Offshore wind and wave energy can reduce total installed capacity required in zero-emissions grids.

As the world races to decarbonize power systems to mitigate climate change, the body of research analyzing paths to zero emissions electricity grids has substantially grown. Although studies typically include commercially available technologies, few of them consider offshore wind and wave energy as contenders in future zero-emissions grids. Here, we model with high geographic resolution both offshore wind and wave energy as independent technologies with the possibility of collocation in a power system capacity expansion model of the Western Interconnection with zero emissions by 2050.

Quantifying phenological landmarks of migration shows nonuniform use of the Caribbean by shorebirds.

Of the boreal- and Arctic-breeding North American shorebirds that migrate south through the Caribbean, most individuals continue farther south. However, for many species, some individuals remain beyond the southbound migration period (i.e.

Biased assessment of thermal properties of birds from estimated body density.

Parameter approximation is often necessary when calculating species thermal properties, and researchers historically have assumed animals are spherical when estimating volume and density. We hypothesized that a spherical model would result in significantly biased measures of density for birds, which are generally longer than they are tall or wide, and that these inaccuracies would significantly alter the outputs of thermal models. We calculated the densities of 154 bird species using sphere and ellipsoid volume equations and compared these estimates to one another and to published bird densities measured using more exact volume displacement methods.

Models of Classroom Assessment for Course-Based Research Experiences.

Course-based research pedagogy involves positioning students as contributors to authentic research projects as part of an engaging educational experience that promotes their learning and persistence in science. To develop a model for assessing and grading students engaged in this type of learning experience, the assessment aims and practices of a community of experienced course-based research instructors were collected and analyzed. This approach defines four aims of course-based research assessment - 1) Assessing Laboratory Work and Scientific Thinking; 2) Evaluating Mastery of Concepts, Quantitative Thinking and Skills; 3) Appraising Forms of Scientific Communication; and 4) Metacognition of Learning - along with a set of practices for each aim.

Medical mistrust, discrimination, and COVID-19 vaccine behaviors among a national sample U.S. adults.

Background: COVID-19 vaccine uptake has been suboptimal and disparities in uptake have exacerbated health inequities. It has been postulated that mistrust in the healthcare system and experiences of discrimination or unfair treatment in other settings may be barriers to uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine, although few studies to date have investigated medical mistrust and perceived discrimination together.

Method: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey between April 23-May 3, 2021, among a national sample of U.

Competency in Navigating Arbitrary Spaces as an Invariant for Analyzing Cognition in Diverse Embodiments.

One of the most salient features of life is its capacity to handle novelty and namely to thrive and adapt to new circumstances and changes in both the environment and internal components. An understanding of this capacity is central to several fields: the evolution of form and function, the design of effective strategies for biomedicine, and the creation of novel life forms via chimeric and bioengineering technologies. Here, we review instructive examples of living organisms solving diverse problems and propose competent navigation in arbitrary spaces as an invariant for thinking about the scaling of cognition during evolution.

Polarization enhanced laparoscope for improved visualization of tissue structural changes associated with peritoneal cancer metastasis.

A polarization enhanced laparoscopy (PEL) imaging system was developed to examine the feasibility of utilizing PEL to augment conventional white light laparoscopy (WLL) in the visualization of peritoneal cancer metastases. The system includes a modified tip to illuminate tissue with linearly polarized light and elements in the detection path enabling recording of corresponding images linearly co- and cross-polarized relative to the incident light. WLL and PEL images from optical tissue phantoms with features of distinct scattering cross-section confirm the enhanced sensitivity of PEL to such characteristics.

Associations among political voting preference, high-risk health status, and preventative behaviors for COVID-19.

Background: We investigate the relationships among political preferences, risk for COVID-19 complications, and complying with preventative behaviors, such as social distancing, quarantine, and vaccination, as they remain incompletely understood. Since those with underlying health conditions have the highest mortality risk, prevention strategies targeting them and their caretakers effectively can save lives. Understanding caretakers' adherence is also crucial as their behavior affects the probability of transmission and quality of care, but is understudied.

Assessing equity in health, wealth, and civic engagement: a nationally representative survey, United States, 2020.

Background: The principle of equity is fundamental to many current debates about social issues and plays an important role in community and individual health. Traditional research has focused on singular dimensions of equity (e.g.

The effects of daily mitotane or diazepam treatment on the formation of chronic stress symptoms in newly captured wild house sparrows.

Wild animals brought into captivity frequently experience chronic stress and typically need a period of time to adjust to the conditions of captivity (restraint, artificial lighting, altered diet, human presence, etc.), to which they may never fully acclimate. Changes in mass, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and heart rate parameters have been observed over the first week in newly captive house sparrows ().

Why are some people reluctant to be vaccinated for COVID-19? A cross-sectional survey among U.S. Adults in May-June 2020.

Understanding reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is necessary to ensure maximum uptake, needed for herd immunity. We conducted a cross-sectional online survey between May 29-June 20, 2020 among a national sample of U.S.

Ultrabright fluorescent nanothermometers.

Here we report on the first ultrabright fluorescent nanothermometers, ∼50 nm-size particles, capable of measuring temperature in 3D and down to the nanoscale. The temperature is measured through the recording of the ratio of fluorescence intensities of fluorescent dyes encapsulated inside the nanochannels of the silica matrix of each nanothermometer. The brightness of each particle excited at 488 nm is equivalent to the fluorescence coming from 150 molecules of rhodamine 6G and 1700 molecules of rhodamine B dyes.

Non-nutritive suck and airborne metal exposures among Puerto Rican infants.

Air pollution has been shown to impact multiple measures of neurodevelopment in young children. Its effects on particularly vulnerable populations, such as ethnic minorities, however, is less studied. To address this gap in the literature, we assess the associations between infant non-nutritive suck (NNS), an early indicator of central nervous system integrity, and air pollution exposures in Puerto Rico.

Impact of short-term elevated temperature stress on winter-acclimated individuals of the marine gastropod Crepidula fornicata.

The intertidal zone is an especially stressful thermal habitat, typically exposing residents to air temperatures for up to 6 h at a time, twice daily. Tolerance to elevated temperatures has been particularly well-studied for a variety of intertidal species, especially with regard to upper thermal limits during summers. However, in recent years, as climates have been changing around the world, temperate zone intertidal organisms have sometimes been exposed to periods of unusually high air temperatures during the winter.

Forced guided waves in linearly elastic plates (II) - A modified normal-mode expansion method.

The classical normal-mode expansion method developed by Auld and Kino in 1973 has been used widely by numerous researchers and practitioners to study forced guided waves in plates and layered media, including both elastic and electromagnetic waves. However, it was shown in Part I of this study that, although this method gives the correct solution when applied to horizontally polarized shear waves and electromagnetic waves, it does not yield the correct elastodynamic solution when applied to Lamb waves. To address this shortcoming, we develop in this paper a modified normal-mode expansion method that yields the correct elastodynamic solution in that the solution satisfies all the elastodynamic governing equations and the boundary conditions for forced Lamb waves in a plate.

Forced guided waves in linearly elastic plates (I) - An examination of the normal-mode expansion method.

Guided waves in a plate can be generated by external loads such as body forces and surface tractions. The region of the plate where the external loads are applied is called the loading zone. Guided waves inside the loading zone are called forced guided waves.

Chronic captivity stress in wild animals is highly species-specific.

Wild animals are brought into captivity for many reasons-conservation, research, agriculture and the exotic pet trade. While the physical needs of animals are met in captivity, the conditions of confinement and exposure to humans can result in physiological stress. The stress response consists of the suite of hormonal and physiological reactions to help an animal survive potentially harmful stimuli.

Modeling somatic computation with non-neural bioelectric networks.

The field of basal cognition seeks to understand how adaptive, context-specific behavior occurs in non-neural biological systems. Embryogenesis and regeneration require plasticity in many tissue types to achieve structural and functional goals in diverse circumstances. Thus, advances in both evolutionary cell biology and regenerative medicine require an understanding of how non-neural tissues could process information.

Multigenerational metabolic profiling in the Michigan PBB registry.

Although polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated biphenyls are no longer manufactured the United States, biomonitoring in human populations show that exposure to these pollutants persist in human tissues. The objective of this study was to identify metabolic variations associated with exposure to 2,2'4,4',5,5'-hexabromobiphenyl (PBB-153) and 2,2'4,4',5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB-153) in two generations of participants enrolled in the Michigan PBB Registry (http://pbbregistry.emory.

Relationship of Time-Activity-Adjusted Particle Number Concentration with Blood Pressure.

Emerging evidence suggests long-term exposure to ultrafine particulate matter (UFP, aerodynamic diameter < 0.1 µm) is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. We investigated whether annual average UFP exposure was associated with measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and hypertension prevalence among 409 adults participating in the cross-sectional Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH) study.

Enhanced amperometric detection of paracetamol by immobilized cobalt ion on functionalized MWCNTs - Chitosan thin film.

In the present study, a nanocomposite of f-MWCNTs-chitosan-Co was prepared by the immobilization of Co(II) on f-MWCNTs-chitosan by a self-assembly method and used for the quantitative determination of paracetamol (PR). The composite was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX). The electroactivity of cobalt immobilized on f-MWCNTs-chitosan was assessed during the electro-oxidation of paracetamol.

Seasonality of honey bee (Apis mellifera) micronutrient supplementation and environmental limitation.

Honey bees (Apis mellifera) obtain micronutrients from floral resources and "dirty", or turbid, water. Past research suggests that honey bees drink dirty water to supplement the micronutrients in their floral diet, however, there is no research that directly investigates how floral micronutrient content varies with water preferences, or how micronutrients in honey bees themselves vary seasonally. In this study, we used chemical analyses (ICP-OES) to investigate seasonal variation of micronutrients in honey bee workers and floral resources in the field.

Remediation of heavy hydrocarbon impacted soil using biopolymer and polystyrene foam beads.

A green chemistry solution is presented for the remediation of heavy hydrocarbon impacted soils. The two-phase recovery system relies on a plant-based biopolymer, which releases hydrocarbons from soil, and polystyrene foam beads, which recover them from solids and water. The efficiency of the process was demonstrated by comparisons with control experiments, where water, biopolymer, or beads alone yielded total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) reductions of 25%, 52%, and 58%, respectively, compared to 94% when 1.