Closing the Knowing-Doing Gap in Invasive Plant Management: Accessibility and Interdisciplinarity of Scientific Research

Like many conservation disciplines, invasion biology may suffer from a knowing-doing gap, where scientific research fails to inform management actions. We surveyed California resource managers to evaluate engagement with scientific research and to identify research priorities. We examined managers\u27 access to information, judgment of the usefulness of existing research, ability to generate scientific information, and priorities for future research. We found that practitioners rely on their own experience, and largely do not read the peer-reviewed literature, which they regard as only moderately useful. Less than half of managers who do research carry out experiments conforming to the norms of hypothesis testing, and their results are not broadly disseminated. Managers\u27 research needs are not restricted to applied science, or even basic ecology, but include social science questions. Scientists studying invasions can make their research more useful by crossing disciplinary boundaries, sourcing research questions from practitioners, and reporting results in accessible venues

Emergency and Scheduled Respite Care for Caregivers of Persons with Dementia: A Proposed Program

Introduction: Respite care is defined as providing the primary caregiver with relief or a reprieve from care commitments on a short-term or emergency basis. Despite a demonstrated interest in and need for respite care programs, our research has shown that scarce resources exist via a statewide dementia respite program administered by Vermont’s five Area Agencies on Aging. Grants are small and many families do not fall within the eligibility requirements. In FY2010, only 290 families across the state met eligibility requirements (physicians’ diagnosis of dementia, income less than 300% of poverty line, unpaid caregiver, primary residence in VT) and were awarded limited funding for the provision of outside care (up to $750.00 each). For many of these families, this money is typically used to provide substitute care when the primary caregiver is not available. To date, there is no true emergency respite program in place for caregivers. This has placed a strain on families and day facilities, particularly when situations arise in which a caregiver is unable to pick up their family member due to an emergency situation. Our goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of a respite program to address this need.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1061/thumbnail.jp

Separation of river network–scale nitrogen removal among the main channel and two transient storage compartments

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Water Resources Research 47 (2011): W00J10, doi:10.1029/2010WR009896.Transient storage (TS) zones are important areas of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) processing in rivers. We assessed sensitivities regarding the relative impact that the main channel (MC), surface TS (STS), and hyporheic TS (HTS) have on network denitrification using a model applied to the Ipswich River in Massachusetts, United States. STS and HTS connectivity and size were parameterized using the results of in situ solute tracer studies in first- through fifth-order reaches. DIN removal was simulated in all compartments for every river grid cell using reactivity derived from Lotic Intersite Nitrogen Experiment (LINX2) studies, hydraulic characteristics, and simulated discharge. Model results suggest that although MC-to-STS connectivity is greater than MC-to-HTS connectivity at the reach scale, at basin scales, there is a high probability of water entering the HTS at some point along its flow path through the river network. Assuming our best empirical estimates of hydraulic parameters and reactivity, the MC, HTS, and STS removed approximately 38%, 21%, and 14% of total DIN inputs during a typical base flow period, respectively. There is considerable uncertainty in many of the parameters, particularly the estimates of reaction rates in the different compartments. Using sensitivity analyses, we found that the size of TS is more important for DIN removal processes than its connectivity with the MC when reactivity is low to moderate, whereas TS connectivity is more important when reaction rates are rapid. Our work suggests a network perspective is needed to understand how connectivity, residence times, and reactivity interact to influence DIN processing in hierarchical river systems.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through DEB- 0614282, BCS-0709685 and the Plum Island Long Term Ecological Research site (NSF OCE-0423565)

Panel III

Moderated by Andrea Kupfer Schneider How the Private Sector Can Navigate Hybrid Warfare Nikki Covino Anne Leslie Jennifer Mulvihill Government & National Security Responses to Hybrid Warfare Calvin Chrustie Lee Licata The Role of the Dispute Resolution Community in Hybrid Warfare Christopher Honeyman Ellen Parke

International journal of orthopaedic and trauma nursing

In antidepressant randomized controlled trials of major depression, the placebo-response rate has gradually been increasing by about 7% per decade over the past 20 years. In recent years, various lines of investigation have focused on characterizing and differentiating response patterns to antidepressants and placebo, particularly with regard to the time course of response. Antidepressant-specific drug effects occur after the first 2 weeks of treatment and are stable, whereas placebo responses occur early and are variable. On the other hand, regardless of whether clinical improvement is attributable to drug or placebo, clinical response during the first 2 weeks of treatment has been shown to be highly predictive of eventual clinical response and vice versa. In this post hoc investigation, we first examined the time course of the placebo response pattern of subjectswho responded to placebo, compared with 2 conventional antidepressants and the natural antidepressant SJW. Our findings are in agreement with previous investigations, which collectively suggest that placebo response tends to occur in the early weeks of clinical trials. In our sample, 76% of eventual placebo responders displayed partial improvement by 2 weeks of treatment, and by 4 weeks of treatment, the bulk of early response was 92%. One of the major dilemmas for clinicians in psychiatric practice is ‘‘when to call a nonresponder, a nonresponder.’’ The results of our analysis may potentially influence clinicians to be more proactive when they do not see encouraging results early in the course of antidepressant treatment, and to undertake more aggressive measures such as faster dose increases and/or augmentation therapy. Thereby, if response is to occur, partial response will often occur in the first 2 weeks. Our findings also suggest that the placebo pattern of response occurs in subjects who participate in natural remedy studies similar to that of those studies that focus exclusively on synthetic antidepressants