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 current definition of samarskite-group minerals suggests that ishikawaite is a uranium rich variety of samarskite whereas calciosamarskite is a calcium rich variety of samarskite. Because these minerals are chemically complex, usually completely metamict, and pervasively altered, their crystal chemistry and structure are poorly understood. Warner and Ewing (1993) proposed that samarskite is an A3+B5+O4 mineral with an atomic arrangement related to α-PbO2. X-ray diffraction analyses of the recrystallized type specimen of ishikawaite and the Ca-rich samarskite reveal that they have the same structure as samarskite-(Y) recrystallized at high temperatures. Electron microprobe analyses show that the only significant difference between samarskite-(Y), ishikawaite, and calciosamarskite lies in the occupancy of the A-site. The A-site of samarskite-(Y) is dominated by Y+REE whereas the A-site of ishikawaite is dominantly U+Th and calciosamarskite is dominantly Ca. Additionally, a comparison of these data to those of Warner and Ewing (1993) show that in several cases Fe2+ or Fe3+ are dominant in the A-site. We propose that the name samarskite-(REE+Y) should be used when one of these elements is dominant and that the mineral be named with the most abundant of these elements as a suffix. The name ishikawaite should be used only when U+Th are dominant and the name calciosamarskite should only be used when Ca is the dominant cation at the A-site. Finally, because of the inability to quantify the valence state of iron in these minerals, the exact nature of the valence state of iron in these minerals could not be determined in this study.

Studies were conducted to examine over time the effects of propachlor (2-chloro-N-isopropylacetanilide) on the growth of cucumber (Cucumus sativus L. ‘Straight Eight’) roots and associated biosynthetic reactions. Complete inhibition of root elongation occurred within 16 hr after exposure to propachlor. Inhibition of growth was not found to be a result of an effect on ATP formation or respiration. Protein biosynthesis was reduced several hours before the observed inhibition of growth therefore implicating it as the causal factor. Inhibition of protein synthesis occurred prior to an observed reduction in RNA synthesis suggesting that the primary effect of propachlor is on protein biosynthesis and that its effect on nucleic acid synthesis is secondary. It is concluded that the primary mechanism of action of propachlor is its effect on nascent protein biosynthesis.

By the end of the 1st c. A.D., Dacia had been an intermittent thorn in Rome's side for almost two centuries. The ambitions of Burebista and the actions of his various successors continued to threaten Roman hegemony along the lower Danube, culminating in the rise of the powerful kingdom of Decebalus and a substantial Roman defeat in Moesia. Domitian sent troops against the Dacians to restore the dignity of Rome (85-86 and 88-88/89), but with mixed success, finally having to settle for buying peace at a substantial price in order to free himself to deal with threats to security in both Germany and Pannonia. No doubt both the costs involved and the perceived lack of success further contributed to the hostility of Roman authors towards Domitian and left unfinished business on the Danube frontier. It is no great surprise, therefore, that Dacia was the first area to which Trajan — to whom the attitude of contemporary sources (e.g., Pliny's Panegyricus) could not have been in greater contrast — turned his attention within three years of his accession.

The last few years have seen a growing interest in the urbanism of the Greek and Roman world. This has led to a consensus of sorts about some of its vital statistics, such as the sizes of the populations of the most important settlements and the size of the overall urban population, the urbanization rate (i.e., the share of individuals that lived in urban, rather than rural, contexts), and the total population. A good example comes from W. Scheidel in the Cambridge economic history of the Greco-Roman world. According to him, it is likely that c.1.5 million people lived in the 5 largest cities of the Greco-Roman world by the 2nd c. A.D. These included Rome, which is usually agreed to have had a population of about 1 million; Alexandria, which might have had c.500,000; Antioch, which could have had at least 150,000; and Carthage and Ephesus (Scheidel does not give explicit figures for those).

We used data from two population-based longitudinal studies to estimate time of onset and rate of accelerated decline across cognitive domains before dementia diagnosis. The H70 includes an age-homogeneous sample (127 cases and 255 non-cases) initially assessed at age 70 with 12 follow-ups over 30 years. The Kungsholmen Project (KP) includes an age-heterogeneous sample (279 cases and 562 non-cases), with an average age of 82 years at initial assessment, and 4 follow-ups spanning 13 years. We fit mixed linear models to the data and determined placement of change points by a profile likelihood method. Results demonstrated onset of accelerated decline for fluid (speed, memory) versus crystallized (verbal, clock reading) abilities occurring approximately 10 and 5 years before diagnosis, respectively. Although decline before change points was greater for fluid abilities, acceleration was more pronounced for crystallized abilities after the change points. This suggests that onset and rate of acceleration vary systematically along the fluid-crystallized ability continuum. There is early onset in fluid abilities, but these changes are difficult to detect due to substantial age-related decline. Onset occurred later and acceleration was greater in crystallized abilities, suggesting that those markers may provide more valid identification of cases in later stages of the prodromal phase. (JINS, 2011, 17, 000–000)

Gene markers for cardiomyocyte growth, proliferation and remodeling were examined in mouse fetuses and adult male offspring exposed to maternal low-protein (LP) diet during pregnancy. Whole heart volume, measured by magnetic resonance imaging, was smaller in day 15 LP fetuses v. those from chow-fed dams (C), whereas heart volume was greater in adult LP v. C offspring. These LP offspring were hypertensive and had larger cardiomyocytes v. C animals. The mRNA levels of cyclin G1, a marker for cell growth, were lower in LP fetal hearts v. C hearts, but similar in the left ventricle of adult LP and C offspring. Opposite trends were found in brain natriuretic peptide levels (a marker of cardiac hypertrophy). Thus, maternal LP during pregnancy results in smaller fetal hearts and is accompanied by changes in expression of genes involved in cardiomyocyte growth, which are associated with cardiac hypertrophy and hypertension in adulthood.

This paper briefly describes the principle of operation and science goals of the AMANDA high energy neutrino telescope located at the South Pole, Antarctica. Results from an earlier phase of the telescope, called AMANDA-BIO, demonstrate both reliable operation and the broad astrophysical reach of this device, which includes searches for a variety of sources of ultrahigh energy neutrinos: generic point sources, Gamma-Ray Bursts and diffuse sources. The predicted sensitivity and angular resolution of the telescope were confirmed by studies of atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds. We also report on the status of the analysis from AMANDA-II, a larger version with far greater capabilities. At this stage of analysis, details of the ice properties and other systematic uncertainties of the AMANDA-II telescope are under study, but we have made progress toward critical science objectives. In particular, we present the first preliminary flux limits from AMANDA-II on the search for continuous emission from astrophysical point sources, and report on the search for correlated neutrino emission from Gamma Ray Bursts detected by BATSE before decommissioning in May 2000. During the next two years, we expect to exploit the full potential of AMANDA-II with the installation of a new data acquisition system that records full waveforms from the in-ice optical sensors.

The progress that has been made in SiC diodes and GTOs is reviewed. A 100 A/1000 V SiC pi- n diode package, the highest current rating reported for any SiC device, a 69 A conduction/ 11 A turn-off of a SiC GTO and MTOTM, as well as the first all-SiC, 3 phase Pulse Width Modulated (PWM) inverter are reported, herein, for the first time. The inverter achieves voltage controlled turn off with a high temperature capable, hybrid SiC JFET. Material and process technology issues that will need to be addressed before device commercialization can be realized are discussed.