Land Grant Application- Barney, Joseph (Swansea)

Land grant application submitted to the Maine Land Office for Joseph Barney for service in the Revolutionary War.https://digitalmaine.com/revolutionary_war_mass/1017/thumbnail.jp

Global Climate Niche Estimates for Bioenergy Crops and Invasive Species of Agronomic Origin: Potential Problems and Opportunities

The global push towards a more biomass-based energy sector is ramping up efforts to adopt regionally appropriate high-yielding crops. As potential bioenergy crops are being moved around the world an assessment of the climatic suitability would be a prudent first step in identifying suitable areas of productivity and risk. Additionally, this assessment also provides a necessary step in evaluating the invasive potential of bioenergy crops, which present a possible negative externality to the bioeconomy. Therefore, we provide the first global climate niche assessment for the major graminaceous (9), herbaceous (3), and woody (4) bioenergy crops. Additionally, we contrast these with climate niche assessments for North American invasive species that were originally introduced for agronomic purposes as examples of well-intentioned introductions gone awry. With few exceptions (e.g., Saccharum officinarum, Pennisetum purpureum), the bioenergy crops exhibit broad climatic tolerance, which allows tremendous flexibility in choosing crops, especially in areas with high summer rainfall and long growing seasons (e.g., southeastern US, Amazon Basin, eastern Australia). Unsurprisingly, the invasive species of agronomic origin have very similar global climate niche profiles as the proposed bioenergy crops, also demonstrating broad climatic tolerance. The ecoregional evaluation of bioenergy crops and known invasive species demonstrates tremendous overlap at both high (EI≥30) and moderate (EI≥20) climate suitability. The southern and western US ecoregions support the greatest number of invasive species of agronomic origin, especially the Southeastern USA Plains, Mixed Woods Plains, and Mediterranean California. Many regions of the world have a suitable climate for several bioenergy crops allowing selection of agro-ecoregionally appropriate crops. This model knowingly ignores the complex biotic interactions and edaphic conditions, but provides a robust assessment of the climate niche, which is valuable for agronomists, crop developers, and regulators seeking to choose agro-ecoregionally appropriate crops while minimizing the risk of invasive species

Competing for Refugees: A Market-Based Solution to a Humanitarian Crisis

The current refugee crisis demands novel legal solutions, and new ways of summoning the political will to implement them. As a matter of national incentives, the goal must be to design mechanisms that discourage countries of origin from creating refugees, and encourage host countries to welcome them. One way to achieve this would be to recognize that persecuted refugee groups have a financial claim against their countries of origin, and that this claim can be traded to host nations in exchange for acceptance. Modifications to the international apparatus would be necessary, but the basic legal elements of this proposal already exist. In short, international law can and should give refugees a legal asset, give host nations incentives to accept them, and give oppressive countries of origin the bill

Replication research: opportunities, experiences and challenges

Replication is one of the main principles of the scientific method. In the physical sciences, new knowledge is often not considered valid until the original study has been replicated in other labs and the original results are not refuted Replication will either improve confidence in our research findings or identify important boundary conditions. Replications also enhance various scientific processes and offer methodical and educational improvements. The purpose of this panel is twofold. First, to explore the opportunities for scientific development that replication research enables by reflecting on the experiences of encouraging, doing, and publishing replication studies. Second, to explore the various challenges that replication research raises about its value to individual scholars as well as to our collective understanding of phenomena within the information systems field

The Role of Light and Soil Moisture in Plant Community Resistance to Invasion by Yellow Starthistle (\u3ci\u3eCentaurea solstitialis\u3c/i\u3e)

To resist establishment by an invasive plant, a community may require one or more species functionally similar to the invader in their resource acquisition pattern. In this study, communities consisting of native winter annual forbs, non-native annual grasses, native perennials, or a combination of the two native communities were established with and without Centaurea solstitialis to determine the effect of soil moisture and light availability on plant community invasion resistance. The annual plant communities were unable to resist invasion by C. solstitialis. In the native winter annual forb community, senescence in late spring increased light penetration (\u3e75%) to the soil surface, allowing seeded C. solstitialis to quickly establish and dominate the plots. In addition, native annual forbs utilized only shallow soil moisture, whereas C. solstitialis used shallow and deep soil moisture. In communities containing native perennials, only Elymus glaucus established well and eventually dominated the plots. During the first 2 years of establishment, water use pattern of perennial communities was similar to native annual forbs and resistance to invasion was associated with reduced light availability during the critical stages of C. solstitialis establishment. In later years, however, water use pattern of perennial grass communities was similar or greater than C. solstitialis-dominated plots. These results show that Central Valley grasslands that include E. glaucus resist C. solstitialis invasion by a combination of light suppression and soil water competition. Spatiotemporal resource utilization patterns, and not just functional similarity, should be considered when developing restoration strategies to resist invasion by many non-native species

Everything is Awesome! Or is it? : Cyber Security Risks in Critical Infrastructure

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) play an important role in the monitoring, control and automation of critical infrastructure such as water, gas, oil and electricity. Recent years have seen a number of high profile cyber attacks on such infrastructure exemplified by Stuxnet and the Ukrainian Power Grid attacks. This naturally begs the question: how should we manage cyber security risks in such infrastructure on which the day-to-day functioning of societies rely? What are the complexities of managing security in a landscape shaped by the often competing demands of a variety of stakeholders, e.g., managers, control engineers, enterprise IT personnel and field site operators? What are the challenges posed by the convergence of Internet of Things (IoT) and critical infrastructure through the so-called Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)? In this paper, we discuss insights from a multi-year programme of research investigating these issues and the challenges to addressing them

Mobilization practices in critically ill children: a European point prevalence study (EU PARK-PICU)

Early mobilization of adults receiving intensive care improves health outcomes, yet little is known about mobilization practices in paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). We aimed to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with physical rehabilitation in PICUs across Europe. A 2-day, cross-sectional, multicentre point prevalence study was conducted in May and November 2018. The primary outcome was the prevalence of physical therapy (PT)- or occupational therapy (OT)-provided mobility. Clinical data and data on patient mobility, potential mobility safety events, and mobilization barriers were prospectively collected in patients admitted for ≥72 h. Data of 456 children admitted to one of 38 participating PICUs from 15 European countries were collected (456 patient days); 70% were under 3 years of age. The point prevalence of PT- and/or OT-provided mobility activities was 39% (179/456) (95% CI 34.7-43.9%) during the patient days, with significant differences between European regions. Nurses were involved in 72% (924/1283) of the mobility events; in the remaining 28%, PT/OT, physicians, family members, or other professionals were involved. Of the factors studied, family presence was most strongly positively associated with out-of-bed mobilization (aOR 7.83, 95% CI 3.09-19.79). Invasive mechanical ventilation with an endotracheal tube was negatively associated with out-of-bed mobility (aOR 0.28, 95% CI 0.12-0.68). Patients were completely immobile on 25% (115/456) of patient days. Barriers to mobilization were reported on 38% of patient days. The most common reported patient-related barriers were cardiovascular instability (n = 47, 10%), oversedation (n = 39, 9%), and medical contraindication (n = 37, 8%). Potential safety events occurred in 6% of all documented mobilization events. Therapists are infrequently consulted for mobilization of critically ill children in European PICUs. This study highlights the need for a systematic and interdisciplinary mobilization approach for critically ill children

Beyond words: Aesthetic knowledge and knowing in design

Aesthetic knowledge comes from practitioners understanding the look, feel, smell, taste and sound of things. It is vital to work in many organizational contexts. In this paper, we explore aesthetic knowledge and knowing in organizations through detailed observation of design work in the architectural practice Edward Cullinan Architects. Through our research, we explore aesthetic knowledge in the context of architectural work, we unpack what it is, how it is generated, and how it is applied in design projects, shared between practitioners and developed at the level of the organization. Our analysis suggests that aesthetic knowledge plays an important part in organizational practice, not only as the symbolic context for work, but as an integral part of the work that people do. It suggests that aesthetic reflexivity, which involves an opening up and questioning of what is known, is experienced as part of practice as well as a `time out' from practice