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Weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) may interact with a virtual pion that is exchanged between nucleons. This interaction channel is important to consider in models where the spin-independent isoscalar channel is suppressed. Using data from the first science run of the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment, containing 60 live days of data in a 5.5 tonne fiducial mass of liquid xenon, we report the results on a search for WIMP-pion interactions. We observe no significant excess and set an upper limit of 1.5 × 10−46 cm2 at a 90% confidence level for a WIMP mass of 33 GeV/c2 for this interaction.

In this session, representatives from IES, NSF, UNESCO, and ERC will discuss intellectual, sociological, and practical issues that arise in doing research in Cognitive Science, Education, and at their intersection. Some of these issues are due generally to the multidisciplinary nature of the work, but others are specific to education. The mobilization of research knowledge and human capital for translation to practice and policy remains a significant challenge that each of these agencies seeks to address. The speakers will highlight relevant initiatives and point to similarities and differences in the grant review processes between programs, providing tips for successful grant writing along the way. They will discuss where their programs are placed in relation to one another in the funding landscape and along the continuum from the most basic to the most applied research – and the extent that such a distinction is meaningful. They will also contrast their funding emphases and the implications those emphases have for the kinds of projects that can be engaged.

Spontaneous internally directed attention, such as mind wandering, typically hinders performance in cognitive tasks. The impact of intentional internally directed attention (IDA) – for instance, deliberately thinking about past or future events – on task performance, however, remains unclear. In our study, we employed a dual-task paradigm that involved self-referential stimuli in a color-recall visual working memory task. This approach revealed that intentional IDA more significantly influences performance compared to intentional externally directed attention (EDA). We observed larger late positive potentials (LPP) over medial frontal sensors, suggesting sustained stimulus processing over frontal sensors under IDA. Additionally, we noted a pattern of neural activity associated with internal attention: event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the alpha band (8-12 Hz) during the encoding phase and event-related synchronization (ERS) in the delay phase. In contrast, the EDA condition was marked by theta (4-8 Hz) band ERS during the delay period. These findings highlight distinct behavioral impacts and neural patterns associated with internally versus externally directed attention in dual-task settings.

Recognizing the limitations of standard vision assessments in capturing the real-world capabilities of individuals with low vision, we investigated the potential of the Seguin Form Board Test (SFBT), a widely-used intelligence assessment employing a visuo-haptic shape-fitting task, as an estimator of vision's practical utility. We present findings from 23 children from India, who underwent treatment for congenital bilateral dense cataracts, and 21 control participants. To assess the development of functional visual ability, we conducted the SFBT and the standard measure of visual acuity, before and longitudinally after treatment. We observed a dissociation in the development of shape-fitting and visual acuity. Improvements of patients' shape-fitting preceded enhancements in their visual acuity after surgery and emerged even with acuity worse than that of control participants. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating multi-modal and cognitive aspects into evaluations of visual proficiency in low-vision conditions, to better reflect vision's impact on daily activities.

Studies have reported that prestimulus brain oscillations guide perceptual experiences during AV speech perception. However, 'what' features in such oscillations drive perception remains unknown. In this EEG study (n=18), we investigated how prestimulus periodic oscillations and aperiodic components influence the perception of the McGurk illusion on a trial-by-trial basis. Using logistic mixed-effect models, we determined the topology of spectral markers that predict the brain response to illusory perception. We found lower levels of alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (15-30 Hz) band oscillations over parieto-occipital sensors, lower aperiodic offset values over parietal-temporal sensors, and a lower global effect of exponent over the scalp that predicted the response to McGurk illusion. We conclude that the predominant source of variations in the prestimulus oscillatory state is manifested by aperiodic background activity and that variations in these oscillations and aperiodic activity, account for inter-trial and inter-individual variability in perception of the McGurk illusion.

The automaticity of syntax has been a long-debated topic in psycholinguistics. One strategy to establish it involves finding significant evidence of syntactic priming in experimental tasks that restrict conscious awareness. Two common criteria to assess the unconscious nature of priming are that visibility (d') of masked words is not significantly different from zero, and that visibility is not positively correlated with the size of the priming effect. Unfortunately, these outcomes may also arise from low statistical power in visibility data and low reliability of dependent measures. We report results of a meta-analysis and a Bayesian re-analysis, which revealed low statistical power and evidence that "subliminal" words were actually visible for participants. Additionally, reliability analyses on Berkovitch and Dehaene's (2019) dataset showed that noisy measures may account for the lack of correlation between visibility and priming. These findings question the validity of previous results supporting the automatic nature of syntactic processing.

Motor vehicles are among the major sources of pollutants and greenhouse gases in urban areas and a transition to "zero emission vehicles" is underway worldwide. However, emissions associated with brake and tire wear will remain. We show here that previously unrecognized volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, which have a similarity to biomass burning emissions are emitted during braking. These include greenhouse gases or, these classified as Hazardous Air Pollutants, as well as nitrogen-containing organics, nitrogen oxides and ammonia. The distribution and reactivity of these gaseous emissions are such that they can react in air to form ozone and other secondary pollutants with adverse health and climate consequences. Some of the compounds may prove to be unique markers of brake emissions. At higher temperatures, nucleation and growth of nanoparticles is also observed. Regions with high traffic, which are often disadvantaged communities, as well as commuters can be impacted by these emissions even after combustion-powered vehicles are phased out.

Emotions shape how people understand and interact with others. Here, we review evidence on the relationship between anxiety—a future-oriented emotion characterized by negative valence, high arousal, and uncertainty—and mentalizing—the ascription of mental content to other agents. We examine three aspects of this relationship: how people with anxiety disorders perform on mentalizing tasks relative to controls; how situational anxiety alters mentalizing performance; and how autistic people, who experience the impacts of mentalizing differences, are at high risk of anxiety. We propose a bidirectional model for understanding how short-term and longer term anxiety are related to mentalizing. Key to this relationship is the aversive experience of uncertainty and the motivations that result from it.

Dieser Artikel untersucht die Entlassung von Arzneimitteln aus der Verschreibungspflicht und die Umstellung auf rezeptfreie Medikamente (OTC). In den letzten Jahren haben zahlreiche Länder wie das Vereinigte Königreich und Polen den OTC-Status für Sildenafil 50 mg zugelassen. Diese Entscheidung basiert primär auf der Analyse des Sicherheitsprofils, Missbrauchspotenzials, aber auch auf Public-Health-Überlegungen. In Deutschland hingegen ist Sildenafil aktuell verschreibungspflichtig, was auf unterschiedliche regulatorische Bewertungsmaßstäbe hinweist. Der Vergleich der Bewertungen im Vereinigten Königreich und Deutschland zeigt, dass in Deutschland hierbei die Nebenwirkungen des Wirkstoffs als wesentliche Einschränkungen der Patientensicherheit hervorgehoben wurden, während im Vereinigten Königreich die Patientensicherheit in der OTC-Abgabe durch die Apotheke als ausreichend gewährleistet beurteilt wurde. Die potenzielle OTC-Freigabe von Sildenafil kann zahlreiche Vorteile bieten, darunter eine verbesserte Patientenautonomie und eine Entlastung der ärztlichen Leistungserbringer. Dies kann zu einem sichereren Zugang zu qualitativ hochwertigen Medikamenten und einer besseren Erkennung und Behandlung von Grunderkrankungen durch Ärzte und Apotheken führen. Der Beitrag hebt die Bedeutung harmonisierter Bewertungsmaßstäbe zur Aufhebung der Verschreibungspflicht und die Berücksichtigung von Public-Health-Aspekten hervor.

Die Autoren einer Arbeit, die den möglichen Effekt verschiedener Steuermodelle bzw. eine gestaffelte Herstellerabgabe auf gezuckerte Getränke hochrechnete, kamen zu dem Schluss, dass solch eine Steuer in den Jahren 2023 bis 2043 einige Effekte in Deutschland hätte. Fachgesellschaften wie die Deutsche Diabetes Gesellschaft fordern die Einführung einer solchen Steuer und behaupten, der Nutzen sei bewiesen. Diese Arbeit evaluiert die Plausibilität und die Wertigkeit der für die optimistischen Berechnungen in hinzugezogenen Beobachtungsstudien.

Background: In Kenya, health is a devolved function that county governments run. Tuberculosis is managed at the county level in coordination with the National Leprosy Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Program (NLTP), which has a mission of End TB Strategy to achieve a 95% decline in deaths due to tuberculosis compared with the 2015 baseline and reach an equivalent 90% reduction in tuberculosis incidence rate. Methods: This was a retrospective study that included patients who tested positive for drug-resistant tuberculosis from 2014 to 2019. Data was sourced from NLTP Electronic Medical Records. After abstraction, the data was entered into Excel and analyzed through STATA software version 13. Results: Of the 2674 enrolled patients in total, there were more males affected with DRTB at 64 % compared to the female patients. The public facilities carried the immense burden of diagnosis and treatment of the patient, having a cumulative number of 83 %, while the prison sector had the lowest number. For the resistance pattern, the new, relapse, and failure of first-line drugs accounted for most drug-resistant cases at 80 %, with only 65 % of the total cases having been done a gene-expert test at the point of screening. Conclusion: Kenya's devolved health system needs more coordinated support from the national government to the county health units for TB surveillance. Regional centralized laboratories for diagnosis and monitoring of TB would reduce the time it takes for samples to come to Nairobi for testing, which takes time before patents are initiated on treatment.

Pig butchering is an escalating cybersecurity threat that exploits social engineering to build trust and execute financial fraud. The relevance of this research problem lies in the growing incidence and sophistication of these scams, which have severe financial and psychological impacts on victims. The main purpose of this research is to uncover the methods used in pig butchering scams and their impact on individuals and businesses. The research focuses on digital platforms such as social media, dating apps, and professional networking sites, chosen for their wide user bases and the ease of establishing personal connections. The study period encompasses recent developments from the past five years to capture the evolving nature of these scams. The research utilizes a qualitative literature review as its primary method, drawing on academic articles, industry reports, and case studies. The study's statistical basis includes data from law enforcement agencies, cybersecurity firms, and victim reports. Key findings confirm the effectiveness of proactive cybersecurity measures, such as continuous education and specialized services, in mitigating pig butchering scams. The research hypothesis, stating that these measures can significantly reduce scam success rates, is supported by the data. Results indicate that enhancing cybersecurity protocols and training programs is crucial for protecting against such threats. Future research should focus on developing predictive models and integrating AI and machine learning for better detection and prevention. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers, cybersecurity professionals, and educators, highlighting the need for international cooperation and advanced technological defenses to combat this pervasive threat.

A reduction in river flows is a major cause of the shrinking of river deltas. The Ramsar protected Indus Delta is one such example. Due to a consistent reduction in the flows of the Indus River, 15 out of 17 allied creeks facing back flows from the sea, while the remaining two are flowing during flooding years only. The connected wetlands and lagoons of these creeks have turned brackish, resulting in the devastation of associated habitats and ecosystems. This situation also increased seawater intrusion and coastal erosion. This study spatially detect the devastated lagoons, employing the Arc-Hydro tools in ArcGIS, conduct community meetings and draft evidence-based recommendations to revive the abandoned wetlands. The study identified 130 waterbodies using maximum likelihood and supervised classification methods on Landsat imagery. Through ground trothing 20 abandoned waterbodies have been visited and verified with community engagement. The revival of wetlands will improve biodiversity and coastal habitat, along with the re-plantation of mangrove, which provides a shield against tsunamis and cyclones and is also home to hundreds of species of shrimp. The sustainable wetlands may also provide immediate drinking and agricultural needs for the local population, as well as repel seawater from intruding inland.

Energy efficiency in the building has two dimensions; efficient use of energy resources and energy conservation. Energy-efficient houses play a critical role in energy conservation and achieving sustainable built environment goals. The energy efficiency of a house depends on its building envelope (design, orientation, and energy properties of construction material) and operational characteristics appliance efficiency, energy consumption patterns). Rather than merely ensuring new houses are energy-efficient, it is vital to energy retrofit existing houses. Energy audits can assist in evaluating the energy efficiency of existing houses and identify improvement measures. The main objectives of this study were to identify efficiency improvement opportunities through an energy audit of houses and apartments in Karachi. A detailed energy audit checklist was prepared using literature, standards, expert review, and code requirements. Data was collected through physical and owner-assisted virtual audits of 58 houses in six districts of Karachi. Architectural plans, information about doors, windows, air ducts, thermal images, historical data, and material properties were collected. Audit tools included; an anemometer and thermal imagining camera during physical audits. Android applications were used during owner-assisted audits. Data were analyzed for developing descriptive graphs, U and R-values, Pareto charts, and district-wise mapping of energy properties of the material. As a result, energy improvement opportunities were proposed. These are focused on building envelope aspects, including; window orientation, minimizing air infiltration, and using heatresistant paint. Improvement measures were confirmed through thermal imaging of selected buildings.

Green marketing has emerged as a crucial strategy for businesses to address environmental challenges and meet the growing demand for green products and services. This paper explores the impact of green marketing on consumer purchasing behavior. The research objective is to identify the factors influencing green purchase decisions and to assess the impact of green advertising on consumer purchasing behavior. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire with a sample size of 200 respondents. The target population consisted of consumers from various supermarkets in Karachi. Data was analyzed using SPSS and Smart PLS. The results show a positive relationship between green advertising, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. This study is crucial for organizations looking to adopt green marketing, as it offers a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Noble element time projection chambers are a leading technology for rare event detection in physics, such as for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay searches. Time projection chambers typically assign event position in the drift direction using the relative timing of prompt scintillation and delayed charge collection signals, allowing for reconstruction of an absolute position in the drift direction. In this paper, alternate methods for assigning event drift distance via quantification of electron diffusion in a pure high pressure xenon gas time projection chamber are explored. Data from the NEXT-White detector demonstrate the ability to achieve good position assignment accuracy for both high- and low-energy events. Using point-like energy deposits from 83mKr calibration electron captures (E∼45 keV), the position of origin of low-energy events is determined to 2 cm precision with bias

We investigated the relationship between visual experience and pragmatic development by testing the socio-communicative skills of a unique population: the Prakash children of India, who received treatment for congenital cataracts after years of visual deprivation. Using two different referential communication tasks, our study investigated Prakash' children ability to produce sufficiently informative referential expressions (e.g., ‘the green pear' or ‘the small plate') and pay attention to their interlocutor's face during the task (Experiment 1), as well as their ability to recognize a speaker's referential intent through non-verbal cues such as head turning and pointing (Experiment 2). Our results show that Prakash children have strong pragmatic skills, but do not look at their interlocutor's face as often as neurotypical children do. However, longitudinal analyses revealed an increase in face fixations, suggesting that over time, Prakash children come to utilize their improved visual skills for efficient referential communication.

A speaker's use of language is one of the most important indicators in detecting deception. To date, however, little research has focused on grammatical cues used in deceitful statements. One such cue is evidentiality which is the grammatical encoding for the source of information; i.e., whether the speaker has direct or indirect access to what they assert. This study investigates whether and how evidentiality coding in Turkish, an evidential language, interacts with producing deceitful and truthful narratives. Deceptive retellings were notably longer and syntactically more complex compared to truthful counterparts. Our hypothesis of increased past forms in deception was confirmed, alongside a heightened use of direct evidential inflection (–DI) in deceptive conditions. This exploration sheds light on the nuanced relationship between grammatical evidentiality and deceptive language use.

Interlingual Respeaking (IR) is a new technique that enables real-time subtitling in a different language. This cognitively demanding technique involves collaboration between a language professional and automatic speech recognition software (ASR), creating a human-AI interaction (HAII) environment. Integrating technological tools with an individual's internal cognitive resources establishes an extended cognitive system. However, different types of errors are observed in terms of output accuracy. Our ESRC-funded research found that working memory (WM) (backward span) has a negative relationship with omissions, where content is dropped out (e.g., to save time). Nevertheless, additions, where the human adds content (e.g., to clarify meaning) and correctness, where form-related issues arise (such as grammar mistakes), had an inverse relationship with the N-back Task (the simultaneous maintenance, updating, and processing of WM). These findings suggest that the IR errors involve diverse types of WM resources.

This study investigated the impact of illusory contour clarity and surface representations on visual search for Kanizsa figures. Experiment 1 manipulated illusory contour clarity through inducer size, while Experiment 2 manipulated clarity by varying the number of arcs in the inducer pacman. Both experiments compared Kanizsa figures with non-illusory figures under the same manipulation conditions. The findings from both experiments suggested that illusory contour clarity did not significantly influence Kanizsa figure search performance, but rather suggested a Kanizsa advantage over non-illusory figures, underscoring the importance of surface representations. Experiment 3 explored the effects of surface alterations on Kanizsa figures and smoothed counterparts, and confirmed that surface alterations had discernible effects on visual search for Kanizsa illusory contours. The results indicated that visual search for Kanizsa illusory contours remained robust, unaffected by variations in illusory contour clarity, thereby emphasizing the role of surface representations in guiding visual search processes.

In Visual working memory (VWM), the top-down goal selectively maintains and recalls items, while, bottom-up attention induced by perceptually similar items prioritizes recalling these VWM items. In this study, we focussed on whether repeated items have facilitated access in VWM and can also act as task-irrelevant interference hindering recalling task-relevant not-repeated items. In this VWM-based EEG study, human participants (n = 25) responded to a probe for an item's presence or absence in a memory array containing repeated and not-repeated items. Significantly slower response times and poor accuracy were observed for probe matching for not-repeated items. Also, Event-related spectral perturbation analysis showed an increase in mid-frontal theta (4-7Hz) and parietal alpha power (8-12 Hz) demonstrating that default prioritized repeated items interfere with recalling items corresponding to the not-repeated probe matching. This study shows how default prioritized repeated items; a relational property of stimuli can interfere with recalling task-relevant VWM items.

This paper discusses a case study of a 10-year-old Chinese-English bilingual boy, who has developmental dyslexia. The boy exhibits a discrepancy in his reading and writing abilities in both languages, which is believed to be due to the distinct orthographic characteristics and cognitive requirements of the two languages. The study investigated the reasons for his literacy skills profile from both orthographic and cognitive perspectives by evaluating the boy's working memory, literacy skills, receptive vocabulary, and cognitive abilities in both languages. Preliminary findings revealed that while the child's cognitive profile was consistent across both languages, his reading and writing accuracy in Chinese was lower compared to TD Chinese-English bilinguals, with greater difficulties in Chinese writing. This case study reinforces the cognitive account theory, suggesting that the varying cognitive demands needed for literacy skill development can result in differences in these skills, particularly regarding accuracy, in bilingual children (Sambai et al., 2022).

This study extends the application of Diffusion Drift Modeling (DDM) to examine the lexical access of monosyllabic Chinese real words and pseudo-words in an auditory lexical decision task. Here, the pseudo-words were constructed from phonological segments based on real words, allowing us to assess lexicality derived from suprasegmental information—specifically, tones—and to match their frequency to that of corresponding base forms. Following Ratcliff (2004), we manipulated the drift rate to vary with log-transformed frequency and lexicality while maintaining other DDM parameters as constant. Our results revealed that pseudo-words generally led to slower drift rate compared to real words. Additionally, for real words, an increase in log-frequency was associated with higher drift rate, whereas for pseudo-words, an increase in frequency unexpectedly corresponded to lower drift rate. This differential impact of frequency on drift rate may suggest the distinct cognitive pathways activated in the processing of suprasegmental information in lexical access.

Rationale: Acute lung injury (ALI) carries a high risk of mortality but has no established pharmacologic therapy. We previously found that experimental ALI occurs through natural killer (NK) cell NKG2D receptor activation and that the cognate human ligand, MICB, was associated with ALI after transplantation. Objectives: To investigate the association of a common missense variant, MICBG406A, with ALI. Methods: We assessed MICBG406A genotypes within two multicenter observational study cohorts at risk for ALI: primary graft dysfunction (N = 619) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (N = 1,376). Variant protein functional effects were determined in cultured and ex vivo human samples. Measurements and Main Results: Recipients of MICBG406A-homozygous allografts had an 11.1% absolute risk reduction (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.2-19.4%) for severe primary graft dysfunction after lung transplantation and reduced risk for allograft failure (hazard ratio, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.13-0.98). In participants with sepsis, we observed 39% reduced odds of moderately or severely impaired oxygenation among MICBG406A-homozygous individuals (95% CI, 0.43-0.86). BAL NK cells were less frequent and less mature in participants with MICBG406A. Expression of missense variant protein MICBD136N in cultured cells resulted in reduced surface MICB and reduced NKG2D ligation relative to wild-type MICB. Coculture of variant MICBD136N cells with NK cells resulted in less NKG2D activation and less susceptibility to NK cell killing relative to the wild-type cells. Conclusions: These data support a role for MICB signaling through the NKG2D receptor in mediating ALI, suggesting a novel therapeutic approach.

Cloud microphysical processes are an important facet of atmospheric modeling, as they can control the initiation and rates of snowfall. Thus, parameterizations of these processes have important implications for modeling seasonal snow accumulation. We conduct experiments with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF V4.3.3) Model using three different microphysics parameterizations, including a sophisticated new scheme (ISHMAEL). Simulations are con-ducted for two cold seasons (2018 and 2019) centered on the Colorado Rockies’;750-km2 East River watershed. Precipitation efficiencies are quantified using a drying-ratio mass budget approach and point evaluations are performed against three NRCS SNOTEL stations. Precipitation and meteorological outputs from each are used to force a land surface model (Noah-MP) so that peak snow accumulation can be compared against airborne snow lidar products. We find that micro-physical parameterization choice alone has a modest impact on total precipitation on the order of 63% watershed-wide, and as high as 15% for certain regions, similar to other studies comparing the same parameterizations. Precipitation biases evaluated against SNOTEL are 15% 6 13%. WRF Noah-MP configurations produced snow water equivalents with good correlations with airborne lidar products at a 1-km spatial resolution: Pearson’s r values of 0.9, RMSEs between 8 and 17 cm, and percent biases of 3%–15%. Noah-MP with precipitation from the PRISM geostatistical precipitation product leads to a peak SWE underestimation of 32% in both years examined, and a weaker spatial correlation than the WRF configurations. We fall short of identifying a clearly superior microphysical parameterization but conclude that snow lidar is a valuable nontraditional indicator of model performance.

The goal of this study was to examine the characteristics of electrically induced retinal damage. A retinal prosthesis must be both effective and safe, but most research related to electrical stimulation of the retina has involved measures of efficacy (for example, stimulus threshold), while relatively little research has investigated the safety of electrical stimulation. In this study, a single platinum microelectrode was inserted into the vitreous cavity of normally-sighted adult Long Evans pigmented rats. In one group of animals, no contact was made between the electrode and the retina and current pulses of 0.05 (n = 3) and 0.2 (n = 6) μC/phase were applied. In a second group, visible contact (slight dimpling of the retina) was made between the electrode and the retina and current pulses of 0.09 (n = 4) μC/phase were applied. In both cases, stimulus pulses (biphasic, cathodic first, 1 ms/phase) were applied for 1 h at 100 Hz. Also, control experiments were run with no electrical stimulation with retina contact (n = 4) and with no retinal contact (n = 3). After stimulation, the animal was survived for 2 weeks with ocular photography and electroretinography (ERG) to document changes. During the follow-up period, retinal changes were observed only when the electrode contacted the retina, with or without electrical stimulation. No difference was noted in ERG amplitude or latency comparing the test eye to the stimulated eye. Histological analysis was performed after sacrifice at 2 weeks. A semi-quantitative method for grading 18 features of retina/RPE/choroidal appearance was established and integer grades applied to both test and control eyes. Using this method and comparing the most severely affected area (highest grade), significant differences ( p < 0.05) were noted between experiments with retinal contact and without retinal contact in all features except inner nuclear layer thickness. No difference was noted within a group based on the intensity of electrical stimulus applied. The size of the affected area was significantly larger with both retinal contact and electrical stimulation compared to withretinal contact alone. We conclude that mechanical pressure alone and mechanical pressure with excessive electrical stimulation causes damageto the retina but that electrical stimulation coupled with mechanical pressure increases the area of the damage.

The science of mountainous hydrology spans the atmosphere through the bedrock and inherently crosses physical and disciplinary boundaries: land–atmosphere interactions in complex terrain enhance clouds and precipitation, while watersheds retain and release water over a large range of spatial and temporal scales. Limited observations in complex terrain challenge efforts to improve predictive models of the hydrology in the face of rapid changes. The Upper Colorado River exemplifies these challenges, especially with ongoing mismatches between precipitation, snowpack, and discharge. Consequently, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility has deployed an observatory to the East River Watershed near Crested Butte, Colorado, between September 2021 and June 2023 to measure the main atmospheric drivers of water resources, including precipitation, clouds, winds, aerosols, radiation, temperature, and humidity. This effort, called the Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL), is also working in tandem with DOE-sponsored surface and subsurface hydrologists and other federal, state, and local partners. SAIL data can be benchmarks for model development by producing a wide range of observational information on precipitation and its associated processes, including those processes that impact snowpack sublimation and redistribution, aerosol direct radiative effects in the atmosphere and in the snowpack, aerosol impacts on clouds and precipitation, and processes controlling surface fluxes of energy and mass. Preliminary data from SAIL’s first year showcase the rich information content in SAIL’s many datastreams and support testing hypotheses that will ultimately improve scientific understanding and predictability of Upper Colorado River hydrology in 2023 and beyond.

This study aimed to assess the attitude, and Practice of female sex workers towards Pre-exposure Prophylaxis for HIV prevention in the Kicukiro district, Rwanda. The study used a descriptive cross-sectional design, using a probability sampling method, and the Yamane formula was used to calculate the sample size of 300 female sex workers including a 10% non-response rate. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire, at 10 health centers. Analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS software, with chi-square tests and logistic regression for inferential analysis. The ethical clearance was acquired from the Mount Kenya University ethics committee and the Young Women Christian Association Rwanda. The study findings showed that (60%) of female sex workers have a positive attitude towards PrEP, and 60.4% of respondents were using PrEP. Demographic factors like age group, marital status, and Ubudehe category were significantly associated with practices. Female sex workers aged between 25 and 29 had 4 times more chance to have good practices. This study provides insights into improving PrEP education and interventions targeting female sex workers and other key populations. These findings highlighted the concerns about stigma and privacy, and the need for public health interventions that target it in the community.

Abstract The article examines Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were from the scant critical attention to the question of reading Oil Culture in the light of Climate Change within the context of ecocriticism and narratology. This novel is a powerful commentary on the environmental, social, and epistemic injustices inflicted upon the Kosawa people, whose lives hung between the crossfire of corporate greed and governmental corruption. Employing eco-narratology as a critical lens, this article delves into how Mbue’s storytelling reflects and critiques environmental injustices while advocating for collective resistance. By examining the interplay of narrative techniques and ecological themes, this article fills the gap of engaging with the detrimental effects of oil extraction on the environment in the context of climate change, which have been under the radar and considered as a form of spatial amnesia within the realm of oil fiction studies. By intertwining a cluster of concepts, including chronotope, memory, and environmental justice, this analysis enhances our understanding of contemporary petroculture and advocates for a shift in energy consumption and ecological responsibility discourse.

„Wer beizeiten nicht in Entwicklung investiert, ist nachher hintendran. Es kostet einfach Geld, wenn man Prozesse bei Lehre, Forschung und Krankenversorgung voranbringen will.“ Im Titelinterview mit „Monitor Versorgungsforschung“ spricht Prof. Dr. Jochen A. Werner, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Essener Universitätsmedizin, über den langen Transformationsweg, den er seit annähernd einem Jahrzehnt verantwortet. Der Weg, den sein Team und er mit drei lesenswerten Büchern – „Green Hospital“, „Smart Hospital“ und „Human Hospital“ – begleitet haben, ist national wie international anerkannt. Unter anderem wird die Essener Universitätsmedizin von „News Week“ innerhalb der Top 20 der weltbesten Smart Hospitals gerankt.

Das Verschreibungsvolumen von Protonenpumpeninhibitoren (PPI) ist nach wie vor hoch, obwohl in der Literatur zunehmend darauf hingewiesen wird, dass in Relation zu den Leitlinienempfehlungen eine übermäßige Verschreibung erfolgt. Über die Situation in Deutschland liegen keine sehr aktuellen Daten vor. Ziel dieser Studie war es, die tatsächliche Menge an verschriebenen und rezeptfreien PPIs in Deutschland zu ermitteln. Basierend auf mehreren großen IQVIA-Datenbanken zeigen wir, dass zwischen November 2020 und Oktober 2021 insgesamt 2,87 Milliarden PPI-Tabletten verkauft wurden, wobei die meisten Wirkstoffe in den größten Packungen und Stärken verordnet wurden. Darüber hinaus nahm der rezeptfreie PPI-Markt in einem Zeitraum von drei Jahren durchschnittlich um 14% pro Jahr zu. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie lassen auf die beträchtliche Größe des PPI-Marktes in Deutschland aufgrund von Verschreibungen schließen sowie auf eine konsistente Zunahme der rezeptfreien PPI-Käufe und einen Anstieg der Verschreibungen in der jüngsten Zeit.