Academic literature on the topic 'MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology'

The Operational Remote Sensing (ORS) program leverages Landsat and MODIS data to detect forest disturbances across the conterminous United States (CONUS). The ORS program was initiated in 2014 as a collaboration between the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC) and the Forest Health Assessment and Applied Sciences Team (FHAAST). The goal of the ORS program is to supplement the Insect and Disease Survey (IDS) and MODIS Real-Time Forest Disturbance (RTFD) programs with imagery-derived forest disturbance data that can be used to augment traditional IDS data. We developed three algorithms and produced ORS forest change products using both Landsat and MODIS data. These were assessed over Southern New England and the Rio Grande National Forest. Reference data were acquired using TimeSync to conduct an independent accuracy assessment of IDS, RTFD, and ORS products. Overall accuracy for all products ranged from 71.63% to 92.55% in the Southern New England study area and 63.48% to 79.13% in the Rio Grande National Forest study area. While the accuracies attained from the assessed products are somewhat low, these results are similar to comparable studies. Although many ORS products met or exceeded the overall accuracy of IDS and RTFD products, the differences were largely statistically insignificant at the 95% confidence interval. This demonstrates the current implementation of ORS is sufficient to provide data to augment IDS data.

Sperm quality assessment may be a useful tool not only for evaluating the reproductive health of free-ranging populations, but also for selecting individuals for future assisted-reproduction technology programs. The aim of this study was to assess the functionality of epididymal spermatozoa collected from blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and impala (Aepyceros melampus melampus) during the non-breeding season, using the fluorescent probes, propidium ioide (PI;; Sigma, South Africa) and JC-1 (Molecular Probes, The Netherlands). Six blue wildebeest and eight impala were harvested as part of a wildlife management program on a game ranch in South Africa. Testes were removed and transported to the laboratory within 6 hours while being maintained at 4°C. The cauda epididymides were removed and flushed with 1mL of Tris-citrate egg yolk extender (fraction A, Biladyl;; Minitüb, Germany). The sperm sample was diluted 1:4 in HEPES washing medium (Sigma;; 20mM HEPES, 355mM sucrose, 10mM glucose, 2.5mM KOH;; 400mOsm/kg, pH 7), and centrifuged for 5min at 600g, followed by re-suspending the pellet in 0.1mL of HEPES saline medium (Sigma;; as for washing medium, except 197mM NaCl instead of sucrose). The percentage of motile (MS) and progressively motile (PS) spermatozoa were determined using phase contrast microscopy (×200, 37°C). Sperm plasma membrane integrity and mitochondrial status were assessed using fluorescence microscopy (×400, 450–490nm excitation filter, 510nm dichroic-beam splitter, 520nm barrier filter) after staining with PI (50ngmL−1; 10min, RT) and JC-1 (7.5μM; 30min, 37°C), respectively. Spermatozoa with damaged plasma membranes showed a red fluorescence and spermatozoa with active and inactive mitochondria (MIT) fluoresced orange and green, respectively. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between spermatozoa with intact plasma membranes (IPM) and MIT, and with motility (Statistica™ package). A summary of the results is shown in the table 1. Although samples were not collected during the breeding season, sperm quality appeared to be good for the blue wildebeest, but less so for the impala. In general, impala results were more varied. Significant correlations were found for impala (n=8, P<0.05) MS-IPM: 0.75; IPM-MIT: 0.83, and for blue wildebeest (n=6, P<0.05), MS-IPM: 0.84; IPM-MIT: 0.81, and for pooled data (n=14, P<0.01), MS-IPM: 0.93; MS-MIT: 0.87; PS-IPM: 0.67; PS-MIT: 0.66; IPM-MIT: 0.95. These correlations suggest a relationship of functional parameters to sperm motility. Both membrane integrity and mitochondrial status are important for sperm flagellar activity. The correlation between IPM and MIT indicates a relationship or the effect of common factors. In conclusion, sperm collected from blue wildebeest and impala during the non-breeding season appear functional, a fact that may be useful for future conservation programs based on assisted reproduction technology or for assessing the reproductive health status of free-ranging wildlife populations. The fluorescent probes PI and JC-1 appear useful for assessing sperm quality in these two species and should be considered for further sperm quality assessment studies in other antelope species. Table 1 Results of the analyses, showing mean±SD (max.–min.)

Purpose The following paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry PhD-turned successful innovator and entrepreneur regarding the commercialization and challenges of bringing his technological inventions to market. This paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Considered one of the top biomechatronics researchers in the world, Dr Hugh Herr heads the MIT Biomechatronics Research Group and Center for Extreme Bionics. His research programs seek to advance technologies that promise to accelerate the merging of body and machine, including device architectures that resemble the body’s musculoskeletal design, actuator technologies that behave like muscle and control methodologies that exploit principles of biological movement. Herr’s methods encompass a diverse set of scientific and technological disciplines that are advancing an emerging field of engineering science that applies principles of biomechanics and neural control to guide the designs of human rehabilitation and augmentative devices. Findings As a teenager, Herr was a highly competitive mountain climber until he had to have both legs amputated below the knees after suffering severe frostbite during a 1982 mountain expedition at the age of 17. As a result of this experience, he directed his efforts and talent to try to improve the mobility of people with disabilities. He graduated in physics in 1990 from the Millersville University (Pennsylvania). He subsequently earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1993 and a PhD in Biophysics at Harvard University in 1998. He then was a postdoctoral fellow in medical devices at MIT. He was Assistant Professor at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Harvard Medical School. Since 2000, he has been heading the MIT Biomechatronics Group within the Media Lab and has been Co-directing the Lab’s Center for Extreme Bionics since 2014. To bring his inventions to market, Herr founded a spin-off company out of MIT under the name iWalk in 2007, which was relaunched as BionX Medical Technologies Inc. in 2015, and acquired by Ottobock in 2017. Originality/value Herr is a world leader and inventor in the field of bionics and biomechanics whose research accomplishments have already made a significant impact on physically challenged people. Herr has produced several groundbreaking products, starting with a computer-controlled artificial knee in 2003, called the Rheo Knee™ System and commercialized by Össur Inc. He also designed his own bionic lower legs, the world’s first powered ankle-foot prosthesis to emulate the action of a biological leg and, for the first time, provides amputees with a natural gait. The Empower ankle system is now marketed by Ottobock. He is presently working on NeuroEmbodied Design methodology to restore proprioception to amputees. Herr has received major accolades including the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award (2005), the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment (2007) and R&D Magazine’s 14th Innovator of the Year Award (2014) and a No Barriers Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2013 No Barriers Summit. His innovations were listed twice among TIME magazine’s Top Ten Inventions (2004; 2007) and which called him “Leader of the Bionic Age” in 2011. His life story has been told in the book Second Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr (1991) and in the film Ascent: The Story of Hugh Herr, made in 2002 by National Geographic. He is the author and co-author of more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and patents.

Background To provide participants with a more real and immersive intervening experience, virtual reality (VR) and/or augmented reality (AR) technologies have been integrated into some bystander intervention training programs and studies measuring bystander behaviors. Objective We focused on whether VR or AR can be used as a tool to enhance training bystanders. We reviewed the evidence from empirical studies that used VR and/or AR as a tool for examining bystander behaviors in the domain of interpersonal violence research. Methods Two librarians searched for articles in databases, including APA PsycInfo (Ovid), Criminal Justice Abstracts (EBSCO), Medline (Ovid), Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ProQuest), Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest), and Scopus till April 15, 2020. Studies focusing on bystander behaviors in conflict situations were included. All study types (except reviews) written in English in any discipline were included. Results The search resulted in 12,972 articles from six databases, and the articles were imported into Covidence. Eleven studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All 11 articles examined the use of VR as a tool for studying bystander behaviors. Most of the studies were conducted in US young adults. The types of interpersonal violence were school bullying, dating violence, sexual violence/assault, and soccer-associated violence. VR technology was used as an observational measure and bystander intervention program. We evaluated the different uses of VR for bystander behaviors and noted a lack of empirical evidence for AR as a tool. We also discuss the empirical evidence regarding the design, effectiveness, and limitations of implementing VR as a tool in the reviewed studies. Conclusions The reviewed results have implications and recommendations for future research in designing and implementing VR/AR technology in the area of interpersonal violence. Future studies in this area may further contribute to the use of VR as an observational measure and explore the potential use of AR to study bystander behaviors.

The European Spallation Source (ESS), which is established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), is a multi-disciplinary research facility that is currently under construction. ESS has as vision to develop to a world class facility, enabling scientific breakthroughs in research related to materials, energy, health and the environment. The ESS facility is built by a collaboration of some 100 research institutes and universities. With its 5 MW average beam power, its linac will be the most powerful linac of all neutron spallation sources. Neutrons are obtained by delivering 2 GeV protons at a repetition rate of 14 Hz to the He-cooled solid tungsten rotating target. The Accelerator is built with a high percentage of In-Kind Contributions (IKC) with major accelerator systems being designed, prototyped and built outside ESS. The first major accelerator elements are now being assembled and tested with their first parts being installed. Future similar large-scale projects could likely be IKC-based, which is a powerful model. Within ESS, the Mechanical Engineering & Technology (MET) section is responsible for developing and maintaining mechanical engineering and design throughout the facility. The mechanical design is consolidated in the master model and available under the ESS Plant Layout, including all In-Kind Contributions as well as other related mechanical engineering content. Consequently, the MET section is also responsible for the design, development and supervision of the proton accelerator and tungsten target in terms of civil and infrastructure design for the physical plant. In parallel, ESS has set stringent goals for high availability and reliability on the machines during operations. In order to deliver these goals and monitor the aging status of critical parts of the machines, prototypes and one-of-a-kinds, the MET section has developed and currently implements Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) program on the accelerator primarily and other machines for Operations. The innovative strategy and application of Non-Destructive Testing for Machines (NDTM) is under development by the MET section with the leading benefit of utilizing the technology of Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS). Both reference and irradiated samples undergo RUS measurements to obtain spectral responses of the dedicated materials, for machine reliability and operations availability purposes.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is a “Q&A interview” conducted by Joanne Pransky of Industrial Robot Journal as a method to impart the combined technological, business and personal experience of a prominent, robotic industry PhD-turned-entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market. Design/methodology/approach The interviewee is Dr Cory Kidd, an inventor, entrepreneur and leading practitioner in the field of human–robot interaction. Dr Kidd shares his 20-year journey of working at the intersection of healthcare and technology and how he applied innovative technologies toward solving large-scale consumer healthcare challenges. Findings Dr Kidd received his BS degree in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and earned a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in Computer and Information Science & Engineering. Dr Kidd received his MS and PhD degrees at the MIT Media Lab in human–robot interaction. While there, he conducted studies that showed the psychological and clinical advantages of using a physical robot over screen-based interactions. While finishing his PhD in 2007, he founded his first company, Intuitive Automata, which created interactive coaches for weight loss. Though Intuitive Automata ceased operations in 2013, Dr Kidd harnessed his extensive knowledge of the healthcare business and the experiences from patient engagement and launched Catalia Health in 2014 with a new platform centered specifically around patient behavior change programs for chronic disease management. Originality/value Dr Kidd is a pioneer of social robotics and has developed groundbreaking technology for healthcare applications that combines artificial intelligence, psychology and medical best practices to deliver everyday care to patients who are managing chronic conditions. He holds patents, including one entitled Apparatus and Method for Assisting in Achieving Desired Behavior Patterns and in an Interactive Personal Health Promoting Robot. Dr Kidd was awarded the inaugural Wall Street Journal and Credit Suisse Technopreneur of the Year in 2010, which is meant to “honor the entry that best applies technology with the greatest potential for commercial success”. He is also the Director of Business Development for the nonprofit Silicon Valley Robotics and is an impact partner for Fresco Capital. He consults, mentors and serves as a Board Member and Advisor to several high-tech startups.

Abstract Background Physical illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases are much more common in patients with schizophrenia compared to general population. Besides the rate of schizophrenia patients benefiting from general health services have been quite low. These physical illnesses don’t only cause bad prognosis but also decrease the quality of life and increase the risk of early death. Many schizophrenia studies in recent years have found that patients with schizophrenia have died very early compared to normal population. The most important reasons of developing physical illnesses in schizophrenia are decrease in physical activity, nutrition problems, weight gain, smoking cigarettes, alcohol and substance abuse, unhealthy lifestyles. Emerging new technologies may lead to the discovery of new treatment techniques in psychiatric disorders and related problems. Virtual reality (VR) as one of these new technologies, is composed of imitated real environments on computers. Most of virtual reality environments are about visual experiences by means of computer screen. Virtual reality is used for presenting reality experience and it is a 3D computer program of existing or non-existing environments. Although virtual reality in treatment of schizophrenia is new to the science, it has promising results to improve positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Also, VR technology may be useful to improve psychosocial functioning among the patients with schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of VR physical health program on physical health parameters such as nutrition, psychomotor activity, smoking cigarettes and lifestyle. Methods Patients who met DSM-V schizophrenia diagnostic criteria from Dokuz Eylül University School of Medicine, Schizophrenia and Psychosis Outpatient Clinic were included into the study. In this study, a virtual reality laboratory has been established and physical health improvement program by using virtual reality technology with real life experiences has been developed for patients with schizophrenia. Results None of the patients reported motion sickness due to exposure to real environment during or after immersive process of VR. There were significant changes regarding the physical health parameters. Discussion VR physical health program may be useful to improve physical health-related problems such as obesity, psychomotor inactivity and smoking cigarettes.

Household water treatment (HWT) can reduce the diarrheal disease burden in populations without access to safe water. We evaluated five programs that distributed biosand, ceramic, or Sawyer filters in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake and cholera outbreak. We conducted household surveys and tested Escherichia coli and turbidity in stored household untreated and treated water in ∼50 randomly selected households from each program. Across programs, self-reported filter use ranged from 27 to 78%; confirmed use (participants with reported use who also showed the filter with water currently in it) ranged from 20 to 76%; and effective use (participants who used the filter to improve water quality to international guideline values) ranged from 0 to 54%. Overall, programs that more successfully met evaluation metrics: (1) distributed an effective technology; (2) provided safe storage; (3) required cash investment; (4) provided initial training; (5) provided follow-up; (6) provided supply-chain access; (7) targeted households relying on contaminated water sources; and, (8) had experience working in the local context. These findings, similar to results of previous research on HWT, suggest that well-implemented programs have the potential to result in sustained household filter use in Haiti.

Electronic health and medical records are widely adopted in many healthcare settings worldwide to improve the quality of care. Users’ perception is a significant factor influencing the successful implementation and use of e-health technologies. This systematic review aimed to identify factors influencing the perceptions of healthcare professionals towards the adoption and use of electronic health and medical record systems to improve the quality of healthcare services in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council. We identified primary studies evaluating healthcare professionals’ perception towards electronic health records and/or electronic medical records in the Gulf region. Seven electronic databases, including Medline, CINAHL, Informit Health Collection, Science Direct, ProQuest, PubMed, and Scopus were used to search for the relevant articles published between January 2007 and December 2016. Thirteen articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Both individual and system-related factors were found to positively or negatively influence healthcare providers’ perceptions towards the systems. Understanding the impact of healthcare professionals’ perception of health information technology is important for policymakers involved in the implementation programs to ensure their success. Future studies should evaluate other individual characteristics such as age, gender, and profession of the healthcare providers on their perceptions towards e-health technologies.

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-287).
Telehealth technologies are being employed to increase access, quality of care, and cost containment. However, there are no widely accepted measures of telehealth performance and little information about long-term changes in access. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is advantageous for telehealth research because of the widespread implementation, organic development of multiple distinctively structured programs, and national electronic medical records. Using teledermatology, one of the earliest and most widely adopted uses, a set of recommended performance metrics are established and a select few are evaluated across the different programs. Store and forward (SF) teledermatology, taking a picture and sending it to a dermatologist for asynchronous evaluation, is the prominent method of care. In SF programs there is variation in the level of follow-up care available locally. Some locations have "surrogate dermatology providers" that are trained to do basic treatments and procedures. Based on four site visits and twenty-five interviews with stakeholders, recommendations for performance measurements were created. VHA is already in the process of executing three of the measures nationally: image quality, time to consult response, and patient satisfaction. Additionally, VHA has the data available to measure time to treatment, post-teledermatology utilization of care, travel distance, and wait-times. Finally, VHA should improve data to create future metrics regarding: cost, particularly payment for outside dermatologists; provider satisfaction; and quality of care through chart review or adverse event reporting. Using administrative databases, the metrics for which data were available were retrospectively evaluated. At a national level for 2013, entry into the care process through teledermatology is associated with faster time to treatment than entry from an in-person referral for both melanoma (teledermatology median: 62 days; in-person consult median: 70 days; p=0.002) and non-melanoma skin cancer (teledermatology median: 79 days; in-person consult median: 88 days; p<0.001). There was little consistency in the post-teledermatology care utilized across programs. Testing three programs with different resources used for local follow-up care, travel distance saved over 2013 was calculated. The program with surrogate dermatology providers had the most travel saved per patient. Implementation of teledermatology had no statistically significant impact on in-person wait times for dermatology clinics.
by Ashley Mateus.
Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Medical and Engineering Physics)--Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, June 2013.
"May 2013." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-127).
Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response that results the presence and persistence of microorganisms or their toxins in the bloodstream and it is diagnosed by detecting the presence of pathogens in blood. Despite improvements in modem medicine, sepsis has a high mortality rate that increases rapidly with every hour the patient does not receive optimal antibiotic therapy. Thus, there is a great demand for technologies that can accelerate pathogen detection and sepsis diagnosis. Our lab previously developed a micromagnetic-microfluidic pathogen isolation technology that can selectively remove pathogens from flowing whole human blood with high efficiency using micro- or nano-sized magnetic beads coated with microbe-specific antibodies [1, 2]. However, the identity of the pathogen is not known when a patient first presents with the clinical symptoms of sepsis, and currently, it can take days to a week to identify the specific pathogen type. The goal of this dissertation is to develop a generic pathogen collection technology that can be used to pull bacteria and fungi out of blood or other fluids without first knowing their identity, and to concentrate them for analysis and rapid identification. In Chapter 1, 1 will review the field of sepsis diagnostics and methods that have been employed to confront this challenge. In Chapter 2, I describe the development of a natural human opsonin - Mannose Binding Lectin (MBL) - as a generic pathogen capture molecule. MBL is found in human blood and is part of the innate immune system; it has been previously shown to bind over 90 different types of pathogens, including gram negative and positive bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites [3-5]. The studies described in this chapter include development and optimization of methods to coat magnetic beads with MBL and demonstration that MBL beads bind to wide range of pathogens with high efficiency in saline and blood. The binding of MBL beads to sample pathogens is tested under a wide range of conditions to determine optimal bead concentration, binding time and sample treatments to maximize binding in blood. In Chapter 3, 1 describe development of a device that efficiently concentrates and visualizes fungi tagged with the magnetic MBL micro beads. Visualization is made possible by controlling the balance of fluidic shear stress and magnetic force on the tagged pathogens in the device, which enables spreading of the beads and bound fungi into a uniform layer that can be quickly quantified with fluorescent microscopy. Chapter 4 describes tools that I have developed to rapidly concentrate and purify magnetically tagged bacteria from blood and other complex samples for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection. The MBL-bead approach is used to pull out and concentrate pathogens from large sample volumes, and to remove contaminating human DNA, so that sensitive detection can be carried out using PCR amplification. The efficiency of this new MBL-based, sample pre-concentration method is compared to existing commercial isolation methods for analysis of both blood and food samples. Finally, I discuss the implications of these findings in Chapter 5.
by Ryan Mcomber Cooper.
Ph.D.in Medical and Engineering Physics

Thesis: Ph. D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, September 2018.
Page 399 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-229).
RNA plays important and diverse roles in biology, yet molecular tools to measure and manipulate RNA are limited. Recently, the bacterial adaptive immune system, CRISPR, has revolutionized our ability to manipulate DNA, but no known RNA-targeting versions exist. To discover parallel bacterial RNA-targeting systems that could be used for transcriptome engineering, we developed a computational pipeline to mine for novel Class 2 CRISPR systems across more than 25,000 bacterial genomes. Among the many novel CRISPR systems, we found a programmable RNA-targeting CRISPR system, CRISPR-Cas 13, that could provide immunity to E. coli against the ssRNA MS2 phage and biochemically characterized the enzyme. We adapted CRISPR-Casl3 for modulating the transcriptome in mammalian and plant cells by heterologously expressing Casl 3 and engineering the enzyme to precisely knockdown, bind, and edit RNA. Cas 13 knockdown was as efficient as RNA interference, but much more specific, across many transcripts tested. RNA editing with Cas 13 was also highly efficient, with up to 90% base editing rates, and as low as 20 off-targets with engineered specificity versions. Lastly, we combined Cas13 with isothermal amplification to develop a CRISPR-based diagnostic (CRISPR-Dx), providing rapid DNA or RNA detection with single-molecule sensitivity and singlebase mismatch specificity. We used this Casl3a-based molecular detection platform, termed SHERLOCK (Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing), to specifically detect pathogenic bacteria, genotype human DNA, and identify cell-free tumor DNA mutations. Our results establish CRISPR-Cas13 as a flexible platform for RNA targeting with wide applications in RNA biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
by Omar O. Abudayyeh.
Ph. D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2014.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
This work investigates the fundamental processes used by mammalian cells and organisms to make decisions during embryonic development. Current technologies that evaluate biological phenomenon often force a compromise between quantification of gene expression via bulk assays and qualitative imaging of cell and tissue heterogeneity. There are few options that allow for quantitative, high-resolution, single-cell analysis that is robust but not associated with a high degree of technical difficulty or obscured by amplification. Here, we address these issues using two model systems, the developing mammalian inner ear and single mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) during the process of X inactivation, to demonstrate our ability to perform single-cell, single-molecule assays that reveal both highly quantitative and spatial information. Accordingly, we adapted a high resolution, single-molecule RNA fluorescent in situ hybridization technique (smFISH) to study gene expression in the inner ear and perform allele-specific detection of the X chromosome in mESCs. We used previously-published smFISH procedures as our initial template for investigating biological signaling phenomena in these two systems. To study gene expression in the mouse inner ear, we developed a modified smFISH strategy to investigate mRNA transcript expression patterns in the cochlea during auditory hair cell development. The mammalian cochlea, a highly specialized and complex organ, beautifully demonstrates both the depth and breadth of the smFISH technique. To assay signaling behavior and topological changes of the X chromosome prior to X inactivation, we incorporated a novel allele-specific modification into the smFISH technique. We investigate the allele-specific expression patterns of eight genes that tile the X chromosome, which were chosen for their varied putative roles before, during and after X chromosome inactivation. Taken together, these two systems recapitulate the strength of the smFISH technique and its adaptations. The goals of this thesis were twofold: (1) expand the smFISH technique to work in specialized mammalian systems such as the cochlea and (2) demonstrate allele-specific DNA topological changes and expression patterns in mESCs. Elucidating high-resolution, single-molecule quantifiable imaging methods for application to complex tissues or allele-specific probing will have profound impacts on future investigations and promote a deeper comprehension of these systems.
by Annalisa M. Pawlosky.
Ph. D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-263).
Two parallel research efforts were pursued. First, we conducted a systematic exploration of how the genomic landscape of cancer shapes and is shaped by anti-tumor immunity. Using large-scale genomic data sets of solid tissue tumor biopsies, we quantified the cytolytic activity of the local immune infiltrate and identified associated properties across 18 tumor types. The number of predicted MHC Class I-associated neoantigens was correlated with cytolytic activity and was lower than expected in colorectal and other tumors, suggesting immune-mediated elimination. We identified recurrently mutated genes that showed positive association with cytolytic activity, including beta-2- microglobulin (B2M), HLA-A, -B and -C and Caspase 8 (CASP8), highlighting loss of antigen presentation and blockade of extrinsic apoptosis as key strategies of resistance to cytolytic activity. Genetic amplifications were also associated with high cytolytic activity, including immunosuppressive factors such as PDL1/2 and ALOX12B/15B. Our genetic findings thus provide evidence for immunoediting in tumors and uncover mechanisms of tumor-intrinsic resistance to cytolytic activity. Second, we combined measurements of protein production and degradation and mRNA dynamics so as to build a quantitative genomic model of the differential regulation of gene expression in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mouse dendritic cells. Changes in mRNA abundance play a dominant role in determining most dynamic fold changes in protein levels. Conversely, the preexisting proteome of proteins performing basic cellular functions is remodeled primarily through changes in protein production or degradation, accounting for more than half of the absolute change in protein molecules in the cell. Thus, the proteome is regulated by transcriptional induction for newly activated cellular functions and by protein lifecycle changes for remodeling of preexisting functions.
by Michael Steven Rooney.
Ph. D.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2018.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-173).
The objective of this work was to translate the diagnostic capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the patient bedside, specifically for the purpose of quantifying fluid overload. MRI is used extensively in clinical medicine, but it is still not used for routine diagnostics due to high cost, limited availability, and long scan times. Many of these impracticalities come from the hardware requirements associated with generating images. Images, however, are not necessary to harness some of magnetic resonance's (MR's) diagnostic potential. This thesis demonstrates that that a single-voxel MR sensor can obtain the same results as a traditional MRI in both phantoms and humans. A clinical study with hemodialysis patients and age-matched healthy controls was performed at MGH. The T2 relaxation times of study participants' legs were quantified at multiple time points with both a 1.5T clinical MRI scanner and a custom 0.27T single-voxel MR sensor. The results showed that the first sign of fluid overload is an increase in the relative fraction of extracellular fluid in the muscle. The relaxation time of the extracellular fluid in the muscle eventually increases after more fluid accumulates. Importantly, these MR findings occur before signs of lower-extremity edema are detectable on physical exam. Two healthy control subjects became dehydrated over the course of the study and the relative fraction of their extracellular fluid decreased. This incidental finding suggests MR can measure the full spectrum of hydration states. Furthermore, a single MRI measurement at a single time point can distinguish fluid overloaded patients from healthy controls. The amplitude associated with extracellular fluid most closely correlates to fluid loss, and these amplitude decreases are detectable with both the MRI and MR sensor. The results of this work point towards a promising future of using cheaper, faster MR sensors for bedside diagnostics.
by Lina Avancini Colucci.
Ph. D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2017.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 145-162).
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease for which there are no preventative or therapeutic interventions. It is currently understood to be linked to the accumulation of pathologic proteins in the brain. In the past several decades, a strong body of evidence has accumulated that is suggestive of a vascular-related pathway in AD. A deeper understanding of this phenomenon is critical in advancing our understanding of the AD biological process as well and may lead to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets. A common age-related change in the brain is the development of white matter signal abnormalities (WMSA) as seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These lesions are related to cognitive function and are thought to be due to compromised integrity of the brain's vascular system. Despite evidence that WMSA are known to influence the clinical progression of AD, we do not currently view AD as a vascular disease nor do we use WMSA as a clinical indicator of AD. This is because we still do not know whether or not WMSA are a distinct phenomenon in AD, their relationship to traditional AD biomarkers, and how they independently contribute to clinical status. In this work, we examine if and how WMSA are related to AD conversion, whether they differ in their spatial distribution between typical aging and AD, and how they are linked to classic pathologic markers of AD. This work also includes technical development for WMSA quantification and baseline studies of WMSA in cognitively healthy aging. The main findings of this work suggest that WMSA are distinctly different in AD than in typical aging and have a unique role in AD progression. This not only motivates the utility of WMSA in our clinical treatment of AD, but also provides insight into the biological underpinnings of the disease process that may lead to novel therapeutic targets.
by Emily Rose Lindemer.
Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering)--Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references.
Bacterial infections continue to be a significant concern particularly in healthcare settings and in the developing world. Current challenges include the increasing spread of drug resistant (DR) organisms, the side effects of antibiotic therapy, the negative consequences of clearing the commensal bacterial flora, and difficulties in developing prophylactic vaccines. This thesis was an investigation of the potential of a class of polymeric nanoparticles (NP) to contribute to the management of bacterial infections. More specifically, steps were taken towards using these NPs (1) to achieve greater spatiotemporal control over drug therapy by more targeted antibiotic delivery to bacteria, and (2) to develop a prophylactic vaccine formulation against the common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. In the first part, we synthesized polymeric NPs containing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)- block-poly(L-histidine)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLGA-PLH-PEG). We show that these NPs are able to bind to bacteria under model acidic infection conditions and are able to encapsulate and deliver vancomycin to inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria in vitro. Further work showed that the PLGA-PLH-PEG-based NPs demonstrated the potential for competition for binding bacteria at a site of infection from soluble protein and model phagocytic and tissue-resident cells in a NP composition dependent manner. The NPs demonstrated low toxicity in vitro, were well tolerated by mice in vivo, and circulated in the blood on timescales comparable to control PLGA-PEG NPs. In the second part, we used PLGA-PLH-PEG-based NPs to design a prophylactic vaccine against the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, the most common cause of bacterial STD in the world. Currently, no vaccines against this pathogen are approved for use in humans. We first formulated NPs encapsulating the TLR7 agonist R848 conjugated to poly(lactic acid) (R848-PLA) in PLGA-PLH-PEG-based NPs, then incubated these R848-NPs with UV-inactivated C. trachomatis bacteria in acidity, forming a construct. Mice immunized with this vaccine via genital or intranasal routes demonstrated protection from genital infection post immunization in a primarily CD4⁺ T cell-dependent manner. These results may suggest avenues for future work in designing and developing more targeted drug therapies or vaccine formulations for managing bacterial infections using polymeric nanoparticles.
by Aleksandar Filip Radovic-Moreno.
Ph.D.in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, February 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "February 2015."
Includes bibliographical references.
In humans, SFOAEs can non-invasively assess MOC strength and, may predict the MOC reduction of damage from traumatic sounds. However, the functionally important MOC effect is inhibition of auditory-nerve (AN) responses. Understanding the relationship between MOC effects on SFOAEs and AN CAPs is important for understanding SFOAE generation and for development of clinical tools that use these measures. This thesis presents several novel data sets that address MOC effects on SFOAEs, CAPs and the relationship between them in guinea pigs. Classic theory indicates that SFOAEs come from cochlear irregularities that coherently reflect energy at the peak of the traveling wave (TW), and that reflected energy arrives in the ear canal as a single wave at certain delay. Contrary to theory, in humans and chinchillas there have been reports of SFOAEs having multiple components with different delays, and that lowfrequency SFOAE delays are too short. The first thesis aim used time-frequency analysis to show that guinea pigs have frequency regions over which SFOAEs appear to have multiple components. However, we argue that the multiple components can be a simple result of variations in the patters of irregularities near the TW peak and are not necessarily indicative of multiple SFAOE sources. From comparison of our SFOAE delays with previously reported neural delays, we hypothesize that short SFOAE delays at low frequencies arise from a cochlear motion with a group delay shorter than the TW group delay. Aim 2 investigated how SFOAEs are affected by brainstem electrical stimulation of MOC fibers and found that MOC activation sometimes inhibited and sometimes enhanced SFOAEs. MOC stimulation always decreased CAP sensitivity which rules out SFOAE enhancement from increased cochlear amplification. We propose that shock-evoked MOC activity increases cochlear irregularity which results in increased SFOAE amplitudes. Aim 3 investigated the relationship between MOC effects on SFOAEs and tone-pip-evoked AN CAPs at same frequency and sound level. The ratio of the MOC effect on the SFOAE to the MOC effect on the CAP showed a highly-significant decrease (p<0.001) as the strength of MOC stimulation was increased. Although this observation was unexpected, several hypothesis to explain it are presented.
by Maria Andrey Berezina.
Ph. D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, 2014.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-142).
Studies of human brain function require technologies to non-invasively image neuronal dynamics with high spatiotemporal resolution. The electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetoencephalogram (MEG) measure neuronal activity with high temporal resolution, and provide clinically accessible signatures of brain states. However, they have limited spatial resolution for regional dynamics. Combinations of M/EEG with functional and anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can enable jointly high temporal and spatial resolution. In this thesis, we address two critical challenges limiting multimodal imaging studies of spatiotemporal brain dynamics. First, simultaneous EEG-fMRI offers a promising means to relate rapidly evolving EEG signatures with slower regional dynamics measured on fMRI. However, the potential of this technique is undermined by MRI-related ballistocardiogram artifacts that corrupt the EEG. We identify a harmonic basis for these artifacts, develop a local likelihood estimation algorithm to remove them, and demonstrate enhanced recovery of oscillatory and evoked EEG dynamics in the MRI scanner. Second, M/EEG source imaging offers a means to characterize rapidly evolving regional dynamics within an estimation framework informed by anatomical MRI. However, existing approaches are limited to cortical structures. Crucial dynamics in subcortical structures, which generate weaker M/EEG signals, are largely unexplored. We identify robust distinctions in M/EEG field patterns arising from subcortical and cortical structures, and develop a hierarchical subspace pursuit algorithm to estimate neural currents in subcortical structures. We validate efficacy for recovering thalamic and brainstem contributions in simulated and experimental studies. These results establish the feasibility of using non-invasive M/EEG measurements to estimate millisecond-scale dynamics involving subcortical structures. Finally, we illustrate the potential of these techniques for novel studies in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Within an EEG-fMRI study of auditory stimulus processing under propofol anesthesia, we observed EEG signatures accompanying distinct changes in thalamocortical dynamics at loss of consciousness and subsequently, at deeper levels of anesthesia. These results suggest neurophysiologic correlates to better interpret clinical EEG signatures demarcating brain dynamics under anesthesia. Overall, the algorithms developed in this thesis provide novel opportunities to non-invasively relate fast timescale measures of neuronal activity with their underlying regional brain dynamics, thus paving a way for enhanced spatiotemporal imaging of human brain function.
by Pavitra Krishnaswamy.
Ph. D.

Nationalism: Past as Prologue began as a single volume being compiled by Ad Akande, a scholar from South Africa, who proposed it to me as co-author about two years ago. The original idea was to examine how the damaging roots of nationalism have been corroding political systems around the world, and creating dangerous obstacles for necessary international cooperation. Since I (Bruce E. Johansen) has written profusely about climate change (global warming, a.k.a. infrared forcing), I suggested a concerted effort in that direction. This is a worldwide existential threat that affects every living thing on Earth. It often compounds upon itself, so delays in reducing emissions of fossil fuels are shortening the amount of time remaining to eliminate the use of fossil fuels to preserve a livable planet. Nationalism often impedes solutions to this problem (among many others), as nations place their singular needs above the common good. Our initial proposal got around, and abstracts on many subjects arrived. Within a few weeks, we had enough good material for a 100,000-word book. The book then fattened to two moderate volumes and then to four two very hefty tomes. We tried several different titles as good submissions swelled. We also discovered that our best contributors were experts in their fields, which ranged the world. We settled on three stand-alone books:” 1/ nationalism and racial justice. Our first volume grew as the growth of Black Lives Matter following the brutal killing of George Floyd ignited protests over police brutality and other issues during 2020, following the police assassination of Floyd in Minneapolis. It is estimated that more people took part in protests of police brutality during the summer of 2020 than any other series of marches in United States history. This includes upheavals during the 1960s over racial issues and against the war in Southeast Asia (notably Vietnam). We choose a volume on racism because it is one of nationalism’s main motive forces. This volume provides a worldwide array of work on nationalism’s growth in various countries, usually by authors residing in them, or in the United States with ethnic ties to the nation being examined, often recent immigrants to the United States from them. Our roster of contributors comprises a small United Nations of insightful, well-written research and commentary from Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, China, India, South Africa, France, Portugal, Estonia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United States. Volume 2 (this one) describes and analyzes nationalism, by country, around the world, except for the United States; and 3/material directly related to President Donald Trump, and the United States. The first volume is under consideration at the Texas A & M University Press. The other two are under contract to Nova Science Publishers (which includes social sciences). These three volumes may be used individually or as a set. Environmental material is taken up in appropriate places in each of the three books. * * * * * What became the United States of America has been strongly nationalist since the English of present-day Massachusetts and Jamestown first hit North America’s eastern shores. The country propelled itself across North America with the self-serving ideology of “manifest destiny” for four centuries before Donald Trump came along. Anyone who believes that a Trumpian affection for deportation of “illegals” is a new thing ought to take a look at immigration and deportation statistics in Adam Goodman’s The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Deporting Immigrants (Princeton University Press, 2020). Between 1920 and 2018, the United States deported 56.3 million people, compared with 51.7 million who were granted legal immigration status during the same dates. Nearly nine of ten deportees were Mexican (Nolan, 2020, 83). This kind of nationalism, has become an assassin of democracy as well as an impediment to solving global problems. Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times (2019:A-25): that “In their 2018 book, How Democracies Die, the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt documented how this process has played out in many countries, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, to Recep Erdogan’s Turkey, to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Add to these India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and the United States’ Donald Trump, among others. Bit by bit, the guardrails of democracy have been torn down, as institutions meant to serve the public became tools of ruling parties and self-serving ideologies, weaponized to punish and intimidate opposition parties’ opponents. On paper, these countries are still democracies; in practice, they have become one-party regimes….And it’s happening here [the United States] as we speak. If you are not worried about the future of American democracy, you aren’t paying attention” (Krugmam, 2019, A-25). We are reminded continuously that the late Carl Sagan, one of our most insightful scientific public intellectuals, had an interesting theory about highly developed civilizations. Given the number of stars and planets that must exist in the vast reaches of the universe, he said, there must be other highly developed and organized forms of life. Distance may keep us from making physical contact, but Sagan said that another reason we may never be on speaking terms with another intelligent race is (judging from our own example) could be their penchant for destroying themselves in relatively short order after reaching technological complexity. This book’s chapters, introduction, and conclusion examine the worldwide rise of partisan nationalism and the damage it has wrought on the worldwide pursuit of solutions for issues requiring worldwide scope, such scientific co-operation public health and others, mixing analysis of both. We use both historical description and analysis. This analysis concludes with a description of why we must avoid the isolating nature of nationalism that isolates people and encourages separation if we are to deal with issues of world-wide concern, and to maintain a sustainable, survivable Earth, placing the dominant political movement of our time against the Earth’s existential crises. Our contributors, all experts in their fields, each have assumed responsibility for a country, or two if they are related. This work entwines themes of worldwide concern with the political growth of nationalism because leaders with such a worldview are disinclined to co-operate internationally at a time when nations must find ways to solve common problems, such as the climate crisis. Inability to cooperate at this stage may doom everyone, eventually, to an overheated, stormy future plagued by droughts and deluges portending shortages of food and other essential commodities, meanwhile destroying large coastal urban areas because of rising sea levels. Future historians may look back at our time and wonder why as well as how our world succumbed to isolating nationalism at a time when time was so short for cooperative intervention which is crucial for survival of a sustainable earth. Pride in language and culture is salubrious to individuals’ sense of history and identity. Excess nationalism that prevents international co-operation on harmful worldwide maladies is quite another. As Pope Francis has pointed out: For all of our connectivity due to expansion of social media, ability to communicate can breed contempt as well as mutual trust. “For all our hyper-connectivity,” said Francis, “We witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all” (Horowitz, 2020, A-12). The pope’s encyclical, titled “Brothers All,” also said: “The forces of myopic, extremist, resentful, and aggressive nationalism are on the rise.” The pope’s document also advocates support for migrants, as well as resistance to nationalist and tribal populism. Francis broadened his critique to the role of market capitalism, as well as nationalism has failed the peoples of the world when they need co-operation and solidarity in the face of the world-wide corona virus pandemic. Humankind needs to unite into “a new sense of the human family [Fratelli Tutti, “Brothers All”], that rejects war at all costs” (Pope, 2020, 6-A). Our journey takes us first to Russia, with the able eye and honed expertise of Richard D. Anderson, Jr. who teaches as UCLA and publishes on the subject of his chapter: “Putin, Russian identity, and Russia’s conduct at home and abroad.” Readers should find Dr. Anderson’s analysis fascinating because Vladimir Putin, the singular leader of Russian foreign and domestic policy these days (and perhaps for the rest of his life, given how malleable Russia’s Constitution has become) may be a short man physically, but has high ambitions. One of these involves restoring the old Russian (and Soviet) empire, which would involve re-subjugating a number of nations that broke off as the old order dissolved about 30 years ago. President (shall we say czar?) Putin also has international ambitions, notably by destabilizing the United States, where election meddling has become a specialty. The sight of Putin and U.S. president Donald Trump, two very rich men (Putin $70-$200 billion; Trump $2.5 billion), nuzzling in friendship would probably set Thomas Jefferson and Vladimir Lenin spinning in their graves. The road of history can take some unanticipated twists and turns. Consider Poland, from which we have an expert native analysis in chapter 2, Bartosz Hlebowicz, who is a Polish anthropologist and journalist. His piece is titled “Lawless and Unjust: How to Quickly Make Your Own Country a Puppet State Run by a Group of Hoodlums – the Hopeless Case of Poland (2015–2020).” When I visited Poland to teach and lecture twice between 2006 and 2008, most people seemed to be walking on air induced by freedom to conduct their own affairs to an unusual degree for a state usually squeezed between nationalists in Germany and Russia. What did the Poles then do in a couple of decades? Read Hlebowicz’ chapter and decide. It certainly isn’t soft-bellied liberalism. In Chapter 3, with Bruce E. Johansen, we visit China’s western provinces, the lands of Tibet as well as the Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region, who would most assuredly resent being characterized as being possessed by the Chinese of the Han to the east. As a student of Native American history, I had never before thought of the Tibetans and Uighurs as Native peoples struggling against the Independence-minded peoples of a land that is called an adjunct of China on most of our maps. The random act of sitting next to a young woman on an Air India flight out of Hyderabad, bound for New Delhi taught me that the Tibetans had something to share with the Lakota, the Iroquois, and hundreds of other Native American states and nations in North America. Active resistance to Chinese rule lasted into the mid-nineteenth century, and continues today in a subversive manner, even in song, as I learned in 2018 when I acted as a foreign adjudicator on a Ph.D. dissertation by a Tibetan student at the University of Madras (in what is now in a city called Chennai), in southwestern India on resistance in song during Tibet’s recent history. Tibet is one of very few places on Earth where a young dissident can get shot to death for singing a song that troubles China’s Quest for Lebensraum. The situation in Xinjiang region, where close to a million Muslims have been interned in “reeducation” camps surrounded with brick walls and barbed wire. They sing, too. Come with us and hear the music. Back to Europe now, in Chapter 4, to Portugal and Spain, we find a break in the general pattern of nationalism. Portugal has been more progressive governmentally than most. Spain varies from a liberal majority to military coups, a pattern which has been exported to Latin America. A situation such as this can make use of the term “populism” problematic, because general usage in our time usually ties the word into a right-wing connotative straightjacket. “Populism” can be used to describe progressive (left-wing) insurgencies as well. José Pinto, who is native to Portugal and also researches and writes in Spanish as well as English, in “Populism in Portugal and Spain: a Real Neighbourhood?” provides insight into these historical paradoxes. Hungary shares some historical inclinations with Poland (above). Both emerged from Soviet dominance in an air of developing freedom and multicultural diversity after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. Then, gradually at first, right wing-forces began to tighten up, stripping structures supporting popular freedom, from the courts, mass media, and other institutions. In Chapter 5, Bernard Tamas, in “From Youth Movement to Right-Liberal Wing Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fidesz and the Decline of Hungarian Democracy” puts the renewed growth of political and social repression into a context of worldwide nationalism. Tamas, an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a Fulbright scholar at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His books include From Dissident to Party Politics: The Struggle for Democracy in Post-Communist Hungary (2007). Bear in mind that not everyone shares Orbán’s vision of what will make this nation great, again. On graffiti-covered walls in Budapest, Runes (traditional Hungarian script) has been found that read “Orbán is a motherfucker” (Mikanowski, 2019, 58). Also in Europe, in Chapter 6, Professor Ronan Le Coadic, of the University of Rennes, Rennes, France, in “Is There a Revival of French Nationalism?” Stating this title in the form of a question is quite appropriate because France’s nationalistic shift has built and ebbed several times during the last few decades. For a time after 2000, it came close to assuming the role of a substantial minority, only to ebb after that. In 2017, the candidate of the National Front reached the second round of the French presidential election. This was the second time this nationalist party reached the second round of the presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic. In 2002, however, Jean-Marie Le Pen had only obtained 17.79% of the votes, while fifteen years later his daughter, Marine Le Pen, almost doubled her father's record, reaching 33.90% of the votes cast. Moreover, in the 2019 European elections, re-named Rassemblement National obtained the largest number of votes of all French political formations and can therefore boast of being "the leading party in France.” The brutality of oppressive nationalism may be expressed in personal relationships, such as child abuse. While Indonesia and Aotearoa [the Maoris’ name for New Zealand] hold very different ranks in the United Nations Human Development Programme assessments, where Indonesia is classified as a medium development country and Aotearoa New Zealand as a very high development country. In Chapter 7, “Domestic Violence Against Women in Indonesia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Making Sense of Differences and Similarities” co-authors, in Chapter 8, Mandy Morgan and Dr. Elli N. Hayati, from New Zealand and Indonesia respectively, found that despite their socio-economic differences, one in three women in each country experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence over their lifetime. In this chapter ther authors aim to deepen understandings of domestic violence through discussion of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of theit countries to address domestic violence alongside studies of women’s attitudes to gender norms and experiences of intimate partner violence. One of the most surprising and upsetting scholarly journeys that a North American student may take involves Adolf Hitler’s comments on oppression of American Indians and Blacks as he imagined the construction of the Nazi state, a genesis of nationalism that is all but unknown in the United States of America, traced in this volume (Chapter 8) by co-editor Johansen. Beginning in Mein Kampf, during the 1920s, Hitler explicitly used the westward expansion of the United States across North America as a model and justification for Nazi conquest and anticipated colonization by Germans of what the Nazis called the “wild East” – the Slavic nations of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, most of which were under control of the Soviet Union. The Volga River (in Russia) was styled by Hitler as the Germans’ Mississippi, and covered wagons were readied for the German “manifest destiny” of imprisoning, eradicating, and replacing peoples the Nazis deemed inferior, all with direct references to events in North America during the previous century. At the same time, with no sense of contradiction, the Nazis partook of a long-standing German romanticism of Native Americans. One of Goebbels’ less propitious schemes was to confer honorary Aryan status on Native American tribes, in the hope that they would rise up against their oppressors. U.S. racial attitudes were “evidence [to the Nazis] that America was evolving in the right direction, despite its specious rhetoric about equality.” Ming Xie, originally from Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, in Chapter 9, “News Coverage and Public Perceptions of the Social Credit System in China,” writes that The State Council of China in 2014 announced “that a nationwide social credit system would be established” in China. “Under this system, individuals, private companies, social organizations, and governmental agencies are assigned a score which will be calculated based on their trustworthiness and daily actions such as transaction history, professional conduct, obedience to law, corruption, tax evasion, and academic plagiarism.” The “nationalism” in this case is that of the state over the individual. China has 1.4 billion people; this system takes their measure for the purpose of state control. Once fully operational, control will be more subtle. People who are subject to it, through modern technology (most often smart phones) will prompt many people to self-censor. Orwell, modernized, might write: “Your smart phone is watching you.” Ming Xie holds two Ph.Ds, one in Public Administration from University of Nebraska at Omaha and another in Cultural Anthropology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, where she also worked for more than 10 years at a national think tank in the same institution. While there she summarized news from non-Chinese sources for senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. Ming is presently an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, West Texas A&M University. In Chapter 10, analyzing native peoples and nationhood, Barbara Alice Mann, Professor of Honours at the University of Toledo, in “Divide, et Impera: The Self-Genocide Game” details ways in which European-American invaders deprive the conquered of their sense of nationhood as part of a subjugation system that amounts to genocide, rubbing out their languages and cultures -- and ultimately forcing the native peoples to assimilate on their own, for survival in a culture that is foreign to them. Mann is one of Native American Studies’ most acute critics of conquests’ contradictions, and an author who retrieves Native history with a powerful sense of voice and purpose, having authored roughly a dozen books and numerous book chapters, among many other works, who has traveled around the world lecturing and publishing on many subjects. Nalanda Roy and S. Mae Pedron in Chapter 11, “Understanding the Face of Humanity: The Rohingya Genocide.” describe one of the largest forced migrations in the history of the human race, the removal of 700,000 to 800,000 Muslims from Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh, which itself is already one of the most crowded and impoverished nations on Earth. With about 150 million people packed into an area the size of Nebraska and Iowa (population less than a tenth that of Bangladesh, a country that is losing land steadily to rising sea levels and erosion of the Ganges river delta. The Rohingyas’ refugee camp has been squeezed onto a gigantic, eroding, muddy slope that contains nearly no vegetation. However, Bangladesh is majority Muslim, so while the Rohingya may starve, they won’t be shot to death by marauding armies. Both authors of this exquisite (and excruciating) account teach at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, Roy as an associate professor of International Studies and Asian politics, and Pedron as a graduate student; Roy originally hails from very eastern India, close to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, so he has special insight into the context of one of the most brutal genocides of our time, or any other. This is our case describing the problems that nationalism has and will pose for the sustainability of the Earth as our little blue-and-green orb becomes more crowded over time. The old ways, in which national arguments often end in devastating wars, are obsolete, given that the Earth and all the people, plants, and other animals that it sustains are faced with the existential threat of a climate crisis that within two centuries, more or less, will flood large parts of coastal cities, and endanger many species of plants and animals. To survive, we must listen to the Earth, and observe her travails, because they are increasingly our own.

The use of distance learning in higher education is not a new concept (Worlock, 1987). Old-fashioned correspondence courses served this purpose for many years, appealing to those who could not attend classes in an institutional setting. Radio learning programs have beamed lessons on mathematics, science and other subjects around the world. The Internet has brought a new dimension to this concept: distance learning now means the opportunity to mirror rather than merely supplement classroom experience (Taub, 1997). Distance learning options encompass a range of delivery options, both synchronous and asynchronous. The synchronous approach can include real-time interaction between course faculty and students, while asynchronous approaches rely more on downloading course slides, audio and video from a Web site, which may be supplemented by e-mail contact (Clark, 1999). In the current environment, it is increasingly common to find courses that mix synchronous and asynchronous modes of delivery. The virtual classroom can include real-time Web-based videoconferencing with teachers and students, Web pages with course slides and content to be reviewed by the user, and the more traditional e-mail and telephone exchanges (Clark, 1999). In addition, the synchronous modes such as videoconferencing are frequently backed up in an asynchronous format, usually as transcripts capable of being accessed by the user after the session has concluded. Along with modes of delivery, the expectations for Web-based learning have grown as well, with today’s users becoming ever more sophisticated. In the U.S. and around the world, individuals and corporations are increasing their spending on high-technology education (Clark, 1999) through a variety of institutions such as traditional universities, specialized institutes, in-house training divisions, and Web-based virtual education programs. The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health is an acknowledged leader in the teaching and practice of public health. In 1996, the School began exploring ways to reach beyond the walls of the traditional classroom to provide public health education through the technology now widely accessible. As a result of a competitive proposal submitted to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the School of Public Health was one of four schools selected with the purpose of developing a distance-education curriculum, to upgrade the knowledge and skills of mid-career public health staff of that agency. The overall curriculum was designed to lead to a Graduate Certificate in Public Health. This certificate also met approximately one-half of the core requirements for the MPH degree, the most frequently awarded degree in the school.

This case study describes both the process and outcome for instructional design strategies used in the design and development of a fully online Health-System Pharmacy Administration (HSPA) M.S. degree program. The development of this online degree program was a partnership between two Midwest higher education institutions: a public research university (PRU) and an interprofessional health sciences university (HSU). The PRU had instructional designers experienced with creating fully-online graduate degree programs, while the HSU had knowledgeable faculty, staff, and administrators associated with the HSPA program. Instructional designers from the public research university designed the courses collaboratively with HSPA instructors, most of whom were health care professionals with minimal background in online teaching strategies. The instructional designers created an enhanced design process that infused the collaboration with faculty development in online teaching, as well as some amount of technology training for the Learning Management System used in the HSPA program.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.

To meet the high demand for skilled workers in health care and advanced manufacturing, three higher education institutions in Kansas recently strengthened their training in these fields through a U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training program. From 2013 to 2018, the Washburn Institute of Technology, Washburn University, and the Wichita State University Campus of Applied Sciences and Technology partnered with employers to develop industry-aligned career pathways by introducing new specialties, upgrading curricula and equipment, and introducing new credentials and options for further education. This chapter describes the changes that the institutions made to equip their students with the skills needed to meet critical workforce needs.

NGK Insulators, Ltd. (NGK) has undertaken the research and development on the fabrication processes of high-heat-resistant ceramic components for the CGT301, which is a 300kW recuperative industrial ceramic gas turbine engine. This program is under the New Sunshine Project, funded by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), and has been guided by the Agency of Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) since 1988. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is the main contractor. The fabrication techniques for ceramic components, such as turbine blades, turbine nozzles, combustor liners, gas-path parts, and heat exchanger elements, for the 1,200°C engine were developed by 1993. Development for the 1,350°C engine has been underway since 1994. The baseline conditions for fabricating of all ceramic components have been established. This paper reports on the development of ceramic gas turbine components, and the improved accuracies of their shapes as well as improved reliability from the results of the interim appraisal conducted in 1994.

The state-owned power utility, Eskom, generates about ninety five percent of the electricity produced in South Africa. Plans by the government of South Africa in the mid-nineteen nineties to restructure the electricity industry in the country prevented Eskom from embarking on capacity expansion activities when it was necessary. Load growth, as a result of economic growth and a national electrification programme, caused an erosion of the electricity reserve margin, which was quite massive in the early nineties. The large reserve margin then caused Eskom to reduce operating capacity by mothballing some generating plants and putting them in reserve storage. The current situation is that the reserve margin has dropped to about 17,4 percent and a capacity expansion programme is underway. Though the apparent reserve margin is within the desired range, plant unavailability has diminished the reserve margin in real terms and this does not leave Eskom with much room for planned maintenance and a buffer to manage unplanned maintenance, the result being that plant incidents and technical problems cannot easily be absorbed within the power system to avoid interruption of supply. Also, the new environmental legislation does not help the situation, as it has the potential to shut down generating plants that do not meet the new emissions standard. In addition, there have been problems with the New Build Programme that caused a delay, of over three years, in the delivery of new power, and to compound the problem the Energy Regulator refused recently Eskom’s application for additional tariff increase, which was requested to enable the company provide the finances to cover the shortfall in funding for operational expenses and the New Build Programme. As such, Eskom faces many challenges in meeting its obligation to South Africa, and interventions are in place to manage the situation. In the short term, the key to generation sustainability is improved plant health, brought about by on-time maintenance and correctly-scoped and no-slip outages. This paper presents an overview of the power situation in South Africa, explaining where the country has come from, the plan for long term security of supply, and the challenges faced by Eskom from the generation supply side in meeting the demand load in the short term. Trends in the performance indices indicative of plant health are examined and it is argued that executing planned plant maintenance will improve plant health and, hence, plant availability, which can bring about a turnaround in the short term power supply situation, as Eskom awaits new capacity from the New Build Programme.

The nozzle block is one of the most important parts of steam turbine. It puts the steam heat energy into kinetic energy and plays a guiding role to the steam flow. The open integral nozzle block is a very unique structure. Due to the restriction of the large steam passage bending degree and the small nozzle mouth, the traditional process is difficult and the production efficiency is low. This paper mainly studies the structure and processing method of a new open integral nozzle block. The difficulties of the manufacturing process are being solved one by one by the way of developing the five-axis NC program, designing the special tooling and making the process technical solution. The process technical solution is to split the whole complex structure into three main parts which are easy to machine. It can easily realize the surface finishing of the steam passage and guarantee the geometric dimension of each steam blade. The surface roughness of the steam passage can reach Ra0.8. The precision requirements for machining and assembling of the open integral nozzle block can be fully met. It has a wide application prospect in promoting the scientific and technological progress of the new structure and the new process.

The main goal of the presented paper is to compare the subjective quality of life on both sides of the Slovak-Ukrainian border of Schengen. The theoretical basis of the problem is focused on the quality of life as such on both sides of the Slovak-Ukrainian border of Schengen. The research sample consisted of 400 respondents, of which 200 were Slovak and 200 Ukrainian. Subsequently, with the help of the mathematical-statistical program SPSS 25, we observed statistically significant differences in the subjective opinions of the respondents. We monitored the quality of life in four areas that we had previously created (health care, unemployment, satisfaction with cultural and sports activities, transport). The results pointed to statistically significant differences in subjective opinions in the areas of health care and satisfaction with transport. Differences in areas indicate improvements in hospitals in terms of staffing and technology. In transport, road infrastructure and urban transport vehicles need to be significantly modernized.

Aim/Purpose: [This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2018 issue of the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Volume 15] The aim of this study was to concept test a novel instructional aid called Virtual Pathology Learning Resource (VPLR), which was used as a vehicle to communicate information, and enhance teaching and learning of basic sciences (Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology) to allied health science students at a South Australian university. Background: Pathology was traditionally taught using potted specimens to independently review macroscopic features of disease. However, this approach alone was found inadequate and ineffective. For one, the potted specimens were not easily accessible for all students. VPLR is a new teaching platform comprising of digitised human normal and human pathology specimens (histology, histopathology), patient case studies, short answer and critical thinking questions, and self-assessment quizzes. Using authentic learning theory as an educational approach, this learning resource was developed to enhance the teaching and learning of Pathology. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was used. A survey, administered at the conclusion of the course, gathered qualitative and quantitative data concerning the perceptions and experiences of the students about VPLR. The online tool SurveyMonkey was utilised so that students could respond anonymously to a web link that displayed the questionnaire. The effectiveness of the program and its perceived impact on students was assessed using a 18-item questionnaire seeking agreement or disagreement with statements about VPLR, and open-ended questions querying the best things about VPLR, benefits to be derived, and areas for improvement. Descriptive and frequency analyses were performed. Contribution: The VPLR approach involved rich learning situations, contextualised content, and facilitated greater understanding of disease concepts and problems. Findings: In a sample of 103 Medical Radiation students, 42% of students (N=43) responded to the post-intervention survey. The majority of students reported highly positive effects for each component of the VPLR. The overall results indicated that this tool was an effective strategy in teaching Pathology as it assisted students' gaining knowledge and developing professional imaging skills. Recommendations for Practitioners: As students found VLPR to be beneficial, it is recommended that the same approach be applied for teaching of Pathology to other allied health students, such as Nursing. Other universities might consider adopting this innovation for their courses. Recommendation for Researchers: Applying VPLR to other allied health science students will be undertaken next. This innovation will be appropriate for other health science students with particular emphasis on case-based or problem-based learning, and combined with clinical experiences. Impact on Society: In reshaping the way of teaching a science course, students are benefited by a greater depth of understanding of content, and increase motivation with study. These are important to keep students engaged and prepared for practice. VPLR may impact on education and technology trends so that continuous exploration and possibilities of initiatives are ongoing to help students be successful learners. Other impacts are the new forms of learning discovered, and the renewed focus on group work and collaboration and the use of technology in innovation. Future Research: Future directions of this research would be to conduct a follow-up of this cohort of students to determine if the impacts of the innovation were durable, that means the change in perceptions and behaviour are sustained over time.

Producing and sharing knowledge have been the main goals of the Graduate Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Sorocaba. With a focus on the rational use of medicines, the importance of the event is justified by highlighting one of the main concerns worldwide, with an important impact on society, health systems, institutions, and communities. The improvement of professional practices depends on the engagement of researchers, health professionals, managers, students, and others interested in improving health policies, programs, services, and actions. Developing and applying scientific methods in producing and using the best evidence is the path we have chosen. Therefore, everyone was invited to discuss relevant topics in this field of knowledge, including Drug Utilization Research; Health Technology Assessment; Global Health Systems and Environment; and Innovation and Development of Health Technologies. Experts from several countries in deprescribing, interactive teaching approaches, implementation science and policy, environment and pharmaceutical care joined us sharing their experiences and encouraging debate. We are sure that the social distancing, essential in this period, did not represent an obstacle in making new connections, and effective and bright collaborations that are able to transform reality.