Investigating the effects of Lorentz Invariance Violation on the CP-sensitivities of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

The neutrino oscillations offer great potential for probing new physics effects beyond the Standard Model. Any additional effect on neutrino oscillations can help understand the nature of these non-standard effects. The violation of fundamental symmetries may appear as new physics effects in various neutrino experiments. Lorentz symmetry is one such fundamental symmetry in nature, the violation of which implies a breakdown of space-time symmetry. The Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) is intrinsic in nature and its effects exist even in a vacuum. Neutrinos can be an intriguing probe for exploring such violations of Lorentz symmetry. The effect of violation of Lorentz Invariance can be explored through the impact on the neutrino oscillation probabilities. The effect of LIV is treated as a perturbation to the standard neutrino Hamiltonian considering the Standard Model Extension (SME) framework. In this work, we have probed the effect of LIV on the neutrino oscillation measurements considering the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) as a case study. The inclusion of LIV affects various neutrino oscillation parameters as it modifies the standard neutrino oscillation probabilities. We looked into the capability of DUNE in constraining the LIV parameters and then explored the impact of CPT-violating LIV terms on the mass-induced neutrino oscillation probabilities. We have also probed the influence of LIV parameters on the CP-measurement sensitivity at DUNE.Comment: 33 pages, 16 figure

Scalar NSI: A unique tool for constraining absolute neutrino masses via ν\nu-oscillations

In the standard interaction scenario, a direct measurement of absolute neutrino masses via neutrino oscillations is not feasible, as the oscillations depend only on the mass-squared differences. However, the presence of scalar non-standard interactions can introduce sub-dominant terms in the oscillation Hamiltonian that can directly affect the neutrino mass matrix and thereby making scalar NSI a unique tool for neutrino mass measurements. In this work, for the first time, we constrain the absolute masses of neutrinos by probing scalar NSI. We show that a bound on the lightest neutrino mass can be induced in the presence of scalar NSI at DUNE. We find that the lightest neutrino mass can be best constrained with $\eta_{\tau\tau}$ and $\eta_{\mu\mu}$ at $2\sigma$ C.L. for normal and inverted hierarchy respectively. This study suggests that scalar NSI can serve as an interesting avenue to constrain the absolute neutrino masses in long-baseline neutrino experiments via neutrino oscillations.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Evaluation of individual and ensemble probabilistic forecasts of COVID-19 mortality in the United States

Short-term probabilistic forecasts of the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States have served as a visible and important communication channel between the scientific modeling community and both the general public and decision-makers. Forecasting models provide specific, quantitative, and evaluable predictions that inform short-term decisions such as healthcare staffing needs, school closures, and allocation of medical supplies. Starting in April 2020, the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub (https://covid19forecasthub.org/) collected, disseminated, and synthesized tens of millions of specific predictions from more than 90 different academic, industry, and independent research groups. A multimodel ensemble forecast that combined predictions from dozens of groups every week provided the most consistently accurate probabilistic forecasts of incident deaths due to COVID-19 at the state and national level from April 2020 through October 2021. The performance of 27 individual models that submitted complete forecasts of COVID-19 deaths consistently throughout this year showed high variability in forecast skill across time, geospatial units, and forecast horizons. Two-thirds of the models evaluated showed better accuracy than a naïve baseline model. Forecast accuracy degraded as models made predictions further into the future, with probabilistic error at a 20-wk horizon three to five times larger than when predicting at a 1-wk horizon. This project underscores the role that collaboration and active coordination between governmental public-health agencies, academic modeling teams, and industry partners can play in developing modern modeling capabilities to support local, state, and federal response to outbreaks

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Ethnoveterinary practices among the tribal community of Malda district of West Bengal, India

359-367Present study aimed at documenting and analyzing the ethnoveterinary practices of domesticated animals and birds of Malda district of West Bengal in India. Successive field surveys were conducted to assemble data from tribal practitioners by means of semi-structured individual interviews, open ended questionnaires, informal interviews, group discussion, etc. Present study recorded 70 phytotherapeutic practices involving 60 plants which were used to treat 34 types of disease and disorders of livestock. Out of 34 livestock disease and disorders, mostly treated ailment was agalactia with 7 different therapeutic uses followed by fever, treated with 5 different preparations. Leaves were most frequently used plant parts in preparing medicinal formulations. However, five new ethnoveterinary formulations were documented during this survey for the first time. The informants’ consensus factor (FIC) was found very high (0.88 - 1) establishing the study more authentic. This is the first detailed documentation of ethnoveterinary knowledge as well as first report of determining FIC among the tribal communities of this region

Innovation and entrepreneurship programs in US medical education: a landscape review and thematic analysis

Background: Training in innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) in medical education has become increasingly prevalent among medical schools to train students in complex problem solving and solution design. Objective: We aim to characterize I&E education in US allopathic medical schools to provide insight into the features and objectives of this growing field. Design: I&E programs were identified in 2016 via structured searches of 158 US allopathic medical school websites. Program characteristics were identified from public program resources and structured phone interviews with program directors. Curricular themes were identified via thematic analysis of program resources, and themes referenced by >50% of programs were analyzed. Results: Thirteen programs were identified. Programs had a median age of four years, and contained a median of 13 students. Programs were led by faculty from diverse professional backgrounds, and all awarded formal recognition to graduates. Nine programs spanned all four years of medical school and ten programs required a capstone project. Thematic analysis revealed seven educational themes (innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, leadership, healthcare systems, business of medicine, and enhanced adaptability) and two teaching method themes (active learning, interdisciplinary teaching) referenced by >50% of programs. Conclusions: The landscape of medical school I&E programs is rapidly expanding to address newfound skills needed by physicians due to ongoing changes in healthcare, but programs remain relatively few and small compared to class size. This landscape analysis is the first review of I&E in medical education and may contribute to development of a formal educational framework or competency model for current or future programs. Abbreviations: AAMC: American Association of Medical Colleges; AMA: American Medical Association; I&E: Innovation and entrepreneurshi

<span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family: Mangal;mso-ansi-language:EN-GB;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language: HI" lang="EN-GB">Assessment of haemolytic, cytotoxic and free radical scavenging activities of an underutilized fruit, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Baccaurea ramiflora </i>Lour. (Roxb.) Muell. Arg.</span>

115-125<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Baccaurea ramiflora Lour. (Roxb.) Muell. Arg. is an underutilized juicy fruit bearing plant found in sub-Himalayan area, South China, Indo-Burma region, etc. The fruit is considered to be nutritive, and in this study, we evaluated its antioxidant, haemolytic and cytotoxic properties. The juice was examined for the quenching activity of hydroxyl radical, nitric oxide, singlet oxygen, peroxynitrite, total antioxidant activity (TAA), erythrocyte membrane stabilizing activity (EMSA) along with quantification of phenolic and flavonoid contents and also tested for its potential activity as iron chelator, inhibitor of lipid peroxidation and total reducing power. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were also performed to correlate antioxidant capacities with the phenolic and flavonoid content. Haemolytic activity on murine erythrocyte and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) cytotoxic test was performed on murine splenocytes, thymocytes, hepatocytes and peritoneal exudates macrophage to examine the cytotoxic effect of its juice. The result exhibited its potent free radical scavenging activity. In case of TAA, DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), EMSA and lipid peroxidation, the fruit juice was found to have significant (P <0.001) antioxidant capacity, which is evident from low IC50 (half maximal inhibitory concentration) value. Results obtained from haemolytic inhibition assay and MTT cytotoxic test confirms that the juice does not contain any cytotoxic effect and the fruit is safe for consumption. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra analysis exhibited high possibility of presence of flavonoid compounds in the juice