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We present a method to create storytelling visualization with time series data. Many personal decisions nowadays rely on access to dynamic data regularly, as we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is thus desirable to construct storytelling visualization for dynamic data that is selected by an individual for a specific context. Because of the need to tell data-dependent stories, predefined storyboards based on known data cannot accommodate dynamic data easily nor scale up to many different individuals and contexts. Motivated initially by the need to communicate time series data during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed a novel computer-assisted method for meta-authoring of stories, which enables the design of storyboards that include feature-action patterns in anticipation of potential features that may appear in dynamically arrived or selected data. In addition to meta-storyboards involving COVID-19 data, we also present storyboards for telling stories about progress in a machine learning workflow. Our approach is complementary to traditional methods for authoring storytelling visualization, and provides an efficient means to construct data-dependent storyboards for different data-streams of similar contexts.

Subcortical brain morphometry matures across adolescence and young adulthood, a time when many youth engage in escalating levels of alcohol use. Initial cross-sectional studies have shown alcohol use is associated with altered subcortical morphometry. However, longitudinal evidence of sex-specific neuromaturation and associations with alcohol use remains limited. This project used generalized additive mixed models to examine sex-specific development of subcortical volumes and associations with recent alcohol use, using 7 longitudinal waves (n = 804, 51% female, ages 12-21 at baseline) from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA). A second, independent, longitudinal dataset, with up to four waves of data (n = 467, 43% female, ages 10-18 at baseline), was used to assess replicability. Significant, replicable non-linear normative volumetric changes with age were evident in the caudate, putamen, thalamus, pallidum, amygdala and hippocampus. Significant, replicable negative associations between subcortical volume and alcohol use were found in the hippocampus in all youth, and the caudate and thalamus in female but not male youth, with significant interactions present in the caudate, thalamus and putamen. Findings suggest a structural vulnerability to alcohol use, or a predisposition to drink alcohol based on brain structure, with female youth potentially showing heightened risk, compared to male youth.

OBJECTIVE: Individual differences in adolescent personality are related to a variety of long-term health outcomes. While previous studies have demonstrated sex differences and non-linear changes in personality development, these results remain equivocal. The current study utilized longitudinal data (n = 831) from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence to examine sex differences in the development of personality and the association between substance use and personality. METHOD: Participants (ages 12-21 at baseline) completed the Ten-Item Personality Inventory and self-reported past year alcohol and marijuana use at up to 7 yearly visits. Data were analyzed using generalized additive mixed-effects models and linear mixed-effects models. RESULTS: Findings support linear increases in agreeableness and conscientious and decreases in openness with age and inform on timing of sex-specific non-linear development of extraversion and emotional stability. Further, results provide novel information regarding the timing of the association between substance use and personality, and replicate past reporting of differential associations between alcohol and marijuana use and extraversion, and sex-dependent effects of marijuana use on emotional stability. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of modeling sex differences in personality development using flexible non-linear modeling strategies, and accounting for sex- and age-specific effects of alcohol and marijuana use.

The encroachment of woody plants into grasslands and savannas has been a phenomenon widely reported across both the Southwestern US and globally. Once established, woody plants may be long-lived and highly persistent creating numerous challenges for resource managers. The upper limits of shrub cover are regionally dictated by mean annual precipitation, but topoedaphic features play a key role in determining these limits, which can vary widely at the local level. Grasslands and savannas are of high value to socioecological systems due to the diverse portfolio of ecosystem services they provide. However, the transition to shrublands and woodlands can alter both processes and functions ultimately disrupting the availability of these services. Although there is a significant body of research on woody plant encroachment, little is known about the upper limits of shrub cover for a given topoedaphic setting or how this conversion has altered important ecosystem services. Improving our understanding of these topics can enhance management of these systems and is therefore of broad geographic interest. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to explore the woody plant encroachment phenomenon through a holistic lens evaluating both the physical and social impacts of this landscape wide cover change. Within the following manuscript I will present research on the underlying topoedaphic drivers dictating rates and patterns of encroachment at the local level, the long term impacts of encroachment on key ecosystem services, as well as the social perceptions on which ecosystem services are valued highest across these systems. The first study used high spatial resolution imagery to classify cover of a model shrub (Prosopis velutina, velvet mesquite) proliferating in a Sonoran Desert grassland. The analysis also explored how the upper limits of shrub cover varies across ecological sites and topoedaphic settings. Upper limits were found to have a wide range variously dictated by

The performance of a handheld Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the nanoVNA, a low-cost, open-source instrument, was evaluated. The instrument measures the complex permittivity of dielectric media from 1-port reflection parameters in the 1 – 900 MHz bandwidth. We manufactured an open-ended coaxial probe using a SMA-N coaxial adapter to perform dielectric measurements. The accuracy of the nanoVNA was comparable to that of a commercial VNA between 1 and 500 MHz according to tests in reference organic liquids, while a lack of stability was found beyond 700 MHz. The self-manufactured open-ended coaxial probe was subjected to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis and its electromagnetic (EM) field penetration depth was determined to be 1.5 mm at 100 MHz, being reduced to 1.3 at 900 MHz and thus demonstrating a frequency-dependent support volume. The broadband complex permittivity of three mineral soils of varied textures was obtained for a range of bulk densities and water contents from dry to water-saturated conditions. The dielectric response of the soils approximated the well-known Topp et al. (1980) equation at high frequencies. At lower frequency however, higher permittivities were exhibited due to dielectric dispersion, which emphasizes the importance of EM-based soil moisture sensor operating frequency when considering sensor calibration or comparing the response of different sensors.

The performance of a handheld Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the nanoVNA, a low-cost, open-source instrument, was evaluated. The instrument measures the complex permittivity of dielectric media from 1-port reflection parameters in the 1 – 900 MHz bandwidth. We manufactured an open-ended coaxial probe using a SMA-N coaxial adapter to perform dielectric measurements. The accuracy of the nanoVNA was comparable to that of a commercial VNA between 1 and 500 MHz according to tests in reference organic liquids, while a lack of stability was found beyond 700 MHz. The self-manufactured open-ended coaxial probe was subjected to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis and its electromagnetic (EM) field penetration depth was determined to be 1.5 mm at 100 MHz, being reduced to 1.3 at 900 MHz and thus demonstrating a frequency-dependent support volume. The broadband complex permittivity of three mineral soils of varied textures was obtained for a range of bulk densities and water contents from dry to water-saturated conditions. The dielectric response of the soils approximated the well-known Topp et al. (1980) equation at high frequencies. At lower frequency however, higher permittivities were exhibited due to dielectric dispersion, which emphasizes the importance of EM-based soil moisture sensor operating frequency when considering sensor calibration or comparing the response of different sensors.

Introduction: Paediatric patients (individuals below 18 years of age) requiring cranial-spinal irradiation (CSI) at our institution are commonly planned and treated using a three isocentre (3-ISO) volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique. A modified two isocentre (2-ISO) VMAT technique was investigated with the aim to improve workflow and reduce planning and treatment time. Methods: Five CSI paediatric patients previously treated with a 3-ISO VMAT technique were retrospectively replanned using a 2-ISO VMAT technique. The 2-ISO VMAT plans were reviewed and approved by a radiation oncologist (RO) before undergoing patient-specific quality assurance (QA) procedures, performed by a radiation oncology medical physicist (ROMP). Planning target volume (PTV) coverage, organ-at-risk (OAR) dose as well as planning and treatment durations of the first five patients utilising 2-ISO technique were compared with 3-ISO technique. Results: The average percentage difference in PTV coverage by 95% reference dose between the 2-ISO and 3-ISO is 0.14%, and the average difference in OAR median dose is 0.68 Gy. Conformity and homogeneity indices have the same averages at 1.18 and 0.4 respectively. Patient-specific physics QA results were all comparable with the 3-ISO averages at 98.84% and the 2-ISO at 98.71%. Planning duration for the 2-ISO was reduced by up to 75%, and daily treatment duration was reduced by up to 50%. Of all the previously treated CSI patients using a 3-ISO technique, 45% were suitable for the 2-ISO technique. Conclusion: The 2-ISO VMAT technique provided comparable dose distribution based on PTV coverage, OAR dose and plan metric indices. Reduced planning and treatment duration with the 2-ISO technique facilitated improved workflow with decreased sedation time for paediatric patients requiring a general anaesthesia.

When consumers become fans of celebrities, they can form intense emotional attachments that resemble a kind of love. Although the love felt for celebrities is based on one-sided parasocial relationships, fans nevertheless experience a trauma that they consider to be very real when these illusory relationships end. We explore how fans manage and perform their break-up with a beloved celebrity brand following public allegations of wrongdoing. Building on Giddens’ theorization of loveshock – which encapsulates the disorienting after-effects of falling out of love – we propose the new concept of para-loveshock. Para-loveshock is performed socially and discursively through three fan practices: grief enfranchisement; flagellation; and indignation. Recognizing how fans perform and legitimize their trauma through these practices helps to sensitize managers to the importance of consumer identity work following celebrity transgressions. This has implications for how damage control efforts are planned and how managers engage with fans when responding to celebrity transgression.

Many arid lands across the globe are experiencing more frequent and extreme droughts due to warmer temperatures resulting from climate change, less predictable precipitation patterns, and decreased soil moisture. Approximately 60-90% of household water is used for urban landscape irrigation in the western United States, necessitating the establishment of landscapes using drought-tolerant plants that conserve water. Shepherdia ×utahensis (hybrid buffaloberry) is a drought-tolerant plant with dense leaf trichomes (epidermal appendages) that may limit excessive water loss by transpiration. However, little is known about how S. ×utahensis regulates leaf heat balance when transpirational cooling is limited. The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of substrate water availability on plant growth and development and trichome density of S. ×utahensis. Ninety-six clonally propagated plants were grown using an automated irrigation system, and their substrate volumetric water contents were controlled at 0.05-0.40 m3·m-3 for 2 months. Results showed that water stress impaired plant growth and increased the proportion of visibly wilted leaves. Shepherdia ×utahensis acclimates to drought by reducing cell dehydration and canopy overheating, which may be accomplished through decreased stomatal conductance, smaller leaf development, leaf curling, increased leaf thickness, and greater root-to-shoot ratio. Leaf trichome density increased when stem water potential decreased, resulting in greater leaf reflectance of visible light. Cell and leaf expansion were restricted under water stress, and negative correlations were exhibited between epidermal cell size and trichome density. According to our results, plasticity in leaves and roots aids plants in tolerating abiotic stresses associated with drought. Acclimation of S. ×utahensis to water stress was associated with increased trichome density due to plasticity in cell size. Dense trichomes on leaves reflected more li

When consumers become fans of celebrities, they can form intense emotional attachments that resemble a kind of love. Although the love felt for celebrities is based on one-sided parasocial relationships, fans nevertheless experience a trauma that they consider to be very real when these illusory relationships end. We explore how fans manage and perform their break-up with a beloved celebrity brand following public allegations of wrongdoing. Building on Giddens’ theorization of loveshock – which encapsulates the disorienting after-effects of falling out of love – we propose the new concept of para-loveshock. Para-loveshock is performed socially and discursively through three fan practices: grief enfranchisement; flagellation; and indignation. Recognizing how fans perform and legitimize their trauma through these practices helps to sensitize managers to the importance of consumer identity work following celebrity transgressions. This has implications for how damage control efforts are planned and how managers engage with fans when responding to celebrity transgression.

The performance of a handheld Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the nanoVNA, a low-cost, open-source instrument, was evaluated. The instrument measures the complex permittivity of dielectric media from 1-port reflection parameters in the 1 – 900 MHz bandwidth. We manufactured an open-ended coaxial probe using a SMA-N coaxial adapter to perform dielectric measurements. The accuracy of the nanoVNA was comparable to that of a commercial VNA between 1 and 500 MHz according to tests in reference organic liquids, while a lack of stability was found beyond 700 MHz. The self-manufactured open-ended coaxial probe was subjected to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis and its electromagnetic (EM) field penetration depth was determined to be 1.5 mm at 100 MHz, being reduced to 1.3 at 900 MHz and thus demonstrating a frequency-dependent support volume. The broadband complex permittivity of three mineral soils of varied textures was obtained for a range of bulk densities and water contents from dry to water-saturated conditions. The dielectric response of the soils approximated the well-known Topp et al. (1980) equation at high frequencies. At lower frequency however, higher permittivities were exhibited due to dielectric dispersion, which emphasizes the importance of EM-based soil moisture sensor operating frequency when considering sensor calibration or comparing the response of different sensors.

Inconsistent with economic theory that suggests that (1) almost all individuals should have exposure to the stock market, and (2) most should hold all their savings in equity, only about half of U.S. adults invest in equities. This “stock market participation puzzle” given rise to a large literature which aims to explain why individuals do not invest in equities. In this work, I hypothesize that household debt and exposure to violent crime deter individuals from investing in the stock market.In chapter one, I hypothesize that individuals’ exposure to violent crime influences their beliefs, risk aversion, trust in institutions, and ultimately, portfolio choice. Consistent with my hypothesis, exposure to crime is associated with both a lower probability of investing in the stock market and a reduction in the proportion of equity holdings in individuals’ portfolios. Mediation analysis suggests these findings are partially explained by both traditional factors (e.g., crime is associated with more bearish beliefs about future stock returns) and nontraditional factors (e.g., crime is associated with lower trust and individuals with lower trust are less likely to invest in equities). Further analysis suggests that violent crime is associated with a lower fraction of financial wealth invested in stocks and bonds and a greater fraction of financial wealth invested in safe assets such as savings and checking accounts. In chapter two, I examine (1) the relation between stock market participation and household debt, and (2) the assumptions made when modeling debt in the extant literature. Specifically, nearly all empirical tests of stock market participation in the literature employ either wealth (assets less debt) or assets as measures of participation costs. The former implicitly assumes that a $1 increase in assets and a $1 decrease in debt equally impact stock market participation. The latter implicitly assumes debt has no impact on participation. I hypothesize that debt ca

Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is the most widely used non-destructive method to determine the water content of soils and other porous media. TDR equipment can be automated and multiplexed to acquire accurate and rapid waveforms (return signal) without safety concerns associated with radioactive methods (e.g., neutron probe and Gamma-ray probe). Two key steps are required for TDR applications: (1) Obtain and analyze TDR waveforms using travel-time and signal attenuation analysis to determine dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity, respectively. (2) Calibrate to determine a new- or apply an existing (e.g., Topp et al. (1980)) relationship between the derived soil dielectric permittivity and the volumetric water content of the porous medium of interest. A majority of researchers and practitioners focus on step two and additionally develop new mathematical models to get better estimates of water content. Although there are reviews of TDR principles and applications in soil science, there is a lack of information on how TDR can disclose critical information in porous media beyond average soil water content. Therefore, we present a newly expanded review of TDR applications in porous media including soils, plants, snow, food stuffs, and concrete. We begin by reviewing TDR basics, including principles, probe design, commercially available equipment, and graphical and numerical methods as well as available software for waveform analysis. Applications of TDR to estimate volumetric water content in various types of porous media, the latest techniques available to derive spatial variability of soil water distributions along a single TDR probe are included, followed by TDR waveform based analyses to estimate electrical conductivity (EC), wetting/drying and freezing/thawing fronts, and snow depth. The combination of TDR measurements coupled with other methods (e.g., gypsum/ceramics and heat pulse method) to determine a wide range of soil physical properties (e.g.

Introduction: Contemporary methods of external beam radiotherapy for prostate cancer have reduced toxicity rates through beam modulation and image guidance, however, rectal injury has not been eliminated completely in this population. For patients at greatest risk of developing rectal toxicities, hydrogel spacers are a viable option for risk reduction. Translation of clinical trial results into routine clinical practice relies on an understanding of the economic implications. This study completed a cost-effectiveness analysis of hydrogel spacers in the Australian healthcare setting. Method: Simulation of possible health states following treatment was performed using a Markov model. Model outcomes included the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio and the net monetary benefit (NMB) at three published willingness-to-pay thresholds derived from literature. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses were provided on these results. A baseline cohort without hydrogel spacer use was compared to treat all and selective use cohorts. Cost variation scenarios were also investigated to assess the impact of hydrogel spacer cost on outcomes. Results: Using hydrogel spacers in a selective cohort was more likely to be cost-effective than giving to all patients (NMB −$43 versus −$997, respectively); however, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was not below the $28 000 willingness-to-pay threshold for a healthcare provider perspective. These outcomes were influenced by large parameter uncertainty. Cost variation strategies are worth investigating further as a method to achieve willingness-to-pay threshold targets. Conclusion: The influence of parameter uncertainty currently limits the cost-effectiveness of this intervention in the Australian public health setting. However, a cost variation solution has been demonstrated to improve cost-effectiveness estimates for selected patients and should be examined further.

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to deepen and expand the contextualisation of consumer escapism and the research recognises that personal experiences influence and impact on escapism as do more distant and remote events that take place in the wider world. Much of the extant work in the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) tradition of consumer research has explored escapism in terms of investigating extraordinary experiences and framing an escape as something that is different and separate to everyday life. Drawing upon the context of binge-watching, this thesis explores how escapism is integrated and woven within consumers’ everyday lives, taking place in mundane contexts that we live within. This thesis sets out to interrogate the nature and character of self-electing to tune in and get lost in narratives over extended periods of time and immersion to develop new theoretical concepts to address this form of escapism. The context for this study was a three-year (2016-2019) micro-ethnographic study of consumer’s binge-watching of TV shows, particularly the Netflix political drama, House of Cards (2013-18). The methods used to triangulate the data include semi-structured in-depth interviews, subjective personal introspection, diary entries, telephonic communications and use of videographic and visual materials. The emergent findings show that escapism is pervasive, interacting with our thoughts, fantasies, imaginations and linked to our interests like fandom. To experience an escape is contingent on various preconditions being met. This thesis makes contributions to our understanding of how consumers seek out and experience an escape and accounts for an escape lasting beyond the point of consumption. The research theorises how an escape can deliver unexpected outcomes that consumers may not necessarily expect. The thesis is presented in alternative format with four of its chapters being delivered as research articles. Each article presents specific research objectives wh

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to deepen and expand the contextualisation of consumer escapism and the research recognises that personal experiences influence and impact on escapism as do more distant and remote events that take place in the wider world. Much of the extant work in the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) tradition of consumer research has explored escapism in terms of investigating extraordinary experiences and framing an escape as something that is different and separate to everyday life. Drawing upon the context of binge-watching, this thesis explores how escapism is integrated and woven within consumers’ everyday lives, taking place in mundane contexts that we live within. This thesis sets out to interrogate the nature and character of self-electing to tune in and get lost in narratives over extended periods of time and immersion to develop new theoretical concepts to address this form of escapism. The context for this study was a three-year (2016-2019) micro-ethnographic study of consumer’s binge-watching of TV shows, particularly the Netflix political drama, House of Cards (2013-18). The methods used to triangulate the data include semi-structured in-depth interviews, subjective personal introspection, diary entries, telephonic communications and use of videographic and visual materials. The emergent findings show that escapism is pervasive, interacting with our thoughts, fantasies, imaginations and linked to our interests like fandom. To experience an escape is contingent on various preconditions being met. This thesis makes contributions to our understanding of how consumers seek out and experience an escape and accounts for an escape lasting beyond the point of consumption. The research theorises how an escape can deliver unexpected outcomes that consumers may not necessarily expect. The thesis is presented in alternative format with four of its chapters being delivered as research articles. Each article presents specific research objectives wh

Time domain reflectometry (TDR) is the most widely used non-destructive method to determine the water content of soils and other porous media. TDR equipment can be automated and multiplexed to acquire accurate and rapid waveforms (return signal) without safety concerns associated with radioactive methods (e.g., neutron probe and Gamma-ray probe). Two key steps are required for TDR applications: (1) Obtain and analyze TDR waveforms using travel-time and signal attenuation analysis to determine dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity, respectively. (2) Calibrate to determine a new- or apply an existing (e.g., Topp et al. (1980)) relationship between the derived soil dielectric permittivity and the volumetric water content of the porous medium of interest. A majority of researchers and practitioners focus on step two and additionally develop new mathematical models to get better estimates of water content. Although there are reviews of TDR principles and applications in soil science, there is a lack of information on how TDR can disclose critical information in porous media beyond average soil water content. Therefore, we present a newly expanded review of TDR applications in porous media including soils, plants, snow, food stuffs, and concrete. We begin by reviewing TDR basics, including principles, probe design, commercially available equipment, and graphical and numerical methods as well as available software for waveform analysis. Applications of TDR to estimate volumetric water content in various types of porous media, the latest techniques available to derive spatial variability of soil water distributions along a single TDR probe are included, followed by TDR waveform based analyses to estimate electrical conductivity (EC), wetting/drying and freezing/thawing fronts, and snow depth. The combination of TDR measurements coupled with other methods (e.g., gypsum/ceramics and heat pulse method) to determine a wide range of soil physical properties (e.g.

The number of sensors, ground-based and remote, exploiting the relationship between soil dielectric response and soil water content continues to grow. Empirical expressions for this relationship generally work well in coarse-textured soils but can break down for high-surface area and intricate materials such as clayey soils. Dielectric mixing models are helpful for exploring mechanisms and developing new understanding of the dielectric response in porous media that do not conform to a simple empirical approach, such as clayey soils. Here, we explore the dielectric response of clay minerals and clayey soils using the mixing model approach in the frequency domain. Our modeling focuses on the use of mixing models to explore geometrical effects. New spectroscopic data are presented for clay minerals (talc, kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite) and soils dominated by these clay minerals in the 1 MHz–6 GHz bandwidth. We also present a new typology for the way water is held in soils that we hope will act as a framework for furthering discussion on sensor design. We found that the frequency-domain response can be mostly accounted for by adjusting model structural parameters, which needs to be conducted to describe the Maxwell–Wagner (MW) relaxation effects. The work supports the importance of accounting for soil structural properties to understand and predict soil dielectric response and ultimately to find models that can describe the dielectric–water content relationship in fine-textured soils measured with sensors.

Following Breton’s writings on surreality, we outline how unexpected challenges to consumers’ assumptive worlds have the potential to alter how their escape from reality is experienced. We introduce the concept of “surrealist disruption” to describe ontological discontinuities that disrupt the common-sense frameworks normally used by consumers, and that impact upon their ability to suspend their disbeliefs and experience self-loss. To facilitate our theorization, we draw upon interviews with consumers about their changing experiences as viewers of the realist-political TV-drama House of Cards against a backdrop of disruptive real-world political events. Our analyses reveal that, when faced with a radically-altered external environment, escape from reality changes from a restorative, playful experience to an uneasy, earnest one characterized by hysteretic angst, intersubjective sense-making and epistemological community-building. This reconceptualizes escapism as more emotionally multi-valenced than previously considered in marketing theory and reveals consumers’ subject position to an aggregative social fabric beyond their control.

Climate change is a world-wide threat to biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning and services. To understand the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and to predict the consequences for nature and people, we urgently need better understanding of the direction and magnitude of climate change impacts across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. An increasing number of climate change studies are creating new opportunities for meaningful and high-quality generalizations and improved process understanding. However, significant challenges exist related to data availability and/or compatibility across studies, compromising opportunities for data re-use, synthesis and upscaling. Many of these challenges relate to a lack of an established 'best practice' for measuring key impacts and responses. This restrains our current understanding of complex processes and mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems related to climate change. To overcome these challenges, we collected best-practice methods emerging from major ecological research networks and experiments, as synthesized by 115 experts from across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Our handbook contains guidance on the selection of response variables for different purposes, protocols for standardized measurements of 66 such response variables and advice on data management. Specifically, we recommend a minimum subset of variables that should be collected in all climate change studies to allow data re-use and synthesis, and give guidance on additional variables critical for different types of synthesis and upscaling. The goal of this community effort is to facilitate awareness of the importance and broader application of standardized methods to promote data re-use, availability, compatibility and transparency. We envision improved research practices that will increase returns on investments in individual research projects, facilitate second-order research outputs and create opportunities for collaboration across scientif

The number of sensors, ground-based and remote, exploiting the relationship between soil dielectric response and soil water content continues to grow. Empirical expressions for this relationship generally work well in coarse-textured soils but can break down for high-surface area and intricate materials such as clayey soils. Dielectric mixing models are helpful for exploring mechanisms and developing new understanding of the dielectric response in porous media that do not conform to a simple empirical approach, such as clayey soils. Here, we explore the dielectric response of clay minerals and clayey soils using the mixing model approach in the frequency domain. Our modeling focuses on the use of mixing models to explore geometrical effects. New spectroscopic data are presented for clay minerals (talc, kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite) and soils dominated by these clay minerals in the 1 MHz–6 GHz bandwidth. We also present a new typology for the way water is held in soils that we hope will act as a framework for furthering discussion on sensor design. We found that the frequency-domain response can be mostly accounted for by adjusting model structural parameters, which needs to be conducted to describe the Maxwell–Wagner (MW) relaxation effects. The work supports the importance of accounting for soil structural properties to understand and predict soil dielectric response and ultimately to find models that can describe the dielectric–water content relationship in fine-textured soils measured with sensors.

This research compared statistical models for the prediction of rectum-related side-effects following a course of high-dose external beam radiation therapy for prostate cancer. This allowed patient sub-cohorts with a higher risk of developing long-term side-effects to be identified as suitable for a dose limiting internal organ spacer known as hydrogel. High-risk sub-cohorts were used in a cost-effectiveness analysis of hydrogel spacer to determine both clinical and economic value of this intervention in the Australian health care setting.

Purpose: Limiting the dose to the rectum can be one of the most challenging aspects of creating a dosimetric external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) plan for prostate cancer treatment. Rectal sparing devices such as hydrogel spacers offer the prospect of increased space between the prostate and rectum, causing reduced rectal dose and potentially reduced injury. This study sought to help identify patients at higher risk of developing rectal injury based on estimated rectal dosimetry compliance prior to the EBRT simulation and planning procedure. Three statistical machine learning methods were compared for their ability to predict rectal dose outcomes with varied classification thresholds applied. Methods: Prostate cancer patients treated with conventionally fractionated EBRT to a reference dose of 74–78 Gy were invited to participate in the study. The dose volume histogram data from each dosimetric plan was used to quantify planned rectal volume receiving 50%, 83% 96%, and 102% of the reference dose. Patients were classified into two groups for each of these dose levels: either meeting tolerance by having a rectal volume less than a clinically acceptable threshold for the dose level (Y) or violating the tolerance by having a rectal volume greater than the threshold for the dose level (N). Logistic regression, classification and regression tree, and random forest models were compared for their ability to discriminate between class outcomes. Performance metrics included area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. Finally, three classification threshold levels were evaluated for their impact on model performance. Results: A total of 176 eligible participants were recruited. Variable importance differed between model methods. Area under the receiver operator characteristic curve performance varied greatly across the different

1. Climate change is a world‐wide threat to biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning and services. To understand the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and to predict the consequences for nature and people, we urgently need better understanding of the direction and magnitude of climate change impacts across the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. An increasing number of climate change studies are creating new opportunities for meaningful and high‐quality generalizations and improved process understanding. However, significant challenges exist related to data availability and/or compatibility across studies, compromising opportunities for data re‐use, synthesis and upscaling. Many of these challenges relate to a lack of an established ‘best practice’ for measuring key impacts and responses. This restrains our current understanding of complex processes and mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems related to climate change. 2. To overcome these challenges, we collected best‐practice methods emerging from major ecological research networks and experiments, as synthesized by 115 experts from across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Our handbook contains guidance on the selection of response variables for different purposes, protocols for standardized measurements of 66 such response variables and advice on data management. Specifically, we recommend a minimum subset of variables that should be collected in all climate change studies to allow data re‐use and synthesis, and give guidance on additional variables critical for different types of synthesis and upscaling. The goal of this community effort is to facilitate awareness of the importance and broader application of standardized methods to promote data re‐use, availability, compatibility and transparency. We envision improved research practices that will increase returns on investments in individual research projects, facilitate second‐order research outputs and create opportunities for collaboration across sc

Following Breton’s writings on surreality, we outline how unexpected challenges to consumers’ assumptive worlds have the potential to alter how their escape from reality is experienced. We introduce the concept of “surrealist disruption” to describe ontological discontinuities that disrupt the common-sense frameworks normally used by consumers, and that impact upon their ability to suspend their disbeliefs and experience self-loss. To facilitate our theorization, we draw upon interviews with consumers about their changing experiences as viewers of the realist-political TV-drama House of Cards against a backdrop of disruptive real-world political events. Our analyses reveal that, when faced with a radically-altered external environment, escape from reality changes from a restorative, playful experience to an uneasy, earnest one characterized by hysteretic angst, intersubjective sense-making and epistemological community-building. This reconceptualizes escapism as more emotionally multi-valenced than previously considered in marketing theory and reveals consumers’ subject position to an aggregative social fabric beyond their control.

Climate change is a world-wide threat to biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning and services. To understand the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and to predict the consequences for nature and people, we urgently need better understanding of the direction and magnitude of climate change impacts across the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. An increasing number of climate change studies are creating new opportunities for meaningful and high-quality generalizations and improved process understanding. However, significant challenges exist related to data availability and/or compatibility across studies, compromising opportunities for data re-use, synthesis and upscaling. Many of these challenges relate to a lack of an established 'best practice' for measuring key impacts and responses. This restrains our current understanding of complex processes and mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems related to climate change. To overcome these challenges, we collected best-practice methods emerging from major ecological research networks and experiments, as synthesized by 115 experts from across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Our handbook contains guidance on the selection of response variables for different purposes, protocols for standardized measurements of 66 such response variables and advice on data management. Specifically, we recommend a minimum subset of variables that should be collected in all climate change studies to allow data re-use and synthesis, and give guidance on additional variables critical for different types of synthesis and upscaling. The goal of this community effort is to facilitate awareness of the importance and broader application of standardized methods to promote data re-use, availability, compatibility and transparency. We envision improved research practices that will increase returns on investments in individual research projects, facilitate second-order research outputs and create opportunities for collaboration across scientif

The number of sensors, ground-based and remote, exploiting the relationship between soil dielectric response and soil water content continues to grow. Empirical expressions for this relationship generally work well in coarse-textured soils but can break down for high-surface area and intricate materials such as clayey soils. Dielectric mixing models are helpful for exploring mechanisms and developing new understanding of the dielectric response in porous media that do not conform to a simple empirical approach, such as clayey soils. Here, we explore the dielectric response of clay minerals and clayey soils using the mixing model approach in the frequency domain. Our modeling focuses on the use of mixing models to explore geometrical effects. New spectroscopic data are presented for clay minerals (talc, kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite) and soils dominated by these clay minerals in the 1 MHz–6 GHz bandwidth. We also present a new typology for the way water is held in soils that we hope will act as a framework for furthering discussion on sensor design. We found that the frequency-domain response can be mostly accounted for by adjusting model structural parameters, which needs to be conducted to describe the Maxwell–Wagner (MW) relaxation effects. The work supports the importance of accounting for soil structural properties to understand and predict soil dielectric response and ultimately to find models that can describe the dielectric–water content relationship in fine-textured soils measured with sensors.

1. Climate change is a world‐wide threat to biodiversity and ecosystem structure, functioning and services. To understand the underlying drivers and mechanisms, and to predict the consequences for nature and people, we urgently need better understanding of the direction and magnitude of climate change impacts across the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum. An increasing number of climate change studies are creating new opportunities for meaningful and high‐quality generalizations and improved process understanding. However, significant challenges exist related to data availability and/or compatibility across studies, compromising opportunities for data re‐use, synthesis and upscaling. Many of these challenges relate to a lack of an established ‘best practice’ for measuring key impacts and responses. This restrains our current understanding of complex processes and mechanisms in terrestrial ecosystems related to climate change. 2. To overcome these challenges, we collected best‐practice methods emerging from major ecological research networks and experiments, as synthesized by 115 experts from across a wide range of scientific disciplines. Our handbook contains guidance on the selection of response variables for different purposes, protocols for standardized measurements of 66 such response variables and advice on data management. Specifically, we recommend a minimum subset of variables that should be collected in all climate change studies to allow data re‐use and synthesis, and give guidance on additional variables critical for different types of synthesis and upscaling. The goal of this community effort is to facilitate awareness of the importance and broader application of standardized methods to promote data re‐use, availability, compatibility and transparency. We envision improved research practices that will increase returns on investments in individual research projects, facilitate second‐order research outputs and create opportunities for collaboration across sc

To transform from reactive to proactive healthcare, there is an increasing need for low-cost and portable assays to continuously perform health measurements. The paper-based analytical devices could be a potential fit for this need. To miniaturize the multiplex paper-based microfluidic analytical devices and minimize reagent use, a fabrication method with high resolution along with low fabrication cost should be developed. Here, we present an approach that uses a desktop pen plotter and a high-resolution technical pen for plotting high-resolution patterns to fabricate miniaturized paper-based microfluidic devices with hundreds of detection zones to conduct different assays. In order to create a functional multiplex paper-based analytical device, the hydrophobic solution is patterned on the cellulose paper and the reagents are deposited in the patterned detection zones using the technical pens. We demonstrated the effect of paper substrate thickness on the resolution of patterns by investigating the resolution of patterns on a chromatography paper with altered effective thickness. As the characteristics of the cellulose paper substrate such as thickness, resolution, and homogeneity of pore structure affect the obtained patterning resolution, we used regenerated cellulose paper to fabricate detection zones with a diameter as small as 0.8 mm. Moreover, in order to fabricate a miniaturized multiplex paper-based device, we optimized packing of the detection zones. We also showed the capability of the presented method for fabrication of 3D paper-based microfluidic devices with hundreds of detection zones for conducting colorimetric assays., Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK); 2232 International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program

Although only representing 0.05% of global freshwater, or 0.001% of all global water, soil water supports all terrestrial biological life. Soil moisture behaviour in most models is constrained by hydraulic parameters that do not change. Here we argue that biological feedbacks from plants, macro-fauna and the microbiome influence soil structure, and thus the soil hydraulic parameters and the soil water content signals we observe. Incorporating biological feedbacks into soil hydrological models is therefore important for understanding environmental change and its impacts on ecosystems. We anticipate that environmental change will accelerate and modify soil hydraulic function. Increasingly, we understand the vital role that soil moisture exerts on the carbon cycle and other environmental threats such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, wildfires, regional precipitation patterns, disease regulation and infrastructure stability, in addition to agricultural production. Biological feedbacks may result in changes to soil hydraulic function that could be irreversible, resulting in alternative stable states (ASS) of soil moisture. To explore this, we need models that consider all the major feedbacks between soil properties and soil-plant-faunal-microbial-atmospheric processes, which is something we currently do not have. Therefore, a new direction is required to incorporate a dynamic description of soil structure and hydraulic property evolution into soil-plant-atmosphere, or land surface, models that consider feedbacks from land use and climate drivers of change, so as to better model ecosystem dynamics.

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

Although only representing 0.05% of global freshwater, or 0.001% of all global water, soil water supports all terrestrial biological life. Soil moisture behaviour in most models is constrained by hydraulic parameters that do not change. Here we argue that biological feedbacks from plants, macro‐fauna and the microbiome influence soil structure, and thus the soil hydraulic parameters and the soil water content signals we observe. Incorporating biological feedbacks into soil hydrological models is therefore important for understanding environmental change and its impacts on ecosystems. We anticipate that environmental change will accelerate and modify soil hydraulic function. Increasingly we understand the vital role that soil moisture exerts on the carbon cycle and other environmental threats such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, wildfires, regional precipitation patterns, disease regulation and infrastructure stability, in addition to agricultural production. Biological feedbacks may result in changes to soil hydraulic function that could be irreversible, resulting in alternative stable states (ASS) of soil moisture. To explore this, we need models that consider all the major feedbacks between soil properties and soil‐plant‐faunal‐microbial‐atmospheric processes, which is something we currently do not have. Therefore, a new direction is required to incorporate a dynamic description of soil structure and hydraulic property evolution into soil‐plant‐atmosphere, or land surface, models that consider feedbacks from land use and climate drivers of change, so as to better model ecosystem dynamics.

Although only representing 0.05% of global freshwater, or 0.001% of all global water, soil water supports all terrestrial biological life. Soil moisture behaviour in most models is constrained by hydraulic parameters that do not change. Here we argue that biological feedbacks from plants, macro-fauna and the microbiome influence soil structure, and thus the soil hydraulic parameters and the soil water content signals we observe. Incorporating biological feedbacks into soil hydrological models is therefore important for understanding environmental change and its impacts on ecosystems. We anticipate that environmental change will accelerate and modify soil hydraulic function. Increasingly, we understand the vital role that soil moisture exerts on the carbon cycle and other environmental threats such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, wildfires, regional precipitation patterns, disease regulation and infrastructure stability, in addition to agricultural production. Biological feedbacks may result in changes to soil hydraulic function that could be irreversible, resulting in alternative stable states (ASS) of soil moisture. To explore this, we need models that consider all the major feedbacks between soil properties and soil-plant-faunal-microbial-atmospheric processes, which is something we currently do not have. Therefore, a new direction is required to incorporate a dynamic description of soil structure and hydraulic property evolution into soil-plant-atmosphere, or land surface, models that consider feedbacks from land use and climate drivers of change, so as to better model ecosystem dynamics.

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

Although only representing 0.05% of global freshwater, or 0.001% of all global water, soil water supports all terrestrial biological life. Soil moisture behaviour in most models is constrained by hydraulic parameters that do not change. Here we argue that biological feedbacks from plants, macro‐fauna and the microbiome influence soil structure, and thus the soil hydraulic parameters and the soil water content signals we observe. Incorporating biological feedbacks into soil hydrological models is therefore important for understanding environmental change and its impacts on ecosystems. We anticipate that environmental change will accelerate and modify soil hydraulic function. Increasingly we understand the vital role that soil moisture exerts on the carbon cycle and other environmental threats such as heatwaves, droughts and floods, wildfires, regional precipitation patterns, disease regulation and infrastructure stability, in addition to agricultural production. Biological feedbacks may result in changes to soil hydraulic function that could be irreversible, resulting in alternative stable states (ASS) of soil moisture. To explore this, we need models that consider all the major feedbacks between soil properties and soil‐plant‐faunal‐microbial‐atmospheric processes, which is something we currently do not have. Therefore, a new direction is required to incorporate a dynamic description of soil structure and hydraulic property evolution into soil‐plant‐atmosphere, or land surface, models that consider feedbacks from land use and climate drivers of change, so as to better model ecosystem dynamics.

This paper presents the phase one findings of a two-phased action research study which led to the development of a plan to design a study abroad program for both undergraduate students and students of DECA, a business organization, at the college of business and entrepreneurship of a state university set in a rural area in the Midwest of the United States. The question which guided the research was: How can a study abroad program, promoting career enhancement, be designed to meet the needs of the students from rural agricultural communities? Exploratory data were collected both on campus and in Thailand over two years, and included reflections, observations, informal interviews and conversations, peer reviews, documents and artifacts. Based on the findings, a plan emerged with three sections: 1) making instructional decisions, 2) creating learning by experience, and 3) updating logistics. The instructional decision section was further categorized into three areas: 1) career enhancement, 2) personal growth and management and 3) community collaboration. These categories led to the design of a course promoting learning by experience by directly engaging students with another culture in Thailand. The conclusion is that such programs, when based on needs analysis, become an indispensable part of higher education, workforce and the economic prosperity of the state/region

The growing number of new electromagnetic-based water content sensors across the globe is creating a market filled with confusing choices for consumers and decreasing market share for producers. Without informed consumer choices, product price point may be controlled more by advertising advantage than by product performance and quality. Sensor performance and quality assessments have been carried out over decades with mixed testing approaches and a commensurate measure of mixed results. Confusion over sensor-function, - failure and value grows as testing employs moving targets such as locally-available non-standard, non-homogenous materials that are unavailable globally, thereby adding to the confusion. In addition to environmental impacts on sensor circuit performance, there are secondary effects arising from the material under test including, temperature and electrical conductivity, interfacial polarization and dielectric relaxation to mention a few. In order to develop an international electromagnetic (EM) sensor testing methodology, a body of engaged experts is needed to address two key issues, 1) sensor performance evaluation and 2) material under test standardized definition and characterization. Industry and consumer buy-in is important as the implementation of standards will require agreement among producers and consumers that standards add value to sensors. Although a few attempts have been made to standardize testing, more work and research is required before an international standard can be adopted.

Through a micro-ethnographic engagement with consumers’ binge-watching experiences of the web-TV series House of Cards, this videography explores what we consider to be the “extended frontiers” of escapism. In contrast to passive/active classifications of escapism which risk reducing escapist fare to a textual resource which can be categorised discretely at the point of consumption, we consider “sustained encounters” with escapist fare as appropriable textures characterised by ongoing and less immediately discernible processes. Drawing upon Hills’ (2002) concept of hyperdiegesis, we consider potentially “projective” forms of narrative transportation in binge-watching; heterochronic breaks from normal patterns of time; and post-object behaviours. In doing so, we outline how forms of escapism traditionally considered passive may under certain conditions represent much richer and more complex enterprises than previously imagined.

Through a micro-ethnographic engagement with consumers’ binge-watching experiences of the web-TV series House of Cards, this videography explores what we consider to be the “extended frontiers” of escapism. In contrast to passive/active classifications of escapism which risk reducing escapist fare to a textual resource which can be categorised discretely at the point of consumption, we consider “sustained encounters” with escapist fare as appropriable textures characterised by ongoing and less immediately discernible processes. Drawing upon Hills’ (2002) concept of hyperdiegesis, we consider potentially “projective” forms of narrative transportation in binge-watching; heterochronic breaks from normal patterns of time; and post-object behaviours. In doing so, we outline how forms of escapism traditionally considered passive may under certain conditions represent much richer and more complex enterprises than previously imagined.

The growing number of new electromagnetic-based water content sensors across the globe is creating a market filled with confusing choices for consumers and decreasing market share for producers. Without informed consumer choices, product price point may be controlled more by advertising advantage than by product performance and quality. Sensor performance and quality assessments have been carried out over decades with mixed testing approaches and a commensurate measure of mixed results. Confusion over sensor-function, - failure and value grows as testing employs moving targets such as locally-available non-standard, non-homogenous materials that are unavailable globally, thereby adding to the confusion. In addition to environmental impacts on sensor circuit performance, there are secondary effects arising from the material under test including, temperature and electrical conductivity, interfacial polarization and dielectric relaxation to mention a few. In order to develop an international electromagnetic (EM) sensor testing methodology, a body of engaged experts is needed to address two key issues, 1) sensor performance evaluation and 2) material under test standardized definition and characterization. Industry and consumer buy-in is important as the implementation of standards will require agreement among producers and consumers that standards add value to sensors. Although a few attempts have been made to standardize testing, more work and research is required before an international standard can be adopted.