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Phenology varies widely over space and time because of its sensitivity to climate. However, whether phenological variation is primarily generated by rapid organismal responses (plasticity) or local adaptation remains unresolved. Here we used 1,038,027 herbarium specimens representing 1,605 species from the continental United States to measure flowering-time sensitivity to temperature over time (Stime) and space (Sspace). By comparing these estimates, we inferred how adaptation and plasticity historically influenced phenology along temperature gradients and how their contributions vary among species with different phenology and native climates and among ecoregions differing in species composition. Parameters Sspace and Stime were positively correlated (r = 0.87), of similar magnitude and more frequently consistent with plasticity than adaptation. Apparent plasticity and adaptation generated earlier flowering in spring, limited responsiveness in late summer and delayed flowering in autumn in response to temperature increases. Nonetheless, ecoregions differed in the relative contributions of adaptation and plasticity, from consistently greater importance of plasticity (for example, southeastern United States plains) to their nearly equal importance throughout the season (for example, Western Sierra Madre Piedmont). Our results support the hypothesis that plasticity is the primary driver of flowering-time variation along temperature gradients, with local adaptation having a widespread but comparatively limited role.

Introduction: The first case of mpox in Louisiana was identified 2 months ahead of Southern Decadence Festival in New Orleans, the largest LGBTQ+ Pride festival in the South. With mpox case numbers reflecting racial disparities, the objective was to mount an equitable vaccination response. Methods: The Louisiana Department of Health rapidly pivoted its COVID-19 resources and strategies—specifically, using vaccine strike teams and mobile events, in-state vaccine redistribution through centralized warehousing and shipping support, and community partnerships—to now control mpox transmission. Here, the authors have evaluated state-based Immunization Information System data to examine whether the vaccination response was geographically and racially equitable. Geographic equity was measured by taking into account vaccine availability as well as uptake in areas with high Social Vulnerability Index. Results: A total of 113 providers were enrolled in the vaccination program, and 96 mobile vaccination events were held in locations frequented by at-risk populations. Racial disparities among vaccine recipients decreased over time, and vaccine availability and uptake were equitable in areas with high Social Vulnerability Indices. However, Black, female, and Hispanic/Latinx patients had significantly higher risk of not completing the 2-dose series than their counterparts. Conclusions: The mpox vaccination response in Louisiana was geographically equitable, though some demographic disparities remained.

Conceptual knowledge is dynamic, fluid, and flexible, changing as a function of contextual factors at multiple scales. The COVID-19 pandemic can be considered a large-scale, global context that has fundamentally altered most people's experiences with the world. It has also introduced a new concept, "COVID" (or "COVID-19"), into our collective knowledgebase. What are the implications of this introduction for how existing conceptual knowledge is structured? Our collective emotional and social experiences with the world have been profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and experience-based perspectives on concept representation suggest that emotional and social experiences are critical components of conceptual knowledge. Such changes in collective experience should, then, have downstream consequences on knowledge of emotion- and social-related concepts. Using a naturally occurring dataset derived from the social media platform Twitter, we show that semantic spaces for concepts related to our emotional experiences with COVID-19 (i.e., emotional concepts like "FEAR")--but not for unrelated concepts (i.e., animals like "CAT")--show quantifiable shifts as a function of the emergence of "COVID-19" as a concept and its associated emotional and social experiences, shifts which persist 6 months after the onset of the pandemic. The findings support a dynamic view of conceptual knowledge wherein shared experiences affect conceptual structure.

Policymakers rely heavily on the tax system to distribute direct payments to lowincome families. Anti-poverty tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the advanced Child Tax Credits, and the federal stimulus payments combined to keep millions of Americans out of poverty during the pandemic. Such credits have strong potential to continue to reduce poverty.These credits only work, of course, if eligible families receive them. To do so, they must file a tax return. But many low-income families who are at or below the federal poverty level are not legally required to file taxes. Policymakers need a better understanding of how many low-income families don’t file taxes (and therefore miss out on these valuable credits) in order to address this problem.While state and federal tax agencies know who files taxes, they have very little information on the families who do not file, especially those below the poverty level with little or no earnings. State and local human-service agencies, however, serve many families below the poverty level, placing them in a unique position to assist eligible families to receive these credits.To help the State of California understand who may be at risk of not receiving anti-poverty tax credits, the California Policy Lab (CPL) facilitated a linkage of two individual-level datasets held by state agencies: one with safety-net enrollment data and one with state tax filing data. CPL served as a trusted third party by implementing a “hashed linkage” — linking data that was de-identified through “hashing” (a one-way encryption process) by each agency. By linking this data, we were able to help California measure how many Californians receiving safety-net benefits were at risk of not receiving federal stimulus payments, the state Earned Income Tax Credit, and the advanced Child Tax Credit. We also helped the state learn that the majority of its safety-net beneficiaries were already receiving benefits through tax filing — allowing the state to focus limited resources on those who were not receiving these benefits. This linked data also equipped the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to conduct targeted outreach to Californians who had not filed state returns (and therefore were missing out on thousands of dollars in credits) in recent years and to direct them towards intensive resources that could help them file a return and claim these credits. This linkage led to millions of dollars in tax credits delivered to Californians who otherwise may not have received them.The benefits of linking administrative data go beyond the take-up of anti-poverty tax credits. Administrative data can help answer many vexing policy questions faced by policymakers. However, much of the value in administrative data can be obtained only when data can be linked across multiple sources. By linking across systems at the individual level, administrative data, which is often topically narrow, can replicate the cross-domain scope of survey data. This toolkit is intended to help staff in state governments outside of California who are interested in using administrative data and linking it across agencies to measure the take-up of safety-net benefits. We are also releasing a technical how-to toolkit for those interested in operationalizing a hashed linkage.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278

Food insecurity is widespread among college students in the United States. CalFresh food benefits, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, can help students in California pay for food, but may not reach all eligible students. CalFresh enrollment rates among students have been difficult to estimate due to incomplete data on California students’ eligibility for and enrollment in the CalFresh program.1 To overcome these issues, the California Policy Lab (CPL) partnered with the California Community College system (CCC), the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), and the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) to build a linked database of student-level administrative data on college enrollment, financial aid, and CalFresh participation. This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278.

Native biodiversity decline and non-native species spread are major features of the Anthropocene. Both processes can drive biotic homogenization by reducing trait and phylogenetic differences in species assemblages between regions, thus diminishing the regional distinctiveness of biotas and likely have negative impacts on key ecosystem functions. However, a global assessment of this phenomenon is lacking. Here, using a dataset of >200,000 plant species, we demonstrate widespread and temporal decreases in species and phylogenetic turnover across grain sizes and spatial extents. The extent of homogenization within major biomes is pronounced and is overwhelmingly explained by non-native species naturalizations. Asia and North America are major sources of non-native species; however, the species they export tend to be phylogenetically close to recipient floras. Australia, the Pacific and Europe, in contrast, contribute fewer species to the global pool of non-natives, but represent a disproportionate amount of phylogenetic diversity. The timeline of most naturalisations coincides with widespread human migration within the last ~500 years, and demonstrates the profound influence humans exert on regional biotas beyond changes in species richness.

Species interactions drive ecosystem processes and are a major focus of global change research. Among the most consequential interactions expected to shift with climate change are those between insect herbivores and plants, both of which are highly sensitive to temperature. Insect herbivores and their host plants display varying levels of synchrony that could be disrupted or enhanced by climate change, yet empirical data on changes in synchrony are lacking. Using evidence of herbivory on herbarium specimens collected from the northeastern United States and France from 1900 to 2015, we provide evidence that plant species with temperature-sensitive phenologies experience higher levels of insect damage in warmer years, while less temperature-sensitive, co-occurring species do not. While herbivory might be mediated by interactions between warming and phenology through multiple pathways, we suggest that warming might lengthen growing seasons for phenologically sensitive plant species, exposing their leaves to herbivores for longer periods of time in warm years. We propose that elevated herbivory in warm years may represent a previously underappreciated cost to phenological tracking of climate change over longer timescales.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has passed multiple bills to provide stimulus payments to low- and middle-income Americans. The IRS used tax data to determine who should receive the three recent stimulus payments, which helped get payments to the majority of eligible people quickly and automatically. However, we estimate that at least 2.2 million eligible Californians are caught in the federal Stimulus Gap: they likely did not receive their stimulus payments automatically and are at danger of not receiving them at all. We estimate these Californians are at risk of missing out on $5.7 billion. If they have not received these payments already by filing a return or using the currently dormant IRS tool for non-filers, these Californians will need to take an extra step to claim their stimulus payments by filing a tax return. This policy brief quantifies the Stimulus Gap in California and provides recommendations on how the IRS can help eliminate the gap nationwide, including by working with state human service agencies to better distribute stimulus payments. The interactive map and tables below provide additional context about the demographics of Californians who are caught in the federal Stimulus Gap and the amount of money that could go unclaimed.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278.

Machine learning (ML) has great potential to drive scientific discovery by harvesting data from images of herbarium specimens-preserved plant material curated in natural history collections-but ML techniques have only recently been applied to this rich resource. ML has particularly strong prospects for the study of plant phenological events such as growth and reproduction. As a major indicator of climate change, driver of ecological processes, and critical determinant of plant fitness, plant phenology is an important frontier for the application of ML techniques for science and society. In the present article, we describe a generalized, modular ML workflow for extracting phenological data from images of herbarium specimens, and we discuss the advantages, limitations, and potential future improvements of this workflow. Strategic research and investment in specimen-based ML methods, along with the aggregation of herbarium specimen data, may give rise to a better understanding of life on Earth.

Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses1. The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset2-5. Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed.

Mounting evidence suggests that people make use of non-arbitrary relationships between word form and meaning (e.g.,rounded vowels and rounded shapes) when determining the meaning of a novel word. Typically, these studies use carefullyselected materials to maximize iconic relationships between word forms and meanings. Can people make use of form-meaning resemblances for randomly selected word-forms? We gave 21 groups of undergraduates 40 randomly generatednonce words and asked them to draw a creature for each word such that a nave viewer could reliably match the creature-drawing back to the word that motivated it. Despite the words being selected randomly and filtering out any reliance onexisting English words, drawings were routinely matched back by nave participants (n=222) at rates well above chance.We discuss possible explanations for what makes certain words fit an especially good fit for certain drawings.

The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and its state counterpart, the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), provided low-income Californians with a nearly $7 billion boost in 2018. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the approximately 2.8 million households who claimed the credits, including household size, which households are claiming both credits, the financial impacts, and a county-by-county breakdown, including the average amount of each credit claimed in each county. The California legislature and Governor Newsom approved a significant expansion to the CalEITC in 2019. The expansion is expected to double the amount of CalEITC credits claimed, and coupled with a new Young Child Tax Credit, the total value of the state credits is expected to reach $1 billion. This report provides an important roadmap for policymakers interested in understanding who this important anti-poverty program reaches in California.This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grant MRP-19-600774.

In December, Leila Hamoud, a Black woman undergraduate, was arrested in her classroom at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) by university police officers. An unidentified staff member--who was not directly involved [...]

Global change has become a central focus of modern biology. Yet, our knowledge of how anthropogenic drivers affect biodiversity and natural resources is limited by a lack of biological data spanning the Anthropocene. We propose that the hundreds of millions of plant, fungal and animal specimens deposited in natural history museums have the potential to transform the field of global change biology. We suggest that museum specimens are underused, particularly in ecological studies, given their capacity to reveal patterns that are not observable from other data sources. Increasingly, museum specimens are becoming mobilized online, providing unparalleled access to physiological, ecological and evolutionary data spanning decades and sometimes centuries. Here, we describe the diversity of collections data archived in museums and provide an overview of the diverse uses and applications of these data as discussed in the accompanying collection of papers within this theme issue. As these unparalleled resources are under threat owing to budget cuts and other institutional pressures, we aim to shed light on the unique discoveries that are possible in museums and, thus, the singular value of natural history collections in a period of rapid change.This article is part of the theme issue 'Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the Anthropocene'.

The mountains of Southwest China comprise a significant large mountain range and biodiversity hotspot imperiled by global climate change. The high species diversity in this mountain system has long been attributed to a complex set of factors, and recent large‐scale macroevolutionary investigations have placed a broad timeline on plant diversification that stretches from 10 million years ago (Mya) to the present. Despite our increasing understanding of the temporal mode of speciation, finer‐scale population‐level investigations are lacking to better refine these temporal trends and illuminate the abiotic and biotic influences of cryptic speciation. This is largely due to the dearth of organismal sampling among closely related species and populations, spanning the incredible size and topological heterogeneity of this region. Our study dives into these evolutionary dynamics of speciation using genomic and eco‐morphological data of Stellera chamaejasme L. We identified four previously unrecognized cryptic species having indistinct morphological traits and large metapopulation of evolving lineages, suggesting a more recent diversification (~2.67–0.90 Mya), largely influenced by Pleistocene glaciation and biotic factors. These factors likely influenced allopatric speciation and advocated cyclical warming–cooling episodes along elevational gradients during the Pleistocene. The study refines the evolutionary timeline to be much younger than previously implicated and raises the concern that projected future warming may influence the alpine species diversity, necessitating increased conservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premise of the Study:Herbarium specimens provide a robust record of historical plant phenology (the timing of seasonal events such as flowering or fruiting). However, the difficulty of aggregating phenological data from specimens arises from a lack of standardized scoring methods and definitions for phenological states across the collections community. Methods and Results:To address this problem, we report on a consensus reached by an iDigBio working group of curators, researchers, and data standards experts regarding an efficient scoring protocol and a data-sharing protocol for reproductive traits available from herbarium specimens of seed plants. The phenological data sets generated can be shared via Darwin Core Archives using the Extended MeasurementOrFact extension. Conclusions:Our hope is that curators and others interested in collecting phenological trait data from specimens will use the recommendations presented here in current and future scoring efforts. New tools for scoring specimens are reviewed.

The timing of phenological events, such as leaf-out and flowering, strongly influence plant success and their study is vital to understanding how plants will respond to climate change. Phenological research, however, is often limited by the temporal, geographic, or phylogenetic scope of available data. Hundreds of millions of plant specimens in herbaria worldwide offer a potential solution to this problem, especially as digitization efforts drastically improve access to collections. Herbarium specimens represent snapshots of phenological events and have been reliably used to characterize phenological responses to climate. We review the current state of herbarium-based phenological research, identify potential biases and limitations in the collection, digitization, and interpretation of specimen data, and discuss future opportunities for phenological investigations using herbarium specimens.

BackgroundLeuco-methylthioninium bis(hydromethanesulfonate; LMTM), a stable reduced form of the methylthioninium moiety, acts as a selective inhibitor of tau protein aggregation both in vitro and in transgenic mouse models. Methylthioninium chloride has previously shown potential efficacy as monotherapy in patients with Alzheimer's disease. We aimed to determine whether LMTM was safe and effective in modifying disease progression in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.MethodsWe did a 15-month, randomised, controlled double-blind, parallel-group trial at 115 academic centres and private research clinics in 16 countries in Europe, North America, Asia, and Russia with patients younger than 90 years with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Patients concomitantly using other medicines for Alzheimer's disease were permitted to be included because we considered it infeasible not to allow their inclusion; however, patients using medicines carrying warnings of methaemoglobinaemia were excluded because the oxidised form of methylthioninium in high doses has been shown to induce this condition. We randomly assigned participants (3:3:4) to 75 mg LMTM twice a day, 125 mg LMTM twice a day, or control (4 mg LMTM twice a day to maintain blinding with respect to urine or faecal discolouration) administered as oral tablets. We did the randomisation with an interactive web response system using 600 blocks of length ten, and stratified patients by severity of disease, global region, whether they were concomitantly using Alzheimer's disease-labelled medications, and site PET capability. Participants, their study partners (generally carers), and all assessors were masked to treatment assignment throughout the study. The coprimary outcomes were progression on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog) and the Alzheimer's Disease Co-operative Study-Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL) scales from baseline assessed at week 65 in the modified intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT01689246) and the European Union Clinical Trials Registry (2012-002866-11).FindingsBetween Jan 29, 2013, and June 26, 2014, we recruited and randomly assigned 891 participants to treatment (357 to control, 268 to 75 mg LMTM twice a day, and 266 to 125 mg LMTM twice a day). The prespecified primary analyses did not show any treatment benefit at either of the doses tested for the coprimary outcomes (change in ADAS-Cog score compared with control [n=354, 6·32, 95% CI 5·31-7·34]: 75 mg LMTM twice a day [n=257] -0·02, -1·60 to 1·56, p=0·9834, 125 mg LMTM twice a day [n=250] -0·43, -2·06 to 1·20, p=0·9323; change in ADCS-ADL score compared with control [-8·22, 95% CI -9·63 to -6·82]: 75 mg LMTM twice a day -0·93, -3·12 to 1·26, p=0·8659; 125 mg LMTM twice a day -0·34, -2·61 to 1·93, p=0·9479). Gastrointestinal and urinary effects were the most common adverse events with both high doses of LMTM, and the most common causes for discontinuation. Non-clinically significant dose-dependent reductions in haemoglobin concentrations were the most common laboratory abnormality. Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities were noted in less than 1% (8/885) of participants.InterpretationThe primary analysis for this study was negative, and the results do not suggest benefit of LMTM as an add-on treatment for patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Findings from a recently completed 18-month trial of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease will be reported soon.FundingTauRx Therapeutics.

Little is known about Black male students who graduate from high school, enroll in college, aspire to earn degrees beyond the baccalaureate, and espouse commitments to various career pathways in the field of education (teaching, school administration, education research, the professoriate, education policy, and so forth). What compels these men to care so much about education, despite what is routinely reported in the literature about their gradual disinvestment in schooling and comparatively lower rates of educational attainment? This question was pursued in the study upon which this article is based. This article is based primarily on a systematic content analysis of essays written by 304 Black male undergraduates attending colleges and universities across the United States. Each applied to participate in the University of Pennsylvania's Grad Prep Academy, an initiative for college juniors who aspire to earn Ph.D.s in the field of education. The results reveal three themes that build upon each other to show an uncommon perspective on Black male students' encounters with and responses to inequitable schooling: (1) awareness of educational inequities; (2) beliefs in education as the great equalizer; and (3) purposeful pursuits of the Ph.D. in education. (Contains 3 tables.)