People with lived experience of incarceration have higher rates of morbidity and mortality compared to people without history of incarceration. Research conducted unethically in prisons and jails led to increased scrutiny of research to ensure the needs of those studied are protected. One consequence of increased restrictions on research with criminal-legal involved populations is reluctance to engage in research evaluations of healthcare for people who are incarcerated and people who have lived experience of incarceration. Ethical research can be done in partnership with people with lived experience of incarceration and other key stakeholders and should be encouraged. In this article, we describe how stakeholder engagement can be accomplished in this setting, and further, how such engagement leads to impactful research that can be disseminated and implemented across disciplines and communities. The goal is to build trust across the spectrum of people who work, live in, or are impacted by the criminal-legal system, with the purpose of moving toward health equity.

We present a broadband radio study of the transient jets ejected from the black hole candidate X-ray binary MAXI J1535–571, which underwent a prolonged outburst beginning on 2017 September 2. We monitored MAXI J1535–571 with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) at frequencies from 119 to 186 MHz over six epochs from 2017 September 20 to 2017 October 14. The source was quasi-simultaneously observed over the frequency range 0.84–19 GHz by UTMOST (the Upgraded Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope) the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), and the Australian Long Baseline Array (LBA). Using the LBA observations from 2017 September 23, we measured the source size to be $34\pm1$ mas. During the brightest radio flare on 2017 September 21, the source was detected down to 119 MHz by the MWA, and the radio spectrum indicates a turnover between 250 and 500 MHz, which is most likely due to synchrotron self-absorption (SSA). By fitting the radio spectrum with a SSA model and using the LBA size measurement, we determined various physical parameters of the jet knot (identified in ATCA data), including the jet opening angle ( $\phi_{\rm op} = 4.5\pm1.2^{\circ}$ ) and the magnetic field strength ( $B_{\rm s} = 104^{+80}_{-78}$ mG). Our fitted magnetic field strength agrees reasonably well with that inferred from the standard equipartition approach, suggesting the jet knot to be close to equipartition. Our study highlights the capabilities of the Australian suite of radio telescopes to jointly probe radio jets in black hole X-ray binaries via simultaneous observations over a broad frequency range, and with differing angular resolutions. This suite allows us to determine the physical properties of X-ray binary jets. Finally, our study emphasises the potential contributions that can be made by the low-frequency part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Low) in the study of black hole X-ray binaries.

Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.

Earliest Paleocene megafloras from North America are hypothesized to be low diversity and dominated by long-lived cosmopolitan species following the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction. However, megafloras used to develop this hypothesis are from the Northern Great Plains (NGP) of North America, and relatively little is known about floras from southern basins. Here, we present a quantitative analysis of an earliest Paleocene megaflora (<350 kyr after K/Pg boundary) from the Ojo Alamo Sandstone in the San Juan Basin (SJB), New Mexico. The megaflora, comprising 53 morphotypes, was dominated by angiosperms, with accessory taxa composed of pteridophytes, lycophytes, and conifers. Diversity analyses indicate a species-rich, highly uneven, and laterally heterogeneous flora. Paleoclimate estimates using multivariate and univariate methods indicate warm temperatures and relatively high precipitation consistent with a modern tropical seasonal forest.

When compared with contemporaneous floras from the Denver Basin (DB) of Colorado and the Williston Basin (WB) of North Dakota, the SJB flora had significantly higher species richness but lower evenness. Paleoclimate estimates from the SJB were 7–14°C warmer than the estimates for the DB and WB, indicating a shift from a temperate forest in the NGP to a tropical forest in the SJB. These results demonstrate the presence of a latitudinal floral diversity and paleoclimatic gradient during the earliest Paleocene in western North America. We hypothesize that the warm, wet conditions in the earliest Paleocene SJB drove rapid rates of speciation following the K/Pg boundary, resulting in a diverse and heterogeneous flora.

The desorption of methanol (MeOH), propan-1-ol (n-PrOH), propan-2-ol (i-PrOH) and 2-methylpropan-2-ol (t-BuOH) from Na+-, Ca2+-, Al3+-, Cr3+- and Fe3+-exchanged montmorillonite has been studied using variable temperature infrared (IR) spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Alcohol-saturated trivalent cation (M3+) exchanged samples exhibit maxima in the derivative thermograms at 20 and 110°C (MeOH), 30 and 160°C (n-PrOH), 20 and 110°C (i-PrOH) and 20, 55 and 80°C (t-BuOH). Alcohol-saturated Na+ and Ca2+-exchanged montmorillonite samples exhibit maxima at higher temperatures in the i-PrOH (20 and 140°C) and t-BuOH (30, 90 and 110°C) desorption profiles but at the same temperatures for MeOH and n-PrOH. Mass spectroscopic analysis of the vapours desorbed from the alcohol-treated samples show that the low-temperature maxima in the alcohol desorption from the M3+-exchanged clays are due to unchanged alcohol, whilst those occurring at 80°C (t-BuOH), 110°C (i-PrOH) and 160°C (n-PrOH) are due, in the main, to alkene produced from the intramolecular dehydration of the respective alcohol. Changes in the IR spectra of the adsorbed alcohols occur at temperatures which are in accord with the mass spectral data. No mass spectral evidence was found for the formation of dialkylethers via the competing intermolecular process but dimerisation and oligomerisation of t-BuOH were observed.

Three new specimens of Tapocyon are described from Middle Eocene (Uintan NALMA) strata of San Diego County, California. These specimens include the first cranial material for the genus, significantly increase the knowledge of the anatomy of Tapocyon and enhance understanding of the phylogeny of this taxon and other early carnivorans. Tapocyon can be placed tentatively within the Caniformia (Carnivora, Mammalia) based on the following combination of characters: reduced parastyle and protocone on P4; continuous lingual cingulum on upper molars; retention of M3/3; short m2 talonid; moderately deep and narrow metastyle notch on P4; and hypoconid larger than hypoconulid on m2. The revision presents new diagnoses of Tapocyon and included species, synonymizes T. occidentalis with T. robustus, and erects a new species, T. dawsonae. The revision expands the geographic range of T. robustus during a time of hypothesized increasing provinciality. Although no auditory bullae are preserved, the basicranium of one of the new specimens shows evidence of a likely ossified, but loosely attached ectotympanic and entotympanic bulla, expanded primarily in the posterior direction. The majority of the postcranial skeleton is preserved in one new specimen, for which we provide preliminary observations of the morphology of the middle and distal phalanges, which indicate that Tapocyon had retractable claws.

Women with epilepsy are at risk for reproductive health dysfunction. Sex-steroid hormone abnormalities have been reported in women with epilepsy, but it has been difficult to determine whether these abnormalities are due to epilepsy-related hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction, or to pharmacokinetic actions of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Sex-steroid hormones were evaluated in 84 reproductive-aged women with epilepsy receiving an AED in monotherapy, and in 20 nonepileptic controls. Estrone, free testosterone, and androstenedione were significantly lower in subjects receiving enzyme-inducing AEDs than in nonepileptic controls. Free testosterone was significantly elevated in subjects receiving valproate compared to nonepileptic controls. Subjects with epilepsy receiving gabapentin or lamotrigine were no different from the nonepileptic controls in any of the endocrine variables. Subjects with epilepsy who are receiving AEDs that alter cytochrome P450 enzymes are at risk for significant abnormalities in sex-steroid hormones. In contrast, subjects receiving AEDs that do not alter cytochrome P450 enzymes show no differences in sex-steroid hormones compared with nonepileptic controls. With new AEDs available that do not alter cytochrome P450 enzymes, physician selection of therapy should consider not only seizure control, but also potential effects on reproductive physiology.