User studies in the music information retrieval (MIR) domain tend to be exploratory and qualitative in nature, involving a small number of users, which makes it difficult to derive broader implications for system design. In order to fill this gap, we conducted a large-scale user survey questioning various aspects of people's music information needs and behaviors. In particular, we investigate if general music users' needs and behaviors have significantly changed over time by comparing our current survey result with a similar survey conducted in 2004. In this paper, we present the key findings from the survey data and discuss 4 emergent themes-(a) the shift in access and use of personal music collections; (b) the growing need for tools to support collaborative music seeking, listening, and sharing; (c) the importance of "visual" music experiences; and (d) the need for ontologies for providing rich contextual information. We conclude by making specific recommendations for improving the design of MIR systems and services.

Video games and interactive media are increasingly becoming important part of our culture and everyday life, and subsequently, of archival and digital library collections. However, existing organizational systems often use vague or inconsistent terms to describe video games or attempt to use schemas designed for textual bibliographic resources. Our research aims to create a standardized metadata schema and encoding scheme that provides an intelligent and comprehensive way to represent video games. We conducted interviews with 24 gamers, focusing on their video game-related information needs and seeking behaviors. We also performed a domain analysis of current organizational systems used in catalog records and popular game websites, evaluating metadata elements used to describe games. With these results in mind, we created a list of elements which form a metadata schema for describing video games, with both a core set of 16 elements and an extended set of 46 elements providing more flexibility in expressing the nature of a game.

Clinical trials involving anti-programmed cell death protein-1 (anti-PD-1) failed to demonstrate improved overall survival in glioblastoma (GBM) patients. This may be due to the expression of alternative checkpoints such as B- and T- lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA) on several immune cell types including regulatory T cells. Murine GBM models indicate that there is significant upregulation of BTLA in the tumor microenvironment (TME) with associated T cell exhaustion. We investigate the use of antibodies against BTLA and PD-1 on reversing immunosuppression and increasing long-term survival in a murine GBM model. C57BL/6 J mice were implanted with the murine glioma cell line GL261 and randomized into 4 arms: (i) control, (ii) anti-PD-1, (iii) anti-BTLA, and (iv) anti-PD-1 + anti-BTLA. Kaplan–Meier curves were generated for all arms. Flow cytometric analysis of blood and brains were done on days 11 and 16 post-tumor implantation. Tumor-bearing mice treated with a combination of anti-PD-1 and anti-BTLA therapy experienced improved overall long-term survival (60%) compared to anti-PD-1 (20%) or anti-BTLA (0%) alone ( P = .003). Compared to monotherapy with anti-PD-1, mice treated with combination therapy also demonstrated increased expression of CD4+ IFN-γ ( P < .0001) and CD8+ IFN-γ ( P = .0365), as well as decreased levels of CD4+ FoxP3+ regulatory T cells on day 16 in the brain ( P = .0136). This is the first preclinical investigation into the effects of combination checkpoint blockade with anti-PD-1 and anti-BTLA treatment in GBM. We also show a direct effect on activated immune cell populations such as CD4+ and CD8 + T cells and immunosuppressive regulatory T cells through this combination therapy.

The discovery and retrieval of video games in library and information systems is, by and large, dependent on a limited set of descriptive metadata. Noticeably missing from this metadata are classifications of visual styledespite the overwhelmingly visual nature of most video games and the interest in visual style among video game users. One explanation for this paucity is the difficulty in eliciting consistent judgements about visual style, likely due to subjective interpretations of terminology and a lack of demonstrable testing for coinciding judgements. This study presents a taxonomy of video game visual styles constructed from the findings of a 22-participant cataloging user study of visual styles. A detailed description of the study, and its value and shortcomings, are presented along with reflections about the challenges of cultivating consensus about visual style in video games. The high degree of overall agreement in the user study demonstrates the potential value of a descriptor like visual style and the use of a cataloging study in developing visual style taxonomies. The resulting visual style taxonomy, the methods and analysis described herein may help improve the organization and retrieval of video games and possibly other visual materials like graphic designs, illustrations, and animations.