Academic Performance Programs: New Directions and (Dis)Connections in Academic Reform

The purpose of this paper is to provide a response to Harrison’s (2012) work. The author suggests that the one-size-fits all approach the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has adopted when implementing academic reform measures ultimately hurts the athletes the reforms are intended to benefit

Eggshell appearance does not signal maternal corticosterone exposure in Japanese quail:an experimental study with brown-spotted eggs

Reproduction is a critical period for birds as they have to cope with many stressful events. One consequence of an acute exposure to stress is the release of corticosterone, the avian stress hormone. Prolonged stress can have negative impacts on the immune system, resulting in, for example, increased oxidative stress. Through maternal effects, females are known to modulate their investment in eggs content according to their own physiological condition. Less is known about maternal investment in eggshells, especially in pigments. The two main eggshell pigments may possess opposite antioxidant properties: protoporphyrin (brown) is a pro-oxidant, whereas biliverdin (blue-green) is an antioxidant. In Japanese quail, we know that the deposition of both pigments is related to female body condition. Thus, a chronic stress response may be reflected in eggshell coloration. Using female Japanese quails that lay brown-spotted eggs, we explored whether physiological exposure to corticosterone induces a change in female basal stress and antioxidant factors, and eggshell pigment concentration, spectrophotometric reflectance, and maculation coverage. We supplemented adult females over a 2 week period with either peanut oil (control) or corticosterone (treatment). We collected pre- and post-supplementation eggs and analysed the effect of corticosterone treatment on female physiology and eggshell appearance parameters. Except for corticosterone-fed birds which laid eggs with brighter spots, supplementation had no significant effect on female physiology or eggshell pigment concentration, reflectance and maculation. The change in eggshell spot brightness was not detected by a photoreceptor noise-limited color opponent model of avian visual perception. Our data confirms that eggshell reflectance in spotted eggs varies over the laying sequence, and spot reflectance may be a key factor that is affected by females CORT exposure, even if the changes are not detected by an avian visual model

Large second harmonic generation enhancement in SiN waveguides by all-optically induced quasi phase matching

Integrated waveguides exhibiting efficient second-order nonlinearities are crucial to obtain compact and low power optical signal processing devices. Silicon nitride (SiN) has shown second harmonic generation (SHG) capabilities in resonant structures and single-pass devices leveraging intermodal phase matching, which is defined by waveguide design. Lithium niobate allows compensating for the phase mismatch using periodically poled waveguides, however the latter are not reconfigurable and remain difficult to integrate with SiN or silicon (Si) circuits. Here we show the all-optical enhancement of SHG in SiN waveguides by more than 30 dB. We demonstrate that a Watt-level laser causes a periodic modification of the waveguide second-order susceptibility. The resulting second order nonlinear grating has a periodicity allowing for quasi phase matching (QPM) between the pump and SH mode. Moreover, changing the pump wavelength or polarization updates the period, relaxing phase matching constraints imposed by the waveguide geometry. We show that the grating is long term inscribed in the waveguides, and we estimate a second order nonlinearity of the order of 0.3 pm/V, while a maximum conversion efficiency (CE) of 1.8x10-6 W-1 cm-2 is reached

Fusing Administrative Data to Combat the Opioid Crisis

Opioid-related overdose deaths remain the leading cause of unintentional injury fatalities in the United States. State lawmakers have responded to this crisis by establishing a regulatory environment that extends various legal protections to persons who may help save the life of someone experiencing an opioid-related overdose. Most states now protect specific parties (e.g., doctors, pharmacists, first responders, laypersons) from civil or criminal liability who prescribe, dispense, possess or administer an opioid antagonist in accordance with the provisions of the state’s law. In addition to standing orders that facilitate access to opioid antagonists, many states offer legal protection to “Good Samaritans” seeking medical and emergency assistance for a person experiencing an overdose. Some states additionally mandate that addiction-treatment services be offered in conjunction with the dispensing of an opioid antagonist, whereas others designate revenue to purchase opiate antagonists or to fund treatment programs. Little is known about the potential impact of such regulatory actions on the opioid crisis. RTI’s Data Fusion Center seeks to meet this need by combining administrative data across sources and systems to inform research and policy. The current paper describes the Data Fusion Center and presents preliminary results from a study that predicts opioid-related overdose deaths based on the existence and strength of opioid-related state laws among 50 states from 2006 to 2016. Policy data were webscraped from state agencies, systematically coded, and associated with target outcomes sourced from CDC. Study findings may help inform lawmakers and stakeholders in prioritizing data-driven policy responses to the opioid crisis

Designing a Data Commons for Big Data

Infrastructure systems and smart buildings are rapidly joining the Internet of Things and evolving into advanced cyber-physical systems. As a result, massive amounts of data that characterize the structure and function of urban areas in minute detail are being generated. However, these data are often fragmented and managed by a variety of public agencies and private corporations. As a result, they are not readily available to the urban research community. This paper lays out a strategy to develop a data commons that would collect, curate and distribute Urban Big Data to support research on infrastructure systems and how they interact with the human populations they support