CleanML: A Study for Evaluating the Impact of Data Cleaning on ML Classification Tasks

Data quality affects machine learning (ML) model performances, and data scientists spend considerable amount of time on data cleaning before model training. However, to date, there does not exist a rigorous study on how exactly cleaning affects ML -- ML community usually focuses on developing ML algorithms that are robust to some particular noise types of certain distributions, while database (DB) community has been mostly studying the problem of data cleaning alone without considering how data is consumed by downstream ML analytics. We propose a CleanML study that systematically investigates the impact of data cleaning on ML classification tasks. The open-source and extensible CleanML study currently includes 14 real-world datasets with real errors, five common error types, seven different ML models, and multiple cleaning algorithms for each error type (including both commonly used algorithms in practice as well as state-of-the-art solutions in academic literature). We control the randomness in ML experiments using statistical hypothesis testing, and we also control false discovery rate in our experiments using the Benjamini-Yekutieli (BY) procedure. We analyze the results in a systematic way to derive many interesting and nontrivial observations. We also put forward multiple research directions for researchers.Comment: published in ICDE 202

Outcomes of intra-articular corticosteroid injections for adolescents with hip pain.

Intra-articular injection of corticosteroid and anesthetic (CSI) is a useful diagnostic tool for hip pain secondary to labral tears or femoroacetabular impingement (FAI). However, the effectiveness of CSI as a stand-alone treatment for hip pain in adolescents is unknown. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the use of CSI for the treatment of hip pain and determine factors that may affect outcomes after injection. Retrospective analysis of 18 patients and 19 hips that underwent fluoroscopic guided hip injection for the treatment of pain at a single institution from 2012 to 2015 was carried out in this study. Mean age at the time of injection was 15.1 years (range 13-17) with mean follow-up of 29.4 months. Fifty-two percent (10/19 hips) went on to surgery after the injection. Average time to surgical conversion was 12.8 months after CSI. Cam or pincer morphologies were present in 90% (9/10 hips) of the operative group. Patients with FAI were more likely to need surgery than patients without bony abnormalities (RR= 10, 95% CI 1.6-64.2, P = 0.0001). There was no difference in the presence of labral tears in the operative and non-operative groups (100% versus 89%, P = 0.47). For adolescents without bony abnormalities, 90% improved with CSI alone and did not require further treatment within 2.4 years. Fluoroscopic guided corticosteroid hip injection may have limited efficacy for the treatment of hip pain secondary to FAI in adolescents. However, for patients without osseous deformity, CSI may offer prolonged improvement of symptoms even in the presence of labral tears

Majorana Physics Through the Cabibbo Haze

We present a model in which the Supersymmetric Standard Model is augmented by the family symmetry \bs{\m Z_7 \rtimes \m Z_3}. Motivated by $SO(10)$, where the charge two-thirds and neutral Dirac Yukawa matrices are related, we propose, using family symmetry, a special form for the seesaw Majorana matrix; it contains a squared correlated hierarchy, allowing it to mitigate the severe hierarchy of the quark sector. It is reproduced naturally by the invariant operators of \bs{\m Z_7 \rtimes \m Z_3}, with the hierarchy carried by familon fields. In addition to relating the hierarchy of the $\Delta I_{\rm w}=1/2$ to the $\Delta I_{\rm w}=0$ sector, it contains a Gatto-Sartori-Tonin like relation, predicts a normal hierarchy for Tri-bimaximal and Golden Ratio mixings, and gives specific values for the light neutrino masses.Comment: 33 pages, 1 figure. This revised version omits a section where a particular linear combination of dimension-five operators was mistakenly claimed to produce the special form of the Majorana matrix. The main changes are to the Introduction, Sec. 5.1 of the previous version, and Summary and Conclusions. In addition to minor changes throughout, we have corrected an erroneous sign in Eq. 1

Pain Assessment Policy Update and Nursing Education on Best Practices for Pain Assessment: A Quality Improvement Project

Significance and Background: Chronic pain assessment should focus on patients\u27 functional status, quality of life (QOL), and pain control. A tool to assess pain intensity and biopsychosocial impacts of pain for patients with chronic pain was needed in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). The Defense and Veterans Pain Rating Scale (DVPRS) incorporates a numeric rating scale with four functional questions on pain interference on ADLs. DVPRS design stimulates communication between patients and providers about their pain, its impact on function, and state of mind. Treatments are focused on making the pain tolerable and optimizing patient function while avoiding unwanted side effects from medications. Convincing evidence supported the use of the DVPRS. Purpose: Provide nursing and provider education on best practices for pain assessment and to implement the DVPRS in a FQHC. Track nurse adherence to using a new pain scale and providers treatment for chronic pain. Methods: Plan-Do-Study-Act. Plan- DVPRS was added to pain policy in a FQHC. Do- DVPRS was presented to five providers and six nurses and practiced using the DVPRS and documenting the results. Study- data on DVPRS use in patients presenting with pain and their treatment plans. Act- present to stakeholders and plan for next PDSA cycle. Outcome: There were 292 in-clinic, adult patient encounters with pain: chronic (46%), acute (21%), both (3%), and unknown (31%). Sixteen patients were assessed for pain using the DVPRS. Nurse adherence to workflow for documentation was poor and inconsistent with fourteen (87.5%) patients who had at least one inconsistency in their documentation. Barriers to provide on-site support and feedback led to poor adherence and process errors. Seventy-seven percent of patients assessed with the DVPRS, and a pain diagnosis received either referrals and/or new non-opioid medication prescriptions. Discussion: Despite low nurse adherence, DVPRS education, use and purpose informs providers’ plan of care. Adopting a brief comprehensive pain assessment tool (e.g., DVPRS) in a primary care setting will improve provider and patient communication surrounding pain, assess impacts of pain on function and QOL while eliminating opioid prescriptions with alternative therapies

Outdoor sports brands’ strategies for building Instagram brand community

Over 56% of the world’s population now live with social media (“Digital in 2019,” n.d.). Most direct-to-consumer brands are now using social media as a market tool to communicate with consumers, and the outdoor industry is no exception. Instagram, as the second most popular social networking medium globally, is a popular place to share photos and videos within the online brand community. Most outdoor brands maintain Instagram accounts as a part of their online brand community to interact with followers. This research examines 957 Instagram posts from three leading outdoor sports brands, namely, Arc’teryx, Patagonia, and Salomon via content analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate post orientations and sports types across the three target brands, and gain insights into their Instagram practices by examining visual elements, textual attributes, and technical factors. Results suggest that outdoor brands with different followers took diverse strategies to build either a transactional or relationship Instagram brand community. Findings from this study offer important implications for researchers as well as practitioners in the domain of social media brand management

Cryo-EM structure of the mature dengue virus at 3.5-Å resolution.

Regulated by pH, membrane-anchored proteins E and M function during dengue virus maturation and membrane fusion. Our atomic model of the whole virion from cryo-electron microscopy at 3.5-Å resolution reveals that in the mature virus at neutral extracellular pH, the N-terminal 20-amino-acid segment of M (involving three pH-sensing histidines) latches and thereby prevents spring-loaded E fusion protein from prematurely exposing its fusion peptide. This M latch is fastened at an earlier stage, during maturation at acidic pH in the trans-Golgi network. At a later stage, to initiate infection in response to acidic pH in the late endosome, M releases the latch and exposes the fusion peptide. Thus, M serves as a multistep chaperone of E to control the conformational changes accompanying maturation and infection. These pH-sensitive interactions could serve as targets for drug discovery