Massachusetts Technology Collaborative

While acknowledging that peer review is imperfect, we argue that preprint servers, which disseminate non-peer-reviewed research, represent a significant risk to society. Preprints can lead to the spread of misinformation, undermine public trust in science, and contribute to harmful public health outcomes, as occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. We challenge the premise that preprints accelerate discovery and we argue that the absence of pre-publication peer review compromises the reliability of scientific findings. We contend that scientists have a duty of care to society and that the lack of pre-publication vetting, and the minimal oversight associated with preprinting, neglects this responsibility. Because of these harms, and to safeguard both public health and trust in science, we propose that journals should not publish manuscripts posted on preprint servers.

Biological enantioenriched chirality is a phenomenon that in living organisms, amino acids and carbohydrates typically have the same absolute configuration. Perhaps one of the earliest attempts to delineate the origins of this phenomenon was a theory known as asymmetric autocatalysis, a reaction in which the structures of the chiral catalyst and the product are the same, and in which the chiral product acts as a chiral catalyst for its own production. In theory, this would mean that small asymmetries in the product will propagate rapidly. However, autocatalysis also relies on the cross-inhibition of chiral states, something that would not likely be possible on primordial Earth. But recently, theories on asymmetric autocatalysis have begun to resurface as more recent findings indicate that other mechanisms exist to stabilize the homochiral states. In this study, I propose an autocatalytic cycle, and using density functional theory, prove that (1) it is plausible on primordial Earth, and (2) it propagates arbitrary asymmetries in proline. Thus, facilitating asymmetry in proline and allowing access to a wide variety of asymmetric proline-catalyzed reactions, including those involved in the synthesis of amino acids and carbohydrates from achiral precursors.

The cobas m 511 integrated hematology analyzer conducts a complete blood count (CBC), white blood cell (WBC) differential, reticulocyte count, and nucleated red blood cell count using automated digital microscopy. This multicenter study validated the analytical performance of the cobas m 511 system. Repeatability, reproducibility, carryover, mode-to-mode comparison, cytomorphology, WBC clinical sensitivity, and method comparison were analyzed at four clinical sites using residual whole blood clinical samples (n=2546) and fresh whole blood from healthy volunteers (n=480). For WBC clinical sensitivity, the cobas m 511 system automated CBC and WBC differential, system flags, cobas m 511 images, and stained cobas m 511 slides were compared with manual microscopy. Sysmex® XN analyzers were used for interinstrument method comparison. Repeatability and reproducibility results showed low variability. There was no significant sample carryover and no difference between open/closed modes. The overall percentage agreement of morphology assessments with manual microscopy (n=163 samples) was 95.6% for cobas m 511 images and 95.7% for cobas m 511 slides. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting distributional and/or morphological abnormalities were 94.4% and 74.6% for cobas m 511 automated differential, and 95.9% and 73.3% for cobas m 511 image assessment, compared with a manual 400-cell reference differential (n=439 samples). Some discordance was seen for monocytes and basophils. Correlations between cobas m 511 and Sysmex XN system data were very good (Pearson's R≥0.95 for most CBC parameters). The cobas m 511 system performs robustly in the clinical laboratory and is suitable for routine clinical use.

Planned and unplanned outages on distribution networks may cause major economic loss to customers and can result in substantial reparation payments by utilities. This paper analyzes the use of a battery energy storage system (BESS) to partially or completely avoid these outages. The analysis is conducted with a multiday high-demand scenario where the load demand at peak times exceeds the current capacity of the line. This would result in an outage unless the current from the substation can be reduced. Three basic scenarios representative of different degrees of sophistication of feeder automation were studied, i.e., a conventional feeder controlled by one or more reclosing breakers; a modern distribution feeder equipped with a limited number of remote-controlled breakers that will disconnect nonvital loads belonging to residential, commercial, and industrial customers; and a modern distribution feeder equipped with numerous remote-controlled breakers that will selectively disconnect commercial, industrial, and residential loads based on their degree of criticality. This paper concluded that the total or partial avoidance of outages by way of BESS usage is feasible; however, the use of “smart grid” control technology can provide more benefit than BESSs in the scenarios studied.