CHANGING THE RISK PARADIGMS CAN BE GOOD FOR OUR HEALTH: J-SHAPED, LINEAR AND THRESHOLD DOSE-RESPONSE MODELS

Both the linear (at low doses)-no-threshold (LNT) and the threshold models (S- shapes) dose-response lead to no benefit from low exposure. We propose three new models that allow and include, but do not require – unlike LNT and S-shaped models — this strong assumption. We also provide the means to calculate benefits associated with bi-phasic biological behaviors, when they occur and propose: 1. Three hormetic (phasic) models: the J-shaped, inverse J-shaped, the min-max, and 2. Method for calculating the direct benefits associated with the J and inverse J- shaped models. The J-shaped and min-max models for mutagens and carcinogenic agents include an experimentally justified repair stage for toxic and carcinogenic damage. We link these to stochastic transition models for cancer and show how abrupt transitions in cancer hazard rates, as functions of exposure concentrations and durations, can emerge naturally in large cell populations even when the rates of cell-level events increase smoothly (e.g., proportionally) with concentration. In this very general family of models, J-shaped dose- response curves emerge. These results are universal, i.e., independent of specific biological details represented by the stochastic transition networks. Thus, using them suggests a more complete and realistic way to assess risks at low doses or dose-rates

ScrollyPOI: A Narrative-Driven Interactive Recommender System for Points-of-Interest Exploration and Explainability

Recommender systems can help web users find more relevant content, improve their online experience, and support them in the discovery of new Points-of-Interest (POI). Yet, challenges persist in dealing with the cold-start problem and in recommendation explainability. To address these, we have created ScrollyPOI, an interactive POI recommender system based on Data Humanism principles. Utilizing scrollytelling, we address the cold-start problem by engaging users in reflecting on previous positive experiences. Additionally, ScrollyPOI enhances explainability through input and output explanations. The system uses stacked bar charts and word clouds to explain how user preferences inform recommendations (input). Finally, ScrollyPOI employs a multi-layered approach to explain why specific POIs are recommended (output). We have evaluated ScrollyPOI’s interface and experience through a preliminary study, highlighting its potential for transparent explanations in the POI recommendation domain. Our findings underscore ScrollyPOI’s efficacy in collecting preferences and enhancing recommendation transparency, positioning it as a platform for studying explainability goals in the POI domain

A new fault diagnosis algorithm for helical gears rotating at low speed using an optical encoder

Helical gears are widely used in gearboxes due to its low noise and high load carrying capacity, but it is difficult to diagnose their early faults based on the signals produced by condition monitoring systems, particularly when the gears rotate at low speed. In this paper, a new concept of Root Mean Square (RMS) value calculation using angle domain signals within small angular ranges is proposed. With this concept, a new diagnosis algorithm based on the time pulses of an encoder is developed to overcome the difficulty of fault diagnosis for helical gears at low rotational speeds. In this proposed algorithm, both acceleration signals and encoder impulse signal are acquired at the same time. The sampling rate and data length in angular domain are determined based on the rotational speed and size of the gear. The vibration signals in angular domain are obtained by re-sampling the vibration signal of the gear in the time domain according to the encoder pulse signal. The fault features of the helical gear at low rotational speed are then obtained with reference to the RMS values in small angular ranges and the order tracking spectrum following the Angular Domain Synchronous Average processing (ADSA). The new algorithm is not only able to reduce the noise and improves the signal to noise ratio by the ADSA method, but also extract s the features of helical gear fault from the meshing position of the faulty gear teeth, hence overcoming the difficulty of fault diagnosis of helical gears rotating at low speed. The experimental results have shown that the new algorithm is more effective than traditional diagnosis methods. The paper concludes that the proposed helical gear fault diagnosis method based on time pulses of encoder algorithm provides a new means of helical gear fault detection and diagnosis

Sphingolipid serum profiling in vitamin D deficient and dyslipidemic obese dimorphic adults

Recent studies on Saudi Arabians indicate a prevalence of dyslipidemia and vitamin D deficiency (25(OH)D) in both normal weight and obese subjects. In the present study the sphingolipid pattern was investigated in 23 normolipidemic normal weight (NW), 46 vitamin D deficient dyslipidemic normal weight (-vitDNW) and 60 vitamin D deficient dyslipidemic obese (-vitDO) men and women by HPTLC-primuline profiling and LC-MS analyses. Results indicate higher levels of total ceramide (Cer) and dihydroceramide (dhCers C18\u201322) and lower levels of total sphingomyelins (SMs) and dihydrosphingomyelin (dhSM) not only in -vitDO subjects compared to NW, but also in \u2013vitDNW individuals. A dependency on body mass index (BMI) was observed analyzing specific Cer acyl chains levels. Lower levels of C20 and 24 were observed in men and C24.2 in women, respectively. Furthermore, LC-MS analyses display dimorphic changes in NW, -vitDNW and \u2013vitDO subjects. In conclusion, LC-MS data identify the independency of the axis high Cers, dhCers and SMs from obesity per se. Furthermore, it indicates that long chains Cers levels are specific target of weight gain and that circulating Cer and SM levels are linked to sexual dimorphism status and can contribute to predict obese related co-morbidities in men and women

Generalized scaling function from light-cone gauge AdS_5 x S^5 superstring

We revisit the computation of the 2-loop correction to the energy of a folded spinning string in AdS_5 with an angular momentum J in S^5 in the scaling limit log S, J >>1 with J / log S fixed. This correction gives the third term in the strong-coupling expansion of the generalized scaling function. The computation, using the AdS light-cone gauge approach developed in our previous paper, is done by expanding the AdS_5 x S^5 superstring partition function near the generalized null cusp world surface associated to the spinning string solution. The result corrects and extends the previous conformal gauge result of arXiv:0712.2479 and is found to be in complete agreement with the corresponding terms in the generalized scaling function as obtained from the asymptotic Bethe ansatz in arXiv:0805.4615 (and also partially from the quantum O(6) model and the Bethe ansatz data in arXiv:0809.4952). This provides a highly nontrivial strong coupling comparison of the Bethe ansatz proposal with the quantum AdS_5 x S^5 superstring theory, which goes beyond the leading semiclassical term effectively controlled by the underlying algebraic curve. The 2-loop computation we perform involves all the structures in the AdS light-cone gauge superstring action of hep-th/0009171 and thus tests its ultraviolet finiteness and, through the agreement with the Bethe ansatz, its quantum integrability. We do most of the computations for a generalized spinning string solution or the corresponding null cusp surface that involves both the orbital momentum and the winding in a large circle of S^5.Comment: 50 pages, late

Planet formation: The case for large efforts on the computational side

Modern astronomy has finally been able to observe protoplanetary disks in reasonable resolution and detail, unveiling the processes happening during planet formation. These observed processes are understood under the framework of disk-planet interaction, a process studied analytically and modeled numerically for over 40 years. Long a theoreticians' game, the wealth of observational data has been allowing for increasingly stringent tests of the theoretical models. Modeling efforts are crucial to support the interpretation of direct imaging analyses, not just for potential detections but also to put meaningful upper limits on mass accretion rates and other physical quantities in current and future large-scale surveys. This white paper addresses the questions of what efforts on the computational side are required in the next decade to advance our theoretical understanding, explain the observational data, and guide new observations. We identified the nature of accretion, ab initio planet formation, early evolution, and circumplanetary disks as major fields of interest in computational planet formation. We recommend that modelers relax the approximations of alpha-viscosity and isothermal equations of state, on the grounds that these models use flawed assumptions, even if they give good visual qualitative agreement with observations. We similarly recommend that population synthesis move away from 1D hydrodynamics. The computational resources to reach these goals should be developed during the next decade, through improvements in algorithms and the hardware for hybrid CPU/GPU clusters. Coupled with high angular resolution and great line sensitivity in ground based interferometers, ELTs and JWST, these advances in computational efforts should allow for large strides in the field in the next decade.Comment: White paper submitted to the Astro2020 decadal surve