The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Dietary Supplements hosted a workshop titled Advancing the Biomedical Science of Resilience: A Discussion of Measures and Metrics on September 24-25, 2024. The workshop convened NIH program staff and researchers from academia and federal agencies to propose and identify measures and metrics that capture protective factors contributing to resilience across the lifespan. Various perspectives on resilience were thoroughly discussed, including those related to cellular, physiological, psychosocial, community, and environmental domains, reflecting the complexity and multidimensionality of resilience science. Central to the workshop were discussions to examine characteristics of resilience studies across domains and to explore outcome-specific measures and metrics and study designs needed to validate those outcomes and accurately measure resilience in biomedical research. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion on the challenges of advancing the science of resilience and the need for robust frameworks for studying the concept. This article presents the proceedings from that workshop and outlines strategies for advancing and strengthening the science of resilience through greater integration across research domains. Leadership in convening diverse perspectives and fostering multidisciplinary dialogue, such as through consensus-building activities and collaborative forums, will be important for advancing shared frameworks and understanding resilience across the lifespan.
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has emerged as a transformative technology in business-to-business (B2B) sales, capable of enhancing efficiency, personalization, and productivity. However, the organizational and individual factors that enable its effective use remain unclear. Drawing on the Technology - Organization - People (TOP) framework, this study examines how upper management support influences sales professionals' use of GenAI technology and how that use, in turn, affects sales performance. Our sample comprises survey data from 161 salespeople at a large U.S. B2B firm that has integrated GenAI into its CRM system. We find that upper management support positively affects the use of GenAI technology. This effect strengthens as sales experience increases. GenAI usage, in turn, significantly improves sales performance, regardless of experience level. These findings highlight that managerial support and salesperson experience jointly affect technology use outcomes. The study contributes to the emerging sales technology literature by offering one of the first empirical examinations of GenAI in the sales context and providing insights for firms seeking to enhance technology-driven sales performance.
An off-grid system with renewable energy integration, considering a solar photovoltaic system, is a promising solution to fulfil the energy demand of consumers in remote areas. However, photovoltaic systems have uncertainties and variability issues which interrupt the regular operation and need proper planning for energy resilience. To handle the uncertainty problem of photovoltaic power, power-to-gas (PtG) technology can be integrated into the system, acting as long-term energy storage. To mitigate the challenges of uncertainties and variabilities, long-term energy storage, and resilient and economic operation, this research paper proposes a novel mathematical model of an integrated energy system with PtG technology for minimising the total system planning cost. A robust optimisation approach with the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker theorem is used to deal with bi-level optimisation and worst-case scenarios due to photovoltaic system uncertainty using PtG technology and energy storage system. Sensitivity analysis is performed with robust optimisation for proving the increase and decrease in the total cost. The results show an optimised result after applying robust optimisation to deal with photovoltaic system uncertainty, which increased the cost. The total cost, which includes investment and operation cost, is Rs. 20,554,932 (Gamma = 0) in the first year. As the uncertainty increased from 0 to 1, 2, & mldr;, 24, the cost also increased and at Gamma = 24, which is the worst case, the cost increased to Rs. 50,310,770.4. The final cost at year 19 is Rs. 12,010,000.11, which shows the minimised cost. The proposed approach decreases the overall cost by 2%-41.57% for 20 years' planning, which indicates economical and resilient operation in the future. The advantages of the proposed approach are justified by applying it to an off-grid system supplying energy with solar and gas equipment in a remote area, which can provide energy to 46-59 household consumers, depending on daily consumption (5.5-7 kWh/house).
Despite substantial contributions of ecosystem services, mutualistic plant-microbe associations in wetlands are severely threatened by human activities. Therefore, promoting positive plant-microbe associations underpins coastal wetland restoration, where human stressors and climate change challenge successful outcomes. This study examined how salinity stressors influence plant-microbe relationships, where we hypothesized that the presence of marsh microbes would provide a rescue effect by buffering abiotic stressors and yielding higher plant biomass. We used a whole sediment inocula approach and exposed marsh cordgrass (Sporobolus alterniflorus) plugs to a factorial experiment with three levels of microbiome addition (microbial inocula, autoclaved microbial inocula, no microbe control) and two levels of salinity (< 0.5 psu, 20 psu), replicated ten times. We added marsh-site microbial inocula with autoclaved peat-based greenhouse soil and exposed half the plugs to saltwater (20 psu) and half to freshwater (< 0.5 psu). Results revealed that marsh microbial inocula additions during early plant development may ameliorate salinity stressors. Plants treated with microbial inocula and salinity stress exhibited greater aboveground biomass (P < 0.09) than those under freshwater conditions. With live microbial inocula, the median of aboveground biomass and change in plant height were higher in saltwater compared to freshwater conditions. Change in plant height, belowground biomass, root-to-shoot ratio, soil bacterial diversity H’, and evenness J’ were similar across microbial and salinity treatments. However, salinity (P < 0.001) and microbial treatments (P < 0.001) significantly influenced the bacterial community composition, with distinct assemblages under salinity conditions. This work underscores the need for continued research to develop robust protocols for microbiome stewardship that enhance plant resilience and improve the success of future wetland restoration efforts.
Previously, a large platinum (Pt) anomaly was reported in the Greenland ice sheet at the Younger Dryas boundary (YDB) (12,800 Cal B.P.). In order to evaluate its geographic extent, fire-assay and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (FA and ICP-MS) elemental analyses were performed on 11 widely separated archaeological bulk sedimentary sequences. We document discovery of a distinct Pt anomaly spread widely across North America and dating to the Younger Dryas (YD) onset. The apparent synchroneity of this widespread YDB Pt anomaly is consistent with Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) data that indicated atmospheric input of platinum-rich dust. We expect the Pt anomaly to serve as a widely-distributed time marker horizon (datum) for identification and correlation of the onset of the YD climatic episode at 12,800 Cal B.P. This Pt datum will facilitate the dating and correlating of archaeological, paleontological, and paleoenvironmental data between sequences, especially those with limited age control.
