Opportunities for WPI in Washington D.C.

The purpose of this project was to determine ways to raise awareness of opportunities available to WPI in the Washington, D.C. area. The team\u27s focus was to locate federal funding opportunities for WPI\u27s faculty, and to create relationships with foreign embassies where WPI currently has project centers. A database was created, detailing opportunities in D.C. to facilitate the identification of funding for WPI faculty. Recommendations were created to outline greatest potential mutual benefits between WPI and agencies. Visits occurred with officials at the South African and Thailand embassies. The team created and presented pamphlets outlining student projects completed in these countries. The embassy visits could lead to future collaboration between WPI and these nations

Human-in-the-Loop Cyber Physical Systems: Modular Designs for Semi-Autonomous Wheelchair Navigation

This project involves the design and development of a prototyping platform and open design framework for a semi-autonomous wheelchair to realize a human-in-the-loop cyber physical system as an assistive technology. The system is designed to assist physically locked-in individuals in navigating indoor environments through the use of modular sensor, communication, and control designs. This enables the user to share control with the wheelchair and allows the system to operate semi-autonomously with human-in-the-loop. The Wheelchair Add-on Modules (WAMs) developed for use in this project are platform-independent and facilitate development and application of semi- autonomous functionality

The FANCM:p.Arg658* truncating variant is associated with risk of triple-negative breast cancer

Abstract: Breast cancer is a common disease partially caused by genetic risk factors. Germline pathogenic variants in DNA repair genes BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 are associated with breast cancer risk. FANCM, which encodes for a DNA translocase, has been proposed as a breast cancer predisposition gene, with greater effects for the ER-negative and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes. We tested the three recurrent protein-truncating variants FANCM:p.Arg658*, p.Gln1701*, and p.Arg1931* for association with breast cancer risk in 67,112 cases, 53,766 controls, and 26,662 carriers of pathogenic variants of BRCA1 or BRCA2. These three variants were also studied functionally by measuring survival and chromosome fragility in FANCM−/− patient-derived immortalized fibroblasts treated with diepoxybutane or olaparib. We observed that FANCM:p.Arg658* was associated with increased risk of ER-negative disease and TNBC (OR = 2.44, P = 0.034 and OR = 3.79; P = 0.009, respectively). In a country-restricted analysis, we confirmed the associations detected for FANCM:p.Arg658* and found that also FANCM:p.Arg1931* was associated with ER-negative breast cancer risk (OR = 1.96; P = 0.006). The functional results indicated that all three variants were deleterious affecting cell survival and chromosome stability with FANCM:p.Arg658* causing more severe phenotypes. In conclusion, we confirmed that the two rare FANCM deleterious variants p.Arg658* and p.Arg1931* are risk factors for ER-negative and TNBC subtypes. Overall our data suggest that the effect of truncating variants on breast cancer risk may depend on their position in the gene. Cell sensitivity to olaparib exposure, identifies a possible therapeutic option to treat FANCM-associated tumors

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

The Northern Territory in the defence of Australia: strategic and operational considerations

Northern Australia has become the primary focus of Australian defence planning. It is the area in which low-level contingencies are most likely to occur, and it is the direction through which higher threats are most likely to come. The Review of Australia's Defence Capabilities by Paul Dibb, the 1987 White Paper on the Defence of Australia, and Excercise Kangaroo 89 each identified the need for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Australian defence planners to increase their familiarity with northern Australia. This volume is a companion to Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 63, which also dealt with the Northern Territory in the defence of Australia but from the aspects of its geography, history, economy and the actual Defence presence in the Territory. This volume is concerned with the strategic and operational considerations. It highlights the Territory's place in the threat contingency spectrum, before examining those characteristics of the ambient environment which have particular significance for the conduct of operations. A strategic appraisal of the Territory's geography follows - in general terms and from an adversary's standpoint. Thereafter follow separate and specialised operational considerations as seen from the navy, air force and army perspectives. The final chapter addresses the civil-military nexus developing the Northern Territory

Australia and the world, prologue and prospects

In December 1988, as part of Australia's Bicentennial activities, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre held a major international conference which was designed to take stock of Australia's current defence and security circumstances, in the light of both the last 200 years of history and relevant regional and global security developments, and assess our future prospects. It was the most ambitious conference organised by the Centre, and was reckoned to have been extremely successful. This volume consists of the revised and edited versions of papers prepared for that conference. The security environment which faces Australia as it enters the third century of its European settlement is increasingly complex and uncertain. Bipolarity is now history. Other powers, such as Japan, China and India, will be increasingly active in the region. Security is becoming more multi-dimensional, with the military dimension decreasing in significance relative to economic and environmental concerns. Political, economic and technological change will be more dynamic. The management of this new security environment will not be easy. It requires the careful and considered marshalling of economic and diplomatic resources together with military capabilities. Australia's influence in the world will inevitably be modest. Securing our country's future will be a challenge to our wit and ingenuity - which makes the excercise an interesting and exciting prospect