Herbaceous perennials must annually rebuild the aboveground photosynthetic architecture from carbohydrates stored in crowns, rhizomes, and roots. Knowledge of carbohydrate utilization and storage can inform management decisions and improve control outcomes for invasive perennials. We monitored the nonstructural carbohydrates in a population of the hybrid Bohemian knotweed [Polygonum ×bohemicum (J. Chrtek & Chrtková) Zika & Jacobson [cuspidatum × sachalinense]; syn.: Fallopia ×bohemica (Chrtek and Chrtková) J.P. Bailey] and in Japanese knotweed [Polygonum cuspidatum Siebold & Zucc.; syn.: Fallopia japonica (Houtt.) Ronse Decr.]. Carbohydrate storage in crowns followed seasonal patterns typical of perennial herbaceous dicots corresponding to key phenological events. Starch was consistently the highest nonstructural carbohydrate present. Sucrose levels did not show a consistent inverse relationship with starch levels. Lateral distribution of starch in rhizomes and, more broadly, total nonstructural carbohydrates sampled before dormancy break showed higher levels in rhizomes compared with crowns. Total nonstructural carbohydrate levels in crowns reached seasonal lows at an estimated 22.6% of crown dry weight after accumulating 1,453.8 growing degree days (GDD) by the end of June, mainly due to depleted levels of stored starch, with the estimated minimum of 12.3% reached by 1,220.3 GDD accumulated by mid-June. Depletion corresponded to rapid development of vegetative canopy before entering the reproductive phase in August. Maximum starch accumulation in crowns followed complete senescence of aboveground tissues by mid- to late October. Removal of aboveground shoot biomass in late June to early July with removal of vegetation regrowth in early September before senescence would optimize the use of time and labor to deplete carbohydrate reserves. Additionally, foliar-applied systemic herbicide translocation to belowground tissue should be maximized with applications in late August through early fall to optimize downward translocation with assimilate movement to rebuild underground storage reserves. Fall applications should be made before loss of healthy leaf tissue, with the window for control typically ending by late September in Minnesota.

Stauffer (2021) shows that when Americans perceive their legislatures as having more gender diversity, they perceive these institutions to be more responsive. In this letter, we use an independently fielded survey to validate Stauffer’s findings and investigate whether her findings extend to race. We successfully replicate Stauffer’s analyses. We also newly demonstrate that perceptions of Black representation in legislatures are related to increased external efficacy, and perceptions of gender descriptive representation are associated with increased trust. Such findings underscore the importance of studying citizens’ perceptions of descriptive representation to understand their attitudes toward government.

The enhanced spatial and spectral resolution provided by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has led to the discovery of numerous hydrated silicate minerals on Mars, particularly in the ancient, cratered crust comprising the southern highlands. Phases recently identified using visible/near-infrared spectra include: smectite, chlorite, prehnite, high-charge phyllosilicates (illite or muscovite), the zeolite analcime, opaline silica, and serpentine. Some mineral assemblages represent the products of aqueous alteration at elevated temperatures. Geologic occurrences of these mineral assemblages are described using examples from west of the Isidis basin near the Nili Fossae and with reference to differences in implied temperature, fluid composition, and starting materials during alteration. The alteration minerals are not distributed homogeneously. Rather, certain craters host distinctive alteration assemblages: (1) prehnite-chloritesilica, (2) analcime-silica-Fe,Mg-smectite-chlorite, (3) chlorite-illite (muscovite), and (4) serpentine, which furthermore has been found in bedrock units. These assemblages contrast with the prevalence of solely Fe,Mg-smectites in most phyllosilicate-bearing terrains on Mars, and they represent materials altered at depth then exposed by cratering. Of the minerals found to date, prehnite provides the clearest evidence for subsurface, hydrothermal/metamorphic alteration, as it forms only under highly restricted conditions (T = 200–400°C). Multiple mechanisms exist for forming the other individual minerals; however, the most likely formation mechanisms for the characteristic mineralogic assemblages observed are, for (1) and (2), low-grade metamorphism or hydrothermal (<400°C) circulation of fluids in basalt; for (3), transformation of trioctahedral smectites to chlorite and dioctahedral smectites to illite during diagenesis; and for (4), low-grade metamorphism or hydrothermal (<400°C) circulation of fluids in ultramafic rocks. Evidence for high-grade metamorphism at elevated pressures or temperatures >400°C has not been found.

We present seismic measurements of the firn column at Korff Ice Rise, West Antarctica, including measurements of compressional-wave velocity and attenuation. We describe a modified spectral-ratio method of measuring the seismic quality factor (Q) based on analysis of diving waves, which, combined with a stochastic method of error propagation, enables us to characterise the attenuative structure of firn in greater detail than has previously been possible. Q increases from 56 ± 23 in the uppermost 12 m to 570 ± 450 between 55 and 77 m depth. We corroborate our method with consistent measurements obtained via primary reflection, multiple, source ghost, and critically refracted waves. Using the primary reflection and its ghost, we find Q = 53 ± 20 in the uppermost 20 m of firn. From the critical refraction, we find Q = 640 ± 400 at 90 m depth. Our method aids the understanding of the seismic structure of firn and benefits characterisation of deeper glaciological targets, providing an alternative means of correcting seismic reflection amplitudes in cases where conventional methods of Q correction may be impossible.

The Community Research Advisory Council (C-RAC) of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research was established in 2009 to provide community-engaged research consultation services. In 2016–2017, C-RAC members and researchers were surveyed on their consultation experiences. Survey results and a 2019 stakeholder meeting proceeding helped redesign the consultation services. Transitioning to virtual consultations during COVID-19, the redesigning involved increasing visibility, providing consultation materials in advance, expanding member training, and effective communications. An increase in consultations from 28 (2009–2017) to 114 (2020–2022) was observed. Implementing stakeholder-researcher inputs is critical to holistic and sustained community-engaged research.

Community-Research Advisory Councils (C-RAC) provide a unique mechanism for building sustainable community-academic partnership, fostering bidirectional understanding of complex research issues, disseminating timely research findings, and thereby improving public trust in science. Created in 2009, the Johns Hopkins C-RAC has a mission to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) of stakeholders across the entire research continuum. It has nurtured over a decade of partnership among community and academic stakeholders toward addressing health disparity, health equity, structural racism, and discrimination. Evidence of successful strategies to ensure DEI in partnership and lessons learned are illustrated in this special communication.

In an influential recent paper, Hawthorne, Rothschild, and Spectre (“HRS”) argue that belief is weak. More precisely: they argue that the referent of believe in ordinary language is much weaker than epistemologists usually suppose; that one needs very little evidence to be entitled to believe a proposition in this sense; and that the referent of believe in ordinary language just is the ordinary concept of belief. I argue here to the contrary. HRS identify two alleged tests of weakness – the neg-raising and weak upper bounds tests, as I call them – which they claim believe and think pass. But I identify several other expressions in ordinary English for attributing belief, all of which fail both tests. Therefore, even if HRS are correct that believe and think refer to a weak attitude, it does not follow that the ordinary concept of belief is weak. I conclude by raising some problems for the accounts of belief as guessing, building on HRS's arguments, due to Kevin Dorst, Matt Mandelkern, and Ben Holguín.

Despite the adversity presented by COVID-19 pandemic, it also pushed for experimenting with innovative strategies for community engagement. The Community Research Advisory Council (C-RAC) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), is an initiative to promote community engagement in research. COVID-19 rendered it impossible for C-RAC to conduct its meetings all of which have historically been in person. We describe the experience of advancing the work of the C-RAC during COVID-19 using digital and virtual strategies. Since March 2020, C-RAC transitioned from in person to virtual meetings. The needs assessment was conducted among C-RAC members, and individualized solutions provided for a successful virtual engagement. The usual working schedule was altered to respond to COVID-19 and promote community engaged research. Attendance to C-RAC meetings before and after the transition to virtual operation increased from 69% to 76% among C-RAC members from the community. In addition, the C-RAC launched new initiatives and in eighteen months since January 2020, it conducted 50 highly rated research reviews for 20 research teams. The experience of the C-RAC demonstrates that when community needs are assessed and addressed, and technical support is provided, digital strategies can lead to greater community collaborations.

Knotweed (Fallopia spp.) is an herbaceous perennial from East Asia that was brought to Europe and North America and, despite control efforts, subsequently spread aggressively on both continents. Data are available on knotweed’s modes of sexual and asexual spread, historical spread, preferred habitat, and ploidy levels. Incomplete information is available on knotweed’s current global geographic distribution and genetic diversity. The chemical composition of knotweed leaves and rhizomes has been partially discovered as related to its ability to inhibit growth and germination of neighboring plant communities via phytochemicals. There is still critical information missing. There are currently no studies detailing knotweed male and female fertility. Specifically, information on pollen viability would be important for further understanding sexual reproduction as a vector of spread in knotweed. This information would help managers determine the potential magnitude of knotweed sexual reproduction and the continued spread of diverse hybrid swarms. The potential range of knotweed and its ability to spread into diverse habitats makes studies on knotweed seed and rhizome cold tolerance of utmost importance, yet to date no such studies have been conducted. There is also a lack of genetic information available on knotweed in the upper Midwest. Detailed genetic information, such as ploidy levels and levels of genetic diversity, would answer many questions about knotweed in Minnesota, including understanding its means of spread, what species are present in what densities, and current levels of hybridization. This literature review summarizes current literature on knotweed to better understand its invasiveness and to highlight necessary future research that would benefit and inform knotweed management in the upper Midwest.

Community research advisory councils (C-RAC) bring together community members with interest in research to support design, evaluation, and dissemination of research in the communities they represent. There are few ways for early career researchers, such as TL1 trainees, to develop skills in community-engaged research, and there are limited opportunities for C-RAC members to influence early career researchers. In our novel training collaboration, TL1 trainees presented their research projects to C-RAC members who provided feedback. We present on initial evidence of student learning and summarize lessons learned that TL1 programs and C-RACs can incorporate into future collaborations.

We report infrared reflectance and ultraviolet fluorescence spectra of the surfaces and cleaved side of Beacon Sandstone from Antarctica that harbours a cryptoendolithic microbial community - a photosynthesis-based consortium of algae, lichen and bacteria present a few millimetres below the surface. Chlorophyll absorptions were present in the reflectance spectra of the exposed interior but not on the top or bottom surfaces and their band depths changed < 4% between measurements taken 19 years apart, indicating the stability of the microorganisms when the sample is kept dry. The presence of subsurface organic layers was detected in reflectance at 3.41 μm on the sample's surface. Fluorescence spectra of the cleaved side showed the blue fluorescence peaks expected from chlorophyll but no 0.65–0.80 μm peaks seen in fluorescence measurements of green vegetation. A weak fluorescence signal was detectable at the surface of the sample, presumably due to some light leaking into the subsurface through pores or cracks in the goethite coating the sample's surface. Theoretically, this weak fluorescence signal could possibly be observed in rock surfaces broken by erosion or meteor impacts on Mars. Sandstone outcrops have been reported on Mars and detection of organic layers in sandstones there would be of interest.