Women and computers: effects of stereotype threat on attribution of failure

This study investigated whether stereotype threat can influence women’s attributions of failure in a computer task. Male and female college-age students (n = 86, 16–21 years old) from Germany were asked to work on a computer task and were hinted beforehand that in this task, either (a) men usually perform better than women do (negative threat condition), or (b) women usually perform better than men do (positive condition), or (c) they received no threat or gender-related information (control group). The final part of the task was prepared to provide an experience of failure: due to a faulty USB-memory stick, completion of the task was not possible. Results suggest a stereotype threat effect on women’s attribution of failure: in the negative threat condition, women attributed the failure more internally (to their own inability), and men more externally (to the faulty technical equipment). In the positive and control conditions, no significant gender differences in attribution emerged

The integration of YidC into the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli requires the signal recognition particle, SecA and SecYEG

The integration of the polytopic membrane protein YidC into the inner membrane of Escherichia coli was analyzed employing an in vitro system. Upon integration of in vitro synthesized YidC, a 42-kDa membrane protected fragment was detected, which could be immunoprecipitated with polyclonal anti-YidC antibodies. The occurrence of this fragment is in agreement with the predicted topology of YidC and probably encompasses the first two transmembrane domains and the connecting 320-amino acid-long periplasmic loop. The integration of YidC was strictly dependent on the signal recognition particle and SecA. YidC could not be integrated in the absence of SecY, SecE, or SecG, suggesting that YidC, in contrast to its mitochondrial orthologue Oxa1p, cannot engage a SecYEG-independent protein-conducting channel

Optimizing entangling quantum gates for physical systems

Optimal control theory is a versatile tool that presents a route to significantly improving figures of merit for quantum information tasks. We combine it here with the geometric theory for local equivalence classes of two-qubit operations to derive an optimization algorithm that determines the best entangling two-qubit gate for a given physical setting. We demonstrate the power of this approach for trapped polar molecules and neutral atoms.Comment: extended version; Phys. Rev. A (2011

Extended microsatellite analysis in microsatellite stable, MSH2 and MLH1 mutation-negative HNPCC patients: Genetic reclassification and correlation with clinical features

Background: Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is an autosomal dominant disorder predisposing to predominantly colorectal cancer (CRC) and endometrial cancer frequently due to germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, mainly MLH1, MSH2 and also MSH6 in families seen to demonstrate an excess of endometrial cancer. As a consequence, tumors in HNPCC reveal alterations in the length of simple repetitive genomic sequences like poly-A, poly-T, CA or GT repeats (microsatellites) in at least 90% of the cases. Aim of the Study: The study cohort consisted of 25 HNPCC index patients ( 19 Amsterdam positive, 6 Bethesda positive) who revealed a microsatellite stable (MSS) - or low instable (MSI-L) - tumor phenotype with negative mutation analysis for the MMR genes MLH1 and MSH2. An extended marker panel (BAT40, D10S197, D13S153, D18S58, MYCL1) was analyzed for the tumors of these patients with regard to three aspects. First, to reconfirm the MSI-L phenotype found by the standard panel; second, to find minor MSIs which might point towards an MSH6 mutation, and third, to reconfirm the MSS status of hereditary tumors. The reconfirmation of the MSS status of tumors not caused by mutations in the MMR genes should allow one to define another entity of hereditary CRC. Their clinical features were compared with those of 150 patients with sporadic CRCs. Results: In this way, 17 MSS and 8 MSI-L tumors were reclassified as 5 MSS, 18 MSI-L and even 2 MSI-H ( high instability) tumors, the last being seen to demonstrate at least 4 instable markers out of 10. Among all family members, 87 malignancies were documented. The mean age of onset for CRCs was the lowest in the MSI-H-phenotyped patients with 40.5 +/- 4.9 years (vs. 47.0 +/- 14.6 and 49.8 +/- 11.9 years in MSI-L- and MSS-phenotyped patients, respectively). The percentage of CRC was the highest in families with MSS-phenotyped tumors (88%), followed by MSI-L-phenotyped ( 78%) and then by MSI-H-phenotyped (67%) tumors. MSS tumors were preferentially localized in the distal colon supposing a similar biologic behavior like sporadic CRC. MSH6 mutation analysis for the MSI-L and MSI-H patients revealed one truncating mutation for a patient initially with an MSS tumor, which was reclassified as MSI-L by analyzing the extended marker panel. Conclusion: Extended microsatellite analysis serves to evaluate the sensitivity of the reference panel for HNPCC detection and permits phenotype confirmation or upgrading. Additionally, it confirms the MSS status of hereditary CRCs not caused by the common mutations in the MMR genes and provides hints to another entity of hereditary CRC. Copyright (C) 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel

Rhythmic inhibition allows neural networks to search for maximally consistent states

Gamma-band rhythmic inhibition is a ubiquitous phenomenon in neural circuits yet its computational role still remains elusive. We show that a model of Gamma-band rhythmic inhibition allows networks of coupled cortical circuit motifs to search for network configurations that best reconcile external inputs with an internal consistency model encoded in the network connectivity. We show that Hebbian plasticity allows the networks to learn the consistency model by example. The search dynamics driven by rhythmic inhibition enable the described networks to solve difficult constraint satisfaction problems without making assumptions about the form of stochastic fluctuations in the network. We show that the search dynamics are well approximated by a stochastic sampling process. We use the described networks to reproduce perceptual multi-stability phenomena with switching times that are a good match to experimental data and show that they provide a general neural framework which can be used to model other 'perceptual inference' phenomena

Infrared Spectroscopic Study of Vibrational Modes across the Orthorhombic Tetragonal Phase Transition in Methylammonium Lead Halide Single Crystals

Single crystals of the methylammonium MA lead halides MAPbI3, MAPbBr3, and MAPbCl3 have been investigated using infrared spectroscopy with the aim of analyzing structural and dynamical aspects of processes that enable the ordering of the MA molecule in the orthorhombic crystal structure of these hybrid perovskites. Our temperature dependent studies were focused on the analysis of the CH NH rocking, C N stretching, and CH NH bending modes of the MA molecule in the 800 1750 cm 1 frequency range. They deliver a direct comparison of the behaviors of the three halides on crossing the orthorhombic tetragonal phase transition in MA lead halide single crystals. Drastic changes of all vibrational modes close to the phase transition were clearly observed. Additional spectral features that were not discussed previously are pointed out. The transformation of the two dimensional orthorhombic hydrogen bond layers into a more three dimensional arrangement in the tetragonal phase seems to be an important feature providing deeper insights into the mechanisms that lead to a free rotating MA molecule in the inorganic host structure. The change of the molecule site symmetry in the tetragonal crystal structure seems to be an important feature of the orthorhombic tetragonal phase transition. For low temperatures, it can be stated that the iodide is stronger influenced by hydrogen bonding than the bromide and the chlorid

Pion-nucleon scattering in a meson-exchange model

The pi-N interaction is studied within a meson-exchange model and in a coupled-channels approach which includes the channels pi-N, eta-N, as well as three effective pi-pi-N channels namely rho-N, pi-Delta, and sigma-N. Starting out from an earlier model of the Julich group systematic improvements in the dynamics and in some technical aspects are introduced. With the new model an excellent quantitative reproduction of the pi-N phase shifts and inelasticity parameters in the energy region up to 1.9 GeV and for total angular momenta J leq 3/2 is achieved. Simultaneously, good agreement with data for the total and differential pi-N -> eta-N transition cross sections is obtained. The connection of the pi_N dynamics in the S_{11} partial wave with the reaction pi-N -> eta-N is discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure

Spin-Boson Hamiltonian and Optical Absorption of Molecular Dimers

An analysis of the eigenstates of a symmetry-broken spin-boson Hamiltonian is performed by computing Bloch and Husimi projections. The eigenstate analysis is combined with the calculation of absorption bands of asymmetric dimer configurations constituted by monomers with nonidentical excitation energies and optical transition matrix elements. Absorption bands with regular and irregular fine structures are obtained and related to the transition from the coexistence to a mixing of adiabatic branches in the spectrum. It is shown that correlations between spin states allow for an interpolation between absorption bands for different optical asymmetries.Comment: 15 pages, revTeX, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.