It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Peralta Community College District. Berkeley City College is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.
Swarm robotics enables groups of simple robots to collaboratively perform complex tasks through local interactions and self-organisation. While centralised and rulebased swarm systems have shown promising results, they suffer from scalability limitations, single-point failures, and poor adaptability in dynamic environments. This paper presents a fully decentralised swarm robotics framework that integrates artificial intelligence-driven decision making using multi-agent reinforcement learning. Each robot operates as an autonomous agent relying solely on local observations and limited peer-to-peer communication, eliminating the need for global state information or centralised control. The proposed framework employs Independent Proximal Policy Optimization (IPPO) for decentralized policy learning under partial observability. Extensive simulation-based evaluation demonstrates that the proposed approach significantly outperforms rule-based and centralised baselines, achieving up to a $38 \%$ reduction in task completion time and a $25 \%$ improvement in fault tolerance under robot failure scenarios. Experiments were conducted using the PyBullet simulator with 1000 training episodes and local peer-to-peer communication constraints. The results confirm that decentralised learning-based swarm intelligence provides a scalable, resilient, and efficient solution for autonomous multi-robot coordination in complex environments.
The genus Myotis is one of the largest clades of bats, and it exhibits some of the most extreme variation in lifespans among mammals, alongside unique adaptations to viral tolerance and immune defence1-3. Here, to study the evolution of these phenotypes, we generated cell lines and near-complete genome assemblies for eight closely related Myotis species. Using genome-wide screens of positive selection, analyses of structural variation and functional experiments in primary cells, we identify patterns of adaptation contributing to longevity, cancer resistance and viral interactions. We demonstrate distinct modes of adaptation to DNA and RNA viruses compared with all other mammals, with bats exhibiting genome-wide over-representation of positive selection for DNA-virus-interacting proteins and elevated rates of copy-number variation for RNA-virus-interacting proteins. Characterization of Myotis-specific duplications of the key immune factor EIF2AK2 (also known as PKR) reveals multiple ancient segregating trans-species copy-number polymorphisms. We show that the recurrent evolution of longevity seen in Myotis is associated with positive selection in cancer pathways, and demonstrate a unique response to DNA damage in primary cells of the long-lived Myotis lucifugus. Together, our results suggest that bats' remarkable longevity and immunity are linked through pleiotropic adaptations to viruses and ageing-related disease.
Review of: Spaghetti Sissies: Queering Italian American Media , Julia Heim and Sole Anatrone (eds) (2023) Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 284 pp., ISBN 978-3-03110-196-0, h/bk, USD 139.99
Stem cell research offers unique opportunities for authentic scientific engagement, yet infrastructure requirements have confined participation to elite institutions, perpetuating workforce disparities. We developed an integrated framework combining stem cell engineering, cloud-connected microscopy, and psychometric assessment. The framework integrates a doxycycline-inducible NGN2 mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) system, low-cost cloud microscopy, and the Stem Cell Research Identity Scale (SCRIS). Implementation across a high school and a community college demonstrated significant increases in scientific identity. Students using differentiating PSCs showed broader science identity gains than those using neuroblastoma cells, particularly in competence, research readiness, and recognition. High school students showed enhanced research competence gains compared to community college students despite equivalent intervention duration. Demographic analyses revealed enhanced effectiveness for Hispanic and first-generation college students. This framework provides a scalable model for broadening participation in biomedical research.
In this essay we build on our previous research on Columbus monuments and shifting Italian American identities by considering ongoing debates and actions involving Columbus statuary and celebrations in the United States. We review some of the basic histories of Italian Americans' relationship to Columbus, highlighting different key eras throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries (i.e., fin-de-siecle, fascism, 1970s). We also focus attention on the immediate past decade and what we recognize as elevated tensions around Columbus celebrations. We are particularly interested in how some contemporary Italian Americans position themselves through language and action in relationship to the symbol of Columbus within the context of class and race and how, for some, the mask of ethnic identity seeks to cover and obfuscate the cultural politics of whiteness in the present moment, while for others the positioning acts to reinforce their status as allies to communities of color. Our essay concerns itself especially with several informal entities and established organizations that self-identify as Italian American and that position themselves on either side of this debate. These organizations-and their spokespeople-thus participate in larger (trans)national actions around contested spaces, identities, and memories. While we invoke a binary of pro-versus anti-Columbus Italian American voices, we also attempt to underscore and recognize from the start that there is not and has never been a unified Italian American community. What has been historically understood as a European immigrant success story in the United States and elsewhere has increasingly been reframed within the context of white supremacy and settler colonialism. Foundational to our current project is thinking about some of the ways Italian Americans respond to such dismantling of hegemonic narratives and systems of power vis-& agrave;-vis the figure of Columbus.
