Recent ucb_postprints items

Understanding the State of Scientific AI: User Needs and Design Implications

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Understanding the State of Scientific AI: User Needs and Design Implications

Disentangling Catalytic Activity and Film Conductivity Reveals Temporally Decoupled Catalyst Evolution and Conductivity Artifacts

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Catalytic activity and electrical conductivity are critical to the performance of electrocatalysts and electrochemical devices, yet their combined assessment under operating conditions remains challenging. Here, we introduce operando Fourier-transform electrochemical source–drain impedance spectroscopy (FT-ESDIS), which simultaneously measures catalyst-film conductivity and charge-transfer resistance (Rct) with high temporal resolution at high current densities. During Fe incorporation into nickel (oxy)hydroxide (NiOxHy), FT-ESDIS revealed that catalytic activation and charge transport properties evolve on distinct time scales, demonstrating that activity alone cannot capture catalyst-layer evolution during operation. At higher overpotentials, nickel-containing (oxy)hydroxides (Ni(Fe)OxHy) showed an abrupt apparent conductivity increase upon oxidation, with conductivity remaining nearly unchanged thereafter, whereas iron (oxy)hydroxide (FeOxHy) exhibited a gradual increase...

Beyond Editing Code: Uses for AI Tools in Scientific Work

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Critical research advancements require usable, reliable software products—including AI tooling—for high performance data and computing work. To improve AI systems we must understand scientists’ and engineers’ needs and define design best practices for building interfaces that facilitate collaboration between scientists and AI tools across ecosystems. Ensuring the long-term usability and utility of scientific software products and AI systems for communities protects critical investments, supports high quality research, and reduces end user challenges. This talk will present findings from our semi-structured interview study investigating how scientists and engineers use AI tools for their research work. We recruited from universities and national labs, seeking perspectives from multiple disciplines. Looking beyond common use of AI tools for coding tasks, we sought to understand the varied ways AI is or could be adopted in scientific settings. Our interviews investigated how users...

A New Record Census of Dwarf AGN and a Bimodal MBH − M⋆ Scaling Relation with DESI DR1

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Using the first spectroscopic data release from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI DR1), we conduct the largest systematic search for active galactic nuclei (AGN) signatures in ≈1.7 million low-redshift (0.001 ≤ z ≤ 0.45) line-emitting galaxies. Based on the [N ii]/Hα versus [O iii]/Hβ emission-line ratio diagnostic, we identify AGN in 314,245/1,211,573 (25.9%) high-mass ( log(M⋆/M⊙)>9.5 ) and 9648/467,214 (2.1%) dwarf ( log(M⋆/M⊙)≤9.5 ) galaxies. The AGN fraction in line-emitting galaxies increases monotonically with stellar mass, from ∼1.4% at the low-mass end to ∼93.3% at the high-mass end. Among these AGN, 17,949 exhibit broad Hα emission (BL-AGN), which we use to estimate their black hole (BH) masses via single-epoch virial methods. Leveraging this large BL-AGN sample, we extend the MBH − M⋆ scaling relation down to log(M⋆/M⊙)≈7.8 and log(MBH/M⊙)≈4.4 . We find a bimodal distribution of galaxies in this space, characterized by two distinct empirical relations....

Cost, emissions, and material flow implications of designing electric vehicle components for recyclability

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract The electric vehicle (EV) industry is growing rapidly; however, compared to conventional automobiles, the increased weight of EVs contributes to their more limited range. To reduce total EV weight, higher-end vehicles use materials such as aluminum, which are more costly and energy-intensive than steel. This presents a challenge to the industry: there is a need to transition toward both lightweighting and material circularity. Improved materials are needed not only to reduce weight and improve efficiency but also to facilitate reclamation of metals and polymers from end-of-life vehicles. This study provides and demonstrates a framework for evaluating lightweight polymer alternatives for conventional EV components from a circularity perspective. The study identifies replacement materials for bumpers, door panels, interior consoles, and battery enclosures by evaluating material properties, environmental impacts, and economic metrics. Next, the study explores the battery...

Observation of a Bc*+ Meson with the ATLAS Detector

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The first observation of a new meson state decaying into and a photon is presented using a dataset of collisions at a center-of-mass energy collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . The mesons are reconstructed from a three-muon final state from decays, along with photons reconstructed via conversions to electron-positron pairs in the detector material. The new state is observed with a significance that exceeds 8 standard deviations. The mass difference between the new meson state and the ground-state meson is measured to be . This corresponds to a mass for the observed state of , where the last uncertainty is due to the precision of the best knowledge of the meson mass. The low mass difference value matches the theory expectations for the lowest vector state of the system, the meson.

Ecosystem retrogression enhances cross‐domain microbial stability and increases the genetic potential for nutrient cycling

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ecosystem retrogression drives nutrient depletion, reduced productivity, and profound reorganization of soil microbial communities. Using amplicon sequencing and genome-resolved metagenomics, we examined how cross-domain microbial networks and functional gene potential respond to long-term phosphorus and nitrogen limitation along the well-characterized Ecological Staircase chronosequence in Mendocino, California, USA. Microbial diversity and abundance declined sharply with terrace age for prokaryotes, predatory protists, and bacteriophages, whereas fungi and phototrophic protists increased in nutrient-depleted, acidic soils. These compositional shifts were accompanied by major changes in reconstructed microbial networks: relative modularity increased alongside robustness, indicating adaptive reorganization that may sustain ecosystem function under resource scarcity. Fungi emerged as central stabilizers in these restructured networks, carrying enriched genetic potential to degrade...

Single-cell genomics, metagenomics, and transcriptomics of Rhizophydium megarrhizum, an obligate fungal parasite of Planktothrix agardhii

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Chytrids (phylum Chytridiomycota) are zoosporic fungi that play key roles as parasites of aquatic microorganisms, yet they are understudied and genomic resources for algal-infecting chytrids remain scarce. Here, we present the first comparative genomic analysis of multiple isolates of a single chytrid species (order Rhizophydiales) infecting the cyanobacterium Planktothrix agardhii. Isolates were collected from Sandusky Bay, Lake Erie, across two bloom years (2018 and 2019). Using single cell sequencing and metagenomic assembly, we generated individual genomes averaging 15.36 ± 0.12 Mbp in size with ~ 75% completeness, and a pangenome. Gene ontology analyses highlighted the presence of categories related to cellular structure, biosynthetic regulation, and interspecies interactions. As a preliminary exploration of gene expression during infection, we also performed RNA sequencing on a subset of size-sorted samples. These data suggest that chytrids consistently express high...

Methanol-specific methyltransferase isozymes have large carbon kinetic isotope effects that impact methane isotopic signatures

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The stable carbon and hydrogen isotopic composition of methane is widely used to determine its sources. Methanogenic growth on methanol generates methane with significantly lower ¹³C/¹²C ratios relative to other substrates, which is used as a marker for this metabolism in environmental samples. The biochemical basis for the large carbon isotope effect associated with methanol growth is currently unknown. Here, we measure the change in the carbon and hydrogen stable isotopic compositions of the methane produced by Methanosarcina acetivorans during growth on methanol. We couple these results with an inverse modeling approach to calculate the kinetic isotopic effects (KIEs) of the rate-limiting step, catalyzed by the methanol-specific methyltransferase complex (MTA). Through this process, we estimate the carbon KIE of MTA (¹³ε_MTA) to be -66‰ and the hydrogen KIE of MTA (²ε_MTA) to be -56‰. Our results...

Sustaining social and emotional learning implementation support: Qualitative insights from county-level plans in a statewide effort

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sustaining social and emotional learning implementation support: Qualitative insights from county-level plans in a statewide effort

Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from the C iv Forest with DESI DR2

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We present a measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the cross correlation of triply ionized carbon (C iv) absorption with the positions of quasars (QSO) and emission-line galaxies (ELGs). We use quasars and ELGs from the second data release (DR2) of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument survey. Our data sample consists of 2.5 million quasars, 3.1 million ELGs, and the C iv absorption is measured along the line of sight of 1.5 million high-redshift quasars with z > 1.3. We measure the isotropic BAO signal at 4.2σ for the C IV×QSO cross correlation. This translates into a 3.0% precision measurement of the ratio of the isotropic distance scale, DV, and the sound horizon at the drag epoch, rd, with DV/rd(zeff = 1.92) = 30.3 ± 0.9. We make the first detection of the BAO feature in the C IV×ELG cross-correlation at a significance of 2.5σ and find DV/rd(zeff = 1.47) = 24.6 ± 1.0.

Independent and Interactive Association of Reported Impairment in Fatal Crashes Among Young California Drivers: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Objective: To examine the independent and combined associations of reported alcohol, drug, and fatigue involvement with crash fatality among young drivers in California.

Methods: Using 2016-2024 injury crash data from the University of California, Berkeley Transportation Injury Mapping System, we performed logistic regression to examine the association between reported driver impairment and crash fatality among drivers aged 15-24. Additive interaction was assessed using binary impairment indicators and interaction terms. Relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated from adjusted odds ratios (AORs) using the delta method.

Results: Among 308,512 injury crashes, including 3,907 (1.3%) fatalities, most drivers had no reported impairment (84.8%), followed by reported alcohol-impaired (11.4%), and males comprised the majority across all impairment categories. Fatality odds were significantly increased for reported drug-impairment...

Automating Chemical Reasoning in High‐Throughput Phase Identification With a Probabilistic, LLM‐Guided Framework

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Autonomous laboratories increasingly enable materials synthesis at scale, but traditional high-throughput characterization workflows remain limited by the need for expert chemical intuition to distinguish plausible interpretations from formally good but chemically incorrect fits. We present an automated interpretation framework that combines probabilistic inference with automated chemical reasoning for phase identification from powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD). The framework evaluates multiple candidate interpretations using diffraction pattern-based metrics. It then refines these likelihoods using chemically-informed priors derived from composition balance and a large language model (LLM)-based plausibility estimate with human-readable justification and also produces a trustworthiness score. In a blinded multi-project benchmark, the framework's top-ranked interpretation was selected over the lowest- baseline in 93% of cases where evaluators expressed a clear preference (95% CI:...

Diiron µ2-N2 complexes in bimetallic, four-fold bond activations of SiH4 to produce µ2-silicide complexes

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Fe(0) dinitrogen complexes [SiP₃ ^R]Fe-N[triple bond, length as m-dash]N-Fe[SiP₃ ^R] (1-R; [SiP₃ ^R] = PhSi(CH₂PR₂)₃; R = ⁱ Pr, Ph) are accessed by one- or two-electron reduction of Fe(i) and Fe(ii) chloride complexes [SiP₃ ^{ⁱ Pr}]FeCl or κ²-[SiP₃ ^R]FeCl₂ (R = ⁱ Pr, Ph), respectively, and fully characterized by means of multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD), and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Complexes 1-R represent rare examples of bimetallic Fe(0) compounds with dinitrogen as a bridging ligand and have an overall spin of S = 0. Heating 1-R in the presence of SiH₄ gas resulted in four-fold Si-H activation to furnish diiron complexes [SiP₃ ^R](H)₂Fe[double bond, length as m-dash]Si[double bond,...

Search for anomalies in vector-boson fusion production of the Higgs boson in H(→ γγ)jj events using 164 fb−1 of pp collision data collected at s=13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This article details two studies of Higgs boson properties using the vector-boson fusion production mode and the γγjj final state. Both efforts are based on a data sample corresponding to 164 fb−1 of s=13.6$$ \sqrt{s}=13.6 $$ TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The first study employs matrix-element-based optimal observables to constrain CP-odd couplings beyond the Standard Model within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework, expressed in the Warsaw basis. The second study exploits angular distributions to probe the Higgs boson’s couplings to longitudinally and transversely polarised W and Z bosons in the production of the Higgs boson. To maximise the sensitivity, the constraints of the CP-odd couplings are combined with those from a previous analysis performed in γγjj events in a data sample of proton-proton collisions at s=13$$ \sqrt{s}=13 $$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. A significant...

Y02A as Praxis: An innovation Model for Coastal Resilience and Adaptation

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Y02A as Praxis: An innovation Model for Coastal Resilience and Adaptation

Combination of ATLAS and CMS Searches for Higgs Boson Pair Production at s=13 TeV

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This Letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair ( ) production performed by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations using proton-proton collision datasets recorded at during the Large Hadron Collider Run 2, corresponding to integrated luminosities ranging between 126 and . The upper limit at the 95% confidence level on the total signal strength, defined as the ratio of the measured cross section to the standard model (SM) prediction, corresponds to 2.5, with an expected value of 1.7 (2.8) assuming the absence (presence) of the SM signal. The strength of the signal is measured to be relative to the SM prediction. The observed significance is found to be 1.1 standard deviations whereas 1.3 are expected for the SM signal. Constraints are set on the Higgs boson trilinear self-coupling and on the couplings of two Higgs bosons to two vector bosons, both normalized to the SM predictions and denoted as and , respectively. The observed individual constraints at the...

Measurement of coincident photon-initiated processes in ultra-peripheral Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Lorentz-contracted electromagnetic fields of the ions in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions generate intense quasi-real photon fluxes. These lead to photon-induced interactions that are observed in ultra-peripheral collisions (UPCs), such as vector meson and lepton-pair production. The high photon flux also enables the occurrence of multiple photon-induced processes in a single collision. Presented is the first measurement of the coincident production of γ γ → μ + μ − and γ + A → ρ 0 + A in UPC Pb+Pb collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 5.02 TeV and 5.36 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The coincident ρ 0 is identified via its decay into a π + π − pair, with the selected π + π − sample also containing the non-resonant continuum contribution. The rate of the coincident process relative to the exclusive γ γ → μ + μ − process is measured differentially in intervals of forward event activity, quantified by the Zero Degree Calorimeters. The relative...

Long-term biomass growth unimpeded by short-term photosynthetic decoupling

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Plant carbon uptake depends on the balance between carbon sources (for example, photosynthesis) and sinks (for example, respiration, storage and growth), which together determine how much CO2 uptake translates into lasting biomass gains1, 2–3. Eddy-covariance and tree-ring analyses have suggested a decoupling between photosynthetic carbon assimilation and growth on interannual timescales4,5, often interpreted as evidence for widespread sink limitation5. Using long-term observations at flux towers and a global vegetation model ensemble, we show that such annual, or short-term, decoupling neither implies sink limitation nor constrains long-term growth. Across observations and more than half of the ensemble models, short-term correlations between photosynthesis and woody carbon biomass increment (rΔcWood,GPP) are weak, confirming previously reported decoupling. Despite the weak correlations, however, woody carbon biomass increased in proportion to photosynthesis between 1951 and...

Y02A as Praxis: An innovation Model for Coastal Resilience and Adaptation

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This dissertation argues that the patent system and patented technologies have a distinct agency in coastal systems and can be operationalized to advance adaptation and resilience efforts. It brings together discourse on coastal resilience and adaptation, the sociotechnical aspect of environmental innovation, histories of the patent system and legal theory, and case studies that reveal the agency of patents in large-scale complex environmental systems. It offers recommendations for strategic integration of patented technologies and the global patent system into the contemporary coastal resilience and adaptation toolkit. The research presented foregrounds the role of inventors, institutions, policy, funding, private research & development, and environmental planning practices operating within coastal zones. It highlights the contributions of these diverse actors to an expanded repertoire of coastal adaptation and resilience technologies. Central to the thesis is the theorization...

Y02A as Praxis: An innovation Model for Coastal Resilience and Adaptation

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Permafrost slows Arctic riverbank erosion.

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The rate of river migration affects the stability of Arctic infrastructure and communities1,2 and regulates the fluxes of carbon3,4, nutrients5 and sediment6,7 to the oceans. However, predicting how the pace of river migration will change in a warming Arctic8 has so far been stymied by conflicting observations about whether permafrost9 primarily acts to slow10,11 or accelerate12,13 river migration. Here we develop new computational methods that enable the detection of riverbank erosion at length scales 5-10 times smaller than the pixel size in satellite imagery, an innovation that unlocks the ability to quantify erosion at the sub-monthly timescales when rivers undergo their largest variations in water temperature and flow. We use these high-frequency observations to constrain the extent to which erosion is limited by the thermal condition of melting the pore ice that cements bank sediment14, a requirement that will disappear when permafrost thaws, versus the mechanical condition...

A Model for Thaw and Erosion of Permafrost Riverbanks

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

How will bank erosion rates in Arctic rivers respond to a warming climate? Existing physical models predict that bank erosion rates should increase with water temperature as permafrost thaws more rapidly. However, the same theory predicts much faster erosion than is typically observed. We propose that these models are missing a key component: a layer of thawed sediment on the bank that buffers heat transfer and slows erosion. We developed a 1D model for this thawed layer, which reveals three regimes for permafrost riverbank erosion. Thaw-limited erosion occurs in the absence of a thawed layer, such that rapid pore-ice melting sets the pace of erosion, consistent with existing models. Entrainment-limited erosion occurs when pore-ice melting outpaces bank erosion, resulting in a thawed layer, and the relatively slow entrainment of sediment sets the pace of erosion similar to non-permafrost rivers. Third, the intermediate regime occurs when the thawed layer goes through cycles of...

Permafrost Formation in a Meandering River Floodplain

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Permafrost influences 25% of land in the Northern Hemisphere, where it stabilizes the ground beneath communities and infrastructure and sequesters carbon. However, the coevolution of permafrost, river dynamics, and vegetation in Arctic environments remains poorly understood. As rivers meander, they erode the floodplain at cutbanks and build new land through bar deposition, creating sequences of landforms with distinct formation ages. Here we mapped these sequences along the Koyukuk River floodplain, Alaska, analyzing permafrost occurrence, and landform and vegetation types. We used radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to develop a floodplain age map. Deposit ages ranged from modern to 10 ka, with more younger deposits near the modern channel. Permafrost rapidly reached 50% areal extent in all deposits older than 200 years then gradually increased up to ∼85% extent for deposits greater than 4 Kyr old. Permafrost extent correlated...

Emergent Regimes of River Meandering and Permafrost Extent in Arctic Floodplains

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Permafrost in Arctic floodplains impacts carbon stores, ecosystems, and infrastructure, yet the processes controlling its distribution remain poorly constrained. Here we present a numerical model for the coupled evolution of river meandering and floodplain permafrost that captures the competition between bank erosion and permafrost growth. We show that permafrost extent reaches a dynamic equilibrium in which removal by channel migration is balanced by epigenetic permafrost generation on newly deposited land. This behavior collapses onto a regime space defined by two dimensionless ratios—the rate of bank thaw relative to sediment entrainment and the timescale of permafrost growth relative to meander-bend cutoff—which organizes three emergent regimes: permafrost-bounded, confined, and alluvial meanders. Rivers in the confined regime are most sensitive to warming, in which modest increases in bank thaw rates or the permafrost-growth timescale produce large increases in migration...

Effects of Root Architecture on Plant Anchoring in Noncohesive Sediment

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Plant roots stabilize sediment in engineered and natural landscapes, but we lack a general understanding of how root architecture affects anchoring forces. Existing models can accurately simulate root breakage and soil failure, but such models primarily rely on experimentally calibrated empirical relations between root geometry characteristics and the peak force required for uprooting. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted physical experiments uprooting rigid root geometries via pullout from noncohesive sediment. We found that peak pullout force primarily increased with rooting depth and the volume of sediment mobilized during uprooting. We calculated the peak uprooting force for arbitrary rigid root geometries using an anchoring force balance and nondimensionalization and validated this theory with our experimental data. The work required for uprooting increased more than linearly with respect to peak force because both peak force and total displacement increased...

Robust, randomized preconditioning for kernel ridge regression

Fri, 9 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We investigate preconditioned conjugate gradient methods for kernel ridge regression (KRR) problems with a moderate to large number of data points (104≤N≤107$$10^4 \le N \le 10^7$$). We develop and analyze two randomized preconditioners with complementary guarantees. For full-data KRR, RPCholesky preconditioning requires O(N2)$$\mathcal {O}(N^2)$$ arithmetic operations for fixed accuracy under sufficiently rapid eigenvalue decay of the kernel matrix. For restricted KRR with k≪N$$k\ll N$$ centers, KRILL preconditioning requires O((N+k2)klogk)$$\mathcal {O}((N+k^2)k\log k)$$ operations with no eigenvalue-decay assumption. Experiments on benchmark and scientific data sets demonstrate the robustness of both methods relative to existing preconditioners.

Contraceptive Alignment: A Descriptive Study of Concordance between Preferred and Actual Contraceptive Method Use

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Conventional metrics of contraceptive need focus on contraceptive use among those not seeking pregnancy, ignoring individuals' contraceptive preferences beyond pregnancy prevention. We examine contraceptive alignment, a novel metric describing agreement between actual and preferred method use/nonuse, among a 2022 nationally representative U.S. sample of 15-44-year-olds assigned female sex at birth (unweighted n = 3,044). Most respondents (62.2 percent) were classified as having contraceptive alignment (using a method they preferred or not using a method when they preferred not to), while 37.8 percent did not have contraceptive alignment. Contraceptive alignment was higher among contraceptive nonusers who were older and in a serious relationship, as well as both contraceptive users and nonusers who were classified as having higher contraceptive self-efficacy. Contraceptive alignment was lower among contraceptive users who selected their current method due to being unable...

Society of Family Planning Research Practice Support: Key considerations for contraceptive misinformation research

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Access to information has been identified as a social determinant of health, influencing knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that can shape health outcomes. Contraceptive information influences how individuals make decisions about accessing contraceptive care and method use, as well as broader reproductive health trajectories. The recent proliferation of contraceptive misinformation has led to increased research and media attention on this topic. Misinformation from all types of information sources must be understood and addressed by the sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice field to enable people to make informed, autonomous decisions about contraception based on high-quality, high-integrity evidence. This Research Practice Support aims to guide researchers interested in studying contraceptive misinformation. First, we define key terms related to the information environment and ecosystem, including misinformation, disinformation, and other related concepts. Then,...

Perception of Having Enough Information to Make Contraceptive Decisions: A Novel Metric of Person-Centered Contraceptive Access

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION: Information is a critical component of contraceptive access. This study presents a new person-centered metric of contraceptive access: perception of having sufficient information to choose a contraceptive method. METHODS: Between January and March 2022, we fielded a nationally representative online survey among 15- to 44-year-olds assigned female sex at birth using NORC's AmeriSpeak panel. We describe whether respondents felt they had enough information for contraceptive decision making and types of information needed. We investigate bivariate associations between perception of having enough information and key respondent characteristics. We use logistic regression to investigate whether past experiences of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) care and contraceptive self-efficacy are associated with feeling one has enough information. RESULTS: Of the analytic sample (unweighted n = 3,037), 73.5% felt they had enough information to decide about contraception, 11.8%...

Impactful Datasets in Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences: Highlighting the Data That Transform Research

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract The American Geophysical Union (AGU) announces the new living collection “Impactful Datasets in Earth, Space, and Environmental Sciences” which recognizes the creation and curation of datasets enabling research, analysis, and decision making beyond what is captured by traditional academic impact metrics. The collection highlights datasets through the dimensions of People, Planet, and Prosperity, and includes a curated set of nominated datasets and accompanying special collection of data papers. Developed with the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) community, the nomination and review process initially invites contributors from across research, operations, and public service, to nominate datasets important to their work, and then submit a data paper that expands upon the nomination text for inclusion in the special collection. This commentary highlights the rationale for the living collection, and the process of nomination. The collection serves as a living...

Strategies to recruit and retain Black and Latina/x women and birthing people in a biospecimen research study

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Supporting Our Ladies And Reducing Stress to prevent preterm birth (SOLARS) Feasibility Study utilized three strategies to recruit Black and Latina/x women in a biospecimen study: individual (warm hand-off from community partner); group (attend group sessions to discuss study), and tabling (setting up a table at a clinic or community event). Additionally, we combined individual + group and individual + group + tabling strategies. Using these strategies, 35 women were recruited, where 32 completed survey and biospecimen at two timepoints across their pregnancies. Findings from our study support that using a reproductive justice framework is an effective strategy to build trust and increase participation in biospecimen studies among communities of color.

No strings attached: a mixed methods evaluation of the acceptability of the San Francisco Abundant Birth Project, a perinatal guaranteed income program

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

BackgroundEconomic insecurity during pregnancy is a critical social determinant of maternal and infant health. Traditional public assistance programs often fail to meet the needs of marginalized communities, particularly Black and Pacific Islander (Pasifika) pregnant women and people. Guaranteed income (GI)–unconditional cash transfers for specific populations–has emerged as a potential solution, but little is known about the experiences of participants accessing perinatal GI programs. The current study describes the implementation and acceptability of the San Francisco Abundant Birth Project (ABP), the first perinatal GI pilot program in the U.S. ABP provided $1,000 per month for up to 14 months to 151 Black and Pasifika pregnant individuals in San Francisco, CA, between 2021 and 2024. MethodsWe conducted a mixed-methods participatory evaluation with a subset of program participants (116 survey and 21 interview participants), and asked about program satisfaction, trust, and experience....

Babble and First Word Learning: The Articulatory Filter Revisited

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Production and perception of speech develop in tandem during the first year of life, shaping one another in ways that have only recently been experimentally tested. Canonical babbling, which emerges robustly between 6 and 8 months across languages, is grounded in neuromotor maturation but also depends critically on audition. To account for how production experience might shape word learning, in 1993 Vihman proposed an ‘articulatory filter’ that spotlights adult speech patterns that match an infant’s emerging motor routines. This review traces this proposal to its origins and summarizes the experimental evidence from the past 15 years, much of it using Vocal Motor Schemes (VMS)—frequent, stable consonantal patterns identified from naturalistic recordings—as an index of phonetic mastery. Studies employing VMS demonstrate that infants’ production patterns modulate their attention to and memory for both nonwords and familiar words, and that earlier VMS attainment predicts later lexical...

COVID-19 Impact On Black and Latina Women: Pregnancy and Parenting

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic presented unique challenges for pregnant women and birthing individuals, particularly those from Black and Latino communities. Understanding the impact of the pandemic on their experiences is crucial for providing adequate support and care during vulnerable times. This research delves into the specific effects of COVID-19 on maternal stress and resilience. We conducted in-depth interviews with a subsample of 19 women from a larger study examining the effects of maternal stress and anxiety, racism, and resilience and coping on pregnancy among Black and Latina pregnant women in the San Francisco Bay Area, a diverse region where nearly two-thirds of residents are people of color. Using thematic analysis, we identified three dominant themes that illuminate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on participants’ pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. Firstly, the pandemic shifted participants’ focus away from their pregnancy and birth experiences,...

Scaling Climate-Responsive Construction: A Framework for Designing Sustainable and Comfortable Homes Across Mexico’s Climatic Regions

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Housing development in the 21st century is impacted by two major challenges: the environmental impact of buildings, and a global housing crisis. In many parts of the world, unprecedented demand for new housing stock has led to construction of large numbers of standardized units that fail to perform well in energy efficiency and thermal comfort. To address both energy and cli- mate challenges, housing solutions must be efficient, but also adaptable, scala- ble and centered on comfort. We present a methodology for design of climate- responsive housing at a national scale, using Mexico as a case study. Combin- ing climate zone clustering, energy simulation, and thermal comfort evalua- tions, our framework revealed climate-responsive designs that provide an aver- age 55% increase in yearly comfort hours, and energy savings of 2,127 kWh/year compared to the base-construction. These findings demonstrate that standardized units can be significantly improved (both in terms of occupant comfort...

Provider Perspectives on Multi-level Barriers and Facilitators to PrEP Access Among Latinx Sexual and Gender Minorities

Thu, 8 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Although pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective HIV prevention intervention, inequities in access remain among Latinx sexual and gender minorities (LSGM). There is also a gap in the PrEP literature regarding providers’ perspective on access inequities. This qualitative case study sought to explore barriers and facilitators to PrEP engagement in a community-based integrated health center primarily serving Latinx populations in Northern California. We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with providers (9/15) involved in PrEP services and engaged in a constructivist grounded theory analysis consisting of memoing, coding, and identifying salient themes. Three participants worked as medical providers, three as outreach staff, and one each in planning, education, and research. The analysis surfaced four themes: geopolitical differences, culture as barrier, clinic as context, and patient strengths and needs. Participants referenced a lack of resources to promote...

Updated SPT-Based Seismic Soil Liquefaction Triggering Global Database

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The standard penetration test (SPT) has been used to assess the triggering of seismic soil liquefaction since the early 1970s. The currently available liquefaction case history database is updated and extended with the case histories from recent earthquake events. An updated database, which consists of 405 case histories from several recent major earthquake events (e.g., 1999 Chi-Chi, 2008 Achaia-Ilia, 2010 El-Mayor, 2011 Van, 2011 Tohoku, 2011 Christchurch, 2012 Emilia-Romagna, 2016 Kaikōura, 2018 Jia Sian, etc.) was compiled. This new SPT-based field case history database consists of (1) 405 case histories from (2) 33 new earthquake events, (3) with different faulting mechanisms including strike-slip, normal, reverse, and subduction earthquake events, and introduced (4) new event parameters (e.g., Rrup, Rjb, ztor, etc.), (5) gravelly and silty critical layers with the introduction of new correction terms (e.g., gravel correction), (6) fully digitized borehole information, GPS...

The hnRNPA1 D262V amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) mutation is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder marked by motor neuron loss and has been genetically linked to mutations in RNA-binding proteins. A mutation D262V in the RNA-binding protein hnRNPA1, found in a subset of ALS patients, causes widespread splicing pattern changes. Cells expressing this hnRNPA1 mutation exhibit aggregation, reduced proliferation, altered stress granules and abnormal neuronal growth. To further elucidate how a single amino acid substitution in a splicing factor might impact cell growth, we employed ribosome profiling to study translational dynamics across the transcriptome in hnRNPA1 mutant cells. Differential ribosome occupancy was observed for a small number of transcripts linked to synaptic organization and GTPase functions, as well as disrupted codon usage and a global stalling of translation. This downregulation of translation coincided with suppression of the mTOR/AKT signaling pathway. RNA splicing changes in transcripts...

Reevaluating student-centred education: uncovering learning difficulties stemming from empiricist epistemological assumptions

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper demonstrates that recurrent difficulties students encounter in learning subject-matter knowledge can be traced, in part, to assumptions about how students best learn knowledge that significantly shape instructional approaches. First, I review the significant influence of empiricist epistemological assumptions on education, covering student-centred pedagogical principles and instructional methods applied in progressive, constructivist, and conventional education. Empiricist epistemological assumptions presume that students learn best by relying primarily on and directly building upon their existing knowledge, experiences, and reasoning, particularly those familiar from everyday life. These assumptions have shaped pedagogical principles and methods such as relying on students' preinstructional knowledge and reasoning, concrete experiences, direct observations, or concrete visual images for learning. Next, I review evidence that empiricist-informed instructional applications...

Preface

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Preface

Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract Scientific assessments play a critical role in synthesizing evidence to support evidence‐based decision‐making in many sectors and topics. For climate change, large‐scale assessments like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United States (U.S.) National Climate Assessment (NCA) reports help many different users—from national government to local governments, Indigenous Peoples and communities, the private sector, the social sector, and the scientific community itself—navigate the complex field of climate risks, impacts, and integrated solutions. While co‐creation with users is essential to developing actionable assessments, this paper lays the groundwork for future processes by identifying many advancing and emerging areas of relevant knowledge ready for assessment or additional near‐term research. Drawing on the expertise of many scholars who were formerly tasked with producing the Sixth NCA and authors of other national or sub‐national climate...

State‐of‐the‐Art Review of Vibration‐Based Health Monitoring of Piles

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Vibration‐based health monitoring (VHM) has emerged as a promising technique for assessing the integrity of deep foundations by interpreting variations in dynamic response governed by soil–pile interaction. This review presents the theoretical background of foundation failure mechanisms, sensing technologies, and numerical approaches that underpin VHM for pile foundations, with emphasis on recent advances in fiber‐optic sensing, piezoceramic transducers, and acoustic emission measurement. Developments in optimal sensor placement, high‐rate data acquisition, and advanced signal‐processing techniques including time‐ and frequency‐domain analysis and machine‐learning‐based interpretation are examined in relation to their capability to identify damage mechanisms such as cracking, scouring, buckling, degradation of bearing capacity and shaft resistance, and postearthquake damage. A critical evaluation of physical model tests, field studies, and numerical investigations highlights the...

Developmental Teaching and Knowledge-in-Pieces: A Reply to diSessa

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Developmental Teaching and Knowledge-in-Pieces: A Reply to diSessa

An Updated Shear Wave Velocity-Based Seismic Soil Liquefaction Triggering Database

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The small-strain shear wave velocity (Vs) is a means to assess the triggering of seismic soil liquefaction since the early 1990s, and the size and quality of these data sets have grown enormously in the past decades. Based on these data, researchers from 1991 to the present have developed Vs-based seismic soil liquefaction triggering relationships. The authors revisited the Vs-based database to update the case histories with the current state of knowledge and include new case histories (e.g., 2011 Tohoku earthquake, 2010–2011 New Zealand-Canterbury earthquakes, etc.). This paper presents the updated Vs-based database, along with the details and statistics of the case history database. The updated database consists of (1) 537 case histories, (2) new earthquake events, (3) multiple inversion method, (4) assessment of nearby standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT) data, (5) dispersion curves, (6) multiple shear wave velocity profiles, (7) digitized Vs profiles...

Multiclass Cloud Detection for Very High-Resolution Satellite Imagery Using U-Net: A Multi-Sensor Validation Study

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Cloud detection is a critical preprocessing step in very high-resolution (VHR) optical satellite image analysis, yet existing methods predominantly address binary cloud/non-cloud classification and are limited to single-sensor, single-region evaluations. This paper proposes a deep learning approach for multiclass cloud detection—thick clouds, thin clouds, cloud shadows, and clear areas—in WorldView-3 imagery using U-Net, with an additional cross-sensor evaluation on SPOT 6/7 imagery. Using all four available spectral bands (blue, green, red, near-infrared), we apply a percentile-based contrast enhancement strategy to compensate for the absence of thermal infrared bands in VHR sensors. Trained on 20 WorldView-3 tiles from Indonesian tropical regions (Flores) with on-the-fly augmentation and evaluated on a 3-tile held-out test set, the proposed U-Net achieves mIoU $ = 0.7545$ (0.7618 with test-time augmentation), mean F $1 = 0.8586$ , and $\kappa =0.8097$ ; spatial five-fold cross-validation...

Exposure to rising societal economic inequality reduces the misperception of racial economic equality

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

People in the U.S. generally overestimate racial economic equality in contemporary society. A growing body of research suggests that the belief that the world is fair and just—i.e., belief in societal fairness—is a reliable predictor of the magnitude of these overestimates. The present work examined whether disrupting individuals' belief in the meritocratic opportunity structure in the U.S., via exposure to evidence of rising economic inequality, can subsequently reduce their tendency to overestimate contemporary racial economic equality. Across four studies (N = 4512), including one high-powered, pre-registered replication with a nationally representative sample, we found that reminding people of rising societal economic inequality, compared with control information, led them to generate more accurate estimates of the current state of racial income and wealth equality (Studies 1–4). Further, restoring individuals' faith in U.S. meritocracy by informing them that social...

Pliny the Younger advances geochronology

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The eruption of Vesuvius volcano witnessed by Pliny the Younger in 79 CE is dated by the argon-40/argon-39 (⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar) method to 1938 ± 13 years (SD) before measurement in 2025 CE. Achievement of 0.7% precision and 0.4% accuracy at such a young age marks a precedent for ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and signals improved applicability of the method for constraining magma systems' evolution, including volcanic hazard assessment. Improvements in mass spectrometry, neutron irradiation strategy, and determination of interfering neutron-induced isotopes enable this result. The data serve to determine the decay constant for the radioactive decay of potassium-40 (⁴⁰K) to ⁴⁰Ar that is twice as precise as the value determined by disintegration counting, thus improving the accuracy of ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating throughout geologic time, and serves as an important datum for intercalibrating ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar...

Reliability-Based Liquefaction Triggering Assessment Framework: A Unified Approach for SPT-CPT-Vs

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For longer than four decades, the current practice for liquefaction triggering engineering assessments have been dominated by case history-based deterministic and probabilistic models. The predictive model proposals have been constituted based on different sets of case histories concerning in-situ test indices, namely standard penetration test (SPT) N value, cone penetration test (CPT) q, and shear-wave velocity (Vs), etc. The present study uses the databases of Cetin et al., Moss et al., and Kayen et al. together to develop a unified liquefaction triggering predictive model within a probabilistic framework. The scope concentrates on the illustrative introduction of the proposed unified reliability-based framework along with the comparative presentation of model predictions. The unified model enables a joint assessment of liquefaction performance predictions at sites, where different in-situ test indices are used individually or jointly to characterize the soil resistance against...

Conceptual Change and Education: The Neglected Potential of Developmental Teaching Approaches

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Research on conceptual change (CC) has revealed that students face difficulties when learning that requires significant changes to their prior knowledge. Researchers have documented the challenges in education to promote CCs and concluded that conventional teaching does not facilitate these changes. However, while designing educational methods to address CC challenges is a central aim of CC research, it is an area of research that still requires refinement. I show that developmental teaching (DT) approaches, including El’konin-Davydov’s developmental education and Gal’perin’s method of stage-by-stage formation of mental actions and concepts, are promising for addressing CC challenges but are absent from CC research literature. I first review the CC challenges revealed in CC research, the way in which three CC research trends – framework theory, ontological theory, and knowledge-in-pieces theory – interpret them, and their educational recommendations to foster CC. Next, I present...

Analysis of the Azimuthal Dependency of HVSR in Complex 3D Velocity Structures Using Numerical Modeling

Wed, 7 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ABSTRACT Using a numerical modeling scheme, we evaluate the azimuthal source-to-site dependence of the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) by comparing wavefields propagated through a horizontally layered velocity structure and more complex velocity structures. We choose the best combination of the radial, tangential, and vertical source components to model the ambient noise’s seismic source that better explains the observations on a test site. We adopt this derived source configuration to generate simulated wavefields propagated in a horizontally layered velocity model (1D) and a canonical 3D velocity structure and then compute their HVSR spectra. Our simulations use four distinct source locations, each providing a different source–receiver azimuth, to evaluate how variations in wave propagation from these configurations influence HVSR spectra. We extend the analysis to two additional velocity models by introducing stochastic perturbations to the deterministic 1D and...

Who Programs Their Thermostat and How? Five Behavioral Archetypes from Nine Years of California Smart Thermostat Telemetry

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Thermostats play a critical role in residential demand flexibility; their performance depends not only on algorithms but on how occupants schedule, override, and adapt their systems. Current grid-interactive models employ idealized control patterns, overlooking the behavioral variability that drives actual HVAC operation. We studied thermostat scheduling behavior using nine years (2017–2025) of Ecobee Donate-Your-Data telemetry from 1,263 California households. Across the study period, households used 517 unique schedule names, including the three Ecobee defaults, Home, Sleep, and Away, and 514 user-defined labels. We classified these names into a rule-based taxonomy with 8 main categories and 19 subcategories, then grouped households by schedule configuration complexity, naming patterns, and setpoint calibration. These patterns yielded five behavioral archetypes, four statistically robust: the Passive Default (63.4%, factory defaults with minimal thermal differentiation),...

Parental feeding practices and child weight status in Mexican American families: A longitudinal analysis

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background: Parental feeding practices are thought to influence children's weight status, through children's eating behavior and nutritional intake. However, because most studies have been cross-sectional, the direction of influence is unclear. Moreover, although obesity rates are high among Latino children, few studies of parental feeding practices have focused on this population. Methods: This 2-year longitudinal study examined mutual influences over time between parental feeding practices and children's weight status, in Mexican American families with children 18 years old at baseline. Mothers (n = 322) and fathers (n = 182) reported on their feeding practices at baseline, 1-year follow-up, and 2-year follow-up. Weight status, defined by waist-height ratio (WHtR) and body mass index (BMI), was ascertained at all assessments. Cross-lagged panel models were used to examine the mutual influences of parental feeding practices and child weight status over time, controlling for covariates....

Are We Consuming Too Much Groundwater?

Tue, 6 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We study the optimality of human groundwater extraction from many of the world's 3,400 aquifers, where institutional or market failures may produce non-optimal extraction decisions. We use remote sensing and economic data to estimate a dynamic model of water extraction for each aquifer, recover the discount factor that rationalizes observed groundwater extraction, and compare it against Ramsey and market benchmarks. Three- to four-fifths of aquifers are extracted more rapidly than is optimal, decreasing aquifer present value by several percent, and creating trillions of dollars in present value welfare losses. Policies that guarantee users constant water quantities indefinitely, through subsidies or prior appropriation, or policy rules that fully discount future extraction, generate larger welfare costs. A sustainable extraction path that maintains current fill forever generates meaningfully lower welfare than the optimal extraction path, because most aquifer stocks are already...

HDX–MS finds that partial unfolding with sequential domain activation controls condensation of a cellular stress marker

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Eukaryotic cells form condensates to sense and adapt to their environment [S. F. Banani, H. O. Lee, A. A. Hyman, M. K. Rosen, Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 18, 285-298 (2017), H. Yoo, C. Triandafillou, D. A. Drummond, J. Biol. Chem. 294, 7151-7159 (2019)]. Poly(A)-binding protein (Pab1), a canonical stress granule marker, condenses upon heat shock or starvation, promoting adaptation [J. A. Riback et al., Cell 168, 1028-1040.e19 (2017)]. The molecular basis of condensation has remained elusive due to a dearth of techniques to probe structure directly in condensates. We apply hydrogen-deuterium exchange/mass spectrometry to investigate the mechanism of Pab1's condensation. Pab1's four RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) undergo different levels of partial unfolding upon condensation, and the changes are similar for thermal and pH stresses. Although structural heterogeneity is observed, the ability of MS to describe populations allows us to...

United States: An Evolving Liberal Welfare State–Deepening Workfare and Fragmentation

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

United States: An Evolving Liberal Welfare State–Deepening Workfare and Fragmentation

X-ray footprinting/mass spectrometry provides a new, detailed view of intrinsically disordered protein structural ensembles

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

X-ray footprinting/mass spectrometry provides a new, detailed view of intrinsically disordered protein structural ensembles

X-ray footprinting/mass spectrometry offers a new, detailed view of intrinsically disordered protein structural ensembles

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

X-ray footprinting/mass spectrometry offers a new, detailed view of intrinsically disordered protein structural ensembles

The Macroeconomic Consequences of Exchange Rate Depreciations

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract We study the consequences of “regime-induced” exchange rate depreciations by comparing outcomes for peggers versus floaters to the U.S. dollar in response to a dollar depreciation. Pegger currencies depreciate relative to floater currencies and these depreciations are strongly expansionary. The boom is associated with a fall in net exports, and (if anything) an increase in interest rates in the pegger countries. This suggests that expenditure switching and domestic monetary policy are not the main drivers of the boom. We show that a large class of existing models cannot match our estimated responses and develop a model with imperfect financial openness that can. Following a depreciation, uncovered interest parity deviations lower the costs of borrowing from abroad and stimulate the economy, as in the data. The model is consistent with (unconditional) exchange rate disconnect and the Mussa fact, even though exchange rates have large effects on the economy.

Do You Hear the Shanghainese Sing? Vernacular As Discontent

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Do You Hear the Shanghainese Sing? Vernacular As Discontent

The integration of water, sanitation and hygiene services into the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief: A qualitative study

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions have been associated with improving the health of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). WASH is increasingly integrated into the HIV sector and is now considered a key component of the transition from an emergency response to a better incorporated and coordinated AIDS response. However, limited research exists on integration efforts. This qualitative research study aims to address the limited body of research on WASH integration into HIV programmes through examining the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR is the US government's initiative to combat AIDS in the most afflicted countries. This study analyses the perceptions of people who have worked or are working on WASH integration into PEPFAR, highlighting their views on accomplishments, challenges and areas for improvement. It concludes with recommendations for moving forward.

Investigating disorder-containing complexes using hydrogen-deuterium exchange with mass spectrometry

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Investigating disorder-containing complexes using hydrogen-deuterium exchange with mass spectrometry

A study of water and sanitation access trends in Peru: where do inequities persist?

Mon, 5 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Peru has made significant progress in increasing access to water supply and sanitation (WS&S). It is unclear, however, if improvements have been equitable and whether certain sub-populations are making equivalent progress. This study explored trends in access to WS&S throughout Peru using data from Demographic and Health Surveys. The study focused on the worst forms of household-level WS&S access, including use of untreated surface water and the practice of open defecation (OD). The prevalence of access and the average annual percentage point change in access were analyzed by quintiles of wealth, urban and rural residence, political regions of Peru, and language for the years 2000, 2004, and 2008. The findings indicate that significant progress in access to WS&S has been made in Peru, but that several sub-populations remain underserved. Regions experiencing high levels of OD made dramatic improvements between 2000 and 2008. The poorest urban populations showed...

ConDyGNet: Constraint-guided dynamic graph networks for multivariate time series forecasting

Fri, 2 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ConDyGNet: Constraint-guided dynamic graph networks for multivariate time series forecasting

Reverse polarization degradation of nickel iron oxyhydroxide anodes in alkaline water electrolysis

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We report the effect of reverse polarization on thin-film Ni(Fe)OOH anodes in conditions that mirror those seen in commercial alkaline water electrolyzer stacks. Regardless of the extent of the reverse polarization potential, the anodic charge capacity decreases over successive cycles, indicating loss of active Ni2+/Ni3+ sites. Electrodes held for a longer period in the reduced state exhibited an accelerated catalyst loss through dissolution and structural reorganization during reverse polarization. In situ Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed a significant decrease in the Fe:Ni surface ratio after reverse polarization, which correlates with a measurable decline in activity toward the oxygen evolution reaction. These findings illustrate how nickel iron oxyhydroxide anodes degrade during reverse polarization conditions and how managing the dissolved ions in the recirculating KOH improves anode lifetimes.

UNDERSTANDING RISK AND RESILIENCE IN CALIFORNIA’S SCHOOL PRINCIPALS

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This chapter draws on four papers developed over an extended period as part of a longitudinal research project that explores key lessons on educational leadership and resilience, focusing on amplifying the voices of California school leaders as they navigated their leadership journeys during challenging times. The chapter shares lessons learned from these narratives across multiple school contexts. The project was initiated by the first author during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the initial aim of understanding the risk factors school leaders were experiencing. What began as an urgent inquiry into the challenges of a global health crisis evolved into a deeper investigation of how resilience among school leaders develops across time and context. The aim of this longitudinal project is to better understand which groups of California’s principals are most vulnerable to burnout and what factors protect them from burnout or exacerbate their risk of burnout. Methodologically,...

Afterword: Resilience as a Collective Action for Social Justice Leadership

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In an era marked by uncertainty and rapid change, how do educational leaders sustain resilience, not just for themselves, but for their entire school communities? Leading With Resilience: Voices of Leaders in Challenging Times brings together powerful narratives and research-driven insights from teachers, school leaders, and system-level changemakers navigating some of the most challenging moments in recent history. brings together powerful narratives and research-driven insights from teachers, school leaders, and system-level changemakers navigating some of the most challenging moments in recent history. Drawing from three longitudinal projects in California, this compelling volume explores how resilience can be cultivated through intentional leadership, community care, and equity-centered practices. From the frontlines of the global pandemic to the lived experiences of AAPI educators and women of color pursuing superintendency, each chapter offers a unique lens on the emotional,...

CO2 Conversion to Butene via a Tandem Photovoltaic–Electrochemical/Photothermocatalytic Process: A Co-design Approach to Coupled Microenvironments

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

We developed a tandem, unassisted, solar-driven electrochemical and photothermocatalytic process for the single-pass conversion of CO2 to butene using only simulated solar irradiation as the energetic input. The two-step process involves electrochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) to ethylene followed by ethylene dimerization to butene. We assessed two unassisted electrochemical setups to concentrate ethylene in the CO2R reactor, achieving concentrations up to 5.4 vol% with 1.8% average solar-to-ethylene conversion and 5.6% average CO2-to-ethylene single-pass conversion under 1-sun illumination. When the effluent electrochemical gas stream was passed through the photothermocatalytic ethylene oligomerization reactor, we generated 600 ppm of butene under 3-sun illumination. Through analysis of this process, we identified that the presence of H2, CO, and H2O leads to rapid deactivation of the Ni-based ethylene oligomerization catalyst.

Understanding Risk and Resilience in California’s School Principals

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract This chapter draws on four papers developed over an extended period as part of a longitudinal research project that explores key lessons on educational leadership and resilience, focusing on amplifying the voices of California school leaders as they navigated their leadership journeys during challenging times. The chapter shares lessons learned from these narratives across multiple school contexts. The project was initiated by the first author during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the initial aim of understanding the risk factors school leaders were experiencing. What began as an urgent inquiry into the challenges of a global health crisis evolved into a deeper investigation of how resilience among school leaders develops across time and context. The aim of this longitudinal project is to better understand which groups of California’s principals are most vulnerable to burnout and what factors protect them from burnout or exacerbate their risk of burnout....

Cultivating Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Voices From Principals in the US

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Abstract This chapter highlights the building of resilience by following the stories of school leaders as they developed their leadership skills during a global pandemic. By elevating experiences of school leaders from their own perspectives, the authors attempt not only to present the struggles the leaders experienced, but also to highlight the strategies used to open new pathways in challenging times for public education in California. The authors’ study employed socio-ecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and risk and resilience theory (Edwards, 2007; Moos et al., 2011) to examine how principals’ resilience and wellbeing were developed through interactions with their surrounding systems. The study data was collected from open-ended questions in a broad survey of 209 school leaders, as well as qualitative data in the form of interviews. Explanatory mixed method design was used to examine the risk factors and protective factors the leaders used. The voices...

BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH INTERPROFESSIONAL PREPARATION: A CASE STUDY AT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This chapter documents an effort to provide and evaluate shared learning experience to graduate students in educational leadership and school psychology programs. This attempt at interprofessional preparation during pre-service is essential for creating what Edwards (2011) calls the relational expertise and agency necessary for interdisciplinary colleagues to seek cross-sector solutions in practice. Such collaboration carries critical implications for schools and students, particularly so for intersectionally marginalized and/or multi-system involved youth: those whose needs are rarely met by fractured silos of inadequate support. We highlight findings from a research project designed to study two cohorts’ experience within an interprofessional learning space and share insights into how pre-service experiences enhance interprofessional understanding of roles, perspectives, and contributions to common issues in schools.

Assessing Thermodynamic Selectivity of Solid-State Reactions for the Predictive Synthesis of Inorganic Materials

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Synthesis is a major challenge in the discovery of new inorganic materials. Currently, there is limited theoretical guidance for identifying optimal solid-state synthesis procedures. We introduce two selectivity metrics, primary and secondary competition, to assess the favorability of target/impurity phase formation in solid-state reactions. We used these metrics to analyze 3520 solid-state reactions in the literature, ranking existing approaches to popular target materials. Additionally, we implemented these metrics in a data-driven synthesis planning workflow and demonstrated its application in the synthesis of barium titanate (BaTiO₃). Using an 18-element chemical reaction network with first-principles thermodynamic data from the Materials Project, we identified 82985 possible BaTiO₃ synthesis reactions and selected 9 for experimental testing. Characterization of reaction pathways via synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction reveals that our selectivity metrics...

The Water Inside and Out: Drinking Water Data, Disparities, and Regulatory Distinctions Among California’s Carceral and Noncarceral Water Systems

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Background:

Critical environmental justice calls attention to prisons, jails, and other carceral facilities as sites key to understanding and transforming environmental injustices. Thus far, however, limited research has examined water provision in carceral facilities.

Methods:

This study leverages spatial methods to identify the water systems serving 325 California carceral facilities. We then compare water system characteristics and performance measures across 4,250 water systems categorized into three system types: carceral water systems, partially carceral-serving water systems, and other water systems.

Results:

Three-quarters of matched California carceral facilities are served by neighboring water systems (i.e., partially carceral-serving systems). The remaining 58 carceral water systems are more likely to be failing or at-risk of failing to meet drinking water standards, and to be regulated as non-community water systems, compared to their...

A Power-Centric Digitally-Managed 48V Distribution Technology

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Technologies such as USB and Ethernet can be used to power devices in buildings, but have burdens of cost and energy efficiency that make them unsuitable as a primary means of distributing power to most loads in buildings. This paper describes a proposed standard for 48V DC power distribution in buildings suitable for powering most loads in residential and commercial buildings. It includes both general data communication as well as communication for managing the distribution of power. The maximum power is targeted at 1000 W with options for low- and high-power circuits to minimize costs.11This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Building Technologies Office, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

CULTIVATING RESILIENCE DURING THE COVID‑19 PANDEMIC: VOICES FROM PRINCIPALS IN THE US

Thu, 1 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This chapter highlights the building of resilience by following the stories of school leaders as they developed their leadership skills during a global pandemic. By elevating experiences of school leaders from their own perspectives, the authors attempt not only to present the struggles the leaders experienced, but also to highlight the strategies used to open new pathways in challenging times for public education in California. The authors’ study employed socio-ecological system theory (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) and risk and resilience theory (Edwards, 2007; Moos et al., 2011) to examine how principals’ resilience and wellbeing were developed through interactions with their surrounding systems. The study data was collected from open-ended questions in a broad survey of 209 school leaders, as well as qualitative data in the form of interviews. Explanatory mixed method design was used to examine the risk factors and protective factors the leaders used. The voices of the...

Search for dark mesons decaying to top and bottom quarks in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector