Innovative, responsible data use is a critical need in the global response to the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Yet potentially impactful data are often unavailable to those who could utilize it, particularly in data-poor settings, posing a serious barrier to effective pandemic mitigation. Data challenges, a public call-to-action for innovative data use projects, can identify and address these specific barriers. To understand gaps and progress relevant to effective data use in this context, this study thematically analyses three sets of qualitative data focused on/based in low/middle-income countries: (a) a survey of innovators responding to a data challenge, (b) a survey of organizers of data challenges, and (c) a focus group discussion with professionals using COVID-19 data for evidence-based decision-making. Data quality and accessibility and human resources/institutional capacity were frequently reported limitations to effective data use among innovators. New fit-for-purpose tools and the expansion of partnerships were the most frequently noted areas of progress. Discussion participants identified building capacity for external/national actors to understand the needs of local communities can address a lack of partnerships while de-siloing information. A synthesis of themes demonstrated that gaps, progress, and needs commonly identified by these groups are relevant beyond COVID-19, highlighting the importance of a healthy data ecosystem to address emerging threats. This is supported by data holders prioritizing the availability and accessibility of their data without causing harm; funders and policymakers committed to integrating innovations with existing physical, data, and policy infrastructure; and innovators designing sustainable, multi-use solutions based on principles of good data governance.

Localized contamination from research-related activities and its effects on macrofauna communities in the marine environment were investigated at Palmer Station, a medium-sized Antarctic research station. Relatively low concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; 32–302 ng g-1) and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs; 0.9–8.9 μg g-1) were detected in sediments adjacent to the sewage outfall and pier, where most human activities were expected to have occurred, and at even lower concentrations at two seemingly reference areas (PAHs 6–30 ng g-1, TPHs 0.03–5.1 μg g-1). Elevated concentrations of PAHs in one sample taken in one reference area (816 ng g-1) and polychlorinated biphenyls (353 ng g-1) and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (3.2 and 25.3 ng g-1) in two samples taken adjacent to the sewage outfall indicate spatial heterogeneity of localized sediment contamination. Limpet (Nacella concinna) tissues collected adjacent to Palmer Station had high concentrations of PAHs, copper, lead, zinc and several other metals relative to outlying islands. Sediment and limpet tissue contaminant concentrations have decreased since the early 1990s following the Bahía Paraíso spill. Natural sediment characteristics affected macrofaunal community composition more than contamination adjacent to Palmer Station, presumably because of the low overall contamination levels.

Objectives: Research on developmental outcomes of preterm birth has traditionally focused on adverse effects. This study investigated the prevalence and correlates of resilience in 146 extremely preterm/extremely low birth weight (EPT/ELBW) children (gestational age <28 weeks and/or birth weight <1000 g) attending kindergarten and 111 term-born normal birth weight (NBW) controls. Methods: Adaptive competence (i.e., “resilience” in the EPT/ELBW group) was defined by scores within grade expectations on achievement tests and the absence of clinically elevated parent ratings of child behavior problems. The “adaptive” children who met these criteria were compared to the “maladaptive” children who did not on child and family characteristics. Additional analyses were conducted to assess the conjoint effects of group (ELBW vs. NBW) and family factors on adaptive competence. Results: A substantial minority of the EPT/ELBW group (45%) were competent compared to a majority of NBW controls (73%), odds ratio (95% confidence interval)=0.26 (0.15, 0.45), p<.001. Adaptive competence was associated with higher cognitive skills, more favorable ratings of behavior and learning not used to define adaptive competence, and more advantaged family environments in both groups, as well as with a lower rate of earlier neurodevelopmental impairment in the EPT/ELBW group. Higher socioeconomic status and more favorable proximal home environments were associated with competence independent of group, and group differences in competence persisted across the next two school years. Conclusions: The findings document resilience in kindergarten children with extreme prematurity and highlight the role of environmental factors as potential influences on outcome. (JINS, 2019, 25, 362–374)

Understanding the removal of energy from turbulent fluctuations in a magnetized plasma and the consequent energization of the constituent plasma particles is a major goal of heliophysics and astrophysics. Previous work has shown that nonlinear interactions among counterpropagating Alfvén waves – or Alfvén wave collisions – are the fundamental building block of astrophysical plasma turbulence and naturally generate current sheets in the strongly nonlinear limit. A nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation of a strong Alfvén wave collision is used to examine the damping of the electromagnetic fluctuations and the associated energization of particles that occurs in self-consistently generated current sheets. A simple model explains the flow of energy due to the collisionless damping and the associated particle energization, as well as the subsequent thermalization of the particle energy by collisions. The net particle energization by the parallel electric field is shown to be spatially localized, and the nonlinear evolution is essential in enabling spatial non-uniformity. Using the recently developed field–particle correlation technique, we show that particles resonant with the Alfvén waves in the simulation dominate the energy transfer, demonstrating conclusively that Landau damping plays a key role in the spatially localized damping of the electromagnetic fluctuations and consequent energization of the particles in this strongly nonlinear simulation.

On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas. The ensuing unprecedented flooding throughout the Texas coastal region affected millions of individuals.1 The statewide response in Texas included the sheltering of thousands of individuals at considerable distances from their homes. The Dallas area established large-scale general population sheltering as the number of evacuees to the area began to amass. Historically, the Dallas area is one familiar with “mega-sheltering,” beginning with the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.2 Through continued efforts and development, the Dallas area had been readying a plan for the largest general population shelter in Texas. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:33–37)

Late Pleistocene and modern ice extents in central Nepal are compared to estimate equilibrium line altitude (ELA) depressions. New techniques are used for determining the former extent of glaciers based on quantitative, objective geomorphic analyses of a ∼90-m resolution digital elevation model (DEM). For every link of the drainage network, valley form is classified as glacial or fluvial based on cross-valley shape and slope statistics. Down-valley transitions from glacial to fluvial form indicate the former limits of glaciation in each valley. Landsat Multispectral Scanner imagery for the same region is used to map current glacier extents. For both full-glacial and modern cases, ELAs are computed from the glacier limits using the DEM and a toe-to-headwall altitude ratio of 0.5. Computed ELA depressions range from 100–900 m with a modal value of ∼650 m and a mean of ∼500 m, values consistent with previously published estimates for the central Himalaya but markedly smaller than estimates for many other regions. We suggest that this reflects reduced precipitation, rather than a small temperature depression, consistent with other evidence for a weaker monsoon under full-glacial conditions.