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The COVID-19 pandemic influenced academia in many ways, impacting learners and teachers. This article is authored by six sustainable urban development doctoral researchers from various backgrounds and stages of their journey, and an academic advisor. The article is an outcome of remote collaboration through a substantial period during the pandemic. We offer self-reflective and collaborative accounts of how the pandemic affected doctoral research in a domain that requires in-depth connection with a physical field or site. We explore the impact of COVID-19 on the field through the themes of resonance and credibility, ethics and rapport, and the doctoral researchers' academic experience with regard to physical disconnection and virtual connectivity. In lieu of a conclusion, the supervisor's perspective offers insights into the future of the field and links the discussions in this article to wider debates in the literature on the role of the screen in delivering, presenting, and sharing research. The key takeaway is that the field and how we approach doctoral research and teaching have changed irrevocably. While we adjust to these new realities, it is important to look outwards as much as inwards to navigate the new complexities we now face.

Introduction: Prior to transplantation, the transplant team is responsible for transplant education and posttransplant expectations. The majority of outcomes research focuses on 1- and 3-year graft survival, with a lack of literature focused upon whether patients have a realistic understanding of how many years deceased donor kidneys can be expected to function after transplant. Objective: To determine whether potential kidney transplant patients' expectations for how long a deceased donor kidney will function after transplantation differs from transplant surgeons, using quantitative analysis. Design: A cross-sectional survey was used with potential adult kidney transplant recipients and transplant surgeons. Patient surveys included demographics, quality-of-life questions, and questions of expectations of kidney function for deceased donor kidneys from the Kidney Donor Profile Index. The survey categorized donor organ risk as 0% to 20%, 21% to 85%, and 86% to 100%, and results were compared to responses from US Transplant Surgeons. Surgeons were contacted via e-mail using an online survey program. Results: Responses included 154 transplant surgeons and 172 patients. Surgeon and patient responses were compared using Fisher exact test, showing a significant difference in each of the donor organ categories. We found that 47% of patient respondents did not correctly interpret the Kidney Donor Profile Index continuum. Conclusion: In every organ donor category, patients had a significantly different expectation for how long a transplanted kidney will last after transplant when compared to transplant surgeons. More study is required to determine why 47% of patients did not correctly interpret the Kidney Donor Profile continuum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares technical aspects of accrual-based budgeting and accounting reforms of the national governments of France, Germany, the UK and the US. It shows that there is no consensus among the four countries about the complete package of technical reform possibilities that is most appropriate; there is also no consensus among the four countries about each one of the possibilities that is most appropriate. What is clear is the resilience of traditional budgetary accounting systems. It is also clear that, in the fundamental context and content of the reforms, the UK is the striking exception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

O presente estudo investigou se as companhias brasileiras de capital aberto, entre 1995 e 2008, coordenam as políticas de caixa e dívida para efeitos de hedging contra subinvestimento em condições de restrição financeira. Os resultados indicam a inexistência de um componente de hedging usando, simultaneamente, as políticas de caixa e dívida em companhias restritas. Foi observada para as companhias restritas financeiramente uma sensibilidade positiva do caixa ao fluxo de caixa e sensibilidade negativa da dívida ao fluxo de caixa, independentemente da necessidade de hedging. As companhias irrestritas não apresentaram uma sensibilidade do caixa ao fluxo de caixa significante estatisticamente, mas apresentaram sensibilidade negativa da dívida ao fluxo de caixa, resultados também independentes da necessidade de hedging. As evidências contrariam os resultados encontrados por Acharya, Almeida e Campello (2007) no mercado norte-americano, onde caixa e dívida negativa apresentaram de acordo com a necessidade de hedging diferentes papéis na otimização intertemporal dos investimentos em companhias restritas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dryland maize (Zea mays L.) production in the U.S. western High Plains is hampered by variable yields because of substantial environmental variation in this region. This study was conducted to determine the degree to which the ranking of superior maize hybrids for dryland production in the western High Plains was predictable from performance of the same hybrids in highly productive, irrigated environments in the same region. Forty-five maize hybrids were evaluated for grain yield performance under different water regimes in western Nebraska, eastern Wyoming, and northeastern Colorado in 1998 and 1999. The value of genotypic variance was by far larger in fully irrigated test environments (0.70) than in nonirrigated test environments (0.01- 0.17). The genotypic mean repeatability in fully irrigated test environments (0.63) compared with that in nonirrigated test environments (0.18-0.69, respectively), and it showed correspondence with yield performance. The genetic correlation between fully and nonirrigated environments (0.72) was lower than that observed between all-nonirrigated environments (0.78-1.02). Thus, the proportion of direct advance in the former case (0.63) was generally lower than in the latter (0.41-0.97). However, an environmental similarity ratio (ESR) derived from crossover interaction indicated that water-contrasting environments were as similar (ESR = 0.53) as nonirrigated environments (ESR = 0.49) in ranking the maize hybrids. Selective identification of maize hybrids in irrigated environments for production under non- irrigated environments in the western High Plains might be a useful surrogate to direct selection in the latter environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize (Zea mays L.) production in the western High Plains of the USA occurs under dryland and irrigated conditions. Thus, an ideal maize hybrid for this region would have stable and high average performance across environments that are highly variable in productivity. Stability of a hybrid in this research was defined as its acrossenvironmental variance. Nine commercial single-cross hybrids and 36 related double crosses were evaluated for grain yield in four irrigated and eight dryland environments in Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. Environmental means ranged from 2.10 to 12.01 Mg ha[sup -1]. The average superiority of the single crosses over the double crosses in mean grain yield was 11.5%. However, the double crosses were generally more stable than the single crosses. This was true regardless whether stability was measured across all 12 environments or only across the eight dryland environments. The greater stability of the double-cross hybrids in the dryland environments was the result of fewer extremely Iow or high yields compared with the single crosses. Hybrids were ranked considering both stability and mean performance with a safety-first index. Values of this index depended on the value chosen for acceptable minimal yield. Across all 12 environments, a double-cross hybrid ranked the best when the minimal acceptable yield was <2.68 Mg ha[sup -1], and across the eight dryland environments this happened when the minimal acceptable yield was <1.88 Mg ha[sup -1]. Possible use of other types of heterogeneous maize hybrids in the Western High Plains are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]