The cultural epigenetics of psychopathology: The missing heritability of complex diseases found?

We extend a cognitive paradigm for gene expression based on the asymptotic limit theorems of information theory to the epigenetic epidemiology of mental disorders. In particular, we recognize the fundamental role culture plays in human biology, another heritage mechanism parallel to, and interacting with, the more familiar genetic and epigenetic systems. We do this via a model through which culture acts as another tunable epigenetic catalyst that both directs developmental trajectories, and becomes convoluted with individual ontology, via a mutually-interacting crosstalk mediated by a social interaction that is itself culturally driven. We call for the incorporation of embedding culture as an essential component of the epigenetic regulation of human mental development and its dysfunctions, bringing what is perhaps the central reality of human biology into the center of biological psychiatry. Current US work on gene-environment interactions in psychiatry must be extended to a model of gene-environment-culture interaction to avoid becoming victim of an extreme American individualism that threatens to create paradigms particular to that culture and that are, indeed, peculiar in the context of the world's cultures. The cultural and epigenetic systems of heritage may well provide the 'missing' heritability of complex diseases now under so much intense discussion

States and sequences of paired subspace ideals and their relationship to patterned brain function

It is found here that the state of a network of coupled ordinary differential equations is partially localizable through a pair of contractive ideal subspaces, chosen from dual complete lattices related to the synchrony and synchronization of cells within the network. The first lattice is comprised of polydiagonal subspaces, corresponding to synchronous activity patterns that arise from functional equivalences of cell receptive fields. This lattice is dual to a transdiagonal subspace lattice ordering subspaces transverse to these network-compatible synchronies. Combinatorial consideration of contracting polydiagonal and transdiagonal subspace pairs yields a rich array of dynamical possibilities for structured networks. After proving that contraction commutes with the lattice ordering, it is shown that subpopulations of cells are left at fixed potentials when pairs of contracting subspaces span the cells' local coordinates - a phenomenon named glyph formation here. Treatment of mappings between paired states then leads to a theory of network-compatible sequence generation. The theory's utility is illustrated with examples ranging from the construction of a minimal circuit for encoding a simple phoneme to a model of the primary visual cortex including high-dimensional environmental inputs, laminar speficicity, spiking discontinuities, and time delays. In this model, glyph formation and dissolution provide one account for an unexplained anomaly in electroencephalographic recordings under periodic flicker, where stimulus frequencies differing by as little as 1 Hz generate responses varying by an order of magnitude in alpha-band spectral power. Further links between coupled-cell systems and neural dynamics are drawn through a review of synchronization in the brain and its relationship to aggregate observables, focusing again on electroencephalography. Given previous theoretical work relating the geometry of visual hallucinations to symmetries in visual cortex, periodic perturbation of the visual system along a putative symmetry axis is hypothesized to lead to a greater concentration of harmonic spectral energy than asymmetric perturbations; preliminary experimental evidence affirms this hypothesis. To conclude, connections drawn between dynamics, sensation, and behavior are distilled to seven hypotheses, and the potential medical uses of the theory are illustrated with a lattice depiction of ketamine xylazine anaesthesia and a reinterpretation of hemifield neglect

Insinuated Bodies, Corporeal Resignification and Disembodied Desire in Novels by Jeanette Winterson

My dissertation examines the various ways in which the following novels written by Jeanette Winterson Written on the Body (1992), Gut Symmetries (1997), The.PowerBook (2000), and The Stone Gods (2007) interrogate and denaturalize preexisting power structures by disentangling the body from the discursively inscribed identity categories of gender and sex. Dominant conceptions concerning desire, commonly thought to be an innate byproduct of a wholly natural body, are likewise disrupted in the unraveling of gender and sex from corporeality. Desire is thus opened up to possibilities that exist beyond the limited purview of gendered, heterosexist ideologies. Much like the field of queer theory, this dissertation draws together different branches of knowledge poststructuralism and resignification, psychoanalysis, nomadism, posthumanism, cyborg narratives in order to closely analyze what Wintersons works do to bodies, to language, to gender, to sexuality. The novels studied here offer a way of re-insinuating bodies to desire in ways that are much more inclusive and much less prohibitive. Although my consideration of these novels critically engages with many theorists throughout, there are four key thinkers that helped to shape each chapter: Judith Butler, Elizabeth Grosz, Katherine N. Hayles and Donna Haraway. My first chapter examines the parallels between Butlers theory of the sex/gender/desire matrix and Written on the Body, assessing the novels twofold operation of resignification: the body is first extricated from its naturalization before becoming reformulated in ways that move outside of the framework of the current grand narratives on desire. My second chapter surveys the relationship between Grosz and the Deleuzian Bodies without Organs (BwOs) in Gut Symmetries, while my third chapter explores Hayless version of posthumanism alongside Haraways figure of the cyborg, in relation to The.PowerBook and The Stone Gods, respectively. These novels widen the cracks in the signifying system, shifting conceptions of materiality and desire elsewhere. If we are to acknowledge that desire does indeed come from outside rather than from within the subject, then sexuality can be dissociated from the subjects body subsequently endangering genders impact on how we conceive of our desire

Doctor of Philosophy in Physics

dissertationLithium is generally considered to be a simple metal, given its simple electronic structure with one valence electron. It is considered to follow a nearly free electron model and have a nearly spherical Fermi surface. However, away from ambient conditions, the behavior of lithium become much less simple. Under high pressures, lithium undergoes a series of symmetry-breaking phase transitions, even a metal to insulator transition; at low temperatures, lithium also undergoes a temperature-driven martensitic transformation. In this work, these deviations from simple models in lithium are investigated, both at ambient pressure and under high pressures, from the relative high temperature phenomenon of melting to low temperature measurements of superconductivity

Network Designs Via Signaling Dynamics On Geometric Dynamic Graphs

Artificial neural networks are treated as black boxes. Generally,only the states of a subset of the network are considered to determine its efficacy, while the relationship between a neural network’s topology and its function remains under-theorized. For my analysis, I use a new class of event-driven recurrent neural networks—a geometric dynamic network modeled on canonical neurobiological signaling principles that allows to directly encode input data into its evolving dynamics—to forward a new type of machine learning approach. I accomplish this by first, mapping causal neuronal signal flows in the C. elegans connectome to show how the dynamic evolution of signal flows results in a unique internal representation of particular input data. Second, I propose two distinct approaches to determine the upper-bound for the amount of network dynamics needed for capturing the signaling evolution of the system. Using the upper-bound values, I construct a mathematical object representing the causal neuronal signaling dynamics, and delineate the interaction of sub-sub structures at various scales/heights of sub-graphs. Finally, based on recent theoretical propositions regarding optimal signaling in a geometric dynamic network, I show that neurons modify their axonal morphology so that the propagation time of an action potential, and the membrane’s refractory period become balanced. Thus, this work not only lays the foundation to construct and analyze a new class of artificial neural networks whose overall behavior and underlying dynamics are transparently coupled, it also provides fertile grounds for future work on biologically inspired artificial intelligence

The role of local structure in dynamical arrest

Amorphous solids, or glasses, are distinguished from crystalline solids by their lack of long-range structural order. At the level of two-body structural correlations, glassformers show no qualitative change upon vitrifying from a supercooled liquid. Nonetheless the dynamical properties of a glass are so much slower that it appears to take on the properties of a solid. While many theories of the glass transition focus on dynamical quantities, a solid's resistance to flow is often viewed as a consequence of its structure. Here we address the viewpoint that this remains the case for a glass. Recent developments using higher-order measures show a clear emergence of structure upon dynamical arrest in a variety of glass formers and offer the tantalising hope of a structural mechanism for arrest. However a rigorous fundamental identification of such a causal link between structure and arrest remains elusive. We undertake a critical survey of this work in experiments, computer simulation and theory and discuss what might strengthen the link between structure and dynamical arrest. We move on to highlight the relationship between crystallisation and glass-forming ability made possible by this deeper understanding of the structure of the liquid state, and emphasize the potential to design materials with optimal glassforming and crystallisation ability, for applications such as phase-change memory. We then consider aspects of the phenomenology of glassy systems where structural measures have yet to make a large impact, such as polyamorphism (the existence of multiple liquid states), aging (the time-evolution of non-equilibrium materials below their glass transition) and the response of glassy materials to external fields such as shear.Comment: 70 page

Theoretical investigation of solid hydrogen and deuterium

Solid hydrogen forms at extreme conditions, under high pressures. Although the hydrogen atom is easy to understand theoretically, when interacting in the solid state it becomes complicated. Up to now, five different solid phases have been confirmed experimentally and theory has predicted numerous competing crystal candidates. The goal is to obtain solid metallic hydrogen which has been predicted theoretically eighty years ago and has since been considered the holy grail of high pressure science. In nature, this form of matter is believed to exist at the core of large planets like Jupiter and Saturn, being responsible for the planets' large magnetic fields. Understanding the different phases of hydrogen is a test for our most advanced theories of quantum mechanics in condensed matter and it is fundamentally important for both planetary and material science. Recently discovered solid phase IV is stabilized by entropy and therefore only exists at relatively high temperatures. Using molecular dynamics (MD) I studied the room temperature behavior of phase IV starting with the ground state candidate structures reported in the literature. Additionally, I devised a velocity projection method for extracting Raman spectra from MD in light of direct comparison to experiment. My results helped establish the true nature of phase IV and validated the structure against experimental data. Applying the same method to the previously proposed C2=c crystal structure, I obtained results that confirm this structure is the best candidate for phase III. Within the last year, a new phase V of solid hydrogen was discovered in Raman experiments. While attempting to identify the crystal structure associated with this new phase, I discovered a manifestation of solid hydrogen in the form of long polymeric chains that could be stabilized by a charge density wave. Here I discuss the possibility of such a state of matter as an intermediate on the path to molecular dissociation of hydrogen. Chains could, however, be a spurious structure - the effect of a subtle non-convergence problem in the MD, which could indicate serious issues with many previous studies reported in the literature. A far more likely candidate for phase V is a structure similar to that of phase IV with a subtle dynamical modification. I will present Raman and phonon results from both static and dynamic calculations to support this claim. I conclude my work on pure solid hydrogen with an instructive model that could explain the entire phase diagram based on simple thermodynamic considerations. All of the assumptions were extracted from our previous ab initio studies through analysis and observations. This model encodes a comprehensive summary of the current understanding of solid hydrogen at high pressures. Raman and infrared spectroscopy have been the methods of choice in most hydrogen studies. Another way to look at the problem is to analyze the behavior of isotopic mixtures: hydrogen-deuterium binary alloys. Using isotopic substitutions, I revealed a textbook effect in hydrogen: phonon localization by mass disorder. The effect might be unique to this element, owing to the large mass ratio between hydrogen and deuterium. Phonon localization explains the complicated Raman spectra obtained experimentally in hydrogen-deuterium mixtures at various concentrations. More recent experimental results claim an unexpected phase transition in mixtures at low temperatures based on splittings in the infrared spectra. Here I will show that the infrared splitting seen experimentally could be induced by mass disorder in phase III and does not necessarily indicate a structural transformation

Colliders And Neutrinos

This book is a collection of theoretical advanced summer institute lectures by world experts in the field of collider physics and neutrinos, the two frontier areas of particle physics today. It is aimed at graduate students and beginning researchers, and as such, provides many pedagogical details not generally available in standard conference proceedings

American Literature and Science

Literature and science are two disciplines are two disciplines often thought to be unrelated, if not actually antagonistic. But Robert J. Scholnick points out that these areas of learning, up through the beginning of the nineteenth century, “were understood as parts of a unitary endeavor.By mid-century they had diverged, but literature and science have continued to interact, conflict, and illuminate each other. In this innovative work, twelve leaders in this emerging interdisciplinary field explore the long engagement of American writers with science and uncover science’s conflicting meanings as a central dimension of the nation’s conception of itself. Reaching back to the Puritan poet-minister-physician Edward Taylor, who wrote at the beginning of the scientific revolution, and forward to Thomas Pynchon, novelist of the cybernetic age, this collection of original essays contains essential work on major writers, including Franklin, Jefferson, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, Twain, Hart Crane, Dos Passos, and Charles Olson. Through its exploration of the ways that American writers have found in science and technology a vital imaginative stimulus, even while resisting their destructive applications, this book points towards a reconciliation and integration within culture. An innovative look at a neglected dimension of our literary tradition, American Literature and Science stands as both a definition of the field and an invitation to others to continue and extend new modes of inquiry. A thoughtful collection that reveals how the concept of ‘science’ has evolved from Franklin to cyberpunk, and how it has transformed American literary form and expression. —American Literature Innovative. . . . The first systematic examination of this neglected dimension of the American literary tradition. —American Renaissance Literary Reporthttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/1013/thumbnail.jp