The history of judgment and decision making is defined by a trend toward increasingly nuanced explanations of the decision making process. Recently, process models have become incredibly sophisticated, yet the tools available to directly test these models have not kept pace. These increasingly complex process models require increasingly complex process data by which they can be adequately tested. We propose a new class of data collection that will facilitate evaluation of sophisticated process models. Tracking mouse paths during a continuous response provides an implicit measure of the growth of preference that produces a choice—rather than the current practice of recording just the button press that indicates that choice itself. Recent research in cognitive science (Spivey & Dale, 2006) has shown that cognitive processing can be revealed in these dynamic motor responses. Unlike current process methodologies, these response dynamics studies can demonstrate continuous competition between choice options and even online preference reversals. Here, in order to demonstrate the mechanics and utility of the methodology, we present an example response dynamics experiment utilizing a common multi-alternative decision task.

Recently, defaults have become celebrated as a low-cost and easy-to-implement nudge for promoting positive outcomes, both at an individual and societal level. In the present research, we conducted a large-scale field experiment (N = 32,508) in an educational context to test the effectiveness of a default intervention in promoting participation in a potentially beneficial achievement test. We found that a default manipulation increased the rate at which high school students registered to take the test but failed to produce a significant change in students’ actual rate of test-taking. These results join past literature documenting robust effects of default framings on initial choice but marked variability in the extent to which those choices ultimately translate to real-world outcomes. We suggest that this variability is attributable to differences in choice-to-outcome pathways – the extent to which the initial choice is causally determinative of the outcome.

The effect of sample preparation on a pre-aged Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy has been evaluated using atom probe tomography. Three methods of preparation were investigated: electropolishing (control), Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB) milling, and Xe+ plasma FIB (PFIB) milling. Ga+-based FIB preparation was shown to introduce significant amount of Ga contamination throughout the reconstructed sample (≈1.3 at%), while no Xe contamination was detected in the PFIB-prepared sample. Nevertheless, a significantly higher cluster density was observed in the Xe+ PFIB-prepared sample (≈25.0 × 1023 m−3) as compared to the traditionally produced electropolished sample (≈3.2 × 1023 m−3) and the Ga+ FIB sample (≈5.6 × 1023 m−3). Hence, the absence of the ion milling species does not necessarily mean an absence of specimen preparation defects. Specifically, the FIB and PFIB-prepared samples had more Si-rich clusters as compared to electropolished samples, which is indicative of vacancy stabilization via solute clustering.

Intrauterine myocardial infarction is a rare and frequently fatal diagnosis. It has been presented in the literature only as case reports and short series. We present a case report of a coronary occlusive intrauterine myocardial infarction and survival and present a systematic review of the literature. This is the first summative description of current data on intrauterine and perinatal myocardial infarction. We performed the systematic review based on the guidelines established by the PRISMA statement. Our population of intrauterine and perinatal myocardial infarction included published cases who presented as a live birth within the first 28 postnatal days, and had a diagnosis of myocardial infarction. We conducted descriptive statistics and regression analysis on short-term mortality as the primary outcome. After applying exclusion criteria we described 84 individual cases of myocardial infarction from 63 full-text articles including our own case. Presentation within the first 12 hours was associated with mortality (OR 3.90, p=0.004). Treatment modalities were varied and inconsistently recorded. The aetiologies and comorbidities are varied in our systematic review. We would have a low threshold to perform viral testing, consider anticoagulation early and coronary imaging if feasible. The use of extracorporeal membranous oxygenation may serve as a bridge to cardiac recovery.

Previous research suggests that the experience of abuse and neglect in childhood has negative implications for physical health in adulthood. Using data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 115), the present research examined the predictive significance of childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and physical/cognitive neglect for multilevel assessments of physical health at midlife (age 37–39 years), including biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk, self-reports of quality of health, and a number of health problems. Analyses revealed that childhood physical/cognitive neglect, but not physical or sexual abuse, predicted all three health outcomes in middle adulthood, even when controlling for demographic risk factors and adult health maintenance behaviors. We discuss possible explanations for the unique significance of neglect in this study and suggest future research that could clarify previous findings regarding the differential impact of different types of abuse and neglect on adult health.

The evolution of glyphosate resistance in weedy species places an environmentally benign herbicide in peril. The first report of a dicot plant with evolved glyphosate resistance was horseweed, which occurred in 2001. Since then, several species have evolved glyphosate resistance and genomic information about nontarget resistance mechanisms in any of them ranges from none to little. Here, we report a study combining iGentifier transcriptome analysis, cDNA sequencing, and a heterologous microarray analysis to explore potential molecular and transcriptomic mechanisms of nontarget glyphosate resistance of horseweed. The results indicate that similar molecular mechanisms might exist for nontarget herbicide resistance across multiple resistant plants from different locations, even though resistance among these resistant plants likely evolved independently and available evidence suggests resistance has evolved at least four separate times. In addition, both the microarray and sequence analyses identified non–target-site resistance candidate genes for follow-on functional genomics analysis.

In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011, construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) revealed a nearly continuous, lacustrine/wetland sedimentary sequence that preserved evidence of past plant communities between ~140 and 55 ka, including all of MIS 5. At an elevation of 2705 m, the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site also contained thousands of well-preserved bones of late Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, mammoths, ground sloths, horses, camels, deer, bison, black bear, coyotes, and bighorn sheep. In addition, the site contained more than 26,000 bones from at least 30 species of small animals including salamanders, otters, muskrats, minks, rabbits, beavers, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds. The combination of macro- and micro-vertebrates, invertebrates, terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils, a detailed pollen record, and a robust, directly dated stratigraphic framework shows that high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are climatically sensitive and varied dramatically throughout MIS 5.

Leaf mass per area (MA) is a central ecological trait that is intercorrelated with leaf life span, photosynthetic rate, nutrient concentration, and palatability to herbivores. These coordinated variables form a globally convergent leaf economics spectrum, which represents a general continuum running from rapid resource acquisition to maximized resource retention. Leaf economics are little studied in ancient ecosystems because they cannot be directly measured from leaf fossils. Here we use a large extant data set (65 sites; 667 species-site pairs) to develop a new, easily measured scaling relationship between petiole width and leaf mass, normalized for leaf area; this enables MA estimation for fossil leaves from petiole width and leaf area, two variables that are commonly measurable in leaf compression floras. The calibration data are restricted to woody angiosperms exclusive of monocots, but a preliminary data set (25 species) suggests that broad-leaved gymnosperms exhibit a similar scaling. Application to two well-studied, classic Eocene floras demonstrates that MA can be quantified in fossil assemblages. First, our results are consistent with predictions from paleobotanical and paleoclimatic studies of these floras. We found exclusively low-MA species from Republic (Washington, U.S.A., 49 Ma), a humid, warm-temperate flora with a strong deciduous component among the angiosperms, and a wide MA range in a seasonally dry, warm-temperate flora from the Green River Formation at Bonanza (Utah, U.S.A., 47 Ma), presumed to comprise a mix of short and long leaf life spans. Second, reconstructed MA in the fossil species is negatively correlated with levels of insect herbivory, whether measured as the proportion of leaves with insect damage, the proportion of leaf area removed by herbivores, or the diversity of insect-damage morphotypes. These correlations are consistent with herbivory observations in extant floras and they reflect fundamental trade-offs in plant-herbivore associations. Our results indicate that several key aspects of plant and plant-animal ecology can now be quantified in the fossil record and demonstrate that herbivory has helped shape the evolution of leaf structure for millions of years.

Although annual rainfall in the Southeast is adequate, its distribution is a potential constraint to agricultural production. Farmers require production information concerning efficient use of irrigation technology adapted to regional growing conditions. Selection of optimal position, size, and number of pivots in center pivot irrigation systems poses special problems on small, irregularly shaped fields. In the southeastern United States, field size and shape are often varied and irregular. A mixed integer programming model was constructed to assist in irrigation investment decisions. The model is illustrated using irrigated peanut production in southeast Alabama. Results indicate the importance of economic engineering considerations.

Workplaces, managers and employers who are seeking to maintain the standing, capacities and productivity of their workplaces are now facing two crucial facts: (a) an ageing workforce and (b) all workers, regardless of age, need to adapt to the changing requirements for workplace performance. These facts mean that managers and supervisors need to confront issues found in the changing demographics of their own workforce. That is, as the portion of workforces aged over 45 years (i.e. older workers) increases, it is these workers who are available to be employed, and supported in sustaining their ongoing employability. To address these issues requires understanding of particular workers' capacities and aspirations and then acting to develop further their capacities based on new understanding, and rebutting social sentiments about these workers that are often value-laden, contradictory and biased. The case here is made through drawing on literature and analyses of interview data of Australian managers of older workers, that the current logic of management relies upon deeply held and widely shared beliefs of age-blind meritocracy and equal opportunity rather than informed views.

A new quantitative X-ray powder diffraction (QXRPD) method has been developed to analyze polyphase crystalline mixtures. The unique approach employed in this method is the utilization of the full diffraction pattern of a mixture and its reconstruction as a weighted sum of diffraction patterns of the component phases. To facilitate the use of the new method, menu-driven interactive computer programs with graphics have been developed for the VAX series of computers. The analyst builds a reference database of component diffraction patterns, corrects the patterns for background effects, and determines the appropriate reference intensity ratios. This database is used to calculate the weight fraction of each phase in a mixture by fitting its diffraction pattern with a least-squares best-fit weighted sum of selected database reference patterns.

The new QXRPD method was evaluated using oxides found in ceramics, corrosion products, and other materials encountered in the laboratory. Experimental procedures have been developed for sample preparation and data collection for reference samples and unknowns. Prepared mixtures have been used to demonstrate the very good results that can be obtained with this method.

We utilized an automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) method as a more rapid alternative to classical morphological/nutritional identification and a less expensive alternative to sequencing for identification and grouping of isolates in culture-based fungal abundance studies. This method is well suited for the study of culturable Antarctic soil fungal communities where both abundance and diversity are relatively low. We optimized template concentration and verified the effect of primer selection from eight commonly used fungal polymerase chain reaction primers on ARISA chromatographs for 46 fungal species commonly isolated from south Victoria Land. A database of Antarctic fungal electropherograms was produced containing each of the species and was used as the first step in a tiered system for species identification. In addition, isolates containing more than one species were identified, allowing isolates not in the database to be sequenced for further analysis. This method unambiguously identified 78% of the fungal taxa in this study and we were able to rapidly determine which isolates should be subjected to further analysis by DNA sequencing. Using this approach, the cost of analysis for abundance studies can be greatly reduced compared to DNA sequencing of each isolate.