol trisphosphate, and inositol tetrakisphosphate were found between groups before or at various times after the addition of phenylephrine. It is concluded that short-term ethanol consumption is associated with depressed contractile function, but not the development of hypertrophy or changes in alpha(1)-adrenoreceptor-stimulated phosphoinositide turnover.