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Extreme drought events in Amazon forests are expected to become more frequent and more intense with climate change, threatening ecosystem function and carbon balance. Yet large uncertainties exist on the resilience of this ecosystem to drought. A better quantification of tree hydraulics and mortality processes is needed to anticipate future drought effects on Amazon forests. Most state-of-the-art dynamic global vegetation models are relatively poor in their mechanistic description of these complex processes. Here, we implement a mechanistic plant hydraulic module within the ORCHIDEE-CAN-NHA r7236 land surface model to simulate the percentage loss of conductance (PLC) and changes in water storage among organs via a representation of the water potentials and vertical water flows along the continuum from soil to roots, stems and leaves. The model was evaluated against observed seasonal variability in stand-scale sap flow, soil moisture and productivity under both control and drought setups at the Caxiuanã throughfall exclusion field experiment in eastern Amazonia between 2001 and 2008. A relationship between PLC and tree mortality is built in the model from two empirical parameters, the cumulated duration of drought exposure that triggers mortality, and the mortality fraction in each day exceeding the exposure. Our model captures the large biomass drop in the year 2005 observed 4 years after throughfall reduction, and produces comparable annual tree mortality rates with observation over the study period. Our hydraulic architecture module provides promising avenues for future research in assimilating experimental data to parameterize mortality due to drought-induced xylem dysfunction. We also highlight that species-based (isohydric or anisohydric) hydraulic traits should be further tested to generalize the model performance in predicting the drought risks.

The Zeppelin Observatory (78.90∘ N, 11.88∘ E) is located on Zeppelin Mountain at 472 m a.s.l. on Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. Established in 1989, the observatory is part of Ny-Ålesund Research Station and an important atmospheric measurement site, one of only a few in the high Arctic, and a part of several European and global monitoring programmes and research infrastructures, notably the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP); the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP); the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW); the Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS); the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network; and the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS). The observatory is jointly operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Stockholm University, and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU). Here we detail the establishment of the Zeppelin Observatory including historical measurements of atmospheric composition in the European Arctic leading to its construction. We present a history of the measurements at the observatory and review the current state of the European Arctic atmosphere, including results from trends in greenhouse gases, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), other traces gases, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals, aerosols and Arctic haze, and atmospheric transport phenomena, and provide an outline of future research directions.

Accountability-era reforms have promulgated a discourse of crisis and a looming threat for public schools. While these threats negatively affect all, this paper focuses on how schools' responses to these threats shape novice Teach for America Corp Members' (CM) socialization. By analyzing nearly 6,000 daily reflections from 38 CMs about their experiences during a high-stakes cheating scandal, we argue that schools' responses indicated a threat rigidity response that allowed what we call the mesosystem of transgressions to occur. Our implications present ways to (a) mitigate threats inflicted on schools through unjust policies and practices and (b) enact equitable public schools.

For more accurate projections of both the global carbon (C) cycle and the changing climate, a critical current need is to improve the representation of tropical forests in Earth system models. Tropical forests exchange more C, energy, and water with the atmosphere than any other class of land ecosystems. Further, tropical-forest C cycling is likely responding to the rapid global warming, intensifying water stress, and increasing atmospheric CO2 levels. Projections of the future C balance of the tropics vary widely among global models. A current effort of the modeling community, the ILAMB (International Land Model Benchmarking) project, is to compile robust observations that can be used to improve the accuracy and realism of the land models for all major biomes. Our goal with this paper is to identify field observations of tropical-forest ecosystem C stocks and fluxes, and of their long-term trends and climatic and CO2 sensitivities, that can serve this effort. We propose criteria for reference-level field data from this biome and present a set of documented examples from old-growth lowland tropical forests. We offer these as a starting point towards the goal of a regularly updated consensus set of benchmark field observations of C cycling in tropical forests.

We present a global methane modelling study assessing the sensitivity of Arctic atmospheric CH4 mole fractions, δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4 to uncertainties in Arctic methane sources. Model simulations include methane tracers tagged by source and isotopic composition and are compared with atmospheric data at four northern high-latitude measurement sites. We find the model's ability to capture the magnitude and phase of observed seasonal cycles of CH4 mixing ratios, δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4 at northern high latitudes is much improved using a later spring kick-off and autumn decline in northern high-latitude wetland emissions than predicted by most process models. Results from our model simulations indicate that recent predictions of large methane emissions from thawing submarine permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf region could only be reconciled with global-scale atmospheric observations by making large adjustments to high-latitude anthropogenic or wetland emission inventories.

As Social Studies teachers with decades of combined experience and as teacher educators at a predominantly white midwestern university, the authors center their curriculum around teaching challenging and whole histories, analyzing primary sources, and creating classroom community spaces where difficult dialogues can safely happen. While the authors primarily work with preservice and early career teachers in their 16-week Social Studies in the Elementary Curriculum and Teaching and Learning Social Studies in the Secondary School Methods courses, the authors feel all Social Studies educators should use strategies that get students to think deeply about historical events and their effect on present-day social issues.

AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess preoperative radiographic parameters predictive of cervical deformity (CD) autocorrection in patients undergoing thoracolumbar deformity (ASD) surgery. This was a retrospective cohort study. Methods: Inclusion criteria were operative ASD patients with complete baseline (BL) and 2-year radiographic data. Patients with cervical fusion during index surgery, revision involving cervical fusion, and those who developed proximal junctional kyphosis by 2-year postoperative were excluded from the study. If patients met CD criteria at BL but not at 6 weeks or 2 years postoperatively, they were considered autocorrected (AC). Descriptive and univariate analysis, binominal logistic regression, and multivariable backward stepwise regression. Results: Two hundred and twenty ASD patients were included. 51.4% of patients had preoperative CD. By 6-week postoperative, 32.7% achieved AC. At 2 years, 24.8% of preoperative CD patients obtained AC. 2-year AC patients had lower BL sacral slope, lumbar lordosis (LL), T1 slope, cervical lordosis (CL), and C2-T3, and T2-T12 kyphosis (all P < 0.05). Patients with BL-unmatched Roussouly types are corrected postoperatively and are more likely to experience autocorrection at 1 year (45.2% vs. 19.0%; P = 0.042) and at 2 years (31% vs. 4.8%; P = 0.018). Multivariable analysis revealed that patients with BL-mismatched Roussouly types were corrected postoperatively and showed a significant increase in likelihood of AC at 1 year (odds ratio [OR]: 18.72; P = 0.029) and 2 years (OR: 8.5; P = 0.047). Similarly, BL LL (OR: 0.772; P = 0.003) and CL (OR: 0.829; P = 0.005) exhibited significant predictive value for autocorrection at 1 year and 2 years (OR: 0.927; P = 0.004 | OR: 0.942; P = 0.039; respectively). Conclusions: Autocorrection is more likely in patients with postoperatively corrected Roussouly types, those with lower BL cervical, and LL. Given these findings, it may not be necessary to routinely extend reconstruction into the cervical spine for ASD patients with similar characteristics to those in this study.

Abstract Revealing the presence of magnetic octupole order and associated octupole fluctuations in solids is a highly challenging task due to the lack of simple external fields that can couple to magnetic octupoles. Here, we demonstrate a methodology for probing the magnetic octupole susceptibility of a candidate material, PrV2Al20, using a product of magnetic field H i and shear strain ϵ j k as a composite effective field, while employing an adiabatic elastocaloric effect to probe the response. We observe Curie-Weiss behavior in the obtained octupolar susceptibility down to approximately 3 K. Although octupole order does not appear to be the leading multipolar channel in PrV2Al20, our results nevertheless reveal the presence of strong magnetic octupole fluctuations and hence demonstrate that octupole order is at least a competing state. More broadly, our results highlight how anisotropic strain can be combined with magnetic fields to probe elusive ‘hidden’ electronic orders.

Subsea permafrost and hydrates in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) constitute a substantial carbon pool, and a potentially large source of methane to the atmosphere. Previous studies based on interpolated oceanographic campaigns estimated atmospheric emissions from this area at 8–17 TgCH4 yr−1. Here, we propose insights based on atmospheric observations to evaluate these estimates. The comparison of high-resolution simulations of atmospheric methane mole fractions to continuous methane observations during the whole year 2012 confirms the high variability and heterogeneity of the methane releases from ESAS. A reference scenario with ESAS emissions of 8 TgCH4 yr−1, in the lower part of previously estimated emissions, is found to largely overestimate atmospheric observations in winter, likely related to overestimated methane leakage through sea ice. In contrast, in summer, simulations are more consistent with observations. Based on a comprehensive statistical analysis of the observations and of the simulations, annual methane emissions from ESAS are estimated to range from 0.0 to 4.5 TgCH4 yr−1. Isotopic observations suggest a biogenic origin (either terrestrial or marine) of the methane in air masses originating from ESAS during late summer 2008 and 2009.

In situ and simultaneous measurement of the three most abundant isotopologues of methane using mid-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy is demonstrated. A field-deployable, autonomous platform is realized by coupling a compact quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer (QCLAS) to a preconcentration unit, called trace gas extractor (TREX). This unit enhances CH4 mole fractions by a factor of up to 500 above ambient levels and quantitatively separates interfering trace gases such as N2O and CO2. The analytical precision of the QCLAS isotope measurement on the preconcentrated (750 ppm, parts-per-million, µmole mole−1) methane is 0.1 and 0.5 ‰ for δ13C- and δD-CH4 at 10 min averaging time. Based on repeated measurements of compressed air during a 2-week intercomparison campaign, the repeatability of the TREX–QCLAS was determined to be 0.19 and 1.9 ‰ for δ13C and δD-CH4, respectively. In this intercomparison campaign the new in situ technique is compared to isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) based on glass flask and bag sampling and real time CH4 isotope analysis by two commercially available laser spectrometers. Both laser-based analyzers were limited to methane mole fraction and δ13C-CH4 analysis, and only one of them, a cavity ring down spectrometer, was capable to deliver meaningful data for the isotopic composition. After correcting for scale offsets, the average difference between TREX–QCLAS data and bag/flask sampling–IRMS values are within the extended WMO compatibility goals of 0.2 and 5 ‰ for δ13C- and δD-CH4, respectively. This also displays the potential to improve the interlaboratory compatibility based on the analysis of a reference air sample with accurately determined isotopic composition.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student engagement in scientific practices and empower students to generate novel findings. Previous studies have demonstrated that CUREs are more effective at enhancing students' motivations, attitudes, science identity development, and acquisition of science process skills than traditional (i.e., prescriptive) laboratory exercises. Historically, CUREs have adopted one of two structures--the "network" CURE, in which faculty nationwide are provided with training to implement a single CURE model (e.g., SEA-PHAGES), or the "independent" CURE, which is centered around an individual faculty member's research expertise. Although independent CUREs are quite common, few studies have examined the process for and impacts of scaling up an independent CURE for use in diverse institutional contexts. To address this gap, we employed a quasi-experimental mixed-methods design to evaluate how an independent CURE, the Tigriopus CURE, could be modified for implementation at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, a liberal arts college, and a women's college. Analysis of pre- and post-semester data revealed significant differences in CURE students' science identity development, experimental design skills, and motivations relative to a matched comparison group consisting of students enrolled in a traditional laboratory course. These findings highlight the effectiveness of independent CUREs as well as the utility of the Tigriopus CURE across institutional settings.

Background: Traineeships have been proven to be beneficial vocational pathways for people with intellectual disability however to date the on-the-job training provision associated with traineeships has not been well documented. Method: This study describes components of on-the-job training provided to eight people, most with intellectual disability undergoing traineeships for 12 months in four aged care services. Sheri et al.'s (2019) framework for mentors during training was used to examine the findings. Results: Challenges in the traineeships were common to most new staff, such as developing confidence, recognising the urgency of some tasks, and time to learn how to support aged-care residents. The findings highlighted on-the-job training that was individualised, incorporating a variety of approaches was most beneficial to the trainees. Conclusions: Traineeships for people with intellectual disability require support from both the trainee and mentors. This support is essential to develop skills and ensure positive workplace attitudes.

American students continue to perform poorly on national and international assessments of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) competencies, and achievement gaps spanning racial/ethnic and socioeconomic lines emerge early and widen over time. Scholars and practitioners agree that expanding access to high-quality STEM education has the potential to improve students' performance and reduce inequalities. Research has elucidated the critical role that students' self-perceptions play in driving academic achievement, which has spurred the development of many educational programs and initiatives aimed at increasing students' confidence, self-efficacy, and interest. However, our capacity to determine what programs and initiatives are effective and for whom is limited by our lack of psychometrically sound measures that assess science-related self-perceptions and interests of elementary students from diverse populations. To address this gap, we developed and tested measures of Science Self-Efficacy, Science Self-Concept, Interest in Science Activities, and Attitudes toward STEM careers in a sample of third-grade students (8-9 years) traditionally underrepresented in STEM careers (94% of our sample identified as either African American or Hispanic). We present initial evidence, from a preliminary pilot study, for the reliability and validity of these measures and reveal the multi-dimensional nature of students' self-perceptions and interests in science. We discuss how such measurement tools will inform our understanding of the nature of young students' science self-perceptions, how the utilization of such tools can inform educational practice, and highlight the critical importance of conducting measurement development research with diverse populations.

Background: Negative attitudes remain a major barrier to the equality of people with disability, especially when coupled with the lack of autonomy imposed on many people. This paper analyses how disability self-advocacy groups seek to change community attitudes and work towards systemic change by mobilising knowledge from their lived experience. Methods: The paper applies a cycle of praxis community development approach (a cycle of experience, learning and reflection, synthesis and planning, and implementation and review) to conceptualise and analyse their activities. The methods were a desktop document search, focus groups and reflective analysis with members of two self-advocacy groups. Findings: A synthesised data analysis found that applying the four-part community development framework was useful to understand the practice and the purpose of work by self-advocacy groups to change attitudes. The analysis also demonstrates the benefits for advocates and codesigned activities to intentionally apply the cycle of praxis model to guide their future efforts to change attitudes. Conclusions: The research provides evidence that self-advocacy groups achieve sustained impacts on attitudes in the community, beyond the direct benefit to their members. Government investment in self-advocacy has potential to leverage wider system change in attitudes to achieve policy goals for the rights of people with disability. Methodologically, the research also has implications for the benefit of inclusive roles in reflective analysis to understand the lived experience of how practices contribute to system change. The design is an opportunity for inclusive researchers to intentionally incorporate reflective analysis into research processes.

While a majority of global climate models project drier and longer dry seasons over the Amazon under higher CO2 levels, large uncertainties surround the response of vegetation to persistent droughts in both present-day and future climates. We propose a detailed evaluation of the ability of the ISBACC (Interaction Soil–Biosphere–Atmosphere Carbon Cycle) land surface model to capture drought effects on both water and carbon budgets, comparing fluxes and stocks at two recent throughfall exclusion (TFE) experiments performed in the Amazon. We also explore the model sensitivity to different water stress functions (WSFs) and to an idealized increase in CO2 concentration and/or temperature. In spite of a reasonable soil moisture simulation, ISBACC struggles to correctly simulate the vegetation response to TFE whose amplitude and timing is highly sensitive to the WSF. Under higher CO2 concentrations, the increased water-use efficiency (WUE) mitigates the sensitivity of ISBACC to drought. While one of the proposed WSF formulations improves the response of most ISBACC fluxes, except respiration, a parameterization of drought-induced tree mortality is missing for an accurate estimate of the vegetation response. Also, a better mechanistic understanding of the forest responses to drought under a warmer climate and higher CO2 concentration is clearly needed.

Abstract GdTe3 is a layered antiferromagnet which has attracted attention due to its exceptionally high mobility, distinctive unidirectional incommensurate charge density wave (CDW), superconductivity under pressure, and a cascade of magnetic transitions between 7 and 12 K, with as yet unknown order parameters. Here, we use spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy to directly image the charge and magnetic orders in GdTe3. Below 7 K, we find a striped antiferromagnetic phase with twice the periodicity of the Gd lattice and perpendicular to the CDW. As we heat the sample, we discover a spin density wave with the same periodicity as the CDW between 7 and 12 K; the viability of this phase is supported by our Landau free energy model. Our work reveals the order parameters of the magnetic phases in GdTe3 and shows how the interplay between charge and spin can generate a cascade of magnetic orders.

Abstract Elastocaloric measurements of the ferroquadrupolar/nematic rare-earth intermetallic TmAg2 are presented. TmAg2 undergoes a cooperative Jahn-Teller-like ferroquadrupolar phase transition at 5K, in which the Tm3+ ion’s local 4f electronic ground state doublet spontaneously splits and develops an electric quadrupole moment which breaks the rotational symmetry of the tetragonal lattice. The elastocaloric effect, which is the temperature change in the sample induced by adiabatic strains the sample experiences, is sensitive to quadrupolar fluctuations in the paranematic phase which couple to the induced strain. We show that elastocaloric measurements of this material reveal a Curie-Weiss like nematic susceptibility with a Weiss temperature of T* ≈ 2.7K, in agreement with previous elastic constant measurements. Furthermore, we establish that a magnetic field along the c-axis acts as an effective transverse field for the quadrupole moments.

In recent years, livestock producers have been supplementing animal diets with fish meal (FM) to produce value-added products for health conscious consumers. As components of FM have unique neuroendocrine–immunomodulatory properties, we hypothesize that livestock producers may be influencing the overall health of their animals by supplementing diets with FM. In this study, 40 pregnant ewes were supplemented with rumen protected (RP) soybean meal (SBM: control diet) or RP FM, commencing gestation day 100 (gd100), in order to evaluate the impact of FM supplementation on the innate and acquired immune response and neuroendocrine response of sheep during pregnancy and lactation. On gd135, half the ewes from each diet (n = 10 FM, n = 10 SBM) were challenged iv with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to simulate a systemic bacterial infection and the febrile, respiratory and neuroendocrine responses were monitored over time; the other half (n = 10 FM, n = 10 SBM) of the ewes received a saline injection as control. On lactation day 20 (ld20), all ewes (n = 20 FM, n = 20 SBM) were sensitized with hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) and the serum haptoglobin (Hp) response was measured over time. The cutaneous hypersensitivity response (CHR) to HEWL challenge was measured on ld30 (n = 20 FM, n = 20 SBM), and blood samples were collected over time to measure the primary and secondary immunoglobulin G (IgG) response to HEWL. There was an attenuated trend in the LPS-induced febrile response by the FM treatment when compared with the SBM treatment (P = 0.06), as was also true for the respiratory response (P = 0.07), but significant differences in neuroendocrine function (serum cortisol and plasma ACTH) were not observed between treatments. Basal Hp levels were significantly lower in the FM supplemented ewes when compared with the SBM supplemented ewes (P < 0.01), and the Hp response to HEWL sensitization differed significantly over time between treatments (P < 0.01). The CHR to HEWL was also significantly attenuated in the FM treatment compared with the SBM (P < 0.01); however, treatment differences in the primary and secondary IgG responses to HEWL were not observed. These results indicate that FM supplementation differentially affects the innate and acquired immune responses in pregnant and lactating sheep compared with a typical SBM diet of commercial flocks. The long-term implications of this immunomodulation warrant further investigation.

Over the last two decades, there have been numerous initiatives to improve undergraduate student outcomes in STEM. One model for scalable reform is the inclusive Research Education Community (iREC). In an iREC, STEM faculty from colleges and universities across the nation are supported to adopt and sustainably implement course-based research – a form of science pedagogy that enhances student learning and persistence in science. In this study, we used pathway modeling to develop a qualitative description that explicates the HHMI Science Education Alliance (SEA) iREC as a model for facilitating the successful adoption and continued advancement of new curricular content and pedagogy. In particular, outcomes that faculty realize through their participation in the SEA iREC were identified, organized by time, and functionally linked. The resulting pathway model was then revised and refined based on several rounds of feedback from over 100 faculty members in the SEA iREC who participated in the study. Our results show that in an iREC, STEM faculty organized as a long-standing community of practice leverage one another, outside expertise, and data to adopt, implement, and iteratively advance their pedagogy. The opportunity to collaborate in this manner and, additionally, to be recognized for pedagogical contributions sustainably engages STEM faculty in the advancement of their pedagogy. Here, we present a detailed pathway model of SEA that, together with underpinning features of an iREC identified in this study, offers a framework to facilitate transformations in undergraduate science education.

Malodorous emissions from biosolids limit opportunities for their reuse. Potential emissions may be measured from the headspace of samples or dynamic emissions swept from surface of samples using hood methods. The static headspace method is widely used to represent potential emissions from heaped anaerobic piles of biosolids, whilst dynamic flux hoods measure potential ambient emissions from the surface of biosolids piles taking into account some dilution. Methods were compared using replicates of different biosolid samples to highlight differences between the potential odour measurements. The resultant odorants emitted from the samples as they were aged were analysed using TD-GC-SCD/NCD. Whilst the different methods showed similar behavior of emissions as they were aged, the odorant concentrations varied dramatically between methods. A greater variety of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) were observed using the headspace method, perhaps due to the higher concentrations typical of the headspace method exceeding the analytical equipment’s limit of detection. VSC emissions using the static headspace method were seen to decrease after the initial days of storage until they were undetectable. The ongoing VSCs emitted from aged biosolids, using the dynamic flux hood method, is likely due to the interplay between anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The differences between the two methodologies identified the need to understand the suitability of measurement methods.

Land models, which have been developed by the modeling community in the past few decades to predict future states of ecosystems and climate, have to be critically evaluated for their performance skills of simulating ecosystem responses and feedback to climate change. Benchmarking is an emerging procedure to measure performance of models against a set of defined standards. This paper proposes a benchmarking framework for evaluation of land model performances and, meanwhile, highlights major challenges at this infant stage of benchmark analysis. The framework includes (1) targeted aspects of model performance to be evaluated, (2) a set of benchmarks as defined references to test model performance, (3) metrics to measure and compare performance skills among models so as to identify model strengths and deficiencies, and (4) model improvement. Land models are required to simulate exchange of water, energy, carbon and sometimes other trace gases between the atmosphere and land surface, and should be evaluated for their simulations of biophysical processes, biogeochemical cycles, and vegetation dynamics in response to climate change across broad temporal and spatial scales. Thus, one major challenge is to select and define a limited number of benchmarks to effectively evaluate land model performance. The second challenge is to develop metrics of measuring mismatches between models and benchmarks. The metrics may include (1) a priori thresholds of acceptable model performance and (2) a scoring system to combine data–model mismatches for various processes at different temporal and spatial scales. The benchmark analyses should identify clues of weak model performance to guide future development, thus enabling improved predictions of future states of ecosystems and climate. The near-future research effort should be on development of a set of widely acceptable benchmarks that can be used to objectively, effectively, and reliably evaluate fundamental properties of land models to improve their prediction performance skills.

A partir de la información procedente de los puntos de agua de los acuíferos asociados a los materiales carbonatados jurásicos y cretácicos próximos al Parque Natural del Barranco del Río Dulce (PNBRD) y de su estructura geológica, se ha establecido un modelo conceptual de flujo subterráneo cuya dinámica fue validada con la interpretación de los contenidos en CFCs y SF6, nunca antes utilizados en España con estos propósitos, de algunas muestras situadas en distintas posiciones. En todos los puntos se reconoce la existencia de una fracción de agua infiltrada antes de 1950 que es mayor en las zonas de recarga de los acuíferos de edad Jurásico donde a través del modelo exponencial se llega a edades aparentes de hasta 100 años. La interpretación de los contenidos en CFCs de todas las muestras a partir del modelo de mezcla binaria, refleja edades superiores a los 17 años para la fracción joven que puede corresponder con aquella que circula por los canales de tamaño intermedio entre la matriz rocosa y los conductos kársticos mayores. Aun no perteneciendo a la misma unidad acuífera, los puntos con mayor proporción de aguas “post-1950” se sitúan en los valles fluviales de los macizos cretácicos. Los resultados son coherentes con sistemas acuíferos de escaso gradiente general, por lo elevado de las edades aparentes obtenidas, la existencia de múltiples entradas de agua y de al menos una doble porosidad, elementos establecidos en el modelo conceptual. En los acuíferos de edad Cretácico existen conductos kársticos que elevan el caudal de los manantiales de forma rápida tras las precipitaciones y cuya influencia no se refleja en las muestras estudiadas. Los CFCs pueden ser útiles para indicar la existencia de fenómenos de contaminación urbana actual. Los valores de edad derivados de las concentraciones de SF6 son inferiores a los deducidos con los CFCs por un probable aporte de este gas del sustrato invalidando su uso como trazador. El futuro del uso de los CFCs se encuentra comprometido por la tendencia decreciente de su concentración en la atmósfera, aunque la comparación del CFC-12 con el SF6, allí donde este gas no sufra incorporaciones de origen geológico, mantendrá su utilidad.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes that changing community attitudes is key to improving the experience of people with disability. We conducted a scoping review of studies of interventions to change knowledge, attitudes or behaviours toward people with disability. Results are presented within the six outcome areas of Australia’s Disability Strategy and categorised based on level of intervention, types of intervention and types of policy. Most interventions were at the organisational, community, and intrapersonal levels and consisted of education, training or modelling. Service provision, legislation, and guidelines were the main types of policy to implement attitude change. We found very little evidence of interventions at the governmental and interpersonal levels and no reference to other types of policies. We conclude that changing attitudes and behaviours about disability requires a combination of complementary intervention types, policy types and levels of intervention.

Abstract Creating a sustainable community cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) program that reaches underserved communities poses a challenge for the emergency medical services (EMS) community. Attendance, funding, and resources have all been linked to struggles surrounding community CPR/AED programs. Through our experience in conducting CPR/AED trainings in underserved regions of eastern North Carolina, we propose a method of effectively utilizing existing organizations and institutions of learning to expand and maintain a sustainable community CPR/AED program. Furthermore, we demonstrate 10 cornerstones in developing relationships within the community to increase attendance and participation in diverse communities.

The suppression of ferroquadrupolar order in TmVO4 in a magnetic field is well-described by the transverse field Ising model, enabling detailed studies of critical dynamics near the quantum phase transition. We describe nuclear magnetic resonance measurements in pure and Y-doped single crystals. The non-Kramers nature of the ground state doublet leads to a unique form of the hyperfine coupling that exclusively probes the transverse field susceptibility. Our results show that this quantity diverges at the critical field, in contrast to the mean-field prediction. Furthermore, we find evidence for quantum critical fluctuations present near Tm-rich regions in Y-doped crystals at levels beyond which long-range order is suppressed, suggesting the presence of quantum Griffiths phases.

Staphylococcus epidermidis is part of the commensal microbiota of the skin and mucous membranes, though it can also act as a pathogen in certain scenarios, causing a range of infections, including periprosthetic joint infection (PJI). Transcriptomic profiling may provide insights into mechanisms by which S. epidermidis adapts while in a pathogenic compared to a commensal state. Here, a total RNA-sequencing approach was used to profile and compare the transcriptomes of 19 paired PJI-associated S. epidermidis samples from an in vivo clinical source and grown in in vitro laboratory culture. Genomic comparison of PJI-associated and publicly available commensal-state isolates were also compared. Of the 1919 total transcripts found, 145 were from differentially expressed genes (DEGs) when comparing in vivo or in vitro samples. Forty-two transcripts were upregulated and 103 downregulated in in vivo samples. Of note, metal sequestration-associated genes, specifically those related to staphylopine activity (cntA, cntK, cntL, and cntM), were upregulated in a subset of clinical in vivo compared to laboratory grown in vitro samples. About 70% of the total transcripts and almost 50% of the DEGs identified have not yet been annotated. There were no significant genomic differences between known commensal and PJI-associated S. epidermidis isolates, suggesting that differential genomics may not play a role in S. epidermidis pathogenicity. In conclusion, this study provides insights into phenotypic alterations employed by S epidermidis to adapt to infective and non-infected microenvironments, potentially informing future therapeutic targets for related infections.

Agroforestry is a sustainable farming system that provides social, economic, and environmental benefits. It is crucial to develop this system in Java, which produces of 50% of Indonesia's food and has a shrinking land area. Small-scale entrepreneurs and farmers in Central Java have developed agroforestry in less than five years, but its long-term benefits are yet to be measured. However, it is possible to measure short-term benefits as indicators for monitoring and evaluation purposes. This study surveyed 101 agroforestry farmers to identify their characteristics and level of confidence in agroforestry, the types of agroforestry they practice, the combination of crops and livestock they use, their income for each type of crop and livestock, and the productivity of their land. The correlation between land area and income was also examined, as well as the relationship between agricultural and livestock yields to measure agrosilvopastoral potential. Agroforestry has been demonstrated to be a promising source of income for smallholders and should be further developed, particularly to increase productivity by addressing some of its weaknesses. Farmers have shown a positive attitude towards becoming social capital for sustainable forestry. Further research in the social field should investigate production trends and outcomes of changes in agricultural patterns, and conduct a resilience analysis. This research should be compared with conventional forestry to formulate appropriate agroforestry patterns that can be applied on a wider scale, particularly in areas with similar regional characteristics. Additionally, it is necessary to triangulate the ecological impact of agroforestry and its contribution to the macro-economy.

Abstract Background Untreated, urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) and overactive bladder (OAB) can precipitate a vicious cycle of decreasing physical activity, social isolation, fear of falling, and falls. Structured behavioral interventions and medications are common initial treatment options, but they elicit their effects through very different mechanisms of action that may influence fall-related outcomes differently. This study will determine the feasibility of conducting a comparative effectiveness, three-arm, mixed methods, randomized clinical trial of a behaviorally based pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) intervention versus two recent drug options in older women with UUI or OAB who are also at increased risk of falling. Methods Forty-eight women 60 years and older with UUI or OAB who screen positive for increased fall risk will be recruited through the urogynacology and pelvic health clinics of our university health system. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of three 12-week treatment arms: (1) a course of behavioral and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) provided by physical therapists; (2) the beta-3 agonist, mirabegron; and (3) the antimuscarinic, trospium chloride. Study feasibility will be established through objective metrics of evaluability, adherence to the interventions, and attrition. We will also assess relevant measures of OAB symptom severity, quality of life, physical activity, incident falls, and concern about falling. Discussion The proposed research seeks to ultimately determine if linkages between reduction in UI symptoms through treatment also reduce the risk of falling in this patient population. Trial registration NCT05880862. Registered on 30 May 2023.

As power distribution systems evolve in complexity and scale, the coordination and control of distributed energy resources (DERs), intelligent devices, and agents become increasingly challenging. Distribution utilities invest in advanced distribution management systems (ADMSs) and distributed energy resource management systems (DERMSs) to enhance distribution systems’ reliability, resiliency, and efficiency. Standardizing the Application Programming Interface (API) for ADMS applications is crucial to accelerate the integration of advanced distribution technologies. This paper introduces a distributed application architecture within the GridAPPS-D platform, aiming to address the limitations of centralized architectures in terms of scalability, maintainability, and flexibility. The proposed architecture draws inspiration from the Laminar Coordination Framework and is validated through extensive stakeholder engagement. Emphasizing extensibility, boundary deference, structural scalability, and securability, the layered framework is well-suited for large-scale distribution networks with diverse grid-edge devices and ownership structures. The contributions of this paper include a distributed layered architecture with defined distributed areas, a Common Information Model (CIM)-based standardized API for developing and deploying distributed applications (Distributed App API), and the design process and reference implementation of distributed services and applications. Based on laminar coordination, the software architecture combines centralized, distributed, and edge-control paradigms for effective distributed operations. The paper concludes with extending the centralized API in GridAPPS-D to distributed APIs for standards-based message exchange, emphasizing the need for scalable communication to coordinate diverse distributed agents. This work provides a foundation for advancing the field of distributed control in power distribution systems, supporting both centralized and distributed analytics and control arrangements.

Abstract Studies found that rapid decline of biodiversity and ecosystems globally have adversely affected an estimated 1.6 billion rural people whose livelihoods both directly and indirectly depend on forests. To halt the loss of forests and other natural ecosystems that simultaneously support rural livelihoods, various external programmes have been developed and applied, including market‐based and rights‐based approaches. However, rapid biodiversity and ecosystem decline continues, and better incentives or more secure rights have not always led to local community participation and improved livelihoods. This suggests the need to better explain local communities' motivations in nature stewardship. We conducted a study of local communities in two villages in Sulawesi who voluntarily maintain forests but showed resistance to participation in formal Social Forestry programmes. The study aimed to identify motivations and underlying reasons of community preferences, guided by two research questions: (i) how did local people value forest landscapes? and (ii) how did those values interact with externally driven Social Forestry programmes? We applied the Relational Values concept to understand a community's relations with the forest (or its elements) and land and identified points of value divergence. Data collection involved in‐depth semi‐structured interviews, focus group discussions framed by the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, participant observation and land use/land cover change analysis. Our findings show that people value their forests in relation to their identity, ancestral heritage, sense of place and spiritual values. We also identified the points of value divergence and their underlying reasons of resistance towards externally driven forestry programmes. This study thus contributes to the broader conceptualisation of values in conservation and community participation by providing empirical evidence on the importance of the Relational Values framework in understanding the motivation and behaviour of nature stewardship and in the evaluation of value conflicts. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Artocarpus altilis, commonly known as breadfruit, is a potential crop adapted to a wide variety of climates and widely spread, including in Indonesia. However, information on how this species can adapt to climate change, in particular in Central Java, is still limited. In Indonesia, Central Java is the center for cultivation areas for many crop species to support the 145 million people living on Java Island. One of the potential crops being developed in Central Java is breadfruit. To assess the suitable cultivation areas for breadfruit, species distribution modeling (SDM) was used to predict the current and future (2050–2070) distribution of breadfruit. Two climate change scenarios, including optimistic RCP2.6 and pessimistic RCP8.5 models, were considered to represent future climate change impacts. Based on the results for both optimistic and pessimistic scenarios, the breadfruit’s suitable cultivation areas will expand eastward. Implementing a mitigation climate change scenario and limiting the temperature increase to only 1°C under RCP2.6 will provide 270.967 km2 more of suitable cultivation areas for breadfruit in 2050 and 133.296 km2 in 2070. To conclude, this study provides important information on the status and potential cultivation areas for breadfruit, mainly in the Southeast Asia region. The identification of suitable areas will guide land conservation for breadfruit to support food security in this region.

Introduction In over 50 years since the genetic counseling (GC) profession began, a systematic study of GC communication skills and patient-reported outcomes in actual sessions across multiple clinical specialties has never been conducted. To optimize GC quality and improve efficiency of care, the field must first be able to comprehensively measure GC skills and determine which skills are most critical to achieving positive patient experiences and outcomes. This study aims to characterise GC communication skills using a novel and pragmatic measure and link variations in communication skills to patient-reported outcomes, across clinical specialties and with patients from diverse backgrounds in the USA. Our community-engagement and provider-engagement approach is crucial to develop recommendations for quality, culturally informed GC care, which are greatly needed to improve GC practice.Methods and analysis A mixed methods, sequential explanatory design will be used to collect and analyze: audio-recorded GC sessions in cancer, cardiac, and prenatal/reproductive genetic indications; pre-visit and post-visit quantitative surveys capturing patient experiences and outcomes and post-visit qualitative interview data. A novel, practical checklist will measure GC communication skills. Coincidence analysis will identify patterns of GC skills that are consistent with high scores on patient-reported measures. Two-level, multilevel models will be used to evaluate how GC communication skills and other session/patient characteristics predict patient-reported outcomes. Four community advisory boards (CABs) and a genetic counselor advisory board will inform the study design and analysis.Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by the single Institutional Review Board of the University of Minnesota. This research poses no greater than minimal risk to participants. Results from this study will be shared through national and international conferences and through community-based dissemination as guided by the study’s CABs. A lay summary will also be disseminated to all participants.

PurposeEvidence suggests that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can enhance motor performance and learning of hand tasks in persons with chronic stroke (PCS). However, the effects of tDCS on the locomotor tasks in PCS are unclear. This pilot study aimed to: (1) determine aggregate effects of anodal tDCS combined with step training on improvements of the neural and biomechanical attributes of stepping initiation in a small cohort of persons with chronic stroke (PCS) over a 4-week training program; and (2) assess the feasibility and efficacy of this novel approach for improving voluntary stepping initiation in PCS.MethodsA total of 10 PCS were randomly assigned to one of two training groups, consisting of either 12 sessions of VST paired with a-tDCS (n = 6) or sham tDCS (s-tDCS, n = 4) over 4 weeks, with step initiation (SI) tests at pre-training, post-training, 1-week and 1-month follow-ups. Primary outcomes were: baseline vertical ground reaction force (B-vGRF), response time (RT) to initiate anticipatory postural adjustment (APA), and the retention of B-VGRF and RT.Resultsa-tDCS paired with a 4-week VST program results in a significant increase in paretic weight loading at 1-week follow up. Furthermore, a-tDCS in combination with VST led to significantly greater retention of paretic BWB compared with the sham group at 1 week post-training.Clinical implicationsThe preliminary findings suggest a 4-week VST results in improved paretic limb weight bearing (WB) during SI in PCS. Furthermore, VST combined with a-tDCS may lead to better retention of gait improvements (NCT04437251) (https://classic.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04437251).

Astronauts on exploratory missions will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays (GCR), which can induce neuroinflammation and oxidative stress (OS) and may increase the risk of neurodegenerative disease. As key regulators of inflammation and OS in the CNS, microglial cells may be involved in GCR-induced deficits, and therefore could be a target for neuroprotection. This study assessed the effects of exposure to helium (4He) and iron (56Fe) particles on inflammation and OS in microglia in vitro, to establish a model for testing countermeasure efficacy. Rat microglia were exposed to a single dose of 20 cGy (300 MeV/n) 4He or 2 Gy 56Fe (600 MeV/n), while the control cells were not exposed (0 cGy). Immediately following irradiation, fresh media was applied to the cells, and biomarkers of inflammation (cyclooxygenase-2 [COX-2], nitric oxide synthase [iNOS], phosphorylated IκB-α [pIκB-α], tumor necrosis factor-α [TNFα], and nitrite [NO2−]) and OS (NADPH oxidase [NOX2]) were assessed 24 h later using standard immunochemical techniques. Results showed that radiation did not increase levels of NO2− or protein levels of COX-2, iNOS, pIκB-α, TNFα, or NOX2 compared to non-irradiated control conditions in microglial cells (p > 0.05). Therefore, microglia in isolation may not be the primary cause of neuroinflammation and OS following exposures to helium or iron GCR particles.

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act has been perceived as a substantial shift away from the history of more contentious climate politics in the US. We apply social network methods to interrogate an updated dataset that assesses the degree to which recent policy outcomes are a shift away from earlier policies and positions. We empirically test for homophily, a building block of polarisation, analysing four waves of survey data collected over 12 years from the community of political elites engaged in the issue of climate politics. Using Exponential Random Graph (ERG) modeling, we provide clear evidence that the stances of the top policy actors working on climate change have not shifted substantially. Instead, we document how the policy was successful due to its ability to combine the Administration's desire to support clean energy along with fossil fuel interests' aims of expanding extraction and profiting from a transition away from fossil fuels.

Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) occurs when the proteins Polycystin-1 (PC1, PKD1) and Polycystin-2 (PC2, PKD2) contain mutations. PC1 is a large membrane receptor that can interact and form a complex with the calcium-permeable cation channel PC2. This complex localizes to the plasma membrane, primary cilia and ER. Dysregulated calcium signalling and consequential alterations in downstream signalling pathways in ADPKD are linked to cyst formation and expansion; however, it is not completely understood how PC1 and PC2 regulate calcium signalling. We have studied Polycystin-2 mediated calcium signalling in the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum by overexpressing and knocking down the expression of the endogenous Polycystin-2 homologue, Polycystin-2. Chemoattractant-stimulated cytosolic calcium response magnitudes increased and decreased in overexpression and knockdown strains, respectively, and analysis of the response kinetics indicates that Polycystin-2 is a significant contributor to the control of Ca2+ responses. Furthermore, basal cytosolic calcium levels were reduced in Polycystin-2 knockdown transformants. These alterations in Ca2+ signalling also impacted other downstream Ca2+-sensitive processes including growth rates, endocytosis, stalk cell differentiation and spore viability, indicating that Dictyostelium is a useful model to study Polycystin-2 mediated calcium signalling.

Youth with visual impairments often show difficulties with gross motor skills regardless of age or sex. Gross motor skills support positive developmental trajectories for health warranting the need for assessment. The Total Body Developmental Sequences (TBDS) are fast, easy-to-use, indices of gross motor development with relatively unknown psychometric properties for youth with visual impairments. The primary purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the TBDS with a secondary purpose to evaluate differential effects of biological sex, age, and degree of vision on gross motor skills. Youth with visual impairments (N = 57, ages 9-19 years, Boys = 23, Girls = 34) completed the TBDS and the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-3). Results showed good initial psychometric properties (r = 0.89, [alpha] = 0.84, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the participants in this sample showed significant differences in gross motor skills based upon degree of vision (p < 0.05) but not sex or age (p > 0.05). The TBDS may now be used as an initial gross motor screening tool for youth with visual impairments. This initial screen (TBDS) is warranted as youth with visual impairments may show arrested development which may be exacerbated with more severe visual impairments.

It is a general notion that disorder, introduced by either chemical substitution or intercalation as well as by electron irradiation, is detrimental to the realization of long-range charge density wave (CDW) order. We study the disorder-induced suppression of in-plane CDW orders in two-dimensional Pd-intercalated ErTe_{3} compositions by exploring the real part of the optical conductivity with light polarized along the in-plane a and c axes. Our findings reveal an anisotropic charge dynamics with respect to both incommensurate unidirectional CDW phases of ErTe_{3}, occurring within the ac plane. The anisotropic optical response gets substantially washed out with Pd intercalation, hand in hand with the suppression of both CDW orders. The spectral weight analysis, though, advances the scenario, for which the CDW phases evolve from a (partially) depleted Fermi surface already above their critical onset temperatures. We therefore argue that the long-range CDW orders of ErTe_{3} tend to be progressively dwarfed by Pd intercalation, which favors the presence of short-range CDW segments for both crystallographic directions persisting in a broad temperature (T) interval up to the normal state, and being suggestive of precursor effects of the CDW orders as well as possibly coexisting with superconductivity at low T.