Occasional errors can benefit coordination

The chances solving a problem that involves coordination between people are increased by introducing robotic players that sometimes make mistakes. This finding has implications for real-world coordination problems

System Theoretic Process Analysis: a literature survey on the approaches used for improving the safety in complex systems

Computer systems are becoming increasingly complex, specially interactive software systems, namely software user interfaces. The scientic community relies on dierent methods to assess their safety. This article provides an updated literature survey on hazard analysis approaches used to improve the safety of complex systems. To support the survey, we conceptualise complex systems, highlighting the challenge in terms of assessing their safety. We provide a brief overview on the approaches historically available to tackle issues in those systems, along with their most common methods. Finally, the article focuses in one method of a non-traditional approach, which is described in more details, along with some of its extensions, which seeks to improve the hazard analysis in complex systems

Determination of free 25(OH)D concentrations and their relationships to total 25(OH)D in multiple clinical populations

Context : The optimal measure of vitamin D(D) status is unknown. Objective : Directly measure circulating free 25(OH)D concentrations and relationships to total 25(OH)D in a clinically diverse sample of humans. Design : Cross-sectional analysis Setting : Seven academic sites Patients : 1661 adults: (healthy(n=211), pre-diabetic(n=479), outpatients(n=783), cirrhotic(n=90), pregnant(n=20), nursing home(n=79)) Interventions : Merge research data on circulating free 25(OH)D (directly measured immunoassay), total 25(OH)D (LC/MS/MS), D binding protein (DBP by radial (polyclonal) immunodiffusion assay)), albumin, creatinine, iPTH and DBP haplotype Main outcome measures : Distribution of free 25(OH)D (ANOVA with Bonferroni correction for post hoc comparisons) and relationships between free and total 25(OH)D (mixed effects modeling incorporating clinical condition, DBP haplotype with sex, race, eGFR, BMI and other covariates). Results : Free 25(OH)D was 4.7±1.8 pg/mL (mean ±SD) in healthy and 4.3 ±1.9 pg/mL in outpatients with 0.5-8.1 pg/mL and 0.9-8.1 pg/mL encompassing 95% of healthy and outpatients, respectively. Free 25(OH)D was higher in cirrhotics (7.1 ±3.0 pg/mL, pnursing home>prediabetic > outpatient > pregnant), and BMI (lesser effect) as covariates affecting relationships but not eGFR, sex, race or DBP haplotype. Conclusions : Total 25(OH)D, health condition, race and DBP haplotype affected free 25(OH)D, but only health conditions and BMI affected relationships between total and free 25(OH) D. Clinical importance of free 25(OH)D needs to be established in studies assessing outcomes

First report of generalized face processing difficulties in möbius sequence.

Reverse simulation models of facial expression recognition suggest that we recognize the emotions of others by running implicit motor programmes responsible for the production of that expression. Previous work has tested this theory by examining facial expression recognition in participants with Möbius sequence, a condition characterized by congenital bilateral facial paralysis. However, a mixed pattern of findings has emerged, and it has not yet been tested whether these individuals can imagine facial expressions, a process also hypothesized to be underpinned by proprioceptive feedback from the face. We investigated this issue by examining expression recognition and imagery in six participants with Möbius sequence, and also carried out tests assessing facial identity and object recognition, as well as basic visual processing. While five of the six participants presented with expression recognition impairments, only one was impaired at the imagery of facial expressions. Further, five participants presented with other difficulties in the recognition of facial identity or objects, or in lower-level visual processing. We discuss the implications of our findings for the reverse simulation model, and suggest that facial identity recognition impairments may be more severe in the condition than has previously been noted

The General Age of Leadership: Older-Looking Presidential Candidates Win Elections during War

As nation-state leaders age they increasingly engage in inter-state militarized disputes yet in industrialized societies a steady decrease in testosterone associated with aging is observed – which suggests a decrease in dominance behavior. The current paper points out that from modern societies to Old World monkeys increasing both in age and social status encourages dominant strategies to maintain acquired rank. Moreover, it is argued this consistency has shaped an implicit prototype causing followers to associate older age with dominance leadership. It is shown that (i) faces of older leaders are preferred during intergroup conflict and (ii) morphing U.S. Presidential candidates to appear older or younger has an overriding effect on actual election outcomes. This indicates that democratic voting can be systematically adjusted by activating innate biases. These findings appear to create a new line of research regarding the biology of leadership and contextual cues of age

No evidence for an association between the -36A>C phospholamban gene polymorphism and a worse prognosis in heart failure

Background: In Brazil, heart failure leads to approximately 25,000 deaths per year. Abnormal calcium handling is a hallmark of heart failure and changes in genes encoding for proteins involved in the re-uptake of calcium might harbor mutations leading to inherited cardiomyopathies. Phospholamban (PLN) plays a prime role in cardiac contractility and relaxation and mutations in the gene encoding PLN have been associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. In this study, our objective was to determine the presence of the -36A>C alteration in PLN gene in a Brazilian population of individuals with HF and to test whether this alteration is associated with heart failure or with a worse prognosis of patients with HF. Methods: We genotyped a cohort of 881 patients with HF and 1259 individuals from a cohort of individuals from the general population for the alteration -36A>C in the PLN gene. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared between groups (patients and control). In addition, frequencies or mean values of different phenotypes associated with cardiovascular disease were compared between genotypic groups. Finally, patients were prospectively followed-up for death incidence and genotypes for the -36A>C were compared regarding mortality incidence in HF patients. Results: No significant association was found between the study polymorphism and HF in our population. In addition, no association between PLN -36A>C polymorphism and demographic, clinical and functional characteristics and mortality incidence in this sample of HF patients was observed. Conclusion: Our data do not support a role for the PLN -36A>C alteration in modulating the heart failure phenotype, including its clinical course, in humans

RetroSnake: A modular pipeline to detect human endogenous retroviruses in genome sequencing data

Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) integrated into the human genome as a result of ancient exogenous infections and currently comprise ∼8% of our genome. The members of the most recently acquired HERV family, HERV-Ks, still retain the potential to produce viral molecules and have been linked to a wide range of diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration. Although a range of tools for HERV detection in NGS data exist, most of them lack wet lab validation and they do not cover all steps of the analysis. Here, we describe RetroSnake, an end-to-end, modular, computationally efficient, and customizable pipeline for the discovery of HERVs in short-read NGS data. RetroSnake is based on an extensively wet-lab validated protocol, it covers all steps of the analysis from raw data to the generation of annotated results presented as an interactive html file, and it is easy to use by life scientists without substantial computational training. Availability and implementation: The Pipeline and an extensive documentation are available on GitHub

Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of 2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter

First Neutrino Observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed.Comment: Latex, 7 pages, 10 figures, Invited paper at Neutrino 2000 Conference, Sudbury, Canada, June 16-21, 2000 to be published in the Proceeding