http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/ucsb_postprints/rss Recent eScholarship items from UC Santa Barbara Previously Published Works Sun, 30 Aug 2026 05:40:29 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8fp03200 How can university scholars and community activists effectively collaborate to produce generative, empowering, and materially impactful knowledge and actions concerning climate change and climate justice? In this paper, we report on a collaborative effort between climate justice non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and university faculty and students to conduct research to produce innovative ideas and insights about just transitions in California and to support social movement campaigns aimed at actually reducing greenhouse gas emissions by keeping fossil fuels in the ground. This collaboration was jointly initiated by faculty and students at a California university alongside leaders of local social movement organizations dedicated to climate justice, as a response to several proposed development projects that would expand oil extraction and fossil fuel use in that state. We argue that these efforts produced a climate justice gestalt that serves to amplify our productivity, power,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8fp03200 Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Pellow, David N https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-2880 Williams, Emily https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7261-3071 Rizo-Centino, Ana Rosa https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nt4302s Planetary justice discourse has emerged as a new approach for earth system governance which centers justice concerns within a particular temporal epoch, the so-called ‘Anthropocene.’ Here, we examine the distinctive features of the planetary justice framework, focusing specifically on the importance of the temporal dimensions relevant for understanding injustices beyond humans and at the planetary scale. We use two examples – PFAS and insurance – to demonstrate how the multiscalar, beyond-human approach adopted by planetary justice scholars, coupled with the discourse’s embeddedness in existing earth system governance processes, could have meaningful influence in planetary decision-making processes. We argue that there is a need for (1) expanding the ‘pro-poor’ agenda of planetary justice research, and (2) cultivating space for inclusion of existing and alternative approaches to justice in pursuing a pluralized planetary justice. In closing, we suggest future areas of research... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nt4302s Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ryder, Stacia Kojola, Erik Pellow, David https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66m0q383 This article aims to frame the state violence and socio-ecological injustice perpetrated against prisoners through the lens of both critical environmental justice studies and the concept of the Wasteocene. We seek to uncover the socio-ecological relationships that have historically shaped the enforcement of the prison and waste systems through a focus on the Italian context during the Covid-19 pandemic. We explore the case of a jail in Campania, a region in the South of Italy infamous for its troubled waste management that has caused uncountable and entangled health, social, and economic harms. The jail is adjacent to an area with a long history of waste disposal practices and numerous legal conflicts and corruption scandals: all characteristics that make this case emblematic of the broader problem of carceral environmental injustice. We argue that carceral institutions are generative sites for examining the dynamics of violence, expendability, and wasting relationships that are... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/66m0q383 Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Privitera, Elisa Pellow, David Naguib https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-2880 Armiero, Marco https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4vm3m48w Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan: Interview with David Pellow, Ph.D. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4vm3m48w Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Washington, Sylvia Hood Pellow, David https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-2880 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3h72q8ck Epilogue https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3h72q8ck Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Pellow, David N https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9160-2880 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/29332188 Abstract Ecologists recognise that we live on an increasingly human‐dominated planet, yet most of the field's foundational concepts remain essentially biophysical, with little reference to human society. There are few better examples of this divide between ecological and social theory than the niche concept. During its century‐long history, the niche concept has been defined in many ways, including to describe the ecological roles of humans. To date, however, it has not incorporated human influences into its various descriptions of other species' ecological roles. In this essay, we present the socio‐ecological niche (SEN) concept, which builds on the literature in niche theory by contributing insights from the social sciences and humanities to better understand the roles of non‐human species in modern socio‐ecological systems. We argue that the SEN enriches the niche concept and offers a point of connection between ecology and justice. Read the free Plain Language... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/29332188 Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 McInturff, Alex Alagona, Peter S Cannon, Clare EB https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5507-5312 Pellow, David N https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2456g8z1 Abstract Wildlife are increasingly recognized as critical to urban ecosystems, but the impacts and benefits of wildlife on people in cities are poorly understood. Environmental justice scholarship has concluded that elements of the urban environment can create or exacerbate social inequity, but human–wildlife interactions have not been considered through this lens. We conducted a literature review on urban wildlife, human–wildlife interactions and environmental justice. We triangulated between these three bodies of literature to identify trends, gaps and research needs. We identified six pathways through which wildlife presence or absence, wildlife management and human–wildlife interactions in cities may lead to social injustice for people. Our review shows that wildlife affect nearly all aspects of urban life for people, including economics, participation in decision‐making, patterns of urban space, human health, psychological well‐being and cultural discourses. Through... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2456g8z1 Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 McInturff, Alex Volski, Lara Callahan, Megan M Sneegas, Gretchen Pellow, David N https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0rw305kr 12 Questions to Marco Armiero https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0rw305kr Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Armiero, Marco https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2pk772ns Constraints on Wilson coefficients (WCs) corresponding to dimension-6 operators of the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) are determined from a simultaneous fit to seven sets of CMS measurements probing Higgs boson, electroweak vector boson, top quark, and multijet production. Measurements of electroweak precision observables are also included and provide complementary constraints to those from the CMS experiment. The CMS measurements, using LHC proton-proton collision data at s=13Te$$\sqrt{s}=13\,\text {Te}\text {V} $$, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 36.3 or 138fb-1$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$, are chosen to provide sensitivity to a broad set of operators, for which consistent SMEFT predictions can be derived. These are primarily measurements of differential cross sections which are parameterized as functions of the WCs. In measurements targeting t(t¯)X$${\text {t}} (\bar{\textrm{t}})\text {X} $$ production, SMEFT effects are modelled at the detector level. Individual... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2pk772ns Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Chekhovsky, V Hayrapetyan, A Makarenko, V Tumasyan, A Adam, W Andrejkovic, JW Benato, L Bergauer, T Damanakis, K Dragicevic, M Giordano, C Hussain, PS Jeitler, M Krammer, N Li, A Liko, D Mikulec, I Schieck, J Schöfbeck, R Schwarz, D Sonawane, M Waltenberger, W Wulz, C-E Janssen, T Kwon, H Van Laer, T Van Mechelen, P Bierkens, J Breugelmans, N D’Hondt, J Dansana, S De Moor, A Delcourt, M Heyen, F Hong, Y Lowette, S Makarenko, I Müller, D Tavernier, S Tytgat, M Van Onsem, GP Van Putte, S Vannerom, D Bilin, B Clerbaux, B Das, AK De Bruyn, I De Lentdecker, G Evard, H Favart, L Gianneios, P Khalilzadeh, A Khan, FA Malara, A Shahzad, MA Thomas, L Bemden, M Vanden Vander Velde, C Vanlaer, P Zhang, F De Coen, M Dobur, D Gokbulut, G Knolle, J Lambrecht, L Marckx, D Skovpen, K Van Den Bossche, N van der Linden, J Vandenbroeck, J Wezenbeek, L Bein, S Benecke, A Bethani, A Bruno, G Cappati, A De Jeneret, J De Favereau Delaere, C Giammanco, A Guzel, AO Jain Lemaitre, V Lidrych, J Mastrapasqua, P Turkcapar, S Alves, GA Coelho, E Silva, G Correia Hensel, C De Oliveira, T Menezes Herrera, C Mora Teles, P Rebello Soeiro, M Manganote, EJ Tonelli Pereira, A Vilela Júnior, WL Aldá Filho, M Barroso Ferreira Malbouisson, H Brandao Carvalho, W Chinellato, J https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9v22x63j International objectives for sustainable development and biodiversity conservation require restoring fish populations to healthy levels and reducing fishing impacts on marine ecosystems. At the same time, governments, retailers, and consumers are increasingly motivated to reduce the carbon footprint of food. These concerns are reflected in measures of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the CFP Reform Regulation, which highlighted a need to move from traditional single-stock management toward an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (EAF). Using publicly available landings and effort data combined with estimates of adult population biomass, we develop methods to explore the potential for lowering emissions intensity and impacts on organic carbon stocks through ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks. We use the recent recovery of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) stocks in the Northeast Atlantic as a case study. With a focus on the hake fisheries of France, Spain,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9v22x63j Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Martin, Angela Helen Ferrer, Erica M Hunt, Corallie A Bleeker, Katinka Villasante, Sebastián https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9qw7d50d Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) constitute a superfamily of thiolate-ligated heme metalloenzymes principally responsible for the hydroxylation of unactivated C–H bonds. The proximal cysteine is an obligatory and universally conserved residue for the CYP enzyme class. Herein, we challenge this paradigm by systematically identifying noncanonical CYPs (ncCYPs) that do not harbor a proximal cysteine ligand. Our bioinformatic search revealed 20 distinct ncCYP families encoded in diverse microbial genomes with alternative residues at this position. We characterize a native serine-ligated CYP with a high-spin ferric resting state that catalyzes azide reduction and nitrene insertion reactions. Its crystal structure clearly shows a typical CYP fold and a serine alkoxide as a proximal heme ligand. In addition, we report the discovery and characterization of the first native selenocysteine-ligated CYP in nature. Our findings expand the CYP metalloenzyme family and provide opportunities for future... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9qw7d50d Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Nguy, Andy KL Ireland, Kendra A Kayrouz, Chase M Cáceres, Juan Carlos Huang, Jonathan Z Ying, Vanessa Y Quaye, Joanna A Greene, Brandon L https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6981-5900 Davis, Katherine M Seyedsayamdost, Mohammad R https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nv1s84j A detailed understanding of solid-state reaction pathways is essential for connecting predictive frameworks, such as density functional theory and machine learning, with experimental synthesis. Microwave synthesis has emerged as a powerful route for preparing inorganic materials, yet the mechanisms governing microwave-driven processes remain poorly understood, particularly for metastable compounds whose formation is highly sensitive to synthesis conditions. Disordered rocksalt oxides (DRX) are high-temperature metastable phases of interest as next-generation Li-ion cathodes. Here, we investigate the microwave reaction pathway of . Combining ex situ phase identification using x-ray diffraction and solid-state NMR with in situ infrared thermography, we show that the reaction proceeds through a reentrant order-disorder-order transformation. Layered Li-Mn-O intermediates disorder above 945 to form the DRX phase, while continued heating drives reordering back to layered structures.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nv1s84j Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Lawrence, Erick A Wright, Matthew A Li, Tianyu Bassey, Euan N Kumar, Vijay Yuan, Shiyu Zhu, Yangying https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9185-3161 Cabelguen, Pierre‐Etienne Clément, Raphaële J https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nn061z9 Ten simple rules for effective use of generative AI for code development in environmental science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nn061z9 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 King, Rachel A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3274-1263 Abowd, Laurel Broderick, Carlo W Bradley, Lm Czapanskiy, Max F Farnisa, Mona M Ferrer, Erica M Garcia, Carmen Galaz Gill, Darian Greco, Nicole M Jacquemont, Juliette Kadi, Justin A Kui, Li LeBuhn, Gretchen Li, Liying Meyer, Abigail Morse, Marisa Patrick, Evan Shanny-Csik, Samantha Tucker, Nicholas AC Wang, Zhe Fong, Caitlin R https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9hk2v76w The eastern North American margin has experienced a wide array of plate-scale tectonic deformational events, including the breakup of Pangaea. The margin may also host complex patterns of active asthenospheric mantle dynamics. Several studies have observed a strong change in anisotropy across the margin that have been interpreted variously as active asthenospheric flow or past lithospheric deformation. Separating these candidate processes has proven difficult. To constrain the likely source of the change in anisotropy across the margin, we examine scattered quasi-Love waves over three frequency ranges with peak sensitivities in the lithosphere (∼75&nbsp;km), the uppermost mantle (∼150&nbsp;km), and the asthenosphere (∼250&nbsp;km). We observe strong quasi-Love wave scattering along the margin in the lowest two frequency bands but far fewer scatterers in the lithosphere-dominated highest frequency band. The clear frequency dependence suggests a change in anisotropy across the margin... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9hk2v76w Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Lynner, Colton Eilon, Zachary C https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9d17t9f5 Animal agriculture is a leading contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful environmental impacts, which underscores the need to shift away from the consumption of animal-based products. One promising nudge intervention is making plant-based meals the default option, so we tested this approach at six different university events across four academic institutions for effecting sustainable dietary change. Event attendees pre-selected their meal on one of two randomly assigned RSVP forms: one with a plant-based default and one with a meal with meat default. The results from our randomized controlled trial showed that participants had a 43-percentage point greater probability of selecting the plant-based meal when it was indicated as the default option. This effect was similar across events and academic institutions, which indicates that this default intervention is generalizable and can be successfully implemented at university events. The combined effect of using plant-based... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9d17t9f5 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Zhang, Angela W Wharton, Christopher Cloonan, Sara Boronowsky, Renate Magesh, Varun Braverman, Ilana Marquez, Alejandra Leidy, Heather Wang, May C Cleveland, David A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 Jay, Jennifer Stecher, Chad https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cp663mz A diaza-18-crown-6 chelator appended with pyridyl pendant arms achieves highly stable, selective chelation of toxic heavy metals, Cd 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Pb 2+ , and demonstrates in vitro sequestration of these metals, offering promise for chelation therapy. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9cp663mz Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Lieberum, Jacy R https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0224-7356 Traylor, Jane M https://orcid.org/0009-0003-4764-687X Jensen, Marianne L Sauer, Stephan PA https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4812-0522 Hemmingsen, Lars https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1823-3035 Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9br5x0r1 Ru265, [Ru₂(μ-N)(NH₃)₈Cl₂]Cl₃, is a potent nanomolar inhibitor of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), the transporter that mediates Ca²⁺ uptake into the mitochondria. This compound and related MCU inhibitors are promising therapeutic agents and chemical biology tools for studying intracellular Ca²⁺ dynamics. Axial ligand modification of these Ru-based complexes provides a facile way to tune their properties and make prodrugs. In this study, the use of axial phosphonate and phosphinate ligands was explored within this compound class, yielding [Ru₂(μ-N)(NH₃)₈(OPO(OH)Me)₂](CF₃SO₃)₃ (1) and [Ru₂(μ-N)(NH₃)₈(OPOPh₂)₂](CF₃SO₃)₃ (2). Both complexes were characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, revealing downfield shifts of the ³¹P... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9br5x0r1 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Zou, Haipei MacMillan, Samantha N Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dg00691 Radiotheranostic agents combine targeted therapeutics and diagnostic imaging, offering more efficient and personalized treatment strategies. Positron emission tomography provides high sensitivity and quantitative accuracy; however, its integration with α-particle radiotherapy remains limited by the lack of chelators capable of stabilizing radionuclides with widely different ionic radii. ⁸⁹Zr and ²²⁵Ac are promising radionuclides for PET imaging and targeted α-therapy, respectively, but require robust and versatile chelation strategies. Herein, we report stable coordination using the 18-membered macrocyclic dual size-selective chelator py₂-macrodipa with [⁸⁹Zr]Zr⁴⁺and [²²⁵Ac]Ac³⁺ ions. The chelator demonstrated efficient radiolabeling with both ⁸⁹Zr and ²²⁵Ac, exhibiting ⁸⁹Zr labeling efficiency comparable to the state-of-the-art chelator DFO at micromolar concentrations.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dg00691 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Chakraborty, Mou Lee, Kevin K Hasson, Abbie Kanagasundaram, Thines Fears, Amanda Hu, Aohan Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 Thorek, Daniel LJ https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7wc6t4w2 Literature suggests limiting consumption of animal products is key to reducing emissions and adverse planetary impacts. However, influencing dietary behavior to achieve planetary health targets remains a formidable problem. We investigated the effect of changing the default meal option at catered events–from meat to plant-based–on participants' meal choices using three parallel-group, balanced, randomized controlled trials (RCT), and use these experimental results to project differences in plant-based default vs. meat default events on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) (kg CO2 − eq), land use (m2), nitrogen (g N), and phosphorus (g P) footprint. Data collection was performed at three catered events (n = 280) across two college campuses. The selected experimental sites used convenience sampling. Events consisted of a graduate orientation, sorority dinner, and academic conference. Eligibility of individual participants included being 18 years or older and an invitation to RSVP for... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7wc6t4w2 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Boronowsky, Renate D Zhang, Angela W Stecher, Chad Presley, Kira Mathur, Maya B Cleveland, David A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 Garnett, Emma Wharton, Christopher Brown, Daniel Meier, Adam Wang, May Braverman, Ilana Jay, Jennifer A https://escholarship.org/uc/item/71z5w93f Ruthenium (Ru) polypyridyl complexes have been extensively used as optical probes, photoactivated anticancer agents, and photocages for biologically active ligands. In this study, Ru²⁺ polypyridyl complexes were investigated as photoreleasing agents for the H₂S donor GYY4137. Four complexes of the general formula <i>cis</i>-[Ru(NN)₂(GYY4137)]⁺, where NN = 2-2'-bipyridine (bpy), 2,2'-biquinoline (biq), 4,4'-methoxy-2,2'-bipyridine (dmobpy), and 4,4'-di-<i>tert</i>-butyl-2,2'-bipyridine (dtbpy), were synthesized and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The photochemical reactivity of these complexes was investigated, revealing that ligand photodissociation occurs in a two-step reaction. For these reactions, long-lived intermediates where the bidentate ligands attain a monodentate coordination mode could be detected. Furthermore, the ancillary diimine ligands dictated the identity of the final photoproducts observed,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/71z5w93f Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Lotlikar, PiyushaS Chang, Valerie Mikhailovsky, Alexander A Woods, Joshua J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6213-4093 Bigham, Nicholas P Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sk4152k Abstract Freely moving mice are generally thought to redirect gaze mainly through head-coupled movements, with eye movements stabilizing the retinal image or resetting eye position. This reflexive view leaves unresolved whether gaze shifts also include active coordination modes. Here we show that a single gaze-shift class resolves into multiple distinct head-eye coordination motifs. Using high-resolution head and eye tracking in freely moving mice, we identified four reproducible motifs: Head-before-Eye (HbE), Head-with-Eye (HwE), Head-Dominant (HD), and Eye-Dominant (ED). The motifs differed in head-eye timing, locomotor context, and pre-onset visual-behavioral structure. Their short-timescale sequential organization was non-random: HD formed alternating side-to-side head movements, whereas HwE-HbE-ED formed a directed transition chain preserved within each movement direction. Simultaneous neural recordings further revealed motif-dependent responses in primary visual cortex (V1)... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6sk4152k Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hou, Yuchen Schneider, Marius Shin, Jhoseph Niell, Cristopher M Beyeler, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ph153kc We present array‐scale (∼500 × 500 km) anisotropic shear‐velocity models from two Pacific ocean‐bottom seismometer (OBS) arrays of the OBS Research in the Convecting Asthenosphere (ORCA) experiment: Young ORCA (∼43 Ma) and Old ORCA (∼90 Ma). Rayleigh‐wave phase velocities spanning 5–150 s are combined with Love‐wave phase velocities from 5 to 10 s to constrain VSV $\left({V}_{SV}\right)$ and its azimuthal variation (G) $(G)$ to 300‐km depth, and radial anisotropy ξ=VSH/VSV2 $\xi ={\left({V}_{SH}/{V}_{SV}\right)}^{2}$ azimuthal VSH $\left({V}_{SH}\right)$ parameter E $E$ to ∼50 km depth. Both sites show a lithospheric lid over a low‐velocity zone, with lid thickness correlating with plate age, and positive ξ $\xi $ through the crust and upper lithosphere. Young ORCA has moderate lithospheric azimuthal anisotropy (|G| $\vert G\vert $ ∼ 3%) consistent with spreading‐parallel corner flow to ∼30–50 km, while Old ORCA displays weak (∼1%–2%), laterally variable lithospheric anisotropy... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6ph153kc Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Phillips, Joseph H Gaherty, James B Russell, Joshua B Eilon, Zachary C Forsyth, Donald W Byrnes, Joseph S https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nj63472 <i>Objective.</i>Machine learning (ML) models are increasingly used to generate electrical stimulation patterns in neuroprosthetic devices such as visual prostheses. While these models promise precise and personalized control, they also introduce new safety risks when model outputs are delivered directly to neural tissue. We propose a systematic, quantitative approach to detect and characterize unsafe stimulation patterns in ML-driven neurostimulation systems.<i>Approach.</i>We adapt an automated software testing technique known as coverage-guided fuzzing to the domain of neural stimulation. Here, fuzzing performs stress testing by perturbing model inputs and tracking whether resulting stimulation violates biophysical limits on charge density, instantaneous current, or electrode co-activation. The framework treats encoders as black boxes and steers exploration with coverage metrics that quantify how broadly test cases span the space of possible outputs and violation types.<i>Main... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nj63472 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Downing, Mara Peng, Matthew https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2945-2170 Granley, Jacob Beyeler, Michael Bultan, Tevfik https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2993-1215 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6jb5j1vh As the pressure to address the climate crisis builds, scientists must walk the line between research and activism. This was apparent at the 2019 United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change – Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC – COP), the largest annual meeting to address the climate crisis via supranational policymaking. COP has convened annually since 1995 in effort to establish international agreements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and in 2015, was the launch pad for the UN Paris Climate Agreement (PCA). Here, we present our collective perspective as early-career researchers on COP, an institution that we believe plays a critical role in the future of our oceans. Given the current pledges from signatories to the PCA, Earth is expected to warm ∼3°C by 2100, with the majority of anthropogenic heat content stored throughout the ocean. For this reason, among others, we feel it is crucial for ocean scientists to have a baseline understanding of the... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6jb5j1vh Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ferrer, Erica M Cavole, Leticia M Clausnitzer, Simona Dias, Daniela F Osborne, Tashiana C Sugla, Rishi Harrison, Emma https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6h69x8gr Abstract The interaction between aging oceanic plates and their underlying mantle is a crucial component of the plate tectonic cycle. Sub‐lithospheric small‐scale convection (SSC) explains why plates appear not to thicken after a certain age. Here, we link grain‐scale processes, dynamic models of asthenospheric flow, and seismic observations to gain new insights into the mechanisms of SSC. We present high‐resolution 3D geodynamic models of oceanic plate evolution with an Earth‐like rheology including coupled diffusion/dislocation creep and their interplay with evolving olivine grain size. Our models quantify how rheology affects the morphology and temporal stability of SSC, and we directly relate these quantities to geophysical observations from the Pacific OBS Research into Convecting Asthenosphere (ORCA) experiment. We convert variations in temperature, pressure, grain size, water content and stable melt fraction to seismic velocity and attenuation, seeking to match the wavelength... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6h69x8gr Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Dannberg, Juliane Eilon, Zachary Russell, Joshua B Gassmöller, Rene https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6c56h9dx The Anthropocene crisis demands rapid, radical responses to reduce human consumption and impact on the environment in order to avert catastrophic effects on humans, other organisms, and the environment. The food system is a major contributor to this crisis and an essential component of an adequate response. Here we review current research to compare the environmental impacts of healthy, sustainable, plant-based diets (HSPBDs) v. standard omnivorous diets, and their potential for mitigating the negative environmental impacts of the food system. Because plant foods overall are much more ecologically efficient than animal-sourced foods (ASFs), many fewer resources are needed to produce them, and there are smaller environmental impacts—climate warming, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, fresh-water use, air pollution, land use, and biodiversity loss—per unit mass, protein and calories of food. This means that HSPBDs also have much smaller impacts than standard omnivorous diets, and... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6c56h9dx Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Cleveland, David Arthur https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 Jay, Jennifer Ayla https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6635w0p1 Abstract. Anthropogenic warming and nutrient over-enrichment of our oceans have resulted in significant, and often catastrophic, reductions in dissolved oxygen (deoxygenation). Stress on water-breathing animals from this deoxygenation has been shown to occur at all levels of biological organization: cellular, organ, individual, species, population, community, and ecosystem. Most climate forecasts predict increases in ocean deoxygenation; thus, it is essential to develop reliable biological indicators of low-oxygen stress that can be used by regional and global oxygen monitoring efforts to detect and assess the impacts of deoxygenation on ocean life. This review focuses on responses to low-oxygen stress that are manifest at different levels of biological organization and at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. We compare particular attributes of these biological indicators to the dissolved oxygen threshold of response, timescales of response, sensitive life stages and taxa,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6635w0p1 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Roman, Michael R Altieri, Andrew H Breitburg, Denise Ferrer, Erica M Gallo, Natalya D Ito, Shin-ichi Limburg, Karin Rose, Kenneth Yasuhara, Moriaki Levin, Lisa A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-8622 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xt5w132 Are elites meritocratic and efficiency-seeking? Evidence from MBA students https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5xt5w132 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Preuss, Marcel Reyes, German Somerville, Jason Wu, Joy https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w33f9dv The operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model has been utilized to generate gridded evapotranspiration data from Landsat images. These estimates are primarily driven by two sources of information: reference evapotranspiration and Landsat land surface temperature (LST) values. Hence, SSEBop is limited by the availability of Landsat data. Here, in this proof-of-concept paper, we utilize the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm to generate synthetic Landsat data, which are then used as input for SSEBop to generate evapotranspiration estimates for six target areas in the continental United States, representing forests, shrublands, and irrigated agriculture. These synthetic land cover data are then used to generate the LST data required for SSEBop evapotranspiration estimates. The synthetic LST, evaporative fractions, and evapotranspiration data from CCDC closely mirror the phenological cycles in the observed Landsat data. Across the six... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w33f9dv Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hiestand, Mikael P Tollerud, Heather J Funk, Chris Senay, Gabriel B Fickas, Kate C Friedrichs, MacKenzie O https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5pr8f9sr Abstract As a society, we are confronted with the question of how best to feed an expanding human population, and some have pointed to seafood as a “climate-friendly” option. To date, the contributions of small-scale fisheries (SSFs) have been largely excluded from studies on food footprint. Here, we calculated the Emission Intensity profiles for seven seafood types generated by Mexican SSFs. Based on these results—which indicate that there exist several low-carbon SSFs in Northwestern Mexico—we provide a coarse approximation for the total carbon footprint of Mexico’s motorized small-scale fleet. Finally, we scrutinize the utility of non-fuel data (such as GPS data) in predicting fuel consumption/carbon emissions across SSFs. To our knowledge, this is the first life-cycle assessment to compare multiple seafood products generated by Mexican SSFs, and the first published link between tracking data and carbon accounting for SSFs specifically. We discuss how these results, in combination... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5pr8f9sr Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ferrer, Erica M Aburto-Oropeza, Octavio Jiménez-Esquivel, Victoria Cota-Nieto, Juan José Mascareñas-Osorio, Ismael López-Sagástegui, Catalina https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jx4j1z8 The complexation of the uranyl ion (UO2 2+) by macrocyclic ligands is hindered by the rigidly enforced trans orientation of its oxo ligands. To further investigate this coordination chemistry challenge, here we investigate the reactivity of UO2 2+ with two different 18-membered aza-crown macrocycles, diaza-dibenzo-18-crown-6 (DADBC) and 7,16-bis(N-methylacetamide)diaza-18-crown-6 (BAM). The reaction of uranyl triflate, [UO2(OTf)2(THF)3], with DADBC in toluene afforded [UO2(DADBC)][OTf]2, in which the UO2 2+ ion is fully encapsulated by the macrocycle. This conclusion was supported by NMR, UV–Vis, IR, and Raman spectroscopies, as well as single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Attempts to form the in-macrocycle complex of BAM, however, were unsuccessful. The reaction of BAM with [UO2(OTf)2(THF)3] in THF/CH2Cl2 unexpectedly afforded crystals of [H2 BAM][OTf]2, where the protons are derived from solvate water in the BAM crystal lattice. In contrast, reaction of BAM with UO2(NO3)2·6H2O... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jx4j1z8 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Godinho, Gabriella S Lee, Kevin K Feng, Qien Wu, Guang Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 Hayton, Trevor W https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4370-1424 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4hk2r0r1 MAIZE CUISINE ON THE MOVE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY PERSISTENCE AND MIGRATION OF <i>TEJATE</i>, A TRADITIONAL MESOAMERICAN MAIZE AND CACAO BEVERAGE https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4hk2r0r1 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Soleri, Daniela Castillo Cisneros, Maria del Carmen Aragon Cuevas, Flavio Cleveland, David A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4c7293ws Targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) selectively delivers radionuclides to cancer cells, leveraging their radioactive emissions to treat primary and metastatic malignancies. Substantial fundamental research in this area has enabled the clinical development of a growing library of radiopharmaceuticals for this application, several of which have become blockbuster cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. To date, these therapeutics have focused on radiometals emitting long-range β− particles and shorter-ranged α particles. More recently, efforts to use a different type of cytotoxic radiation, Meitner-Auger electrons (MAEs), have been undertaken. MAEs are of interest for TRT because they travel very short distances—on the order of nanometers—that enable the possibility of single-cell and subcellular delivery of cytotoxic radiation. This high spatial precision is valuable for the treatment of diffuse malignancies such as lymphoma and leukemia, as well as for... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4c7293ws Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Stec, Grant J Wilson, Justin J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4086-7982 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48k4v417 Abstract The Southwestern United States experiences active deformation, seismicity, and magmatism, remarkable in an intraplate setting. The Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau (CP) are inferred to differ in lithospheric thickness, but modeling geophysical properties of the lithosphere, in particular the depth of the Lithosphere‐Asthenosphere Boundary (LAB), across the entirety of the region, has proved challenging. Here, we introduce a new model of 1‐D depth profiles in shear wavespeed, determined through a probabilistic joint inversion of information from Sp receiver functions and Rayleigh wave phase velocity. From these profiles we quantify the locations and Vs contrast of wavespeed gradients that represent boundaries such as the Moho, the LAB, and intralithospheric discontinuities. We infer a lithosphere that is thinner and lower in Vs in the Basin and Range. In the CP and farther north, the LAB is more gradual, deeper, and intermittently observed. We also observe Mid‐Lithospheric... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/48k4v417 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Golos, EM Brunsvik, B Eilon, Z Fischer, KM Byrnes, J Gaherty, J https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4181h4rf Abstract The northern East African Rift, including the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) and Afar, have been the focus of decades of seismological investigations and dense broadband coverage. Sometimes invoked as an archetype for a narrow continental rift, the confined surficial extension here stands in contrast to geophysical indicators of an asymmetric, broad swath of perturbed mantle. Thermodynamic conditions in this region are challenging to pin down, with melt, temperatures, and perhaps volatiles playing a part in both dynamics and controlling seismic observables. This study presents compressional () and shear‐wave () velocity () and attenuation () teleseismic tomography of the MER, from rift to flank. This involves a new methodology for measurement and quality control of differential t * for teleseisms, avoiding extrinsic focusing. This is the most comprehensive body wave travel time and attenuation data set collected in the MER and Afar to date, and the only 3‐D attenuation tomography... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4181h4rf Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Eilon, ZC https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tf8670q Planetary boundaries represent thresholds in major Earth system processes that are sensitive to human activity and control global-scale habitability and stability. These processes are interconnected such that movement of one planetary boundary process can alter the likelihood of crossing other boundaries. Here we argue that the observed deoxygenation of the Earth’s freshwater and marine ecosystems represents an additional planetary boundary process that is critical to the integrity of Earth’s ecological and social systems, and both regulates and responds to ongoing changes in other planetary boundary processes. Research on the rapid and ongoing deoxygenation of Earth’s aquatic habitats indicates that relevant, critical oxygen thresholds are being approached at rates comparable to other planetary boundary processes. Concerted global monitoring, research and policy efforts are needed to address the challenges brought on by rapid deoxygenation, and the expansion of the planetary... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3tf8670q Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Rose, Kevin C Ferrer, Erica M Carpenter, Stephen R Crowe, Sean A Donelan, Sarah C Garçon, Véronique C Grégoire, Marilaure Jane, Stephen F Leavitt, Peter R Levin, Lisa A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-8622 Oschlies, Andreas Breitburg, Denise https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3q67p8bg Inferring mechanical interactions from the spatial organization of discrete damage events is a fundamental inverse problem in the mechanics of heterogeneous materials. This work develops a statistical framework for extracting load-transfer interactions from three-dimensional fiber fracture data in unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites. Conventional micromechanical models typically assume global load sharing (GLS), implying statistically independent fiber fracture events, whereas growing experimental evidence suggests that load redistribution can become localized, producing spatially autocorrelated fracture. To distinguish these effects, classical second-order spatial statistics are extended by decomposing pairwise separations into transverse and axial components, reflecting the directional asymmetry of stress redistribution in fiber composites. Analytical solutions are derived for two canonical GLS models that establish a mechanics-based null hypothesis for mechanical independence.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3q67p8bg Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Gallagher, Shane P Zok, Frank W https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2zh0p0sr The Next Generation of Marine Heatwaves Science: Takeaways from A Two Week Training Workshop https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2zh0p0sr Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Fadlovich, Rae Carrasco, David Ferrer, Erica M Graham, Olivia J Hampton, Sydney A Khrizman, Alexandra Kong, Christina Eunjin Kreuser, Abigail M Pinter, Sina Sims, Lydia D Torres, Mariana I Una, Rose Wilson, Anthony Zhang, Wei Zhu, Yifan Greene, Charles H https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2g97g76f Abstract We present tomographic images of the velocity structure of the upper mantle beneath old ( Ma) oceanic lithosphere, derived from arrival time measurements of teleseismic body waves recorded by ocean‐bottom seismometers. Differential travel time measurements on P , S , and SKS body waves across a wide range of frequency bands show consistent geographic and backazimuthal variations that highlight substantial velocity heterogeneity in the upper mantle beneath the array. A joint inversion of all data sets shows that the information in the P and S times are consistent with each other. The amplitude of apparent velocity heterogeneity and the scaling between independently constructed and tomographic models is consistent with either the presence of melt and K thermal anomalies or, if melt free, K thermal anomalies. and tomographic models both show statistically meaningful elongation of structure along an approximately NW‐SE axis, subparallel to the orientation of free‐air gravity... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2g97g76f Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hariharan, A Eilon, Z Gaherty, J Russell, J Phillips, J Forsyth, D https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2695q2b3 Visual cortical prostheses offer a promising path to sight restoration, but current systems elicit crude, variable percepts and rely on manual electrode-by-electrode calibration that does not scale. These limitations reflect a deeper challenge: electrical microstimulation evokes nonlinear, state-dependent population responses in the human visual cortex, complicating the link between stimulation and perception. Here, we present a deep learning framework that leverages a bidirectional cortical implant to causally shape stimulation-evoked population activity in the human visual cortex. The framework, trained on trial-resolved neural recordings, supports two complementary control strategies: a learned inverse network for real-time stimulation synthesis and a gradient-based optimizer for precise targeting. Both outperform conventional methods, achieve targets at lower stimulation currents, and elicit more consistent perception. Achievable responses lie on the intrinsic low-dimensional... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2695q2b3 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Moure, Pehuén Granley, Jacob Grani, Fabrizio Soo, Leili Lozano, Antonio López-Peco, Rocío Villamarín-Ortiz, Adrián Soto-Sánchez, Cristina Liu, Shih-Chii Beyeler, Michael Fernández, Eduardo https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1s14j35k This study aimed to quantify the carbon footprint of elementary school lunch menus across six major urban school districts in the United States and to simulate the effect of sustainable food policies on carbon emissions reductions while ensuring nutritional requirements remain adequate. We analyzed a total of twenty distinct meals per district selected from a four-week period and calculated their carbon emissions using life cycle assessment data. We then modeled three scenarios to reduce carbon emissions: (1) a reduction in beef meal offerings to one day per month, (2) an introduction of one entirely plant-based day per week, and (3) a combination of scenarios 1 and 2. Our findings revealed that beef-containing meals had the highest carbon emissions, while plant-based meals had the lowest. Implementing the one monthly beef meal scenario led to an average savings of 34% in emissions, while the plant-based day scenario led to a 32% reduction in emissions. Combining both policies... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1s14j35k Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Boronowsky, Renate Lin-Yang, Kevin Natanson, Lucretia Presley, Kira Reddy, Yashvi Shenkiryk, Alexis Wang, May Slusser, Wendelin Koch, Pamela A Cleveland, David A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 Roback, Shannon Olarte, Deborah Molidor, Jennifer Jay, Jennifer A https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16p094d3 We are in the midst of an unprecedented public and planetary health crisis. A major driver of this crisis is the current nutrition transition—a product of globalization and powerful multinational food corporations promoting industrial agriculture and the consumption of environmentally destructive and unhealthy ultra-processed and other foods. This has led to unhealthy food environments and a pandemic of diet-related noncommunicable diseases, as well as negative impacts on the biophysical environment, biodiversity, climate, and economic equity. Among migrants from the global south to the global north, this nutrition transition is often visible as dietary acculturation. Yet some communities are defying the transition through selective resistance to globalization by recreating their traditional foods in their new home, and seeking crop species and varieties customarily used in their preparation. These communities include Zapotec migrants from the Central Valleys of the southern Mexican... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16p094d3 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Soleri, Daniela Cleveland, David Arthur https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9371-7507 Cuevas, Flavio Aragón Jimenez, Violeta Wang, May C https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r5b9q0 Purpose: Visual function testing in retinal prosthesis users relies on repetitive psychophysical tasks that are cognitively demanding and fatiguing. Gamification may increase engagement, but its effects on perceptual performance in implanted users remain unclear. Methods: Three Argus II users completed circle localization and motion direction discrimination in clinical and gamified versions. Visual stimuli, trial structure, and response requirements were matched within each participant; gamified versions added scoring, background music, and affectively framed end-of-trial auditory feedback. Difficulty and response format were calibrated to individual abilities (8AFC for two participants; 4AFC restricted to cardinal directions for one participant). Results: Gamification improved accuracy and reduced angular error in localization but did not improve motion discrimination. Effects were task-dependent and varied across participants, with reduced precision in the gamified motion task... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/15r5b9q0 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Turkstra, Lily M https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9669-9189 Johnson, Byron A https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8458-5148 Kartha, Arathy Dagnelie, Gislin Beyeler, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xw0g724 ABSTRACT In many parts of the world, natural resources are primarily managed by governance arrangements at the local level. Those arrangements range from collective, such as cooperatives and associations, to individualistic, such as patrons and owner‐operators. A key question is how such arrangements influence resource use and associated social and ecological outcomes. We hypothesize that sustainable resource use is not associated with a specific governance arrangement, but instead that every type of arrangement has a certain set of social and ecological conditions under which sustainable resource use is feasible. This hypothesis was empirically investigated using fisheries landings data from Mexico. We found that sustainable resource use can be achieved through multiple governance arrangements provided that they are matched to appropriate social‐ecological contexts. Our findings help identify which governance arrangements are best suited to particular contexts and provide the... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xw0g724 Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Nenadović, Mateja Giron, Alfredo Frawley, Timothy Munguia‐Vega, Adrian Pellowe, Kara E Ferrer, Erica Gill, David González‐Mon, Blanca Johnson, Andrew F Lindkvist, Emilie Micheli, Fiorenza Weaver, Amy H Aburto, Octavio Flores‐Morales, Ana Laura Gladstone, Fiona Mansfield, Elizabeth Marinone, Guido Parés‐Sierra, Alejandro Quintana, Anastasia Moman, Jessica Reilly Van Dyck, Salvador Rodriguez Schlueter, Maja Torre, Jorge Vollan, Björn Leslie, Heather M Basurto, Xavier https://escholarship.org/uc/item/47g777rx ABSTRACT The relative arbitrage portfolio outperforms a benchmark portfolio over a given time‐horizon with probability one. With market price of risk processes depending on the market portfolio and investors, this paper analyzes the multi‐agent optimization of relative arbitrage opportunities in the coupled system of market and wealth dynamics. We construct a well‐posed market dynamical system of McKean–Vlasov type under an empirical measure of investors, where each investor seeks for relative arbitrage with respect to a benchmark dependent on market and all the agents. We show the conditions to guaranty relative arbitrage opportunities among competitive investors through the Fichera drift. Under mild conditions, we derive the optimal strategies for investors and the unique Nash equilibrium that depends on the smallest nonnegative solution of a Cauchy&nbsp;problem. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/47g777rx Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ichiba, Tomoyuki https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2787-7569 Yang, Nicole Tianjiao https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zq4z447 Abstract We study a queueing system with a fixed number of parallel service stations of infinite servers, each having a dedicated arrival process, and one flexible arrival stream that is routed to one of the service stations according to a ‘weighted’ shortest queue policy. We consider the model with general arrival processes and general service time distributions. Assuming that the dedicated arrival rates are of order n and the flexible arrival rate is of order StartRoot n EndRoot $\sqrt{n}$ , we show that the diffusion-scaled queueing processes converge to a stochastic Volterra integral equation with ‘ranks’ driven by a continuous Gaussian process. It reduces to the limiting diffusion with a discontinuous drift in the Markovian setting. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zq4z447 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ichiba, Tomoyuki https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2787-7569 Pang, Guodong https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9x65h8t6 Natural hazards such as wildfires and floods are becoming increasingly frequent and severe, increasing the need for effective evacuation and emergency planning. A key aspect of this planning is ensuring that road infrastructure can support emergency response and safe evacuations. In this study, we introduce a novel geospatial uncertainty-aware road detection (GUARD) method to identify road segments of substandard width from remote sensing data. GUARD leverages airborne optical imagery and light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for road region extraction and applies a Bayesian classification model with moment-based features to account for measurement uncertainty. By identifying substandard road segments for follow-up inspection, GUARD can facilitate more efficient road infrastructure monitoring and emergency planning. Evaluation using ground-truth data from a case study in Santa Barbara, California, United States, demonstrates the method’s effectiveness. Results indicate that... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9x65h8t6 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Solgi, Ryan Mayes, Marc Hazard, Rob Loáiciga, Hugo A https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8f62v783 This study develops an integrative methodological framework that combines forensic hydrology, artificial neural networks (ANNs), and physically-based hydrological modeling to assess the cascading impacts of projected land use/land cover (LULC) changes on future flood dynamics in the upstream watershed of Golestan Dam, Iran. A large-magnitude flood event analogous to the destructive 2019 flood was simulated under evolving LULC scenarios for three future horizons: 2030, 2040, and 2050. The curve number (CN) and lag time (Tlag) were reconstructed using linear and nonlinear interpolation and projected with ANN-based regression modeling. Mann-Kendall trend analysis was applied to assess the temporal consistency of ANN-predicted CN and Tlag series and support the selection of the most reliable synthetic datasets. The simulations revealed highly non-linear growth in peak discharges, with the Qarah Shur sub-basin projected to experience a 163.78% increase in flood intensity by 2050, resulting... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8f62v783 Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Salar-Khorasani, Seyed-Mahdi Bozorg-Haddad, Omid Loaiciga, Hugo A https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5372-0659 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nh0t6jp The frequency of disastrous floods has significantly increased across the world in recent decades. Severe damage caused by floods in regions where river flow is regulated by reservoirs has caused the operation of reservoirs to be hotly debated. This paper presents a forensic optimal operation approach (FOOA) and a goal-attained approach (GAA) to investigate historical operation (HO) of reservoirs under floods to examine whether operational decisions contributed to increased flood damages. FOOA combines a reservoir inflow forecasting method with a simulation-optimization model to minimize the maximum release from the most downstream reservoir under floods using support vector machine (SVM) and the Genetic Algorithm (GA). GAA applies observed historical reservoir inflows to the simulation-optimization model for flood control. GAA and FOOA are developed in this study for the forensic investigation of Seimare and Karkheh reservoirs’ operation during the 2019 floods, which was one... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6nh0t6jp Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Zarei, Manizhe Bozorg-Haddad, Omid Loáiciga, Hugo A https://escholarship.org/uc/item/39m0p6vm Holoparasites are non-photosynthetic plants which derive all their growth requirements from their host plant and are thought to act as a very strong sink for host resources. Here, we grew red clover plants in split-root boxes to explore the effect of nutrient supply to Orobanche minor parasitized or unparasitized host roots. Where nutrients were supplied to parasitized roots, parasite growth was strongly promoted at the expense of the host. Conversely, host growth did not differ significantly from unparasitized controls where nutrients were supplied to unparasitized roots. While 15N labelling suggested both strong parasitic ammonium abstraction and reduced nitrate uptake in parasitized roots, the total N content of systems where nutrients were fed to parasitized roots was approximately 26 % higher than control plants, suggesting that changes in host and parasite growth rates were due to changes in sink strength, rather than nutrient uptake. Parasitism and nutrient supply had strong... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/39m0p6vm Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hattori, Mao Frederica, Clarissa Frances https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1238-8025 Irving, Louis John https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8mc4667s Visual systems evolved to extract behaviorally relevant information while animals move through and interact with their world. Such ecological vision differs fundamentally from standard laboratory paradigms in many key aspects, making this a much harder problem for the brain to solve, and for the neuroscientist to study. However, emerging technologies and experimental approaches have enabled investigation of visual computations under these ecological conditions. These approaches are particularly powerful in the mouse, combining well-developed genetic tools, high-throughput recordings, and quantifiable ethological tasks. Here we review computations that are engaged in ecological contexts, including active sensing, motion processing, scene analysis, distance estimation, and spatial perception. We delineate experimental approaches that engage these computations and synthesize current understanding of their neural implementations based on mouse research. These studies reveal how ecological... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8mc4667s Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Niell, Cristopher M Beyeler, Michael Goard, Michael J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5366-8501 Smith, Spencer LaVere https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2021-7034 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mx865hf Understanding driver route choice behavior is essential for advancing navigation systems, autonomous driving, and intelligent transportation planning. While existing studies have identified a wide range of potential route choice factors across different regions, spatial and cultural heterogeneity may influence their relevance. We propose a traffic-aware, data-driven framework for revealing drivers’ route choice preferences. The framework includes: (1) constructing a traffic-aware road network with hourly resolution from large-scale trajectory data, (2) identifying region-specific influential route choice factors by contrasting observed routes to randomized alternatives using a random forest model, and (3) clustering routes based on these factors to reveal distinct preference profiles. Applied to a dense vehicle trajectory dataset from Shenzhen, China, the framework uncovers three dominant route choice preferences: systematic time-focused routing, adaptive strategies prioritizing... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7mx865hf Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Wan, Zijian Dodge, Somayeh https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0335-3576 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73c4644w ABSTRACT How are schools engaging with adaptation to climate change? A systematic review of 85 publications reporting research on climate adaptation activities at schools serving students ages 5–18 identifies three pathways of engagement: (1) Schools are places for teaching and learning about climate change adaptation; (2) Schools experience climate hazards and implement adaptation responses on their buildings and grounds; and (3) Schools collaborate with the communities they serve, exchanging climate adaptation information and providing support during climate disasters. Research most often positions schools as teaching and learning environments, with substantially less attention given to schools' roles as managers of infrastructure and as members of their communities. Most publications focus on a single form of school engagement with climate adaptation; only two of the 85 publications reviewed recognize schools as simultaneously engaging in all three pathways. There is also limited... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73c4644w Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Laub, Kaylee Pulver, Simone Harlow, Danielle Anderson, Sarah https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7522-2340 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6n0878jm Since ChatGPT’s release in 2022, public discourse has surged around AI’s promises and risks. News coverage influences public understandings of AI, yet few studies examine its framing as a threat. Portrayed like immigrants, AI appears as an “artificial immigrant” within human-technology relations, posing threats to jobs and humanity. Guided by media framing and Integrated Threat Theory, analyzing 1,005 articles from four U.S. outlets reveals five main topics. Realistic threats (material/physical) are emphasized over symbolic ones (identity-based). Multiple correspondence analysis indicates that tech-related coverage skews toward realistic framing, while labor and creativity coverage encompass both, though associations are not statistically significant. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6n0878jm Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Pan, Ying Qi https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3029-8696 Herrera, Stephanie Wang, Yifei https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6dj7h99p The Travesty of “Anti-Imperialism" https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6dj7h99p Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Robinson, William I https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5ws2n3kq Latina/e lesbian archival praxis and memory work: a plática/roda de conversa with Malflora Collective https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5ws2n3kq Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Aslo de la Torre, Melissa Ortega, Guadalupe Ponce, Anahi Meriqui Rodrigues, Mariana Salazar, Alexandra Nichole Solomon, Meagan https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w32r33z Autism racial/ethnic disproportionality in special education is a significant concern in California and beyond, with White students often overidentified and Latinx and Indigenous (Zapotec/Mixtec) students under-identified. This mixed-methods study investigates the root causes of autism racial/ethnic disproportionality in a California high school district identified as significantly disproportionate for the overidentification of White students with autism. The study was conducted in two stages. First, a Likert-type scale survey (N&nbsp;=&nbsp;147) was administered to caregivers to examine autism identification and service barriers. In the second stage, three open-response questions within the survey were used to gather qualitative insights from Latinx and Indigenous caregivers. Findings reveal systemic cultural and linguistic barriers contributing to the delayed diagnosis of autism in Latinx and Indigenous students. The qualitative responses further underscore the need for early... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5w32r33z Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Luelmo, Paul Castellón, Fernanda Anahi https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6929-3866 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/55k3t0bh The Violent Crackup of the Post-WWII International Order: Notes on the Geopolitical Crisis and Global Capital https://escholarship.org/uc/item/55k3t0bh Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Robinson, William I https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pb2p555 Global capitalism is at the brink of another round of restructuring and transformation based on a much more advanced digitalisation of the entire global economy and society, and the application of fourth industrial revolution technologies. The changing social and economic conditions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic are accelerating the process, helping a new bloc of transnational capital, led by the giant tech companies along with finance and the military-industrial complex, to amass ever-greater power during the pandemic and to consolidate its control over the commanding heights of the global economy. As restructuring proceeds, it will heighten the concentration of capital worldwide, worsen social inequality and aggravate international tensions. Enabled by digital applications, the ruling groups, unless they are pushed to change course by mass pressure from below, will turn to ratcheting up the global police state to contain social upheavals. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pb2p555 Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Robinson, William I https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3kb4c5fs Palestine and Global Crisis: Why Genocide? Why Now? https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3kb4c5fs Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Robinson, William I https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cz723kz Abstract This study investigates whether individual differences (IDs) in speakers’ perceptions of psycholinguistic dimensions (familiarity, knowledge, transparency, ambiguity, valence, arousal) predict idiom processing advantage over matched novel control phrases in L1 and L2 speakers in a phrase judgment task. Bayesian multilevel models showed that item-level average norms from L1 speakers for familiarity, valence, and arousal facilitated idiom judgment in both groups, whereas transparency and ambiguity had inhibitory effects. Beyond item means, deviations in speaker-specific perceptions from the item-level average norm predicted idiom judgment advantage. In both groups, individuals who rated an idiom as more positive and more ambiguous than its item-level average norm showed larger idiom judgment advantages. In L1–L2 comparisons, individual-level deviation effects of valence and transparency were stronger in L2 than in L1 speakers, whereas ambiguity deviation effects were stronger... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cz723kz Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Zhong, Yanlu Brehm, Laurel https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0424-8735 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2v04j0ns While low-cost natural gas remains abundant, the energy content of this fuel can be utilized without greenhouse gas emissions through the production of molecular hydrogen and solid carbon via methane pyrolysis. In the absence of a carbon tax, methane pyrolysis is not economically competitive with current hydrogen production methods unless the carbon byproducts can be valorized. In this work, we assess the viability of the carbon byproduct produced from methane pyrolysis in molten salts as high-value-added anode or conductive additive for secondary Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. Raman characterization and electrochemical differential capacity analysis demonstrate that the use of molten salt mixtures with catalytically-active FeCl3-or MnCl2 result in more graphitic carbon co-products. These graphitic carbons exhibit the best electrochemical performance (up to 272 mAh/g of reversible capacity) when used as Li-ion anodes. For all carbon samples studied here, disordered carbon domains... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2v04j0ns Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ji, Y Palmer, C Foley, EE Giovine, R https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7208-6929 Yoshida, E Sebti, E Patterson, AR McFarland, E Clément, RJ https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c57h775 IMPERIALISM, ANTI-IMPERIALISM, AND TRANSNATIONAL CLASS EXPLOITATION https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c57h775 Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Robinson, William I https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1kb0g8bb Movement Research in the Era of Big Data, AI, and Open Science https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1kb0g8bb Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Dodge, Somayeh https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0335-3576 Weibel, Robert Claramunt, Christophe McArdle, Gavin Zhou, Zhiyong Xin, Yanan Graser, Anita Reichenbacher, Tumasch https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wm6w0pb Rapid land-use change is compressing the space between people and wildlife at an unprecedented pace, elevating concerns of conflict between people and keystone megafauna such as the African savanna elephant (<i>Loxodonta africana</i>). However, the underlying drivers of human-elephant conflict (HEC) are often inferred but not causally identified, and forecasting under future scenarios is limited, restricting our ability to anticipate where and why conflict will intensify. Using a dataset on conflict events from 2004 to 2020 across a transboundary landscape in Southern Africa, we integrate causal inference (panel data regressions) and machine learning (point process models) to link mechanisms with spatial forecasts. We find that human population growth, cropland expansion, and climate-driven aridity in core elephant-protected areas drive conflict risk. Furthermore, we show that landscape features such as wildlife fences and roads constrain elephant movement in ways that drive HEC.... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9wm6w0pb Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Patrick, Evan Pepperdine, Maxwell Yu, Christy Pesek, Sophie Somhegyi, Olivia Krieger, Joana M McManus, Nickolas Fabiano, Ezequiel Sikopo, Colgar Roehrdanz, Patrick R Larsen, Ashley https://escholarship.org/uc/item/195535th Rhodium supported on titania (Rh/TiO 2 ) is an active catalyst for the reverse water gas shift reaction, yet the nature of the active sites for this reaction and others remain under debate due to the dynamic nature of the Rh coordination. Rhodium supported on titania (Rh/TiO 2 ) is an active catalyst for the reverse water gas shift reaction, yet the nature of the active sites for this reaction and others remain under debate. Single atom Rh sites have frequently been proposed as key sites, making it essential to monitor size changes of Rh species under in situ conditions to establish the structure–function relationship. However, surface-sensitive in situ measurements of nanosized particles remain experimentally challenging and have focused on metal oxide single crystal model systems. Here, we apply ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) to Rh/TiO 2 powdered catalysts under oxidizing and reducing environments. We find size-dependent binding energy shifts in... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/195535th Mon, 10 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Gericke, Sabrina M Erbez, Jake Chen, Xiaobo Khan, Anastassiya Chen, Zhihengyu Lee, Yonghyuk Hong, Seunghwa Heinlein, Jake Schroeder, Emily K Bac, Selin Novak, Jonathan Blum, Monika https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2918-9092 Nemšák, Slavomir Christopher, Phillip https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4898-5510 Cargnello, Matteo Hoffman, Adam S Bare, Simon R https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4932-0342 Tenney, Samuel Yang, Judith C Alexandrova, Anastassia N https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3003-1911 Head, Ashley R https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63k607ck The problem that incomplete election returns pose for the calculation of the effective number of parties and related statistics such as the Herfindahl-Hirschman fractionalization index is known. Over the past several decades, different measurement approaches have been proposed, all of which attempt to overcome these challenges. The approach that is chosen may have consequences for theories about party system size. However, this issue has not been rigorously empirically explored to date. Accordingly, we investigate the practical consequences of the strategy for measuring party system size using district-level election data for Ireland over a 30-year period. Our primary contribution is to show that the choice of measure of party system size matters for conclusions about its relationship to both social structure and the electoral system at the level of the electoral district. While none of the three commonly employed inexact measurement approximations (the block, omission, and method... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63k607ck Tue, 4 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Stoll, Heather Munley, Vincent Redmond, Paul https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zt8m8ms Academic open source contributors face a wide array of challenges, making it difficult for universities, support staff, and funders to determine which needs they should prioritize. To help address this problem, the University of California (UC) Open Source Program Office (OSPO) Network conducted a multi-campus survey of open source contributors and aspiring contributors. The goals of this survey were two-fold. First, we aimed to understand the needs of university open source contributors, so that we might design programs to address those needs. Second, we sought to characterize open source activity on campus, in order to assess the value of an OSPO. We received 294 valid responses from students, faculty, researchers, and staff. 93% of students and 92% of researchers report that open source software is important for their work. 58% of experienced open source contributors have served as project maintainers, indicating that a large number of university affiliates not only use open... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zt8m8ms Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Scarlett, Virginia T https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4156-2849 Curty, Renata Gonçalves https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4615-6030 Gomez, Juanita Langdon, Laura Janée, Greg Budden, Amber E https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rh8p4tj Neural manifolds summarize the intrinsic structure of the information encoded by a population of neurons. Advances in experimental techniques have made simultaneous recordings from multiple brain regions increasingly commonplace, raising the possibility of studying how these manifolds relate across populations. However, when the manifolds are nonlinear and possibly code for multiple unknown variables, it is challenging to extract robust and falsifiable information about their relationships. We introduce a framework, called the method of analogous cycles, for matching topological features of neural manifolds using only observed dissimilarity matrices within and between neural populations. We demonstrate via analysis of simulations and in vivo experimental data that this method can be used to correctly identify multiple shared circular coordinate systems across both stimuli and inferred neural manifolds. Conversely, the method rejects matching features that are not intrinsic to... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rh8p4tj Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Yoon, Iris HR Henselman-Petrusek, Gregory Yu, Yiyi Ghrist, Robert Smith, Spencer LaVere https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2021-7034 Giusti, Chad https://escholarship.org/uc/item/90q6q1s0 Abstract Managing carbon stocks in the land, ocean, and atmosphere under changing climate requires a globally‐integrated view of carbon cycle processes at local and regional scales. The growing Earth Observation (EO) record is the backbone of this multi‐scale system, providing local information with discrete coverage from surface measurements and regional information at global scale from satellites. Carbon flux information, anchored by inverse estimates from spaceborne Greenhouse Gas (GHG) concentrations, provides an important top‐down view of carbon emissions and sinks, but currently lacks global continuity at assessment and management scales (&lt;100&nbsp;km). Partial‐column data can help separate signals in the boundary layer from the overlying atmosphere, providing an opportunity to enhance surface sensitivity and bring flux resolution down from that of column‐integrated data (100–500&nbsp;km). Based on a workshop held in September 2024, the carbon cycle community envisions... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/90q6q1s0 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Parazoo, N Carroll, D Abshire, JB Bar‐On, YM Birdsey, RA Bloom, AA Bowman, KW Braghiere, RK Bruhwiler, LM Byrne, B Chatterjee, A Crisp, D Duncanson, L Feldman, AF Fox, AM Frankenberg, C Gay, BA Hopkins, F https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6110-7675 Hoffman, FM Holmquist, JR Hutyra, LR Keller, M Koven, CD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3367-0065 Laughner, JL Liu, J Lovenduski, NS Macbean, N McKinley, GA McNicol, G Menemenlis, D Michalak, AM Miller, CE Nesser, H Oda, T Ordway, EM https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7720-1754 Ott, LE Paustian, K Pierrat, ZA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6726-2406 Poulter, B Reed, SC Schimel, DS Serbin, SP Saatchi, SS Suto, H Windham‐Myers, L Wunch, D https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s93g7wc ABSTRACT Bayhead deltas form at the interface between fluvial and estuarine systems. As such, they are sensitive to processes operating in both the fluvial catchment and the marine realm, including past relative sea‐level changes. The Nakdong valley is a small and confined incised valley containing a bayhead delta that provides a record of fluvial sediment input and accommodation changes. Based on a facies analysis that included 833 sediment textures and 118 optically stimulated luminescence and radiocarbon ages within five cores up to 70 m long, this study reconstructed the development of a fully filled bayhead delta in response to relative sea‐level changes through the early to late Holocene. Sixteen facies are defined and grouped into eight facies associations: alluvial plain; fluvial channel and floodplain; oxidized fluvial channel; tidal flat; tidal bar; central basin and bayhead prodelta; bayhead delta front; and bayhead delta plain. The sequence stratigraphy of the Nakdong... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8s93g7wc Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hong, Seok‐Hwi Ryang, Woo Hun Yoo, Dong‐Geun Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 Kim, Jin Cheul Lee, Gwang‐Soo https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7x72v0cj Analysis of interfacial Li + and Na + transport in composite polymer electrolytes with Li 0.5− x La 0.5 M x TiO 3 nanorod fillers with different A-site surface chemistry is performed using density functional theory along with synthesis and characterization. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7x72v0cj Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Shepard, Lauren B Ock, Ji-young Bhattacharya, Amit Wang, Tao Borisevich, Albina Y Lehmann, Michelle L Dai, Sheng Clement, Raphaele J Sokolov, Alexei P Chen, X Chelsea Sinnott, Susan B https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7dv3t0sf Abstract: This article presents an account of four different experiences of oil well decommissioning and abandonment along the Santa Barbara coast in California, together forming an ongoing process that began over a century ago and which has, more recently, become a component of statewide transition plans. The cases include the re-abandonment of nineteenth century wells in Summerland; offshore oil platform removal in the 1990s; and two different areas of operational closures due to infrastructure failures and bankruptcies. Informed by this history, we suggest that decommissioning must be actively managed through coordinated, well-funded, multi-agency action, grounded in historical awareness of policy trajectories. Additionally, the scale of the need together with the economics and policies in place mean that oil well decommissioning will be happening for a very long time, even if no new wells are built. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7dv3t0sf Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Partridge, Tristan Barandiaran, Javiera https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63t274hv ABSTRACTS: When we call a work of literature "religious," we typically do so on the basis of its content, its usage, or the identity of its creator: a hymn praises a deity, a chant accompanies confession, a parable illustrates a doctrine, a poem quotes a scripture, a priest composes a song, a work contains a flash of faith. This paper takes an alternative approach, asking how religion may undergird the physical infrastructure that supports literary activity, and vice versa. Drawing on insights from critical infrastructure studies, it describes how objects like buildings, shrines, libraries, and waterways supported literary and religious activities in overlapping ways. By focusing on Bai Juyi (772–846), it shows how one Tang poet was not only himself a prominent patron of Buddhist infrastructure who recognized its importance, but also one whose literary reputation depended on religious infrastructure. In the century or so after his death, Bai Juyi became the object of religious... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/63t274hv Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mazanec, Thomas J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7738-7210 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5vd75771 Global sea levels during the last interglacial (LIG), 129,000–116,000 years ago, may have reached as much as 5–10&nbsp;m higher than present. However, the elevation of the LIG highstand varies locally due to tectonics, subsidence, steric effects, and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). The variability brought upon by GIA can be used to constrain the past distribution of ice sheets including the source of higher sea levels during the LIG. In spite of its importance for fingerprinting the source of additional meltwater at the LIG, little is known about the elevation of LIG sea levels across Antarctica. In this study we review the geologic constraints on the elevation of the LIG highstand across Antarctica. We find that although several Late Pleistocene sea-level constraints are available across the continent very few of them provide definitive LIG ages. Arguably the most probable LIG sea-level indicators come from East Antarctica but most of them have age constraints approaching... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5vd75771 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 Ishiwa, Takeshige Hodgson, Dominic A Tamura, Toru DeWitt, Regina https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5dd13097 Sea-level changes in polar environments are important for understanding the timing and magnitude of past ice-sheet changes. Most of the few records of such past sea-level changes in Antarctica are those derived from raised beach ridges. Many studies using raised beach ridges to reconstruct past sea levels across Antarctica commonly assume that they only record falling sea levels. However, their internal architecture may contain a record of other oscillations in relative sea-level (RSL) change. In this study, we examine the internal architecture of a well-developed set of raised beach ridges on Livingston Island of the Antarctic Peninsula using 10+ km of ground penetrating radar (GPR). Recalibrated published radiocarbon ages are used in combination with new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages to compare beach morphology and stratigraphy to the glacial history of the region. Within this flight of raised beach ridges, evidence was found for both regressive and transgressive... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5dd13097 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Gernant, Cameron Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 DeWitt, Regina Theilen, Brittany Garcia, Christopher N Goebel, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5cw0q9dj The Apalachicola Barrier Island complex: a benchmark for MIS 5e (125 ka) sea-level oscillations? https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5cw0q9dj Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Georgiou, Nikos Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 Creel, Roger C Dean, Silas Chauveau, Denovan Cerrone, Ciro Caporizzo, Claudia Rovere, Alessio https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3x8357d3 Abstract In order to reconstruct past environmental conditions along the north-eastern Antarctic Peninsula, we documented changes in grain size, grain roundness, onlap as seen in ground-penetrating radar reflection profiles and ice-rafted debris on a set of 36 raised beaches developed over the last ~7.7 ± 0.9 ka on Joinville Island. The most pronounced changes in beach character occur at ~2.7–3.0 ka. At this time, there appears to have been a reintroduction of less rounded material, the development of stratification within individual beach ridges, an introduction of seaweed and limpets to the beach deposits, a change in clast provenance (although slightly earlier than the change in cobble roundness) and a shallowing of the overall beach plain slope. Prolonged cooling associated with the Neoglacial period may have contributed to these changes, as the readvance of glaciers could have changed the provenance of the beach deposits and introduced more material, leading to the change... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3x8357d3 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Theilen, Brittany M Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 DeWitt, Regina Zurbuchen, Julie Garcia, Christopher Gernant, Cameron https://escholarship.org/uc/item/36z1x2w5 Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to grow, while natural carbon reservoirs are becoming increasingly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures, climate extremes, and disturbance. These changes are impacting humans, ecosystems, and natural resources worldwide. Tracking and mitigating GHG emissions require a pivot to operational monitoring of regional carbon flux and stock changes. The current GHG observing system is addressing needs at two distinct scales: 1) Local scale (&lt; 1&nbsp;km), related to anthropogenic point source emissions, and 2) global scales (&gt; 1000&nbsp;km), related to land and ocean carbon sinks. More focus on intermediate (10–1000&nbsp;km) scales is needed to more effectively monitor progress in reducing carbon emissions, enhancing removals, and maintaining sinks.Representatives from carbon cycle biomass and flux communities across United States government agencies and academic institutions met in September 2024 to discuss the rationale and scientific context... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/36z1x2w5 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Parazoo, NC Carroll, D Abshire, JB Bar-On, YM Birdsey, RA Bloom, AA Bowman, KW Braghiere, RK Bruhwiler, LM Byrne, B Chatterjee, A Crisp, D Duncanson, L Feldman, AF Fox, AM Frankenberg, C Gay, BA Hopkins, F https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6110-7675 Hoffman, FM Holmquist, JR Hutyra, LR Keller, M Koven, CD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3367-0065 Laughner, JL Liu, J Lovenduski, NS MacBean, N McKinley, GA McNicol, G Menemenlis, D Michalak, AM Miller, CE Nesser, H Oda, T Ordway, EM https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7720-1754 Ott, LE Paustian, K Pierrat, ZA https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6726-2406 Poulter, B Reed, SC Schimel, DS Serbin, SP Saatchi, SS Suto, H Windham-Myers, L Wunch, D https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2pq6q823 Past sea levels provide important constraints on global ice volumes, rates of tectonic motion, ice-sheet sea-level feedbacks, and the migration of species through time. Beneath formerly glaciated regions, the marine limit, the maximum extent of sea-levels after glacial retreat, provides some of the oldest post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) sea-level constraints. However, although the elevations of marine limits are plentiful, they often remain undated. In this study, we provide new age and elevation constraints on the late Pleistocene relative sea-level (RSL) history at 12 sites along the eastern flanks of the former Minch Ice Stream (MnIS) of northwest Scotland. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) was used to date the highest and presumably oldest preserved RSL indicators immediately after ice-sheet retreat. Although slightly older than earlier estimates, our ages confirm the early deglacial age of ∼16.2–19.5 ka for the raised shorelines of northwest Scotland with declining... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2pq6q823 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Huffman, Emily Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 Bradwell, Tom Best, Louise Lloyd, Jeremy M Bradley, Sarah L DeWitt, Regina https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2p5522jk ABSTRACT Raised shorelines provide important constraints on past sea levels, glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), and rates and directions of vertical crustal motion. Although most raised shorelines across NW Scotland relate to post‐Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glacial‐isostatic rebound, many undated shorelines lie above the marine limit established from isolation basins. Here, we present new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for a raised marine terrace at an elevation of 28 m in Slaggan Bay of NW Scotland. Four OSL ages suggest the feature is pre‐LGM, likely Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Global mean sea levels (GMSL) during MIS 3 are thought to have been ~40–60 m below present across most of the globe. We use a pair of GIA models to determine what ice sheet and sea‐level scenarios might provide an explanation for these anomalously high sea levels during MIS 3. Our results suggest that in the absence of tectonic activity, such high MIS 3 shorelines across NW Scotland require... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2p5522jk Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 DeWitt, Regina Bradley, Sarah L Huffman, Emily Best, Louise Bradwell, Tom Lloyd, Jeremy M Kachuck, Samuel B https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0564k94p Long-range correlations are a key signature of systems operating near criticality, indicating spatially-extended interactions across large distances. These extended dependencies underlie other emergent properties of critical dynamics, such as high susceptibility and multi-scale coordination. In the brain, along with other signatures of criticality, long-range correlations have been observed across various spatial scales, suggesting that the brain may operate near a critical point to optimize information processing and adaptability. However, the mechanisms underlying these long-range correlations remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate the role of synergistic interactions in mediating long-range correlations in the visual cortex of awake mice. We leverage recent advances in mesoscale two-photon calcium imaging to analyse the activity of thousands of neurons across a wide field of view, allowing us to confirm the presence of long-range correlations at the level of neuronal... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0564k94p Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Rajpal, Hardik Stefens, Cedric Saeedian, Meghdad Canzano, Joe S Kareithi, Michael G Barahona, Mauricio Smith, Spencer LaVere https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2021-7034 Schultz, Simon R Jensen, Henrik Jeldtoft https://escholarship.org/uc/item/01b305w7 <h4>Purpose</h4>Visual function testing in retinal prosthesis users relies on repetitive psychophysical tasks that are cognitively demanding and fatiguing. Gamification may increase engagement, but its effects on perceptual performance in implanted users remain unclear.<h4>Methods</h4>Three Argus II users completed circle localization and motion direction discrimination in clinical and gamified versions. Visual stimuli, trial structure, and response requirements were matched within each participant; gamified versions added scoring, background music, and affectively framed end-of-trial auditory feedback. Difficulty and response format were calibrated to individual abilities: eight-alternative forced-choice for two participants and four-alternative forced choice restricted to cardinal directions for one participant.<h4>Results</h4>Gamification improved accuracy and reduced angular error in localization but did not improve motion discrimination. Effects were task dependent and varied... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/01b305w7 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Turkstra, Lily M Johnson, Byron A https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8458-5148 Kartha, Arathy Dagnelie, Gislin Beyeler, Michael https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0173x040 ABSTRACT Complex relative sea‐level (RSL) changes are associated with the deglaciation of the British and Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). Sediment archives from Loch Bad na h‐Achlaise, an isolation basin in NW Scotland, UK, span Late Glacial to Holocene time and record sea‐level change and ice proximity via a geochemical and biostratigraphic multiproxy approach. Osmium and carbon isotope, carbon and nitrogen content, and X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) data suggest that the basal sedimentary unit reflects a glaciomarine depositional setting, a finding previously unresolved due to an inadequate biostratigraphic framework. The 187 Os/ 188 Os record from the basin captures the RSL history of this site and illustrates the interplay between the local signal of glacial isostatic adjustment and the non‐local signal of glacio‐eustatic sea‐level rise. By coupling the 187 Os/ 188 Os data with a detailed age–depth model, our study demonstrates a period of RSL fall between 16.2 and 15.9 cal ka BP, which... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0173x040 Thu, 30 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Taylor, Jennifer Selby, David Lloyd, Jeremy M Best, Louise Podrecca, Luca Sageman, Bradley B Simms, Alexander R https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-2189 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7cr6h1q3 BackgroundDiatoms are a class of algae that play an essential role in global ecology and produce valuable chemicals. They are known for forming intricate nanostructured silica cell walls (frustules). The introduction of non-siliceous elements like aluminum into diatoms induces properties such as a lower dissolution rate of the frustule, increasing the specific surface area of the frustule and enhancing metabolism. Previous studies have focused primarily on characterizing physiological impacts, leaving the genetic response(s) to non-siliceous elements largely unexplored.ResultsThis study investigates the transcriptional response of the pennate diatom, Entomoneis vertebralis to dissolved aluminum. Our findings reveal that in the presence of added 10&nbsp;µM aluminum, biogenic silica content of the cell wall increases approximately twofold along with significant changes to core metabolism. An increase in transcription of genes encoding nitrate transporters has been observed despite... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7cr6h1q3 Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ragunathan, Ramya Purdy, Hugh M Seppala, Susanna Gwak, Hosu Calhoun, Sara https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2942-1338 Twining, Benjamin S Grigoriev, Igor V https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3136-8903 Chmelka, Bradley F Brzezinski, Mark A O’Malley, Michelle A https://escholarship.org/uc/item/521086z8 Variation in the production of te reo Māori opening vowel sequences https://escholarship.org/uc/item/521086z8 Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Culhane, Kirsten Hay, Jennifer Todd, Simon https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2665-5737 Sóskuthy, Márton Osborne, Allie Harris, Penny Maindonald, Kate King, Jeanette Panther, Forrest Keegan, Peter J https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hg4s5m6 Watching what others put in their mouths is a powerful way to learn what to eat. Yet human diets and eating behaviors are complicated, and not everything that goes into another person's mouth is food: The fusilli is edible, but the fork is not. Therefore, some selectivity is necessary to guide social learning processes about food. Here we examined 6-month-old infants' expectations about what kinds of entities are likely to be edible using a violation-of-expectation setup in which infants viewed an actor eating from two different items. We hypothesized that infants may have selective edibility expectations about plants, and in particular fruits, that stem from humans' long evolutionary history of foraging wild plant foods and specialization in higher caloric density plant parts. In Experiment 1 (N&nbsp;=&nbsp;40), we found that infants expect plants, relative to feature-matched artifacts, to be edible, replicating a previous finding [Wertz &amp; Wynn, 2014a ]. In Experiments 2... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3hg4s5m6 Fri, 17 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Rioux, Camille Wertz, Annie E https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2145-5189 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0j31s3w0 Abstract Oxygen is critical for nearly all life on Earth, including aquatic species that breathe dissolved oxygen in both freshwater and marine systems. The rapid, global, and anthropogenic loss of dissolved oxygen known as “aquatic deoxygenation” threatens life in these environments, the human communities that depend on them, and Earth system stability long‐term. Recognizing the important and increasingly widespread effects of aquatic deoxygenation, scientists have proposed that it be added to the planetary boundary framework, which is designed to capture the wider envelope of Earth‐system conditions that support a “safe operating space for humanity.” Here, we argue that the planetary boundary framework should include maintenance of Earth's aquatic ecosystems and thus dissolved oxygen conditions. We synthesize important, in some cases poorly understood, interactions and feedbacks that exist between deoxygenation and all nine of the established planetary boundaries. We find that... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0j31s3w0 Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Ferrer, Erica M Eddebbar, Yassir A Gangrade, Shailja McCormick, Lillian R Pezner, Ariel K Robinson, De'Marcus Garçon, Véronique Rose, Kevin C Levin, Lisa A https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2858-8622 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9vw7r328 As Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) systems move from passive data collection to autonomous, human-centered interaction, the gap between abstract ethical principles and operational architecture has widened. This paper introduces the BEETS framework (Bias, Equity, Ethics, Trust, and Security) as a unified Emotive Substrate for governing AIoT systems. Developed through conceptual synthesis and over three years of iterative pedagogical practice in university-level courses on AI and Emotions, BEETS positions human affective experience as the mediating core across all five governance dimensions rather than as an optional feature. The framework advances existing responsible AI scholarship by arguing that bias, equity, ethics, trust, and security are not separate pillars but deeply interconnected dimensions, mutually shaping the moral, technical, and social integrity of AIoT systems. An illustrative scenario demonstrates how the BEETS framework can be applied to a human-centered... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9vw7r328 Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Tettegah, Sharon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-9216 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rq0328j We report a photochemical investigation of the dinuclear metal carbonyl complex (CO)3(bpy)ReMn(CO)5, where bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine. This investigation follows an earlier study of the photo-activated carbon monoxide release as the result of long-wavelength visible and near-infrared excitation of a several different (CO)5ReMn(CO)3(LL) complexes in aerobic media. These dinuclear species all show a strong metal − metal-bond (σMM)-to-ligand (πL*) charge-transfer (MMLCT) bands as the lowest energy absorptions in their respective optical spectra. Photolysis of the MMLCT band leads to homolysis of the metal-metal bond to give mononuclear metal radicals that can be trapped with dioxygen. The species formed from the manganese carbonyl radical fragments undergo CO release via secondary reactions, while the mononuclear product(s) formed from the •Re(CO)3(bpy) radical is luminescent. In these contexts, we discuss potential applications of such dinuclear compounds as photoactivated CO-releasing... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9rq0328j Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Li, Zhi Wu, Guang Ford, Peter C https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5509-9912 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4057w1tm Described are multiple approaches using density functional theory to probe the acid catalyzed aquation of the hexaammineruthenium(II) cation (Ru(NH₃)₆²⁺ + H₃O⁺ → Ru(NH₃)₅(H₂O)²⁺ + NH₄⁺) reported initially by Taube and co-workers. These computations support the proposal that the initial step is protonation of the Ru(II) center and/or the metal-NH₃ bond, thereby activating the latter toward dissociation. DFT analysis was also carried out for the hypothetical acid-mediated aquation of the isoelectronic hexaamminerhodium(III) complex, Rh(NH₃)₆³⁺. The computations suggest a key mechanistic difference for the latter pathway, namely that protonation of the NH₃ occurs late in a reaction coordinate involving dissociation of the Rh-NH₃ with no direct interaction of H⁺ with the metal center. Furthermore,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4057w1tm Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Laverman, Leroy E Kahn, Kalju Ford, Peter C https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5509-9912 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2qm5303m Broadening participation and promoting equity in engineering education remain persistent challenges despite decades of national investment. While traditional diversity efforts have emphasized access and recruitment, emerging evidence highlights the importance of understanding how psychological factors shape engagement and learning preferences. This study examines how empathy, engagement, and self-efficacy predict undergraduate engineering and STEM majors’ preferences for curriculum representations across core engineering and physics topics, including static and projectile motion, magnetic forces, and mathematical content such as the Pythagorean theorem. Grounded in a human-centered approach to engineering education, the research investigates how emotional and cognitive factors influence learners’ interactions with textual, symbolic, graphical, and pseudo-realistic visual materials. Data were collected from 964 undergraduate students at four U.S. research universities. Participants... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2qm5303m Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Tettegah, Sharon https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5468-9216 LARNYO, EBENEZER https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r32j1q8 Vanishing theorems for Hodge numbers and the Calabi curvature operator https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1r32j1q8 Mon, 6 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Broder, Kyle Nienhaus, Jan Petersen, Peter Stanfield, James Wink, Matthias https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2p15s150 Additional algorithms for sensor chip alignment to blind datums https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2p15s150 Sat, 4 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hughes, Gary B. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4b02c916 Central and peripheral vision loss, caused by conditions such as age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, disrupt visual processing in distinct ways, yet their impact on real-world scene perception remains poorly understood. Here, we used a real-time, gaze-contingent simulation to examine how central vision loss and peripheral vision loss alter eye movements and scene understanding. Sighted participants (n = 32, five males) viewed 120 real-world scenes (50% social interaction, 50% neutral) under one- or three-saccade constraints and described each scene; description quality was quantified via semantic similarity to ground-truth responses. Peripheral vision loss observers produced significantly less informative descriptions than both central vision loss and control participants, particularly for social interaction scenes, suggesting that peripheral vision is critical for rapid extraction of scene semantics. In contrast, central vision loss primarily disrupted... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4b02c916 Thu, 2 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Johnson, Byron Soni, Ansh Murlidaran, Shravan Beyeler, Michael Eckstein, Miguel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9kf3q08z Remote molecular composition analysis of laser-ablated material https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9kf3q08z Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Lubin, Philip Pelizzo, Maria G Erlikhman, Jacob Cohen, Alexander N Madajian, Jonathan Meinhold, Peter Hughes, Gary B Rupert, Nicholas Srinivasan, Prashant https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7b56254j Algorithms for sensor chip alignment to blind datums https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7b56254j Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hughes, Gary B https://escholarship.org/uc/item/71s716nx Solar activity expressed in a modern varve thickness sequence https://escholarship.org/uc/item/71s716nx Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hughes, Gary B Adams, Jordan Cockburn, Jaclyn M.H. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/64w8k3xs Modern spectral climate patterns in rhythmically deposited argillites of the Gowganda Formation (Early Proterozoic), southern Ontario, Canada https://escholarship.org/uc/item/64w8k3xs Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Hughes, Gary B Giegengack, Robert Kritikos, Haralambos N https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3g34x7px Orbital Deflection of Comets by Directed Energy https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3g34x7px Wed, 1 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Zhang, Qicheng Lubin, Philip M Hughes, Gary B