Brookhaven College

The development of efficient and magnetically recoverable nanoadsorbents is critical for sustainable heavy metal remediation. In this study, we coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with phosphonated polyetheramines synthesized from two different polymers: linear EDR-176 (denoted as PE176) and branched T-403 (denoted as PT403). The resulting nanocomposites are referred to as SPIONs-PE176 and SPIONs-PT403, respectively. Our characterization confirmed successful coating, improved colloidal stability, and adjustable surface properties. Adsorption experiments targeting Cu2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ revealed distinct metal-specific trends SPIONs-PE176 removed Cu2+ more effectively at low concentrations due to stronger surface charge interactions, while SPIONs-PT403 achieved higher loading capacity and broader uptake of Ni2+ and Co2+ due to its denser structure. Kinetic, isotherm, and thermodynamic analyses confirmed that polymer architecture governs adsorption mechanisms and energetics. We demonstrate that tuning polymer structure provides a versatile strategy to optimize SPION-based nanocomposites for targeted water treatment.

Identification of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) helps derive cellular mechanistic understanding, particularly in the context of complex conditions such as neurodegenerative disorders, metabolic syndromes, and cancer. Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable potential in predicting protein structures and interactions via automated mining of vast biomedical literature; yet their inherent uncertainty remains a key challenge for deriving reproducible findings, critical for biomedical applications. In this study, we present an uncertainty-aware adaptation of LLMs for PPI analysis, leveraging fine-tuned LLaMA-3 and BioMedGPT models. To enhance prediction reliability, we integrate LoRA ensembles and Bayesian LoRA models for uncertainty quantification (UQ), ensuring confidence-calibrated insights into protein behavior. Our approach achieves competitive performance in PPI identification across diverse disease contexts while addressing model uncertainty, thereby enhancing trustworthiness and reproducibility in computational biology. These findings underscore the potential of uncertainty-aware LLM adaptation for advancing precision medicine and biomedical research.

Greenhouse gas accounting conventions were first devised in the 1990’s to assess and compare emissions. Several assumptions were made when framing conventions that remain in practice, however recent advances offer potentially more consistent and inclusive accounting of greenhouse gases. We apply these advances, namely: gross accounting of CO2 sources; linking land use emissions with sectors; using Effective Radiative Forcing (ERF) rather than Global Warming Potentials (GWPs) to compare emissions; including both warming and cooling emissions, and including loss of additional sink capacity (LASC). We compare these results with conventional accounting and find that this approach boosts perceived carbon emissions from deforestation, and finds agriculture, the most extensive land user, to be the leading emissions sector and to have caused 60% (32%-87%) of ERF change since 1750. We also find that fossil fuels are responsible for 18% of ERF, a reduced contribution due to masking from cooling co-emissions. We test the validity of this accounting and find it useful for determining sector responsibility for present-day warming and for framing policy responses, while recognising the dangers of assigning value to cooling emissions, due to health impacts and future warming.

BackgroundPeople experiencing homelessness (PEH) are disproportionately affected by infectious diseases compared to people who are housed (non-PEH). In the western U.S., 9–25% of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and group A Streptococcus (IGAS) cases are among PEH; disparities in IPD and IGAS by housing status are not well-documented in other regions.MethodsHospitalized IPD and IGAS cases among residents of 3 metro Atlanta counties (Fulton, DeKalb, & Cobb) ≥18 years occurring during 2010–2022 and their housing status at diagnosis were ascertained from the CDC-funded Georgia Emerging Infections Program. Recurrent cases ≤12 months apart were excluded. During 2010–2018, homelessness was defined by medical record documentation or residence in a shelter, mission, or medical respite. In 2019, the definition expanded to "unstable housing," which included transitional and single-room occupancy housing. Person-level case characteristics by housing status were calculated. Annual age-adjusted incidence per 100,000 population by housing status and incidence rate ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated using Poisson regression. Point-in-Time counts (PEH) and 2020 US Census data (non-PEH) were used as population denominators.ResultsDuring 2010–2022, 2,202 IPD cases in 2,119 people and 989 IGAS cases in 981 people were identified. Among people with IPD and IGAS, 88 (4%) and 55 (6%) were PEH, respectively (Tables 1–2). IPD and IGAS incidence rates were higher among PEH than non-PEH (Table 3). Among PEH with IPD, 65 (74%) were men and 81 (92%) were < 65 years (vs. 1019 [50%] and 1320 [65%] in non-PEH). Among PEH with IGAS, 40 (73%) were men and 52 (95%) were < 65 years (vs. 473 [51%] and 658 [71%] in non-PEH). PEH with IPD or IGAS were more likely to lack insurance. Both IPD and IGAS incidence among PEH increased before and after the homeless definition change; among non-PEH, incidence decreased (IPD) or was stable (IGAS) (Fig 1).ConclusionThe rate of IPD and GAS cases was higher among PEH than non-PEH and increased during 2010–2022. IPD and IGAS cases among PEH occurred more frequently in men and people < 65 years compared to non-PEH. Disparities in IPD and IGAS incidence by housing status exist within metro Atlanta and may be increasing. PEH should be prioritized in IPD and IGAS prevention efforts.DisclosuresAll Authors: No reported disclosures

Abstract Consumer demand for pastured poultry continues to increase, but production is challenged by high feed costs. Increasing poultry use of pasture resources, including pasture plants and insects, could help offset feed costs, but few studies describe management strategies to increase poultry pasture use. Here, we introduced broiler chickens (broilers hereafter) to cover crop pastures over three growing seasons and assessed the impact of stocking density, sex, short-term feed restriction, and breed on diet diversity. Throughout each experiment, we quantified pasture use by measuring the diet richness of pasture plants and arthropods through DNA metabarcoding of broiler excreta. We found that pastured broilers consumed many cover crop and weed plant families, but the diet richness of insects was unexpectedly low. Lower stocking density increased diet richness across all 3 years of the study. A short-term feed restriction increased diet richness compared to an unrestricted feed treatment. For fast-growing broilers, individuals with greater weight gain consumed the greatest diversity of diet items; however, the opposite pattern was observed for slow-growing broilers. As expected from anecdotal evidence, slow-growing broilers tended to have higher diet richness compared to fast-growing broilers. Despite increased diet richness, stocking density and short-term feed restriction did not increase the feed-use efficiency (weight gain/feed consumed) of broilers. Further, slow-growing broilers had lower feed-use efficiency compared to fast-growing broilers. This study marks the first application of DNA metabarcoding to elucidate the dietary composition of pasture-raised broilers. Future research should expand on optimal rates of access to pasture, supplemental feed, and breed selection to maximize the cost-effectiveness of pastured poultry production.

Abstract Carbon accounting conventions treat emissions differently depending on their source. Fossil fuel carbon emissions are assessed as gross, whereas anthropogenic land carbon emissions are assessed as net. Despite calls for consistent gross accounting, accounting guidelines remain unchanged. Here we consolidate arguments for consistent accounting and explore implications for national inventories, sector contributions, carbon markets and forest protection programs. We find consistent gross accounting useful for programs supporting forest preservation, deforestation reduction and reforestation, as well as consistency with carbon markets.

The LPC EFT workshop was held April 25-26, 2024 at the University of Notre Dame. The workshop was organized into five thematic sessions: "how far beyond linear" discusses issues of truncation and validity in interpretation of results with an eye towards practicality; "reconstruction-level results" visits the question of how best to design analyses directly targeting inference of EFT parameters; "logistics of combining likelihoods" addresses the challenges of bringing a diverse array of measurements into a cohesive whole; "unfolded results" tackles the question of designing fiducial measurements for later use in EFT interpretations, and the benefits and limitations of unfolding; and "building a sample library" addresses how best to generate simulation samples for use in data analysis. This document serves as a summary of presentations, subsequent discussions, and actionable items identified over the course of the workshop.

We provide practical simulation methods for scalar field theories on a quantum computer that yield improved asymptotics as well as concrete gate estimates for the simulation and physical qubit estimates using the surface code. We achieve these improvements through two optimizations. First, we consider a finite volume approach for estimating the elements of the S-matrix. This approach is appropriate in general for 1+1D and for certain low-energy elastic collisions in higher dimensions. Second, we implement our approach using a series of different fault-tolerant simulation algorithms for Hamiltonians formulated both in the field occupation basis and field amplitude basis. Our algorithms are based on either second-order Trotterization or qubitization. The cost of Trotterization in occupation basis scales as $O(λN^7 |Ω|^3/(M^{5/2} ε^{3/2}))$ where $λ$ is the coupling strength, $N$ is the occupation cutoff, $|Ω|$ is the volume of the spatial lattice, $M$ is the mass of the particles and $ε$ is the uncertainty in the energy calculation used for the $S$-matrix determination. Qubitization in the field basis scales as $O(|Ω|^2 (k^2 Λ+kM^2)/ε)$ where $k$ is the cutoff in the field and $Λ$ is a scaled coupling constant. We find in both cases that the bounds suggest physically meaningful simulations can be performed using on the order of $4\times 10^6$ physical qubits and $10^{12}$ $T$-gates which corresponds to roughly one day on a superconducting quantum computer with surface code and a cycle time of 100 ns. This places the simulation of scalar field theory within striking distance of the gate counts for the best available chemistry simulation results.