Embodied Computational Evolution: Feedback Between Development and Evolution in Simulated Biorobots

Given that selection removes genetic variance from evolving populations, thereby reducing exploration opportunities, it is important to find mechanisms that create genetic variation without the disruption of adapted genes and genomes caused by random mutation. Just such an alternative is offered by random epigenetic error, a developmental process that acts on materials and parts expressed by the genome. In this system of embodied computational evolution, simulated within a physics engine, epigenetic error was instantiated in an explicit genotype-to-phenotype map as transcription error at the initiation of gene expression. The hypothesis was that transcription error would create genetic variance by shielding genes from the direct impact of selection, creating, in the process, masquerading genomes. To test this hypothesis, populations of simulated embodied biorobots and their developmental systems were evolved under steady directional selection as equivalent rates of random mutation and random transcriptional error were covaried systematically in an 11 × 11 fully factorial experimental design. In each of the 121 different experimental conditions (unique combinations of mutation and transcription error), the same set of 10 randomly created replicate populations of 60 individuals were evolved. Selection for the improved locomotor behavior of individuals led to increased mean fitness of populations over 100 generations at nearly all levels and combinations of mutation and transcription error. When the effects of both types of error were partitioned statistically, increasing transcription error was shown to increase the final genetic variance of populations, incurring a fitness cost but acting on variance independently and differently from genetic mutation. Thus, random epigenetic errors in development feed back through selection of individuals with masquerading genomes to the population’s genetic variance over generational time. Random developmental processes offer an additional mechanism for exploration by increasing genetic variation in the face of steady, directional selection.

THE CUNEIFORM ORIGIN OF GENESIS AND A DATE FOR GENESIS 1

PART 1 argues for a paradigm shift to the conclusion that Genesis 1 to 37 was originally written in cuneiform; that Genesis 1–4 was written c. 2850 BC and Chapters 5 to 37 at about the time of the events recorded.PART 2 proposes a systematic transcription error due to misreading of the cuneiform signs, that reduces the ages of the patriarchs in Genesis 5 to a more likely range; if validated, confirming the thesis of PART 1. The proposed early dating is based on archaeological evidence without religious presuppositions; places the origin of the Judaeo-Christian world-view at the dawn of civilisation; and does not conflict with any scientific discovery or any Christian doctrine.PART 3 introduces a second paradigm shift, to the interpretation that Genesis 1 recounts Six Days not of Creation but of Revelation, signposting a path connecting Genesis 1 with current scientific knowledge, and with the origin of science.

Understanding Google Location History as a Tool for Travel Diary Data Acquisition

Understanding human mobility within urban settings is fundamental for urban and transport planning. Travel demand modeling and planning typically rely on data that are collected from large-scale household travel surveys (i.e., origin–destination surveys) and compiled into single- or multiple-day travel diaries. The laborious task of collecting these data has left traditional methods with numerous limitations, resulting in significant trade-offs in regard to accuracy, sample size, and study duration, while also being vulnerable to reporting and transcription error. Rising mobile phone ownership has provided opportunities to acquire expansive cellular network data from service providers and location-based service data through smartphone applications. At the same time, the Google Maps smartphone application provides built-in infrastructure that can passively collect detailed location information from user smartphone devices. The resulting data are known as Google location history (GLH). To better understand the potential of these data offerings in transportation modeling and planning, GLH data passively collected from five different smartphones following prescribed itineraries over 12 days was evaluated. As 51% of 934 locations and 32% of 888 trips were matched to the pre-determined travel diary data, it was determined that GLH data does not currently appear to be an adequate tool for travel diary data collection. On average, locations that were missed by GLH were shorter (mean of 355 s), whereas locations that were identified were longer (mean of 762 s).

Covid-19 Pfizer Vaccine: The Worst-Case Scenario

The BioNTech/Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine against Covid-19 is composed of an RNA having 4284 nucleotides, divided into 6 sections, which bring the information to create a factory of S Spike proteins, the ones used by Sars-CoV-2 (Covid-19) to infect the subject. After that, these proteins are directed outside the cell, triggering the immune reaction and antibody production.The problem is the heavy alteration of the mRNA: the Uracyl is replaced to fool the immune system, the letters of all codon triplets are replaced by a C or a G, to extremely increase the speed of protein production, replacement of some amino acids with Proline, the addition of a not clear sequence (3'-UTR), combined with alternative splicing, which is the possibility of errors in translation of the sequence and synthesis of proteins; they are not produced equal, but slightly different. All this can be the cause of many hereditary diseases and various types of tumors, from appearance to their growth, up to the metastasis formation.In essence, what will be created is anything but well defined as protein S Spike: just a transcription error, wrong production of amino acids, then proteins, to cause serious long-term damage to human health, despite the DNA is not modified, being instead in the cell nucleus and not in the cytoplasm, where the modified mRNA arrives.However, in this case, the correlation between speed of synthesis and protein expression with synthesis errors, as well as the mechanism that could affect the translation of the sequence remain obscure, as many trials are owned by BioNTech/Pfizer.

A study on patient safety with reference to medication errors at a tertiary care hospital

Background: The objective of this present study was to determine and evaluate the nature and types of medication errors (MEs) in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: This was a prospective, observational study was conducted on medication errors in a tertiary care hospital, Kakinada during January 2019 to December 2019. MEs were categorized as prescription error (PE), transcription error (TE), dispensing error (DE), and administration error (AE). The case records and treatment charts were reviewed. The one-way ANOVA test for independent measures was done for statistical analysis.Results: A total of 5792 patients were included during the study period. Total numbers of MEs were n=353 (6.10%). The most common ME was TEs n=191 (54%) followed by AEs n=117 (33%). Nursing errors n=316 were more compared to doctors’ errors n=18. The one-way Anova test for independent measures was done for statistical analysis; the f-ratio value is 6.44654. The p-value is 0.004332. The result is significant at p<0.05.Conclusions: There is a need to establish effective ME reporting system to reduce its incidence and improve patient care and safety. Regular trainings and interdepartmental sharing of facts on medication errors should be done at regular intervals.

The Impact of Musical Training on Understanding Dysarthric Speech: A Preliminary Study of Transcription Errors

A growing literature highlights the need to develop communication partner–based interventions for individuals with dysarthria. Identifying listener characteristics that facilitate speech understanding is a necessary step in designing communication partner interventions. Musicianship enhances speech understanding in adverse listening conditions such as speech-in-noise. This preliminary investigation explored whether this advantage translated to understanding dysarthric speech. Adult listeners with and without musical training experience transcribed dysarthric speech productions. Phoneme intelligibility, word intelligibility, and the type of transcription errors (insertion, substitution, deletion) were compared between the listener groups. Although no differences were observed for overall phoneme and word transcription scores, a significant interaction between listener group and transcription error type was observed. This finding suggests the potential for distinct listening strategies and abilities between listeners with and without musical training experience. These preliminary results support larger scale efforts to investigate the elements of musical training that can be leveraged to develop listener-based interventions.