Early Mesozoic Paleotectonic-Paleogeographic Reconstruction of Southern Sierra Nevada Region

A paleotectonic-paleogeographic reconstruction was based on structural, petrologic, and geochronologic studies of pre-Sierra Nevada batholith framework rocks exposed between the San Joaquin River and the Garlock fault. Most available fossil data from roof pendants of this region indicate Late Triassic to Early Jurassic ages. An additional fossil locality from the western wall rocks yields a Late Permian Tethyan fauna. This is a maximum age for the enclosing rocks, for the fossils are in a limestone olistolith. As yet there is no sign of Paleozoic strata in the region except perhaps along the eastern Sierran crest in small metamorphic septa, and in the western foothills where ophiolitic rocks are present

Nudges and other moral technologies in the context of power: Assigning and accepting responsibility

Strawson argues that we should understand moral responsibility in terms of our practices of holding responsible and taking responsibility. The former covers what is commonly referred to as backward-looking responsibility , while the latter covers what is commonly referred to as forward-looking responsibility . We consider new technologies and interventions that facilitate assignment of responsibility. Assigning responsibility is best understood as the second- or third-personal analogue of taking responsibility. It establishes forward-looking responsibility. But unlike taking responsibility, it establishes forward-looking responsibility in someone else. When such assignments are accepted, they function in such a way that those to whom responsibility has been assigned face the same obligations and are susceptible to the same reactive attitudes as someone who takes responsibility. One family of interventions interests us in particular: nudges. We contend that many instances of nudging tacitly assign responsibility to nudgees for actions, values, and relationships that they might not otherwise have taken responsibility for. To the extent that nudgees tacitly accept such assignments, they become responsible for upholding norms that would otherwise have fallen under the purview of other actors. While this may be empowering in some cases, it can also function in such a way that it burdens people with more responsibility that they can (reasonably be expected to) manage

Buprenorphine Use Trends Following Removal of Prior Authorization Policies for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder in 2 State Medicaid Programs

Importance: State Medicaid programs have implemented initiatives to expand treatment coverage for opioid use disorder (OUD); however, some Medicaid programs still require prior authorizations (PAs) for filling buprenorphine prescriptions. Objective: To evaluate the changes in buprenorphine use for OUD among Medicaid enrollees in states that completely removed buprenorphine PA requirements. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed the immediate and trend changes on buprenorphine use during 2013 to 2020 associated with removal of PA requirements using a controlled interrupted time series analysis to account for autocorrelation. Data were collected from Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data for 2 states (California and Illinois) that completely removed a buprenorphine PA during the study period, and buprenorphine prescriptions for OUD treatment were identified among Medicaid enrollees. Main Outcomes and Measures: Quarterly total number of buprenorphine prescriptions for each state was calculated, and stratification analyses were conducted by dosage form (films and tablets). Results: Among the 2 state Medicaid programs (California and Illinois) that removed buprenorphine PAs, there was a total of 702643 and 415115 eligible buprenorphine prescription claims, respectively. After removing PA requirements for buprenorphine, there was an immediate increase that was not statistically significant (rate ratio [RR], 1.11; 95% CI, 0.76-1.61) in the number of all buprenorphine prescriptions in California and a statistically significant increase (RR, 6.99; 95% CI, 4.67-10.47) in the number of all buprenorphine prescriptions in Illinois relative to the change in the control states (Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming). Additionally, there was a statistically significant decreasing trend in the number of all buprenorphine prescriptions in California (RR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.82-0.94) and a statistically significant increasing trend in Illinois (RR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05-1.19) relative to the trend in control states. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, removal of buprenorphine PA requirements was associated with a statistically significant increase in the number of buprenorphine prescription fills among Medicaid populations in 1 of the 2 included states

Development of the Performance Confirmation Program at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

The Yucca Mountain Performance Confirmation program consists of tests, monitoring activities, experiments, and analyses to evaluate the adequacy of assumptions, data, and analyses that form the basis of the conceptual and numerical models of flow and transport associated with a proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The Performance Confirmation program uses an eight-stage risk-informed, performance-based approach. Selection of the Performance Confirmation activities (a parameter and a test method) for inclusion in the Performance Confirmation program was done using a risk-informed performance-based decision analysis. The result of this analysis and review was a Performance Confirmation base portfolio that consists of 20 activities. The 20 Performance Confirmation activities include geologic, hydrologic, and construction/engineering testing. Several of the activities were initiated during site characterization and are ongoing. Others activities will commence during construction and/or post emplacement and will continue until repository closure

Problematizing Choice: Responsible consumers and sceptical citizens

About the book: Governance, Consumers and Citizens is the first book to bring together a study of governance with consumption, examining the changing place of the consumer as citizen in recent trends in governance, the tensions between competing ideas and practices of consumerism and the active role consumers play in the construction and practice of governance. Radically pushing forward the debate on consumers and governance, this collection outlines new conceptions and posits new policy agendas. Bringing together international experts from political science, history, geography, social policy and media studies, this study shows how governance and consumption are intertwined in crucial aspects of public policy and contemporary politics

Heterologous expression screens in Nicotiana benthamiana identify a candidate effector of the wheat Yellow Rust Pathogen that associates with processing bodies

Rust fungal pathogens of wheat (Triticum spp.) affect crop yields worldwide. The molecular mechanisms underlying the virulence of these pathogens remain elusive, due to the limited availability of suitable molecular genetic research tools. Notably, the inability to perform high-throughput analyses of candidate virulence proteins (also known as effectors) impairs progress. We previously established a pipeline for the fast-forward screens of rust fungal candidate effectors in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana. This pipeline involves selecting candidate effectors in silico and performing cell biology and protein-protein interaction assays in planta to gain insight into the putative functions of candidate effectors. In this study, we used this pipeline to identify and characterize sixteen candidate effectors from the wheat yellow rust fungal pathogen Puccinia striiformis f sp tritici. Nine candidate effectors targeted a specific plant subcellular compartment or protein complex, providing valuable information on their putative functions in plant cells. One candidate effector, PST02549, accumulated in processing bodies (P-bodies), protein complexes involved in mRNA decapping, degradation, and storage. PST02549 also associates with the P-body-resident ENHANCER OF mRNA DECAPPING PROTEIN 4 (EDC4) from N. benthamiana and wheat. We propose that P-bodies are a novel plant cell compartment targeted by pathogen effectors

The ethics of climate-induced community displacement and resettlement

Despite a burgeoning literature considering the ethical implications of climate change more broadly, and the ethics of migration, the nexus between the two issues has not been given enough attention by political theorists. The paper outlines the key nodes in a debate we think should take place, and which will be made even more urgent in the coming decades as climate change impacts on communities least resilient to it

Identification and shell model calculation of high spin states in 137,138Cs nuclei

High spin states of $^{137,138}\mathrm{Cs}$ have been studied by measuring \ensuremath{\gamma}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\gamma}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\ensuremath{\gamma} coincidences from the spontaneous fission of $^{252}\mathrm{Cf}$ with the LBNL Gammasphere detector array. The high spin level scheme of the $N=83$ neutron-rich Cs ($Z=55$) isotope, $^{138}\mathrm{Cs}$, built on the {6}^{\ensuremath{-}} isomeric state, has been established for the first time up to a 4626 keV level, assigned (${16}^{+}$). The level scheme of $^{137}\mathrm{Cs}$ has been expanded up to a 5495 keV level, assigned (31/{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}). Spins, parities, and configurations are assigned based on the agreement between experimental level energies and shell model calculations and level systematics. Similarities are observed in the $N=82$ isotones, $^{137}\mathrm{Cs}$ and $^{135}\mathrm{I}$, up to $17/{2}^{+}$ as well as in the $N=83$ isotones, $^{138}\mathrm{Cs}$ and $^{136}\mathrm{I}$, up to {12}^{\ensuremath{-}}. The shell model calculations indicate the important role played by interactions between the excitation of the valence protons outside the $Z=50$ major shell and the ${f}_{7/2}$ valence neutron outside the $N=82$ major shell