System for HIV-1 Treatment to the Brain

While HIV-1 treatment has been revolutionized by combination antiretroviral therapy in the past two decades, HIV-1 remains persistent in organs that don’t allow easy penetration of anti-HIV drugs (e.g., brain) and cause persistent HIV-1 infections and inflammation. Researchers have turned towards nanotechnology-based drug carriers to combat this challenge, such as nanodiscoidal bicelles (ND) and liposomes. Bicelles entrap the drug in their interior hydrophobic core until metabolized by the body, and the payload can be released at the desired location in a controlled, long-lasting dosage. This study investigated the toxicity and extended-release of an anti-HIV drug-loaded within ND and liposomes for HIV-1 treatment to the brain. Results from both in-vitro and in-vivo characterization studies demonstrated that further optimization of the ND formulation needs to be adjusted towards liposomal structures for future studies

Engaging High School Students Towards a Career in Cybersecurity

The following study acknowledges the numerous jobs available in cybersecurity and searches for ways to use public relations efforts to engage high school students towards a career in cybersecurity. While the field of cybersecurity is growing and the amount of jobs are increasing, there is currently not enough people pursuing a career in cybersecurity. This lack of professionals is dangerous because there are simply not enough professionals that are seeking to progress the field, and there’s not enough people to fight the increasing number of cyberattacks. The main goal for this project was to discover public relations tactics that can be used towards increasing awareness among the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. Ultimately, these findings were then applied to press kits, pitch emails, surveys and other press materials that would be used for California Cybersecurity Institute’s event, the California Cyber Innovation Challenge. This event is a statewide high school cybersecurity competition designed to introduce more students to cybersecurity as a future course of study and career.This paper addresses the need for public relations engagement efforts among cyber-focused companies, and how these efforts can be applied to an existingevent

Radioactive Dixie: A History of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Waste in the American South, 1950-1990

“Radioactive Dixie: A History of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Waste in the American South, 1950-1990,” examines the political, social, cultural, economic, environmental, and technological dimensions of the nuclear industry in the American South. Today, the US South contains more nuclear reactors than any other region and much of the nation’s radioactive waste. In “Radioactive Dixie,” I argue that this regional distinction resulted from a decades-long effort by southern politicians, industry figures, and government officials to transform the American South into a nuclear-oriented region. Waving the atomic talisman, the nuclear industry served as one pivotal part in a larger project of regional modernization, which intended to transform the South’s economy and its identity. And yet, despite the promises of progress through nuclear things, the American South’s transformation into a new nuclear South met a surprising degree of resistance, prompting debates about energy, the environment, corporate and government accountability, and risk. While some historians have called for an end to southern history, “Radioactive Dixie” demonstrates the lasting relevance of regional frameworks, and why studying a region’s energy system informs national and global issues concerning energy and the environment. By studying the forces that shaped nuclear technology development in the South and uniting top-down perspectives with local experiences, this study illustrates the uneven, contested process of modernization in the region. “Radioactive Dixie” shifts the focus away from metropolitan areas to rural communities—to the people and the places near nuclear reactors that power sprawling, energy-hungry cities

The Incidence of Inverter Incidents: Understanding and Quantifying Contributions to Risk in Systems with Large Amounts of Inverter-Based Resources

Renewable energy is an important and growing percentage of the total power supply. Additionally, non-wires alternatives, which are meant to substitute for the construction of more transmission lines, are increasing in quantity as the demand for electrical power increases. Many non-wires alternatives take the form of renewable energy resources and batteries, and are distributed over short distances through neighborhoods and communities. Inverters are used to connect these DC resources to the AC grid. However, there is growing industry concern that the disconnect function that is inherent to interconnection standards for inverter-based resources has the potential to result in a cascading failure if voltages deviate significantly from nominal. This thesis studies the conditions under which a cascading inverter collapse of this sort could occur. More specifically, it identifies engineering design parameters, such as time constants, that influence the speed and nature of these cascades, using a new model called Time-Dependant Inverters Model (TiDIM). While this model is preliminary, the results suggest that risk increases with a number of factors including large transmission or distribution line impedances, a large variance in inverter voltage setpoints, and an inappropriate number of inverter-based resources that can contribute to supplying too much or not enough power. Next, the thesis characterizes the risk at which one may expect this sort of event to occur as a function of line impedance and the resultant voltage magnitude. It is found that a greater proportion of inverter-connected power in the grid is associated with a higher probability of collapse, and a greater variance in inverter behavior is associated with a wider transition band, which is defined in this thesis as the range of impedances/voltages where the probability of collapse is an uncertain. Lastly, the thesis identifies cost-effective strategies to reduce the likelihood of such an event

Realistic Dialogue Engine for Video Games

The concept of believable agent has a long history in Artificial Intelligence. It has applicability in multiple fields, particularly video games. Video games have shown tremendous technological advancement in several areas such as graphics and music; however, techniques used to simulate dialogue are still quite outdated. In this thesis, a method is proposed to allow a human player to interact with non-player characters using natural-language input. By using various techniques of modern Artificial Intelligence such as information retrieval and sentiment analysis, non-player characters have the capability of engaging in dynamic dialogue: they can answer questions, ask questions, remember events, and more. This conversation system is highly customizable, so the types of responses that non-player characters give can be modified to fit within a game’s storyline. Although the system only currently allows for simple dialogue, it illustrates the potential for a more robust way to simulate believable agents in video games

Giving Effective and Timely Hospice Education to Lessen Participant Stress (GET HELPS)

In 2022, 1.72 million people chose to use hospice as their end-of life care. This is a 6.8% increase from 2019, and the number of patients who choose to use hospice is increasing (Summers, 2022). The aim of this quality improvement (QI) study was to decrease levels of stress reported by the patient and informal caretakers by combining the information from the hospice program’s admission packet and other approved handouts, while standardizing the verbiage through a Flesch-Kincaid readability scale to an eighth-grade reading level. Pre-survey perceived stress scores averaged 22.97 on a modified Perceived-Stress Scale, and the mean of the post-survey averaged 19.38, suggesting a decrease in stress experienced by the patient and informal caretakers when provided with simplified, effective, and timely education

What Do We Mean by Multicellularity? The Evolutionary Transitions Framework Provides Answers

At first glance, the meaning of the word “multicellularity” appears to be unambiguous—it is treated as an “intuitive” concept, something that can be grasped with common sense. On closer inspection, however, it is apparent that there is notable disparity in the recent literature regarding the usage of the term “multicellularity.” Whereas, traditionally it was mainly attributed to complex organisms (Grosberg and Strathmann, 2007), more recently it has also been used for simple microbial colonies or biofilms (Hengge, 2020). Accordingly, a unifying definition is lacking—whereas some definitions require cells to display an overall coordination of function (Wolpert and Szathmáry, 2002), have physical contact and strong interactions (Kaiser, 2001), others are simply based on the presence of a group-morphology (Schirrmeister et al., 2013)

Household ownership and use of insecticide treated nets among target groups after implementation of a national voucher programme in the United Republic of Tanzania: plausibility study using three annual cross sectional household surveys.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact of the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme on the coverage and equitable distribution of insecticide treated nets, used to prevent malaria, to pregnant women and their infants. DESIGN: Plausibility study using three nationally representative cross sectional household and health facility surveys, timed to take place early, mid-way, and at the end of the roll out of the national programme. SETTING: The Tanzania National Voucher Scheme was implemented in antenatal services, and phased in on a district by district basis from October 2004 covering all of mainland Tanzania in May 2006. PARTICIPANTS: 6115, 6260, and 6198 households (in 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively) in a representative sample of 21 districts (out of a total of 113). INTERVENTIONS: A voucher worth $2.45 ( pound1.47, euro1.74) to be used as part payment for the purchase of a net from a local shop was given to every pregnant woman attending antenatal services. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Insecticide treated net coverage was measured as household ownership of at least one net and use of a net the night before the survey. Socioeconomic distribution of nets was examined using an asset based index. RESULTS: Steady increases in net coverage indicators were observed over the three year study period. Between 2005 and 2007, household ownership of at least one net (untreated or insecticide treated) increased from 44% (2686/6115) to 65% (4006/6198; P<0.001), and ownership of at least one insecticide treated net doubled from 18% (1062/5961) to 36% (2229/6198) in the same period (P<0.001). Among infants under 1 year of age, use of any net increased from 33% (388/1180) to 56% (707/1272; P<0.001) and use of an insecticide treated net increased from 16% (188/1180) to 34% (436/1272; P<0.001). After adjusting for potential confounders, household ownership was positively associated with time since programme launch, although this association did not reach statistical significance (P=0.09). Each extra year of programme operation was associated with a 9 percentage point increase in household insecticide treated net ownership (95% confidence interval -1.6 to 20). In 2005, only 7% (78/1115) of nets in households with a child under 1 year of age had been purchased with a voucher; this value increased to 50% (608/1211) in 2007 (P<0.001). In 2007, infants under 1 year in the least poor quintile were more than three times more likely to have used an insecticide treated net than infants in the poorest quintile (54% v 16%; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The Tanzania National Voucher Scheme was associated with impressive increases in the coverage of insecticide treated nets over a two year period. Gaps in coverage remain, however, especially in the poorest groups. A voucher system that facilitates routine delivery of insecticide treated nets is a feasible option to "keep up" coverage

Assessment of a national voucher scheme to deliver insecticide-treated mosquito nets to pregnant women.

BACKGROUND: The benefits of a health-related intervention may be compromised by the challenges of delivering the intervention on a large scale. We analyzed the process involved in the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme, a system for delivering insecticide-treated mosquito nets to pregnant women. We aimed to identify potential ways to equitably improve overall coverage of the intervention. METHODS: We defined five steps in the process. We collected data from a multistage cluster survey of nationally representative households conducted in 2007 across 21 districts in Tanzania. Using these data, we multiplied the rate of success of each step cumulatively to estimate the overall success of the system. RESULTS: The rate of coverage for use of insecticide-treated nets among pregnant women was 23% (95% confidence interval [CI] 19%-27%). We observed large differences in coverage by socio-economic status, from 7% (95% CI 4%-13%) among participants in the poorest households to 48% (95% CI 38%-59%) among those in the richest households. The rate of success of each step in the process was high (60%-98%). However, the cumulative rate of success for the process as a whole was low (30%). The largest and most inequitable reduction in coverage occurred in the step involving treatment of nets with insecticide. INTERPRETATION: The cumulative effect of modest attrition at several steps in the process substantially diminished the overall rate of coverage for all women, but most markedly among the poorest participants. Analysis of the process suggests that delivery of nets treated with long-lasting insecticide rather than untreated nets packaged with an insecticide-treatment kit could result in an improvement in coverage of 22 percentage points, from 30% to 52%

Incorporating livability benefits into the Federal Transit Administration New Starts project evaluation process through accessibility-based modeling

Thesis (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-156).The Department of Transportation's announcement of the "Livability initiative" for major transit projects in January 2010 has prompted the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to reassess the criteria used in the evaluation of New Starts projects. There is concern that the evaluation criteria for transit project benefits are too limiting and that not all project benefits are accounted for in the best way. Specifically, the FTA New Starts Program is beginning to shift away from the current measure of user benefits, a calculation of changes in mobility measured by hours of travel time saved, towards criterion based on the concept of livability. As of this writing, the FTA has yet to define livability and establish metrics that will be adopted in the next rulemaking process. This thesis evaluates the current FTA New Starts framework and presents an improved approach for measuring some of the livability benefits of transit projects through accessibility-based modeling. It is argued in this thesis that accessibility to essential services, such as employment, education, health care, and recreation, is a key component of livability. Furthermore, the concept of accessibility is both understandable and can be measured from existing data sources, and thus is an ideal building block from which to reconsider how transit project benefits should be evaluated in the New Starts process. Two transportation modeling software packages, TransCAD and Cube Voyager, are used to analyze the accessibility benefits of the MBTA Green Line Extension Project to illustrate the potential of accessibility measures in the project evaluation process. Findings suggest that gravity measures are more appropriate than isochrone measures when evaluating the accessibility benefits of proposed projects. The positive relationship between accessibility and mode share suggests that accessibility measures can serve as a valuable tool in the preliminary planning stages to quickly evaluate alternatives prior to the completion of a conventional four-step travel demand model and further justifies the use of accessibility measures in a livability-based project evaluation process.by Caroline R. Ducas.S.M.in Transportatio