Kernza® intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium) is a novel perennial grain and forage crop with the potential to provide multiple ecosystem services, which recently became commercially available to farmers in the USA. The viability and further expansion of this promising crop require understanding how it may fit the needs of farmers’ livelihoods and the structure of their farming systems. However, no prior research has studied the perceptions and experiences of Kernza growers. The goals of this research were to understand why farmers grow Kernza, how Kernza fits into their systems and identify challenges for future research. We conducted in-depth interviews with ten growers in the North Central USA during the summer of 2017, who accounted for a third of the Kernza farmers in the USA at the time. All farmers had a positive attitude toward experimentation and trying new practices, and they were interested in Kernza for its simultaneous ecological and economic benefits. Kernza was marginal in terms of area, quality of fields and resources allocated in the farm systems, which also meant that farmers maintained low costs and risks. Growers utilized and valued Kernza as a dual-use crop (grain and forage), sometimes not harvesting grain but almost always grazing or harvesting hay and straw for bedding. Weeds were perceived as a challenge in some cases, but Kernza was valued as a highly weed-suppressive crop in others. Farmers requested information on optimal establishment practices, assessment of forage nutritive value, how to maintain grain yields over years, weed management, markets and economic assessment of Kernza systems. These results agree with other cases on sustainable practices adoption showing that engaging farmers in the research process from the beginning, identifying knowledge gaps and testing management alternatives are critical for the success and expansion of novel agricultural technologies.

Leucites are silicate framework structures with some of the silicon framework cations partially replaced by divalent or trivalent cations. A monovalent extraframework alkali metal cation is also incorporated to balance the charges. We have previously reported Pbca leucite structures with the stoichiometries Cs2X2+Si5O12 (X = Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd) and Rb2X2+Si5O12 (X = Mg, Mn, Ni, Cd). These orthorhombic leucite structures have all the silicon and non-silicon framework cations completely ordered onto separate crystallographic sites. This structure has five distinct Si sites and 1 X site; there are also two distinct sites for the extra-framework Cs or Rb. We have recently synthesised leucite analogues with two different extra-framework cations, these have the stoichiometry RbCsX2+Si5O12 (X = Mg, Ni, Cd). The initial Rietveld refinements assumed 50% Cs and 50% Rb on each of the two extra-framework cation sites. The refined structures for X = Ni and Cd have (within error limits) complete extra-framework cation site disorder. However, for X = Mg there is partial ordering of the extra-framework cation sites, the site occupancies are:- Cs1 0.37(3), Rb1 0.63(3), Cs2 0.63(3), Rb2 0.37(3).

Interpretation of ice mass elevation changes observed by satellite altimetry demands quantification of the proportion of elevation change which is attributable to variations in firn densification. Detailed stratigraphic logging of snowpack structure and density was carried out at ~1km intervals along a 47 km transect on Devon Ice Cap, Canada, in spring (pre-melt) and autumn (during/ after melt) 2004 and 2006 to characterize seasonal snowpack variability across the full range of snow facies. Simultaneous meteorological measurements were gathered. Spring (pre-melt) snowpacks show low variability over large spatial scales, with low-magnitude changes in density. The end-of-summer/ autumn density profiles show high variability in both 2004 and 2006, with vastly different melt regimes generating dissimilar patterns of ice-layer formation over the two melt seasons. Dye-tracing experiments from spring to autumn 2006 reveal that vertical and horizontal distribution of meltwater flow within and below the annual snowpack is strongly affected by the pre-existing, often subtle stratigraphic interfaces in the snowpack, rather than its bulk properties. Strong interannual variability suggests that using a simple relationship between air temperature, elevation and snowpack densification to derive mass change from measurements of elevation change across High Arctic ice caps may be misguided. Melt timing and duration are important extrinsic factors governing snowpack densification and ice-layer formation in summer, rather than averaged air temperatures.

We present evidence for melting at the base of the ice that overlies Lake Concordia, an 800 km2 subglacial lake near Dome Concordia, East Antarctica, via a combination of glaciohydraulic melting (associated with the tilted ice ceiling and its influence on lake circulation/melting temperature) and melting by extreme strain heating (where the ice sheet is grounded). An influx of water is necessary to provide nutrients, material and biota to support subglacial lake ecosystems but has not been detected previously. Freezing is the dominant observed basal process at over 60% of the surface area above the lake. The total volume of accreted ice above the lake surface is estimated as 50-60 km3, roughly 25-30% of the 200 ± 40 km3 estimated lake volume. Estimated rates of melting and freezing are very similar, ±2-6 mm a-1. The apparent net freezing may reflect the present-day response of Lake Concordia to cooling associated with the Last Glacial Maximum, or a large influx of water either via a subglacial hydrological system or from additional melting of the ice sheet. Lake Concordia is an excellent candidate for subglacial exploration given active basal processes, proximity to the Dome Concordia ice core and traverse resupply route.

A qualitative ranking method, Q methodology, was used to assess stakeholder priorities for socioecological services derived from coastal marshes and communities. The goal was to reveal strength of concerns for and tradeoffs among effects of coastal resilience strategies. Factor analysis identified three perspectives that formed a spectrum from high to low priorities on intangible services. Academic and government stakeholders were more likely than local residents to prioritize intangible services, but stakeholder views were diverse. A collaborative learning process promoted some alignment of views and academics showed the most movement – towards residents’ perspectives. Q-sort appeared effective at efficiently synthesizing broad concerns.

Low resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and to a lesser extent excessive RSA reactivity to emotion evocation, are observed in many psychiatric disorders characterized by emotion dysregulation, including syndromes spanning the internalizing and externalizing spectra, and other conditions such as nonsuicidal self-injury. Nevertheless, some inconsistencies exist. For example, null outcomes in studies of RSA–emotion dysregulation relations are sometimes observed among younger participants. Such findings may derive from use of age inappropriate frequency bands in calculating RSA. We combine data from five published samples (N = 559) spanning ages 4 to 17 years, and reanalyze RSA data using age-appropriate respiratory frequencies. Misspecifying respiratory frequencies results in overestimates of resting RSA and underestimates of RSA reactivity, particularly among young children. Underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity from preschool to adolescence were also observed. Although correlational analyses revealed weak negative associations between resting RSA and aggression, those with clinical levels of externalizing exhibited lower resting RSA than their peers. No associations between RSA reactivity and externalizing were observed. Results confirm that age-corrected frequency bands should be used when estimating RSA, and that literature-wide overestimates of resting RSA, underestimates of RSA reactivity, and underestimates of developmental shifts in RSA and RSA reactivity may exist.

Mental health research funding priorities in high-income countries must balance longer-term investment in identifying neurobiological mechanisms of disease with shorter-term funding of novel prevention and treatment strategies to alleviate the current burden of mental illness. Prioritising one area of science over others risks reduced returns on the entire scientific portfolio.

In 1988, a Joint Commission (9 and 25) meeting on the causes of the well-known limitations on the precision of infrared astronomy led to several suggestions to improve matters (see Milone 1989). These included better reporting of the photometric systems in use by practitioners, redesign of the infrared passbands to be more optimally placed inside the atmospheric windows, and development of a method to ascertain the water vapor content of the atmosphere when the astronomical infrared measurements were being made. An Infrared Astronomy Working Group was formed to look into the matter. Advice and suggestions were solicited from the community at large. All who volunteered information became, de facto, members of the Working Group. A small subgroup composed of Andrew Young, Chris Stagg, and Milone set to work on the central of the recommendations: improvement of the passbands. Young, Milone, k Stagg (1994) (hereafter YMS) summarized the work: existing JHKLMN and Q infrared passbands were found to be both far from standardized, and all too frequently defined, to various degrees, by the water vapor and other components of the terrestrial atmosphere. Following extensive numerical simulations with a MODTRAN 3 terrestrial-atmospheres model package, and Kurucz stellar atmospheres, we suggested a set of improved infrared passbands designed explicitly to fit within, and not be defined by, the terrestrial atmospheric windows; however, we sought to optimize them so as to get the maximum throughput consistent with plausible limitations on precision of manufacture of the filters. In 1995 and again in 1997, a number of improvements were made in the code with which the improved passbands were designed. While they do not much affect the optimization trials and thus the passband recommendations, they have been used to extend the modeling.

Inferring the causes for change in the fossil record has been a persistent problem in evolutionary biology. Three independent lines of evidence indicate that a lineage of the fossil stickleback fish Gasterosteus doryssus experienced directional natural selection for reduction of armor. Nonetheless, application to this lineage of three methods to infer natural selection in the fossil record could not exclude random process as the cause for armor change. Excluding stabilizing selection and genetic drift as the mechanisms for biostratigraphic patterns in the fossil record when directional natural selection was the actual cause is very difficult. Biostratigraphic sequences with extremely fine temporal resolution among samples and other favorable properties must be used to infer directional selection in the fossil record.

The fossil stickleback, Gasterosteus doryssus, is highly variable for pelvic girdle structure and the number of dorsal spines. Six “sampling pits” were dug at known stratigraphic positions within a continuous section which contains abundant G. doryssus, and the stratigraphic position of each specimen within each pit was determined. The deposit apparently is composed of annual layers (varves), allowing relatively precise conversion of stratigraphic distance to years. The temporal distribution of phenotypes is heterogeneous but can be grouped into two temporally contiguous, nonheterogeneous sets. However, absence of heterogeneity for pelvic phenotypes within the two groups of pits could be an artifact of small sample size. The number of sample pits was insufficient to determine whether the observed phenotypic heterogeneity among pits represents temporal trends. Differences also occurred between mean temporal distributions of stickleback phenotypes within one of the pits located within a nonheterogeneous set of pits. Thus, there is within-pit temporal heterogeneity that is unresolved by between-pit comparisons, although the sampling pits are separated by an average of only about thirty thousand years. Larger time intervals usually used in paleontology may seriously underestimate evolutionary rates because fine scale reversals of evolutionary trajectory are undetected. Temporal variation in G. doryssus provides a system in which most limitations of other fossil systems for measuring the rate of evolution can be circumvented. As in virtually all paleontological studies, spatial variation cannot be entirely eliminated as a potential cause of stratigraphic variation.

Patterns of temporal variation of six characters in a Miocene stickleback (Gasterosteus doryssus) are presented. Most pairs of characters tend to be correlated, but these correlations account for only about 26% of the observed variation, and thus the characters are studied separately. All character state frequencies exhibit temporal heterogeneity, and their means have temporal trends. Regardless of these overall trends, reversals of the trends cause end members of four time series not to differ significantly from each other. We argue that most observed temporal variation represents intrapopulation evolutionary change. Although most time series have somewhat stepped patterns, complete stasis is absent. Gradual variation is predominant, and in one case is nearly linear, but very rapid evolutionary bursts are also seen. The most rapid stratigraphic change appears to represent a local extinction, followed by recolonization by a differentiated population, but another episode of rapid change probably represents evolution in situ by means of standard neo-Darwinian mechanisms, without involvement of “macromutations” or true saltation. The irregular patterns and great magnitude of phenotypic change that are observed indicate that conventional paleontological samples may miss important evolutionary phenomena and are not comparable to shorter-term evolution in extant populations.

Determining the internal layout of archaeological structures and their uses has always been challenging, particularly in timber-framed or earthen-walled buildings where doorways and divisions are difficult to trace. In temperate conditions, soil-formation processes may hold the key to understanding how buildings were used. The abandoned Roman town of Silchester, UK, provides a case study for testing a new approach that combines experimental archaeology and micromorphology. The results show that this technique can provide clarity to previously uncertain features of urban architecture.

A field experiment was conducted in Fayetteville, AR, in 2012 and 2013 to determine the influence of soybean row spacing, seeding rate, and herbicide program in glufosinate-resistant soybean on Palmer amaranth control, survival, and seed production; soybean groundcover and grain yield; and economic returns. Soybean groundcover was > 80% by 85 d after soybean planting (DAP) for all row spacing and seeding rates in 2012 and in 2013 all soybean row spacings and soybean seeding rates had achieved > 90% groundcover by 50 DAP. Difference in groundcover between years was due to lack of precipitation in 2012. Palmer amaranth control at 21 DAP was 99 to 100% for both years when a PRE application of S-metolachlor plus metribuzin was made at planting. At 42 DAP, Palmer amaranth control following PRE-applied S-metolachlor plus metribuzin was ≥ 98 and ≥ 88% in 2012 and 2013, respectively. When relying on a POST-only herbicide program initiated at 21 DAP, Palmer amaranth control ranged from 52 to 84% across row spacings at 42 DAP. At soybean harvest, Palmer amaranth control was ≥ 95% in 2012 and ≥ 86% in 2013 regardless of row spacing or seeding rate when S-metolachlor plus metribuzin was applied at planting. Conversely, total-POST programs had no more than 50 and 85% Palmer amaranth control in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In both years, Palmer amaranth density and seed production at soybean harvest were generally lower in the PRE herbicide programs compared to POST-only programs. Use of a PRE herbicide at planting also improved soybean grain yield and economic returns over programs that relied on a POST-only program. Overall, the impacst of soybean row spacing and seeding rate on Palmer amaranth control, density, or seed production were less apparent than the influence of herbicide programs.