Search

AbstractObjectiveMethodsResultsConclusionsThis scoping review explores the broad body of peer-reviewed research measuring food insecurity in post-secondary students in the U.S. to identify trends and gaps to inform future research.Three search engines (PubMed, Web of Science, and CINHAL Full Text) were systematically searched for articles reporting on food security status in U.S. college students.One-hundred and sixty studies met inclusion criteria. Emerging high-risk student characteristics include gender non-conforming (GNC) and non-binary, financial independence in college, and pregnant and parenting students. Emerging correlates include lack of transportation, anxiety, and eating disorders.Prevalence data can be used by colleges to advocate for services and programs. Additional multi-institutional cohort, longitudinal and qualitative studies are needed to identify timely interventions and effective solutions. A new “rights-based” approach to food security solutions that includes nutrition and food literacy for all students is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review article examines the extant literature on animism and anthropomorphism in infants and young children. A substantial body of work indicates that both infants and young children have a broad concept of what constitutes a sentient agent and react to inanimate objects as they do to people in the same context. The literature has also revealed a developmental pattern in which anthropomorphism decreases with age, but social robots appear to be an exception to this pattern. Additionally, the review shows that children attribute psychological properties to social robots less so than people but still anthropomorphize them. Importantly, some research suggests that anthropomorphism of social robots is dependent upon their morphology and human‐like behaviors. The extent to which children anthropomorphize robots is dependent on their exposure to them and the presence of human‐like features. Based on the existing literature, we conclude that in infancy, a large range of inanimate objects (e.g., boxes, geometric figures) that display animate motion patterns trigger the same behaviors observed in child‐adult interactions, suggesting some implicit form of anthropomorphism. The review concludes that additional research is needed to understand what infants and children judge as social agents and how the perception of inanimate agents changes over the lifespan. As exposure to robots and virtual assistants increases, future research must focus on better understanding the full impact that regular interactions with such partners will have on children's anthropomorphizing.This article is categorized under: Psychology > Learning Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Computer Science and Robotics > Robotics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigated whether Canadian preschoolers prefer to learn from a competent robot over an incompetent human using the classic trust paradigm. An adapted Naive Biology task was also administered to assess children's perception of robots. In Study 1, 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were presented with two informants; A social, humanoid robot (Nao) who labeled familiar objects correctly, while a human informant labeled them incorrectly. Both informants then labeled unfamiliar objects with novel labels. It was found that 3-year-old children equally endorsed the labels provided by the robot and the human, but 5-year-old children learned significantly more from the competent robot. Interestingly, 5-year-olds endorsed Nao's labels even though they accurately categorized the robot as having mechanical insides. In contrast, 3-year-old children associated Nao with biological or mechanical insides equally. In Study 2, new samples of 3-year-olds and 5-year-olds were tested to determine whether the human-like appearance of the robot informant impacted children's trust judgments. The procedure was identical to that of Study 1, except that a non-humanoid robot, Cozmo, replaced Nao. It was found that 3-year-old children still trusted the robot and the human equally and that 5-year-olds preferred to learn new labels from the robot, suggesting that the robot's morphology does not play a key role in their selective trust strategies. It is concluded that by 5 years of age, preschoolers show a robust sensitivity to epistemic characteristics (e.g., competency), but that younger children's decisions are equally driven by the animacy of the informant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research examined whether U.S. infants can recognize in others a pattern of helping or hindering after watching such behaviors across multiple scenarios. Infants at 17 months watched three familiarization events in which a person (recipient) failed to achieve various goals and another person (actor) always helped or hindered the recipient. In test, infants saw two events in yet another different scenario. In one event, the actor behaved consistently as before; in the other event, the actor behaved in the opposite way. In Experiment 1, the infants expected the helper to help the recipient again and were intrigued, as indicated by their prolonged looking, when the helper hindered the recipient. However, the infants did not form a clear expectation about the hinderer and looked equally at the two test events. Experiment 2 showed that when the intention to hinder was made more salient in familiarization, infants expected the hinderer to continue behaving so. Together, the present results underscore the role of intentionality in the process by which infants develop an expectation of others' tendency to help or hinder another person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in reduced levels of physical activity relative to neurotypical children. Researchers conducted 2 studies to 1) evaluate the influence of the number of physical activity options and effort on choice and 2) develop a token‐based intervention to increase physical activity engagement and evaluate whether the opportunity to access the intervention supported responding similar to physical or sedentary activity alone. Four children with ASD participated. Additional physical activity options alone did not increase physical activity selection, but increased effort reduced selection of sedentary activity. Tokens increased physical activity for 2 participants. A combination of physical and sedentary activities maintained as much as or more responding than either activity in isolation for all participants. Limitations and potential areas of future research on choice and physical activity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) engage in reduced levels of physical activity relative to neurotypical children. Researchers conducted 2 studies to 1) evaluate the influence of the number of physical activity options and effort on choice and 2) develop a token‐based intervention to increase physical activity engagement and evaluate whether the opportunity to access the intervention supported responding similar to physical or sedentary activity alone. Four children with ASD participated. Additional physical activity options alone did not increase physical activity selection, but increased effort reduced selection of sedentary activity. Tokens increased physical activity for 2 participants. A combination of physical and sedentary activities maintained as much as or more responding than either activity in isolation for all participants. Limitations and potential areas of future research on choice and physical activity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How young children learn from different informants has been widely studied. However, most studies investigate how children learn verbally conveyed information. Furthermore, most studies investigate how children learn from humans. This study sought to investigate how 3-year-old children learn from, and come to trust, a competent robot versus an incompetent human when competency is established using a pointing paradigm. During an induction phase, a robot informant pointed at a toy inside a transparent box, whereas a human pointed at an empty box. During the test phase, both agents pointed at opaque boxes. We found that young children asked the robot for help to locate a hidden toy more than the human (ask questions) and correctly identified the robot to be accurate (judgment questions). However, children equally endorsed the locations pointed at by both the robot and the human (endorse questions). This suggests that 3-year-olds are sensitive to the epistemic characteristics of the informant even when its displayed social properties are minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and stereotypy engagement is associated with reduced physical activity (PA). Beyond health benefits, researchers have also reported decreases in stereotypy and corresponding increases in on‐task behavior in individuals with ASD following PA. However, the duration of reported PA varies among studies examining these effects and the persistence of any effect is not well understood. Furthermore, no previous study examining these effects has reported difficulty evoking adequate durations of PA. The purposes of this study were to (1) develop an intervention to increase PA engagement, (2) analyze changes in stereotypy and on‐task behavior following PA, and (3) assess persistence of changes as a function of PA duration. Four participants with ASD were observed for 10 min before, between 1 and 15 min during, and 30 min following PA. Results demonstrated that some duration of PA decreased stereotypy and increased on‐task behavior for most participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Around the world, Indigenous peoples have stories about wildlife that reflect knowledge and feelings about animals and their relationship to humans. Different people's experiences speak to the variety of interactions people have with animals in the spaces where humans and non-human animals live and interact. These stories are often told by women, reflecting the ways in which gender mediates human–environment relations. Yet gendered differences in knowledge and experience are rarely addressed in wildlife conservation research and action. Even community-based conservation efforts often ignore or marginalize the knowledge and experiences of women. We present women's stories and experiences of wildlife from Maasai communities in Tanzania and Soliga communities in India. We show that women have the desire and knowledge to participate in conservation decision-making but are currently marginalized from community conservation practice. We argue that including women in research and action is key for successful community-based wildlife conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Categorically distinct instrumental values and non-instrumental "cultural" values of "nature" are central to ecosystem services assessments and many wildlife conservation interventions alike. However, this approach to understanding the value of nature is at odds with social scientific understandings that see value as produced through social-ecological relations and processes. With a case study of Ilkisongo Maasai land users living in group ranches surrounding Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, we apply a relational values approach to highlight the processes of valuation that shape how different people within Maasai society come to have different shared values of wildlife and collectively titled land. First, we detail how wildlife conservation efforts in Amboseli have affected social relations through uneven conservation decision-making processes and unequal distribution of benefits from conservation. Second, we detail how conservation practices have directly influenced changing relationships between people and wildlife. Neglect of elders' common stances on how relations "ought" to be maintained (both human-human and human-nonhuman relations), and many Maasai residents' views of the "ownership" of wildlife by a minority have both fueled resentment. We show that an ironic, unintended outcome is that conservation projects, which are intended to increase the "value" of wildlife for local people as a way to foster "coexistence" of people and wildlife on collectively titled lands, are instead contributing to an increased desire by some Maasai for wildlife to be spatially separated from people and livestock. Simultaneously, current conservation projects do not build upon practices that in Maasai views, enabled historical sharing of land with wildlife. Inequality and lack of participation have been highlighted as key limitations of many community-based conservation and human-wildlife conflict mitigation initiatives. We instead focus on how wildlife conservation interventions have contributed to changing human-human and human-nonhuman relations and have in turn impacted long-term Maasai perceptions of wildlife. We argue that an expanded consideration of relational values that emphasizes the inseparability of culture and nature, but also includes a central consideration of power dynamics, might overcome some limitations of previous valuation approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the strategies to prevent or slow the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with diabetes. Also cited are how diabetic kidney disease (DKD) or diabetic nephropathy can progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) that will require kidney replacement therapy, the prevalence of albuminuria in people with type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes, and some dietary recommendations like low sodium and potassium intake.

Long-term stabilization of the cervical spine after extensive multilevel tumor resection is difficult to achieve. The current standard approach of instrumentation combined with allograft or nonvascularized autograft is limited in settings of increased risk of nonunion or delayed union (i.e., prior radiation therapy or poorly vascularized wound beds). We report the first time to our knowledge that a vascularized fibular free flap has been used to reconstruct the cervical column across 5 vertebral levels, from the craniocervical junction to the lower cervical spine. We describe a transoral approach to the area and compare this method with other reconstructive options. Vascularized bone grafting is a viable alternative to achieve lasting stability because of hastened fusion time, limited reliance on osseous remodeling, and incorporation into the axial skeleton with strut strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tic disorders are characterized by a class of responses assumed to be neurobiological in origin. Still, several studies have shown that tic frequency can be influenced by antecedent environmental events and social consequences. Prior reviews have summarized the effects of environmental events but have not examined relations between tic diagnosis, behavioral deficits (e.g., intellectual disability), tic topography, and the consequences observed to maintain tics. These variables might be important when attempting to predict or identify relevant consequences. A more thorough understanding of the variables that maintain and give rise to tics might also be useful in predicting responsiveness to treatment and intervention refinement. We reviewed and summarized results from the 13 attempts to experimentally identify maintaining consequences for tics (i.e., functional analyses) that have been published to date. We examined patterns of functions across tic diagnoses (i.e., Tourette's syndrome or not), communication impairments (i.e., an intellectual disability or reported language difficulty), and tic topography. Results suggested that individuals with Tourette's syndrome and those without communication impairments are more likely to have functional analysis outcomes consistent with automatic reinforcement, but exceptions in both directions highlight the utility of functional analysis in treating tics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research has shown a discrepancy in young infants' use of height information in occlusion and containment events—a pattern typically accounted for by event categorization and rule learning. Broadening these theories, the present experiment examined the role of comparison in young infants' reasoning about physical events. We rotated a typical setup of a top-open container 90 degrees such that the opening now faced the side. An object was held vertically aligned with the side opening, enhancing the direct comparison of height. After the object was glided behind or inside the container and became hidden, 5-month-olds detected a height change in both containment and occlusion events. Thus, enhanced support for comparison facilitated young infants' use of key information in physical events (i.e., height in containment events). The finding underscores the importance of considering the role of comparison in the research of intuitive physics in infancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the search for successful community-based conservation models there has been a substantial focus on payment for ecosystem services. Such payments are measurable inputs that are often associated with conservation success. A closer look suggests a more complex, historically and culturally contingent picture. We argue that a focus on payment for ecosystem services as a defining factor for success in community conservation risks overlooking other, more significant processes. In particular, we argue for the importance of (1) tenure and livelihood security and (2) relations of trust, communication and respect. We draw on case studies from East Africa, but the findings are relevant for global community-based conservation endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few studies have investigated caregiver choice surrounding the modality for behavior therapy for pediatric challenging behavior. This preliminary study sought to (1) understand the factors impacting consumer decisions regarding virtual or in-person behavior therapy and (2) evaluate the associated clinical outcomes using a quasi-experimental design. Forty nine participants received behavioral services for the assessment and treatment of tantrum behaviors. Paired sample t-tests and a one-way ANOVA were conducted to evaluate outcomes. Results suggest choices were most frequently based on caregiver perceptions regarding speed of improvement; modality changes were most associated with failure to make progress. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a scoping review to characterize the role of caregiver involvement in behavior‐analytic research. We reviewed eight behavioral‐learning journals from 2011–2022 for works that included children or caregivers as participants and characterized caregiver involvement as passive (implications for caregivers, input, social validity) and active (implementation, caregiver behavior, training, caregiver‐collected data). The review identified 228 studies, and almost all (96.1%; n = 219) involved caregivers in some capacity; 94.3% (n = 215) had passive involvement (26.8% had only passive involvement; n = 61), 69.3% (n = 158) had active involvement (1.8% had only active involvement; n = 4), and 3.9% (n = 9) had neither passive nor active involvement. Involvement generally increased over publication years. The most common types of involvement were implications for caregivers, implementation, and input; caregiver‐collected data were rare. We propose considerations when engaging caregivers in research and suggest new avenues of inquiry related to caregivers' treatment objectives and social validity, treatment implementers, and caregiver‐collected data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional dysfunction is evident in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet it is unclear what aspects of the disorder most directly relate to aberrant emotional responding. Also, the frequent co-occurrence of blast-related mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) among recently deployed U.S. military personnel complicates efforts to understand the basis for emotional disruption. We studied a cross-sectional sample (enriched for PTSD and mTBI) of 123 U.S. veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We measured subjective affective evaluations and peripheral psychophysiological responses to images with pleasant, neutral, unpleasant, and combat-related aversive content. When compared with other postdeployment participants, those who had combat-related PTSD rated pleasant image content as less positive (ηp2 = .04) and less arousing (ηp2 = .06), and exhibited heightened physiological responsivity to combat image content (ηp2 = .07). Symptoms of PTSD were associated with elevated skin conductance responses (β = .28), reduced heart rate deceleration (β = .44 to .47), and increased corrugator facial muscle electromyography (β = .47). No effects for blast-related mTBI were observed across any affective modulation measures. These findings point to a greater impact of PTSD symptomatology than blast-related mTBI on emotional functioning and highlight the utility of dimensional assessments of psychopathology for understanding the effects of combat-stress conditions on adjustment to civilian life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at Vālmīki's use and placement of his female characters as significant markers of religious identity. It argues that Vālmīki conceptualizes and creates specific types of female figures and carefully locates the episodes in which they appear to mark specific narrative transitions and real or imagined anxiety- inducing threats to the author's idealized world. Moreover, Vālmīki provides his audience with potential resolutions to those threats. Thus, in addition to such major figures as Sītā, Kausalyā, and Kaikeyī, characters such as Anasūyā, Śabarī, Svayaṃprabhā, and even the non-human characters Surasā and Nikumbhilā are demonstrated to have a specific and integrated function within the narrative and are argued to form part of a larger, gendered narrative frame in which the epic action occurs. Each of these characters, I contend, represents a particular level of the feminine intruding into the culture's religious practices in an ever-increasing destabilization of the poet's idealized vedic world or as the means for its reemergence as a stronger, more stable, and less corruptible one. Vālmīki's creation and use of these intriguing figures provide further testament both to the author's genius and the underlying unity of structure of his great epic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with Williams syndrome and those with Down syndrome are both characterized by heightened social interest, although the manifestation is not always similar. Using a dot-probe task, we examined one possible source of difference: allocation of attention to facial expressions of emotion. Thirteen individuals with Williams syndrome (mean age = 19.2 years, range = 10–28.6), 20 with Down syndrome (mean age = 18.8 years, range = 12.1–26.3), and 19 typically developing children participated. The groups were matched for mental age (mean = 5.8 years). None of the groups displayed a bias to angry faces. The participants with Williams syndrome showed a selective bias toward happy faces, whereas the participants with Down syndrome behaved similarly to the typically developing participants with no such bias. Homogeneity in the direction of bias was markedly highest in the Williams syndrome group whose bias appeared to result from enhanced attention capture. They appeared to rapidly and selectively allocate attention toward positive facial expressions. The complexity of social approach behavior and the need to explore other aspects of cognition that may be implicated in this behavior in both syndromes is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have reported stability in Theory of Mind (ToM) skills from infancy to early childhood, although others have failed to report such findings. The present longitudinal study tested infants' performance on two implicit ToM tasks at 18 months of age, assessing the false belief concept and knowledge attribution abilities. Explicit ToM was measured at 4 years of age with the Wellman and Liu (2004) Theory of Mind Scale and a parental questionnaire, the Children's Social Understanding Scale (CSUS). None of the cross-wave correlations reached statistical significance. To increase the sample size, we then combined the data with a published experiment that tested the same constructs (N = 97) and replicated the lack of stability in the larger sample. These results challenge the conclusion that explicit false belief reasoning develops out of a precocious false belief concept. • Previous research suggests that false belief tested with implicit tasks can be challenging to replicate. • Infants performed poorly on a false belief interactive task but as expected on knowledge attribution task. • Recent studies testing the long-term stability of theory of mind have yielded mixed results. • No stability was observed between performance on theory of mind tasks at 18 months and theory of mind skills at 4 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a theory of improvisation as a way of knowing. Different musicians may know about similar musical structures in different ways; different ways of knowing facilitate particular kinds of perception and cognition that underlie different performance behaviors. Some of these ways of knowing can facilitate improvisatory performance practices. The details of these improvisatory ways of knowing can be characterized by psychological and neuroscientific experimental work that compares differences in perception and cognition between groups of musicians depending on their training methods and performance experiences. In particular, perception-action coupling is a promising place to begin making such comparisons. This approach provides an alternative operationalization of improvisation for scientific study that is not susceptible to the problems that arise when describing cognitive processes in culturally contingent and music- theoretically relative terms such as novelty, spontaneity, and freedom, as past experimental work has done. Its hypotheses are also more readily falsifiable. This perspective can also connect an understanding of musical improvisation to other domains of improvisation and to historical and ethnomusicological work, as well as square it with more general theories in cognitive science, such as perception-action coupling. Finally, such a formulation has productive implications for work on improvisation that does engage with concepts like novelty, spontaneity, and freedom that are traditionally invoked in improvisation discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research investigates the effects of top-down information on 12-month-olds’ representations of physical events, focusing on their ability to detect an object change across different events. Infants this age typically fail to detect height changes in events with tubes even though they successfully do so in events with covers. In Experiment  1, infants who saw a tube event in which objects did not interact successfully detected a change in an object’s height, suggesting that object interaction affects infants’ categorization of physical events. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the fine-grained process of event representation. In Experiment  2, infants detected the change in the tube event if they were led by pretest exposure to believe that the event was conducted with a cover. In Experiment  3, infants who initially believed so updated their representation if shown a tube before object interaction occurred (but not after). Together, these findings provide new evidence that infants, like older children and adults, actively construct physical events. Whether they notice a change depends on their existing knowledge and the current representation of the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Despite high levels of social engagement, the social competence of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) is frequently compromised. This descriptive study explores the ability of young people with WS to learn from facial expressions when provided as a source of feedback for their actions. Method Using a novel task, the ability to interpret facial expressions and adapt behaviour after receiving feedback in the form of happy or angry faces was assessed in 12 participants with WS aged between 10 and 28 years and with a mean nonverbal mental age of 6.5 years, and in typically developing (TD) children aged between 4 and 7 years. Results Individuals with WS were able to use facial expressions as feedback in a manner commensurate with their mental age, only when other cognitive demands were low. Their performance profile differed from that of the TD children matched for mental age and from the performance profile of 4 year olds. Conclusions Possible explanations for the unique performance profile observed in the participants with WS are discussed. The results highlight the need to examine social competencies in the context of the cognitive demands characteristic of social environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which determined the measurements of current-voltage characteristics of gallium arsenide double-barrier resonant tunneling structure (DBRTS). Influence of space-charge layers formed in a biased device on charge transport in DBRTS; Methodology; Results and discussion.

Ravennagrass, Saccharum ravennae (L.) L. [synonym: Erianthus ravennae (Linn.) P. Beauv.], is a robust perennial bunchgrass grown as an ornamental in the US, but, where adapted, has become naturalized in riparian areas. Little is known about the seed size distribution and germination characteristics of ravennagrass caryopses or intact spikelets. The objectives of this study were to determine, for two populations: (i) the caryopsis size distribution, (ii) the germination of sized caryopses, (iii) the length of seedling shoots and roots from caryopses of different sizes, (iv) the germination of unsized caryopses (UC) and intact spikelets (IS), and (v) the length of seedling shoots and roots from UC and IS. Although seed production of ravennagrass is relatively low, under favorable conditions, ravennagrass can produce more than 10,000 caryopses per panicle. Caryopses germinated well within 14 d and averaged >80% germination; however, caryopses germinated >90% if their mass was >0.3 mg. Intact spikelets were slower to germinate in 14 d and had a lower percentage of abnormally germinated seed compared with caryopses. Intact spikelets also had a significantly higher percentage of firm seeds compared with caryopses and the total potential germination of IS was greater than caryopses exceeding 90%. Understanding the germination characteristics of ravennagrass will aid in the development of seeding rates and the processing of seeds for agronomic uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increased focus within the human dimensions of climate change on understanding the complex and multiple ways of 'knowing' climate. While these discussions are important in recognising different ways of knowing the climate and climate change processes already underway, we argue that this epistemological approach is limited and challenging. It begins with an assumption that there is one world (climate) out there that can just be known differently, and that knowledge can be isolated from ways of being and acting in the world. This often results in a distilling of complex knowledge practices into information for the purposes of integration. Drawing from a material-semiotic approach from Science and Technology Studies ( STS), we propose a shift of focus to ontology, with an emphasis on the enactment of knowledge and reality (climate) simultaneously. We present ethnographic data from two drought events (2008/2009 and 2010/2011) among Maasai pastoralists in Northern Tanzania in East Africa to illustrate the value of such an approach, using multiple topologies (regional, network, fluid) for thinking through and following multiple enactments of drought in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently it has been discovered that positronium (Ps), after forming in metal-organic framework (MOF) crystals, is emitted into vacuum with a high efficiency and low energy that can only be explained by its propagating as delocalized Bloch states. We show that the Ps atoms are emitted from MOFs in a series of narrow energy peaks consistent with Ps at Bloch-state energy minima being emitted adiabatically into the vacuum. This implies that the Ps emission energy spectra can be directly compared with calculations to obtain detailed information about the Ps band structure in the MOF crystal. The narrow energy width of the lowest energy Ps peak from one MOF sample (2-Methylimidazole zinc salt ZIF-8) suggests it originates from a polaronic Ps surface state. Other peaks can be assigned to Ps with an effective mass of about twice that of bare Ps. Given the immense catalog of available MOF crystals, it should be possible to tune the Ps properties to make vastly improved sources with high production efficiency and a narrow energy spread, for use in fundamental physics experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM, also known as AdoMet) radical enzymes use SAM and a [4Fe-4S] cluster to catalyze a diverse array of reactions. They adopt a partial triose-phosphate isomerase (TIM) barrel fold with N- and C-terminal extensions that tailor the structure of the enzyme to its specific function. One extension, termed a SPASM domain, binds two auxiliary [4Fe-4S] clusters and is present within peptide-modifying enzymes. The first structure of a SPASM-containing enzyme, anaerobic sulfatase-maturating enzyme (anSME), revealed unexpected similarities to two non-SPASM proteins, butirosin biosynthetic enzyme 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosamine dehydrogenase (BtrN) and molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic enzyme (MoaA). The latter two enzymes bind one auxiliary cluster and exhibit a partial SPASM motif, coined a Twitch domain. Here we review the structure and function of auxiliary cluster domains within the SAM radical enzyme superfamily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary We argue that women’s empowerment is an ongoing, incremental, and relational process that occurs across scales and pathways. Using a contextualized mixed methods approach, we measure empowerment processes unfolding across Maasai villages in northern Tanzania as related to the interventions of two innovative grassroots NGOs. Our results indicate increased personal agency in the household and increased political participation at the societal level as related to NGO involvement. Moreover, we show links between increased personal agency, and changes in beliefs regarding gender norms at the societal level. This highlights the transformative potential for change and the links across empowerment pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If fermions interact with a scalar field, and there are many fermions present the scalar field may develop an expectation value and generate an effective mass for the fermions. This can lead to the formation of fermion clusters, which could be relevant for neutrino astrophysics and for dark matter astrophysics. Because this system may exhibit negative pressure, it also leads to a model of dark energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amine scrubbing is a thermodynamically efficient and industrially proven method for carbon capture, but amine solvents can nitrosate in the desorber, forming potentially carcinogenic nitrosamines. The kinetics of reactions involving nitrite and monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), methylethanolamine (MMEA), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) were determined under desorber conditions. The nitrosations of MEA, DEA, and MMEA are first order in nitrite, carbamate species, and hydronium ion. Nitrosation of MDEA, a tertiary amine, is not catalyzed by the addition of CO2 since it cannot form a stable carbamate. Concentrated and CO2 loaded MEA was blended with low concentrations of N-(2-hydroxyethyl) glycine (HeGly), hydroxyethyl-ethylenediamine (HEEDA), and DEA, secondary amines common in MEA degradation. Nitrosamine yield was proportional to the concentration of secondary amine and was a function of CO2 loading and temperature. Blends of tertiary amines with piperazine (PZ) showed n-nitrosopiperazine (MNPZ) yields close to unity, validating the slow nitrosation rates hypothesized for tertiary amines. These results provide a useful tool for estimating nitrosamine accumulation over a range of amine solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs at a high incidence, involving millions of individuals in the U.S. alone. Related to this, there are large numbers of litigants and claimants who are referred annually for forensic evaluation. In formulating opinions regarding claimed injuries, the present review advises experts to rely on two sets of information: TBI outcome and neuropsychological dose-response studies of non-litigants and non-claimants, and response bias literature that has demonstrated the relatively high risk of invalid responding among examinees referred within a secondary gain context, which in turn has resulted in the development of specific assessment methods. Regarding prospective methods for detecting possible response bias, both symptom validity tests, for measuring over-reporting of symptoms on inventories and questionnaires, and performance validity tests, for measuring insufficient effort on ability tests, are considered essential. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2-deoxy-scyllo-inosamine (DOIA) dehydrogenases are key enzymes in the biosynthesis of 2-deoxystreptamine–containing aminoglycoside antibiotics. In contrast to most DOIA dehydrogenases, which are NAD-dependent, the DOIA dehydrogenase from Bacillus circulans (BtrN) is an S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) radical enzyme. To examine how BtrN employs AdoMet radical chemistry, we have determined its structure with AdoMet and substrate to 1.56 Å resolution. We find a previously undescribed modification to the core AdoMet radical fold: instead of the canonical (β/α)6 architecture, BtrN displays a (β5/α4) motif. We further find that an auxiliary [4Fe-4S] cluster in BtrN, thought to bind substrate, is instead implicated in substrate–radical oxidation. High structural homology in the auxiliary cluster binding region between BtrN, fellow AdoMet radical dehydrogenase anSME, and molybdenum cofactor biosynthetic enzyme MoaA provides support for the establishment of an AdoMet radical structural motif that is likely common to ∼6,400 uncharacterized AdoMet radical enzymes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populations of the African lion Panthera leo are declining dramatically, with the species’ survival in some areas closely linked to levels of tolerance by rural communities. In Tanzania and Kenya several of the remaining lion populations outside protected areas reside adjacent to rural communities, where they are hunted. As many of these communities are Maasai, research and conservation efforts have focused on understanding and curbing Maasai lion hunting practices. Much of this work has been informed by a dichotomous explanatory model of Maasai lion hunting as either a ‘cultural’ ritual or a ‘retaliatory’ behaviour against predation on livestock. We present qualitative data from interviews (n = 246) in both countries to illustrate that lion hunting by Maasai is related to overlapping motivations that are simultaneously social, emotional and political (in response to conservation initiatives). Additional case study material from Tanzania highlights how politics associated with conservation activities and age-set dynamics affect lion hunting in complex and overlapping ways. Our findings contribute an ethnographic perspective on Maasai lion hunting, people–predator relations, and how these relations are linked to conservation politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite a decade of rhetoric on community conservation, current trends in Tanzania reflect a disturbing process of reconsolidation of state control over wildlife resources and increased rent-seeking behaviour, combined with dispossession of communities. Whereas the 1998 Wildlife Policy promoted community participation and local benefits, the subsequent policy of 2007 and the Wildlife Conservation Act of 2009 returned control over wildlife and over income from sport hunting and safari tourism to central government. These trends, which sometimes include the use of state violence and often take place in the name of 'community-based' conservation, are not, however, occurring without resistance from communities. This article draws on in-depth studies of wildlife management practices at three locations in northern Tanzania to illustrate these trends. The authors argue that this outcome is more than just the result of the neoliberalization of conservation. It reflects old patterns of state patrimony and rent seeking, combined with colonial narratives of conservation, all enhanced through neoliberal reforms of the past two decades. At the same time, much of the rhetoric of neoliberal reforms is being pushed back by the state in order to capture rent and interact with villagers in new and oppressive ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arylsulfatases require a maturating enzyme to perform a co- or posttranslational modification to form a catalytically essential formylglycine (FGly) residue. In organisms that live aerobically, molecular oxygen is used enzymatically to oxidize cysteine to FGly. Under anaerobic conditions, S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) radical chemistry is used. Here we present the structures of an anaerobic sulfatase maturating enzyme (anSME), both with and without peptidyl-substrates, at 1.6-1.8 Å resolution. We find that anSMEs differ from their aerobic counterparts in using backbone-based hydrogen-bonding patterns to interact with their peptidyl-substrates, leading to decreased sequence specificity. These anSME structures from Clostridium perfringens are also the first of an AdoMet radical enzyme that performs dehydrogenase chemistry. Together with accompanying mutagenesis data, a mechanistic proposal is put forth for how AdoMet radical chemistry is coopted to perform a dehydrogenation reaction. In the oxidation of cysteine or serine to FGly by anSME, we identify D277 and an auxiliary [4Fe-4S] cluster as the likely acceptor of the final proton and electron, respectively. D277 and both auxiliary clusters are housed in a cysteine-rich C-terminal domain, termed SPASM domain, that contains homology to ∼1,400 other unique AdoMet radical enzymes proposed to use [4Fe-4S] clusters to ligate peptidyl-substrates for subsequent modification. In contrast to this proposal, we find that neither auxiliary cluster in anSME bind substrate, and both are fully ligated by cysteine residues. Instead, our structural data suggest that the placement of these auxiliary clusters creates a conduit for electrons to travel from the buried substrate to the protein surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Piperazine (PZ) is an efficient amine for carbon capture systems, but it can form N-nitrosopiperazine (MNPZ), a carcinogen, from nitrogen oxides (NOx) in flue gas from coal or natural gas combustion. The reaction of nitrite with PZ was studied in 0.1 to 5 mol/dm3 PZ with 0.001 to 0.8 mol CO2/mol PZ at 50 to 135 °C. The reaction forming MNPZ is first order in nitrite, piperazine carbamate species, and hydronium ion. The activation energy is 84 ±2 kJ/mol with a rate constant of 8.5 × 103 ± 1.4 × 10³ dm6 mol-2 s-1 at 100 °C. The proposed mechanism involves protonation of the carbamate species, nucleophilic attack of the carbamic acid, and formation of bicarbonate and MNPZ. These kinetics and mechanism will be useful in identifying inhibitors and other strategies to reduce nitrosamine accumulation in CO2 capture by scrubbing with PZ or other amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The indolocarbazole biosynthetic enzymes StaC, InkE, RebC, and AtmC mediate the degree of oxidation of chromopyrrolic acid on route to the natural products staurosporine, K252a, rebeccamycin, and AT2433-A1, respectively. Here, we show that StaC and InkE, which mediate a net 4-electron oxidation, bind FAD with a micromolar Kd, whereas RebC and AtmC, which mediate a net 8-electron oxidation, bind FAD with a nanomolar Kd while displaying the same FAD redox properties. We further create RebC-10x, a RebC protein with ten StaC-like amino acid substitutions outside of previously characterized FAD-binding motifs and the complementary StaC-10x. We find that these mutations mediate both FAD affinity and product specificity, with RebC-10x displaying higher StaC activity than StaC itself. X-ray structures of this StaC catalyst identify the substrate of StaC as 7-carboxy-K252c and suggest a unique mechanism for this FAD-dependent enzyme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining the use of a flail-vac harvester, a hammer mill, and the Woodward WW2000 cleaner, Texas bluegrass (Poa arochnifera Torr. [Poaceae]) seeds were successfully harvested, cleaned, and planted with a notill drill at Woodward, Oklahoma. Texas bluegrass is one of only a few native, cool-season perennial grasses that withstand the region's heat, droughts, and grazing. It produces nutritious and palatable forage during the late fall, winter, and early spring when most warm-season rangeland forages are low in nutrients and least preferred by livestock. The use of Texas bluegrass has been severely limited because the extremely cottony seed head makes it difficult to harvest and clean the seeds so they will flow through a drill. Seeds were no-till drilled into clear ground or into herbicide-killed wheat stubble and Texas bluegrass stands were established on 22 March 2007 and 15 September 2008 when soil moisture was available on the drilling date and for 6 to 8 wk after planting. The cleaning and planting method presented here could enable more widespread use of Texas bluegrass for pasture establishment, inclusion in native mixed seedlots for rangeland restoration, or inclusion in warm-season native pastures lacking a cool-season component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L. [Poaceae]), evaluated for forage yield, quality, and seed production in the southern plains region of the US, produced between 1 3,41 7 and 18,015 kg/ha (11,979 and 16,084 lb/ac) dry matter when harvested 3 times per year without supplemental irrigation in 2008 and 2009. In this study, 4 cultivars and 3 experimental populations were evaluated. Seed yield collected in 2010 ranged from 181 to 436 kg/ha (1 62 to 389 lb/ac) with significant differences among ektries. Crude protein did not differ significantly between entries and ranged from 1720 to 2002 kg/ha (1536 to 1788 lb/ac). Digestibility ranged from 7543 to 9670 kg/ha (6735 to 8634 lb/ac) with only one entry significantly less digestible. The knowledge provided herein about improved cultivars along with local knowledge from other growers in your region who have established and maintained eastern gamagrass stands will be useful when selecting a cultivar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In humans, imaging of tumors provides rapid, accurate assessment of tumor growth and location. In laboratory animals, however, the imaging of spontaneously occurring tumors continues to pose many technical and logistical problems. Recently a mouse model was generated in which a chimeric protein consisting of HIF-1a oxygendependent degradation domain (ODD) fused to luciferase was ubiquitously expressed in all tissues. Hypoxic stress leads to the accumulation of ODD-luciferase in the tissues of this mouse model which can be identified by non-invasive bioluminescence measurement. Since solid tumors often contain hypoxic regions, we performed proof-of-principle experiments testing whether this transgenic mouse model may be used as a universal platform for non-invasive imaging analysis of spontaneous solid tumors. Methods and Materials: ODD-luciferase transgenic mice were bred with MMTV-neu/beclin1+/- mice. Upon injection of luciferin, bioluminescent background of normal tissues in the transgenic mice and bioluminescent signals from spontaneously mammary carcinomas were measured non-invasively with an IVIS Spectrum imaging station. Tumor volumes were measured manually and the histology of tumor tissues was analyzed. Conclusion: Our results show that spontaneous mammary tumors in ODD-luciferase transgenic mice generate substantial bioluminescent signals, which are clearly discernable from background tissue luminescence. Moreover, we demonstrate a strong quantitative correlation between the bioluminescent tumor contour and the volume of palpable tumors. We further demonstrate that shrinkage of the volume of spontaneous tumors in response to chemotherapeutic treatment can be determined quantitatively using this system. Finally, we show that the growth and development of spontaneous tumors can be monitored longitudinally over several weeks. Thus, our results suggest that this model could potentially provide a practical, reliable, and cost-effective non-invasive quantitative method for imaging spontaneous solid tumors in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and conservation efforts often occur in areas outside of national parks where people live, often side-by-side and sometimes in conflict with large carnivores. In Tanzania and Kenya much of this work employs a human-wildlife conflict perspective and is based in Maasai areas, where many of the few remaining lions exist. We argue that while Maasai do come into conflict with lions, their relationship with the large cats is far more complex and includes positive dimensions. With quantitative and qualitative data, including Maasai narratives, we illustrate the nuanced ways in which Maasai relate with lions. Our aim is to highlight the complexity of Maasai perceptions of lions and the importance of understanding these complexities for improved lion conservation. The article contributes to a broader research agenda on human-wildlife interactions, the importance of perceptions, and the value of ethnographic research in conservation science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The cellular process of macromolecular degradation known as macroautophagy has long been known to play a role in the elimination of mitochondria. Over the past decade, much progress has been made in the development of systems by which the nature and mechanism of mitochondria degradation may be studied. Recent findings imply that the degradation of mitochondria via autophagy may be more specific and more tightly regulated than originally thought, and have led to designation of this specific type of autophagy as “mitophagy”. In this review we provide a brief history of the development of mitophagy models and their associated discoveries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We sought to quantify the autocorrelation properties and fractal dynamics of interbreath interval (IBI) variability to see if short-term airway pressure (Paw) increases affected scaling behaviour. Data were collected in anaesthetised children at basal (Ba), medium (Me) and high (Hi) Paw. Consistent with short-range dependence, the autocorrelation function was significant at five (Ba) to three (Hi) lags but lost its significance at Me. Wavelet variance assessed in IBI suggests biphasic power law correlations with scale. In the low scale window for the crossover point, the positive exponents differed from the uncorrelated components in surrogate series at Ba (p <0.007) and Hi (p <0.002), supporting the existence of deterministic, persistent properties. On the contrary, white noise output was captured at Me and an antipersistent, random pattern characterised the high scale window. Intermediate Paw seems to reset the system to a stochastic, less complex behaviour while basal and high Paw would amplify the gain of non-random, correlated processes. This Paw-dependent modulation of IBI fractality and short-term memory indicates that integrative breathing control has an inherent multi-scaling structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Intubating Laryngeal Mask Airway (ILMA) is a supraglottic airway that facilitates ventilation and blind tracheal intubation. The LMA CTrach™ is functionally identical to the ILMA, but has an integrated fibreoptic bundle that provides a view of the larynx. This enables visualisation of tracheal intubation while delivering 100% oxygen, with or without an inhalational anaesthetic. We report awake insertion of the CTrach in three morbidly obese patients (BMI 60–63) with known or anticipated difficult airways. Pre-operatively, patients were given midazolam and glycopyrrolate intravenously, and then in the operating theatre the airway was anaesthetised with topical lidocaine 4%. The CTrach was inserted into the oropharynx of the still-awake patient, the vocal cords were visualised, and anaesthetic induction was commenced with sevoflurane and spontaneous ventilation. Neuromuscular blockers were not used and we were able to see the vocal cords during the entire anaesthetic induction and intubation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]