Market Segmentation and Recency Frequency Monetary Value Analysis for a Freemium Mobile Game

Bricks ‘N Balls is a freemium game that relies on in-app purchases and ad monetization from users to be profitable at no upfront cost to the players. This study explores how in-game data analytics and purchase data can be used to segment players. Features taken into consideration for segmentation include past purchasing habits along with the players interactions within the missions. This study uses the Recency Frequency Monetary Value (RFM) framework to extract insights on player purchasing behavior to segment players into clusters and predict how much users will spend in the future

The effects of estradiol-17β on the sex reversal, survival, and growth of green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus

The feminization of green sunfish Lepomis cyanellus could expand their utility as a game fish or aquacultured species by preventing overcrowding and precocious reproduction in stocked systems. Feminization of green sunfish could also help elucidate information on their sex determination system. We report the feminization of green sunfish cohorts via oral administration of estradiol-17β (E2) during early development. A low-dose (100 E2 mg per kg of diet) and a high-dose (150 E2 mg per kg of diet) experimental E2 treatment were fed to juvenile green sunfish from 30 to 90 days post-hatch. Fish were subsequently evaluated for any treatment effect on gonadal development, survival, and growth. Both E2 treatments resulted in 100% feminization, with no morphological or histological differences detected between E2 treated ovaries and those from a control group. The control group was composed mostly of males (82.61%). Overall, there was no effect of E2 on survival (P = 0.310) and growth rate data suggested no statistical differences (P = 0.0805). However, the growth rate of the high-dose group increased slightly higher after the treatment ended than the other treatments (P = 0.042), suggesting that E2 might suppress growth in green sunfish. In addition, the control group did not exhibit a higher survival rate after the treatment period ended (P = 0.266), whereas both E2 treated groups did (P = 0.0003–0.0050). We found that the low dose, 100 E2 mg per kg of diet, was sufficient for fully feminizing green sunfish if administered during development from 30 to 90 days post-hatch and E2 dosages may result in deleterious effects on green sunfish’s health and growth

Assessment of Potential Augmentation and Management Strategies for Razorback Sucker \u3cem\u3eXyrauchen texanus\u3c/em\u3e in Lake Mead and Grand Canyon: A 2021 Science Panel Summary

Razorback Sucker Xyrauchen texanus is a large-bodied, long-lived species endemic to the Colorado River Basin. This species historically ranged throughout the basin from the Colorado River delta in Mexico to Wyoming and Colorado. Currently, the species persists ,in a small portion of its historical range with the help of intensive management efforts including augmentation. Recruitment to adult life stages is extremely limited in the wild, but is documented consistently in Lake Mead. Research and monitoring efforts in Lake Mead are ongoing since 1996 and have recently expanded to include the Colorado River inflow area and portions of lower Grand Canyon. Despite evidence of recruitment, the current population size in Lake Mead and Grand Canyon is believed to be small (data) and susceptible to stochastic effects. This raised interest in the potential to augment the population to prevent loss of genetic diversity and increase abundance and distribution in general, as well as explore recruitment bottlenecks. To address critical uncertainties surrounding this management option and to brainstorm other potential options, a Planning Committee and Steering Committee made up of representatives of state (Arizona, Nevada), tribal (Hualapai Tribe, Navajo Nation), and federal (Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) management agencies convened an Expert Science Panel (ESP; 2021), to consider augmentation and management strategies for Razorback Sucker in Lake Mead and Grand Canyon. The purpose of this report is to summarize those findings

Stability of Satellite Planes in M31 II: Effects of the Dark Subhalo Population

The planar arrangement of nearly half the satellite galaxies of M31 has been a source of mystery and speculation since it was discovered. With a growing number of other host galaxies showing these satellite galaxy planes, their stability and longevity have become central to the debate on whether the presence of satellite planes are a natural consequence of prevailing cosmological models, or represent a challenge. Given the dependence of their stability on host halo shape, we look into how a galaxy plane's dark matter environment influences its longevity. An increased number of dark matter subhalos results in increased interactions that hasten the deterioration of an already-formed plane of satellite galaxies in spherical dark halos. The role of total dark matter mass fraction held in subhalos in dispersing a plane of galaxies present non trivial effects on plane longevity as well. But any misalignments of plane inclines to major axes of flattened dark matter halos lead to their lifetimes being reduced to < 3 Gyrs. Distributing > 40% of total dark mass in subhalos in the overall dark matter distribution results in a plane of satellite galaxies that is prone to change through the 5 Gyr integration time period.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRAS September 22 201

Reading related white matter structures in adolescents are influenced more by dysregulation of emotion than behavior

Mood disorders and behavioral are broad psychiatric diagnostic categories that have different symptoms and neurobiological mechanisms, but share some neurocognitive similarities, one of which is an elevated risk for reading deficit. Our aim was to determine the influence of mood versus behavioral dysregulation on reading ability and neural correlates supporting these skills in youth, using diffusion tensor imaging in 11- to 17-year-old children and youths with mood disorders or behavioral disorders and age-matched healthy controls. The three groups differed only in phonological processing and passage comprehension. Youth with mood disorders scored higher on the phonological test but had lower comprehension scores than children with behavioral disorders and controls; control participants scored the highest. Correlations between fractional anisotropy and phonological processing in the left Arcuate Fasciculus showed a significant difference between groups and were strongest in behavioral disorders, intermediate in mood disorders, and lowest in controls. Correlations between these measures in the left Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus were significantly greater than in controls for mood but not for behavioral disorders. Youth with mood disorders share a deficit in the executive-limbic pathway (Arcuate Fasciculus) with behavioral-disordered youth, suggesting reduced capacity for engaging frontal regions for phonological processing or passage comprehension tasks and increased reliance on the ventral tract (e.g., the Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus). The low passage comprehension scores in mood disorder may result from engaging the left hemisphere. Neural pathways for reading differ mainly in executive-limbic circuitry. This new insight may aid clinicians in providing appropriate intervention for each disorder

Can Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation in Youth Be Decoded from Functional Neuroimaging?

High comorbidity among pediatric disorders characterized by behavioral and emotional dysregulation poses problems for diagnosis and treatment, and suggests that these disorders may be better conceptualized as dimensions of abnormal behaviors. Furthermore, identifying neuroimaging biomarkers related to dimensional measures of behavior may provide targets to guide individualized treatment. We aimed to use functional neuroimaging and pattern regression techniques to determine whether patterns of brain activity could accurately decode individual-level severity on a dimensional scale measuring behavioural and emotional dysregulation at two different time points

Decreased amygdala–insula resting state connectivity in behaviorally and emotionally dysregulated youth

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) adopts a dimensional approach for examining pathophysiological processes underlying categorically defined psychiatric diagnoses. We used this framework to examine relationships among symptom dimensions, diagnostic categories, and resting state connectivity in behaviorally and emotionally dysregulated youth selected from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms study (n=42) and healthy control youth (n=18). Region of interest analyses examined relationships among resting state connectivity, symptom dimensions (behavioral and emotional dysregulation measured with the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10 Item Mania Scale [PGBI-10M]; dimensional severity measures of mania, depression, anxiety), and diagnostic categories (Bipolar Spectrum Disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety Disorders, Disruptive Behavior Disorders). After adjusting for demographic variables, two dimensional measures showed significant inverse relationships with resting state connectivity, regardless of diagnosis: 1) PGBI-10M with amygdala-left posterior insula/bilateral putamen; and 2) depressive symptoms with amygdala-right posterior insula connectivity. Diagnostic categories showed no significant relationships with resting state connectivity. Resting state connectivity between amygdala and posterior insula decreased with increasing severity of behavioral and emotional dysregulation and depression; this suggests an intrinsic functional uncoupling of key neural regions supporting emotion processing and regulation. These findings support the RDoC dimensional approach for characterizing pathophysiologic processes that cut across different psychiatric disorders

Abnormal deactivation of the inferior frontal gyrus during implicit emotion processing in youth with bipolar disorder: Attenuated by medication

Previous neuroimaging studies of youth with bipolar disorder(BD) have identified abnormalities in emotion regulation circuitry. Using data from the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms Cohort (a clinical sample recruited for behavioral and emotional dysregulation), we examined the impact of BD and medication on activation in these regions. Functional neuroimaging data were obtained from 15 youth with BD who currently were unmedicated with a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic (U-BD), 19 youth with medicated BD (M-BD), a non-bipolar clinical sample with high rates of disruptive behavioral disorders (non-BD, n=59), and 29 healthy controls (HC) while they were shown task-irrelevant morphing emotional faces and shapes. Whole brain analysis was used to identify clusters that showed differential activation to emotion vs. shapes across group. To assess pair-wise comparisons and potential confounders, mean activation data were extracted only from clusters within regions previously implicated in emotion regulation (including amygdala and ventral prefrontal regions). A cluster in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) showed group differences to emotion vs. shapes (159 voxels, corrected p<.05). Within this cluster, U-BD youth showed decreased activation relative to HC (p=.007) and non-BD (p=.004) youth. M-BD also showed decreased activation in this cluster relative to HC and non-BD youth, but these differences were attenuated. Results were specific to negative emotions, and not found with happy faces. IFG findings were not explained by other medications (e.g. stimulants) or diagnoses. Compared to both HC and a non-BD sample, U-BD is associated with abnormally decreased right IFG activation to negative emotions

Emotional Face Processing in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Evidence for Functional Impairments in the Fusiform Gyrus

Pediatric bipolar disorder involves poor social functioning, but the neural mechanisms underlying these deficits are not well understood. Previous neuroimaging studies have found deficits in emotional face processing localized to emotional brain regions. However, few studies have examined dysfunction in other regions of the face processing circuit. This study assessed hypoactivation in key face processing regions of the brain in pediatric bipolar disorder

White Matter Structure in Youth With Behavioral and Emotional Dysregulation Disorders: A Probabilistic Tractographic Study

Psychiatric disorders in youth characterized by behavioral and emotional dysregulation are often comorbid and difficult to distinguish. An alternative approach to conceptualizing these disorders is to move toward a diagnostic system based on underlying pathophysiologic processes that may cut across conventionally defined diagnoses. Neuroimaging techniques have potentials for the identification of these processes