Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Designing a Better Debit Card Experience for Teenagers

The initial design challenge proposed was to investigate “human interaction with money.” With this broad starting point, the teams were set out to go through the design thinking process studied in class. Our initial approach was use children as our target, so we set out to observe and learn how children deal with money. The shopping mall on a busy Saturday afternoon was the site of the fieldwork. In addition to that, we also interviewed children and teenagers. From the observation stage we came up with three possible problems to work with, namely (1) the gumball machine, (2) the vending machine, and (3) teenagers and debit card. At the problem definition stage, we decided to focus on the teenagers and debit card. We developed personas for our main target (the teenager) as well as the secondary target (her parent), to help the group better understand the real humans we were designing for. During this stage, we used some of IDEO and d.school’s tools and methodologies [1, 3] to frame our problem. Finally, when we reached the solution space, where we explored different possible ways to solve the design problem until we settled on our final solution. In this stage, we used other tools provided by David and Tom Kelley [1]. As a last step, we reached out to one of the teenagers interviewed at the beginning of the project in order to gather feedback on our first prototype, however we did not reach an iterative stage. In this paper, we will describe in detail our design process and how it relates to the theories studied in class

Application of Decision Making to Evaluate Renewable Energy Alternatives for Hawaii Island

Team D Project Objective: To develop a hierarchical decision model (HDM) for evaluating three renewable energy alternatives for Hawaii Island

Cultural Diversity and Team Performance

There are many factors that contribute to the success and effectiveness of a team. One of the most important factors affecting team performance is cultural diversity. Most of the time, teams are formed by integrating a diverse group of people that have different cultural background such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, skills, values, and experiences. This diversity will have a positive impact on the team which will improve the team performance. But sometimes, diversity can also cause some negative impacts. This paper identifies some of the constructive as well as adverse aspects of cultural diversity. Furthermore, this paper also identifies opportunities and threats comes with with cultural diversity. Results are organized and presented using the SWOT analysis method. Additionally, some personal experiences are mentioned as an evidence for the analysis. As all the authors are coming from different cultural backgrounds, their perspectives add an additional dimension to the analysis