When a party or candidate loses the popular vote but still wins the election, do voters view the winner as legitimate? This scenario, known as an electoral inversion, describes the winners of two of the last six presidential elections in the United States. We report results from two experiments testing the effect of inversions on democratic legitimacy in the US context. Our results indicate that inversions significantly decrease the perceived legitimacy of winning candidates. Strikingly, this effect does not vary with the margin by which the winner loses the popular vote, nor by whether the candidate benefiting from the inversion is a co-partisan. The effect is driven by Democrats, who punish inversions regardless of candidate partisanship; few effects are observed among Republicans. These results suggest that the experience of inversions increases sensitivity to such outcomes among supporters of the losing party.

Seed retention, and ultimately seed shatter, are extremely important for the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) and are likely influenced by various agroecological and environmental factors. Field studies investigated seed-shattering phenology of 22 weed species across three soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]-producing regions in the United States. We further evaluated the potential drivers of seed shatter in terms of weather conditions, growing degree days, and plant biomass. Based on the results, weather conditions had no consistent impact on weed seed shatter. However, there was a positive correlation between individual weed plant biomass and delayed weed seed–shattering rates during harvest. This work demonstrates that HWSC can potentially reduce weed seedbank inputs of plants that have escaped early-season management practices and retained seed through harvest. However, smaller individuals of plants within the same population that shatter seed before harvest pose a risk of escaping early-season management and HWSC.

Potential effectiveness of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) systems depends upon seed shatter of the target weed species at crop maturity, enabling its collection and processing at crop harvest. However, seed retention likely is influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed-shatter phenology in 13 economically important broadleaf weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after physiological maturity at multiple sites spread across 14 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. Greater proportions of seeds were retained by weeds in southern latitudes and shatter rate increased at northern latitudes. Amaranthus spp. seed shatter was low (0% to 2%), whereas shatter varied widely in common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) (2% to 90%) over the weeks following soybean physiological maturity. Overall, the broadleaf species studied shattered less than 10% of their seeds by soybean harvest. Our results suggest that some of the broadleaf species with greater seed retention rates in the weeks following soybean physiological maturity may be good candidates for HWSC.

Seed shatter is an important weediness trait on which the efficacy of harvest weed seed control (HWSC) depends. The level of seed shatter in a species is likely influenced by agroecological and environmental factors. In 2016 and 2017, we assessed seed shatter of eight economically important grass weed species in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] from crop physiological maturity to 4 wk after maturity at multiple sites spread across 11 states in the southern, northern, and mid-Atlantic United States. From soybean maturity to 4 wk after maturity, cumulative percent seed shatter was lowest in the southern U.S. regions and increased moving north through the states. At soybean maturity, the percent of seed shatter ranged from 1% to 70%. That range had shifted to 5% to 100% (mean: 42%) by 25 d after soybean maturity. There were considerable differences in seed-shatter onset and rate of progression between sites and years in some species that could impact their susceptibility to HWSC. Our results suggest that many summer annual grass species are likely not ideal candidates for HWSC, although HWSC could substantially reduce their seed output during certain years.

For efficient and effective medical responses to mass casualty events, detailed advanced planning is required. For federal responders, this is an ongoing responsibility. The US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) prepares playbooks with formal, written plans that are reviewed, updated, and exercised regularly. Recognizing that state and local responders with fewer resources may be helped in creating their own event-specific response plans, subject matter experts from the range of sectors comprising the Scarce Resources for a Nuclear Detonation Project, provided for this first time a state and local planner's playbook template for responding to a nuclear detonation. The playbook elements are adapted from DHHS playbooks with appropriate modification for state and local planners. Individualization by venue is expected, reflecting specific assets, populations, geography, preferences, and expertise. This playbook template is designed to be a practical tool with sufficient background information and options for step-by-step individualized planning and response.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:S89-S97)

This report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on 14 October 2008 to discuss current FSA-funded research on carbohydrates and cardiovascular health. The objective of this workshop was to discuss the results of recent research and to identify any areas which could inform future FSA research calls. This workshop highlighted that the FSA is currently funding some of the largest, well-powered intervention trials investigating the type of fat and carbohydrate, whole grains and fruit and vegetables, on various CVD risk factors. Results of these trials will make a substantive contribution to the evidence on diet and cardiovascular risk.

This report summarises a workshop convened by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) on 11 September 2006 to review the results of three FSA-funded studies and other recent research on effects of the dietary n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio on cardiovascular health. The objective of this workshop was to reach a clear conclusion on whether or not it was worth funding any further research in this area. On the basis of this review of the experimental evidence and on theoretical grounds, it was concluded that the n-6:n-3 fatty acid ratio is not a useful concept and that it distracts attention away from increasing absolute intakes of long-chain n-3 fatty acids which have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health. Other markers of fatty acid intake, that more closely relate to physiological function, may be more useful.

In 1999, the joint expedition of the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago initiated excavations and surface reconnaissance at the site of Tell Hamoukar in the northeastern corner of Hassekeh Province (Figs. 1–2). We need to acknowledge, with gratitude, the help and encouragement rendered by Dr Sultan Muhesen, then Director General of Antiquities, and by Sayyid Abdul Messieh Bagdo, of the Antiquities office in Hassekeh.

McGuire Gibson arrived in Damascus on August 24, 1999 and began to implement logistical arrangements with the co-director, Muhammad Maktash. Actual excavation of the site of Hamoukar began on September 9 and ended on October 31.

Hamoukar has been a subject of interest to a number of scholars through the years because of its size and surface pottery, which includes southern Uruk IV types. The presence of even earlier 4th millennium local Late Chalcolithic pottery as well as Ninevite V and mid-3rd millennium types makes the site crucial in addressing a number of important questions. The complexity of settlement in the early 4th millennium, the nature of the Late Uruk occupation and its relation to other sites with similar material in Syria and Turkey, and the history of the site in the Akkadian and post-Akkadian periods can all be elucidated by excavation here.

Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) we have examined the growth morphology, surface structure, and surface degradation of laser ablated YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin films. Films from 5 nm to ltm thick were studied. The films were deposited on MgO and LaAlO3 substrates using two different excimer laser ablation systems. Both island nucleated and spiral growth morphologies were observed depending on the substrate material and deposition rate used. The initial growth mechanism observed for a 5–10 nm thick film is replicated through different growth layers up to thicknesses of 200 run. Beyond 200 rnm, the films show some a-axis grains and other outgrowths. The thinnest films (5–10 nm) show considerable surface roughness on the order of 3–4 nm. For both growth mechanisms the ledge width remains approximately constant (∼ 30 nm) and the surface roughness increases as the film thickness increases. The films with spiral growth have streaked RHEED patterns despite having considerable surface roughness, while the films with island growth have more of a three dimensional diffraction pattern. RHEED patterns were obtained after the film surfaces were degraded by exposure to air, KOH developer, a Br-methanol etch, and a shallow ion mill. Exposure to air and KOH developer caused only moderate degradation of the RHEED pattern whereas a shallow (I nm deep) 300 V ion mill completely destroyed the RHEED pattern.

Obsidian from eight localities in the San Francisco volcanic field of Northern Arizona was analyzed for 21 minor and trace elements (Ti, Mn, Fe, Co, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Cd, W, Au, Hg, Th) usincf x-ray fluorescence analysis. All samples exhibited irregular analyzing surfaces. This was a more in-depth study of a previous study (1) in which a very small number of standards were used.

The data, in the form of intensity ratios relative to iron, were statistically analyzed and the trace and minor element patterns established. The obsidian clustered into four well-defined groups each consisting of two localities: Government Mountain/Obsidian Tank, Slate Mountain/Kendrick Peak, Robinson Crater/O'Leary Peak, and RS Hill/Spring Valley. The four distinct groups were treated individually to refine the separation between the similar sites. Classification function coefficients were calculated for each locality, then used to identify the source of thirteen obsidian artifacts recovered from a Northern Arizona archaeological site.