Prairie Fen Preserved in an Urban Environment

Prairie fens are a rare, fire-dependent wetland type found only in the glaciated Midwest in ice-contact topography along streams or lake boundaries that historically occurred adjacent to prairies and savannas. Due to a strong dependence on cool, alkaline groundwater seepage, they are extremely sensitive to hydrological alterations that result from urban development. While prairie fens are common in glacial interlobate regions, it was still surprising to discover one while conducting a botanical inventory in 2001 in an urban development in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 295-acre planned unit development (PUD), known as Parkview Hills, is bordered by medium-density residential neighborhoods, a major federal highway, and open lands. Three state-listed plant species and two state-listed animals occur in the fen and calcareous seepage is active in many areas. However, the effects of fire suppress ion , urban development, and a millpond two miles upstream are apparent. Woody encroachment from invasive species, such as glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus), is severe throughout much of the fen

Associations Between Neighborhood SES and Functional Brain Network Development

Higher socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood is associated with stronger cognitive abilities, higher academic achievement, and lower incidence of mental illness later in development. While prior work has mapped the associations between neighborhood SES and brain structure, little is known about the relationship between SES and intrinsic neural dynamics. Here, we capitalize upon a large cross-sectional community-based sample (Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, ages 8–22 years, n = 1012) to examine associations between age, SES, and functional brain network topology. We characterize this topology using a local measure of network segregation known as the clustering coefficient and find that it accounts for a greater degree of SES-associated variance than mesoscale segregation captured by modularity. High-SES youth displayed stronger positive associations between age and clustering than low-SES youth, and this effect was most pronounced for regions in the limbic, somatomotor, and ventral attention systems. The moderating effect of SES on positive associations between age and clustering was strongest for connections of intermediate length and was consistent with a stronger negative relationship between age and local connectivity in these regions in low-SES youth. Our findings suggest that, in late childhood and adolescence, neighborhood SES is associated with variation in the development of functional network structure in the human brain

Mead-halls of the Oiscingas: a new Kentish perspective on the Anglo-Saxon great hall complex phenomenon

Widely cited as a metaphor for the emergence of kingship in early medieval England, the great hall complex represents one of the most distinctive and evocative expressions of the Anglo-Saxon settlement record, yet interpretation of these sites remains underdeveloped and heavily weighted towards Yeavering. Inspired by the results of recent excavations at Lyminge, this paper undertakes a detailed comparative interrogation of three great hall complexes in Kent and exploits this new regional perspective to advance understanding of the agency and embodied meanings of these settlements as ‘theatres of power’. Explored through the thematic prisms of place, social memory and monumental hybridity, this examination leads to a new appreciation of the involvement of great hall sites in the genealogical strategies of 7th-century royal dynasties and a fresh perspective on how this remarkable yet short-lived monumental idiom was adapted to harness the symbolic capital of Romanitas