Everybody Knows: Engaged Research and the Changing Role of the Academic

The rise of the impact and engagement agendas has challenged the role of the academic, and particularly the relationship between the academic, knowledge and the wider public. In this article, we propose that, alongside the existing models of ‘knowledge transfer’ and ‘knowledge exchange’, academic engagement with external audiences can also be conceptualised as a multidimensional ‘knowledge network’. We adopt a case study approach to explore and illustrate what such a knowledge network looks like in practice, and we consider the implications of thinking about university engagement activities in these terms, with particular emphasis on what it means for the shifting role of the academic

Geology and Ground-water Hydrology of the Ingalls Area, Kansas

This report describes the geology and ground-water hydrology of a 540-square-mile area in Finney and Gray Counties, Kansas. The city of Ingalls is approximately in the center of the area, which is in the Finney lowland and High Plains physiographic provinces and is crossed by Arkansas River. The normal annual precipitation is 19.93 inches, and the mean annual temperature is 55° F. The rocks exposed in the Ingalls area are sedimentary and range in age from Tertiary to Recent. The geology of the area is described, and cross sections show the extent of the unconsolidated deposits in the subsurface. These unconsolidated deposits are about 140 to 300 feet thick and yield water to wells for all public, domestic, stock, and most irrigation supplies in the area. The quantity of water in storage in that part of the area that is 10 miles wide and 24 miles long and lies adjacent to Arkansas River between Pierceville and Cimarron amounts to about 130,000 acre-feet in the alluvium of Arkansas River and about 2,700,000 acre-feet in the Ogallala formation beneath and adjacent to the alluvium. The ground water in most of the area is moderately hard, and the water of Arkansas River and the alluvium north of the river is very hard. Data collected from seven aquifer tests and analyses of the data are included in this report. Three aquifer tests were made of the alluvium of Arkansas River and four of the Ogallala formation. The coefficient of transmissibility of the alluvium computed from the test data ranged from 97,000 to 180,000 gpd per foot and of the Ogallala formation from 12,000 to 61,000 gpd per foot. The storage coefficient of the Ogallala formation is about 2.5 x 10-4. The hydrologic and geologic data on which this report is based include records of 231 wells and test holes, logs of 89 wells and test holes, and analyses of 14 samples of water

Geology and Ground-water Hydrology of the Ingalls Area, Kansas

This report describes the geology and ground-water hydrology of a 540-square-mile area in Finney and Gray Counties, Kansas. The city of Ingalls is approximately in the center of the area, which is in the Finney lowland and High Plains physiographic provinces and is crossed by Arkansas River. The normal annual precipitation is 19.93 inches, and the mean annual temperature is 55° F. The rocks exposed in the Ingalls area are sedimentary and range in age from Tertiary to Recent. The geology of the area is described, and cross sections show the extent of the unconsolidated deposits in the subsurface. These unconsolidated deposits are about 140 to 300 feet thick and yield water to wells for all public, domestic, stock, and most irrigation supplies in the area. The quantity of water in storage in that part of the area that is 10 miles wide and 24 miles long and lies adjacent to Arkansas River between Pierceville and Cimarron amounts to about 130,000 acre-feet in the alluvium of Arkansas River and about 2,700,000 acre-feet in the Ogallala formation beneath and adjacent to the alluvium. The ground water in most of the area is moderately hard, and the water of Arkansas River and the alluvium north of the river is very hard. Data collected from seven aquifer tests and analyses of the data are included in this report. Three aquifer tests were made of the alluvium of Arkansas River and four of the Ogallala formation. The coefficient of transmissibility of the alluvium computed from the test data ranged from 97,000 to 180,000 gpd per foot and of the Ogallala formation from 12,000 to 61,000 gpd per foot. The storage coefficient of the Ogallala formation is about 2.5 x 10-4. The hydrologic and geologic data on which this report is based include records of 231 wells and test holes, logs of 89 wells and test holes, and analyses of 14 samples of water

Dynamical trapping and relaxation of scalar gravitational fields

We present a framework for nonlinearly coupled scalar-tensor theory of gravity to address both inflation and core-collapse supernova problems. The unified approach is based on a novel dynamical trapping and relaxation of scalar gravity in highly energetic regimes. The new model provides a viable alternative mechanism of inflation free from various issues known to affect previous proposals. Furthermore, it could be related to observable violent astronomical events, specifically by releasing a significant amount of additional gravitational energy during core-collapse supernovae. A recent experiment at CERN relevant for testing this new model is briefly outlined.Comment: 4 pages; version to appear in PL

Dark ice dynamics of the south-west Greenland Ice Sheet

Runoff from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) has increased in recent years due largely to changes in atmospheric circulation and atmospheric warming. Albedo reductions resulting from these changes have amplified surface melting. Some of the largest declines in GrIS albedo have occurred in the ablation zone of the south-west sector and are associated with the development of "dark" ice surfaces. Field observations at local scales reveal that a variety of light-absorbing impurities (LAIs) can be present on the surface, ranging from inorganic particulates to cryoconite materials and ice algae. Meanwhile, satellite observations show that the areal extent of dark ice has varied significantly between recent successive melt seasons. However, the processes that drive such large interannual variability in dark ice extent remain essentially unconstrained. At present we are therefore unable to project how the albedo of bare ice sectors of the GrIS will evolve in the future, causing uncertainty in the projected sea level contribution from the GrIS over the coming decades. Here we use MODIS satellite imagery to examine dark ice dynamics on the south-west GrIS each year from 2000 to 2016. We quantify dark ice in terms of its annual extent, duration, intensity and timing of first appearance. Not only does dark ice extent vary significantly between years but so too does its duration (from 0 to > 80 % of June-July-August, JJA), intensity and the timing of its first appearance. Comparison of dark ice dynamics with potential meteorological drivers from the regional climate model MAR reveals that the JJA sensible heat flux, the number of positive minimum-air-temperature days and the timing of bare ice appearance are significant interannual synoptic controls. We use these findings to identify the surface processes which are most likely to explain recent dark ice dynamics. We suggest that whilst the spatial distribution of dark ice is best explained by outcropping of particulates from ablating ice, these particulates alone do not drive dark ice dynamics. Instead, they may enable the growth of pigmented ice algal assemblages which cause visible surface darkening, but only when the climatological prerequisites of liquid meltwater presence and sufficient photosynthetically active radiation fluxes are met. Further field studies are required to fully constrain the processes by which ice algae growth proceeds and the apparent dependency of algae growth on melt-out particulates

Rfx6 Maintains the Functional Identity of Adult Pancreatic β Cells.

SummaryIncreasing evidence suggests that loss of β cell characteristics may cause insulin secretory deficiency in diabetes, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that Rfx6, whose mutation leads to neonatal diabetes in humans, is essential to maintain key features of functionally mature β cells in mice. Rfx6 loss in adult β cells leads to glucose intolerance, impaired β cell glucose sensing, and defective insulin secretion. This is associated with reduced expression of core components of the insulin secretion pathway, including glucokinase, the Abcc8/SUR1 subunit of KATP channels and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, which are direct targets of Rfx6. Moreover, Rfx6 contributes to the silencing of the vast majority of “disallowed” genes, a group usually specifically repressed in adult β cells, and thus to the maintenance of β cell maturity. These findings raise the possibility that changes in Rfx6 expression or activity may contribute to β cell failure in humans

Weathering microenvironments on feldspar surfaces: implications for understanding fluid-mineral reactions in soils

The mechanisms by which coatings develop on weathered grain surfaces, and their potential impact on rates of fluid-mineral interaction, have been investigated by examining feldspars from a 1.1 ky old soil in the Glen Feshie chronosequence, Scottish highlands. Using the focused ion beam technique, electron-transparent foils for characterization by transmission electron microscopy were cut from selected parts of grain surfaces. Some parts were bare whereas others had accumulations, a few micrometres thick, of weathering products, often mixed with mineral and microbial debris. Feldspar exposed at bare grain surfaces is crystalline throughout and so there is no evidence for the presence of the amorphous 'leached layers' that typically form in acid-dissolution experiments and have been described from some natural weathering contexts. The weathering products comprise sub-μm thick crystallites of an Fe-K aluminosilicate, probably smectite, that have grown within an amorphous and probably organic-rich matrix. There is also evidence for crystallization of clays having been mediated by fungal hyphae. Coatings formed within Glen Feshie soils after ∼1.1 ky are insufficiently continuous or impermeable to slow rates of fluid-feldspar reactions, but provide valuable insights into the complex weathering microenvironments on debris and microbe-covered mineral surfaces

Loss of the flagellum happened only once in the fungal lineage: phylogenetic structure of Kingdom Fungi inferred from RNA polymerase II subunit genes

BACKGROUND: At present, there is not a widely accepted consensus view regarding the phylogenetic structure of kingdom Fungi although two major phyla, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota, are clearly delineated. Regarding the lower fungi, Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota, a variety of proposals have been advanced. Microsporidia may or may not be fungi; the Glomales (vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) may or may not constitute a fifth fungal phylum, and the loss of the flagellum may have occurred either once or multiple times during fungal evolution. All of these issues are capable of being resolved by a molecular phylogenetic analysis which achieves strong statistical support for major branches. To date, no fungal phylogeny based upon molecular characters has satisfied this criterion. RESULTS: Using the translated amino acid sequences of the RPB1 and RPB2 genes, we have inferred a fungal phylogeny that consists largely of well-supported monophyletic phyla. Our major results, each with significant statistical support, are: (1) Microsporidia are sister to kingdom Fungi and are not members of Zygomycota; that is, Microsporidia and fungi originated from a common ancestor. (2) Chytridiomycota, the only fungal phylum having a developmental stage with a flagellum, is paraphyletic and is the basal lineage. (3) Zygomycota is monophyletic based upon sampling of Trichomycetes, Zygomycetes, and Glomales. (4) Zygomycota, Basidiomycota, and Ascomycota form a monophyletic group separate from Chytridiomycota. (5) Basidiomycota and Ascomycota are monophyletic sister groups. CONCLUSION: In general, this paper highlights the evolutionary position and significance of the lower fungi (Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota). Our results suggest that loss of the flagellum happened only once during early stages of fungal evolution; consequently, the majority of fungi, unlike plants and animals, are nonflagellated. The phylogeny we infer from gene sequences is the first one that is congruent with the widely accepted morphology-based classification of Fungi. We find that, contrary to what has been published elsewhere, the four morphologically defined phyla (Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Zygomycota and Chytridiomycota) do not overlap with one another. Microsporidia are not included within kingdom Fungi; rather they are a sister-group to the Fungi. Our study demonstrates the applicability of protein sequences from large, slowly-evolving genes to the derivation of well-resolved and highly supported phylogenies across long evolutionary distances

Inoculating an Infodemic: An Ecological Approach to Understanding Engagement With COVID-19 Online Information

As the global COVID-19 pandemic has been concurrently labelled an “infodemic,” researchers have sought to improve how the general public engages with information that is relevant, timely, and accurate. In this study, we provide an overview of the reasons why people engage and disengage with COVID-19 information. We use context-rich semi-structured interviews which invited participants to discuss online COVID-19-related content they encountered. This qualitative approach allows us to uncover subtle but important details of influences that drive online engagement. Participants both engaged and disengaged with content for individual and social reasons, with seven themes emerging connected to their engagement including actions in response to information, reasoning for engagement, content, motivating concerns, frequency of engagement with information, site of exposure, and given reason for not engaging. Many of these themes intersected and informed each other. Our findings suggest that researchers and public health communicators should approach engagement as an ecology of intersecting influences, both human and algorithmic, which change over time. This information could be potentially helpful to public health communicators who are trying to engage the public with the best information to keep them safe during the pandemic

The health belief model: How public health can address the misinformation crisis beyond COVID-19

Objectives: This paper proposes an intervention into health misinformation that relies upon the health belief model as a means to bridge the risks associated with health misinformation and the impact on individual health, beyond the current recommendations for fact checking and information literacy. Study design: This is a short theoretical paper. Methods: N/A. Results: N/A. Conclusions: Misinformation researchers and public health practitioners and communicators can benefit using the infrastructures afforded by public health offices to mobilize the health belief model as a site for misinformation education