Current dam discharge patterns in Noxon Rapids Reservoir reduce concentration and exposure times (CET) of herbicides used for aquatic plant management. Herbicide applications during periods of low dam discharge may increase herbicide CETs and improve efficacy. Applications of rhodamine WT dye were monitored under peak (736 to 765 m3 s−1) and minimum (1.4 to 2.8 m3 s−1) dam discharge patterns to quantify water-exchange processes. Whole-plot dye half-life under minimal discharge was 33 h, a 15-fold increase compared with the dye treatment during peak discharge. Triclopyr concentrations measured during minimum discharge within the treated plot ranged from 214 ± 25 to 1,243 ± 36 µg L−1 from 0 to 48 h after treatment (HAT), respectively. Endothall concentrations measured during minimum discharge in the same plot ranged from 164 ± 78 to 2,195 ± 1,043 µg L−1 from 0 to 48 HAT, respectively. Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) occurrence in the treatment plot was 66%, 8%, and 14% during pretreatment, 5 wk after treatment (WAT), and 52 WAT, respectively. Myriophyllum spicatum occurrence in the nontreated plot was 68%, 71%, and 83% during pretreatment, 5 WAT, and 52 WAT, respectively. Curlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus L.) occurrence in the treatment plot was 29%, 0%, and 97% during pretreatment, 5 WAT, and 52 WAT, respectively. Potamogeton crispus increased from 24% to 83% at 0 WAT to 52 WAT, respectively, in the nontreated plot. Native species richness declined from 3.3 species per point to 2.1 in the treatment plot in the year of treatment but returned to pretreatment numbers by 52 WAT. Native species richness did not change during the study in the nontreated reference plot. Herbicide applications during periods of low flow can increase CETs and improve control, whereas applications during times of high-water flow would shorten CETs and could result in reduced treatment efficacy.

Background: A subset of patients experience poor outcomes following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF). Our study aimed to identify postoperative trajectories of disability, neck/arm pain and determine baseline measures that predict subgroup membership. Methods: Patients with cervical spondylotic radiculopathy undergoing ACDF are presented. Prognostic factors comprised demographic, health and surgery-related variables. Study outcomes were trajectories of neck disability index scores, numeric rating scales for neck/arm pain modeled with latent-class growth analysis. Associations were explored using robust Poisson models and reported with risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Results: Patients (N = 352; mean (SD) age = 50.9(9.5) years, 43.8% female) identified trajectories for disability (excellent=45.3%,fair=39.2%,poor=15.5%),arm pain (excellent=24.5%,good=52.0%,poor=23.5%),and neck pain (excellent=13.7%,good=63.1%,poor=23.2%). Greater physical and mental health-related quality of life were associated with a reduced risk of poor outcome(per SD,0.40[0.30,0.53]-0.80[0.65,0.99]), while higher risk for depression (per SD, 1.36[1.12,1.65]-2.26[1.84,2.78]), longer wait time(per 90 days, 1.31[1.05,1.63]-1.64[1.20,2.24]), and longer procedure time (per 30 min,1.07[1.03,1.10]-1.08[1.05,1.12]) were associated with an increased risk of poor outcome for all outcomes. Poor disability was increased with self-reported depression(3.03[1.76,5.21]), greater neck-to-arm pain ratio (2.63 [1.28 to 5.40]), ASA score > 2(2.26[1.33,3.83]), and preoperative opiates (2.05[1.18,3.56]), while preoperative physiotherapy (0.51[0.30, 0.88]), spinal injections (0.48[0.23 to 0.98]), and regular exercise (0.44 [0.24, 0.79]) decreased risk. Receiving compensation and smoking were associated with poor outcome for neck pain. Remaining candidate prognostic factors were not associated with clinical outcome. Conclusions: Perioperative factors were shown to decrease risk of poor outcomes for pain and disability two years following ACDF.

Reinforcement learning has previously been applied to the problem of controlling a perched landing manoeuvre for a custom sweep-wing aircraft. Previous work showed that the use of domain randomisation to train with atmospheric disturbances improved the real-world performance of the controllers, leading to increased reward. This paper builds on the previous project, investigating enhancements and modifications to the learning process to further improve performance, and reduce final state error. These changes include modifying the observation by adding information about the airspeed to the standard aircraft state vector, employing further domain randomisation of the simulator, optimising the underlying RL algorithm and network structure, and changing to a continuous action space. Simulated investigations identified hyperparameter optimisation as achieving the most significant increase in reward performance. Several test cases were explored to identify the best combination of enhancements. Flight testing was performed, comparing a baseline model against some of the best performing test cases from simulation. Generally, test cases that performed better than the baseline in simulation also performed better in the real world. However, flight tests also identified limitations with the current numerical model. For some models, the chosen policy performs well in simulation yet stalls prematurely in reality, a problem known as the reality gap.

Media coverage of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) ranges from providing helpful education to displaying graphic images. We offer the first research-informed, consensus-based guidelines for the responsible reporting and depicting of NSSI in the media, while also advising on ideas for dissemination and collaboration between media professionals and healthcare experts.

Given the common view that pre-exercise nutrition/breakfast is important for performance, the present study investigated whether breakfast influences resistance exercise performance via a physiological or psychological effect. Twenty-two resistance-trained, breakfast-consuming men completed three experimental trials, consuming water-only (WAT), or semi-solid breakfasts containing 0 g/kg (PLA) or 1·5 g/kg (CHO) maltodextrin. PLA and CHO meals contained xanthan gum and low-energy flavouring (approximately 122 kJ), and subjects were told both ‘contained energy’. At 2 h post-meal, subjects completed four sets of back squat and bench press to failure at 90 % ten repetition maximum. Blood samples were taken pre-meal, 45 min and 105 min post-meal to measure serum/plasma glucose, insulin, ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine concentrations. Subjective hunger/fullness was also measured. Total back squat repetitions were greater in CHO (44 (sd 10) repetitions) and PLA (43 (sd 10) repetitions) than WAT (38 (sd 10) repetitions; P < 0·001). Total bench press repetitions were similar between trials (WAT 37 (sd 7) repetitions; CHO 39 (sd 7) repetitions; PLA 38 (sd 7) repetitions; P = 0·130). Performance was similar between CHO and PLA trials. Hunger was suppressed and fullness increased similarly in PLA and CHO, relative to WAT (P < 0·001). During CHO, plasma glucose was elevated at 45 min (P < 0·05), whilst serum insulin was elevated (P < 0·05) and plasma ghrelin suppressed at 45 and 105 min (P < 0·05). These results suggest that breakfast/pre-exercise nutrition enhances resistance exercise performance via a psychological effect, although a potential mediating role of hunger cannot be discounted.