I am all EARS: Using open data and knowledge graph embeddings for music recommendations

Music streaming platforms offer music listeners an overwhelming choice of music. Therefore, users of streaming platforms need the support of music recommendation systems to find music that suits their personal taste. Currently, a new class of recommender systems based on knowledge graph embeddings promises to improve the quality of recommendations, in particular to provide diverse and novel recommendations. This paper investigates how knowledge graph embeddings can improve music recommendations. First, it is shown how a collaborative knowledge graph can be derived from open music data sources. Based on this knowledge graph, the music recommender system EARS (knowledge graph Embedding-based Artist Recommender System) is presented in detail, with particular emphasis on recommendation diversity and explainability. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation with real-world data is conducted, comparing of different embeddings and investigating the influence of different types of knowledge

Evidence for the late MMN as a neurophysiological endophenotype for dyslexia.

Dyslexia affects 5-10% of school-aged children and is therefore one of the most common learning disorders. Research on auditory event related potentials (AERP), particularly the mismatch negativity (MMN) component, has revealed anomalies in individuals with dyslexia to speech stimuli. Furthermore, candidate genes for this disorder were found through molecular genetic studies. A current challenge for dyslexia research is to understand the interaction between molecular genetics and brain function, and to promote the identification of relevant endophenotypes for dyslexia. The present study examines MMN, a neurophysiological correlate of speech perception, and its potential as an endophenotype for dyslexia in three groups of children. The first group of children was clinically diagnosed with dyslexia, whereas the second group of children was comprised of their siblings who had average reading and spelling skills and were therefore "unaffected" despite having a genetic risk for dyslexia. The third group consisted of control children who were not related to the other groups and were also unaffected. In total, 225 children were included in the study. All children showed clear MMN activity to/da/-/ba/contrasts that could be separated into three distinct MMN components. Whilst the first two MMN components did not differentiate the groups, the late MMN component (300-700 ms) revealed significant group differences. The mean area of the late MMN was attenuated in both the dyslexic children and their unaffected siblings in comparison to the control children. This finding is indicative of analogous alterations of neurophysiological processes in children with dyslexia and those with a genetic risk for dyslexia, without a manifestation of the disorder. The present results therefore further suggest that the late MMN might be a potential endophenotype for dyslexia

Dimmung des Scheinwerferlichts für zukünftige Elektrofahrzeuge

Im Zuge der Elektrifizierung von Fahrzeugen ergeben sich neue Anforderungen an das Scheinwerferlicht. Ein effizienter Ressourceneinsatz über ein Energiemanagement, in das auch die Fahrzeugbeleuchtung integriert ist, kann dazu beitragen, dass die Reichweite um einige Kilometer erhöht werden kann. Daraus ergeben sich zahlreiche Fragen: Was muss sich am Licht für zukünftige E-Autos ändern? Werden diese Änderungen akzeptiert? Durch die aktuell verwendete LED-Technologie ergeben sich im Scheinwerfer ganz neue Möglichkeiten für Lichtfunktionen. Das bisherige Ziel der Fahrzeugbeleuchtung ist es, viel Licht für eine gute Ausleuchtung der Verkehrssituation zu erzeugen. Die Möglichkeit der Dimmung einzelner LEDs kann aber in Zukunft auch für energieeffiziente Lichtfunktionen genutzt werden. Um das Potenzial hinsichtlich einer ressourceneffizienten Ausleuchtung bewerten zu können, wurde im HELLA-Lichtkanal in Lippstadt eine Probandenstudie durchgeführt, die der Frage nachgegangen ist, wie weit das Scheinwerferlicht heruntergedimmt werden kann, bevor es für den Fahrer als zu dunkel wahrgenommen wird. In der Studie wurden zwei verschiedene Szenarien betrachtet: Einerseits eine Fahrt durch eine Ortschaft mit Straßenlaternen am Fahrbahnrand bei aktiviertem Abblendlicht sowie andererseits eine Landstraßenfahrt bei aktiviertem Fernlicht. Zuerst wurde den Probanden jeweils eine Referenzlichtverteilung präsentiert, die dem standardmäßigem Abblend- bzw. Fernlicht des verwendeten Scheinwerfers entspricht. Nachdem das Licht für ca. 5 Sekunden ausgeschaltet war, wurde daraufhin eine gedimmte Lichtverteilung eingeschaltet. Die Probanden sollten den Unterschied zwischen der Referenzlichtverteilung und der gedimmten Lichtverteilung bewerten. Die 9-stufige Bewertungsskala, bei der nur jede zweite Stufe beschriftet war, reichte hierbei von „nicht unterscheidbar“, über „akzeptabel“, „gerade zulässig“ und „nicht vertretbar“ bis hin zu „intolerabel“. Für diese Studie wurde ein Matrix-LED-Scheinwerfer mit 84 einzeln ansteuerbaren LEDs im Hauptmodul sowie 4 weitere Dimmbare LEDs im Vorfeld-Modul genutzt. Die verwendeten Dimmstufen ergaben sich aus der Ansteuerung des Scheinwerfers, wobei auf eine gleichmäßige Dimmung geachtet wurde, so dass trotz der Veränderung des Lichts keine Inhomogenitäten aufgetreten sind. Die Auswertung der Studie führt zu dem Ergebnis, dass in beiden Szenarien eine Dimmung des Lichts auf ca. 55% des ursprünglichen Gesamtlichtstroms im Vergleich zur Referenz durchschnittlich noch als „akzeptabel“ bewertet wird. Eine Dimmung des Lichts auf ca. 35% des Referenzlichts wird noch als „gerade zulässig“ bewertet. Grundsätzlich werden bei einer Dimmung der LEDs auf ca. 30% die gesetzlichen Werte sowohl für das Abblend- als auch das Fernlicht gerade noch erreicht. Obwohl die prozentuale Dimmung der LEDs in beiden Szenarien gleichwertig vorgenommen wurde, ergibt sich aus der absoluten Lichtreduktion eine starke Diskrepanz. Das Abblendlicht im ersten Szenario hat einen Referenzlichtstrom im gemessenen Winkelbereich von ca. 1600 lm. Beim Fernlicht im zweiten Szenario liegt der Lichtstrom beider Scheinwerfer zusammen bei ca. 2900 lm. Daher ist die absolute Reduktion des Lichtstroms bei gedimmtem Fernlicht deutlich höher als bei gedimmtem Abblendlicht. Da die Ergebnisse auf die Durchschnittswerte der Probandenbewertung bezogen sind, ist eine Dimmung auf den „gerade zulässigen“ Wert trotz einer gaußverteilten Bewertung nicht sinnvoll. Hier haben bereits einige Probanden die Lichtverteilung als „nicht vertretbar“ bewertet. Nichtsdestotrotz wird das Einsparpotential in einem möglichen Energiesparmodus für Elektrofahrzeuge deutlich. Bei der im Durchschnitt als „akzeptabel“ bewerteten Lichtverteilung gibt es kaum noch Personen, die schlechter als „gerade zulässig“ bewertet haben. Hierbei ist es bereits möglich, sowohl im Abblend- als auch im Fernlichtfall ca. 45% des Lichtstroms zu sparen. Da die Ergebnisse innerhalb der gesetzlichen Rahmenwerte liegen, kann auf eine Untersuchung zur Sichtbarkeit von Objekten verzichtet werden

PTGER4 expression-modulating polymorphisms in the 5p13.1 region predispose to Crohn's disease and affect NF-κB and XBP1 binding sites.

Genome-wide association studies identified a PTGER4 expression-modulating region on chromosome 5p13.1 as Crohn's disease (CD) susceptibility region. The study aim was to test this association in a large cohort of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to elucidate genotypic and phenotypic interactions with other IBD genes. A total of 7073 patients and controls were genotyped: 844 CD and 471 patients with ulcerative colitis and 1488 controls were analyzed for the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs4495224 and rs7720838 on chromosome 5p13.1. The study included two replication cohorts of North American (CD: n = 684; controls: n = 1440) and of German origin (CD: n = 1098; controls: n = 1048). Genotype-phenotype, epistasis and transcription factor binding analyses were performed. In the discovery cohort, an association of rs4495224 (p = 4.10×10⁻⁵; 0.76 [0.67-0.87]) and of rs7720838 (p = 6.91×10⁻⁴; 0.81 [0.71-0.91]) with susceptibility to CD was demonstrated. These associations were confirmed in both replication cohorts. In silico analysis predicted rs4495224 and rs7720838 as essential parts of binding sites for the transcription factors NF-κB and XBP1 with higher binding scores for carriers of the CD risk alleles, providing an explanation of how these SNPs might contribute to increased PTGER4 expression. There was no association of the PTGER4 SNPs with IBD phenotypes. Epistasis detected between 5p13.1 and ATG16L1 for CD susceptibility in the discovery cohort (p = 5.99×10⁻⁷ for rs7720838 and rs2241880) could not be replicated in both replication cohorts arguing against a major role of this gene-gene interaction in the susceptibility to CD. We confirmed 5p13.1 as a major CD susceptibility locus and demonstrate by in silico analysis rs4495224 and rs7720838 as part of binding sites for NF-κB and XBP1. Further functional studies are necessary to confirm the results of our in silico analysis and to analyze if changes in PTGER4 expression modulate CD susceptibility

Pathfinder first light: alignment, calibration, and commissioning of the LINC-NIRVANA ground-layer adaptive optics subsystem

We present descriptions of the alignment and calibration tests of the Pathfinder, which achieved first light during our 2013 commissioning campaign at the LBT. The full LINC-NIRVANA instrument is a Fizeau interferometric imager with fringe tracking and 2-layer natural guide star multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO) systems on each eye of the LBT. The MCAO correction for each side is achieved using a ground layer wavefront sensor that drives the LBT adaptive secondary mirror and a mid-high layer wavefront sensor that drives a Xinetics 349 actuator DM conjugated to an altitude of 7.1 km. When the LINC-NIRVANA MCAO system is commissioned, it will be one of only two such systems on an 8-meter telescope and the only such system in the northern hemisphere. In order to mitigate risk, we take a modular approach to commissioning by decoupling and testing the LINC-NIRVANA subsystems individually. The Pathfinder is the ground-layer wavefront sensor for the DX eye of the LBT. It uses 12 pyramid wavefront sensors to optically co-add light from natural guide stars in order to make four pupil images that sense ground layer turbulence. Pathfinder is now the first LINC-NIRVANA subsystem to be fully integrated with the telescope and commissioned on sky. Our 2013 commissioning campaign consisted of 7 runs at the LBT with the tasks of assembly, integration and communication with the LBT telescope control system, alignment to the telescope optical axis, off-sky closed loop AO calibration, and finally closed loop on-sky AO. We present the programmatics of this campaign, along with the novel designs of our alignment scheme and our off-sky calibration test, which lead to the Pathfinder's first on-sky closed loop images

Relationship of spirometric, body plethysmographic, and diffusing capacity parameters to emphysema scores derived from CT scans

Phenotyping of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with computed tomography (CT) is used to distinguish between emphysema- and airway-dominated type. The phenotype is reflected in correlations with lung function measures. Among these, the relative value of body plethysmography has not been quantified. We addressed this question using CT scans retrospectively collected from clinical routine in a large COPD cohort. Three hundred and thirty five patients with baseline data of the German COPD cohort COPD and Systemic Consequences-Comorbidities Network were included. CT scans were primarily evaluated using a qualitative binary emphysema score. The binary score was positive for emphysema in 52.5% of patients, and there were significant differences between the positive/negative groups regarding forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), FEV1/forced vital capacity (FVC), intrathoracic gas volume (ITGV), residual volume (RV), specific airway resistance (sRaw), transfer coefficient (KCO), transfer factor for carbon monoxide (TLCO), age, pack-years, and body mass index (BMI). Stepwise discriminant analyses revealed the combination of FEV1/FVC, RV, sRaw, and KCO to be significantly related to the binary emphysema score. The additional positive predictive value of body plethysmography, however, was only slightly higher than that of the conventional combination of spirometry and diffusing capacity, which if taken alone also achieved high predictive values, in contrast to body plethysmography. The additional information on the presence of CT-diagnosed emphysema as conferred by body plethysmography appeared to be minor compared to the well-known combination of spirometry and CO diffusing capacity. </jats:p

Contingent Behavior and Asymmetric Preferences for Baltic Sea Coastal Recreation

In this study, we augment the traditional travel cost approach with contingent behavior data for coastal recreation. The objective is to analyze the welfare implications of future changes in the conditions of the Baltic Sea due to climate change and eutrophication. Adding to the literature, we assess the symmetricity of welfare effects caused by improvements and deteriorations in environmental conditions for a set of quality attributes. Responses are derived from identical online surveys in Finland, Germany and Latvia. We estimate recreational benefits using linear and non-linear negative binomial random-effects models. The calculated annual consumer surpluses are considerably influenced by the magnitude of the environmental changes in the three countries. We also observe asymmetries in the effects of environmental improvements and deteriorations on the expected number of visits. In particular, the results indicate that deteriorations lead to larger or more significant impacts than improvements in the case of blue-green algal blooms and algae onshore for Finland, water clarity for Germany, and water clarity and blue-green algal blooms for Latvia. For the remaining attributes, the effects are ambiguous.202