Supporting Equity and Inclusion of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Individuals in Professional Organizations.

Disability is an important and often overlooked component of diversity. Individuals with disabilities bring a rare perspective to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) because of their unique experiences approaching complex issues related to health and disability, navigating the healthcare system, creatively solving problems unfamiliar to many individuals without disabilities, managing time and resources that are limited by physical or mental constraints, and advocating for themselves and others in the disabled community. Yet, individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in STEMM. Professional organizations can address this underrepresentation by recruiting individuals with disabilities for leadership opportunities, easing financial burdens, providing equal access, fostering peer-mentor groups, and establishing a culture of equity and inclusion spanning all facets of diversity. We are a group of deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) engineers, scientists, and clinicians, most of whom are active in clinical practice and/or auditory research. We have worked within our professional societies to improve access and inclusion for D/HH individuals and others with disabilities. We describe how different models of disability inform our understanding of disability as a form of diversity. We address heterogeneity within disabled communities, including intersectionality between disability and other forms of diversity. We highlight how the Association for Research in Otolaryngology has supported our efforts to reduce ableism and promote access and inclusion for D/HH individuals. We also discuss future directions and challenges. The tools and approaches discussed here can be applied by other professional organizations to include individuals with all forms of diversity in STEMM.

Vitamin B12 deficiency presenting with hyperpigmentation and pancytopenia.

Hyperpigmentation with generalized weakness may be the initial presentation of several systemic conditions. Vitamin B12 deficiency can present very rarely as hyperpigmentation. Association of pancytopenia at this stage is even rare. Early identification and management can prevent various neurological complications. Here, we report a rare case of Vitamin B12 deficiency presenting as hyperpigmentation and pancytopenia.

Tuning the built-in electric field in ferroelectric Pb(Zr(0.2)Ti(0.8))O3 films for long-term stability of single-digit nanometer inverted domains.

The emergence of new technologies, such as whole genome sequencing systems, which generate a large amount of data, is requiring ultrahigh storage capacities. Due to their compactness and low power consumption, probe-based memory devices using Pb(Zr(0.2)Ti(0.8))O(3) (PZT) ferroelectric films are the ideal candidate for such applications where portability is desired. To achieve ultrahigh (>1 Tbit/in(2)) storage densities, sub-10 nm inverted domains are required. However, such domains remain unstable and can invert back to their original polarization due to the effects of an antiparallel built-in electric field in the PZT film, domain-wall, and depolarization energies. Here, we show that the built-in electric-field can be tuned and suppressed by repetitive hydrogen and oxygen plasma treatments. Such treatments trigger reversible Pb reduction/oxidation activity, which alters the electrochemistry of the Pb overlayer and compensates for charges induced by the Pb vacancies. This tuning mechanism is used to demonstrate the writing of stable and equal size sub-4 nm domains in both up- and down-polarized PZT films, corresponding to eight inverted unit-cells. The bit sizes recorded here are the smallest ever achieved, which correspond to potential 60 Tbit/in(2) data storage densities.

An ultraclean tip-wear reduction scheme for ultrahigh density scanning probe-based data storage.

Probe-based memory devices using ferroelectric media have the potential to achieve ultrahigh data-storage densities under high write-read speeds. However, the high-speed scanning operations over a device lifetime of 5-10 years, which corresponds to a probe tip sliding distance of 5-10 km, can cause the probe tip to mechanically wear, critically affecting its write-read resolution. Here, we show that the long distance tip-wear endurance issue can be resolved by introducing a thin water layer at the tip-media interface-thin enough to form a liquid crystal. By modulating the force at the tip-surface contact, this water crystal layer can act as a viscoelastic material which reduces the stress level on atomic bonds taking part in the wear process. Under our optimized environment, a platinum-iridium probe tip can retain its write-read resolution over 5 km of sliding at a 5 mm/s velocity on a smooth ferroelectric film. We also demonstrate a 3.6 Tbit/inch(2) storage density over a 1 × 1 µm(2) area, which is the highest density ever written on ferroelectric films over such a large area.