Absolutist Words From Search Volume Data Predict State-Level Suicide Rates in the United States

Suicide continues to be a major public health issue, especially in the United States. It is a well-established fact that depression and suicidal ideation are risk factors for suicide. Drawing on recent research that shows that absolutist words (e.g., “completely,” “totally”) constitute linguistic markers of suicidal ideation, we created an online index of absolutist thinking (ATI) using search query data (i.e., Google Trends time series). Mixed-model analyses of age-adjusted suicide rates in the United States from 2004 to 2017 revealed that ATI is linked with suicides, β = 0.22, 95% CI = [0.12, 0.31], p &lt; .001, and predicts suicides within 1 year, β = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.28], p = .006, independently of state characteristics and historical trends. It is the first time that a collective measure of absolutist thinking is used to predict real-world suicide outcomes. Therefore, the present study paves the way for novel research avenues in clinical psychological research. </jats:p

Modelling Semiosis of Design

This paper addresses the modelling of the cognitive and evolutionary aspects of engineering design in support of two broad goals: the better understanding of product life cycle processes, and the development of relevant information infrastructure services. The modelling elements are derived from the Framework of Industrial Semiosis. The semiosis of evolutionary design is explained, and general principles of the evolution of the product concept are formulated

Characterisation of CART-containing neurons and cells in the porcine pancreas, gastro-intestinal tract, adrenal and thyroid glands

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The peptide CART is widely expressed in central and peripheral neurons, as well as in endocrine cells. Known peripheral sites of expression include the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the pancreas, and the adrenal glands. In rodent pancreas CART is expressed both in islet endocrine cells and in nerve fibers, some of which innervate the islets. Recent data show that CART is a regulator of islet hormone secretion, and that CART null mutant mice have islet dysfunction. CART also effects GI motility, mainly via central routes. In addition, CART participates in the regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal-axis. We investigated CART expression in porcine pancreas, GI-tract, adrenal glands, and thyroid gland using immunocytochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CART immunoreactive (IR) nerve cell bodies and fibers were numerous in pancreatic and enteric ganglia. The majority of these were also VIP IR. The finding of intrinsic CART containing neurons indicates that pancreatic and GI CART IR nerve fibers have an intrinsic origin. No CART IR endocrine cells were detected in the pancreas or in the GI tract. The adrenal medulla harboured numerous CART IR endocrine cells, most of which were adrenaline producing. In addition CART IR fibers were frequently seen in the adrenal cortex and capsule. The capsule also contained CART IR nerve cell bodies. The majority of the adrenal CART IR neuronal elements were also VIP IR. CART IR was also seen in a substantial proportion of the C-cells in the thyroid gland. The majority of these cells were also somatostatin IR, and/or 5-HT IR, and/or VIP IR.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CART is a major neuropeptide in intrinsic neurons of the porcine GI-tract and pancreas, a major constituent of adrenaline producing adrenomedullary cells, and a novel peptide of the thyroid C-cells. CART is suggested to be a regulatory peptide in the porcine pancreas, GI-tract, adrenal gland and thyroid.</p

Aquaporin water channels in the nervous system.

The aquaporins (AQPs) are plasma membrane water-transporting proteins. AQP4 is the principal member of this protein family in the CNS, where it is expressed in astrocytes and is involved in water movement, cell migration and neuroexcitation. AQP1 is expressed in the choroid plexus, where it facilitates cerebrospinal fluid secretion, and in dorsal root ganglion neurons, where it tunes pain perception. The AQPs are potential drug targets for several neurological conditions. Astrocytoma cells strongly express AQP4, which may facilitate their infiltration into the brain, and the neuroinflammatory disease neuromyelitis optica is caused by AQP4-specific autoantibodies that produce complement-mediated astrocytic damage

Change demands renaissance in civil engineering education

Much has been written about how the world has changed and continues to change at an incredibly rapid pace. Much has also been written about globalization, population demands, water quality, waste management, and maw more oldie issues that confront human kind throughout the world. It is not the authors' purpose in this paper to repeal the familiar maxim: civil engineering education must change to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. Instead, the authors clarify the very real risks of the vectors ofpsychological inertia, and describe how systems analysis and the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) justify substantive change in civil engineering education and how that could be accomplished

Triggering Adaptive Automation in Naval Command and Control

In many control domains (plant control, air traffic control, military command and control) humans are assisted by computer systems during their assessment of the situation and their subsequent decision making. As computer power increases and novel algorithms are being developed, machines move slowly towards capabilities similar to humans, leading in turn to an increased level of control being delegated to them. This technological push has led to innovative but at the same time complex systems enabling humans to work more efficiently and/or effectively. However, in these complex and information-rich environments, task demands can still exceed the cognitive resources of humans, leading to a state of overload due to fluctuations in tasks and the environment. Such a state is characterized by excessive demands on human cognitive capabilities resulting in lowered efficiency, effectiveness, and/or satisfaction. More specifically, we focus on the human-machine adaptive process that attempts to cope with varying task and environmental demands. In the research field of adaptive control an adaptive controller is a controller with adjustable parameters and a mechanism for adjusting the parameters (Astrom & Wittenmark, 1994, p. 1) as the parameters of the system being controlled are slowly time-varying or uncertain. The classic example concerns an airplane where the mass decreases slowly during flight as fuel is being consumed. More specifically, the controller being adjusted is the process that regulates the fuel intake resulting in thrust as output. The parameters of this process are adjusted as the airplane mass decreases resulting in less fuel being injected to yield the same speed. In a similar fashion a human-machine ensemble can be considered an adaptive controller. In this case, human cognition is a slowly time-varying parameter, the adjustable parameters are the task sets that can be varied between human and machine, and the control mechanism is an algorithm that âhas insightâ in the workload of the human operator (i.e., an algoritm that monitors human workload). Human performance is reasonably optimal when the human has a workload that falls within certain margins; severe performance reductions result from a workload that is either too high or (maybe surprisingly) too low. Consider a situation where the human-machine ensemble works in cooperation in order to control a process or situation. Both the human and the machine cycle through an information processing loop, collecting data, interpreting the situation, deciding on actions to achieve one or more stated goals and acting on the decisions (see for example Coram, 2002