Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA.

This article introduces the notion of genetic essentialist biases: cognitive biases associated with essentialist thinking that are elicited when people encounter arguments that genes are relevant for a behavior, condition, or social group. Learning about genetic attributions for various human conditions leads to a particular set of thoughts regarding those conditions: they are more likely to be perceived as (a) immutable and determined, (b) having a specific etiology, (c) homogeneous and discrete, and (d) natural, which can lead to the naturalistic fallacy. There are rare cases of “strong genetic explanation” when such responses to genetic attributions may be appropriate; however, people tend to overweigh genetic attributions compared with competing attributions even in cases of “weak genetic explanation,” which are far more common. The authors reviewed research on people's understanding of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminality, mental illness, and obesity through a genetic essentialism lens, highlighting attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral changes that stem from consideration of genetic attributions as bases of these categories. Scientific and media portrayals of genetic discoveries are discussed with respect to genetic essentialism, as is the role that genetic essentialism has played (and continues to play) in various public policies, legislation, scientific endeavors, and ideological movements in recent history. Last, moderating factors and interventions to reduce the magnitude of genetic essentialism, which identify promising directions to explore in order to reduce these biases, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Computational uncertainty analysis in multiresolution materials via stochastic constitutive theory

A stochastic constitutive theory is proposed in this work to propagate microstructure uncertainties in computational multiscale continuum models to bulk multiresolution material behavior. Ubiquitous fine resolution uncertainty sources influencing prediction of material properties based on their structures are categorized in detail, and this research transmits these uncertainties to coarser material resolutions by introducing a stochastic constitutive theory deduced from volume element simulations. To implement the stochastic upscaling process, two advanced uncertainty quantification methods are examined: statistical copula functions and random process polynomial chaos expansion. Both methods confront the mathematical difficulty in randomizing constitutive laws by capturing the marked correlation among constitutive parameters seen in complex materials, thus the results proffer a more accurate probabilistic estimation of constitutive material behavior. The contribution of this work is twofold: uncertainty is propagated from heterogeneous material “structure” to material “property” via the stochastic constitutive theory, and rigorous, data-driven mathematics are formalized to represent complicated dependence structures in multivariate statistical distributions. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first work in multiresolution mechanics that presents an approach to computationally derive correlation functions from numerical experiments, as opposed, for instance, to assuming one a priori. The method put forth in this research, though quite general, is applied to a mathematical example and plastic, high strength steel alloy for demonstration. Results include stochastic constitutive curve confidence intervals for the material stress–strain response and qualitative comparisons of the two stochastic methods detailed herein.     

Detection of repolarization alternans with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator lead in a porcine model

Mechanistic links have been suggested between repolarization alternans (RPA) and the onset of ventricular tachycardia (VT) and/or fibrillation. Endocardial detection of RPA may, therefore, be an important step in future device-based treatments of arrhythmias. Here, we investigate if RPA could be detected during acute ischemia using an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) lead (tip to distal coil) located in the right ventricular apex. In 18 pigs, the right coronary (n = 10) or left anterior descending coronary (n = 8) artery was occluded for 10 min using a balloon catheter, followed by reperfusion for 30 min, and re-occlusion for 30 min. RPA magnitude, computed using the modified moving average (MMA) method, showed a sharp increase in all 18 animals, from a mean baseline level of 1.9 +/- 1.3 mV to 3.0 +/- 1.3 mV during first occlusion (p < 0.001). RPA magnitude showed a prominent increase in 10 animals during re-occlusion, from a mean baseline level of 1.7 +/- 1.0 mV to 3.3 +/- 1.5 mV (p < 0.001). The protocol was terminated during the first two stages of occlusion and reperfusion for the remaining 8 animals due to the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation (VF). These results confirm that RPA increases under ischemic conditions and that it is possible to detect and track RPA dynamics with an ICD lead that is positioned in a clinically realistic location. Such an approach may be useful in formulating improved arrhythmia detection and control algorithms.     

Near optimal routing and capacity management for PWCE-based survivable WDM networks

Protected Working Capacity Envelope (PWCE) has been proposed to simplify resource management and traffic control for survivable WDM networks. In a PWCE-based network, part of the link capacity is reserved for accommodating working routes, and the remaining capacity is reserved for backup routes. The shortest path routing is applied in PWCE-based networks. An arrival call is accepted only when each link along the shortest path has a free working channel. Such a working path routing scheme greatly simplifies the call admission control process for dynamic traffic, and it is especially suitable for implementation in a distributed manner among network nodes. In this article, we investigate two protection strategies: Bundle Protection (BP) and Individual Protection (IDP). In BP, only one backup path can be used to protect a failure component, whereas multiple backup paths can be used in IDP. We formulate four mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problems using BP and IDP strategies for single link and single node failure protection. Each model is designed to determine link metrics for shortest working path routing, working and backup channel assignments, and backup path planning. Our objective is to minimize call-blocking probability on the bottleneck link. Since these models are highly non-linear and non-convex, it is difficult to obtain exact global optimal solutions. We propose a Simulated Annealing-based Heuristic (SAH) algorithm to obtain near optimal solutions. This SAH adopts the concepts of simulated annealing as well as the bi-section technique to minimize call-blocking probabilities. To evaluate the performance, we made simulation comparisons between SAH and the unity link weight assignment scheme. The results indicate that SAH can greatly reduce call-blocking probabilities on benchmark and the randomly generated networks.     

Quantization Error Analysis of Second Order Bandpass Delta-Sigma Modulator with Sinusoidal Inputs

The exact analysis of second order bandpassDelta-Sigma modulator with sinusoidal inputs isperformed. The results indicate that quantization erroris neither uniformly distributed nor white. Thequantization error spectrum is purely discrete andsymmetric with one forth of sampling frequency, and thelocations of these discrete frequency components arestrongly dependent on input amplitudes. Similar resultsare also observed for passband communication signals,such as quadrature amplitude modulation. From theanalysis, crosscorrelation between quantization error andsinusoidal input was shown to exist but can be cancelledout by proper design of the noise shaping function. Crosscorrelation can degrade the performance of thedelta-sigma system. Hence, the exact analysis is anothermethod to enable design for high performance.     

采用网状网络技术构建一个无线世界

目前的第一代无线局域网(WLAN)仅仅用来简单地取代有线,即只是用来消除主要家庭娱乐系统或办公设备部署采用过多线缆所引起的混乱.而实际上,无线通信的优势远远不止这一点.摆脱线缆的束缚之后,设备间可能的连接方式将大量增加.     

基于高端FPGA的IC验证平台的电源完整性(PI)分析

通用的FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array,现场可编程逻辑门阵列)验证平台在运行不同的应用时,其瞬态电流需求是不同的。本文以基于Xilinx公司的Virtex-4系列千万门级的FPGA高端IC验证平台为例,采用Cadence PCB PI(Power Integrity)分析软件,对多种地电平面、电容值、电容的放置位置、电容的类型等进行评估,然后通过修正电容数量和额定值,调整电容的布局以及封装等,达到符合要求的电源-地平面目标阻抗,从而将电源/地平面上的噪声降低到电源的要求范围内。本文提出的电源完整性分析方法,对其他类型的系统板级设计也有一定的指导意义。     

An augmented reality system for patient-specific guidance of cardiac catheter ablation procedures

We present a system to assist in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias by catheter ablation. A patient-specific three-dimensional (3-D) anatomical model, constructed from magnetic resonance images, is merged with fluoroscopic images in an augmented reality environment that enables the transfer of electrocardiography (ECG) measurements and cardiac activation times onto the model. Accurate mapping is realized through the combination of: a new calibration technique, adapted to catheter guided treatments; a visual matching registration technique, allowing the electrophysiologist to align the model with contrast-enhanced images; and the use of virtual catheters, which enable the annotation of multiple ECG measurements on the model. These annotations can be visualized by color coding on the patient model. We provide an accuracy analysis of each of these components independently. Based on simulation and experiments, we determined a segmentation error of 0.6 mm, a calibration error in the order of 1 mm and a target registration error of 1.04 +/- 0.45 mm. The system provides a 3-D visualization of the cardiac activation pattern which may facilitate and improve diagnosis and treatment of the arrhytmia. Because of its low cost and similar advantages we believe our approach can compete with existing commercial solutions, which rely on dedicated hardware and costly catheters. We provide qualitative results of the first clinical use of the system in 11 ablation procedures.     

Tuneable Singlet Exciton Fission and Triplet–Triplet Annihilation in an Orthogonal Pentacene Dimer

Fast and highly efficient intramolecular singlet exciton fission in a pentacene dimer, consisting of two covalently attached, nearly orthogonal pentacene units is reported. Fission to triplet excitons from this ground state geometry occurs within 1 ps in isolated molecules in solution and dispersed solid matrices. The process exhibits a sensitivity to environmental polarity and competes with geometric relaxation in the singlet state, while subsequent triplet decay is strongly dependent on conformational freedom. The near orthogonal arrangement of the pentacene units is unlike any structure currently proposed for efficient singlet exciton fission and may lead to new molecular design rules.     

Synthesis and Characterization of 2D Molybdenum Carbide (MXene)

Large scale synthesis and delamination of 2D Mo₂CT _x (where T is a surface termination group) has been achieved by selectively etching gallium from the recently discovered nanolaminated, ternary transition metal carbide Mo₂Ga₂C. Different synthesis and delamination routes result in different flake morphologies. The resistivity of free‐standing Mo₂CT _x films increases by an order of magnitude as the temperature is reduced from 300 to 10 K, suggesting semiconductor‐like behavior of this MXene, in contrast to Ti₃C₂T _x which exhibits metallic behavior. At 10 K, the magnetoresistance is positive. Additionally, changes in electronic transport are observed upon annealing of the films. When 2 μm thick films are tested as electrodes in supercapacitors, capacitances as high as 700 F cm^?3 in a 1 m sulfuric acid electrolyte and high capacity retention for at least 10,000 cycles at 10 A g^?1 are obtained. Free‐standing Mo₂CT _x films, with ≈8 wt% carbon nanotubes, perform well when tested as an electrode material for Li‐ions, especially at high rates. At 20 and 131 C cycling rates, stable reversible capacities of 250 and 76 mAh g^?1, respectively, are achieved for over 1000 cycles.