The case for evidence-based policy to support stress-resilient cropping systems

Research and the dissemination of evidence-based guidelines for best practice in crop production are fundamental for the protection of our crop yields against biotic and abiotic threats, and for meeting ambitious food production targets by 2050. The advances in knowledge required for sustaining crop productivity targets will be gained through three research tracks: (1) basic strategic research in the field, for example, crop breeding, agronomy, and advanced phenotyping; (2) translational research involving the application of advances in fundamental science; and (3) pure fundamental research to fuel future translational research. We propose that policy and funding structures need to be improved to facilitate and encourage more interactions between scientists involved in all three research tracks, and also between researchers and farmers, to improve the effectiveness of delivering improvements in crop stress resilience. History illustrates that it is challenging for public researchers to “stretch across” all of these research tracks, with effective farm-level solutions being more likely when end-users and industry are directly engaged in the research pipeline. As research proceeds from fundamental through to applied research, the demand for experimental rigor and a wider understanding of appropriate methods and outcomes is paramount, that is, demonstrating value in yield at the field level requires the input of experienced practitioners from each research track. The development of evidence-based policies to support all funding structures and the engagement of producers with both the development of research, and with the findings of such research, will form an important capability in meeting food security targets. This commentary, concentrating on the development of policies to support research and its dissemination, is based on discussions held at the Stress Resilience Symposium organized by the Global Plant Council and Society of Experimental Biology in October 2015.Matthew Gilliham, Scott Chapman, Lisa Martin, Sarah Jose and Ruth Basto

Multigenetic origin of the X-discontinuity below continents: insights from African receiver functions

Constraints on chemical heterogeneities in the upper mantle may be derived from studying the seismically observable impedance contrasts that they produce. Away from subduction zones, several causal mechanisms are possible to explain the intermittently observed X-discontinuity (X) at 230–350 km depth: the coesite-stishovite phase transition, the enstatite to clinoenstatite phase transition, and/or carbonated silicate melting, all requiring a local enrichment of basalt. Africa hosts a broad range of terranes, from Precambrian cores to Cenozoic hotspots with or without lowermost mantle origins. With the absence of subduction below the margins of the African plate for >0.5 Ga, Africa presents an ideal study locale to explore the origins of the X. Traditional receiver function (RF) approaches used to map seismic discontinuities, such as common conversion-point stacking, ignore slowness information crucial for discriminating converted upper mantle phases from surface multiples. By manually assessing depth and slowness stacks for 1° radius overlapping bins, normalized vote mapping of RF stacks is used to robustly assess the spatial distribution of converted upper mantle phases. The X is mapped beneath Africa at 233–340 km depth, revealing patches of heterogeneity proximal to mantle upwellings in Afar, Canaries, Cape Verde, East Africa, Hoggar, and Réunion with further observations beneath Cameroon, Madagascar, and Morocco. There is a lack of an X beneath southern Africa and strikingly, the magmatic eastern rift branch of the southern East African Rift. With no relationships existing between depth and amplitudes of observed X and estimated mantle temperatures, multiple causal mechanisms are required across a range of continental geodynamic settings

Using Social Media to Generate and Collect Primary Data: The #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion Twitter Research Campaign

BACKGROUND: Compassion is a core value embedded in the concept of quality in healthcare. The need for compassion toward healthcare staff in the workplace, for their own health and well-being and also to enable staff to deliver compassionate care for patients, is increasingly understood. However, we do not currently know how healthcare staff understand and characterize compassion toward themselves as opposed to patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to use social media for the generation and collection of primary data to gain understanding of the concept of workplace compassion. METHODS: Tweets that contained the hashtag #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion were collected from Twitter and analyzed. The study took place between April 21 and May 21, 2016. Participants were self-selecting users of the social media service Twitter. The study was promoted by a number of routes: the National Health Service (NHS) England website, the personal Twitter accounts of the research team, internal NHS England communications, and via social media sharing. Participants were asked to contribute their views about what activities, actions, policies, philosophies or approaches demonstrate workplace compassion in healthcare using the hashtag #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion. All tweets including the research hashtag #ShowsWorkplaceCompassion were extracted from Twitter and studied using content analysis. Data concerning the frequency, nature, origin, and location of Web-based engagement with the research campaign were collected using Bitly (Bitly, Inc, USA) and Symplur (Symplur LLC, USA) software. RESULTS: A total of 260 tweets were analyzed. Of the 251 statements within the tweets that were coded, 37.8% (95/251) of the statements concerned Leadership and Management aspects of workplace compassion, 29.5% (74/251) were grouped under the theme related to Values and Culture, 17.5% (44/251) of the statements related to Personalized Policies and Procedures that support workplace compassion, and 15.2% (38/251) of the statements concerned Activities and Actions that show workplace compassion. Content analysis showed that small acts of kindness, an embedded organizational culture of caring for one another, and recognition of the emotional and physical impact of healthcare work were the most frequently mentioned characteristics of workplace compassion in healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: This study presents a new and innovative research approach using Twitter. Although previous research has analyzed the nature and pattern of tweets retrospectively, this study used Twitter to both recruit participants and collect primary data

Clustering and formation of nano-precipitates in dilute aluminium and magnesium alloys

Abstract A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method is described for monitoring the evolution of nano-scale precipitate structures in dilute aluminium and magnesium-based alloys. Three examples are given of recent work in this field: (i) 63 Cu detection of Guinier -Preston zones (GPZs) and u-phases in Al(Cu), (ii) 27 Al detection of g-phase (Mg 17 Al 12 ) formation in Mg(Al) alloys and (iii) 45 Sc detection of Al 3 Sc formation in Al(Sc) alloys.

AFRP20: New P-Wavespeed Model for the African Mantle Reveals Two Whole-Mantle Plumes Below East Africa and Neoproterozoic Modification of the Tanzania Craton

Africa’s Cenozoic tectonism is often attributed to mantle plumes, particularly below East Africa, but their morphology, number, location, and impact on the African lithosphere are debated. The broad slow wavespeed African Superplume, ubiquitous in large-scale tomographic models, originates below South Africa, reaching the surface somewhere below East Africa. However, whether the diverse East African mantle geochemistry is best reconciled with one heterogeneous upwelling, or current tomographic models lack the resolution to image multiple distinct plumes, remains enigmatic. S-wavespeed tomographic images of Africa are legion, but higher-frequency P-wavespeed whole-mantle models possessing complementary diagnostic capabilities are comparatively lacking. This hinders attempts to disentangle the effects of Cenozoic hotspot tectonism and Pan African (and older) tectonic events on the East African lithosphere. Here we develop a continental-scale P-wave tomographic model capable of resolving structure from upper-to-lower mantle depths using a recently-developed technique to extract absolute arrival-times from noisy, temporary African seismograph deployments. Shallow-mantle wavespeeds are δVP ≈–4% below Ethiopia, but less anomalous (δVP ≥–2%) below other volcanic provinces. The heterogeneous African Superplume reaches the upper mantle below the Kenyan plateau. Below Ethiopia/Afar we image a second sub-vertical slow wavespeed anomaly rooted near the core-mantle boundary outside the African LLVP, meaning multiple disparately sourced whole-mantle plumes may influence East African magmatism. In contrast to other African cratons, wavespeeds below Tanzania are only fast to 90–135km depth. When interpreted alongside Lower Eocene on-craton kimberlites, our results support pervasive metasomatic lithospheric modification caused by subduction during the Neoproterozoic Pan-African orogeny.A. B. and S. C. are funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Grant number NE/R010862/1 from PI Cottaar in Cambridge. A. B. was previously funded by the NERC Doctoral Training Partnership: Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet - Grant number NE/L002515/1 at Imperial College. I. B is funded by Natural Environment Research Council Grant number NE/S014136/1

Seismicity and crustal structure of the southern main Ethiopian rift: new evidence from Lake Abaya

The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) has developed during the 18 Ma-Recent separation of the Nubian and Somalian plates. Extension in its central and northern sectors is associated with seismic activity and active magma intrusion, primarily within the rift, where shallow (urn:x-wiley:15252027:media:ggge22586:ggge22586-math-00015 km) seismicity along magmatic centers is commonly caused by fluid flow through open fractures in hydrothermal systems. However, the extent to which similar magmatic rifting persists into the southern MER is unknown. Using data from a temporary network of five seismograph stations, we analyze patterns of seismicity and crustal structure in the Abaya region of the southern MER. Magnitudes range from 0.9 to 4.0; earthquake depths are 0–30 km. urn:x-wiley:15252027:media:ggge22586:ggge22586-math-0002 ratios of urn:x-wiley:15252027:media:ggge22586:ggge22586-math-00031.69, estimated from Wadati diagram analysis, corroborate bulk-crustal urn:x-wiley:15252027:media:ggge22586:ggge22586-math-0004 ratios determined via teleseismic P-to-S receiver function H-urn:x-wiley:15252027:media:ggge22586:ggge22586-math-0005 stacking and reveal a relative lack of mafic intrusion compared to the MER rift sectors to the north. There is a clear association of seismicity with the western border fault system of the MER everywhere in our study area, but earthquake depths are shallow near Duguna volcano, implying a shallowed geothermal gradient associated with rift valley silicic magmatism. This part of the MER is thus interpreted best as a young magmatic system that locally impacts the geothermal gradient but that has not yet significantly modified continental crustal composition via rift-axial magmatic rifting

Seismic tomographic imaging of the Eastern Mediterranean Mantle: Implications for terminal-stage subduction, the uplift of Anatolia, and the development of the North Anatolian Fault

The Eastern Mediterranean captures the eastwest transition from active subduction of Earth'soldest oceanic lithosphere to continental collision, making it an ideal location to study terminalstagesubduction. Asthenospheric or subductionrelated processes are the main candidates for the region's ∼2kmuplift and Miocene volcanism; however, their relative importance is debated. To address these issues, wepresent new P and S wave relative arrivaltime tomographic models that reveal fast anomalies associatedwith an intact Aegean slab in the west, progressing to a fragmented, partially continental, Cyprean slabbelow central Anatolia. We resolve a gap between the Aegean and Cyprean slabs, and a horizontal tear in theCyprean slab below the Central Anatolian Volcanic Province. Below eastern Anatolia, the completelydetached “Bitlis” slab is characterized by fast wave speeds at ∼500 km depth. Assuming slab sinkingrates mirror ArabiaAnatolia convergence rates, the Bitlis slab's location indicates an Oligocene (∼26 Ma)breakoff. Results further reveal a strong velocity contrast across the North Anatolian Fault likelyrepresenting a 40–60 km decrease in lithospheric thickness from the Precambrian lithosphere north of thefault to a thinned Anatolian lithosphere in the south. Slow uppermostmantle wave speeds below activevolcanoes in eastern Anatolia, and ratios of P to S wave relative traveltimes, indicate a thin lithosphere andmelt contributions. Positive central and eastern Anatolian residual topography requires additional supportfrom hot/buoyant asthenosphere to maintain the 1–2 km elevation in addition to an almost absentlithospheric mantle. Smallscale fast velocity structures in the shallow mantle above the Bitlis slab maytherefore be drips of Anatolian lithospheric mantle

Changes in Environment and Management Practices Improve Foot Health in Zoo-Housed Flamingos

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordData Availability Statement: Anonymized data files and all associated metadata are available from Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8020339, accessed on 13 June 2023). In line with the FAIR data principles, the data are made available under the following creative commons license: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).Foot lesions are a highly prevalent phenomenon among zoo-housed flamingos, with up to 99.8% of birds affected. These lesions are a recognized welfare concern, increasing the likelihood of bacterial infections, and even septicemia. Although several risk factors have been linked to foot lesions in flamingos (including age, climate, and substrate), there have been few studies looking at changes in foot lesions over time. This study tracked changes in foot lesions for an individual flock of Chilean Flamingos (97 birds) at Dublin Zoo, Ireland, over an 18-month period in response to a mandatory indoor housing order imposed by the Irish Government as a seasonal precautionary measure to prevent the spread of avian influenza. Using a pre-defined scoring system for four common types of foot lesions (hyperkeratosis, fissures, nodular lesions, and papillomatous growths), we show that providing unrestricted access to outdoor habitats and natural substrates (both terrestrial and aquatic) can improve the health and wellbeing of zoo-housed flamingos. This longitudinal study highlights the importance of regular foot health monitoring in flamingos, and the importance of natural aquatic substrates when managing flamingos. As many zoo-housed birds have been spending more time indoors on artificial substrates over recent years due to avian influenza housing orders, it is critical that we assess the impact of such changes in management and habitat access on bird health and welfar

A Reappraisal of the H-κ Stacking Technique : Implications for Global Crustal Structure

We thank two anonymous reviewers and editor Michael Ritzwoller for insightful comments which have improved this manuscript. We also thank H. Meek for hard work during the early stages of this project and S. Pilidou, I. Dimitriadis, P. Iosif and their colleagues at the Geological Survey Department of Cyprus for their help establishing the TROODOS network (Bastow et al., 2017). V. Lane and D. Daly (both of SEIS-UK), A. Boyce, M. Liddell and R. Kounoudis were all excellent field assistants in Cyprus. SAC (Helffrich et al., 2013) and GMT (Wessel and Smith, 1991) software were used to process and image seismic data, which were sourced from IRIS DMC and ORFEUS. C.S. Ogden is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Doctoral Training Partnership: Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet, Grant Number NE/L002515/1. S. Rondenay’s contribution to this work was supported by Career Integration Grant 321871 - GLImER from the FP7 Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission, and by the Research Council of Norway FRINATEK programme through SwaMMIS project 231354.Peer reviewedPostprin