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This paper summarizes the report prepared by an IEEE PES Task Force. Resilience is a fairly new technical concept for power systems, and it is important to precisely delineate this concept for actual applications. As a critical infrastructure, power systems have to be prepared to survive rare but extreme incidents (natural catastrophes, extreme weather events, physical/cyber-attacks, equipment failure cascades, etc.) to guarantee power supply to the electricity-dependent economy and society. Thus, resilience needs to be integrated into planning and operational assessment to design and operate adequately resilient power systems. Quantification of resilience as a key performance indicator is important, together with costs and reliability. Quantification can analyze existing power systems and identify resilience improvements in future power systems. Given that a 100% resilient system is not economic (or even technically achievable), the degree of resilience should be transparent and comprehensible. Several gaps are identified to indicate further needs for research and development.

During phloem unloading, multiple cell-to-cell transport events move organic substances to the root meristem. Although the primary unloading event from the sieve elements to the phloem pole pericycle has been characterized to some extent, little is known about post-sieve element unloading. Here, we report a novel gene, PHLOEM UNLOADING MODULATOR(PLM), in the absence of which plasmodesmata-mediated symplastic transport through the phloem pole pericycle–endodermis interface is specifically enhanced. Increased unloading is attributable to a defect in the formation of the endoplasmic reticulum–plasma membrane tethers during plasmodesmal morphogenesis, resulting in the majority of pores lacking a visible cytoplasmic sleeve. PLMencodes a putative enzyme required for the biosynthesis of sphingolipids with very-long-chain fatty acid. Taken together, our results indicate that post-sieve element unloading involves sphingolipid metabolism, which affects plasmodesmal ultrastructure. They also raise the question of how and why plasmodesmata with no cytoplasmic sleeve facilitate molecular trafficking.

We report a case of a man in his 60s who developed pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in association with profound vitamin C deficiency. Decreased availability of endothelial nitric oxide and activation of the hypoxia-inducible family of transcription factors, both consequences of vitamin C deficiency, are believed to be mechanisms contributing to the pathogenesis of the pulmonary hypertension. The PAH resolved following vitamin C supplementation. The current case highlights the importance of testing for vitamin C deficiency in patients with PAH in the proper clinical setting.

Abstract:This article is about the rise and fall of the National Catholic Community Houses, institutions created by the National Catholic War Council (NCWC) and run by Catholic laywomen. It explores how Catholic laywomen sought to take advantage of the opportunities the post World War I era offered to create viable national institutions, and the forces outside and within their church that undermined their efforts. They faced three interrelated problems that ultimately caused the project to fail. First, while the bishops and priests of the NCWC did willingly support the creation of women-run institutions, they stopped far short of the idea of making them women-controlled institutions. Second, although the women who ran the houses had ambitions that they would take their place as equals in the world of social work, their defensive attitudes undermined their efforts to build useful networks with both non-Catholic social workers and Catholic women religious who had far greater experience in the field. Finally, Catholic laywomen struggled to run these national institutions within local dioceses and parishes where priests and bishops aggressively protected their territory. The combination of these factors meant that Catholic laywomen who ran the National Catholic Community Houses were continually running into stone walls.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.