Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A framework for specifying and monitoring user tasks

Interrupting users engaged in tasks typically has negative effects on their task completion time, error rate, and affective state. Empirical research has shown that these negative effects can be mitigated by deferring interruptions until more opportune moments in a user’s task sequence. However, existing systems that reason about when to interrupt do not have access to models of user tasks that would allow for such finer-grained temporal reasoning. To enable this reasoning, we have developed an integrated framework for specifying and monitoring user tasks. For task specification, our framework provides a language that supports expressive specification of tasks using a concise notation. For task monitoring, our framework provides an event database and handler that manages events from any instrumented application and a task monitor that observes a user’s progress through specified tasks. We describe the design and implementation of our framework, showing how it can be used to specify and monitor practical, representative user tasks. We also report results from two user studies measuring the effectiveness of our existing implementation. The use of our framework will enable attention aware systems to consider a user’s position in a task when reasoning about when to interrupt. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Driven by the ongoing emergence of digital technologies, today’s business environment is changing at tremendous speed. Thus, incumbents have initiated digital transformation programs to cope with the associated challenges. While transformation programs are typically associated with punctuated change, emerging research conceptualizes digital transformation as an ongoing process that demands new approaches to organizational change. Hitherto, we lack insights on how organizations prepare themselves for such continuous change. Thus, we conduct an explorative interview study with 29 interview partners that provide insights from different roles, organizations, and industries. Thereby, we gain an overview of organizations’ digital transformation realities and challenges. We contribute to the existing literature on digital transformation by elucidating the individual foci and interdependencies of digital, agile, and cultural transformation. Further, we shed light on additional elements that foster continuous change, i
Learning to Reason with a Restri ted View (cid:3)

The Learning to Reason framework ombines the study of Learning and Reasoning into a single task. Within it, learning is done spe i(cid:12) ally for the purpose of reasoning with the learned knowledge. Computational onsiderations show that this is a useful paradigm; in some ases learning and reasoning problems that are intra table when studied separately be ome tra table when performed as a task of Learning to Reason. In this paper we study Learning to Reason problems where the intera tion with the world supplies the learner only partial information in the form of partial assignments. Several natural interpretations of partial assignments are onsidered and learning and reasoning algorithms using these are developed. The results presented exhibit a tradeo(cid:11) between learnability, the strength of the ora les used in the interfa e
Enterprise Architecting: Critical Problems

An enterprise architecture (EA) identifies the main components of the organization, its information systems, the ways in which these components work together in order to achieve defined business objectives, and the way in which the information systems support the business processes of the organization. The components include staff, business processes, technology, information, financial and other resources, etc. Enterprise architecting is the set of processes, tools, and structures necessary to implement an enterprise-wide coherent and consistent IT architecture for supporting the enterprise's business operations. It takes a holistic view of the enterprise's IT resources rather than an application-by-application view. Given the size and still immature nature of many enterprise architecture efforts, a number of critical challenges and problem continue to exist. This paper surveys a number of these challenges and problems in an attempt to provide a platform for a discussion on enterprise architecture problems and possible solutions.
The Accuracy and Precision of Memory for Natural Scenes: A Walk in the Park

Abstract It is challenging to quantify the accuracy and precision of scene memory because it is unclear what ‘space’ scenes occupy (how can we quantify error when misremembering a natural scene? ). To address this, we exploited the ecologically valid, metric space in which scenes occur and are represented: routes. In a delayed estimation task, participants briefly saw a target scene drawn from a video of an outdoor ‘route loop’, then used a continuous report wheel of the route to pinpoint the scene. Accuracy was high and unbiased, indicating there was no net boundary extension/contraction. Interestingly, precision was higher for routes that were more self-similar (as characterized by the half-life, in meters, of a route’s Multiscale Structural Similarity index), consistent with previous work finding a ‘similarity advantage’ where memory precision is regulated according to task demands. Overall, scenes were remembered to within a few meters of their actual location.
Neuroimmune changes underscore pain-associated behaviors and disc herniations in SM/J mice

There are no appropriate mouse models to study the pathophysiology of spontaneous disc herniations and associated pain pathology. We demonstrate that SM/J mice show a high incidence of age-associated lumbar disc herniations with neurovascular innervations. Transcriptomic comparisons of the SM/J annulus fibrosus with human tissues showed shared pathways related to immune cell activation and inflammation. Notably, aged SM/J mice showed increased pain sensitization and neuroinflammatory signatures associated with altered extracellular matrix regulation in the DRGs and spinal cord. There were increased T cells in the vertebral marrow, and CyTOF analysis showed increased splenic CD8+ T cells, nonspecific activation of CD8+ memory T cells, and enhanced IFN-γ production in the myeloid compartment. ScRNA-seq of PBMCs in SM/J showed more B cells, with lower proportions of T cells, monocytes, and granulocytes. This study identifies SM/J mice as a clinically-relevant model to study the pathophysiology of spontaneous disc herniations and highlights a causative axis for chronic discogenic pain with novel contributors from the primary lymphoid organs (spleen and vertebral marrow), circulation, and the nervous system. One-Sentence Summary The novel SM/J mouse model shows a neuroimmune axis drives chronic back pain, a leading cause of years lived with disability.
Normative and individual, non-normative intrinsic networks and the transition to impaired cognition

Despite their temporal lobe pathology, a significant subgroup of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients are able to maintain normative cognitive functioning. Here, we identify TLE patients with intact versus impaired cognitive profiles, and interrogate for the presence of both normative and highly individual intrinsic connectivity networks(ICN) – all towards understanding the transition from impaired to intact neurocognitive status. We retrospectively investigated data from 88 TLE patients and matched 91 healthy controls with resting-state functional MRI. Functional MRI data were decomposed using independent component analysis to obtain individualized ICNs. Here, we calculated the degree of match between individualized ICNs and canonical ICNs (e.g., Yeo et.al 17 resting-state network) and divided each participant’s ICNs into normative or non-normative status based on the degree of match. We found that the individualized networks matched the canonical networks less well in the cognitively impaired compared to the cognitively intact TLE patients. The cognitively impaired patients showed significant abnormalities in the profiles of both normative and non-normative networks, whereas the intact patients showed abnormalities only in non-normative networks. At the same time, we found normative networks held a strong, positive association with the neuropsychological measures, with this association negative in non-normative networks. We were able to provide the initial data demonstrating that significant cognitive deficits are associated with the status of highly-individual ICNs, making clear that the transition from intact to impaired cognitive status is not simply the result of disruption to normative brain networks.
Genetic polymorphisms of Leukocyte Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor B3 (LILRB3) gene in African American kidney transplant recipients are associated with post-transplant graft failure

Background African American (AA) kidney transplant recipients exhibit a higher rate of graft loss compared to other racial and ethnic populations, highlighting the need to identify causative factors underlying this disparity. Method We analyzed RNA sequences of pretransplant whole blood from subjects followed in three kidney transplant cohorts to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with death censored graft loss (DCGL). We employed a meta-analysis to uncover key transcriptional signatures and pathways associated with the identified SNPs and used single cell RNA to define cellular specificity. We characterized SNP functions using in vitro immunological and survival assays and tested for associations between the identified SNPs and other immune-related diseases using a ∼30,100 subject, electronic health record (EHR)-linked database. Results We uncovered a cluster of four consecutive missense SNPs in the Leukocyte Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor B3 (LILRB3, a negative immune response regulator) gene that strongly associated with DCGL. This LILRB3-4SNPs cluster encodes missense mutations at amino acids 617-618 proximal to a SHP-1/2 phosphatase-binding ITIM motif. LILRB3-4SNPs is specifically enriched within subjects of AA ancestry (8.6% prevalence vs 2.3% in Hispanic and 0.1% in European populations), is not linked to APOL1 G1/G2 alleles, and exhibited a strong association with DCGL. Analysis of PBMC and transplant biopsies from recipients with LILRB3-4SNPs showed evidence of enhanced adaptive immune responsiveness and ferroptosis-associated death in monocytes. Overexpression of the variant allele in THP-1 cells (macrophage line) induced augmented inflammation and ferroptosis, which were attenuated by a ferroptosis inhibitor, verifying a causal link. The LILRB3-4SNPs also associated with multiple systemic and organ-specific immune-related diseases in AAs, consistent with conferring a broadly relevant immune function. Conclusion the LILRB3-4SNPs represent a functionally important, distinct genetic risk factor for kidney transplant outcome and development/severity of other immune-related diseases in patients of AA ancestry. Pharmacological targeting of ferroptosis should be tested to prevent or treat these disease processes in AA recipients carrying LILRB3-4SNPs.
The influence of environment on mosquito feeding patterns: a meta-analysis of ‘universal’ DNA diet studies in a global context

Mosquitoes have innate preferences for their blood-meal hosts, but these can be modified by the environment, with implications for disease spread under climate and land use change. To predict the spread of vector-borne pathogens more accurately we need to better understand blood-meal plasticity under changing environmental conditions. We compiled blood-meal studies for six prominent disease vectoring mosquitoes from around the globe (Aedes aegypti, Ae. albopictus, Anopheles funestus, An. gambiae, Cx. pipiens, and Cx. quinquefasciatus). We targeted studies that used universal molecular methods (typically PCR/metabarcoding) to identify hosts from a wide range of candidates (as opposed to studies using methods that presuppose host identity - such as precipitin, ELISA). We found that blood-meals from the >15,600 analysed were mostly from the expected host-groups for each mosquito species, but we frequently encountered atypical hosts (e.g. mammalophilic species feeding on birds/reptiles). The universal methods used by the studies in our metanaalysis identified high host richness, and we found ≥174 hosts for Culex and ≤65 species for Aedes mosquitoes at a considerably increased discovery rate of novel hosts per sampling effort. We used a hierarchical Dirichlet regression model to analyse global variation in feeding patterns in relation to environmental datasets (land use, precipitation, mean annual temperature, latitude, human and livestock density). Land use, mean annual temperature and poultry density had noticeable effects on blood-meal selection of Ae. aegypti, Cx. pipiens and Cx. quinquefasciatus. Although host density was a factor in blood-meal selection - host choice is not a simple function of host availability, as has previously been observed, but contingent on other drivers. While our compiled dataset afforded us these insights, improving resolution and consistency of data gathering and reporting would improve the precision of how blood-meal studies can inform us of present and potential risks of pathogen transmission events.
Salivary metabolomics in the family environment: A large-scale study investigating oral metabolomes in children and their parental caregivers

Human metabolism is complex and dynamic, and is impacted by genetics, diet, health, and countless inputs from the environment. Beyond the genetics shared by family members, cohabitation leads to shared microbial and environmental exposures. Furthermore, metabolism is affected by factors such as inflammation, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure, metabolic regulation, and exposure to heavy metals. Metabolomics represents a useful analytical method to assay the metabolism of individuals to find potential biomarkers for metabolic conditions that may not be phenotypically obvious or represent unknown physiological processes. As such, we applied untargeted LC-MS metabolomics to archived saliva samples from a racially diverse group of elementary school-aged children and their caregivers collected during the “90-month” assessment of the Family Life Project. We assayed a total of 1,425 saliva samples of which 1,344 were paired into 672 caregiver/child dyads. We compared the metabolomes of children (N = 719) and caregivers (N = 706) within and between homes, performed population-wide “metabotype” analyses, and measured associations between metabolites and salivary biomeasures of inflammation, antioxidant potential, ETS exposure, metabolic regulation, and heavy metals. Dyadic analyses revealed that children and their caregivers have largely similar salivary metabolomes. Although there were differences between the dyads at the individual levels of analysis, dyad explained most (62%) of the metabolome variation. At a population level of analysis, our data clustered into two large groups, indicating that people likely share most of their metabolomes, but that there are distinct “metabotypes” across large sample sets. Lastly, individual differences in several metabolites – which were putative oxidative damage-associated or pathological markers – were significantly correlated with salivary measures indexing inflammation, antioxidant potential, ETS exposure, metabolic regulation, and heavy metals. Implications of the effects of family environment on metabolomic variation at the population, dyadic, and individual levels of analyses for health and human development are discussed.
Automated plankton monitoring suggests a key role of microzooplankton and temperature for predicting dynamics of phytoplankton size classes

The interplay between abiotic (resource supply, temperature) and biotic (herbivore grazing) factors determines growth and loss processes in phytoplankton through resource competition and trophic interactions, which are mediated by morphological traits like size. Here, we study the relative importance of different grazers, water physics and chemistry on the daily net accumulation rates (AR) of six phytoplankton size classes, obtained by grouping individual organisms from natural communities based on their realised dimensions. Using a Random Forest modelling approach and four years of daily underwater imaging data, we find that the AR of small phytoplankton is mostly predicted by water temperature and herbivore grazing whereas, with increasing size, resources become more important in predicting ARs. Our results show that microzooplankton is an important predictor of AR in all phytoplankton regardless of their size, but mesozooplankton is more important for small phytoplankton forms. Our results support previous expectations and reveal surprising new patterns. Significance Statement Understanding the relative importance of biotic and abiotic controls of biodiversity change, in terms of taxa and traits, is critical in times of global and local anthropogenic impact on ecosystem processes. The relative importance of different mechanisms driving phytoplankton community dynamics is still debated, and might vary depending on the environmental conditions. We harnessed four years of data from an underwater imaging microscope, and ancillary monitoring sensors, to study the biotic and abiotic controls of phytoplankton size classes using machine-learning. We find that, contrary to prior expectations, large (blooming) phytoplankton are favoured by high temperature and low levels of microzooplankton. These results help us understand phytoplankton dynamics and improve the modelling of plankton food-webs, with implications for predicting plankton community structure in changing aquatic ecosystems.
Avian influenza virus circulation and immunity in a wild urban duck population prior to and during a highly pathogenic H5N1 outbreak

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 clade 2.3. 4.4b viruses were first detected in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada in late 2021, with the virus rapidly spreading across the western hemisphere over the next year. To investigate the patterns of avian influenza virus (AIV) infection and immune responses subsequent to the arrival of H5N1, we sampled the wild urban duck population in St. John’s for a period of 16 months after the start of the outbreak and compared these findings to archived samples. Antibody seroprevalence was relatively stable before the outbreak (2011-2014) at 27.6% and 3.9% for anti-AIV (i.e., NP) and H5-specific antibodies, respectively. During the winter of 2022, AIV-NP and H5-specific antibody seroprevalence both reached 100%, signifying a population-wide infection event. As expected, population-level immunity waned over time, and we found that ducks were seropositive for anti- AIV-NP antibodies for around twice as long as for H5-specific antibodies. The population was H5 seronegative to the latter approximately six months after the initial H5N1 incursion. In late February 2023, H5N1 clade 2.3. 4.4b viruses were again detected in the duck population as a result of a second incursion into Newfoundland from Eurasia, which resulted in a second population-wide infection event. We observed a clear relationship of increasing antibody levels with decreasing viral RNA loads that allowed for interpretation of the course of infection and immune response in infected individuals and applied these findings to two cases of resampled ducks to infer infection history. Our study highlights the significance of applying both AIV surveillance and seroprevalence monitoring to provide a better understanding of AIV dynamics in wild populations, which may be crucial following the arrival of 2.3. 4.4b H5Nx subtypes to assess the threats they pose to both wild and domestic animals, and to humans.
Investigating the ability of music to induce calm in young adults

Music medicine may allow individuals with sub-clinical anxiety levels to self-medicate when and where they choose. The current study used subjective and objective anxiety measures to compare music’s ability to change emotional states. Subjective measures included ratings of a song’s pleasantness, arousal, dominance, and likability, as well as state and trait anxiety estimates. Objective measures were selected for skin conductance, heart rate (HR), and blood volume pulse (BVP) amplitude. The commercially available music consisted of ambient, metal, and pop songs. The participants, 28 young adults, listened to the six songs. During the songs, objective measurements were obtained, rating the song’s affective dimensions as they listened and their state of anxiety after each song. Results support the notion that different music genres can differentially affect subjective and objective measures of negative emotion. Specifically, low arousal / high valance songs were associated with lower state anxiety and physiological arousal levels. Discussion around the promise of music medicine and aspects of its management are presented, along with avenues of further inquiry.
Optic nerve injury impairs intrinsic mechanisms underlying electrical activity in a resilient retinal ganglion cell

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the sole output neurons of the retina and convey visual information to the brain via their axons in the optic nerve. Following an injury to the optic nerve, RGCs axons degenerate and many cells die. For example, a surgical model of compressive axon injury, the optic nerve crush (ONC), kills ∼80% of RGCs after two weeks. Surviving cells are biased towards certain ‘resilient’ types, including several types that originally produced sustained firing to light stimulation. RGC survival may depend on activity level, and there is a limited understanding of how or why activity changes following optic nerve injury. Here we quantified the electrophysiological properties of a highly resilient RGC type, the sustained ON-Alpha RGC, seven days post-ONC with extracellular and whole-cell patch clamp recording. Both light- and current-driven firing were reduced after ONC, but synaptic inputs were largely intact. Resting membrane potential and input resistance were relatively unchanged, while voltage-gated currents were impaired, including a reduction in voltage-gated sodium channel density in the axon initial segment and function. Hyperpolarization or chelation of intracellular calcium partially rescued firing rates. These data suggest that an injured resilient RGC reduces its activity by a combination of reduced voltage-gated channel expression and function and downregulation of intrinsic excitability via a Ca2+-dependent mechanism without substantial changes in synaptic input. Reduced excitability may be due to degradation of the axon but could also be energetically beneficial for injured RGCs, preserving cellular energy for survival and regeneration. Graphical Abstract Schematic view of the effects of axon injury (optic nerve crush) on the physiology of an sustained ON-Alpha (AlphaONS) retinal ganglion cell. These cells are highly resilient to axon injury and survive for several weeks while other retinal ganglion cell types perish. At one week after injury, the AlphaONS RGC has diminished spontaneous and light-evoked action potential firing. Reduced firing depends not on changes in synaptic inputs but rather on reductions in intrinsic excitability. Reduced excitability is explained by a Ca2+-dependent mechanism and by a reduction in sodium channel density and function. Key Points Summary 1) Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) types show diverse rates of survival after axon injury. 2) A resilient RGC type maintains its synaptic inputs one week post-injury. 3) The resilient RGC type shows diminished firing and reduced expression of axon initial segment (AIS) genes following injury 4) Activity deficits arise from intrinsic dysfunction (Na+ channels, intracellular Ca2+), not from loss of excitation or enhanced inhibition.