Palmer amaranth and waterhemp are troublesome weeds in U.S. corn, soybean, and cotton production systems. Rapid evolution of resistance to herbicide from multiple sites of action in these species warrant alternate weed control options. Metribuzin applied preemergence can provide effective control of herbicide-resistant Amaranthus species. However, despite its decades of efficacy, many growers remain unaware of its weed control potential or are hesitant to use it due to concerns over crop injury. Field experiments were conducted in 2022 and 2023 in 15 states across the United States to investigate residual control of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp with metribuzin applied preemergence to soybean. Sites had either herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth or waterhemp as the dominant weed species. Seventeen preemergence treatments were evaluated, including 13 doses of metribuzin (210 to 841 g ai ha-1), a dose of sulfentrazone (420 g ai ha-1), and a dose of S-metolachlor (1,790 g ai ha-1), along with nontreated and a weed-free control plots. Weed control and soybean injury were visually assessed and recorded at 14, 28, and 42 d after application (DAA) of preemergence herbicides. Additionally, weed density, weed biomass, and soybean height were recorded 28 DAA followed by a measure of soybean yield at maturity. Weed control was analyzed as a function of metribuzin dose and environmental factors using a generalized additive model. Crop injury of not more than 5% was predicted even with 841 g ai ha-1 of metribuzin. Metribuzin at 630 g ai ha-1 was more effective than sulfentrazone in delaying weed emergence and reducing weed density, while 315 g ai ha-1 of metribuzin outperformed S-metolachlor in both metrics. Metribuzin doses of 578 to 841 g ai ha-1 provided greater than 95%, 90%, and 80% weed control, respectively, at 14, 28, and 42 DAA. Higher metribuzin doses of 578 to 841 g ai ha-1could be safely to effectively control herbicide-resistant Amaranthus weeds.

We report the introduction of Juxtacribrilina mutabilis, a nonindigenous marine encrusting bryozoan, to eastern Canada. Previously reported as a nonindigenous species (NIS) in Europe and Maine, USA, this species is of potential ecological concern due to its propensity to foul eelgrass (Zostera marina), an ecologically important habitat-forming coastal species. By compiling prior unpublished records, re-evaluating existing specimens, and collecting new records of J. mutabilis, we discovered that the species has a widespread distribution in eastern Canada. Specimen reclassification efforts in our study indicate that J. mutabilis has been present in eastern Canada since at least 2013, but the species largely escaped notice until 2024, likely due to its similarity to other encrusting bryozoan species and other factors inhibiting its detection. In light of the distributional and genetic data collected in this study, we reconstruct the possible invasion history of J. mutabilis in eastern Canada, including potential introduction mechanisms, timing, and source regions. We also discuss the ecology of J. mutabilis in eastern Canada, evaluating the factors influencing the morphology of the bryozoan, assessing its potential to detrimentally impact its eelgrass substrate, and estimating its environmental niche. Further research into the distribution, ecology, and potential impacts of J. mutabilis in eastern Canada is recommended. This case study highlights the importance of diversity in the habitats surveyed and methods used when monitoring for marine NIS, the need for horizon scanning to raise awareness of potential NIS, and the advantages of multi-party collaboration and citizen science for early detection of such species.

Interdisciplinary work environments, such as in the engineering of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), face significant communication challenges due to the need for collaboration among different engineering domains. This study examines communication comprehensibility within a CPS research project involving 30 researchers from multiple universities. We conducted two surveys to assess the status quo of communication comprehensibility. While most research descriptions are generally understandable, significant barriers exist due to technical terminology and differing epistemic foundations. The study presents a systematic approach to assess communication comprehensibility in interdisciplinary projects and highlights the need for support in enhancing communication. Further data from multiple projects is needed to develop effective communication models for interdisciplinary teams.

We analyze the effects of limited investor attention on the stock market reaction to innovation announcements and develop a new measure of patents’ economic value. We hypothesize that, when some investors pay delayed attention to innovation announcements, there will be a post-announcement drift in addition to the announcement effect, with the former decreasing and the latter increasing in investor attention. Using media coverage and abnormal Google search volume as investor attention proxies, we find consistent evidence. Our new attention-weighted measure of patents’ economic value has greater predictive power for future firm performance than measures based on the announcement effect alone.

The stars of the Milky Way carry the chemical history of our Galaxy in their atmospheres as they journey through its vast expanse. Like barcodes, we can extract the chemical fingerprints of stars from high-resolution spectroscopy. The fourth data release (DR4) of the Galactic Archaeology with HERMES (GALAH) Survey, based on a decade of observations, provides the chemical abundances of up to 32 elements for 917 588 stars that also have exquisite astrometric data from the Gaia satellite. For the first time, these elements include life-essential nitrogen to complement carbon, and oxygen as well as more measurements of rare-earth elements critical to modern-life electronics, offering unparalleled insights into the chemical composition of the Milky Way. For this release, we use neural networks to simultaneously fit stellar parameters and abundances across the whole wavelength range, leveraging synthetic grids computed with Spectroscopy Made Easy. These grids account for atomic line formation in non-local thermodynamic equilibrium for 14 elements. In a two-iteration process, we first fit stellar labels to all 1 085 520 spectra, then co-add repeated observations and refine these labels using astrometric data from Gaia and 2MASS photometry, improving the accuracy and precision of stellar parameters and abundances. Our validation thoroughly assesses the reliability of spectroscopic measurements and highlights key caveats. GALAH DR4 represents yet another milestone in Galactic archaeology, combining detailed chemical compositions from multiple nucleosynthetic channels with kinematic information and age estimates. The resulting dataset, covering nearly a million stars, opens new avenues for understanding not only the chemical and dynamical history of the Milky Way but also the broader questions of the origin of elements and the evolution of planets, stars, and galaxies.

Lewy body dementias (LBD) are the second most common dementia. Several genes have been associated with LBD, but little is known about their contributions to LBD pathophysiology. Each gene may transcribe multiple RNA, and LBD brains have extensive RNA splicing dysregulation. Hence, we completed the first transcriptome-wide transcript-level differential expression analysis of post-mortem LBD brains for gaining more insights into LBD molecular pathology that are essential for facilitating discovery of novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for LBD. We completed transcript-level quantification of next-generation RNA-sequencing data from post-mortem anterior cingulate (ACC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPFC) of people with pathology-verified LBD (LBD = 14; Controls = 7) using Salmon. We identified differentially expressed transcripts (DET) using edgeR and investigated their functional implications using DAVID. We performed transcriptome-wide alternative splicing analysis using DRIMseq. We identified 74 DET in ACC and 96 DET in DLPFC after Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction (5%). There were 135 and 98 FDR-corrected alternatively spliced genes in ACC and DLPFC of LBD brains, respectively. Identified DET may contribute to LBD pathology by altering DNA repair, apoptosis, neuroplasticity, protein phosphorylation, and regulation of RNA transcription. We confirm widespread alternative splicing and absence of chronic neuroinflammation in LBD brains. Transcript-level differential expression analysis can reveal specific DET that cannot be detected by gene-level expression analyses. Therapeutic and diagnostic biomarker potential of identified DET, especially those from TMEM18, MICB, MPO, and GABRB3, warrant further investigation. Future LBD blood-based biomarker studies should prioritise measuring the identified DET in small extracellular vesicles.

The Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) Cross-Trial Statistics Group gathered lessons learned from statisticians responsible for the design and analysis of the 11 ACTIV therapeutic master protocols to inform contemporary trial design as well as preparation for a future pandemic. The ACTIV master protocols were designed to rapidly assess what treatments might save lives, keep people out of the hospital, and help them feel better faster. Study teams initially worked without knowledge of the natural history of disease and thus without key information for design decisions. Moreover, the science of platform trial design was in its infancy. Here, we discuss the statistical design choices made and the adaptations forced by the changing pandemic context. Lessons around critical aspects of trial design are summarized, and recommendations are made for the organization of master protocols in the future.

This manuscript addresses a critical topic: navigating complexities of conducting clinical trials during a pandemic. Central to this discussion is engaging communities to ensure diverse participation. The manuscript elucidates deliberate strategies employed to recruit minority communities with poor social drivers of health for participation in COVID-19 trials. The paper adopts a descriptive approach, eschewing analysis of data-driven efficacy of these efforts, and instead provides a comprehensive account of strategies utilized. The Accelerate COVID-19 Treatment Interventions and Vaccines (ACTIV) public–private partnership launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic to develop clinical trials to advance SARS-CoV-2 treatments. In this paper, ACTIV investigators share challenges in conducting research during an evolving pandemic and approaches selected to engage communities when traditional strategies were infeasible. Lessons from this experience include importance of community representatives’ involvement early in study design and implementation and integration of well-developed public outreach and communication strategies with trial launch. Centralization and coordination of outreach will allow for efficient use of resources and the sharing of best practices. Insights gleaned from the ACTIV program, as outlined in this paper, shed light on effective strategies for involving communities in treatment trials amidst rapidly evolving public health emergencies. This underscores critical importance of community engagement initiatives well in advance of the pandemic.

We evaluated whether universal chlorhexidine bathing (decolonization) with or without COVID-19 intensive training impacted COVID-19 rates in 63 nursing homes (NHs) during the 2020–2021 Fall/Winter surge. Decolonization was associated with a 43% lesser rise in staff case-rates (P < .001) and a 52% lesser rise in resident case-rates (P < .001) versus control.

We present a systematic study to investigate the fluid–structure interaction (FSI) of subaqueous spherical pendulums with several solid-to-fluid mass ratios $m^*\in [1.14, 14.95]$ and corresponding Reynolds numbers of up to $\textit {Re}\sim 10^4$. A digital object tracking (DOT) method was employed to track the oscillating pendulum spheres whereas the time-resolved 3-D particle tracking velocimetry (tr-3D-PTV) was used to measure the flow field around the spheres. The data obtained from the coupling of the two measuring techniques provide novel insights into the dynamics of pendulum sphere oscillations, instantaneous pressure fluctuations related to vortex shedding around the spheres and the way they are influenced by the vortex and wake interactions. Namely, we show that during the downward motion of the pendulum spheres, vortex rings are shed off the spheres which, in turn, induce short-lived propulsion and, subsequently, distinct deceleration. Further, we used the measured data to improve an existing basic model of pendulum motion, which has significant discrepancies for the period and peak amplitude predictions. We did this by incorporating a vortex-induced drag term and a wake interaction term into the equation. Finally, the improved equations are shown to be capable of predicting the subaqueous pendulum dynamics with high accuracy, for the investigated range of $m^*$. The study thus extends the current understanding of basic fluid dynamic mechanisms such as added mass, nonlinear drag, vortex and pressure dynamics.