We evaluated sampling and detection methods for fungal contamination on healthcare surface materials, comparing the efficacy of foam sponges, flocked swabs, and Replicate Organism Detection And Counting (RODAC) plates alongside culture-based quantification and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Findings indicate that sponge sampling and qPCR detection performed best, suggesting a foundation for future studies aiming to surveillance practices for fungi.

We are the first to study how the resources freed up when a child, child-in-law, or grandchild moves out of a household are reallocated, taking into account the age of the leaver. Using the 2011 and 2013 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we document that, on average, the remaining household members save part of the resources freed up by the leaver and consume another part. Differentiating the leavers by age, we find that after the departure of a member of the younger generation aged 0–24, the remaining household members save the resources freed up by the leaver. However, if the leaver is above 24, they spend the freed-up resources. Our results are robust to the use of different specifications, estimation methods, and consumption aggregates. Finally, we observe that remittances directed toward non-resident offspring do not increase after the departure of a member of the younger generation.

Academic conferences are important institutions for promoting new research and facilitating conversations about the field. As a venue for knowledge exchange, professional development, and networking, conferences ideally promote positive environments that make scholars from underrepresented groups feel welcome. Yet, negative experiences at conferences are well documented. Codes of conduct have been promoted as tools to reduce harassment and discrimination. This article examines the prevalence and content of codes at US-based political science conferences and workshops. More specifically, we analyze whether and how codes address issues of sexual misconduct and identity-based discrimination. We find that 19% of 177 surveyed conferences have a code of conduct. Conferences that are older and larger are more likely to have codes, as are conferences that are run by organizations with permanent staff and relevant committees. We argue that effective conference codes must contain definitions, reporting channels, and enforcement procedures. Many of the analyzed codes did not explicitly define prohibited behaviors, specify mechanisms to report code violations, or describe consequences for misconduct.

“Multidimensional” accounts of autonomy offer multiple, rather than unitary, dimensions along which to measure autonomy. Such accounts are significant developments in the literature and help generate nuanced, degree-based frameworks. However, transnational feminists—those theorizing feminism in light of (post)colonialism and global neoliberalism—may raise concerns about multidimensional accounts for women in the Global South. For instance, there may be worries about the generalized focus and implicit individualism that still lurks. Sympathetic to both non-unitary autonomy and transnational feminist projects, I argue that multidimensional accounts can be salvaged from such critiques with two amendments. First, they can adopt what I label a “critical” relational framing, and second, they can include intersectional identities. Using commercial surrogates in India as an example, I show how these amendments to multidimensional theories might better serve these women of color, and indeed all persons.

The American craft beer industry’s creation narrative is rooted in countercultural food politics. Popular stories describe how plucky brewers pioneered complex and hoppy beers that revolutionized a bland American beer industry dominated by industrial lagers. Hops are now the most celebrated ingredient in the craft beer industry and serve as visual representations of the artisanal and revolutionary values of small brewers that contrasts with the industrial and bland products of the nation’s massive lager brewers. The history of hops and brewing presented here, however, demonstrates the connections between big and small brewers and the environmental impacts of craft brewers’ hoppy beers otherwise obscured by their preferred dichotomous narrative. Craft beer grew in tandem with the modern hop industry and became enmeshed with big business and industrial agricultural practices to access their signature commodity, hops. By integrating environmental and business history, this article explores how brewers, scientists, farmers, and nonhumans influenced each other to create the modern craft brewing industry. This approach demonstrates the often-obscured connections between big and small firms by examining the environments, organisms, and supply chains they depend upon.

The Industrial Removal Office funded 39,000 Jewish households to leave enclave neighborhoods in New York City from 1900 to 1922. Compared to neighbors with the same baseline occupation, program participants earned 4 percent more ten years after relocation. These gains persisted to the next generation. Benefits increased with more years spent outside of an enclave. Participants were more likely to speak English, and married spouses with less Jewish names. More Jewishly-identified men (as measured by own names) were more likely to return to the city. We contextualize these results with new national evidence on Jewish economic and cultural assimilation.

Understanding the movement ecology of threatened species is fundamental to improving management and conservation actions for their protection, mainly during the pre-adult stage and particularly when a species is subject to population reinforcement or reintroduction projects. An example is the case of the Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus on the Iberian Peninsula, an endangered species that has been reintroduced in different regions during the last two decades. Here, we explore differences between the spatial ecology of reintroduced pre-adult Cinereous Vultures, according to age-class, sex, and season (breeding and non-breeding). We used GPS-tag data from 51 pre-adult individuals reintroduced into Catalonia (north-east Spain) to describe their use of space, i.e. home-range size, core area, and minimum convex polygon (MCP) and movement patterns, i.e. cumulative distance, maximum displacement, maximum daily dispersal, and maximum annual dispersal. Our study showed significant variation in the use of space and movement patterns among pre-adult birds and the influences of age, sex, and season. Age was the most influential factor, determining range areas and movement patterns. Similar to other vulture species, home range and core areas increase with age, with subadult vultures exhibiting larger ranges than young first year, juveniles, and immature birds, but the MCP measures were larger for juveniles. Movement patterns were also influenced by age-class, with juveniles making longer movements, followed by immatures and subadults (with similar values), and shorter movements for birds during their first year of life. Overall, males made shorter movements and explored smaller foraging areas than females. Season had an important effect on movement patterns, and the daily and dispersal movements were longer during the breeding period (February–August). Our findings fill a knowledge gap regarding the dispersal behaviours of Cinereous Vultures, information that will enable the improvement of management and conservation decisions.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is actively transitioning away from a disease-centric model of healthcare to one that prioritizes disease prevention and the promotion of overall health and well-being. Described as Whole Health, this initiative aims to provide personalized, values-centered care that optimizes physical, behavioral, spiritual, and socioeconomic well-being. To inform this initiative, we analyzed cross-sectional data from a nationally representative sample of primarily older U.S. military veterans to estimate levels of well-being across these domains, and identify sociodemographic, military, and potentially modifiable health and psychosocial correlates of them. Results revealed that, overall, veterans reported high domain-specific well-being (average scores ranging from 6.7 to 8.3 out of 10), with the highest levels in the socioeconomic domain and lowest in the physical domain. Several modifiable factors, including purpose in life, resilience, and social support, were strongly associated with the examined well-being domains. Interventions targeting these constructs may help promote well-being among U.S. veterans.