Cognitive Systems For Revenge and Forgiveness

Minimizing the costs that others impose upon oneself and upon those in whom one has a fitness stake, such as kin and allies, is a key adaptive problem for many organisms. Our ancestors regularly faced such adaptive problems (including homicide, bodily harm, theft, mate poaching, cuckoldry, reputational damage, sexual aggression, and the infliction of these costs on one\u27s offspring, mates, coalition partners, or friends). One solution to this problem is to impose retaliatory costs on an aggressor so that the aggressor and other observers will lower their estimates of the net benefits to be gained from exploiting the retaliator in the future. We posit that humans have an evolved cognitive system that implements this strategy - deterrence - which we conceptualize as a revenge system. The revenge system produces a second adaptive problem: losing downstream gains from the individual on whom retaliatory costs have been imposed. We posit, consequently, a subsidiary computational system designed to restore particular relationships after cost-imposing interactions by inhibiting revenge and motivating behaviors that signal benevolence for the harmdoer. The operation of these systems depends on estimating the risk of future exploitation by the harmdoer and the expected future value of the relationship with the harmdoer. We review empirical evidence regarding the operation of these systems, discuss the causes of cultural and individual differences in their outputs, and sketch their computational architecture

Principal Investigator Views of the IRB System

We undertook a qualitative e-mail survey of federally-funded principal investigators of their views of the US human subjects protection system, intended to identify the range of investigator attitudes. This was an exploratory study with a 14% response rate. Twenty-eight principal investigators responded; their comments were analyzed to show underlying themes, which are here presented along with supporting quotations

Analytical approaches for transplant research

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73605/1/j.1600-6135.2004.00402.x.pd

Quantum interference within the complex quantum Hamilton-Jacobi formalism

Quantum interference is investigated within the complex quantum Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. As shown in a previous work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 250401 (2009)], complex quantum trajectories display helical wrapping around stagnation tubes and hyperbolic deflection near vortical tubes, these structures being prominent features of quantum caves in space-time Argand plots. Here, we further analyze the divergence and vorticity of the quantum momentum function along streamlines near poles, showing the intricacy of the complex dynamics. Nevertheless, despite this behavior, we show that the appearance of the well-known interference features (on the real axis) can be easily understood in terms of the rotation of the nodal line in the complex plane. This offers a unified description of interference as well as an elegant and practical method to compute the lifetime for interference features, defined in terms of the average wrapping time, i.e., considering such features as a resonant process.Comment: revised version, 13 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

A Straight and Narrow Ionized Filament

We report the discovery of a extremely narrow, extremely linear, ionized filament. The filament is 2.5 degrees long and has an H$\alpha$ surface brightness of 0.5 rayleighs. The filament is approximately ``Y'' shaped. The widest separation of the two diagonal segments is 5 arcminutes. We discuss four possible origins for this feature: (1) an extremely low density, nearby jet, (2) an unusually linear filament associated with some large-scale nearby nebula, perhaps even the Local Bubble, (3) an ionized trail left by mechanical input from a star or compact object moving through the ISM, or (4) an ionized trail left by photoionization (``Fossil \stromgren Trail'') from a star or compact object. We favor this last hypothesis, and derive some of the basic properties for an ionized trail. Regardless of whether this latter hypothesis applies to this specific filament, the basic properties of such a trail, its length, width, and brightness, are interesting, predictable, and should be observable behind some white dwarfs. We suggest future tests for ascertaining the origin of this filament, and discuss how this structure might be useful to constrain the thermal and velocity structure of the nearby interstellar medium.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, to appear in AJ, 2001; astroph abstract is abridge

Results from the NASA Capability Roadmap Team for In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU)

On January 14, 2004, the President of the United States unveiled a new vision for robotic and human exploration of space entitled, "A Renewed Spirit of Discovery". As stated by the President in the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE), NASA must "... implement a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond " and ".. .develop new technologies and harness the moon's abundant resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments." A key to fulfilling the goal of sustained and affordable human and robotic exploration will be the ability to use resources that are available at the site of exploration to "live off the land" instead of bringing everything from Earth, known as In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU can significantly reduce the mass, cost, and risk of exploration through capabilities such as: mission consumable production (propellants, fuel cell reagents, life support consumables, and feedstock for manufacturing & construction); surface construction (radiation shields, landing pads, walls, habitats, etc.); manufacturing and repair with in-situ resources (spare parts, wires, trusses, integrated systems etc.); and space utilities and power from space resources. On January 27th, 2004 the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy (Aldridge Committee) was created and its final report was released in June 2004. One of the report's recommendations was to establish special project teams to evaluate enabling technologies, of which "Planetary in situ resource utilization" was one of them. Based on the VSE and the commission's final report, NASA established fifteen Capability Roadmap teams, of which ISRU was one of the teams established. From Oct. 2004 to May 2005 the ISRU Capability Roadmap team examined the capabilities, benefits, architecture and mission implementation strategy, critical decisions, current state-of-the-art (SOA), challenges, technology gaps, and risks of ISRU for future human Moon and Mars exploration. This presentation will provide an overview of the ISRU capability, architecture, and implementation strategy examined by the ISRU Capability Roadmap team, along with a top-level review of ISRU benefits, resources and products of interest, and the current SOA in ISRU processes and systems. The presentation will also highlight the challenges of incorporating ISRU into future missions and the gaps in technologies and capabilities that need to be filled to enable ISRU

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Treatment of chronically depressed patients: A multisite randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of \u27Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy\u27 (CBASP) for chronic depressions versus usual secondary care

Background \u27Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy\u27 (CBASP) is a form of psychotherapy specifically developed for patients with chronic depression. In a study in the U.S., remarkable favorable effects of CBASP have been demonstrated. However, no other studies have as yet replicated these findings and CBASP has not been tested outside the United States. This protocol describes a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of CBASP in the Netherlands. Methods/Design The purpose of the present paper is to report the study protocol of a multisite randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of \u27Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy\u27 (CBASP) for chronic depression in the Netherlands. In this study, CBASP in combination with medication, will be tested versus usual secondary care in combination with medication. The aim is to recruit 160 patients from three mental health care organizations. Depressive symptoms will be assessed at baseline, after 8 weeks, 16 weeks, 32 weeks and 52 weeks, using the 28-item Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS). Effect modification by co morbid anxiety, alcohol consumption, general and social functioning and working alliance will be tested. GEE analyses of covariance, controlling for baseline value and center will be used to estimate the overall treatment effectiveness (difference in IDS score) at post-treatment and follow up. The primary analysis will be by \u27intention to treat\u27 using double sided tests. An economic analysis will compare the two groups in terms of mean costs and cost-effectiveness from a societal perspective. Discussion The study will provide an answer to the question whether the favorable effects of CBASP can be replicated outside the US. Trial Registration The Dutch Cochrane Center, NTR1090

Expression profiling of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary breast tumors using cancer-specific and whole genome gene panels on the DASL® platform

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cDNA-mediated Annealing, extension, Selection and Ligation (DASL) assay has become a suitable gene expression profiling system for degraded RNA from paraffin-embedded tissue. We examined assay characteristics and the performance of the DASL 502-gene Cancer Panel^v1(1.5K) and 24,526-gene panel (24K) platforms at differentiating nine human epidermal growth factor receptor 2- positive (HER2+) and 11 HER2-negative (HER2-) paraffin-embedded breast tumors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Bland-Altman plots and Spearman correlations evaluated intra/inter-panel agreement of normalized expression values. Unequal-variance <it>t</it>-statistics tested for differences in expression levels between HER2 + and HER2 - tumors. Regulatory network analysis was performed using Metacore (GeneGo Inc., St. Joseph, MI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Technical replicate correlations ranged between 0.815-0.956 and 0.986-0.997 for the 1.5K and 24K panels, respectively. Inter-panel correlations of expression values for the common 498 genes across the two panels ranged between 0.485-0.573. Inter-panel correlations of expression values of 17 probes with base-pair sequence matches between the 1.5K and 24K panels ranged between 0.652-0.899. In both panels, <it>erythroblastic leukemia viral oncogene homolog 2 </it>(<it>ERBB2</it>) was the most differentially expressed gene between the HER2 + and HER2 - tumors and seven additional genes had p-values < 0.05 and log2 -fold changes > |0.5| in expression between HER2 + and HER2 - tumors: <it>topoisomerase II alpha </it>(<it>TOP2A</it>), <it>cyclin a2 </it>(<it>CCNA2</it>), <it>v-fos fbj murine osteosarcoma viral oncogene homolog </it>(<it>FOS</it>), <it>wingless-type mmtv integration site family, member 5a </it>(<it>WNT5A</it>), <it>growth factor receptor-bound protein </it><it>7 </it>(<it>GRB7</it>), <it>cell division cycle 2 </it>(<it>CDC2</it>), <it>and baculoviral iap repeat-containing protein 5 </it>(<it>BIRC5</it>). The top 52 discriminating probes from the 24K panel are enriched with genes belonging to the regulatory networks centered around <it>v-myc avian myelocytomatosis viral oncogene homolog </it>(<it>MYC</it>), <it>tumor protein p53 </it>(<it>TP53</it>), and <it>estrogen receptor α </it>(<it>ESR1</it>). Network analysis with a two-step extension also showed that the eight discriminating genes common to the 1.5K and 24K panels are functionally linked together through <it>MYC</it>, <it>TP53</it>, and <it>ESR1</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The relative RNA abundance obtained from two highly differing density gene panels are correlated with eight common genes differentiating HER2 + and HER2 - breast tumors. Network analyses demonstrated biological consistency between the 1.5K and 24K gene panels.</p

Treatment of chronically depressed patients: A multisite randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of 'Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy' (CBASP) for chronic depressions versus usual secondary care

AbstractBackground'Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy' (CBASP) is a form of psychotherapy specifically developed for patients with chronic depression. In a study in the U.S., remarkable favorable effects of CBASP have been demonstrated. However, no other studies have as yet replicated these findings and CBASP has not been tested outside the United States. This protocol describes a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of CBASP in the Netherlands.Methods/DesignThe purpose of the present paper is to report the study protocol of a multisite randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of 'Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy' (CBASP) for chronic depression in the Netherlands. In this study, CBASP in combination with medication, will be tested versus usual secondary care in combination with medication. The aim is to recruit 160 patients from three mental health care organizations. Depressive symptoms will be assessed at baseline, after 8 weeks, 16 weeks, 32 weeks and 52 weeks, using the 28-item Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS). Effect modification by co morbid anxiety, alcohol consumption, general and social functioning and working alliance will be tested. GEE analyses of covariance, controlling for baseline value and center will be used to estimate the overall treatment effectiveness (difference in IDS score) at post-treatment and follow up. The primary analysis will be by 'intention to treat' using double sided tests. An economic analysis will compare the two groups in terms of mean costs and cost-effectiveness from a societal perspective.DiscussionThe study will provide an answer to the question whether the favorable effects of CBASP can be replicated outside the US