Various global-scale proposals exist to reduce the loss of biological diversity. These include the Half-Earth and Whole-Earth visions that respectively seek to set aside half the planet for wildlife conservation or to diversify conservation practices fundamentally and change the economic systems that determine environmental harm. Here we assess these visions in the specific context of Bornean orangutans Pongo pygmaeus and their conservation. Using an expert-led process we explored three scenarios over a 10-year time frame: continuation of Current Conditions, a Half-Earth approach and a Whole-Earth approach. In addition, we examined a 100-year population recovery scenario assuming 0% offtake of Bornean orangutans. Current Conditions were predicted to result in a population c. 73% of its current size by 2032. Half-Earth was judged comparatively easy to achieve and predicted to result in an orangutan population of c. 87% of its current size by 2032. Whole-Earth was anticipated to lead to greater forest loss and ape killing, resulting in a prediction of c. 44% of the current orangutan population for 2032. Finally, under the recovery scenario, populations could be c. 148% of their current size by 2122. Although we acknowledge uncertainties in all of these predictions, we conclude that the Half-Earth and Whole-Earth visions operate along different timelines, with the implementation of Whole-Earth requiring too much time to benefit orangutans. None of the theorized proposals provided a complete solution, so drawing elements from each will be required. We provide recommendations for equitable outcomes.

Double-crop soybean after winter wheat is a component of many cropping systems across eastern and central Kansas. Until recently, control of Palmer amaranth and common waterhemp has been both easy and economical with the use of sequential applications of glyphosate in glyphosate-resistant soybean. Many populations of Palmer amaranth and common waterhemp have become resistant to glyphosate. During 2015 and 2016, a total of five field experiments were conducted near Manhattan, Hutchinson, and Ottawa, KS, to assess various non-glyphosate herbicide programs at three different application timings for the control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp in double-crop soybean after winter wheat. Spring-POST treatments of pyroxasulfone (119 g ai ha–1) and pendimethalin (1065 g ai ha–1) were applied to winter wheat to evaluate residual control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp. Less than 40% control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp was observed in both treatments 2 wk after planting (WAP) double-crop soybean. Preharvest treatments of 2,4-D (561 g ae ha–1) and flumioxazin (107 g ai ha–1) were also applied to the winter wheat to assess control of emerged Palmer amaranth and waterhemp. 2,4-D resulted in highly variable Palmer amaranth and waterhemp control, whereas flumioxazin resulted in control similar to PRE treatments that contained paraquat (841 g ai ha–1) plus residual herbicide(s). Excellent control of both species was observed 2 WAP with a PRE paraquat application; however, reduced control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp was noted 8 WAP due to subsequent emergence. Results indicate that Palmer amaranth and waterhemp control was 85% or greater 8 WAP for PRE treatments that included a combination of paraquat plus residual herbicide(s). PRE treatments that did not include both paraquat and residual herbicide(s) did not provide acceptable control.

A Galactic model of stellar population synthesis is used along with a genetic algorithm to reconstruct the three dimensional dust distribution in the Milky Way. We have applied this technique towards over 1500 IRDC cloud candidates, for which we recovered distances and masses for 1259 of them. Aside from giving us the distance to the dust, the three dimensional extinction map also provides us with a temperature independent measure of its density. This new method is independent of any kinematical information, thus providing a new way to obtain information on the Galactic distribution of the ISM. It is a good complement to existing measures which are solely based on molecular gas kinematics as both methods are completely independent and both are affected by different systematics. It will be able to provide valuable distance information for use in the analysis and interpretation of far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations by Herschel and Planck. In the future it could be used with deeper stellar observations or observations at longer wavelengths in order to probe even higher density clouds and to even larger distances.

Smooth pursuit eye movements to a sinusoidally moving target were recorded using the electro-oculogram in 49 subjects with bipolar disorder, 19 with major depressive disorder and 61 with definite schizophrenia, and compared with 145 normal controls. The signals were analysed in the frequency domain to yield a signal to noise ratio that is known to relate to accuracy of smooth pursuit. Smooth pursuit was found to be significantly poorer in schizophrenics than in bipolars, major depressed or controls. Eye-tracking performance was independent of the effects of neuroleptics, tricyclic antidepressants or lithium, and was not altered by the severity of depression in the affective psychoses. There was a small, but significant worsening of smooth pursuit with age in controls and schizophrenics, but this did not account for the group differences. The results support the view that among the major psychoses eye-tracking dysfunction is specific to schizophrenia.

1. In one Australian study area where the selection pressure of annual epizootics of myxomatosis has been extremely high, the innate resistance of the rabbits was found to have increased to such an extent that only 26% died when inoculated with a strain of myxoma virus which kills 88% of genetically unselected rabbits.

2. The level of innate resistance in a rabbit population varies with the total experience of the disease.

3. In combined field and laboratory trials it was shown that the mortality rate in the field is influenced by innate resistance at least as much as under the sheltered conditions of an animal house. The effect was apparent with both an attenuated and a highly virulent strain of virus.

4. The moderately high ambient temperatures during the field experiments probably contributed to the sparing effect.

Background: The Alberta Hip and Knee Replacement Project developed a new evidence-based clinical pathway (NCP) for total hip (THR) and knee (TKR) replacement. The aim was to facilitate the delivery of services in a timely and cost-effective manner while achieving the highest quality of care for the patient across the full continuum of care from patient referral to an orthopedic surgeon through surgery, recovery, and rehabilitation. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the study design, rationale, and execution of this project as a model for health technology assessment based on comparative effectiveness of alternative clinical pathways.

Methods: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial study design was used to evaluate the NCP compared with the standard of care (SOC) for these procedures. The pragmatic study design was selected as a rigorous approach to produce high quality evidence suitable for informing decisions between relevant interventions in real clinical practice. The NCP was evaluated in three of the nine regional health authorities (RHAs) in Alberta with dedicated central intake clinics offering multidisciplinary care teams, constituting 80 percent of THR and TKR surgeries performed annually in Alberta. Patients were identified in the offices of twenty orthopedic surgeons who routinely performed THR or TKR surgeries. Evaluation outcome measures were based on the six dimensions of the Alberta Quality Matrix for Health (AQMH): acceptability, accessibility, appropriateness, effectiveness, efficiency and safety. Data were collected prospectively through patient self-completed questionnaires at baseline and 3 and 12 months after surgery, ambulatory and inpatient chart reviews, and electronic administrative data.

Results: The trial design was successful in establishing similar groups for rigorous evaluation. Of the 4,985 patients invited to participate, 69 percent of patients consented. A total of 3,434 patients were randomized: 1,712 to SOC and 1,722 to the NCP. The baseline characteristics of patients in the two study arms, including demographics, comorbidity as measured by CDS and exposure to pain medications, and health-related quality of life, as measured by Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index and Short Form-36, were similar.

Conclusions: The Alberta Hip and Knee Replacement Project demonstrates the feasibility and advantages of applying a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to ascertain comparative effectiveness. This is a model for health technology assessment that incorporates how clinical pathways can be effectively evaluated.

Over the last two decades, there has been increasing attention to community archaeology, an archaeology which acknowledges the impact of archaeological research upon the communities among which it is conducted. Doing fieldwork has tangible effects upon the people we work among: archaeologists provide employment, spend money locally, negotiate local power structures, provide exotic connections, and, not least, change the landscape of knowledge by helping local people understand more or different things about their ancestors and about their own historical identity. While this is true worldwide, within American Historical Archaeology this strand of research has converged with a tradition of sophisticated materialist analysis highlighting not only class domination but also resistance and the persistence of alternative practices, ideologies and identities. A key element of this archaeology is public participation in the process of revealing a past of domination, struggle and resistance. The result is an archaeology which aspires not only to revise traditionally endorsed accounts of American history, but also to be an activist archaeology.

Mark Leone began this line of activist, participatory historical archaeology many years ago in Annapolis, and many of the scholars currently contributing to this body of work have been trained or inspired by this project. In The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital, Leone summarizes twenty-five years of research at Annapolis.

The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital: Excavations in Annapolis has received the Society for Historical Archaeology's James Deetz Book Award for 2008.

Stoichiometric deviations of up to ±5% in Ba2YCu3O7−δ, thin films grown by coevaporation on LaAlO3(100) substrates are found to cause (1) a decrease of the critical current density (Jc) of up to an order of magnitude, (2) a depression of the critical temperature (Tc) and a broadening of the superconducting transition width (ΔT), (3) a deterioration of the surface morphology, and (4) a decrease in the crystallinity of the films. The data indicate that composition deviations of greater than ±1% result in degradation of film quality. These findings have significant implications for the degree of composition control required during deposition to produce films with optimized properties.