Toward a General Framework of Biased Reasoning: Coherence-Based Reasoning.

A considerable amount of experimental research has been devoted to uncovering biased forms of reasoning. Notwithstanding the richness and overall empirical soundness of the bias research, the field can be described as disjointed, incomplete, and undertheorized. In this article, we seek to address this disconnect by offering "coherence-based reasoning" as a parsimonious theoretical framework that explains a sizable number of important deviations from normative forms of reasoning.

Test Structure Design for Defect Detection during Active Thermal Cycling.

Integrated power ICs acting as smart power switches for automotive or industrial applications are often subjected to active thermal cycling. Consequently, they undergo significant self-heating and are prone to various failure mechanisms related to the electro-thermo-mechanical phenomena that take place in the device metallization. In this article a test structure consisting of a lateral DMOS transistor equipped with several integrated sensors is proposed for metallization fatigue assessment.

Early evaluation of a powered transfemoral prosthesis with force-modulated impedance control and energy regeneration.

Individuals with an above-knee (AK) amputation typically use passive prostheses, whether reactive (microprocessor) or purely mechanical. Though sufficient for walking, these solutions lack the positive power generation observed in able-bodied individuals. Active (powered) prostheses can provide positive power but suffer complex control and limited energy storage capacities.

A Generalized Unscented Transformation for Probability Distributions.

The unscented transform uses a weighted set of samples called sigma points to propagate the means and covariances of nonlinear transformations of random variables. However, unscented transforms developed using either the Gaussian assumption or a minimum set of sigma points typically fall short when the random variable is not Gaussian distributed and the nonlinearities are substantial. In this paper, we develop the generalized unscented transform (GenUT), which uses 2+1 sigma points to accurately capture up to the diagonal components of the skewness and kurtosis tensors of most probability distributions.

Interviewing for a PI position-the pandemic way.

JCB asks early career researchers to share their experience interviewing for academic faculty positions and becoming independent PIs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting a lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.

JCB asks early career investigators to share their experience launching a lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Starting and Operating a Public Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory in a Low Resource Setting: The Eight-Year Story of the Uganda Heart Institute Catheter Laboratory.

Background: Low- and-middle-income-countries (LMICs) currently bear 80% of the world's cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality burden. The same countries are underequipped to handle the disease burden due to critical shortage of resources. Functional cardiac catheterization laboratories (cath labs) are central in the diagnosis and management of CVDs.

New investigators in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

JCB checks in with newly independent cell biologists and learns about their experience running a lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moving a research lab during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created additional challenges for mid-career investigators seeking new academic opportunities. JCB asked scientists to share their experiences of uprooting their research careers and laboratories during the pandemic.

An Extensive Set of Kinematic and Kinetic Data for Individuals with Intact Limbs and Transfemoral Prosthesis Users.

This paper introduces an extensive human motion data set for typical activities of daily living. These data are crucial for the design and control of prosthetic devices for transfemoral prosthesis users. This data set was collected from seven individuals, including five individuals with intact limbs and two transfemoral prosthesis users.

Toward Minimal-Sensing Locomotion Mode Recognition for a Powered Knee-Ankle Prosthesis.

Objective: Locomotion mode recognition (LMR) enables seamless and natural transitions between low-level control systems in a powered prosthesis. We present a new optimization framework for LMR that eliminates irrelevant or redundant features and measurement signals while still maintaining performance.

Methods: We use multi-objective biogeography-based optimization to find a compromise solution between performance and the minimization of feature set size.

Ex ante coherence shifts.

Cushman characterizes rationalization as the inverse of rational reasoning, but this distinction is psychologically questionable. Coherence-based reasoning highlights a subtler form of bidirectionality: By distorting task attributes to make one course of action appear superior to its rivals, a patina of rationality is bestowed on the choice. This mechanism drives choice and action, rather than just following in their wake.

Hybrid Nonlinear Disturbance Observer Design for Underactuated Bipedal Robots.

Existence of disturbances in unknown environments is a pervasive challenge in robotic locomotion control. Disturbance observers are a class of unknown input observers that have been extensively used for disturbance rejection in numerous robotics applications. In this paper, we extend a class of widely-used nonlinear disturbance observers to underactuated bipedal robots, which are controlled using hybrid zero dynamics-based control schemes.

Gradient-Based Multi-Objective Feature Selection for Gait Mode Recognition of Transfemoral Amputees.

One control challenge in prosthetic legs is seamless transition from one gait mode to another. User intent recognition (UIR) is a high-level controller that tells a low-level controller to switch to the identified activity mode, depending on the user's intent and environment. We propose a new framework to design an optimal UIR system with simultaneous maximum performance and minimum complexity for gait mode recognition.

OGT (-GlcNAc Transferase) Selectively Modifies Multiple Residues Unique to Lamin A.

The gene encodes lamins A and C with key roles in nuclear structure, signaling, gene regulation, and genome integrity. Mutations in cause over 12 diseases ('laminopathies'). Lamins A and C are identical for their first 566 residues.

Optimal Mixed Tracking/Impedance Control With Application to Transfemoral Prostheses With Energy Regeneration.

Objective: We design an optimal passivity-based tracking/impedance control system for a robotic manipulator with energy regenerative electronics, where the manipulator has both actively and semi-actively controlled joints. The semi-active joints are driven by a regenerative actuator that includes an energy-storing element.

Method: External forces can have a large influence on energy regeneration characteristics.

The Elasticity of Preferences.

We explore how preferences for attributes are constructed when people choose between multiattribute options. As found in prior research, we observed that while people make decisions, their preferences for the attributes in question shift to support the emerging choice, thus enabling confident decisions. The novelty of the studies reported here is that participants repeated the same task 6 to 8 weeks later.

Significant radiation reduction in interventional fluoroscopy using a novel eye controlled movable region of interest.

Purpose: This paper reports the first results obtained using a novel technology called eye controlled region of interest (ECR) that substantially reduces both staff and patient irradiation during an interventional fluoroscopy procedure without interfering with workflow. Its collimator includes a partially x-ray attenuating plate with a nonattenuating aperture. An eye tracker follows the operator's gaze to automatically position the aperture to the clinical region of interest (CROI) anywhere in the image in real-time.

Effects of Mechanical Ventilation on Heart Geometry and Mitral Valve Leaflet Coaptation During Percutaneous Edge-to-Edge Mitral Valve Repair.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate a ventilation maneuver to facilitate percutaneous edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (PMVR) and its effects on heart geometry.

Background: In patients with challenging anatomy, the application of PMVR is limited, potentially resulting in insufficient reduction of mitral regurgitation (MR) or clip detachment. Under general anesthesia, however, ventilation maneuvers can be used to facilitate PMVR.

Statistical Mechanics Approximation of Biogeography-Based Optimization.

Biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is an evolutionary algorithm inspired by biogeography, which is the study of the migration of species between habitats. This paper derives a mathematical description of the dynamics of BBO based on ideas from statistical mechanics. Rather than trying to exactly predict the evolution of the population, statistical mechanics methods describe the evolution of statistical properties of the population fitness.

The coherence effect: Blending cold and hot cognitions.

Previous research has shown that making complex judgments and decisions entails a mental reconstruction of the task in a way that increases the state of coherence between the emerging conclusion and its underlying attributes: The attributes that support the conclusion grow stronger, whereas the attributes that support the losing option weaken. This coherence effect is understood to occur bidirectionally, in that conclusions follow from the decision-maker's evaluation of the attributes, while the evaluations of the attributes shift to cohere with the emerging conclusion. The current studies were designed to extend the coherence effect to encompass cognitions that could be considered "hot," such as valence evaluations, motivation toward outcomes of events, liking and disliking of actors, and emotions toward actors.

Mathematical and experimental analyses of oppositional algorithms.

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are widely employed for solving optimization problems with rugged fitness landscapes. Opposition-based learning (OBL) is a recent tool developed to improve the convergence rate of EAs. In this paper, we derive the probabilities that distances between OBL points and the optimization problem solution are less than the distance between a given EA individual and the optimal solution.

The molecular basis of emerin-emerin and emerin-BAF interactions.

Emerin is a conserved membrane component of nuclear lamina structure. Here, we report an advance in understanding the molecular basis of emerin function: intermolecular emerin-emerin association. There were two modes: one mediated by association of residues 170-220 in one emerin molecule to residues 170-220 in another, and the second involving residues 170-220 and 1-132.

Cancer and the nuclear pore complex.

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) mediates trafficking between the cytoplasm and nucleoplasm. It also plays key roles in other nuclear processes such as chromatin silencing, transcriptional regulation, and DNA damage repair. Nucleoporins, the structural components of the NPC, have been linked to a multitude of cancers through chromosomal translocations generating fusion proteins, changes in protein expression levels, and single point mutations.

Partners and post-translational modifications of nuclear lamins.

Nuclear intermediate filament networks formed by A- and B-type lamins are major components of the nucleoskeleton that are required for nuclear structure and function, with many links to human physiology. Mutations in lamins cause diverse human diseases ('laminopathies'). At least 54 partners interact with human A-type lamins directly or indirectly.