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Enhancing cathode composites with conductive alignment synergy for solid-state batteries
No full textThis article was originally published in Science Advances. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr4292.
Copyright © 2025 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).Enhancing transport and chemomechanical properties in cathode composites is crucial for the performance of solid-state batteries. Our study introduces the filler-aligned structured thick (FAST) electrode, which notably improves mechanical strength and ionic/electronic conductivity in solid composite cathodes. The FAST electrode incorporates vertically aligned nanoconducting carbon nanotubes within an ion-conducting polymer electrolyte, creating a low-tortuosity electron/ion transport path while strengthening the electrode’s structure. This design not only mitigates recrystallization of the polymer electrolyte but also establishes a densified local electric field distribution and accelerates the migration of lithium ions. The FAST electrode showcases outstanding electrochemical performance with lithium iron phosphate as the active material, achieving a high capacity of 148.2 milliampere hours per gram at 0.2 C over 100 cycles with substantial material loading (49.3 milligrams per square centimeter). This innovative electrode design marks a remarkable stride in addressing the challenges of solid-state lithium metal batteries.This work was funded by the University of Delaware start-up. K.F. acknowledges financial support by the US Department of Energy (DoE) under grant DE-FE0032147
Observation of Cosmic-Ray Anisotropy in the Southern Hemisphere with 12 yr of Data Collected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
No full textPlease see publication for complete list of co-authors. This article was originally published in The Astrophysical Journal. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adb1de.
Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
© 2025. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.We analyzed the 7.92 × 1011 cosmic-ray-induced muon events collected by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory from 2011 May 13, when the fully constructed experiment started to take data, to 2023 May 12. This data set provides an up-to-date cosmic-ray arrival direction distribution in the Southern Hemisphere with unprecedented statistical accuracy covering more than a full period length of a solar cycle. Improvements in Monte Carlo event simulation and better handling of year-to-year differences in data processing significantly reduce systematic uncertainties below the level of statistical fluctuations compared to the previously published results. We confirm the observation of a change in the angular structure of the cosmic-ray anisotropy between 10 TeV and 1 PeV, more specifically in the 100–300 TeV energy range. For the first time, we analyzed the angular power spectrum at different energies. The observed variations of the power spectra with energy suggest relatively reduced large-scale features at high energy compared to those of medium and small scales. The large volume of data enhances the statistical significance at higher energies, up to the PeV scale, and smaller angular scales, down to approximately 6° compared to previous findings.The IceCube collaboration acknowledges the significant contributions to this manuscript from Loyola University Chicago, Mercer University, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the following agencies and institutions: USA—U.S. National Science Foundation-Office of Polar Programs, U.S. National Science Foundation-Physics Division, U.S. National Science Foundation-EPSCoR, U.S. National Science Foundation REU, U.S. National Science Foundation-Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Open Science Grid (OSG), Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (PATh), Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services and Support (ACCESS), Frontera computing project at the Texas Advanced Computing Center, U.S. Department of Energy-National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, Particle astrophysics research computing center at the University of Maryland, Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research at Michigan State University, Astroparticle physics computational facility at Marquette University, NVIDIA Corporation, and Google Cloud Platform; Belgium—Funds for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS and FWO), FWO Odysseus and Big Science programmes, and Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (Belspo); Germany—Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association, Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), and High Performance Computing cluster of the RWTH Aachen; Sweden—Swedish Research Council, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; European Union—EGI Advanced Computing for research; Australia—Australian Research Council; Canada—Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Calcul Québec, Compute Ontario, Canada Foundation for Innovation, WestGrid, and Digital Research Alliance of Canada; Denmark—Villum Fonden, Carlsberg Foundation, and European Commission; New Zealand—Marsden Fund; Japan—Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR) of Chiba University; Korea—National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF); and Switzerland—Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Evaluating and enhancing the immune evasion properties of membrane-wrapped nanoparticles
No full textDay, Emily S.Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) are crucial for all of the red and white blood cell production. Malfunctions in these cells can lead to severe diseases, particularly monogenic genetic disorders, for which HSPC transplantation is often the only effective treatment. However, these transplants are labor intensive, challenging for patients to endure, and typically require chemotherapy or radiation therapy to eliminate defective HSPCs. Following these treatments, the individual temporarily has no immune system, so they must be contained in controlled environments. There is also a risk that the transplanted cells could recognize the new host as foreign and attack it, which can lead to severe acute and long-term side effects. Consequently, delivering payloads to HSPCs in vivo to repair them in situ is of great interest for a variety of potential applications. Membrane-wrapped nanoparticles (MWNPs) offer an attractive solution as previous research has shown that NPs wrapped with plasma membranes derived from megakaryoblastic CHRF cells can accumulate in bone marrow after intravenous administration to effectively interact with HSPCs. However, a large portion of each dose is sequestered in the liver and spleen, reducing the potential efficacy of any treatment based on this technology. This off-target delivery may be due to the protein corona (PC), which is the buildup of serum proteins on the surface of MWNPs after intravenous injection, leading to their clearance. This dissertation characterizes the impact of the PC on target cell binding and macrophage clearance of unwrapped and wrapped NPs in vitro (Chapter 3) and in vivo (Chapter 4), then develops a strategy to minimize PC impact on MWNPs (Chapter 5). ☐ This dissertation produced several key findings. In the in vitro studies of Chapter 3, MWNPs with a PC exhibited increased target cell uptake and decreased macrophage uptake, whereas unwrapped NPs with a PC exhibited reduced target cell uptake and increased macrophage uptake. This demonstrates that cell membrane wrapping can beneficially influence cellular interactions even in the presence of a PC. Proteomics identified apolipoprotein B and complement component 3 (C3) as the dominant opsonins on both MWNPs and unwrapped NPs after incubation in mouse, bovine, or human serum, with other proteins like immunoglobulins, complement proteins, and apolipoproteins also present. In Chapter 4, in vivo biodistribution studies in wild-type and knockout mice (ApoE-/-, C3-/-, and FcRn-/-) indicated a complex interplay between specific PC components and targeting versus clearance. Specifically, C3 and immunoglobulin G adsorption on MWNPs led to macrophage clearance but also enabled HSPC targeting. Meanwhile, apolipoprotein E adsorption facilitated hepatocyte clearance but reduced immune cell uptake in the liver. In Chapter 5, to reduce C3-mediated clearance, we synthesized MWNPs using cells that were genetically engineered to express CD55, which interferes with the complement cascade. After serum incubation, these CD55-MWNPs exhibited reduced C3 convertase activity compared to unedited MWNPs. Collectively, this research indicates that MWNPs are a promising, next-generation NP platform that can be modified to improve targeting to HSPCs by reducing the effects of clearance mechanisms. In Chapter 6, conclusions and perspectives on future directions for this work are presented.University of Delaware, Department of Biomedical EngineeringPh.D
Medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus oscillatory synchrony and behavioral disruption in a rat model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: evidence from in vivo electrophysiology
No full textGriffin, Amy L.Klintsova, Anna Y.Children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) are more likely than their peers to show deficits in executive function, learning, and memory. In rodent models of FASD, brain regions including the hippocampus (HPC), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and midline thalamic nucleus reuniens (RE) have been shown to be particularly vulnerable to ethanol effects during the brain growth spurt, which occurs during the third trimester in humans and the first two postnatal weeks in rats. This damage could disrupt functional interactions between these regions that support working memory, the ability to maintain and flexibly update task-relevant information. Previous studies from our lab showed that RE is critical for spatial working memory and mPFC–HPC functional interactions. We also have demonstrated that RE was significantly damaged in a rat model of binge drinking during the third trimester. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that alcohol exposure (AE) during the brain growth spurt could impair working memory and mPFC – HPC oscillatory synchrony. For all experiments, male and female rat pups were assigned either to the AE group, in which pups were given daily doses of 5.25 g/kg of alcohol in a binge manner via intragastric intubation on postnatal day (PD) 4-9, or to a sham intubated (SI) control group. Starting at PD90, rats were tested on a spatial alternation task with 10s, 30s, and 60s delay trials interleaved within a testing session. For in vivo electrophysiology experiments, local field potentials were recorded from prelimbic cortex of mPFC and dorsal CA1 as rats performed a spatial alternation task. The studies in this dissertation are guided by three specific aims: Specific Aim 1 addressed long-term effects of developmental AE on spatial working memory in adulthood. Results demonstrated that AE did not impair spatial working memory, however, we observed that AE did impact behaviors other than working memory. Specific Aim 2 examined the correlation between RE neuroanatomical integrity and spatial working memory performance from Aim 1. Specific Aim 3 investigated how developmental AE affects functional connectivity between mPFC and HPC during spatial working memory task performance. Results revealed alterations in mPFC and HPC power across all frequency bands of interest: theta (6-10Hz), mid-beta (15-20Hz), and gamma (30-50Hz) frequency bands. Additionally, Aim 3 demonstrated that there were significant alterations in mPFC – HPC functional connectivity across those bands. Specifically, early postnatal AE reduced coherence in theta frequency (6 -10 Hz) band but increased coherence in the mid beta (15 – 20 Hz) and gamma frequency (30 – 50 Hz) bands. These findings suggest that the previously established AE-related damage to brain structures incurred during the brain growth spurt results in abnormalities in behavior, HPC and mPFC physiology, and mPFC – HPC functional connectivity.Ph.D.University of Delaware, Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Progra
DEVELOPMENTAL IMPACT OF CESAREAN SECTION ON SUCROSE PREFERENCE AND REWARD BEHAVIOR
No full textenterCesarean section (CS) rates are rapidly rising worldwide and have been associated with
increased risk for obesity. Emerging evidence suggests that CS may disrupt the development of
the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system, a key pathway involved in reward processing, motivated
behavior, and feeding behavior. In this study, we used prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) to
investigate how CS affects reward sensitivity to sucrose and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) levels in
the ventral tegmental area in early adulthood. Voles were born via CS or vaginal delivery (VD),
cross-fostered, and assessed using Sucrose Preference Testing (SPT), Conditioned Place
Preference (CPP), and TH immunohistochemistry. Hormone levels are lower in CS offspring
after birth, and we aimed to understand the role of hormones in development. SPT revealed that
CS offspring consumed significantly more sucrose (p = 0.019) than CS-Hormone Rescue (HR)
controls, suggesting that hormone signals play a role in reward processing. However, there were
no significant differences in conditioned reward learning in CPP, indicating intact associative
learning across groups. Preliminary results from ventral tegmental area analysis show
significantly lower TH-immunoreactivity in the ventral tegmental area of CS animals in
comparison to VD-SAL, suggesting altered dopaminergic function in reward regions.
Preliminary data from the CS-HR group displayed higher levels of TH-ir, suggesting that
CS-SAL animals have lower levels of TH-ir in the VTA. These findings elucidated that CS
delivery may lead to long-lasting changes in DA regulation, which may underlie the increased
risk for obesity observed in CS offspring.ente
Bursting Pipes and Boiling Snow: Disaster Impacts and Adaptations in the 2021 Texas Power Crisis from the Lens of Short-Form Social Media Videos
No full textThis article was originally published in Journal of Disaster Studies. The version of record is available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/950741.
© 2024 Alexa Schlein, Shengzhi Wang, Valerie Remaker, Ziyun Tie, Melinda M. Haughey, Rachel A. Davidson, James Kendra and Kate Starbird.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons license (CC BY NC-ND 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.This article explores how short-form social media videos can contribute to the understanding of how people are affected by and adapt to crisis events. Applying a grounded approach, we analyzed 174 crisis-related videos shared by local Twitter users during the 2021 Texas storm and power crisis to determine how crisis impacts and adaptations are documented and portrayed. Our data include fifty-six cross-posted videos from third-party platforms, of which forty-one were from TikTok. We show that short-form videos are capable of providing wide-ranging insights into the impacts of crisis events and how people adapt to them. We provide examples with rich detail to illustrate how content creators documented the effects of their adaptations and their downstream effects. Our data include various adaptations that address the need for water, food, and shelter/warmth. Furthermore, we identify how people coped with the crisis through entertaining and humorous videos. We discovered that valuable information about crisis impacts and adaptations often appeared in the periphery of the main focus of videos. We also comment on what was missing in the social media record (e.g., more mundane impacts and adaptations), contributing to understandings about the contours and limitations of social media content in a crisis context
Leveraging geospatial analysis and econometric methods to evaluate the impacts of events on community wellbeing: a dichotomy of objective and subjective metrics
No full textYoo, Joanne Jung-EunEvent tourism is a vital part of the tourism industry, known for its economic impact and potential to support community development. However, its broader effects on residents’ wellbeing are less understood. Existing research often emphasizes economic benefits based on residents’ perceptions, overlooking measurable impacts. There's also limited spatial and temporal analysis, and few studies explore causal links between hosting events and wellbeing, especially the interaction between residents’ objective data and subjective experiences. This study aims to address these shortcomings through a multi-method approach, combining geospatial analysis, temporal causality testing, and configurational methods. Focusing on four counties in Hawaii from 2000 to 2022, it draws on Core-Periphery Structure Theory and Spillover Theory to analyze spatial patterns, causal pathways, and gaps between perception and reality. The findings reveal notable spatial heterogeneity between core areas which tend to benefit more than peripheral ones, and complex temporal dynamics, including evidence of bidirectional Granger causality between events and socio-economic indicators. The research also highlights discrepancies between residents’ subjective wellbeing and objective data, offering a more nuanced picture of how event tourism affects communities.University of Delaware, Department of Hospitality and Sport Business ManagementPh.D
CHARACTERIZATION OF BACTERIOPHAGE AND MACROPHAGE INTERACTIONS FOR APPLICATIONS IN PULMONARY DRUG DELIVERY
No full textFromen, Catherine A.Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) remain a leading global health burden, with bacterial infiltration and biofilms that can limit antibiotic efficacy. Bacteriophages are a promising alternative to antibiotics, capable of lysing bacterial pathogens. Their nanoscale size enables deposition in the lower respiratory tract and interaction with innate immune cells. However, the development of inhalable phage therapies is underexplored due to a limited understanding of phage-lung interactions. This work explores a workflow for administering purified phages to macrophage models to evaluate their potential as therapeutic vectors and macrophage immunomodulating effects. First, crude T4 phage lysates were purified from endotoxins using spin columns (SP) and 1-Octanol organic phase extraction (OP). Endotoxin concentrations were quantified via Limulus Amebocyte Lysate assay, and phage DNA concentrations were measured by absorbance spectroscopy. Both purification methods reduced the endotoxin concentration by 10,000-fold using spin columns and 26-fold using organic solvent extraction. However, the spin column purification resulted in a 3-4 fold reduction in phage DNA and a significant reduction in phage titer. The second aim of this thesis is to compare purified phage preparations and crude phage lysate in a macrophage model to evaluate phage internalization and clearance, effects on mammalian cell metabolic activity, and modulation of macrophage inflammatory responses and antigen presentation. SYBR Gold-stained phages were visualized in RAW 264.7 stained with Hoechst and CellMask Plasma membrane stain, where phages localized in the cytoplasm and surrounded the nucleus of cells. Macrophage metabolic activity post-phage treatment was measured using Cell Titer-Glo. Flow cytometry was conducted to assess macrophage polarization and immune response. RAW 264.7 cells treated with purified lysates demonstrated significantly higher metabolic activity at 24 hours compared to lipopolysaccharide (LPS controls, indicating that purified phages are non-cytotoxic to macrophage function. The crude and purified T4 phages were then co-administered with LPS to mimic an LRI inflammatory environment. RAW 264.7 cells activated with LPS show greater internalization of T4 phages. Macrophages dosed with purified T4 phages expressed minimal CD40+, a pro-inflammatory marker, compared to crude T4 phage lysate and LPS. Maximal phage internalization and CD40+ expression were observed at 24 hours, followed by phage clearance by 72 hours, corresponding with a resolution of inflammation. These findings demonstrate that endotoxin-free phage samples can exhibit dynamic immunomodulatory effects in macrophages. Future work will focus on improving endotoxin purification methods that minimize phage loss. Additionally, complex in-vitro models, including air-liquid interface cultures, diverse phage types and immune cell populations, and bacterial co-culture systems, will be developed to evaluate phage lytic activity within mammalian cells and understand how macrophage clearance may limit therapeutic efficacy in the respiratory system.Senior Thesis Progra
Hotel booking curves: taxonomy, algorithmic effectiveness and computational efficiency
No full textSchwartz, ZviAccurate demand forecasting is fundamental for hotel revenue management. This dissertation explores how booking curves—representing cumulative reservations over time—can be better categorized and used to generate more accurate forecasts using k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) algorithms. Drawing on over 3.8 million daily booking observations, which were aggregated into more than 70,000 booking curves from 50 U.S. hotels, the research is organized into three studies. ☐ The first study examines whether booking curves can be meaningfully categorized using unsupervised clustering. Both Euclidean-based and adaptive polynomial clustering were conducted for the categorization, it revealed three consistent behavioral segments: early, mid, and last-minute bookers. ☐ The second study investigates how variations in k-NN configuration—such as the number of neighbors (k), distance metrics, and weighting arrangements—affect forecasting accuracy across different booking horizons. Results show that the optimal combination of k-NN features vary by hotel booking horizon length. ☐ The third study evaluates whether pre-clustering booking curves before applying k-NN algorithm improves computational efficiency. Both clustering methods significantly reduced processing time with only modest trade-offs in forecast accuracy. ☐ Overall, these findings offer a practical framework for developing hotel demand forecasting systems that balance accuracy and scalability. By aligning behavioral segmentation with horizon-specific algorithm tuning, this research provides actionable strategies for revenue managers to enhance forecast precision while reducing computational complexity. Additionally, the results demonstrate that algorithm efficiency can be significantly improved through thoughtful clustering, making the approach well-suited for real-time, data-intensive operational environments.Ph.D.University of Delaware, Hospitality Business Analytics Progra