Keene State College

In 1903, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote about the Talented Tenth in an influential essay of the same name. The concept exalted college educated Blacks who Du Bois believed could provide the race with the guidance it needed to surmount slavery, segregation, and oppression in America. Although Du Bois eventually reassessed this idea, the rhetoric of the Talented Tenth resonated, still holding sway over a hundred years later. In Rethinking Racial Uplift: Rhetorics of Black Unity and Disunity in the Obama Era , authorNigel I. Malcolm asserts that in the post-civil rights era, racial uplift has been redefined not as Black public intellectuals lifting the masses but as individuals securing advantage for themselves and their children. Malcolm examines six best-selling books published during Obama’s presidency—including Randall Kennedy’s Sellout , Bill Cosby and Alvin Poussaint’s Come on People , and Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me —and critically analyzes their rhetorics on Black unity, disunity, and the so-called “postracial” era. Based on these writings and the work of political and social scientists, Malcolm shows that a large, often ignored, percentage of Blacks no longer see their fate as connected with that of other African Americans. While many Black intellectuals and activists seek to provide a justification for Black solidarity, not all agree. In Rethinking Racial Uplift , Malcolm takes contemporary Black public intellectual discourse seriously and shows that disunity among Blacks, a previously ignored topic, is worth exploring.

Unicellular ciliates like Tetrahymena are best known as free-living bacteriovores, but many species are facultative or obligate parasites. These ′histophages′ feed on the tissues of hosts ranging from planarian flatworms to commercially important fish and the larvae of imperiled freshwater mussels. Here, we developed a novel bioinformatics pipeline incorporating the nonstandard ciliate genetic code and used it to search for Ciliophora sequences in 34 publicly available Platyhelminthes EST libraries. From 2,615,036 screened ESTs, we identified nearly 6,000 high-confidence ciliate transcripts, supporting parasitism of seven additional flatworm species. We also cultured and identified Tetrahymena from nine terrestrial and freshwater planarians, including invasive earthworm predators from the genus Bipalium and the widely studied regeneration models Dugesia japonica and Schmidtea mediterranea . A cophylogenetic reconstruction provides strong evidence for coevolution of histophagous Ciliophora with their Platyhelminthes hosts. We further report the antiprotozoal aminoglycoside paromomycin expels Tetrahymena from S. mediterranea , providing new opportunities to investigate the effects of this relationship on planarian biology. Together, our findings raise the possibility that invasive flatworms constitute a novel dispersal mechanism for Tetrahymena parasites and position the Platyhelminthes as an ideal model phylum for studying the ecology and evolution of histophagous ciliates.

Urban traffic officers in many low- and middle-income countries are exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollutants (TRAP) while working vehicle control on heavily congested streets. The impact of chronic TRAP exposure on the cardiovascular health, including the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), of this outdoor occupational group remains unclear. This cross-sectional study compared the average mean and maximum CIMT measurements of two groups of relatively young, healthy traffic police (32 ± 7 years; 77% male) in Quito, Ecuador, who were without clinical evidence of serious cardiovascular or other disease. Previously published background data on PM10 (a TRAP surrogate) indicated that street levels of the pollutant were several orders of magnitude higher at the street intersections worked by traffic police compared to those working only in an office. Accordingly, officers permanently assigned to daily traffic control duties requiring them to stand 0–3 m from heavily trafficked street intersections were assigned to the high exposure group (n = 61). The control group (n = 54) consisted of officers from the same organization who were permanently assigned to office duties inside an administration building. Mean and maximum CIMT were measured with ultrasound. General linear models were used to compare the CIMT measurements of the high exposure and control groups, adjusting for covariates. The adjusted average mean and maximum CIMT measures of the high exposure group were increased by 11.5% and 10.3%, respectively, compared to the control group (p = 0.0001). These findings suggest that chronic occupational exposure to TRAP is associated with increased CIMT in traffic police. This is important since even small increases in arterial thickening over time may promote earlier progression to clinical disease and increased premature mortality risk.

The ommochrome and porphyrin body pigments that give freshwater planarians their brown color are produced by specialized dendritic cells located just beneath the epidermis. During embryonic development and regeneration, differentiation of new pigment cells gradually darkens newly formed tissue. Conversely, prolonged light exposure ablates pigment cells through a porphyrin-based mechanism similar to the one that causes light sensitivity in rare human disorders called porphyrias. Here, we describe a novel program using image-processing algorithms to quantify relative pigment levels in live animals and apply this program to analyze changes in bodily pigmentation induced by light exposure. This tool will facilitate further characterization of genetic pathways that affect pigment cell differentiation, ommochrome and porphyrin biosynthesis, and porphyrin-based photosensitivity.Key wordsPlatyhelminthesPigmentOmmochromePorphyrin

There are many remote buildings that cannot be supplied by alternating electricity of the utility grid. Due to this, this study proposes adopting Direct Current (DC) appliances for a stand-alone remote building. Direct Current can be supplied from a suitable photovoltaic array which can harvest renewable solar energy. This proposal guarantees an efficient power system by removing the necessity of including an inverter, power filter, insulation transformer, and a complicated controller, which are usually needed for producing Alternating Current (AC) power to feed AC loads using a PV system. When the proposal is applied, the PV system will be more efficient, simple, affordable, and more compact. A detailed power requirement calculation for a typical house uses DC appliances, generalized steps to design a suitable PV array, and an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm for guaranteeing Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT); all of which are introduced for remote buildings. The main contribution of this paper is proposing an integrated design of a DC unit of 11 kW·h PV system for stand-alone buildings that eliminates three stages that improves the system performance compared to AC unit. The introduced study includes PV array calculation based on PV module of 220 W with an intelligent algorithm of four layers. The Mean Squared Error (MSE) of the proposed ANN equals 2.7107 × 10−5 to guarantee a fast and accurate MPP tracking for continuously harvesting maximum power from the incident sunlight. An energy storage unit of 12 batteries 12 V/150 Ah of matrix dimensions 3 × 4 is designed in the DC unit for energy saving to feed the DC appliances during night hours. MATLAB/Simulink Version R2015b is used to simulate the introduced DC power unit and collect the testing records for analyzing the unit performance.

The recent emergence of open-source medical cyber-physical systems has rapidly transformed the healthcare industry. This can be attributed to advancements in 3D printing technology and the growing popularity of open-source microcomputer systems like Arduino and Raspberry Pi. However, the increased use of these systems in hospitals has also raised cybersecurity concerns. In particular, new technologies, such as IoT devices and other mobile devices, have posed new challenges in exploiting modern botnets and determining their effectiveness with limited resources. In this paper, we propose a lightweight and full-encrypted cross-platform botnet system that provides a proof-of-concept demonstration of how a botnet attack can block control flow from the syringe pump in a testbed of an IoT medical network. The emphasis is placed on minimal deployment time and resource usage, making this lightweight botnet different from most traditional botnets, thus furthering cybersecurity research in intrusion detection for open-source medical systems.

The vibrational structure and binding motifs of vanadium cation-ethane clusters, V+(C2H6)n, for n = 1-4 are probed using infrared photodissociation spectroscopy in the C-H stretching region (2550-3100 cm-1). Comparison of spectra to scaled harmonic frequency spectra obtained using density functional theory suggests that ethane exhibits two primary binding motifs when interacting with the vanadium cation: an end-on η2 configuration and a side-on configuration. Determining the denticity of the side on isomer is complicated by the rotational motion of ethane, implying that structural analysis based solely on Born-Oppenheimer potential energy surface minimizations is insufficient and that a more sophisticated vibrationally adiabatic approach is necessary to interpret spectra. The lower-energy side-on configuration predominates in smaller clusters, but the end-on configuration becomes important for larger clusters as it helps to maintain a roughly square-planar geometry about the central vanadium. Proximate C-H bonds exhibit elongation and large red-shifts when compared to bare ethane, particularly in the case of the side-on isomer, demonstrating initial effects of C-H bond activation, which are underestimated by scaled harmonic frequency calculations. Tagging several of the clusters with argon and nitrogen results in nontrivial effects. The high binding energy of N2 can lead to the displacement of ethane from a side-on configuration into an end-on configuration. The presence of either one or two Ar or N2 can impact the overall symmetry of the cluster, which can alter the potential energy surface for ethane rotation in the side-on isomer and may affect the accessibility of low-lying electronic excited states of V+.

Hyperactivation of amygdala is a neural marker for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and improvement in control over amygdala activity has been associated with treatment success in PTSD. In this randomized, double-blind clinical trial we evaluated the efficacy of a real-time fMRI neurofeedback intervention designed to train control over amygdala activity following trauma recall. Twenty-five patients with PTSD completed three sessions of neurofeedback training in which they attempted to downregulate the feedback signal after exposure to personalized trauma scripts. For subjects in the active experimental group (N = 14), the feedback signal was from a functionally localized region of their amygdala associated with trauma recall. For subjects in the control group (N = 11), yoked-sham feedback was provided. Changes in control over the amygdala and PTSD symptoms served as the primary and secondary outcome measurements, respectively. We found significantly greater improvements in control over amygdala activity in the active group than in the control group 30-days following the intervention. Both groups showed improvements in symptom scores, however the symptom reduction in the active group was not significantly greater than in the control group. Our finding of greater improvement in amygdala control suggests potential clinical application of neurofeedback in PTSD treatment. Thus, further development of amygdala neurofeedback training in PTSD treatment, including evaluation in larger samples, is warranted.

This research will determine if a native American shelter (wigwam) can create comfort and if while doing so can provide healthy indoor air quality (IAQ) levels as defined by current standards. Concurrent to this research a technique to digitally model the outcomes of comfort created within the shelter was developed. A fullsize example of a wigwam was built and data from inside and outside the wigwam monitored for comparison. Data collected both inside and outside was temperature and relative humidity of the air, collected inside the wigwam were CO2, VOC, and PM2.5 levels. The wigwam allowed us to compare the accuracy of a digital model created in Design Builder. The Design Builder model was made to the specific size, materials, and location of the actual wigwam. This allowed an accurate comparison of temperature and relative humidity levels. Design-Builder accurately recreated the attributes of the full-size wigwam. It was found that comfort can be achieved to modern standards in this native shelter; as temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall exposure can all be controlled to acceptable levels. Indoor air quality is always at an acceptable level when a fire isn’t active. When an open fire is introduced, the particulates and VOC released into the interior of the wigwam are at dangerous levels. A woodstove with flue pipe allowed for comfort to be maintained at healthier air quality levels but did not reach acceptable levels for particulate matter.

In this article, we look at how medium and genre shaped the Netflix adaptation of the first two Bridgerton novels and mediated the depictions of sex and desire to fit medium-specific expectations surrounding sexual content made for women. The showrunners for Netflix’s Bridgerton (2020–present) articulated a desire to depict sex from a female perspective, and with a ‘female gaze’, but the series is also instrumental in defining that perspective in ways that often differ from the approach of the novels’ female author. The contrast between the original and the adaptation reveals social norms and beliefs about content that excites women as well as stark differences in print and television norms. In attempting to use a female gaze, the adaptation also constructs the female gaze as distinctly separate from what is depicted in the novels and as limited to specific forms of ‘looking’. We first explore how this is implicated in choices that were made about the adaptation of violent or aggressive sex for the show. Bridgerton avoids depictions of aggression present in the novel and falls back on traditional depictions of appropriate feminine desire. Secondarily, we discuss depictions of sexual consent in the novel and the series with a particular emphasis on the implications colour-blind-casting has for the depiction of violations of consent.

With the growth and development of COVID-19 and its variants, reaching a level of herd immunity is critically important for national security in public health. To deal with COVID-19, the United States has implemented phased plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines. As of November 2022, over 80% of Americans had received their first shot to guard against COVID-19, and 68.6% were considered fully vaccinated, according to the dataset provided by CDC. However, a significant number of American people still hesitate to receive a shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. This paper aims to demystify COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy by analyzing various socioeconomic characteristics among individuals and communities, including unemployment rate, age groups, median household income, and education level. A multiple regression modeling and data visualization analysis show patterns with an increasing trend of vaccine hesitancy associated with a lower median household income, a younger age group, and a lower education level, which would help policymakers to make policies accordingly to target vaccine support information and remove this hurdle to end the COVID-19 pandemic effectively.

The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites has increased with the increased need for high-strength, low-density materials, particularly in the aerospace industry. Stretch broken carbon fiber (SBCF) is a form of carbon fiber created by statistically distributed breakage of aligned fibers in a tow at inherent flaw points, resulting in a material constituted of collimated short fibers with an average length larger than chopped fibers. While continuous carbon fiber composites have desirable material properties, the limited ability to form in complex geometries prevents their wide adoption. SBCF composites exhibit pseudo-plastic deformation that can potentially enable the use of traditional metal forming techniques like stamping and press forming, widely used for mass production applications. To investigate the formability of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites prepared with either continuous or stretch broken Hexcel IM-7 12 K fibers and impregnated with Huntsman RDM 2019–053 resin, hydraulic bulge testing was performed at atmospheric pressure and elevated temperature to explore the strain behavior under biaxial stress conditions for the material system. Results based on deformation of surface patterning, bulge apex displacement and measurement of the bulge internal surface and volume, support the enhanced formability of the SBCF material when compared to its continuous counterpart. The SBCF enhanced formability is characterized by an axisymmetric stress response and a failure mechanism similar to the one observed for sheet metal.

Background: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and associated musculoskeletal symptoms (MSS) are problematic in stone, sand, and gravel mining. Research is needed to explore relationships between job demands, work-related hazards and MSS. Objective: An exploratory study was conducted in Indiana during 2019-2020 to examine associations between job demands, work-related hazards and MSS. Methods: Through convenience sampling, cross-sectional survey data from 459 workers were collected and analyzed using logistic multiple and binary logistic regression methods. Outcome variables were MSS to the low back, neck/shoulder, and wrist/hand. Predictor variables and MSS measures are based on the Dutch Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Results: Increased odds of low back MSS were related to dynamic loads (OR = 2.14), pushing/pulling heavy loads (OR = 1.56), torso bending or twisting (OR = 2.36), bent, stooped, or twisted posture (OR = 2.04), uncomfortable postures (OR = 2.07), repetition (OR = 1.67) and vibrating tools (OR = 1.81). Increased odds of neck/shoulder MSS were related to dynamic loads (OR = 1.83), static loads (OR = 1.24), heavy lifting (OR = 1.50), pushing/pulling heavy loads (OR = 1.68), bending or twisting of the neck (OR = 1.82), twisted neck posture (OR = 1.77) and uncomfortable postures (OR = 1.81). Increased odds of wrist/hand MSS were related to dynamic loads (OR = 2.06), static loads (OR = 1.45), bending or twisting of the wrists/hands (OR = 10.52), extended reaching (OR = 3.05), repetition (OR = 5.25), awkward postures (OR = 4.47), working above shoulder level (OR = 2.47), and vibrating tools (OR = 1.78). Conclusion: Hazards that increased the likelihood of MSS were identified. These hazards should be abated or controlled to prevent MSDs in stone, sand, and gravel mining. More applied research, including ergonomic assessments to further identify hazards that can be controlled or abated, is warranted.

Recent developments in dynamic energy simulation tools enable the definition of energy performance in buildings at the design stage. However, there are deviations among building energy simulation (BES) tools due to the algorithms, calculation errors, implementation errors, non-identical inputs, and different weather data processing. This study aimed to analyze several building energy simulation tools modeling the same characteristic office cell and comparing the heating and cooling loads on a yearly, monthly, and hourly basis for the climates of Boston, USA, and Madrid, Spain. First, a general classification of tools was provided, from basic online tools with limited modeling capabilities and inputs to more advanced simulation engines. General-purpose engines, such as TRNSYS and IDA ICE, allow users to develop new mathematical models for disruptive materials. Special-purpose tools, such as EnergyPlus, work with predefined standard simulation problems and permit a high calculation speed. The process of reaching a good agreement between all tools required several iterations. After analyzing the differences between the outputs from different software tools, a cross-validation methodology was applied to assess the heating and cooling demand among tools. In this regard, a statistical analysis was used to evaluate the reliability of the simulations, and the deviation thresholds indicated by ASHRAE Guideline 14-2014 were used as a basis to identify results that suggested an acceptable level of disagreement among the outcomes of all models. This study highlighted that comparing only the yearly heating and cooling demand was not enough to find the deviations between the tools. In the annual analysis, the mean percentage error values showed a good agreement among the programs, with deviations ranging from 0.1% to 5.3% among the results from different software and the average values. The monthly load deviations calculated by the studied tools ranged between 12% and 20% in Madrid and 10% and 14% in Boston, which were still considered satisfactory. However, the hourly energy demand analysis showed normalized root mean square error values from 35% to 50%, which were far from acceptable standards.

The synthesis and structures of dinuclear palladium complexes with 1,3-benzimidazolidine-2-thione (bzimtH) and 1,3-imidazoline-2-thione (imtH) are reported, namely, bis(μ-1 H -benzimidazole-2-thiolato)-κ ² N ³ : S ;κ ² S : N ³ -bis[cyanido(triphenylphosphine-κ P )palladium(II)], [Pd 2 (C 7 H 5 N 2 S) 2 (CN) 2 (C 18 H 15 P) 2 ] or [Pd 2 (μ- N , S -bzimtH) 2 (CN) 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 ] ( 1 ), and bis(μ-1 H -imidazole-2-thiolato)-κ ² N ³ : S ;κ ² S : N ³ -bis[cyanido(triphenylphosphine-κ P )palladium(II)] acetonitrile 0.58-solvate, [Pd 2 (C 3 H 3 N 2 S) 2 (CN) 2 (C 18 H 15 P) 2 ]·0.58C 2 H 3 N or [Pd 2 (μ- N , S -imtH) 2 (CN) 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 ]·0.58C 2 H 3 N ( 2 ). The compound [Pd 2 (μ- N , S -bzimtH) 2 (CN) 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 ] is located on a crystallographic twofold axis while [Pd 2 (μ- N , S -imtH) 2 (CN) 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 ]. 0.58(C 2 H 3 N) contains two partially occupied acetonitrile solvent molecules with occupancies of 0.25 and 0.33. In both of these compounds, the anionic bzimtH ⁻ and imtH ⁻ ligands coordinate through N,S-donor atoms in a bridging mode, covering four coordination sites of two metal centers and other two sites are occupied by two PPh 3 ligand molecules. Finally, the remaining two sites of two metal centers are occupied by cyano groups, abstracted by the metals from the solvent during reaction. In the packing of the 1,3-benzimidazolidine- 2-thione and 1,3-imidazoline-2-thione complexes, there are intramolecular π–π interactions involving the thione moiety as well as an N—H...N hydrogen bond linking the thione and cyano ligands. In addition, in 2 , as well as the π–π interaction involving the thione moieties, there is an additional π–π interaction involving one of the thione moieties and an adjacent phenyl ring from the triphenylphosphine ligand. There are also C—H...N interactions between the imidazoline rings and the acetonitrile N atoms.