Dynamics underlying Box-office: Movie Competition on Recommender Systems

We introduce a simple model to study movie competition in the recommender systems. Movies of heterogeneous quality compete against each other through viewers' reviews and generate interesting dynamics of box-office. By assuming mean-field interactions between the competing movies, we show that run-away effect of popularity spreading is triggered by defeating the average review score, leading to hits in box-office. The average review score thus characterizes the critical movie quality necessary for transition from box-office bombs to blockbusters. The major factors affecting the critical review score are examined. By iterating the mean-field dynamical equations, we obtain qualitative agreements with simulations and real systems in the dynamical forms of box-office, revealing the significant role of competition in understanding box-office dynamics.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

3DVAR assimilation of SSM/I data over the sea for the IOP2b MAP case

International audienceData assimilation by 3DVAR of data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) has been performed to study the IOP2b case (19-21 September 1999) of the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP). Only data over the sea surface are used to avoid the contamination of the surface emissivity. Moreover, the rainy data are filtered out because the assimilation algorithm of 3DVAR does not take into account the scattering processes. SSM/I data are assimilated in two different ways: as Brightness Temperature directly, or as Precipitable Water and surface wind speed retrieved from the Brightness Temperature. The effect of the thinning of the observations has been studied and a set of sensitivity test cases has been carried out; the one by one removal of the SSM/I frequencies from the initial dataset allows to evaluate their impact on the Initial Conditions. A few experiments are performed using these new Initial Conditions to initialize the MM5 (PSU/NCAR) model. The results show that the assimilation of the retrieved quantities, i.e. Precipitable Water and surface wind speed, does not produces large improvement in the Initial Conditions. Vice versa, the assimilation of the Brightness temperatures produces a large variability of the Initial Conditions. The forecast experiments show that the model is very sensitive to the 22GHz and 37GHz frequencies

Microbioreactor (micro-Matrix) potential in aerobic and anaerobic conditions with different industrially relevant microbial strains

Microscale fermentation systems are important high throughput tools in clone selection, and bioprocess set up and optimization, since they provide several parallel experiments in controlled conditions of pH, temperature, agitation, and gas flow rate. In this work we evaluated the performance of biotechnologically relevant strains with different respiratory requirements in the micro-Matrix microbioreactor. In particular Escherichia coli K4 requires well aerated fermentation conditions to improve its native production of chondroitin-like capsular polysaccharide, a biomedically attractive polymer. Results from batch and fed-batch experiments demonstrated high reproducibility with those obtained on 2 L reactors, although highlighting a pronounced volume loss for longer-term experiments. Basfia succiniciproducens and Actinobacillus succinogenes need CO2 addition for the production of succinic acid, a building block with several industrial applications. Different CO2 supply modes were tested for the two strains in 24 h batch experiments and results well compared with those obtained on lab-scale bioreactors. Overall, it was demonstrated that the micro-Matrix is a useful scale-down tool that is suitable for growing metabolically different strains in simple batch process, however, a series of issues should still be addressed in order to fully exploit its potential

Analysis of Radiosonde and Ground-Based Remotely Sensed PWV Data from the 2004 North Slope of Alaska Arctic Winter Radiometric Experiment

Abstract During 9 March–9 April 2004, the North Slope of Alaska Arctic Winter Radiometric Experiment was conducted at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's (ARM) "Great White" field site near Barrow, Alaska. The major goals of the experiment were to compare microwave and millimeter wavelength radiometers and to develop forward models in radiative transfer, all with a focus on cold (temperature from 0° to −40°C) and dry [precipitable water vapor (PWV) < 0.5 cm] conditions. To supplement the remote sensors, several radiosonde packages were deployed: Vaisala RS90 launched at the ARM Duplex and at the Great White and Sippican VIZ-B2 operated by the NWS. In addition, eight dual-radiosonde launches were conducted at the Duplex with Vaisala RS90 and Sippican GPS Mark II, the latter one modified to include a chilled mirror humidity sensor. Temperature comparisons showed a nighttime bias between VIZ-B2 and RS90, which reached 3.5°C at 30 hPa. Relative humidity comparisons indicated better than 5% average agreement between the RS90 and the chilled mirror. A bias of about 20% for the upper troposphere was found in the VIZ-B2 and the Mark II measurements relative to both RS90 and the chilled mirror. Comparisons in PWV were made between a microwave radiometer, a microwave profiler, a global positioning system receiver, and the radiosonde types. An RMS agreement of 0.033 cm was found between the radiometer and the profiler and better than 0.058 cm between the radiometers and GPS. RS90 showed a daytime dry bias on PWV of about 0.02 cm

Heterogeneity, quality, and reputation in an adaptive recommendation model

Abstract.: Recommender systems help people cope with the problem of information overload. A recently proposed adaptive news recommender model [M. Medo, Y.-C. Zhang, T. Zhou, Europhys. Lett. 88, 38005 (2009)] is based on epidemic-like spreading of news in a social network. By means of agent-based simulations we study a "good get richer” feature of the model and determine which attributes are necessary for a user to play a leading role in the network. We further investigate the filtering efficiency of the model as well as its robustness against malicious and spamming behaviour. We show that incorporating user reputation in the recommendation process can substantially improve the outcom

Study of recent seismicity in the area of Southern Apennines

In questo lavoro è stata effettuata una dettagliata analisi della sismicità dell’Italia meridionale in particolare della zona comprendente l’Appennino lucano e l’avanfossa bradanica. Sono stati utilizzati i tempi d’arrivo delle fasi P e S di terremoti locali registrati dalla Rete Sismica Nazionale (RSNC), dalla rete temporanea SAPTEX (2001-2004) (Cimini et al., 2006), e dalla rete locale dell’Eni-Agip operante nella Val d’Agri, registrate nel periodo 2001-2006. In questo modo è stato creato un database costituito da 7570 fasi P e 4956 fasi S, associate a 514 eventi con magnitudo maggiore di 2.0. Lo studio realizzato consiste nel: 1) Calcolo del rapporto VP/VS utilizzando il metodo di Wadati modificato (Chatelain, 1978), ottenendo un valore di 1.83 (Fig.1) leggermente superiore a quello ottenuto da studi precedenti; 2) Analisi del profilo di velocità 1D che meglio approssima la struttura crostale dell’area studiata (Fig.2) utilizzando il codice VELEST (Kissling et al., 1995) e tre modelli iniziali ottenuti da studi precedenti (Chiarabba and Frepoli, 1997; Cassinis et al., 2003; Chiarabba at al., 2005; Frepoli et al., 2005). 3) Localizzazione ipocentrale, calcolo dei meccanismi focali e campo di stress. Le localizzazioni ipocentrali calcolate sono prevalentemente di qualità A(243) e B(59), così come definite dal programma HYPOELLIPSE (Lahr, 1989). Rispetto a quelle ottenute utilizzando i dati della sola rete RSNC, esse risultano avere profondità ipocentrali piú vincolate ed errori di localizzazione inferiori. Considerando la distribuzione della sismicità in Fig.3 si possono distinguere tre zone principali: una situata nella parte ovest della catena appenninica, caratterizzata soprattutto da eventi piú superficiali; una situata in corrispondenza dell’avanfossa bradanica caratterizzata da una sismicità sparsa e da eventi piú profondi; ed infine un gruppo di eventi sparsi localizzati nell’area della Sila, separati da quelli esistenti nella zona del monte Pollino da un evidente gap sismico. Seguendo la procedura di calcolo dei meccanismi focali, col metodo delle polarità dei primi arrivi, ne sono stati selezionati 69 in base ai due fattori di qualità definiti dal codice FPFIT (Reasenberg and Oppenheimer, 1985). Le soluzioni ottenute sono in gran parte normali e trascorrenti con gli assi T che descrivono una generalizzata estensione dell’Appennino lucano in direzione NE-SW. Per la determinazione del campo di stress regionale è stata utilizzata la tecnica di inversione elaborata da Gephart & Forsyth (1984). I risultati ottenuti sono coerenti con i precedenti studi nella stessa area

P-030 ACE2 receptor and its isoform short-ACE2 are expressed on human spermatozoa

STUDY QUESTION: Do human spermatozoa express angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor? What would be its localization? SUMMARY ANSWER: Human spermatozoa express uniformly ACE2 on the sperm head and the flagellum. Moreover, the short-ACE2 isoform is concentrated on the post-acrosomal region and midpiece. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is generating important concerns regarding not only the possible consequences on the respiratory system, but also on other organs, including the reproductive system. ACE2 is considered the main point of entry for the SARS-CoV-2 within the cells through the binding with the spike protein on the virus surface. Furthermore, ACE2 is expressed in human testes cells including Leydig cells, Sertoli cells and spermatogonia. However, to date, the expression and location of ACE2 in mature human spermatozoa has not been investigated yet. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This was an in vitro study for the evaluation of the expression and immune-localization of full-length ACE2 and its isoform, short-ACE2, in human spermatozoa. Thirthyfour non-immunized healthy normozoospermic volunteers were enrolled in the study. The study was conducted from May to December 2021. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Semen samples were collected by masturbation from non-immunized healthy normozoospermic voluntaries. Motile sperm suspensions were obtained by swim-up procedure. The expression of ACE2 was assessed by Western-blot analysis, while the immune-localization of ACE2 was evaluated by immune-cytochemical analysis under confocal microscopy. Flow-cytometry experiments were also performed to assess the surface protein expression on a large number of cells. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: The Western-blot analysis of sperm extracts demonstrated two specific bands, one of approximately 120 KDa, corresponding to the glycosylated full-length ACE2, and a second one of approximately 52 KDa, the molecular weight of the protein recently termed short-ACE2. The immune-cytochemical analysis showed a uniformly localization of full-length ACE2 along both the sperm head and the flagellum, whereas the short isoform was preferentially located in the post-acrosomal region of the sperm head and the midpiece. At the flow cytometer, semen samples displayed a wide between-subject variability both in the percentage of ACE2-positive spermatozoa and the density of protein surface expression. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: Further studies are needed to determine whether short-ACE2 is a cleavage product from the full-length protein or if it is originated during spermatogenesis. Moreover, the role and the interaction of ACE2 with SARS-CoV-2 in human spermatozoa should be clarified to evaluate the possible impact of the virus on sperm biology. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Since mature spermatozoa are transcriptionally silent and SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, it is unlikely that the virus could affect sperm biology by replicating itself. Nevertheless, the potential effects related to modifications of the sperm membrane or interaction with other receptors or specific proteins cannot be ruled out. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: not applicabl

ACE2 Receptor and Its Isoform Short-ACE2 Are Expressed on Human Spermatozoa

Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a protein widely expressed in numerous cell types, with different biological roles mainly related to the renin-angiotensin system. Recently, ACE2 has been in the spotlight due to its involvement in the SARS-CoV-2 entry into cells. There are no data available regarding the expression of ACE2 and its short-ACE2 isoform at the protein level on human spermatozoa. Here, protein expression was demonstrated by western blot and the percentage of sperm displaying surface ACE2 was assessed by flow cytometry. Immunocytochemistry assays showed that full-length ACE2 was mainly expressed in sperm midpiece, while short ACE2 was preferentially distributed on the equatorial and post-acrosomal region of the sperm head. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the expression of protein ACE2 on spermatozoa. Further studies are warranted to determine the role of ACE2 isoforms in male reproduction

JCV-specific T-cells producing IFN-gamma are differently associated with PmL occurrence in HIV patients and liver transplant recipients

Aim of this work was to investigate a possible correlation between the frequency of JCV-specific T-cells and PML occurrence in HIV-infected subjects and in liver transplant recipients. A significant decrease of JCV-specific T-cells was observed in HIV-PML subjects, highlighting a close relation between JCV-specific T-cell immune impairment and PML occurrence in HIV-subjects. Interestingly, liver-transplant recipients (LTR) showed a low frequency of JCV-specific T-cells, similar to HIV-PML subjects. Nevertheless, none of the enrolled LTR developed PML, suggesting the existence of different immunological mechanisms involved in the maintenance of a protective immune response in LT