Scientific Opportunities Research Articles

Some Thoughts about Open Science: A Few Challenges and a Great Opportunity for Science

Open Science focuses on spreading knowledge generated by scientific research as soon as it is available using digital and collaborative technology. The aim is to make science more accessible, inclusive, and equitable for the benefit of all. In this article, I will discuss some of the challenges and opportunities of this approach to the scientific process towards a comprehensive, effective open science from my perspective as a scientist in biology and health sciences. My aim is to share this with the academic community, since as Vice-Rector for Research and as scientist, I think this is one opportunity that we do not want to miss.

Data science training needs in sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for biomedical research and therapeutics capacity

Data use is becoming increasingly valuable worldwide and has positively improved decision-making in various sectors. Data science has revolutionized the study of epidemiology and disease control. Despite the unlimited potential of data science, Africa lags in its innovation and technological advancements. Although sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has not taken full advantage of data science in healthcare delivery and biomedical research, attempts have been made to harness this opportunity. This article reviews the current level, potentials, and gaps in data science, genomics, and bioinformatics in SSA. We also identified needs associated with developing tools and building capacity in the region, while also acknowledging advances made in these areas to date. We identified opportunities in health data science in SSA, including benefits in combating diseases that burden this region. Applying data science has the potential to create comprehensive healthcare reports and convert them into relevant critical insights that can then be used to provide better care, reduce costs of treatment, predict outbreaks of epidemics, avoid preventable diseases, and improve quality of life in general. In order to achieve this, artificial intelligence and machine learning to build and apply models are some of the common mechanisms applied in all domains of medical research, alongside computational tools and models to simulate systems or expedite biomedical research like bioinformatics and computational biology. Data science, a body of knowledge that uses modern tools and techniques for data management and utilization of big data for innovative interventions and biomedical research is upcoming in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its importance in understanding epidemiology of diseases, public health, and surveillance as well as other domains in allied medical disciplines were highlighted in this review. The dearth in data science skills, expertise, and institutions engaged in training data science needs urgent intervention to optimize the potential uses to improve medicine and healthcare delivery in SSA.

Human and ethical risks of digitalization

Digitalization as a direct expression of global information business is the reason for modern civilization’s transformation. The total commercialization of information technologies’ super-productivity turns humans into progress »costs«, devaluing their creative power, morality and ethics. Therefore, the object of this study is to be a person in the face of growing ethical risks caused by ever-accelerating digitization and information processes. The purpose of the work is to identify the problems of ethics and ethical risks as specific and most significant for the digital society. It also shows the main approaches to their solution. An analysis of a person’s consumer attitude to technical achievements reveals the reasons for spirituality destruction as the basis of human integrity. This is due to changes in communication forms – language, art, education, and religion. Digitalization as open information makes it possible to specify ethical risks as a reflection of a human’s life situation. Values and meanings play a crucial role. Digitalization’s ethical risks are identified: privacy, inclusiveness, security, trust, and fairness. The main approach to preventing digitalization ethical risks is the establishment of a techno-humanitarian balance or the development of adequate cultural regulators (human-centricity, overcoming digital inequality) that oppose the growth of destructive power of new technologies in relation to universal human values and humaneness. The methodological basis of the study was the philosophical discourse of consequentialism. This determines the main condition for technology development to find a balance between risk and benefit and cultural and philosophical reflection. The theoretical conclusions contained in this work open up new opportunities for science to concretize practical approaches to solving moral problems and ethical risks in human existence. This is in the era of digital culture transformation.

Leveraging three-tier deep learning model for environmental cleaner plants production

The world's population is expected to exceed 9 billion people by 2050, necessitating a 70% increase in agricultural output and food production to meet the demand. Due to resource shortages, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and highly harsh socioeconomic predictions, such a demand is challenging to complete without using computation and forecasting methods. Machine learning has grown with big data and high-performance computers technologies to open up new data-intensive scientific opportunities in the multidisciplinary agri-technology area. Throughout the plant's developmental period, diseases and pests are natural disasters, from seed production to seedling growth. This paper introduces an early diagnosis framework for plant diseases based on fog computing and edge environment by IoT sensors measurements and communication technologies. The effectiveness of employing pre-trained CNN architectures as feature extractors in identifying plant illnesses has been studied. As feature extractors, standard pre-trained CNN models, AlexNet are employed. The obtained in-depth features are eliminated by proposing a revised version of the grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm that approved its efficiency through experiments. The features subset selected were used to train the SVM classifier. Ten datasets for different plants are utilized to assess the proposed model. According to the findings, the proposed model achieved better outcomes for all used datasets. As an average for all datasets, the accuracy of the proposed model is 93.84 compared to 85.49, 87.89, 87.04 for AlexNet, GoogleNet, and the SVM, respectively.

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

Undue Burden the Medical School Application Process Places on Low-Income Latinos

Science Opportunities for IMAP-Lo Observations of Interstellar Neutral Helium, Neon, and Oxygen during a Maximum of Solar Activity

Direct-sampling observations of interstellar neutral (ISN) species and their secondary populations give information about the physical state of the local interstellar medium and processes occurring in the outer heliosheath. Such observations are performed from Earth’s orbit by the IBEX-Lo experiment on board the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission. IBEX ISN viewing is restricted to directions close to perpendicular to the Earth–Sun line, which limits the observations of interstellar species to several months during the year. A greatly improved data set will be possible for the upcoming Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission due to a novel concept of putting the IMAP ISN detector, IMAP-Lo, on a pivot platform that varies the angle of observation relative to the Sun–Earth line and the detector boresight. Here, we suggest a 2 yr scenario for varying the viewing angle in such a way that all the necessary atom components can be observed sufficiently well to achieve the science goals of the nominal IMAP mission. This scenario facilitates, among others, removal of the correlation of the inflow parameters of interstellar gas, unambiguous analysis of the primary and secondary populations of interstellar helium (He), neon (Ne), and oxygen (O), and determination of the ionization rates of He and Ne free of possible calibration bias. The scheme is operationally simple, provides good counting statistics, and synergizes observations of interstellar species and heliospheric energetic neutral atoms.

Sensing Forests Directly: The Power of Permanent Plots.

The need to measure, monitor, and understand our living planet is greater than ever. Yet, while many technologies are applied to tackle this need, one developed in the 19th century is transforming tropical ecology. Permanent plots, in which forests are directly sensed tree-by-tree and species-by-species, already provide a global public good. They could make greater contributions still by unlocking our potential to understand future ecological change, as the more that computational and remote technologies are deployed the greater the need to ground them with direct observations and the physical, nature-based skills of those who make them. To achieve this requires building profound connections with forests and disadvantaged communities and sustaining these over time. Many of the greatest needs and opportunities in tropical forest science are therefore not to be found in space or in silico, but in vivo, with the people, places and plots who experience nature directly. These are fundamental to understanding the health, predicting the future, and exploring the potential of Earth's richest ecosystems. Now is the time to invest in the tropical field research communities who make so much possible.

An Online CURE Taught at a Community College During the Pandemic Shows Mixed Results for Development of Research Self-Efficacy and In-class Relationships

The Bee the CURE is a novel course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) that engages introductory biology students in DNA barcoding (DNA extraction, amplification, and bioinformatics) in partnership with the Tucson Bee Collaborative and the University of Arizona. The first iteration of this CURE taught at Pima Community College (PCC) occurred during the Fall 2020 semester in which the course was taught online and students focused on bioinformatics. Due to the online format, students were unable to participate directly in the wet-lab components (extraction and amplification) of the course. These were approximated with videos of the instructor performing the tasks. A qualitative case study of this semester built from student interviews found that students were able to form positive relationships with instructors and peer mentors but that the online format of the class posed some challenges to relationship formation. Students reported developing self-efficacy in bioinformatics skills while online lab participation disrupted student’s gaining “hands-on experiences” and seldom led to development of science self-efficacy in wet lab skills. Our findings from a study of a synchronous online CURE allowed us to characterize a context in which online learning posed a challenge and perhaps even a threat to research self-efficacy, especially regarding skill development and self-efficacy in “hands-on” areas, such as wet-bench research skills. Yet optimistically, our study highlights the potential of online community college learning environments to provide mastery experiences in online science contexts (e.g., bioinformatics) and opportunities for relationship building.

Innovation and Research for Space Elevators

Progress continues on suitable materials for constructing the tether of a space elevator. Graphene super laminate is the most promising, and manufacturers are already producing significant quantities of graphene. Work is also continuing on a multi-stage space elevator, supported dynamically using magnetic levitation; the advantage is that it can be built with weaker materials, or even with materials that are already available today. The far end of a space elevator offers exciting opportunities to launch interplanetary spacecraft frequently with little or no fuel and with gentle rides at low cost. The node at geosynchronous altitude can accommodate unlimited mass and offers many commercial and scientific opportunities such as astronomy, communications and space-based solar power. Keywords: Little Fuel, Gentle Rides, Available Materials, Interplanetary

Huge Fast Spacecraft Travelling Our Solar System

Can you imagine a large space system leaving from an Earth space elevator in excess of 12.34 km/sec, ensuring quick travel within our solar system? How about if it had an additional 10 km/sec assist from a slingshot release with the ability to gain another 15 km/sec by doing gravity assists along the way? The total concept being discussed is fast enough to allow travelling around our solar system within months instead of decades. However, there is more for those seeking answers beyond Earth – how about the ability to send multi-hundreds of tonnes along this path in a huge space system with fuel for rendezvous and landing along the way? How? Forget the Rocket Equation! You assemble a large spacecraft above the gravity well of the Earth, add velocity to it by virtue of the Earth’s rotation and then release it with extra velocity as if from a giant slingshot. An extra-long space elevator could achieve these goals by 2038. This story should be told as part of future opportunities for space exploration and science. Solar system travel, and even into interstellar regions, becomes reality with space elevators designed to assemble massive satellites and enable high velocity releases. Keywords: Space elevators, Neptune, Apex Anchor, Interplanetary

Sourdough starters exhibit similar succession patterns but develop flour-specific climax communities.

The microbial fermentation behind sourdough bread is among our oldest technologies, yet there are many opportunities for sourdough science to learn from traditional bakers. We analyzed 16S rRNA sequences in R to assess the bacterial community structure and performance of 40 starters grown from 10 types of flour over 14 days, and identified six distinct stages of succession. At each stage, bacterial taxa correlate with determinants of bread quality including pH, rise, and aromatic profile. Day 1 starter cultures were dominated by microorganisms commonly associated with plants and flour, and by aromas similar to toasted grain/cereal. Bacterial diversity peaked from days 2-6 as taxa shifted from opportunistic/generalist bacteria associated with flour inputs, toward specialized climax bacterial communities (days 10-14) characterized by acid-tolerant taxa and fruity (p < 3.03e-03), sour (p < 1.60e-01), and fermented (p < 1.47e-05) aromas. This collection of traits changes predictably through time, regardless of flour type, highlighting patterns of bacterial constraints and dynamics that are conserved across systems and scales. Yet, while sourdough climax communities exhibit similar markers of maturity (i.e., pH ≤ 4 and enriched in Lactobacillus (mean abundance 48.1%), Pediococcus (mean abundance 22.7%), and/or Gluconobacter (mean abundance 19.1%)), we also detected specific taxa and aromas associated with each type of flour. Our results address important ecological questions about the relationship between community structure and starter performance, and may enable bakers to deliberately select for specific sourdough starter and bread characteristics.

Developing strategic targeted interaction design to enhance disaster resilience of vulnerable communities

Still too often, technical reconstruction assistance does not lead to adoption of hazard-resistant construction techniques by disaster-affected households. Ideally, effective interactions should be framed and communicated in such a way that it appeals to different intentions of individual households to build back safer. Currently, there is no model for humanitarian interactions that indicates what household characteristics reveal intention differences. To develop audience-specific interactions, this study adapted the three stages used in marketing: segmentation, targeting, and positioning, and the established social scientific model motivation, ability, and opportunity. Our strategic targeted interaction design (STID) method segments the affected population based on intentions to build back safer and provides tailored interactions. Based on similarities, 27 target groups are identified, requiring different interaction approaches. To test viability of the STID method, data were collected through 865 open-ended household interviews in earthquake affected communities in Nepal. Cluster analysis shows the presence of different target groups within the same communities. Descriptive statistics of the target groups led to a proposal of audience-specific interaction strategies to enhance safer construction practices and reduce disaster risk. Our analysis indicates a combination of multiple interaction strategies, prioritizing the learning process and interactions within communities over interactions with external actors. This study presents a highly promising method toward personalization of aid, tailored to perceptions of target groups over general community characteristics.

Resolving Nonclassical Magnon Composition of a Magnetic Ground State via a Qubit.

Recently gained insights into equilibrium squeezing and entanglement harbored by magnets point toward exciting opportunities for quantum science and technology, while concrete protocols for exploiting these are needed. Here, we theoretically demonstrate that a direct dispersive coupling between a qubit and a noneigenmode magnon enables detecting the magnonic number states' quantum superposition that forms the ground state of the actual eigenmode-squeezed magnon-via qubit excitation spectroscopy. Furthermore, this unique coupling is found to enable control over the equilibrium magnon squeezing and a deterministic generation of squeezed even Fock states via the qubit state and its excitation. Our work demonstrates direct dispersive coupling to noneigenmodes, realizable in spin systems, as a general pathway to exploiting the equilibrium squeezing and related quantum properties thereby motivating a search for similar realizations in other platforms.

Synergies Between NASA's Hyperspectral Aquatic Missions PACE, GLIMR, and SBG: Opportunities for New Science and Applications

AbstractWithin the next decade, NASA plans to launch three new missions with imaging spectrometers for aquatic science and applications: Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) in 2024, Geostationary Littoral Imaging Radiometer (GLIMR) in 2026, and Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) in 2028. Taken together, these missions will evaluate long‐term trends in phytoplankton biomass linked to climate change, and provide new spectral capabilities to assess aquatic biogeochemistry, biophysics, and habitats. Hyperspectral measurements of ocean color, paired with advanced retrieval algorithms, can provide new information on phytoplankton community composition and water quality. We compare the mission architecture and sensor characteristics to identify the synergistic opportunities to merge algorithms, field data, and calibration and validation techniques. Each mission has unique temporal and spatial characteristics to monitor the aquatic transitions from watershed to open ocean ecosystems. SBG provides observations at high spatial scales to monitor emergent, floating, submerged, and benthic habitats from inland to coastal waters. With global daily coverage, PACE can track the fate of material as it meanders offshore and provides an enhanced context for phytoplankton diversity and global biogeochemical cycling. GLIMR is optimized to resolve temporal processes that give rise to aquatic rates and fluxes including phytoplankton growth rates, physiology, and episodic events such as storms. Applications with high spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution from these NASA missions include assessing carbon dynamics and biogeochemical cycling across the land‐ocean continuum, harmful algal blooms, and oil spills.

Challenges and Opportunities in Online Computer Science &amp; Engineering Education: A Study in Velammal College of Engineering &amp; Technology, Madurai

Abstract: Owing to the entry of COVID-19, starting from the year 2000, India managed online education well for more than a year and a half. Now, the question is to understand whether the online mode of education is as effective as the face-to-face classes. This study intends to focus on identifying the challenges and finding the opportunities to enhance the quality of online engineering education with respect to Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) branch. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire involving the chosen 2nd year, 3rd year, and 4th year students of CSE department, Velammal College of Engineering &amp; Technology, Madurai (VCET), who have had the experience of acquiring knowledge through both offline and online modes. The spreadsheet software was used to filter, organize as well as visualize quantitative data, and descriptive methodology was adopted for the data analysis. The result of the study will lay a scope to understand the existing gaps in online CSE education and the proposed ideas to fill the same enhancing the resources. Further, this study may play a pivotal role in making effective online CSE education at par with face-to-face classes completely possible and preferable. Keywords: COVID-19; CSE; digital skills; online education; Velammal College of Engineering &amp; Technology.

DNA everywhere

Advanced analysis of environmental DNA for diversity monitoring using deep sequencing reveals the presence of human DNA in many samples connected to human activity.Moreover, this DNA is in relatively good condition and can be used for genetic survey of populations and even individuals. This opens many interesting scientific opportunities but also raises serious privacy issues.

Beet pulp of sugar production and prospects for its use

Due to the latest scientific achievements new opportunities have appeared for deeper processing of not only raw materials, but also by-products of the country's agro-industrial complex. Beet sugar production is a source of a number of by-products such as beet pulp, molasses and filter cake. Domestic sugar production refers to material-intensive industries, since the volume of vegetable raw materials, as well as by-products formed in the technological process, is several times higher than the yield of finished products – white sugar. Insufficient attention to the problems of more complete processing of by-products of sugar beet production may be the cause of environmental degradation. Currently, not only the regulatory documentation regulating the quality indicators of raw materials used and finished products of the industry has been updated, but also the definition of by-products of sugar production, formed in the production of white sugar, has been clarified. In particular, by-products of the sugar beet industry can be used to extract useful components from them, suitable for the production of new food products with increased nutritional value. The main attention in the paper is paid to promising areas for the use of beet pulp for the production of new types of food products. A method has been developed for the production of sugar syrup enriched with pectin extract of beet pulp. The addition of beet pulp pectin extract to the syrup not only increases the nutritional value, but also improves its technological properties while expanding the range of new types of food products and their properties.

Supporting the democratization of science during a pandemic: genomics Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) as an effective remote learning strategy.

The initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the nature of course delivery from largely in-person to exclusively remote, thus disrupting the well-established pedagogy of the Genomics Education Partnership (GEP; https://www.thegep.org). However, our web-based research adapted well to the remote learning environment. As usual, students who engaged in the GEP's Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) received digital projects based on genetic information within assembled Drosophila genomes. Adaptations for remote implementation included moving new member faculty training and peer Teaching Assistant office hours from in-person to online. Surprisingly, our faculty membership significantly increased and, hence, the number of supported students. Furthermore, despite the mostly virtual instruction of the 2020-2021 academic year, there was no significant decline in student learning nor attitudes. Based on successfully expanding the GEP CURE within a virtual learning environment, we provide four strategic lessons we infer toward democratizing science education. First, it appears that increasing access to scientific research and professional development opportunities by supporting virtual, cost-free attendance at national conferences attracts more faculty members to educational initiatives. Second, we observed that transitioning new member training to an online platform removed geographical barriers, reducing time and travel demands, and increased access for diverse faculty to join. Third, developing a Virtual Teaching Assistant program increased the availability of peer support, thereby improving the opportunities for student success. Finally, increasing access to web-based technology is critical for providing equitable opportunities for marginalized students to fully participate in research courses. Online CUREs have great potential for democratizing science education.

Youth participatory action research: Integrating science learning and civic engagement

Strengthening young people's scientific literacy and civic engagement are important educational goals for Cooperative Extension. We implemented youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects over three years at five schools. The YPAR approach integrates science learning and civic engagement by empowering youth, with the help of adult facilitators, to decide upon a community issue to research, design and implement their research, and then plan a service project based on research findings to address the issue. We explored young people's and educators' perspectives on which project elements influenced youth participation, examined opportunities for youth science and civic-related learning, and asked educators to reflect on their own learning and development. Using data generated from youth focus groups and educator interviews, we found that YPAR grounds science learning in young people's lived experience. It also provides a meaningful approach to science learning through raising young people's critical consciousness of community issues. YPAR may be used in other extension programs to increase motivation for deeper and sustained participation in learning experiences.

Status and future plans for C3 R&D

C3 is an opportunity to realize an e + e - collider for the study of the Higgs boson at √s = 250 GeV, with a well defined upgrade path to 550 GeV while staying on the same short facility footprint [2,3]. C3 is based on a fundamentally new approach to normal conducting linear accelerators that achieves both high gradient and high efficiency at relatively low cost. Given the advanced state of linear collider designs, the key system that requires technical maturation for C3 is the main linac. This paper presents the staged approach towards a facility to demonstrate C3 technology with both Direct (source and main linac) and Parallel (beam delivery, damping ring, ancillary component) R&D.The primary goal of the C3 Demonstration R&D Plan is to reduce technical and cost risk by building and operating the key components of C3 at an adequate scale. This R&D plan starts with the engineering design, and demonstration of one cryomodule and will culminate in the construction of a 3 cryomodule linac with pre-production prototypes. This R&D program would also demonstrate the linac rf fundamentals including achievable gradient and gradient stability over a full electron bunch train and breakdown rates. It will also investigate beam dynamics including energy spread, wakefields, and emittance growth. This work will be critical to confirm the suitability of the C3 beam parameters for the physics reach and detector performance in preparation for a Conceptual Design Report (CDR), as well as for follow-on technology development and industrialization.The C3 Demonstration R&D Plan will open up significant new scientific and technical opportunities based on development of high-gradient and high-efficiency accelerator technology. It will push this technology to operate both at the GeV scale and mature the technology to be reliable and provide high-brightness electron beams.The timeline for progressing with C3 technology development will be governed by practical limitations on both the technical progress and resource availability. It consists of four stages: Stage 0) Ongoing fundamental R&D on structure prototypes, damping and vibrations. Stage 1) Advancing the engineering maturity of the design and developing start-to-end simulations including space-charge and wakefield effects. This stage will include testing of strucutres operating at cryogenic temperatures. Beam tests would be performed with high beam current to test full beam loading. Stage 2) Production and testing of the first cryomodule at cryogenic temperatures. This would provide sufficient experimental data to compile a CDR and it is anticipated for Stage 2 to last 3 years and to culminate with the transport of photo-electrons through the first cryomodule. Stage 3) Updates to the engineering design of the cryomodules, production of the second and third cryomodule and their installation. Lower charge and lower emittance beams will be used to investigate emittance growth. The successful full demonstration of the 3 cryomodules to deliver up to a 3 GeV beam and achieve the C3five gradient will allow a comprehensive and robust evaluation of the technical design of C3 as well as mitigate technical, schedule, and cost risks required to proceed with a Technical Design Report (TDR).