The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

To explore the role environment plays in influencing galaxy evolution at high redshifts, we study $2.0\leq z<4.2$ environments using the FourStar Galaxy Evolution (ZFOURGE) survey. Using galaxies from the COSMOS legacy field with ${\rm log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})}\geq9.5$, we use a seventh nearest neighbour density estimator to quantify galaxy environment, dividing this into bins of low-, intermediate-, and high-density. We discover new high-density environment candidates across $2.0\leq z<2.4$ and $3.1\leq z<4.2$. We analyse the quiescent fraction, stellar mass and specific star formation rate (sSFR) of our galaxies to understand how these vary with redshift and environment. Our results reveal that, across $2.0\leq z<2.4$, the high-density environments are the most significant regions, which consist of elevated quiescent fractions, ${\rm log(M_{*}/M_{\odot})}\geq10.2$ massive galaxies and suppressed star formation activity. At $3.1\leq z<4.2$, we find that high-density regions consist of elevated stellar masses but require more complete samples of quiescent and sSFR data to study the effects of environment in more detail at these higher redshifts. Overall, our results suggest that well-evolved, passive galaxies are already in place in high-density environments at $z\sim2.4$, and that the Butcher–Oemler effect and SFR-density relation may not reverse towards higher redshifts as previously thought.

Substantial progress has been made in the standardization of nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care. In 1936, Maude Abbott published her Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease, which was the first formal attempt to classify congenital heart disease. The International Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Code (IPCCC) is now utilized worldwide and has most recently become the paediatric and congenital cardiac component of the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). The most recent publication of the IPCCC was in 2017. This manuscript provides an updated 2021 version of the IPCCC.

The International Society for Nomenclature of Paediatric and Congenital Heart Disease (ISNPCHD), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), developed the paediatric and congenital cardiac nomenclature that is now within the eleventh version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This unification of IPCCC and ICD-11 is the IPCCC ICD-11 Nomenclature and is the first time that the clinical nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care and the administrative nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care are harmonized. The resultant congenital cardiac component of ICD-11 was increased from 29 congenital cardiac codes in ICD-9 and 73 congenital cardiac codes in ICD-10 to 318 codes submitted by ISNPCHD through 2018 for incorporation into ICD-11. After these 318 terms were incorporated into ICD-11 in 2018, the WHO ICD-11 team added an additional 49 terms, some of which are acceptable legacy terms from ICD-10, while others provide greater granularity than the ISNPCHD thought was originally acceptable. Thus, the total number of paediatric and congenital cardiac terms in ICD-11 is 367. In this manuscript, we describe and review the terminology, hierarchy, and definitions of the IPCCC ICD-11 Nomenclature. This article, therefore, presents a global system of nomenclature for paediatric and congenital cardiac care that unifies clinical and administrative nomenclature.

The members of ISNPCHD realize that the nomenclature published in this manuscript will continue to evolve. The version of the IPCCC that was published in 2017 has evolved and changed, and it is now replaced by this 2021 version. In the future, ISNPCHD will again publish updated versions of IPCCC, as IPCCC continues to evolve.

High-throughput grain mapping with sub-nanometer spatial resolution is demonstrated using scanning nanobeam electron diffraction (also known as 4D scanning transmission electron microscopy, or 4D-STEM) combined with high-speed direct-electron detection. An electron probe size down to 0.5 nm in diameter is used and the sample investigated is a gold–palladium nanoparticle catalyst. Computational analysis of the 4D-STEM data sets is performed using a disk registration algorithm to identify the diffraction peaks followed by feature learning to map the individual grains. Two unsupervised feature learning techniques are compared: principal component analysis (PCA) and non-negative matrix factorization (NNMF). The characteristics of the PCA versus NNMF output are compared and the potential of the 4D-STEM approach for statistical analysis of grain orientations at high spatial resolution is discussed.

The invention of silicon drift detectors has resulted in an unprecedented improvement in detection efficiency for energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy in the scanning transmission electron microscope. The result is numerous beautiful atomic-scale maps, which provide insights into the internal structure of a variety of materials. However, the task still remains to understand exactly where the X-ray signal comes from and how accurately it can be quantified. Unfortunately, when crystals are aligned with a low-order zone axis parallel to the incident beam direction, as is necessary for atomic-resolution imaging, the electron beam channels. When the beam becomes localized in this way, the relationship between the concentration of a particular element and its spectroscopic X-ray signal is generally nonlinear. Here, we discuss the combined effect of both spatial integration and sample tilt for ameliorating the effects of channeling and improving the accuracy of EDX quantification. Both simulations and experimental results will be presented for a perovskite-based oxide interface. We examine how the scattering and spreading of the electron beam can lead to erroneous interpretation of interface compositions, and what approaches can be made to improve our understanding of the underlying atomic structure.

The otoliths (ear stones) of fishes are commonly used to describe the age and growth of marine and freshwater fishes. These non-skeletal structures are fortuitous in their utility by being composed of mostly inorganic carbonate that is inert through the life of the fish. This conserved record functions like an environmental chronometer and bomb-produced radiocarbon (14C)—a 14C signal created by atmospheric testing of thermonuclear devices—can be used as a time-specific marker in validating fish age. However, complications from the hydrogeology of nearshore marine environments can complicate 14C levels, as was the case with gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) along the Gulf of Mexico coast of Florida. Radiocarbon of these nearshore waters is influenced by freshwater input from the karst topography of the Upper Floridan Aquifer—estuarine waters that are 14C-depleted from surface and groundwater inputs. Some gray snapper likely recruited to this kind of environment where 14C levels were depleted in the earliest otolith growth, although age was validated for individuals that were not exposed to 14C-depleted waters to an age of at least 25 years with support for a 30-year lifespan.

Host–parasite dynamics can play a fundamental role in both the establishment success of invasive species and their impact on native wildlife. The net impact of parasites depends on their capacity to switch effectively between native and invasive hosts. Here we explore host-switching, spatial patterns and simple fitness measures in a slow-expanding invasion: the invasion of Asian house geckos (Hemidactylus frenatus) from urban areas into bushland in Northeast Australia. In bushland close to urban edges, H. frenatus co-occurs with, and at many sites now greatly out-numbers, native geckos. We measured prevalence and intensity of Geckobia mites (introduced with H. frenatus), and Waddycephalus (a native pentastome). We recorded a new invasive mite species, and several new host associations for native mites and geckos, but we found no evidence of mite transmission between native and invasive geckos. In contrast, native Waddycephalus nymphs were commonly present in H. frenatus, demonstrating this parasite's capacity to utilize H. frenatus as a novel host. Prevalence of mites on H. frenatus decreased with distance from the urban edge, suggesting parasite release towards the invasion front; however, we found no evidence that mites affect H. frenatus body condition or lifespan. Waddycephalus was present at low prevalence in bushland sites and, although its presence did not affect host body condition, our data suggest that it may reduce host survival. The high relative density of H. frenatus at our sites, and their capacity to harbour Waddycephalus, suggests that there may be impacts on native geckos and snakes through parasite spillback.