Many population centers in the American West rely on water from the Colorado River Basin, which has faced shortages in recent years that are anticipated to be exacerbated by climate change. Shortages to urban water supplies related to climate change will not be limited to cities dependent on the Colorado River. Considering this, addressing sustainable water governance is timely and critical for cities, states, and regions facing supply shortages and pollution problems. Engaging in sustainability transitions of these hydro-social systems will increase the ability of such systems to meet the water needs of urban communities. In this paper, we identify historical transitions in water governance and examine their context for three sites in the Colorado River Basin (Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona) to provide insight for intentional transitions towards sustainable, or “water sensitive” cities. The comparative historical approach employed allows us to more fully understand differences in present-day water governance decisions between the sites, identify past catalysts for transitions, and recognize emerging patterns and opportunities that may impact current and future water governance in the Colorado River Basin and beyond.

Large urban emissions of greenhouse gases result in large atmospheric enhancements relative to background that are easily measured. Using CO₂ mole fractions and Δ¹⁴C and δ¹³C values of CO₂ in the Los Angeles megacity observed in inland Pasadena (2006–2013) and coastal Palos Verdes peninsula (autumn 2009–2013), we have determined time series for CO₂ contributions from fossil fuel combustion (C_ff) for both sites and broken those down into contributions from petroleum and/or gasoline and natural gas burning for Pasadena. We find a 10 % reduction in Pasadena C_ff during the Great Recession of 2008–2010, which is consistent with the bottom-up inventory determined by the California Air Resources Board. The isotopic variations and total atmospheric CO₂ from our observations are used to infer seasonality of natural gas and petroleum combustion. The trend of CO₂ contributions to the atmosphere from natural gas combustion is out of phase with the seasonal cycle of total natural gas combustion seasonal patterns in bottom-up inventories but is consistent with the seasonality of natural gas usage by the area's electricity generating power plants. For petroleum, the inferred seasonality of CO₂ contributions from burning petroleum is delayed by several months relative to usage indicated by statewide gasoline taxes. Using the high-resolution Hestia-LA data product to compare C_ff from parts of the basin sampled by winds at different times of year, we find that variations in observed fossil fuel CO₂ reflect seasonal variations in wind direction. The seasonality of the local CO₂ excess from fossil fuel combustion along the coast, on Palos Verdes peninsula, is higher in autumn and winter than spring and summer, almost completely out of phase with that from Pasadena, also because of the annual variations of winds in the region. Variations in fossil fuel CO₂ signals are consistent with sampling the bottom-up Hestia-LA fossil CO₂ emissions product for sub-city source regions in the LA megacity domain when wind directions are considered.

Past research has found a robust effect of prejudice against atheists in largely Christian-dominated (belief-oriented) samples. We propose that religious centrality of beliefs vs. practices influences attitudes toward atheists, such that religious groups emphasizing beliefs perceive non-believers more negatively than believers, while groups emphasizing practices perceive non-practicing individuals more negatively than practicing individuals. Studies 1–2, in surveys of 41 countries, found that Muslims and Protestants (belief-oriented) had more negative attitudes toward atheists than did Jews and Hindus (practice-oriented). Study 3 experimentally manipulated a target individual's beliefs and practices. Protestants had more negative attitudes toward a non-believer (vs. a believer), whereas Jews had more negative attitudes toward a non-practicing individual (vs. a practicing individual, particularly when they had a Jewish background). This research has implications for the psychology of religion, anti-atheist prejudice, and cross-cultural attitudes regarding where dissent in beliefs or practices may be tolerated or censured within religious groups.

Background: Computed tomography (CT) is one of the popular tools for early detection of thyroid nodule. The pixel intensity of thyroid in CT image is very important information to distinguish nodule from normal thyroid tissue. The pixel intensity in normal thyroid tissues is homogeneous and smooth. In the benign or malignant nodules, the pixel intensity is heterogeneous. Several studies have shown that the first order features in ultrasound image can be used as imaging biomarkers in nodule recognition.

Methods: In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of utilizing the first order texture features to identify nodule from normal thyroid tissue in CT image. A total of 284 thyroid CT images from 113 patients were collected in this study. We used 150 healthy controlled thyroid CT images from 55 patients and 134 nodule images (50 malignant and 84 benign nodules) from 58 patients who have undergone thyroid surgery. The final diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological examinations. In the presented method, first, regions of interest (ROIs) from axial non-enhancement CT images were delineated manually by a radiologist. Second, average, median, and wiener filter were applied to reduce photon noise before feature extraction. The first-order texture features, including entropy, uniformity, average intensity, standard deviation, kurtosis and skewness were calculated from each ROI. Third, support vector machine analysis was applied for classification. Several statistical values were calculated to evaluate the performance of the presented method, which includes accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and area of under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

Results: The entropy, uniformity, mean intensity, standard deviation, skewness (P < 0.05), except kurtosis (P = 0.104) of thyroid tissue with nodules have a significant difference from those of normal thyroid tissue. The optimal classification was obtained from the presented method. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) are 0.880, 0.821, 0.933, 0.917, 0.854, and 0.953 respectively.

Conclusion: First order texture features can be used as imaging biomarkers, and the presented system can be used to assist radiologists to recognize the nodules in CT image.

Background: Using syntactic and semantic conventions of the taxonomic concept approach (Franz et al. 2015), we describe three newly recognized fossil broad-nosed weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae) preserved in Early Miocene amber (ca. 20.4-16.0 mya) from the Dominican Republic: Scelianoma compacta sp. n. sec. Franz & Zhang (2017) (henceforth abbreviated as [FZ2017]), Tropirhinus palpebratus sp. n. [FZ2017], and Diaprepes anticus sp. n. [FZ2017]. The taxonomic assignment of the amber inclusions is grounded in a preceding phylogenetic analysis by Franz (2012). As many as 88 of the 143 therein identified characters were coded for the fossils, whose traits are largely congruent with those present in extant congeners while also differing in ways that justify their new nomenclatural and taxonomic status.

New Information: We present detailed images, descriptions, and phylogenetically informed diagnoses for the three new species-level entities, along with logically consistent Region Connection Calculus (RCC-5) alignments of the amended genus-level classifications for Scelianoma Franz and Girón 2009 [FZ2017], Tropirhinus Schoenherr 1823 [FZ2017], and Diaprepes Schoenherr 1823 [FZ2017] - in relation to 2-4 preceding classifications published in 1982-2012. The description of Scelianoma compacta [FZ2017] from Hispaniola is indicative of a more widespread historical range of Scelianoma [FZ2017] than reflected in the extant, southwestern Puerto Rican Scelianoma elydimorpha Franz and Girón 2009 sec. Franz and Girón (2009). The presence of Diaprepes anticus [FZ2017] in Hispaniola during the Early Miocene suggests an eastward directed process of island colonization and likely speciation of members of Diaprepes [FZ2017], given that most extant relatives occur throughout the Lesser Antilles. The herein presented data will facilitate more reliable reconstructions of historical biographic processes thought to have played a prominent role in the diversification of the West Indian and Neotropical mainland broad-nosed weevil lineages.

This transdisciplinary study (involving humanities, anthropology, linguistics, and philosophy) contrasts the reductionist ideological “top-down” focus on the construction of our cultural “world” with the meandering technical “bottom-up” approach, searching for forgotten or usually omitted aspects in current studies of culture. The discovery goes from the cultural “thing theory” to semiotics, to communication, and to the emergence of human language from the biosemiotic and zoosemiotic processes of communication, in order to examine the impact of these processes on human culture and cultural theories. Finally, based on “heretical ideas” of Jan Patočka and Martin Heidegger, some philosophical implications for the new humanism and for humanities are outlined.

We present a new method of chemical quantification utilizing thermal analysis for the detection of relative humidity. By measuring the temperature change of a hydrophilically-modified temperature sensing element vs. a hydrophobically-modified reference element, the total heat from chemical interactions in the sensing element can be measured and used to calculate a change in relative humidity. We have probed the concept by assuming constant temperature streams, and having constant reference humidity (~0% in this case). The concept has been probed with the two methods presented here: (1) a thermistor-based method and (2) a thermographic method. For the first method, a hydrophilically-modified thermistor was used, and a detection range of 0–75% relative humidity was demonstrated. For the second method, a hydrophilically-modified disposable surface (sensing element) and thermal camera were used, and thermal signatures for different relative humidity were demonstrated. These new methods offer opportunities in either chemically harsh environments or in rapidly changing environments. For sensing humidity in a chemically harsh environment, a hydrophilically-modified thermistor can provide a sensing method, eliminating the exposure of metallic contacts, which can be easily corroded by the environment. On the other hand, the thermographic method can be applied with a disposable non-contact sensing element, which is a low-cost upkeep option in environments where damage or fouling is inevitable. In addition, for environments that are rapidly changing, the thermographic method could potentially provide a very rapid humidity measurement as the chemical interactions are rapid and their changes are easily quantified.

Understanding the extent to which vascular disease and its risk factors are associated with prodromal dementia, notably Alzheimer's disease (AD), may enhance predictive accuracy as well as guide early interventions. One promising avenue to determine this relationship consists of looking for reliable and sensitive in-vivo imaging methods capable of characterizing the subtle brain alterations before the clinical manifestations. However, little is known from the imaging perspective about how risk factors such as vascular disease influence AD progression. Here, for the first time, we apply an innovative T1 and DTI fusion analysis of 3D corpus callosum (CC) on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) populations with different levels of vascular profile, aiming to de-couple the vascular factor in the prodromal AD stage. Our new fusion method successfully increases the detection power for differentiating MCI subjects with high from low vascular risk profiles, as well as from healthy controls. MCI subjects with high and low vascular risk profiles showed differed alteration patterns in the anterior CC, which may help to elucidate the inter-wired relationship between MCI and vascular risk factors.

Tracking the environmental impacts of production, use, and disposal of products (e.g., goods, and services) have been an important issue in the global economy. Although Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely applied method to track these environmental impacts and support policies, it has certain limitations and an isolated way of evaluating the environmental impacts with no consideration of social and economic impacts and mechanisms. To overcome the limits of current LCA, three mechanisms have been proposed in the literature: (1) broadening the indicators by including social and economic indicators in addition to the environmental impacts; (2) broadening the scope of analysis from product-level assessment to national and global levels; (3) deepening the assessment by inclusion of more mechanisms to account for interrelations among the system elements, uncertainty analysis, stakeholder involvement, etc. With these developments, LCA has been evolving into a new framework called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). Practical application of LCSA requires integration of various methods, tools, and disciplines. In this study, a comprehensive literature review is conducted to investigate recent developments, current challenges, and future perspectives in the LCSA literature.

According to the review, a high number (40%) of LCSA studies are from the environmental science discipline, while contributions from other disciplines such as economics (3%) and social sciences (9%) are very low. On broadening the scope of analysis, 58% of the studies are product-level works, while 37% quantified the impacts at national level and achieved an economy-wide analysis, and only 5% of the studies were able to quantify the global impacts of products using LCSA framework. Furthermore, current applications of LCSA have not considered the rebound effects, feedback mechanisms, and interrelations of the system of interest sufficiently. To address these challenges, we present a complete discussion about the overarching role of systems thinking to bring tools, methods and disciplines together, and provide practical examples from the earlier studies that have employed various system-based methods. We discuss the importance of integrated system-based methods for advancement of LCSA framework in the following directions: (1) regional and global level LCSA models using multi-region input-output analysis that is capable of quantitatively capturing macro-level social, environmental, and economic impacts; (2) dealing with uncertainties in LCSA during multi-criteria decision-making process and expert judgments in weighting of LCSA indicators; and (3) integration of system dynamics modeling to reveal complex interconnections, dependencies, and causal relationships between sustainability indicators.

Synthetic cathinones, colloquially referred to as “bath salts,” are derivatives of the psychoactive alkaloid cathinone found in Catha edulis (Khat). Since the mid-to-late 2000s, these amphetamine-like psychostimulants have gained popularity amongst drug users due to their potency, low cost, ease of procurement, and constantly evolving chemical structures. Concomitant with their increased use is the emergence of a growing collection of case reports of bizarre and dangerous behaviors, toxicity to numerous organ systems, and death. However, scientific information regarding the abuse liability of these drugs has been relatively slower to materialize. Recently we have published several studies demonstrating that laboratory rodents will readily self-administer the “first generation” synthetic cathinones methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and methylone via the intravenous route, in patterns similar to those of methamphetamine. Under progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement, the rank order of reinforcing efficacy of these compounds is MDPV ≥ methamphetamine > methylone. MDPV and methylone, as well as the “second generation” synthetic cathinones α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone (α-PVP) and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), also dose-dependently increase brain reward function. Collectively, these findings indicate that synthetic cathinones have a high abuse and addiction potential and underscore the need for future assessment of the extent and duration of neurotoxicity induced by these emerging drugs of abuse.