Discussion of "Microcomputers in forensic science".
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Computers↗
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Results for “computer sciences”
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
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[Medical science and information science].
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Communication↗
Electronic publishing in the health sciences.
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Computer Communication Networks↗
Computer-aided learning: an overvalued educational resource?
AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the place of computer-aided learning in a basic science course in the undergraduate medical curriculum at the University of Adelaide. METHODS: A software program was written which would allow students to study the anatomy and physiology of the liver and biliary tree in three different styles. Identical content was produced, matched for each style (problem-based, didactic and free text response) and students randomly allocated to one of four groups (three computer and one control). Students were tested before and after access to the program. RESULTS: Ninety second-year students completed the study. Those students who had access to the material in the problem-based and free text response styles did no better in the post-study test than the controls, whilst the group who had studied the didactically presented computer material performed significantly better than the other three groups. All three computer groups accessed the material on a similar number of occasions, but the group who had access to the free text entry program spent significantly less time on computer study. CONCLUSIONS: If computer materials are to be provided as a learning resource for the basic medical sciences, provision must be made for the style of teaching of the course and the style of learning of the students attending that course.
Computer-Assisted Instruction↗
Material representations: from the genetic code to the evolution of cellular automata.
We present a new definition of the concept of representation for cognitive science that is based on a study of the origin of structures that are used to store memory in evolving systems. This study consists of novel computer experiments in the evolution of cellular automata to perform nontrivial tasks as well as evidence from biology concerning genetic memory. Our key observation is that representations require inert structures to encode information used to construct appropriate dynamic configurations for the evolving system. We propose criteria to decide if a given structure is a representation by unpacking the idea of inert structures that can be used as memory for arbitrary dynamic configurations. Using a genetic algorithm, we evolved cellular automata rules that can perform nontrivial tasks related to the density task (or majority classification problem) commonly used in the literature. We present the particle catalogs of the new rules following the computational mechanics framework. We discuss if the evolved cellular automata particles may be seen as representations according to our criteria. We show that while they capture some of the essential characteristics of representations, they lack an essential one. Our goal is to show that artificial life can be used to shed new light on the computation-versus-dynamics debate in cognitive science, and indeed function as a constructive bridge between the two camps. Our definitions of representation and cellular automata experiments are proposed as a complementary approach, with both dynamics and informational modes of explanation.
Artificial Intelligence↗
Quantum molecular computer model of the neuron and a pathway to the union of the sciences.
Cyclic nucleotide injection in neurons shows that cAMP controls a new type of membrane permeability. The neuron response to cAMP has a short delay, unusual bioenergetics and is blocked by drugs binding with the regulatory subunit of protein kinase. These data are interpreted in terms of the hypothesis that the controlling system of the living cell is a molecular (DNA, RNA, protein operators with complementary addresses), holographic (quick changeable lattice--cytoskeleton), quantum (each phonon examines whole lattice), hypersound (with wave length 100-10,000 A that does not destroy molecules) system with an inner point of view (molecular coding of questions and answers about quantum processing). Neither an electron, nor a macroscopic computer has an inner point of view.
Biology↗
Data, knowledge and method bases in chemical sciences. Part IV. Current status in databases.
Computer readable databases have become an integral part of chemical research right from planning data acquisition to interpretation of the information generated. The databases available today are numerical, spectral and bibliographic. Data representation by different schemes--relational, hierarchical and objects--is demonstrated. Quality index (QI) throws light on the quality of data. The objective, prospects and impact of database activity on expert systems are discussed. The number and size of corporate databases available on international networks crossed manageable number leading to databases about their contents. Subsets of corporate or small databases have been developed by groups of chemists. The features and role of knowledge-based or intelligent databases are described.
Artificial Intelligence↗
Curriculum for this century.
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Computer-Assisted Instruction↗
Neural connections that compute.
The UK's Foresight Cognitive Systems Project brings together researchers in the life sciences and physical sciences to see where they can learn from one another and to debate, and plan, the future of research in cognitive systems. The project, a part of the UK government's Foresight initiative, sets out to identify potential opportunities for the economy or society from new science and technology. Through a series of research reviews, the project has created 'snap shots' of research in cognitive systems. A major conference in Bristol in September will consider series of research manifestos created by interdisciplinary groups.
Cognition↗
Forensic webwatch: Forensic computing.
With the rapid and continuous development of information technology, policing faces new challenges. As computer equipments are becoming cheaper and the internet more readily available, computer crime and criminal exploitation is on the increase. Investigating such crimes requires identification, preservation, analysis and presentation of digital evidence, the key elements of forensic computing. This is helped by the fact that Locard's principle is applicable to this branch of science as much as in other areas of forensic science. This webwatch considers the ever evolving area of Forensic Computing.
Computers↗
Use of non-adiabatic geometric phase for quantum computing by NMR.
Geometric phases have stimulated researchers for its potential applications in many areas of science. One of them is fault-tolerant quantum computation. A preliminary requisite of quantum computation is the implementation of controlled dynamics of qubits. In controlled dynamics, one qubit undergoes coherent evolution and acquires appropriate phase, depending on the state of other qubits. If the evolution is geometric, then the phase acquired depend only on the geometry of the path executed, and is robust against certain types of error. This phenomenon leads to an inherently fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here we suggest a technique of using non-adiabatic geometric phase for quantum computation, using selective excitation. In a two-qubit system, we selectively evolve a suitable subsystem where the control qubit is in state |1, through a closed circuit. By this evolution, the target qubit gains a phase controlled by the state of the control qubit. Using the non-adiabatic geometric phase we demonstrate implementation of Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm and Grover's search algorithm in a two-qubit system.
Journal Article↗
Self-consistently optimized statistical mechanical energy functions for sequence structure alignment.
A quantitative form of the principle of minimal frustration is used to obtain from a database analysis statistical mechanical energy functions and gap parameters for aligning sequences to three-dimensional structures. The analysis that partially takes into account correlations in the energy landscape improves upon the previous approximations of Goldstein et al. (1994, 1995) (Goldstein R, Luthey-Schulten Z, Wolynes P, 1994, Proceedings of the 27th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Los Alamitos, California: IEEE Computer Society Press. pp 306-315; Goldstein R, Luthey-Schulten Z, Wolynes P, 1995, In: Elber R, ed. New developments in theoretical studies of proteins. Singapore: World Scientific). The energy function allows for ordering of alignments based on the compatibility of a sequence to be in a given structure (i.e., lowest energy) and therefore removes the necessity of using percent identity or similarity as scoring parameters. The alignments produced by the energy function on distant homologues with low percent identity (less than 21%) are generally better than those generated with evolutionary information. The lowest energy alignment generated with the energy function for sequences containing prosite signatures but unknown structures is a structure containing the same prosite signature, providing a check on the robustness of the algorithm. Finally, the energy function can make use of known experimental evidence as constraints within the alignment algorithm to aid in finding the correct structural alignment.
Data Interpretation, Statistical↗
Spatial transformation and registration of brain images using elastically deformable models.
The development of algorithms for the spatial transformation and registration of tomographic brain images is a key issue in several clinical and basic science medical applications, including computer-aided neurosurgery, functional image analysis, and morphometrics. This paper describes a technique for the spatial transformation of brain images, which is based on elastically deformable models. A deformable surface algorithm is used to find a parametric representation of the outer cortical surface and then to define a map between corresponding cortical regions in two brain images. Based on the resulting map, a three-dimensional elastic warping transformation is then determined, which brings two images into register. This transformation models images as inhomogeneous elastic objects which are deformed into registration with each other by external force fields. The elastic properties of the images can vary from one region to the other, allowing more variable brain regions, such as the ventricles, to deform more freely than less variable ones. Finally, the framework of prestrained elasticity is used to model structural irregularities, and in particular the ventricular expansion occurring with aging or diseases, and the growth of tumors. Performance measurements are obtained using magnetic resonance images.
Aging↗
A vocabulary for medical informatics.
The terminology in medical informatics is evolving rapidly. The organizers of MEDINFO and SCAMC have used different sets of keywords to index their documents. Recognizing the limitations of this approach, members of those organizations joined with the National Library of Medicine in the creation of a better terminology for medical informatics. A hierarchical structure was placed on the terms to produce a thesaurus typical of the sort often used in the indexing and retrieving of documents. The building of this thesaurus began with an automatic merging of the thesaurus used by the Association of Computing Machinery and the Information Sciences component of the "Medical Subject Headings." This product was pruned by eliminating terms not related to those in the MEDINFO keyword list or not in the medical informatics literature. Further refinement of the thesaurus resulted from extensive discussions among the authors of this paper. The first major application of this terminology has been to the indexing of the articles in "MEDINFO-86 Proceedings." Major components of this medical informatics thesaurus also have been incorporated into the "Medical Subject Headings." This paper describes the process of preparing the thesaurus and presents an evaluation of its coverage of the "MEDINFO-86 Proceedings."
Abstracting and Indexing↗
A new approach to discourse analysis in psychiatry, applied to a schizophrenic patient's speech.
OBJECTIVE: Progress in the science of data analysis and computer technology has led to the development of advanced methods for investigating structure discourse in the psychiatric field, where language constitutes a useful investigative and therapeutic tool. The purpose of this study was to present and use a computer-assisted method of discourse analysis (Alceste-software) to analyse the schizophrenic subject's oral contributions regularly collected for 3 months. METHOD: The method used consisted of modelling the main word distribution in spoken recordings pooled together and identifying the repetitive language patterns most frequently used by the speaker. RESULTS: Four main kinds of discourse emerged from the pool of schizophrenic's speech samples, on specific topics without any lack of ability to organize the material, but the technique analysis showed that the main kinds of discourse were interspersed with unexpected 'language satellites' consisting of a secondary short and specific discourse which was also well planned but had no relevance to the main discourse making for a lack of cohesion in the speech samples. This method allows us direct access to the inner experience of the patient. The technique highlighted a very poor pre-syntax linked to the choice of words and a tendency to make pronoun errors, possibly reflecting some confusion between the patient herself and others, mainly her mother, especially in the discourse about childhood. CONCLUSION: This method of discourse analysis made it possible to investigate various language disturbances at the same time and at different levels. It is particularly adapted for analysing the schizophrenic's speech. The data obtained were consistent with the assumption that schizophrenia involves 'thought disorders': these ones giving rise to the language impairments.
Adult↗
The promise of a virtual lab in drug discovery.
To date, the life sciences 'omics' revolution has not lived up to the expectation of boosting the drug discovery process. The major obstacle is dealing with the volume and diversity of data generated. An enhanced-science (e-science) approach based on remote collaboration, reuse of data and methods, and supported by a virtual laboratory (VL) environment promises to get the drug discovery process afloat. The creation, use and preservation of information in formalized knowledge spaces is essential to the e-science approach. VLs include Grid computation and data communication as well as generic and domain-specific tools and methods for information management, knowledge extraction and data analysis. Problem-solving environments (PSEs) are the domain-specific experimental environments of VLs. Thus, VL-PSEs can support virtual organizations, based on the changing partnerships characteristic of successful drug discovery enterprises.
Computer Simulation↗
An introduction to simulation and visualization of biological systems at multiple scales: a summer training program for interdisciplinary research.
Advances in biomedical research require a new generation of researchers having a strong background in both the life and physical sciences and a knowledge of computational, mathematical, and engineering tools for tackling biological problems. The NIH-NSF Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Summer Institute at the University of Pittsburgh (BBSI @ Pitt; www.ccbb.pitt.edu/bbsi) is a multi-institutional 10-week summer program hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, and Carnegie Mellon University, and is one of nine Institutes throughout the nation currently participating in the NIH-NSF program. Each BBSI focuses on a different area; the BBSI @ Pitt, entitled "Simulation and Computer Visualization of Biological Systems at Multiple Scales", focuses on computational and mathematical approaches to understanding the complex machinery of molecular-to-cellular systems at three levels, namely, molecular, subcellular (microphysiological), and cellular. We present here an overview of the BBSI @ Pitt, the objectives and focus of the program, and a description of the didactic training activities that distinguish it from other traditional summer research programs. Furthermore, we also report several challenges that have been identified in implementing such an interdisciplinary program that brings together students from diverse academic programs for a limited period of time. These challenges notwithstanding, presenting an integrative view of molecular-to-system analytical models has introduced these students to the field of computational biology and has allowed them to make an informed decision regarding their future career prospects.
Computational Biology↗
The effect of the range of interaction on the phase diagram of a globular protein.
Thermodynamic perturbation theory is applied to the model of globular proteins studied by ten Wolde and Frenkel [P. R. ten Wolde and D. Frenkel Science 77, 1975 (1997)] using computer simulation. It is found that the reported phase diagrams are accurately reproduced. The calculations show how the phase diagram can be tuned as a function of the length scale of the potential.
Algorithms↗