Mixed-layer clays of variable composition and structure occur in core samples from two drillholes (WK207 and WK210) drilled into the Te Mihi sector of the Wairakei geothermal field. These were identified by X-ray diffraction analysis of glycolated and oriented sample fractions at less than 2 μm and less than 0.2 μm.

Low permeability lacustrine sediments encountered by drillhole WK207 contain a well-developed sequence of mixed-layer clays. The shallowest downhole appearance of mixed-layered illite/smectite (I0.6/Sm) occurs at 146 m depth where temperature is only 100°C. Discrete illite is present only below 297 m (200°C) in the finer size fraction (less than 0.2 ¼m). Chlorite first appears downhole, in association with illite-smectite, at 177 m depth (110°C).

Drillhole WK210 encountered predominantly ignimbrites and rhyolites, and fluid flow here is mainly in channels. Within these rocks, a sequence of interlayered clays is poorly developed. Discrete illite and chlorite are present in core from only 244 m (180°), but the measured temperatures where interlayer clays occur ranges from 140 to 209°C.

Differences in the identity of clay minerals present in the Wairakei reservoir, where conditions are otherwise the same, demonstrate the strong control that the type of fluid flow has on their formation. In poorly-permeable sediments, where diffuse fluid flow prevails, a clearly-defined sequence of mixed-layer clays occurs. These are absent where channel flow dominates, the discrete chlorite and illite deposit directly from solution.

To investigate the symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, their dynamics and their discriminatory power for the disease using longitudinally, prospectively collected information reported at the time of their occurrence. We have analysed data from a large phase 3 clinical UK COVID-19 vaccine trial. The alpha variant was the predominant strain. Participants were assessed for SARS-CoV-2 infection via nasal/throat PCR at recruitment, vaccination appointments, and when symptomatic. Statistical techniques were implemented to infer estimates representative of the UK population, accounting for multiple symptomatic episodes associated with one individual. An optimal diagnostic model for SARS-CoV-2 infection was derived. The 4-month prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was 2.1%; increasing to 19.4% (16.0%–22.7%) in participants reporting loss of appetite and 31.9% (27.1%–36.8%) in those with anosmia/ageusia. The model identified anosmia and/or ageusia, fever, congestion, and cough to be significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Symptoms’ dynamics were vastly different in the two groups; after a slow start peaking later and lasting longer in PCR+ participants, whilst exhibiting a consistent decline in PCR- participants, with, on average, fewer than 3 days of symptoms reported. Anosmia/ageusia peaked late in confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (day 12), indicating a low discrimination power for early disease diagnosis.

The potential utilization of a cold-contact approach to research recruitment, where members of the research team are unknown to the patient, has grown with the expanded use of electronic health records (EHRs) and affiliated patient portals. Institutions that permit this strategy vary in their implementation and management of it but tend to lean towards more conservative approaches. This process paper describes the Medical University of South Carolina’s transition to an opt-out model of “cold-contact” recruitment (known as patient outreach recruitment or POR), wherein patients can be contacted so long as they do not express an unwillingness to receive such communication. The work highlights the benefits of this model by explaining how it, in many ways, supports and protects autonomy, beneficence, and justice for patients. The paper then describes the process of standing up the recruitment strategy, communicating the change to patients and the community, and documenting study team contact and patient research preference. Data supporting increased access to potentially eligible patients of greater diversity as well as initial researcher feedback on perceived success of POR is also shared. The paper ends with a discussion of next steps to enhance the POR process via more detailed data collection and reengagement with community stakeholders.

The Black-capped Petrel or Diablotin Pterodroma hasitata has a fragmented and declining population estimated at c.1,000 breeding pairs. On land, the species nests underground in steep ravines with dense understorey vegetation. The only confirmed breeding sites are located in the mountain ranges of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, where habitat loss and degradation are continuing threats. Other nesting populations may still remain undiscovered but, to locate them, laborious in situ nest searches must be conducted over expansive geographical areas. To focus nest-search efforts more efficiently, we analysed the environmental characteristics of Black-capped Petrel nesting habitat and modeled suitable habitat on Hispaniola using openly available environmental datasets. We used a univariate generalized linear model to compare the habitat characteristics of active Black-capped Petrel nests sites with those of potentially available sites (i.e. random pseudo-absences). Elevation, distance to coast, and the influence of tree cover and density emerged as important environmental variables. We then applied multivariate generalized linear models to these environmental variables that showed a significant relationship with petrel nesting activity. We used the top performing model of habitat suitability model to create maps of predicted suitability for Hispaniola. In addition to areas of known petrel activity, the model identified possible nesting areas for Black-capped Petrels in habitats not previously considered suitable. Based on model results, we estimated the total area of predicted suitable nesting habitat for Black-capped Petrels on Hispaniola and found that forest loss due to hurricanes, forest fires, and encroachment from agriculture had severely decreased availability of predicted suitable habitat between 2000 and 2018.

Glyphosate is an important component of herbicide programs in orchard crops in California. It can be applied alone or in tank-mix combinations under the crop rows or to the entire field and often is used multiple times each year. There has been speculation about the potential impacts of repeated use of glyphosate in perennial crop systems, because of uptake from shallow root systems or indirectly because of effects on nutrient availability in soil. To address these concerns, research was conducted from 2013 to 2020 on key orchard crops to evaluate tree response to glyphosate regimens. Almond, cherry, and prune were evaluated in separate experiments. In each crop, the experimental design was a factorial arrangement of two soil types, four glyphosate rates (0, 1.1, 2.2, and 4.4 kg ae ha−1, applied three times annually), and two post-glyphosate application irrigation treatments. In the first 2 yr of the study, there was no clear impact of the glyphosate regimens on shikimate accumulation or leaf chlorophyll content, which suggested no direct effect on the crop. In the seventh year of the study, after six consecutive years of glyphosate application to the orchard floors, there were no negative impacts of glyphosate application on leaf nutrient concentration or on cumulative trunk growth in any of the three orchard crops. Lack of a negative growth impact even at the highest treatment rate, which included 18 applications of glyphosate totaling nearly 80 kg ae ha−1 glyphosate over the course of the experiment suggest there is not likely a significant risk to tree health of judicious use of the herbicide in these production systems. Given the economic importance of orchard crops in California, and grower and industry concerns about pesticides generally and specifically about glyphosate, these findings are timely contributions to weed management concerns in perennial specialty crops.

As it has been written, the history of humanitarian intervention is all too Whiggish and all too white. By conceptualising humanitarian intervention in the way that they do, orthodox histories should be seen as entangled in debates about the origins of human rights but also, perhaps more crucially, debates about the various formations and reinventions of human rights. Alternative codifications of rights reveal the historical possibility of a Southern practice of what we would almost certainly call ‘humanitarian intervention’. The record of a radical Third World practice to save strangers from the atrocities of colonialism and extreme racism is also a record of Western states playing staunchly sovereigntist roles, of the West's late devotion to Westphalia. To sketch out such a counterhistory is to argue the following: at a threshold moment in the international-political life of the Responsibility to Protect, it is the terms, range, and domain of the intervention debate that must be re-formulated and re-evaluated.

Southern crabgrass [Digitaria ciliaris (Retz.) Koeler] is an annual grass weed that commonly infests turfgrass, roadsides, wastelands, and cropping systems throughout the southeastern United States. Two biotypes of D. ciliaris (R1 and R2) with known resistance to cyclohexanediones (DIMs) and aryloxyphenoxypropionates (FOPs) previously collected from sod production fields in Georgia were compared with a separate susceptible biotype (S) collected from Alabama for the responses to pinoxaden and to explore the possible mechanisms of resistance. Increasing rates of pinoxaden (0.1 to 23.5 kg ha−1) were evaluated for control of R1, R2, and S. The resistant biotypes, R1 and R2, were resistant to pinoxaden relative to S. The S biotype was completely controlled at rates of 11.8 and 23.5 kg ha−1, resulting in no aboveground biomass at 14 d after treatment. Pinoxaden rates at which tiller length and aboveground biomass would be reduced 50% (I50) and 90% (I90) for R1, R2, and S ranged from 7.2 to 13.2 kg ha−1, 6.9 to 8.6 kg ha−1, and 0.7 to 2.1 kg ha−1, respectively, for tiller length, and 7.7 to 10.2 kg ha−1, 7.2 to 7.9 kg ha−1, and 1.6 to 2.3 kg ha−1, respectively, for aboveground biomass. Prior selection pressure from DIM and FOP herbicides could result in the evolution of D. ciliaris cross-resistance to pinoxaden herbicides. Amplification of the carboxyl-transferase domain of the plastidic ACCase by standard PCR identified a point mutation resulting in an Ile-1781-Leu amino acid substitution only for the resistant biotype, R1. Further cloning of PCR product surrounding the 1781 region yielded two distinct ACCase gene sequences, Ile-1781 and Leu-1781. The amino acid substitution, Ile-1781-Leu in both resistant biotypes (R1 and R2), however, was revealed by next-generation sequencing of RNA using Illumina platform. A point mutation in the Ile-1781 codon leading to herbicide insensitivity in the ACCase enzyme has been previously reported in other grass species. Our research confirms that the Ile-1781-Leu substitution is present in pinoxaden-resistant D. ciliaris.

Waterhemp [Amaranthus tuberculatus (Moq.) J. D. Sauer] and Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri S. Watson) are troublesome weeds of row-crop production in the United States. Their dioecious reproductive systems ensure outcrossing, facilitating rapid evolution and distribution of resistances to multiple herbicides. Little is known, however, about the genetic basis of dioecy in Amaranthus species. In this work, we use restriction site–associated DNA sequencing (RAD-Seq) to investigate the genetic basis of sex determination in A. tuberculatus and A. palmeri. For each species, approximately 200 plants of each sex were sampled and used to create RAD-Seq libraries. The resulting libraries were separately bar-coded and then pooled for sequencing with the Illumina platform, yielding millions of 64-bp reads. These reads were analyzed to identify sex-specific and sex-biased sequences. We identified 345 male-specific sequences from the A. palmeri data set and 2,754 male-specific sequences in A. tuberculatus. An unexpected 723 female-specific sequences were identified in a subset of the A. tuberculatus females; subsequent research, however, indicated female specificity of these markers was limited to the population from which they were identified. Primer sets designed to specifically amplify male-specific sequences were tested for accuracy on multiple, geographically distinct populations of A. tuberculatus and A. palmeri, as well as other Amaranthus species. Two primer sets for A. palmeri and four primer sets for A. tuberculatus were each able to distinguish between male and female plants with at least 95% accuracy. In the near term, sex-specific markers will be useful to the A. tuberculatus and A. palmeri research communities (e.g., to predict sex for crossing experiments). In the long-term, this research will provide the foundational tools for detailed investigations into the molecular biology and evolution of dioecy in weedy Amaranthus species.

The emergence of and reaction to policy scandals has been usefully studied through comparative case studies. Far less attention has been devoted, however, to the study of such scandals in long-term historical context. With the aim of illuminating longer-term social processes which shape the likelihood that (health)care scandals emerge, we delineate three areas where such changes are visible: a) changing formats of social relations and emotions within and around care provision, and thereby understandings of and demands for compassionate care; b) heightened organisational and political sensitivity to failings; and c) changes in media reporting on healthcare failings, as well as in policy-makers’ responsiveness to and manipulation of media. We consider the 2013 Mid Staffordshire scandal in the English National Health Service and the extant policy literature on this scandal to help illuminate the added analytical value of our long-term approach. In the final section we explore the interconnection of the three processes and how longer-term approaches open up new vistas for policy analysis.

Recent modelling estimates up to two-thirds of new HIV infections among men who have sex with men occur within partnerships, indicating the importance of dyadic HIV prevention efforts. Although new interventions are available to promote dyadic health-enhancing behaviours, minimal research has examined what factors influence partners’ mutual engagement in these behaviours, a critical component of intervention success. Actor-partner interdependence modelling was used to examine associations between relationship characteristics and several dyadic outcomes theorised as antecedents to health-enhancing behaviours: planning and decision making, communication, and joint effort. Among 270 male-male partnerships, relationship satisfaction was significantly associated with all three outcomes for actors (p = .02, .02, .06 respectively). Latino men reported poorer planning and decision making (actor p = .032) and communication (partner p = .044). Alcohol use was significantly and negatively associated with all outcomes except actors’ planning and decision making (actors: p = .11, .038, .004 respectively; partners: p = .03, .056, .02 respectively). Having a sexual agreement was significantly associated with actors’ planning and decision making (p = .007) and communication (p = .008). Focusing on interactions between partners produces a more comprehensive understanding of male couples’ ability to engage in health-enhancing behaviours. This knowledge further identifies new and important foci for the tailoring of dyadic HIV prevention and care interventions.