Aristotle Said “Happiness is a State of Activity” — Predicting Mood Through Body Sensing with Smartwatches

We measure and predict states of Activation and Happiness using a body sensing application connected to smartwatches. Through the sensors of commercially available smartwatches we collect individual mood states and correlate them with body sensing data such as acceleration, heart rate, light level data, and location, through the GPS sensor built into the smartphone connected to the smartwatch. We polled users on the smartwatch for seven weeks four times per day asking for their mood state. We found that both Happiness and Activation are negatively correlated with heart beats and with the levels of light. People tend to be happier when they are moving more intensely and are feeling less activated during weekends. We also found that people with a lower Conscientiousness and Neuroticism and higher Agreeableness tend to be happy more frequently. In addition, more Activation can be predicted by lower Openness to experience and higher Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Lastly, we find that tracking people’s geographical coordinates might play an important role in predicting Happiness and Activation. The methodology we propose is a first step towards building an automated mood tracking system, to be used for better teamwork and in combination with social network analysis studies.     

Early SIV and HIV infection promotes the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis in cDCs

Classical dendritic cells (cDCs) play a pivotal role in the early events that tip the immune response toward persistence or viral control. In vitro studies indicate that HIV infection induces the dysregulation of cDCs through binding of the LILRB2 inhibitory receptor to its MHC-I ligands and the strength of this interaction was proposed to drive disease progression. However, the dynamics of the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis in cDCs during early immune responses against HIV are yet unknown. Here, we show that early HIV-1 infection induces a strong and simultaneous increase of LILRB2 and MHC-I expression on the surface of blood cDCs. We further characterized the early dynamics of LILRB2 and MHC-I expression by showing that SIVmac251 infection of macaques promotes coordinated up-regulation of LILRB2 and MHC-I on cDCs and monocytes/macrophages, from blood and lymph nodes. Orientation towards the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis starts from the first days of infection and is transiently induced in the entire cDC population in acute phase. Analysis of the factors involved indicates that HIV-1 replication, TLR7/8 triggering, and treatment by IL-10 or type I IFNs increase LILRB2 expression. Finally, enhancement of the LILRB2/MHC-I inhibitory axis is specific to HIV-1 and SIVmac251 infections, as expression of LILRB2 on cDCs decreased in naturally controlled chikungunya virus infection of macaques. Altogether, our data reveal a unique up-regulation of LILRB2 and its MHC-I ligands on cDCs in the early phase of SIV/HIV infection, which may account for immune dysregulation at a critical stage of the anti-viral response.     

Long-term increases in clutch size in common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) and diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin)

Clutch size (CS) is a well-studied life history characteristic, and optimal egg size theory predicts that CS should correlate positively with reproductive investment. Turtles are good subjects for studies of reproductive strategies because few turtle species exhibit parental care; therefore quantifying their short-term reproductive investment is mostly limited to measuring egg size and number. Clutch size is usually reported as an average value for each turtle population, and where CS variation is noted, it is usually attributable to variation in adult body size. In two long-term studies of ecologically dissimilar species we detected a dramatic increase in CS in a common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina) population and in a diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) population. It is unknown whether these changes are due to either variation in adult body size or resource availability; but the temporal patterns we observed have apparently never been reported previously. These trends remain unexplained and should be explored further.     

EVOKE: A Value-Driven Concept Selection Method for Early System Design

The development of new technologically advanced products requires the contribution from a range of skills and disciplines, which are often difficult to find within a single company or organization. Requirements establishment practices in Systems Engineering (SE), while ensuring coordination of activities and tasks across the supply network, fall short when it comes to facilitate knowledge sharing and negotiation during early system design. Empirical observations show that when system-level requirements are not available or not mature enough, engineers dealing with the development of long lead-time sub-systems tend to target local optima, rather than opening up the design space. This phenomenon causes design teams to generate solutions that do not embody the best possible configuration for the overall system. The aim of this paper is to show how methodologies for value-driven design may address this issue, facilitating early stage design iterations and the resolution of early stage design trade-offs. The paper describes how such methodologies may help gathering and dispatching relevant knowledge about the ‘design intent’ of a system to the cross-functional engineering teams, so to facilitate a more concurrent process for requirement elicitation in SE. The paper also describes EVOKE (Early Value Oriented design exploration with KnowledgE maturity), a concept selection method that allows benchmarking design options at sub-system level on the base of value-related information communicated by the system integrators. The use of EVOKE is exemplified in an industrial case study related to the design of an aero-engine component. EVOKE’s ability to raise awareness on the value contribution of early stage design concepts in the SE process has been further verified with industrial practitioners in ad-hoc design episodes.     

The expansion of GPCR transactivation-dependent signalling to include serine/threonine kinase receptors represents a new cell signalling frontier

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling is mediated through transactivation-independent signalling pathways or the transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors and the recently reported activation of the serine/threonine kinase receptors, most notably the transforming growth factor-β receptor family. Since the original observation of GPCR transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors, there has been considerable work on the mechanism of transactivation and several pathways are prominent. These pathways include the “triple membrane bypass” pathway and the generation of reactive oxygen species. The recent recognition of GPCR transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors enormously broadens the GPCR signalling paradigm. It may be predicted that the transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors would have mechanistic similarities with transactivation of tyrosine kinase pathways; however, initial studies suggest that these two transactivation pathways are mechanistically distinct. Important questions are the relative importance of tyrosine and serine/threonine transactivation pathways, the contribution of transactivation to overall GPCR signalling, mechanisms of transactivation and the range of cell types in which this phenomenon occurs. The ultimate significance of transactivation-dependent signalling remains to be defined but it appears to be prominent and if so will represent a new cell signalling frontier.     

塔东热液地质作用机制及对储层的改造意义

塔东地区断裂发育，早期发育的断裂与晚期断裂之间存在相互改造、叠加、复合的过程，深大断裂沟通多套地层，断裂活动期形成的挤压破碎带和断裂裂缝带作为岩浆热液上升通道，为热液溶蚀作用改造储层提供了有利条件，因此，识别出热液期次对塔东白云岩储层成因机制具有重要意义。通过对钻井岩芯、岩屑及岩石薄片、铸体薄片观察鉴定分析，在区内下古生界碳酸盐岩中识别和发现了钠长石化作用和自生羽毛状伊利石沉淀，也是塔里木盆地内的首次发现，并通过对包裹体均一温度，碳氧同位素等地化特征研究，揭示其成岩流体源于岩浆热液，丰富了区内热液作用的矿物学标志，进一步识别出区内存在3期热液作用，通过对3期热液作用的机制及其储渗空间意义的研究，总结出第I期热液作用对于储层形成意义不大，第Ⅱ期热液作用主要发育在局限的沉积环境，第Ⅲ期热液溶蚀形成溶蚀缝孔洞，与天然气运移聚集匹配良好，构成了区内天然气聚集成藏的主要储渗空间。     

基于模糊证据推理的突发事件风险分析模型

突发事件发生、发展和演化过程中的风险属性来源复杂,且相关信息具有不确定、不完备的特点.为准确分析这一特点下的突发事件运行风险问题,引入模糊证据推理构建分析模型.首先根据突发事件的结构化描述框架和故障模式影响危害分析(FMECA)方法构建突发事件风险属性识别框架,获取信息作为风险分析证据并对其进行规范化处理;然后以模糊证据推理构建突发事件风险分析的模型,通过计算,给出事件风险程度的合理判断;最后选取CRH某型动车组行车安全事件进行实例分析.分析结果表明,在分析突发事件风险时,针对信息不确定、不完备特点构建的模糊证据推理模型具有可行性与有效性,同时该模型能够为突发事件风险分析和风险应对决策的制定提供辅助参考.     

Reconsideration on Homogeneous Quadratic Riemann Boundary Value Problem

The homogeneous quadratic Riemann boundary value problem (1) with Hoelder continuous coefficients for the normal case was considered by the author in 1997. But the solutions obtained there are incomplete. Here its general method of solution is obtained.     

Abrupt climate change：Debate or action

Global abrupt climate changes have been documented by various climate records, including ice cores, ocean sediment cores, lake sediment cores, cave deposits, loess deposits and pollen records. The climate system prefers to be in one of two stable states, i.e. interstadial or stadial conditions, but not in between. The transition between two states has an abrupt character. Abrupt climate changes are, in general, synchronous in the northern hemisphere and tropical regions. The timescale for abrupt climate changes can be as short as a decade. As the impacts may be potentially serious, we need to take actions such as reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.