Objectives/Goals: Micro-credentials (MCs) or digital badges are short programs designed to allow learners to gain knowledge and skills at their own pace to tailor their professional development. This study aims to examine the characteristics of learners completing MCs and explore their motivation for pursuing MCs through the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) program. Methods/Study Population: Currently, the CTSI offers five MCs in Effective Teaching, Good Clinical Practice, Responsible Research, Scientific Communication, and Translational Teamwork. Individuals who completed an MC (2019–2024) were identified by the UB Office of Micro-credentials. An invitation email and two reminders were sent to all individuals who received MCs asking them to complete a short online survey in July-August 2024. The survey included three questions about the type(s) of MCs completed, learners’ motivation for pursuing MCs, and perceived or actual benefits of completing an MC. The questions included multiple choice, select all that apply, and open-ended format, respectively. The survey was sent using Google Forms; data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. We received 25 completed surveys (29% response rate). Results/Anticipated Results: Since 2019, 85 individuals completed MCs at Buffalo CTSI including 21 faculty, 18 trainees, 26 students, and 20 staff. The most popular MC, Responsible Research (65% of completers), is based on the Responsible Conduct of Research series, which consists of modules on authorship ethics, ethical use of animals (IACUC) and human subjects (IRB), conflicts of interest/commitment, and responsible data acquisition and management. We found that 33% of responders were motivated to obtain the MC to advance their career and for professional development, 30% for lifelong learning, and 23% intended to use the badges to showcase their proficiency to potential employers. The greatest benefits reported were to obtain knowledge/skills for their professional career (46%) and improve their ability to receive research funding (14%). Discussion/Significance of Impact: Micro-credentials are valuable learning tools to stay current on changing research requirements, with ability to engage asynchronously. Badges also provide unique professional development opportunities for students and research workforce (staff and community stakeholders) who have limited resources (time and money).

An algorithm for assessing the correspondence of one or more attribute rating variables to a symmetric matrix of dissimilarities is presented. The algorithm is useful as an alternative to fitting property variables into a multidimensional scaling space. Rather than requiring a two step process of first deriving a multidimensional space and then fitting variables individually into the space, the algorithm directly assesses the correspondence of each variable to the symmetric matrix and permits a regression extension such that a set of variables can be considered simultaneously. The relation between the matrix and the variables is determined by evaluating pairs of pairs relations,\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$$\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c} n\\ 2\\ \end{array} } \right)}\\ 2\\ \end{array} } \right)$$\end{document}. Though the algorithm requires only ordinal assumptions, the correspondence may be computed intervally also. Multiple ordinal regression is performed with the values derived from the matrix serving as the dependent variable and those derived from the attribute ratings serving as the independent variables. Standard multiple regression statistics for R-square, F, and t are calculated as well as measures of ordinal association between the vectors and the matrix.

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and electron diffraction experiments have been performed on R1 and R> 1 illite/smectite (I/S) samples that from X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) experiments appear to contain well-ordered layer sequences. The HRTEM images confirmed earlier computer image simulations, which suggested that periodicities due to I/S ordering can be imaged in TEM instruments of moderate resolution. The experiments also confirmed that in instruments of this sort, the strongest contrast arising from the compositional difference between I and S layers occurs under rather unusual imaging conditions of strong overfocus. Some selected-area electron diffraction (SAD) patterns showed additional diffraction spots consistent with R1 and R3 ordering. SAD patterns and cross-fringes arising in HRTEM images from non-00l reciprocal lattice rows indicated that the stacking vectors of most adjacent 2:1 layers were not randomly oriented with respect to each other. Thus, the I/S was not fully turbostratic, but instead consisted of very thin, coherently stacked crystallites that extended across the fundamental particles postulated by Nadeau and coworkers.

S/(I + S) ratios were determined for about seventy HRTEM images obtained and interpreted by three different TEM operators. These ratios were consistent with those obtained from standard XRD procedures, suggesting that results obtained by XRD can be used to infer the initial structural state of mixed-layer I/S prior to treatment of samples for XRD experiments. The HRTEM experiments thus demonstrated that the two specimens examined consisted of ordered I/S existing as small crystals, most of which contained more layers than the fundamental particles of Nadeau and coworkers. The non-turbostratic stacking suggests an energetic interaction between the individual fundamental particles, leading to at least two alternative thermodynamic descriptions of these materials. Although the I/S crystals in the present experiments probably were disaggregated into fundamental particles during sample preparation for XRD, the I/S crystals appear to have separated only along the smectite interlayers. If the term “fundamental particle” is to be used for primary, untreated I/S, its original definition should be modified to include not only free particles, but also those that occur as layers within small crystals. It further should be recognized that these particles can interact thermodynamically and crystallographically with their neighbors.

Hydrothermal synthesis experiments were conducted to study the transition from smectite to corrensite. A mixture of oxides with the bulk composition of corrensite—Na0.4(Si6.4Al1.6)(Mg7.8Al1.2)-O20(OH)10—was sealed in platinum capsules with 29–37 wt. % water. One set of samples was treated in cold-seal vessels at 500°C and 2 kbar for durations of 2, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h; the other set was treated at 350°C and 2 kbar for periods of 12 to 89 d. X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) of oriented aggregates from treated products were obtained from ethylene glycol-solvated and air-dried preparations. Samples were also heated to 350°C either in a calibrated muffle furnace, removed and quickly placed in a nitrogen filled chamber on the diffractometer, or were heated at 350°C by using a calibrated heating stage mounted on the diffractometer.

Initial mineral assemblages at both temperatures contained only saponite and serpentine. In experiments at 500°C, saponite transformed to corrensite within 6 h; in experiments at 350°C, the transformation occurred as early as 22 d. Increased experiment times at both temperatures produced increasing amounts of well-crystallized corrensite, as indicated by several well-defined XRD peaks. No evidence of a randomly interstratified chlorite-smectite (C-S) precursor to corrensite was found. The identification of pure smectite, as opposed to highly-expanded randomly interstratified C-S, was possible only when clays were dehydrated on a heating stage on the diffractometer.

These results call for a new examination of hydrothermally-altered basalt that has been reported to contain randomly interstratified C-S as an intermediate step in the reaction of smectite to corrensite or chlorite. These results also strengthen the view held by increasing numbers of investigators that corrensite should be regarded as a single phase, not as a mixed-layered phyllosilicate.

The International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS) regularly provides high-quality data to produce Earth Orientation Parameters (EOP), and for the maintenance and realisation of the International Terrestrial and Celestial Reference Frames, ITRF and ICRF. The first iteration of the celestial reference frame (CRF) at radio wavelengths, the ICRF1, was adopted by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1997 to replace the FK5 optical frame. Soon after, the IVS began official operations and in 2009 there was a significant increase in data sufficient to warrant a second iteration of the CRF, ICRF2. The most recent ICRF3, was adopted by the IAU in 2018. However, due to the geographic distribution of observing stations being concentrated in the Northern hemisphere, CRFs are generally weaker in the South due to there being fewer Southern Hemisphere observations. To increase the Southern Hemisphere observations, and the density, precision of the sources, a series of deep South observing sessions was initiated in 1995. This initiative in 2004 became the IVS Celestial Reference Frame Deep South (IVS-CRDS) observing programme. This paper covers the evolution of the CRDS observing programme for the period 1995–2021, details the data products and results, and concludes with a summary of upcoming improvements to this ongoing project.

Quantifying the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect, offsets (ΔR), and ΔR variability over time is critical to improving dating estimates of marine samples while also providing a proxy of water mass dynamics. In the northeastern Pacific, where no high-resolution time series of ΔR has yet been established, we sampled radiocarbon (14C) from exactly dated growth increments in a multicentennial chronology of the long-lived bivalve, Pacific geoduck (Paneopea generosa) at the Tree Nob site, coastal British Columbia, Canada. Samples were taken at approximately decadal time intervals from 1725 CE to 1920 CE and indicate average ΔR values of 256 ± 22 years (1σ) consistent with existing discrete estimates. Temporal variability in ΔR is small relative to analogous Atlantic records except for an unusually old-water event, 1802–1812. The correlation between ΔR and sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructed from geoduck increment width is weakly significant (r2 = .29, p = .03), indicating warm water is generally old, when the 1802–1812 interval is excluded. This interval contains the oldest (–2.1σ) anomaly, and that is coincident with the coldest (–2.7σ) anomalies of the temperature reconstruction. An additional 32 14C values spanning 1952–1980 were detrended using a northeastern Pacific bomb pulse curve. Significant positive correlations were identified between the detrended 14C data and annual El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and summer SST such that cooler conditions are associated with older water. Thus, 14C is generally relatively stable with weak, potentially inconsistent associations to climate variables, but capable of infrequent excursions as illustrated by the unusually cold, old-water 1802–1812 interval.

The International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) found that there was no statistical difference in cardiovascular events with an initial invasive strategy as compared with an initial conservative strategy of guideline-directed medical therapy for patients with moderate to severe ischemia on noninvasive testing. In this study, we describe the reasons that potentially eligible patients who were screened for participation in the ISCHEMIA trial did not advance to enrollment, the step prior to randomization. Of those who preliminarily met clinical inclusion criteria on screening logs submitted during the enrollment period, over half did not participate due to physician or patient refusal, a potentially modifiable barrier. This analysis highlights the importance of physician equipoise when advising patients about participation in randomized controlled trials.

A chloroacetamide herbicide by application timing factorial experiment was conducted in 2017 and 2018 in Mississippi to investigate chloroacetamide use in a dicamba-based Palmer amaranth management program in cotton production. Herbicides used were S-metolachlor or acetochlor, and application timings were preemergence, preemergence followed by (fb) early postemergence, preemergence fb late postemergence, early postemergence alone, late postemergence alone, and early postemergence fb late postemergence. Dicamba was included in all preemergence applications, and dicamba plus glyphosate was included with all postemergence applications. Differences in cotton and weed response due to chloroacetamide type were minimal, and cotton injury at 14 d after late postemergence application was less than 10% for all application timings. Late-season weed control was reduced up to 30% and 53% if chloroacetamide application occurred preemergence or late postemergence only, respectively. Late-season weed densities were minimized if multiple applications were used instead of a single application. Cotton height was reduced by up to 23% if a single application was made late postemergence relative to other application timings. Chloroacetamide application at any timing except preemergence alone minimized late-season weed biomass. Yield was maximized by any treatment involving multiple applications or early postemergence alone, whereas applications preemergence or late postemergence alone resulted in up to 56% and 27% yield losses, respectively. While no yield loss was reported by delaying the first of sequential applications until early postemergence, forgoing a preemergence application is not advisable given the multiple factors that may delay timely postemergence applications such as inclement weather.

As the COVID-19 pandemic escalates worldwide, it is apparent that many patients with more severe illness will also experience delirium. These patients pose a particular challenge in the application of optimal care due to issues with infectious risk, respiratory compromise and potential interactions between medications that can be used to manage delirium with antiviral and other treatments used for COVID-19. We describe a guidance resource adapted from existing guidelines for delirium management that has been tailored to the specific challenge of managing delirium in patients with COVID-19 infection. Issues around the assessment and treatment of these patients are examined and distilled into a simple (one-paged guidance resource that can assist clinicians in managing suspected delirium.