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Designing AI-enabled decision support for fast-paced medical teams remains underexplored. We use Emergency Medical Services (EMS) as a critical use case to examine where AI can, and should not, support time-critical decision-making. We conducted participatory design workshops and formative user evaluations with EMS providers to elicit, prototype, and critique candidate AI application areas for EMS work. Providers identified several promising uses of AI: (1) AI-enabled information retrieval to accelerate access to protocols and medication references; (2) speech-based documentation support to reduce charting burden and generate draft records during care; (3) AI-generated patient “snapshots” that summarize relevant history from prior encounters; and (4) AI-based medication recognition to identify home medications and surface key safety information. In contrast, participants were cautious about clinical reasoning support that could be interpreted as diagnostic assertions, ambient “always-on” monitoring to flag errors or workflow deviations, and voice-based exchanges with AI in front of patients. Across various concepts, providers emphasized key factors critical for AI adoption in EMS, including seamless workflow fit, robustness to noisy environments, transparency, appropriate trust calibration, and the preservation of professional autonomy. We conclude with design implications for responsibly advancing the use of AI technology for EMS decision support. 

The study of cell-cell interaction in high-throughput is critically important in many biological systems, including oncology, immunology, and tissue engineering. However, the passive co-encapsulation of one type A cell and one type B cell per single droplet, termed 1-1-1 encapsulation, has been dictated by double Poisson distribution, which yields only ~5% efficiency with common cell loading density. Such low efficiency makes it impractical for biological analyses at scale. Here, we demonstrate a passive 1-1-1 co-encapsulation microfluidic device that leverages close packing of cells with hydrodynamic sheath flow to achieve over two-fold improvement compared to the double Poisson model. 

Using transdimensional plasmonic materials (TDPM) within the framework of fluctuational electrodynamics, we demonstrate nonlocality in dielectric response alters near-field heat transfer at gap sizes on the order of hundreds of nanometers. Our theoretical study reveals that, opposite to the local model prediction, propagating waves can transport energy through the TDPM. However, energy transport by polaritons at shorter separations is reduced due to the metallic response of TDPM stronger than that predicted by the local model. Our experiments conducted for a configuration with a silica sphere and a doped silicon plate coated with an ultrathin layer of platinum as the TDPM show good agreement with the nonlocal near-field radiation theory. Our experimental work in conjunction with the nonlocal theory has important implications in thermophotovoltaic energy conversion, thermal management applications with metal coatings, and quantum-optical structures. 

Abstract Theory predicts that rising CO₂increases global photosynthesis, a process known as CO₂fertilization, and that this is responsible for much of the current terrestrial carbon sink. The estimated magnitude of the historic CO₂fertilization, however, differs by an order of magnitude between long-term proxies, remote sensing-based estimates and terrestrial biosphere models. Here we constrain the likely historic effect of CO₂on global photosynthesis by combining terrestrial biosphere models, ecological optimality theory, remote sensing approaches and an emergent constraint based on global carbon budget estimates. Our analysis suggests that CO₂fertilization increased global annual terrestrial photosynthesis by 13.5 ± 3.5% or 15.9 ± 2.9 PgC (mean ± s.d.) between 1981 and 2020. Our results help resolve conflicting estimates of the historic sensitivity of global terrestrial photosynthesis to CO₂and highlight the large impact anthropogenic emissions have had on ecosystems worldwide.