Westford Academy

In Chapter 1, we gave an overview of AI and the basic idea behind deep learning. We discussed how deep learning—applying artificial neural network models with a large number of layers—has yielded state-of-the art results for several research areas, such as image classification, object detection, speech recognition, and natural language processing.

State-of-the-art compact antennas rely on electromagnetic wave resonance, which leads to antenna sizes that are comparable to the electromagnetic wavelength. As a result, antennas typically have a size greater than one-tenth of the wavelength, and further miniaturization of antennas has been an open challenge for decades. Here we report on acoustically actuated nanomechanical magnetoelectric (ME) antennas with a suspended ferromagnetic/piezoelectric thin-film heterostructure. These ME antennas receive and transmit electromagnetic waves through the ME effect at their acoustic resonance frequencies. The bulk acoustic waves in ME antennas stimulate magnetization oscillations of the ferromagnetic thin film, which results in the radiation of electromagnetic waves. Vice versa, these antennas sense the magnetic fields of electromagnetic waves, giving a piezoelectric voltage output. The ME antennas (with sizes as small as one-thousandth of a wavelength) demonstrates 1–2 orders of magnitude miniaturization over state-of-the-art compact antennas without performance degradation. These ME antennas have potential implications for portable wireless communication systems.

This research project focused on evaluation of air transfer between the garage and living space in a single-family detached home constructed by a production homebuilder in compliance with the 2009 International Residential Code and the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. The project gathered important information about the performance of whole-building ventilation systems and garage ventilation systems as they relate to minimizing flow of contaminated air from garage to living space. A series of 25 multi-point fan pressurization tests and additional zone pressure diagnostic testing characterized the garage and house air leakage, the garage-to-house air leakage, and garage and house pressure relationships to each other and to outdoors using automated fan pressurization and pressure monitoring techniques. While the relative characteristics of this house may not represent the entire population of new construction configurations and air tightness levels (house and garage) throughout the country, the technical approach was conservative and should reasonably extend the usefulness of the results to a large spectrum of house configurations from this set of parametric tests in this one house. Based on the results of this testing, the two-step garage-to-house air leakage test protocol described above is recommended where whole-house exhaust ventilation is employed. For houses employing whole-house supply ventilation (positive pressure) or balanced ventilation (same pressure effect as the Baseline condition), adherence to the EPA Indoor airPLUS house-to-garage air sealing requirements should be sufficient to expect little to no garage-to-house air transfer.

This panel discusses specific challenges in the usability of access control technologies and new opportunities for research. The questions vary from Why nobody, even experts, uses access control lists (ACLs)? to Shall access controls (and corresponding languages) be totally embedded and invisible and never, ever seen by the users? to What should be the user-study methodology for access control systems?.

Cells of the immune system migrate toward specific chemical signals generated by an inflammatory response. During inflammation, specific cells are responsible for secreting chemokines. Chemokines are small cytokines that promote the chemotaxis (cell migration) of specific target cells that display the corresponding protein receptors. Many of these target cells regulate the immune system by either enhancing or suppressing the reaction.In this laboratory experience, mouse models were used to demonstrate chemotaxis of human T‐cells toward two specific chemokines, IL‐16 and MIP. Human primary lymphocytes were labeled with an internal fluorescent marker and injected into immunocompromised SCID mice. The chemoattractants were then intratracheally instilled into the lungs of the mice. After 2–4 days, lung and lymph node tissue was extracted and cell migration was analyzed using a flow cytometer.The curriculum designed from this experiment is geared towards an Advanced Placement Biology course. The main concepts that this unit will cover are cell communication, membrane structure, protein receptors, and immune system response. Students will use column chromatography to separate an “unknown” lymphocyte concentration from an imitation human blood suspension. The Ochterlony technique will be used to analyze the composition and the chemotaxis of the “unknown” lymphocytes towards a specific chemokine, either IL‐16 or MIP. Results will be analyzed based on the formation of precipitates in the agar.

The use of sodium bisulfate for field preservation of soil samples collected for the analysis of volatile organics (VOCs) can result in the formation of acetone. The work was performed at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, as part of a multi-year investigation of the effects of training activities on the local environment. Preservation with sodium bisulfate was initiated in 1999 under regulatory mandate. The frequency of acetone detection and the quantities reported increased immediately thereafter. Correlation of duplicate sample results and a side-by-side comparison of six sample handling methods involving two analytical laboratories suggest the interaction of sodium bisulfate with naturally occurring organic matter in samples from Camp Edwards cause the formation of acetone. The data also indicate that a higher content of natural organic matter results in a greater production of acetone, and more acetone is formed the longer the sodium bisulfate is in contact with the soil.

After being relaxed or aroused, 330 college students served as subjects in one of three imaging conditions. In the imaging condition with emotion induced first, subjects were instructed to generate an emotion, to envision an image, and to intensify the emotion while continuing to image. In the imaging condition with emotion induced later, other subjects were instructed to envision an image, to set it aside, to generate an emotion, to retrieve the image, and to intensify the emotion while continuing to image. In the imaging condition with no induced emotion, a third group of subjects envisioned an image without receiving any instruction to generate an emotion. Subjects' descriptions of their imagery were rated by two judges, initially, on scales of Symbolic Value and Bizarreness and, two months later, on scales of Obvious Contextualization and Emergent Contextualization. Symbolic Value ratings were positively correlated with Emergent Contextualization ratings and with Emergent/Obvious Contextualization ratios. Also, the imaging condition with “emotion induced later” yielded higher Symbolic Value ratings and higher Emergent/Obvious Contextualization ratios than the other two conditions. These quantitative findings, along with qualitative analyses of the imagery descriptions themselves, support the authors' hypothesis that symbolic imagery contextualizes emotion and, thereby, seems to “stand for” objects of emotion that are no longer present (but are not necessarily “unconscious”).

The development of quantitative models of the interindividual (or intraspecies) uncertainty factor requires a clear and objective description of the interindividual uncertainty factor itself. Currently, a number of empirical approaches have been proposed for defining the uncertainty factor; however, the exact purpose of the factor remains unclear. This paper reviews the historical definition of the interindividual uncertainty factor and identifies two separate conceptual models that have been used to define the uncertainty factor, sensitive population, and limited sample size models. These two models address separate sources of uncertainty, both of which should be addressed in determining the size of the interindividual uncertainty factor for chemicals.