Maize is the primary staple crop cultivated during the monsoon season in eastern India. However, yield gaps are large because of multiple factors, including low adoption rates of good agronomic management practices. This study aimed to narrow the maize yield gap using diverse agronomic and varietal interventions through field experiments over 2 years (2013–2014) in the rainfed plateau region of Odisha. As a result, maize yield increased by 0.9, 0.74, and 0.17 Mg ha−1 under optimum plant population, fertilizer management, and herbicide-based weed management, respectively, over farmers’ current practices (Check). Moreover, when all three interventions were combined (‘best’ management practice), grain yields increased by 1.7 Mg ha−1 in conservation tillage and 2.2 Mg ha−1 in conventional tillage. We also observed that the combination of long-duration hybrids and best management practices (BMPs) increased grain yield by 4.0 Mg ha−1 and profitability by $888 ha−1 over farmers’ current practices. In addition, Nutrient Expert decision support tool-based fertilizer management along with BMPs increased grain yield by 1.7 Mg ha−1 and profitability by $314 ha−1 over farmers’ fertilizer practices (Check). These results suggest that the combination of maize hybrids and BMPs can improve the productivity and profitability of rainfed maize in the plateau region of Odisha. However, these entry points for intensification need to be placed in the context of varying investment requirements, input and output market conditions, and matched with farmer preferences and risk.

Seven half-day regional listening sessions were held between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide-resistance management. The objective of the listening sessions was to connect with stakeholders and hear their challenges and recommendations for addressing herbicide resistance. The coordinating team hired Strategic Conservation Solutions, LLC, to facilitate all the sessions. They and the coordinating team used in-person meetings, teleconferences, and email to communicate and coordinate the activities leading up to each regional listening session. The agenda was the same across all sessions and included small-group discussions followed by reporting to the full group for discussion. The planning process was the same across all the sessions, although the selection of venue, time of day, and stakeholder participants differed to accommodate the differences among regions. The listening-session format required a great deal of work and flexibility on the part of the coordinating team and regional coordinators. Overall, the participant evaluations from the sessions were positive, with participants expressing appreciation that they were asked for their thoughts on the subject of herbicide resistance. This paper details the methods and processes used to conduct these regional listening sessions and provides an assessment of the strengths and limitations of those processes.

Herbicide resistance is ‘wicked’ in nature; therefore, results of the many educational efforts to encourage diversification of weed control practices in the United States have been mixed. It is clear that we do not sufficiently understand the totality of the grassroots obstacles, concerns, challenges, and specific solutions needed for varied crop production systems. Weed management issues and solutions vary with such variables as management styles, regions, cropping systems, and available or affordable technologies. Therefore, to help the weed science community better understand the needs and ideas of those directly dealing with herbicide resistance, seven half-day regional listening sessions were held across the United States between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide resistance management. The major goals of the sessions were to gain an understanding of stakeholders and their goals and concerns related to herbicide resistance management, to become familiar with regional differences, and to identify decision maker needs to address herbicide resistance. The messages shared by listening-session participants could be summarized by six themes: we need new herbicides; there is no need for more regulation; there is a need for more education, especially for others who were not present; diversity is hard; the agricultural economy makes it difficult to make changes; and we are aware of herbicide resistance but are managing it. The authors concluded that more work is needed to bring a community-wide, interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexity of managing weeds within the context of the whole farm operation and for communicating the need to address herbicide resistance.

The Troodos ophiolite Cyprus hosts the type locality for Cyprus-type, mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. Regional soil geochemical data for Troodos are highly variable with the Solea graben, one of three regional graben structures on Cyprus, showing enrichment in Te and Se. Of the three VMS sampled within the Solea graben, Apliki exhibits the most significant enrichment in Se. Samples from the South Apliki Breccia Zone; a zone of hematite-rich breccia containing euhedral pyrite and chalcopyrite, contain up to 4953 and 3956 ppm Se in pyrite and chalcopyrite, respectively. Four paragenetic stages are identified at Apliki and different generations of pyrite are distinguishable using trace-element chemistry analysed via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results indicate stage I pyrite formed under reduced conditions at high temperatures >280°C and contains 182 ppm (n = 22 σ = 253) Se. Late stage III pyrite which is euhedral and overprints chalcopyrite and hematite is enriched in Se (averaging 1862 ppm; n = 23 σ = 1394). Sulfide dissolution and hematite formation displaced large amounts of Se as hematite cannot accommodate high concentrations of Se in its crystal structure. The mechanisms proposed to explain the pronounced change in redox are twofold. Fault movement leading to localized seawater ingress coupled with a decreasing magmatic flux that generated locally oxidizing conditions and promoted sulfide dissolution. A Se/S ratio of 9280 indicates a probable magmatic component for late stage III pyrite, which is suggested as a mechanism explaining the transition from oxidizing back to reduced conditions. This study highlights the significance of changes in redox which promote sulfide dissolution, mobilization and enrichment of Se.

Although cosmic tree symbolism among pre-Columbian societies of Mesoamerica traces from the Preclassic period, the underlying meaning of the motif and its symbolic permutations are poorly understood. Attempts to identify the plant in a botanical context on ceramic vessels, stucco reliefs, and stone stelae of lowland Maya attribution usually favor determinations as a kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra) or maize plant (Zea mays). A botanical assessment of the morphic and ecological characteristics of these motifs suggests, however, a white-flowered water lily of lowland swamps, Nymphaea ampla. Archeological remains at San Bartolo of the Petén indicate that these iconographic practices were established and codified to a certain extent by the first century b.c. The frequent identification of various gods and dynastic rulers as personifications of a water lily world tree underscores the crucial symbolic and ritualistic roles this plant once played in the practice of religion and kingship among Mayan civilizations.

Prospective surveillance was conducted in three remote Aboriginal communities with high rates of rheumatic heart disease in order to investigate the epidemiology of group A β-haemolytic streptococci (GAS). At each household visit, participants were asked about sore throat. Swabs were taken from all throats and any skin sores. GAS isolates were emm sequence and pattern-typed using standard laboratory methods. There were 531 household visits; 43 different emm types and subtypes (emmST) were recovered. Four epidemiological patterns were observed. Multiple emmST were present in the population at any one time and household acquisition rates were high. Household acquisition was most commonly via 5- to 9-year-olds. Following acquisition, there was a 1 in 5 chance of secondary detection in the household. Throat detection of emmST was brief, usually <2 months. The epidemiology of GAS in these remote Aboriginal communities is a highly dynamic process characterized by emmST diversity and turnover.

Information processing speed and episodic memory are two commonly affected cognitive abilities in MS. Insights into the mechanisms of and relationships between these abilities have recently come from structural neuroimaging techniques, but few studies have used fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), a neuroimaging sequence known to be sensitive to cortical and juxtacortical lesions in MS. We hypothesized that a volumetric index of FLAIR total lesion volume (TLV) would be associated with slowed processing speed and verbal memory dysfunction in MS. Twenty MS patients underwent FLAIR imaging and were administered measures of verbal memory and processing speed. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that TLV was directly and independently related to measures of processing speed and verbal memory, and TLV accounted for 56% of the variance in cognitive performance. These findings, considered in the context of prior work, suggest that FLAIR TLV is a useful predictor of commonly impaired cognitive functions in MS, and shows promise as a functionally relevant biomarker for disease status. (JINS, 2005, 11, 205–209.)

Excavations by the BYU-New World Archaeological Foundation at the site of Tzutzuculi on the Chiapas coast of Mexico, revealed two engraved monuments flanking a central stairway of a late Middle Preclassic period pyramidal platform. This report focuses on these two monuments, discussing their context, dating, and style. The context at its most general level involves the corresponding platform complex, which in its layout has a general resemblance to the Olmec site of La Venta. As for the monuments-one a were-jaguar representation, the other a serpent-dragon figure-they too, in their style, are identified as being Olmec. Moreover, their combined imagery, possibly expressing a dualistic viewpoint, is consistent with other Olmec iconographic examples. At Tzutzuculi, however, this imagery has for the first time in Olmec form been found in direct association with platform building.