Modeling transcriptional regulation of the cell cycle using a novel cybernetic-inspired approach.

Quantitative understanding of cellular processes, such as cell cycle and differentiation, is impeded by various forms of complexity ranging from myriad molecular players and their multilevel regulatory interactions, cellular evolution with multiple intermediate stages, lack of elucidation of cause-effect relationships among the many system players, and the computational complexity associated with the profusion of variables and parameters. In this paper, we present a modeling framework based on the cybernetic concept that biological regulation is inspired by objectives embedding rational strategies for dimension reduction, process stage specification through the system dynamics, and innovative causal association of regulatory events with the ability to predict the evolution of the dynamical system. The elementary step of the modeling strategy involves stage-specific objective functions that are computationally determined from experiments, augmented with dynamical network computations involving endpoint objective functions, mutual information, change-point detection, and maximal clique centrality. We demonstrate the power of the method through application to the mammalian cell cycle, which involves thousands of biomolecules engaged in signaling, transcription, and regulation. Starting with a fine-grained transcriptional description obtained from RNA sequencing measurements, we develop an initial model, which is then dynamically modeled using the cybernetic-inspired method, based on the strategies described above. The cybernetic-inspired method is able to distill the most significant interactions from a multitude of possibilities. In addition to capturing the complexity of regulatory processes in a mechanistically causal and stage-specific manner, we identify the functional network modules, including novel cell cycle stages. Our model is able to predict future cell cycles consistent with experimental measurements. We posit that this innovative framework has the promise to extend to the dynamics of other biological processes, with a potential to provide novel mechanistic insights.

Block-based teaching method based on cybernetics: a trial with 115 Chinese undergraduate medical students.

BACKGROUND: Class attendance is important for academic performance. Personal interactions between teachers and students are difficult in large classes; the number of medical undergraduate students in China ranges from dozens to over 100. It is important for teachers to control the teaching process to improve student attendance and participation. METHODS: Two classes of fourth-year undergraduate medical students, with each class comprising 115 students, participated in the study. One class, the trial group, was taught by the block-based teaching method based on cybernetics. This study was conducted with three of the courses in the Introduction to Oncology subject, and the trial group's courses included several blocks. Each block had a test paper that the students responded to immediately in class using the Internet. The teacher obtained feedback from the students when the rate of correct responses to block-test questions was less than 90%. The teacher adjusted the teaching in the following blocks according to the feedback information. The other class, the control group, was taught using the traditional lecture-based teaching method. RESULTS: The average attendance in the trial group was 104/115 (90.43%), and that in the control group was 83/115 (72.17%) (p = 0.0003). The teacher adjusted the teaching three times in the radiotherapy course owing to the complex ideas. After feedback, information on chemotherapy for the upper body was adjusted once, as was that on chemotherapy for the lower body, owing to students' attitudes. The average total score of the trial group was 86.06 ± 17.46 and that of the control group was 80.38 ± 6.97 (p = 0.041). Questionnaire I showed that the trial group students' attendance and participation were better than in the control group. Questionnaire II showed that the block-based teaching method based on cybernetics was approved by the students. CONCLUSIONS: The block-based teaching method based on cybernetics used in medical classes with large numbers of Chinese undergraduate students had positive effects.

How biological codes break causal chains to enable autonomy for organisms.

Autonomy, meaning freedom from exogenous control, requires independence of both constitution and cybernetic regulation. Here, the necessity of biological codes to achieve both is explained, assuming that Aristotelian efficient cause is 'formal cause empowered by physical force'. Constitutive independence requires closure to efficient causation (in the Rosen sense); cybernetic independence requires transformation of cause-effect into signal-response relations at the organism boundary; the combination of both kinds of independence enables adaptation and evolution. Codes and cyphers translate information from one form of physical embodiment (domain) to another. Because information can only contribute as formal cause to efficient cause within the domain of its embodiment, translation can extend or restrict the range over which information is effective. Closure to efficient causation requires internalised information to be isolated from the cycle of efficient causes that it informs: e.g. Von Neumann self-replicator requires a (template) source of information that is causally isolated from the physical replication system. Life operationalises this isolation with the genetic code translating from the (isolated) domain of codons to that of protein interactions. Separately, cybernetic freedom is achieved at the cell boundary because transducers, which embody molecular coding, translate exogenous information into a domain where it no longer has the power of efficient cause. Information, not efficient cause, passes through the boundary to serve as stimulus for an internally generated response. Coding further extends freedom by enabling historically accumulated information to be selectively transformed into efficient cause under internal control, leaving it otherwise stored inactive. Code-based translation thus enables selective causal isolation, controlling the flow from cause to effect. Genetic code, cell-signalling codes and, in eukaryotes, the histone code, signal sequence based protein sorting and other code-dependent processes all regulate and separate causal chains. The existence of life can be seen as an expression of the power of molecular codes to selectively isolate and thereby organise causal relations among molecular interactions to form an organism.

Cartography of the multiple formal systems of molecular autopoiesis: from the biology of cognition and enaction to anticipation and active inference.

A rich literature has grown up over the years that bears with autopoiesis, which tends to assume that it is a model, a theory, a principle, a definition of life, a property, refers to self-organization or even to hastily conclude that it is hylomorphic, hylozoist, in need of reformulation or to be overcome, making its status even more unclear. Maturana insists that autopoiesis is none of these and rather it is the causal organization of living systems as natural systems (NS) such that when it stops, they die. He calls this molecular autopoiesis (MA), which comprises two domains of existence: that of the self-producing organization (self-fabrication) and that of the structural coupling/enaction (cognition). Like all-NS in the universe, MA is amenable to be defined in theoretical terms, i.e. encoded in mathematical models and/or formal systems (FS). Framing the multiple formal systems of autopoiesis (FSA) into the Rosen's modeling relation (a process of bringing into equivalence the causality of NS and the inferential rules of FS), allows a classification of FSA into analytical categories, most importantly Turing machine (algorithmic) vs non-Turing machine (non-algorithmic) based, and FSA with a purely reactive mathematical image as cybernetic systems, i.e. feedbacks based, or conversely, as anticipatory systems making active inferences. It is thus the intent of the present work to advance the precision with which different FS may be observed to comply (preserve correspondence) with MA in its worldly state as a NS. The modeling relation between MA and the range of FS proposed as potentially illuminating their processes forecloses the applicability of Turing-based algorithmic computational models. This outcome indicates that MA, as modelled through Varela's calculus of self-reference or more especially through Rosen's (M,R)-system, is essentially anticipatory without violating structural determinism nor causality whatsoever, hence enaction may involve it. This quality may capture a fundamentally different mode of being in living systems as opposed to mechanical-computational systems. Implications in different fields of biology from the origin of life to planetary biology as well as in cognitive science and artificial intelligence are of interest.

A cybernetic perspective on the nature of psychopathology: Transcending conceptions of mental illness as statistical deviance and brain disease.

Explicitly or implicitly, psychopathology is often defined in terms of statistical deviance, requiring that an affected individual be sufficiently distant from the norm in some dimension of psychological or neural function. In recent decades, the dominant paradigm in psychiatric research has focused primarily on deviance in neural function, treating psychopathology as disease of the brain. We argue that these conceptualizations are misguided. We recently proposed a novel theory of psychopathology, based in cybernetics and drawing additionally from neuroscience, psychometrics, and personality theory (DeYoung & Krueger, 2018a). In this theory, deviations from the norm in psychological and neural functioning serve as important risk factors for psychopathology but are not in themselves necessary or sufficient to identify psychopathology, which requires the presence of cybernetic dysfunction. Psychopathology is defined as persistent failure to move toward one's goals, due to failure to generate effective new goals, interpretations, or strategies when existing ones prove unsuccessful. We argue that adopting a cybernetic theory to replace conceptualizations of psychopathology as statistical deviance or brain disease would facilitate improvements in measurement, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The Quest for Cognition in Purposive Action: From Cybernetics to Quantum Computing.

Norbert Wiener and Nikolai Bernstein set the stage for a worldwide multidisciplinary attempt to understand how purposive action is integrated with cognition in a circular, bidirectional manner, both in life sciences and engineering. Such a 'workshop' is still open and far away from a satisfactory level of understanding, despite the current hype surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI). The problem is that Cognition is frequently confused with Intelligence, overlooking a crucial distinction: the type of cognition that is required of a cognitive agent to meet the challenge of adaptive behavior in a changing environment is Embodied Cognition, which is antithetical to the disembodied and dualistic nature of the current wave of AI. This essay is the perspective formulation of a cybernetic framework for the representation of actions that, following Bernstein, is focused on what has long been considered the fundamental issue underlying action and motor control, namely the degrees of freedom problem. In particular, the paper reviews a solution to this problem based on a model of ideomotor/muscle-less synergy formation, namely the Passive Motion Paradigm (PMP). Moreover, it is shown how this modeling approach can be reformulated in a distributed manner based on a self-organizing neural paradigm consisting of multiple topology-representing networks with attractor dynamics. The computational implication of such an approach is also briefly analyzed looking at possible alternatives of the von Neuman paradigm, namely neuromorphic and quantum computing, aiming in perspective at a hybrid computational framework for integrating digital information, analog information, and quantum information. It is also suggested that such a framework is crucial not only for the neurobiological modeling of motor cognition but also for the design of the cognitive architecture of autonomous robots of industry 4.0 that are supposed to interact and communicate naturally with human partners.

Value Fulfillment from a Cybernetic Perspective: A New Psychological Theory of Well-Being.

Value Fulfillment Theory (VFT) is a philosophical theory of well-being. Cybernetic Big Five Theory (CB5T) is a psychological theory of personality. Both start with a conception of the person as a goal-seeking (or value-pursuing) organism, and both take goals and the psychological integration of goals to be key to well-being. By joining VFT and CB5T, we produce a cybernetic value fulfillment theory in which we argue that well-being is best conceived as the fulfillment of psychologically integrated values. Well-being is the effective pursuit of a set of nonconflicting values that are emotionally, motivationally, and cognitively suitable to the person. The primary difference in our theory from other psychological theories of well-being is that it does not provide a list of intrinsic goods, instead emphasizing that each person may have their own list of intrinsic goods. We discuss the implications of our theory for measuring, researching, and improving well-being.

A cybernetic theory of autism: Autism as a consequence of low trait plasticity.

OBJECTIVE: According to Cybernetic Big Five Theory (CB5T), personality traits reflect variation in the parameters of evolved cybernetic mechanisms, and extreme manifestations of these traits correspond to a risk for psychopathology because they threaten the organism's ability to pursue its goals effectively. Our theory of autism as a consequence of low Plasticity extends CB5T to provide a cybernetic account of the origin of autistic traits. The theory argues that, because all psychological competencies are initially developed through exploration, typical development requires sensitivity to the incentive reward value of the unknown (i.e., the unpredicted). According to CB5T, motivation to explore the unknown is the core function underlying the metatrait Plasticity, the shared variance of Extraversion and Openness/Intellect. This theory makes predictions regarding the downstream developmental consequences of early low Plasticity, and each prediction maps well onto autistic symptomatology. METHOD: We surveyed 387 people. Measures included the Autism Quotient (AQ) scale and International Personality Item Pool items that are indicators of Plasticity and Stability. RESULTS: The association between AQ and Plasticity was ß = -.64. CONCLUSION: A strong negative correlation between Plasticity and AQ suggests ASD may be closely linked to a low sensitivity to the incentive reward value of the unknown.

Telas na infância: postagens de especialistas em grupos de cuidadores no facebook / Screens in childhood: posts of specialists in caretakers' groups in the facebook / Pantallas en la infancia: las publicaciones de expertos en grupos de cuidadores en facebook

Apesar das crescentes investigações sobre uso de telas na infância, essa é uma temática complexa e ainda recente, que traz diversos desafios para pesquisadores e cuidadores. Comunidades virtuais em redes sociais são utilizadas por mães e pais para esclarecer dúvidas e receber conselhos acerca da parentalidade e saúde infantil, podendo, simultaneamente, assumir uma função prescritiva e normativa quanto ao seu modo de agir. Sendo assim, este artigo pretende compreender como o uso de telas na infância vem sendo abordado por especialistas em grupos de mães e pais no Facebook. Foi realizado um estudo qualitativo envolvendo 49 postagens de especialistas, sobretudo psicólogos e educadores, extraídas de cinco grupos públicos de mães e pais nessa rede social. Os textos das publicações foram verificados por meio de análise temática e discutidos com base no referencial teórico psicanalítico. Os resultados mostraram que os especialistas destacam os possíveis prejuízos do uso de telas na infância, além de fornecer orientações aos pais sobre como lidar com sua presença no cotidiano das crianças e de suas famílias. Concluiu-se que apesar dos grupos de cuidadores no Facebook serem uma ferramenta de divulgação de informações acerca do uso de telas na infância, cabe não naturalizar a presença de especialistas nesses espaços virtuais criados por pais e mães, interpondo-se nos saberes e nas trocas horizontalizadas entre os cuidadores.(AU)

Although investigations on the use of screens in childhood are increasing, this is a complex and recent topic, which poses several challenges for researchers and caregivers. Virtual communities in social networks are used by mothers and fathers to clarify doubts and receive advice regarding parenting and child health, at times, simultaneously, assuming a prescriptive and normative role on their way of acting. Therefore, this study aimed to understand how the use of screens in childhood has been approached by experts in groups of mothers and fathers on Facebook. A qualitative study was carried out involving 49 posts from specialists, mainly psychologists and educators, extracted from five public groups of mothers and fathers in this social network. The publications' texts were verified via thematic analysis and discussed based on the psychoanalytical theoretical framework. The results showed that experts highlight the possible damage of the use of screens in childhood, in addition to providing guidance to parents on how to deal with the presence of digital technology in the daily lives of children and families. It was concluded that, although caregivers' groups on Facebook are a tool for disseminating information about the use of screens in childhood, it is important not to naturalize the presence of specialists in these virtual spaces created by fathers and mothers, interposing in the horizontally interchanges that occur between the caregivers.(AU)

A pesar de las crecientes investigaciones sobre el uso de pantallas en la infancia, este es un tema complejo y aún reciente, que plantea varios desafíos para investigadores y cuidadores. Las comunidades virtuales en las redes sociales son utilizadas por madres y padres para aclarar dudas y recibir consejos sobre educación y salud infantil, pudiendo, al mismo tiempo, asumir un rol prescriptivo y normativo sobre su forma de actuar. Por lo tanto, este estudio tuvo como objetivo comprender cómo el uso de las pantallas en la infancia ha sido abordado por especialistas en grupos de madres y padres en Facebook. Se realizó un estudio cualitativo a partir de 49 publicaciones de especialistas, principalmente de psicólogos y educadores, extraídas de cinco grupos públicos de madres y padres en esta red social. Se realizó en los textos de las publicaciones un análisis temático y se utilizó el marco teórico psicoanalítico. Los resultados mostraron que los expertos destacan posibles daños que provoca el uso de pantallas en la infancia, además de orientar a los padres sobre cómo afrontar esta presencia de la tecnología digital en el día a día de los niños y sus familias. Se concluyó que, a pesar de que los grupos de cuidadores en Facebook son una herramienta de difusión de información sobre el uso de pantallas en la infancia, es importante no naturalizar la presencia de especialistas en estos espacios virtuales creados por padres y madres que se interpone entre los saberes e intercambios horizontales de los cuidadores.(AU)

(In)tolerância como política: os discursos de direita e de esquerda no facebook / (In)tolerance as policy: the rightist and leftist discourses on facebook / (In)tolerancia como política: los discursos de la derecha y la izquierda en facebook

Este estudo tem como objetivo analisar traços da mentalidade potencialmente autoritária a partir do discurso de usuários do Facebook vinculados a páginas de cunho político autodeclarado de direita e de esquerda no Brasil. A Netnografia é utilizada como aporte metodológico para imersão on-line nas páginas "Eu era Direita e não sabia" e "Jovens de Esquerda", selecionadas por meio do Facebook Audience Insights, ferramenta disponibilizada pelo Facebook. Delas, foram extraídas oito postagens com maior engajamento (número de comentários, curtidas e compartilhamentos), identificadas pelo Netvizz. Foram coletados 3.489 comentários, os quais foram organizados em um corpus textual submetido ao software IRAMUTEQ e analisados sob a perspectiva da análise crítica imanente da teoria crítica. Como resultado, apresenta-se a forma como o pensamento autoritário se manifesta na racionalização da sociedade contemporânea e nas práticas discursivas em redes sociais on-line, enraizada no âmbito sociopolítico brasileiro, ameaçando o processo democrático e a construção de uma sociedade plural e liberta.(AU)

This study aims to analyze traits of the potentially authoritarian mentality from the speech of Facebook users linked to political pages self-declared as rightist and leftist in Brazil. Netnography is used as a methodological contribution for online immersion in the pages "Eu era Direita e não sabia" and "Jovens de Esquerda" selected via Facebook Audience Insights, a tool provided by Facebook. From these, eight posts with greater engagement (number of comments, likes and shares), identified by Netvizz, were extracted. We collected 3,489 comments, which were organized in a textual corpus submitted to IRAMUTEQ software and analyzed from the perspective of immanent critical analysis of Critical Theory. As a result, we present the way in which authoritarian thinking manifests itself in the rationalization of contemporary society and in discursive practices in online social networks, rooted in the Brazilian socio-political sphere, threatening the democratic process and the construction of a plural and free society.(AU)

Este estudio tiene como objetivo analizar las huellas de la mentalidad potencialmente autoritaria a partir de los discursos de usuarios en Facebook vinculados a páginas políticas autodeclaradas de derecha y de izquierda en Brasil. La netnografía se utiliza como marco metodológico para la inmersión en línea en las páginas "Eu era Direita e não sabia" y "Jovens de Esquerda", seleccionadas por Facebook Audience Insights, herramienta proporcionada por Facebook. Se extrajeron las ocho publicaciones con mayor compromiso (número de comentarios, gustos y compartidas), identificadas por Netvizz. Se recogieron 3.489 comentarios, los cuales fueron organizados en un corpus textual sometido al software IRAMUTEQ y analizado bajo la perspectiva del análisis crítico inmanente de la teoría crítica. Los resultados presentan la forma en que el pensamiento autoritario se manifiesta en la racionalización de la sociedad contemporánea y en prácticas discursivas en redes sociales en línea, arraigada en el ámbito sociopolítico brasileño, que amenazan el proceso democrático y la construcción de una sociedad plural y liberada.(AU)

La ética de los agentes cibernéticos (Una ética de plástico para seres de plástico) / The ethics of cybernetic agents (A plastic ethics for plastic beings)

Entre las cuestiones que suscita la nueva tecnología de la IAtenemos la llamada Ética de la IA. De hecho, la reciente Resolución UE Marco de los aspectos éticos de la inteligencia artificial, la robótica y las tecnologías conexas de 20 de octubre 2020, declara que las cuestiones de carácter ético y jurídico relacionadas con la inteligencia artificial deben abordarse a través de un marco regulador del Derecho de la Unión efectivo, global y con visión de futuro que refleje los principios y valores de la Unión consagrados en los Tratados y en la Carta de los Derechos Fundamentales. Es decir, se está pidiendo una reglamentación de la ética europea dela IA. Además, se adjunta como Anexo una Propuesta de Reglamento del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo sobre los principios éticos para el desarrollo, el despliegue y el uso de la IA, en 24 artículos. Este trabajo explora el significado de esta Ética para robots, Roboética o Ciberética, distinguiendo la ética que se dirige a los seres humanosen su relación con las máquinas de la que se programa en el sistema inteligente como medida de control y seguridad. (AU)

Among the issues raised by the new AI technology we have the so-called Ethics of AI. In fact, the recent EU Resolution Framework on the ethical aspects of artificial intelligence, robotics and related technologies of October 20, 2020, declares that ethical and legal issues related to artificial intelligence must be addressed through a framework an effective, comprehensive and forward-looking regulator of Union law that reflects the principles and values of the Union enshrined in the Treaties and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In other words, a regulation of the European ethics of AI is being requested. In addition, a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the ethical principles for the development, deployment and use of AI, in 24 articles, is attached as an Annex. This work explores the meaning of this Ethics for robots, Roboethics or Cyberethics, distinguishing the ethics that addresses human beings in their relationship with machines from those that are programmed in the intelligent system as a control and security measure. (AU)

50 Years of Achievements and Persistent Challenges for Biomedical and Health Informatics and John Mantas' Educational and Nursing Informatics Contributions.

Biomedical and Health Informatics (BMHI) have been essential catalysts for achievements in medical research and healthcare applications over the past 50 years. These include increasingly sophisticated information systems and data bases for documentation and processing, standardization of biomedical data, nomenclatures, and vocabularies to assist with large scale literature indexing and text analysis for information retrieval, and methods for computationally modeling and analyzing research and clinical data. Statistical and AI techniques for decision support, instrumentation integration, and workflow aids with improved data/information management tools are critical for scientific discoveries in the - omics revolutions with their related drug and vaccine breakthroughs and their translation to clinical and preventive healthcare. Early work on biomedical image and pattern recognition, knowledge-based expert systems, innovative database, software and simulation techniques, natural language processing and computational ontologies have all been invaluable for basic research and education. However, these methods are still in their infancy and many fundamental open scientific problems abound. Scientifically this is due to persistent limitations in understanding biological processes within complex living environments and ecologies. In clinical practice the modeling of fluid practitioner roles and methods as they adjust to novel cybernetic technologies present great opportunities but also the potential of unintended e-iatrogenic harms which must be constrained in order to adhere to ethical Hippocratic norms of responsible behavior. Balancing the art, science, and technologies of BMHI has been a hallmark of debates about the field's historical evolution. The present article reviews selected milestones, achievements, and challenges in BMHI education mainly, from a historical perspective, including some commentaries from leaders and pioneers in the field, a selection of which have been published online recently by the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) as the first volume of an IMIA History WG eBook. The focus of this chapter is primarily on the development of BMHI in terms of those of its educational activities which have been most significant during the first half century of IMIA, and it concentrates mainly on the leadership and contributions of John Mantas who is being honored on his retirement by the Symposia in Athens for which this chapter has been written.

Platelets and the Cybernetic Regulation of Ischemic Inflammatory Responses through PNC Formation Regulated by Extracellular Nucleotide Metabolism and Signaling.

Ischemic events are associated with severe inflammation and are here referred to as ischemic inflammatory response (IIR). Recent studies identified the formation of platelet-neutrophil complexes (PNC) as key players in IIR. We investigated the role of extracellular platelet nucleotide signaling in the context of IIR and defined a cybernetic circle, including description of feedback loops. Cybernetic circles seek to integrate different levels of information to understand how biological systems function. Our study specifies the components of the cybernetic system of platelets in IIR and describes the theoretical progression of IIR passing the cybernetic cycle with positive and negative feedback loops based on nucleotide-dependent signaling and functional regulation. The cybernetic components and feedback loops were explored by cytometry, immunohistological staining, functional blocking antibodies, and ADP/ATP measurements. Using several ex vivo and in vivo approaches we confirmed cybernetic parameters, such as controller, sensor, and effector (VASP phosphorylation, P2Y12, ADORAs and GPIIb/IIIa activity), as well as set points (ADP, adenosine) and interfering control and disturbance variables (ischemia). We demonstrate the impact of the regulated platelet-neutrophil complex (PNC) formation in blood and the resulting damage to the affected inflamed tissue. Taken together, extracellular nucleotide signaling, PNC formation, and tissue damage in IIR can be integrated in a controlled cybernetic circle of platelet function, as introduced through this study.

How the Body Became Integrated: Cybernetics in the History of the Brain Death Debate.

Although the term integration is central to the definition of brain death, there is little agreement on what it means. Through a genealogical analysis, this essay argues that there have been two primary ways of understanding integration in regard to organismal wholeness. One stems from neuroscience, focusing on the role of the brain in responding to external stimuli, which was taken up in phenomenological accounts of life. A second, arising out of cybernetics, focuses on the brain's role in homeostasis. Recent debates over brain death are largely over this cybernetic understanding of integration. However, the phenomenological understanding of organismal wholeness can be seen in arguments by the President's Council on Bioethics in favor of brain death. This essay argues that the cybernetic understanding of life is problematic and should be discarded. A phenomenological understanding of life can provide a better basis for arguments over definitions of life and death.

Ciberbullying, ideação suicida e comunicação parento-filial em adolescentes e jovens adultos / Ciberacoso, ideación suicida y comunicación padres-hijos en adolescentes y adultos jóvenes / Cyberbullying, Suicidal Ideation and Parent-Child Communication in Adolescents and Young Adults

O ciberbullying constitui uma realidade cada vez mais presente na vida dos mais jovens e desprotegidos, o que pode perturbar o seu desenvolvimento e bemestar. O presente estudo tem como objetivo explorar a associação entre o ciberbullying, a ideação suicida e a comunicação parentofilial nos adolescentes e jovens adultos. O estudo foi feito com uma amostra de 401 adolescentes e jovens adultos, com idades compreendidas entre os 15 e os 24 anos. Recorreu-se ao Questionário de Cibervitimização (cyvic), ao Questionário de Ideação Suicida (qis) e à Escala de Avaliação da Comunicação na Parentalidade (compa) para coleta dos dados. No que se refere à idade foram encontradas diferenças significati-vas relativamente à cibervitimização. Quanto ao número de horas de utilização da Internet foram encontradas diferenças em relação à cibervitimização, à ideação suicida e à comunicação parental da figura materna nomeadamente nas subescalas confiança/partilha e metacomunicação. Foram encontradas associações entre a cibervitimização, ideação suicida e a comunicação parental do pai e da mãe. Por fim, observou-se que a ideação suicida prediz a cibervitimização, enquanto a disponibilidade da mãe prediz a cibervitimização. É urgente que este problema de saúde seja multidisciplinarmente identificado e combatido ao mesmo ritmo com que a tecnologia se entrosa e é preponderante na vida das gerações mais novas.

El ciberacoso es una realidad cada vez más presente en la vida de personas jóvenes y desprotegidas, que puede trastornar su desarrollo y bienestar. El presente estudio tiene como objetivo explorar la asociación entre el ciberacoso, la ideación suicida y la comunicación padres-hijos en adolescentes y adultos jóvenes. El estudio se realizó con una muestra de 401 adolescentes y adultos jóvenes, con edades comprendidas entre los 15 y 24 años. Para la recolección de datos se utilizó el Cuestionario de Victimización Cibernética (cyvic), el Cuestionario de Ideación Suicida (qis) y la Escala de Evaluación de la Comunicación Parental (compa). En cuanto a la edad, se encontraron diferencias significativas en la cibervictimización. Respecto al número de horas de uso de Internet, se encontraron diferencias en relación con cibervictimización, ideación suicida y comunicación parental de la figura materna, concretamente en las subescalas confianza/compartir y metacomunicación. Se hallaron asociaciones entre cibervictimización, ideación suicida y comunicación parental de padre y madre. Finalmente, se observó que la ideación suicida predice cibervictimización, a la vez que la disponibilidad materna predice ciber-victimización. Es urgente que este problema de salud sea identificado y combatido de forma multidisciplinar, al mismo ritmo que la tecnología se entrelaza y es preponderante en la vida de las generaciones más jóvenes.

Cyberbullying is a reality that is increasingly present in the lives of young and unprotected people, which can disturb their development and wellbeing. This study aimed to explore the association between cyberbullying, suicidal ideation and parent-child communication in adolescents and young adults. The study was carried out with a sample of 401 adolescents and young adults aged between 15 and 24 years. Data were collected through the Cybervictimization Questionnaire (cyvic), the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (qis) and the Parent-ing Communication Assessment Scale (compa-a). Considering age, significant differences were found related to cyber-victimization. Regarding the number of hours of Internet use, differences were found associated with cybervictimization, suicidal ideation and parental communication of the mother figure, namely in the trust/sharing and meta-communication subscales. Associations were found between cybervictimization, suicidal ideation and parental communication from the father and mother. Finally, it was observed that suicidal ideation and mother availability predict cybervictimization. It is urgent that this health problem be identified and fought in a multidisciplinary way at the same pace with which technology intertwines and is preponderant in the lives of the younger generations

Latina/o/e technoscience: Labor, race, and gender in cybernetics and computing.

The history of cybernetics has often displaced non-white actors and women from its accounts. Recentering them offers an opportunity to rearticulate the history of computing through its entanglements with labor and race/gender as network formations. In paying attention to these actors and the silences in the STS literature, this article offers an analysis of networked asymmetries, non-essential knowledge and disposability. In doing so, it redraws the boundaries of STS with race/gender integral to the field. It proposes hemispheric approaches that trouble national bounds and move us beyond the dominant sites of Europe and the United States, and that interrogate US empire. The article follows closely the role of Arturo Rosenblueth in the development of cybernetics and of Mexican women workers in computer semiconductor assembly. These stories of technoscience show the invisible work of Latina/o/es as unacknowledged and unaccounted entities in the infrastructural assemblage of cybernetics and computing.

Endocrine cybernetics: neuropeptides as molecular switches in behavioural decisions.

Plasticity in animal behaviour relies on the ability to integrate external and internal cues from the changing environment and hence modulate activity in synaptic circuits of the brain. This context-dependent neuromodulation is largely based on non-synaptic signalling with neuropeptides. Here, we describe select peptidergic systems in the Drosophila brain that act at different levels of a hierarchy to modulate behaviour and associated physiology. These systems modulate circuits in brain regions, such as the central complex and the mushroom bodies, which supervise specific behaviours. At the top level of the hierarchy there are small numbers of large peptidergic neurons that arborize widely in multiple areas of the brain to orchestrate or modulate global activity in a state and context-dependent manner. At the bottom level local peptidergic neurons provide executive neuromodulation of sensory gain and intrinsically in restricted parts of specific neuronal circuits. The orchestrating neurons receive interoceptive signals that mediate energy and sleep homeostasis, metabolic state and circadian timing, as well as external cues that affect food search, aggression or mating. Some of these cues can be triggers of conflicting behaviours such as mating versus aggression, or sleep versus feeding, and peptidergic neurons participate in circuits, enabling behaviour choices and switches.

Dissecting cell fate dynamics in pediatric glioblastoma through the lens of complex systems and cellular cybernetics.

Cancers are complex dynamic ecosystems. Reductionist approaches to science are inadequate in characterizing their self-organized patterns and collective emergent behaviors. Since current approaches to single-cell analysis in cancer systems rely primarily on single time-point multiomics, many of the temporal features and causal adaptive behaviors in cancer dynamics are vastly ignored. As such, tools and concepts from the interdisciplinary paradigm of complex systems theory are introduced herein to decode the cellular cybernetics of cancer differentiation dynamics and behavioral patterns. An intuition for the attractors and complex networks underlying cancer processes such as cell fate decision-making, multiscale pattern formation systems, and epigenetic state-transitions is developed. The applications of complex systems physics in paving targeted therapies and causal pattern discovery in precision oncology are discussed. Pediatric high-grade gliomas are discussed as a model-system to demonstrate that cancers are complex adaptive systems, in which the emergence and selection of heterogeneous cellular states and phenotypic plasticity are driven by complex multiscale network dynamics. In specific, pediatric glioblastoma (GBM) is used as a proof-of-concept model to illustrate the applications of the complex systems framework in understanding GBM cell fate decisions and decoding their adaptive cellular dynamics. The scope of these tools in forecasting cancer cell fate dynamics in the emerging field of computational oncology and patient-centered systems medicine is highlighted.

Cybernetics as a conversation with the Cosmos.

Norbert Wiener was the first to functionally define cybernetics as "the study of control and communication in the animal and the machine". Herein, it is shown that as a manifestation of physiology, cybernetics can be further reduced to cell-cell signaling to maintain homeostasis, bridging Newtonian 3rd Order Cybernetics with Quantum Mechanical 4th Order Cybernetics as our 'conversation with the Cosmos' based on Quantum Entanglement, constrained by non-localization. As such, cybernetics can be scientifically tested in toto from the functional to the metaphysical, rendered physical as communication for the first time. If that is correct, then the sooner we begin operating based on Quantum Mechanical principles, the sooner we will function based on predictive algorithms.