This study examines the grazing management plans (GMPs) adoption and prioritization of environmental and economic objectives among U.S. cow-calf and stocker operations, utilizing 2020–2021 survey data and logistic regression analysis. Findings reveal regional adoption differences, with higher rates in the Midwest. Operations with succession plans, larger grazing lands, and stocker activities are more likely to adopt GMPs. Operations with more privately owned land and smaller herd sizes prefer environmental goals, while those with less grazing land prioritize economic outcomes due to resource concerns. The study provides insights for policies promoting GMP adoption and sustainability in the U.S. beef sector.

Bentonites are readily available clays used in the livestock industry as feed additives to reduce aflatoxin (AF) exposure; their potential interaction with nutrients is the main concern limiting their use, however. The objective of the present study was to determine the safety of a dietary sodium-bentonite (Na-bentonite) supplement as a potential AF adsorbent, using juvenile Sprague Dawley (SD) rats as a research model. Animals were fed either a control diet or a diet containing Na-bentonite at 0.25% and 2% (w/w) inclusion rate. Growth, serum, and blood biochemical parameters, including selected serum vitamins (A and E) and elements such as calcium (Ca), potassium (K), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) were measured. The mineral characteristics and the aflatoxin B1 sorption capacity of Na-bentonite were also determined. By the end of the study, males gained more weight than females in control and Na-bentonite groups (p ≤ 0.0001); the interaction between treatment and sex was not significant (p = 0.6780), however. Some significant differences between the control group and bentonite treatments were observed in serum biochemistry and vitamin and minerals measurements; however, parameters fell within reference clinical values reported for SD rats and no evidence of dose-dependency was found. Serum Na and Na/K ratios were increased, while K levels were decreased in males and females from Na-bentonite groups. Serum Zn levels were decreased only in males from Na-bentonite treatments. Overall, results showed that inclusion of Na-bentonite at 0.25% and 2% did not cause any observable toxicity in a 3-month rodent study.

This study provides the first focused investigation of rudist bivalves from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) in the southern US and previously undescribed specimens from the Flor de Alba Limestone Member of the Pozas Formation in Puerto Rico. Identified rudists from the GCP comprise the Monopleuridae, including Gyropleura, as well as Radiolitidae, including Biradiolites cardenasensi, Durania maxima, Guanacastea jamaicensis, Radiolites acutocostata, and Sauvagesia. Integrating rudist occurrences within well-established GCP biostratigraphy allows for extension of upper ranges of D. maxima and R. acutocostata into the late Campanian, and extension of the lower ranges of B. cardenasensis and G. jamaicensis into the early Campanian. Identified rudists from Puerto Rico comprise the Hippuritidae and include Barrettia monilifera, which supports the age of the Flor de Alba Limestone Member of the Pozas Formation as middle Campanian. Combined taxonomic, biostratigraphic, and paleobiogeographic analyses indicate there is no rudist fauna endemic to the GCP, and the region marks the northeastern range of the Caribbean genera Biradiolites, Durania, Guanacastea, Gyropleura, Radiolites, and Sauvagesia during the Campanian and Maastrichtian. The new occurrences help inform future updates of Late Cretaceous sea surface-current reconstructions for the Caribbean and Western Interior Seaway, USA.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Learners will:

• Identify social structures that serve as root causes of health disparities

• Critically evaluate the ways in which racism, culture, and power perpetuate disparity

• Use critical reflection to shape their research and advocate for institutional change

METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The Integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) Health Equity curriculum provides a lens for participants to view health disparities, social structures that create and perpetuate disparities, and the path to a more equitable future. This longitudinal workforce curriculum incorporates the principles of critical race theory (CRT), including: race as a social construct, structural determinism, intersectionality, and the social construction of knowledge. Learners gain practical experience through facilitated group discussions and critical reflection of their own work including research question design, recruitment, dissemination, and enhancing the faculty pipeline. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: To measure the impact of the curriculum, we will evaluate learners’ participation in mentoring activities for persons from underrepresented backgrounds; participation in local and national diversity and inclusion efforts; engagement in community-based research; ability to account for implicit bias and power imbalances in their research design, including in recruitment and retention; and share research findings with community members and research participants. Evaluation strategies will include quantitative and qualitative methodologies. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: There is growing recognition of the impact of racism on the development and perpetuation of health disparities. Public health critical race praxis (an adaptation of CRT) is emerging as a theoretical framework to empower researchers to challenge the status quo in order to achieve health equity.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Provider and hospital factors influence quality, but granular data is lacking to assess their impact on renal cancer surgery. The Maryland Health Service Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) is an independent state agency that promotes cost containment, access to care and accountability. Within HSCRC, we aimed to assess the impact of surgeon and hospital volume on 30-day outcomes after renal cancer surgery. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Data on renal surgery were abstracted from the Maryland HSCRC from 2000-2018. We excluded patients younger than 18, patients without a diagnosis of renal cancer, and patients concurrently receiving another major surgery. Volume categories were derived from the distribution of mean cases performed per year. We used adjusted multivariable logistic and linear regression models to identify associations of surgeon and hospital volume with the length of stay, days in intensive care, cost, 30-day mortality, readmission, and complications. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: A total of 10,590 surgeries, completed by 669 surgeons at 48 hospitals, met criteria. The 25th percentile for cases per year was 1, the 50th percentile was 1.2, and the 75th percentile was 2.6. After adjusting for patient factors and cumulative surgeon experience, high volume surgeons had the greatest decrease in length of stay (β: −1.65, P<0.001) and mortality risk (OR: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.10-0.71) compared to rare volume surgeons. Low volume surgeons had the greatest cost decrease (β: -$7,300, P<0.001) compared to rare volume surgeons. Medium volume hospitals had statistically lower average costs than rare volume hospitals (β: $−2,862, P = 0.005). There were no other clinically and statistically significant relationships between volume and measured outcomes. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Almost half of the urologists studied performed an average of one renal cancer case per year. Greater surgeon volume was associated with shorter length of stay and decreased mortality risk. Hospital volume did not have a meaningful relationship to outcomes. Other factors such as tumor, surgeon, and hospital characteristics or case-mix may associate with outcomes and could be confounders.

We test the antiquity of a dietary life history model on Tutuila, American Samoa. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in serial, age-adjusted samples of first and third molars reveal isotopic biographies of 16 individuals from five late Holocene (200–1100 RCYBP) sites. Combining this with bone collagen from a larger sample of individuals, we document a patterned dietary life history on the island. Between ages zero and two years, infants show elevated δ15N values, consistent with a diet rich in breast milk. In early childhood (two–10 years), individuals shift to a diet with higher δ13C values, suggesting greater marine protein intake. Around age 10 years, males shift to a more terrestrially focused diet, while females retain a higher marine signature. After ~20 years of age, males and females are more similar in diet, with a greater contribution from terrestrial resources. We argue that these shifts reflect diet-marked social transitions in life histories, especially social status and eating order within households, as predicted from the ethnographic model. When contextualized with other archaeological data, such as mortuary patterns and social organization, the isotopic biographic approach facilitates examination of diet-linked social transitions of individuals as they aged within ancient societies.

In his 1916 book, The Measurement of Intelligence, Lewis Terman presented the first version of the Stanford-Binet scale and his testing results for groups of California children. Singling out a few children whose scores fell in the range he categorized as “feeble-minded,” Terman commented:

The evolution of glyphosate resistance in weedy species places an environmentally benign herbicide in peril. The first report of a dicot plant with evolved glyphosate resistance was horseweed, which occurred in 2001. Since then, several species have evolved glyphosate resistance and genomic information about nontarget resistance mechanisms in any of them ranges from none to little. Here, we report a study combining iGentifier transcriptome analysis, cDNA sequencing, and a heterologous microarray analysis to explore potential molecular and transcriptomic mechanisms of nontarget glyphosate resistance of horseweed. The results indicate that similar molecular mechanisms might exist for nontarget herbicide resistance across multiple resistant plants from different locations, even though resistance among these resistant plants likely evolved independently and available evidence suggests resistance has evolved at least four separate times. In addition, both the microarray and sequence analyses identified non–target-site resistance candidate genes for follow-on functional genomics analysis.

Variation in crop–weed interference relationships has been shown for a number of crop–weed mixtures and may have an important influence on weed management decision-making. Field experiments were conducted at seven locations over 2 yr to evaluate variation in common lambsquarters interference in field corn and whether a single set of model parameters could be used to estimate corn grain yield loss throughout the northcentral United States. Two coefficients (I and A) of a rectangular hyperbola were estimated for each data set using nonlinear regression analysis. The I coefficient represents corn yield loss as weed density approaches zero, and A represents maximum percent yield loss. Estimates of both coefficients varied between years at Wisconsin, and I varied between years at Michigan. When locations with similar sample variances were combined, estimates of both I and A varied. Common lambsquarters interference caused the greatest corn yield reduction in Michigan (100%) and had the least effect in Minnesota, Nebraska, and Indiana (0% yield loss). Variation in I and A parameters resulted in variation in estimates of a single-year economic threshold (0.32 to 4.17 plants m−1 of row). Results of this study fail to support the use of a common yield loss–weed density function for all locations.

Technical efficiency for cotton growers is examined using both stochastic (SFA) and nonstochastic (DEA) production function approaches. The empirical application uses farm-level data from four counties in west Texas. While efficiency scores for the individual farms differed between SFA and DEA, the mean efficiency scores are invariant of the method of estimation under the assumption of constant returns to scale. On average, irrigated farms are 80% and nonirrigated farms are 70% efficient. Findings show that in Texas, the irrigated farms, on average, could reduce their expenditures on other inputs by 10%, and the nonirrigated farms could reduce their expenditures on machinery and labor by 12% and 13%, respectively, while producing the same level of output.

In 1950, the Denver Catholic Register published an article describing and challenging the varieties of “prejudice” that a military pilot moving from base to base in the United States might encounter. To “successfully transact business” in the vicinity of various “metropolitan landing fields,” the writer admonished, the veteran must:

Four policy alternatives for CRP lands upon expiration of the current contracts in Hale County, Texas are evaluated using chance-constrained programming. It was found that if CRP contracts are extended at the current average rental rate, 40 percent of the current enrollment would be expected to return to crop production, while 66 percent would return to crop production if the program were eliminated. The results also indicate that the marginal value of CRP payments to producers is lower than the marginal value of deficiency payments.

The future use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands is an important agricultural policy issue. To examine the effects of factors that influence landowners' post-contract use of CRP lands, a survey of Texas High Plains CRP contract holders was conducted in 1992. This study analyzes the results of the survey using a qualitative choice model. It was found that the presence of a livestock enterprise in the current contract holder's operation increases the probability of these acres remaining in the established cover. Contract holders who value the commodity base have an increased probability of returning their acres to crop production.

Volcanic eruptions commonly produce buoyant ash-laden plumes that rise through the stratified atmosphere. On reaching their level of neutral buoyancy, these plumes cease rising and transition to horizontally spreading intrusions. Such intrusions occur widely in density-stratified fluid environments, and in this paper we develop a shallow-layer model that governs their motion. We couple this dynamical model to a model for particle transport and sedimentation, to predict both the time-dependent distribution of ash within volcanic intrusions and the flux of ash that falls towards the ground. In an otherwise quiescent atmosphere, the intrusions spread axisymmetrically. We find that the buoyancy-inertial scalings previously identified for continuously supplied axisymmetric intrusions are not realised by solutions of the governing equations. By calculating asymptotic solutions to our model we show that the flow is not self-similar, but is instead time-dependent only in a narrow region at the front of the intrusion. This non-self-similar behaviour results in the radius of the intrusion growing with time $t$ as $t^{3/4}$ , rather than $t^{2/3}$ as suggested previously.We also identify a transition to drag-dominated flow, which is described by a similarity solution with radial growth now proportional to $t^{5/9}$ . In the presence of an ambient wind, intrusions are not axisymmetric. Instead, they are predominantly advected downstream, while at the same time spreading laterally and thinning vertically due to persistent buoyancy forces. We show that close to the source, this lateral spreading is in a buoyancy-inertial regime, whereas far downwind, the horizontal buoyancy forces that drive the spreading are balanced by drag. Our results emphasise the important role of buoyancy-driven spreading, even at large distances from the source, in the formation of the flowing thin horizontally extensive layers of ash that form in the atmosphere as a result of volcanic eruptions.

The unique nature of the Ogallala Aquifer presents interesting and confounding problems for water policymakers who are coping with changing groundwater rules in Texas. The purpose of this article is to link previous efforts in water policy research for the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas with current collaborations that are ongoing with regional water planners. A chronological progression of economic water modeling efforts for the region is reviewed. The results of two recent collaborative studies are presented that provide estimates of impacts of alternative policies on groundwater saturated thickness, water use, net farm income, and regional economic activities.