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Johnson, Kirk R., Owens, Ian F. P. (2023): A global approach for natural history museum collections. Science 379 (6638): 1192-1194, DOI: 10.1126/science.adf6434, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adf6434

Space systems are notoriously difficult to develop due to the nature of the environment in which they must operate. Designers have only a limited window to ensure systems will function as intended, placing a high importance on testing. This paper discussed the ongoing development of a simulation framework to support Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing of CubeSat subsystem hardware. This work is being conducted at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in support of the institution’s CubeSat program. The simulation framework is organized into the classic spacecraft subsystems. Each of these subsystems will support a software model and interfaces for the integration of flight hardware into the simulation framework. In demonstration of this concept, propulsion hardware has been successfully integrated into the model environment. Telemetry reception and command transmission within the simulation framework is functional and demonstrated. A loop containing the propulsion hardware, simple controller, and orbital motion propagator was developed to demonstrate the HIL test functionality of the simulation framework. This focus on the development of the propulsion HIL test configuration is a point of distinction from other HIL simulations, which typically focus on the Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS). Presented results validate successful integration of propulsion subsystem hardware into the simulation framework. Future work will focus on the integration of CubeSat subsystem models into the framework.

Open-access pdf, provided from the publisher at full and downsampled resolutions under the agreement below, of:Ellis B., D.C. Daly, L.J. Hickey, K.R. Johnson, J.D. Mitchell, P. Wilf, S.L. Wing. 2009. Manual of Leaf Architecture. Cornell University Press, 190 p. ISBN 978-0-8014-7518-4Please cite the book, not this Figshare entry.Open-access agreement:“This digital edition of Manual of Leaf Architecture, published by Cornell University Press in association with the New York Botanical Garden Press, is licensed under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 4.0. To reprint this work in whole or in part for commercial purposes, please contact Cornell University Press: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Copyright © 2009 Cornell University.”Note that CC BY-NC 4.0 is the license operating here, not CC BY 4.0.

Manual of Leaf Architecture - morphological description and categorization of dicotyledonous and net-veined monocotyledonous angiospermsby Leaf Architecture Working Group (Amanda Ash, Beth Ellis, Leo J. Hickey, Kirk Johnson, Peter Wilf, Scott Wing) 65p.ISBN 0-9677554-0-9Paper copies of this manual were printed privately in Washington, D.C. by the Leaf Architecture Working Group

This is an online archive of the 2007 insect-damage guide, to increase accessibility of a widely used resource. Cite as:Labandeira, C.C., Wilf, P., Johnson, K.R., and Marsh, F. 2007. Guide to Insect (and other) Damage Types on Compressed Plant Fossils. Version 3.01. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 25 p.

Manual of Leaf Architecture - morphological description and categorization of dicotyledonous and net-veined monocotyledonous angiospermsby Leaf Architecture Working Group (Amanda Ash, Beth Ellis, Leo J. Hickey, Kirk Johnson, Peter Wilf, Scott Wing) 65p.ISBN 0-9677554-0-9Paper copies of this manual were printed privately in Washington, D.C. by the Leaf Architecture Working Group

The world's natural history collections represent a vast repository of information on the natural and cultural world, collected over 250 years of human exploration, and distributed across institutions on six continents. These collections provide a unique tool for answering fundamental questions about biological, geological and cultural diversity and how they interact to shape our changing planet. Recent advances in digital and genomic technologies promise to transform how natural history collections are used, especially with respect to addressing scientific and socio-economic challenges ranging from biodiversity loss, invasive species and food security, to climate change, scarce minerals, and emerging tropical diseases. It is not clear, however, how ready these collections are to meet this challenge because relatively little is known about their size, composition or geographical distribution. Similarly, relatively little is known about the extent, expertise or demography of their curatorial workforce. To address these questions, a large collaborative team of directors and scientists have collated a global database on natural history collections that comprises more than 70 of the world's largest institutions, including museums, botanic gardens, research institutes and universities. The institutions represented in the database span Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, and North and South America, with approximately one third of institutions from each of the Global South, Europe and North America. The database includes information on the number of specimens and experts with respect to both geographic regions and collection categories and geographic regions. Geographic regions include both the terrestrial and marine realms, and collection categories span anthropology, botany, entomology, geology, paleobiology, and vertebrate and invertebrate zoology. Analyses of this new database reveal that the global natural history collection represents one of the most extensive distributed scientific infrastructures in the world, comprising more than 1 billion specimens that are curated by a workforce of more than 7,000 individuals. The analyses also indicate, however, that a major change in approach is required for these collections to realize their potential to inform future decision making and stimulate the basic research that underpins future questions and knowledge. For instance, at a global scale the collection and expertise does indeed exist to map change in key groups and regions - but this requires large-scale coordination across institutions and countries. Similarly, cross-institution collaboration is required to fill strategic gaps in the collection, particularly for tropical, marine and polar regions. And finally, there is an urgent need for coordinated investment in digital and genomic technologies to make collections available to the global research community and link them with other sources of information. The vast majority of collection information currently exists as 'dark data'. We conclude that the global natueral history collection comprises one of the most extensive distributed scientific infrastructures in the world, but a major change in approach is required for them to realize their potential to inform future decision making. In particular, natural history collections need to work more effectively together to develop a global strategy, create a common data platform, accelerate the availability and use of specimen data and pursue major new collecting programs.

Methods used in the study

Details of fossil and comparative material used in the study

Morphological descriptions of fossil material and figures

Supplementary Tables 1,2,3, Supplementary Note 1, Comparison of seedling morphology and matrix of leaf and cuticular characters

Data on the associated Castle Rock flora

This thesis studies the evolution of the Indonesian government's response to the threat of transnational jihadism and addresses the debate over the effectiveness of its counterterrorism policy. It poses the question: has Indonesian policy on transnational terrorism been effective in combating the mobilization of radical Islamic groups? By examining the three periods since Indonesia's transition to democracy--1998- 2001, 2002-2008, and 2009-present--the prominent political and social issues considered by politicians and counterterrorist specialists can be seen through the lenses of the threats facing Indonesia and the state's response. Through these means, the evolution and effectiveness of Indonesian counterterrorism may be further measured against the context and interplay of three factors: counterterrorism policies chosen, changing nature and evolution of the jihadist groups, and public opinion. These factors enabled state capacity and the implementation of a criminal justice counterterrorism approach effectively implementing "hard" and "soft" methods. With continued implementation of this approach, Indonesia may be positioned to combat the re-emergent transnationally influenced jihadist threats. The findings and lessons learned identified in this thesis may assist countries like Indonesia in their CT strategy development, capacity building, and application. http://archive.org/details/thelonguedureein1094549499 Major, United States Marine Corps Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

By the end of this century, without a reduction in emissions, atmospheric CO2 is projected to increase to levels that Earth has not experienced for more than 30 million years. Critical insights to understanding how Earth’s systems would function in this high-CO2 environment are contained in the records of warm periods and major climate transitions from Earth’s geological past. Throughout its long geological history, Earth has had two fundamentally different climate states—a cool “icehouse” state characterized by the waxing and waning of continental-based ice sheets at high latitudes, and a “greenhouse” state characterized by much warmer temperatures globally and only small—or no—ice sheets. Although Earth has been in an icehouse state throughout the time that humans evolved and for the previous 30 million years, Earth has been in the warmer greenhouse state for most of the past 600 million years of geological time. As greenhouse gas emissions propel Earth toward a warmer climate state, an improved understanding of climate dynamics in warm environments is needed to inform public policy decisions. Research on the climates of Earth’s deep past can address several questions that have direct implications for human civilization: How high will atmospheric CO2 levels rise, and how long will these high levels persist? Have scientists underestimated the sensitivity of Earth’s surface temperatures to dramatically increased CO2 levels? How quickly do ice sheets decay and vanish, and how will sea level respond? How will global warming affect rainfall and snow patterns, and what will be the regional consequences for flooding and drought? What effect will these changes, possibly involving increasingly acidic oceans and rapidly modified continental climates, have on regional and global ecosystems? Because of the long-lasting effects of this anthropogenic perturbation on the climate system, has permanent change—from a human point of view—become inevitable? How many thousands of years will it take for natural processes to reverse the projected changes? The importance of these questions to science and to society prompted the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and Chevron Corporation to commission the National Research Council to describe the existing understanding of Earth’s past climates, and to identify focused research initiatives to better understand the insights that the deep-time record offers into the response of Earth systems to projected future climate change. Throughout this report, “deep time” refers to that part of Earth’s history that must be reconstructed from rock, and is older than historical or ice core records. Although the past 2 million years of the Pleistocene are included in “deep time,” most of the focus of the research described or called for in this report is on the long record of Earth’s history prior to the Pleistocene. Although deep-time greenhouse climates are not exact analogues for the climate of the future, past warm climates—and particularly abrupt global warming events—provide important insights into how physical, biogeochemical, and biological processes operate under warm conditions. These insights particularly include the role of greenhouse gases in causing—or “forcing”—global warming; the impact of warming on ice sheet stability, sea level, and on oceanic and hydrological processes; and the consequences of global warming for ecosystems and the global biosphere. As Earth continues to warm, it may be approaching a critical climate threshold beyond which rapid and potentially permanent—at least on a human timescale—changes may occur, prompting major societal questions: How soon could abrupt and dramatic climate change occur, and how long could such change persist?

Data on the associated Castle Rock flora

Background Medication overuse headache (MOH) is a condition bordering between a chronic pain condition and a substance dependence disorder. Activation of immunocompetent glial cells in the central nervous system has been linked to both pathological pain and drug addiction/reward. Preclinically, ibudilast attenuates glial activation and is able to reduce neuropathic pain and markers of substance dependence. We therefore hypothesized ibudilast would reduce headache burden and opioid analgesic requirements in patients with opioid overuse headache. Objective To determine if treatment with ibudilast provides a greater reduction in headache index than placebo in MOH patients consuming opioids. Methods Participants with MOH who were using opioids were randomized via computer-generated code to ibudilast 40 mg or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks in a double-blind, parallel groups study. Before randomization participants completed a 4-week baseline headache diary. During treatment, headache diary data collection continued and participants attended 4 study visits during which quantitative sensory testing was performed. Blood samples for immune biomarker analyses were collected before and after treatment in a subgroup of participants. Results Thirty-four participants were randomized, 13 of 15 randomized to ibudilast and 17 of 19 randomized to placebo completed treatment. Ibudilast was generally well-tolerated with mild, transient nausea reported as the most common adverse event (66.7% vs 10.5% in placebo group). Results are shown as mean (SD). At the end of treatment no differences in the primary outcome average daily headache index (placebo 62 [44] vs ibudilast 77 [72] groups, difference −15, CI −65 to 35 h × numerical rating scale), or secondary outcomes headache frequency (placebo 23 [8.1] vs ibudilast 24.5 [6.2], difference −1.5, CI −7.7 to 4.8 days/month) and opioid intake (placebo 20.6 [43] vs ibudilast 19 [24.3], difference 1.6, CI −31.5 to 34.8 mg morphine equivalent) were observed between placebo and ibudilast groups. Conclusions Using the current dosing regimen, ibudilast does not improve headache or reduce opioid use in patients with MOH without mandated opioid withdrawal. However, it would be of interest to determine in future trials if ibudilast is able to improve ease of withdrawal during a forced opioid down-titration when incorporated into an MOH detoxification program.

Early Eocene land bridges allowed numerous plant and animal species to cross between Europe and North America via the Arctic. While many species suited to prevailing cool Arctic climates would have been able to cross throughout much of this period, others would have found dispersal opportunities only during limited intervals when their requirements for higher temperatures were met. Here, we present Titanomyrma lubei gen. et sp. nov. from Wyoming, USA, a new giant (greater than 5 cm long) formiciine ant from the early Eocene (approx. 49.5 Ma) Green River Formation. We show that the extinct ant subfamily Formiciinae is only known from localities with an estimated mean annual temperature of about 20°C or greater, consistent with the tropical ranges of almost all of the largest living ant species. This is, to our knowledge, the first known formiciine of gigantic size in the Western Hemisphere and the first reported cross-Arctic dispersal by a thermophilic insect group. This implies intercontinental migration during one or more brief high-temperature episodes (hyperthermals) sometime between the latest Palaeocene establishment of intercontinental land connections and the presence of giant formiciines in Europe and North America by the early middle Eocene.