Key Issues Generated from the XI International Rangeland Congress 2021: Summary and Way Forward

The important issues, knowledge gaps, and evolving research approaches for the global rangelands are summarised in this review of submissions to the Joint XXIV International Grasslands and XI International Rangelands Congress (IGC/IRC). In the big picture, it is concluded that stand-alone studies of livestock production are becoming rare compared to that of the past International Rangelands Congresses (IRC). Rather, added effort is now being directed at understanding the fuller context of social-ecological systems (SESs) on rangelands in a quest to improve the prospects for sustainable resource management as well as the enhancement of human welfare. Although climate change is upon us, there was still a dearth of papers that dealt with broad- scaled climate-adaptation per se; opportunities to improve local drought response were the default topics here with a focus on implementing better drought early warning systems and integrating perspectives among producers and scientists. Invasive species challenges remain as prominent global concerns, and woody encroachment is viewed as a major contributor to rangeland degradation. Treatments to combat rangeland degradation can involve innovative layering methods incorporating grazing management and use of prescribed fire. While there is an important backdrop concerning ecosystem services from rangelands, research in this area is still in its infancy. Analysing trade-offs between production and conservation for services such as carbon sequestration loom large going forward. There were relatively few papers concerning wildlife, tourism, and associated issues; successes and challenges for natural resource conservancies were noted, in particular. These are topics that merit more creative research and development attention in the future. Some contributions highlighted the important issue of landscape conversion from rangelands to cultivation; in conjunction with human population growth, loss of such key resources can be very negative for wildlife and associated values. In terms of pastoralism and related sub-themes, while it was noted that the majority of studies now embrace SESs and integrated, participatory, action- oriented approaches, there is little effort to standardize methodologies. A focus on repeatable methods can help grow sustainability science on rangelands, and this is a challenge for research and outreach education. The volume of studies submitted overall indicated a decided numerical advantage for the Global South over the Global North. Why this is the case remains unclear, however. Disciplinary research traditions in wealthier nations may not yet provide the incentives needed to spur innovative SES work. Finally, policy makers are seen by many investigators as being ignorant of rangeland development issues. It is argued, however, that this view has not changed for 40 years. How to better engage policy makers in comprehensive SES projects is an important future goal. Policy makers themselves can then also become human research subjects in the overall process. Based on our review the future for IRC stakeholders is clear: Continue the expansion of interdisciplinary SES and action-based approaches and increase attention to climate-change adaptation/mitigation, ecosystem services, community-based development, human empowerment, market development, poverty mitigation, and creation of effective policy frameworks

On estimating tropical forest carbon dynamics in Papua New Guinea

One of the few initiatives to address ongoing global warming that did not completely stall at the UNFCCC climate change negotiations was the reduction emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). REDD has a focus on the forests of the tropics. Unfortunately forest mensuration in most tropical countries has been inadequate to accurately determine forest carbon stocks, much less the effects of land use and changes in land use on them (Houghton et al. 2009; Bryan et al. 2010a). Whilst tropical logging is known to be widespread, the exact areas of tropical forest subject to logging have not been accurately mapped (Asner et al. 2009) or mapped with sufficient regularity to provide adequate data on the areas subject to this activity. Biomass losses due to logging have usually been derived from limited plot data, or derived via various models from estimates of regional biomass and timber extraction volumes (Houghton et al. 2009) and thus encapsulate considerable uncertainty. For these reasons the carbon impact of tropical logging remains an open question, and one that needs to be closed before any international institutional arrangement considers promoting forms of timber extraction as a tool for controlling carbon emissions. Here, we examine the current state of forest carbon research in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to illustrate the problems that can arise by developing forest management policy prematurely from incomplete forest research

Affective Life and Cultural Economy: Payday Loans and the Everyday Space-Times of Credit-Debt in the UK

Analysing the affective geographies of digitally mediated payday loans in the UK, this paper advocates and exemplifies an approach to cultural economy that focuses on how economic worlds are affectively animated and lived. Supplementing the two versions of ‘culture’ that cultural economy approaches have to date been organised around – culture as signifying system, or culture as assembled effect ‐ we propose a cultural economy of everyday space‐times which is attuned to the affective composition of forms of living. Drawing on empirical work with forty users of digitally mediated payday loans, we employ this approach to trace how their loans become part of three intersecting forms of living: relief, as a pressing concern is deferred to the immediate future; separation, as private spaces are created within ordinary life and obligations are felt as individual responsibilities; and pressure, as demands to pay intensify the sense that debt is spiralling out of control and already ongoing precarity cannot be sustained. In conclusion, we pose further questions for a cultural economy approach orientated to the analysis of forms of living

A Comparison of Biofeedback and Occlusal Adjustment on Bruxism

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141944/1/jper0367.pd

The genome sequence of the biocontrol fungus Metarhizium anisopliae and comparative genomics of Metarhizium species.

Background: Metarhizium anisopliae is an important fungal biocontrol agent of insect pests of agricultural crops. Genomics can aid the successful commercialization of biopesticides by identification of key genes differentiating closely related species, selection of virulent microbial isolates which are amenable to industrial scale production and formulation and through the reduction of phenotypic variability. The genome of Metarhizium isolate ARSEF23 was recently published as a model for M. anisopliae, however phylogenetic analysis has since re-classified this isolate as M. robertsii. We present a new annotated genome sequence of M. anisopliae (isolate Ma69) and whole genome comparison to M. robertsii (ARSEF23) and M. acridum (CQMa 102).Results: Whole genome analysis of M. anisopliae indicates significant macrosynteny with M. robertsii but with some large genomic inversions. In comparison to M. acridum, the genome of M. anisopliae shares lower sequence homology. While alignments overall are co-linear, the genome of M. acridum is not contiguous enough to conclusively observe macrosynteny. Mating type gene analysis revealed both MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 genes present in M. anisopliae suggesting putative homothallism, despite having no known teleomorph, in contrast with the putatively heterothallic M. acridum isolate CQMa 102 (MAT1-2) and M. robertsii isolate ARSEF23 (altered MAT1-1). Repetitive DNA and RIP analysis revealed M. acridum to have twice the repetitive content of the other two species and M. anisopliae to be five times more RIP affected than M. robertsii. We also present an initial bioinformatic survey of candidate pathogenicity genes in M. anisopliae.Conclusions: The annotated genome of M. anisopliae is an important resource for the identification of virulence genes specific to M. anisopliae and development of species- and strain- specific assays. New insight into the possibility of homothallism and RIP affectedness has important implications for the development of M. anisopliae as a biopesticide as it may indicate the potential for greater inherent diversity in this species than the other species. This could present opportunities to select isolates with unique combinations of pathogenicity factors, or it may point to instability in the species, a negative attribute in a biopesticide

Information capacity in the weak-signal approximation

We derive an approximate expression for mutual information in a broad class of discrete-time stationary channels with continuous input, under the constraint of vanishing input amplitude or power. The approximation describes the input by its covariance matrix, while the channel properties are described by the Fisher information matrix. This separation of input and channel properties allows us to analyze the optimality conditions in a convenient way. We show that input correlations in memoryless channels do not affect channel capacity since their effect decreases fast with vanishing input amplitude or power. On the other hand, for channels with memory, properly matching the input covariances to the dependence structure of the noise may lead to almost noiseless information transfer, even for intermediate values of the noise correlations. Since many model systems described in mathematical neuroscience and biophysics operate in the high noise regime and weak-signal conditions, we believe, that the described results are of potential interest also to researchers in these areas.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review

Many Roads to Synchrony: Natural Time Scales and Their Algorithms

We consider two important time scales---the Markov and cryptic orders---that monitor how an observer synchronizes to a finitary stochastic process. We show how to compute these orders exactly and that they are most efficiently calculated from the epsilon-machine, a process's minimal unifilar model. Surprisingly, though the Markov order is a basic concept from stochastic process theory, it is not a probabilistic property of a process. Rather, it is a topological property and, moreover, it is not computable from any finite-state model other than the epsilon-machine. Via an exhaustive survey, we close by demonstrating that infinite Markov and infinite cryptic orders are a dominant feature in the space of finite-memory processes. We draw out the roles played in statistical mechanical spin systems by these two complementary length scales.Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures: http://cse.ucdavis.edu/~cmg/compmech/pubs/kro.htm. Santa Fe Institute Working Paper 10-11-02

Spectroscopy of neutron-unbound 27,28^{27,28}F

The ground state of $^{28}$F has been observed as an unbound resonance $2\underline{2}0$ keV above the ground state of $^{27}$F. Comparison of this result with USDA/USDB shell model predictions leads to the conclusion that the $^{28}$F ground state is primarily dominated by $sd$-shell configurations. Here we present a detailed report on the experiment in which the ground state resonance of $^{28}$F was first observed. Additionally, we report the first observation of a neutron-unbound excited state in $^{27}$F at an excitation energy of $25\underline{0}0 (2\underline{2}0)$ keV.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Study design and protocol for a mixed methods evaluation of an intervention to reduce and break up sitting time in primary school classrooms in the UK: the CLASS PAL (Physically Active Learning) Programme

Introduction: Children engage in a high volume of sitting in school, particularly in the classroom. A number of strategies, such as physically active lessons (termed movement integration (MI)), have been developed to integrate physical activity into this learning environment; however, no single approach is likely to meet the needs of all pupils and teachers. This protocol outlines an implementation study of a primary school-based MI intervention: CLASS PAL (Physically Active Learning) programme. This study aims to (A) determine the degree of implementation of CLASS PAL, (B) identify processes by which teachers and schools implement CLASS PAL and (C) investigate individual (pupil and teacher) level and school-level characteristics associated with implementation of CLASS PAL. Methods and analysis: The intervention will provide teachers with a professional development workshop and a bespoke teaching resources website. The study will use a single group before-and-after design, strengthened by multiple interim measurements. Six state-funded primary schools will be recruited within Leicestershire, UK. Evaluation data will be collected prior to implementation and at four discrete time points during implementation: At measurement 0 (October 2016), school, teacher and pupil characteristics will be collected. At measurements 0 and 3 (June-July 2017), accelerometry, cognitive functioning, self-reported sitting and classroom engagement data will be collected. At measurements 1(December 2016-March 2017) and 3, teacher interviews (also at measurement 4; September-October 2017) and pupil focus groups will be conducted, and at measurements 1 and 2 (April-May 2017), classroom observations. Implementation will be captured through website analytics and ongoing teacher completed logs. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval was obtained through the Loughborough University Human Participants Ethics Sub-Committee (Reference number: R16-P115). Findings will be disseminated via practitioner and/or research journals and to relevant regional and national stakeholders through print and online media and dissemination event(s)