The Magellanic Stream (MS), a tail of diffuse gas formed from tidal and ram pressure interactions between the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC) and the Halo of the Milky Way, is primarily composed of neutral atomic hydrogen (HI). The deficiency of dust and the diffuse nature of the present gas make molecular formation rare and difficult, but if present, could lead to regions potentially suitable for star formation, thereby allowing us to probe conditions of star formation similar to those at high redshifts. We search for $\text{HCO}^{+}$, HCN, HNC, and C$_2$H using the highest sensitivity observations of molecular absorption data from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) to trace these regions, comparing with HI archival data from the Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array (GALFA) HI Survey and the Galactic All Sky Survey (GASS) to compare these environments in the MS to the HI column density threshold for molecular formation in the Milky Way. We also compare the line of sight locations with confirmed locations of stars, molecular hydrogen, and OI detections, though at higher sensitivities than the observations presented here.

We find no detections to a 3$\sigma$ significance, despite four sightlines having column densities surpassing the threshold for molecular formation in the diffuse regions of the Milky Way. Here we present our calculations for the upper limits of the column densities of each of these molecular absorption lines, ranging from $3 \times 10^{10}$ to $1 \times 10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$. The non-detection of $\text{HCO}^{+}$ suggests that at least one of the following is true: (i) $X_{\text{HCO}^{+}{}, \mathrm{MS}}$ is significantly lower than the Milky Way value; (ii) that the widespread diffuse molecular gas observed by Rybarczyk (2022b, ApJ, 928, 79) in the Milky Way’s diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) does not have a direct analogue in the MS; (iii) the HI-to-$\text{H}_{2}$ transition occurs in the MS at a higher surface density in the MS than in the LMC or SMC; or (iv) molecular gas exists in the MS, but only in small, dense clumps.

Hard cider is a sector of a maturing craft beverage industry that continues to experience growth in the United States. Cider is also experiencing challenges, however, such as competition from other alcohol markets, changing consumer preferences, the supply chain, and inflationary pressures. National policy changes may help promote more optimal outcomes for this sector, but public support is important to policy formation. This study uses survey data from a best-worst scaling experiment of consumers in four leading cider-producing states (Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, and Vermont) to understand preferences toward ten broad cider policy initiatives. The results of multinomial logistic modeling reveal that consumers prefer policies mandating ingredients, nutrition facts, and allergen labeling across all ciders. The least preferred policy initiatives include allowing producers to use vintage on labeling and funding regional cider development. These results have important implications for stakeholders across the industry, including the benefits of labeling disclosures in marketing and the need to improve public awareness of barriers to cider industry development.

Capacity development is critical to long-term conservation success, yet we lack a robust and rigorous understanding of how well its effects are being evaluated. A comprehensive summary of who is monitoring and evaluating capacity development interventions, what is being evaluated and how, would help in the development of evidence-based guidance to inform design and implementation decisions for future capacity development interventions and evaluations of their effectiveness. We built an evidence map by reviewing peer-reviewed and grey literature published since 2000, to identify case studies evaluating capacity development interventions in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. We used inductive and deductive approaches to develop a coding strategy for studies that met our criteria, extracting data on the type of capacity development intervention, evaluation methods, data and analysis types, categories of outputs and outcomes assessed, and whether the study had a clear causal model and/or used a systems approach. We found that almost all studies assessed multiple outcome types: most frequent was change in knowledge, followed by behaviour, then attitude. Few studies evaluated conservation outcomes. Less than half included an explicit causal model linking interventions to expected outcomes. Half of the studies considered external factors that could influence the efficacy of the capacity development intervention, and few used an explicit systems approach. We used framework synthesis to situate our evidence map within the broader literature on capacity development evaluation. Our evidence map (including a visual heat map) highlights areas of low and high representation in investment in research on the evaluation of capacity development.

ABSTRACT IMPACT: Brain networks can be explored by delivering brief pulses of electrical current in one area while measuring responses in other areas, and this describes an open-source novel algorithm to carry out this exploration. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: If we focus on a single brain site and observe the average effect of stimulating each of many other brain sites, visually-apparent motifs in the temporal response shape emerge from adjacent stimulation sites. There are no existing approaches to identify and quantify the spatiotemporal structure of these motifs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Individual stimulation trials are correlated with one another, then a correlation-significance matrix quantifying similarity between stimulation sites is decomposed with non-negative matrix factorization, in which the inner dimension is iteratively reduced. The dimensionality reduction identifies stimulation sites that produce a common elicited temporal response, and linear kernel PCA is applied to obtain the robust profile of this response cluster. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We describe and illustrate a data-driven approach to determine characteristic spatiotemporal structure in these response shapes, summarized by a set of unique ‘basis profile curves’ (BPCs). Each BPC may be mapped back to underlying anatomy in a natural way, quantifying projection strength from each stimulation site using simple metrics. Our technique is demonstrated for an array of implanted brain surface electrodes in a human patient, and our code is shared at https://purl.stanford.edu/rc201dv0636. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: This framework enables straightforward interpretation of single-pulse brain stimulation data, and can be applied generically to explore the diverse milieu of interactions that comprise the connectome.

In April 2019, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released its recovery plan for the jaguar Panthera onca after several decades of discussion, litigation and controversy about the status of the species in the USA. The USFWS estimated that potential habitat, south of the Interstate-10 highway in Arizona and New Mexico, had a carrying capacity of c. six jaguars, and so focused its recovery programme on areas south of the USA–Mexico border. Here we present a systematic review of the modelling and assessment efforts over the last 25 years, with a focus on areas north of Interstate-10 in Arizona and New Mexico, outside the recovery unit considered by the USFWS. Despite differences in data inputs, methods, and analytical extent, the nine previous studies found support for potential suitable jaguar habitat in the central mountain ranges of Arizona and New Mexico. Applying slightly modified versions of the USFWS model and recalculating an Arizona-focused model over both states provided additional confirmation. Extending the area of consideration also substantially raised the carrying capacity of habitats in Arizona and New Mexico, from six to 90 or 151 adult jaguars, using the modified USFWS models. This review demonstrates the crucial ways in which choosing the extent of analysis influences the conclusions of a conservation plan. More importantly, it opens a new opportunity for jaguar conservation in North America that could help address threats from habitat losses, climate change and border infrastructure.