Strategies That Promote Equity in COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake for Black Communities: a Review

Black communities have had a high burden of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and death, yet rates of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among Blacks lag behind other demographic groups. This has been due in part to vaccine hesitancy and multi-level issues around access to COVID-19 vaccines. Effective strategies to promote vaccine uptake among Black communities are needed. To perform a rapid review covering December 2020–August 2021, our search strategy used PubMed, Google, and print media with a prescribed set of definitions and search terms for two reasons: there were limited peer-reviewed studies during the early period of vaccine roll-out and real-time perspectives were crucially needed. Analyses included expert opinion, descriptions of implemented projects, and project outcomes. The strategies described in these reports largely converged into three categories: (a) addressing mistrust, (b) combatting misinformation, and (c) improving access to COVID-19 vaccines. When working to reduce hesitancy, it is important to consider messaging content, messengers, and location. To address mistrust, reports detailed the importance of communicating through trusted channels, validating the real, history- and experience-based reasons why people may be hesitant to establish common ground, and addressing racism embedded within the healthcare system. To combat misinformation, strategies included dispelling myths and answering questions through town halls and culturally intelligent outreach. Black physicians and clinicians are considered trusted messengers and partnering with community leaders such as pastors can help to reach more people. The settings of vaccination sites should be convenient and trusted such as churches, barbershops, and community sites. While a number of individual and combination efforts have been developed and implemented, data that disentangle components that are the most effective are sparse. This rapid review provides a basis for developing strategic implementation to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in this ongoing pandemic and planning to promote health equity for future bio-events and health crises.

PR41_Breadboard Study of a Flexible High-Data Rate Transceiver Architecture (NNX16AD14G-Y2)

We experimentally study the breadboard implementation of an optical high-data rate transceiver architecture, which is based on an innovative design which generates a flexible number of communication streams from a single laser. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by NASA.

PR40_Designing Integrated Silicon Photonics Flexible High-Data Rate Transceivers (NNX16AD14G-Y1)

We study a transceiver architecture, which is based on an innovative design which generates a flexible number of communication streams from a single laser. This approach can achieve reductions in size, weight, and energy consumption, and improvements on link performance and bandwidth compared to both RF communications and existing optical technologies Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by NASA.

PR42_Components for an Integrated Recirculating Frequency Shifter Device (NNX16AD14G-Y3)

We report and discuss measurements of silicon photonics components which comprise a recirculating variable-count frequency shifter (RVCFS) device. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by NASA.

PR_28 Imaging Band-edge Localization in a Silicon Coupled Microring Waveguide (0925133-PO)

Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under project number 1201308. Silicon microring resonators with resonances in the O band and C band were designed, fabricated and measured.

PR_27 Imaging Band-edge Localization in a Silicon Coupled Microring Waveguide (0925133-PO)

The band-edge localization of light in a coupled resonator optical waveguide (CROW) consisting of silicon microring resonators is studied theoretically and experimentally. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the National Science Foundation under Project Number 0925133.

PR39_FellowshipResearchReport

Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by a PhD Fellowship Award from IBM, in the area of integrated photonics and quantum optical communications.

Sustainability After Project Completion: Evidence from the GEF

This chapter examines the extent to which completed GEF projects are sustainable and the factors affecting sustainability. We considered only those projects that were covered through postcompletion evaluation at least 2 years after implementation completion, and where the evaluation reports provided adequate information related to observed sustainability during the postcompletion period. We assessed 62 projects to meet the selection criteria, then completed a desk review of the postcompletion evaluation reports and other relevant documents for these projects to assess the extent to which the project outcome was sustainable.We found that the projects covered through postcompletion evaluations were generally sustainable, with the sustainability outlook deteriorating for some projects while improving for others. The incidence of the catalytic processes that enhance sustainability—sustaining, mainstreaming, replication, scaling-up, and market change—was higher at postcompletion evaluation, as the passage of time allows long-term project outcomes to manifest. At the project level, we observed these catalytic processes in a wider set of activities at postcompletion evaluation than at implementation completion. Factors such as financial support for follow-up, political support, follow-up by and capacities of the executing agency, stakeholder buy-in, and project design seem to play a crucial role in determining project sustainability.

PR_29 Photon-Pair Generation using Coupled Silicon Microring Resonators (1201308-PO)

The physical principles of entangled photon-pair generation in coupled silicon microring resonators were studied theoretically and experimentally. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the National Science Foundation under Project Number 1201308.

PR_30 Towards Programmable Optical Network Front-end Devices Using Silicon Photonics (1525090-PO)

We study how the performance and utility of high-bandwidth, energy-efficient communication networks can be improved by enabling programmability and user-defined tunability in the optical front-ends using silicon photonics. Summary of a Project Outcomes report of research funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Project Number 1525090 (Year 1).