Maize is the primary staple crop cultivated during the monsoon season in eastern India. However, yield gaps are large because of multiple factors, including low adoption rates of good agronomic management practices. This study aimed to narrow the maize yield gap using diverse agronomic and varietal interventions through field experiments over 2 years (2013–2014) in the rainfed plateau region of Odisha. As a result, maize yield increased by 0.9, 0.74, and 0.17 Mg ha−1 under optimum plant population, fertilizer management, and herbicide-based weed management, respectively, over farmers’ current practices (Check). Moreover, when all three interventions were combined (‘best’ management practice), grain yields increased by 1.7 Mg ha−1 in conservation tillage and 2.2 Mg ha−1 in conventional tillage. We also observed that the combination of long-duration hybrids and best management practices (BMPs) increased grain yield by 4.0 Mg ha−1 and profitability by $888 ha−1 over farmers’ current practices. In addition, Nutrient Expert decision support tool-based fertilizer management along with BMPs increased grain yield by 1.7 Mg ha−1 and profitability by $314 ha−1 over farmers’ fertilizer practices (Check). These results suggest that the combination of maize hybrids and BMPs can improve the productivity and profitability of rainfed maize in the plateau region of Odisha. However, these entry points for intensification need to be placed in the context of varying investment requirements, input and output market conditions, and matched with farmer preferences and risk.

We interviewed 1,208 healthcare workers with positive SARS-CoV-2 tests between October 2020 and June 2021 to determine likely exposure sources. Overall, 689 (57.0%) had community exposures (479 from household members), 76 (6.3%) had hospital exposures (64 from other employees including 49 despite masking), 11 (0.9%) had community and hospital exposures, and 432 (35.8%) had no identifiable source of exposure.

Seven half-day regional listening sessions were held between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide-resistance management. The objective of the listening sessions was to connect with stakeholders and hear their challenges and recommendations for addressing herbicide resistance. The coordinating team hired Strategic Conservation Solutions, LLC, to facilitate all the sessions. They and the coordinating team used in-person meetings, teleconferences, and email to communicate and coordinate the activities leading up to each regional listening session. The agenda was the same across all sessions and included small-group discussions followed by reporting to the full group for discussion. The planning process was the same across all the sessions, although the selection of venue, time of day, and stakeholder participants differed to accommodate the differences among regions. The listening-session format required a great deal of work and flexibility on the part of the coordinating team and regional coordinators. Overall, the participant evaluations from the sessions were positive, with participants expressing appreciation that they were asked for their thoughts on the subject of herbicide resistance. This paper details the methods and processes used to conduct these regional listening sessions and provides an assessment of the strengths and limitations of those processes.

Herbicide resistance is ‘wicked’ in nature; therefore, results of the many educational efforts to encourage diversification of weed control practices in the United States have been mixed. It is clear that we do not sufficiently understand the totality of the grassroots obstacles, concerns, challenges, and specific solutions needed for varied crop production systems. Weed management issues and solutions vary with such variables as management styles, regions, cropping systems, and available or affordable technologies. Therefore, to help the weed science community better understand the needs and ideas of those directly dealing with herbicide resistance, seven half-day regional listening sessions were held across the United States between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide resistance management. The major goals of the sessions were to gain an understanding of stakeholders and their goals and concerns related to herbicide resistance management, to become familiar with regional differences, and to identify decision maker needs to address herbicide resistance. The messages shared by listening-session participants could be summarized by six themes: we need new herbicides; there is no need for more regulation; there is a need for more education, especially for others who were not present; diversity is hard; the agricultural economy makes it difficult to make changes; and we are aware of herbicide resistance but are managing it. The authors concluded that more work is needed to bring a community-wide, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of managing weeds within the context of the whole farm operation and for communicating the need to address herbicide resistance.

The Troodos ophiolite Cyprus hosts the type locality for Cyprus-type, mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. Regional soil geochemical data for Troodos are highly variable with the Solea graben, one of three regional graben structures on Cyprus, showing enrichment in Te and Se. Of the three VMS sampled within the Solea graben, Apliki exhibits the most significant enrichment in Se. Samples from the South Apliki Breccia Zone; a zone of hematite-rich breccia containing euhedral pyrite and chalcopyrite, contain up to 4953 and 3956 ppm Se in pyrite and chalcopyrite, respectively. Four paragenetic stages are identified at Apliki and different generations of pyrite are distinguishable using trace-element chemistry analysed via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results indicate stage I pyrite formed under reduced conditions at high temperatures >280°C and contains 182 ppm (n = 22 σ = 253) Se. Late stage III pyrite which is euhedral and overprints chalcopyrite and hematite is enriched in Se (averaging 1862 ppm; n = 23 σ = 1394). Sulfide dissolution and hematite formation displaced large amounts of Se as hematite cannot accommodate high concentrations of Se in its crystal structure. The mechanisms proposed to explain the pronounced change in redox are twofold. Fault movement leading to localized seawater ingress coupled with a decreasing magmatic flux that generated locally oxidizing conditions and promoted sulfide dissolution. A Se/S ratio of 9280 indicates a probable magmatic component for late stage III pyrite, which is suggested as a mechanism explaining the transition from oxidizing back to reduced conditions. This study highlights the significance of changes in redox which promote sulfide dissolution, mobilization and enrichment of Se.

Nolzeite, Na(Mn,□)2[Si3(B,Si)O9(OH)2]·2H2O, is a new mineral found in altered sodalite syenite at the Poudrette quarry, La Vallée-du-Richelieu, Montérégie (formerly Rouville County), Québec, Canada. Crystals are colourless to pale green and are acicular with average dimensions of 5 μm × 8 μm × 55 μm. They occur as radiating to loose, randomly oriented groupings within vugs associated with aegirine, nepheline, sodalite, eudialyte-group minerals, analcime, natron, pyrrhotite, catapleiite, steedeite and the unidentified mineral, UK80. Nolzeite is non-pleochroic, biaxial, with nmin = 1.616(2) and nmax = 1.636(2) and has a positive elongation. The average of six chemical analyses gave the empirical formula: Na1.04(Mn1.69□0.24Fe0.05Ca0.02)∑=2.00(Si2.96S0.04)∑=3.00(B0.70Si0.30)∑=1.00O9(OH)2·2H2O based on 13 anions. The Raman spectrum shows six distinct bands occurring at ∼3600–3300 cm–1 and 1600–1500 cm–1 (O–H and H–O–H bending), 1300–1200 cm–1 (B–OH bending), 1030–800 cm–1 (Si–O–Si stretching) as well as 700–500 cm–1 and 400–50 cm–1 (Mn–O and Na–O bonding, respectively). The FTIR spectrum for nolzeite shows bands at ∼2800 –3600 cm–1(O–H) stretching, a moderately sharp band at 1631 cm –1(H–O–H) bending, strong, sharp bands at ∼650 –700 cm–1, ∼800 –840 cm–1, and ∼900–1100 cm–1(Si–O and B –O) bonds. Nolzeite is triclinic, crystallizing in space group P with a = 6.894(1), b = 7.632(2), c = 11.017(2) Å, α= 108.39(3), β= 99.03, γ = 103.05(3)°, V = 519.27 Å3, and Z = 2. The crystal structure was refined to R = 12.37% and wR2 = 31.07% for 1361 reflections (Fo > 4σFo). It is based on chains of tetrahedra with a periodicity of three (i.e. a dreier chain) consisting of three symmetrically independent SiO4 tetrahedra forming C-shaped clusters closed by BO2(OH)2 tetrahedra, producing single loop-branched dreier borosilicate chains. The chains are linked through shared corners to double chains of edge-sharing MnO5(OH) octahedra. Nolzeite is a chain silicate closely related to steedeite and members of the sérandite–pectolite series. Paragenetically, nolzeite is late-stage, probably forming under alkaline conditions and over a narrow range of low pressures and temperatures.

Although cosmic tree symbolism among pre-Columbian societies of Mesoamerica traces from the Preclassic period, the underlying meaning of the motif and its symbolic permutations are poorly understood. Attempts to identify the plant in a botanical context on ceramic vessels, stucco reliefs, and stone stelae of lowland Maya attribution usually favor determinations as a kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) or maize plant (Zea mays). A botanical assessment of the morphic and ecological characteristics of these motifs suggests, however, a white-flowered water lily of lowland swamps, Nymphaea ampla. Archeological remains at San Bartolo of the Petén indicate that these iconographic practices were established and codified to a certain extent by the first century b.c. The frequent identification of various gods and dynastic rulers as personifications of a water lily world tree underscores the crucial symbolic and ritualistic roles this plant once played in the practice of religion and kingship among Mayan civilizations.

X-ray diffraction (XRD) has been routinely employed in the Earth sciences to characterize the crystallography of rocks and minerals. Routine characterization of samples too small for analysis by classic automated powder diffraction methods becomes challenging without access to single crystal or micro-diffraction equipment. Here, we show that a traditional Gandolfi camera lined with an image-plate (IP) as the detection medium can return a fully quantitative diffraction pattern from a sub-milligram single grain specimen in a simple and straightforward manner. Data pertaining to peak positions (d-spacings) were assessed using SRM640c Si powder, while intensity data were compared to the certified values for intensity standard SRM676a alumina powder. The refined unit-cell dimension of Si powder differed from the certified value of 5.4312 Å by no more than 0.0003 Å with a standard deviation (σ) of 0.0002 Å among the three experiments. For intensity, the σ and disparity from the certified values of three diffraction experiments on SRM676a were both <2%. The results of a comparative study of the crystallographic parameters determined for a naturally occurring garnet and clinopyroxene given through the refinement of their crystal structure by single-crystal XRD method are presented. These show through Rietveld refinement of X-ray data obtained by the Gandolfi–IP method outlined here that both accurate and precise XRD data can be produced in a timely and cost-effective manner using only an IP, Gandolfi camera, and software freely available on the internet.