This seminar report discusses the low-voltage current-mode analog circuits and their various aspects. The need of high speed, high performance, low power circuits because of the advent of the portable electronic and mobile communication systems and difficulties faced in achieving that in today’s scenario are presented. Current mode circuits are the best suited candidates for the above. Their advantages are discussed here and a comparison with the conventional voltage mode circuits has been presented. The (...) principle and the implementation of the most common current mode circuits i.e. the current conveyors, has been described. The basic device level techniques also play important role in the design of smarter and efficient circuits. Some of those techniques have also been discussed here. For illustration of these techniques, low power V-I converter using current mirrors and a low- voltage power efficient operational amplifier cell topology is presented. (shrink)

Femtosecond laser microfabrication has emerged in the last decade as a powerful technique for direct inscription of low loss optical waveguides in practically any transparent dielectric substrate, showing outstanding versatility. Prototyping of new devices is made rapid, cheap and easy: optical circuits are written directly buried in the substrate, using the laser beam as an optical pen, without any need of costly masks as required by conventional photolithography. Many proof-of-principle demonstrations of integrated optics can be obtained, including splitters, (...) directional couplers, and Mach–Zehnder interferometers. Actually, the road towards applications has just been opened, and the unique capabilities of femtosecond laser micromachining will enable achievements inconceivable with other technologies. In this work, the femtosecond laser fabrication technique is discussed, together with its application to the realization of integrated photonic quantum circuits. (shrink)

In order to manage the electricity consumption information of microgrid users, the reliability of electricity information collection is studied in this paper. The normal communication between the acquisition terminal and the smart meter is a key factor affecting the accurate collection of power information; it is the basis for ensuring the operation of the microgrid as well. In order to improve the reliability of the low power line communication between the acquisition terminal and smart meters, this article first uses the (...) static networking method to layer the smart meters and select relays from them and then select the optimal communication path based on integrating communication quality and relay forwarding number dynamically, which could avoid the signal conflict problem caused by simultaneous communication. Finally, by analyzing the influence of the time-varying power line channel on the smart meter communication, a method based on the integrated communication quality and the relay number to consider the time variability of low power line communication is proposed. Choosing the optimal path of the smart meters when the communication path is abnormal can not only establish a new communication path for communication in time, but also avoid communication failures caused by the time-varying channel. Through MATLAB simulation, the time-varying dynamic network of the power line channel is introduced in this paper, which improves the reliability of the smart meter communication and has certain guiding significance for the actual smart meter network construction in microgrid. (shrink)

This paper assesses the effect of DNA barcoding—the use of informative genetic markers to identify and discriminate between species—on taxonomy. Throughout, we interpret this in terms of _varipraxis_, a concept we introduce to make sense of the treatment of biological variation by scientists and other practitioners. From its inception, DNA barcoding was criticised for being reductive, in attempting to replace multiple forms of taxonomic evidence with just one: DNA sequence variation in one or a few indicative genes. We show, though, (...) how DNA barcoding has not narrowed or reduced taxonomy in the way it was projected to. We examine the development and implementation of DNA barcoding across three kingdoms of life: animals, plants, and protists. Through this, we demonstrate that for DNA barcoding to work, the range of acceptable intra-specific variation needs to be demarcated from variation deemed to be characteristic of inter-specific differences. Consequently, biological processes responsible for particular patterns of variation need to be investigated and understood. This encourages an integrative disposition towards understanding and explaining the evolutionary processes affecting the rate and nature of change at the nucleotide level. We detail how the impact of DNA barcoding has manifested differently across the three kingdoms we examine, assessing this in terms of the ontological commitments that are held and instantiated in practice. Based on this evaluation, we consider the problem of studying multi-kingdom communities, and assess the consequences of our analysis for understanding classification and taxonomy. (shrink)

The Origin of Human Nature offers an original and fertile way to integrate spiritual and scientific views of human evolution. It offers a new and refreshing alternative to the way we think about our origins - random mutation (mechanistic neo-Darwinism), Genesis (God did it all personally), and Intelligent Design (God personally does what we can't otherwise account for). The result is an invigorating perspective on how our best qualities - our capacity for love, our appreciation of beauty, our altruistic capability, (...) our creativity and our intelligence - have come into being and evolved. By showing evolution as a creative and intelligent process with its own inherent logic, The Origin of Human Nature resolves the dilemma of how to have both truth and ethics at the same time. Instead of starting in an imagined remote and uncertain past and moving to the present, this book starts at the certain and immediate present and works back. That consciousness, creativity, and intelligence exist is certain. The question is, how can these have evolved? Dr. Albert Low has made a study of human nature throughout his life. In writing this book, he draws on his prolonged meditations on creativity and the human condition, his years of providing psychological and spiritual counseling, and a wide-ranging knowledge of Western psychology, philosophy, and science. He takes issue with Richard Dawkins' published texts, and provides a point-by-point rebuttal of the neo-Darwinist argument. (shrink)

my comments focus on jane addams's methode of ethical deliberation, as understood through Dr. Fischer's detailed explication, especially as offered in chapter 2, "An Evolutionary Method of Ethical Deliberation." As Fischer points out, this explication is of one iteration of Jane Addams's method, a particularized response to how Jane Addams believed the settlement residents should respond to the many labor strikes in Chicago during the 1890s. I offer my comments from the perspective of both a scholar, seeking to better apply (...) Addams's insights to my own work, and an educator, seeking to better integrate Addams's work into my teaching. My hope is to flesh out more clearly my own understanding and, in so doing... (shrink)

Jean-Paul Sartre develops perhaps the most radical view of individual freedom in the entire history of Western philosophy. The subject is free to create all meaning and to interpret the world, society, and self in anyway he or she wishes. The structuralist and postmodernist philosophies that succeeded Sartre’s philosophy in France and elsewhere rejected this view and put in its place linguistic and social structures that frame all human meaning, including the meaning that the subject experiences with respect to him (...) or herself. It is the characteristically balanced thought of Merleau-Ponty that comes between these extremes and in fact integrates them, that integrates self and society, perception and language, and even human consciousness, the body, and the world—as this essay will attempt to show. (shrink)

Jean-Paul Sartre develops perhaps the most radical view of individual freedom in the entire history of Western philosophy. The subject is free to create all meaning and to interpret the world, society, and self in anyway he or she wishes. The structuralist and postmodernist philosophies that succeeded Sartre’s philosophy in France and elsewhere rejected this view and put in its place linguistic and social structures that frame all human meaning, including the meaning that the subject experiences with respect to him (...) or herself. It is the characteristically balanced thought of Merleau-Ponty that comes between these extremes and in fact integrates them, that integrates self and society, perception and language, and even human consciousness, the body, and the world—as this essay will attempt to show. (shrink)

With the advent of new technology and imaging techniques that measure brain activity and with the development of the computer as a model for human thinking, it is not surprising to find many authors currently addressing issues regarding brain function and themind/body problem. What is perhaps surprising, given the absence of these techniques at the time, is that Merleau-Ponty addresses these same issues with a rigor and insight that equals, and perhaps even exceeds, most current philosophical studies. Merleau-Ponty’s frequently ignored (...) early work, The Structure of Behavior, contains a wealth of analysis still relevant to current biological and neurophysiological studies and to the philosophical consequences frequently drawn from them. Merleau-Ponty critically addresses not only theories that attempt to understand human behavior as the linear calculation of discrete physiological events but also theories that would explain human behavior simply by appealing to abstract conceptual analysis. His theory of emergent materialism focuses on the human body as a concrete organic whole that can be reduced neither to linear physical events nor to abstract conceptual relations. Understanding the human being requires a theory that recognizes the human body as an original whole, that is, that recognizes a body that intimately integrates mind and matter. It is this theory that Merleau-Ponty first articulates in The Structure of Behavior. It is the main themes of this theory that I will attempt to reveal here. (shrink)

Previous research (Kielbasa, Pomerantz, Krohn, & Sullivan, 2004; Pomerantz & Segrist, 2006) indicates that when psychologists consider a client with symptoms of depression or anxiety, payment method significantly influences diagnostic decisions. This study extends the scope of the previous research to consider clients with symptoms of social phobia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Psychologists in independent practice responded to vignettes of clients whose descriptions deliberately included subclinical impairment. Half of the participants were told that the clients would pay via (...) managed care; the other half were told that the clients would pay out-of-pocket. Confirming previous studies, payment method had a highly significant impact on diagnosis such that compared to out-of-pocket clients, managed care clients were much more likely to be assigned Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnoses. Ethical implications relate to informed consent, accuracy and truthfulness in diagnosis, and psychologists' integrity. (shrink)

The wedge problem, that is, the propagation of radiation or particles in the presence of a wedge, is examined in different contexts. Generally, the paper follows the historical order from Sommerfeld's early work to recent stochastic results—hindsights and new results being woven in as appropriate. In each context, identifying the relevant mathematical problem has been the key to the solution. Thus each section can be given both a physics and a mathematics title: Section 2: diffraction by reflecting wedge; boundary value (...) problem of differential equations; solutions defined on mutiply connected spaces. Section 3: geometrical theory of diffraction; identificiation of function spaces. Section 4: path integral solutions; path integration on multiply connected spaces; asymptotics on the boundaries of function spaces. Section 5: probing the shape of the wedge and the roughness of its surface; stochastic calculus. Several propagators and Green functions are given explicitly, some old ones and some new ones. They include the knife-edge propagator for Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions, the absorbing knife edge propagator, the wedge propagators, the propagator for a free particle on a μ-sheeted Riemann surface, the Dirichlet and the Neumann wedge Green function. (shrink)

IntroductionThis case study describes the process faculty at a large research university undertook to build a stand-alone online academic integrity course for first-year and transfer students. Because academic integrity is decentralized at the institution, building a more systematic program had to come from the bottom-up (faculty developed) rather than from the top down (institutionally mandated).Case descriptionUsing the learning management system, faculty and e-learning designers collaborated to build the course. Incorporating nuanced scenarios for six different types of misconduct (consistent with the (...) University’s Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities & Conduct), a pre- and post-test, and assessments for each scenario, the course provides experience in recognizing and avoiding academic misconduct.Discussion and evaluationAs a stand-alone course, the faculty who created it maintain control over content and are able to analyze student performance across the institution. In the ten months since its launch, the course has been eagerly adopted by faculty (n = 1853 students have completed the course) and post-test scores indicate students are learning from the course.ConclusionsAfter the successful launch of the student course, the next step, already underway, is the launch of learning modules for faculty and teaching assistants. (shrink)

Anticipatory looking on mindreading tasks can indicate our expectation of an agent's action. The challenge is that social situations are often more complex, involving instances where we need to track an agent's false belief to successfully identify the outcome to which an action is directed. If motor processes can guide how action goals are understood, it is conceivable— where that kind of goal ascription occurs in false-belief tasks— for motor representations to account for someone's belief-like state. Testing adults (N = (...) 42) in a real-time interactive helping scenario, we discovered that participants' early mediolateral motor activity (leftwards– rightwards leaning on balance board) foreshadowed the agent's belief-based action preparation. These results suggest fast belief-tracking can modulate motor representations generated in the course of one's interaction with an agent. While adults' leaning, and anticipatory looking, revealed the contribution of fast false-belief tracking, participants did not correct the agent's mistake in their final helping action. These discoveries suggest that adults may not necessarily use another's belief during overt social interaction or find reflecting on another's belief as being normatively relevant to one's own choice of action. Our interactive task design offers a promising way to investigate how motor and mindreading processes may be variously integrated. (shrink)

Due to the introduction of memristors, the memristor-based nonlinear oscillator circuits readily present the state initial-dependent multistability, i.e., coexisting multiple attractors. The dimensionality reduction modeling for a memristive circuit is carried out to realize accurate prediction, quantitative analysis, and physical control of its multistability, which has become one of the hottest research topics in the field of information science. Based on these considerations, this paper briefly reviews the specific multistability phenomenon generating from the memristive circuit in the voltage-current (...) domain and expounds the multistability control strategy. Then, this paper introduces the accurate flux-charge constitutive relation of memristors. Afterwards, the dimensionality reduction modeling method of the memristive circuits, i.e., the incremental flux-charge analysis method, is emphatically introduced, whose core idea is to implement the explicit expressions of the initial conditions in the flux-charge model and to discuss the feasibility and effectiveness of the multistability reconstitution of the memristive circuits using their flux-charge models. Furthermore, the incremental integral transformation method for modeling of the memristive system is reviewed by following the idea of the incremental flux-charge analysis method. The theory and application promotion of the dimensionality reduction modeling and multistability reconstitution are proceeded, and the application prospect is prospected by taking the synchronization application of the memristor-coupled system as an example. (shrink)

The output from motor neuron pools is influenced by the integration of synaptic inputs originating from descending corticomotor and spinal reflex pathways. In this study, using paired non-invasive brain and peripheral nerve stimulation, we investigated how descending corticomotor pathways influence the physiologic recruitment order of the soleus Hoffmann reflex. Eleven neurologically unimpaired adults completed an assessment of transcranial magnetic stimulation -conditioning of the soleus H-reflex over a range of peripheral nerve stimulation intensities. Unconditioned H-reflex recruitment curves were obtained by delivering (...) PNS pulses to the posterior tibial nerve. Subsequently, TMS-conditioned H-reflex recruitment curves were obtained by pairing PNS with subthreshold TMS at short and long intervals. We evaluated unconditioned and TMS-conditioned H-reflex amplitudes along the ascending limb, peak, and descending limb of the H-reflex recruitment curve. Our results revealed that, for long-interval facilitation, TMS-conditioned H-reflex amplitudes were significantly larger than unconditioned H-reflex amplitudes along the ascending limb and peak of the H-reflex recruitment curve. Additionally, significantly lower PNS intensities were needed to elicit peak H-reflex amplitude for long-interval facilitation compared to unconditioned. These findings suggest that the influence of descending corticomotor pathways, particularly those mediating long-interval facilitation, contribute to changing the recruitment gain of the motor neuron pool, and can inform future methodological protocols for TMS-conditioning of H-reflexes. By characterizing and inducing short-term plasticity in circuitry mediating short- and long-interval TMS-conditioning of H-reflex amplitudes, future studies can investigate supraspinal and spinal circuit contributions to abnormal motor control, as well as develop novel therapeutic targets for neuromodulation. (shrink)

The lack of primary healthcare integration has been identified as one of the main limits to programs’ efficacy in low- and middle-income countries. This is especially relevant to the Millennium Development Goals, whose health objectives were not attained in many countries at their term in 2015. While global health scholars and decision-makers are unanimous in calling for integration, the objective here is to go further and contribute to its promotion by presenting two of the most important challenges to be met (...) for its achievement: 1) developing a “crosswise approach” to implementation that is operational and effective; and 2) creating synergy between national programs and interventions driven by non-State actors. The argument for urgently addressing this double challenge is illustrated by drawing on observations made and lessons learned during a four-year research project evaluating the effects of interventions against malaria in Burkina Faso. The way interventions were framed was mostly vertical, leaving little room for local adaptation. In addition, many non-governmental organizations intervened and contributed to a fragmented and heteronomous health governance system. Important ethical issues stem from how interventions against malaria were shaped and implemented in Burkina Faso. To further explore this issue, a scoping literature review was conducted in August 2016 on the theme of integrated primary healthcare. It revealed that no clear definition of the concept has been advanced or endorsed thus far. We call for caution in conceptualizing it as a simple juxtaposition of different tasks or missions at the primary care level. It is time to go beyond the debate around selective versus comprehensive approaches or fragmentation versus cohesion. Integration should be thought of as a process to reconcile these tensions. In the context that characterizes many low- and middle-income countries today, better aid coordination and public health systems strengthening, as promoted by multisectoral approaches, might be among the best options to sustainably and ethically integrate primary healthcare interventions. (shrink)

© 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.We present new observations of the low-mass companion to HD 984 taken with the Gemini Planet Imager as a part of the GPI Exoplanet Survey campaign. Images of HD 984 B were obtained in the J and H bands. Combined with archival epochs from 2012 and 2014, we fit the first orbit to the companion to find an 18 au orbit with a 68% confidence interval between 14 and 28 au, an eccentricity (...) of 0.18 with a 68% confidence interval between 0.05 and 0.47, and an inclination of 119°with a 68% confidence interval between 114°and 125°. To address the considerable spectral covariance in both spectra, we present a method of splitting the spectra into low and high frequencies to analyze the spectral structure at different spatial frequencies with the proper spectral noise correlation. Using the split spectra, we compare them to known spectral types using field brown dwarf and low-mass star spectra and find a best-fit match of a field gravity M6.5 ±1.5 spectral type with a corresponding temperature of K. Photometry of the companion yields a luminosity of log=2.88 ± 0.07 dex with DUSTY models. Mass estimates, again from DUSTY models, find an age-dependent mass of 34 ±1 to 95 ±4 M Jup. These results are consistent with previous measurements of the object. (shrink)

The goal of the current study is to investigate the effects of the distractive textual information on the activation of predictive inference online, and how the readers with high or low working memory capacity differ in their online activation and text memory. To test the two hypothesis of attentional competition and semantic integration, we conducted three experiments to investigate whether a local prediction and a global prediction, both of which could be derived from the description of a critical event, are (...) generated in the mind of the reader, and how this generation process is influenced by contextual and cognitive factors of the reader. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 suggest that the elaboration of the global aspects in the narrative reduces the local prediction, but makes the global prediction more salient to occur. The evidence from Experiment 3 confirms the hypothesis that even automatic processes are constrained by distant contextual factors, in combination with differences in working memory, and examines how referentially local and global predictions are intertwined in text comprehension. Overall, these data support the immediate integration hypothesis across sentence boundaries at different representation levels, as well as interaction assumptions of different processing levels within referentially local and referentially global processing contexts. (shrink)

Osmoregulation in insects is an essential process whereby changes in hemolymph osmotic pressure induce the release of diuretic or antidiuretic hormones to recruit individual osmoregulatory responses in a manner that optimizes overall homeostasis. However, the mechanisms by which different osmoregulatory circuits interact with other homeostatic networks to implement the correct homeostatic program remain largely unexplored. Surprisingly, recent advances in insect genetics have revealed several important metabolic functions are regulated by classic osmoregulatory pathways, suggesting that internal cues related to osmotic (...) and metabolic perturbations are integrated by the same hormonal networks. Here, we review our current knowledge on the network mechanisms that underpin systemic osmoregulation and discuss the remarkable parallels between the hormonal networks that regulate body fluid balance and those involved in energy homeostasis to provide a framework for understanding the polymodal optimization of homeostasis in insects. (shrink)

Low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, and prematurity are overwhelming risk factors associated with infant mortality and morbidity. The lack of efficacious prenatal screening tests for these three outcomes illuminates the problems inherent in bivariate estimates of association. A biocultural strategy for research is presented, integrating societal and familial levels of analysis with the metabolic, immune, vascular, and neuroendocrine systems of the body. Policy decisions, it is argued, need to be based on this type of biocultural information in order to (...) impact the difficult-to-change problems of low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, and prematurity. (shrink)

In the epoch of Empire, the American economy is sustained by a global monetary circuit totally different front that of the imperialist period. Whilst the imperialist countries were constituted as « centres » of production, the contemporary US is no longer just a centre of absorption and evacuation of money which necessitates the existence of a financial pump to the outside. In becoming that pump, the Japanese economy became integral to the global market. The imperial monetary circuit also functions as (...) a mode of capture, particularly of value, that one can qualify as « financial » with regard to the classic « exploitation » of workers. This paper tries to demonstrate that ultimately the two modes of capture are nonetheless achieved by a single function of money. (shrink)

Newborn neurons are generated in the adult hippocampus from a pool of self‐renewing stem cells located in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus. Their activation, proliferation, and maturation depend on a host of environmental and cellular factors but, until recently, the contribution of local neuronal circuitry to this process was relatively unknown. In their recent publication, Song and colleagues have uncovered a novel circuit‐based mechanism by which release of the neurotransmitter, γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA), from parvalbumin‐expressing (PV) interneurons, can (...) hold radial glia‐like (RGL) stem cells of the adult SGZ in a quiescent state. This tonic GABAergic signal, dependent upon the activation of γ2 subunit‐containing GABAA receptors of RGL stem cells, can thus prevent their proliferation and subsequent maturation or return them to quiescence if previously activated. PV interneurons are thus capable of suppressing neurogenesis during periods of high network activity and facilitating neurogenesis when network activity is low. (shrink)

The osmotic activity produced by internal, non‐permeable, anionic nucleic acids and metabolites causes a persistent and life‐threatening cell swelling, or cellular edema, produced by the Gibbs‐Donnan effect. This evolutionary‐critical osmotic challenge must have been resolved by LUCA or its ancestors, but we lack a cell‐physiology look into the biophysical constraints to the solutions. Like mycoplasma, early cells conceivably preserved their volume with Cl−, Na+, and K+‐channels, Na+/H+‐exchangers, and a light‐dependent bacteriorhodopsin‐like H+‐pump. Here, I simulated protocells having these ionic‐permeabilities and inhabiting (...) an oceanic pond before the Great‐Oxygenation‐Event. Protocells showed better volume control and stable resting potentials at lower external pH and higher temperatures, favoring a certain type of extremophile life. Prevention of Na+‐influx at night, with low bacteriorhodopsin activity, required deep shutdown of highly voltage‐sensitive Na+‐channels and extremely selective K+‐channels, two conserved features essential for modern neuronal encoding. The Gibbs‐Donnan effect universality implies that extraterrestrial cells, if they exist, may reveal similar volume‐controlling mechanisms. (shrink)

Giulio Tononi's integrated information theory (IIT) proposes explaining consciousness by directly identifying it with integrated information. We examine the construct validity of IIT's measure of consciousness,phi(Φ), by analyzing its formal properties, its relation to key aspects of consciousness, and its co-variation with relevant empirical circumstances. Our analysis shows that IIT's identification of consciousness with the causal efficacy with which differentiated networks accomplish global information transfer (which is what Φ in fact measures) is mistaken. This misidentification has the consequence (...) of requiring the attribution of consciousness to a range of natural systems and artifacts that include, but are not limited to, large-scale electrical power grids, gene-regulation networks, some electronic circuit boards, and social networks. Instead of treating this consequence of the theory as a disconfirmation, IIT embraces it. By regarding these systems as bearers of consciousnessex hypothesi, IIT is led toward the orbit of panpsychist ideation. This departure from science as we know it can be avoided by recognizing the functional misattribution at the heart of IIT's identity claim. We show, for example, what function is actually performed, at least in the human case, by the cortical combination of differentiation with integration that IIT identifies with consciousness. Finally, we examine what lessons may be drawn from IIT's failure to provide a credible account of consciousness for progress in the very active field of research concerned with exploring the phenomenon from formal and neural points of view. (shrink)

By integrating the entire body of research in human sexual dynamics, immune responses, and sociocultural behavior, we can conclude that the mass hysteria our society is currently experiencing originates in our evolved psychological adaptations to pandemic conditions [i]. A lack of hormonal balance [ii], due to a collapse in testosterone levels, may cause a disproportionate immune response that leads to the destruction of our cherished sociopolitical institutions—the very institutions that are design to protect human liberty and prosperity. What is playing (...) out at a societal level is similar to an excessive immune response that causes the body to attack itself: decreased testosterone causing the kind of auto-immune response that is more prevalent in females. [i] Barzilai, R.. Low Solar Activity, Winter Flu Conditions, Pandemics and Sex Wars: A Holistic View of Human Evolution. Science & Philosophy, 8. Doi: 10.23756/sp.v8i1.514 [ii] Barzilai, R.. Solar cycles, light, sex hormones and the life cycles of civilization: Toward integrated chronobiology. Science & Philosophy, 7. doi: 10.23756/sp.v7i2.483. (shrink)

A 38-year-old army officer started therapy in 2020 with a four-year history of auditory hallucinations and delusions of reference, persecution and grandeur, symptoms that were resistant to traditional antipsychotic medications. He follows an integrative psychotherapy program that aims to reduce his anxiety, continues his antipsychotic medications, and has Infra-Low Frequency Neurofeedback. After his initial assessment he had a 40 min session of Infra-Low Frequency Neurofeedback before any other kind of intervention. Before and immediately after the session he completed the SCL-90 (...) scale and the Visual Analog Scale covering 20 aspects of his psychological and physical state as well as his schizophrenic symptoms. This first Neurofeedback session had dramatic effects on his psychotic symptoms, levels of anxiety and psychosomatic condition, before his first psychotherapy session and/or any changes in his antipsychotic medication. The above results have great importance due to the severity and chronicity of schizophrenia. Informed consent was obtained from the participant for the publication of this case report (including all data and images). (shrink)

Deep Brain Stimulation is an invasive device-based neuromodulation technique that allows the therapeutic direct stimulation of subcortical and deep cortical structures following the surgical placement of stimulating electrodes. DBS is approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration for the treatment of movement disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder, while new indications, including Major Depressive Disorder, are in experimental development. We report the case of a patient with MDD who received DBS to the ventral internal capsule and ventral striatum bilaterally and presented with (...) 2 weeks of voltage-dependent Tourette-like symptoms including brief transient episodes of abrupt-onset and progressively louder coprolalia and stuttered speech; tic-like motor behavior in his right arm and leg; rushes of anxiety, angry prosody, angry affect; and moderate amnesia without confusion. We describe the results of the inpatient neuropsychiatric workup leading to the diagnosis of iatrogenic voltage-dependent activation of cortico-subcortical circuits and discuss insights into the pathophysiology of Tourette as well as safety considerations raised by the case. (shrink)

With the widespread application of electric vehicles, the study of the power lithium-ion battery has broad prospects and great academic significance. The state of charge is one of the key parts in battery management system, which is used to provide guarantee for the safe and efficient operation of LIB. To obtain the reliable SOC estimation result under the influence of simple model and measurement noise, a novel estimation method with adaptive feedback compensator is presented in this paper. The simplified dynamic (...) external electrical characteristic of LIB is represented by the one-order Thevenin equivalent circuit model and then the ECM parameters are identified by the forgetting factor recursive least squares method. Fully taking into account the feedback effect of terminal voltage innovation, the combination of adaptive extended Kalman filter and innovation vector-based proportional-integral-derivative feedback is proposed to estimate the LIB SOC. The common single proportional feedback of Kalman filter is replaced by the innovation vector-based PID feedback, which means that the multiple prior terminal voltage innovation is used in the measurement correction step of KF. The results reveal that the AEKF with PID feedback compensation strategy can improve the SOC estimation performance compared with the common AEKF, and it reveals good robust capability and rapid convergence speed for initial SOC errors. The maximum absolute error and average absolute error for SOC estimation are close to 4% and 2.6%, respectively. (shrink)

RESUMEN La problemática del muy bajo peso al nacer ha sido abordada desde hace varios años, sin embargo, las investigaciones están enfocadas desde diferentes perspectivas y contextos, no siempre se ha considerado su repercusión a corto y a largo plazo, así como la interacción de los diferentes factores que se relacionan con este riesgo biológico. Por ello en esta revisión bibliográfica se realiza una valoración de estudios ejecutados a nivel internacional y en Cuba dedicados al desarrollo neuropsicológico de niños con (...) muy bajo peso al nacer. Se concluye que el muy bajo peso al nacer repercute en el desarrollo neuropsicológicos desde edades tempranas, hasta la adolescencia; por ello es necesario una visión integradora que tenga en cuenta el riesgo biológico, las particularidades individuales y el contexto social en que se desenvuelve el niño desde los primeros momentos, lo que posibilitará, perfeccionar la atención a corto y largo plazo al grupo de riesgo. ABSTRACT The problems of very low birth weight have been dealt with for many years, however, research on the matter is approached from different perspectives and contexts, not always have its short and long term repercussions being considered as well as the interaction of different factors related to this biological risk. Therefore, this bibliographical review makes an assessment of international and Cuban studies devoted to very low birth weight children’s neuropsychological development. It was reached the conclusion that very low birth weight affects neuropsychological development from early ages to adolescence; for that reason, it is necessary to have an integrated approach of the problem that takes into account the biologicals risk, individual characteristics and the social context in which the child develops from the beginning, which will make the improvement of short and long term care to this risk group possible. (shrink)

Based on brain imaging findings, we present a model according to which addiction emerges as an imbalance in the information processing and integration among various brain circuits and functions. The dysfunctions reflect (a) decreased sensitivity of reward circuits, (b) enhanced sensitivity of memory circuits to conditioned expectations to drugs and drug cues, stress reactivity, and (c) negative mood, and a weakened control circuit. Although initial experimentation with a drug of abuse is largely a voluntary behavior, continued drug (...) use can eventually impair neuronal circuits in the brain that are involved in free will, turning drug use into an automatic compulsive behavior. The ability of addictive drugs to co‐opt neurotransmitter signals between neurons (including dopamine, glutamate, and GABA) modifies the function of different neuronal circuits, which begin to falter at different stages of an addiction trajectory. Upon exposure to the drug, drug cues or stress this results in unrestrained hyperactivation of the motivation/drive circuit that results in the compulsive drug intake that characterizes addiction. (shrink)

What causes adolescents to develop consumer’ ethical beliefs? Prior research has largely focused on the negative influence of peers and negative patterns of parent–child interactions to explain risky and unethical consumer behaviors. We take a different perspective by focusing on the positive support of parents and peers in adolescent social development. An integrative model is developed that links parental and peer support with adolescents’ self-worth motives, their materialistic tendencies, and their consumer ethical beliefs. In a study of 984 adolescents, we (...) demonstrate support for a sequential mediation model in which peer and parental support is positively related to adolescents’ self-esteem and feelings of power, which are each associated with decreased materialism as a means of compensating for low self-worth. This reduced materialism is, in turn, associated with more ethical consumer beliefs. (shrink)

Background: Short latency afferent inhibition provides a method to investigate mechanisms of sensorimotor integration. Cholinergic involvement in the SAI phenomena suggests that SAI may provide a marker of cognitive influence over implicit sensorimotor processes. Consistent with this hypothesis, we previously demonstrated that visual attention load suppresses SAI circuits preferentially recruited by anterior-to-posterior -, but not posterior-to-anterior -current induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation. However, cerebellar modulation can also modulate these same AP-sensitive SAI circuits. Yet, the consequences of concurrent cognitive (...) and implicit cerebellar influences over these AP circuits are unknown.Objective: We used cerebellar intermittent theta-burst stimulation to determine whether the cerebellar modulation of sensory to motor projections interacts with the attentional modulation of sensory to motor circuits probed by SAI.Methods: We assessed AP-SAI and PA-SAI during a concurrent visual detection task of varying attention load before and after cerebellar iTBS.Results: Before cerebellar iTBS, a higher visual attention load suppressed AP-SAI, but not PA-SAI, compared to a lower visual attention load. Post-cerebellar iTBS, the pattern of AP-SAI in response to visual attention load, was reversed; a higher visual attention load enhanced AP-SAI compared to a lower visual attention load. Cerebellar iTBS did not affect PA-SAI regardless of visual attention load.Conclusion: These findings suggest that attention and cerebellar networks converge on overlapping AP-sensitive circuitry to influence motor output by controlling the strength of the afferent projections to the motor cortex. This interaction has important implications for understanding the mechanisms of motor performance and learning. (shrink)

The visuospatial system integrates inner and outer functional processes, organizing spatial, temporal, and social interactions between the brain, body, and environment. These processes involve sensorimotor networks like the eye–hand circuit, which is especially important to primates, given their reliance on vision and touch as primary sensory modalities and the use of the hands in social and environmental interactions. At the same time, visuospatial cognition is intimately connected with memory, self-awareness, and simulation capacity. In the present article, we review issues associated (...) with investigating visuospatial integration in extinct human groups through the use of anatomical and behavioral data gleaned from the paleontological and archaeological records. In modern humans, paleoneurological analyses have demonstrated noticeable and unique morphological changes in the parietal cortex, a region crucial to visuospatial management. Archaeological data provides information on hand–tool interaction, the spatial behavior of past populations, and their interaction with the environment. Visuospatial integration may represent a critical bridge between extended cognition, self-awareness, and social perception. As such, visuospatial functions are relevant to the hypothesis that human evolution is characterized by changes in brain–body–environment interactions and relations, which enhance integration between internal and external cognitive components through neural plasticity and the development of a specialized embodiment capacity. We therefore advocate the investigation of visuospatial functions in past populations through the paleoneurological study of anatomical elements and archaeological analysis of visuospatial behaviors. (shrink)

Recombination is often considered a disruptive force for well‐adapted phenotypes, but recent evidence suggests that this cost of recombination can be small. A key benefit of recombination is that it can help create proteins and regulatory circuits with novel and useful phenotypes more efficiently than point mutation. Its effectiveness stems from the large‐scale reorganization of genotypes that it causes, which can help explore far‐flung regions in genotype space. Recent work on complex phenotypes in model gene regulatory circuits and (...) proteins shows that the disruptive effects of recombination can be very mild compared to the effects of mutation. Recombination thus can have great benefits at a modest cost, but we do not understand the reasons well. A better understanding might shed light on the evolution of recombination and help improve evolutionary strategies in biochemical engineering. (shrink)

Studies have shown that both serotonin and glutamate receptor systems play a crucial role in the mechanisms underlying drug-induced synesthesia. The specific nature of these mechanisms, however, continues to remain elusive. Here we propose two distinct hypotheses for how synesthesia triggered by hallucinogens in the serotonin-agonist family may occur. One hypothesis is that the drug-induced destabilization of thalamic projections via GABAergic neuronal circuits from sensory areas leads to a disruption of low-level, spontaneous integration of multisensory stimuli. This sort of (...) integration regularly occurs when spatial and temporal attributes match. Destabilization of feedback loops, however, can result in incongruent experiences or binding of random thalamus activation with sensory input in a particular sensory modality. The second hypothesis builds on embodied cognition, cases in which visual images of external stimuli activate task-related neural regions. On this proposal, binding processes that do not normally generate awareness become accessible to consciousness as a result of decreased attentional discrimination among incoming stimuli. (shrink)

Mexico faces a crisis of national sovereignty and independence as it struggles to establish a democracy amidst integration into the world market system and internal demands for social justice. U.S. involvement in Mexican affairs, providing military training and equipment for government troops, contributes to a state-sponsored war against civilians, namely indigenous groups and the middle and lower classes devastated by NAFTA. While resistance movements in Chiapas respond to capitalist practices and repression, Valdez argues the Mexican government minimizes them to displace (...) its indigenousgroups and facilitate their silent annihilation. U.S. policy, the Mexican state, indigenous issues, and free trade are interconnected with Mexico’s larger society. (shrink)

Mexico faces a crisis of national sovereignty and independence as it struggles to establish a democracy amidst integration into the world market system and internal demands for social justice. U.S. involvement in Mexican affairs, providing military training and equipment for government troops, contributes to a state-sponsored war against civilians, namely indigenous groups and the middle and lower classes devastated by NAFTA. While resistance movements in Chiapas respond to capitalist practices and repression, Valdez argues the Mexican government minimizes them to displace (...) its indigenousgroups and facilitate their silent annihilation. U.S. policy, the Mexican state, indigenous issues, and free trade are interconnected with Mexico’s larger society. (shrink)

In order to avoid the motor damage caused by excessive temperature rise of armature winding of the walking motor during braking of high-voltage inspection robot in complexity microgrid networks, an unpowered downhill speed and energy recovery optimization control strategy is proposed based on temperature rise characteristics of the walking motor. Firstly, the thermal equivalent circuit model of the walking motor is established, and the mapping relationship between the armature winding temperature of the walking motor and ambient temperature is solved; (...) secondly, the influence of armature winding temperature on unpowered downhill speed and energy recovery control strategy of robot is analyzed; thirdly, according to the temperature of front and rear wheel walking motors and the temperature difference between them, the optimal control strategy of unpowered downhill speed and energy recovery of robot is put forward; fourthly, by adjusting the duty ratio u of the energy consumption speed control system and the front wheel feedback brake distribution factor λ, the temperature difference between the front and rear wheel walking motors is reduced. Through the experimental analysis on the simulated line, it is verified that the unpowered downhill speed and energy recovery optimization control method based on the temperature rise characteristics of the walking motor can effectively reduce the temperature difference between the front and rear wheels. (shrink)

In the past decade many studies have demonstrated the existence of a mirror mechanism that matches the sensory representation of a biological stimulus with its somatomotor and visceromotor representation. This mechanism, likely phylogenetically very old, explains several types of mirroring behaviours, at different levels of complexity. The presence in primates of dedicated neuroanatomical pathways for specific sensorimotor integrations processes implies, at least in the primate lineage, a hard-wired mirror mechanism for social cognitive functions.

BackgroundBiobanks have recently been established in several low- and middle-income countries in the Arab region of the Middle East. We aimed to explore the views of biobank managers regarding the challenges, ethical issues, and governance arrangements of their biobanks.MethodsIn-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eight biobank managers from Egypt, Jordan, and Sudan. Interviews were performed either face-to-face, by phone, or via Zoom and lasted approximately 45–75 min. After verbal consent, interviews were recorded and then transcribed. (...) The authors performed a thematic analysis of the transcripts independently and then integrated the themes via a consensus process.ResultsBiobank managers discussed the main challenges in establishing their biobanks. These included the staff’s lack of experience and training, limited funds, deficit awareness of biobanks, obtaining funding from different sources. Only four reported they were active in distributing biospecimens and health data to researchers. Six biobanks used a broad consent model, one used tiered consent, and another allowed participants to opt-out of being recontacted. Five managers avoided partnerships with pharmaceutical companies due to concerns with unfavorable reactions from the community. Five managers did not have clear policies for returning research results to the donors. Five expressed challenges with sample and data sharing with international collaborators; all five used material transfer agreements. The biobank managers revealed variable governance arrangements and activities with community involving awareness and educational efforts rather than active engagement. Several expressed the importance of transparency with the operations of their biobanks and gaining the trust of their stakeholders.ConclusionManagers of biobanks in LMICs in the Arab Middle East encounter financial, operational, and social challenges toward their sustainability efforts. Discussions with key stakeholders are warranted to manage ethical issues involving informed consent, privacy, data sharing, and the return of results. We recommend that biobank managers in the Arab Middle East form collaborative networks within the region and internationally, develop trusting governance relationships with their stakeholders, and pursue engagement activities with their communities to enhance trust. (shrink)

This paper selectively reviews the neurophysiological evidence for shared neural circuits (supposedly implemented by mirror neurons) as the mechanism underlying empathy. I will argue that while the mirror neuron system plays a role in motor resonance, it is not possible to conclude that this system is critically involved in emotion recognition, and there is little evidence for its role in empathy and sympathy. In addition, there is modest support from neurological observations that lesion of the regions involved in the (...) mirror neuron system leads to dysfunction in empathy, whereas damage of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is associated with such impairment. To significantly advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying empathy, research needs finer conceptualization, better designed paradigms, and integration with knowledge from lesion studies. (shrink)

This paper reviews how and why ILF Neurofeedback has proven to be a parsimonious and efficient way to remediate the neuro-physiological effects of trauma. Reference is made to several large- and small-scale institutional proof of concept experimental studies each addressing a specific kind of trauma. It ends with a case report by the author working with an American combat veteran. It makes the argument that given its success that ILF Neurofeedback and Alpha-Theta training become accepted as part of an integrative (...) and holistic approach for treating survivors of trauma. (shrink)

When used in conjunction with the current floorplan and the optimization technique in circuit design engineering, this research allows for the evaluation of design parameters that can be used to reduce congestion during integrated circuit fabrication. Testing the multiple alternative consequences of IC design will be extremely beneficial in this situation, as will be demonstrated further below. If the importance of placement and routing congestion concerns is underappreciated, the IC implementation may experience significant nonlinear problems throughout the process as (...) a result of the underappreciation of placement and routing congestion concerns. The use of standard optimization techniques in integrated circuit design is not the most effective strategy when it comes to precisely estimating nonlinear aspects in the design of integrated circuits. To this end, advanced tools such as Xilinx VIVADO and the ICC2 have been developed, in addition to the ICC1 and VIRTUOSO, to explore for computations and recover the actual parameters that are required to design optimal placement and routing for well-organized and ordered physical design. Furthermore, this work employs the perimeter degree technique to measure routing congestion in both horizontal and vertical directions for a silicon chip region and then applies the technique to lower the density of superfluous routing. Recently, a metaheuristic approach to computation has increased in favor, particularly in the last two decades. It is a classic graph theory problem, and it is also a common topic in the field of optimization. However, it does not provide correct information about where and how nodes should be put, despite its popularity. Consequently, in conjunction with the optimized floorplan data, the optimized model created by the Improved Harmonic Search Optimization algorithm undergoes testing and investigation in order to estimate the amount of congestion that occurs during the routing process in VLSI circuit design and to minimize the amount of congestion that occurs. (shrink)

Binaural pitch fusion is the perceptual integration of stimuli that evoke different pitches between the ears into a single auditory image. This study was designed to investigate how steady background noise can influence binaural pitch fusion. The binaural fusion ranges, the frequency ranges over which binaural pitch fusion occurred, were measured with three signal-to-noise ratios of the pink noise and compared with those measured in quiet. The preliminary results show that addition of an appropriate amount of noise can reduce binaural (...) fusion ranges, an effect called stochastic resonance. This finding increases the understanding of how specific noise levels can sharpen binaural pitch fusion in normal hearing individuals. Furthermore, it elicits more pathways for research to explore how this benefit can practically be used to help improve binaural auditory perception. (shrink)

Transtheoretical integrative decision-making models help clinicians to use patient factors that are known to predict outcomes in order to inform individualized treatment. Patient factors with a strong evidence base include: functional impairment, social support and interpersonal functioning, complexity and comorbidity, coping style, level of resistance, and subjective distress. Among those with binge-eating disorder (BED), patient factors have not been extensively characterized relative to norms or other clinical samples. We used an integrative decision-making model of these six domains of patient factors (...) related to patient outcomes to characterize a sample of 424 adult treatment-seeking patients with BED. Data were from medical charts, a demographics questionnaire, and validated psychometric scales. We then compared these data to published data from normative and other eating disorder (ED) samples. Results showed that the average patient with BED: (1) was significantly more functionally impaired compared to non-clinical norms but somewhat less impaired than other patients with ED, (2) demonstrated clinically significant problems in social support and interpersonal functioning, (3) presented with complex comorbid pathology and high levels of chronicity, (4) used a more internalizing coping style compared to the norm and other ED samples, (5) had low levels of resistance to interventions, and (6) experienced a moderately high level of subjective distress indicating good motivation for treatment. Corresponding recommendations to these findings are that the average patient with BED should be provided higher intensity treatment that is longer in duration, interpersonally-focused, directive in nature, and emphasizing self-reflection and insight. Despite the nomothetic nature of the findings, clinicians are encouraged to assess these patient domains in order to come to an ideographic case conceptualization and to tailor precision treatment to the individual patient with BED. (shrink)