Solving the woolly mammoth conundrum: amino acid 15N-enrichment suggests a distinct forage or habitat

Understanding woolly mammoth ecology is key to understanding Pleistocene community dynamics and evaluating the roles of human hunting and climate change in late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions. Previous isotopic studies of mammoths’ diet and physiology have been hampered by the ‘mammoth conundrum’: woolly mammoths have anomalously high collagen δ15N values, which are more similar to coeval carnivores than herbivores and which could imply a distinct diet and (or) habitat, or a physiological adaptation. We analyzed individual amino acids from collagen of adult woolly mammoths and coeval species and discovered greater  15N enrichment in source amino acids of woolly mammoths than in most other herbivores or carnivores. Woolly mammoths consumed an isotopically distinct food source, reflective of extreme aridity, dung fertilization and (or) plant selection. This dietary signal suggests that woolly mammoths occupied a distinct habitat or forage niche relative to other Pleistocene herbivores

Collaborative stewardship in multifunctional landscapes: Toward relational, pluralistic approaches

Landscape stewardship offers a means to put social-ecological approaches to stewardship into practice. The growing interest in landscape stewardship has led to a focus on multistakeholder collaboration. Although there is a significant body of literature on collaborative management and governance of natural resources, the particular challenges posed by multifunctional landscapes, in which there are often contested interests, require closer attention. We present a case study from South Africa to investigate how collaborative stewardship can be fostered in contested multifunctional landscapes. We conducted this research through an engaged transdisciplinary research partnership in which we integrated social-ecological practitioner and academic knowledge to gain an in-depth understanding of the challenges of fostering collaboration. We identified five overarching factors that influence collaboration: contextual, institutional, social-relational, individual, and political-historical. Collaborative stewardship approaches focused on the development of formal governance institutions appear to be most successful if enabling individual and social-relational conditions are in place. Our case study, characterized by high social diversity, inequity, and contestation, suggests that consensus-driven approaches to collaboration are unlikely to result in equitable and sustainable landscape stewardship in such contexts. We therefore suggest an approach that focuses on enhancing individual and social-relational enablers. Moreover, we propose a bottom-up patchwork approach to collaborative stewardship premised on the notion of pluralism. This would focus on building new interpersonal relationships and collaborative capacity through small collective actions. Taking a relational, pluralistic approach to fostering collaborative stewardship is particularly important in contested, socially heterogeneous landscapes. Drawing on our study and the literature, we propose guiding principles for implementing relational, pluralistic approaches to collaborative stewardship and suggest future research directions for supporting such approaches

Development of planar and 3D silicon sensor technologies for the ATLAS experiment upgrades and measurements of heavy quark production fractions with fully reconstructed D-star mesons with ATLAS

Several particle detector technologies were studied. These include measurements of the leakage current and capacitance of irradiated planar and 3D sensors. The inter-electrode capacitance of proton irradiated 3D sensors was measured using two methods and compared to simulation. Planar n-type MCz diodes were exposed to neutron and gamma radiation and the effects on defects characterized. A set of n- and p-type Fz and MCz diodes were irradiated with protons and their annealing properties extracted using the Hamburg Model. A measurement of the fraction of D$^{*+}$ mesons originating from a $b$-quark compared to those directly produced from a charm is presented. The charm mesons were fully reconstructed in the mode D$^{*+}\rightarrow$D$^{0}\pi^{+}$ where D$^{0}\rightarrow$K$^{-}\pi^{+}$. The analysis was based on data collected from the minimum bias trigger of the ATLAS detector at $\sqrt{s}=7~\rm{TeV}$ proton-proton collisions produced by the LHC. The distribution of the impact parameter of the D$^{0}$ meson with respect to the primary vertex was studied to distinguish charm mesons produced promptly from those through $b$-quark decays

Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key Terms

Much can be at stake depending on the choice of words used to describe citizen science, because terminology impacts how knowledge is developed. Citizen science is a quickly evolving field that is mobilizing people’s involvement in information development, social action and justice, and large-scale information gathering. Currently, a wide variety of terms and expressions are being used to refer to the concept of ‘citizen science’ and its practitioners. Here, we explore these terms to help provide guidance for the future growth of this field. We do this by reviewing the theoretical, historical, geopolitical, and disciplinary context of citizen science terminology; discussing what citizen science is and reviewing related terms; and providing a collection of potential terms and definitions for ‘citizen science’ and people participating in citizen science projects. This collection of terms was generated primarily from the broad knowledge base and on-the-ground experience of the authors, by recognizing the potential issues associated with various terms. While our examples may not be systematic or exhaustive, they are intended to be suggestive and invitational of future consideration. In our collective experience with citizen science projects, no single term is appropriate for all contexts. In a given citizen science project, we suggest that terms should be chosen carefully and their usage explained; direct communication with participants about how terminology affects them and what they would prefer to be called also should occur. We further recommend that a more systematic study of terminology trends in citizen science be conducted

Development and evaluation of a hands-on culinary education program for youth

The vast majority of American youth consume unhealthy diets and do not meet national nutrition recommendations. Participation in cooking and food preparation is associated with healthy dietary behaviors for individuals of all ages, likely because home cooked foods tend to be healthier than pre-prepared alternatives. Societal level declines in cooking behaviors and skills in recent decades have made decreased the likelihood that children will learn how to cook at home or in school. In response to these findings, many researchers advocate for the increased provision of hands-on cooking programs with youth audiences. The Illinois Junior Chefs (IJC) Program was developed to address concerns of minimal cooking skills and unhealthy dietary intake among low-resource youth. Principles from Social Cognitive Theory and Implementation Science informed both the development of the program and the evaluation methodology. Pre- and post-intervention data were collected through IJC surveys (which measured participants’ cooking self-efficacy, cooking attitudes, fruit and vegetable preferences, cooking behaviors, and healthy eating behaviors). A novel observational protocol was also developed to allow for observational assessment of hands-on assessment of participants’ cooking skills (mixing skills, measuring skills, using a peeler, using a grater, and cracking eggs) pre- and post-intervention. The full analytic sample included 591 participants aged 8-13, and the skills testing assessment was performed with a subgroup of 37 participants. Study findings showed that participants experienced significant improvements in cooking self-efficacy, cooking attitudes, fruit and vegetable preferences, and cooking behaviors, with males experiencing slightly stronger program outcomes than females. All hands-on cooking skills also improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention. Investigation of implementation effects revealed that programs delivered over consecutive days were generally more effective than non-consecutive lessons, teen teachers did not have an effect on program outcomes, and additional hours of programming beyond the minimum of 10 hours had a negative impact on program outcomes. This study demonstrated that participation in the IJC Program results in significant improvements in cooking self-efficacy, cooking attitudes, fruit and vegetable preferences, cooking behaviors, and hands-on cooking skills. These findings support the notion that hands-on culinary education can have a strong positive influence on psychosocial predictors of dietary behaviors in youth

Thin Film Charged Particle Trackers

Silicon tracking detectors have grown to cover larger surface areas up to hundreds of square meters, and are even taking over other sub-detectors, such as calorimeters. However, further improvements in tracking detector performance are more likely to arise from the ability to make a low mass detector comprised of a high ratio of active sensor to dead materials, where dead materials include electrical services, cooling, mechanical supports, etc. In addition, the cost and time to build these detectors is currently large. Therefore, advancements in the fundamental technology of tracking detectors may need to look at a more transformative approach that enables extremely large area coverage with minimal dead material and is easier and faster to build. The advancement of thin film fabrication techniques has the potential to revolutionize the next-to-next generation of particle detector experiments. Some thin film deposition techniques have already been developed and widely used in the industry to make LED screens for TV's and monitors. If large area thin film detectors on the order of several square meters can be fabricated with similar performance as current silicon technologies, they could be used in future particle physics experiments. This paper aims to review the key fundamental performance criteria of existing silicon detectors and past research to use thin films and other semi-conductor materials as particle detectors in order to explore the important considerations and challenges to pursue thin film detectors.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figure