Cubical Cohomology Ring of 3D Photographs

Cohomology and cohomology ring of three-dimensional (3D) objects are topological invariants that characterize holes and their relations. Cohomology ring has been traditionally computed on simplicial complexes. Nevertheless, cubical complexes deal directly with the voxels in 3D images, no additional triangulation is necessary, facilitating efficient algorithms for the computation of topological invariants in the image context. In this paper, we present formulas to directly compute the cohomology ring of 3D cubical complexes without making use of any additional triangulation. Starting from a cubical complex $Q$ that represents a 3D binary-valued digital picture whose foreground has one connected component, we compute first the cohomological information on the boundary of the object, $\partial Q$ by an incremental technique; then, using a face reduction algorithm, we compute it on the whole object; finally, applying the mentioned formulas, the cohomology ring is computed from such information

Web-based Gene Pathogenicity Analysis (WGPA): a web platform to interpret gene pathogenicity from personal genome data

UNLABELLED: As the volume of patient-specific genome sequences increases the focus of biomedical research is switching from the detection of disease-mutations to their interpretation. To this end a number of techniques have been developed that use mutation data collected within a population to predict whether individual genes are likely to be disease-causing or not. As both sequence data and associated analysis tools proliferate, it becomes increasingly difficult for the community to make sense of these data and their implications. Moreover, no single analysis tool is likely to capture all relevant genomic features that contribute to the gene's pathogenicity. Here, we introduce Web-based Gene Pathogenicity Analysis (WGPA), a web-based tool to analyze genes impacted by mutations and rank them through the integration of existing prioritization tools, which assess different aspects of gene pathogenicity using population-level sequence data. Additionally, to explore the polygenic contribution of mutations to disease, WGPA implements gene set enrichment analysis to prioritize disease-causing genes and gene interaction networks, therefore providing a comprehensive annotation of personal genomes data in disease. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: wgpa.systems-genetics.net

PLATYPUS: a code for fusion and breakup in reactions induced by weakly-bound nuclei within a classical trajectory model with stochastic breakup

A self-contained Fortran-90 program based on a classical trajectory model with stochastic breakup is presented, which should be a powerful tool for quantifying complete and incomplete fusion, and breakup in reactions induced by weakly-bound two-body projectiles near the Coulomb barrier. The code calculates complete and incomplete fusion cross sections and their angular momentum distribution, as well as breakup observables (angle, kinetic energy and relative energy distributions).Comment: Accepted in Computer Physics Communications (2011

Ricardo Diaz - Latino/a Mass Incarceration in relation to the “War on Drugs”

Michelle Alexander, in The New Jim Crow, argues that the American legal system is a racial caste system maintained by unequal drug laws, what she terms, “The New Jim Crow” laws. This essay explores the limits of her thesis in relation to Latino/a population in the United States. Specific attention is paid to the Latino/a population in Wisconsin where racial disparities in the penal system are the greatest in America. Analysis of government data suggests that Alexander’s research reproduces the tendency of the American legal system to define race in binary terms: black and white. In effect this leaves Latino/a Americans without accurate representation within the American legal system.https://epublications.marquette.edu/mcnair_2013/1001/thumbnail.jp

“Contemporary Latinx Media” Digital Humanities Research Project

As part of the “Contemporary Latinx Media” Digital Humanities Research Project, students explore and analyze different aspects related to the representation of Latino/as in contemporary digital media. Using the digital platform Scalar, the students produced a digital research essay as the final project of the course