Customer Segmentation Using Machine Learning

Nowadays Customer segmentation became very popular method for dividing company’s customers for retaining customers and making profit out of them, in the following study customers of different of organizations are classified on the basis of their behavioral characteristics such as spending and income, by taking behavioral aspects into consideration makes these methods an efficient one as compares to others. For this classification a machine algorithm named as k-means clustering algorithm is used and based on the behavioral characteristic’s customers are classified. Formed clusters help the company to target individual customer and advertise the content to them through marketing campaign and social media sites which they are really interested in.

Role of PI3K-AKT-mTOR Pathway as a Pro-Survival Signaling and Resistance-Mediating Mechanism to Therapy of Prostate Cancer

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and androgen receptor (AR)-targeted therapy are the gold standard options for treating prostate cancer (PCa). These are initially effective, as localized and the early stage of metastatic disease are androgen- and castration-sensitive. The tumor strongly relies on systemic/circulating androgens for activating AR signaling to stimulate growth and progression. However, after a certain point, the tumor will eventually develop a resistant stage, where ADT and AR antagonists are no longer effective. Mechanistically, it seems that the tumor becomes more aggressive through adaptive responses, relies more on alternative activated pathways, and is less dependent on AR signaling. This includes hyperactivation of PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway, which is a central signal that regulates cell pro-survival/anti-apoptotic pathways, thus, compensating the blockade of AR signaling. The PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway is well-documented for its crosstalk between genomic and non-genomic AR signaling, as well as other signaling cascades. Such a reciprocal feedback loop makes it more complicated to target individual factor/signaling for treating PCa. Here, we highlight the role of PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling as a resistance mechanism for PCa therapy and illustrate the transition of prostate tumor from AR signaling-dependent to PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway-dependent. Moreover, therapeutic strategies with inhibitors targeting the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signal used in clinic and ongoing clinical trials are discussed.

Do we look at a threatening person’s face? The relationship between perception and observation of walking strangers

Person perception research predominantly focuses on faces as stimuli, and less attention is paid to full body, moving, stimuli and how our perceptions of that person might affect the way we observe unknown people. Here, we present two studies and register a third. In Study One, 27 raters observed 12 videos of female targets walking towards camera for 10 seconds and rated how ‘threatening’, ‘attractive’ and ‘masculine’ the target individual was. In Study Two, 30 raters observed 22 male and female targets in the same format with the same ratings. The observation of the targets in both studies was recorded on an eyetracker and the percentage of each second spent watching the head, trunk, and legs was recorded. In both studies time spent observing the targets’ head decreased over time. In Study One perception ratings affected time spent observing the head and ratings interacted with change in observation over time. In Study Two no effects were found. Given these inconsistent findings and methodological differences between the studies, here we register a Study Three using two samples of 30 participants and Study Two’s methodology to attempt to support either of the previous studies.

A computational study of cooperative binding to multiple SARS-CoV-2 proteins

Structure-based drug design targeting the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been greatly facilitated by available virus-related protein structures. However, there is an urgent need for effective, safe small-molecule drugs to control the spread of the virus and variants. While many efforts are devoted to searching for compounds that selectively target individual proteins, we investigated the potential interactions between eight proteins related to SARS-CoV-2 and more than 600 compounds from a traditional Chinese medicine which has proven effective at treating the viral infection. Our original ensemble docking and cooperative docking approaches, followed by a total of over 16-micorsecond molecular simulations, have identified at least 9 compounds that may generally bind to key SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Further, we found evidence that some of these compounds can simultaneously bind to the same target, potentially leading to cooperative inhibition to SARS-CoV-2 proteins like the Spike protein and the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. These results not only present a useful computational methodology to systematically assess the anti-viral potential of small molecules, but also point out a new avenue to seek cooperative compounds toward cocktail therapeutics to target more SARS-CoV-2-related proteins.

Towards Lightweight URL-Based Phishing Detection

Nowadays, the majority of everyday computing devices, irrespective of their size and operating system, allow access to information and online services through web browsers. However, the pervasiveness of web browsing in our daily life does not come without security risks. This widespread practice of web browsing in combination with web users’ low situational awareness against cyber attacks, exposes them to a variety of threats, such as phishing, malware and profiling. Phishing attacks can compromise a target, individual or enterprise, through social interaction alone. Moreover, in the current threat landscape phishing attacks typically serve as an attack vector or initial step in a more complex campaign. To make matters worse, past work has demonstrated the inability of denylists, which are the default phishing countermeasure, to protect users from the dynamic nature of phishing URLs. In this context, our work uses supervised machine learning to block phishing attacks, based on a novel combination of features that are extracted solely from the URL. We evaluate our performance over time with a dataset which consists of active phishing attacks and compare it with Google Safe Browsing (GSB), i.e., the default security control in most popular web browsers. We find that our work outperforms GSB in all of our experiments, as well as performs well even against phishing URLs which are active one year after our model’s training.

Perceptions of Anxiety Symptoms and Disclosure of Anxiety by Others Among Individuals With High Versus Low Levels of Social Anxiety

The present study investigated people's perceptions of anxiety symptoms and the disclosure of anxiety by others, and how one's own level of social anxiety affects these perceptions. Participants high (n=80) or low (n=83) in social anxiety were randomly assigned to watch one of four videos in which the target individual either appeared or did not appear anxious, and either disclosed or did not disclose her anxiety. Participants rated the target individual on various characteristics, and completed measures of their own level of social anxiety, perceived similarity to the target individual, and reasons for their ratings. Results indicated that participants negatively evaluated others who looked anxious on the qualities of awkward, socially skilled, and weak, and the disclosure of anxiety partially helped to decrease these negative judgements. Participants' own level of social anxiety did not affect the judgements. These findings may inform the process of cognitive restructuring.

Perceptions of Anxiety Symptoms and Disclosure of Anxiety by Others Among Individuals With High Versus Low Levels of Social Anxiety

The present study investigated people's perceptions of anxiety symptoms and the disclosure of anxiety by others, and how one's own level of social anxiety affects these perceptions. Participants high (n=80) or low (n=83) in social anxiety were randomly assigned to watch one of four videos in which the target individual either appeared or did not appear anxious, and either disclosed or did not disclose her anxiety. Participants rated the target individual on various characteristics, and completed measures of their own level of social anxiety, perceived similarity to the target individual, and reasons for their ratings. Results indicated that participants negatively evaluated others who looked anxious on the qualities of awkward, socially skilled, and weak, and the disclosure of anxiety partially helped to decrease these negative judgements. Participants' own level of social anxiety did not affect the judgements. These findings may inform the process of cognitive restructuring.

Adherence to physical distancing guidance in Ireland: a nationally representative analysis from the International COVID-19 Awareness and Responses Evaluation (iCARE) study

Background: Physical distancing measures (i.e., limiting physical contact with people outside of one’s household, maintaining a 2-metre distance between oneself and others, avoiding non-essential travel, etc.) are among the primary strategies used to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These measures will remain crucial during the rollout of newly developed vaccines to limit community-based spread of COVID-19 and prevent healthcare systems from becoming overburdened. Therefore, it is essential to understand the determinants of public adherence to physical distancing measures to inform current and future public health communications. Methods: As part of the International COVID-19 Awareness and Responses Evaluation (iCARE) study, a cross-sectional survey was conducted to evaluate behavioural responses to physical distancing measures in Ireland. A nationally representative sample of 1000 adults completed the survey over one week in June 2020 during Phase 2 restrictions. Participants completed measures assessing socio-demographic characteristics, theory-based psychological predictors, and physical distancing behaviours. Results: Awareness of restrictions in place at the time of data collection was high overall, as was adherence to most physical distancing measures. Participants aged 25–34 years reported the poorest adherence to maintaining a 2-metre distance from others (71.2%, versus 79–90% for all other age groups), avoiding social gatherings (42.4%, versus 52–62%) and avoiding non-essential travel (63.9%, versus 69–79%). Females were slightly more adherent than were males to most measures. Adherence also varied according to participant beliefs and COVID-19 risk category. Conclusions: These results indicate that adherence to physical distancing guidelines varies depending on the behaviour in question as well as socio-demographic and psychological factors. Although some non-adherence was evident for all physical distancing behaviours, adherence was generally high. Future interventions to improve adherence to physical distancing measures should target individual-level determinants of adherence in tandem with effective public health interventions.

A multi-gene knockdown approach reveals a new role for Pax6 in controlling organ number in Drosophila

Genetic screens are designed to target individual genes for the practical reason of establishing a clear association between a mutant phenotype and a single genetic locus. This allows for a developmental or physiological role to be assigned to the wild type gene. We previously observed that the concurrent loss of Pax6 and Polycomb epigenetic repressors in Drosophila leads the eye to transform into a wing. This fate change is not seen when either factor is disrupted separately. An implication of this finding is that standard screens may miss the roles that combinations of genes play in development. Here, we show that this phenomenon is not limited to Pax6 and Polycomb but rather applies more generally. We demonstrate that in the Drosophila eye-antennal disc, the simultaneous down-regulation of Pax6 with either the NURF nucleosome remodeling complex or the Pointed transcription factor transforms the head epidermis into an antenna. This is a novel fate change that is also not observed with the individual loss of individual genes. We propose that the use of multi-gene knockdowns is an essential tool for unraveling the complexity of development.